The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

Summary: The Screwtape Letters are a collection of letters written by chief Devil, Screwtape, who writes to his junior devil nephew, Wormwood, about the techniques and tricks to deceiving humans and condemning their souls to hell by keeping them away from God and the Truth.

Why I picked it up: It was recommended in a magazine I was reading.

Why I kept reading it: It was difficult to read but it really provoked new thoughts and a different approach to perceiving human desires and temptations and how humans choose to endure and respond to them.

Who I would give it to next: A friend 🙂

Reviewed by Eun Young K.

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Summary:  In this allegorically magnificent book, the political and economic views of socialism and communism are reviewed in a fun and exciting way. In this book, there is a feud that continuously grows between farmers and their unhappy farm animals. The farm animals start a rebellion because they wish to be free from their captors. With the leadership skills of Snowball and Napoleon, the herd of animals achieve an impossible feat. They rebel and rebel until they eventually start to become like the beings they once despised.

Why I picked it up:  I picked up this book because my dad recommended it to me.

Why I kept reading it:  I kept reading this book because it was insightful, knowledgeable, and fun. I would suggest this book to anyone interested in politics and history.

Who should read it next:  I would mostly recommend this book to any ordinary high school or middle school students because of the valuable historical lessons it teaches.

Reviewed by Jacob A.

Sense and Sensibility By Jane Austen

In the story Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, two sisters, Elinor and Marianne, take upon a journey in finding their true life companion. As both opinions vary drastically on the characteristics a good husband should have, time goes on and they learn to appreciate each others feelings and become closer. The story starts of with their family moves from their hometown; Elinor is separated from the man she loves while Marianne finds a man she wants to spend the rest of her life with. With years and months, soon relationships of the two sisters become entangled and both suffer the pain of being alone. Seeing them so depressed their friends decide for them to take a break and go to London where soon Elinor and Marianne’s questions are solved. Even though they received answers to their questions, they were not happy and they went back home. Soon life gives them great opportunities and in the end both find their true happiness in men they love.

As a reader, this novel felt very hard to understand because of its Old English structures and long sentences. The story itself is very interesting, although there are too many problems going on at once. Reading the novel, I also felt that there were several characters to keep track of and found that to be quite confusing for one. Overall, the book is stretched out longer than necessary and the there is not a clear problem or climax in the story.

Reviewed by: Vinita Shah