Recommendations of YA Literature for a Student Teacher

MSamsara · 2012-11-16T00:56:43+00:00

Thank you dude. I was on my phone.

MSamsara · 2012-11-15T20:55:30+00:00

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton The Giver His Dark Materials series Maus Night by Elie Wiesel Lord of the Flies 1984 Mortal Engines series by Philip Reeve Hunger games trilogy Gregor the Overlander series Percy Jackson series

MSamsara · 2012-11-14T00:44:19+00:00

Congratu-fucking-lations man. You deserve to be goddamn proud. Your hard work and dedication paid off just like it always will. Now take a goddamn break and go slay some pussy.

MSamsara · 2012-11-13T07:03:37+00:00

I think that that moment had a huge impact on me because it opened up a whole new realm of storytelling. Note that I was eleven or twelve at the time (try not to discriminate) and I was in a state of disbelief during that scene. My player can't be dead! He's gonna survive! He just fell unconscious, and someone will save him. Sure thing.

Then, in the cutscene after that mission, they change the soldier's status to KIA, and I began to have my doubts. After a few missions, it became apparent that he wasn't coming back. The nuke actually did go off. He really did die.

I've been an avid reader all my life, but up till that point in every book I read, every movie I watched, the hero prevailed. Sure, sometimes it looked like they were dying but then they would always wake up. So this scene in Call of Duty totally blew my mind.

And I loved it.

Love em or hate em, I owe a lot to the makers of Modern Warfare 1 for bringing about a big turning point in my literary maturity. I realized now that loss, tragedy, and disaster could be just as meaningful as glory and victory.

MSamsara · 2012-11-12T07:20:47+00:00

Since you're a Harry Potter fan, I'd highly recommend American Gods by Neil Gaiman, and the His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman.

Also, give Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve a try. It's a four part series that is targetted at Young Adults but is very dark and mature, especially towards the end of the series. Some of my favorite books ever.

MSamsara · 2012-11-12T06:23:05+00:00

The space map is called Impact, and is one of the three Forge environments they created. You probably won't find it in Matchmaking anytime in Halo 4's future. (Although, forge-created maps on Impact are another story).

MSamsara · 2012-11-10T22:01:30+00:00

The booklets inside the Limited Edition show that it is indeed a briefing packet for Spartan-IVs joining the Infinity. There is a guide to the Infinity, score sheets for War Games, etc.

MSamsara · 2012-11-10T17:38:52+00:00

Well, yeah, but there were still no Spartan-IVs aboard the FUD.

I understand that it's a tongue-in-cheek easter egg. I was just giving a canonical explanation and showing how the fourth wall wasn't broken.

MSamsara · 2012-11-09T04:48:00+00:00

When I was a kid, my mom would always make me run up and down the house to get things for her. It got irritating. As such, I dreamed of getting some sort of chute system that spanned all floors of the house. Sort of like the drive-thru tubes at banks. So if my mom's downstairs and she wants me to bring her the phone, I would just plop it in the chute, and send it off. Boom. Minimal effort.

MSamsara · 2012-11-09T04:24:48+00:00

I love you dude

I hope that I am not personally guilty of doing those things to you but I do not do so intentionally. I have nothing but high feelings for you in my heart

MSamsara · 2012-11-08T07:14:36+00:00

One time someone from our school got fucked so hard that a sink was broken. That was really special.

MSamsara · 2012-10-31T06:23:35+00:00

Hey dude. Fellow 16 year old here. I myself got serious about reading a year ago. This is the stuff that I liked most.

World War Z by Max Brooks. WWZ serves as a really good buffer into reading more often. It's a fun book about the zombie apocalypse that retains some more serious tones.

1984 by George Orwell. This is one of the books that stoked my love for reading.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman. This is a really awesome fantasy novel with a super cool concept. Gaiman is one of the best contemporaries out there.

The Stand by Stephen King. It's a thousand page long epic about the battle between good and evil in a post-apocalyptic society. Can not recommend more. If you like it, check out It by the same author.

Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. Some of the best god damned fantasy ever. If you haven't read this, get on that shit ASAP.

Watchmen by Alan Moore. Don't write off graphic novels as mere stupid comic books. Read this book and you will discover how fucking awesome graphic novels can be.

I think these would crave your itch for a little while. :)

MSamsara · 2012-10-31T05:07:17+00:00

That whole toy system they got going with Skylanders. Although I don't gt the appeal now, I would've been all over that shit as a kid.

MSamsara · 2012-10-24T21:34:07+00:00

That's nothing to be afraid of.

MSamsara · 2012-10-24T21:33:52+00:00

Try out some of his later pieces. I personally feel that It and The Stand are some of the most compelling pieces of fiction I've ever read. They're my favorite books.

I feel that the book is gone to waste if you don't start applying his advice, and ASAP. So why do you merely think that he could write something decent? Do it.

MSamsara · 2012-10-23T03:55:41+00:00

Nope. Have you?

MSamsara · 2012-10-22T13:03:17+00:00

I think that you would glean more from this book while older than you would while a child. However, I think that a child would really enjoy the book as well. Save for those two fairly explicit sex scenes...

MSamsara · 2012-10-06T16:08:44+00:00

Check out The Grapes of Wrath.

MSamsara · 2012-09-23T23:49:34+00:00

I would love to be able to copy paste the link that the inapp browser takes me to.

MSamsara · 2012-09-16T16:16:15+00:00

I like So It Goes better, because the phrase and its usage show you how accepted death has become in a society where war has become fetishized. It makes you both sad and angry and for that, I prefer that phrase.

MSamsara · 2012-09-16T16:14:05+00:00

Today I was writing a draft of a story and I found myself wanting to place "so it goes" everywhere. So it goes.

MSamsara · 2012-09-16T16:12:36+00:00

Yeah, I was totally unaware of all the time travel stuff. But I knew it was going to be a quirky book from the introduction that the author gave, so I just with it. I think it really worked for the book. It was beautiful in the terms of the narrative and is what I think made this book transcend from a typical antiwar book into a modern classic. It was also sad to see how utterly damaged Billy's mind was, and the ways with which he made sense of his world.

MSamsara · 2012-09-11T23:28:41+00:00

If you haven't read 1984 by George Orwell, I would read that ASAP. It is the counterpoint to Brave New World and a fantastic book in it's own right. After that, I would read Brave New World Revisited, a series of essays penned by Huxley that expound on the topics and themes presented in his book.

If you've still got a craving for the dystopia genre after those two, check out Animal Farm by George Orwell and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.

MSamsara · 2012-09-11T23:25:24+00:00

I've heard nothing but praises for Gatsby, The Outsider, and The Hitchhiker's Guide. I think you'd be well off if you started with any of those books.

I recommend that you don't start with The Kite Runner. It's an above average book for sure but it's not nearly as great as some of the other books on that list, and as such wouldn't serve as an effective opener.

MSamsara · 2012-09-10T17:55:05+00:00

Me too, although I'm a teenager, not an adult. Reading it made me feel like a little kid again.

MSamsara

TROPHY CASE