The UBookie

Plot: When Breath Becomes Air is a non-fiction novel written by Paul Kalanithi. For context, Paul is at the end of his neurosurgery residency. He has been pursuing the medical field for almost 11 years, when he is diagnosed with lung cancer. This novel explores his journey into the neurosurgery field and why he decided to study the brain. In the Part I of When Breath Becomes Air, Paul revisits his childhood and reflects on his career in college and med school. When he was growing up, he desperately wanted to be a writer; however, his desire changed, and he decided to go into medicine. This part continues to explore his experiences in college, in a scientific laboratory, and in residency. In Part II, Paul revisits the scene where he discovers that he has lung cancer; however, shortly after this, the doctors realize the cancer is treatable because of a small mutation in the cancerous cells. Paul began to regain hope because of the doctors’ discovery. After chemotherapy, Paul’s doctors ...

  (The reason why this is the 3rd book is because this is the only book I could find at the Champaign Public Library) March: Book 3 by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell March: Book 3 is an insightful graphic novel, in which it follows real historical events significant to Black History, following the partial perspective of John Lewis, a former U.S Representative. In this novel, it doesn't sugar-coat the narrative and tells things like they were in an accurate and straight-forward manner.  Picketers, the Baptist Street Church Bombing, how voting registration was specifically rigged against African-American people, even the violent beatings of innocent people doing things as simple as sitting in the same diner as those of a different race than them.  The illustrations in the novel as well are specifically intriguing, as they convey a grim and dark tone. I personally think that the lack of color, only with black and white being prominent, in itself is symbolic ...

  One of the first books/series that got me into serious reading was the Percy Jackson series. I started reading it in about 3rd-4th grade and it was one of the best books I have ever read. After I read the series I went on to watch the two movies and I can say without a doubt, that the movies were one of the most disappointing movies I have ever watched. They had almost no correlation to the books and there were only two movies. Which is why I was really excited to know that there is a new series apparently coming out on Disney plus. In honor of this series I wanted to give a quick recap and my review of the first book.  The first book in the Percy Jackson series is called The Lightning Thief. It revolves around a “demigod” ( half human and half god) by the name of, obviously Percy Jackson. Percy starts off the story by introducing how much of a trouble maker he is, but readers can tell that Percy isn’t a bad kid, it's just that he finds himself losing it. He has some strange...

  An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green An Absolutely Remarkable Thing is a novel one could read over and over without getting bored. It is a relatively short book; however, every page is suspenseful and intriguing. After reading the book, it is a 10/10 read. An Absolutely Remarkable Thing is about a giant robot, Carle, who magically appears in major cities all around the world during the span of one night. Whoever put the Carles in the cities also hacked the security cameras nearby and forced them to see looped footage. Whenever people tried to watch the security cameras, an old Queen song played in the background. When the main character, April May, discovers the robot, she posts a viral video about it. However, April does not care about the fame. She just wants to appreciate the piece of artwork, Carle. When April hears about the security cameras and the song playing in the background, she does some research and discovers that the Wikipedia page for the Queen song is...

 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone: In grand celebration of the Movie adaptations 20th anniversary, I thought that it would be somewhat appropriate to reflect on the first ever Harry Potter book: Sorcerer's (or Philosopher's) Stone! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Spoilers The story follows the lovable, ever iconic Harry Potter: As a baby, he lost his parents to "You-Know-Who," an evil and powerful wizard, but lived when he struck him with a spell, leaving a lightning bolt shaped scar on his head. He's delivered to his closest relatives the Dursleys: Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and Cousin Dudley.  He's raised in their house as sort of a lesser being who's inferior to the rest of the family. This stems from the fact that he has magical heritage, which would harm the Dursley's appearance of being completely, totally, wholly normal. He's forced into staying in a dusty cupboard und...

Book review – Jordan Irvin The way I used to be Amber Smith TRIGGER WARNING - SA The way I used to be was an emotional rollercoaster. This book is centered around 14-year-old girl Eden. This book was quite easy to read considering it was split into four parts. (Freshman, sophomore, junior, senior) Eden was known as a nice “pure” girl by almost everyone she knew. She saw herself this way until one night.   Eden has an older brother, and his friend sexually assaulted Eden during the summer before her first year at high school. Not only did that negatively emotionally and mentally impact Eden, but it also changed her as a person drastically and created a huge rift between her and her family, especially her brother. Going into high school, Eden has new hair that catches everyone’s attention but that’s the littlest thing that changed about her.   Eden meets a junior boy (14/17), lies about her age (16), and starts dating him. That’s the major event in freshman year. Something m...

Regardless of me doing a review for the last 3 books of the Keeper of the Lost Cities, I am doing another review today. I’m doing it in a book called The Hate U Give. This isn’t for any reason. I just knew that it was a famous book and wanted to read it. The Hate U Give deserves every bit of fame it has. Angie Thomas, the writer, writes this book in a way that explains Starr Carter, the main character of the book in an amazing way. Starr Carter, a sixteen-year-old black girl goes to a party in her neighborhood which is called Garden Heights. Ever since attending Williamson Prep which she has gone to for a very long time she feels uncomfortable. This is because Williamson Prep has a majority white population and she can’t relate to anyone. As I said the book starts with a party scene and introduces Starr and also Khalil Harris who is Starr’s best friend. During the party gunshots from a fight suddenly appears. Khalil takes Starr home but suddenly a white cop pulls them over. The cop ...