Shaman, Noah Gordon (Cole Family #2)

Synopsis:

Robert Jeremy Cole, the legendary doctor and hero of The Physician,left an enduring legacy. From the 11th century on, the eldest son in each generation of the Cole family has had the same first name and middle initial and many of these men have followed the medical profession. A few have been blessed with their ancestor's diagnostic skill and the "sixth sense" they call The Gift, the ability to know instinctively when death is impending. The tragedy of Rob J.'s life is the deafness of his son, Robert Jefferson Cole, who is called Shaman by everyone who knows him. Shaman's life is difficult. First, he must learn to speak so that he can take his place in the hearing world, and then he must fight against the prejudices of a society where physical differences matter. As Shaman struggles to achieve his identity, the Coles, along with the rest of America, are drawn into the conflict between the North and the South.

I adore Noah Gordon. Completely. This is the second book I've read by him, and the two have been incredibly amazing. He just writes in this awesome way, beautifully but also cruel when necessary. Both The Physician and Shaman are incredible books about the life of being a doctor. They show the good and bad things of following the medical profession, and they tell the story of a life. 

Shaman is the story of this boy, Rob J. Cole Jr. (called Shaman by everyone), who is deaf. But that does not stop him from living his life. With the help from his family and from Rachel, he can learn to live with his deafness and to stop it from being a huge problem in his life. 

The book begins with Rob J. Cole's arrival to the US, and how he starts a family while being a good physician. Then he has his son, and his indian friends and he starts developing a life in a zone where that was nothing before. 

I love how Noah Gordon tells his story with realistic writing. There isn't the girl who falls in love with the boy that loves her and the live happily ever after. The girl can get married with someone else, you know? And this is only an example of how Gordon tells the unfairnesses of life, because bad things also happen. People die, people go to war and maybe they don't come back like they left, people leave... But people also fall in love, keep a life-lasting friendship, have a loving family, save lives...

This awesome book, as well as the rest of the series following the Cole family, have to be read at least once in a lifetime. It's just something that has to be read. 

Divergent movie news

The cast and other information for the Divergent movie were announced less than two months ago, and not everyone is happy about them, it's not how we imagined the characters while we were reading them. 

- Shailene Woodley plays Tris Prior, the main character of the book. 

- Theo James is Four, the other main character, and the character we girls were most looking forward to know. 

- Kate Winslet will be Jeanine, the evil one in the film. 

- Ansel Elgort is Caleb Prior, Tris's smart brother. 

- Zoe Kravitz is Christina, Tris's new friend in Dauntless, brave and reckless. 

- Maggie Q. will play Tori, another Dauntless member. 

- Ben Lloyd-Huges plays Will, one of Tris's new friends. 

- Ben Lamb will be Edward, another friend. 

- Christian Madsen is Al, another friend. 

- Jai Courtney is Eric, the Dauntless leader Tris doesn't seem to particularly like.

Uriah, Peter and other characters are still being cast, even if there are many rumours that haven't been confirmed yet. 
The movie is currently being filmed in Chicago, USA, but I'm not sure if they started yet...
So what do you think? Are the actors like you imagined the characters?

Girl Saves Boy, Steph Bowe

Synopsis:

"The first time we met, Jewel Valentine saved my life."

Isn’t it enough having your very own terminal disease, without your mother dying? Or your father dating your Art teacher?

No wonder Sacha Thomas ends up in the lake that Saturday evening…

But the real question is: how does he end up in love with Jewel Valentine?

With the help of quirky teenage prodigies Little Al and True Grisham, Sacha and Jewel have a crazy adventure, with a little lobster emancipation along the way.

But Sacha’s running out of time, and Jewel has secrets of her own.

Have you ever read this short (about 200 pages) but well-written book, beautiful and simple? The kind of book you read in a day but that you think about it later? That's Girl Saves Boy. 

I can't believe the authour wrote it when she was a 17-year-old! I love how it's written, the simple but beautiful way Steph Bowe narrates the story. It's really nice that each chapter is told from the point of view of one of the main characters, Sacha and Jewel, because that helps to know what is going on inside their minds in that specific moment. 

I love the character's names in the book because, I don't know if it's only for me, but they aren't particularly usual names. 

The only thing in the book being a bit... unreal was that almost every main character (Sacha, Jewel, True) have lost someone really close to them that they love... They have all had disgraced lives and that's why they understand each other, which is a bit tragic, don't you think?

But I think the book was awesome. I loved it, and I really think Steph Bowe has real talent for being that young (for an author), which is great. 

Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin

Synopis:

Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom’s protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens.

Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; and a determined woman undertakes the most treacherous of journeys. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.

It took me more time than expected to read the book, because I was just so busy with school and everything, but I finally did. I loved the book so much!! I'm a real fan of Patrick Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind, and I was told that it was similiar to it, and I had heard about the TV series, and it was a best-selling book for the last two years, more or less... So all those reasons made me want to read it soon, and I asked a friend of mine who had recommended it to me a long ago if I could borrow it, and he gave it to me saying I would totally love it. 

And I did!! I loved the story, and I'm in love with so many characters... I specially love Arya, and I'm in love with Jon. I also love Catelyn and Ned, and Daenerys, and even Tyrion. The list could last for a long time. 

I feel like every single detail in the book is planned from the very beginning. I love having a map inside the book so I can picture perfectly where the action is happening in every chapter. I love how George RR Martin writes, because he's writing is both beautiful and cruel when it needs to, so it can express whatever he wants us to feel in that moment. 

And there are just so many characters... And houses, and ancestors, and places and... I don't know, it's just that you have to have a great memory to follow  the whole book. I really like that every chapter is focused on a single character, explaining whatever happens to them but without forgetting the rest of them, which is really nice. 

And now everything I want to do is watch the series (the part belonging to the book I've read, that I think it's the first season) and find the next books to read them soon!! 

Have you read it? What do you think about it?

Catching Fire trailer

Finally!! The Catching Fire trailer finally aired last night, but thanks to timezones, I had to wait until this morning to watch it (it was the first thing I did when I woke up). 

What do you think about it? I loved it, ok? But, I don't know, I expected many different things to be in it. By the way, there are going to be spoilers here, so if you haven't read the book, you'll maybe don't want to read this...

I really expected more scenes in the arena to appear in the trailer or something because, you know, that's what the book is about. But yeah, just like I thought while reading Catching Fire, Katniss doesn't get to the arena since more or less half the book, so... I guess it's okay to show in the trailer why does President Snow want old winners back to the arena. Which I think it's unfair, by the way. You know, if you've fought against 23 people to survive and fight for your life, and you've been lucky enough to win, why do you have to do it again? The good thing about going to The Hunger Games was that you can never be selected anymore...

Finnick didn't appear in the trailer, right? They should have shown him, because he's one of the characters the fandom seems to like most. And the other winners, from the other districts, should have appeared as almost main characters. 

Katniss's kiss with Gale appeared, though, and some other things I didn't want my sister to see because she hasn't read the book. If you already know what's going to happen, it's not fun to read it anymore. 

But now that we have the trailer, November 22nd looks a bit closer to me... I'm really excited to see what the movie will look like!! 

If you haven't watched it yet, you can watch it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2-FdZ6TY78

Tell me if it doesn't work. 

What else do you think was missing in the trailer? Or what do you think was too much to be shown? Have you read the book?