Books
The Great Gatsby
This book by F Scott Fitzgerald is about a man named Nick who moves to New York to visit his cousin Tom who is married to a woman named Daisy. Nick is neighbors with a rich man named Gatsby who had a relationship with Daisy before he had to go to war. Daisy thought that he was never going to come back and she did not want to wait so she got married with Tom who treats her bad. After Gatsby came back from the war, he tried to reunite with Daisy. Although he knew that Daisy was married, he plans these parties to attract her so he can talk to her again. To achieve this he needs Nicks help and talks him into setting up a date. Eventually Gatsby reunites again with Daisy, but only to be betrayed with her husband. Daisy and Tom go far away from where they were living. In the end many people die and so does Gatsby. When Nick finds out that he is dead he arranges a funeral. Nick soon realizes that although Gatsby made huge parties and had a lot of people come to them; none of them show up. Nick is the only one that really actually cared about Gatsby.
Catcher in the Rye
The book Catcher in Rye by J.D Salinger is about a boy named Holden Caulfeild who gets kicked out of his school called Pencey Prep. Holden says that he has been kicked out of several other schools and having to deal with his parents nagging at him. Due to this he decides to leave school the same day he went to go visit his history teacher, Mr. Spencer, who sent a letter to Holden's parents about getting kicked out of school. He basically leaves because he got into a fight with his roommate due to the fact that his roommate went on a "date" with a girl named Jane Gallagher. Jane was Holdens childhood friend and it was easy to tell that he cared about her a lot even though he kept telling himself to call her but never did because "you have to be in the mood for those things."
When Holden arrives in New York, he meets a lot of people and starts to drink a lot and becomes very depressed by everything. His depression is caused by the things he observes and how a lot of people are a bunch of "phonies". During his three day stay at a New York hotel, he meets up with a girl named Sally Hayes who used to be his girl friend and go ice skating. This causes Holden to become more depressed because Sally refuses to leave New York with him which makes him realize that he has nothing in common with her. He later decides to sneak into his parents home to see his little sister Phoebe who he adores. He tells her what happened and that he can stay at home so Phoebe lends him her Christmas money. That same night he calls his teacher Mr. Antolini and asks him if he could sleep at his house for the night. When Holden arrives at Mr. Antolini house he stays up talking to him for a while about how he should try to stay in school. Holden tries to be polite, but he's very tired and Mr. Antolini tells him to sleep. He ends up sleeping on the couch and is awaken by Mr. Antolini who is stroking his forehead. Holden quickly gets up and tells Mr. Antolini a lie and leaves. He sleeps at a train station and plans to leave to the West but realizes that he has to visit Phoebe one last time and give her pieces of a CD she wanted and her money back. The book ends with him visiting a psychoanalyst and preparing to go to another school.
When Holden arrives in New York, he meets a lot of people and starts to drink a lot and becomes very depressed by everything. His depression is caused by the things he observes and how a lot of people are a bunch of "phonies". During his three day stay at a New York hotel, he meets up with a girl named Sally Hayes who used to be his girl friend and go ice skating. This causes Holden to become more depressed because Sally refuses to leave New York with him which makes him realize that he has nothing in common with her. He later decides to sneak into his parents home to see his little sister Phoebe who he adores. He tells her what happened and that he can stay at home so Phoebe lends him her Christmas money. That same night he calls his teacher Mr. Antolini and asks him if he could sleep at his house for the night. When Holden arrives at Mr. Antolini house he stays up talking to him for a while about how he should try to stay in school. Holden tries to be polite, but he's very tired and Mr. Antolini tells him to sleep. He ends up sleeping on the couch and is awaken by Mr. Antolini who is stroking his forehead. Holden quickly gets up and tells Mr. Antolini a lie and leaves. He sleeps at a train station and plans to leave to the West but realizes that he has to visit Phoebe one last time and give her pieces of a CD she wanted and her money back. The book ends with him visiting a psychoanalyst and preparing to go to another school.
Angelas Ashes
Angelas Ashes by Frank McCourt was the authors story about his childhood and early adulthood. Through out the book he describes the situations that he and his family faced while living in Brooklyn, New York and Ireland. His parents names are Malachy and Angela McCourt. They had three boys, one girl and one miscarriage. Frank is the oldest and he basically takes the role of his father since Malachy spends most of their money drinking and his drinking habits are caused by losing his children. Malachy had a drinking problem before he started to lose his children, but the birth of her daughter Margaret makes him stop drinking for awhile. It wasn't until his daughter passed away, due to sickness, when he starts to drink again and wastes all their money to feed the rest of his children. He later tries to look for a job in England where he's supposed to send money back to his family, but doesn't send them anything so Frank starts to work at a post office. He tries to save enough money so that he can provide his family with food, clothes and a trip for him to go back to New York. While at his new job as a messenger, he has a relationship with a girl named Theresa Carmody. They have a sexual relationship and Theresa ends up dying. This event pushes Frank to save enough money and eventually goes to New York where he hopes life will be better.