Report 4: KonoSuba: God’s Blessings on this Wonderful World!

 As the fourth part of this review, Konosuba’s major events are really punctual and can be listed in four particular junctions of the story: when Kazuma meets Aqua and both are sent to the kingdom of Belzerg; Kazuma and Aqua meet Megumin and let her join the party; Kazuma learns steal and uses it against a certain enemy that I prefer not to mention in order to avoid spoilers; the party fights against one of the eight demon king generals, which will be omitted in this review to encourage the readers of this review to give a try to the novel.

Now, I have to say that Konosuba completely surpassed my expectations, because I thought a fantasy-comedy novel was going to be lacking in content and world development. However, it really proved me wrong by introducing charismatic characters and a world that actually felt alive, since not every moment of the story is focused solely on the protagonists. Actually, I have to say that I feel identified with Kazuma, because he feels like a normal person in a world that is way bigger than he is; he does not have any powers or superintelligence. Kazuma is just a normal guy with common sense and good luck, which makes him feel like a friend telling you his story.

Nevertheless, a good story cannot avoid having flaws. Probably because this is the first volume of a series of novels, Konosuba feels a little heavy to grasp since it takes some time to build its world, which might be a little daunting for new readers.

To conclude, Konosuba is a really great story with unique characters. It definitely makes you feel as part of its world through the various interactions the protagonists have. Moreover, these characters give a sensation of nostalgia, as if you were talking with a group of old friends from your youth. I really recommend this novel since it truly was an adventure for me, and yes, I will absolutely continue reading the series.

334 Words

Sorry for overextending, but this is one of my favorite books and wanted to do it justice in this review. Thanks for reading.

Diego Santiago Cervantes Chi

Reading Report 4: The Great Gatsby by Mauricio López

 After the crash, the body of Myrtle was found by Tom while passing by with Nick. He told Wilson who was responsible for Myrtle's death (believing it was Gastby). Back at the Buchanans’ house in East Egg, Nick finds Gatsby hiding in the garden and discover that it was Daisy who was driving. The next morning, Nick tells Gatsby to run away but he reveals everything about his real past and why he wants to marry Daisy. But while waiting in his mansion, he was killed by Wilson and then Wilson killed himself. The story ends with Gatsby's funeral which almost no one attends, not even Daisy, because she left and continued with her life. Disgusted with the life, Nick goes back to the Midwest. 

The story was excellent, at every single point of the story you are shocked by everything that happens and even you can learn about life and the importance of the truth. It was definitely not the normal romantic story that you see, with an amazing and totally unexpected ending you can understand the feelings of the characters which I totally enjoyed all time. 

In my opinion, the only negative comment was about the saturation of some information and facts which were interesting but didn´t  support a lot of the story. You were able to understand the story but you were obligated to remember a lot of facts which can be hard at the beginning, however, as the story develops, it is easier. 

As a conclusion, this story definitely goes as a classic which shows us the pessimistic side of the wealthy people and how wealth can not be everything in our lives, mostly a simple thing such as love can be the thing that everyone pursues but almost nobody can reach. I will strongly recommend this book to all the readers who want to read a classic and who are fans of drama and tragedy from the beginning to the end. Fitzgerald writes excellent books which I will be willing to read if they are of this kind of gender. Doing readings such as this, allows the students to achieve skills that sometimes are not normally practiced and also to acquire healthy hobbies such as reading, being an activity that should be done outside the classroom and makes you progress in the target language. 

Reading Report 4: James and the Giant Peach

    Today, I finished the cutest story I had ever read. James and the Giant Peach is a novel that, without taking you apart from the real world, will give you a new magical perspective about little things that surround us every day and will respond to any doubt children may have about nature and life. What are bugs’ personalities like? How are rainbows made? What is above the clouds? If you are willing to answer these questions, do not hesitate to read this marvelous book.

    Although there are many characters in the story, I did not feel identified with any of them. However, I loved them all. My favorite ones were the Old Green Grasshopper and Miss Spider because they looked like the parents of the group of creatures, who also have very funny personalities. Besides, James is a really cute kid that any child will feel identified with.

    For sure, the content of the story is intended for the general public. It is very engaging and easy to read. However, there are moments in which a specific character says bad words sporadically. The Centipede is a grumpy character that tends to criticize the Earthworm by using language, which to my taste, is inappropriate for children.

    All in all, the story is amazing and I highly recommend it as a reading resource for middle or high school teachers. In the case of elementary students, the only recommendation would be to check the language and adapt the swear words for a different expression. 

252 words

Report 3: KonoSuba: God’s Blessings on this Wonderful World!

  After their first failure, a beautiful female paladin approached Kazuma and asked him to let her join the party. However, he was completely dumbstruck because he used to be a shut-in in his previous life, so it was really difficult to even respond to her. Nevertheless, Kazuma said very quickly ‘No’ out of nervousness, which triggered an unexpectedly pleasant reaction from the paladin. This is where things get interesting, because our main character realizes that he is probably bound to form a party full of strange people. Moreover, he was destined to be the only one with a basic class in the group, and still had no special skills.

A couple of days passed, and Kazuma decided to learn his first set of abilities by asking people of the guild to teach him some. Once in the main building, he met with the paladin from the previous night, she was going by the name ‘Darkness’ and was accompanied by a white-haired thief called Chris. Sooner than later, Darkness asked him again to let her join the party, but he refused. However, Chris took the reins of the conversation and told Kazuma that she heard he was looking for a teacher in order to learn useful adventuring skills, which caught his attention. 

After a series of events, Chris taught Kazuma the abilities of a thief, which included the named skill Steal, alongside other very useful ones that our protagonist would use very soon. Thus, an emergency call echoed throughout the city, calling all adventurers—from beginners to veterans—to group up at the main gates of Axel...

266 Words

Diego Santiago Cervantes Chi

Reading Report 3 by Mauricio López

 Reading Report 3

A couple of days later, at Gatsby's request, Nick makes Daisy visit Nick's house so Gatsby can meet him. When they met, Daisy was astonished to meet Gatsby after almost five years. The meeting was uncomfortable at the beginning but later on Nick gives them privacy and they reconcile. Afterwards, they visit Gatsby's house , which later on, Tom discovers that Daisy has an association with Gatsby. Gatsby invites Daisy to the next party but Tom goes with her, they both dislike what the party is and leave, which makes Gatsby upset and angry. 

Gatsby's parties cease thereafter but Daisy visits Gatsby in the afternoons. At the end of the summer, Nick, Jordan and Gatsby are invited to the Buchanans’ house. Daisy flirts with Gatsby which makes Tom angry and decides to invite everyone to drive into town. Daisy and Gatsby leave in Tom’s blue coupe, while Tom drives Jordan and Nick in Gatsby’s garish yellow car.

On the way, Tom stops for gas at Wilson's garage which receives the notice of Wilson and Myrtle are going to the west, this shocks Tom and makes him more angry. In Manhattan, they celebrate in a party at Plaza Hotel, but the mood is hot and in a bad temper. Tom confronts Gatsby about Daisy and she tries to calm them down but the fight escalates to the point of Tom revealing Gatsby's secrets of his fortune which was selling illegal alcohol during the prohibition but he denies it, however, Daisy has lost her resolve but both leave the place in Gatsby's car.

Daisy was driving but while arguing with Gatsby and killed Myrtle by accident, who, after having a vehement argument with her husband, had run into the street toward Gatsby’s passing car thinking it was Tom.  

Reading Report 3: James and the Giant Peach

 I have already read more than half the book and the story is each time more interesting. Do you remember when I told you the peach was on the sea? Well, the story continued with some sharks getting around the big fruit. All the creatures got scared about them and they thought they had started to sink, so they asked little James for a plan to survive. 

At first, the boy’s idea was not a good one for them, but then, they accepted. Mrs. Spider and Silkworm were asked to create a lot of threads in order to catch enough seagulls to move the peach from that risky place. To me, the funniest part of this scene was when they had to convince the Earthworm to be the bait of the birds. He was really scared and the Centipede encouraged him in an aggressive but funny way. James’ plan worked exactly as he said and everyone got really happy to have caught 502 seagulls who lifted the peach from the sea. 

The story starts to get even more surreal when the peach flies up to the sky. James and the creatures found the ‘Cloud-Men’. I haven’t finished reading this section and I hope to understand it better, but it seems that they are the ones who make hailstones during the winter and they practice during the summer.

227 words

Report 2: KonoSuba: God’s Blessings on this Wonderful World!

    After a couple of months as construction workers, our main characters Kazuma and Aqua decide to finally start a party to go bounty hunting. Therefore, they decide to hang a poster near their table at the adventurer’s guild, where Aqua establishes the requirements for new members of the team, and since she is a goddess, she raises the bar to accept only specialist-level classes, which are the most powerful ones in the world of Konosuba. Knowing this, Kazuma reluctantly accepts because he is a user of the weakest class: adventurer. However, after a couple of days, a very strange-looking girl appears; called by the name Megumin, she claims to be an archmage who wields the power of explosive magic, which is the strongest in its kind. In consequence, Kazuma and Aqua do not hesitate in inviting her to the party and depart on their first adventure: hunting giant frogs.

Now, during their first adventure as a party, Kazuma takes his time to analyze the situation, and thinks that hunting giant frogs might be a bit too easy for them. However, after hearing a blasting sound, he looks at Megumin lying on the ground, immobile. Kazuma asks her why she is in that state, and the archmage quickly explains that using any kind of detonation magic, especially the explosive one, requires a great amount of mana, and thus she is only capable of using her spell once a day. As a result, the hunt is a complete failure.

Kazuma decides to recruit a member who can be the frontline for his party, and thus, a very odd knight approaches him…

269 Words

Diego Santiago Cervantes Chi

Reading Report 2 by Mauricio López

 The Great Gatsby 

    At the dinner Nick meets everyone, including Jordan Baker, a friend of Daisy and a professional golf player who secretly tells Nick that Tom has a mistress in New York. Later on, he meets with Daisy who tells she was unhappy, which makes Nick uncomfortable with all the news so he goes back to his home. Returning to his house he sees his neighbour Jay Gatsby standing alone and looking at a green light across the bay at the end of Daisy’s house. 

    Months later, on a trip to New York with Tom, Nick meets the mistress of Tom, Myrtle Wilson, who lives with her husband George Wilson. They step into the apartment of George and Myrtle, in which George works in the garage as a repairman. Myrtle invites them to a party in an apartment with their friends and after a lot of drinks Myrtle says to Tom when he is going to leave Daisy, which makes him furious by bringing her to the conversation that ends up punching her on the nose, nobody knows what to do and the party continues all night. On the next day Nick wakes on a train station not remembering almost everything that happened. 

    As summer goes, Nick starts to get used to the big parties that Gatsby holds every Saturday night with a lot of music and people. One day he receives a personal invitation from Gastby for his next party which without hesitation he assists. He meets Jordan there but he notices the absence of the host. Later he starts to listen to all the conversation from the people who actually don't know about Gatsby or his past. A couple of hours later, Nick meets Gatsby but just for a quick second because he was looking forward to talking with Jordan, who says something shocking to her but which cannot say to Nick.

    Nick starts to see Jordan more and even becomes an acquaintance of Gatsby. Gatsby invites Nick and Jordan to have lunch in Manhattan to get to know him more. He said that unlike what people believe, he was a member of a wealthy family in which everyone died and even that he was a war hero; Nick didn't believe entirely, however he listened to it. Later on while drinking tea, Jordan says to Nick what Gastby said to her. Apparently he met Daisy before in Louisville and they fell in love, but he returned to war for 5 years and at the end she married Tom. Gatsby bought his house on West Egg so he could be across the water from her.

Reading Report 2: James and the Giant Peach

 Up to what I have read, the story has become more interesting. 

One night, after having had all the visitors see the giant peach, aunt Spiker and aunt Sponge sent little James to clean the garden. Suddenly, he saw a tunnel near the fruit and started to crawl inside it until he arrived in the middle of the peach.

There, he found a door that led to a room. James met some funny creatures that at first he found scary, but then, he realized they were quite friendly. One of them was an Old Green Grasshopper that appears to be the leader of the creatures. Next to him are Miss Spider and Ladybug. On the other side of the room, there is a Centipede with 42 legs, a blind Earthworm, and a sleepy Silkworm. On the ceiling, there is a Glow-worm giving light to everyone.

Apparently, they all had been waiting for James because he was considered part of the group. That night, the Old Green Grasshopper said it was time to go to bed and while James was helping Centipede to take out his 42 boats, Miss Spider prepared the beds for everyone. The little boy did not know what was going to happen to him the next day.

When they woke up, they were getting prepared to leave the hill where aunt Sponge and aunt Spike lived. Centipede started cutting the stem of the peach and it started to roll and roll along the street until they fell down in the sea.

255 words

Report 1: KonoSuba: Blessings on this Wonderful World!

 Title: KonoSuba: God’s Blessings on this Wonderful World!

Author: Natsume Akatsuki

Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Isekai.

KonoSuba is a story that breaks the mold of stereotypical fantasy novels, since it is a satire of the nowadays overused isekai genre, where usually the protagonist is transported to another world with very powerful abilities. The series of novels is written by Natsume Akatsuki, whose career started as an independent writer of web novels. Now, the reason why I chose this novel is the brilliant comedy of the series, and of course, the enormous charisma each character has.

First of all, the story takes place in the city of Axel, also known as “The Beginner’s Town”, where every novice adventurer decides to start their journey. However, a very particular duo turns up out of the blue: Kazuma and Aqua, a recently formed “party” by a normal human and the goddess of water. But, how did they end up in such a place? Well, Kazuma was a shut-in NEET who died from shock after almost getting run over by a tractor. Later on, while in the limbo Kazuma meets Aqua, who offers him the opportunity to resurrect in another world with a very powerful “thing” of his choice, and after a series of comedy twists, he ends up choosing her as his power and so it begins their adventure.

Once they realize where they are, Kazuma uses his knowledge of games in order to find the Adventurers guild, but his character features are extremely weak, leading the pair to end up as construction workers… Thus, blessings upon this wonderful world start to appear.

253 Words 

Diego Santiago Cervantes Chi

                                                   Reading Report 1 by Mauricio López

The Great Gatsby

The title of the book is The Great Gatsby, the name of the author is F. Scott Fitzgerald and the genre of this novel is tragedy.

I chose this book because it's a book that I have already been interested before, in the TV and shows I have seen different parodies of the book, however, the book itself I have never read it and by just looking at the description of the book I was trapped because I enjoy the genre of tragedy and with a touch of suspense I believe that this book is definitely a must read.

The novel is set in and around New York, in the 1920s, post World War One, at a time known as the Jazz Age. 

The main characters are:

-Nick Carraway who is an ex-Yale alumni and a veteran of WW1. He is easy-going and optimistic.

-Jay Gatsby who is a young, mysterious millionaire with shady business connections. He is a mysterious, passionate and intelligent man.

-Daisy Buchanan, she is Nick's second-cousin and member of the high socialite. She is a shallow, self-absorbed and young woman. 

-Thomas "Tom" Buchanan is a millionaire who lives in East Egg and is Daisy's husband. He is selfish and an arrogant man. 

-Jordan Baker is an amateur golfer with a sarcastic streak and an aloof attitude, and Daisy's long-time friend. She is Nick Carraway's girlfriend.

-George B. Wilson is a mechanic and owner of a garage. He is dumb and lunatic. 

-Myrtle Wilson who is George's wife and Tom Buchanan's mistress. She is unloyal and a liar. 

On the first part, we are able to meet Nick Carraway, he starts to introduce himself, being a Yale ex alumni and also a veteran of WW1. He decides to return to a place he had a house, being this set in the village of West Egg on Long Island. When he starts to prepare for everything as he was moving, he discovers that he is a neighbour of a wealthy man by just looking at the magnificent mansion that he owns. At the front of his house, at the other side of the lake in the refined part of the village, it's the place where Thomas Buchanan lives, with Daisy his wife and who's actually Nick's cousin. Tom. At the very beginning of the summer, because of the news of Nick´s arrival he was invited to a dinner party to celebrate and met everyone.

Reading Report 1: James and the Giant Peach 🍑

New semester, new book to read! This time, I have chosen James and the Giant Peach, a children’s novel written by Roald Dahl in 1961. I have decided to read this book because I realized that the author wrote Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I have not had the chance to read those books, but I have watched the movies and I really love those stories. This is the reason why I chose a book written by this author. 

The story of this book takes place in London, and although it does not mention the exact moment, there are some clues that show that this happens in the second half of the 20th century. The main character is James Henry Trotter, a little kid whose parents passed away after an accident with a rhinoceros. His life was happy until he had to live with his two terrible aunts, Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker. 

One day, an old man gave James a bag with a bunch of green crystals, which apparently were magic and were going to give him anything he wanted in life. Sadly, he dropped the bag near a peach tree and the little crystals disappeared underground. Suddenly, the two aunts realized that the tree finally had a peach, which started to grow and grow. Then, Aunt Spiker decided to make a lot of money with the enormous peach and started selling tickets to let the people see it. 

242 words.

Reading Control 3: The old man and the sea.

After the old man sharped from the board he spent plenty of days until the eighty-fifth day of his unlucky streak arrived. On that day he promised to sail his skiff far beyond the island’s shallow coastal waters and venture into the Gulf Stream. He prepared and went, and at noon he arrived at a spot and waited for many hours. 

Incredibly, a big fish, a marlin, takes the bait that the old man has placed in the waters. He hooks the fish, but he cannot pull it in. Instead, the fish begins to pull the boat. Unfortunately, he was unable to tie the line fast to the boat for fear the fish would snap a taut line. The old man bears the strain of the line ready to give slack. The fish pulls the boat all through the day, through the night, through another day, and another night. 

It swims all day until at last it tires and swims east with the current. The old man feels annoyed and angry but at the same time he respects the great fish. On the third day the fish tires, and the old man manages to pull the marlin in close enough to kill it with a harpoon thrust. He lashes it to his boat, raises the small mast, and sets sail for home. As he sails on with the fish, the marlin’s blood leaves a trail in the water and attracts sharks. The first to attack is a great mako shark, which he manages to slay with the harpoon. In the struggle, the old man loses the harpoon and lengths of valuable rope, which leaves him vulnerable to other shark attacks. 

Although he killed several sharks, more and more appeared and by the time night came, they manage to get the fish and eat it. The old man regreted his choices and as feeling down and upset he goes back to home. The next morning, a crowd of amazed fishermen gathers around the skeletal carcass of the fish, which is still lashed to the boat. Knowing anything about the old man’s struggle, tourists at a nearby café observe the remains of the giant marlin and mistook it for a shark. The boy looks at the boat and realizes that it was from the old man´s, afterwards he meets the old man when he awakes, amazed and melancholic he decides to be fish partners again. The old man spent his days fishing and dreaming with his memories and dreams.

Víctor Mauricio López Espadas 419 words

Reading Report 3 - The Couple Next Door

          An officer found a pink onesie in the baby's room. It turns out that Anne had changed the baby’s outfit in the dark after her last feeding, therefore, the description the police had was inaccurate. The mother realized a mint-green onesie was missing. It had to be what the baby was wearing. 

          The police couldn’t find any evidence that indicates someone broke into the Contins’ house. However, they found prints of tire tracks in the garage that didn’t match the family’s car. It is then when the detective came up with the theory that, if the parents are guilty, there must be an accomplice. The willingness of the grandparents to provide such an amount of money might be a powerful motivator to commit the crime. 

          Rasbach talked to Cynthia, the hostess of the party. She didn’t remember Anne and Marco speaking privately through the whole night, in fact, most of the time Marco was with her. She confessed they kissed each other blaming it on the drinks they have had, she said he was quite persistent.

          Marco couldn’t sleep and decided to have a chat with Rasbach about what was tormenting him. The detective seized this opportunity and asked him about what he was doing with Cynthia the night Cora went missing. Marco denied having started anything, he claimed Cynthia threw herself at him. But none of them noticed that Anne had overheard the conversation.

          After an unexpected turn of events, we found out that the whole time the neighbours have had a camera on their backyard, which the police didn’t notice. Cynthia didn’t want anybody to know about it because they use it to record the sexual encounters she has with other men, her husband being aware of this. They knew they were in trouble.

Number of words: 300

Claudia Leticia Mendez Caamal

Report 3: The Rising of the Shield Hero

The course of events have led us to the outskirts of the kingdom of Melromarc. Here Naofumi discovers that his shield has the power to absorb almost anything he gives to it, changing its shape and overall stats, as in a video game. However, our protagonist is still unable to find any form of offensive capabilities within these transformations, but the shield unlocks an ability to reproduce ointments and medicines almost in mass by just putting the right ingredients. By this time in the novel, the shield hero realizes he could sell these remedies to the people who live in the countryside; he effectively does so and begins his career as a merchant, but sooner than later he finds out that he will not be able to become stronger just by selling things. Now, with even the smallest monster becoming an almost unsurpassable hindrance, Naofumi had to find a way to get some companions in order to help him level up and attack in his place.

A little bit later in the novel we are introduced to a very particular character that runs by the name of the Slave Trader, he offers the main character a (as redundant as it is) slave for some coin. Surprisingly, Naofumi in his desperation decides to accept and pays the fee. However, he asks for the cheapest slave, which is a young demi-human girl who appears to be really sick, whose name is Raphtalia. There is a whole ritual in order to secure the “loyalty” of a slave in this world, which consists in a sort of tattoo that causes pain (and could even kill) whenever the subject does not oblige to their master’s orders. This is really important, as it is the core of the bond between Rapthtalia and Naofumi. 

At first, Raphtalia is scared of Naofumi because of her position as a slave, but she sooner than later notices how mistaken she was when Naofumi gives her food, a good place to sleep, cuts her hair, and even buys a ball for her to play with. However, whenever they went out to level up Raphtalia’s coughs would ramp up and make her unable to fight. Here is where Naofumi decides to try different medicines in order to cure her, which takes very little time to happen. Now, there is a little time skip where Raphtalia’s appearance is the one of a young lass and it is revealed to us that demi-humans growth is determined by their level, and not their age. By this time of the story, Naofumi and Raphtalia’s relationship is akin to a father and daughter one, but the first wave is soon to come, and both will need to give their best in order to get out of it alive.

Diego Santiago Cervantes Chi
467 Words

Reading Report 4: Of Mice and Men

     I have finished reading the book this Saturday, and I feel the need to write this final report since the end of the story has impacted me quite a lot. As I have mentioned in previous reports, the main purpose of George and Lennie, along the story, was to have their own farm and not need to work for someone else, then, in the middle of the book, Candy joins them. However, the story begins to turn sadder and sadder… 

    The end of the story is still shocking to me because as I have written before, I felt pretty identified with Lennie. Besides, somehow I started to admire George by making a comparison of him to my own friends. I just loved the way these two mates were always together, the way George would help Lennie to cope with difficult situations, and how he used to defend him from others. 

    When I started reading chapter five, I still had the hope that George would defend Lennie as he always did. But that never happened, and in fact, it was even worse. I do not know if I did not notice it, but I do not perceive George’s feelings at the end of the story, the author just mentions that he had a monotonous voice, but I really wonder what was going on in his mind, because to me, what he did seems to be quite well planned. 

    Regardless of how I feel about the end of the story, I think it is a great book for adolescents and young adults. However, now I understand and agree with the fact that parents in the United States are not really comfortable with the Elementary Schools asking their kids to read this novel as part of the American literature. If I were a teacher, I would only recommend this book for high school students and older.

313 words

Little liar

In today's episode of You're what you read, Nataly and I present our original story, which started as a horror story, then we intended to add humour to it, but at the end we end up with a story that teach us a lesson.

Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tpiXN6EcyKZLPq7UOtJBAWyNj7auxwTI/view?usp=sharing

Nataly Chuc, Claudia Mendez

 The Flood - by Mauricio López and Christopher Medina

In our today´s task, we were able to do something that a lot of us were expecting to do, we got the opportunity to do our own podcast by creating a story (being in this case a horror story) which we were able to bring to life and tell you as our special public. We hope that you enjoy it a lot!

-Mauricio&Christopher. 

Link for the podcast: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/11UDtnj19vWTjhhPJgc7LGTpbGcvYxocP/view?usp=sharing 

Healer (Chapter 1) - Picking the Lesser Evil

During the course of this year, there was something we always wanted to do: a podcast, so we ended up giving it a try. However it proved to be way more difficult than we expected; Patty and I put a lot of effort compiling the sound effects and music, the background cover, as well as writing and acting the story too. Now, from the bottom of our hearts, we sincerely hope you enjoy it and stay tuned for the next adventure.

-Diego & Patty

Reading Report 3: Of Mice and Men

 At this point of my reading, George and Lennie have already met most of the characters of the story who work on the farm. In chapter three, the personalities of each of these characters are better shown by the author. Slim is one of them, he is considered a wise man by the other workers of the ranch, and his advice is always taken into consideration. At the beginning of the chapter, Slim tells George that he is surprised by the relationship he has with Lennie, which is different from the way farmers usually get along with each other. 

The other two characters are Candy and Carlson. Candy is an old man who has an old dog that is suffering because of his age. In this chapter, there is a sad scene when under Slim’s advice, Candy accepts that Carlson shoots his dog to stop his pain… I cried a little bit when I read “A shot sounded in the distance. The men looked quickly at the old man. Every head turned toward him. For a moment he continued to stare at the ceiling. Then he rolled slowly over and faced the wall and lay silent.” I really could imagine Candy’s pain. However, after this sad event, something important happens. 

Candy stood alone in the room with George and Lennie and decided to offer them a big amount of money so that they could buy the farm that they have been working for, only if they let him work with them for the rest of his old age. George started talking about the deal with Candy, but they were interrupted by Slim, Carlson, Whit, and the boss’ son: Curly, who starts a fight and injures Lennie. I also cried in this part because as I mentioned in the last report, I feel identified with Lennie for the way he is. 

310 words.

Report 2: The Couple Next Door

 Anne and Marco Contis: Anne is an attractive woman from a wealthy family who has depression postpartum and doesn't feel good on her own skin. Marco is very good looking, unlike Anne, he had to fend for himself from a very young age. 

Cora: A six-month-old who went missing. 

Cynthia and Graham: Anne and Marcos’s neighbours. Cynthia has a bubbly and flirty personality, while her husband is a reserved person. They don’t have any children, in fact Cynthia seems to have something against infants.

Detective Rasbach: He is determined to find out what really happened with the baby.

When the couple saw the empty crib, they immediately called the police. Marco admits he didn’t lock the back door every single time he checked on the baby. The garage door was found wide open and their motion detector had been deactivated, whoever took the baby had to come out the couple’s back door. 

After being asked if they had any idea who might have taken Cora, Marco says Anne’s parents are wealthy people. Anne thinks about it and for the first time she feels optimistic about the whole situation, if the kidnapper is after their money maybe her baby won’t get hurt.

Hours later, the detective is informed that one of the neighbours saw a car driving away from the direction of the Contis’ garage exactly at 12:35 am with its headlights off. This new information is very interesting considering the last time Marco checked on the baby was at 12:30 am. 

The couple is required to talk to the media. In their statement they omit the baby was home alone, but it is just a matter of time before someone finds this out.

Number of words: 285

Claudia Leticia Mendez Caamal

Report 2: The Old Man and the Sea

In the book, we are able to see two important characters that the author narrates us as the main characters of the story. The first one is Santiago, which has a nickname that everybody calls him that way “the old man”. He is an old man, with an old soul, he has wrinkles on his old face, he has been a sailor for all his life, being a lonely person that has to work in the sea in order to survive, being a wise but at the same time stubborn person. On the other hand we have Manolin, whose nickname in the book is “the boy”. He is a young and brave boy, who likes to help the old man on his adventures on the sea because he is a boy who works very hard but understands the value of a friendship.

In the first character we are able to look at the story of an old fisherman that comes from Cuba and a young boy who usually goes fishing with the old man in order to help him and provide food to his family. Unfortunately the luck of the old man hasn't struck him for 84 days, and he hasn't caught anything, leading to the family of the boy to tell him to abandon the work with the old man and go with another sailor that can provide good work to the boy and his family. However, the bond that the old man and the boy has created is really strong, and the boy is always trying to help the old man on his travels, remembering the good times and at the end of the day, for the boy he was his mentor, he teached him how to fish, so it was hard for him to leave him but it was not his decision. 

As usual, on his last day the boy helped the old man with all the chores that he will need to do and he has meant to do. At the end of the day the boy invited the old man to have a beer and something to eat as a farewell and they end the day talking about life, sports and the sea.

On the next day, after having the sense of being ready to sail and finally change the luck that the old man had, he went to the boy's house in order to say goodbye and let him help him to get everything ready for his long journey on the open sea. The boy wished luck to the old man, he pulled everything on his boat and he started his journey.

    Victor Mauricio Lopez Espadas

    438 words

Report 2: The Rising of the Shield Hero

        At the very beginning of the story, we follow our protagonist: Naofumi Iwatani, a young man who enjoys having a carefree life to play videogames and read whatever he wants whenever he wants. Now, in one of his visits to the library, he encounters a book called The Records of the Four Holy Weapons which had mysteriously fallen from the shelf, Naofumi decides to give it a look and finds out that the story in the book is not finished, being followed up by a bunch of blank pages. He touches these in a distracted manner and all of a sudden gets absorbed inside the book.

Now, here is where the plot starts, Naofumi appears in a castle alongside three other young men just like him, whose names are Itsuki, Motoyasu and Ren. Confused, everyone decides to get information from the guards, finding out they were summoned as "the four holy heroes". Surprisingly enough, everyone gets excited by the idea of becoming heroes just like in a videogame or a novel, and agree to go with the flow in order to learn more about the world they would be living in from now on.

After a bit of tourism, the four are called to a meeting with the king, who tells them the country they are now in is called Melromarc. Everything seems to go smoothly for Itsuki (bow hero), Motoyasu (spear hero) and Ren (sword hero), but not so much for Naofumi (shield hero), who gets a disdainful look from the king, and is continuously ignored by him on purpose. Everyone is told that in order to save the world they were summoned to defeat waves of enemies that come from "The rifts", all of them being announced by a powerful magic artifact known as "the dragon clock". 

Later on in the meeting, each hero is introduced to their future party members. However, Naofumi is left alone and only one person stands up to join him in his travel, Myne Sophia, a beautiful adventurer who seemed really keen on helping our protagonist. Now, it is necessary to mention that the heroes are unable to fight together unless they really need to, because they only gain experience points by separating from each other a certain distance. Therefore, Naofumi and Myne, his only companion, leave in order to start leveling up, and everything seems to be going alright until night… When they check in at the town’s inn to go to sleep, Myne offers Naofumi a drink, and tells him that sleeping in the same room would not be a problem for her. Nevertheless, he refuses to do so by telling her that it would make people misunderstand their relationship as a party, they end up sleeping in different rooms, but when morning arrives Naofumi finds his door open, and realizes that all his money, which was provided by the king, was stolen. 

Naofumi tries to find Myne to tell her the bad news, just to find her crying in the arms of Motoyasu, the spear hero, he tells them that they were robbed, only to receive a hateful look from both of them. Our protagonist, dumbfounded asks them what is wrong and sees that a group of guards have come to the inn, he asks them for help, but the guards grab him and tell him that he has been accused of rape by Myne, whose real name is Malty Melromarc, the kings daughter. Naofumi is then submitted to a judge, and tries his best to prove his innocence, but the tears of Malty, whose position is way more privileged than his, convince everyone of the contrary. He is told that such a crime is punished with death, but since he was still a hero, his punishment would be being exiled. Naofumi had been framed, and now, he has not only to clear his name, but to survive in another world, without any weapon other than his holy shield.

In order to close this review, I personally identify myself with the main character, because I  lived a similar experience in highschool because of an ex-girlfriend who was extremely volatile. I got “cancelled” by her, and almost everyone in the school stopped talking to me. However, I was a great student, and the teachers helped me to clear my name by helping prove that everything was a lie. Nevertheless, I decided to keep a low profile from then on, because I already knew how dangerous people could be.

Diego Santiago Cervantes Chi

747 words, I am sorry, but the book is not precisely short. I hope you still like it, though.

Reading Report 2: Of Mice and Men

     Up to this day, I am very fond of the book. I have read two chapters of the book, and I cannot wait to continue reading it. The two main characters of the story are George and Lennie, two immigrants who are looking for a job on a ranch. At first, it was quite hard to read their lines because their grammar and vocabulary are quite informal and vulgar, but now I am used to it and I have realized that in some parts the words are written as they are pronounced. For example: "Yeah, what ya want?", "Where we goin’, George?", "So yon forgot that awready, did you?”, etc. 

    George is a slim and smart guy who is looking for a job for himself and his friend, Lennie, a big guy who always forgets what he has to do and that is why he is not considered a smart person. After a long trip, they arrive at a place in which they sleep under a tree before arriving at the ranch. The next day, they are received by the boss’ son, Curly, but by the way he treats the two friends, they perceive that it is not a good place to be and Lennie starts getting nervous. However, George encourages him to work for a time and get some money. 

    Personally, I felt identified with Lennie. Not because of the lack of his intelligence, but by the way he feels supported by George. I usually feel that way with my dad, my brother and with two close friends, one of them is Diego. I truly see them like the Georges of my life. I appreciate it when they help me control my emotions and encourage me to continue working on my projects to reach my objectives in life.  

Patricia Contreras Escareño

299 words

Reading Report 1: The Couple Next Door

Title of the book: The Couple Next Door

Author: Shari Lapena

Genre: Thriller

   Shari Lapena was born in 1960. She is a Canadian writer, author of bestselling thrillers such as The Couple Next Door, A stranger in the House, An Unwanted Guest, among others. Lapena used to work as a lawyer and English teacher before becoming a full-time writer. She published her first novel, Things Go Flying, in 2007, but it wasn’t until 2016 with her first thriller, A Couple Next Door, that her writing career really took off.

   The reason why I chose this book is because I wanted to get out of my comfort zone. Usually I like to read romantic novels and last semester I read a non-fiction novel with zero romance which I really enjoyed, so this time I was determined to read a totally different genre.

   Looking for recommendations of what I could read on Youtube, I noticed that The Couple Next Door was mentioned in a lot of videos described as a page-turner, many people said that they read it in one sitting and, considering that it is not a short book, that really grabbed my attention. 

   This is my first time reading suspense, that's why I wanted to start with something I’m sure I'll enjoy. One of my concerns with this genre was that the story would have a slow start, but this book gets interesting since chapter number one.

   The novel is set in upstate New York. It follows the story of a couple who left their baby asleep in their house to go to a dinner party next door, but when they came back home the baby was no longer there. It is a contemporary book.

285 words

Claudia Leticia Mendez Caamal

Reading Report 1: The Old Man and The Sea

 The book that I would be reading is called the Old man and the Sea. This novel has the genre of literary fiction and was written by Ernest Miller Hemingway. He was born on July 21, 1899 and died on July 2, 1961. He was an American novelist, short-story writer, journalist, and sportsman. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s and he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. He published seven novels, six short-story collections, and two nonfiction works. Hemingway maintained permanent residences in Key West, Florida and in Cuba. He almost died in 1954 after plane crashes on successive days, with injuries leaving him in pain and ill health for much of the rest of his life. In 1959 he bought a house in Ketchum, Idaho where, in mid-1961, he died by suicide with a shotgun.

    One of the main reasons that made me decide to choose this book was because I have heard a lot of it from my sister, who actually this is her favourite book. After she finished it she told me that it was excellent and some day I should read it too. I´m not exactly a reader but now I got the opportunity to read a new book. I believe that this can be a perfect opportunity to finally read it. I have the book at home and in the english version, so I believe that now is the perfect time. 

    The book takes place in Cuba, somewhere near the coast of Havana at a small fishing village off the coast, but the bulk of the novel takes place in Santiago's boat as he floats about the sea. And the time is in September of 1950.

Víctor Mauricio López Espadas

290 words

Wikipedia (2021). Ernest Hemingway. Retrieved from link. On March 7th, 2021.

Report 1: The Rising of The Shield Hero

Title: The Rising of The Shield Hero (Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari)
Author: Aneko Yuusagi
Genre(s): Dark fantasy

    The Rising of The Shield Hero is a series of novels written by Aneko Yuusagi. It is the author's debut and has been really controversial because of the crude nature of the story. However, an animated version of the books was made and premiered in January of 2019, rising the novel's popularity. It has to be remarked that these novels have been officially published in English, which has made this review possible.

    The plot takes place in the kingdom of Melromarc where our protagonist called Naofumi Iwatani has been inexplicably transported to. Nevertheless, not only him, but other three young men have been summoned to that kingdom. These four guys are called heroes, and are supposed to bring peace to the world by defeating "The rifts".

    Now, what started as a normal fantasy story turns bleak when Naofumi, the Shield Hero is framed by the princess Malty Melromarc, being accused of rape and hated by everyone in the kingdom who he was supposed to serve, our protagonist gets exiled. Since then, he starts his journey to clear his name but with the greatest obstacle a warrior could face... Naofumi is unable to attack any monster because he is attached to his holy weapon, a shield and is unable to pick even the lightest sword.

    The Rising of The Shield Hero is a top-selling book in Japan, and everyone in my circle of friends is a fan of the animated version. However, I am not very fond of this one, which led me to give this story an opportunity.

Written by: Diego Santiago Cervantes Chi
258 words

Reading Report 1: Of Mice and Men

    The book I am going to read for this semester is Of Mice and Men. This novel was written by John Steinbeck and published in 1937. He was an American writer who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962 with another of his books, The Grapes of Wrath. Although he started studying at Stanford University, he dropped out of school to work as a mason and farmworker. Most of his literary works talk about the life of the minorities, such as immigrant people, women, and the working class. 

    I chose this book because I read it is a mandatory novel in the schools of the United States and one of the most important books of American literature. Besides, I found it quite interesting that the story was based on the author’s own experience working on a farm and having met some immigrant people in his life. I think reading this book will be helpful for me as a teacher of English as a foreign language because it will introduce me a bit more to the story of the United States, a country where English is an official language. 

    The story develops in the United States, particularly in California during the times of the Great Depression, a worldwide economic downturn that started in 1929 and lasted until about 1939. Some of the consequences this event caused were the global economy shrinking, unemployment of people, and homelessness increasing (Amadeo, K. 2020). In the book Of Mice and Men, the story revolves around the experience of the main characters, George Milton and Lennie Small, who are looking for a job opportunity being migrant ranch workers in the United States during this global crisis. 

Patricia Contreras Escareño

282 words

Amadeo, K. (2020). The 9 Principal Effects of the Great Depression. Retrieved from link. On March 6th, 2021