Friday, September 18, 2009

The Best Laid Plans by Sidney Sheldon


Sidney Sheldon really knows how to capture a reader's full attention and be riveted to his books. He indeed is a mastermind of thriller fiction. The story started with a diary entry from the young, talented and beautiful Leslie Stewart about meeting the man she would marry. The opening entry was so intriguing that I kept reading. It was really exciting how they fell in love and I felt the sadness Leslie felt when Oliver Rusell left her a week before their scheduled wedding in his pursuit for his dream of becoming the governor of Kentucky. He eventually won with the help of Senator Todd Davis, his father-in-law.

Meanwhile, Leslie was so embarrassed with what happened that she decided to resign from her job where she and Oliver met. She then asked the help of Senator Davis to introduce her to a wealthy man who owns a newspaper publishing company that Leslie later married. She used all her wits in expanding her little newspaper empire into series of newspaper printing press, television stations and radio stations across the world.

Oliver Russell became the President of the United States and living his dream when one day Leslie Stewart started printing nasty news about him. Leslie was so consumed with her angst that she was so determined to destroy Oliver. There were several killings that linked Oliver due to his habit of giving his ladies liquid Ecstasy.

Dana Evanston is a talented and ambitious journalist who climbed her way to the top due to her sacrifices during her assignment in the most dangerous place in the world, Sarajevo. There she experienced how war could shatter the dreams of million children and leave a trace of fear in their hearts and beings. She's a tough woman who was never afraid of pursuing her dreams.

Leslie was so determined to destroy the President and prevent him from being elected for the second term. Using all her power supervised the Washington Post and even wrote the articles herself that degraded and even mangled the credibility of the President. The series of deaths of ladies that were linked to Oliver continued until the daughter of Governor Houston, Chloe Houston died of the overdose of the same dangerous substance, Liquid Ecstasy.

Me and Leslie thought and strongly believed that the President has got something to do with the killings. Later did I know that it was his assistant and campaign manager, a religous and family-centered man, Peter Tager, who was responsible for all the killings. He only masked his excessive libido with his image of a responsible and pious man when the truth is he was the man behind all the killings.

All the characters have their own best laid plans to accomplish their goals and the twist was really riveting.

My favorite characters are Leslie Stewart and Dana Evanston. They're both pretty attractive, talented and intelligent. Only that the former was so consumer with her desire for vengeance that she used all her powers to destroy Jeff Connor, her compassion for Kemal (a child from Sarajevo who lost his arm due to the war) and her success story. She climbed her way to the top and has the necessary attitude to stay there.

Here are just some of my favorite quotes from the said novel:


Leslie Stewart:
Three men came across a female genie who promised to grant each one their wish. The first man said, " I wish I were twenty-five percent smarter". The genie blinked, and the man said, "Hey, I feel smarter already". The second man said, " I wish I were fifty percent smarter". The genie blinked and the man exclaimed, "That's wonderful! I think I know things now that I didn't know before". The third man said, " I'd like to be one hundred percent smarter".

So the genie blinked and the man turned into a woman.

Oliver Russell:
The people who are running the country have turned it into an old boy's club. They care more about themselves than they do about the people. It's not right and I'm going to try and correct that.

Todd Davis:
Money doesn't care who owns it. A bum can win it in a lottery, a dunce can inherit it, or someone can get it by holding up a bank. But power that's something different. To have power is to own the world.

Dana Evanston:
If something can stop you, you might as well let it go.

The novel was really great, interesting and worth reading. I've learned so much that we need to control ourselves, bridle our passions as these could either make or break us.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Urgent Home Reading Report

I've received several requests for urgent home reading reports from elementary and high school students. I understand the urgency of your needs but please be detailed in your requests and please send me a copy of Microsoft Word layout as to what details you'd like me to include in the Home Reading Report.


For the meantime, feel free to check out Twists in Sidney Sheldon's Best Laid Plans. It's a book review of Sidney Sheldon's best seller, Best Laid Plans. The details were also given such as the Book Title, Author, Cast of Characters. Feel free to leave your comments below for any other information that you need.


Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Home Reading Report Needs

Most elementary and high school students go through a phase in their lives wherein their English teacher would require them to pass a Home Reading Report. Usually the teacher would assign each student a specific book to read and make a report of the synopsis, comments and evaluation of the book. In some cases they are called book review. A student will list important details about the book such as Title, Genre, Description, Author, List of Characters that will then be divided to Major and Minor Characters. The home reading report will also include the synopsis or summary of the book, moral or lesson learned from the book and the student's recommendation or objection of the book.

Many times in my elementary and high school life in Kalibo Pilot Elementary School, I was required by my English teachers Ma'am Pactial and Ma'am Grasparil to pass the said book reviews. We were usually assigned classic novels such as the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Moby Dick and the likes. When I reached high school, my all-time favorite English teacher, Ma'am Lilibeth Bustamante tasked us to submit home reading reports of books that we really want to read. Not just those that we are obliged to read or the homework will seem to be tedious. Learning is supposed to be that way, students should not be forced to do or learn something that they will eventually forget because they're not enjoying it.

So without further ado, this site is dedicated to giving you samples of Home Reading Reports that you can use for FREE! All you need to do is to spread the word that I'd like to help out the elementary and high school students to lighten their school works. If you have any requests as to what books you'd specifically want me to review, let me know by emailing me or leaving comments below the post. Looking forward to help you!