Sophie S Choice

PLEASE DO NOT RSVP FOR THIS EVENT IF YOU MAY NOT ATTEND. IF YOU CANCEL THIS MEANS THAT SOMEONE ELSE WHO WANTED TO ATTEND WAS NOT ABLE, AS THEY WILL NOT HAVE HAD TIME TO READ THE BOOK. This is somewhat based on a "book club" but different in several ways. There is no membership but rather this is an event. It will be posted and require an RSVP. Attendance is limited to approximately 18 or so. It is my plan to have it monthly on Sundays, in the evening, at my house. I will post the event in plenty of time for you to read the book and will email directions to my house a few days before the event. It is also a potluck, so the event will include several of the most wonderful things in life: socializing, food, and discussion. It is my continuing quest to read all the books off Modern Library's "100 Greatest Novels" list. It is from this list that the books will be chosen. I will pick books that are "readable" (don't worry, I won't be posting Ulysses!) and sound interesting. The beauty about this is that if you are busy a certain month or not interested in a book you can chose not to attend and skip a month. Because it's summer and I know we've had a couple of rather long books in a row, this month we are taking a break and reading a rather short book: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (160 pages :). Below is information on the book. Thanks and see you then! Miss. Jean Brodie is a teacher of girls in the Junior Department of Marica Blaine School in Edinburgh. Even a cursory reading will alert anyone to the undeniable fact that she is in her "prime". This is the solemn refrain of the novel. What this means is left, largely, to your own discretion. The surface narrative, insofar as there is a surface, charts the influence that she has upon a "set" of five girls, the hand picked "creme de la creme" of her class, that become the "Brodie Set" marked indelibly by the imprint of her "prime". Funny and light, at the same time as being extremely dark and sinister underneath, it alerts us constantly to the illusion and refraction of truth in fiction and the inescapable effect of our lessons on our view of the world. As many other reviewers have been quick to point out "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" is often the subject of university lectures and examinations. And there should be no surprise in that. This slim volume has a dazzling breadth of theme and expression composed almost singularly of one woman's personality. "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" is probably the most beautifully visual of Muriel Spark's novels, containing some dazzling natural and urban imagery. These are lovingly interspersed in the otherwise sharp, and blackly comic text. It is easy to understand why Muriel Spark claims that her "novels are just an easier way of writing my poetry". "The Prime" is also a comedy of some value (anyone who has seen the 1979 Maggie Smith film adaptation couldn't dispute it), and the childhood imaginings of Sandy and Jenny, two girls of the "set", certainly provides some laugh out loud moments. Like the classic imaginary love letter between Miss Brodie and her lover Mr. Lowther. Who could forget its wonderful conclusion - " Allow me, in conclusion, to congratulate you warmly upon your sexual intercourse, as well as your singing." The girls capture the eloquence and the ridiculousness of Miss Brodie beautifully and unknowingly. The most compelling aspect of the novel, however, is its undeniably sinister streak. Miss Brodie is a "born Facist", as one of her set eventually comes to realise. She speaks with fervent passion of the "wonderous" regimes of Mussolini and Hitler, while encouraging one of her young charges to become involved in the Spanish Civil War. She does all this with a stunted self-aware romanticism and a deluded clarity that cuts directly to the coldest heart of her personality. Her teaching, which literally amounts to an indoctrination in the values of bigotry and prejudice, is instilled into her "set", some of whom do not escape as unscathed as the others. To crown the glory is Spark's inventive narrative style, which feels free to skip and leap around the story of the rise and fall of Miss Brodie. The omnipresence of the author is always jabbing in another future event to permanently shape our view of the present. The holistic reading that emerges from this narrative assault allows for all kinds of realisations concerning identity, facism, illusion, truth and fiction. A thoroughly terrifying, enjoyable read, for all those who don't quite believe that seeing/hearing is believing. Modern Library's 100 Greatest Novels 1. "Ulysses," James Joyce 2. "The Great Gatsby," F. Scott Fitzgerald 3. "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man," James Joyce 4. "Lolita," Vladimir Nabokov 5. "Brave New World," Aldous Huxley 6. "The Sound and the Fury," William Faulkner 7. "Catch-22," Joseph Heller 8. "Darkness at Noon," Arthur Koestler 9. "Sons and Lovers," D. H. Lawrence 10. "The Grapes of Wrath," John Steinbeck 11. "Under the Volcano," Malcolm Lowry 12. "The Way of All Flesh," Samuel Butler 13. "1984," George Orwell 14. "I, Claudius," Robert Graves 15. "To the Lighthouse," Virginia Woolf 16. "An American Tragedy," Theodore Dreiser 17. "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter," Carson McCullers 18. "Slaughterhouse Five," Kurt Vonnegut 19. "Invisible Man," Ralph Ellison 20. "Native Son," Richard Wright 21. "Henderson the Rain King," Saul Bellow 22. "Appointment in Samarra," John O' Hara 23. "U.S.A." (trilogy), John Dos Passos 24. "Winesburg, Ohio," Sherwood Anderson 25. "A Passage to India," E. M. Forster 26. "The Wings of the Dove," Henry James 27. "The Ambassadors," Henry James 28. "Tender Is the Night," F. Scott Fitzgerald 29. "The Studs Lonigan Trilogy," James T. Farrell 30. "The Good Soldier," Ford Madox Ford 31. "Animal Farm," George Orwell 32. "The Golden Bowl," Henry James 33. "Sister Carrie," Theodore Dreiser 34. "A Handful of Dust," Evelyn Waugh 35. "As I Lay Dying," William Faulkner 36. "All the King's Men," Robert Penn Warren 37. "The Bridge of San Luis Rey," Thornton Wilder 38. "Howards End," E. M. Forster 39. "Go Tell It on the Mountain," James Baldwin 40. "The Heart of the Matter," Graham Greene 41. "Lord of the Flies," William Golding 42. "Deliverance," James Dickey 43. "A Dance to the Music of Time" (series), Anthony Powell 44. "Point Counter Point," Aldous Huxley 45. "The Sun Also Rises," Ernest Hemingway 46. "The Secret Agent," Joseph Conrad 47. "Nostromo," Joseph Conrad 48. "The Rainbow," D. H. Lawrence 49. "Women in Love," D. H. Lawrence 50. "Tropic of Cancer," Henry Miller 51. "The Naked and the Dead," Norman Mailer 52. "Portnoy's Complaint," Philip Roth 53. "Pale Fire," Vladimir Nabokov 54. "Light in August," William Faulkner 55. "On the Road," Jack Kerouac 56. "The Maltese Falcon," Dashiell Hammett 57. "Parade's End," Ford Madox Ford 58. "The Age of Innocence," Edith Wharton 59. "Zuleika Dobson," Max Beerbohm 60. "The Moviegoer," Walker Percy 61. "Death Comes to the Archbishop," Willa Cather 62. "From Here to Eternity," James Jones 63. "The Wapshot Chronicles," John Cheever 64. "The Catcher in the Rye," J. D. Salinger 65. "A Clockwork Orange," Anthony Burgess 66. "Of Human Bondage," W. Somerset Maugham 67. "Heart of Darkness," Joseph Conrad 68. "Main Street," Sinclair Lewis 69. "The House of Mirth," Edith Wharton 70. "The Alexandria Quartet," Lawrence Durrell 71. "A High Wind in Jamaica," Richard Hughes 72. "A House for Ms. Biswas," V. S. Naipaul 73. "The Day of the Locust," Nathaniel West 74. "A Farewell to Arms," Ernest Hemingway 75. "Scoop," Evelyn Waugh 76. "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," Muriel Spark 77. "Finnegans Wake," James Joyce 78. "Kim," Rudyard Kipling 79. "A Room With a View," E. M. Forster 80. "Brideshead Revisited," Evelyn Waugh 81. "The Adventures of Augie March," Saul Bellow 82. "Angle of Repose," Wallace Stegner 83. "A Bend in the River," V. S. Naipaul 84. "The Death of the Heart," Elizabeth Bowen 85. "Lord Jim," Joseph Conrad 86. "Ragtime," E. L. Doctorow 87. "The Old Wives' Tale," Arnold Bennett 88. "The Call of the Wild," Jack London 89. "Loving," Henry Green 90. "Midnight's Children," Salman Rushdie 91. "Tobacco Road," Erskine Caldwell 92. "Ironweed," William Kennedy 93. "The Magus," John Fowles 94. "Wide Sargasso Sea," Jean Rhys 95. "Under the Net," Iris Murdoch 96. "Sophie's Choice," William Styron 97. "The Sheltering Sky," Paul Bowles 98. "The Postman Always Rings Twice," James M. Cain 99. "The Ginger Man," J. P. Donleavy 100. "The Magnificent Ambersons," Booth Tarkington

Marvin Hamlisch’s life in music is notable for its great versatility as well as substance.  As a composer, Hamlisch has won virtually every major award that exists: three Oscars, four Grammys, four Emmys, a Tony and three Golden Globe awards; his groundbreaking show, A Chorus Line, received the Pulitzer Prize.  He is the composer of many motion picture scores including his Oscar-winning score and song for The Way We Were and his adaptation of Scott Joplin’s music for The Sting, for which he received a third Oscar. His prolific output of scores for films include original compositions and/or musical adaptations for Sophie's Choice, Ordinary People, The Swimmer, Three Men and A Baby, Ice Castles, Take the Money and Run, Bananas, Save the Time, and his latest effort, The Informant! (Sept. 2009) starring Matt Damon, and directed by Steven Soderbergh, Marvin Hamlisch holds the position of principal pops conductor for the National Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony and San Diego Symphony.Hamlisch will be appearing in the Upper St. Clair Theater on Monday, September 20, 2010, at 7:30pm.Appearing with Hamlisch will be headliner Mark McVey, who has performed on many stages and with many symphonies throughout the United States including the role of Jean Valjean in Broadway's Les Misérables.  The two long time friends will be performing the music of Marvin Hamlisch combined with other music from Broadway.VenueUpper St Clair High School Theater1825 McLaughlin Run RoadUpper St Clair, PA USA 15241Submitted by The Greater Pittsburgh Arts Councilhttp://www.proartstickets.org/helios/events/

PLEASE DO NOT RSVP FOR THIS EVENT IF YOU MAY NOT ATTEND. IF YOU CANCEL THIS MEANS THAT SOMEONE ELSE WHO WANTED TO ATTEND WAS NOT ABLE, AS THEY WILL NOT HAVE HAD TIME TO READ THE BOOK. This is somewhat based on a "book club" but different in several ways. There is no membership but rather this is an event. It will be posted and require an RSVP. Attendance is limited to approximately 18 or so. It is my plan to have it monthly on Sundays, in the evening, at my house. I will post the event in plenty of time for you to read the book and will email directions to my house a few days before the event. It is also a potluck, so the event will include several of the most wonderful things in life: socializing, food, and discussion. It is my continuing quest to read all the books off Modern Library's "100 Greatest Novels" list. It is from this list that the books will be chosen. I will pick books that are "readable" (don't worry, I won't be posting Ulysses!) and sound interesting. The beauty about this is that if you are busy a certain month or not interested in a book you can chose not to attend and skip a month. This month's book is #46 on the list, "The Secret Agent" by Joseph Conrad. Below is a description. Thanks and see you then! Darren The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale is a novel by Joseph Conrad published in 1907. The story is set in London in 1886 and deals largely with the life of Mr. Verloc and his job as a spy. The Secret Agent is also notable as it is one of Conrad's later political novels, which move away from his typical tales of seafaring. The novel deals broadly with the notions of anarchism, espionage, and terrorism. It portrays anarchist or revolutionary groups before many of the social uprisings of the twentieth century. However, it also deals with exploitation, particularly with regard to Verloc's relationship with his brother-in-law Stevie. Because of its terrorist theme, The Secret Agent has been noted as "one of the three works of literature most cited in the American media" since September 11, 2001. The Secret Agent was ranked the 46th best novel of the 20th century by Modern Library. Modern Library's 100 Greatest Novels 1. "Ulysses," James Joyce 2. "The Great Gatsby," F. Scott Fitzgerald 3. "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man," James Joyce 4. "Lolita," Vladimir Nabokov 5. "Brave New World," Aldous Huxley 6. "The Sound and the Fury," William Faulkner 7. "Catch-22," Joseph Heller 8. "Darkness at Noon," Arthur Koestler 9. "Sons and Lovers," D. H. Lawrence 10. "The Grapes of Wrath," John Steinbeck 11. "Under the Volcano," Malcolm Lowry 12. "The Way of All Flesh," Samuel Butler 13. "1984," George Orwell 14. "I, Claudius," Robert Graves 15. "To the Lighthouse," Virginia Woolf 16. "An American Tragedy," Theodore Dreiser 17. "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter," Carson McCullers 18. "Slaughterhouse Five," Kurt Vonnegut 19. "Invisible Man," Ralph Ellison 20. "Native Son," Richard Wright 21. "Henderson the Rain King," Saul Bellow 22. "Appointment in Samarra," John O' Hara 23. "U.S.A." (trilogy), John Dos Passos 24. "Winesburg, Ohio," Sherwood Anderson 25. "A Passage to India," E. M. Forster 26. "The Wings of the Dove," Henry James 27. "The Ambassadors," Henry James 28. "Tender Is the Night," F. Scott Fitzgerald 29. "The Studs Lonigan Trilogy," James T. Farrell 30. "The Good Soldier," Ford Madox Ford 31. "Animal Farm," George Orwell 32. "The Golden Bowl," Henry James 33. "Sister Carrie," Theodore Dreiser 34. "A Handful of Dust," Evelyn Waugh 35. "As I Lay Dying," William Faulkner 36. "All the King's Men," Robert Penn Warren 37. "The Bridge of San Luis Rey," Thornton Wilder 38. "Howards End," E. M. Forster 39. "Go Tell It on the Mountain," James Baldwin 40. "The Heart of the Matter," Graham Greene 41. "Lord of the Flies," William Golding 42. "Deliverance," James Dickey 43. "A Dance to the Music of Time" (series), Anthony Powell 44. "Point Counter Point," Aldous Huxley 45. "The Sun Also Rises," Ernest Hemingway 46. "The Secret Agent," Joseph Conrad 47. "Nostromo," Joseph Conrad 48. "The Rainbow," D. H. Lawrence 49. "Women in Love," D. H. Lawrence 50. "Tropic of Cancer," Henry Miller 51. "The Naked and the Dead," Norman Mailer 52. "Portnoy's Complaint," Philip Roth 53. "Pale Fire," Vladimir Nabokov 54. "Light in August," William Faulkner 55. "On the Road," Jack Kerouac 56. "The Maltese Falcon," Dashiell Hammett 57. "Parade's End," Ford Madox Ford 58. "The Age of Innocence," Edith Wharton 59. "Zuleika Dobson," Max Beerbohm 60. "The Moviegoer," Walker Percy 61. "Death Comes to the Archbishop," Willa Cather 62. "From Here to Eternity," James Jones 63. "The Wapshot Chronicles," John Cheever 64. "The Catcher in the Rye," J. D. Salinger 65. "A Clockwork Orange," Anthony Burgess 66. "Of Human Bondage," W. Somerset Maugham 67. "Heart of Darkness," Joseph Conrad 68. "Main Street," Sinclair Lewis 69. "The House of Mirth," Edith Wharton 70. "The Alexandria Quartet," Lawrence Durrell 71. "A High Wind in Jamaica," Richard Hughes 72. "A House for Ms. Biswas," V. S. Naipaul 73. "The Day of the Locust," Nathaniel West 74. "A Farewell to Arms," Ernest Hemingway 75. "Scoop," Evelyn Waugh 76. "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," Muriel Spark 77. "Finnegans Wake," James Joyce 78. "Kim," Rudyard Kipling 79. "A Room With a View," E. M. Forster 80. "Brideshead Revisited," Evelyn Waugh 81. "The Adventures of Augie March," Saul Bellow 82. "Angle of Repose," Wallace Stegner 83. "A Bend in the River," V. S. Naipaul 84. "The Death of the Heart," Elizabeth Bowen 85. "Lord Jim," Joseph Conrad 86. "Ragtime," E. L. Doctorow 87. "The Old Wives' Tale," Arnold Bennett 88. "The Call of the Wild," Jack London 89. "Loving," Henry Green 90. "Midnight's Children," Salman Rushdie 91. "Tobacco Road," Erskine Caldwell 92. "Ironweed," William Kennedy 93. "The Magus," John Fowles 94. "Wide Sargasso Sea," Jean Rhys 95. "Under the Net," Iris Murdoch 96. "Sophie's Choice," William Styron 97. "The Sheltering Sky," Paul Bowles 98. "The Postman Always Rings Twice," James M. Cain 99. "The Ginger Man," J. P. Donleavy 100. "The Magnificent Ambersons," Booth Tarkington

PLEASE DO NOT RSVP FOR THIS EVENT IF YOU MAY NOT ATTEND. IF YOU CANCEL THIS MEANS THAT SOMEONE ELSE WHO WANTED TO ATTEND WAS NOT ABLE, AS THEY WILL NOT HAVE HAD TIME TO READ THE BOOK. This is somewhat based on a "book club" but different in several ways. There is no membership but rather this is an event. It will be posted and require an RSVP. Attendance is limited to approximately 18 or so. It is my plan to have it monthly on Sundays, in the evening, at my house. I will post the event in plenty of time for you to read the book and will email directions to my house a few days before the event. It is also a potluck, so the event will include several of the most wonderful things in life: socializing, food, and discussion. It is my continuing quest to read all the books off Modern Library's "100 Greatest Novels" list. It is from this list that the books will be chosen. I will pick books that are "readable" (don't worry, I won't be posting Ulysses!) and sound interesting. The beauty about this is that if you are busy a certain month or not interested in a book you can chose not to attend and skip a month. This months book is "A High in Jamaica" by Richard Hughes (#71 on the list). It sounds quite different from anything we've recently read and quite interesting - below is more information. Thanks and see you then! Darren A High Wind in Jamaica is not so much a book as a curious object, like a piece of driftwood torqued into an alarming shape from years at sea. And like driftwood, it seems not to have been made, exactly, but simply to have come into being, so perfectly is its form married to its content. The five Bas-Thornton children must leave their parents in Jamaica after a terrible hurricane blows down their family home. Accompanied by their Creole friends, the Fernandez children, they board a ship that is almost immediately set upon by pirates. The children take to corsair life coolly and matter-of-factly; just as coolly do they commit horrible deeds, and have horrible deeds visited upon them. First published in 1929, A High Wind in Jamaica has been compared to Lord of the Flies in its unflinching portrayal of innocence corrupted, but Richard Hughes is the supreme ironist William Golding never was. He possesses the ability to be one moment thoroughly inside a character's head, and the next outside of it altogether, hilariously commenting. Irony finds a happy home indeed in the book's mixture of the macabre and the adorable. The baby girl, Rachel, "could even sum up maternal feelings for a marline-spike, and would sit up aloft rocking it in her arms and crooning. The sailors avoided walking underneath: for such an infant, if dropped from a height, will find its way through the thickest skull (an accident which sometimes befalls unpopular captains)." In that "such an infant" lies a world of mordant wit. In fact, throughout, Hughes's wildly eccentric punctuation and startling syntax make just the right verbal vehicle for this dark-hearted pirate story for grownups. Hughes enjoys some coy riffing on the child mind, as with this description of the way Emily handles an uncomfortable social situation: "Much the best way of escaping from an embarrassing rencontre, when to walk away would be an impossible strain on the nerves, is to retire in a series of somersaults. Emily immediately started turning head over heels up the deck." Even so, Hughes never sentimentalizes his subject: "Babies of course are not human--they are animals, and have a very ancient and ramified culture, as cats have, and fishes, and even snakes." Children, as a race, are given rough treatment: "their minds are not just more ignorant and stupider than ours, but differ in kind of thinking (are mad, in fact)." That madness is here isolated, prodded, and poked to chilling effect. But Hughes never loses sight of his ultimate objective: A High Wind in Jamaica is, above all, a cracking good yarn. --Claire Dederer Modern Library's 100 Greatest Novels 1. "Ulysses," James Joyce 2. "The Great Gatsby," F. Scott Fitzgerald 3. "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man," James Joyce 4. "Lolita," Vladimir Nabokov 5. "Brave New World," Aldous Huxley 6. "The Sound and the Fury," William Faulkner 7. "Catch-22," Joseph Heller 8. "Darkness at Noon," Arthur Koestler 9. "Sons and Lovers," D. H. Lawrence 10. "The Grapes of Wrath," John Steinbeck 11. "Under the Volcano," Malcolm Lowry 12. "The Way of All Flesh," Samuel Butler 13. "1984," George Orwell 14. "I, Claudius," Robert Graves 15. "To the Lighthouse," Virginia Woolf 16. "An American Tragedy," Theodore Dreiser 17. "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter," Carson McCullers 18. "Slaughterhouse Five," Kurt Vonnegut 19. "Invisible Man," Ralph Ellison 20. "Native Son," Richard Wright 21. "Henderson the Rain King," Saul Bellow 22. "Appointment in Samarra," John O' Hara 23. "U.S.A." (trilogy), John Dos Passos 24. "Winesburg, Ohio," Sherwood Anderson 25. "A Passage to India," E. M. Forster 26. "The Wings of the Dove," Henry James 27. "The Ambassadors," Henry James 28. "Tender Is the Night," F. Scott Fitzgerald 29. "The Studs Lonigan Trilogy," James T. Farrell 30. "The Good Soldier," Ford Madox Ford 31. "Animal Farm," George Orwell 32. "The Golden Bowl," Henry James 33. "Sister Carrie," Theodore Dreiser 34. "A Handful of Dust," Evelyn Waugh 35. "As I Lay Dying," William Faulkner 36. "All the King's Men," Robert Penn Warren 37. "The Bridge of San Luis Rey," Thornton Wilder 38. "Howards End," E. M. Forster 39. "Go Tell It on the Mountain," James Baldwin 40. "The Heart of the Matter," Graham Greene 41. "Lord of the Flies," William Golding 42. "Deliverance," James Dickey 43. "A Dance to the Music of Time" (series), Anthony Powell 44. "Point Counter Point," Aldous Huxley 45. "The Sun Also Rises," Ernest Hemingway 46. "The Secret Agent," Joseph Conrad 47. "Nostromo," Joseph Conrad 48. "The Rainbow," D. H. Lawrence 49. "Women in Love," D. H. Lawrence 50. "Tropic of Cancer," Henry Miller 51. "The Naked and the Dead," Norman Mailer 52. "Portnoy's Complaint," Philip Roth 53. "Pale Fire," Vladimir Nabokov 54. "Light in August," William Faulkner 55. "On the Road," Jack Kerouac 56. "The Maltese Falcon," Dashiell Hammett 57. "Parade's End," Ford Madox Ford 58. "The Age of Innocence," Edith Wharton 59. "Zuleika Dobson," Max Beerbohm 60. "The Moviegoer," Walker Percy 61. "Death Comes to the Archbishop," Willa Cather 62. "From Here to Eternity," James Jones 63. "The Wapshot Chronicles," John Cheever 64. "The Catcher in the Rye," J. D. Salinger 65. "A Clockwork Orange," Anthony Burgess 66. "Of Human Bondage," W. Somerset Maugham 67. "Heart of Darkness," Joseph Conrad 68. "Main Street," Sinclair Lewis 69. "The House of Mirth," Edith Wharton 70. "The Alexandria Quartet," Lawrence Durrell 71. "A High Wind in Jamaica," Richard Hughes 72. "A House for Ms. Biswas," V. S. Naipaul 73. "The Day of the Locust," Nathaniel West 74. "A Farewell to Arms," Ernest Hemingway 75. "Scoop," Evelyn Waugh 76. "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," Muriel Spark 77. "Finnegans Wake," James Joyce 78. "Kim," Rudyard Kipling 79. "A Room With a View," E. M. Forster 80. "Brideshead Revisited," Evelyn Waugh 81. "The Adventures of Augie March," Saul Bellow 82. "Angle of Repose," Wallace Stegner 83. "A Bend in the River," V. S. Naipaul 84. "The Death of the Heart," Elizabeth Bowen 85. "Lord Jim," Joseph Conrad 86. "Ragtime," E. L. Doctorow 87. "The Old Wives' Tale," Arnold Bennett 88. "The Call of the Wild," Jack London 89. "Loving," Henry Green 90. "Midnight's Children," Salman Rushdie 91. "Tobacco Road," Erskine Caldwell 92. "Ironweed," William Kennedy 93. "The Magus," John Fowles 94. "Wide Sargasso Sea," Jean Rhys 95. "Under the Net," Iris Murdoch 96. "Sophie's Choice," William Styron 97. "The Sheltering Sky," Paul Bowles 98. "The Postman Always Rings Twice," James M. Cain 99. "The Ginger Man," J. P. Donleavy 100. "The Magnificent Ambersons," Booth Tarkington

Marvin Hamlisch, conductor; J. Mark McVey, vocalist; All-Star College Chorus, directed by Robert Page. As a composer, Marvin Hamlisch has won virtually every major award. His groundbreaking show, A Chorus Line, received the Pulitzer Prize. As an artist, Hamlisch has collaborated with many great artists including Liza Minelli and Barbra Streisand. This concert showcases Hamlisch's award-winning hits as well as his personal journey. This concert features music from Ordinary People, Ice Castles, A Chorus Line, Sophie's Choice, Nobody Does it Better, The Way We Were and They're Playing Our Song. Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Heinz Hall/$20.00 - $89.00 Also, March 11, 12 & 13 For ticket information call: 412-392-4900 Thursday, March 10 • 7:30 Pm Friday, March 11 • 8:00 Pm Saturday, March 12 • 8:00 Pm Sunday, March 13 • 2:30 Pm

hubby and i prefer not to talk about baby names with relatives and such because we want to make sure that the name we choose is _really_ our choice, not pressured by aunt martha's opinion or grandma's prior biases. so i'm gonna run our short list by you [this is a very, VERY premature list, by the way... just starting early because we tend to have a hard time agreeing] and if you'd offer your opinion, that would be lovely. we're also open to suggestions at this point. so, fire away. {girls} isobel "izzie" sophia "sophie" maia alba caroline "cara" violet ruby {boys} harley noah james "jamie" jack jude we've already got a jill and a sam... also, just to clear up confusion... not twins names. just our list for boys and our list for girls.

Answer: i LOVE Sophia and Ruby! Sophia/ Sophie is so cute and can go with almost any personality or person! But no matter what a girl named sophie will be sweet! i have never met someone named Sophie i don't like! and it is just sooo pretty. Ruby is more unique and also very beautiful and i can see a happy little girl or a really smart lawyer or something! Isobel/Izzie i am not a fan of. Izzie is such an unflattering name! Maia is ok but i preter it spelled Maya but in all honesty i am not really a fan of the name at all. it just sounds like a mean girls name. Alba is just to country bumpkin for me Caroline is not my cup of tea but Cara is verry cute! Violet makes me think of a chubby kid but its not terrible. boys- Noah is my favorite! It is so cute, and reminds me of the notebook! Harley sounds very silly to me. Imagine meeting a dude at a bar who comes up to you and says "Hey, my name is Harley." i'd be thinking.. really... and then walk away haha James is a very nice name and Jamie is a cute nn too. it's my second favorite of your boys names. its very manly. but also very common. Jack is ok. i think of lost. haha Jude is more of a girls name to me LOVE the name sam btw :)

I really was set on naming my girl Malea (Ma-lee-uh), but now I am starting to totally fall in love with the name Sophia. I think the middle name would be Lauren for either one, because that's my middle name. (I also like Rilee) The only other problem is, I have a dog named Sophie. But I can't help but just love the name Sophia... Any opinions are appreciated, and no rude ones please. I'm having a hard time figuring this out and barely have any time left to do so! Thanks **Maybe I should add the dog with the name sophie doesn't live with me, it was our family dog that still lives at mom's. I still call her mine though!

Answer: Sophia Lauren! I'ts a beautiful name that stands out naturally, without trying to hard.

So, my 1st choice for a girl is Savannah Anne. My second choice is Sophie, but I can't decide on the middle name. Sophie Rae: I love the name Rae and just think it's adorable and goes well with Sophie. Sophie Anne: Anne is classic and traditional and I think it's pretty. Anne is named after someone, so that makes it special. But it doesn't sound as good as Sophie Rae, I think, but I still love it. So I love them both, one is named after someone and the other I think goes slightly better (not better enough to be a total determining factor though). So which do you think is better?

Answer: Although you are right that Sophie Rae sounds better, i would go with Sophie Ann because it has more meaning to it, and it's more special

Hi, this is my summer reading list. Which book should I read??? I'm not a big fan of science fiction or fantasy. Thanks! *Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma. *Balzac, Honoré. Père Goriot. *Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. *Brontë, Emily. Wuthering Heights. Burgess, Anthony. A Clockwork Orange. *Camus, Albert. The Plague. Chevalier, Tracy. The Girl with a Pearl Earring. *Collins, Wilkie. The Moonstone, The Woman in White. *Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist, Bleak House, Hard Times. A Tale of Two Cities. *Dostoevski, Feodor. Crime and Punishment. DuMaurier, Daphne. Rebecca. *Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary. Gaarder, Jostein. Sophie’s World. Galsworthy, John. The Forsyte Saga. Heller, Joseph. Catch 22. Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. Keneally, Thomas. Schindler’s List. Kingston, Maxine Hong. China Men, Woman Warrior, Tripmaster Monkey. LeCarré , John. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold; Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Martel, Yann. Life of Pi. Orwell, George. 1984. Rhys, Jean. Wide Sargasso Sea. Rice, Anne. The Vampire Chronicles. *Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. *Stendhal. The Red and the Black. Stone, Irving. The Agony and the Ecstasy. Styron, William. Sophie’s Choice. Tan, Amy. The Kitchen God’s Wife. *Tolstoy, Leo. Anna Karenina, War and Peace. *Turgenev, Ivan. Fathers and Sons. Vreeland, Susan. The Girl in Hyacinth Blue.

Answer: Well, the Vampire Chronicles are amazing... but if you're not into fantasy they may not be your thing. The writing is excellent, though! Same thing with Frankenstein... 1984, Brave New World, and A Clockwork Orange are three of my all-time favorites... these are dystopian novels, and all of them are excellent in their own right! I'd recommend all three of these to anyone... I love Charles Dickens... but a lot of people don't. Great books but all very, very wordy... so, if you find verbose writing annoying, he's probably not for you...

It's like Sophie's Choice. You have to keep just one. Which do you choose?

Answer: I would have them kill me so i would not have to choose and/or see what they would do to my children

Democrats Rob Food Stamps to Pay Teachers “I’m not happy about taking the money from the energy sector or food stamps, but hopefully we can make it up in another way,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D.-Conn.) called the food stamp cut “a bitter pill to swallow.” “For me personally, it’s like ‘Sophie’s Choice,’” said DeLauro, a reference to the novel and movie in which a survivor of the Auschwitz Nazi concentration camp had to choose which of her children should live or die Isn't it enough that the Democrats failed policies have caused Unemployment to skyrocket but did they have to steal the last of these poor peoples food? http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=38503

Answer: Oh, man... that's terrible. No sarcasm this time. That's just sh!tty. Maybe they should have used some of that $700 BILLION bailout that did nothing. Bet that could have fed some people.

I sat on the stage, this was it. I looked up into the crowd, and could see my dad, Mathew, with his husband, Billy, in the second row sitting with Ashleigh and Jordan. My two best friends, with their parents Deanna and Michael. I looked round the audience; thousands of faces all stared back. I took a quick look round the audience; thousands of faces stared back. I took a quick look at the judges and immediately regretted it as another wave of nausea washed through my body. There were about six or seven cameras all pointing at me and another on a wire suspended above me. There would be millions of people all across Britain sitting at their TV screens watching me, I couldn’t mess this up. The only light was on Josh McQueen, presenter of ‘Catch a Falling Star’ “And now ladies and gentlemen, some say leave the best until last but I’ll let you be the judge of that. Please put your hands together for Lexi Smith!” He announced. There was a thunderous applause around me, I was so glad I was sitting on the piano stool or I’m pretty sure my knees would have buckled and I would be on the floor. As Josh walked off the stage he gave me an encouraging smile and winked. The light shifted and was now on me. You can do this I told myself. I place my hands on the keys of the black, grand piano that sat in front of me and let them take over. As the first note of Ronan Keatings ‘If Tomorrow Never Comes’ I felt myself relax. This was the song I had sung in my audition and confident I could win with it. ‘Catch a Falling Star’ is a new reality TV talent show. Everyone that applied had to do an audition in front of the three judges. Then we were cut down to 21. Seven for each judge, we then had to sing again for our mentor with a song of their choice before being cut down to three for each judge and making it to the live stages. To enter ‘Catch a Falling Star’ you have to be able to sing, dance and act. It was open to anyone aged 16 and over and the winner won a recording contract and second place won a place in a West End Show. Each week all the contestants would sing, act (a scene from a West End Show, TV show or film) and perform a choreographed dance routine that the contestants (with a little help from a professional) had choreographed I played the ending chords to ‘If Tomorrow Never Comes’ and looked up into the audience. A thunderous applause erupted around me; everyone seemed to be on their feet. To say relief washed through me was a bit of an understatement. All the judges were on their feet including Steven Dennis, owner of one of the biggest record labels in Britain. He was standing in the middle between Jessica Henry, manager to some of the biggest pop groups ever, and Sophie Leighton, one of the prettiest, pop singers around today, who was managed by Jessica and Steven, produced her singles. The applause finally died down and Josh was at my side. “Okay we’ll go to Sophie first.” I could see why everyone thought she was pretty. She had jet black, straight hair and intense green eyes. She was every guys dream girl. “Lexi, Lexi, Lexi that was absolutely spectacular,” She gushed. “I must admit you’ve been my favourite all the way through, you just have that extra something. You have to win it with that.” The crowds went wild with that response. “Thank you Sophie; Jessica?” Jessica was in her late 50s with a short hazel brown bob, eyes that were nearly the same colour as her hair, she had crow’s feet, and lines round her mouth thanks to her 40 a day habit. “If you don’t win tonight then I am a man.’ She declared. The crowds erupted again. ‘Being honest you were probably terrified at the beginning and I only know that because that’s how I would be feeling if I was where you are now, but I didn’t see that. You came on and looked confident and you were not perfect. Well done.” “Thank you and finally Steven?” “The reason I kept you in the competition was because I honestly believed you could win it, and I stand by that. The thing that makes you special is I don’t think you truly know how good you are. You are amazing and have done me and all your family proud tonight. Well done.” The crowd’s screams and applause drowned out what Josh was saying even thought he was standing right beside me. The cameras were back on me. I hadn’t noticed the tears that were streaming down my cheeks. “Very impressive comments there Lexi, what would you like to say?” Josh asked holding the microphone in front of my mouth. “I always thought I was an average singer, more of a drama queen.” The audience laughed; even I managed a wet smile. “And even when I stood on the stage tonight I still believed that but maybe I was wrong. And can I quickly say thanks to Steve for believing in me and getting me this far; to Jessica and Sophie for their constructive criticisms each week I’ve tried to take everything on board; my family and friends for their support I love you; everyone that votes for me each week, they have no idea

Answer: It's a bit confusing with some of the grammar and sentence structures. Also, you have a couple of repetitive lines: I looked round the audience; thousands of faces all stared back. I took a quick look round the audience; thousands of faces stared back. It needs some editing but it's not completely horrible. Just keep writing and get back to the editing afterward anyway, it's a lot easier that way. Interesting story, I've never read one about one of those TV talent show things. I don't know if I would have called it "Catch a Falling Star" though, as it seems more like the ending to a career than a beginning.

I sat on the stage. This was it. I looked up into the crowd I could see my dad, Mathew and his husband Billy in the second row, sat with Ashleigh and Jordan my two best friends and their mum Deanna and Dad Michael. I looked round the audience; thousands of faces all stared back. I took a quick look at the judges and immediately regretted it as another wave of nausea washed through my body. There were about six or seven cameras all pointing at me and another on a wire suspended above me. There would be millions of people all across Britain sitting watching their TV screens watching me. I couldn’t mess this up. The only light was on Josh McQueen, presenter of ‘Catch a Falling Star’ ‘And now ladies and gentlemen, some say leave the best until last but I’ll let you be the judge of that. Please put your hands together for Lexi Smith!’ He announced. There was a thunderous applause around me, I was so glad I was sitting on the piano stool or I’m pretty sure my knees would have buckled and I would be on the floor. As Josh walked off the stage he gave me an encouraging smile and winked. The light shifted and was now on me. You can do this I told myself. I place my hands on the keys of the black, grand piano that sat in front of me and let them take over. As the first note of Ronan Keatings ‘If Tomorrow Never Comes’ I felt myself relax. This was the song I had sung in my audition and confident I could win with it. ‘Catch a Falling Star’ is a new reality TV talent show. Everyone that applied had to do an audition in front of the three judges. Then we were cut down to 21. Seven for each judge, we then had to sing again for our mentor with a song of their choice before being cut down to three for each judge and making it to the live stages. To enter ‘Catch a Falling Star’ you have to be able to sing, dance and act. It was open to anyone aged 16 and over and the winner won a recording contract and second place won a place in a West End Show. Each week all the contestants would sing, act (a scene from a West End Show, TV show or film) and perform a choreographed dance routine that the contestants (with a little help from a professional) had choreographed I played the ending chords to ‘If Tomorrow Never Comes’ and looked up into the audience. A thunderous applause erupted around me; everyone seemed to be on their feet. To say relief washed through me was a bit of an understatement. All the judges were on their feet including Steven Dennis, owner of one of the biggest record labels in Britain. He was standing in the middle between Jessica Henry, manager to some of the biggest pop groups ever, and Sophie Leighton, one of the prettiest, pop singers around today, who was managed by Jessica and Steven, produced her singles. The applause finally died down and Josh was at my side. ‘Okay we’ll go to Sophie first.’ I could see why everyone thought she was pretty. She had jet black, straight hair and intense green eyes. She was every guys dream girl. ‘Lexi, Lexi, Lexi that was absolutely spectacular.’ She gushed. ‘I must admit you’ve been my favourite all the way through, you just have that extra something. You have to win it with that.’ The crowds went wild with that response. ‘Thank you Sophie; Jessica?’ Jessica was in her late 50s with a short hazel brown bob, eyes that were nearly the same colour as her hair, she had crow’s feet, and lines round her mouth thanks to her 40 a day habit. ‘If you don’t win tonight then I am a man.’ She declared. The crowds erupted again. ‘Being honest you were probably terrified at the beginning and you were off key in the first 30 seconds but after that you seemed to relax and enjoy it.’ ‘Thank you and finally Steven?’ ‘The reason I kept you in the competition was because I honestly believed you could win it, and I stand by that. The thing that makes you special is I don’t think you truly know how good you are. You are amazing and have done me and all your family proud tonight. Well done.’ The crowd’s screams and applause drowned out what Josh was saying even thought he was standing right beside me. The cameras were back on me. I hadn’t noticed the tears that were streaming down my cheeks. ‘Very impressive comments there Lexi, what would you like to say?’ Josh asked holding the microphone in front of my mouth. ‘I always thought I was an average singer, more of a drama queen.’ The audience laughed; even I managed a wet smile. ‘And even when I stood on the stage tonight I still believed that but maybe I was wrong. Oh and can I quickly say thanks to Steve for believing in me and getting me this far; to Jessica and Sophie for their comments each week; my family and friends for their support i love you; everyone that votes for me each week, they have no idea how much it means to me; and all the people that do an amazing job backstage,’ I babbled as fast as I could. I spotted my dad and Billy they both had smiles from ear to ear. Josh read my number and I made my way of

Answer: Well I like the scene, but I don't think it's believable that with thousands of people all her friends and relatives would be close enough to see. Maybe one or two. Take out the explanation of the TV show. It bogs the action down. If she's introduced, go right into her playing. Even so, never put things in parenthesis. It makes it seem unimportant, like a side thought. Make your writing important. Then the song is suddenly over? Did she not remember playing it? Did she feel nothing onstage? Then there are too many names at once. It's confusing. You can introduce them as they speak. I'd suggest mixing it up a little so it's not so much like Britain's Got Talent. Try to create your own show if you can. Good luck with it.

I sat on the stage. This was it. I looked up into the crowd I could see my dad, Mathew and his husband Billy in the second row, sat with Ashleigh and Jordan my two best friends and their mum Deanna and Dad Michael. I looked round the audience; thousands of faces all stared back. I took a quick look at the judges and immediately regretted it as another wave of nausea washed through my body. There were about six or seven cameras all pointing at me and another on a wire suspended above me. There would be millions of people all across Britain sitting watching their TV screens watching me. I couldn’t mess this up. The only light was on Josh McQueen, presenter of ‘Catch a Falling Star’ ‘And now ladies and gentlemen, some say leave the best until last but I’ll let you be the judge of that. Please put your hands together for Lexi Smith!’ He announced. There was a thunderous applause around me, I was so glad I was sitting on the piano stool or I’m pretty sure my knees would have buckled and I would be on the floor. As Josh walked off the stage he gave me an encouraging smile and winked. The light shifted and was now on me. You can do this I told myself. I place my hands on the keys of the black, grand piano that sat in front of me and let them take over. As the first note of Ronan Keatings ‘If Tomorrow Never Comes’ I felt myself relax. This was the song I had sung in my audition and confident I could win with it. ‘Catch a Falling Star’ is a new reality TV talent show. Everyone that applied had to do an audition in front of the three judges. Then we were cut down to 21. Seven for each judge, we then had to sing again for our mentor with a song of their choice before being cut down to three for each judge and making it to the live stages. To enter ‘Catch a Falling Star’ you have to be able to sing, dance and act. It was open to anyone aged 16 and over and the winner won a recording contract and second place won a place in a West End Show. Each week all the contestants would sing, act (a scene from a West End Show, TV show or film) and perform a choreographed dance routine that the contestants (with a little help from a professional) had choreographed I played the ending chords to ‘If Tomorrow Never Comes’ and looked up into the audience. A thunderous applause erupted around me; everyone seemed to be on their feet. To say relief washed through me was a bit of an understatement. All the judges were on their feet including Steven Dennis, owner of one of the biggest record labels in Britain. He was standing in the middle between Jessica Henry, manager to some of the biggest pop groups ever, and Sophie Leighton, one of the prettiest, pop singers around today, who was managed by Jessica and Steven, produced her singles. The applause finally died down and Josh was at my side. ‘Okay we’ll go to Sophie first.’ I could see why everyone thought she was pretty. She had jet black, straight hair and intense green eyes. She was every guys dream girl. ‘Lexi, Lexi, Lexi that was absolutely spectacular.’ She gushed. ‘I must admit you’ve been my favourite all the way through, you just have that extra something. You have to win it with that.’ The crowds went wild with that response. ‘Thank you Sophie; Jessica?’ Jessica was in her late 50s with a short hazel brown bob, eyes that were nearly the same colour as her hair, she had crow’s feet, and lines round her mouth thanks to her 40 a day habit. ‘If you don’t win tonight then I am a man.’ She declared. The crowds erupted again. ‘Being honest you were probably terrified at the beginning and you were off key in the first 30 seconds but after that you seemed to relax and enjoy it.’ ‘Thank you and finally Steven?’ ‘The reason I kept you in the competition was because I honestly believed you could win it, and I stand by that. The thing that makes you special is I don’t think you truly know how good you are. You are amazing and have done me and all your family proud tonight. Well done.’ The crowd’s screams and applause drowned out what Josh was saying even thought he was standing right beside me. The cameras were back on me. I hadn’t noticed the tears that were streaming down my cheeks. ‘Very impressive comments there Lexi, what would you like to say?’ Josh asked holding the microphone in front of my mouth. ‘I always thought I was an average singer, more of a drama queen.’ The audience laughed; even I managed a wet smile. ‘And even when I stood on the stage tonight I still believed that but maybe I was wrong. Oh and can I quickly say thanks to Steve for believing in me and getting me this far; to Jessica and Sophie for their comments each week; my family and friends for their support i love you; everyone that votes for me each week, they have no idea how much it means to me; and all the people that do an amazing job backstage,’ I babbled as fast as I could. I spotted my dad and Billy they both had smiles from ear to ear. Josh read my number and I made my way of

Answer: There are too many names at the start - it's not important to know these here, just that her family and friends are in the audience, so leave them out. You're getting bogged down in detail and not showing us the emotion. Most readers will know how reality TV works so you don't need to describe so much. You also keep switching tenses, eg "To enter ‘Catch a Falling Star’ you have to be able to sing..." - present tense, "It was open to anyone aged 16 and over..." - past tense. Try reading 'Chart Throb' by Ben Elton

Chapter 1 Words Dorothy Stringer School is a normal average school but one pupil is not quite that. Her name is Callie Cent. Callie was walking to school, like she did every day. She was heading to her friend’s house as they were going to walk together. They walked together every day. They met each other when it was Callie’s first day which was in the December before, and everyone thought she was strange but a few girls liked her for who she was. Their names were Elizabeth but she liked to be called Lizzie, Charlotte who liked to be called Lottie and Camilla but everyone called her Cam. Callie was born n Scotland and lived in an orphanage, till she was the age of five, until her life was changed forever. She had long blond hair with red and ginger highlights in, her features were small but perfectly shaped. She looked like an angel with her heart shaped face. Knock! Knock! She could hear footsteps walking to the door. Callie had been to Lizzie’s house a few times before and her parents didn’t like her, but that was ok everyone has a choice. Callie was hoping that it was going to be Lizzie who opened the door. However she was disappointed when she was faced by Lizzie’s Dad, Matthew. “Lizzie, that friend of yours has turned up!” Then he stared at me. “She will be here in a tick, and don’t make her feel bad because she is my little girl! Come on darling” he shouted to Lizzie. Callie replied “I promise I won’t hurt her or make her upset. You should know that I am a true friend!” Her accent broke through even though it wasn’t strong. Callie knew she couldn’t keep her promise because she had a job to do and she had to keep to the job brief. Lizzie walked up to the door where her dad was standing. “See you later dad I’ve got to get to school before it’s too late, Love you dad!” She kissed her dad and walked down the path waving as she went. Then she turned towards me as soon as we stepped out of sight. “Sorry about that. He believes that I am a goody, goody. I know I am getting good grades by myself not like Lottie and Cam who are getting that Milo person to their homework, but they need to. You are super smart but you said you can’t be bothered to do their homework and do yours at the same time. That’s a good one, don’t you know that?” “I know! Anyway can you please shut up? Do you know that you can talk too much?” Lizzie always talked too much and it got on everyone’s nerves. But it was helpful to Callie, because if she needed to make a quick get a way, Lizzie would always distract someone even if not meaning to. It was a short walk to school from Lizzie’s house but they always dithered. They saw the gate in the distance, and saw that Lottie and Cam were already here waiting for them but also noticed the school bully, Sophie Lea Thompson. Her eyes didn’t glitter like rubies or shine like the sun; her eyes were like dreary rainy day puddles. She had sour lips and grimy skin and it looked like she never washed. She was sour as a bitter lime or lemon. As the days went on she got worse and worse, she curls like a banana skin and scrunched up like a piece of paper and that her type of personality. She was different and more horrible than anyone from anyone you know. She was malicious, and she was notorious for it in her community; just like terrorists are notorious. She didn’t kill anyone, apart from their feelings. She didn’t think of anyone else and she would make you have agoraphobia. You would never want to see her again but she was always there, it was like she was in two places at once. It’s always just like magic. It seemed if she followed you everywhere; it was if she was a ghost floating around in the unbearably quiet school; and like a cheetah waiting to catch its prey. However if you looked around all you would see a dark figure jumping out of the way so she invisible, but she was never. The ghostly figure was evil, in fact horrible however a perfect disguise. So that’s why she is the perfect… Callie tried to ignore to her, it was in Callie’s brief, she had to and she needed to go with the brief it was the most important part of the mission, she could get seriously told off by her boss or even worse get fired or get shot. She really loved her job she liked the adventure and the feeling of holding a gadget or a weapon in her hand, she had the intelligence and the assignation skills, but she could play any part perfectly, from a dumb person to a nerd. That’s why she was such a great agent, that’s why the agency used her. But not for the side you probably think. * She entered the gates and passing pupils who she might have to do something to them, but only one she had been told but she didn’t know who yet it could have been a pupil like her or a teacher, and she was fine doing it not like many kids her age would be, however she had been trained, not like them. She walked into form, saw one of her main suspects her form teacher, Mr. Taylor. He was very secretive kept things to himself, a

Answer: dorthy stringer school, what kind of school is it? normally there elementary, middle, or high are added to the name of the school which would give me an idea of the age of your characters without you having to tell me. spell check your writing, sometimes i had to read a sentence slower or twice to understand what you were trying to say. look for places to add comas and try not to tell me so much information at once, like where you introduce the three girls. not only do they all have names, but you also give them nicknames. am i really going to need to know camilla likes to be called cam, or will i realize this later when she is addressed as cam in conversation? you also do a lot of narrating which i find annoying, here you write; "I know! Anyway can you please shut up? Do you know that you can talk too much?” and then you say how Lizzie always talked to much and got on everyones nerves. this is unnecessary as i can learn that from conversations as well. basically i think it's a good start, but i want the story to flow more, and draw me in. most importantly this is a novel, i don't need to be told whats what in a character's life, i can learn that as the story progresses through events and conversation. i hope this helped, good luck!