The Stranger by Albert Camus

If I had to choose just one book to pass on to future generations I would choose The Stranger by Albert Camus. Beside the fact that this is one of the few books I’ve actually read, I did enjoy it. The Stranger is roughly one hundred and twenty pages long. It is based on a man that is put on death row in France for committing a pointless murder that he had no intention of committing. The book really makes one question the Justice System, not only in the United States, but across the world. Along with a great storyline and dialogue, Albert Camus has a very unique way of writing that you couldn’t avoid if you read the book. He is very simple and to the point, yet this book remains one of the bestselling novels since it was published in 1942. This very humble, modest style of writing is the kind of work I enjoy reading because it doesn’t make you second guess yourself during the reading and surely isn’t confusing. I enjoyed The Stranger so much that I chose to do a senior English report on it where I made a short film including video clips related to the topic of justice and I also incorporated music. The Stranger will undoubtedly be a book I remember for the rest of my life and I believe everyone should get their hands on it at one point.

Halloween

   Halloween has never really been a huge event in my life. As a kid, I would love to go trick or treating—what kid didn’t? Today, I see Halloween from a different perspective. I usually don’t know when Halloween is until about a week in advance when someone gives me a random reminder. Halloween isn’t a holiday that I would consider special or at least not special enough to have a family gathering for. One fun part about this holiday, however, is dressing up however you desire. When everyone dresses up differently or tries to look goofy, it makes it a lot of fun because you can begin to see that people don’t always act like themselves. They’re usually a lot more outgoing, carefree, and fun. The worst part about dressing up for Halloween is emptying your wallet for a costume. I usually only wear one outfit Friday or Saturday, that way I won’t have to spend money on two costumes. Living in a house with four other people, trick or treating day got a little annoying when the doorbell rang every ten minutes. It is, however, acceptable because I enjoyed walking around getting candy at one point in my life as well. I don’t think Halloween will ever be that extremely important to me, but I will bring my kids up practicing the tradition to see what they think of it. Who knows, maybe they will get a lot more satisfaction out of the holiday than me.