Edgar Allan Poe

I never read graphic novels, it’s just not my thing but Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories have surprisingly held my interest. They don’t keep me interested because I like the stories, the keep me interested because while I’m reading them I’m saying to myself “what the…?”. His stories are really messed up and creepy. A lot of people in class have already read most of the stories and say they don’t like the illustrations because they aren’t how they pictured the stories when they first read them, but I never read any of his stories and I actually really like the illustrations. The illustrations actually help me understand what Edgar Allan Poe is actually talking about, yes some of them are kind of confusing but it’s better than nothing, I think. The Tell-Tale heart is probably my favorite story we’ve read so far because it was the easiest to understand what was going on, and it was really creepy… specially when the girl started to go crazy and was laughing like a psycho. I didn’t really like The Fall of The House of Usher, I didn’t really have any idea what was going on and I got confused as to who was who from the illustrations. I liked the Raven because it was written like a poem unlike the other short stories we’ve read. The Raven flowed well and it was cool to hear it read out loud too. I really didn’t like The Pit and the Pendulum it was just weird and disturbing. I didn’t like the illustrations for this one at all, and I just didn’t like the story as a whole. Overall, the stories are interesting… but not something I would want to read voluntarily. Edgar Allan Poe seems like a messed up guy, his stories kind of freak me out. It makes me wonder what’s going on in his head all of them time and what provokes him to write in such a dark way.

Final Thoughts on The Road

I know a lot of the class didn’t like the ending to The Road but really liked it, it made me feel happy. I wish we could’ve seen a little bit more of the boy with the new family he joined up with or I wish that we could’ve seen the boy on his own for a few more days rather than joining a group so quickly. I wonder if the boy in the family that the boy joined up with was the original kid he saw on the side of the road and that the family has been close by ever since then, or following them. Whenever it was that the family saw the man and the kid, they probably noticed that the man was having a really hard time and maybe they wanted to stay close just in case the man died so then they could watch over the boy. I don’t really understand why the man and the boy were so determined to travel all the way to the coast, because when they got there it wasn’t any different from what they were already living it besides there being an ocean. I thought they were going to get to the coast and there were going to be a bunch of good people or something, but there was nothing but boats. I agree that it’s not fair for the boy to say that they don’t help anyone because the man is constantly helping the boy. The man’s only reason for living was the boy, so he had to keep focused on keeping the boy alive and training him how to survive on his own, especially because he knew that he was going to die soon. But overall, I really liked this book. I’m going to definitely see the movie over break. I hope everyone has a great thanksgiving break! J

The Road

I love this book! I started reading it and I was really confused because I had no idea what was going on but then I realized that was the point, and I slowly started catching on… I was hooked. I think The Road is really deep and I love a lot of the quotes in it. “You forget what you want to remember and you remember what you want to forget”, I underlined this quote in my book because I liked it, and it’s just really true to a lot of things in life. In the book, the boy is seeing so many things that young kids don’t need to see and as much as he doesn’t want to remember them… he will. When the man is having flashbacks he’s remembering the bad things about his former life with his wife and such, we see only a glimpse of the good memories when they hold hands in the movie theaters. Another quote that I liked was “The last instance of a thing takes the class with it. Turns out the light and is gone. Look around you. Ever is a long time. But the boy knew what he knew. That Ever is no time at all.” I think it’s sad that the boy has to go through a life like this, that he says he doesn’t care if he dies and he doesn’t even know how long he’ll live his life. I think McCarthy does a really good job at building the suspense in the book, you never know what’s going to pop out of the woods or what’s going to be in the random towns they come across. If it’s not suspenseful then it’s very descriptive and detailed which normally I get really bored with in books but for some reason I really like reading all the details of this book.

Extra Credit Blog

Contemporary literature is much different than literature was years ago. When I pick up a book that has been written in the last 10 years I expect it to be modernized. I expect the themes to be a lot like the world is now, with TV, iPods, cars, drugs, sex, etc. like when we read the Perks of Being a Wallflower, that is a lot of what I expect from most books now a days. I read a lot of books that were about the olden days, and war, and farms. I feel like a lot of books use to be about those topics. I also read books that had no references about drugs or sex or relationships within teens, if I read a book about a teenager the most it would say it that they “liked” or had a “crush” on someone, this also could be because I was younger although I did read pretty advanced books when I was younger. Now the books are about issues we have, maybe people are less afraid to write about them topics because now they won’t get criticized for it like the might have back then. There are lots of books about teens drinking and doing drugs, or having sex and relationship problems, there are books about gays now which I think it’s a pretty hot topic now. Those are the topics I usually expect to read about when I pick up a book that has been written in the last 10 years. I find them interesting also, maybe because I never really read about them before when there weren’t as many books being published about those topics. I also think it’s good to have those kinds of books if the author ends it with a good lesson and isn’t promoting drugs to younger kids or teens.

Still Life

feI’m excited to find out how Still Life ends, I still can’t make any guesses to who I think was the murderer of Jane. When Mathew 10:36 was quoted – “A man’s enemies will be the members of his own house hold”, I couldn’t decide if it meant just family problems and such or if it really meant that the killer was in Jane’s own house or town. Maybe it’s referring to both. It could be anybody, evil is present they just don’t know it yet, and they don’t know if it’s a stranger or someone close to them… but they’re slowing discovering that Jane’s death was most definitely not an accident. “Evil is unspectacular and always human, and shares our bed and eats at our table”, I thought this quote was really creepy but it links with the Mathew 10:36 quote really well. It could either mean just in general with family problems or about the killer as well. The whole Mathew 10:36 quote also definitely goes with the reoccurring snakes throughout the book. The snakes are evil serpents, like the devil was in the story of Adam and Eve. I think the whole snake thing is really creepy, whenever I read about them I start getting the chills… I really hate snakes. I agree that this book has a very strong theme of awareness of evil, like we talked about in class. I really like how all of the characters have developed, they are all very different and unique. I also wonder how art will play out in the plot of the story, there is a lot about art and even on the book cover they make a reference to painting. Anyways, I’m eager to finish the book and figure out this whole mystery!

The Treatment of Bibi Haldar

I’m surprised how much I’m actually enjoying the short stories in Interpreter of Maladies, I think it’s interesting learning about a whole other culture. The short story that interested me the most was The Treatment of Bibi Haldar. I thought it was really strange that Mr. Hadlar would never let anyone take her to the hospital to get her the medical help that she needed for her seizures, maybe then they doctors would have been able to give her a proper diagnosis and the right treatment. Because like someone said in class, we don’t know if her seizures are from epilepsy or if it’s something more than that. It was also weird that he wouldn’t even really support or let her try to find a husband, despite what he thought of her I think he still should have given her a chance to change and try to find a man and be happy, marriage is a big deal in the Indian culture. What I think all Bibi needed to be better is love… she was forced to sleep in a storage room and her cousins’ wife didn’t want her to be anywhere near her because she thought Bibi would somehow infect the baby. Of course Bibi had problems she probably felt awful about the way her own family thought of her. I’m really curious as to how Bibi got pregnant… I almost think it was Hadlar because he just randomly packed up his stuff and left with his family, and he left Bibi money. I also think Bibi didn’t tell anyone who it was who got her pregnant because she didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, because she wanted the baby and she wanted someone to love and have someone love her back. I don’t think she really cared that she got “raped” because she did want the physical attention from a man and she wanted love, but since she couldn’t have love from a man… she got a baby and of course the baby is going to love her no matter what because she’s his mom.

Round Ireland with a Fridge

At first I didn’t really like Round Ireland with a Fridge, I thought it was kind of boring and it was hard for me to get into. But once we got further into the book I started to understand Tony Hawks’ humor a little more and I was actually able to enjoy his stories. At first it did seem like he was rambling on about random things but now his stories are more funny and entertaining. I thought it was so funny when he said he planned to marry the princess of Tory and even brought her flowers, and then again with Roisin. It’s kind of sad that she hasn’t called him yet though, she didn’t seem all that interested in Tony though, I mean going to a club with another guy... I don’t think she really even wanted Tony to go, he kind of just assumed maybe. I think it’s weird that he takes the fridge surfing and gets it baptized… I guess it’s funny. Reading this book has really made me want to go travel around Ireland. I’ve always wanted to go to Ireland because I’m 50% Irish, but since we’ve been reading this book I’ve been looking up places in Ireland that he’s mentioned and I’m really eager to visit Ireland now. I think it would be so fun to go to a pub and experience how much fun all the Irish people have when they’re singing and dancing. Plus the way our teacher talks about Ireland so enthusiastically, she seems to really love it and that makes me even more curious and excited. I think my favorite chapter was when Tony had to sleep in the hostel with the mean Asian man and the man that snored really loud, I like how he gave a time line of his night, it was really funny.

Final Thoughts on My Sisters Keeper.

I don’t even really know how I feel about this book, I liked it but I hated it at the same time. I hate reading books about medical stuff and cancer because it always makes me think too much and starts to freak me out. But I liked it because it kept me interested and wanting to read more, I couldn’t put the book down no matter how much it grossed me out.
The part where you find out why Campbell has judge for a service dog really surprised me, I wouldn’t have guessed that but it made everything come together and make sense. Especially with the situation with Julia, I just think it’s dumb that he didn’t tell her because it’s not like she would have stopped liking him just because he has seizures and she still could be independent. I just didn’t understand his reasoning. I loved hearing all the reasons he came up with when people asked him why he had Judge if he wasn’t blind, it always made me laugh.
The ending to this book really threw me off, I’m still not sure how I feel about it or how I would’ve liked the ending to be if I could change it. I do like that the ending wasn’t predictable, because I predicted that Anna would end up giving up her kidney and everyone would be happy at least for awhile unless Kate relapsed, so in a way I was right… Anna did end up giving up her kidney but not in the way I expected. However, I do think that the wrong sister died. I thought it was kind of sad that after all the fighting Anna did for her right to her own body… in the end, even though she won the case she still lost. I mean I understand why they took her kidney but it was just frustrating to me. I feel bad that Kate will always feel so guilty that she was the one who told Anna to file the case that ultimately took Anna’s life and saved Kate’s which wasn’t Kate’s intentions at all, it was the other way around, Kate wanted to save Anna.

My Sisters Keeper

So far I really like My Sisters Keeper, I never had any desire to read it or to go see the movie. I know that my cousin was in love with both the book and the movie so when I heard that we were going to read it I was kind of looking forward to see why she liked it so much. I have a hard time getting through all the medical parts with the blood and needles, it freaks me out… Yes, even though I’m a diabetic. I get made fun of all the time for being afraid of needles. Anyways, I think that Anna went to the lawyer because she had no other way of getting her parents to hear her. If she had just went up to them and told them that she didn’t want to be a donor for Kate anymore they would have made her give up her kidneys anyways. I do think that they should have given her the choice on her own so she didn’t feel forced into giving up so much. I really don’t like Sarah, I think she needs to settle down and think about her other kids more. I mean yes she should always be there for Kate and help her in any way she can but her other kids need her too and Anna finally is shouting out to let her know this. Obviously Jesse needs his Mom too, I think it’s ironic how he’s the one setting the fires while his dad is the one putting them out. I wish that we could hear from Kate and get her thoughts on everything that’s going on, I think it’s really weird that we haven’t heard from her when basically the whole book revolves around her. I’m excited to see what’s going to happen, if Anna will end up giving Kate her kidney or not.

My Sisters Keeper

So far I really like My Sisters Keeper, I never had any desire to read it or to go see the movie. I know that my cousin was in love with both the book and the movie so when I heard that we were going to read it I was kind of looking forward to see why she liked it so much. I have a hard time getting through all the medical parts with the blood and needles, it freaks me out… Yes, even though I’m a diabetic. I get made fun of all the time for being afraid of needles. Anyways, I think that Anna went to the lawyer because she had no other way of getting her parents to hear her. If she had just went up to them and told them that she didn’t want to be a donor for Kate anymore they would have made her give up her kidneys anyways. I do think that they should have given her the choice on her own so she didn’t feel forced into giving up so much. I really don’t like Sarah, I think she needs to settle down and think about her other kids more. I mean yes she should always be there for Kate and help her in any way she can but her other kids need her too and Anna finally is shouting out to let her know this. Obviously Jesse needs his Mom too, I think it’s ironic how he’s the one setting the fires while his dad is the one putting them out. I wish that we could hear from Kate and get her thoughts on everything that’s going on, I think it’s really weird that we haven’t heard from her when basically the whole book revolves around her. I’m excited to see what’s going to happen, if Anna will end up giving Kate her kidney or not.

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much & Doctor Farmer

I had a hard time reading The Man Who Loved Books Too Much, I thought it was kind of hard to get into a story that revolved so much around books. I love to read books, but I don’t like to read about books… if that makes sense. I do admit it was interesting to read about someone who was so obsessed with books, I’ve never really thought about someone being like that. The only thing I’ve ever collected was Beanie Babies when I was in elementary school, I probably had about two storage buckets full of them. I loved them but not enough to steal them. My grandma bought me a book that showed you all the rare beanie babies and how much they were worth. I didn’t have any of the rare beanie babies but my best friend who was really rich had a lot of them. She never played with them though, where I played with my beanie babies all the time. She would throw a fit if one of the tags of her beanie babies fell off. Like someone was talking about in class, I rather get something out of whatever it is I’m collecting rather than just being able to say you have it and never touching it again. Though I was only 6 or 7 years old so I didn’t really think about how much they would be worth someday, I just knew they were toys and that I wanted to play with them all the time.
The story about Doctor Farmer I liked a little better, I’m not very into doctor books or shows because it grosses me out and makes me light headed when I read all the details. I did think it was a good story though, I liked how Farmer always thought about everyone else before himself, he always wanted everybody to be healthy even though he couldn’t afford to go to a doctor he helped them anyways.

Letter to Charlie

Hey Charlie, so I’ve been reading your letters and I think you’re doing a great job in high school. You took advice from Bill to go to a dance, you did it, and you made lots of new friends. I’m happy for you, but don’t forget who you are. I like the guy you are now so I don’t want you to go change yourself to try to fit in, Sam and Patrick liked you for who you were when you first met them so you don’t need to try to impress them because I’m sure they’re going to like you no matter what. Also, you have to understand that age difference is a huge deal in the dating world when you are in high school, especially for an older girl to date such a younger guy… so don’t get so wrapped up in Sam and keep trying to find another girl you like just as much.
You’re family does care about you, don’t ever think that they don’t. It’s good that you’re getting closer with your sister now too, you’ve been such a good brother to her and I think she realizes it and feels bad for the way she’s been treating you. I hope she keeps trying to be close with you. Now about your brother, he’s just a dick. Yes he’s busy with college, but so am I and I still always have time for my family.
You shouldn’t have been so passive aggressive with Mary Elizabeth, I can completely understand why you don’t like her but I think you should have told her instead of kissing Sam. I was surprised by how Sam and Patrick reacted though because they should have expected that you would do that. I do think they should have asked you more about how you were feeling instead of assuming you felt the same way Mary Elizabeth did.

A Place so Foreign and 8 More

Honestly, A Place so Foreign and 8 More is not my kind of book. I have a hard time getting through each story and when I finally get through it, I have no idea what I just read. I get bits and pieces of the stories but I don’t really understand them. I think that might be the point though because after talking about the stories in class everyone seemed to have a lot of questions about what they read as well, so I guess that makes me feel a little better. I guess I’m just not a very big fan of sci-fi, I don’t really like reading about aliens and in 0wnz0red I had no idea what was going on when Doctorow was writing about all the computer coding and what not. However, if I had to choose a sci-fi book to read I would probably choose this one, I think it helps that the writer is younger so he keeps the stories interesting and funny. I would definitely be more interested in this book than any other science fiction book.
I thought Billy Bailey was a funny story because of how young the kids were but how smart and clever they were. It confused me at first because I kept forgetting they were only 6th graders but I liked the ending of the story when Billy tricked Mitchell McCoy. I was completely lost when I was reading Shadow of the Mothaship, but I started to get into the story once Tony the Tiger and Daisy Dukes came into the story. I thought it was weird but it kept me curious about the purpose of these characters and it made the story funny. I didn’t like when they didn’t remember who Maxes was though, I was bummed. I felt bad for him because he seemed like he really liked Daisy Dukes, and then for her to not even remember him, poor guy.

Final Thoughts on Olive Kitteridge

I’m actually surprised by how much I liked this book. Even though I knew to expect a sad short story each chapter, the book somehow continued to capture my attention. I know a lot of people didn’t like Olive, but I thought she was funny and I liked how she impacted every ones lives in big ways even though she was just a junior high school teacher to some. In ‘Ship in a Bottle’, I loved how Julie remembered one quote that Olive said in class “Don’t be scared of your hunger. If you’re scared of your hunger, you’ll just be one more ninny like everyone else”. Julies hunger was Bruce, so she left to be with him.
I really liked ‘Criminal’; I thought Rebecca was a quirky character, it was a nice change. Rebecca and her boyfriend don’t seem like a good match, he doesn’t seem to pay attention to her and he tries to change her because he thinks she talked too much. He should just accept her for who she is and not try to change her. I think I liked the chapter because I can relate myself to Rebecca, Her father died of heart problems, she always goes to the doctor because she thinks something is wrong with her, she talks to much about random things, ex boyfriend left her for another girl, etc. I went to the doctor a few months after my mom died of heart problems because I got paranoid something was wrong with me too.
Finally, the frightening stranger dilemma, I Personally didn’t like Chris because even though he wasn’t on good terms with Olive, doesn’t mean he should give Henry the same treatment. All Henry wanted to do was see his son and someday see his grand kids. By the time Chris finally came to visit it was too late, he only came to see his dad because he felt guilty. When Olive went to New York to visit, Chris was the stranger, he was a completely different person after all the years of being so far away and not trying to keep in touch with Olive.

Thoughts on chapters 5-7

Chapters 5-7 were page turners for me, they made me scared to get old, fat and to get married. A lot of old married couples end up not being happy together, and there are so many health problems and heart aches that come with growing old, I’m not looking forward to it and it freaks me out.
I thought it was really sad how Bonnie and Harmon’s marriage was falling apart, not just the marriage, but the love and compassion for each other was just gone. One of my goals if I even decide to get married is to never become a stranger to my husband or allow him to become a stranger to me. I think this is why Harmon has such a fascination for young people, they have the energy to love one another and he misses having that with Bonnie, which is why he ultimately decides to leave her for Daisy. I felt bad for bonnie but I understand Bonnie didn’t even make an effort, so Daisy and Harmon developed the connection that Harmon and Bonnie lost. If I decide to get married, I want my relationship to be like Jane and Bob, after all the years together they’re still crazy in love. All the cute little comments that Bob makes to Jane, how well they know each other’s thoughts and emotions without even having to say anything and how they always want to be there for each other.
I’m still not quite sure why this book is titled Olive Kitteridge, but from what we’ve read so far. I feel like Olive is connected in everyone’s lives in some way or another. She makes people view things from a new light, a different perspective. She made a big impact on Kevin and even on Nina. She’s almost manipulative in a way, sometimes in a good way like with Kevin and other times to be malicious, like what she did to her son’s new wife just to mess with her.

1st blog, Reading.

Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve always loved to read. I was constantly asking my parents to help me read a new book I got at school each day. When I got to junior high my favorite books to read were scary mysteries by R.L. Stine, I was obsessed. I had a new book of his at least once a week, if not more. I never read any of his Goosebumps series though.
In High school I got into the more girly books and romance novels like ones by Nicholas Sparks. “Message in a Bottle” was one of my favorites and I read “the Notebook” in one day, the book is MUCH better than the movie. I read all of the Gossip Girl series just like every other girl, I’m sure. I also read a ton of Sarah Dessen’s books such as “Just Listen”, “The Truth about Forever” And “This Lullaby”.
Even now, I still read every single day. Whether it’s a magazine, a novel, or required reading for school - I am reading. I love to read, I think it’s really relaxing… I can’t really get into a book unless it interests me though. It takes me a long time to read a book that I don’t like… I usually end up going back a few times and rereading parts that I couldn’t pay attention to because they were boring to me. Also, I don’t get to read as much as I like to during school because I’m so busy, so that kind of sucks but hopefully the books for this class will be good ones that make me not want to put the book down. I honestly don’t like the Harry Potter series, I tried to read the 1st book once and gave up because it just didn’t catch my interest. I’m currently reading the twilight series, of course. I’m only on the second book but I’m planning on finishing it before the movie comes out in November!