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.