12/2 post

We are still reading the short stories out of "Nevermore". The latest two that I read was "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "The Tell-tale Heart". These short stories both seemed very strange to me. The way that they changed them from the original version also struck me as very odd.
In the short story "The Fall of the House of Usher" they really didn't change that much about it except they tried to make it a little bit more modern. They tried to make it sound like some rock star was crazy and they also mention that he thought at first that he could be using drugs again, which kind of gave it a more of a modern twist. It was also weird how they really didn't build on who the girl was. In the old version the guy that came to visit was trying to take the girl away but her brother stopped them. In this one she dies and then one night she wakes up and then the house falls down. It was just way to short for me to like and the pictures where really weird looking.
The short story "The Tell-tale Heart" I found it very interesting that they made the murder the one that had trouble with eye sight. In the old version it is the man that is murdered that has a weird eye and that is the reason that he is murdered because the person can not stand it looking at him. In this version they also made it so she was wearing the clothes that she killed the man in, which completely gave her away as the murderer. I like how in the old version he was completely clear and them the detective sat down and talked to the guy and he kept thinking that he heard a heart beating and it drove him mad until he confused. In this version it was kind of the opposite since she was going to be found guilty anyway but then she just lead the cops to the body since she thought it was still alive.
These stories that are in the "Nevermore" book seem even stranger then the way that Edgar Allan Poe used to write them. These books are just a little to weird for me to enjoy

11/18 post

I just finished the book "The Road". I really enjoyed this book even though we never really found out a whole lot about the characters. In other books that we had read this semester I had not really enjoyed the books that did not build on the character of the story. The reason I enjoyed this book is we really didn't need to know about the characters because I think the book was supposed to make you think about how you would act in this situation. The main theme to the book in my eyes is trying to decide what is right and wrong. The boy would always ask his father whether it was ok that they where taking other peoples things. It also made you think about what you would do to survive. Would you be one of the people that resulted to eating other human beings. I know I wouldn't because that is descusting and wrong but it makes you wonder just what people are willing to do in order to survive.
The last thing that I wanted to talk about is the very end of the book. When the boy goes out into the road and sees the man coming why didn't he run away. If he would of done what his dad had told him he would of ran back into the woods. I was also wondering why the man with the shotgun never tried to talk to the boy and man before because we know that they had been following them for sometime since he asked who the man the boy was with was. I guess he was scared that the man would try to take his stuff or try to kill him.

The Road

To me McCarthy has done a good job building suspense in the first twenty-five pages. He has really made it so I want to find out what is going to happen to the two people that are traveling down these roads trying to get to the south, where it is warm.
The thing that really held my attention is trying to figure out what caused all of the people to die and why some people survived. My guess after the first twenty-five pages is there must of been some kind of nuclear war and not everyone died instantly, but he keeps coughing up blood and this makes me believe that he is slowly dieing from the radiation of the bomb. In the book so far he has done a good job of describing how the land is all burnt and still burning, which give you a great sense of what the scene probably looks like. So far I have enjoyed the book and want to continue reading it.

Bonus blog

To me contempory literature is something that needs to catch and hold my interest from the very beginning. If the book that I am reading starts out really slow then I have trouble getting into it and makes it hard for me to follow the rest of the story.
When I pick a book in the last ten years that is a mystery story I expect it to be one of those stories that are interesting and one that you can try to figure out on your own. These books are normally very clever and fun to read from the very begginning.
I really like the kind of books that build on the main character. I really like these kind of books because you start to know that person and then you now how they are going to act in certain situations. It also makes it so you can understand the book better.
In all I really like books that hold my attention the entire time.

Nov. 4 post

The book that we are reading right now is "Still Life" by Louise Penny. This book is a mystery book about a murder of an elderly women in the small town of Three Pines. It is full of mystery and really has kept my attention the entire time. This book is easily me favorite book so far. The reason that this book is my favorite is the way the Penny makes it so anyone in the town could be the person responsible for the death of Jane. It really makes it fun for the reader because they can try to piece the story together themselves.
I really enjoy being able to read a book and try to figure it out. For people that don't want to know who I think committed the murder you might not want to read any more of this blog. I know that they found the arrow and bow in the basement of the Croft's house but it just doesn't seem to fit. I don't thin that any of the Croft's killed Jane. I think that the murderer is Ben. Now I know that this seems a little bit crazy since they where friends and all but there are a lot of things that don't add up with him. The thing that really caught my attention at first is that Ben and Peter where the ones who started the archery club in the first place. This means that both of them had to be very good shots. Now this is not enough evidence on its own but then when Peter and Clara went to visit Ben, Clara went into Ben's living room and smelt cleaning materials. He may of used these cleaning materials to clean the blood up. The next thing that I noticed about Ben is that him and Peter would go out into the woods dressed up and pretend to be Robin Hood. They might of accidentally shot her. Or maybe she caught them doing something that they didn't want people to know about because there relationship seems a little strange to me so maybe it is something more. The last thing I noticed about Ben is how he kept looking at Gamache when he was talking to Clara. I am probably way off but I really enjoy trying to figure these things out ahead of time.
This book is my favorite book so far and I can't wait to see how it is going to end.

10/28 post

The first short story that I wanted to discuss is "Treatment of Bibi Halder". In this short story a girl is having medical problems that mystifies all of the doctors. The cure that one of the doctors advises is for her to find a husband. At first to me this seems to make her problem even worse because all she is thinking about is finding a husband and this stresses her out. To me the doctor only had the treatment half right. She didn't need a husband she needed someone to love her.
If you think about it, it all makes sense. Bibi didn't start having medical problems until after her father died. She moved to her relatives and they never showed her any love. During the period when she was pregnant she might of still might of had some medical problems that we don't know about since no one really around her. Then the baby came along and not only did she love the baby but like all babies it loved her back. To me this is exactly what Bibi needed.
The last short story I wanted to talk about is "The Third and Final Continent". In this story I think that the author is trying to get a point across about how women used to be considered. Mrs. Foster really showed how women used to act a lot differently. First off she showed us that she did not approve of the way that the girls of today dress.
Something that really struck me funny is when Mrs. Foster commented on how he had found a perfect women. When I thought about this and how Mrs. Foster thinks it made a lot of sense since she probably had very conservative clothing on and maybe she could tell that she followed orders good since she jump off the piano bench as soon as she was told.

10/21 post

At the beggining of this book I really thought that I was going to have trouble following the book. Normally it is hard for a book to keep my attention when it is talking about all of these places that I have know clue where they are and what they look like, but after a while I saw that I wasn't going to have any trouble at all following this book.
This book held my attention because of the way Tony was willing to try anything. For starters not many people would be crazy enough to go around Ireland with a fridge in the first place. The way he is able to just talk to any person is something that also kept me very interested in the book. If he would of just given people one word answers or just not talk then many of the experiences that he has already had would not of happened to him and the book would be really boring.
This book has shown me that going out of your comfort zone will end up a good thing more times then not. Calling in to the national radio station right at the begginning of his trip was probably one of the most important things that he did, and I'm sure it was'nt that easy to just call up a huge radio station and start to talk to them. If he hadn't of called the station then he probably wouldn't of met nearly as many people as he has and he probably would never even get close to the kind of progress that he has already made.
So far I have really enjoyed this book and I cant wait to see what happens to Tony and his fridge next.

10/14/09 post

Something that I really wanted to talk about is the whole thing with Jesse starting fires. I know this is has been going on for a while but this is the first chance I have had to talk about it. It seems very strange to me how he wants to start fires when his dad is a fire fighter. Its almost like he wants his dad to get hurt in one of these fires.
It shows that he really does want someone to get hurt by the way he starts these fires. He starts them in places where he knows they are the most dangerous. Someone that does this just is out to hurt someone and that's why his parents really should start paying more attention to him and really get him some help. The way his mom would tell him to leave if he was annoying her is really wrong and it doesn't surprise me that he has issues.
Enough about Jesse, the end of the book was really surprising. The way the Anne ended up being the one who died was really messed up. It all worked out good for Kate though and that kind of bothers me. What had she given to Anne in her life time, its not fair that just because she was made to save her that she shouldn't be treated wrong. The book was pretty good and it kept my attention for most of the time.

10/7 post

The book "My Sister's Keeper" has been very interesting so far. For starters I never realized that things like these are even possible. Its seems crazy to me that scientists can manipulate things to make it so that Anna is a perfect fit for Kate. This seems crazy to me because this kind of makes me think about all the other things that they could do with this technology. They could make a person almost any way that they want to.
Something that really stood out to me how Anna did not want to do the things to keep her sister alive. I realize that it is really painful and it makes her life like crap but I would never just let my brother or sister die just because I am in pain, even if there is no guarantee that Kate will live very long even with the kidney transplant. I understand why Anna wouldn't want to give up her kidney especially if that means that she will not be able to play sports and things like that. I know if I did not give up my kidney to my sibling and they died then I would have to live with that guilt for the rest of my life. The whole sports thing would really suck to but you only play sports for a few years of your life. I realize that she mostly just wants the right to be able to say whether or not she wants to help or sister or not. This is completely understandable but instead of going to a lawyer I think that she should have talk to her parents about it and tried to get it worked out that way.
The way that Jesse acts out to me is a cry for attention. Kate takes up all of her parents time, which leaves Anna and Jesse feeling that they really are not wanted or are not as important to them as Kate is. The whole thing with Jesse could be easily fixed by just having the parents pay more attention tom him and make him feel like he is needed.

9/30/09

The book "The Man that Loved Books to Much" was kind of interesting to me. I never knew that the world of book collecting was as intense as it really is. I would of never of guessed that books could be sold for thousands of dollars.

I found it very interesting how so many people could make a living by selling and buying books. This book started out kind of slow because at first they just started out by telling boring stories about how people stole books. The thing that really held me attention was the prices of the books that where sold. Books that where worth over one hundred thousand dollars seemed like there would be no way anyone would ever buy them. I don't know if it was me I would not put out books at that price because you are pretty much asking for someone to try to steal it.

Something that kind of bugged me about this book is the way Gilky's parents acted when he stole the baseball mitt. They just let him take and did not even punish him and this to me is the biggest problem with him. If his parents would have made him take back the mitt then most of the things he did probably would have never of happened. I also found it odd that a store hired him when he did not fill out his application all the way since he didn't put down whether or not he had committed any crimes.

All in all this book held me attention for most of the time and I found it very enlightening. I would recommend book.

September 24th

The book "The Perk of Being a Wallflower" is a very good book. This is my favorite book so far. I think that I like this book the most just because this book sticks with the main character the whole time. This book really let you get to know the main character, even though he is special in his own way.

The book did a really good job of getting the reader into the book. It made me wonder what the heck was going on at first because I didn't understand why this guy was so emotional and I thought that something must of been wrong with this guy.

Something that kinda of bugged me throughout this book is how Charlie's parents really do not keep track of Charlie. I mean his parents let him go to all these parties, where they have no clue who he is with and how these people are treating him. I think these parties made life a lot harder on Charlie because although he had friends at these parties he also is getting very confused by using drugs and drinking a lot. At the end of the book when Charlie has his freak out I think a lot of his problem has to do with the drugs that he is using. They make him feel good for a while but then when Sam leaves he just has a huge crash.

I did like how I kind of got an understanding of how a person thinks that thinks like he does. It helps me remember that the people that act a little different really want the same thing as everyone else, like friends and having fun.

I would recommend this book to anyone who would like a good read.

September 16th

The story that I am going to blog about is the story "The Shadow of the Mothership". This story was another very strange story. I really do not enjoy books that have to do with aliens and things or the nature.
I did not really understand why they made all of the buildings out of foam. It just does not make sense when they are supposed to be in the future you would think that they could come up with a better building material then foam. I mean they can fly away if someone really wants them to.
I also don't understand why he did not go with his parents when they went on the mothership. Maybe he did not want to go because I do not think that his parents would just leave him there especially if is dad is supposed to be this great guy with great ideas.
Another thing that I did not really enjoy about this book is we never found out what really happened to Daisy Duke and Tony the Tiger. They just end up as what sounds like a hooker and a begger. The story would have been better if the author would have talked about that.
I did like the ending because at first I was disappointed that he was giving in to his dad but it turned out that he never really was.

September 9th

Today I finished the book Olive Kitteridge. I didn't really enjoy this book although the end was a little better.
I really liked how Olive went to visit Chris in New York. Even though it didn't last very long Olive was happy again being with her son and his new family. I also think it was good for Olive to get out of the town that she spent her whole life in and she got a taste of what the rest of the world is like. I also liked how Chris told off his mom. I know it was a mean thing to do but Olive had been mean to people all of her life and it was about time that someone told her that she is not acting right. Although I did not like how Chris just let his mom leave and he didn't even give her a ride to the airport. I wish the book would of said more of what happened to Olive at the airport after the security guards came and took her away.
The whole thing that Olive had with Jack Kennison seemed kind of weird to me. Olive had not been being nice to anyone and then she starts liking this game. It just seemed a little off of the rest of the book. It was nice that Olive found someone else who was lonely and had also just lost a loved one.
After reading this book I would not suggest it to any of my friends because it is to sad all the way through.

August 2 Post

This week we started reading Olive Kitteridge. To me this book started out really slow and it was really had for me to keep reading it. It was one of those books that was to detailed. I also did not enjoy how it jumps around so much. It seemed to be one of those books that really had no main character. As I continued to read though I realized that Olive Kitteridge was in some way connected to all of the people the book talked about, so it started to make a little bit more sense to me.
I did not like how this book made marriage look either. The author of this book must have had a lot of relationship problems because every time this book talks about a couple, the people in the relationship are not happy and in most of the cases really like a different person.
There has been a few good parts in the book like when Henry Kitteridge talks about how he still loves Olive Kitteridge and knowing Denise makes him love Olive even more. Sure it seems that he only cares about Denise but he is just a really nice guy and he knows that she needs someone to help her. Something that might not of been a good part in the book but I enjoyed more was the part in the hospital. This at least gave a little bit of excitement to the story and action books are the books I enjoy. I hope that this book keeps throwing in some twists and hopefully it doesn't continue to be this sad.

First Blog

For my first blog I am going to blog about the book Seattle Noir. These short stories are based in Seattle so i thought it was going to be pretty cool to read, since I have visited Seattle several times.
The short story that I read first was Red Tide. While reading this short story I found it very hard to pay attention to it. I was very slow and some of the things did not make sense. First of all I found it very hard to believe that McKean just happened to see an old friend out in a boat. Even if he had seen him the odds of him knowing anything about the murder was pretty ridiculous. The next thing that did not really make sense is how McKeans friend was so jumpy, which gave him away at the very beginning of the book. The thing that most of the class did not agree with me on is why McKean was on the job in the first place. The reason that he was on the case is he knew that this murder would never be solved unless he did something about. The cops that it was just an accident and not a murder. McKean was just being a good person by taking the case into his own hands. If someone was to ask me if they should read this short story I would have to tell them not to waste there time.
The second story I read was Tell Death Do Us. This book was very good from the very beginning. It started out with a rich woman coming into a P.I.'s office, which reminded me of all of the old P.I. movies. The way that the story had a twist to it also made it a lot better because I would have never of guessed that the husband would come into the same P.I. office. When Jake started tailing the man I had a feeling that something was up. Then when Jake was in the bar and was talking to his partner it did not seem that he could be watching the man very good. The ending was great how they both got what they deserve because anyone trying to kill another person then they deserve the same. I really enjoyed this book and I hope that the rest of these short story's are this good.