All the President's Men take two...

I'm not liking the way this book is written. Third person throws me off a bit and there are so many people that Woodward and Bernstein are going after. Also, when either Bernstein or Woodward are talking there are no quotation marks, which slightly annoys me.

A difference from the movie: "The two fought, often and openly. Sometimes they batteled for fifteen minutes over a single word or sentence." In the movie I didn't see or feel any of this hostility. They seemed to get along fairly well. But I understand what they're going through, it's hard to share such a big responsibility with a person. I can sometimes be the same way.

It makes me excited to read this book. All the President's Men illustrates the difference good journalism makes in America as a free society. If it weren't for Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein the Committee to Re-Elect the President would have most likely gotten away with all of their shenanigans. There are other cases of course where this has happened like Nellie Bly in the late 1800s who pretend to be insane to get into an asylum and expose what really went on behind the doors. (If you've heard of a good book about her experience, I'd love to read it.) It's sad that people rely less on newspapers these days. I feel like people can say anything online and get away with it, but if you work for a credible news source you have to be credible yourself.

You would think that I'd be done with Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, but I'm not. It's always been one of the hardest ones for me to get through. It's like one of the Triwizard Tournament Tasks itself. Like Harry I just keep putting it off because I've got my own classes to do work for, Yule Balls to attend and Rita Skeeter to avoid. If it was up to me though, I'd probably snuggle up and read under my down comforter everyday instead of dealing with the outside world. Wouldn't that be lovely?

So I have managed to read some of it, in fact I read a chapter on the Metro this weekend. I just haven't gotten around to the act of sitting down for a good two or three hours and just getting those hundreds of pages out of the way. The thing is, I don't want to think of it as something to get out of the way, I'd rather it be a pleasurable experience.

To rehash what has happened since I last discussed this book: I think I left off with a mad rant about Rita Skeeter around the time of the first task. Harry got through the first task, the Unexpected Task (aka. The Yule Ball), the second task and to top it all off Rita Skeeter is no longer aloud on the grounds of Hogwarts. Somehow however she keeps reporting on the going ons of the school's faculty, students and the tournament. The kids have yet to figure out how... Now, I know that I've spent a lot of time talking about Skeeter before, but I'd just like to point of that she could never write for Carpe Diem. NEVER. We would never publish her, she doesn't even write journalistically or attribute her quotes correctly. There's something wrong with her and her Quick-Quotes Quill and I don't understand why the Daily Prophet would put up with such a nuisance. Tisk tisk.

Well, Snape's just called Harry a big headed brat for the gazillionth time. While reading Skeeter's article aloud. I wish Snape would just get over himself.

I'm thinking that between now and Thanksgiving break I'll finally have finished this book at my own relaxing pace.

All the President's Men

Last year for Scribbler as an assignment besides writing and designing the magazine we were told to watch a movie about journalists... there are several. I stuck with All the Presidents Men because I remembered when the identity of Deep Throat was revealed in 2005. My dad had always pushed the story on me, telling me it was something that I MUST watch/read. So last year I watched the film. This year, since I am going to Washington D.C. over the weekend, I figured what better to bring then my dad's taped copy with pages falling out. After all the book was written by two writers for the Washington Post and I am going to Washington D.C. for a journalism conference.

It started off as just a break-in story. The headquarters for the Democratic National Committee had been broken into. No foul play or anything. Just some people who had a lot of money appeared to have broken in. Bob Woodward, follows the story to the court where he finds out that one of the people that broke into the building works for the CIA. How fishy is that? Someone that is supposed to ideally catch criminals, or intercept Russian intelligence is breaking into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee.

So far I enjoy this book. The investigating reminds me of In Cold Blood and Lucky. At the moment the book is a little hard to follow, perhaps I'm just anxious about the trip... But, there are a lot of names and places and it's very fast paced. I find it interesting that even though this book was written by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein it's written in third person instead of first.

ginger

One of my favorite nonfiction books in my possession would have to be The Redhead Handbook. I received it as a birthday present from my mom a couple of years ago and have read it several times since, most recently this weekend.

Not only does The Redhead Handbook tell me that I should make sure to wear enough sun screen when I go out each day but it traces the roots of redhair back to the days of the Roman Empire. A Roman people named the Picts were the first to record any evidence of people having redhair. The Picts lived in the area now known as Scotland. It's funny because a lot of people think redhair is an Irish characteristic, which makes since I guess, Scotland and Ireland are close enough together but today 13% of Scotland's population has redhair.

The book also looks at the well known people with redhair. Cort Cass, the author of the book claims that there is speculation that Adam (as in Adam and Eve) had red hair because the Hebrew word for red is Adom. The list goes on to include Judas, Nero, Eric the Red, Christopher Columbus, William the Conqueror, King Henry VII, Elizabeth I, Napolean, Oliver Cromwell, Galileo, Van Gogh, Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson, Jesse James and seven U.S. Presidents. The Handbook also brings up the famous that have dyed there hair to get the color.

The Redhead Handbook is always a fun read for me. It's full of facts, but Cass manages to make me laugh aloud when I read it.

the book

I didn't know what I was going to write about for my final blog of this blog grading period. I'm at an awkward stage between books if that makes sense and I just wasn't sure what I would write about. I finished a book on Sunday and have picked up Goblet of Fire again. I'm not very far along since when I last left off, and all I would have done was whine about Mad Eye/Barty Crouch, though I might save that for later because I really do find that interesting...

Until just now, since that last sentence I felt that I didn't have much to say about Harry Potter right now, though now I do, but I don't want to talk about it so later then. Okay, back to what I was trying to get to eloquently as possible... Tuesday night I couldn't sleep so I picked up the book closest to me which was on my desk, next to my bed. It was the Bible. It been there since the night I'd studied for the unit test when you said to familiarize ourselves with Genesis chapters 2 & 3. I picked it up and opened to a random page, in one of the four gospels, either Matthew, Mark, Luke or John, I don't remember which and started to read some parables.

The seemed much shorter and much less detailed than the ones you read from picture books or perform as skits in Sunday School class when your little. For example the story of the good samaritan, I remember when I was little I remember that there was a man who had been beaten horribly and robbed by bad people. A priest passes him and doesn't do anything, a soldier passes him and doesn't do anything. But then a regular person passes him. Gets him clothes, cleans his wounds, gives him a place to stay, along with some money. In the Bible somone just asks Jesus a question and he answers it with this story and at the end says, "Who do you think will have the everlasting life?" Perhaps it's the absence of pictures, or a room of 10 year olds popcorn reading, or a dramatic skit complete with a plastic sword for the soldier, that makes it seem smaller when I read the tiny paragraph in tiny print in Matthew, Mark, Luke or John...

I flipped ahead a good bit to the next gospel to compare, because all four gospels are supposed to tell the story of Jesus from what I understand. And they were, some parables were worded differently, or a bit longer or shorter, but over all they were the same, everything Jesus said was typed in red.

The story of the Good Samaritan reminded me of one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite television shows West Wing:

"This guy's walking down the street when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep he can't get out.
"A doctor passes by and the guy shouts up, 'Hey you. Can you help me out?' The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down in the hole and moves on.
"Then a priest comes along and the guy shouts up, 'Father, I'm down in this hole can you help me out?' The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole and moves on
"Then a friend walks by, 'Hey, Joe, it's me can you help me out?' And the friend jumps in the hole. Our guy says, 'Are you stupid? Now we're both down here.' The friend says, 'Yeah, but I've been down here before and I know the way out.'"

And being reminded of West Wing reminded me of an episode in which President Bartlett played by Martin Sheen attacks a religious radio personality. I'll put a link HERE so that you can CLICK and WATCH it. (And here what I read next in the Bible.) You probably won't get to watch it in the school building unless you are away from the YouTube blocking shield that surrounds the school.

Anyways... I had a good time reading the Bible that night. I'm not a regular reader, but from time to time I crack it open. The thinking involved definitely wore me out enough to go to sleep.

But my question is, what do you call it. Fiction? Nonfiction? You could say that the contents of the Bible are made up. But I think that it's definitely, at least an account of the times and area. But I think if I were to call it anything I would call it literature... I can't think of many books, that have survived as long as this book. And bible meaning The Book in Greek or Roman, or whatever they say it is. I would compare it to The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. When I was trying to be a smart looking person when I was little I would always go to the Classics/Literature section and Ben Franklin would always be there even though it is an autobiography there for nonfiction, there's just something about it that puts it in the classics/literature section, the same goes for Origin of Species etc.

There's really so much more I could say, but I've said a lot and I'm honestly too tired to say it and I have to be at Agnes Scott at 6:45 tomorrow morning, so I'll stop here.

Fat Girl

Fat Girl is Judith Moore's true story of her struggle with being fat. 

Her story is another one of messed up families. Her mother and her father get married young while they are both in college and the marriage doesn't end up working out so they separate. Judith gets stuck with her mother and all contact between her and her father and his family is severed. 

Judith's mother hates that she is fat and constantly has Judith dieting. When she doesn't loose any weight her mom accuses her of cheating and beats her. I don't understand how any mom could be like that. It's so ridiculous. I just think Judith was a reminder of her father to her mother and an obstacle too. I don't think that her mother wanted a child anyways. She was looking to be a singer and when she got pregnant all her hope vanished.  And she blames everything on her daughter because of it. It saddens me that she would act like this. I wish that she had let Judith live with her father.

In the end, Judith comes to terms with herself. She finally meets she father and though she says that she can never truly love him, I think she at least likes him. I liked this book. It was written in kind of stream of conciseness... but it was very short...but not exactly too the point, or as dense and detailed as Lucky was, but I still liked it.

Lucky, finished.

Alright, so today I finished Lucky by Alice Sebold. And I really did enjoy reading it. It was nonfiction written like fiction, which I like I've decided.

The story itself followed an unusual stucture. It started off with Sebold being raped, which is a very climatic moment in the story I think. Then Sebold escaped from Syracuse and went back home for summer break. At home, away from everyone she had to deal with everyone getting used to the idea and the different treatment she received from those who new her whether they were old boyfriends or the sweet old ladies at church. Sebold decides to go back to Syracuse for school despite the circumstances. In October that year, while going to lunch, she walks past her rapist on the street. She rushes into the restaurant to avoid him. When she comes out she makes sure that he is not around anymore, but while walking back they walk past her and he says, "Hey girl, don't I know you from somewhere?" (which I found utterly despicable.) She rushed back to school, told her professor she couldn't come to class that day, called her parents, and called the police. (This is what I found to be the beginning of the next rising action.) Then police come and they try to figure out who it is and such....eventually, they find him and during by summer they are in court. I LOVED the trial. It reminded me so much of Matlock, which is the show I watch when I'm sick. It also reminded me of the Supreme Court case that I sat in on for a moment during freshman year, that too was a rape case. I hated the defendant's lawyer, I couldn't even believe that the defendant would plead not guilty if DNA evidence made it obvious that he was guilty. Finally, after a very trying time preparing for court, waiting for the judges decision, etc. the verdict was decided and Sebold won. (I consider this the next "climax.'')

Sebold seems to get on with her life as if the trial was the thing that helped her to get over what had happened. She still deals with everything, and is still reminded of it through out the rest of her years at Syracuse and I thought that the book was settling into a nice denouement(one of my favorite words). Sebold's in a lecture during her last year at Syracuse and when she get really bad stomach pains and calls her friend to come pick her up, her friend takes her home where she finds several police cars. Her roommate and friend Lila has been raped. (this I found to be another climatic moment.)

Lila isn't like Sebold. She doesn't want to find the guy who did this to her, she just wants it to be over. Sebold doesn't understand. Lila doesn't want to talk about it, she just wants to forget about it. For the first time Sebold has a close friend that shares her experience and thinks that she can help her friend. But her friend doesn't need the kind of help that she wants to give her. This really hurts Sebold. She ends up struggling and loosing her best friend.

Sebold skips graduation to get out of Syracuse once and for all. She goes to the University of Houston to get an M.A. in poetry, but drops out. She falls into bad habits, drinking, smoking, drugs: her favorite heroin. She goes through a rough time for a couple of year and finally just snaps out of it. She gets her life back on track, gets healthy and goes to a therapist. Sebold is finally as close where she wants to be as she can be. And it's a good ending...

I honestly didn't see it coming when her friend was raped. I didn't expect it. It's something I would expect more in a novel, but alas she was. Overall this really was a great book. I plan to recommend it to anyone who needs help finding good nonfiction.

Lucky

So on Monday, I left my Harry Potter at home, so while I dropped by the library that morning I asked Ms. Newman if she had any good nonfiction for me to read. She stopped whatever she was in the middle of doing and headed towards the biography/memoir section. She browsed the shelfs and handed me about six books that she thought would interest me. I chose three out of the six to check out.

The first one from my library stack is Lucky by Alice Sebold. I orginally chose it because I wanted to eventually read The Lovely Bones by Sebold. But I thought I'd read this anyways since it was available. And since I obviously need more nonfiction than fiction. After having it for about two days I've almost made it to 100 pages.

Lucky is about Sebold's rape and how she and those around were effected by it and dealt with it. I feel as if the tone of this book is very like that of In Cold Blood, though not a brutal and only told from the perspective of one person, Sebold. The book however, like In Cold Blood has that mysterious aura that I've loved since the days of Cam Jansen, Mary-Kate and Ashley and Nancy Drew mystery series.

Lucky also has a dysfunctional family angle like that of The Glass Castle and Running with Scissors. Her mother has fits, or "flaps" as Sebold and her sister Mary call them. Her mother has also dealt with alcoholism and a Valium addiction. Her father is an intellectual type, belonging to the faculty of the University of Pensylvannia, an expert in 18th century Spanish literature like Miguel Cervantes Don Quixote de la Mancha.

I am looking forward to see how this book is as a whole. I'm definitely intrigued by it, but I don't have a definite opinion of it yet.

Rita Skeeter

Another person I despise in the series is Rita Skeeter. She's a bug, and I really don't like bugs, so in turn I really don't like her. She's everything a reporter is not supposed to be, biased opinionated. She always editorialized in her feature/new stories and doesn't attribute quotes well either. She also makes life even harder for Harry than it already is, along with the Triwizard Tournament.

I'm reading slowly right now. Goblet of Fire is a long book and with swim practice, float building and deciding what to where for each spirit day, it's been difficult to keep up. Not to mention that we've been trying to get Carpe Diem off to press ALL this week. What if there was some Rita Skeeter woman following me? I can't wait for a chance to get to sit down and read for a good bit. I've actually been reading as much as I can. I even read to avoid other assignments for other classes which is kind of a bad thing... but it's all I have energy and the attention span for. After about half a chapter I seem to doze off.

Rita Skeeter always gets a rise out of me though. No matter who she's bothering: Harry, Hagrid, Hermione, the Weasleys. Poor journalism (sensationalism) at it's best. I can't wait to get to the part where Hermione catches her and keeps her in a jar AND blackmails her. How great will that be? Perhaps I will let her redeem herself in Order of the Phoenix. We'll see.

I forgot!

I completely forgot to mention something that has kind of bothered me since Prisoner of Azkaban.Luckily when Harry and Ron were completing the divination homework in the Common Room, I was

reminded of it.

Alright, so in Prisoner of Azkaban, after Harry's finished his divination exam, Trelawney goes into a trance. And says:"It will happen tonight. The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers. His servant has been chained these twelve years. Tonight, before midnight, the servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master. The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant's aid, greater and more terrible than ever before. Tonight... before midnight... the servant... will set out... to rejoin... his master..."

Which ends up being true. Because Voldemort's faithful servant, Peter Pettigrew finds escapes from every one and makes it back to Voldemort.

So, what does this have to do with Goblet of Fire? Well, the thing is, Harry thought this prediction to be a real prediction, even though he though of Trelawney as a fraud because he voice changed and she completely zoned out. However, for as long as I've read Harry Potter I've found most of Trelawney's predictions to be true. Like Lavendar's rabbit dying, and something about Lavendar and a man with red hair. Also she's always saying that Harry's in danger. Which, undoubtedly he is. Also, Trewlawney loves to predict Harry's death. And he eventually does "die."

I've decided that I'm going to make a note of the predictions as I go along through the rest of the series for further blogs, because I really do feel bad for Trelawney some times.

the tao of pooh

The Tao of Pooh written by Benjamin Hoff in 1982. The purpose he's trying to accomplish by writing The Tao of Pooh was to explain taoism to Westerners through a Western view point... and through the characters in the Hundred-Acre Wood.

I love Winnie-the-Pooh. He's so funny and over all great. I love the rest of the characters too, though my favorite I think is Tigger because I used sleep with my stuffed Tigger EVERY night. One thing I really liked about Winnie-the-Pooh when I last read it in 8th grade was the dialogue between Pooh and the other characters or Pooh and himself. Hoff incorporates this dialogue between him and pooh.

According to Hoffman the difference between Buddhism and Taoism is their views of the world. Buddhists see life as "a wheel of pain for all creatures," a never ending cycle. In order to find peace in Buddhism on must reach Nirvanna and "transcend 'the world of dust.' Taoists believe that life is life and that you roll with the punches, you do what comes nature. Rather than transcending "the world of dust'' you "join the dust of the world." You do the dao/tao. Or the way.

So far the book is interesting. I've been wanting to read it since last year when Ms. Embry introduced it to us in AP World. I'm glad that I've finally got around to reading it.

wormtail & other annoyances

Diving straight from Prisoner of Azkaban to Goblet of Fire I noticed something in the first chapter. Of all people to call Peter Pettigrew Wormtail, Voldemort does. Personally, I don't think that makes much sense at all. It was a Marauders thing, therefore I thought it was between him, James, Sirius and Lupin. Not Voldemort. I read this chapter in Analysis and a leaned forward to ask Jessi about it, and she didn't have an answer for me either. It just doesn't make sense to me... and it's kind of ANNOYING me.

Alright, I've got to stop thinking about that... the fourth book is kind of a drag. Although, when the Weasleys come to pick Harry up from the borrow I laugh a lot. "Duddley was still clutching his bottom as if it might fall off." The Dursley's truly don't realize how comical they are. I also appreciate Mr. Weasley telling off Vernon and Petunia " You're not to see your nephew until next summer... Surely you're going to say goodbye." And they do.

I'm literally on page 75 and not much has happened yet. They've just arrived at the Quidditch World Cup. And Mr. Diggory has had his "Surely the best man won" moment, when discussing the previous year's quidditch match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. He's kind of annoying, Diggory. But Cedric is soo humble compared to his father. Oh, Cedric!

Jacob's still on the fourth book, but he's close to the end. I really do need to hurry it up!

dementors

I finished the roller coaster that is Prisoner of Azkaban. The ending is just CRAZY. You go from being afraid of Sirius and loving Lupin to hating them both. Then loving them and hating Ron's poor rat Scabbers aka. Peter Pettigrew. And just when you think thing are going to go well because Snape's unconscious and Harry's going to live somewhere other than the Dursley's, the moon comes out and Lupin changes and the dementors come and get rid of every single hope that they have. And I love this book, I think it was the first Harry Potter book I actually read more than once. I didn't used to be a fan of rereading books, but this one I love.

Dementors are terrible creatures. Can you just imagine the feeling they would inspire in you? I was talking with my friend's nine-year-old sister because she wanted to watch the Prisoner of Azkaban movie. A second later she decided that she didn't want to because it was too scary, she'd like to watch Chamber of Secrets instead. I remember when I first read both books, my mom read them aloud to me and I made her skip all of the snake parts in the Chamber of Secrets, and I remember being weirded out towards then end of Prisoner of Azkaban. But my friend's little sister said she was scared the most by the dementors when the Hogwarts Express stops in the beginning. It was the thought of these creatures that scared her the most, not big snakes and spiders with gigantic pincers (which I know her sister hates the most). It just struck me as strange that she would pick to be scared of the dementors over the basalisk and Aragog.

So, my text task is to follow Harry and company through the triwizard tournament. I'm behind Jacob by a long ways. Hopefully I can catch up to him.

Azkaban

Sometimes I wish I could go through and read through all the Harry Potters not having read any of them before that one time, just to see what it's like. Currently, I'm in the middle of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Harry's just figured out that not only does Sirius Black want to kill him, but he is responsible for the death of his parents. Could you imagine having to find that out? If your parents best friends betrayed them? Oh, how I wish I could still believe that Sirius did betray the Potters, but alas, I know he didn't because I've read the series only about three times through.

Anyways. Let's talk about names. Jo Rowling sure has a couple up her sleeve. Sirius, Remus, Hermione, Minevera, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Severus etc. She get's them from all over the place. She has too much knowledge. Names of stars (and not celebrities, but actual gaseous bodies in galaxies.), names of flowers, French names, normal names, names of Roman founders, etc. How does she do this? If it weren't for J. K. Rowling, I don't think I would believe in intended symbolism. English teachers since like 5th, maybe 6th grade have been telling me about symbolism, but it was all from classics with dead authors who couldn't answer questions. But then comes Jo, still alive and well, with her seven novel epic. Then I realize, maybe English teachers are right. I'll admit, there are still times when I doubt symbolism, because HOW DO YOU ACTUALLY KNOW? HOW CAN YOU ACTUALLY PROVE IT? I can't imagine people coming up with such things. I just can't but then I remember, how Remus and Romulus were the founders of Rome, and they were raise by wolves or they were wolves themselves ( I can't remember.) and how Remus Lupin is a werewolf and the world makes a little more sense.

chamber conclusions

Well, I've just finish Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by the one and only, most lovely Jo Rowling. Last blog I was having conflicting opinions about whether it was one of my least favorite in the series and I have come to the conclusions that, as much as I hate Lockhart, it's not.

The ending, in the actual chamber is one of my favorite parts in the novel. I get to see Ginny, Tom Riddle, Fawkes and best of all a dumb founded Gilderoy Lockhart.

I know I touched briefly on the horcrux thing last blog, but in the last two chapters there's a ton of foreshadowing. It's crazy that we knew about something before we were introduced to it. Riddle tells to Harry in the chamber, "I grew stonger and stonger on a diet of her deepest fears, her darkest secrets." Much like the sixth books when Dumbledore puts on the ring and it reminds him of his sister, and in the seventh book when the trio passes around' the locket making them moody, and finally when Ron kills the locket, the horcrux preys on his love for Hermione. Or how crazy the piece of Voldemort makes Harry in the fifth book.

In this chapter we also learn how much alike both Voldemort and Harry are. "Both half-bloods, orphans, raised by Muggles. Probably the only two Parselmouths to come to Hogwarts since the great Slytherin himsel. We even look something alike..."

Might I add that Dumbledore even says that a piece of Voldemort is inside Harry. "Not something he intended to do, I'm sure..."

This book really wraps up nicely. Hermione awake, Ginny alive and most importantly Gilderoy in St. Mungo's for good.

Onwards to Azkaban!

I HATE LOCKHART!

"I hate Lockhart!" I exclaimed today in class. Graham gave me a strange look.

"Ms. Lockhart?" he asked.

"No," I said, laughing. Beside me Jacob was laughing too. " Gilderoy Lockhart."

"Harry, Harry, Harry..." Lockhart always says in a condescending tone, or he gets his picture made with Harry, or accuses him of begging for fame. I just don't understand how some one can be so full of it when he's famous for stuff he didn't do. If I was him I'd be scared to death that someone would expose me.

Today I've read almost half of Chamber of Secrets. I actually think it's my least favorite in the series, though I hate some parts of the fifth book when Harry's just feeling sorry for himself. I do love this book because it introduces the whole horcrux thing, which reminds me of the sixth book which is one of my favorites. I really can't say I dislike any of the books, but this one... hmm... well I guess I take that back about the second being my least favorite. The fourth is not one of my favourites but by the time I get on to that one I'll probably have changed my mind again.

Anyways I took a break from reading before I finish this chapter and start APUSH homework and beginning work on my narrative. Chapter Eleven, The Dueling Club.

"'As you see we are holding our wants in the accepted combative position,' Lockhart told the silent crowd. 'On the count of three, we will cast our first spells. Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course.'

'I wouldn't bet on that,' Harry murmered, watching Snape barring his teeth."

To be honest, right now I wouldn't mind if Snape did away with Lockhart. But soon I will be appeased and Lockhart will be in St. Mungo's.

Suspcion

A guilty pleasure of mine since freshman year has been The Private Books by Kate Brian. They follow Reed Brenan sophomore from Cronton, Pennsylvania to Easton Academy in Conneticutt. As a scholarship student Reed must maintain a perfect GPA and try to fit in with all of the trustfund kids at her knew prep school.

Reed has her eye on the Billings dorm. THE dorm that every girl in the boarding school wishes they were in. The Billings leader Noelle Lange notices Reed and allows her in to something only Easton and Billings legacies are allowed into, the dorm. Except it's not just a dorm, it's a family, a twisted sisterhood with lots of hazing that Reed must undergo to become one of them.

But that's all in the first book. It's a very interesting series about these prep school girls who have a Skull and Bones type of secret society. They're full of secrets and rituals. The best part of these books though is that someone ends up dead, missing, or shot at at the end of each installment.

The most recent one, Suspicion, begins with Reed stranded treading the waters of the Carribean Sea over Christmas break. This time someone is trying to kill Reed. Luckily, her friend Noelle notice that she's not at the party on the yaht any more and they send out rescue boats for her. Once Reed recovers from treading water for three hours she wants to go home, but Noelle insists that she stay another day and promises not to let Reed out of her sight.

Things get better and Reed prolongs her stay even though her parents would like her home in Pennsylvania. The Noelle, Reed and the rest of their group go to the spectacular New Year's Eve Bash to honor Reed's rescuer Sawyer. Before midnight Reed leaves to go back to their beach house to settle down, but once she gets on the boat she's bound, blinfolded and gagged. Her captors take her as far away everyone as possible to a desserted island. They have her at gunpoint when she tells them to go find her billionaire boyfriend Upton Giles because he'll pay more than whoever paid them to do this to her... They leave Reed stranded on the island for six days until they come back telling Reed that Upton declined their offer and went to the police, except her captors were the police. It's really too crazy. But I love it. Thankfully this book didn't leave me hanging that much, Reed is saved by Upton and fed after six days of pretty much nothing in the hot hot sun. She and Noelle make it back to Easton for the beginning of second semester after visiting her family. The only thing I'm curious about is how/why their dorm Billings was burned to the ground.

Woman in Front of the Sun

Woman in Front of the Sun: On Becoming a Writer by Judith Ortiz Cofer is the nonfiction book I picked up off of my bedroom floor this weekend to read. I figure that I should try to keep my number of nonfiction books as close to my number of fiction books as I can. My mother heard the author speak last year, so I figured I'd get to reading it soon enough, plus it's short enough that it won't take away much time from Harry Potter.

Ortiz grew up in the bario. She was a Roman-Catholic and attended a Catholic School. "What is tradition?" her teacher asks.

"Tradition is something that's always been done," Ortiz responded. Ortiz has difficulties understanding her families traditions along with those of the church. Why must married women wear black flowers and unmarried wear white? Why do the boys get to go out and play while the girls stay home? Ortiz stands up against things in her community that she doesn't think are right. Though sometimes she's looked down upon by her family or church members her teacher is always there edging her on.

Tradition in my "community" is totally different from that of Ortiz. I'm not Catholic, nor am I hispanic. I get to go and play outside with the boys. And I don't wear black or white flowers to church, I wear none at all, sometimes I even wear jeans. My dad feels strongly about traditions though. Some times I feel as though his traditions are archaic, but I see the reasoning behind them. Though, at times I wish that our family kept certain traditions in place. For example, family meals. Eating supper with my family is one of my most favorite parts of my day because it gives me a chance to catch up with them. Sometimes we'll go out for dinner, which my sister hates, so she doesn't come and we bring her something back, and I wish that my parents would make her come so that the table is full....

My favorite thing about tradition is the song in Fiddler on the Roof.

Books vs. Movies

So, I'm finishing up Sorcerer's Stone, hopefully I'll be done by Friday so that I can read Chamber of Secrets over the weekend...

One thing I think about when I read these books is how they compare to the movies. It's not really a matter of how bad/good the movies are... I try to separate the two as different things, which helps me appreciates the movies more. However for some reasons when I read the books I expect things to happen that actually didn't happen in the book, just in the movie. Some thing I noted earlier in the book when the Dursley's bring Harry to the zoo because Ms. Figg couldn't watch him on Dudley's birthday. In the book Harry talks to the snake in the reptile house while the Dursley's were wandering around Dudley and his friend come over and the glass vanishes and the snake gets out, then he kind of nips a Dudley and goes away. Dudley freaks out of course like he does in the movie. However in the movie, Dudley falls in to the window after the glass vanishes and when he tries to get out the glass is back...

One thing I absolutely LOVE in Socerer's Stone is the scene with the centaurs... In the movie Malfoy and Harry come across Voldemort/Quierrl in the Forbidden Forest drinking unicorn blood. Volde-quierrl slithers towards Harry and all of a sudden this centaur comes galloping through the clearing and saves Harry and talks to him. I like the book better for this scene because when Firenze saves Harry he puts him on his back and the gallop off to the other centaurs. There Harry meets Bane and Bane's ideas are very tradition where as Firenze is very unorthodox. Bane thinks that Firenze should have left Harry to Voldemort, to die. I love the centaurs because they're into astrology and following the stars. They seem to know everyone's fate. "Mars is bright tonight," they tell Hagrid... I'm going to be a total nerd and say that Mars being bright must have something to do with war because Mars was the god of war. Mars was bright because it was close. Therefore war is close eh. haha. I really do wish they had kept Bane in at least. He always left me perplexed.

All I've got to do now is Go Through the Trapdoor to visit The Man with Two Faces and then I'm finished.

The Philosopher's Stone

So I had a great plan. I was going to read seven nonfiction books in a row after the book about Elizabeth the first, and then lug my seven Harry Potter books off of my bookshelf and have a Harry Potter frenzy. However when I walked into Analysis on Monday and saw Jacob Armando with his nose in Socerer's Stone, I decided I couldn't wait. It's been since the last book came out that I've read all of them through. That was two years ago I guess which doesn't seem that long ago but it really is. (Plus today, September 1st I missed the Hogwarts Express seeing as I was in America asleep in bed when it pulled out of King's Cross, so I had to figure out someway to get there.)

So when I got home Monday I dug around in my sister's room to find my copy of the first book. I lent it to her because she's never read Harry Potter. (Which I don't understand!) I opened it up and started reading. It was strange to be reading the first one again. I've never truly realized how different the first one was from the seventh one.

The first book starts out side of Harry's mind. With the Durselys who were "proud to say that they were perfectly normal. Thank you very much." I feel as though in the first book, and I'm not that far along yet, you hear more from the narrator then Harry himself, but as the books progress you hear more from Harry. Especially in the fifth book, he's always whining.

It's funny rereading this book because between seventh and eighth grade I wrote all over the first two chapter because I was inspired by internet speculation I guess and so along with the text I'm also reading my notes in the margins. I walked into Coach Fowlkes's class after lunch and Ian Banks was looking in my book. He asked me why I wrote in it. And I told him because I liked to. He thinks I'm really weird now, but I've done it kind of off and on since around seventh grade when we read The Giver. Reese makes us underline, highlight and star things everyday in class. Dr. Snider said that she never reads without something to write with so I figure me and my margin writing habits are in good company. It's interesting though, in my copy of Socerer's Stone I only wrote in the margins for the first three chapter because I got so into the story, which happens a lot. If I have a pen with me while I'm reading sometimes I'll write something or underline something if it's interesting...so that I can find it again with ease.

Well, I'm going to go read more now because Harry's only just got his wand...

P.S. The reason I titled this blog Philosopher's Stone is because I don't understand why they changed then name for American publishing. I feel as if it's an insult saying that we won't understand something... after all it technically existed, at least in alchemist theory. I think I read a Nancy Drew when I was younger... she was in France working on a case that had to do with Alchemists some how and the Philosopher's Stone was mentioned... I just don't understand.

Crazy Finches.

The Finches do crazy things. They install their own skylights, move everything outside and live there. Their house is a MESS. I don't understand how people live like that. It doesn't make sense.

Last week I put this book off for a couple of days to do other stuff I guess. But I picked Running with Scissors up again and I couldn't put it down. It ended up being around 2 or 3 in the morning when I finished, which wasn't good because I had other stuff I should have been doing.

Besides the Finches messy house and unusual behavior, the ending really bothered me. It was just like "My mom accused Dr. Finch of raping her. I believed her. I left the Finches for good to be on my own. Epilogue. The End." I felt like there wasn't any closure, but that's life I suppose... But I do really wish I could have seen Augusten's furture. I know he's written other books so perhaps next time I'm at the library I'll look for them. I enjoyed his writing a lot in this book so I definitely think I'll read Dry which is mentioned in the back of my book.

One thing that I wish had been touched on more was how his parents got to where they were. Burrough kept talking about how both his mom and his dad were from Georgia. And how he could remember being at his grandmother's house. I just wish I knew because well, I'm from Georgia, I live in Georgia and I like reading things about Georgia because I can relate a little bit.

Running with Scissors

Running with Scissors: a memoir by Augusten Burrough was published in 2002.

Burrough has a distinct voice. I love the way he says things. "My bother had a unique way of communicating though grunts and snorts like, one can only assume, our very distant ancestors." It makes me laugh. The very nature of Burroughs adventures with the Finch family are comedic which I guess was nice after being stuck between the terrible fights of his parents.

Personally I think Augusten became a spoiled brat with not responsibilities in life at all. He didn't go to school AT ALL. How can his parents do that? I don't understand. He was intelligent, I'll give him that but I just really wish he could have done something normal like go to school.

It's entertaining to me that Augusten wants to be a hairstylist, so he practices on himself and everyone in the Finch house, but he's just terrible. The thing is he doesn't every want to be a hairstylist, he just wants to be a hair styling product package designer. But he insists on doing and ruining EVERY ONES hair.


So far Running with Scissors reminds me of The Glass Castle by I think it was Jeanette Walls... Memoirs about people with crazy families are always interesting to me.

Elizabeth I and Her Conquests

I'm on a roll. My second book for the year is a short biography on Elizabeth I by Margaret Simpson. I think I actually borrowed this book from a friend during freshman year. She'll be glad to know I got around to reading and and even more glad to get it back on her bookshelf.

Elizabeth I is an amazing historical figure. The Queen lived to be 70 years old in a time when the life expectancy was half of that. She almost died at 25 when her half-sister (Bloody) Mary put her in the tower. There were several instanced in her early life before she was on the throne and even after having gained the throne when she could have been beheaded or hung.

All of the plotting to take the throne and execution to keep the throne that the Tudors did all together brought me to the conclusion that they were a little nutty and in their own way barbaric. However, a lot of issues they fought over in 16th century England are still prominent issues in today's world. Religion, for example: There might not be as much conflict between Protestants and Catholics these days, but there is a lot of conflict between Christians, Jews, and Muslims.

I found it very interesting to see England as a small child. I'm accustomed to seeing it in the big leagues with the United States and Russia. But during Elizabeth's time Spain was the big explorer, conqueror, etc. And England was very lucky to have defeated their Armada, very lucky.

The biography I read, Elizabeth I and Her Conquests by Margaret Simpson was actually published in the UK. It includes a couple of comic strip/letter tidbits which speeds the reading along and kept me engaged. I think I retained a lot of what I read instead of some it "going in one ear and out the other." (Does that make sense?) The book actually kept me up to speed in APUSH this week when we talked about Roanoke, the lost colony and the founding of Virginia which was named for the Virgin Queen, Good Queen Bess. And of course all of the religious persecution that led us to the New World in the first place.

Pefect Fifths

I started the Jessica Darling Series by Megan McCafferty this summer while I was vacationing at St. George Island. I heard/read about them on the internet via blogs. When I started reading the first one I couldn't put it down. And when I got home I yearned for the next one, but my wallet was empty and this is how I discovered the beauty of the DeKalb County Library's WEBSITE! (Well, I discovered it earlier in the year before school got out, but during the summer I really learned to use it to my advantage.) I put the books on hold (via the internet) and the bring the first available from which ever library in the county straight to the Decatur Library. You can even get DVDs and CDs. I was ecstatic. I didn't have to pay $13 for a paperback and god know how much for the last two hard covers and I never had to go back to Blockbuster again.

But anyways, Perfect Fifths by Megan McCaffety is the last installment in the Jessica Darling Series. The series follows Jessica Darling, from the middle of her freshman year in high school all the way to age 26. There are some gaps between each book because they're her journals. She doesn't right everyday, or every minute of everyday and she remembers every single piece of dialogue when she does write that day. And she destroys some journals because she's disapointed about what she wrote in them and she's looses some that don't belong to her when her car get's hijacked. I really like books written as journals because I just do I guess. I consider myself as a journaler I guess, and I like to read blogs and journals of my friends too... though I probably shouldn't.

Perfect Fifths is basically when everything comes together. The love interest in the story Marcus Fluttie and Jessica bump into each other in the Newark Liberty International Airport, (which I thought was cool, because I've been there.) the two hadn't seen each other in years, since Jessica turn downed Marcus's marraige proposal. It's very awkard for the two of them to be meeting and talking again after all of that time. They try to keep things platonic which they do for all 300-or-so pages, except the last one when they kiss. And it doesn't say that they live happily ever after, but I'm going to assume that they do.

I started this book Friday night, or Saturday morning, I can't remember which but I'm sure I was done by Sunday. It was a nice last taste of summer before I had to come back to school, again this week. It's strange how much weekends are like summer.

finding alaska.

Miles/Pudge, the Colonel, Lara, Takumi and even some Weekday Warriors end up finding Alaska. They've figured out why she left, though they still don't have answers to everything. Everyone ends up going home for the summer. Miles goes back to Florida, ready to return next year to the Colonel, Takumi and Lara, his friends that he didn't have a the beginning of the book. It's nice to see things make a full circle.

Looking for Alaska, incase I haven't already said in a previous blog, is a GREAT novel. I think that you should put it on your list of books to read.

5 Reasons to read Looking for Alaska by John Green:

1. Winner of the Printz Award.
2. Likened to Catcher in the Rye and A Seperate Peace. (Not entirely sure about Catcher in the Rye, but a critic is quoted saying, "The spirit of Holden Caufield lives on..."
3. The book was challenged by a parent to be taken off school shelves in some school district.
4. A Catholic teacher was fired for teaching it.
5. It's awesome.

(In my opinion, if a book is challenged, it's worth the read.)

the catcher in the rye

I read Catcher in the Rye last year, I can't really remember when, but I do remember borrowing it from my friend Emma. I never gave it back to her, so she just bought herself another copy at a yardsale for a quarter one day. I think I read it last spring break. And I just don't really see what's so great about Catcher in the Rye. To prepare for our Post Modernism project I've read most of it over again... and I think it's a good book, but I think all books are great. I'm just pleased to have my reading hunger appeased I suppose, which most books do except for few.

Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is about a boy that goes to boarding school up north. The boy's name is Holden Caufield. Strangely enough, what interests me the most about this story is the conspiracies that surround the tangible books itself. The book itself has been challenged several times for it's language and other "dirty'' things that go on in it. Since copies of the book were found on Pres. Reagan's attempted assasin and the person who shot John Lennon, Mark Chapman, who actually went to Columbia High School here in DeKalb County. (It was very interesting to swim at the same high school this winter where this man attended.)

... All in all I find Holden strange. He won't call Jane Galager which is a bit annoying, and sad, but it is nice that he cares for his sister so. Now that I've revisted the book, I suppose I really do like it. I just kind of find it strange. The way it's written reminds me of Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and Flowers for Algernon. I just get this feeling that something is off with Holden, that he's just not in his right mind.

Sufism

"This poor Sufi dressed in rags walked in to a jewelry store owned by a rich merchant and asked him, 'Do you know how you're going to die?' The merchant answered, 'No. No one knows how they're going to die.' And the Sufi said, 'I do.'

'How?' asked the merchant. And the Sufi lay down, crossed his arms, said, "Like this," and died, whereupon the merhcant promptly gave up his store to live a life of poverty in pursiut of the kind of spiritual wealth the dead Sufi had acquired." (John Green p. 173)

Miles' religion teacher is grumpy, but serious old man. Who's expected to croak any minute. Religion, which a requirement only for 11th and 12th graders at Miles' school. During 11th grade they study Christanity, Islam and Buddhism. Sufis are Islamic mystics who try the best not to even step on ants. (According to Ms. Embry.) The Sufis fascinate Miles in his religion class as they did me when we discussed them in world history. Or perhaps they fascinated me because I read about them somewhere else. I find it so strange when I read something, or watch something, or just listen to a conversation and come across something I've learned about. Anyways Miles,(who now is just reading enough background information to pass the class) is FASCINATED by the Sufi's last words.

I don't think a lot of people know how they're going to die. That just reminds me of the television show Lost for some reason. Everyone in that show seems to be destined to something, someone always knows what's going to happen.

missing alaska

Alaska has gone missing. She left Miles and The Colonel in the middle of the night. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

Miles/Pudge and The Colonel are very worried about her. They don't know exactly what has happened or even why she left, so they're trying to figure out why.

Even though Alaska has disappeared, school still continues as normal. And the Colonel and Miles/Pudge have to do all of their work and look for Alaska. And without Alaska as his precalc tutor it's difficult for Pudge to pass his math class.

The Colonel and Pudge "enlist" their friends Takumi and Lara to help them find Alaska and while they're looking for her. They carry out an elaborate prank. I'd rather not spoil it, because I'd really like you to read this book.

leaves of grass

I've never though of grass as growing in leaves. I think of grass as blades of grass or just grass but never leaves. Perhaps it was different in Walt Whitman's time.

I browsing Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, I came across a poem:

When I Read the Book.

When I read the book, the biography famous,
And this is then (said I) what the author calls a man's life?
And so will someone when I am dead and gone write my life?
(As if any man really knew aught of my life?
Why even I myself I often think know little or nothing of my real life,
Only a few hints, a few diffused faint clews and indirections
I seek for my own use to trace out here.)

It kind of reminded me of the book I am reading. Miles/Pudge is always looking at people's last words. Hoping his will be as magnificent. But he doesn't know what they'll be like he can only hope that he won't be the one who asks for water on his death bed.

It's weird to write about a person that you don't know, it's weird to write about yourself also. I don't think I'd want someone to write a biography about me and I don't think Whitman was very fond of the idea either. I think he found it strange.

the war of northern agression

Just something I found amusing:

"Or Robert E. Lee, who, many years after the war , in a dying delirium, announced, 'Strike the tent!'

I was mulling over why the Confederate generals had better last words then the Union ones (Ulysses S. Grant's last word, 'Water,' was pretty lame."


It's interesting to see that Grant's last one word was water. Which I think would be quite a common last word around the world and throughout time. But Lee had gone crazy still thinking he was in the war and wanted to strike the tent.

I'm still reading Looking for Alaska. I'm going a bit slow though. In the book its close to Thanksgiving and Miles/Pudge has decided to stay at school with Alaska. The Colonel's mom however, invites them to have Thanksgiving with her and the Colonel.

"How will I ever get out of this labyrinth?"

Simón Bolivar's last words. Alaska quotes this from a historical novel out of her stacks of probably thousands. She's only read a third of them, she's saving the rest for when she's "old and boring." Alaska asks Pudge what he thinks the labyrinth is, "is it life? is it death?"

This question is significant throughout the whole book. Even though it's my second time reading the book, I still don't know what the labyrinth is... maybe both. I guess once I finish it for the second time, I might know a little bit better.

...

At Culver Creek you don't have your normal, stereotypical cliques. First you have the Weekday Warriors who go home to Birmingham on weekends in their cool, "mansions" and then you have regular boarders/scholarship kids like Alaska, the Colonel and Pudge. The Weekday Warriors are stuck up and snooty little rich kids and the boarders are the notorious rebels. The groups have this rivalry and play pranks on each other every year. Most boarders like the Colonel despise the Weekday Warriors, however the Colonel is going out with one... but it's not Romeo and Juliet at all.

...

Sigh, still, I love John Green's writing:

"Later I walked toward the dorm circle beside Alaska. The cicadas hummed their one-note song, just as the had at home in Florida."

Mice and rats eat books.

Firmin is a book by Sam Savage about a family of mice that live among books. Firmin the 13th born who was born with his eyes open really likes these books and appreciates them greatly. His rotund mother, Flor however doesn't really understand what books are all about. The book is written interestedly, I'm not really used to the style. Maybe it's because he's a well educated mouse... that must be it.

This book reminds me a bit of Disney's Ratatouille which is about a mouse that loves to cook food and aspires to be a chef. His family however will stuff anything down their throats. Remy, the main mouse believes in flavor and ends up being a chef.... Firmin's mom has torn up Moby Dick and Don Quiote and I'm only in the first chapter. Though from an early this little mouse, Firmin is eraptured by the books' presense. He's very well read. In the opening of the book he references many books who's first lines he aspires to be like.

So far, I really like this book especially since it looks like some hugh mouse has taken a bite out of it. I got it in Asheville over spring break, and I've finally got around to reading it.

Brunettes Strike Back

Brunettes Strike Back is the sequel to a book called I Was Once a Non-Blonde Cheerleader by Kieran Scott. I read this book on spring break after I bought it at McClure's Bookshop in Clemson, South Carolina. I went to a bookstore in almost every city I went to on Spring Break...

Highlands, North Carolina - Cyrano's Bookshop (The have a big husky.)
Franklin, North Carolina - Books Unlimited (They have kitties.)
Asheville, North Carolina - Malaprops Bookstore (No animals.)
Clemson, South Carolina - McClure's Bookshop (Ditto.)
Clayton, Georgia - Prater's Main Street Books (Kitty!)

Anyways, I didn't get to buy a book or two from each store because I went on break with a total of $30 dollars, so that would have been around two books, three max. However, McClure's was a used bookstore so I got a $16.99 hardcover for $4.00 instead, which was nice. I read that book in about a night.

Annisia Gobrowski used to live in New Jersey, however her family moved to Florida. In Florida everything is hotter, but her father still wears his long khakis. Everyone on the Sand Dune High School cheerleading squad is blonde, even if they're Asian... Since it's a sequel,(I read the first one in 7th grade maybe) Annisia has already made it on the squad, and the squad's already won regionals. Next is nationals and her supersitions captain, Tara (she's been wearing the same socks since regionals) has decided that they all must look completely uniform before nationals therefore Annisia must die her hair. Like most young adult novels of this nature the main character struggles a bit, but in the end she gets her way. Her hair remains undyed, they win nationals, the boy she was having troubles with that I didn't even bother mentioning because it was so cliche ends up staying with her and they all live happily ever after until the next book. (Which I have yet to purchase.)

Is it shameful to like books like this? There easy and fun to read... I guess it's kinda like watching Disney Channel every once in a while. Haha. Kieran Scott also goes by the pseudonym Kate Brian and writes the mystery, thriller series Private which I also really enjoy.

Looking for Alaska

Looking for Alaska is a novel by John Green.

Miles is a boy that is leaving his school in Florida to go to Culver Creek Prepatory School in Alabama. Though Miles doesn't have many friends at his school in Florida it is not his reason for wanting to leave for Alabama. Instead he tells his father that he goes "to seek a Great Perhaps." (the last words of Francois Rabelais).

Miles is fascinated by famous last words. He know Francois Rabeliais' last words, Henrik Ibsen's last words, John F. Kennedy's last words, etc. He's an avid reader and highlighter of biographies.

His roommate, Chip Martin or "The Colonel" has a quirk too, the previous summer he memorized all the countries because where he lives is apparently very boring and he's got nothing better to do. The Colonel has been at Culver Creek since freshman year, he and Miles (or now nicknamed Pudge by the Colonel for the sake of irony) are both juniors.

The Colonel takes Pudge to meet Alaska (that's her real name). According to Miles Alaska is quite good looking. She also has stacks of books lining the wall of her dorm.

I've read this book before you see, but it's a great book and I love it SOOO much. I've actually met John Green and had two of my books signed. I think that he is my favorite of my time.

"Florida was plenty hot, certainly, and humid, too. Hot enough that your clothes stuck to you like Scotch tape."

His writing helps me feel the heat, kind of like how the school is some days. haha.

The end of Huck Finn

Huck Finn I liked a lot. I was very glad that the only person that died was Huck's dad. I was very excited to find out that Ms. Watson had freed Jim. However, I was kind of upset that Tom didn't tell them first off.

In our reading circle James brought up the fact that Tom was the dumb one and I thoroughly agree. Huck was fine when it was just him and Jim. Then when Tom comes back around he doesn't even give Huck the benefit of the doubt. It's really irritating for me because when I was on the journey with Huck and Jim, Huck always seemed to know what to do. But when Tom comes back around he just bosses Tom around. James and I came to the conclusion that Huck is the smarter out of the two. Personally I don't think Tom could have made it on Huck and Jim's journey.

Huck Finn is supposed to be THE great American novel. I wonder how people have come to that conclusion... It's interesting... because I don't really know what is required that something become a great American novel... But overall I did think it was a good book.

Pure by Terra Elan McVoy

Pure is by Little Shoppe of Stories manager Terra Elan McVoy. I've known Terra since 8th grade when I started frequenting the store. She has always suggested good books for me and my friends. Plus she's always let me just kinda bum around in the shop just looking and not buying anything...

I got Pure on Friday night at the release party. And I read it this weekend. I was skeptical at first because it's really weird to read something written by someone you know. But once I got into the book and past all of the initial "Oh my gahhhs" I began to see it nicely.

It's a lovely story about a normal girl, named Tabitha who's a goody-two-shoes like myself. She doesn't drink or smoke. She attempts to get all of her assignments done on time while dealing with her friends conflicts. She has trouble with math and talks during science. She has parents with strict phone rules and she has one computer at home (that's way different from my house, but I've been there before).

Tabitha and her friends: Morgan, Cara, Naeomi, and Priah also attend church (Tabitha without her parents) and go to youth group on Sunday nights. It's interesting to read a book with people that regularly attend church. Something I wish I did myself. Something some of my friends do, something some don't and something some would probably never be caught doing.

Pure is essentially about a group of friends who all wear purity rings. They made pledges when they were younger not to have sex until they were married. Something like this seems archaic these days, so it's different approach. Anyways, one of the girls, Cara ends up having sex and Naeomi get's mad at her because she sees it as Cara throwing her life away for some boy. Morgan finds out and sees it as Cara breaking her promise to God and disowns Cara and is glad that Naeomi is mad at Cara. Tabitha however doesn't know what to do... Yes, Cara did break her pledge, but Cara is her friend and Cara needs friends.

In high school we figure out who we are. And while I can't really relate to the book on the specific example of purity rings, I can relate to the changes that take place and the way the girls grow apart. I wouldn't dump my friends because something that they did, unless it hurt me. I would say that this book, (which did I mention takes place in Decatur?) is definitely worth reading. And I'm proud to know the person that wrote it.

>3. Finn

I like the fact that Huck is so relatable in the beginning. He seems like a boy  who loves to play around and wants make believe to be real. He doesn't like school, but he does like it. It's sad when his dad comes back and he has to kind of grow up immediately and take care of himself since his dad doesn't take care of him.  

I like how Huck takes care of Jim and Jim takes care of Huck. They have each others' backs  which is a nice thing. I like how Huck runs away and manages to get away by faking his death and such. Though, it must be nerve-wracking  for everyone else at home, even his dad. I like that the book is told from Huck's perspective and not an outside narrator. And I like the dialect it's written in, even if I can't always understand it that well and have to read things twice sometimes.

Overall, I kinda like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn...

Huckleberry(2.)

I suppose that Huck's dialect is southern, or a what I would expect from a young southern boy. The widow doesn't speak like Huck. He uses worlds like git for get, 'em instead of them, and says other things like "I didn't lose no time." It's very simple and short.

So far I like this book. It ain't bad. I haven't liked older books like this before. It's 'bout a boy whose name is Huck. His pap is a drunk and he's got a friend whose name is Tom Sawyer. Tom is always saying Huck and him can be robbers but then makes Huck go back home to the widow. The widow takes care of Huck 'cause his pap's a drunk. Every person in town thinks his pap is dead but Huck knows for a fact that he ain't. As it turns out he really ain't dead. He beats steals Huck away from the widow and Tom and takes him back into the woods to live with him. Huck's pap beats him and locks him in the cabin and goes into town, gets drunk, then he comes back and beats him again. Soon Huck finds his way out and takes off. As you can see this book has a nice plot. I do very much enjoy reading it.

... Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

I was kinda inspired by Diondra to read Speak. I've seen the movie, so I already know what happens... When I was at Westchester I read a historical fiction novel by the same author called Fever 1793. Gosh, I loved that book. So yesterday at Barnes and Noble I picked up Speak and lucky for me, my mom brought the check book and bought it for me.

So far I've gotten to Thanksgiving where Melinda's mom can't get the Turkey to thaw. Her dad took it out of the house and chopped it with an axe. Then they gave up and ordered a pizza. From what I remember of the movie, it seems to follow the book. I hate that I cheated myself out of the opportunity to read it first, but it happens some times. 

Melinda has an old janitors closet to her self... I kinda wish I did. It'd be really nice. Maybe I can find myself one. Hahaha. Melinda has some weird teachers. Hairwoman is weird and Mr. Neck is just plain mean. He just accuses her of being a bad person every time he sees her and starts a debate on immigration saying that the U.S. should have closed their borders in 1900. UGH. I don't like people like him. Melinda's art teacher, Mr. Freeman is always "sticking it to the man." He doesn't get money for new supplies and such.

I feel bad for Melinda because she's lost all of her friends and is stuck with Heather from Ohio... I wonder what it would be like if Decatur was a big school system and we came from several middle schools to one big high school.  Would things be like Heather's world?

The Cheer Leader by Jill McCorkle

On Christmas this book was under the tree with my pile of presents. Like the title of this blog tells you, the name of this book is The Cheer Leader by Jill McCorkle. I'd never heard of this book ever before, but one night I picked it up and read it at like 1:00 in the morning because I couldn't fall asleep. I got about twenty pages into it.

The narrator never says this, but she's looking at pictures. Each date represents a different picture and she tells the reader a story about each one. So that is how we I guess get acquainted with the narrator, it's how she reels us in, by looking through these pictures.

I believe that her mother is dead or has run away, because there is a picture of her mother that is yellow and fading and stashed away by her father, it's the picture that she starts the book off with. The narrator is always very nostalgic about her mother.

Each picture that the narrator, Jo Spencer talks about has it's own story behind it. We all here the saying that a picture is worth a thousand words, Jo might not make a thousand words for every picture, but she's at least got something to say.

My favourite story so far is about a picture that her brother took of her and her friend Jeff Johnson who had come down to visit his aunt and Jo's neighbor. Jo's brother Bobby teases her saying that Jeff is her boyfriend before he snaps the picture. It seems that Jo will never forget that about Jeff even though she was 11 before that picture was taken on their way to get slushies from the Quick Stop even though he left that summer and never dropped her a line.

It's an interesting story so far... but I read it late one night and have kinda forgotten exactly how far I've gotten, but I'm planning to revisit it soon.

My Sister's Keeper part two.

In the last blog about My Sister's Keeper I just lightly brushed over the book.The reason I like this book so much is that it's told from the different perspectives of all of the main characters in the story. When we had a sub in chemistry and watched a movie I spent my time just going through my favourite character's perspectives. That's what I like about books that you've read before, you don't necessarily have to read through the whole thing, you can just pick and choose the parts because you already know what's there.

Anna Fitzgerald is the 13-year-old sister who is suing her parents for the right to her own body. She's indecisive about what she's doing most of the time and pines for a normal life. She's stuck in a difficult position and is just trying to find a way out. To get money for a lawyer, she sold a that she recieved from her father when she was five for giving her sister "a gift" of lymphocytes.

Kate Fitzgerald is Anna's older sister who has had leukemia since she was two. Kate is a 15 or 16 loves soap operas and boys. She's currently in remission and needs a kidney transplant. Right now I don't know how Kate feels about her sister's decision.

Sara Fitzgerald is Kate and Anna's mom. So far her perspective begins in 1990 when she found out Kate had leukemia and describes all of her fear and how her sister Suzanne came out of the hectic business world to help her. I think that Kate getting leukemia was Sara's worst nightmare come to life. She once was a lawyer but turned into a housewife because she enjoyed raising her children, now though she really doesn't have much of a choice but to be with her daughter at all times. She's very upset that Anna has brought this law suit upon the family. She doesn't understand what's going on with Anna.

Brian Fitzgerald is Sara's husband and Anna and Kate's dad. Brian is a fire fighters, every day he saves people. He named Anna Andromeda because he likes the stars and the stories behind the constellations. At the station he has a telescope on the roof and during his free time he goes up there to look at the stars. Brian is the first to notice that Anna's locket is gone and sense that something is wrong with Anna. When he finds out that Anna has filed a law suit he's worried about Anna, not upset with her. He lets Anna live at the station while she's figuring things out (away from her mother). Lately the firefighters have been faced with an arson problem, just abandonned buildings, luckily none were occupied.

Jesse Fitzgerald is Brian and Sara's first born son and Kate and Anna's brother. He's around 18 or 19 and lives in the garage and has his own beat up car. He's the troubled kid and uses his sister's sickness to his benifit. Like he says people are always giving you a chance or the benifit of the doubt if your sister is dying. Jesse drives fast, smokes pot and probably drinks too, I can't remember. He loves his family but is impressed with Anna's law suit.

Campbell Alexander is Anna's attorney. At first he wouldn't take Anna's case and was about to send her to Planned Parenthood. But once Anna further explains that she wants the rights to her own body because her parents have used her for organ and cell donations since she was born he comes around realizing that she doesn't need birth control. He thinks this case will make him a more esteemed lawyer than he already is.

Campbell has a dog named Judge. He claims that he's a service dog but Campbell isn't blind and doesn't seem to be impaired in anyway. Each time he's asked about the dog he just says someting ridiculous like he has high blood pressure and Judge barks when his heart beats to fast.

Julia Romano works in the District Attorney's office and has been assigned Anna's guardian ad litem. She's in charge of all of Anna's medical decision while the case is going on. Julia and Campbell used to date in high school, however there relationship ended abruptly after Campbell took Julia to see his parents one night. She believes that after she met his parents they disaproved of her and he stopped his relationship because society said that he couldn't date a tution student rebel who wore combat boots and dyed her hair pink. This makes it difficult for Julia and Campbell to work together. She's also puzzled by Campbell's dog Judge.

I love this book. It's amazing. If you hadn't read it, you have to read it.

Well I've kinda read three books since the last time I blogged. Two of them were young adult books, so I don't know if they really count... I actually blogged about one of them and made a connection to the transcendentalists, but I can't find that blog after I saved it as a draft. I also read the Magician's Nephew by C. S. Lewis. I also stared a book that I got for Christmas one night... I think I'll be doing a blog about it later once I refresh my memory.

I didn't get to go to the Gatsby talk at the library. I kinda forgot about it. But I did listen/watch someone on youtube discuss it. I'm still working on Little Women. I watched the movie while I was babysitting one night and I think that I should just make it my goal to read it by the end of spring break or else I don't know if I'll ever finish it.

Huckleberry Finn

"You don't know about me, without you have read a book by the name of 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,' but that ain't no matter."

I don't really see what the first line is supposed to be tell me other than the fact that I don't know who Huck is unless I've read "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," but that doesn't matter. Huck is talking to the reader as if the reader is right there he uses the word you which is really annoying. It seems really informal to me. Huck doesn't seem very educated. Obviously there's another story since it doesn't matter if we don't know about Tom's adventures. It's a friendly tone and I suppose the mood is carefree. I feel like I need more than a sentence to determine the mood or tone of something.

Huckleberry Finn lives with a widow in a lovely house. He reads the Bible and eats dinner with her and is very fortunate and cannot really recognize it. At night Huck sneaks out with Tom. The boys almost get caught by one of the slaves because Huck has many itches that he wants to scratch, but he doesn't scratch because that would blow his cover. The slave, Jim falls asleep and the boys put his hat on a tree branch over him. This makes Jim think he's been bewitched or something. Jim and the story of his hat becomes famous. Huck tells us about Tom's gang of robbers and in order to be in it Huck must go home to the widow, which he does.

Twain ended chapter one when Huck sees Tom so that it's sort of a cliff hanger I suppose. There's a distinct line between being inside with the widow and outside with Tom. Chapter two continues with the same language, Huck still is narrating the story. Chapter two however is less about the life inside and more about the life outside, the life Huck likes and the chapter ends when he enters the house.

I expect a to find out what a "great American novel" is from this story. I like the first chapters fine, they kept me engaged. I don't really now what exactly to expect story wise. I know I've watched a Huck Finn episode of Wishbone, but it's been a LONG time since then. I hope to like this book. I don't really know why people think that Huck Finn is the "great American novel." Even my mom said it was. I suppose there must be a good story about a boy who achieves something. But other than that I don't really have an inkling as to what it could be about. Sorry.

Hiatus

Since you've given us the opportunity to better focus on other work, I've taken it. I'm taking a break from these blogs until the next ones. But I am reading... just not American Literature.

My Sister's Keeper

A book I also read in seventh grade, My Sister's Keeper I actually managed to finish. 

The book is about Anna, or Andromeda and her sister Kate. Kate has promyelocytic lukemia. Anna was genetically engineered to be a donor for her sister. In the first chapter we meet Anna, Kate, Jesse (the brother) and their mom. We also meet Campbell Alexander, the lawyer Anna visits to ask if he will be her lawyer. She says she wishes to sue her parents for the right to her own body.

This book is a heavy one. Is it right to have a child just for the purpose of benefitting the other? Should Anna sue her parents, and therefore stop the her sister's mere chance of survival?

I really like this book. It's gripping and basically just amazing. If you haven't read it I strongly recommend it. This is my third time reading it.

Little Women

I have attempted to read Little Women at most twice. The last time I did I got through book one, I think. I can't quite remember. When I was little I would watch the movie when I was sick. (the more modern version with the same actress that was in The Crucible, Winona Ryder and Batman's Christian Bale) In seventh grade I attempted to read  it, like I said I got through book one, but one day I put it away and never finished it. I'm going to strive read it and finish it this semester. 

The March girls and their Marmee have recieved a letter from their father.  They all miss him dearly. The girls: Meg, Beth, Jo and Amy have all decided that instead of buying themselves things for Christmas they are going to buy their mother something. How lovely. 

Meg is the girly one. She's prim and propper and easily excited. Beth is the sweet one. She's always optimistic, but frightened easily. Jo is the man of the house. She's boyish and outspoken, not afraid to be who she is. Amy is prim and propper. She's a cute little girl who's too "smart" for her own good. I love the characters. They are so familiar to me. 

So far it's going well. It seems simple, but that's alright.

Words for Everything

I've finally finished The History of Love. Let me set a few things straight.

The History of Love was written by Leopold Gursky a survivor of the Holocaust. Before immigrating to the United States Gursky gave his manuscript to his friend Zvi Litvinoff. Litvinoff and the manuscript moved to South America where he met and married Rosa. Rosa found the manuscript and thinking it was Zvi's pressured him to publish which he did. Litvinoff thought Gursky was dead and never found out that he was alive. After publishing Zvi publishedThe History of Love he recieved a postcard from Gursky who asked for his manuscript. Rosa intercepted the mail before Zvi got the chance to read it and kept it from him so that he would not get upset because he was practically on his death bed. Rosa wrote back that the manuscript had been destroyed in a flood. 

Alma Singer went of this ridiculous goose chase for the person who wrote her mother asking her to translate The History of Love. She discovered who it was, famous author Issac Morritz , who uses the pseudonym Jacob Marcus (a name of one of his characters in a book he wrote.) It turns out that this author is the son of Leopold Gursky and Alma Mereminski. Morritz how ever recently died. So then Alma embarks on this crazy journey to find the Alma that the story was written about. She finds out that Alma Mereminski died five years ago and that she was the mother of Issac Morritz. She some how get's in touch with Leo, though I believe it was Bird's doing. They meet in Central Park and she tells him about The History of Love. He tells her that's his book that he wrote. Leo gets really confused because her name is Alma too. He tells Alma S. about his second book Words for everything. He sent that book to his son shortly before his death, so that that way his son new that he existed. The manuscript of Words for Everything was found in Morritz's home shortly after his death and was going through the publishing process in Morritz's name. Gursky calls the publishing company after reading about the book in a magazine and let's the publishing company know that it's his book.

When asked what his name in by the telephone receptionist he says the same as the main character of the book, when asked his address he says the same as the Leopold Gursky's in the book.

The most terrible thing is that in Central Park with Alma Singer Leopold Gursky dies an old, lonely and confused man. His works published never in his name. But I knew from the beginning because Leo was always preoccupied with death.

People die in books and in real life.

Bird

Bird is the name of Alma's twelve year old brother. The reason he's called Bird is because he's attempted flying. Bird is a very interesting character. He like Alma writes. However, he also reads what Alma writes. 

Bird's best friends is the janitor at his school, Mr. Goldstein. Mr. Goldstein is a very spiritual man and a big influence on Bird. 

Bird is convinced that he is the one who will have to have save the world from the flood. In fact, Bird built himself an ark. However, the fire marshall disposed of it because it was a hazard. He calls himself a lamed vovnik. According to Wikipedia a lamed vovnik would make Bird one of the 36 holy jews in the whole wide world. He also thinks that he'll be the Messiah, or savior of his people. 

He's a very interesting twelve year old boy and I believe he takes a lot on himself. He's trying to take care of his sister and his mom, and I don't think he's every had someone to look up to like a father figure except for Mr. Goldstein. But it's hard to look up to Mr. Goldstein because Mr. Goldstein, hoping Bird can save the world looks up to him.

done

I've finished Gatsby. Though I do not know if I liked it or not. Myrtle Wilson died, Gatsby died. The Buchanan left. Everyone's dreams diminished. The book is about "American Dreams". But no one in this books seems to achieve it. I think I'll have to reread this book later on, perhaps in the summer when I don't have things distracting me.

Gastby dreamed of this life of the rich and wonderful. So did Daisy, a husband to support her and a child to show off. (The poor thing!) Myrtle Wilson just wants to be somebody. Mr. Wilson just wants to do what's right, what God wants, even though he doesn't.  Mr. Wilson is the only one who truly doesn't fall in to the black hole that was the Roaring Twenties, or at least not until he kills Gatsby. 

Who's at fault here? Myrtle or Gatsby? or even Daisy, she was the one that actually ran Myrtle over. However Myrtle didn't have to run in the street, or have an affair with Tom. Gatsby didn't have to let Daisy drive either. It was destined to happen I suppose. Just like Of Mice and Men. 

Are "American Dreams" not achievable? Lennie and George didn't achieve theirs, neither did any of the characters in Gatsby. Why not?!  

Why do people have to die? It's soo ANNOYING!

I think that I should read a book where people achieve their dreams and don't die. That'd be nice... is there any book like that? Right now I cannot think of  one. Why do books do that??? But I suppose they wouldn't be as enjoyable anymore if they didn't.

bus ride

Saturday morning I had the fabulous opportunity of waking up around 7:00 to go to school and board the bus at 8:30 for the DeKalb County Swimming Championship. Luckily right before I left my house I stuck my book into the pocket of my swim bag. So on the bus ride to Dynamo on which we got lost. I managed to read chapter IV.

In this chapter we learn how before the Great War Daisy and Gatsby were intertwined with each other. He bought the mansion close to her house so that he could see her again. When Jordan Baker came to his party the conspired to reunite himself and Daisy via cousin Nick. I get the feeling towards the end of this chapter that Nick is kind of overwhelmed. I would be too. I wonder what shall occur when Daisy finds out.

One thing I find interesting whilst reading this book is the spelling of today, tomorrow and weekend. (My copy is the movie edition from the 70's. I don't know if more modern versions have them updated or not.) The words are spelled with hyphens: to-day, to-morrow and week-end. I just found that more like my old collection of Nancy Drews. I've always wondered why the words were like that. I believe good-bye was also like that in Nancy Drew at least. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary today was first two words then hyphonated until the later 20th century. It doesn't say why the words were merged but other than that I suppose it's interesting.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php

Gatsby

Right now I'm in the midst of chapter III. One thing I know about Jay Gatsby right now that I didn't know in my last blog is that he can definitely throw a nice party! Amazing food, great music and fabulous entertainment. Plus it's not parties like those in Decatur, Georgia. It's more of a formal affair with sweet ballroom dancing, cordially behavior and other beautiful simplicities. 

Still though, we don't know who Gatsby is. There's all this speculation in my head and one the pages of the book about what kind of a person he is and what he does. He's obviously a nice person if he throws humungous parties and invites everyone correct? He offers plane rides to Nick and such... but still there's something that's hidden. 

After reading chapter III I think that Jordan Baker is going to die by the end of the book. Which I don't hope to happen, but it could. Because: a. There was just a reckless car accident. and b. Nick says that she's a terrible driver and one day she'll meet someone who drives like herself. I'm not sure if I like Baker yet... she's kind of shady. Accused of cheating in a golf match and then the witnesses and caddies extracting statements, plus going to the library with Gatsby. There must be something brewing. I do like what she said though, it's kind of ironic...

"I like large parties. They're so intimate. At small parties there isn't any privacy." - Jordan Baker

Alma Singer

Almer Singer of The History of Love by Nicole Krauss reminds me of a typical 14 year old girl book character. Alma like Georgia of The Confessions of Georgia Nicolson and Cathy of Cathy's Book keeps a journal of some sort. Alma though, keeps her journals in a list format. Like I said before she calls her journals survival guides in honour of her late father who loved the outdoors.

Something else about Alma reminds me of some other character in some book, or perhaps a movie... I can't put my finger on it right this second. Anyways the reason she reminds me of this person is because she's very interested in the man that has employed her mother to translate Litvinoff's History of Love.(I swear everytime I look at this guy's name the spelling changes.) Alma has decided that her mother's new client who lives across the pond is a PERFECT match for her widowed mother.

So in order to arrange something between the two she's typed up a letter to this fellow and sent it to him like any 14 year old matchmaker, behind her mother's back. In the most recent twenty or so pages that I have read she's sent the letter and anxiously waits his response. But Alma also waits for of course her own mother's reaction to when she finds out.