Blog Post #12

I am starting another spy-dectective-murder-mystery novel called The Arctic Event by Ludlum. I think I am in love with his books. They are clearly way more complicated than the Alex Rider books, which many people say are really cliche. It is again about Lieutenant Colonel Jon Smith, who "coincidentally" is also a scientist. He is investigating a remote island in the Arctic that has a plane that dissapeared in World War II. The only twist is, that the plane is carrying 2 metric tons of Anthrax! In a race to save the world, Jon alerts USAMRIID and amid warnings that other nations are quickly sending people after this plane also, their emerges a competition to see who gets their first.

Blog Post #11

I finished All the Pretty Horses and I did not like the ending. It was very despondant and seemed like it the author was ready to end it 20 pages before the actual ending! I don't understand why John Grady acted the way he did. I realize that his life has just fallen apart following, Alajandra's rejection but I didn't forsee this impacting his usual melancholic, affable nature that much. The one thing I really didn't understand was why he heated up the pistol barrel and then put it on his bullet wounds! Maybe there is a good explanation but I can't seem to find any. And also, I thought that the sudden revelation that Grady felt about his dad dying was extremely weird. It felt rushed, as if it was included only to speed up the ending.

Blog Post 10

The book All the Pretty Horses has gotten much better. In the beginning, there was ceratinly too much description, and i hate books with alot of description. However, following their settling on the ranch, Grady and Rawlins have certainly had a lot to deal with.

A good quote from the book is: " The older of the girls said that if his novia truly loved him she would marry him no matter what but the boy was not so encouraging and he said that even in families of the rich a girl could not go against the wishes of her father," (McCarthy 243).
It just shows the thematic idea of gender roles and how from an early age, children knew the unspoken rules of society. The boy is clearly illustrating how families are strictly patricarchal and that a women must please her father and marry whomever he deems best. The older girl suggests that a woman could possibly break free of any restrains if she really wanted to. This kind of resembles the rebel in Alejandra like when she was telling Grady before that she was controlled by her aunt and didn't want to be.

Blog Post #9

I finished the Book Thief. It had a really really really despondant ending.
Hans Hubermann returns to the relief of both Rosa and Liesel. However, his reason is one of chance. On one of his missions, his group was sitting in a tank when Reinold Zucker, a very cantankerous young lad demanded that he switch seats with Hans and sit in the front of the tank. Well, as they were riding along, the tank's wheel was punctured and the driver lost control. The vehicle flipped many times and when all was still, the men stood shaken by the crash and all looked at the dead corpse of Reinold. Luckily, Hans only suffered a broken leg and was sent home. Leisel is caught stealing books, however Ilsa Herman, the vitim is extremely kind and has known all along that Liesel was entering the library. There are alot more important things that happen but the saddest most depressing part of the book is at the end when the town of Molching is bombed abruptly without any sirens warning the residents. Liesel happened to be in her basement reading, and this is what saved her. All of her friends and family died, but her. And of course, following the aftermath, she finds Rudy's body and kisses him... finally.

Blog Post #8

In class, we are reading All the pretty horses. It reminds me of my piano piece called All the Pretty little horses. But I really dislike the book. It is extremely boring and laborious to read. In the beginning I was very confused as to where they were and where they were going. The author likes to write conversations without telling the reader who is speaking. However, I am thinking that now that Grady and Rawlins are stationary in a ranch that the plot will get better.

Blog Post #7

I'am almost finished with the Book Thief. It is so sad, yet makes you feel happy. Ironic, i know.
In the book, the town of Molching is now starting to experience the apprehension of bomb sirens. Hans paints all the windows black and inspectors come to check people's basements to see which ones are deep enough. This is scary because Max is being hidden in Liesel's basement, but luckily his hiding place is sufficient enough that he does not get caught. However, Hans Hubermann and Alex Steiner are sent of to war. Hans because he gave food to the Jews who were being marched through town and Alex because he wouldn't send his son Rudy off to war. During this time, Liesel watches her mom experience extreme grief. After Hans's act of sympathy Max is forced to leave. This just about breaks Liesel's heart, as they had become good friends. My favorite parts are about Liesel and Rudy. They seem so opportunistic and light hearted while all around them are signs of danger and death. And also because they have an ongoing tussel between them. They are reallly good friends and Rudy is always asking Liesel for a kiss. But I am making the prediction that Liesel will not kiss Rudy until it is to late...when he is dying.

Blog #6

We are currently watching O Brother, where art thou? in English, and I love it! It is such an interesting movie. I remember watching like 10 minutes of it like 5 years ago and being extremely bored but now its super enjoyable. There are many connections that I have seen between the movie and the Odyssey, which it is based on. The church congregation and women who enchant the 'brothers' are analogous to the Lotus-Eaters in the Odyssey. George Nelson is similar to Odysseus, who both after great feats, robbing a bank and blinding the Cyclops respectively, vy for attention and call out there names in a vain attempt to gain recognition among the people. Also, the blind african-american man in the beginning of the movie is like Athena giving Odysseus advice on their journey and what they will encounter. I also thought that the cars were like the ships in the Odyssey that take the brothers from one place to another.

Blog #5

Great book so far...It is the most interesting book about the Holocaust that I have read. It is narrarated by death ( i found out) and so there is way too much foreshadowing that I would rather not know. Here is a good quote I found that gives away a later part in the book.
"The Hubermanns had two of their own, but they were older and had moved out. Hans Junior worked in the center of Munich, and Trudy held a job as a housemaid and child minder. Soon, they would both be in the war. One would be making bullets. The other would be shooting them," (Zusak 39).
From this, I can tell that one of the Hubermanns will join the Nazi's and fight for Germany in the frontlines of World War II while another one will be behind the scenes, not participating directly. I thought it was a really unique way of describing the turn of events.

Blog Post #4.

Im not even one eighth of the way into the Book Thief and its so utterly confusing. All I understand is that there is the narrator-a male who is following a little girl (wow, sounds creepy) and I don't know if he is a dead spirit or a real person because nobody sees him (at least not so far). And this guy takes dead people's souls and warms them up or something. Right now the mom is taking the little girl and the dead boy to the orphanage. Apparntly, the mom is carrying the dead body of the boy, but I thought it just said that they buried him. Maybe that was the plan crash. AHHH! I better keep reading. But one quote i really liked is: " A Translation: Himmel=Heaven. Whoever named Himmel Street certainly had a healthy sense of irony. Not that it was a living hell. It wasn't. But it sure as hell wasn't heaven, either," (Zusak 26).

Blog Post #3.

We finished the Odyssey in class this week! I was very excited...until we were assigned a paper- not that I hadn't known about it of course. But I was writing my essay today thinking I was going to write about one theme, and then I experienced a revelation and am very proud of myself for coming up with a contradictory thesis that was exactly the opposite of what I originally intended. I'm writing about the roles of women in the story. At first, looking at the book comprehensively, I had thought that women played a big part and displayed power, independance and other charateristics commonly associated with men. However, as I looked closer, these supposed actions were within themselves contradictory. For example, we see Athena's power to transform herself into Mentor, a man who guides Odysseus and Telemachus, appearing before kings of other lands and many other people. But the fact that Athena has to turn herself into a man in the first place is disparaging. It illustrates that a woman showing herself in public to be bold, talking to mean as equals and taking leadership would not have a very a good reception. She needed to be a man so that people would listen to her.

Blog Post #2

I just finished reading a book called MAD DOGS by Robert Muchamore. It is the 8th book in an AMAZING SERIES! It is about kid spies (except they are wayyyy advanced) who infiltrate some gangs and try to learn enough inside information to break them up and arrest the leaders. The main characters are: James, Micheal, Gabrielle, Bruce, Kerry, Major Dee, Sasha Thompson. The 3 gangs' names are: The slasher boys who use machetes and knives as choice of weapons. The Runts who are a neighborhood boy gang. And a newly created MAd Dog gang. They are all very immersed in illegal drug trade, robberies, thefts, everything you can think of. James and Bruce are trained in a group called CHERUB. They go in undercover and make friends with gang members and have to provve their alliance, loyalty and skill. There is also very comedic romance in the book!

Outside Reading #1

I just started the Book Thief by Markus Zusak and it is very confusing. What I understand so far is that the narraration is divided into different parts. One part is a poetic paragraph, which I think is given so that people can understand what the narrarator is thinking and explaining at different moments. The main story is about a girl who apprantly steals books. I can already tell that the author incorporated colors and inevitability of death as an ongoing theme.
The book kind of reminds me of ELIC by John Foer because it has that same childish tone to it and the broken narrrarations.

Eclipse Test.

Yesterday, I took the outside reading test on my book, Eclipse and I don't think it went well. I overthought the questions and as a result did not have a sufficient amount of time because I had to leave early. But whatever. Here are the 2 questions I really want to ask Stephanie Meyer:

1.) WHY did you pick Jacob over Edward????? (I like Jacob)
2.) How did you choose each vampires' ability?

Throughout the series, except mabye the first book, I've always like Jacob better than Edward. At first, I thought, "Oh my gosh. How lucky is Bella to get the perfect guy [Edward]!" But especially in the second book, I started to resent his statuesque nature. I mean sure Edward is everything Bella wanted but Jacob is so much more compatible. I think it is more important to find someone who is more relatable in personality rather than looks. Jacob made Bella so much more happier. She didn't have to change for him, she didn't have to think twice about anything when she was with him. Bella was so free with Jacob and vice versa.

Bourne Identity

I just finished reading Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum last night and I must say that it is an amazing book!

Summary: There is a guy named Jason Bourne who has been created by American Intelligence, created meaning trained and brainwashed. He was part of Operation Medusa, an operation which he entered for revenge of the death of his family. Durng this operation, Jason is captured and shot multiple times while at sea. He is thrown overboard and left to die. But of course, he is rescued and is looked after by a doctor in France. There is only one alteration to Jason, he has lost his memory. This whole book is about how Jason regains his memory and all the secrets that lie in his past. As he is finding his identity, he eventually learns that he works for the American's and his whole history is at a building called Treadstone Inc. in New York. However, Jason is a highly sought after assassin and a rival assassin, named Carlos, will do anything to kill him.

eclipse

Im finishing my top ten list for Eclipse right now and I cannot think of a tenth thing to put down! I really think I have everything already covered. O well! I guess I'll just put another character down.
Here is what I have so far:

Mortality vs. Immortality
Victoria and her army
Vampires vs. Werewolves
The character of Isabella Marie Swan.
Jacob Black’s role in Eclipse
Edward Cullen’s role in Eclipse
Sometimes working with your enemy accomplishes more than fighting against them.
Adding humor
Sometimes you have to distinguish between what you want and what is right.
Combining romance with suspense.
AND>>>one more! argggghh. help me!