My Group Book

My group chose the book Fahrenheit 54 by Ray Bradbury. We know that it is a fiction about a place where the government burns books so people can't read them. Ray Bradbury also wrote The Veldt, which we read in class, and was intellectual and brought up issues. We chose this book because it had been brought up in class, and if it is like The Veldt, then it will be a good thing to analyze. My goals for my group are to 1. Find the message of the book, 2. figure out what makes this book worthwhile to analyze, and 3. pick out our favorite parts of the book.

If Polaris were a movie...

I would not like the book Polaris as a movie. It would probably be better in 3d, because it is in space and could create awe factor, however, the only way I would want to watch it is in my living room, so those two cancel each other out. I also wouldn't watch it because there's too much action and chance for the characters to die, and I hate watching too actiony movies cause it makes me scared as if i'm a character. I also think that, in general, movies change the book which makes it worse, and it might turn out worse because of it. For example, The Lightning Thief was a totally different book than movie, and it was a lot worse. I just don't think that most books make good movies, and this one is no exception.

If I had been reading been reading the book I'm reading now in February of 8th grade, I think my situation would be mostly the same. I still would be liking it, because my taste in books hasn't changed, and I would still be reading it because my grandma recommended it to me, and we have similar tastes in good books. However, I don't think that I would be thinking ahead in the book and figuring out what might happen later. Instead I would be more content to just read, because I didn't as appreciate the virtues of a spy or mystery book in 8th grade.

Response to review of Glass Castle

This week I read a review of The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/13/books/review/013COVERPROSE.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1. I thought that Prose wrote an okay interview. However, I didn't like a few things in her review. One, I didn't think that Prose focused enough on the love that the family has for each other. Even though she picked out one of my favorite scenes that shows this, she paints their love as an illusion, which the bond between a family isn't. Also, she hardly ever points out a good part of the book, only bad parts where the Walls went wrong in their judgement. While the book is dominated by these, you still have to acknowledge the nice moments of happiness in the book. Finally, I think that Prose revealed too much of the book in her review. Instead of being a review of what made the book a good read, it seemed like she was giving me a two page summary of the book's contents, and all the most important parts. I think it's better when a reviewer lets the reader discover a book for themselves, as this is definitely a book worth discovering.

Speaker for the Dead finish, and Divided Kingdom drop

This week I finished Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card, and dropped Divided Kingdom by Rupert Thompson. I didn't like Divided Kingdom because it was all technical, and political, and to intellectual for me to want to read. It is about a world where the government has divided the country into four parts, each depending on your personality. the main character is sanguine, or an optimist, which is "the best nature". The book details his change from boy taken from his parents, to government official, to objector. It had to do to much with politics, and i'm not very into that so i dropped the book. However, I liked Speaker for the Dead, and would give it a 10. It explores the questions of what would happen if we ever met aliens, and if aliens can be people too. I thought these were great questions, and I really felt for the characters the whole book. Also the aliens that Card created were very interesting and i enjoyed learning about them and trying to figure them out.

The World according to Garp drop/Catching Fire end

This week I dropped a book and finished a book. I dropped the book The World According to Garp by John Irving, and I finished Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. I dropped The World According to Garp because I couldn't relate, or empathize, or sympathize, or anything with the characters, as they were overly weird, and there were no fantastical elements to hold my attention. with no interest in any of the things i usually like about a book, I dropped it. However, I really liked Catching Fire. it is the sequel to the book The Hunger Games and takes place in a country where the government is all-powerful and sends its subjects off to die every year for entertainment, although only the rich capital city is entertained. Katniss Everdeen, the main character lives in the poorest district, and she's especially hated by the government for something that happened in the last book. I liked this book because it had lots of emotion and action and surprises and thought process. I give it an 8.

The Glass Castle

Recently, I finished the book The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. This memoir chronicles Jeanette's life and is split into 4 parts--A Woman on the Street, The Desert, Welch, and New York City. Throughout the book, a recurring theme is the dysfunctionalness of her family, especially her parents. After all, they are people who think the police are out to get them, who think that the way to fix eyesight is not to get glasses, but to exercise the eyes, and think that they can somehow invent the best gold detector ever, so it's hard not to notice. however, the more important part is how their family fits together. One minute, they're all best friends, and then hardships hit, and they family breaks down, so that worse things happen to them. For example, one of the best parts in the book is when Jeannette's father, who can't afford real presents for Christmas, gives her and her siblings each a star, a present that will last forever. and even though both her parents do horrible things throughout the book, they do some good things too, and they all still love each other. This book is a testimony to love surpassing everything. I give it a 9