Thursday, September 29, 2011
Let's hear about it!!!
Discuss the book(s) you are reading outside of class (as well as in class at times). This can be the biography or autobiography you're reading as well as the next book you've moved on to. Dig deep: discuss the way the author develops characters, the setting, the tone of the book, themes the book contains, conflicts the author deals with... What makes the book interesting? What are its flaws? How does this book compare with other books written by the same author?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Benjamin Franklin; His Life
ReplyDeleteThe setting is so far in Boston, Philadelphia, and New York. The only real tone is, "This is my life", and there really isn't a big conflict yet. I like just knowing what it was like back then, and it's flaws are that at times it's unbearably boring. So far I'm on page 57. Benjamin Franklin talks about his life. From when he was 7 working as a candle making apprentice. Then he decided to be a scholar, so he went to Philadelphia where he worked at a press to get money. He lived with a nice woman who didn't charge him anything. Then the governor thought he was smart, so had him over and they talked. Then Benjamin went back to Boston. His brother didn't like him there and turned a cold shoulder on him, so he went back to Philly. He decided to go to New York.The governor there liked him as well. then he met someone named Ralph, and they were friends. They exchanged poetry a lot.
That's the book so far. This one was really long because I haven't done any other ones yet, but I'll make them shorter from now on.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteFarewell to Manzanar;
ReplyDeleteThe setting first takes place in San Pedro, California.The big conflict so far is that the Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Jeanne's father burns his Japanese Flag and Identity papers but he is still taken in by the FBI. So far the book is pretty exciting, it goes by slow at first but then you get into it. Jeanne talks about how life was for her and her family in California during the bombing of Pearl Harbor. She begins by explaining how the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1942, three years after a war had begun in Europe. Her father was part of the Japanese immigration to the Americas. Laws were trying to be passed to stop immigration from Japan
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSleeping with the Enemy Coco Chanel's Secret War By Hal Vaughan
ReplyDeleteCoco chanel is the one who made the littel black dress and she made jersy a couture fabric. She also got rid of the corsets. Thank goodness that she did or I would be to out of breath to talk. The setting is Paris France. They are many talking about Coco Chanel's relationships like the one between her and her good friend Misia Godebska. It has also talked about her childhood and how she was an orphan and learned how to sew at the orphanage run by nuns. Her mom died when she was little and her dad could not support all the childern. He made the decision to give up Coco and her sisters to the orphanage.
Mark McGwire Home Run Hero by Rob Rains
ReplyDeleteThe book starts off telling the story after Mark McGwire's career is over and then jumps back to his childhood through his pro career.
First Mark talks about how important it is to go up to the plate and not trying to swing for the fence. He stated that most of his success with the bat came with quality at bats and having a good approach to every at bat.
After looking back on Mark's career the book shifts time to when he was a teenager. Mark first learned how to golf and was pretty good at it. At age 15, his personal best was a 72. Then it goes on to talk about how he started baseball when he was eight years old and was bigger and stronger than most and definetly had more ability. That the first 2 chapters im kinda hungry now!
Benjamin Franklin, An American Life
ReplyDeleteBy Walter Isaacson
The book begins by peeling back the many mysterious layers of Benjamin's life. Starting with his ancestors move to America, It lets you gather a sense of how his family life was and what might have helped make him so adventurous. Then the author reveals Benjamin's creative, brilliant, and mischievous personality as he tells the story of his child hood. The Author, Isaacson, slowly gives you fragments of the scene, allowing the reader to gather pieces until they can create their own picture of the scene. The book gives off an adventurous tone as well as a very interesting theme. It focuses on Benjamin's revelations and life rules and how he acquired them. The book actually does contain several conflicts; such as Mr. Franklin writing an article and later calling it ridiculous. He sometimes is at conflict with his younger self. The way he gives you information through both quotes and documentations as well as his own unique style is very interesting. It’s so unique that it’s hard to compare it to any other books. I have never read anything like it. The one flaw that it has is that's sometimes the Author gets away with being slightly partial to Benjamin Franklin, but so far I haven't come across any major flaws. As for how it compares to other books written by the same author, I couldn’t say. have never read any other books by Walter Isaacson.
It's Not About The Bike
ReplyDeleteMy Journey Back To life
By: Lance Armstrong
The book begins by telling about how Lance Armstrong developed testicular cancer. It goes into specific detail about what exactly he had to go through because not only was he possibly losing his life, but also his sport and ability to compete. He then tells about his early childhood when he was just starting to do bike racing and triathlons and became one of the best in Texas. He also tells about his early career from when he was just starting to when he went pro. The way that the book is written really gives you a clear image of what Lance Armstrong is feeling and going through at the time, since he wrote the book. The main conflict of the book is Lance's battle with testicular cancer that is slowly spreading from his lungs to his brain. Besides that there are no other conflicts. The way that he writes the book is a unique way that is descriptive and has moments of emotion. I have not noticed any flaws so far. The book is almost one of a kind so its really hard to compare it to any of the other books I have read. It is definitely one of the best books I have ever read and I think that Lance Armstrong did a great job in writing it. I have not read any other books by him so I can't exactly compare it to other books Lance Armstrong has written.
My Stroke of Insight
ReplyDeleteBy: Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D.
The book begins with Jill telling about her life before she had a stroke. Jill found out her brother that is 18 months older than her was diagnosed with the brain disorder schizophrenia, which is why she went into the medical field. She went to Indiana University, and got her first real job as a lab technician. She got her master's degree and spent the next 6 years enrolled in the ISU Department of Life Science Ph.D. program. She was then offered a postdoctoral research position at Harvard Medical School in the department of Neuroscience. 2 years later she reached her goal and transfered into the department of Psychiatry, she worked with Dr. Francine M. Benes at McLean Hospital. Jill and her dad went to a National Alliance on Mental Illness confrence in Miami that changed her life. In chapters 2-4 it talked about how the brain works, different kinds of strokes, and how the stroke she had affected her brain. Chapters 5 and 6 are about the morning of Jills stroke. When Jill diagnosed herself of having a stroke she said "This is so cool!" Basically im at the part in the book where she finally gets herself to the hospital. The flaws of the book are the big words, and so far it is pretty boring. I think i will be more intersesting reading about her recovery. The theme of the book is that you can overcome anything that gets in your way.
Michael Jackson; Unmasked.
ReplyDeleteMichael Jackson was accused of child molestation and he had tons of people against and after him. In this part of the book I read it describes all of the moments between him and Jordan Nelson. His "friend" that was a little child, he had sleep over multiple times and he had stay and play at his private amusement park called Neverland. He had also invited Jordan's mom and sister to come stay the night every time Jordan did. So the mother did not worry much about the childs safety. The mothers husband thought it was not normal for this to happen so they ended up getting a divorce. So that kind of impacted how much time they had spent with Michael. Eventually they ended up going over there more. It is a good book so far but has a lot of very technical and sophisticated talk. It is starting to get better.
Chapters 1-3
" Michael Oher- I Beat the Odds" : So far in the book it talks about Michaels childhood and how rough he had it as a kid. He is a very kind loving person considereing what he has been through. It mentions that his mother was a drug addict and she would lock them out of their own appartment whenever she felt lik eleaving and she could be gone from an hour to a week. Him and his 8 other siblings would have to fend for themselves in "the hood" of Memohis Tenesee. Him and his siblings would always stick togather and they loved eachother very much. They even had a plan for when the CPS (child protective services) would come ot take them away they would all escape from their location and no one would get left behind. the one time the CPS caught up with them was at their school when they least expected it. Every now and then their mother would clean herself up and get a job but that never was a permanent situation. The book is really different from the movie because this book is about Michaels point of veiw instead of the overall veiw. It also get alot more into detail with his child hood in the book.
ReplyDeleteA Child Called "It"
ReplyDeleteBy David Pelzer
This book is about a little boy about 9 or 10 who constantly gets abused by his alcoholic mother. He has two other siblings who are treated normally, but he was picked to be treated like crap. This story is written by David himself and it explains all the experiences he went through as a child in vivid detail. The author develops the characters very well. It's really easy to figure out how each character's personality is by the way he explains them and he shows their characters by the things they do and say. The tone of the book is very sad, but it also shows David's strength and courage throughout all of his experiences. Some of the themes include how if you are strong and brave, you can get through just about anything no matter how bad it seems, how someone so small can overcome such big problems in life, and how there is always hope in even the toughest of situations and if you keep praying and trust in God, then He will help you through anything. Some of the conflicts that the author deals with are horrible and very gruesome. They include getting forced to lay on a hot stove naked to burn, swallowing dish soap and not being able to use the bathroom, getting slapped, kicked, pushed, and even stabbed, not eating for weeks on end and being forced to throw up any food he did eat, and being forced to swallow spoonfuls of ammonia causing him to not be able to breathe. Everything about the book makes it interesting. I especially like how he explains every experience in detail and how he felt about it. The way he describes them makes the book very suspenseful and it makes you not want to put the book down. I honestly can't really think of any flaws in the book. i loved everything about it. This is the first book I've ever read by this author, but I definitely intend to read more because I absolutely love his suspenseful and detailed style of writing.
Thank you all for the wonderful and insightful comments about your reading. Keep it up. I really enjoy reading them and I know that the reading you are doing and the writing you are doing to discuss the book is improving your ability to read and comprehend as well as giving more of an appreciation for the skill and "joy" of reading.
ReplyDeleteIf you haven't posted a comment yet, let's get with it. The posting on this blog inform me that you're reading and this will in turn allow me to give you credit for outside reading. One or two postings a week would be great!!
ReplyDeleteThe last few chapters I have read are about Benjamin Franklin's success in his business. He did so well that he was able to retire early to become an inventor. At age 42, the midway point of his life, he turned over the operation of his business to his foreman, David Hall. After retirement he decided to pursue his interest in science and inventing. he came up with plans for a wood burning stove used to heat a room. The first design was overly complicated and needed to be altered so it didn’t sell very well. In the end he came up with a much simpler model that was easier to use and much more popular. Right now I'm reading about his experiments with electricity and lightning rods. With his discovery of some of electricity's uses he finally began making a name for himself.
ReplyDeleteThe Help
ReplyDeleteMinny meets Mrs. Celias husband and he tells her that he loves her cooking. but Mrs. Celia doesnt know that they have met yet. Mr. Johnny who is Mrs. Celias husband says that he just wants his wife to be happy. But Mr. Johnny wants his wife to tell him about Minny. So Mrs. Celia doesnt want to tell her husband so she just doesnt tell him.
Abraham Lincoln
ReplyDeleteIn my book so far,
I have learned about Lincoln's young life. He was born at his home a few miles Hodgenville, Kentucky.When Lincoln was two they moved and built heir house on Knob Creek, about 10 miles from where he was born. In 1816 The Lincolns got work of the "Congress Land" across the Ohio River. They decided to move thre because every spring the water from the creek would overflow and wash away all of the young crops and good top soil. So they sold their 260 acres of land for 400 gallons of whiskey, (which was like money along the border. Abraham's Dad left before everyone else to stake out some land. He made himself a nice flat boat, loaded it up with all of their precious tools and the whiskey. On the way down there the boat tipped and he lost all of his precious tools and some of the whiskey. When he got to the Indiana shore he left his whiskey at one of the farms and took a days walk into the forest. He stakes out 80 acres of land that had lots of nice leaf mulch that would make a great top soil, and went back to get the rest of the family. They took all that they could on two horses for the 16 mile journey. When they got there winter was coming one and they didn't have a home so they made lean-to. When ever they shot something for food they would take the fur from it and put it on the roof so that it would be more wind resistant and waterproof. By the time that spring came Abe was big enough to work in the fields with his dad. Every day they went out from sun up to sun down to work on the fields. More people were coming from Kentucky. During the summer Abraham's mom got sick, and died. For a time Abe's sister, Sarah, would take over the household, but Abe's dad couldn't take being alone for the rest of his life. So he went back to Kentucky and married the woman that he remembered from there. When he came back he came with his new wife and the three children that she had already had. All of the time that Abe had been working in the fields had made him get very strong. He kept up the work until he was 18 years old, then he got the idea that he could sell some of the stuff that he grows on his farm in the near by town. It took him a while to convince his mom that this was a good idea, but when he got his mom to let him,he went on over to the river and started on making himself a flat boat.
Farewell to Manzanar;
ReplyDeleteThe setting first takes place in San Pedro, California.The big conflict so far is that the Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Jeanne's father burns his Japanese Flag and Identity papers but he is still taken in by the FBI. So far the book is pretty exciting, it goes by slow at first but then you get into it. Jeanne talks about how life was for her and her family in California during the bombing of Pearl Harbor. She begins by explaining how the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1942, three years after a war had begun in Europe. Her father was part of the Japanese immigration to the Americas. Laws were trying to be passed to stop immigration from Japan. In Chapters 2-4, Jeanne's mom moves the whole family to Terminal Island to live among other, "Japs." Her family lives on the island for least than 60 days then the government decides to move the Japanese immigrates farther away from long beach. So the family settles in downtown Los Angles. As you can see in each chapter it gets more and more interesting. I'm actually kind of into this book. (:
In these chapters I have read the book discusses Benjamin Franklin's Relationships with certain women. He became very close to Mary Stevenson and Caty Ray. These relationships are very complex and mysterious. At times he would act fatherly towards these women and others would be a little more flirtatious. It also discussed Franklin's part in war. He eventually became a colonel and would parade his troops through town. This didn’t last too long fortunately.Franklin moved to London for a short period of time.
ReplyDeleteAll through his young life all Michael Oher wanted was for someone to care about him. He thought that the CPS (child protective services) only wanted to make his life harder. But what he didn't know was that the one person that would never quit on Michael and would always find him and take him back to a safe place was the one person that cared about him most in this stage of his life. What Michael thought was that she was a cruel woman for taking him away from his family all the time but she just wanted the best for him. Michael and the CPS agents had a lot of misconceptions about each other. Michael always thought that they were the "Bad Guys" and the CPS always thought that Michael was a troubled kid because he as quiet and would always sit out of the visits from his birth mother, they thought he was just bottling up all of his anger and he would eventually explode. But Michael didn't like the visitations because he felt like he would just be tempting himself to go back to hid old home in "the hood." But Michael was just a quiet shy boy.
ReplyDeleteThe Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
ReplyDeleteThe setting is in what was known as North America But in the book it is known as Panem. There aren't states but districts. From the day you turn 12 your name is eligible to be drawn and every year until you are 18 you get a name added each year. but with your name being put in you get a years worth of oil and grain.If you take out tesserae you get an additional years worth of grain and oil.It is reapinng day which is when a boy and a girl from each district are drawn out of a giant glass thing and the names are separated by gender.Katniss Everdeen is a sixteen year old girl who lives in district 12 who has had to take out tesserae 3 times every year. So total she has 20 slips of paper that can be drawn. Katniss and Gale which is her best friend go into the woods which is forbidden and you could be punished by death and is guarded by an electric fence that is supposed to be on 24/7 but it isn't. Gale talks about how if they wanted to they could run off into the woods because they know how to hunt. But Katniss just shrugs it off and they go home to get ready for the ceremony. Effie Trinket draws the names and for the girls she draws Primrose Everdeen which is Katniss' sister who is only 12. Katniss runs up and volunteers so now Katniss is in the Hunger Games. For the boys Peeta Melark is drawn and he takes his place on the stage.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
ReplyDeleteKatniss stands on the stage and waits for the anthem to be over. Then she is taken into the Justice Building and she goes into a room where each visitor she has , has 30 minutes to visit her. Gale visits her, Peetas Father visits her, and so does hermom and her sister Prim. Katniss tells her mom that she can't go into deep sadness and says that she can't "leave" her again like she did when Katniss' dad was blown up in a coal minning accident. After all of her visitors leave Katniss is taken onto a train that will take Peeta, Haymich (her mentor), Effie Trinket, and her to the Capitol.