Reading details:
The Hobbit 27 min The Racketeer 45 min
Beowulf 34 min LOTF 35 min Literary Analysis 10 min
(I may be forgetting some)
The Racketeer
The Enchantress
The Hobbit
Beowulf The Ring of Sky
The Last Guardian
Naruto
Something that I realized is a big part of my reading is the fact that I pretty much exclusively read fiction. Specifically science fiction and fantasy mostly. I guess I do this because, to me, fiction can become infinitely more interesting than non-fiction, simply because it is not limited by things such as truth or reality. Also, I like to reread things that I haven't read in a while. For instance, The Hobbit and Beowulf are both re-reads from 4th and 5th grade, respectively. I find that it's nice to revisit things that I might not remember, then be like "Oh yeah! I remember this now!" It feels good to do that.
One goal that I am going to set for myself is to read at least one non-fiction book next semester. I don't care what it's about, but it has to be non-fiction. I am going to try really hard to fulfill this goal, because traditionally, I've liked few non-fiction books that I start. But, I'll at least make a hard attempt.
Monday, December 10, 2012
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Reading Focus Update
Well... things haven't been looking good for Piggy for a while. I mean, aside from the whole "dying" thing.
For one thing, his glasses got stolen. His distress is apparent on page 168: "I know. They didn't come for the conch. They came for something else. Ralph - what am I going to do?" His glasses were, really, the only thing that made him useful, in a practical sense. Also, he comes across as being kind of a jerk after Simon dies, on page 157: "...he hadn't no business crawling like that out of the dark. He was batty. He asked for it." I know he was trying to make Ralph feel better, but... jeez.
Then, there's the "falling-off-a-cliff" thing. It happens on page 181: "The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee... Piggy fell forty feet and landed on his back across the square red rock in the sea. His head opened and stuff came out and turned red." He was basically thrown off a small mountain, with his brain matter oozing everywhere as he lay in a crumpled heap on the edge of the ocean. It's a pretty gruesome death if you ask me.
For one thing, his glasses got stolen. His distress is apparent on page 168: "I know. They didn't come for the conch. They came for something else. Ralph - what am I going to do?" His glasses were, really, the only thing that made him useful, in a practical sense. Also, he comes across as being kind of a jerk after Simon dies, on page 157: "...he hadn't no business crawling like that out of the dark. He was batty. He asked for it." I know he was trying to make Ralph feel better, but... jeez.
Then, there's the "falling-off-a-cliff" thing. It happens on page 181: "The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee... Piggy fell forty feet and landed on his back across the square red rock in the sea. His head opened and stuff came out and turned red." He was basically thrown off a small mountain, with his brain matter oozing everywhere as he lay in a crumpled heap on the edge of the ocean. It's a pretty gruesome death if you ask me.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Reading Times
The Hobbit 11/29/12 28 min
LOTF 11/27/12 30 min --- 11/30/12 30 min --- 12/1/12 30 min
The Racketeer 11/28/12 30 min
Naruto 11/28/12 7 min
LOTF 11/27/12 30 min --- 11/30/12 30 min --- 12/1/12 30 min
The Racketeer 11/28/12 30 min
Naruto 11/28/12 7 min
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Reading Focus -- Piggy
During LOTF, I have been following the activities of Piggy, one of the main characters of the story. Where we are the story, almost everyone hates Piggy because he is overweight, has curly hair and that somehow makes him an outcast. The only person who has shown compassion towards Piggy recently are Ralph and Simon. Ralph stood up for Piggy when Jack was tormenting him and Simon gave him some of the pig to eat.
I do not know why everyone shuts out Piggy. He is the smartest one out of the group and is by far their best chance for figuring out how to survive. The way that Piggy's situation appears is that everyone makes fun of him and otherwise doesn't talk to him. Nothing has really changed over the course of the book thus far except for the previously mentioned kindness shown by Ralph and Simon.
It could that Piggy was put in the story by the author to show that people, left to their own devices, will cause harm to themselves and others. Piggy is the primary victim of all of this. All high school students feel like this at one point or another.
I do not know why everyone shuts out Piggy. He is the smartest one out of the group and is by far their best chance for figuring out how to survive. The way that Piggy's situation appears is that everyone makes fun of him and otherwise doesn't talk to him. Nothing has really changed over the course of the book thus far except for the previously mentioned kindness shown by Ralph and Simon.
It could that Piggy was put in the story by the author to show that people, left to their own devices, will cause harm to themselves and others. Piggy is the primary victim of all of this. All high school students feel like this at one point or another.
Midterm Thoughts
I understand the short stories pretty well. I don't really have a problem with those. The things I need the most help on would be the literary elements and the summer reading stuff.
I'd like to go over the summer reading in class, just because a good chunk of time has passed since anyone has looked over any of that stuff. As for the literary elements, I just want to make sure that I know everything about all the different topics and elements that we have gone over. I have a problem with remembering the different plot zones, or plot levels, or whatever they're called. I just want to make sure that I don't end up forgetting that stuff when the midterm rolls around.
Reading times: LOTF 11/13 30 min 11/16 40 min The Racketeer 11/13 25 min 11/17 64 min
I'd like to go over the summer reading in class, just because a good chunk of time has passed since anyone has looked over any of that stuff. As for the literary elements, I just want to make sure that I know everything about all the different topics and elements that we have gone over. I have a problem with remembering the different plot zones, or plot levels, or whatever they're called. I just want to make sure that I don't end up forgetting that stuff when the midterm rolls around.
Reading times: LOTF 11/13 30 min 11/16 40 min The Racketeer 11/13 25 min 11/17 64 min
Reading Post for 11/5
Well, I finally finished The Last Guardian. I don't know what took me so long. It wasn't like it was a big book or anything. I don't really know... Anyway, it was a good ending to one of my top 10 favorite book series. Artemis Fowl saved the world (again), only this time, he died. The book spent a few chapters talking about how he was going to sacrifice himself, but I didn't think it would actually happen. The main character hardly ever dies. However, he ended up coming back to life. Basically, they cloned him, and used magic to transport the soul of the real Artemis into the clone. The catch is, he doesn't remember anything. So, on the last page, one of the other main characters, starts to tell him something about Artemis Fowl and China.
It sounded familiar to me, so I started to check up on it. Sure enough, it was the opening paragraph of the very first book in the series, Artemis Fowl. This led me to believe that this character was the narrator all along, and that the whole series was just her recounting the various adventures to Artemis. I probably would have been disappointed, if I hadn't experienced something similar before. In the "Prince of Persia" video game series, the main character ends up having to explain the events of all the previous games to someone, which shows that all the games have just been him telling her the story. Also, he does the same thing, and uses the opening phrase of the first game to begin his story, just like the character in The Last Guardian.
It sounded familiar to me, so I started to check up on it. Sure enough, it was the opening paragraph of the very first book in the series, Artemis Fowl. This led me to believe that this character was the narrator all along, and that the whole series was just her recounting the various adventures to Artemis. I probably would have been disappointed, if I hadn't experienced something similar before. In the "Prince of Persia" video game series, the main character ends up having to explain the events of all the previous games to someone, which shows that all the games have just been him telling her the story. Also, he does the same thing, and uses the opening phrase of the first game to begin his story, just like the character in The Last Guardian.
Short Story post for 10/29
This one is kinda late --- sorry about that.
The three short stories I read were "The Sniper", "The Return", and "Hills Like White Elephants".
There were several things in the short stories that could have been the basis of a thesis statement. "The Sniper" gives you a good bit of background information while feeding the reader the thoughts and actions of the main character. This could be helpful in drawing conclusions about the story, based on the information given to me. In "The Return", the author uses descriptive language as a way for the reader to construct the scene with more emotional content. It could also have ground for a strong thesis.
The last one I read was "Hills Like White Elephants". It talks about a situation that the characters have, but it never really explains what it is. It's some sort of medical operation that the man thinks the woman should get, but the woman isn't sure about it. The stuff they talk about led me to believe they are talking about an abortion... but then I asked myself, "Why is she drinking beer if she is pregnant?'" The answer is simple: medical professionals wouldn't have known about the dangerous situation she would have put her baby in at the time of this story, because Ernest Hemingway lived back in the mid 20th century.
The three short stories I read were "The Sniper", "The Return", and "Hills Like White Elephants".
There were several things in the short stories that could have been the basis of a thesis statement. "The Sniper" gives you a good bit of background information while feeding the reader the thoughts and actions of the main character. This could be helpful in drawing conclusions about the story, based on the information given to me. In "The Return", the author uses descriptive language as a way for the reader to construct the scene with more emotional content. It could also have ground for a strong thesis.
The last one I read was "Hills Like White Elephants". It talks about a situation that the characters have, but it never really explains what it is. It's some sort of medical operation that the man thinks the woman should get, but the woman isn't sure about it. The stuff they talk about led me to believe they are talking about an abortion... but then I asked myself, "Why is she drinking beer if she is pregnant?'" The answer is simple: medical professionals wouldn't have known about the dangerous situation she would have put her baby in at the time of this story, because Ernest Hemingway lived back in the mid 20th century.
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