The Infinite Sea, what happened to the finite sea?

I haven't been doing a lot of reading lately, but I always do enjoy a Rick Yancey book. The Infinite Sea is the second book in the series, with The 5th Wave being the first book and it's actually being made into a movie! Anyway, enough chit-chat, let's get into the blog post.

     The introduction is a real eye-opener, with humans being far, few, and non-collaborative. We meet a group that is unnamed but their fate comes to a halt when a boy that appears lost runs up to their house. He ends up killing them and demolishing their house. I was in shock. Like. Oh my god. What just happened. I have no clue who they are and where I'm at (Page 20! haha) they still haven't been mentioned again. This quote can truly show what this intro was like, "She could not see the wire or the tiny capsule connected to the wire's end. She could not know, as she bent over the child to peer into his mouth, that device inside the child was calibrated to detect the carbon dioxide in her breath. Our Breath the Trigger. Our child the weapon. The explosion vaporized the old farmhouse instantly," (Yancey, no page number given). Those first few pages created an explosion in my mind as I was trying to comprehend what just happened.

     After that, the book has an interesting format because it switches point of view to a new character each chapter. It doesn't tell you and I know Rick has a reason for that, but that I have yet to discover. I was so perplexed, I had to google it just to find out what was going on. Other than that, it's a great book and I'll read it for an infinity amount of years. Nope I'll finish it soon.

     I had an incredible year blogging and hopefully I get to do it next year!

Here is an Interview with Rick Yancey right after he released his first book

The 5th wave

The Mime Order

      Well, I have been preeeeettttyyyy busy these last few weeks because ya know...Creative Non-Fiction and life. It's all good though I enjoyed the project, but that meant I didn't have much time for reading. I started this book while on break and read some when we came back. It's the sequel to a book called The Bone Season. In order to sit down and read this book, you have to be in the right mood and like these kind of books. By these kinds of books, I mean dystopian societys, because this series introduces a whole new world, called the Aether, that can be very very confusing and leaving you sitting there thinking how'd that happen or wait what. I know it certainly did that to me. That's what I meant by 'Right mood' because you'll have to think a lot during this book and always be connecting the dots. Even if you're not in the "Right Mood." Shannon does such an excellent job of compelling the plot forward and she can pull you into that "Right Mood" and before you know you'll have read 75 pages. Just like me!

    We all need to thank Samantha Shannon because she was kind enough to leave 5 or so maps and a chart of all the different Clairvoyants. Ah yes, the Clairvoyants, the people with uncanny ability to connect to the Aether through different ways. Without the information listed above the reader would be left stranded in the dark. Here, let me give you an example, "The Augur and I traveled to I-2, got off the metro without being detected by any Poltergeists, then got on another metro to I-4 to meet the Binder," (Shannon 74). The wha wha and what? If you read the first, you would know what these are but if you just flipped there and read it, you would be so confused. That's why I find myself constantly flipping to map and charts in the back because without it we would be questioning everything.

    While this is a good book, you have to read the first book first, well I mean, it makes sense, but in other series you can just pick up a book with some random number on the cover. However! That is not the case with this book. It would make no sense whatsoever because this book picks up right where The Bone Season left off. I plan on continuing this book soon and you should too if you like dystopian books on steroids,

Play Dead

Harlen Coben is one of my favorite Mystery writers, he does such an excellent job at keeping the readers at the edge of their seat and making them want to read until dusk. Mystery books are probably my favorite to read because I love the multiple intriguing plot lines that keep you guessing until the very end. That's what exactly happened here, I finished this book in about 2-3 days tops, and I thought I was the detective that was one step ahead of the criminal. Until. BAM. It hit me. It was the character you least expected, the character who stood aside until it was his moment. The character that made havoc break lose. Yes, that character.

It is pretty funny though, this was one of his first books I believe, written 20 years ago. At the front of my copy (a re-printed copy), it says, "If this is one of your first books of mine. Put it down. Return it. And grab another one." I just thought this was really hilarious that an author would this in his book. But after reading it, you can totally tell the difference between this and one of his now-a-days, his voice, writer's craft, and just the feel you get from it. But all that comes with time and I like that he warned us and recognized it himself. To be frank, the plot is well written but it is so far-fetched and there would be so many alternate solutions, but hey that what makes this book so unique.

To me, what makes this book a good mystery book is that one, the characters are well developed and are very distinguished. Like I said, the plot line is well written but it would need a revamp if it was done today. My favorite thing about the plot line is that he gives you a hint of what is coming up, sometimes in very subtle ways or just out right says something that hints at the upcoming pages. Then, when it all comes together, it is just so genuine and is a good mystery. Sometimes, I would catch his little hints then sometimes I wouldn't. The reaction is greatly differed between when I realize it...or I don't. I got this book out of my parents bookcase, almost every book in that bookcase, they have read, so sometimes when something insane happened, I would always run upstairs and be like, "WOW YOU'LL NEVER BELIEVE THIS"...but they do believe it because they've read it. Yet again, I do that with a lot of things.

It was a great book and recommend it to anyone who likes a good ol' mystery!

Dust - the finale

        I decided to write about my independent reading instead of the columnist packet because in all honesty, I did not find the first 14 pages all that enjoyable. While they were interesting, I did not get the same feeling from them as I did when we read the first set of columns in that packet we did in class.

      Anyway, I'm very sad to this great trilogy come to an end, I just started reading this series after winter break and it has been such a great trilogy, it's up there with some of my other favorite trilogy's. This trilogy also sets itself apart because it takes place in a world in which I have never experienced.

     This book and the ones before were executed so perfectly because I have had so many 'ah-ha' moments, plots that existed that I would never have thought of, and I can kinda see where this book is headed as I finish up the last 100 pages but then again. With all the twists and turns, it might end up in the polar opposite way. To me, he does a very good job with his plots in an implicit-explicit way. I always felt I could get a grasp of what was going on because say, a few chapters before he made an implicit statement about ideas or plots that were coming up that I might not have caught onto at the time and I was always thinking why did that come up or what does that have to do and I would be very confused at the time. Then, the idea would resurface in a very explicit way and I would be thinking "Oooohhhhh", that makes sense now. Everything he does is excellent, the characters, the plot, the way it all comes together, etc. Because in some books I read, one of those elements doesn't add up and it sorta ruins it for me but everything has been great in this series. I'm going to miss it, but hopefully I can find another series that I can enjoy just as much as this one. Totally recommend it to anyone!

Fahrenheit 451 theme handout

Fahrenheit 451 Handout

Theme #4: Engaging with difficult and uncomfortable thoughts and experiences is the only route to true happiness.

Timeline:

Clarisse: Clarisse is the one who introduces Montag to the uncomfortable thoughts and shows him the route to happiness. A quote to support this is when Montag reacted to Clarisse’s wise words, “He wore his happiness like a mask and the girl had run off across the lawn with the mask” (Bradbury 9).

Montag’s books: Montag and his books were his start to happiness, because it was when he started taking the initiative into reading books, and finding something important in them. It shows how he steps out of his inner conflicts, to reach his no-longer-disguised happiness.    

Faber:  Faber continues Montag’s route to happiness because he sees that he’s not alone. Faber has not continued his journey but he gives Montag the necessary support to continue his own journey   A quote to support this is when the text states, “Somethings missing. I looked around… So I thought books might help,” (Bradbury 78).

Dover Beach Poem: This poem is where Montag reveals himself to his society. And the way he feels and acts towards it. The poem suggests that the world can be great, while doing something bad, until you realize that mistake and the world is not so great anymore. Happiness can be disguised as anything.

Granger: When Montag meets Granger, he sees that they did the same exact things to get to where they are now, they have both traveled down the route to happiness through uncomfortable thoughts and experiences. A quote from the text to support this is, “We’re book burners, too. We read the books and burnt them, afraid they’d be found” (Bradbury 145).

Freedom: Freedom comes from when at the end of the book, a poem is recited. It suggests that when work is put towards something, the return gift is happiness. All of the work Montag does throughout the book rewards him with the completion of his route to happiness.

Question: Why is the theme important to our understanding of the novel?

Answer: When you experience difficult and uncomfortable events, they end, you learn how to avoid them; therefore happiness will be brought upon you. If you continue on without unhappiness you never appreciate being happy.

Question 2: How the theme connects to modern society?

Answer: The theme connects to modern- day society in that most people are unhappy because they haven’t experienced anything worse than what they’re going through now. And if they did, they would avoid it and be happy. Just like how most rich people haven’t been in the lives of someone poor. The rich assume that the rich are happy, since they have all the money in the world. But if you don’t have a real reason to be happy, it’s fake. Like before, happiness can have many disguises.

Shift

 This is the second book in Hugh Howey's series "Wool" and its name is Shift and the third is called Dust. I absolutely love this book, it is so intriguing and has such an amazing plot to it.

Spoilers ahead (in case you ever read the book :P)

We meet Senator Donald Keene in Georgia around the year 2049. He has been given the tedious task to design a structure that would allow people to live underground for centuries and he has no clue why but he is just doing what he is told to do. At the same time we have an alternative plot going on that is in 2110 and revolves around a character named Troy and we know he is in charge of Silo 1. It goes back and forth between this two characters until Troy says one word, "Donald". The first part ends and we meet a whole new set of characters and we don't hear of Troy and Donald for awhile. As far as I've read, Troy is awaken from cryo-sleep and is told stuff is going south and they need him. I'll leave you with that cliff hanger.

I totally recommenced anyone to read this, it's 600 pages but you'll enjoy every single page of it (hah that's a lie but you'll really enjoy) and I am on 200 or so and it's intense and crazy and to think that's not even half way through the book! See ya in a few weeks.

Continuation of 451 - Mrs. Bowles

      I dashed out of Montag's house knowing that I would never be going back there. How dare he assault me like that, doesn't he know that others have feelings too? I just wanted to go home and be alone so I could cry after that nightmare. Only if it was just a dream. On second thought, the fire station is just down the street, I can make him pay for what he said to me. Montag, a fireman who reads books, an own contradiction to his job, what a great story this will make.

     Oh how sweet this will be. Then deep down, I realized how true those words were. I kept trying to walk towards the firehouse but all the thoughts kept flying around like a rouge tornado, flying back and forth between true and false. Am I really alone? No. My 'family' loves me. Why would Montag read that? Maybe he just wanted to hurt me, he saw I was vulnerable and took the shot. How dare him. The thoughts kept racing back in forth and I had no idea what I was doing. I broke out in tears and fell to the ground. C'mon Mrs. Bowles, he hurt you and you need to make him pay. Why are those words so true. Why do I not want to get back at him? My questions kept coming and coming.

    The firehouse was so close, I could feel the heat coming off of it, like a safe-haven where I could tell them everything that had just happened. He broke the rules and something needed to be done. I couldn't make up my mind, the door was right there, I wanted to open it but I couldnt. He might of hurt me but I wasn't ready to ruin his life. That had been an eye-opener for me and I realized that he shouldn't be the one to set me into gear, but rather I need to be the one who takes the initiative. I decided to turn around and keep walking. Not knowing where to go.