Semester 1 Reflection

       I read 7 books over the course of this semester, which is a substantial amount for me. I read Keep Quiet by Lisa Scottoline, The Rule of Thoughts by James Dashner, Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, A Street Cat named Bob by James Bowen, The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, and last but not least, Invisible by James Patterson. Some magazines I read this semester were Game Informer and Sports Illustrated Kids because they are subjects that interest me. I also read CNN everyday on my phone because I like being up-to-date on current events. I chose the books I read in the first semester for many different reasons. One of the reasons I chose the book is if the book is by an author that I have read other books by and I know he/she is a good writer and enjoyed his/her other books. Another way I chose the books I read is if I had it recommended to me by my parents since they love reading and have similar tastes as me. I also love reading and love the feeling I get when I complete a great novel. I like how a book can take you on a roller coaster of events, it has its ups, and downs and a good ending that leaves you satisfied. I do have to say though...my favorite book that I read this entire semester was *drum roll please* Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. This was my favorite book mostly because it was based on a true story and it's amazing that one man had to live through such a traumatic experience. It also was very impactful to me because it showed me my problems are not so bad after all. I also can't wait to see the movie Unbroken which is based off the book.

        I definitely enjoy the feeling I get from blogging, but saying that...my posts started off at an adequate level because I had never done anything like it. Over time though, kind of like anything, as you do it more, you become better. As I kept doing more blog posts and reading other peoples' blogs to get some helpful tips, I became better at writing a "knock-your-socks-off" blog. For the criteria of the highest-quality blog post, I think I did better in certain areas than other areas, which I can focus on next semester. Some of things that I feel I did very well was incorporating the technology available to me. I incorporated a picture on every single blog to give the reader a picture of a character or the book cover. I also put in a video and a link when it was needed to add a greater effect to the blog. I always updated everything on Goodreads after I finished reading because I like Goodreads and I think it's cool how I can record my reading progress on there. My best piece of each blog post though was my voice that was always present, I loved being able to talk like I always do and it could feel like I was having a conversation. As time went on, I got much better at incorporating the audience and I enjoyed doing it. Some of things I did was ask them if they read the book and to leave me their comments or ask them a fun question like "Would you like to live in the reality that they live in?" I also think that as I progressed with the quality of the blogs, I added lots of good diction, focused on the topic, and used those two points (diction and focus) to create an engaging style within my blogs. Overall, I think my posts are strong but I can still improve so I hope we do blogging again next semester.

          I do have a few goals that I want to meet during the next semester. For blogging, I want to incorporate more textual evidence because some of my posts lacked that concept and it could have added a lot more to the blog post. I also will want to think of new ways to incorporate the audience instead of just questions about if they read the book or not. Lastly, I will also use more syntactical structures because most of the time my sentences were medium to long in length and syntax can play a major role in the quality of the posts I write. For reading goals, I will want to read more mystery books because I enjoy them so much and how the plot twists make me sit on the edge of my seat. Another goal of mine is to read more complex books because I feel I'm ready for that jump up to the next level of literature and I can gain a lot from it. My last goal for next semester is to read different genres than the ones I'm used to reading, such as realistic fiction, mystery, and occasionally a non-fiction book. So I would like to read more non-fiction, a few history novels, and some biographies to introduce myself to new types of literature. I love reading and I don't know what I would do without this past-time. Being able to blog this semester was a great experience and I hope I'm able to continue next semester.






   

Invisible

My my...this is by far the best James Patterson book I have ever read (granted I've only read 5 of his but still), and my favorite mystery novel I've ever read. There are many things about I like about the way James Patterson writes his books. For one, I love his plot twists, they are truly crazy and make me think "OOOHHH" Ill tell you about a few of them later in this post (my favorite ones :P). Another is because of the ways he makes his characters so dynamic and pure. You can tell they're real people and not robots, he can also make you feel what his characters feel which is always a strong thing to be able to do in writing. Also, how accurate he is with everything, but he does get help from people who know what science he is talking about, however this does show his thoroughness and what kind of writer he is.

Now now, lets get to those amazing and cool plot twists I talked about earlier. We meet Emmy, the protagonist, who's sister was killed in a "accidental fire" she knows this is no accident so she investigates any tail she can find. She has an abusive boss who believes her about nothing and he threatens to fire her unless she sleeps with him. Right before she goes in with a meeting with her boss, her best friend Agent Books, tells her to keep her eyes open and be careful to protect your job. Her boss frisks her to make sure she is wearing no bugs, but right when they begin, Emmy gets a call from her mom, her boss mocks her she puts the phone back in her purse like nothing happened. After that, he is ready to get down to business, all the threats and requirements she has to meet, like sleeping with him, or she will be fired from her position at the FBI. She then reveals that her "Mom" that called on the phone was really Agent Books and she hit answer and they then recorded the conversation. At that point I was in aw for this writing because it was so clever. Probably the best one in the book and the most clever one, IMO.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves a good mystery....but disclaimer, this book is very gory and vivid with the deaths and killings (I mean VERY.) Anyways, I enjoyed it a lot! Enjoy if you do end up reading it!

The Blood of Olympus

The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan is an amazing book...I have been reading the series since I was in fifth grade (with a new book being released each year) and I'm very sad to see this book series come to end this year, with this being book 5. I have absolutely loved this book series, because with Rick Riordan you get to truly know the characters experience and feel what they are during the book.

I also like one thing in particular that I find very interesting, Rick Riordan has done this in every single Percy Jackson book and I love it and the way he makes it amazing. The way he gives each character a chapter and you can sense what will play out in each chapter just based on the character. Then when you see that a characters chapter from a few chapters ago, lines up with the current chapter. It's kind of like an ah-ha moment for me and I love the way Rick does it. Because I have read some other books where the author tries to do this but utterly fails but on the other hand there are also good examples like The Color of Water where the author just makes it flow in such an amazing manor. I'm about a little more than half way done with the book and it's crazy because some conclusions are being made and its interesting seeing the way that Rick Riordan is wrapping up the book. Let me know if anyone of you other bloggers have read this series and let me know what you think!

I found this interesting video about what The Blood of Olympus might look like if it were a movie (and yes some of this footage is from other movies)

MultiCultrual Memoir Post - A Long Way Gone

MultiCultural Memoir Post

Picture of Ishmael Beah today

By: Ryan Edelbach

Our blog post is about A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah.  We found the main central idea is that people have the ability to change.  At first, Ishmael was a very kind person and had room for emotions but as war struck him hard right where it mattered most. His family. He began to change over the course of many chapters. He is controlled by pure revenge for his family and will stop at nothing to kill anyone who stands in his way. All he wants to do everyday, is slaughter more people for revenge, do drugs and watch movies. He does this for quite some time before his lieutenant tells them that they have done their duties as soldiers and must become real children now. Ishmael is absolutely outraged by his decision and does not understand that choice. Over the course of months, he is changed from being reliant on drugs and being violent, to a calm child that he once used to be. He then gets to speak about his experiences in front of The United Nations (U.N.) Overall, this book was very moving and just a great book for anyone to read, even though it can be gory, it teaches an important moral during the course of the book.

I feel as the First Article relating to the central idea because the article is about how people will change as their personality change and that can relate to the central idea because Ishmael’s personality changed as he sought out vengeance and he changed drastically. Then once he stopped seeking vengeance, he slowly eased back to his old life. This can relate to the article because as Ishmael’s view on the world and his personality changed, he did things he would regret in his later life. The article also describes how some people have a short term thinking kind of mind, they make choices that they will no longer like in years to come, that is present because Ishmael is invading villages and killing people whom he doesn't know.

The Second Article can relate to the central idea because the article is about how people fail to recognize they will change in the future even though they have changed in the past and they fail to realize that too. I feel like this can be related to Ishmael and the main idea because he did some crazy stuff when he was running around with his squad and not once did he look back upon his old life, and he didn't bother to think about where he would be tomorrow. To him, I felt like, it was all about him, right then and there and there was no looking ahead. The article also states that people at a younger age change must faster so that can be related to Ishmael because he is only a young boy and he can be changed per say more easily than if an adult was in his position.

If anyone out there is reading A Long Way Gone as well, I would be interested in hearing some of your comments/thoughts and opinions on the book!

A Street Cat named Bob

A Street Cat named Bob has been the most impactful book I have read in awhile. It is truly amazing what happened in this book and now this story is known all across the world thanks to Bob. The story begins by introducing you to James Bowen. A man who is currently recovering from being addicted to Heroin, he describes it as his "escape from the rest of the world". He is also living in a run down apartment with one of his best friends named Belle who is also an addict. James says he doesn't have much to his life except music, in which he is a busker on the streets of London, a person who plays an instrument for tips. His life is going...pretty bad, living from hand to mouth on a day to day basis. It starts off pretty rough until he sees glowing eyes one night when he is about to go into his apartment. He then ears a "Meow" and then a tom cat emerges from the darkness and he is badly wounded. James then takes this cat under his wing and takes him to the Nurse the next day. The Nurse fixes him up, neuters him, microchips him and sends them on their way. James eventually calls his new friend "Bob". The next day...the unimaginable happens. James realizes he can't stay home and watch Bob, he must go out and earn their meals for the day. James leaves and boards his bus and as he sits down, he casually looks out the window and he feels something against his thigh. He looks over and sees -- Bob. It was truly incredible to read that part and was moved by a cat who did this. After that day, James realizes him and Bob are inseparable, he starts bringing Bob with him when he goes busking and he sits on James shoulder. James also realizes that Bob helps him reel in much more money. After the first day with Bob he made nearly 4x than on what he would make on a good day. After about a year of this going on, James goes and visits his mother in Australia whom he has not seen in nearly two decades. After being there for 6 weeks, he returns home and the next day while Bob and James are busking, they are approached by thug-like men with very big German shepherds. One of the men "accidentally" let go of their dogs and it goes lunging for Bob. Instinctively, James dropped what he was doing and jumped in front of Bob to save him. After that fiasco is over...he looks back and Bob is no where to be seen. For nearly 6 hours James contemplates weather he has been run over by a bus or picked up by a friendly neighbor (since he was very well known at that time). After that long period of time, he goes home and is relieved to see Bob back at his apartment and realizes he over reacts to everything. James and Bob have been an inseparable pair since the first day they met, and now, they are a worldwide sensation and known for his book and they are doing well.

Here they are on Facebook

The Rule of Thoughts

James Dashner is just such an amazing author, every book I read I feel connected to the characters, to the story, to everything. He has the ability to do that with his words. That's why I chose to start reading his new book called "The Rule of Thoughts" which is the sequel to "The Eye of Minds" both of these books take place far in the future where lives are ruled by the VirtNet, a virtual reality, where you the player, literally live the game. You meet Michael the main character and you see him as he goes on his journey, he is a master hacker and coder for the VirtNet, altering the games in his favor and making it easier for him and his friends, Bryon and Sarah, which remind you. He has never met either of them in the real world. Strange things start beginning to happen in the VirtNet, people committing rouge suicide and Michael notices the people who commit the bad decision have had their code altered by someone by the name of Kaine. You then begin to learn that Kaine will be the bad guy in the series. Michael and his friends then must go on and use their skills to try and stop his plans from controlling everyone. At the end of the book Michael learns something very shocking after facing off with Kaine and his minions and Sarah disappears and Bryon falls into a pit of lava placed there by Kaine.

Then Eye of Minds comes to a halt and I had to wait a WHOLE 10 months before this book came out. Michael then is awoken after being in the VirtNet for so long after his face-off with Kaine and he has no recollection of how he got to where he is. He has somehow taken over a body by the name of Jackson Porter and he learned from Kaine that he is tangent...which is a computer program. That sends Michael into a somewhat short-depression because how can be living if you weren't a living being. After this is over, he codes himself a new identity and sets out to find Sarah...in the real world.
This book has so many twists and turns, its absolutely incredible, Michael is such a captivating character with his actions that you think he is predictable at one point because he is a computer program but now that he is human he is both predictable and unpredictable. With this book always will be wondering what will come next.

Rule of Thoughts

        I liked this article because it does a very good job of describing what is going on and why everything seems different to Michael. I also felt it was a nice addition to my writing above. Enjoy, I would suggest this book to anyone who liked the Maze Runner!

Would you like to live in this world with the VirtNet? (not necessarily saying you're Michael but would you like this available in your life?)

Unbroken

-(Louis Zamperini)

Today i will be doing another post on the amazing book called Unbroken. The book has taken so many turns and at some points i had to rethink what i just read because its such an involved book with the reader and you just don't want to put it down. Louis has had some twists and turns. You get to learn about how they lived their lives back then and how crazy it was. Louis has a rough life ever since his plane crashed down in the Pacific, he has miraculously survived, while his buddy Mac...wasn't so lucky. During his journey they are constantly being attacked by sharks...food shortages, and they also encounter a Japanese plane that shoots one of their rafts and all 3 grown men are stuck inside a tiny little WII raft. After all this madness...there is more to come, he is found on his Life Raft with Phil and they are taken into Japanese custody and taken to many POW camps.



Louis then meets his match, he is taken to a POW camp where the "Warden" is nicknamed The Bird and this man is just out to burn Louis to the ground. He constantly beats Louis everyday, tells the guards to forget about giving Louis his food. the odds just aren't in Louis favor.The Bird then learns that Louis was an Olympic runner and it just so happens that The Bird likes the Olympics. So what Bird does is arranges for Louis to race against a well known Japanese runner.You have to remember Louis has lost a significant amount of weight and has not done anything physically active since before the Plane crash. To Louis surprise...and mine, he run like the wind and he says because he weighs less he can easily glide even thought he wasn't in shape, he ends up beating the Japanese guy and that infuriates Bird. He has one of his men go and beat Louis with a club until he can't walk.
The bird gets much more harsh and people just look the other way. The Bird then gets transferred to another POW camp and Louis so grateful but then Louis is told he is going to be transferred to a much nicer camp...yet it ends up that he is just transferred to the Birds new camp.

Unbroken Article

     I found my article to be very interesting because it first talks about how Louis still has a positive outlook on life as he is nearing an old age. I was also not aware that Unbroken was based off of another book called "Seabiscuit" I did not know that and it would be interesting to read both of them farely close to each other and see their similarities and differences.

Maze Runner

I didn't recently read this book but the other day I was thinking about the books I have read and this one just kinda stuck out in my mind as such a great book. The main reason is because I love dystopian novels and the plot in the books keeps the reader on the edge of their seat and not knowing what to expect next. I think the setting and characters are the biggest supporters to the plot. The Glade is just such a fascinating place like who put them there, why are they there?
The Glade is also like a mini-ecosystem they survive there and thrive based on the cards they are dealt and they make the most of it.

Next, the characters are huge contributes because they are divided up into classes kind of like we are today and they each play their role in their society. Also while they are fighting for their lives within the Maze and within the Glade. They also have Person to Person conflicts where somebody isn't happy with another person so they act as a vigilante and take matters into their own hands which can lead to even more troubling matters withing the group. Sometimes it appears as the group is getting  to their breaking point. The book also starts out with Thomas, the main character being woken up as he is riding up an elevator shaft and he has no recollection of who and where he is. Then the next week the first girl is sent up in the elevator shaft and she screams "THOMAS" really loudly and by that point he knows his name but not hers. Then after the girl yells that she falls into a coma for the next few weeks. At that point in the book i was so confused but i just wanted to keep reading and not put it down. I read all 4 books of the Maze Runner series. Maze Runner-Scorch Trials-Death Order and then the prequel to all the books-The Kill Order in about a week while i was on vacation on a houseboat. Since there was no wifi I had lots of time to read and  I instantly fell in love with this book series because it was just such a page-turner.

Maze Runner Article

                          I found this article very interesting because it is an interview with James Dashner, the author of the Maze Runner and entertainment weekly and they were interviewing him about the relation between the book and the Movie produced by Wes Ball. To my surprise, most movies aren't much like the book at all, but to my understanding James Dashner is saying it is alot like the book and how close it is to how he wrote it and imagined it.

Maze Runner is soon to be a major motion picture and I can't wait to see it!

Unbroken

Unbroken has few characters but Laura Hillenbrand does an amazing job of letting you know so much about these characters. The main character Louie Zamperini is a thief as a young age, always manipulating people to get what he wants. He was always that kid that could take another punch and get right back up and take another one. For a few years he goes about his life living like that, his parents knew that he was a trouble maker but their best to try to fix him was not enough. Until his brother stepped in, because in the end his brother was the only one that truly cared enough to fix his brother. To fix his brother, they started running together, since Louie was a thief he was good at running and getting away from people. When Pete, Louie's brother, first saw Louie run, he knew that Louie had the ability to be great. Pete was a runner, he got a scholarship to USC for track. Louie started running every single day and eventually he broke many records and got his record down to a stunning 4.08.11 seconds which stunned me. (At that pace, that is basically 1.2 seconds around the Mason Track field and I've done track in the past and that is basically a full sprint around the track all 4 laps going all out). Louie meets many great people along his running journey and then he joins the Army. The book then goes through all of his World War II stories as a gunner and what is was like to be in a B-24 and how many of his friends were killed and it is truly an amazing book and has impacted me in many ways. Then at where i'm at in the book, his plane crashes. I'll leave it to your imagination to think about what happens after that.

Unbroken Article

               This article describes how the man behind the legend unfortunately passed away last summer on July 2. Everyone who was around this man learned truly what it meant to be strong. It made them realize their problems are minuscule compared to what he lived through.

Unbroken is soon to be a major motion picture so check out the trailer below!

Shhhhh, Keep quiet, tell no one

1. In Keep Quiet, Lisa Scottoline does an amazing job of displaying the characters by showing their true emotions. She makes the characters evolve the plot through their actions. The story starts where we learn that Jake, the dad, and Ryan, the son, have quite a tough relationship. The dad states that he just can't compete with all the things his son is doing. This can be true for a lot of families across the country. The only thing they have in common is their interest in cars. Jake does all he can to try to bond with his son who is leaving for college soon. So he goes and picks up Ryan from the movie theaters in his sweet BMW. They start to talk then Ryan just goes to his phone and keeps texting. After that the catastrophic event happens...Jake decides to let Ryan drive his BMW. (I will not state what happens :D) but we then learn later in the book that the mom, Pam, is going through the process to become a Federal Judge for the U.S. That is as far as i have gotten but the book is truly amazing, so many twists and turns which left me at the edge of my seat. And it is very relate able in many situations, you want to have a bond with someone so you suck up to them, in this case, letting Ryan drive. Everyone's true colors show after what happens in the car. I enjoy reading books like this where it can be relate able, not just to me, but to the others and where it always leaves me at the imagination of the reader. Where anything is possible and you just have to flip the page to find the truth. Even though we have only met 3 characters, i have already learned so much about them and how deep they go. I also like that in books where I know a lot about the main characters.

Keep quiet Article

      The article I choose is about how a man was shushed by higher authority to keep his mouth shut on a certain situation. A reptile specialist lost one of his anacondas and told the police. He told Mail Online that the cops handled the situation very differently than he expected... they told him to keep quiet while they search for him. That scared Gerald Andrejcak, the reptilian specialist, because that meant there was a wild anaconda on the loose and he didn't want to disobey the cops. This can be related to "Keep Quiet" because they make a mistake and Jake tells Ryan not to tell anyone while Jake handles the situation, Ryan doesn't want to spill the beans but at the same time the guilt is building up and sooner or later, he might. (I haven't gotten that far).

Read Keep Quiet to find out what happened in the car!

Pure

        There are many ways for characters to evolve into the people they are at then. In order to see a complex character develop through the piece of text, you need to learn their story. Be able to see where they came from and step into their shoes. You have to be able to connect with a complex character and see their back-story. That's a way that authors do a great job of making the reader feel what the character feels because the reader should be able to relate. I love a book where i can relate and where i can truly see a character come to life. In Pure, the author does a great job of that by telling us what each character has been through and when you realize it, you feel bad for the character even though the character is fake and not real and we all go through stuff in life. You can also learn a lot through their dialogue with other characters because you can see how they act weather its rude or pleasant. In Pure, at the beginning of the book, the characters are all mainly selfish. But by the end of the book i realized that as they got to know each other, they could joke around with each other and be open. I once remember hearing, you have to be a friend to make friends and i feel like that's how they acted towards the situation...at the end of the book. I feel like there is always a wisdomatic character when there is a moral lesson to be learned, also to me it seems like a wisdomatic character adds a lot more to the theme then they do to the actual plot. I enjoy reading parts of books when another character is speaking to a wisdomatic character and something useful is always coming out of their mouth, good or bad. All the characters add something to the plot, complex or not, they add something, big or small. Even just their dialogue adds to the plot because you can see where they have come from and where they are now. Not just complex characters can add something to a piece of text even though you learn the most about them and you know what they know and who they are.

                 Pure Article

      The article i chose to talk about is an article about dystopian societies--because Pure is set in Post-Apocalypse--and how the author thought this book stuck out of the crowd. The article mentions how most dystopian society books just totally forgot about the past and make it an obscure idea because the story line is set in the distant future, and people don't really get the idea of where the social decline came from. The article's author also then exclaims how Julianna did such a great job of not skipping over that part by telling us more and more about the past over the course of the whole book. The author also claims Baggott does a great job of talking about the social decline and where the past went wrong. In Pure's case, the past went wrong over nuclear weapons then nuclear warfare. The author calls this "The Blindside" because the book's author does a great job of explaining the social fallacies. Finally, the article's author mentions how Julianna makes the reader relate their emotions to the characters emotions in a dystopian society, we feel less guilt but more curiosity because this world is not like ours and we don't know what will happen next.