Summer Reading Blog Space
Please list the title of your book and then comment. :) Avoid summary. Write observations, comments, questions, anything that would start or enhance a “conversation” about the reading. ENJOY!
6:17 pm 
egrimm 
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Not just another English teacher blog…….
Please list the title of your book and then comment. :) Avoid summary. Write observations, comments, questions, anything that would start or enhance a “conversation” about the reading. ENJOY!
comment | July 11, 2008 at 21:47 | individual comment-link
Hi everyone! Hope your summer and your reading is going great.
The first book I read was “Freakonomics” by Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt. This book was very different from all the other books I have ever read. This book really made me stretch the way I think. It made me think of things in a totally different way. Like how the authors intertwined all of the different elements. For example how the legalization of abortion had to do with a drop in the crime rate. The effect that abortion had on the crime rate I had never seen the relationship between the two before. While reading the book I found that I did not agree with all of the ideas that the authors presented but it was good to think of how decisions can affect more aspects in our lives then we expect. I thought that the book at times could be redundant. I found it to be a very though provoking read.
comment | July 15, 2008 at 15:44 | individual comment-link
The first book I read was “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain. Tom Sawyer is all about the adventures taken by this mischevious young Tom. I really enjoyed this book as it was extremely funny and exciting. One of my favorite parts was when Tom had to whitewash the fence (as a punishment) but instead of doing it himself, he had other kids do it for him and he got treasures from them for letting them paint the fence. Then, he went a sold all of the treasures for Sunday School “tickets” which made him look extremely good because he turned them in for a bible (one of the biggest honors for a sunday schooler). Tom is such a manipulative, sneaky kid it cracks me up! He’s always up to something and he knows what he wants and what he will have to do to get it. Becky Thatcher for instance, Tom is in “love” with her so he does everything he can to get her (even if that is hanging out with another girl to make her jealous!). Tom knows how to mess with people to get what he wants! Tom’s conscience and maturity increases significantly throughout the novel which is shown through the storms which I thought what a symbol of Tom’s conscience. “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” was a great book and I found it to be very fun to read and exciting!
comment | July 25, 2008 at 15:23 | individual comment-link
The first book I read this summer was Dinner at The Homesick Restraunt by Anne Tyler. It was absolutely wonderful, I was instantly hooked by just reading the first paragraph! The book is mainly about the lives of a family that has been through alot together. The family is run by a single mother, Pearl, who is one of the most interesting characters I have ever come across in my entire life. She single handedly raised her three children Cody, Ezra and Jenny after her husband Beck left them high and dry when the children were pretty young. In the book we get to see the different paths each family member took from their own perspectives; so it is well rounded and we become equally familiar with the personal struggles of each person. I think my favorite part of the book is in the first two or three pages, when Pearl is telling Cody that she wished that the children had gotten an extra mother like people would have extra children if the first one became ill. It’s odd, I know; but I think that it is what really set the book for me. It is a great read and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone who enjoys reading as much as I do. So, even if you’ve read the contemporary books required this summer, you should read Dinner at The Homesick Restraunt; it is well worth it.
comment | July 25, 2008 at 17:15 | individual comment-link
With regard to Dinner, what did you think about the relationship between the brothers? How did the mother’s treatment of each child differ? How did you feel about that? Can you relate to any of that?
comment | July 31, 2008 at 11:16 | individual comment-link
Greetings my favorite class :] Hope everyone’s summer is going well!
The first book I read was “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” by the witty Mark Twain. I felt obigated to read this classic because we had already read “The Adventures of Hukleberry Finn.” I noticed that Twain likes to keep the novel in 3rd person point of view. He does this to tell the tale through a young, mischevious boys perspective. He also adds other characters insight along with his as well. Twain is just as sarcastic, witty, and humorous as in “Huck Finn.” The most powerful theme would probably be freedom through maturity. As Tom matures the less he craves freedom. Tom matures through his adventures and especially once given the commitment of his relationship with Becky. Ironically, Tom craves freedom but accepting the relationship he also desires, limits his freedom. His relationship is demanding and forces him to mature and give up some of his freedom. Tom is faced with choices in order growing up. He loses the immaturities that tie him dow as a child and gains the qualities of becoming a man. I love the ending. Twain claims, “So endeth this chronicle. It being stictly history of a boy; it must stop here; the story could not go much further becoming the history of a man.” He sets hismself up perfectly for a sequel, (which he does).
comment | August 1, 2008 at 13:03 | individual comment-link
The second novel I chose to read was “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin. I found this story sad, yet revealing of womanhood. Many symbols popped out at me, like birds. Birds resembeled freedom, flight and Edna herself, in the end. I also found the sea to be meaningful as well. The sea kept Edna trapped on the island and locked her in her controling society (which she fears to speak out against) but in the end when Edna faces her fear of the sea, it in return, frees her.
comment | August 4, 2008 at 09:03 | individual comment-link
hey girls
I was very moved by this book because I like to consider myself an idealist and it is very pleasing to hear another person’s thoughts and opinions parallel to my own - especially in a published book that many people are reading. From the beginning I have been trying to deduce a theme of the book (despite LeVitt’s warning of there not being a theme) but could not. Because none of LeVitt’s messages are closely related. In the last four pages LeVitt admits again “an early promise has been confirmed; this book indeed has no ‘unifying theme’”. with that I can make up my own: stand up to modern social boundaries and be not afraid to ask controversial questions. Find answers to the questions that may not please the general public. I deeply respect LeVitt’s tenacity in finding the evidence to back up his theory of abortion: “legal abortion lowers crime rates”. Not that I support abortion but just the fact that he was not afraid to have the like-it-or-not attitude and show his hard work. Although I believe in pro-life, (as well as I believe a woman’s choice is cardinal in the matter) it was cool to see LeVitt push his undisputed logic in this book despite all of the pro-life radicals in the world.
Enjoy your summer guys.
comment | August 4, 2008 at 17:40 | individual comment-link
Hey all, I was finished reading all four of my books a couple weeks ago, but haven’t had a chance to post about them yet.
The first book I read was Awakening, and I was kind of bummed by the whole thing. It had a lot of drag on parts, and even whole chapters in which I think should just be excluded from the novel. It does have a good message, being that women should be independent and not base their life decisions on what their husband thinks, but I thought it wasn’t explained or portrayed in the best way. The ending really wasn’t the best either. After reading this book, I was really glad to get on to the next books of my summer reading.
comment | August 4, 2008 at 17:50 | individual comment-link
The second book I read was “Running with Scissors” and I really liked it!! I know sounds kind of weird, a gay kid who has a totally insane lesbian mom, and whose dad isn’t even in the picture- but I liked it. Just knowing it was real, and what happened is real life, made it just that much more interesting. I really liked the part where the whole book kind of made sense, when Augusten was talking about actually Running with the Scissors.
How I kind of take it, is that you are like running for something that you’ll never reach. For example a goal, if you are holding “scissors” in your hands, and you trip and fall, you will hurt yourself, therefore, making it more difficult to reach your goal. Augusten wanted to live a normal life, but his scissors were his mother being a lunatic, and he even had a hard time with things while being gay.
I kind of thought the theme was to let all of the extra baggage go, or set your scissors down. Forget about the trouble in your life, or you will never reach your goal. I don’t know if that counts as a theme, but its a least a message I got.
Another one is to be happy being yourself. At first, Augusten was ashamed of letting the Finch family know he was gay. But when he just was himself he found himself in a happy relationship.
comment | August 4, 2008 at 17:59 | individual comment-link
I also read “Native Son” and I really like this book as well. It was crazy that Bigger could kill two young women, and not go crazy. I feel guilty for lying, I can’t imagine how I would feel in his situation.
Parts of “Native Son” reminded me of a book I read last summer, “In Cold Blood.” I don’t remember all of it, but I think one of the killers in that book was Perry, or something like that. Even though he was a murderer, the author somehow makes the reader feel bad for Perry because he had such a terrible childhood. The same goes for Bigger. Wright makes the reader feel bad because he has dealt with racism his whole life, and other hard things.
From the beginning I knew Bigger would get caught, it’s just crazy because as a reader you are clueless as to when he will be found out. Then when the detective finds the earing and pieces of bone in the furnace it was a clear giveaway that he was done. I thought either that, or when he killed Bessie was the climax of the novel. Both points were high, and after that the resolution began. Except, ironically, in Bigger’s case, it is not so much of a resolution, but the steps to him going onto death row.
comment | August 4, 2008 at 18:06 | individual comment-link
For my last book I read “Freakonomics” which I found very fun to read and full of a lot of random peices of information, but it seemed to fit.
I agree with Hannah, in that this book did force the reader to think differently, and thats a good thing. I also did not agree with everything they talked about, but I kind of liked that because I caught myself arguing with what I read, and then seeing the other side of it.
There were some rather wierd things. One of the things I found most interesting was the part that showed how the school teachers were cheating. And ways that people can catch teachers cheating. The teacher would want to cheat for students because the student would have to pass a certain test to move to the next grade. One of the teachers changed a strand of like twelve questions or so in half of the students test, and that is how she was caught.
comment | August 5, 2008 at 12:22 | individual comment-link
In regards to egrimm’s comment; the two brothers (Cody and Ezra) have a cold relationship towards eachother. Or, more cold from Cody towards Ezra. Ezra loves Cody and he tries very hard to remain civil towards him even though Cody makes it extremely difficult. Pearl has chosen favorites, and by doing so has made almost every thing a competition for her affection between the three children. I feel that choosing favorites is not right, I think that a parent should love and adore each child equally even though I realize that it can be very difficult. I cannot relate to that specifically, my father (who is a single parent) has not — to my knowlage — really chosen favorites. My brother and I do compete, but not for his affection; we compete as simple sibling rivalry.
comment | August 5, 2008 at 12:38 | individual comment-link
The second book that I read this summer was The Awakening by Kate Chopin. It is written to be slow, a very easy read I thought. It takes place in the New Orleans area, with a variety of characters. Mrs. Edna Pontellier is the main character, she is a sensual character that I think many people can relate to in some way. She is ‘trapped’ in her life, and the entire book is about her voyage into self awareness. She must learn to express herself more freely in a society when women are still the stereotypical ’social-motherly-wives’. She sheds her stereotypical shell to become the true embodiment of what I personally think a woman should be. On page 109, chapter 22 Mr. Pontellier goes to see Doctor Mandelet about what changes Edna has been going through : ” ‘She has abandoned her Tuesdays at home, has thrown over all her acquaintances, and goes tramping about by herself, moping in the street-cars, getting in afer dark. I tell you she’s peculiar. ‘ “. Mr. Pontellier and almost everyone else around Edna seemingly can’t stand the transformed Edna, but the two young men that fall in love her find it even more loveable. I found the ending satisfactory, and very fitting. I really enjoyed this book, and it is well worth reading.
comment | August 5, 2008 at 12:52 | individual comment-link
I read The Awakening by Kate Chopin. Overall it was a interesting book that shows Edna Pontellier’s transformation into someone she has always wanted to be. To me it seemed to show that any one person can do what they want or be who they want. The book progressed at a very slow pace, which for me was hard to keep reading, but the ending really brought everything together which made it worth while. I wish it would have been something more, though, after all of the trouble she went through to finally feel free and independent. All in all it after reading The Awakening it was worth it to read of a fellow womens struggle through life’s essentials and wants and actually see her suceed to her own standards, no one else’s.
comment | August 5, 2008 at 22:58 | individual comment-link
in my last comment i failed to mention that i read freakonomics
sorry
comment | August 9, 2008 at 19:44 | individual comment-link
hey girls :]
So Running with Scissors was pretty cool. When reading the ridiculous stories, I kept stopping to ask myself if what Burroughs was writing was stretched a little or not. I absolutely loved how he somehow found a way to balance the disturbing scenes with comedy. The book’s always shocking scenes and graphic nature kept me interested. As a theme of the book, Natalie and Augusten talk about what they will do with their futures and Augusten realizes the significance of his crazy childhood. He figures that he’ll do well in life because he managed to survive his childhood. He has survived his insane mother and the reckless Finches so he is bound to endure college just fine. I thought it was really cool how in the end of the book Burroughs included a little insert of what happened to all of the big characters in his book.
comment | August 14, 2008 at 09:14 | individual comment-link
Hey all! I read Freakonomics by Dubner and Levitt. I’m more of a story person, and this was mostly facts. So this wasn’t one of my favorite books to read. Like Hannah and Kayla said, the authors make you think about things in a way you aren’t used too. I noticed Levitt talked a lot about incentives and what they make people do. I couldn’t believe a teacher’s incentive to cheat was to make the kids look good on tests. I would have thought they would be the ones to try and make a good impression on not cheating. Or how there is a negative incentive for an African American child to be smart or like certain activities because they are accused of trying to act white. This was one thing I didn’t agree with. I think it has to do with the place you are raised that depends on what you like and how you do in school. But, I did learn how to look at things differently and not be afraid to question things.
comment | August 14, 2008 at 09:33 | individual comment-link
I also read Wuthering Heights by Charlotte Bronte. This was my least favorite book. It is so depressing and hard to understand. I thought a theme of the book could be learning how to adjust to change. There are a lot of deaths that occur and the characters never learn to live with it, and because of it they are never happy and are mean to eachother.
I also noticed that names were important and how they were used was important too. Catherine is called ‘Cathy’ throughout the whole book untill she marries into a wealthy family. Then she is never called ‘Cathy’. I think it symbolizes her growth as a person. Then her daughter is born and she dies and her daughter is named Catherine, but never called it. I think it reminds her dad about her mom too much if she is called by her full name. Then there is Edgar Linton, Heathcliff’s brother-in-law and enemy, and Baby Cathy’s dad. Heathcliff’s wife names their son Linton, I think to make him mad because she knows how much they hate eachother. The only cheerful part of the whole book was the ending when one of the characters dies and the others can finally relax.
comment | August 14, 2008 at 09:52 | individual comment-link
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a lot like the sequal, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. (which I really liked because I knew what to expect) Tom learns to listen to his conscience as he grows up during his adventures. When Tom, Huck, and Joe are pirates on the island they “said their prayers…there was nobody there with authority to make them…”(115). They do what is right even though nobody tells them what to do because they are growing up and know what is right and wrong. Tom is still a kid at heart no matter how much he grows. He thinks he can live on his own as a pirate yet “the tears lay very near the surface” (132) because he is homesick. I noticed, like Brooke did, that Twain talks through a trouble making little boy, but he still uses other character’s thoughts too. I like this p.o.v. because you see all sides of a situation.
comment | August 14, 2008 at 10:12 | individual comment-link
My favorite book I read this summer was The Pilot’s Wife by Anita Shreve. Even though it was about a husband who had another wife and kids in London, I thought the imagery was amazing. Everything was described in similies or in depth. The windows were like “snowflakes, no two were precisely alike…like that of fitting puzzle pieces”(57). I like picturing these kinds of things. I think the book might be filled with beautiful imagery because this is about a pilot and pilots get to see some gorgeous places when they fly.
Shreve changes her style of writing when something bad is about to happen, or is happening. When the wife has to open the door to learn of her husbands death, the sentences go from long and describing, to short and to the point. Or when she is describing her happy marrige, she uses long, describing sentences. Then she changes abruptly to “And then there had been the fight” (64). She doesn’t go into detail about what the fight had been about. This happens throughout the whole story.
This book has a similiar theme as Wuthering Heights. In both, the characters have to learn to move on with their lives no matter what deaths occur. In Pilot’s Wife, the wife has to learn to live with the fact that her husband cheated on her, and had another family, and then deal with his death too. It’s a hard thing to do, but she learns to move on with her life and help her daughter move on too.
comment | August 21, 2008 at 14:29 | individual comment-link
The third book I read was “Running with Scissors” by Augusten Burroughs. It was highly disturbing yet Burroughs knew how to put a funny spin depending on the gravity of the situation. A symbol I recognized was the hole in the window that Natalie and Augusten sawed through the kitchen ceiling. This symbol wasn’t a humongous target waiting to be found, but it was an item that was I felt showed some importance to Augusten’s chaacer development. The hole was symbolizing Augusten, the fact that he didn’t feel he fit in. The window was put into place and it looked right and it seemed to fit, but yet there remained a tiny hole that leaked water when it rained. Auguten tried to fit in with the Finches, but he couldn’t seem to consider them family. I really liked this book. I read it easily in three days. ; ]
comment | August 23, 2008 at 01:18 | individual comment-link
The final book I read was Freakonomics by Levitt and Dubner. I must say, I had my doubts that this book could possibly hold my short-attention span, but it did.I found it interesting that there was no apparent theme, that you had to somehow create your own. I came up with this: Things are not always as they appear. Just because something happens does not mean we rush to point fingers at the obvious suspects. Look deep within the data and recent events and rely on the not-so-obvious, because they prove to be correct most of the time. There was no true symbolism, other than Incentives which are prominent through the course of human nature. This book has not left me complaining, I am actually quite glad I read something that gave me a new perspective on the outlook of life.
comment | August 25, 2008 at 09:27 | individual comment-link
Hey everyone, the last book I finished was Native Son by Richard Wright. I found it to be one of the best African- American novels I have ever read. Its mainly about this poor African-American boy named Bigger and his struggle to be a man, and to find a true friend in Chicago during the 1930’s; which wasn’t easy with all of the racism that is seemingly never ending during that period in American History. Some parts of the novel reminded me alot of The Boy Who Was Almost A Man by Richard Wright. It makes sense, but it was unexpected on my part. It is a great novel and I throughly enjoyed reading it; I was ’sucked in’ by the problems brought into play during the first chapter. I would recommend it to anyone, no matter their level of reading; because it’s just that good and easy to read. My next post will be about Freakonomics, hooray.
comment | August 27, 2008 at 09:05 | individual comment-link
The second book I read was Water for Elephants. This was probably my favorite book I read all summer. At first, I didn’t think that I would enjoy it too much because it was about a circus. I found in the first few pages that it was extremely interesting and engaging. I enjoyed how the author, Sara Gruen, went back and forth between the life of Jacob J. when he was 23 and when he was 90 (or 93). That really gave me a better understanding of the book and a more broad perspective. This book took place right after the Great Depression which made a huge impact in the lives of every character in the book. Everyone struggled to get by and the working men in the circus got paid less and less. It was interesting to me how there was even social statuses in the circus (which I did not expect). The working men and the performers were completely seperated and they did not meet together unless forced to. The biggest evidence of the Great Depression and the struggling economy was at the end of the book when none of the performers got paid. I felt that this equalized the social status gap between the workers and performers. I felt that this book was extremely exciting and it kept me reading and wanting to know more all the time!
comment | August 27, 2008 at 09:18 | individual comment-link
The last book I read was Freakonomics. I found this book to be interesting and rather frustrating to read. I thought that I would especially enjoy this book because I took an Economics class this summer at the college. This book, however, was not much like Economics. Freakonomics talked primarily about why things happen, comparing two unseemingly similar things, and about incentives. I found it interesting in the Introduction when Levitt said that he was an economist but did not care about the monetary issues. At first, I thought economics was all about the monetary issues, but as I kept reading, I realized that economics was about a whole lot more than that, that you would never learn in an Economics class.
Some of the opinions and proofs that Levitt described I agreed with, and some I had a hard time understanding. The biggest challenge for me in this book was the idea that Levitt presented of how legalized abortion is responsible for cutting down crime. I am extremely pro-life, so it was hard for me to understand (and is still hard for me to understand) how in the world that could be true. There have been 37 million deaths due to abortion..THAT’S A TON! That is 31 million people more than the 6 million people who died in the Holocaust. I do not understand why the 6 million people who died (because of being Jewish) was a bigger deal than the 37 million babies who died (and were not even given a chance to live). I do not see any difference between those two circumstances, only that there have been WAY more people dead due to abortion than the Holocaust. As you can tell, I was extremely disturbed by that opinion and had/have a hard time understanding it.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book and it made me see and try to open up to some different perspectives.
comment | August 27, 2008 at 09:29 | individual comment-link
The third book I read was The Awakening by Kate Chopin. I had an extremely hard time getting into this book and found it to be slow at the beginning. As the book went on and the plot grew, I found myself getting more into it and beginning to enjoy it. It was interesting to see the transformation of Edna Pontellier from the beginning of the book to the end. Through the book she gained the independence and freedom she desired, but it seemed that still that was not enough. At times I felt sorry for Edna for being so sad and distressed all the time, but other times I felt that she was partly responsible for her own unhappiness. Many times throughout the book I forgot Edna had children, because she never seemed to mention them or spend anytime with them. Edna’s children represented antagonists to Edna gaining the freedom and independence she desired.
I had a hard time keeping all of the Madame and Mademoiselle’s straight throughout the book. This was probably my least favorite book that I read this summer.
comment | August 27, 2008 at 14:40 | individual comment-link
I also read “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”. I found that I really liked how Mark Twain invorperated the southern dialect in his writing. It really made it seem like thethe character were more realistic. I found many simialariies bewteen this book and one of Mark Twain’s other well known book, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. Like Brooke I also noticed that Twain seems to like to keep the book’s point of view in the 3rd person. I seemed to enjoy this style of writing beacuse I always know what is going on with all of the characters. I found it funny that Tom wanted to have a life like Huck and in “..Huckleberry Finn”, Huck was envious of Tom’s life style. I guess Twain was making the point that ‘the grass is always greener on the other side’. I really enjoied reading this book and getting to compare it to “The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn”.
comment | August 30, 2008 at 14:06 | individual comment-link
Another book I read was Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. My favorite part of this book was learning of Twain’s views on society. For example, Twain’s theory that “in order to make a man covet a thing it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain” reoccurs several times in the book. The most obvious example is when Tom tricks his peers and inspires them to yearn to paint his fence. Toms victims crave to whitewash so much that they even pay Tom to be allowed to do Tom’s chores! Even though Tom is a very clever character, this is a true statement on society with people trying to follow the latest trends and wanting the rarest of items. Another instance is when Becky and Tom are playing mind games with each other, making the other feel that they are hard to achieve. Mark Twain’s witty humor and comedic views on society(which tend to be sadly true) made this book extremely enjoyable to me.
comment | August 30, 2008 at 16:19 | individual comment-link
The last book I read was “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin. I really do not have much to say about this book. I generally didn’t like it but the components of the book included the main character over coming her oppression as a wife. With a feminist theme to the book, Edna the main character, fights her stereotype and escapes the clutches of expectations of a house wife of her day. The books greatest symbolism is birds. Edna is represented by a bird throughout the book as in her house there is a caged bird representing her lack of freedom. Toward the end of the book a bird randomly dies, foreshadowing the death of Edna. Edna gives up in the end like the bird fluttering down. However, contrary to what the book suggests, I believe that Edna’s suicide could be recognizes as her last valiant show of ultimate independence. Neither Robert nor Leonce can own her or control her. She is most of all free from the society.
comment | September 1, 2008 at 14:09 | individual comment-link
The last book that I have read ( just barely on time) was Freakonomics. I found it to be very opinionated, but I think that it asked some of the more important questions of our time. They are odd questions that I had never really thought about until I began reading Freakonomics, but it was nice to read about the causes and consequenses of our actions and the negative and positive incentives that make us do whatever it is we do. Although at some points I found that I did not agree with the authors opinions, I agreed with them more than not. I really enjoyed the book and I think that I may have to purchase my own copy. Sorry that I didn’t write much about it, I’m having a hard time thinking about it.
comment | September 1, 2008 at 15:52 | individual comment-link
Hey all
I was eventually convinced to do AP english.
So here it goes….
I read first …..Tom Sawyer, I thought it was a lot like huck Finn, even with the main characters. Tom, although seemingly bossy and in charge of his gang in Huck Finn, I saw a different side of him in Tom Sawyer. He was a lot more of an equal between him and Huck, and athough Huck did not contradict him often, he does so moreso than in Huck Finn. It made me recollect all the character info i had onthe two for comparasion,
Also, I thought that Tom goes through some critical maturity phases throughout the novel, yet seems more immature in Huck Finn. It’s almost like Huck Finn should have been the first part in the series and not visa versa.
Oh well, see you all tomorrow
comment | September 1, 2008 at 16:02 | individual comment-link
The next book I read was Freakonomics. I thought that it was a very interesting the way that some things coorelated that people found obscure and unrelated. I also found that the parenting section was also a very good revelation. I feel that, although no theme is easily obtainable, with hard searching I feel I have found a theme. The book often criticizes the modern public for following the general ebb and flow of the general thought and perception (I do not havemy notes on me so I can’t ermember the technical term), but anyway, it is then that I thought of this: What if the theme of Freakonomics is to use common sense and not trust was is said”? For instance, a bunch of people stood behind a strong economy for lowering crime rates, yet, obviously that was not the case. And one more, the stuff that a parent does to help their kids suceed, obviously common sense would dictate taht, having books, does not stimulate through osmosis kids to gro to be smarter, (or I’d sleep in class more), but the fact that, a family with books will probably be better educated, and willing to learn, and thus, pass that wil on.
Alright Ty out.
comment | September 1, 2008 at 16:09 | individual comment-link
The last book taht I had time to read was Richard Wright’s Native Son. Which, in my opinion, is a very solid book.
Richard Wrigt’s execution ofpoor dialct and focus on teh emotional aspect of Bigger Thomas, makes you pity him, and his lifestyle. While reading the book, I felt the reason for the Civil Rights Movement like I never had before. I also remember the feeling of sadness that the town, so cruelly battered the Communist Party, who did so much to help Bigger, even after he did so much wrong to them.
Native Son is a book all about equality, and wanting to be more than you are given.
Also If you really must know
Mark Twain wrote Tom Sawyer
And
Levitt and Dubner wrote Freakonomics
Also I did not have time to read Runnig w/ Scissors (sry)
comment | September 1, 2008 at 16:28 | individual comment-link
Wuthering Heights was probably my least favorite book I read this summer. But, I did enjoy some of the themes and symbols that Emily Brontë incorporated into her book. I notice that she used weather, especially rain, to signify the feeling of the characters. Rain was used to make the reader feel sad and depressed. I think that nature was used to take to place of the characters. For example, she wrote “… for the rain began to drive through the moaning branches of the trees…” (228). In this excerpt the author describes the sadness that came over the characters after the death of a loved one. But by the end of the book instead of using nature and weather in a dark and depressing manner she expresses a happier and soft feeling through her writing. While describing the setting, she writes “… under the benign sky: watched the moths fluttering among the heath and harebells, listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass…” (326). I found this contrast in setting very interesting and also very confusing. Even though this book was not my favorite to read it still had good things to study and also to learn from.
comment | September 1, 2008 at 16:34 | individual comment-link
I was really excited to read “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini. There are two main characters named Mariam and Laila. They live very different lives when they were young but then their lives are collided together. It showed how women in a Afghanistan were treated and had to live their life’s. When reading I became very sad to hear of all the rules and prejudices that these women had to face on a daily occurrence. This book was a really big eye opener I guess you could say. I knew things like the situations the author described in the book really happened but I guess I did not realize the extent of the unjust treatment the women in Afghanistan have to endure. I like how Hosseini organized her writing. She would talk about one of her main characters and then in the next chapter she would switch and describe the other character. I enjoyed how she set up two different stories and by the end of the book she blended the two stories into one. She was very descriptive not only about what the characters looked like but how she described Mariam and Laila’s thoughts and feelings.
comment | September 2, 2008 at 11:39 | individual comment-link
I read the awakening this summer and i’m enjoying it so far. I like that there is a lot of different symbolism and how Edna starts to avert from from the average role of women in her society. Women have come along way over the years and it’s all thanks to women who have pushed the feminism envelope. In the end she I believe she got what she wanted, freedom and Independence.
comment | September 2, 2008 at 11:40 | individual comment-link
A thousand splendid suns sounds really good. i really liked the kite runner by him as well. I’ll have to make sure to check it out sometime.
comment | September 2, 2008 at 11:43 | individual comment-link
Another book i read was the adventures of tom sawyer by mark twain. I loved this book not because of the plot and overall story but i loved his word selection and imagery. He had a way of describing the most ordinary situation of someting so child like sound like pure poetry.
comment | September 2, 2008 at 11:46 | individual comment-link
Running with Scissors was a very intresting book, but i enjoyed it. The finches were literally crazy and were very disfunctional. what family in america isn’t a little bit disfunctional? Burroughs used real life situations from his own memoris and created a fictional world that reaembles reality and truth. But in-between the craziness there were some inportant life lessons and symbols present.
comment | September 2, 2008 at 11:49 | individual comment-link
A Mighty Heart was a delicate tragity. I really fet terrible for
Marianne. she lost her soul mate and the farther of her child whom he will never get to meet. Why did the terrorists need to kidnapp Danny. They say it’s a symbol to America, but i don’t agree. They did it because they had a chance to attack a part of america, we did not recieve the message they intended. It was just another terrorist act on our people-which was made very public. i’m proud of marianne for confrounting the terroists and the medias hunger for her story.