Extremely Close and Incredibly Loud

This is a really deep book. And so far I have been very touched by it. It can be very slow at times, and there have been times where I didn't understand one part until I read fifty more pages, but I like that because it is like a puzzle. This book has the power to really move anybody, no matter who you are.

intowildpost2

I am almost done with the book, Into The Wild. I really like the book, but it is also very touching and sad. The book has a different type of impact on me than many other books due to it being a true story about a real person. It's not some fiction hero, it's about a real guy, who had sort of a tragic accident.

I have noticed as I read this book the comments some people have said about the guy, Alex. People call him stupid, ignorant. They say he deserved what he got. I don't really see how people can say that when they are talking about another human being. It's monstrous if you ask me, that people can criticise someone like that, when they don't even know the whole story.

One reason not many people have been able to piece together the whole situation with how Alex died and who he was and stuff is because he was a really complicated person. I know, all people are complicated, so I guess that Alex wasn't actually any more complicated than many other people. But not many people understood him well, like really understood him. So through our eyes, he was a very complicated person.

All in all, I have respect for this guy, because he went out and did what he wanted to do, he followed his heart. Not a lot of people do that to the full extent like he did. Even though he died doing it, atleast it was what he wanted to be doing.

Bloggy

I am in the process of reading the book “into the wild.” At first I thought that I wouldn’t really like it, because I figured it would be just another fiction boy gets lost in woods book. But I soon found out that it was actually non-fiction, and a very interesting, touching story about a young man who has a very unique, and pretty interesting view of the world and how people live their lives.

I have found that I really like books where the character/person has a new and sort of unique way of looking at things. The book “catcher in the rye” is a good example of this. I know a lot of people who don’t like it, but I think it is a really good book. I think that this is why I like “into the wild” so much. By looking through the eyes of the character I get to see the world from another point of view.

At first I didn’t think that I would like this book, but now, about half way through the book, I have found that it is actually quite a rich book, and that I really like the book a lot.

Ever Lost

I just started reading a series that I found, Everlost. I do not remember the author right now, and I am feeling too lazy to get the book out to see who the author is, so I'll just add the authors name in another time.

Anyway, back to the book. Everlost is a really good book, and I really like it. I think that in a way it reminds me of harry potter. The books are very different in almost every way. The writing styles, plots, and characters are not really similar at all. But there is one thing that I find similar between them. Both authors created an entire set of their own rules of gravity, physics, and recreated the world for their books. Both in a different way.

The whole, creating a new world thing in this book sort of just makes it creepier than it already is. The book is a bit weird, and I get the idea that who ever wrote it is a very unique guy, or girl. But behind all the weird characters, and crazy story lines, there's actually some important messages that I am getting from the book.

Reading this book I realized something. I may have a lot of problems in my life. And I may do a lot of stupid things without thinking too much about it. And I may take a lot of risks, without thinking of what I am going to do if I mess up. But this book has made me come to realize something. Even with all of that, I'm still lucky. The way that this book made me realize this is, well, all the kids in this book are all dead, so right there I am already a whole lot better off than them. Just thinking about that made me think that I should stopping bitchin' about my problems, and beating myself up for small mistakes, and just enjoy life as it comes at me.

BOOK RESPONSE

I recently just picked up the graphic novel version of Heroes, and I found really interesting. In Heroes, Every character is important, they are not "Just another person." They are special. Pete can fly, but he doesn't know how people would react if he told them. The knowledge that he is important, and "meant for something... Bigger" boosts his self confidence in a huge way. He wants to be somebody big, lately he has been left behind standing alone in his brothers huge shadow of fame and importance. But what can he do? His brother is a congress man.

People often want to think of themselves as important somehow, somehow different than everyone else. It would be pretty crappy if you knew that you were nobody and couldn't do anything about it. But that's not true, even if your not destined to help safe the world like Pete, your still special. No one else deals with the same stuff you do everyday, there are certain things that we have all done, that would make others piss their pants if they had been in our position. I'm not sure if this is what really makes everyone important, and different, but it is definateley a part of it.

Pete has this thing about that he is meant for something bigger, than everyday life. I'm not sure but doesn't that sound kind of like destiny? When you are meant for something bigger, something you can't control, that's destiny. Destiny plays a large role in Heroes. Hiro, a japanese man who has just discovered his immense power to bend the time and space continuem teleports himself to New York and discovers a comic magazine that displays his future on its very pages. I think this is destiny, when your future turns out as predicted, it means that you were meant to do something, something that you have no control over.

If you have no control over your life, and what will happen to it and in it, then that is pretty scary? Yeah, even though it would be cool for me too know I was going to be a hero and save the world, it would also be scary to me. I like to be confident that I can do what I want to do, that I have a reasonable amount of control over what happens to me and what I do. But in most heroic stories, like heroes, it was the heroes destiny that makes them succeed. This means they had no power over it. If you have no power over your life, then it is not even your life, you are like a chess piece, or a person in the matrix, there is no point in living. If it is not your life to control.

Does having a destiny really mean that you don't have control over your life? In Heroes Hiro had a destiny, but he still had to work through problems, and use all his strength and mind power to get to where he wanted to go, and to do what he had to do. I think that maybe the characters in Heroes aren't being forced to do anything, they are being led along a guide lines that somehow is predicted what they will decide to do. Destiny isn't a stiff future that you must take, it is more of a loose guidelines that helps you decide right from wrong.

If destiny actually was something that you would end up doing no matter what, then it would suck, everyone would have a stiff position in society, from the moment they were born. Destiny is more like a little guy from the future that is telling you what you did, so that you can do it again. Destiny is hard to understand, I think that in the real world, destiny is more a guideline of what you would most likely do in a situation, based on your values.

SEVENTH SON

I am currently reading a book called seventh son. The book is really interesting because it is about the times when people were immigrating to the Americas when white people first found it. But there's a twist, this is about those times, but it's fictional, there's all sorts of folklore and magic in it. I think one reason that I find this so intriguing is because I already know the events of that time preiod so I have a good idea of some of the elements of the story. This makes it much easier for me to focus on understanding the more complicated parts of the story.

So yeah, it is a really good book, I am only about half way through it so I still am missing some parts of the story, but the issues and the plot is starting to come together for me now.

BOOK RESPONSE

Taking it too far. Sometimes a joke goes too far, and someone gets hurt. Sometimes a prank doesn't work quite right, and someone gets hurt. When you are doing something you have to be aware of the consequences. People can get hurt, without you meaning to hurt them, you shouldn't do things that are risky, illegal or dangerous that involve other people. Because when someone gets killed, your tight.

In the book, Swear To Howdy by, Wendelin Van Draanen The two main characters, Joey and Rusty are best friends. One night Joey and Rusty are out by the river at night, they sneak out a lot, and tonight they have a plan. Joey decide they should make a fake ghost and scare someone. But the plan goes all wrong. They scare the driver of the car so bad they she drives into a pole. When they find out the next day that the driver was Amanda Jane, Joeys big sister, and that she's dead, they feel absolutely terrible.

Everyone makes mistakes, its part of life. Making mistakes, and trying to fix them and make them right. And then learning from them. But when you make a mistake you should admit it, you should come out and say that you did it. If it is just a little mistake then it's fine, don't bother coming out with it. Then you'll just get in trouble for a little thing. If it is a big mistake and it actually affects someone in a major way, or if people have been hurt, you need to come out with it. Or else the guilt will eat away at your soul little by little until you can't stand to look at yourself in the mirror.

 

Making mistakes is part of life. And along with mistakes come consequences. All mistakes have some sort of consequence, sometimes good sometimes bad. If it's just a little mistake the consequence might just be you learning from that mistake. If it's a big mistake, you might go to jail. Joey and Rusty never thought of the consequences of what they were doing, and what could happen. If they had stopped and thought about it, they probably wouldn't have pulled that prank in the first place.

Joey and Rusty have made lots of mistakes together while planning their adventures. Once they were shooting squirrels that were digging up Joey's driveway, and they accidentally shot Joey's Dad's cat, Mouser. But they didn't come out with it, because they figured they would get into more trouble than it was worth, so they swore to Howdy they'd never tell a soul. When they accidentally helped cause Amanda Jane's death, they couldn't keep it a secret, they tried and were successful for several days. But the guilt was too much, and when Joey tried to shoot himself in the mouth, Rusty decided it was time to tell the truth, for once.

Nothing goes perfectly as planned. No one can see into the future perfectly (as far as I know) and see exactly what is going to happen, and what it is going to do to who. It isn't realistic. So when you are going to do something think: could this hurt someone? Because a lot of the time people never expect the bad things to happen to them. So they are surprised when they actually end up messing up.

People make mistakes, everyone does. Some things are best kept a secret, and some things aren't. People need to be careful, even if it is just a joke, it can still hurt someone. Even if it was an accident, it still happened. Nothing goes perfectly as planned, and if you hurt someone, or mess something up, you should admit it. Everything has consequences and you need to be prepared for them.

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Book Response

I recently just read a book called the Hogfather, Michael recoomended this book to me and it's kinda wierd. Death is covering for the Hogfather (a character similar to Santa Claus) on Hogwatchnight because the Hogfather has been kidnapped. Death feels very strongly about giving all of the children, rich or poor, the same quality of presents, in his opinion everyone is equal and should be treated equally. Death's assistant Albert strongly disagrees. Death's understanding of Hogwatchnight is that everyone should be happy and get good presents. Everyone, meaning, the rich and the poor. Albert says that the thing that makes people happy is when they know that they have more than other people. Therefore Albert believes that they should give the rich kids lots of toys and the poor kids few toys, because this will make all the rich people feel joyful. But Albert is not thinking about the poor.

There are many people in our world that believe in making the rich richer and the poor poorer.Albert is like all those people. I don't really understand why some people think this way because in my opinion it is really stupid. Maybe they feel that if they make the rich richer, then the rich will help them. Or maybe they think that there is no hope for the poor, so they don't even bother to try to help. It's not fair though, they are treated like they are not human. I think that the people like Death, who believe in treating the rich and the poor more equally, are much more sensible. If the people in government only helped the rich, then no progress would be made. But if they helped the poor then there would be no poor people, so the money usually being spent to help the poor could be spent on something else, and everyone would have a job. Therefore there would be more productive work going on in the world.

When Albert was a little boy he was "poorer than a church mouse" and every Hogwatchmorning when he took down his stocking, he got nothing. Eventually he got used to it and to him Hogwatchnight was just another night. I think that he may have noticed that he, a poor boy, got nothing on Hogwatchnight, and all the rich kids got loads of toys. Now Albert is a grown up and must think that all the poor kids should get nothing, and that all the rich kids should get everything. Albert thinks that this is the way it should be because this is the way it has always been. Death thinks that things should change.

If I were in Albert's position I would give everyone loads of toys. I would want to give the poor kids the toys they wanted. I would want to make sure that they didn't miss out. But unfortunately some people feel that if they didn't get something, then nobody should. It is wrong but it is true. Albert was treated very unfairly when he was a kid, so he must feel that since he was treated badly, then ever poor child should be treated badly. Sometimes past experience affects peoples lives greatly. Often times people who are mean, brutal, or just not very generous are the way they are because that is how they were treated when they were kids. These people don't understand that they shouldn't treat other people based on how they were treated a long time ago. Also, if you treat people badly because of how you were treated when you were a kid, they will just hate you. They know nothing about your past. To them you are just a mean, nasty jerk.

It is wrong to make the rich richer and the poor poorer, because it makes absolutely no sense at all. It is also not right to do what Albert did. Albert wanted to treat the poor kids unfairly because of his past experience, he did not realize that what he was doing was wrong. It is bad to treat others unfairly based on how you were treated when you were a kid. Other people may not understand your situation, and will just hate you.

Book Response: One Fish Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

I recently just read the book, One Fish Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. I think this book is an absolute master piece. The way Dr. Seuss made the entire book sort of fit together like a complex poem really inspires me to try some more poetry.

This book also reminds me of the Sonnet project we did just recently in ELA. This book is just like a sonnet, except it is like 20 pages long, and doesn't follow a particular pattern neccessarily. The reason I think the book reminds me of sonnet writing is because the rhyme scheme changes throughout the book. But it is so gradual that you don't notice it. I also really admire Dr. seuss for the time that must have been put into this. The process of writing this must have been extremely hard. I would have rathered write a novel than try to do this. It's like an artwork, you have to plan the whole thing out before you even begin it. That means that Dr. Seuss had to plan how the whole book was goin to fit together and sound before the book was even really started.

When you think about it like this, Dr. Seuss writing isn't just a bunch of kids books, they are super master pieces, that only a genius mastermind could come up with and compose. I really admire Dr. Seuss's poetic story telling ability.

book response: Neuromancer

I recently just finished a really hard and confusing book called Neuromancer. The book was really confusing because it had some many intriquacies, and it was really hard to envision it all in my head.

The book was about a guy who was like a hacker, but he didn't really hack into computers, he hacked into people, corporation databases, and different parts of the matrix. That's what was so hard for me to envision, what did the matrix look like? I was never sure if he actually went into the matrix or if his mind just linked to it, that part was really confusing.

Even though the book was really confusing I still really liked it. It was really interesting.

Code Talker

I recently just read a book about the role that the Navajo Native Americans played in the conflict with Japan, this book was really interesting, and I learned a whole lot of cool information that I had never known, and may never have known if I hadn't read this book.

In this book the author describes the role that the Navajo Native Americans played in the conflict against Japan. The Navajos were vital to communicating within the ranks of the U.S. military, they were used as code talkers, and because their language was so different, and so complicated, the Japanese would have absolutely no chance of ever decoding their messages.

The story that I am responding to is told from the perspective of one teenage Navajo boy who is determined to fight for his homeland, even though his homeland is no longer in the hands of his people. The Navajo boy faces many challenges just getting into the army, he is under aged, and very small for his age. But even against the odds the boy is able to get into the army. From there he learns that he along with dozens of other Navajo men have been selected to create, and perform with a code. The code is to be based on the Navajo language, being that it is almost impossible for a non- Navajo to understand it ever.

I think that this book is really interesting, and it probably taught me some of the most interesting non- fiction information I have ever learned from a book. I think it is cool that this secret was kept so well and for so long, and I am amazed that I have never heard of the code talkers being that they were such important individuals.

Book Response

Taking it too far. Sometimes a joke goes too far, and someone gets hurt. Sometimes a prank doesn't work quite right, and someone gets hurt. When you are doing something you have to be aware of the consequences. People can get hurt, without you meaning to hurt them, you shouldn't do things that are risky, illegal or dangerous that involve other people. Because when someone gets killed, your tight.

In the book, Swear To Howdy by, Wendelin Van Draanen The two main characters, Joey and Rusty are best friends. One night Joey and Rusty are out by the river at night, they sneak out a lot, and tonight they have a plan. Joey decide they should make a fake ghost and scare someone. But the plan goes all wrong. They scare the driver of the car so bad they she drives into a pole. When they find out the next day that the driver was Amanda Jane, Joeys big sister, and that she's dead, they feel absolutely terrible.

Everyone makes mistakes, its part of life, making mistakes, trying to fix them and make them right. And then learning from them. But when you make a mistake you should admit it, you should come out and say that you did it. If it is just a little mistake then it's fine, don't bother coming out with it. Then you'll just get in trouble for a little thing. If it is a big mistake and it actually affects someone in a major way, or if people have been hurt, you need to come out with it. Or else the guilt will eat away at your soul little by little until you can't stand to look at yourself in the mirror.

Joey and Rusty have made lots of mistakes together while planning their adventures. Once they were shooting squirrels that were digging up Joey's driveway, and they accidentally shot Joey's Dad's cat, Mouser. But they didn't come out with it, because they figured they would get into more trouble than it was worth, so they swore to Howdy they'd never tell a soul. When they accidentally helped cause Amanda Jane's death, they couldn't keep it a secret, they tried and were successful for several days. But the guilt was too much, and when Joey tried to shoot himself in the mouth, Rusty decided it was time to tell the truth, for once.

People make mistakes, everyone does. Some things are best kept a secret, and some things aren't. People need to be careful, even if it is just a joke, it can still hurt someone. Even if it was an accident, it still happened. Nothing goes perfectly as planned, and if you hurt someone, or mess something up, you should admit it. Everything has consequences and you need to be prepared for them.

Book Response

Some people think that they can do everything all by themselves. But they are wrong. Many times in your life you will find that you need other people's help to achieve what you want to achieve. Then when you look back at the event you may find that without other people's help, without teamwork, you would have failed. Teamwork wins in most scenerios. Teamwork wins wars, it wins fights, it wins practically everything.

In the book, The Mysterious Benedict Society and The Perilous Journey, there are four main characters, Reynie, Sticky, Constance, and Kate. These children are on a quest to save their namesake, Mr. Benedict from his evil twin brother, Mr. Curtain. I think that these children represent teamwork, because throughout the entire book they always use their combined efforts, and skills to win their fights.

Teamwork usually wins because no, one person can see a problem from all points of view, and seeing a problem that way is often the key to solving it. For example, when they were in the library reading Mr. Benedict's dead parents' letters, to discover where Mr Benedict was, the children used teamwork. Sticky speed-read the papers, and Constance, Kate, and Reynie used their highly developed brains to interpret the information.

In the book, the point of the children working together was not only to save Mr. Benedict, although they didn't know it at the time, but while they were working together, they were also bonding together. They were creating an unbreakable relationship.All of the children had been friendless until they met each other, but by the end of the book, they all knew that they were now life time friends.

Workng together is a very powerful tool, and it has many uses. In their case it bonded the Mysterious Bendict Society together. But it also helped them acheive a nearly impossible quest. People who think they can be a one man team, and do it all themselves are stupid, and won't go very far. But those who work together, can, and will achieve great things.

Book Response

Along with knowledge comes your own opinion. When you learn a lot about a topic, or topics, you will form an opinion about what you think. In many places and times people have been hurt because of their way of looking at things, some people do not like it when people disagree with them, when people have different views, arguments and even fights will happen.

In the book, Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag is a fireman. But his job isn't to stop fires, it's to start them. He has a job, destroying and burning books, and their owners. Books are illegal, they supposedly hurt, and pollute peoples perfect minds, and their happy lives. But what is really happening is, opinion is being destroyed, there is no such thing any longer. Everyone agrees with everyone, and no one learns anything new.

Sometimes people are afraid of people that think differently then them. They are afraid of change, and new ways of thinking always causes some sort of change. People all have their own opinions and their opinions are what shapes the things that our world is built on. But imagine a world where everyone were brainwashed and people with opinions were burnt out of fear.

That world is the world that Guy Montag lives in. And he has never thought anything about it. And he never would have if he hadn't met a very peculiar seventeen year old girl. One girl had an opinion, and she opened up Montag's world, and let him see it for what it really was. But people don't like people that are different from them, and a man hunt was organized for Montag when it was known that he read books. Montag fled, and traveled with a group of other outcasts.

Books were illegal, they changed the way people thought, and made it so that they could not be controlled, they made them speak out, and say what they wanted to. Books created fights and debates. Just as opinions do in our world. There are many people that hate others for how they act, how they think, and what they say. But that is bad, because you wouldn't be half as smart as you are now, if opinions did not exist.

Book Response: love among the walnuts

Have you ever wished that you had a perfect life with no problems? I have and I bet you have also. There are so many issues in our world that it is impossible to not encounter atleast a few of them. No matter how rich, powerful, or smart you are, no matter how well protected you are there is always conflict in your life. Some problems hurt you mentally, and some hurt you physically, but each can be just as powerful.

Sandy had what he thought of as a perfect life, he lived in a huge mansion with his family and their friends. He didn't go to school, he was taught at home, because his family did not want other children to pollute his mind. He could do almost whatever he wanted to. In our world this would not be considered a perfect life, it would be terrible to be cooped up all day. But in his family this was definately the perfect life, out of harms way.

The thing is, no matter how hard you have worked to make your life secure, some asshole always comes along and manages to mess it up. That's just what humans do. People are jealous greedy creatures who are never content with what they have. And they are willing to hurt, and even kill to get more.

Sandy's evil uncles, Bart and Berny plot to kill him and his family, and nearly succeed, everyone but Sandy, and his childhood teacher are sent into comas by a poisened cake. This cruel action by his uncles shocks Sandy greatly and the first problem in his life opens up a whole new category of emotions including hate, sadness, disbelief, and rage. Sandy is forced to bring his sleeping family to a nut house nearby. And with the help of Sandy's new friend Sunny, and all the mental patients, are able to survive, and awaken Sandy's family.

No one wants to have big problems in their lives, but if you think hard about it, you need them. Without problems there would be no motivation in life. Problems push you to try and learn more. When Sandy meets Sunny, he realizes just how isolated and lonely he was all his life. His whole life had been boring, he had never felt sad, or mad, or love, or excitement.
When Sandy's uncles tried to kill him, his life opened up, he finally faced the outside world, and discovered what it meant to live.

Big issues and problems seem to hurt and disrupt our lives, and they do, but they also keep them exciting and interesting. Problems give us motivation, and solving them makes us feel jubilant. We have all wished for perfect lives at some point. But the truth is, that would be boring. Anyway, there is no such thing as a perfect life.

Book Response

In Treasure Island, the main character is Jim Hawkins, he and his mother are running a small inn when they come across a murderous band of pirates who will do anything to get their hands on a certain treasure map. This treasure map just so happens to be in Jim Hawkins hands.

A major issue in this book is trust, in several parts of the book Jim is forced to trust his companions, sometimes with his life. Some of his companions are honest, and good people. Some are lying theive's who will betray him, over and over again. When Jim sets sail to Treasure Island with a several other people, a captain, and a crew, he gets to talking with the cook, Long John Silver. Jim trusts Silver because he feels that Silver is the only one who he can relate to and who understands him, if Jim tried talking to other crew members, they would not understand.

I have a lot of friends, but only a few who I can actually have a deep conversation with. There are only a few of them that I would actually feel safe telling them what I'm really thinking about, and what is really in my heart. You can almost tell from a person's behavior, and their personality if they can actually dig deep enough, and understand you. Sometimes you will tell someone something, and they will make a big mess out of the whole thing.

Jim confided in Silver because he thought Silver seemed like a really sincere, nice person. What Jim didn't know was that the whole person that he thought Silver was, was fake, made up. Silver actually created an alternate personality, for when he was talking to Jim. If Jim had known Silver's true personality and past, he would have killed him on the spot. This is why trust is a very tricky thing, if you trust the wrong person, things can go very wrong.

Once I pulled a prank on my third grade teacher, and later that day told a classmate about it. Unfortunately for me that kid was a big snitch and told on me. I was pretty pissed that I had so easily trusted him with such a secret, and I paid the price with two detentions. When you trust someone with information about you they can use it against you, and hurt you.

Jim trusts Silver a lot, and by chance Jim over hears Silver and the crew talking about about mutiny, and killing everyone on the ship, including himself. Jim is terrified, and alarmed that he had trusted someone who now wants to kill him. He also wonders how he could not see through Silver's devilish alternate personality.

Trust is a tricky concept to deal with, you have to be able to calculate how much to give to who, and who to give it to. Because if you trust the wrong person, then it can come back at you and stab you in the back. Just like how Silver betrayed Jim, When Jim thought that Silver was the one person he could trust and talk to.