Nevermore

First off i've never been the biggest fan for graphic novels. occasionally ill read through one but not very often. With that being said im for the most part pretty satisfied with Edgar Allen Poes adapted short stories. I have also read a few of the original stories and overall i believe the original stories are better than the adapted versions. The first story, Nevermore, i thought was a nice first story to get into Poe's style. I like how Poe's stories are very dark and have a darker theme to them. I liked how the story of nevermore got into the mans grief of his dead wife and slowly descended into madness. The story of the Pit and the Pendulum i thought was adapted the best out of all the stories. it was very easy to follow both picture wise and with the limited words that went with it. The story fall of the house of usher to me was really confusing. i had not read the original short story so i had nothing to go off of in terms of what was really happening. I feel that the pictures didn't portray what it was supposed to and the written text was lacking and not complimenting the pictures. The original story of the tell tale heart is probably one of the best of poe's short stories that ive read. The adapted version in the book was mediocre at best but just wasn't the same. The slip into becoming insane just wasnt as extreme or as powerful as in the original and after i finished the story i was satisfied but it just wasnt quite as good a i wanted it to be. i am hoping the rest of the stories do better than the fall of the house of usher in their storytelling and ends with a decent story.

The Road (end)

After finishing the road i have to say i enjoyed it a lot. However, i felt the ending was a little unsatisfying even though by the time they reached the beach i had predicted it would be. While the ending works well with the story i wanted the man to live and keep going with the boy instead of the boy just going with different people. Overall i thought this book had good character development especially for what little we know of them. The style was very different than ive ever read but it made reading the story flow that much more than i think it would have had it been written in a more common way. I wonder how much of the movie will stay true to the book.

I am interested in the graphic novel that we will be reading. I've read a few of Edgar Allen Poes short stories back in high school and i am curious to see what the graphic novel will be like and see if the artist drew the stories how i pictured them to be.

The Road

So i heard from a friend who read this book that it was a really good read so i have been waiting to get into this story and find out what happens. So far i am very satisfied with how the book reads and the descriptions are very well written. In response to question 2 id have to say that i think the reason McCarthy chose this particular writing style is because in the story the world is barren. Towns are abandoned and there are scarce people alive. The time of day and the days themselves are almost one long continuous day. Days turn to months quickly while the man and boy travel and it just seems fitting that the style reflects how one would think after living in years of a destroyed world. I think the style really works for the story. because some of the days are very briefly written i find myself wanting to continue to read to find out how the next day or event will progress. The characters are desperate and i think because they are desperate and readers can for the most part connect with them we are compelled to know the fate of the characters. We also dont know why they are taking the road and what final destination awaits them. For me this is what makes the book the most interesting. The journey they are on has an unknown destination and it continually keeps me reading to try and piece together what happened and what their mission is and if they will even survive the next days journey. Each day that passes the future looks worse and worse for the man and boy. I think the style of the writing is what really keeps me interested and it compliments the story.

Still Life

This is the first detective fiction type of book i have read and so far i'm pretty into it. I like the characters and how the story goes into all the types of connections and relationships of the town. I think gamache is a good detective character and he becomes even better as the book goes along and reveals more and more about his personal life and fears and philosophies. The one part of this story that gets to me at times is all of the french words and names. For me it becomes just slightly annoying to read a name that has a strange pronunciation and sort of takes away the flow of the story. Nichols character as the rookie cop is very well placed i think and that her constant screw ups show just how great of a detective gamache really is. She is the character that just screws up all the perfect opportunities and forces the other detectives to do things the hard way. I like reading when gamache scolds her and shows her flaws to her. It makes me hope that agent Nichols will become better at keeping her mouth shut when she needs to and being more perceptive as the story progresses. I also like how the author writes the story and continually makes more and more people seem like likely suspects and keeps you guessing. I am looking forward to see what happens in the rest of the story and what else unfolds in the village of three pines.

Interpreter of maladies

so far out of the short stories we have read from the book interpretor of maladies i have liked almost all of them. they are all very realistic and i think because of this it makes the stories alot better. All the stories have a very real feel to them and could easily happen in real life no question about it. I think so far my favorite story was a temporary matter. i liked it because once the secrets began to be told i was just waiting for the big secret to come out and it did. i liked how they had to confront each other and pretty much everything in the story seemed to fit together very well. i also thought the story the third and final continent was good. it was a good story that showed how arranged marriages can potentially work out and how crazy of an experience it is. you know nothing about the person but then something can happen that will turn everything around. i also have liked how all of them have more or less ended on a happy note rather than olive kitteridges more depressing side. the story ive liked the least so far is the treatment of bibi haldar. i think the only reason i wasnt as into this story as the rest was that we were givin such a far away view of bibi. i didnt like the narrator in the story just because it wasnt giving enough information about bibi and her condition or anything else about her really. it was still an alright story but i didnt like the point of view. overall i am liking the book and am hoping the other stories are as good.

Round Ireland With a Fridge

So far ive generally enjoyed this book. This is a story i wouldn't usually find myself reading. However it is entertaining and passes by the time. I find this book rather comical and interesting due to the fact the whole book is based off of a drunk bet. I like how the author knows from the start this is not a serious story and doesn't try to make it serious. I also feel the author isnt exaggerating the story very much which to me is a big plus. Its irritating if the whole story is exaggerate and not nearly as true as the person says it is. I thought in particular the whole baptizing of the fridge was pretty funny because of just how strange of an even that would be. I also find it pretty interesting that the author would even go through with the bet. I dont think id have the willpower to do such a task especially if it was after a drunken night. overall though the book gets kinda boring and i have trouble sticking with it at times but it is entertaining at parts but in the end im just not that into the story. it seems like it would be a much better story if it was told in person by the author since it is an event of his life and i just think it would be more interesting to be heard than to be read.

My Sisters Keeper (ending)

So the ending pretty much came out of nowhere and was a giant twist on the whole story. I thought because of the ending really made the book worth reading and was the only ending that could have worked for the story. If it had been kate that died the ending would have been too predictable. Im glad picoult didn't let kate die during the transplant. that would have just made the ending too sad and unrewarding. Overall i enjoyed this book a lot more than i thought i ever would have and most of it is due to the last chapters of the courtroom until the end. I can see why the last class would have recommended this book. Its hard to classify and is very tensioned at times with lots of emotion with a morale dilemma thrown on top of it all. One chapter i found i really liked was when Brian found the cigarette at the last fire and found out it was jesse who started the fires. It gave everything out of why jesse was doing what he was doing and showed how much he really cared about his sister and everything that was going on. This story was a surprising good read.

I dont know what the next book is really about but it looks very different and i am hoping it is somewhat comical for a change of pace from all the sad and depressing books we have been reading lately.

My Sister's Keeper

I was not very excited to read this book. I had seen parts of the movie and wasnt intrigued and other people have told me it wasnt too good either. However, after starting this book while i am not entirely into it and dont get excited to read it i am surprised at how much better it is than i thought it would. While the story is unique and presents a morale dilemma i just cant quite get into it completely. I do like how the story is told. I like that we can see all the different perspectives of the characters excluding Kate. i think it provides great insight into their opinions and works really well. I particularly like to read about Brian and Jesse. I like Brian's character because he seems to know everything thats going on around him and accepts it for what it is and does what he can to help even though he is a little less opinionated and is almost a 100% observer at times. Jesse is interesting to read about because he appears to be "the lost cause." I like having his view of everything because at first you really dont get much of him and then you see why he is how he is and how he interacts with the family. One character i cannot get over is Sara. At times i want to go into the story and just yell at her. She gets me frustrated with how blind she is to her other children and even Brian. While Kate does need some extra attention she is completely ignoring everything else around her. Overall im liking this story more than i originally thought and am hoping Sara has a scene where she realizes what she is doing and changes.

The man who loved books too much

I must say i could not get into the story too much. i found it boring to be truthful. there were definitly some elements in it that made me surpirsed though. The biggest surprise to me was how much some of the books were worth. i could never imagine a book being worth 35,000 dollars. thats insane. Ive always known that some books especially old first edition books turned out to be pretty expensive. however i always thought the number stayed in the hundreds. I guess i was very wrong. it is kind of strange to think that a book might cost just as much as a car would. I can only imagine a very wealthy person would have such books in thier collections. Another interesting thing was the whole concept of the library of books the man wanted. when i think of a library of books in a house i imagine a room with books lining the entire wall all hardcovers and in perfect condtion. i would imagine almost none of the books being read to keep thier pristine look but if i were to look upon someones library i would imagine they had some sort of knowledge that was greater than my own. I find books the most valuable if they are able to be re read. I find the best books i have read ive read at least twice. The values of the gilkey in the story seems to be simply having them whether he has read them or not and just wants them in his possession. i can kind of see this because there are times when i myself will be obsessed with a certain collection of books and i must have them. and then i get a couple books in and then move on to a new series where the old series will be left on my shelf. there are things to this day that i like to try and collect in this aspect i can connect with the book collector.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Admittedly from the moment i looked at the book and read what it was about i wasn't looking forward to much at all. I immediately assumed this was one of those high school tale books that all the girls in my high school would be reading. Full of drama and other ridiculous things. I am so glad i was wrong. from the first letter i could not stop reading this book. I like how the book is written and we can really get into charlies perspective of things. I really like charlies character no matter how depressing the story gets. I feel everyone in some way can connect with charlie. I think everyone has had the sense of being alone in their lives and just observed people. I find myself relating to the story as much as i can and it makes the story that much better to me. I really want to find out who charlie is writing to. I'm waiting for some kind of hint as to who it could be but I'm not getting to hopeful about it and i think the author chose this on purpose as if to make it feel like we are the person hes writing to and we are the great listener who didn't sleep with the person at the party even though we could have. I am very surprised at how much i like this book and how much i constantly want to be reading it. The things charlie writes in his letters makes me think that its almost like his last attempt to try and be heard and fully understood by someone. To him it seems as the story progresses he is more and more of a ghost in the eyes of everyone around him. I cant wait to read the ending and see what happens.

Cory Doctorow

So far the short stories we have been reading have been hit and miss with me. There are a couple i like and a couple i don't like. First off though i have to say Cory Doctorow has quite the imagination. Starting with a place so foreign. I have mixed feeling for this story i liked the idea of it but i just couldn't quite get into the story. I didn't get excited to read it and i found it rather boring. When i read in the shadow of the mothaship i really liked the story and the characters. the only downer to this story for me was that it was hard for me to follow and got confusing. I found myself having to reread parts to understand what exactly was going on. overall though i really enjoyed that story. Next we have Billy Baily. I thought this story was funny and kind of relative to how marketing is getting today. I enjoyed reading the story and how all the 6th grade kids have sponsors. it was an entertaining read. Finally theres 0nzw0red. I thought this was a really cool story. i liked the concept of remaking yourself and re engineering your body. it was really interesting. The constant jargon that was used worked well with it but made it a slower read for me. While i enjoyed the story the jargon after a while put me off to it a little bit. So far most of the stories in this book have been interesting but they all have their faults. some more than others. I'm hoping the rest of the stories we read are just as entertaining.

Olive Kitteridge pt.2

I don't know what to think about the ending. I have mixed feelings towards it i liked it but then i didn't at the same time. I found it kind of sad after it was told Henry died. I had liked his character even though he did some unnecessary things he was still a good person to me. Lets start with the good parts of the ending. I thought the ending with Olive and jack was kind of nice giving the book some little hopes for the future. i did like that. but at the same time i hated how it ended with that. with olive getting the what seems to be the best ending in the story i wanted it to be Henry or Christopher maybe. But instead it went to olive. i was already stil mad about the whole Jim ocleary fiasco i never got over that she said shed leave Henry and she was the one so mad all the time. I did like though how Chris started talking more and you got to see his character more. but yet again olive made me mad always yelling at everyone and not accepting things. Another random thing that i dont think was neceassary was the stealing chapter. yet again she seemed to have no relevance to very much but it did show how olive helps what seems to be the worst hurting people and trying to help them which is always a strange thing to read about i think. Its almost like she has a knowledge that knows its there in the people she is trying to help. Overall im decently satisfyed with the ending i just wanted the happiness to be a little more towards someone else

Olive Kitteridge

Well i wasn't really looking forward to this book for a few reasons. It seemed like it would be just another kind of book we read in high school that of course had a love interest and some tragic event and some overall morale. I read the first page thinking "here we go" but i was surprised by the first couple chapters. It immediately kicked you off with a character who most people would appear to like. Nothing new i thought. But once Denice came in the story and they went to Henry's for dinner i could see things were going to immediately start happening. Immediately i thought Henry would have an affair with Denise after the ice cream comment.

And then the characters changed entirely. I don't know if i really like the changes of characters all the time. While i enjoyed Kevin's story i didn't think Angie's had much of anything to do with the story. I was hoping maybe the stories would intertwine but so far i dont think its really going to do that.

I like Henry's character. He tries to always be warmhearted and have everyone be happy. Sounds like a good guy. but after Denise i think he goes a lil overbaord with helping her. but its not his fault. hes so caught up in trying to be kind he starts to neglects his own family and doesnt see anything wrong cause hes just trying to stay cheerful. I like his character because he is flawed and sometimes you dont find that in characters. This makes me kind of understand why Olive is the way she is but she too goes overboard and it just too bitter all the time.

Reading Preferences

I like to read a lot of different types of books but my favorite genre would probably be science fiction. I mostly like to read military science fiction. One of my favorite books is Enders Game by Orson Scott Card. It is one of the few books I have read multiple times and still enjoy. it follows a young boy genius who gets recruited into the military after an alien race has almost destroyed earth and he goes through the military academy and learns to be a great leader and and eventually soldier. It also involves a great deal of politics with his sister and brother who stay home and create fake names for themselves and begin to rally people together. There are multiple books that follow however Enders Game was the best one and most unique in my opinion. I don't get as much time to read books as id usually like to but whenever I have nothing to do is when ill usually read for an hour or so. Reading to me is a good way to pass by time when there is truly nothing to do and is usually enjoyable if I have the right book.