Week 5: The Catcher in the Rye

So I'm in the middle of chapter 10. Last time I left off at the part where Holden finds out that Stradlater went on a date with a girl he knew. I'm wondering if Holden was really jealous, actually I have a feeling he was. Otherwise, why would he have gotten so mad about it? Anyway, him and Stradlater get into a fist fight and Holden ends up losing and getting a bloody nose. I don't understand why Holden pushes his luck so much. He doesn't seem like that big of a guy and he knew how mad he was making Stradlater, so why keep pushing it? He knew he wasn't going to win in a fight. It's like, "Hey! Look at this sleeping bear, I'm going to throw rocks at it until it wakes up and kills me." C'mon, who would do that?

He uses the words "bastard" and "moron" a lot. After using it so much, wouldn't you want to try and insult a person a different way?

The other thing that I don't understand is why does he consider Stradlater and Ackley his friends if he talks crap about them the whole time. I don't think I have one friend who I talk about like that and still consider them my friend. I understand that he's mad about the whole date thing with Stradlater, but if he was his friend, you'd think he'd kinda brush it off instead of pushing it so far. And Ackley, I understand he's gross and everything but if I had a "friend" that was as gross as Holden describes him, I'd probably lock him in a bathroom and tell him he couldn't come out until he was up to par with his hygiene.

One more thing that I don't understand is, why does Holden go into Ackley's room and just lie there thinking to himself? Why couldn't he have done that in his room? Why go and bother Ackley.

Also, why does he go on and on AND ON about his little sister? I feel like she is the only person that he really TRUELY cares about.  

 

I’ve found I have a horrible time with not only finding time to read, but also staying focused on reading.  Once I finally find time, whether it is in study hall, or sitting in bed, my mind seems to wander off.  If I’m in study hall, the things Holden says will make my mind wander then it’s hard to get back on track.  If I’m sitting in bed, I get distracted by my thoughts, or I get tired and end up falling asleep.  Reading for me is not very entertaining.  No matter what I’m reading, I tend to get distracted or uninterested.  Although I do like this book, it is still difficult for me to stay focused on the book and what is going on in the book compared to what is going on in my head or in the world/ room I’m sitting in.

Week 5- 1984

I have not been finding as much time is I should be to find time to read. I just have so much stuff going on in my life right now. I have school then I have work and by the time I get home I just want to either watch TV or go to bed right away. This book has been a little more interesting than my last book. It has picked up way more already than in the last book I read. I don't really have a blog for this week because i just didn't have enough time for reading this past week and weekend. Next week will be better!

Week 5: The Grapes of Rath

     I am still reading the Grapes of Rath, and I honestly didn't get a chance to read a lot this week. I am having trouble finding time to read. I am reading an independent novel for British Literature too, so I am trying to balance the two. I have found that after I get done with homework is the worst time to read. I get so frustrated and tired that I don't want to read. The best times for me to read are weekends, so I am trying to get both independent novels on the weekends.
     Anyway, back to the story. The Joads are now in a government camp, and they are looking for jobs. Tom instantly gets one right after he looks, but it only lasts a couple weeks. The other boys haven't found anything.
     Meanwhile, the camp is planning a dance. They have a dance once a week. However, they heard that some people were going to start a fight so the police could make them close down the camp. They had all of these men standing around on the lookout for someone starting a fight. Sure enough, only 2 dances in, a couple guys try to start a fight. However, they are quickly escorted off the premises.
     Now these dances always cause a big commotion because some of the people in this camp think dancing is unholy. These people aren't doing anything wrong; they are square dancing for heavens sake. Those people would have a heart attack if they came to one of our school dances.
     After the whole dance affair settles down, the Joads start looking for work again with no luck. They decide regretfully that they will have to leave the camp to go find work because they are running out of food.
This is when we finally meet the girl Al is always running off with. She is this sweet, though nieve blonde. She gets all mad because he says he is leaving, but he reassures her he is coming back and will marry her then. However, though I love Al and he is my favorite character, I highly doubt that even if they do come back, that he will marry her. I mean Al is said to always be "tomcatting" around. Well if you know anything about tom cats, they aren't exactly the "settle down, have 12 kids and live happily ever after" type. Al will more than likely soon move on to another girl.
     I did find it interesting that Steinbeck chose to put this part in the book. He generally doesn't talk too much about Al. His family will make comments about him going out, or Steinbeck will state that Al leaves to go find girls, but it never really gives you any specifics about who the girls are, or what they talk about or anything. I think this part may have been in the play to show how much comfort the Joads are giving up by leaving this camp.
      Speaking of Steinbeck, I'm starting to feel like Morgan feels while reading. While the description is nice, sometimes I just want to yell, "Okay we get the point! The ground was dry, the wind blew it away, now get on with the story!" That is basically a one line summary of something Steinbeck takes three pages to say. I have come to the conclusion that I am just going to start skimming the parts that get like that and really just focus on the story.

Week 5: The Hobbit

Since I missed last week I have a lot more reading to blog about this week. Though I feel like it taking me more time to read though this book then it usually takes me to read though a book of this size. I think what is slowing me down on this book compared to other books that I have read is that this book has so many songs in it and since it has so many songs I like to read through these as though the characters are actually singing the song. Some of the songs are shorter but most of the songs are at least a page and a half long. Besides the songs there are spots where they are explaining where they are or where they are going to and so I stop and look at the map in the beginning of the book to try and figure out the path they are traveling and how the characters are seeing it.

I don’t remember where I last left off but as of right now the characters are traveling through the mountains which are said to be very dangerous. When they stop to rest in a cave they are captured by goblins that live in the mountain. As they are being carried away Bilbo falls down deeper into the goblins cave. There he is knocked out but when he comes around again he finds a golden ring. Seeing no way out he starts to look around for an exit. Suddenly he finds a huge lake. This is where he meets Gollum and they make a deal. If Bilbo wins at the game Gollum wants to play then he will show Bilbo the way out, but if he loses Gollum will eat him. Eventually Bilbo escapes and meets up with the rest of the group who have also found their way out of the goblins cave. But soon they get into more trouble when wolves that are in cahoots with the goblins corner them when they scramble up some trees to get away from them. But Gandalf has his own plans and gets them out of trouble with some of his friends who then take them through part of their journey and also replenish some of their supplies. They start walking again but after some time they see that their food supplies have grown quit low and are in need of replenishment. Gandalf has a friend that could help them, but this friend doesn’t care much for visitors. But when they come upon his house they find that he is very interested in their story and allows them to stay and agrees to replenish their supplies and how they should go about the rest of their journey. After a few days the group is again ready to continue on the rough road.

week five, the catcher in the rye

From where I left off last week Holden and Stradlater were talking in the bathroom because Stradlater is getting ready for a date. While they are talking Stradlater asks Holden to write an English composition for him, because his date doesn't give him time to do it. When Holden asks who his date is he realizes that it is the same girl he has strong feelings for, her name is Jane. Holden isn't very pleased that Stradlater is taking Jane on a date. Before Stradlater left to go on the date he borrowed Holden's hounds-tooth jacket. All Holden can think about when Stradlater leaves are Jane and Stradlater going on this date. I think that if Stradlater and Holden are good friends Stradlater should know that Holden likes this girl and he shouldn't be taking her on a date for that reason. But since Holden didn't say anything about it Stradlater went off anyway.

After supper Holden got into a snowball fight with some other Pencey boys. Then Holden and a friend decide to go into town to see a movie, even though Holden hates movies. He went with Mal and Ackley. When they get there Mal and Ackley inform Holden that they have already seen the film, so instead the boys play some pinball and head back to Pencey. When they get back Mal goes off to do his own thing and Ackley is being bothersome like always to Holden. In order to get Ackley to leave Holden began working on the English assignment for Stradlater. I don't think Holden should do Stradlater's assignment for him. Holden barely even does his own work. I think if Stradlater wants to be successful that he should do his work by himself. Holden could be trying to get his grades up instead of doing Stradlater's work but he chooses to do it for him anyway.

Stradlater told Holden that the paper was supposed to be a simple description of a house or a room or something similar. But Holden couldn't think of anything to say about a house or a room so he wrote about a baseball glove that his brother, Allie, used to use to copy poems onto with green ink. Several years before Allie died of leukemia. He was two years younger than Holden; he says Allie was the most intelligent member of his family. I’m glad that Holden thinks that about his brother. He must have thought the world of him. I would ever lose one of my brothers I’m not sure what I would do. Holden said that the night his brother passed away he slept in the garage and broke all of the windows with his bare hands.

This book so far is good but I sort of have mixed feelings about the Holden because of some of his behaviors in school. I feel like he would do something for someone else to get a good grade but his don’t matter to him. If I was him I would try harder for myself instead of others.

Week 5 The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter

Leaving off from last week it seems that finally at least something....different has happened. It seems like most of this book has been just random accounts of normal bits of these characters lives. Nothing too exciting has happened so far and I wonder why John Singer's parts int he book aren't much bigger when he seems to be the main character. I wish that this book was moving faster, it's not as bad as it could be but more than halfway through the book I still have no idea what the plot is supposed to be other than just simple stories of the people in this town.

Anyway, in what I most recently read something that may be important later has happened (Or is it just something to fill up space? I can't tell yet.) Mick's brother, George was outside playing and for whatever reason the kids he was playing with had a gun....I don't know why no adults were watching over them or why they were even allowed to have the gun, especially when it was loaded. George was playing around when he saw a girl from across the street, it seems like he had a crush on her and was trying to get her attention. George forgets that the gun is loaded and pulls the trigger, shooting the girl in the head. Thankfully somehow she survives and only has a fractured skull. However her mother is extremely angry and overprotective of her child and quickly insists that the Kelly family pays for everything to do with the hospital fees, or anything else that the girl will need. George runs away shortly afterwards, feeling guilty but the family eventually finds him wandering the highway.That section ends there, leaving the reader unaware of what happens next and I don't know yet if the book will give more answers.

Now the book continues to Dr. Copeland, Portia's father. I'm not sure why but he is holding some sort of party, inviting only certain people and I think he is giving gifts to them? This part of the book wasn't very clear and I don't understand the point of it either. When all the people have arrived Dr. Copeland suddenly wants everyone's attention and he starts talking to everyone. He tells some sort of religious story that I didn't understand. It also seems like he is very passionate about this story, telling it twice in a row.

I think the hardest thing about this blog is trying to find time to read, between work and school whenever I do have free time I am way too tired to even try concentrate on this book, especially when it isn't exactly something I would choose to read for fun and still doesn't have much going on. I wish we could blog about books we want to read...and the term modern literature wasn't so misleading! I think for my next book I will have to choose something that is more exciting, and maybe I can actually start blogging about what happens instead of another post about how nothing is going on in my book.

Week 5

1984 by George Orwell     

            This week when I was reading I found out that his dream change to a woman.   A woman with black hair that took off her clothes and jumped at him. But he didn’t do anything but when he woke up he had the word Shakespeare on his lips. I find that weird. Do they not know about Shakespeare? In the reading it’s talking about it like it was in ancient time or something.

                When he woke up he sat up naked and then the alarm saying work out time. But later on it says that they only get three thousand cloths coupons annually. So he doesn’t buy pajamas. Why do they get so little for cloths when you need them?  Why don’t they put them there self they have jobs? This part was really strange to me.

                The Physical Jerks started up. That’s what their work out was called. The next minute a woman appears on his TV and started their work out.  I don’t understand why they must work out all the time?  When she started she said thirty to forty groups. I believe that they broke the people in to groups to they have the same working. But well they were working out the women made a comment about a war that all the young people are over in. What war could they be fighting in the sound like a peaceful place? My guess is that there are people that are rebelling.

            It’s really hard to find time to read. I go to school like everyone else. I don’t have internet at my house to type this up and blog it. I have a job that I work about 25 hours a week at. I work right after school at 2 and don’t get off until about 9. Finding time and a computer with internet to blog is difficult to do. But I hope this next coming week I will be able to read more than this week.

           

Week 5: My Antonia

This week I found it difficult to get the required reading assignment in. I try to read 15 minutes everyday, but as each day passes, I always say to myself that I will just read 30 minutes the next day. Next week, I am going to try to get into the habit of reading at least 15 minutes every night before I go to bed.  However, once I pick up the book to begin reading I can not put it down. I really enjoy reading, I just need to acquire better reading habits.

This weeks reading began with the family getting ready for Christmas. Christmas was Jim's favorite holiday. However, with the immense snowball Jake was unable to go to town in order to purchase the family's presents. The family was happy and content just to be with each other and to be living a good life. The Burden family also thought that this would be a good time to make presents and to give the Shimerda family food. The Shimerda family was so thankful for the generosity of the Burden family. Later that day, Mr. Shimerda came to the Burden family's house and stayed until after dinner. While he was there he seems relaxed and content which was weird to see because he was always stressed and depressed. To me, however, if Christmas was such an important holiday to the families why would Mr. Shimerda spend it with the Burden family? In addition, why didn't he feel content and happy by just being with his own family?

The beginning of the new year brings warmer weather. The new year also Mrs. Shimerda and Antonia to visit the Burden family's house. While they were there Mrs. Shimerda pitied herself by saying that the Burden's had much more belongings than they did. Mrs. Shimerda kept on repeating that she wishes that she had that pot or that if she had as much food as the Burdens had that she would be able to make much better food. I understand that the Shimerda's had very little, but the Burden family has given them so much in order to help make their lives easier. It seems to me that Mrs. Shimerda is becoming greedy and not appreciated all that the Burden family has done.

A fierce blizzard began on Jim's birthday. The snow fell so much that it took hours and hours to dig a path to the barn. The snow created a tunnel. However, on the second day of the blizzard Jim wakes up to be informed that Mr. Shimerda is dead. However, it is unknown whether or not it was murder or suicide. There was an ax and a gun next to the body. The ax belonged to a neighbor and seemed to match the gash on Mr. Shimerda's head. If it was murder, I don't understand why anyone would want him dead... Mr. Shimerda was a nice and generous man. To me, it doesn't make logical sense. Committing suicide is one of the biggest sins that one can impose on oneself. The family was mortified that he would do this to not only himself but also to the his family.

Overall, the book is interesting and I enjoy reading it.

1984

Winston has been thrown for a loop.  The brown haired girl in blue overalls isn’t who he thought.  Winston had been terrified of her; he had thought her a party spy. Then he had shown up at work and her arm was in a sling.  When she falls he helps her up, that is when she hands him the note that says “I love you”.  Winston is totally perplexed; I can see how he would be.  I would be highly suspicious of her also; I would be suspicious of everyone in this different world.  So is she a spy and testing him, or is she a part of the rebellion?  After a week he manages to talk to her!  I was really excited because I am ready for Winston to finally break away from his lonely life.  I find it slightly suspicious that she directs him to a random train station, but Winston is so exhilarated from breaking the rules, he isn’t thoughtful enough to think about it.  I was totally surprised when Winston and Julia make love; Winston asks her how many times she has done this and she reply’s scores of times!  I find it humorous that she has done this so many times only makes Winston happier.  I think that Winston and Julia have a very balanced relationship.  Winston is super suspicious about everything.  Winston is very pessimistic and has a hard time enjoying any part of his life.  Julia is very optimistic, she makes up for all the pain in life through her sex life.  It is the only thing that she looks forward too; she is also very good at getting away with it.  I am very surprised the government has not caught her or Winston yet.  Where are these thought police, is it even real or a rumor?  I hope that Julia gets into being a rebel, I want this government overthrown!  I also get to the point where Winston meets O’Brien.  He considers this the most important event in his life.  I have started to enjoy this book more.  It is still a little slow and you think it is leading up to something exciting or important, but most of the time it doesn’t.  So I am still waiting for a rebellion! I love it when people overthrow there governments.  I think it is exciting and should happen more often!  This week it was hard to find time to read because I am very busy.  I am finding time though.  One morning Winston wakes up crying. He remembers his suppressed memories about his mother’s death.  He truly thought he had killed her.  He remembers him his mother and sister living in a underground shelter.  I think this is really sad, he thought he killed her, which would be a horrible thing to live with.  He couldn’t remember which makes it even worth! No wondering he wasn’t enjoying his life! Julia is there thought and that makes him feel better, anyways, peace out y’all.

Week 5: 1984

This book is FINNALY picking up, the story is beginning to unfold, and secrets are starting to come out. This will certainly help me with reading. I am a very picky reader, I like books to be fascinating and on edge. I should finish by next week and move on to another interesting book.

Well, a lot has been happening. Syme, Winston’s work buddy who is very knowledgeable on newspeak went missing. I am thinking that the thought police got him for being too smart and knowing too much about newspeak or other things. He is probably gone forever. But this book is sort of unpredictable so you never know.  Winston met a girl named, Julia. In the beginning I thought they were just “friends with benefits” but now I am noticing that they actually might love each other. They stared meeting in the attic or upstairs of the shop where Winston found the diary. It is protected from the telescreens.  At one point Winston and Julia are arguing and Winston says “You’re only a rebel from the waist downwards” I found that humorous, but also demeaning to Julia.

I heard people talk about rats being in the book 1984 before. I haven’t come to any terrible things about rats yet. Only once on page 124 it mentioned rats being in the room by the bed. I am trying to figure out where else rats are going to show up later in this book.

In the intro to this book Winston and a man named O Brien have a so called eye contact connection. I thought it was the weirdest thing. But now I realize Winston was right! Because now O Brien came up to him and asked if he was a scholar of newspeak and invited him into his home to pick up a new edition of the dictionary. But Winston knew it was not for a dictionary. It was for a meeting about the brotherhood! I still do not trust O Brien. He was acting a bit strange at the meeting I thought. I think there may be more to this than what is written on the page. My theory is O Brien is a spy and is trying to catch people that go against Big Brother. He brings them in saying he is part of the Brotherhood but in reality he is the exact opposite. If this is the case Julia and Winston are in big trouble. They would be vanished so fast with nothing left of them in the past. I hope I am not correct, I hope that O Brien is in fact part of the brotherhood, that way Winston and Julia can accomplish something right in their short life. And make some sort of effort of change for the future.

This book doesn’t so much remind me of much but it makes me think that this could happen. It makes me scared with all the things happening lately with gun control, and our economy. I think something big is going to happen to open our eyes and make everyone realize we need to change and make an effort to help our world or else we could end up like this book 1984.

Week 5 The Sun also Rises by Erhnest Hemingway

During the fiesta, Brett meets one of the bull fighters. Brett gets very font of him. However, Robert Cohn seems to get made at this because he has wanted Brett for a very long time.

One evening after the bullfights, Jake and Mike were sitting in a bar. Robert came in and furiously asked where Brett was. They pretty much told to get lost and that shes with that bullfighter now. This sends Robert to his breaking point and he knocked out Mike. Then Jake attempted to help Mike but then he too got knocked out. This part kind of made me happy because Mike was had been asking for this the whole time. Robert then proceeded to find Brett and the bullfighter and he went after him. Robert knocked him over 15 times but would just keep getting up and Robert would knock him back down. Brett tells Robert to leave and he eventually does.

I kind of thought of this happening earlier in the book. Throughout the whole book Robert kept getting picked on by everybody except Jake really. I figured he had to break soon or later.

After his rage he goes back to his room and apoligizes to Jake. Jake accepts it and Robert leaves town. The fiesta ends the next day and the rest pretty much go there seperate ways after that .

Overall, this was the worst book i've ever read and would not reccomend reading this. The story has absolutley no plot and only one remotley exciting part. The end of the story has no twist and nothing happens except they leave spain and go home. The only good part of the book was getting to know the personalitys of the characters.

Blog 5- It's Just Okay so Far

This week, I’ve begun reading The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain. So far, the book is just okay. I’m only ¼ of the way into it though, and the last two books have only gotten interesting at least half way. However, it has kept my attention, and it’s not predictable at all, so I plan to finish it. It’s about this man named Frank who rolls into a restaurant in California called Twin Oaks Tavern. The Greek man who owns the restaurant offers Frank a job, and he accepts it. The owner’s name is Nick, but Frank refers to him as the Greek. Soon, Frank is eating supper with the Greek and his wife, Cora. Frank instantly feels an attraction for Cora, and she feels the same way for him. One day, while the Greek is in town, Frank and Cora perform fallacious acts. They soon fall in love, and Cora admits that she never loved the Greek. She only married him to get out of the “hash house” she was living in. Then, they fabricate a plan to murder the Greek so that it looks like an accident. That way, Cora can inherit the restaurant, and she and Frank can live there together. However, the plan injures the Greek, but it doesn’t kill him. Because the plan failed, Frank and Cora decide to run away together instead, but Cora starts crying and doesn’t want to live life on the road again, so she goes back to the Greek, who thinks that his injury really was an accident. Then, Frank leaves town for a while, but he comes back to try to see Cora without her knowing it. While he’s in town, the Greek spots him, and he tells him he needs his help at the restaurant now that he’s injured. I’m at the part where he hasn’t decided if he will accept the job again or not. At first, I didn’t like Cora because it didn’t seem like the Greek was that bad of a guy; he didn’t beat her or abuse her in any other way, so I didn’t understand why she hated him so much. However, now I do feel sorry for her because I realize her desperation in marrying him. She just wanted to live a normal life again. I also feel sorry that now, she has found a man that she truly loves, but she can’t be with him because she’s still married to the Greek, and during this time period, getting divorced was almost unheard of. Then again, I also feel sorry for the Greek because he doesn’t seem like a terrible person, but he must be pretty naïve not to know that his wife is cheating on him. I’m just glad that there are no children involved because that would only make the situation more complicated. Then, there’s Frank. He’s the one telling the story, and he doesn’t give much background information on himself, so I have no idea where he came from or what he’s doing working at the restaurant. Also, Frank reminds me of Nick from The Great Gatsby because neither of them express his feelings very in-depth or very often. Now that I’m getting farther into the book, I’m starting to get hooked. It’s still not as captivating as The Catcher in the Rye, but we’ll see how it goes.

Week 5 East of Eden

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Week 5

Carrying on from last week, a grand continuation of the ramblings and great complexities of the book that is East of Eden.  So, I think I will continue from where I left off last week, but slightly ahead. I am going to skip my wanting to rant about how stupid the people are for listening to a man who only saw one battle in his whole career in the military, (which was all of a few months.) , and had to have his leg amputated.

Where I will pick back up is when Adam comes back from the military, (I don’t think you want to read about how Adam got an STD from the camp’s local whore…) Adam somehow was not found out by his higher officers that he wasn’t actually shooting the enemy. Adam hated the fact that he had to kill some one, he found no point to it. I actually kind of admire Adam for that kind of thinking. It takes guts to actually stray from direct orders to kill on sight. Then again, maybe it’s not. Anyway, Adam was actually exchanging letters from his brother back at home, (Charles is his brother’s name…. I had to look it up in the book..)Charles actually had expressed his excitement for Adam to come home, for at that time their father was away doing his own wacky business out in Washington D.C. and was actually making a living for himself out there by giving his lame advice. What I found weird is that Adam actually didn’t go back home at all. He jumped right back into the military life, the absolute last move I thought Adam would make especially since he hates the military with his very existence.

                Five more years pass and this time the two brothers actually hardly exchange letters, this time that doesn’t surprise me at all. I mean you ran out of coming home to a more sane brother without even telling him what you were doing. Yeah. Adam didn’t tell his brother he was going back into the military. What a slap to the face, although, I don’t know if I would be ready to go back home to him, and after five years of having a structured life for so long you would kind of forget how to live without that structure, so going back to what he knows best seems more natural I suppose.

Another 5 years passes and the book doesn’t really go into depth about what happens to Adam or Charles back at home, only that you have to assume that Adam again is disobeying orders and is hating every minute of his next five years. And even after he gets out this time he doesn’t go right back home! He takes forever to get home, at least a year I believe. What he did was he traveled around on the west coast and down south and just a bit up north. Until he got picked up by the police for being a hobo, Adam escapes and later gets picked up again on the same charge and then, once again, gets away. If you really didn’t want to go home, just say so and don’t go home!!!!

Week 5 Blog

As I picked up where I left off from my book Fahrenheit 451 I noticed a statement that caught my eye right away. It was in a conversation between Montag and the 17 year old girl he keeps meeting up with. Montag has brought up several different times how she seems so much older than she actually is and the girl starts talking about her growing up and what her uncle taught her from right to wrong.  She says “Do you know, I’m responsible. I was spanked when I needed it, years ago. And I do all the shopping and house cleaning by hand.” I LOVE this! I agree with it a hundred percent! The world has changed so much even from when I was little and it hasn’t changed for the better I believe. I mean people now days are so quick to judge when a parent spanks a child they think the child might be getting abused at home. However, I totally think this is wrong. When I was little and that was only what maybe 15 years ago and I definitely remember me and my brother getting spanked. I don’t think this was wrong of my parents to do this I actually think this disciplined us. Working in a grocery store I see all kinds of parents and kids and it takes me everything to keep my opinions to myself sometimes but some people’s children are absolutely terrible. I have no better word to describe them how they treat their parents, grandparents, behave, act, and listen it truly amazes me! I just think to myself OMG these kids have no discipline my kids are never going to act like this! Plus I have several friends who don’t have to do chores around the house, me being one of them, but why not? When do we take on this responsibility do we really need to move out onto our own before we actually take on these responsibilities?

So I forgot to mention the main reason these firemen start these fires is because people have books in their homes. Yeah BOOKS just regular books. Could you imagine losing your whole house and everything you own to fire just because you had some books in your home? Well they went to start this old woman’s house on fire because she had books in her home and something took over Montag and while pouring the kerosene all around the house he ended up stealing a book and putting it  under his arm to take out of the house and with him home. WHATTT! He can get into big trouble for this right! Like now days something like this you would get fired from your job right? That night he came home and put that book right underneath his head and went to sleep and in the morning told Mildred that he is sick and she doesn’t believe him because he never gets sick and fireman captain ended up paying a visit to Montags home when he didn’t show up for work the next day and I ended right when the captain starting telling him where the firemen all began. However I think the captain knows that Montag has stolen a book because he states “every fireman sooner or later hits this”. Hits what?! The point where they realize there is something in those books that they are trying to hide from them or the point where they realize that burning down people’s homes is absolutely devastating! 

Week 5

                I haven’t read much in my book for a while, so not a lot has changed in Winston’s life. He is still is very much in love with Julia and hopes that she feels the same way about him. I think one of the reasons he loves her is because it is forbidden in their society to love anyone. I also can tell he loves her because she is a little out going and a bit wild. She sees the world as a place that needs to be explored and not be ruled by psycho. Julia is personally my favorite character so far in this book. She seems like one of those girls who is a total sweetheart but if you mess with her she will kick your butt. I love how she wants to e free and rebels against everything and yet she is a member of so many “clubs” supported by Big Brother. I wonder is she is actually a spy and is just using Winston or if their love is real.

                Winston and Julia still are sneaking around making sure that no one notices that they are together. On day Winston rented what we would call a Hotel room for them so they could be alone. The room had a large queen size bed that was very soft when you climb in it. Queen size beds were unheard of in their society so most people don’t have one. Not even married couples have queen beds to share; this reduces the risk of people having feelings for each other. The room also had no telescreens or microphones, so they would not be spied on while they were together. It also had a small kitchen and a window which they kept shut so no one on the streets would hear them.

While they were together Julia had brought with her real coffee, real bread, a dish of jam, and real sugar. She had purchased all of the items on the black market. Winston never had real coffee, all he has had was a fake watered down, black, bitter drink that his work supplied at lunch time. The coffee Julia had brought was rich and smooth when he took a sip. He added some of the sugar which made it taste even better. As he was drinking his coffee, Julia was busy doing something. When she turned around her face had changed. She was wearing makeup, which was unheard of and sometimes frowned upon if you were not someone important. Winston could not believe his eyes, to him she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen and the makeup just added to it. Her eyes seem bigger and brighter to him and her lips were bright red. He was sure that he loved her at that moment and wanted to be with her no matter what for the rest of his life. All he wanted to do was hold her and never let go. He wanted to call her his wife.

week 5 Catcher in the rye

It is week five now and i am almost done with the book. It was interesting for a while because he decided to just dip out on school in the middle of the night and go get a hotel since there is no point staying in school till Wednesday when he is suppose to go back home for flunking out. After he leaves the school you find out most of the book is him just killing time till he has to go back home.

The best part of the book, so far, is when he gets the hotel room and this elevator guy that works at the hotel asks him if he wants a hooker. He says yes but by the time she comes to his room he wasn't feeling it so they just ended up talking for a while and he still payed her. I like this part of the book because it shows how lonely he is and after this part he keeps trying to find ways to kill time till Wednesday by calling people that he used to know and hang out. He calls his ex girlfriend to see a movie, a girl he was told about by some college schmuck to go get some drinks, and he also calls this guy he knew at his old school for some drinks. In the end, none of these were even fun and he just seems more lonely when they leave.

The book is going slow now and i hope it speeds up soon. I am up to where he decided to go back home in the night to see his sister for a bit and they are just talking. Before he decided to do this he was getting drunk at a bar by himself and his loneliness must of driven him to go home so he could talk to someone. It's really kind of depressing how lonely he seems all the time, its a little hard to read.

The reason I'm not done with the book and its taking so long to do is because i haven't been able to sit down and commit a lot of time to reading. I am the kind of reader that finishes a book in one sittings. I don't like getting interrupted or stopped when I'm trying to get in my zone. I'm gonna start reading at lunch now instead of eating though. It seems smart to me, i pay for my own food so its gonna help get my homework done and save money.

Solid read Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451

Dylan Schulz

               This book started out real interesting. The whole idea of firefighters starting fires instead of putting them out was really odd. It’s also illegal to read and the firefighters burn books so people don’t. you know you’re in for a story when governments are controlling everything in the book. It reminds me of a book Number the Stars about World War II and the Nazis taking over Europe. I love a story about an oppressed group of people starting a revolution for the greater good. When Guy Montag meets Clarisse you can already see all this brewing which got me excited.

               In the story there are people who stash books and read despite it being against the law and some even die for the caus. One woman chose to be burned alive with her stash, this really shocked me. It’s crazy to think what a world would be like if we never read and just watched all this propaganda TV and listened to propaganda radio. It’s mind control and its weird to think what if that really happened to us. The government could do whatever they wanted; they could make us do whatever they pleased to benefit whomever they pleased.

               I’m not so sure how I feel about Guy I mean he seems like a good guy but he is kind of slf centered and isn’t always certain of right and wrong. Its almost like he doesn’t know why he does what he does. He just does it to do it and that’s probably because of the way the government controls everybody it changes them forever. People no longer notice the beauty of art and nature anymore its like part of most of their brains is dead. They don’t think for themselves, they don’t imagine. It sounds like a terrible way to live but they don’t even realize it until someone points it out. That’s just what Clarisse did for Guy, she opened his eyes and it was weird for him at first.

I really like the story so far but I think it’s really sad when guy realizes he’s not happy then find his wife just attempted suicide, like that’s an awful day for anybody. I think this story is also written very well. It keeps a person turning the pages and it’s somewhat easy to just slip away into the story. I have a hard time doing that with most books but this one is a solid read, almost hard to put down. I’m hoping I can find another book like this one when I’m done reading it. I like the whole mind control aspect ignorance type thing all the people have from lack of knowledge. It’s a cool concept to write books about and I’ve always wanted to make a film about that sort of thing. Maybe someday ill turn Fahrenheit 451 in to a movie.

Week 4 The Sun also Rises,Erhnest Hemmingway After Jake and Bill were done with there fishing trip, they met up with Robert Cohn, Brett, and Mike in a spanish town. In the town there getting ready for a week long fiesta. The group plan to stay for the whole fiesta.

During one night while they were drinking and have supper, Mike who was very drunk, calls Robert Cohn out for always following Brett around. Robert who has been trying to Brett gets defensive but the others soon break it up and things settle down. This part showed that Mike has very blunt personality and also shows how Robert seems to have an annoying personality.

During the fiesta they go to a bull fight which is the biggest part of the fiesta. After, mike who was once again drunk, calls Robert out again. Only this time says that he does not know how to have fun because he never drinks and didn't enjoy the bull fight. I was wondering why Robert would just take that from him, in the beginning it said he was a boxing champion of his college.

Week 4-Dylan Hatzenbuhler

A Farewell to Arms
Ernest Hemingway
Dylan Hatzenbuhler

    The story continues when Henry has to go to "the post," so he goes to see Catherine before.  When he goes and sees her she asks "if Henry loves her."  With response he says "yes," but truly feels he's getting put into a game.
   When driving back from the posts the next afternoon he sees a man and picks him up and sees he has a hernia.  The man admits to throwing away his truss (a support for a hernia) on purpose, so he wouldn't have to go to the front line. Henry suggests that "he should give himself a bump on his head to make it into the hospital."  I think he is a very strong and courageous man to help the wounded man when he's afraid of his commanding officer.  And that Henry could lose his job cause of it.
   When heading back he's wishing he's on a date with Catherine right now instead of tomorrow.  His fellow coworkers make it back and take them all out to drink. When drunk enough Rinaldi escorts him out and drops him off to go see Catherine.  When he shows up to go see her Helen Ferguson tells Henry that she can't come down because she's ill.  Henry get lonely after that.

Henry says: "I went out the door and suddenly I felt lonely and empty.  I had treated seeing Catherine very lightly, I had gotten somewhat drunk and had forgotten to come but when I could not see her there I was feeling lonely and hollow"

• I think Henry would've been way more smart and not have gone out and forgot about his dream girl, especially when he was supposed to go on a date with her the day before, but got sent out.  Than he wouldn't feel so lonely

  In chapter 9, Henry hears of an attack in Paula and gets sent there with his mechanics.  A major meets Henry and takes his mechanics and coworkers to a dugout trench.  When finally getting situated they ask for some food before the attack.  Everything they get out of food from the major is macaroni and a slab of cheese.  When eating Henry and the guys were talking about how to end the war. 

Gordini says: "There is nothing bad as war.  We in the auto-ambulance cannot even realize how bad it is.  The people realize how bad it is and than cannot do anything to stop it because they would go crazy. There are some people that never realize.  There are people afraid of their officers. It is with them the war is made."
 

• These are some wise words and I think the man knows what he's talking about.  No war is good to anyone.  It kills a bunch of men and families, makes some people go phsyco when they think about the war.  Others it gives them sad, mixed feelings about the war.

When sitting their talking, the war starts with shelling and than a trench mortar hits the dugout that Henry's team is at.  The mortar exploded through the dugout killing Passani and injuring Gordini.  The two remaining drivers, Gavuzzi and Manera, carry Henry and Gordini to a wound-dressing station, where a British doctor treats Henry's wounded leg.
   In chapter 10 they take Henry and a full ambulance to a field hospital, and Henry lies down intense pain.  Rinaldi comes to visit and informs Henry that he will be declared for Heroism in battle. Henry protests that he isn't no hero.  I think Henry is a well developed man and just wants to bring his fellow men back home.  So Rinaldi leaves Henry a bottle of Cognac and promises to send Catherine down to see him.  I think its great that his men know how to cheer him up even though they lost one of their coworkers back in the war. 


.......Continue  

  

   

East of Eden week 4

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Week 4

Well, so continues the book of wonder called East of Eden. We left off somewhere around the point of when Adam was beaten close to death and he had dragged half stumbled back to his house where his step brother who gave the beating was rightly punished, with what, we don’t know exactly. Our friend Adam actually was holed up in his room, bed ridden, for 4 days. 4 days. I was extremely shocked as to the reasoning behind his beating. It all came boiling down to the fact that Cyrus (Adam’s dad) loved Adam more than Adam’s half brother. And how he came to this knowledge is that Cyrus, on his birthday, received a puppy from Adam and Cyrus loved it instantly and started playing with it and teaching it tricks and how to hunt and other such things. While his second son gives him an expensive ivory handled knife/razor and Cyrus doesn’t hardly touch it. He doesn’t even take it out and sharpen it. I just thought that was a weird way to think of how your dad doesn’t love you but whatever.

While Adam was in bed his dad gets him enrolled in the Army, like I hope I have said before Adam’s dad is a military freak. Plain freak, I have no idea why he is so obsessed with the military but I am pretty sure that he is just trying to live through his son and at the same time try and do what is best for his weak, spineless son.

So, Adam eventually goes off to the Army and his brother stays behind for the sole factor that Cyrus was one of the few that actually had some sort of inkling that his second son was a crazy nutcase. Adam actually hates the Army all together, he just wants out of there and during battles he purposely misses the enemy because of the fact that he hates the idea of killing someone. I actually really like the fact that Adam kinda has the guts to stand up, though quietly against the army for what he believes in. I honestly believe that Adam should not have gone to the military, yeah it built maybe some character into him and possibly a backbone, but it all in all did absolutely nothing to help him out in the long run. His term lasted for a grand total of 5 years, and though he didn’t lose and limbs like his father, Adam didn’t have the heart to return home. For all that was waiting for him was his bother. Adam’s step mother died because of a “weakness” in her blood and his father surprisingly got a job in Washington being a big wig about telling people about what the army should do, and eventually the army listens to this big bad of hot air. I mean really? You’re listening to someone who has almost no idea to what he is spewing to you guys and you follow is wacked out advice? Messed up… just… ugh….