reading log week 10

The Condition  by Jennifer Haigh

I finished the book- around 300 pages?


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This story goes way into depth when defining who the characters are. First, Gwen herself is intricately carved. Her Turner's syndrome ultimately hides her true self and personality. Before diagnosis, Gwen had been a adventurous young girl. However, once she was diagnosed, she became elusive and stubborn. Well, she had already been stubborn, but now she had become even more so. This is especially shown when she goes to the island and then begins to live there, much against her parent's wishes. However, Gwen is still very distrustful and quickly leaves when she suspects foul play.

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Pauline and Frank have big differing views on how to treat Gwen properly. Pauline prefers to avoid the situation altogether. Frank likes to bring out the facts truthfully. Though both have their own pros, they also have cons. I believe that Gwen should have a combined treatment. She should receive the tender loving care from Pauline, but Gwen also shouldn't be treated as a child. Gwen also has the right to know about her disease, but then again she shouldn't be treated like a specimen ready to examine. In conclusion, both Pauline and Frank are right and wrong. Gwen should be treated as a normal human being, but with some specialness involved also.

Reading log week 10

Happyface by Stephen Emond
pages 1-307

Garden Shadows by V.C. Andrews
pages 86-257

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In happyface, the big idea seemed to be the cliche idea of a loser becoming a cool kid. However, as I moved through the story, I soon found this was not the average story.

The big idea was actually that insecurities can easily be hid. This is shown both by the events and the unreliability of the narrator himself. In the book, "happyface" easily hides the traumatic past events of his life by slapping on a huge smile and never taking it off. But as the reader finds out, "happyface" is also hiding his own insecurities from the reader. For example, "happyface" hid the incident of his brother's death through out mnost of the novel and only revealing it to us near the end of the book.

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In garden of shadows, the new fashion trends and woman rights correspond with
the telling of the story. For example, in the beginning of the story Olivia is wearing the old fashioned clothes and the younger more fashionable ladies are wearing bag dresses. However, as the story went on, Olivia's daughter began to wear the most fashionable scarves and tight fitting dresses. And also, Olivia gained more rights as she went on with Malcolm's business because women started to fight for their own equalities.

Reading Log Week 9

books Read, pages read...

"Looking for Alaska" by John Green pgs. 1- All of them

"The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green pg. 1- 243

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In the novel The Fault in Our Stars, there are many cute symbols scattered through out the novel. The first symbol I noticed was a young child in the scene where Hazel encountered a naive little girl that wanted to know why she wore the sticky things on her nose. The young child represents the time where Hazel did not have to deal with the horrors of cancer and when people didn't treat her like a poor creature that deserved buckets of sympathy. The innocent child symbolized pre-cancer Hazel.

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Many questions were left unanswered in the novel "Looking for Alaska". The biggest, quite obviously, is whether Alaska committed suicide or not. I personally believe yes, she did, because many clues were left through out the text. Alaska had been extremely mad that night, and normally drunk people would have been able to swerve to the side. Also, Alaska is extremely unpredictable and is known for last-minute impulsive actions. Therefore, I believe that biggest unanswered question's answer is that Alaska killed herself.

Reading Log Week Seven

12.19.2011
Spells by Aprilynne Pike
Finished Book (Borrowed, not sure how many pages)
Two hours

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In Laurel's distant past, she had been good friends with Tamani. However, in the present she and Tamani have a lot to catch up on. Tamani keeps on retelling Laurel about the faerie culture and their old friends and relationships. Right now, Laurel is reluctant to go back to her home Avalon because of her time spent in the human world. However, Laurel is planning to go back to Avalon after school, and after her boyfriend David.


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Avalon, Laurel's home, is much different than Earth. For instance, everyone there is extremely beautiful and graceful. This is shown in the scene where Laurel goes to see the faerie ballet and everyone there is more talented than the best of Earth's dancers. Second, the faeries there do not charge for money. If you are of higher rank, season wise, than the other the clothing/jewelry/etc. is free. Laurel received many free clothing and much jewelry in her stay at Avalon. And finally, there are no "parents" in Avalon. The seeds, or baby faeries, are kept in gardens until ready to go out on their own. Parents would only be in the way of their growth.

Reading Log Week 7

Tuesday 12/6
Look to the Hills- The Diary of Lozette Moreau, a French Slave Girl by Patricia C. McKissack
1- 185
60 minutes

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When Lozette was a younger girl, she had been brought to the new world with her mother. Later, her mother died and left her blanket to Lozette. Later in Lozette's life, she discovers that her blanket may have been from a certain part of Africa. And finally, Lozette makes one of her goals to visit her homeland and discover more about herself.

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This story is easily connected to different subjects. Obviously, this story can be connected to history. Lozette herself lives in the time where France and Britain are battling over the New World's lands. Though subtle, this story can also connect to science. Several times through out the story, small pox is mentioned. The author speaks of how small pox was sent to purposely contaminate the native american nation. In order to contaminate the native americans, they purposely sent out blankets covered in small pox germs.

Reading Log Week 6

Friday 11/11

The Soloist by Steve Lopez

102-160

30 minutes

Saturday 11/12

The Soloist by Steve Lopez

161-200

30 minutes

Sunday 11/13

The Soloist by Steve Lopez

201-260

30 minutes

Monday 11/14

The Last Song by Nicolas Sparks

1-22

30 minutes

The ongoing factor of racism affected Nathaniel's behavior immensely. Though I have no on-hand textual proof, through out the novel when Nathaniel's schizophrenic behavior peaked he often went on rants about how his race was disgraced by smoking African Americans. Also, Nathaniel's experience in all-white Julliard left a very bad taste in his mouth being one of the only African Americans in the school.

Nathaniel's progress in his mental abilities greatly changes through out the story. In his early childhood, Nathaniel was a very strong and stable man. After he went through some traumatic childhood experiences, he quickly set out to pursue his dream in Julliard. There, he broke down. His schizophrenia reached a peak there and he became a homeless, distrusting man on the streets. However, when Mr. Lopez coaxed Nathaniel out of his closed mind Nathaniel greatly progressed. As time passed, Nathaniel returned to his former glory.

Reading Log Week 4

Friday 10/28/2011
When You Are Engulfed In Flames
David Sedaris
120-167
30 minutes
Saturday 10/29/2011
When You Are Engulfed In Flames
David Sedaris
 168- 230
30 minutes
Sunday 10/30/2011
When You Are Engulfed In Flames
David Sedaris
231-274
20 minutes
Tuesday 11/1/2011
Scars
Cheryl Reinfield
1-278
1 hour

In the story Scars, Kendra's father imposes some very important rules in order to keep her in line. Though I do not have access to direct quotes right now, her father repeated one line ominously: "I will kill you if you tell anyone." Also, her father imposes the rule to cut herself when ever things got hard, when ever the memories would come back and haunt her, and when ever she needed to shut herself up. I believe that Kendra's father/molester made these rules to make sure he never got caught by creating these big rules at an early age.
In the story April in Paris, Mr. Sedaris is extremely in love with his spiders, and especially April the spider. Though Mr. Sedaris may have just loved spiders, I believe he was influenced by events around him to stimulate his interest. In the beginning, the story mentions "The eyes of the stranded grandmother, I noted, were not half as piercing. There she was clinging to a chimney with her bra strap showing, and all anyone did was wonder if she had a dog." In the end, "The TV was on, the grandmother signaled from her rooftop, and I found myself wondering, with something akin to panic, if there were any spiders in her house." Because his own point of view changed from beginning to end, though he may not realize it himself his innate human desire to fit in led him to change his own original interest to something greater to also have something to worry about when grandmothers signal from houses.

Reading Log Week 1&2&3

Week One

Laine repeatedly wishes to dine with other people.

" 'I can't tonight, I've got my little- '

Laine turned sharply. 'I don't care what you have, cancel it.' "

Laine furiously demands to dine with others because she is lonely and misses her ex-husband.

 Does Tamyra survive her HIV?

Do Riley and Christian get married?
Will Mia ever be arrested?

How will Jeremy and Riley's relationship influence Gabby when she grows older?

Wednesday 10/5 

Hurricanes in Paradise by Denise Hildreth Jones

15%-32%, 20 Minutes

Friday 10/7

Hurricanes in Paradise by Denise Hildreth Jones

32%-100%, 60 Minutes

Saturday 10/8

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

0%-5%, 15 Minutes

Sunday 10/9

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

5%-12%, 15 Minutes

Week Two

In the story "The Toad, the Turtle, and the Duck", the main idea is to watch what you say.

"And here the merry atmosphere soured. 'A watermelon for a black snake,' said the toad. 'Now that's just racist."

 The duck's well intentioned words were twisted around into a racist statement easily.

 The motherless bear in "The Motherless Bear" is a selfish creature who seeks pity.

"Several times she cried, but as the weeks passed this became more difficult and so she took to covering her face with her paws and doing a jerky thing with her shoulders."

The motherless bear fakes sadness to gain attention (and chokecherries), making her a selfish creature.

Tuesday 10/11

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

13%-20% 15 minutes

Wednesday 10/12

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

21%-28% 15 minutes

Thursday 10/13

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris

1-50 20 minutes

Friday 10/14

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris

51-100 20 minutes

Week 3

In the story "That's Amore" Helen's character doesn't change. She remains static as a bitter and loud woman. "Most everyone I met had a good anger story: Helen cursing, Helen smacking, Helen slamming down the phone." Helen was infamous for her angry personality through out her life.

In the story "Keeping Up", Hugh is very self-centered and often leaves his wife behind while pursuing his own goals. "To the casual observer, he would appear running from me," Hugh always rushed through tasks not interesting to himself, often moving too quickly for his wife to catch up.

Thursday 10/22

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

29%-34% 30 minutes

Friday 10/21

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

34%-42% 25 minutes

Monday 10/24

When You Are Engulfed By Flames by David Sedaris

1-52 20 minutes

Tuesday 10/25

When You Are Engulfed By Flames by David Sedaris

53-119 30 minutes