Fahrenheit 451 Blog 2

Throughout the end of the book, I kept gaining momentum to speed through it to find out what was going to happen next. By the end, I found that I thoroughly enjoyed this book a lot more than I originally thought I would. While the book may not have the happiest of endings, after all the world faces a lot of deaths, I still found the end refreshing because of the rebirth symbolized in it. In Harry Potter, one of my favorite elements was the phoenix rising from the ashes so I enjoyed the phoenix's presence in this novel as well. I believe my favorite part of this novel is when Montag washes himself off in the river. While there are other great moments such as meeting Granger and his group, I still find this part to stand out the most mainly because of the image of the water. At my church we talked about our baptisms and were reminded of the image of water as cleansing. Our pastor gave us the image of a character from The Shawshank Redemption when he finally comes out of the sewer to a rain storm and the water washes away all of the impurities off of him. While my pastor thought this was the best example, I also believe that the river scene in Fahrenheit 451 is just as effective if not more. All in all, I actually loved this book.

Fahrenheit 451 Blog 1

From the start of the book, I started getting angry. I'm not sure if this is the purpose of Bradbury, but nevertheless, I am. Mainly because I love books so the idea of burning them makes me angry. However, after I made it past being angry, I actually started to enjoy the novel. I love the character of Clarisse and was sad to read what happened to her. I loved the conversations they had and her full awarness of her so-called insanity. That one section reminded me of the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland. I also thoroughly enjoyed Montag's pursuit of the books and knowledge. I hope that the rest of the book keeps me enthralled and not upset by the end.

Life of Pi Blog 3

While I could sit and analyze different quotes and sections of this section in the book, I really mainly just want to talk about one part that really stood out to me. This is the part when Pi and Richard Parker start their odd but mutual trust and agreement about each other. The scene in my head is scary. A little boy with a tiger isn't exactly the most serene setting. However, I'm amazed constantly by the fact that even though Pi is afraid, he still stands up to the tiger. I was really frightened and did in fact cringe a bit during the flying fish scene. However, I couldn't help but be amazed by the might of the tiger and of Pi's bravery. All I could think of in this sense and what I wrote in my book was, "What hurts us will always make us stronger".

Life of Pi Blog 2

Throughout the last 100 pages, this story has been wrapping me up in a emotional frenzy of "what ifs?" and "how in the world?s". Part two of Life of Pi is mainly description of how Pi gets by after he is thrown overborad. However, I am amazed at the complexity of the situation. Also, I was surprised by the fact that when I got to the description of the zebra being eaten by the hyena, I wasn't necessarily as disgusted as I was sad about the fate of the zebra. Not just the fate even, but I was also struck by the sadness of how the zebra knew it's fate and yet kept it's eyes open the whole time accepting it's death. For some reason, this just really got to me and yet, even with overwhelming sadness, I kept reading. I also was struck by the list of rations Pi had, and how comparably little he actually has. That part was actually the most frightening to me. All in all, I'm just ready to see how this ends.

Life of Pi Blog 1

         From the first one hundred pages of the book, I found myself being swept into the story. The basic premis stands out to me the most in the fact that he is a boy trying to find his true identity. Some of my favorite parts includes how he tells the story of how he got his name. He never said his name before then, and he also tells in detail how he got his nickname. Beyond that, I love when references the zoo because the way he describes people pertains so closely to how some people act. This is demonstrated also when he speaks of the sign saying "DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE MOST ANIMAL IN THE ZOO IS?" and then it turns out to be a mirror. While, I did not enjoy the part where his dad makes me watch the death of the goat, I still love the story so far. I am excited to be reading a fiction book as well, and I am looking forward to getting to the rest of the novel.

Color of Water Blog:Part3

George Bernard Shaw once said, "Life isn't about finding yourself, it's about creating yourself."
While Shaw makes an interesting and valid point, I believe that the Color of Water shows how to create yourself you have to find who you are and where you come from as well. James has to lose himself before he ends up being able to create himself to the man he wants to be. Thankfully, he is able to get out of his bad habits and set himself straight. I really like that he goes back to his mother's town as well because while things are never the same when you go back, I still believe that going back and seeing a part of your history is important. This book was well written, and I thoroughly enjoyed the story of finding who you are and also give a tribute to who your mother was.

Color Of Water Blog (Part 2)

As I read on through the book, I find myself findng a deeper appreciation for the book. My favorite aspect of the book so far is McBride's tribute to his mother. While there are some tidbits that he looks down on in his past, he still always writes with, what seems to me, to be appreciation for everything his mother did for him. One specific section would include when he is talking about his mother's pride. He addresses her pride when he writes on how she responded to the man who sold them spoiled milk. While McBride didn't understand his mothers reaction, he still portrays her as a strong women. Another aspect I enjoy is the contrast between Ruth and McBride's stories. She grew up in an all-white school wishing to be white, while he also grew up in an all white school but wanted so badly to be black and be around all black people. I have no idea why this stood out to me, but I enjoy in nevertheless. This book is depressing, but it is also simpathetic and I enjoy it.

Color of Water Blog 1

So this might sound frightening at first to some at first, but I strangely relate to the Color of Water. The mother in the book reminds me of my mom. Now, that may seem odd at first. As a disclaimer, I will say my mom NEVER encouraged me to not tell people things or not talk to them. However, my mom didn't have friends when I was younger. I was an only child growing up with my aunt, grandmother, little cousin, and mom. All she needed was us. My mom has always lived in her own little world, and she has always been carefree. So the character of Ruth is very similar to my mother. I strangely enjoy the story. While yes, the story has it's sad moments, it has a strange love behind it, and that stands out the most to me. I think this is because I appreciate eccentricity. No matter what though, I am thoroughly enjoying this novel.

Practice What You Preach.

Nadine Gordimer once wrote, "Writing is making sense of life. You work your whole life and perhaps you've made sense of one small area." While, Nadine may be right about how little we figure out in perception of our lives, that is not the part that stands out to me. Honestly, what attracts me the most is when she says you work your WHOLE life.

It is Stephen King's belief that one must write a lot to become a good writer, maybe even a whole liftetime perhaps. Now the question isn't whether or not the statememnt is true (even though I do believe it is) but rather does Stephen King exemplify his statement with his life. In others words, does he live what he preaches? Well, thankfully for our sake and King's, his integrity is good and he does in fact exemplify this belief throughout his career. My favorites include his early childhood, where King in fact wrote all the time. His writing often ended him up in the principal's office for trouble, but what matters the most is that he always kept writing. No matter what, he was always writing down his thoughts. I believe the smartest and most dangerous people, are the ones who go after their passion with everything and never give up. They are the ones who become successful, those are the ones that King says become good. You see, even someone with natural ability such as Stephen King had to hone his skills. So he wrote. and wrote. and wrote. He received rejection letters, and worked for little pay. In fact, he ended up having to do other jobs than just write because it took so long. No matter what though, Stephen King wrote a lot. Today, he is a well-known superb writer, and an inspiration to many. Why? Because he practices what he preaches.

Chapter 9 to the End

Writing has always been about joy for me, for the freedom when I was younger,. I wrote just to write, but I also wanted to impress others. This continued until this year. I constantly tried to mold my writing style to what teachers wanted to hear. However, after reading "On Writing", I have realized that I have been writing for the wrong "Ideal Reader" as Stephen King would say. So now, with that being said, I am writing for me. I don't care for the toolbox- the grammar or the length of my vocabulary I care for the words, the language, the story. Metaphors are great, but I care about plot more than imagery, and clever wordplay. My favorite section of Stephen King's in the last part is when he says that even if you don't have some special message hidden deep down, you still have a story. He also says that he doesn't write for money, but for the buzz of it. What struck out to me mostly in his book wasn't the actual advice on writing, but his advice on WHY you should write and WHO you should write for. I believe this advice is what will stick with me, whether I pursue writing as a career or continue to only journal for myself. I cannot say I fully understand how to write or understand King himself, however I believe I now understand myself and my writings more now. From that, I now have gained an appreciation for "On Writing".

State of the Union

Recently, in my US History class, we were talking about the Industrialism Era. Free Enterprise has always had a major role in the governmetn of our country, and now it seems that we are back into our own Indrustrialist era. Our new forms of technology however are not creating low paying jobs, but instead taking many high paying ones away. The past few years our deficit has grown and we are facing groups such as monopolies that are not addressed. During this time, Obama has been our President. Originally he promised his change, and while yes change is somewhat what we have gotten, the change was not what we have requested. We now have a new healthcare reform because of his change. We are slowly moving closer to a socialest economy. However, since Obama did not give us the changes we wished, Republicans are now back in Congress. This brings us to the State of Union from yesterday. Obama spoke words that he thinks we wanted to hear. However, there didn't seem to be very much merit to them in my opinion. Especially when he was discussing his budget plan, because I have no idea where he expects to get all of this money to invest when we still have so much debt. Now don't get me wrong, I would love to see our money go to a good cause such as clean energy sources and education, but I cannot see how it will happen. Which of course, he gave no true answer to how. Beyond his words and fluff though, I am quite curious and excited to see the new advances in technology that will come in the future. For now, that is all I am excited about though.

Toolbox

When I was a little girl, I knew that I wanted to do something worthwhile with my life. In the beginning, it began as a dream to be a singer. Then I realized the fundamentals, and I also realized that I didn't understand the tools you needed to be a singer. I still continued singing into high school, but realized that my "toolbox" was simply empty and I had no idea how to fill it. I had the same realizatin in high school about writing. In Mrs. Clark's English class, she told us to avoid cliches and personal stories. During that year, I was the most lost I had EVER been in writing. The next year in Mrs.Shoemake's class, I tried to write and only got an A on two essays in the entire class, staring out with a 70. I didn't understand how to gain the tools to be a good writer, and honestly, I just learned to write what I thought people would want to read. Thankfully, in his novel, Stephen King opens his toolbox and shows what makes a good writer and then goes on to discuss his own writing. My favorite chapter in the entire book,or at least from what I have read, has to be Chapter 1 in the On Writing section. In this section, he discusses how you must read a lot and write a lot, that there is absolutely no way to go around it. He goes on to state that you may find yourself adopting a certain way of writing. Reading this sentence, and many others in this book, I am taken back to moments in my life. When I was younger, I would watch a movie or read a book with a certain character and I would try to be that exact person. As I grew older, it stemmed into my journals. Looking back on some of them, I am sad to say that they were never really amazing characters and the words I wrote never really seemed like me. However, I know that those years prepared me for life and in developing my own sense of style in writing and in life. I am sure there are some moments when I didn't agree with King while I was reading, but all of them got swept away because of the rest of his genius (my opinion of his writing at least). While, I'm not sure if reading this book will necesarily make me a better writer because that depends on my persistance to stick to his advice, I am still going to always find this book worthwhile.

C.V.

When I first started reading On Writing, I was at a debate tournament looking for something to fill my time. I didn't know exactly what to expect. However, after thirty or so pages, I started thoroughly enjoying the memoir. From the first forward to the Toolbox, Stephen King caught my interest with his writing style and also with the way he told his story. While the first sections are not necessarily on writing, his life story tells you advice on how to write whether it was meant to or not. One section that stood out to me the most was when he speaks about the rejection letters he received and how they accumulated to so many that he had to hold them up with a spike. Yet, he kept going in pursuing because of this love for the craft. His dedication to his craft was remarkable to me. I also thoroughly enjoyed the way he talked about his wife, from the first meeting to near the end when she makes him get help. He writes with just sincerity and honesty that is rare to find. All together, I found the first section beautifully written, and I cannot wait to read what is to come in the "Toolbox".