Final Post

Book: Divergent

Overall I enjoyed the book. The book kept me on the edge of my seat, combining action with drama to create a reading experience which enticed the reader and kept their interest, even through the rare and not many slow parts. The author also used metaphors and similes to show the reader and take them through the mind of the main character. However, while most aspects of this book were very good, one aspect in particular made the book much more difficult to read. That aspect is that with the metaphors and similes came some language which was just difficult to understand, creating some times where I was unable to visualize what was happening simply because I didn't understand how to compare these two words, and to put down the book in the middle of a chapter or sentence and find the book in a dictionary detracted from my attention to the book, creating a less pleasurable reading experience. Even after saying this, I do believe this was a very good book, and would recommend it to most people looking for action along with an enticing story.

*please note I had this done on the 22nd, but apparently I didn't click publish.

Overall I really did enjoy my reading. It kept me on the edge of my seat and guessing the whole time. Also, the topics were very fascinating and touched upon information that isn't widely talked about due to its controversy. What I liked most about this book was that I was able to learn so much from it. Some of it is fiction, but other parts of it really made me think and ask questions. I liked reading this better than an assigned reading book because I picked it out based on my interests. In the personal reading I was good at identifying the several changing themes that occurred as the story went on. I was also good at tracking how Professor Langdon changed as he uncovered new secrets. I still need to work on identifying literary devices and realizing there significance to the overall theme. I could also work on keeping up with the reading consistently instead of cramming it all at once. This way instead of rushing, I could slow down and enjoy the book. In the end I really found this book interesting and would recommend it to others.

Final Post Ender's Game

I found the book Ender's Game to be confusing. It was somewhat hard to follow with all the characters and terms like "Buggers". Most of the time they didn't explain what these terms mean and it gets even more confusing. I was told it's like The Hunger Games, but I didn't see any similarities. Despite this the book is pretty interesting if you can follow it. If you're intereted in aliens or books about saving eaeth this could be for you.

Final post Lone Survivor

I enjoyed reading the book, Lone Survivor, by Marcus Luttrell even though I am normally not a big reader. At times I can feel like reading is more of a job then something to do during my free time, yet Lone Survivor was different. I enjoyed this book due to the fact that it was written based off an experience giving it a certain type of depth that I usually cannot find. Because this book was based off a true experience I found that it was sometimes hard to stop reading due to the fact that all of the crazy feats talked about were done by a real person. After hearing Marcus's amazing story, I realized that the theme of this book was to really embrace and acknowledge brotherhood because it is deeper then any friendship. The only problem I encountered was time management due to tests and projects. While I was able to finish the book there was definitely nights when I skipped reading in favor of another subject's homework. Next time I hope I can avoid these problems by starting the book earlier on. Overall, I really enjoyed this book due the detail and the story told and appreciated reading it. 

Unbroken Final Post

I really enjoyed reading Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand because I do not usually read biographies during my free time. It was surprisingly interesting to read a non- fiction book opposed to a fiction book and I liked the fact that the author went to a lot of detail about World War II, not just Louie's life. While the detail could make the story a bit slow at times it was good as a whole. By the amount of detail in the book, I could tell that Hillenbrand had done thorough research. Reading for pleasure was different from reading assigned books because it was easier to focus on the big picture of the book instead of focusing on small details. On the other hand, when reading on my own, I feel like I might have missed small defining details in the story that I would not have overlooked if I was reading an assigned book. I think I tracked the character development well. When looking back on the book, it is clear that Louie started out having no direction in life to having a goal of becoming a successful runner. After World War II, he was left without a goal to focus on because of his injured ankle and he changed from being a tortured war victim to finding himself through religion. I think I need to work on keeping up with the reading or maybe choose a book that is more suspenseful so I want to constantly keep reading. With this being said, I am glad I pushed myself to read something out of my comfort zone even though it took some effort to get through.

If I Stay Final Post

Overall, I believe that this was a very emotional book (especially when I ended up crying in class) This book moved me and has been leading me on a new path of thoughts in my life when things seem to become bad. I realize that things could be worse and I have to hold onto all of the good in my life like friends and family to pull through. When Mia decided to stay, I thought that it was a hard choice for her but all it took was her looking at the good, especially when Adam was by her side begging her to stay. He even wrote a song about her because he had a reason to. In the whole book, Adam talked about how he only wrote songs about things that made him sad, but when he was finally able to write one about Mia, the only person who fully understood him and made him the happiest person he's ever been, Mia woke up in the bed feeling their hands holding. This was one of the first books I've finished in a year or two, since I usually have put other books down because I realized that I did't like them as much as I thought. However, this book I would recommend to anyone, especially those looking for a good love story and one that will make them cry. Honestly, I couldn't have chosen a better book for this project.

If I Stay Mia's Decisions

When I was in the middle of the book, I stopped at the point where Mia figured out that staying is all up to her and herself alone. Mia is a girl who is very fond of her parents and would do anything to stay with her boyfriend Adam. However, if she wakes up then she will be an orphan after the crash killed her parents and little brother. She's going through the ideas of how to stay and leave, her thoughts are what control them. At the times she's thought to herself to give up, her body in the hospital would become fatal. Right now, she has decided that there's no point in living with the idea of her parents being in the grave and that her future wouldn't be much because of her family condition now. She'll be put into foster care for her senior year of high school then go off to college. Or her grandparents will take care of her in that time.  When Adam came to talk to her, she realized how much pain he was in because of her but all she wanted to do was hold her hand. What led her to be able to want to give into letting go was when her grandfather came to her bed. He held her hand and told her it was ok if she let go and died because it was such a hard decision and life ahead of her. Plus, his own son (Mia's father) just passed away from the accident so he would understand. So once she started to give up, her body had to go into the emergency room again in critical condition. Mia's thoughts effect her body's stability and ability to live without her spirit in it. I think that Mia is only looking at the bad when really, she needs to be looking at all of the good that happened to her.

Butter Final Blog

I finished reading Butter and I found it to be a unique book. It was very easy for me to read and it tied up all the loose ends very nicely. Although the book had a sad ending, I was happy to find closure. I was concerned that the author would not explain whether Butter killed himself or decided to keep his life. As the outcome was described I was a little shocked because I thought that he was going to keep his life. As the book progressed, I started to get annoyed with Butter. At first, he was humorous and just a nicer human being, but later on he become obsessed with how many people were checking his suicide page. He didn't seem like he wanted to kill himself, but I think he felt forced into it. I couldn't imagine him being happy after New Years if he decided to keep his life. His so-called friends would have left him and he would have once again been lonely. The entire book I was confused as to why Butter's caring mom kept feeding him so much food. She really cared about Butter but did not even try to fix his weight issues. Could that have been a coping mechanism for herself? All in all, I felt bad for Butter's mom when he killed himself, she must have been heartbroken. The book wrapped up in a weird fashion…with Butter talking to Anna. It made me really uncomfortable. Why would Butter want to kill himself if the girl of his dreams was still on Earth? That got me frustrated. Butter always raved about Anna, but didn't do anything about it. So even though it may seem like I hated the book, I really enjoyed the humor and the ability to relate. It had a real high school like atmosphere to the book, but it only pointed out the negatives. People in this world are better then that and would have alerted the authorities.  This book is one that people should read, but isn't one that is going to win any prizes.

Shutter Island Final Post

Shutter Island, by Dennis Lehane, is captivating story overall. With its cliffhangers and plot twists, it is sure to make you grip the edges of the book, wanting more. However, as well written as Shutter Island was, I would not recommend it. For me, certain parts of the book were very slow and was confusing to keep up with- making it hard to concentrate on the story. Also ,the book was not suitable for younger kids to read. Personally, I loved the idea of the book more than the actual story.

Lone Survivor Weston Shanley Final Post

Weston Shanley
12/21/14
English

Overall I found this book a very very great read.  It makes you feel like you are in the middle of Afghanistan fighting along side your Seal brothers.  This read is great for the person who is interested in military events and action packed drama.  My favorite part of the book was just the whole battle scene.  This is where Marcuse's brothers fell ad he kept going it was truly inspirational. Al together great read and I will say that everyone should pick this book up and read it right now.

Jack Hoelzer, final blog post-Lone Survivor

I did enjoy reading the book, Lone survivor, by Marcus Luttrell.  Normally I don’t enjoy books too thoroughly and sometimes I even look at reading as more of a chore than a peaceful pastime but while reading Lone Survivor I felt otherwise.  This book was extremely exciting and it almost made me look forward to doing my homework.  It was hard for me to put the book down sometimes because I was too anxious to find out what would happen next or how Marcus and the rest of the heroic team would get out of their current problem.  Because of the creative and descriptive writing, I felt as though I was there alongside the heroes that were so greatly depicted in the book.  This made it extremely enjoyable to read.  Furthermore, reading for pleasure is a completely different experience that reading an assigned book.  While reading an assigned book I feel completely constrained.  Assigned books take away the freedom of choosing a book and how often or when to read it.  However, with a free reading book I could read it whenever I wanted and I had the freedom to chose the book that I wanted most.  Also, despite this book being a free reading book, I did very well while reading it and I let my mind loose when it came to theme and connections.  I realized that the book was going to be a war heroic of Marcus Luttrell and his team, but as I continued to read, I connected his experience with the stories that my grandfather would always tell me.  The both of them were loved war veterans and they both told a similar story, not in the events but in the theme.  I found that on of the themes of Lone Survivor is to really embrace and cherish brotherhood while it lasts and this is similar to the plenty of stories that my grand father had told me.  I was able to connect Luttrell’s story and those of my grandfather which helped me feel closer to the book than I would have before.  I also did well in terms of identifying literary elements and really appreciating Luttrell’s writing and description of the tiniest details.  Although I did well while reading this book, there were a few things that I need to work on.  The main problem that I had was time management.  I did a good job in the beginning of the project of pacing myself while also reading a good amount each night.  However, when football and homework grew even more vigorous and time consuming, I grew lazy and would skip nights of reading.  This caused me to have to cram in reading toward the end of the project.  I ended up reading for more than three and a half hours over the weekend to finish the book.  This wasn’t such a big deal considering that I enjoy the book, but next time I wish to plan out my reading in a more productive and safe way to prevent cramming at the end.  Overall, I enjoyed the book and this project was somewhat refreshing in terms of having more freedom than usual and picking a good book that I would enjoy.  Lone Survivor is a tremendous book and is incredibly well written.  I would recommend this book to almost all readers because the writing is so descriptive and exciting, however it does get a little gruesome at times and is written mainly for those who enjoy war heroics and patriotic writing.

Final blog by Liam

I enjoyed reading Chasing Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson.  I find the historical non-fiction genre interesting.  It is important to know about history to better understand the present.  Chasing Lincoln's Killer gave a much more in depth understanding of the events that went into Lincoln  and Secretary Seward's' deaths.  Prior to reading this, I did not know there was a conspiracy to kill all three men, including Vice President Johnson.  I prefer reading the assigned core books, as it keep me on a better track because assignments go along with the chapters.  I find the free reading books more difficult to keep up with.  As the story progressed, I was able to track character development. I needed to make a sheet to assist with the amount of persons in the book.   Additionally, I found the  main idea more easily because the killers wanted revenge for losing the Civil War and because of the issues with slavery.  Next time, I definitely need to be more on top of reading and following a schedule and not waiting until the last minute to finish.

Final Post for Third Rail

I enjoyed reading the book Third Rail because I felt it appeal to my needs as a reader. I need to be hooked in while reading and I feel like the book did this to me. Most times when I finished a chapter I wanted to read more, and more. This does not happen every time I read so it was good for it to happen when I was reading the book. Reading for pleasure was so much nicer than reading for assigned segments as I did not feel the pressure of timetables which was nice. I feel like identifying character development is easy for me to do because that seemed to be the focus of my english class last year reading books like the hobbit and following Bilbos development into a hero. On the flip side I still find it hard to identify the theme of the story as I had a hard time trying to find it in Third Rail. I guess it could be seen as redemption an the need to fix mistakes but the overall darkness in the story made it tricky to follow. All in all I enjoyed the book, The Third Rail and would suggest it to anyone who asked about it.

Lone Survivor Final Update

I really enjoyed reading the book, Lone Survivor, by Marcus Luttrell. It was very interesting to learn about the training he had to go through to become a SEAL and to see what the battle was like through the eyes of one of the soldiers. Reading this for pleasure was much different than reading the assigned books. I was able to read the book when I wanted, rather than when I am told to read it. Also, I found it way easier to get through the book and more enjoyable to read the book without having to analyze quotes. Even though I didn't analyze quotes, I did do a good job of keeping character development and identifying the theme. Also, I was happy that I kept up with the reading by myself. In the future, I think I need to work on making connections to other texts while reading and identifying literary elements while reading. Overall, I really enjoyed reading Lone Survivor and could not put it down. I also really enjoyed reading a book for pleasure rather than an assigned book.

Paper Towns

Paper Towns by John Green was an excellent book! It was humorous, suspenseful, and sad when following the life of Q trying to find Margo. It made me feel like I was talking to Q, and he was just telling me a story. I don't think it was any different from reading a assigned book. The only difference was that we weren't told exactly how much to read each night. I like being told exactly how much to do, but also don't at the same time. I like the stability of knowing exactly when we are going to end a book, but I also like the freedom we get, and being able to read it for as long as we wanted to with out being told to stop at chapter 16. I feel I did a good job noticing character development when reading. Even time Q would find a clue about where Margo was, he slowly became more powerful and his passion towards finding Margo just grew and grew up to the point to where he would do absolutely anything to find her. I also feel I need to work on keeping up with the reading. The problem with my strategy when reading is that when I pick up the book I absolutely cannot put it down, but when I do put it down, I will not pick it up until I realize I have to finish the book. The book will literally just leave my mind and I won't ever remember to read it again. Its a very confusing cycle.