Tuesday, March 18, 2014

English Post 2

My main characters are Jeremy and Lexie. They are a couple and are getting married after only knowing each other 3 months. There are good qualities about both of them, like that Jeremy is a very understanding character, he likes to fix problems and figure out a solution. Lexie is thoughtful character, but can be only thoughtful to herself and not think about the other people she may hurt or think about their feelings. Jeremy and Lexie are good together because Jeremy is good at resolving problems and if Lexie is upset Jeremy will be there to fix it. Lexie on the other hand is good for Jeremy because she thinks of ways to help situations and tries really hard to not start fights. There are a few bad qualities the characters have for example Jeremy isn’t a very good friend, he isn’t understanding with his best friend Alvin, he just pushes him away because he only wants to believe Lexie so he doesn’t start anymore fights. Some bad qualities Lexie has is that she doesn’t think about other people’s feeling and how it would hurt them or the relationship, but they are good for each other when it comes to the relationship.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

English First Post


My book is called At First Sight by: Nicholas Sparks. The best thing about my book right now, is that it is very unpredictable. There are mysterious things that happen throughout the book and it makes you want to know why that happened or who did what. It definitely is romantic but also mysterious. I like that the book isn't just all about love and babies and marriage it has mysterious scenes within it that make it such a better, more interesting book rather than bland. Another good part is when the couple in the book find out things that could potentially ruin their relationship, but they pull it together, and work it out. I am hoping nothing drastic happens from now till the end, because it just might ruin it, but it also could make it better than it already is.

The worst thing about my book right now is one of the main characters Jeremy, could be getting lied to by his wife. I feel like there is something he doesn't know about his wife and he needs to find out, or something bad will happen. But I could be wrong, it's just his wife Lexie doesn't seem as innocent as she looks.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Final Post Bestsellers


This trimester, I have learned a lot about myself and books. I have learned that reading more than an hour makes me very irritated. I am not sure why but I will only read longer if the I am reading is so good I don’t want to put it down. There was one book I read this tri that I didn’t want to put down and it also changed my perspective on the author of the book, the book was called The Best of Me by: Nicholas Sparks. He definitely is my number one author right now, mostly because I haven’t read anything else written by anyone else this trimester… I know that’s kind of a bad thing, but it kind of not because I found an author that I know I won’t be disappointed in when I read any of his books. I would have liked to have read a book by a different author because I know I need to venture out of my box, but I just couldn’t help not reading his book, there just so good! I have also learned that I read books very slowly, I timed myself while reading one of my pages and it took around a minute and forty seconds, which to me doesn’t seem slow but I know it is compared to others. I don’t mind reading slow then I can fully understand what the author is writing and I visualize better that way. I found out that I absolutely love romance novels and they are the best books ever, but that is also because I didn’t really go out of my comfort zone to read anything different. I was assigned to read mystery and I did, it just had romance in it and it was Nicholas Sparks. In the future before I die I want to read all of his books, and then find another author that has a lot of books and read those. I don’t like boring books and it is hard for me to find one that looks good, because I really want to like it but I have to read parts of it first obviously, it’s just harder for me because I judge a book by the cover and the author sometimes. I did struggle with reading certain pages within in a certain time, I guess I just don’t like reading every single day, and that’s okay. There were some books I found through classmate’s books talks and when I looked some up and they are called First Love by: James Patterson, The Wedding by: Nicholas Sparks and Fifty Shades of Grey, that I know is inappropriate but I think I’ll manage. I hope over the next year I will be introduced to new authors and maybe even a new series, but for right now I’ll stick Nicholas Sparks. I have also learned over the trimester to read efficiently, not fast to where you finish the book in two days. Well at least for me I can’t read a book that fast and I don’t want to read a book that fast, the slower I read the more I will like the book and keep reading. Also reading to fast will just confuse me and I want to understand the book and just take me time. Overall I really liked this class and helped me understand reading better. Also it made me realize the kind of books I like and the ones that seem boring or not interesting. I liked having this class for reading and doing projects on books it was fun, helpful and challenging.

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Book 3 Best Sellers


    At First Sight is exposed as mystery but you would think it was romance. I guess you could say it is both but knowing Nicholas Sparks (the author), it is a lot more on the romantic side. The mystery was very well put in, I will give him credit for making it a bit different than his other typical books.

    This book was kind of uninteresting in the beginning, very slow and more on the romantic side rather than the mysterious side, but I know Nicholas Sparks never fails, so I kept reading hoping it would get better just like my last book, I was a little unhappy about the beginning but it turned out great and I loved it. The characters in this book have really good personalities and it felt as if they were real and I knew what they were going through. The book turned out to be very realistic, and I felt almost as if to every problem, they had found some sort of solution. They made it through a lot together and it killed me to see what happened in the end, it happened so soon and unexpected. Jeremy then grows up and realizes, everything happens for a reason. The conflict in my book fit very well and I was surprised at how well it flowed in,I was happy with the outcome

    I love that the book stays in 3rd person, like my mom when she tries to tell me funny stories about her tennis partners, and the book doesn’t change perspectives every time there is a new chapter. Having the author talk and explain every chapter makes it less confusing and more readable; it definitely makes me want to read more. The characters stay in character the whole book and the plot stays simple and doesn’t change at all. It all just flows together, and it isn’t predictable at all, it catches my eye when what I thought was going to happen doesn’t happen. There are mysterious parts that make me want to keep reading for sure, like when Jeremy gets a suspicious email from someone anonymous. I was impressed with the mysterious quality of the book itself, I didn’t think it had potential coming from Nicholas Sparks. I processed that the book was mystery and gave it a chance after a few pages.

    There are definite parts I would change like for instance Jeremy only met Lexi 2 months ago and they are already getting married. I wish they would have known each other for at least 6 months or more, which would make their marriage more trustworthy. There were weak points in the book that I can point out, like it being such a romance book, if someone wants a mystery book and they read the first 50 pages they might put it back. The author needs to start some mystery closer to the beginning so it pulls the reader back to it all the time.

“Every couple has ups and downs, every couple argues, and that’s the thing—you’re a couple, and couples can’t function without trust.” This quote fits Jeremy and Lexis relationship together, they have fights but get through them, like when Jeremy saw Lexi with her ex-boyfriend. Jeremy got mad and irritated by this and took out his anger on her, but in the end they figured it out and Lexi told him he needs to trust that she wouldn’t sacrifice their relationship together.

“The emotion that can break your heart is sometimes the very one that heals it...” this relates to my book because at first Jeremy’s family breaks him by saying this marriage is happening too soon and it isn’t going to work, they are rushing it. But Jeremy doesn’t care he is in love and doesn’t want anyone to ruin what he has right now. As the book comes to an end Jeremy realizes maybe this isn’t right, then something out of nowhere happens and the people who were there for him were his family and closest friends, the people who tore him in the beginning. They weren’t going to give up on him just like that, they had his back and were never going to leave his life.


   In conclusion I give this book a four out of five stars. I am a sucker for romance so it got me reading right at the beginning, but having mystery in it changed it for me and I was glad it wasn’t the same old lovey dovey stuff, it actually got me jumping off my feet at the results it gave while finding out all of this hidden stuff. I do recommend reading this but it isn't  my number one favorite.

Final Assesment for English



  Over the trimester I have grown as a writer/blogger. I learned new phrases and words that have helped me write more like an adult, and more maturely. My very first post was good for being my first I had a quote that I favored it is "Rhiannon demonstrates theme in the book by showing that no matter what A looked like, what gender A was, the skin color, or weight A was, Rhiannon excepted A for what kind of person he was not for his features. This is the type of people we should be, we are too busy judging people by what they look like and instead not caring about their personalities and caring about their features. Never judge a book by the cover" It taught me something, and I’m sure it taught others something to, it was inspirational and up lifting. It encourages insecure people to be who they are. A quote from a more recent post is "There definitely is a lesson throughout the book and it's to never change who you are if the person you want be is worse than who you really are. It's a great lesson and I think this is an inspirational book for some people it would be a fun book to read." I think this lesson is more relatable to me than the other one. This quote is from my most recent book Kiss me Tomorrow by: Susan Shreve, this book has changed my mood while making blogs, because of the happiness in it, and the care. It makes me want to right happier and more caring. The growth I have seen is writing more like how the book I am reading is written, it kind of sets my tone as a writer. But also I learned to use my book more and use evidence within my posts.

  During this trimester there are some things I struggled with, like remembering over the weekend to do a new blog post and picking a new prompt to write about each time. But a struggle I with actually blogging was finding the right words to replace my thoughts. I was thinking all this stuff to write down but I couldn't figure out how to type it in words. I think I have done a good job with typing what I am thinking, but I could do better. Also one last thing is, I could have answered the blogging prompts more informational, for example getting evidence from my book or using quotes. But over all I know I have improved. There are places where I have grown and strengthened like, writing more sophisticated, and not just writing so get the blog done. I actually take my time, answer correctly and answer right. People are going to look at these and when they read my posts they will picture the type of person I am, and I want that to be a good thing. Throughout the trimester I have definitely improved as a writer and as a person.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Behind The Genre Of Mystery


 
My genre is Mystery. The definition I found most appropriate was “Anything that is kept secret or remains unexplained or unknown” I got this off of Dictionary.com and it was very helpful for me to better understand what mystery is. I also found that the 10 most popular mystery authors were, James Patterson, John Grisham, Lee Child, David Baldacchi, Charles Rosenberg, Bobby Cole, Michael Connelly, Johnathan Kellerman, Janet Evanovich, and Tom Clancy. The top 10 most popular mystery books are Ghostman By: Roger Hobbs, Perfect Hatred By: Leighton Gage, The Golden Egg By: Donna Leon, Murder as a Fine Art By: David Morrell, A Delicate Truth By: John le Carré, The Abomination By: Johnathan Holt, How the Light Gets In By: Louise Penny, Tatiana By: Martin Cruz Smith, Death of a Nightingale By: Lene Kaaberol and Agente Friis. Mystery genres, have different protagonists ranging from police to private detectives, witches to faeries, and bakers to little old ladies, always have some characteristics in common. The main character is looking to solve a problem. Clues, are obvious and subtle, and are left behind and everyone in the story is a suspect. There are foreshadowing hints to keep the audience interested, suspenseful scenes, and often a red herring, or false suspect, to keep the audience guessing. Some awards given to this genre that I found on omnimystery.com are, The Edgar Awards, The Swedish Crime Novel Awards, The Glass Key Award, The Thriller Awards, The Best First Crime Novel Contest, and more. There are some interesting information about the mystery genre like that it has been around since the “Golden Ages”, there was a formula made to help establish classic English mystery, and there are other factual things I found on pbs.org.

So far my book is more on the romantic side but Im not at all surprised since it is a Nicholas Sparks book. I like it so far and I hoping for more of a twist to happen like something surprising or have the book be clingy like making me what to keep reading. Although I would have picked a more mysterious book I just like Nicholas Sparks so much I couldn’t resist a romantic-mystery!

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Independent novel

I think there are real life issues reflected in the book, like Jonah (one of the main characters) finding new friends in middle school and leaving his best friend behind even though Blister (main character) is still there for him and watches out for him. There are lots of people who lose there best friend for some people who just popped up in there life. The author makes Blister look like the best friend ever and she is, she doesn't give up on Jonah. She knows Jonah's new friends are bad and she is helping him not be friends with them anymore. They author portays that good friendships shouldn't be abandoned and there is always room for new friendships but good ones and ones that don't leave your bestfriend behind.