My Vote

All the books seemed really really good. For Christmas break my goal is to read every single one of those!!! I still haven't decided so i'll keep chattering on until I do.

Mondays presentation: Both of the books seemed really interesting. I’ve read a book by Kevin Brooks called “The Road of the Dead” and I loved it, so I’m totally positive that I’d love Candy!! As for “No Country for Old Men,” I actually saw the movie the day before they presented, and it was as confusing as heck! So if the book clarifies it, I’m totally reading it.

Wednesday: “The Road” and “the Alchemist.” Those seemed so good also! “The Alchemist” seemed like it would be so positive and would just life your spirits high! And I remember my high school history teacher telling the class about “The Road,” and it sounds sooo good, almost like an M. Night Shyamalan movie, and I LOVE his movies!!! But that teacher was halfway through and never told us the ending either. THIS IS SO HARD, WHO WILL I VOTE FOR!?!?!?!

Today’s presentation: “My Most Excellent Year” seemed like an awesome book too! Reminds me of “Twelve Long Months” kind of. It’s about a girl who gets a scholarship to New York University (well…some university in New York), and she figures out that the love of her life (her high school chem. Lab partner) will be near there too! She’s so excited, but finds out he’s gay, so he obviously wouldn’t like her because she’s not even the right gender. Ok, so not the same plot, but it just reminded me of it. “My Sister’s Keeper,” my presentation was the BEST book EVER! I love that book! If I could, I would totally vote for that one.

Well, not that I’ve blabbered on, I guess I have to vote now…My vote is: THE ALCHEMIST!!!

In the Shadow of No Towers

Reading anything that mentioned a tragedy that actually happened in our lifetime was really surprising. Many people talk about the holocaust, the wars, JFK dying, anything in the past are things we talk about in our history classes, things we talk about that we haven't been through. But 9/11, people don't really exactly talk about it. I guess they did when it first happened, but now, it's like people are trying to hide the fact that it happened. Or they just don't want to be reminded of what they went through that day, or week.

It reminds me of something my high school history teacher said. He said something about the Holocaust being removed from history books in the future...well who knows if this is true because this is a teacher who stretches the truth a lot...but he said that all the people that lived through it are either dead, or really old, basically going to die sometime in the near future. So once they're gone "we'd have no proof this actually happened."

It also reminds me of what I went through that 9/11. Ok, it's really stupid, but I guess I'll mention it anyway. I remember me and my sister at the park with a couple of friends, and all of a sudden one of our friends sister came running saying that there were a lot of cars at the gas station. A LOT. She said some kid got ran over and that everyone wanted to see what happened. Well, we later found out that the kid being ran over wasn't even close to the truth. I guess everyone just wanted to get gas because they all thought the prices would rise really high, so they wanted to get it while it was really cheap. I found this out while my dad picked us up, and we saw my aunt walking towards her home. We gave her a ride and she told us about the towers and the gas thing. yeah...then the next day we go to school and literally every teacher has their tv on watching the news.

My Sister's Keeper

This book is the book my group will be presenting, and I really liked reading it, even though I have read it before, it makes you think, no matter how many times you read it.

It's basically a book about a 13 year old girl named Anna, and she knows that the only reason she was born was because her sister, Kate (16). Kate was diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL, very rare), and to live longer, she needed a perfect match donor. That donor needed to be a family member, and through stem cell research, Anna was born. Anna has undergone many surgeries to donate to her sister, since the day she was born, literally.

This book really made me think. If I had a daughter with leukemia, and had another from stem cell research, specifically born to save Kate's life, would I make that second daughter go through so many surgeries when in reality they are not benfitting her at all? They may be profiting the leukemic daughter, but knowing she isn't going to live that much longer(since she should have died at age 5), and making my second daughter undergo so many life risking surgeries...

Thinking about that is one thing Sara Fitzgerald, Kate and Anna's mother, does not do. She worries so much about Kate that compared to what Kate has gone through, any scrape and scratch Jesse (her son) and Anna get is nothing, (including a HUGE needle needed to draw marrow from Anna's hipbone).

Well, from the start of the book, Anna hires a lawyer for medical emancipation: rights for her own body. And as we go through the plot, we see a huge twist on why Anna actually started the case, and a speechless ending!

Comparing short stories

"Rock the Junta" relates to The Kite Runner in the fact that both of them take place in different countries other than the US, and they both have very strict governments. They also allow us Americans to see their cultures and how different they are compared to ours. Also, in "Rock the Junta," the fact that they all seemed happy yet won't exactly talk about anything, reminded me of the scene in The Kite Runner where Hassan gets raped but doesn't tell Amir, he just acts as though nothing has happened, even though Amir knows and treats him like crap anyway.

The graphic comic and "Toga party" were very similar. Both dealt with death as if death is no big deal. No one had a problem with anyone dying, and equally shared suicide in each story; the old people killing themselves in the garage in "Toga party" and the father "killing himself" in the graphic novel. I think that these two stories are emotional in the fact that we don't want the characters to die, we want them to live and have that perfect happy ending like in fairy tales. But they don't, and it makes these emotionally detached at the same time knowing that no one else in the story really cares, so why should we?

Cultural Barriers

The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

A cultural barrier I noticed, is the fact that the book is laid out or written like a spanish book. In a spanish book, there are no quotations which can also be a bit confusing, but you do get the hang of it.

I really liked the ending, how Yunior basically has Oscar's life if you think about it, only a good one. He's an english teacher and I'm assuming his students like him, he even started writing, like Oscar. Speaking (or typing) of Oscar, it was pretty awesome, about last thing Oscar said to the two guys beating him up, the book said something about him speaking more fluently in spanish than he ever has in his life, but what he says is actually translated. I would have understood it either way, but it was nice how it was in english so the other people in class could understand it.

I hated how Yunior didn't end up with Lola, but I guess he got what he asked for since he kept cheating on her and he still cheats on his wife once in a while. It was still a lovely ending because I guess you always have those books with the "perfect" ending with the guy getting the girl (not including Water for Elephants because that really was a perfect ending), and this one was just more realistic.

One thing that sucked was that no one ever got the second package from Oscar! I wonder what it was...did it say? And what was up with the faceless man? And that aslan-look-a-like black lion? The faceless man must have been from one of the past wars, but Oscar and Bellie both saw him? Pretty awesome slash confusing!

The Kite Runner

So far, the film is sooo good! The bond at the beginning of the movie makes everyone wish they could have a best friend with the relationship that Amir and Hassan had. I'm pretty sure everyone wants a friend who would do anything and everything for them. They seemed so close that it surprised me when the bully was telling Hassan that Amir only hangs out with him because he's bored, and never when any friends are around. Of course, being a bully he would make someone feel like crap, but...

I can't believe that Amir didn't help Hassan, his best friend who would do anything for him, literally anything, and Amir just stood and turned his back when Hassan needed him the most (even though Hassan didn't know Amir was there). It infuriates me that Hassan went through getting raped by those older dudes, and Amir treats him like crap. He just throws tomatoes or whatever those fruit things were at him, and even goes through the trouble of trying to get his family fired. Amir even calls Hassan a coward, he calls him a coward even though Hassan is the one who always stood up for him when they were confronted by the bullies!

I think though, that Amir was so ashamed of himself for the fact that he couldn't stand up for his best friend. Or maybe, because he overheard the bully saying that he only hangs out with Hassan when no one else is around, he was ashamed of himself for that, because it was partly true?

It sucks though, like eight or ten years pass and it seems as though Amir still doesn't want to hear from Hassan. Did anyone notice that when he was typing and right before his dad came in, you could hear like kids or something as if he was having a flashback? Anyways, I wonder how it will end. My guess: Amir will adopt Hassan's kid and raise him as his own. And finally tell someone about what happened to Amir. Maybe even run into the bully while he's there at Pakistan and give him a good beating or something. haha

I have the names right, right? I didn't confuse the kids names? If I did, please tell me!?!?!?!

The best Best American Short Stories

Toga Party was definitely the most entertaining story. Who would imagine old people in real life dressing for a Toga party? Let alone even going to a toga part--or any party for that matter. I mean, the ending pretty much sucked, but what kept me reading was to find out what the ending was.

It was also pretty funny that the old people at the party were acting like teenagers! Getting their moves on by fishing for grapes with their mouths, and that "ring" toss game. Haha. But I definitely wasn't expecting the actual ending that the story ended with. I was totally expecting Richard to finally accept death and not fear how he would kick the bucket plus not worry about his will anymore...but I guess in the end, the garage light timed out and he finally had no need to worry.

I totally agree with Nicole though, it would suck if it was our parents who did that to themselves- killing themselves and leaving us kids to deal with the bodies! But, I guess in reality they would have died sooner or later, and would have interrupted their children's work and family life anyway...

The "Best" American Short Stories 2007

Balto, Toga party, Dimension, and Horsemen were all pretty depressing. But besides the depression, something they all had in common was the fact that you were always on the main character's side. Maybe this has to do with the fact that you pretty much only know that character's thoughts (i.e. in the Uglies trilogy by Scott Westerfeld, when Tally, the main character is a good person, a bubble head, and even evil, your always on her side). Another thing they had in common was the fact that they all started in medias res, or in the middle. You figure out each characters past througout the story, but you don't start off knowing it.
I think that Stephen King, being the editor of these stories, did this on purpose. He is an author who loves to leave you hanging (especially in the novel "Cell," what the heck happen's to the main dude's son?!?!?!?!?). So King probably gave us these depressing, in medias res, leave you hanging at the end, sort of stories because they are the next best things to horror.

Everything is Illuminated...part 1

I think that Jonathon's obsession with collecting momentos related to events and people has to do with him wanting to remember those special people and events...or in other words he doesn't want to forget anything in his life, or his family's life, and he wants something (everything) to remember them by.

The Alternate Ending to Edwin's life

Edwin de Valu walked to work that morning, as he does every morning, just thinking to himself like every other day-"I love this fuckin' city." He walked into his new office, possibly the smallest in the building, but it's better to say "I work in an office" than in it to say in a cubicle. He continued working on the slush-pile manuscripts (which was an extremely high pile seeing as Panderic Inc. was still low on staff) and was halfway through the rejection letter, when the door swung sloooowwly open..."You still owe me for my tie!" It was Nigel. "I though you quit? What the hell are you doing here?" "Oh, don't worry, I'm outta here as soon as I get my money." "Wait, so as soon as I pay you, you'll get the hell out and never come back?" Edwin took his wallet out and happily turned over the money. This day just can't get any better, he thought. But, just as Nigel walked out, Edwin noticed someone standing by the door.
"May! What are you doing here? I thought you worked at Key West Books now?" "I quit my job. I couldn't go on one more day without you. And i wouldn't have been able to live with myself without knowing how you felt too." He just stared at her dumbfoundedly. "I knew it, I shouldn't have come." She turned around and started to leave. "WAIT!" He turned her around and kissed those red crayola lips of hers for what didn't feel long enough but probably lasted an eternity. "May, I thought I lost you!" He (amazingly for a wimpy guy) carried her out of Panderic Inc., never looked back, and together they moved to Japan to start fresh.

Self-help books

Although I've never read a self-help book, I know that people read them to better themselves. but what do I think of them? They could be cheesy traps for people who need help in that area to get sucked into without really getting help. Or, they may actually help people change and stay the way they want to be. In my opinion, they can be both.
I once listened to a radio show where some important person (important because he wrote the book) wrote a book on "How to Change your Kids in 5 Days." No, not like their personalities, but their bad bratty attitudes and their spoiled ways, and certain ways parents should act to prevent that. It seemed like it actually works. So I imagine other books must help and work as well. However, there most likely are books out there that tell you that you should change, but they don't say how. i.e.-weight loss books, they probably make you feel self-conscious and tell you to excercise and eat right, but they don't tell you the steps you should take to proceed.
So, to sum it up, I think that Self-help books can go either way. Half the books out there are possibly like that change your kid book and definitely help you out, but the other half are completely pointless and just make you feel inferior.