Reading Wishlist

I plan on continuing to read after I finish this class. I hope to both read new books and re-read books that I truly loved the first time.

Some books I want to read:
The Hunger Games Trilogy (Re-Read)
A Bend in the Road
The Color Purple
The Great Gatsby
Perks of Being a Wallflower
The Fault in Our Stars
Nicholas Sparks Books
Dear John (Re-Read)
The City of Bones Series
HourGlass (Re-Read)

I think that the next book I plan on reading is The Hunger Games. I am really excited to start reading this again. I want to refresh my mind about this book. I hope to gather somethings that I missed and further my knowledge on the trilogy. I hope to finsh them before the next movie comes out. I really enjoyed this book and I hope that I will enjoy it as much as I did the first time.

Book Talk Presentation

Book 3 Review

The Choice by Nicholas Sparks is romance novel that touches the readers heart. From the beginning you know they will fall in love. They are so different that they are kind of the same. Nicholas Sparks wrote this book with pure passion. He has wrote several Romance novels and has the special touch to just make them hit you right on your soft side. This book wasn't one of his best but it was alright.

In this book Sparks narrates the story. At times it is annoying when he adds in his own voice but at other times it is nice to jump around to other characters and see what is going on with them. When he does talk about the characters though you dont understand what they are fully feeling. You get the jist of what the feel but you dont get details that you would get in first person.

In the story you automatically know the two main characters (Gabby and Travis) are going to fall in love and after what is equivilent to two days they do fall in love. And after the are in love the next thing you know they are happily married for 11 years and even have children. Gabby has to break up with who she thought was the love of her life for Travis. Travis gives up his plans of being single forever with the occaional hook up. At points it seems to good to be true. Considering how fast they fall in love it feels unrealistic. After a major scene in the plot occurs Travis is left with a conflict. He must make a crucial choice.

Gabby is an unlikable character at first. She has a bad attitude and holds a very strange grudge on Travis even though he didnt do anything but help. After a while her character grows on the reader and becomes more likable. Her attitude becomes funny and makes her characters personality special. Travis is a very likable charcter throughout the entire book he always tries to help and make others happy. He always makes the right decisions and has a charming sense of humor.

I would rate this book 3 stars. It was an okay book but the amount of unrealistic scenes ruins the realness of the book. It dissapoints the reader to know that it is very unlikely to play out that way in real life.

Final Blog Assesment

I think that my post in The Choice (the first) it shows my voice the best. In my post I say "So I can see why an author would write a romance in third person but I personally prefer when a character is the author".  When I used words like "I prefer" and "personally" it shows voice. As a writer is shows that I would write a romance in the characters point of view.  I also say "When a character narrates I feel closer to them and I enjoy the book more". This also shows why I would write a romance in the characters voice because it personally makes me feel closer to the characters.

In my post I use a mixture of low/informal and elevated/formal diction. I write "discussed...likability" which is elevated diction. I also write "feel bad" which is low diction. There isn't much syntax in my post. There isn't any strange punctuation and the sentence structure and length is all the same and they are medium length.

The Choice

So I started reading a new book called The Choice by Nicholas Sparks. There are a lot of characters in it already and I think it is pretty confusing. With each chapter it skips between two different characters, Travis who has a lot of freinds and family and Gabby who is new in town and doesnt really know anyone. Travis is getting old and he cant seem to find the right person to settle down with. His family and friends always bug him and warn him that he only has so long before his time is up to find someone. He is a successful veternarian that loves animals and is supposed to be very handsome and gentlemen like. Gabby is a girl that just moved to town and is an assistant at a medical center right out of college. She doesnt know anyone in town but she has her long time boyfriend Kevin from her Freshman year of college. When Gabby finds her beloved dog Molly pregnant she assumes it was travis' dog Moby. When she confront him she starts to fall for him. She tries to resist but slowly she starts to feel that he is the one. On the other hand Travis knew right when he met her that they had to be together and that she was the one he wanted to marry.

The Choice

So I am still reading the choice and I am trying to decide if I like it or not. In best sellers we talked about likeable characters and narrators. We discussed whether their likability played into how much the reader likes the book. The author of the book, Nicholas Sparks is actually the narrator. I dont think that I really like it though. Especially since it is a Romance novel. I feel that in a Romance the characters should be the narrators. This way you know exactly what the character is feeling. When you get small details about their feelings from another narrator I think it is harder to feel what the character is feeling. When the character expresses their feelings with you, you feel closer to the character which makes the reader feel what the character is feeling.

When a character is the narrator it is easier to pick sides when it comes to conflict. This is a reason why I could see that an author would decide to be the narrator. When you feel exactly what the character is feeling you most likely will side with that character when some goes wrong. If it is the characters fault the reader may see past and feel bad for the character. If the author doesnt want the reader to have a biased opinion it make sense to describe the story in third person.

So I can see why an author would write a romance in third person but I personally prefer when a character is the author. When a character narrates I feel closer to them and I enjoy the book more.

Blog 9 likability

In my book, The Choice by Nicholas Sparks, Sparks decides to take a brave role in the narration. He narrates the book in his own voice. It can sometimes become annoying to listen to the narrator’s voice. At some points it becomes unlikable to hear his opinion and connections to the story. But at the same time I like how the focus on the characters changes with each chapter. For example in the first chapter he looks in on Travis. But in the second chapter he focuses in on Gabby. In this case I would have to agree with Wiener because my book can sometimes be hard to read just because the narrator is unlikable. I also believe that in a Romance novel it should be in the point of view of one of the characters because they reveal their full emotions which bring out more emotions in the reader.  When Sparks talks about the characters he only reveals some of what their feeling. So you only get a vague idea about how strongly they feel about one another. I also feel like since I don’t like the narrator as much I can’t relate to the story or the characters. I feel like I’m sitting on bleachers watching a silent play. It makes me feel like some words are being wasted when the narrator comments on the characters actions. For example he might comment something small like “Whoa that’s weird!” This type of thing makes me not want to read the book which relates back to Wieners argument.

Book Trailer

Blog 8

I believe that a memoir needs to be 98% true. A memoir is meant to be a true story but at some point it can get boring and loose a readers intrest. When a writer throws in a few untue details it is meant to make the book more interesting not to trick you into thinking that it was true. If it has a true main plot than it isnt a big deal because the plurality of the book is true. If a book is half true than it could still be a good book it would just be a different genre. I dont think it is fair for an author to lie about the genre of their book just to get published. And authors like Frey told mostly the truth and I think it would have been alright for him to bend the truth on the some of the scenes but if some of the things that he lied about was significant than that changes a main area of the plot which makes it a bigger deal. But other than that authors like him are just trying to tell a good story that people would read. Obviously his book was good if it got published and made Oprah's book club, but the only reason he got that far was because he claimed that his book was a memoir. Im not encouraging lying in a true story but the reason for him doing it makes sense. I think David Shields is right, I dont think that labels are a big deal they are kind of old fashioned a story is a story, true or not. It is going to be good or bad it shouldnt depend on the genre it should be based on the actual writing techniques and the plot of the story.

Blog 6

Readicide is not a problem in schools. Books that are read in school are different than the books that people read for pleasure. The entire reason for reading certain books in school is to understand how classic writers wrote and to study certain literary techniques. Popular books will always change. For example last year a popular book was The Hunger Games but in the past few months a more popular book is Divergent. For example Romeo and Juliet isn’t a very popular pleasure read. Schools feel that books like that are important in the curriculum because they a classic must reads’ that most people will not read at home. A text like Romeo and Juliet can be confusing at certain points and that is why teachers help you understand and find good techniques to figure out these texts. I think that adding some genre fiction is fine for the curriculum but removing literary fiction and replacing it with the genre fiction is not good. I would not like switching classics like those with newer popular books. I think that popular genre fiction books are better for at home reading but books that are classic are harder to read on your own time. If you are forced to read a book you end up having the experience of reading a classic that you are expected to read in your life time. A 21^st century reading list should have classics like, Of Mice and Men, The Great Gatsby, The Kite Runner, Romeo and Juliet, The Hunger Games, Divergent. Literary Fiction may not have the same technology or thoughts as we do in our current society. But having to read books like this help us realize what was happening in the times that these were written. These books connect us to the past.

Dear John

I finished Dear John about a week ago and I LOVED it. Throughout the book the main character changes. At the begining he is in love with Savannah and he would never let her go he would do whatever it took to keep her around. When they break up he decides that the only thing he wants to do is be in the army. Later in the book when he gets out of the army he decides to go and see her. When he does she is already married to the one person he knew all along she would marry. When he discovered this it really struck me and dissapointed me. It was a twist ending, I expected that they would get back together somehow. But they didnt instead the both lived on loving each other but not being together. Later I watched the movie and I think it was the worst adaptation I have ever seen. It didnt capture what was most important in the book and I didnt feel like they were really in love.

Dear John

In this book a 23 year old boy, named John meets a 21 year girl, named Savannah. They meet while John is on a military leave and Savannah is on a trip with her college peers to help build a house. John will only be there for 2 weeks so his time with Savannah is short. But in this short time they end up falling in love. When John leaves he promises her that one day they will get married, Savannah promises to write him, and they both promise each other that they will never forget about each other. When Savannah writes she always begins with "Dear, John".

Each character in this book is very unique. And I think that they each have a something that symbolizes them. One thing that symbolizes John is a military coat, John chose to be in the military instead of college and it is now a big part of his life. He loves what he does and  it turned his life around. John wasnt a good student and he joined the wrong crowd so when he joined the military it made him a better man. Savannah is symbolized by flowers, she is beautiful and delicate. But she is stubborn, like a flower that always grows back even if you pick it. She cares for John but doesnt mind telling him whats on her mind. She is very sweet but it doesnt mean that she isnt stubbornh.

Free/ Reflection

Right now I am reading Dear John and I really like it. It has the romantic scenes that make you smile and sometimes shed a tear. I really like John and I think that he is brave and respectful. He loves Savannah and would do anything to protect her. When he leaves to go back to Germany it made me nervous because I think that their relationship is going to go downhill. I think that when John comes back she will have found someone new or ended falling for Tim. I really hope that they will get married and live happily ever after.

Adapting Your Book

A challenge that a film maker would come across for Dear John would be explaining his thoughts because the entire book is in John's perspective. I also think that it would be hard to not make the movie like cheesy and a big cliché because the book has a lot of cheesy lines and the plot isnt very orginal.

One scene that would need to be kept in the movie is when John and Savannah first meet. When they first meet a character named Randy accidently knocks Savannahs purse into the water. When Randy refuses to jump in Savannah prepares herself to jump in after it, John then rushes over and jumps in for her to retrieve her purse. When John talks about why he did this for a stranger he says that it was for the “genuineness of her smile and the warmth of her laugh”. Another scene that is a must keep is when Savannah gives John the book about his Father. Savannah admits that she thinks his father has Asperger’s disease (mental illness). When she tells him this he becomes very angry and leaves the pier very aggravated with Savannah. When he rushes down the beach to get home Randy tries to stop him and when John tries to convince him to get out of the way Tim attempts to break them apart. John’s reflexes begin to kick in and he ends up elbowing one man, breaking Tim’s nose and Randy’s wrist. One other scene that must be in the movie is when John leaves. John has to leave Savannah and travel to Germany and return from his military leave. John and Savannah has one last day together and they agree to send letters back and forth. John promises Savannah that when he returns form the military he will marry her. Savannah gives him a note to read on the plane and when he opens it, she tells him to never forget her and whenever there is a full moon out he must look at it and remember the week that they spent together.

To show what is most important you would have to cut a few things from the film. One thing that should be cut is when he sees his old buddies at the bar. It does show how John did turn his life around and didn’t end up like that but I don’t think that it is a critical thing to leave in the plot. I also think that they should shorten the day that John doesn’t spend with Savannah when he goes surfing by himself and goes to the bar, etc. I think that it should sum up the day just to show that he misses her.

Room

If I could have a conversation with any character in my book, I would talk to Jack. I would tell him that he needs to try and understand that Outside is real and that he needs to trust his Ma. Right now Jack doesnt really understand what Outside is and he doesnt know what he should believe. His Ma is trying to explain why Room is bad. She tells him how she was abducted and how Old Nick is a bad person that only gives them food. Unfortunately Jack doesnt understand and still wants to continue living in Room.

I would try to explain to him what a kidnapper is and how bad Old Nick was. I would also tell him how much better outside is. I would also try to explain how Outside is almost like a really big Room.