I read this years ago, but when I saw that a movie was being made based on this book, I wanted to read it again. I am not sure that I'm going to see the movie; lately I've been feeling that movie makers have been making too many books into movies. Can't they come up with their own stories?? Besides, in my experience, the books are always better!
This story is told through the eyes of Charlie, a freshman in high school. Charlie is a very intelligent but odd loner who ends up making friends with a group of seniors. He functions as the sensitive, supportive younger brother of the group, always sticking up for and supporting his friends. Reading about his experience as a high school student brought back a lot of memories for me; Chbosky does an excellent job of creating a realistic teenage boy's character and voice. (I asked my students to read this so they can tell me if they feel that Charlie represents a realistic teenager too.)
The book is written through a series of letters from Charlie to "Dear Friend". The writing style and structure itself helps the reader connect to Charlie and his story as it unfolds. Truely, Charlie has a unique, humorous voice and tells his story so honestly that it is sometimes heartbreaking. Overall, Charlie represnts the reality of being a teenager: fitting in, friendship, love, family, and how to cope with difficult experiences.
Friday, September 28, 2012
Monday, September 24, 2012
Beowulf Translated by Seamus Heaney
In World Literature, we read a condensed story version of this classic legend. I read a translated version for a college class at Western years ago, but I wanted to read it again to see how the version we read for class compares to the original.
This is the classic tale of a Scandinavian hero (Beowulf), who volunteers to fight a monster (Grendel) and his monster mother, in order to save the Danes. Later, Beowulf dies but not before he slays a dragon. Obviously, he is one tough dude. I really enjoy reading this epic tale with my classes because everyone loves to hear stories about bravery, and Beowulf is a very intersting character to read about and discuss. Plus, the story is pretty awesome.
The original text was writted some time between the seventh and the tenth century. It is an epic poem written in Anglo-Saxon or Old English. This version is a bilingual edition, so it was great getting to read the English on one page and reading the Old English text along with it. My college professor spoke Old English quite well, and I still remember how cool it was to hear the words just roll off her tounge. Hearing different languages spoken aloud is always somewhat magical to me, especially when I can recognize certain words. While I'm not nearly as fantastic as my professor was--and I didn't want to embarrass myself by trying (and failing) to pronounce the original text--I did manage to find a clip of the original Old English so my students could hear a bit of it before we started reading. I did practice reading the original Old English aloud to my dogs, and even though I'm sure I'm far from perfect, it was fun trying it out...
Overall, I am very happy with the version that we teach. I still think, though, that students would enjoy this complete version. It includes more of a history of some of the characters and feuds, and more details about the action of the story itself. For those who have never read it, I suggest trying it out. Even though the poem is over three thousand lines long, it is easy to follow and put down and pick up again since Heaney includes story summaries in the margins. As Colin Campbell writes in a review of Heaney's work, "This newborn translation makes accessible to everyone the first supremely great poem to be written in the English language."
This is the classic tale of a Scandinavian hero (Beowulf), who volunteers to fight a monster (Grendel) and his monster mother, in order to save the Danes. Later, Beowulf dies but not before he slays a dragon. Obviously, he is one tough dude. I really enjoy reading this epic tale with my classes because everyone loves to hear stories about bravery, and Beowulf is a very intersting character to read about and discuss. Plus, the story is pretty awesome.
The original text was writted some time between the seventh and the tenth century. It is an epic poem written in Anglo-Saxon or Old English. This version is a bilingual edition, so it was great getting to read the English on one page and reading the Old English text along with it. My college professor spoke Old English quite well, and I still remember how cool it was to hear the words just roll off her tounge. Hearing different languages spoken aloud is always somewhat magical to me, especially when I can recognize certain words. While I'm not nearly as fantastic as my professor was--and I didn't want to embarrass myself by trying (and failing) to pronounce the original text--I did manage to find a clip of the original Old English so my students could hear a bit of it before we started reading. I did practice reading the original Old English aloud to my dogs, and even though I'm sure I'm far from perfect, it was fun trying it out...
Overall, I am very happy with the version that we teach. I still think, though, that students would enjoy this complete version. It includes more of a history of some of the characters and feuds, and more details about the action of the story itself. For those who have never read it, I suggest trying it out. Even though the poem is over three thousand lines long, it is easy to follow and put down and pick up again since Heaney includes story summaries in the margins. As Colin Campbell writes in a review of Heaney's work, "This newborn translation makes accessible to everyone the first supremely great poem to be written in the English language."
Thursday, September 20, 2012
The Hidden Messages in Water by Masaru Emoto
My ninty-one year old grandmother gave me this book for Christmas last year, and I just now read it cover to cover. (On Christmas day I did flip through it and admire the amazing pictures, but it finally made its way to the top of my "books to read" stack.) My grandmother is an artist who reads all the time, is extremely interested in science, and is always sharing with us new things that she reads. While I admittedly don't always take an interest in EVERYTHING that she gives us to read, I was intrigued by the ideas contained in this book.
Masaru Emoto is a Japanese scientist who has conducted hundreds of experiments having to do with water. In this book, he uses the results of his experiments to comment on personal health, the environment, and ways to create peace in the world around us. Emoto shows the reader through photography how water reacts to different energy. For instance, in one experiment, Emoto and his researchers took pieces of paper with different words written on them and wrapped the paper around bottles of water with the words facing in, toward the water inside. The bottles were then frozen, and the crystals were studied. The bottles that had been shown positive words like "Thank you" and "Love and gratitude" formed beautiful, complex crystals. The bottles that were shown negative words like "You fool!" or "You make me sick" did not form any crystals. Similar outcomes appeared when Japanese school children spoke to the bottles of water. (Reading about this made me want to conduct my own frozen experiment, but I doubt tupperware and a magnifying glass would present the same results.) As if this wasn't enough to think about, Emoto goes even further by making suggestions on how we can use energy to create peace in the world.
I am still wrapping my brain around the ideas presented in this book, and I think I might have to pick it up again and read it so that I can think about it more deeply. Emoto presents ideas that are exciting and pretty wild, but I love the overall idea of how energy connects all things on earth, and we have the unique ability to control how our energy affects our experience and the world around us. Near the end of the book, Emoto presents an interesting thought: "If we fill our lives with love and gratitude for all, this consciousness will become a wonderful power that will spread throughout the world. And this is what water crystals are trying to tell us" (Emoto 146). Isn't this a wonderful idea?
Masaru Emoto is a Japanese scientist who has conducted hundreds of experiments having to do with water. In this book, he uses the results of his experiments to comment on personal health, the environment, and ways to create peace in the world around us. Emoto shows the reader through photography how water reacts to different energy. For instance, in one experiment, Emoto and his researchers took pieces of paper with different words written on them and wrapped the paper around bottles of water with the words facing in, toward the water inside. The bottles were then frozen, and the crystals were studied. The bottles that had been shown positive words like "Thank you" and "Love and gratitude" formed beautiful, complex crystals. The bottles that were shown negative words like "You fool!" or "You make me sick" did not form any crystals. Similar outcomes appeared when Japanese school children spoke to the bottles of water. (Reading about this made me want to conduct my own frozen experiment, but I doubt tupperware and a magnifying glass would present the same results.) As if this wasn't enough to think about, Emoto goes even further by making suggestions on how we can use energy to create peace in the world.
I am still wrapping my brain around the ideas presented in this book, and I think I might have to pick it up again and read it so that I can think about it more deeply. Emoto presents ideas that are exciting and pretty wild, but I love the overall idea of how energy connects all things on earth, and we have the unique ability to control how our energy affects our experience and the world around us. Near the end of the book, Emoto presents an interesting thought: "If we fill our lives with love and gratitude for all, this consciousness will become a wonderful power that will spread throughout the world. And this is what water crystals are trying to tell us" (Emoto 146). Isn't this a wonderful idea?
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
For my second choice novel this school year, I decided to choose a book that I thought my high school students would enjoy reading since I am always trying to suggest different books for different folks...as I walked through Barnes and Noble, I saw this on a shelf, and I was intigued by the cover, so I thought I'd give it a try.
The book begins with a boy who is fascinated by his grandfather's life. The boy's grandfather shows the boy pictures of his childhood growing up in an orphanage in Wales; these pictures are of the peculiar children who also lived in the orphanage, and no one really believes the pictures are actually the real deal since some of them are very strange. For instance, the picture on the cover is of a little girl wearing a crown who appears to be levitating. The boy ends up going on a quest to find out how much truth there is to his grandfather's stories while meeting some of these interesting children along the way.
At the end of the book, Riggs tells the reader that the pictures used in the book are all actual photographs that he borrowed from private collections from people who search for and collect vintage photographs.This was so interesting because I just assumed that he had created the images for his book. What an excellent way to find inspiration for a story!
This book was not quite what I was expecting: there is that creepy oddness and mystery that I love, but there are supernatural, fantastical, even historical elements that blend in nicely with the action of the plot. I enjoyed reading this book, and I recommend it to anyone who is looking to be a part of an interesting, surprising tale.
The book begins with a boy who is fascinated by his grandfather's life. The boy's grandfather shows the boy pictures of his childhood growing up in an orphanage in Wales; these pictures are of the peculiar children who also lived in the orphanage, and no one really believes the pictures are actually the real deal since some of them are very strange. For instance, the picture on the cover is of a little girl wearing a crown who appears to be levitating. The boy ends up going on a quest to find out how much truth there is to his grandfather's stories while meeting some of these interesting children along the way.
At the end of the book, Riggs tells the reader that the pictures used in the book are all actual photographs that he borrowed from private collections from people who search for and collect vintage photographs.This was so interesting because I just assumed that he had created the images for his book. What an excellent way to find inspiration for a story!
This book was not quite what I was expecting: there is that creepy oddness and mystery that I love, but there are supernatural, fantastical, even historical elements that blend in nicely with the action of the plot. I enjoyed reading this book, and I recommend it to anyone who is looking to be a part of an interesting, surprising tale.
Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe
I officially made it 236 pages into this classic novel and had to quit. While I think there is so much literary merit in one of the world's first novels, I found it to be extremely episodic. Every ten pages, Moll Flanders, the underprivileged protagonist from the 18th century, leaves a husband and gains a new one. One aspect of this continuous storyline that made me dislike this text was because of the lack of respect for the institution of marriage. While I understand that in the 18th century, laws and forms of communication were few and far between, I have trouble with the way in which Moll Flanders views men as a catalyst into wealth and something to simply shed at the first sign of distress.
After her fifth marriage was dissolving after the usual ten pages, I had to put the book away. I was finding that the structure of the text and the way in which the storyline was like a revolving door was actually making reading a chore for me. I had a really hard time allowing myself to give up reading a book half way through, but the whole purpose of reading is to enjoy it. Therefore, You Win Defoe. You Win. I Surrender!
After her fifth marriage was dissolving after the usual ten pages, I had to put the book away. I was finding that the structure of the text and the way in which the storyline was like a revolving door was actually making reading a chore for me. I had a really hard time allowing myself to give up reading a book half way through, but the whole purpose of reading is to enjoy it. Therefore, You Win Defoe. You Win. I Surrender!
Monday, September 10, 2012
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
In grad school, I became acquainted with Joseph Conrad in a class on Literature and Terrorism. As a result of this first reading, I felt I needed to read more of Conrad's work to truly understand his overall message in his works. Heart of Darkness was a titled I had always heard of but never picked up. Finally I did, and I found the beauty in Conrad's writing once again.
Conrad has this ability to make you think about life on a grander scale. As a result of the imperialistic nature of this text, the truth about human nature rears it's ugly head when the protagonist, Marlow, enters the African, "uncivilized" wilderness to rescue Kurtz, a highly revered man among the imperialists. Kurtz has essentially gone mad over his involvement in the Congo as a result of his experiences. Many of the imperialists believed Kurtz to be capable of changing the natives into more European in nature, when in reality, the natives completely changed Kurtz and drove him to insanity.
A majority of the story takes place on a steamboat on the brink of rescuing Kurtz. But this doesn't mean the story was boring in the least. In fact, this gave the author critical time to spend developing the setting and characterization. As a result, I was completely engulfed in the story. The most inviting aspect of this text was the honesty with which Conrad wrote about a horrific event in African and European history when ivory was the equivalent to oil these days. Conrad didn't "candy-coat" anything. He showed how dark humans can be when there is a glimpse of money of money or power in the future. While this topic may be disturbing to some, I found it to be honest, reflective and inspirational to look inside our own minds.
Conrad has this ability to make you think about life on a grander scale. As a result of the imperialistic nature of this text, the truth about human nature rears it's ugly head when the protagonist, Marlow, enters the African, "uncivilized" wilderness to rescue Kurtz, a highly revered man among the imperialists. Kurtz has essentially gone mad over his involvement in the Congo as a result of his experiences. Many of the imperialists believed Kurtz to be capable of changing the natives into more European in nature, when in reality, the natives completely changed Kurtz and drove him to insanity.
A majority of the story takes place on a steamboat on the brink of rescuing Kurtz. But this doesn't mean the story was boring in the least. In fact, this gave the author critical time to spend developing the setting and characterization. As a result, I was completely engulfed in the story. The most inviting aspect of this text was the honesty with which Conrad wrote about a horrific event in African and European history when ivory was the equivalent to oil these days. Conrad didn't "candy-coat" anything. He showed how dark humans can be when there is a glimpse of money of money or power in the future. While this topic may be disturbing to some, I found it to be honest, reflective and inspirational to look inside our own minds.
Monday, September 3, 2012
The Hunger Games Series
As a amature writer myself, I often think about what exactly it is that makes writing good. When I read Suzanne Collins Hunger Games Series the answer came to me. If the story continues into your dreams, you know the writing is good! This is what happened to me: I transformed into Katniss Everdeen, the sixteen-year-old protective big sister, hunter, survivor... I dodged fireballs, overcame dehydration, set snares and shot small game with my bow, nursed a friend back to life, said goodbye to another, etc. in my dreams. For the two days that it took me to read the first book, I became Katniss.
I don't know why it took me a couple of years to get on The Hunger Games bandwagon, but I'm glad I did. Explaining this story without giving too much away is difficult, but I've narrowed the plot down to a combination of Goldings' Lord of the Flies, Jackson's"The Lottery," Paulson's The Hatchet, and Orwell's 1984. But it also has a futuristic, fantasy feel to it similar to that in The Hobbit and Ender's Game. Collins is a master at poetic lines. I actually have highlighted many to use in class, especially her frequent uses of imagery, vivid verbs, amazing adjectives, participles, and appositives. For example, on the first page of the novel, Collins uses simple words to create specific images: "Sitting at Prim's knees, guarding her, is the world's ugliest cat. Mashed-in nose, half of one ear missing, eyes the color of rotting squash" (Collins 6). And her ability to keep a reader interested was amazing. Just when I neared the end of a chapter and was about to take a break, Collins through in one of her epic cliff hangers, and I was forced to read another chapter to find out what was happening to Katniss.
A brief summary of the novel: Katniss volunteers to take her sister's place in the 74th annual Hunger Games, which is a television show where the world of Panem watches children fight each other to the death (as a sort of sacrifice for a civil war that happened previously). One boy and one girl from each district are drawn to be tributes; therefore, there are twenty-four tributes placed in "the arena," and only one will make it out alive. To see how Katniss out-smarts, out-hunts, out-survives the other tributes in this great adventure that lived on into my dreams.
*To those who've seen the movie: Read the book! (books!) It is better than the movie!
I don't know why it took me a couple of years to get on The Hunger Games bandwagon, but I'm glad I did. Explaining this story without giving too much away is difficult, but I've narrowed the plot down to a combination of Goldings' Lord of the Flies, Jackson's"The Lottery," Paulson's The Hatchet, and Orwell's 1984. But it also has a futuristic, fantasy feel to it similar to that in The Hobbit and Ender's Game. Collins is a master at poetic lines. I actually have highlighted many to use in class, especially her frequent uses of imagery, vivid verbs, amazing adjectives, participles, and appositives. For example, on the first page of the novel, Collins uses simple words to create specific images: "Sitting at Prim's knees, guarding her, is the world's ugliest cat. Mashed-in nose, half of one ear missing, eyes the color of rotting squash" (Collins 6). And her ability to keep a reader interested was amazing. Just when I neared the end of a chapter and was about to take a break, Collins through in one of her epic cliff hangers, and I was forced to read another chapter to find out what was happening to Katniss.
A brief summary of the novel: Katniss volunteers to take her sister's place in the 74th annual Hunger Games, which is a television show where the world of Panem watches children fight each other to the death (as a sort of sacrifice for a civil war that happened previously). One boy and one girl from each district are drawn to be tributes; therefore, there are twenty-four tributes placed in "the arena," and only one will make it out alive. To see how Katniss out-smarts, out-hunts, out-survives the other tributes in this great adventure that lived on into my dreams.
*To those who've seen the movie: Read the book! (books!) It is better than the movie!
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