Best Sellers Post 12: Reading Wishlist

1. The Perks of Being a wall flower by Stephan Chbosky

2. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

3. Hollow City by Ransom Riggs

4. Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin

5. Where'd you go Bernadette by Maria Semple

6. The Light between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

7. The Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R. Tolkein

8. The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkein

9. Daughter's of Rome by Kate Quinn

10. Empress of The Seven Hills by Kate Quinn

I plan on reading The Perks of Being a Wall Flower as my 4th book. :)

Best Sellers Post 11: Book Talk Presentation

Best Sellers Post 10 Book 3 Review: Looking for Alaska **some spoilers**

From just looking at the cover, it would never have been guessed what the book was actually about. Drugs, sex, pranks, partying, first love, tragedy, and mistakes. Those words have teenager written all over them. The true and honest life of teenagers is very well captured through John Green’s book Looking for Alaska.

A roller coaster ride of emotions one might say because it’s almost impossible to assume what’s going to happen next. The part that makes John Green’s book Looking for Alaska so strong is how he tells the book through Miles (Pudge) point of view. The book starts off with him getting sent to boarding school which is where he meets his friends….his first actual friends.  Alaska, Miles (Pudge), Takumi, Laura, and Chip (The Colonel). They are all just a group of friends just looking to live in the moment and have a good time while doing it showing Miles both the sweet and the sour sides of life. Then tragedy strikes and nothing is ever the same. Him being the narrator shows all of the characters though his eyes and how different they are to him. Miles being a new student at Culver Creek is also very interesting again making him as the narrator work because he see’s things in more detail, versus the others who have been at the school for a while and everything is kind of the same to them. For example he is in love with the bullfridos (burritos) at school and describes them in such detail its funny.  When reading the book the characters voices pop off of the page and into your head like a catchy song, which Miles helps to compose.

Looking for Alaska is set starting 136 days before. This is a great way to start off the book because it keeps the reader wondering about what is after the before. Then towards the middle of the book there is a page that says after and from then on everything is marked a certain or certain number of days after the tragic event that happens to Alaska, starting on day 1. This is a very intriguing way to do a piece because it keeps the readers interested about what is happening next

Miles is a very important, relatable character to the readers because he has no friends and is a wall flower for the longest time. Always hiding in the shadows, afraid to come to light and be himself. “I laughed and nodded my head at him (that’s cool, right? The nod?) and said I’m Miles Halter. Nice to meet you” (Green 10).  Although he eventually finds his group of friends and learns it’s nice to be himself and to have genuine friends that care about him even if they get him into a little trouble. Throughout the book Miles grows up quite a lot and learns what it’s like to deal with tragedy and heartbreak. Seeing him progress as a character is very exciting for the reader which is why Miles is such a well written character.

The Colonel can be a very cocky and overly confident character to others. But when he is a friend he protects them to the very end. He is a great believer in loyalty and would never rat anyone out even if they were his enemy because he knows they pay the same respect back. At the beginning of the story he does not come off as a very emotional down to Earth character but as the reader gets to know him throughout the book it is clear he is. “We met and I held him, my hands balled into tight fists around his shoulders, and he wrapped his short arms around me and squeezed tight, so that I felt the heaves of his chest” (Green 214).

 

Alaska is a very crazy and impulsive character. She doesn’t think about anyone but herself when making decisions. Readers often get frustrated with her because of this, and the repercussions that come with her mistakes. “how did this happen? How could she be so stupid! She just never thought anything through. So goddamned impulsive” (Green 145).. This quote shows very clearly that Alaska is a crazy, impulsive, selfish character. Throughout the book Alaska never changes as a character she only becomes more and more impulsive which again frustrates the readers making it one of the weaker points of the story. Alaska, whom instead of going up to the light of life takes a deep spiral down to the unknown and never comes back.

 

This book deserves a 5/5 rating because it was such a true book. It didn’t hold back on raw or inappropriate in some people’s eyes topics. It isn’t a book that’s sugarcoated and sweet, it can be but at most times its raw a bitter telling what real life is like. Now that is a book that deserves a 5/5 stars.

 

 

Final Blogger Reflection

Link to my best voice blog post-
here

Specific words or phrases to demonstrate my writer’s voice in my post the worst thing about my book: Fahrenheit 451 is when I say “I don't think they should burn such great sources of knowledge even if it might threaten their power, their being the government or whoever runs America now.” This specific phrase shows you my opinion on the fact that the government is burning books which helps to strengthen my voice and give the readers a chance to connect with my piece because since it’s an opinion they might disagree or agree with me. I also demonstrate good writer’s voice when I say “I believe learning and hearing about different perspectives is very important because it can help us figure out our own perspective on life and others matters and it also keeps us open to new ideas and opinions.” This is showing you again my take on the topic of burning books and how I believe it can help us in our everyday life. These examples demonstrate great use of my writer’s voice.

The punctuation in my piece allows the readers to think and to connect to my writing. For example when I ask the questions “Do you think burning books is the best part of the book? Do you think burning the books is a justified thing to do?” Again this is allowing my readers to connect to my piece and to get their own opinions about burning books. I put this type of syntax at the end to leave the readers thinking about my piece so once they finished reading my piece wouldn’t just escape their mind because no one when writing wants a forgettable piece.  I use some elevated diction in my piece like “Perspective” “justified” and “threaten”. Although these words can be well known there are lower, informal words that could be used in their place. For example for perspective you could say opinion, or for justified you could use the words is it right, and lastly for threaten you could say harm or endanger. So therefore by using this elevated diction it really helps my piece sound like a more serious type of writing but at the same time I don’t use too much elevated diction to where it becomes not understandable or relatable. I placed my elevated diction all around my piece, trying to spread them out so I wouldn’t over whelm my reader with it.

I believe my Fahrenheit 415 post had my best writer’s voice in it because it emphasized my writer’s voice well, and my use of diction and syntax. These all being very important puzzle pieces to writing a great voice piece and writing piece in general. Which is why I picked it to be the piece I did my final blogger reflection over.   

What does the book tell us about how people behave?

In my book Mrs. Peregrines it teaches you a lot about how people act. It teaches you sometimes people trust in new people even though it could be a very risky thing to do. Like when Mrs. Peregrine trusts Jacob and lets him into her home even though it could blow their whole cover. Or when Jacob trusts the two boys to take him into the woods to the house when he doesn't really know who they are. Even when he trusts in his grandpa telling him the truth about his stories even though he has no proof they are real. Another thing it teaches you about how people behave is that kids tend to go against what their parents say because when Jacob's dad says don't venture off by himself without someone to guide him because he was in a new place. Does your character in your book show any of theses characteristics? As you can tell my book tells you a lot about how people behave.

Best Sellers post 9: Likeability

The narrator of my book in Looking for Alaska by John Green is actually very likeable and relatable.  Miles Halter is my narrator and he is just like every other teenager wanting to fit in, wanting to have friends and not be socially awkward, wanting a relationship, and is very self-conscious who can be a  bit of a follower at times. This is why he is so relatable and likeable because you can relate a lot to him and what he’s going through as a teenager.

Miles Halter fits the argument made by Jennifer Weiner that there is nothing wrong with having a likeable character. I believe having Miles as the narrator and making him so relatable and likeable makes the book ultimately better and it makes me want to continue on reading the book. If a book did not have a very likeable narrator I honestly don’t think I would like it as much. So I do not agree with Claire Messud when she thinks that having a likeable character takes away from the book and or the message behind it, because I believe it actually adds to the book and makes it more intriguing to read. You get emotionally attached in a way to these narrators and the things that they go through so I really do not believe you’re missing anything by liking the narrator I believe you are opening up your understanding and love for the book even more.

 Looking for Alaska’s genre has a little bit of everything in it, but its main genre would be Realistic fiction. Even though Looking for Alaska has a likable narrator it is still a very literate book. It discusses the serious topics and hardships of being a teenager (alcohol, smoking, mischief, first love, etc.). So I don’t believe Claire Messud’s argument of the more likeable the narrator the more less literate the book, because again Looking for Alaska has a likeable narrator and is very much so literate in my opinion.

Looking for Alaska: Future events predictions and questions

I just started John Green's Looking for Alaska the book starts off based on a certain number of days before something happens which I haven't read far enough to figure out what. So instead of reading based off of different chapters your reading based off of a number of days 'before'. I believe based on how the book is set up something huge is going to happen. I believe its going to have something to do with one of my main characters Alaska because in the book trailer it leads you to believe that. Also in the title it says looking for Alaska so it again hints something is going to happen to Alaska. Plus when you read it shows through Alaska's dialogue and ways of life she is quite reckless and doesn't really care about what happens to her. My questions for the book right now would be What happens to Alaska? And how does this affect the story and everyone in it?