My Blog Posts!

HERE ARE MY BLOG POSTS:
Nels 1/11
Aldis 1/11
Lollie L (Olivia) 1/5
Stacey J 1/11
Caitlin D 1/5
Kali D 1/5
Eliza 1/11
Kira P 1/11
Will K 1/5
Quinn D 1/5

Go Ask Alice

The most recent book I have read is called Go Ask Alice, and it is written by an anonymous person. The book is written in the form of a diary so there really are no chapters there are mostly journal entries. The book is about a teenage girl's decent into the horrible world of drugs. I thought it was super interesting. I learned about what people are thinking and what kind of events push a person to the point where the don't care about their health or their reputation enough to become a "druggie". The dairy was surprisingly honest and open. It was good because I actually felt like I was reading someone's private diary about their secret life. It also caused me to realize how much of an influence a teenager's friends have on their actions. The main character would have never started doing drugs if it weren't for her friend's influence at a party. Once she was hooked, I was surprised at the things she would do to get her hands on the drugs. She would stop at nothing for the ability to feel what she called "free" when she was high. The protagonist in the book, the author of the diary, is really insane. She does many things that I would never consider doing. When she is high, she makes some of the dumbest choices. For example, she runs away multiple times. One time, her and a few of her messed up friends left their homes and went to Denver just for the heck of it. She ended up sleeping under a shrub freezing cold with very few blankets. I think that kind of serves her right. It was her choice to run away, so she should have to deal with the consequences. Sometimes, she can't fix what she's unknowingly done under the influence. Overall, I loved the book, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes dark books that are realistic.

Story Of A Girl

Santa claus brought me some new books to read over break. One of them, called Story Of A Girl by Sara Zarr, I did end up reading during my free time. It is a national book award finalist book. I didn't like it that much. It was decent, but I expected it to be better with all the praise it was receiving. My mom said the worker at Barnes and Noble highly reccomended the book and told her I would just love it. The novel was all about a thirteen year old girl, Deanna Lambert, who's dad walked in on one of her many hook ups with seventeen year old, Tommy Webber, in the back of his old Buick late at night. Word of this event traveled all around Deanna's school, and everyone knew about the hookup. She was soon known to be the school slut. The book is about how she dealt with this sad reality. It really opened my eyes to how aware girls should be about their reputations. It also made me realize how much work it takes to regain an individuals reputation. It isn't easy to prove to everyone you aren't a slut. Once you make a poor choice and become known as easy, it is very difficult to prove to the world that is a false idea of who you are. Although it may seem like you could just deny many guys and not be known as a slut, it took Deanna way more than that to become a regular respected girl again. Once she recieved that reputation, she learned it really wasn't worth it. She wished she had waited for a guy she actually loved and hadn't rushed into things. She also learned once she was given that reputation, she was no longer respected most males. They all beleived they had a right to push her around and treat her poorly. She suffered many consequences from her hookup and regretted it greatly. The book taught me to really watch out for my reputaion for it is not easy to regain if I somehow made a horrible choice that caused a change in view about me as a person.

The Last LEcture #2

After finishing the book, I have new found respect for Randy Pausch. He is an inspiration and truly is an amazing person. The book continued, and the reader began to read the actual lecture. I couldn't believe how good the lecture was. He covered so many deep points in a small amount of time and pages it was incredible. The lecture really made the reader understand how much of an effort Randy made when he was still alive to compensate for him being ill. He knew he would leave his family with a huge hole when he passed away. He also knew he only had a five percent or less chance of staying alive. In his book, he talked about how he wished he could be there for his kids and get to know them, but he knew he most likely wouldn't be able to. He also said he wanted to leave his kids with this lecture, so they could read it and partially get to know who he really was. Randy wasn't afraid to talk about anything during his lecture. He confronted everything no matter how good or bad the information was. There was one part of the book I loved where he shared some advice his father had once giving him. The advice was something similar to "If there is an elephant in the room, the sooner it is out in the open, the better." I loved that piece of advice because it is so true. The faster something negative or bad gets out, the better. At the beginning of his lecture, he flat out told the crowd he was battling cancer. I loved that about him. He wasn't afraid to share negative information with people, and didn't let talking about it get him down. The last section of the book was a bunch of little quotes and advice Randy had for his readers. I thought this section was especially useful. He had some great advice to give that could potentially bennefit any individual. After I was done reading it, I discussed it with my mom. Our whole family read the book over break. I learned the author had eventually died. I couldn't help but feel sad. I thought his book was amazing and it caused me to look deep within myself and realize I need to think about other people's feelings more often.

The Last Lecture #1

Over break, I read started the book the last lecture. The first one hundred pages made me laugh out loud, cry, and really reflect on the way others are feeling. I couldn't put the book down. It was written by Randy Pausch, a professor who had a positive outlook on life. He became seriously ill with terminal cancer. He was asked to give a last lecture. He was given the opportunity to talk about really anything his heart desired. The beginning of the book was about his family and his life before he was diagnosed. He seems to have a relatively normal life, and he was living peacefully with a wife and three kids. He loved them very much. During the book, he talked about his feelings and went deep into the ways he used to cope with his illness. People forget how scared the actual individuals are with the sickness. No one wants to die. It was interesting for me to read and realize how he was feeling. I never seemed to think of sick people feelings until I read this book. It caused me to understand where they are coming from a bit more. Also, in the book, he writes about family memories. I loved the fact he included this in his writing because it added some humor to the serious book. There was one part that made me laugh the most. It was when he described his wedding day. His wife and him were in a hot air balloon that failed to work correctly, and they ended up having a crash landing. The way he described it was hilarious. His outlook on life was stunning to me. He never once complained about how unfair it was that he was the one who got sick. He never once stopped believing he would battle the cancer. So far, the book is very good. I have never read anything like it. It causes readers to laugh and cry at the same time.

Nineteen Minutes. #6.

This week, I had more time then usual to read for outside reading, and I ended up finishing the story. I absolutely loved the book. The ending was completely unpredictable. I don't think any reader would have imagined the book ending the way it did. The book ended with Josie saying she was the one the killed Matt. She completely took all the blame from Peter which wasn't expected. At first, I hated the ending and couldn't believe what I had just read. After thinking about the story, I started to understand Josie's reasoning. She had been super good friends with Peter all her younger years, until about 7th grade year when she became friends with the popular people. 9th grade year, she started dating the popular jock, Matt. He was never extremely loving towards her, and he spoke to her in an abusive way. Josie was one of those girls who would do anything to be popular. She longed for the title, and Matt helped her be popular. She was afraid and scared to be friends with Peter because he was considered the typical "nerd". She didn't want to ruin her popular name by not being like everyone else and being nice to "nerds". She wasn't strong enough to stand up to her clique and tell them she thought it was right to be nice to everyone, including the "nerds" and "geeks". She was afraid of what it would do to her reputation. I starting thinking about the ending, and I concluded it was her way of trying to make up for her actions. I think she desperately wanted to show Peter she was still by his side, and still considered him her friend deep down inside. I think the ending was proof that Josie was an individual who was extremely confused and easily manipulated. She spent all of her time trying to fit in and impress everyone at school and in her life. Overall, Jodi Picoult has yet to disappoint me with one of her novels. I couldn't believe how amazing the book was. It caused me to really think about how Josie was feeling and what prompted her actions. Not every story has the power to make the reader put themselves in the protagonist's shoes, but Jodi Picoult's stories are always thought provoking and original.

Nineteen Minutes. #5.

This week, I didn't have much time to continue reading nineteen minutes. I am currently a little over half way through the book. I still love the book and continue to learn new things from the reading. The book continues to emphasize the things most people wouldn't traditionally think about like the killer's feelings and those of the killer's parents. Most people would feel terrible for the victims of the shooting. The way Jodi Picoult writes causes the reader to have sympathy for Peter. The style of writing makes some people feel worse for Peter than the victims and their families. The book especially shows Peter's parents inner struggle over the love of their son. They can't decide if the sin their son has commited is forgivable. They are having a real problem trying to chose if their kid is worthy of their love and what specific actions they should take to support him through his struggle and difficult time. They are trying to figure out the most productive way to help get their son out of the slump he has gotten himself into. They obviously also feel protective of their kid and don't want him to be an outcast. This is an interesting topic to think about because it causes teenagers to consider how their parents would react if they pulled a stunt this horrible. It makes me wonder what my parents would do and fully understand what great parents they are by never letting me fall low enough where I would ever feel compeled to do anything that life changing and messed up.