Finally

When I first began this class my level on independent reading varied. I would not by any means call myself a persistant reader. I would read books that my friends had recommended and said were good but I would not read on a dailey basis. I read alot more during the summer than I do during the school year because I have so many other things going on. With having this class it made me become more of an independent reader at first. At first I was really excited about all the reading and blogging but after so much of it I was a bit burnt out with all of it. I never really had much trouble meeting the amount of page numbers required, but I did find myself struggling to blog 600 words EVERY week. THis class gave me more of a respect for reading and realizing that if you dont like a book once you're about 50 pages into it then it is in fact ok to not finish it. Just pick up another book in its place. I find myself liking any type of book that can relate to reality situations. I also like there to be some kind of romance going on throughout the plot of a book. I do not like books with action as much because I would rather see that type of thing on a movie instead of trying to picture it in my head. I also like book with factual information to a certain extent. I am in AP U.S history and we have to read our books for homework most nights and that is too much information to have to try and take in all at once. I like to pace myself when learning facts from my own reading. It also helps if the facts are interesting and keep my attention or could some how help my future.

close reading bingo

weakness # 9
"This character doesn’t actually believe that his parents are “nice” he is just saying it to please his parents."
Kyle Lake

weakness # 1
"He also uses dull sarcasm like when he describes his parents as "nice". "
Noodles

weakness # 6
"The careful diction used to describe the setting escalates an image in the readers mind."
the lost message of words

weakness # 6
 "shows the way he is able to control his writing."
back of the napkin


strongest blog: inside out

Practice Diction Analysis

The crisp words that are used in Catcher in the Rye depict that his emotions are like a closed box, not wanting to deal with issues that seem non-important to him. The elevated amount of diction infers that there is a sarcastic kind of tone that is being expressed throught the excerpt. The language is easy to comprehend and the imagery is hard to picture. The lack of detail gives the excerpt a low sense of exhuberance.

currently

pages read this week: 177

amanda
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, is a high level reading book, and reads very scholarly.

the chief
The bluntness of a troting horse through the western plains shows the low diction and connotative somberness and the harsh night silence leaves you wondering about the lone cowboy in Blood Medidian by Cormac McCarthy.

Mariah
The narrator talks in a low blunt and course way which conveys straightforward and literal.  Words are used such as "colic" and "chilluns." Chilluns is a slang term for children.  This is an example of why this excerpt is not a denotative tone. 

style mapping

The language I observed in Stardust has high elevated descriptiveness. " The houses of Wall are sqaure and old, built of grey stone, with dark slate roofs and high chimneys." This excerpt uses words that most people can relate to yet also has a poise about it. The descriptive words help set a good sense of imagery. It is very easy to picture what is being described. The excerpt of Blood Meridian has a medium level of poetic fanciness. "Now come days of begging, days of theft. Days of riding where there rode no soul save he." There is a good sense of imagry in this as well along with personification. From Alice Seabold's book Lucky there is low and vulgar when describing events that happened throughout the book. It is also blunt and straightforward when giving you details. The author also uses familiar tactics to try and relate to her audiance.

Quarterly

So far this semester I have been reading a lot less than I normally do because it is hard to find time with all the work I have going on this year. Reading is something that I enjoy doing and I wish I had more time for it. Even though I have not had as much time as i would like, I have still read some really good books. This quarter I have read close to 5 books. I am a bit disappointed in how little time I have to put forward in reading. I am the type of person who gets scared to try a new book because I am afraid that I won't like it and then I will not be able to put it down because once I start a book regaurdless of If it is good or not I have to finish it. It is earier to read books when people have recommended to me books that they have read and liked. The rest of this semester I plan to read as much as I can. Even if I have a ton of other work I will make sure to set aside time to read, even if it might only be for a half hour or so at least I would be getting something accomplished.

Lucky

I've spent some time annotating Lucky and trying to comprehend things a little better. I'm at the point in the book where she returns home and explains how it feels to try and live up to her parents standards. This is a point in the book where I feel as if a lot of people can relate to this situation. I have a friend for example that always feels like she has to be better than her older brother and she feels like he is the favorite child and so she feels like she can never meet those expectations.In reality though, parents will love you no matter in most cases. This girl had low self esteem before because her parents would always make comments about her weight and her appearance, he mom would always buy her clothes 3 sizes too big. Her mom said it was better that way so it keeps people guessing. Now that this girl has been raped, her self esteem has been sent in to an all time low and her friends are trying there best to help her get through this.