Closing 2009 Reading

Over this past year I have read a total of 21 one books. However, I did not count all the books I attempted to read and did not fully finish, such as Wuthering Heights.

My goal for the year of 2010 is to read the quintessential 52 in 52 weeks. Instead of reading only 52, I wish and hope to read 104. Although, hopefully I will be getting a job and going to college when I graduate this year.

Wish me good look on my trek to reach my 104 goal!!!!

Book 6

Title: A Lesson Before Dying

Author: Ernest J. Gaines

Pages: 263

A.R Points: 11

Grade: 99/100

Date Finished: December 9, 2009

Publication: 1993

Genre: Fiction; historical fiction; social commentary

Favorite Character(s):
1.Grant Wiggins
2.Jefferson

Feelings when finished: I really liked this book, and the reason why I gave this book a 99 is because I feel like the plot dragged a bit during the middle.

Other books by author:
1.A Gathering of Old Men

Plot: Two black men--one a teacher, the other a death-row inmate--struggle to live and die with dignity.

Book 5

Title: Macbeth

Author: William Shakespeare

Pages: 89

A.R Points: 4

Grade: 89/100

Date Finished: November 12, 2009

Publication: 1603

Genre: Tragic play

Favorite Character(s):
1.Lady Macbeth
2.Macduff

Feelings when finished: I am glad Macbeth died and sadly Lady Macbeth (whom I played in class) too. I liked this play a lot and was sad it ended, but I loved that there was so many deaths signifying the virtues that were lacking in that era.

Other books by author:
1.Antony and Cleopatra
2.Othello

Plot: Beguiled by the prophesies of the "weird sisters," and urged on by his wife, Macbeth acts on his intense political ambition, with tragic consequences.

Book 4- Ellen Foster

Title: Ellen Foster

Author: Kaye Gibbons

Pages: 126

A.R Points: 6

Grade: 96/100

Date Finished: October 16, 2009

Publication: 1987

Genre: Modern fictional narrative

Favorite Character(s):
1.Ellen Foster
2.Starletta

Feelings when finished: I was very annoyed with the fact that the book reminded me that of The Secret Life of Bees. However, I did enjoy Ellen's character in the book and I did sympathize with her and her troubled adolescence.

Other books by author:
1.A Virtuous Woman
2.The Life Around Me by Ellen Foster

Plot: Ellen has to deal with many things--her mothers death, lack of supervision and becoming a foster child.

Reading Response Question:

1. What character do you least like? Why?-I have several characters I disliked. One being Ellen's father, abusive both sexually and mentally. Ellen's mama's mama for being so uncaring for her granddaughter's welfare and blaming Ellen for her daughter's death. Infact, I dislike Ellen's entire family.

2. How have you changed since reading this book?-I learned that even though someone like Ellen can grow up in a hell of a family but still find happiness in another home that gives her the love she needs and deserves.

3. What made you wonder in this book?-Why and how a family can be so heart less to a child's needs?

Book 3

Title: My Heartbeat

Author: Garret Freymann-Weyr

Pages: 154

A.R. Points: 5

Grade:100/100

Date Finished: October 24, 2009

Publication: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children (April 29, 2002)

Genre: Young Adult Fiction

Favorite Characters:
1. Ellen
2. Link
3. James

Feelings when finished: I loved this book so much! It only took me two days to read it. I loved Ellen's relationship with her brother Link and her crush, later boyfriend, James. I was so mad at Link's dad for not accepting his son might just be gay. However, I loved how innocent Ellen was in trying to help her brother and James.

Other books by author:
1. After the Moment
2. When I was older

Plot: A fourteen-year-old girl who discovers that her brother and his best friend, James, who she has been in love with for years, are a gay couple.

Reading Response Questions:

1.What character do you like least? Why?
Link and Ellen's father for being so dense on his son's obvious sexuality. If Link or Ellen, for that matter, was gay so what? There is nothing wrong with being gay or bisexual.

2.How have you changed after reading this book?
My thoughts on the parents who deny their children the freedom to be what they want has definitely grown stronger.

3.What makes you wonder in this book?
How can you not know your child is gay.

School Reading book 2

Title: Julius Caesar

Author: William Shakespeare

Pages: 95

A.R. Points: 4

Date Finished: September 08, 2009

Publication: 1599?

Genre: Tragic play

Grade: 99/100

Favorite Characters
1. Caius Cassius
2. Marcus Brutus

Favorite quotes:
1.1. Et tu, Brute? [Act III line 84]
2.These growing feathers plucked from Ceaser's wing will make him fly an ordinary pitch, who else would soar above the view of men and keep us all in servile fearfulness. [Act 1]
3.For the eye sees not itself but by reflection, by some other things.
4.This day I breathed first. Time is come around, and where I did begin, there shall I end. My life is run his compass. [Act V. ]

Other books by author:
1. Othello
2. Midnight Summer's Dream

Plot:
In this striking tragedy of political conflict, Shakespeare turns to the ancient Roman world and to the famous assassination of Julius Caesar by his republican opponents.

Reading Response Questions:

1. What character do you like least? Why?-I think that Ceaser was my least favorite, because I think Shakespeare sort of portrayed him as an imbecile and kind of a pansy who should have listened to those who warned him of his death.
2.How have you changed after reading this book?
-I have learned that the people you believe to be your friends could very well be the ones who murder you viciously.
3.What makes you wonder in this book?
-How someone who you believe to be your confidant could be so vile and kill you.

My Response: I loved this play! My favorite character is that of Caius Cassius, the main "bad guy" of the story. The only gripe I have of this story is that maybe Shakespeare should have included more of Ceasar, hello the name of the story! I give the book a 99/100.

School Reading book 1

Title: The Metamorphosis

Author: Franz Kafka

Pages: 54

A.R. Points: 12

Date Finished: September 5, 2009

Publication: Bantam

Genre: Philosophical novella

Grade: 98/100

Favorite Characters:
1. Gregor Samsa

Favorite quotes:
1. This getting up early, makes anyone a complete idiot. pg. 4
2.Thinking things over calmly-indeed, as calmly as possible was much better than jumping to desperate decisions. pg. 8
3.Were all employees louts without exception, wasn't there a single loyal, dedicated worker among them who, when he had not fully utilized a few hours of the morning for the firm, was driven half-mad by pangs of conscience and was actually unable to get out of bed? pg. 9
4.His parent did not understand this too well; in the course of the years they had formed the conviction, that Gregor was set for life in this firm; and furthermore, they were so preoccupied for immediate troubles that they had lost all consideration for the future. pg. 17

My Response: I intially liked this book. For the reason of how alienated Gregor became when he was transformed into his "beetle-like" state.The only fault is the ending when the family just completely forgets their dead son and focuses on their daughter. Really? Your son is dead and not to mention an insect and a giant one nonetheless. Have some compassion! :D

Other books by author:
1. The Trial
2. The Castle

Plot: The story begins with a traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa, waking to find himself transformed into an insect.

Reading Response Questions:

1. What character do you like least? Why? -I hated the entire family because of the horrible way they treated Gregor.

2.How have you changed after reading this book?
- I learned that sometimes you yourself are a monstrosity to what society and your family make you.

3.What makes you wonder in this book?
- I wondered how Gregor became a beetle-like bug?
- I also wonder how things would have played out if Gregor had not died

Summer Reading Book 6

Title: The Secret Life of Bees

Author: Sue Monk Kidd

My Response: I really enjoyed this novel, I started apprehensibly, not knowing really what I was going to be reading. When I began to read I knew Lily and I were very similar in that I have often wondered about things that I was too old to even understand. My example being in this story, Lily has always wondered why her mother had left her and if she really had a part in her mother's untimely death. I will not disclose whether or not she did because I do not want to ruin the whole story for those who decide to read this book. My grade is a 95/100. The only problem I had with the story is how fast everything seem to happen. I did enjoy the beautiful imagery of the bees and the bee hives. The parallelism between Lily and the bees was also a great addage to the story.

Plot: 14-year-old Lily Owen, neglected by her father and isolated on their South Carolina peach farm, spends hours imagining a blissful infancy when she was loved and nurtured by her mother, Deborah, whom she barely remembers. These consoling fantasies are her heart's answer to the family story that as a child, in unclear circumstances, Lily accidentally shot and killed her mother. All Lily has left of Deborah is a strange image of a Black Madonna, with the words "Tiburon, South Carolina" scrawled on the back. The search for a mother, and the need to mother oneself, are crucial elements in this well-written coming-of-age story set in the early 1960s against a background of racial violence and unrest. When Lily's beloved nanny, Rosaleen, manages to insult a group of angry white men on her way to register to vote and has to skip town, Lily takes the opportunity to go with her, fleeing to the only place she can think of--Tiburon, South Carolina--determined to find out more about her dead mother.

Grade: 95/100

Summer Reading book 5

Title: Flowers for Algernon

Author: Daniel Keyes

My Response: I absolutely adore this novel! It is my favorite of the whole summer reading list I composed. It is a heartbreaking and eye opening novel that I could relate to in absolute way. The main character Charles Gordon, also known as Charlie, is a very sad, resolute character that I loved even when everyone around him seemed to hate and fear him. I give the novel 100/100 because I could not find a single element to this story that did not have me hooked from the very beginning.

Plot: Algernon is extra-clever thanks to an experimental brain operation so far tried only on animals. Charlie eagerly volunteers as the first human subject. After frustrating delays and agonies of concentration, the effects begin to show and the reports steadily improve: "Punctuation, is? fun!" But getting smarter brings cruel shocks, as Charlie realizes that his merry "friends" at the bakery where he sweeps the floor have all along been laughing at him, never with him. The IQ rise continues, taking him steadily past the human average to genius level and beyond, until he's as intellectually alone as the old, foolish Charlie ever was--and now painfully aware of it. Then, ominously, the smart mouse Algernon begins to deteriorate.

Grade: 100/100

My Summer Reading book 4

Title: The Nanny Diaries

Authors: Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus

This novel really had me at a cross-road of emotional deficit. While I really loved how Nanny's relationship with Grayer, her charge, greatly improved and at times had funny scenarios with great endings, I still found the main basis of the plot to be weak. Her name Naminia was a much better name than her nickname, which is ironic given her profession, Nanny. Wow! How creative. I would have preferred her to use her real name as opposed to the nickname.

The story itself, which is where my issue really lies, is a good idea but, I feel the authors, who were nannies themselves, could have put more effort as to the plot. They could have written that the wife does find the mistress's panties and had a complete nuclear meltdown. That would have been much more entertaining to read as opposed to the wife just living in denial. However, I did like that the wife did indeed know but, still chose to act like nothing was wrong. Which most cheated on spouses do in reality. So, I guess I just contradicted myself, but I digress.

My favorite character had to be Grayer. The driving force that held the novel together for me. If would not have been for him I probably would have given up on the book in its entirety. I thought the way he treated Nan at the beginning was genius and hilarious. I hated his mother and father for leaving their child raising to a nanny they barely knew and did not fully trust. Also, the way they treated their help appalled me and I wanted so badly to just smack them up side their thick skulls with a teddy bear and yell until my head exploded.

All in all, the book was o.k. It did have me laughing and crying at times but, most of the time I was bored and wanted the story to have more plot to it.

80/100

My Summer Reading Book 3

Title: The Joy Luck Club

Author: Amy Tan

I enjoyed this novel by the fabulous Amy Tan. All the different stories from the four Chinese-American families really had me feeling a different pathos for the majority of the novel. My favorite stories came from the mothers who I felt were more interesting than their daughters. However, the one mother I wanted a background story from was Jing-Mei's mother Suyuan Woo. All the other daughter's mothers had very beautiful and at times hard tells that had me feeling great sympathy. The daughter's stories just seemed immature and at times pety. The mothers' stories definitely had my attention alot more than their daughter's stories. I give the novel itself an 88 because my attention did falter a bit and at times I felt the stories were too drug out. Overall, this novel and it's story is a classic that everyone should read atleast once.

88/100

Summer Reading Book 2

Title: My Sister's Keeper

Author: Jodi Picoult

When I first started this novel I expected it to be a bore fest and one that would be a preachy testament to a girl having cancer and the repercussions her family has to endure. While I was right about the latter, this novel actually made me tear up and think about what a family has to abide by when struck with a tragedy such as cancer. The novel is divided by different point of views and I loved reading the older son's (Jesse), and the younger daughter's (Anna) point of view the most, because of my being a teen girl as well. I can definitely see why they would seem invisible in a house full of alertness for their middle sister Kate.

I found the adults chapters to be sort of a drag to read, because they didn't really seem to take into account the teens feelings. However, I did like reading the dad's (Brian) because he seemed to be aware of his childern's feelings. The mother, Sara, made me so angry because of her being so blind to Anna and Jesse and too much involved with Kate's life. I understand that being a parent can be hard, but ignoring the needs of your other children's lives is really the works of a selfish mother if I ever read one.

Campbell (the lawyer) and Julia's (guardian ad litem) chapters kept my attention, but I was so annoyed by their tumultuous realationship that I dreaded any time I saw their chapters and read with a bored exterior. Campbell , I liked somewhat, because of his sarcasim and witty comments. Julia, I liked her more because of the way she reacted to Campbell's douchbaggieness and her lesbian sister Isobel, (whom I love).

All in all, I give the book a 94 and I did enjoy it, but there were times I dreaded picking it up to read. If you like books that make you think about life this is definitely one to pick up, and if you love Jodi Picouolt then, you will most likely love this novel.

Summer Reading Book 1

Title: Crazy in Alabama

Author: Mark Childress

In eleventh grade English class we had to watch the movie version as part of our end of the year movie month and I really loved it! Miss Evans suggested that we read the book as she says that it is the better of the two. I being the one to take suggestions for anytype of book began to read it as my summer reading. I really enjoyed reading Peejoe's sections, as being a teen myself, could definitely understand all the confusion he was feeling at a time in history that many of us have only read about. Lucille's sections hit my feminine side and made me laugh very hard at her sexual experiences as well as sexual awakening. Much like the movie, with a few things added, I had different opinions about how I felt about the story itself. I give the book a 94/100. The movie however, I give a grade lower [90/100] for its subtractions of scenes I feel they should have added as well as extended, such as, the court scene with Lucille and the judge.

94/100 (94%)

Month 5

May (1 book)

Book Title: City of Bones

Date finished: May 13

Author: Cassandra Clare

Pages: 485

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry; March 27, 2007

Type of book: Young adult fiction

Received at/from: Joseph Norris

Interest in book: Wanted to see what everyone was going on about.

Favorite characters: Jace Wayland

Feelings when finished: I didn't really like the book, because it reminded me a little too much of Twilight and Harry Potter. However with that being said I did like the story itself, while Jace, my favorite character in the book, did come off as an asshole with his arrogance and ways he put Clary and her best friend Simon down. At first I will admit it was funny, but then it got too redundent.

Other works by author: City of Ashes, City of Glass

Rating: 8.5/10 85%

Month 2 Reviews and comments

Month 2
This month I did read, but switched so many times from one book to another that I initally just ended up reading just three full length books. Here are my reviews:

A Streetcar Named Desire- 100/100
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof- 100/100
Dead Until Dark- 100/100

So this month, I really enjoyed the three books I read.


Book 8

Dead Until Dark
Charlaine Harris
Started: February 6, 2009
Finished: February 14, 2009
Pages: 292

Plot:
Dead Until Dark is a vampire-mystery novel written by author Charlaine Harris. It was originally published in 2001 in paperback. It is the first book of the The Southern Vampire Mysteries, and focuses primarily on a young telepathic waitress from Bon Temps, Louisiana named Sookie Stackhouse, who begins a romantic entanglement with her vampire neighbor amongst a series of murders of young women in town.

My Rating: 100/100

My Thoughts:
I absolutely loved this novel! This is an example of what all vampire novels should have in it. The main character Sookie is so awesome and cool I couldn't help but love her. Her wit and sarcasm is as charming as the book it self. Highly recommended!


Book 7

Cat On A Hot Tin Roof
Tennessee Williams
Started: February 8, 2009
Finished: February 8, 2009
Pages: 208


Plot:
"Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" is the story of a Southern family in crisis, focusing on the turbulent relationship of a wife and husband, Maggie "The Cat" and Brick Pollitt, and their interaction with Brick's family over the course of one evening gathering at the family estate in Mississippi, ostensibly to celebrate the birthday of patriarch and tycoon "Big Daddy" Pollitt. Maggie, through wit and beauty, has escaped a childhood of desperate poverty to marry into the wealthy Pollitt family, but finds herself suffering in an unfulfilling marriage. Brick, an aging football hero, has neglected his wife and further infuriates her by ignoring his brother's attempts to gain control of the family fortune. Brick's indifference and his near-continuous drinking date back to the recent suicide of his friend Skipper. Big Daddy is unaware that he has cancer and will not live to see another birthday; his doctors and his family have conspired to keep this information from him and his wife. His relatives are in attendance and attempt to present themselves in the best possible light, hoping to receive the definitive share of Big Daddy's enormous wealth.

My rating: 100/100

My thoughts:
I really loved this play! More so than A Street Car Named Desire! What I like most is the horrible ways the family treats one another, because let's be honest most families treat each other like that. The realization of greed in American society speaks through this awesome play. Definitely a good and fast read.



Book 6

A Street Car Named Desire
Tennessee Williams
Started: February 2, 2009
Finsihed: February 6, 2009
Pages: 141
A.R. Points: 4

Plot:
Widely considered a landmark play, A Streetcar Named Desire deals with a culture clash between two symbolic characters, Blanche DuBois, a pretentious, fading relic of the Old South, and Stanley Kowalski, a rising member of the industrial, urban immigrant class. The play presents Blanche DuBois, a fading but still-attractive Southern belle whose pretensions to virtue and culture only thinly mask alcoholism and delusions of grandeur. Her poise is an illusion she presents to shield others, but most of all herself, from her reality, and an attempt to make herself still attractive to new male suitors. Blanche arrives at the apartment of her sister Stella Kowalski in the Faubourg Marigny of New Orleans, on Elysian Fields Avenue; the local transportation she takes to arrive there includes a streetcar route named "Desire". The steamy, urban ambiance is a shock to Blanche's nerves. Explaining that her ancestral southern plantation, Belle Reve (translated from French as "Beautiful Dream", though the correct French phrase is actually Beau Rêve), in Laurel, Mississippi, has been "lost" due to the "epic fornications" of her ancestors, Blanche is welcomed with some trepidation by Stella, who fears the reaction of her husband Stanley. Here "epic fornications" may be interpreted as the debauchery of her ancestors which in turn caused them financial losses. Blanche explains her supervisor allowed her to take time off from her job as an English teacher because of her upset nerves, when in fact, she has been fired for having an affair with a 17-year-old student. This turns out not to be the only seduction she has engaged in—and, along with other problems, has led her to escape Laurel. A brief marriage marred by the discovery that her spouse, Allan Grey (commonly misspelt as 'Allen'), was having a homosexual affair and his subsequent suicide has led Blanche to withdraw into a world in which fantasies and illusions blend seamlessly with reality.

My Rating: 100/100

My thoughts:
I really enjoyed reading this play in class. Defintitely a favorite.

First month's books

1. Night by: Elie Weisel [100/100]

2. Dear John by: Nicholas Sparks [75/100]

3. The Reader by: Bernhard Schlink [100/100]

4. Never to Forget: The Jews of the Holocaust by: Melton Meltzer [85/100]

5. Over a Thousand Hills I Walk With You by: Hanna Jansen [95/100]

Total rating: 91%