Hole in My Life

Prompt: Read on...
Pages: Start to 116

At first, I wanted to choose one of those "describe the similarities between the author and you" or "what traits do you see in the protagonist that you find in yourself?", but then I thought a bit harder.  I mean, this is my last formal entry of seventh grade.  A bittersweet curtain to the saga of my literature blog.  After this pondering was nearing an end, I decided to give this one-last-go, if you will.  Just the novel and my over-opinionated opinion.  So that's why I'd like to simply reflect and make a few connections.

Hole in My Life, Jack Gantos' memoir is a harrowing tale, however, one filled with humour and self deprecating remarks.  The kind of novel I love the most.  Gantos is also the type of writer I admire the most.  One with a serious but playful voice.  Did I mention I met him?  Because I don't remember doing so...  Well anyway, he had the coolest aura to him, sophisticated but relaxed, while observant; constantly perceiving. A child at heart with the presence of an adult. He's the kind of person you are just in awe of, I sure was when he freakin' came up and talked to me!  Now I'm getting carried away, but if you have any questions about my experience feel free to comment and ask!  Great, now this blog has turned into the type Isabella was miserably describing earlier - awkward with way too many exclamation points.

Proceeding to write about the actual novel at hand, Hole in My Life might turn you away on the grounds that it is a memoir, but please believe me when I tell you it is so much more than that.  You can go through the same pain and frankly, embarrassment as Jack Gantos while reading.  So far, I've gotten lost throughout his journey along the water whilst he's been cheated into steering a boat loaded with drugs.  Well, not exactly cheated.  He wasn't told the exact truth and he needed to money to write.  Of course, even without those shady facts, it was still a questionable decision. Although, what else is life about?  His first-hand accounts of the conversations that went down on this boat were hilarious and gruesome at the same time.  I can't wait for his hopefully poignant or thrilling conclusion, as I fear I do not have one for you, dear reader.  It's been a pleasure writing to you!

Hole in My Life signed to my mother :D

40 Book Challenge - Update and Reflection

Books read: 34/40 *not including 350+ paged books, because then I would already have a little over 45 books read)

My reflections aren't typically the subject of my writing, but to do my accomplishment of 34 books (and counting) justice, I'd like to note this year's "40 Book Challenge".  A seemingly daunting task, and most likely one that would scare away a narrow-minded individual.  I was cautious at the beginning too, as I'm sure many of my classmates were; however, we all knew this would at least be beneficial.  Some said they didn't want to rush through their novels, which was a noble state-of-mind.  However, I can never refuse a good challenge, especially of the literary nature.  

So there I was, at the very beginning of seventh grade.  By then, my mind wasn't dwelling on the sheer number of books to read, but of what books could I read.  I'd heard we could count 350+ paged books as two or even more, but that was a total cop-out in my conscience.  I believe I started with Feed a sci-fi novel, and at the time, my go-to genre.  Now I have read a great and terrible variety of volumes, and even found possibly my favorite book of all-time.  Before the Challenge, I was struggling with an inner battle, filled with sleepless nights and lost friends.  This was the battle of what my favorite book was.  You were warned in the beginning of my blog (another beneficiary) that I take my novels seriously...  The Picture of Dorian Gray has gently influenced its way into my soul.  Back to the beginning, although its almost the end.  I started out slowly. building up my stamina if you will.  Soon, I was reading a book a day, or on a rainy day, multiple.  

I could go on forever about all of the magnificent novels I have read this past school-year, but I'd absolutely, utterly hate to be long-winded.  So check out my past blogs for my feelings on the numerous novels I've read, and my sarcasm. 

Death Cloud

Prompt:  Describe the mood of what you are reading.
Pages read: Wherever I left off last week-End (I took more time to read more and form an opinion)

Mood has been something I've been paying a lot of attention to recently.  I assume it is directly related to the symbolism project in which we were assigned to draw an object or scene which fully represents you.  This made me analyze myself a bit, and I dread being long-winded here but mood was a major factor in the drawing.  In music there is major and minor, and that's sufficient however, the same guidelines do not afflict human nature.  There are so many other moods to convey and feel.  Death Cloud exemplifies just a few of these emotions and tones throughout it's 300+ pages.

There is not a doubt that mystery and its parallels such as gloom, darkness, and curiousness all are the predominant moods in Death Cloud.  This assumption is obvious, but reading through this novel takes you along the ride, making the mystery vivid and legitimate. The gruesome nature of the way many have been dying adds the codependent darkness to the mystery, and gives the novel depth.  Curiousness is not formally classified as an emotion, it is more of a sensation relative to human nature.  If you are blessed enough to know about Sherlock Holmes and his adventures, you undoubtedly know of his inquisition and deductions.  Andrew Lane conveys this exquisitely through the duration of Death Cloud  and brings you along for the mystery, you feel as though you are Matty Arnatt, Sherlock's partner in crime.  You ask questions that Sherlock hasn't and you begin to wonder and become curious about the subject at hand.  Thus being the murders from the cloud of death.

Another prominent intuition this novel brings about is confusion.  Many would put "curiousness" and "confusion" in the same category, and while that may be just, it is not logical. And we all know how Sherlock requires logic over feeling.  Maybe I have failed to mention this, but this adaptation follows the young detective in his teenage years, which for everyone, even brilliant minds like his, ensues confusion.  Sherlock is unable to process his feelings for his tutor's pretty, badass daughter.  He is having a difficult time getting adults to listen to him and cannot understand why.  Holmes, whilst in the process of solving these brutal murders, is confused about morals and rules of society.  All of these are situations everyone finds themselves in, and thus confusion is a mood of the novel that strongly relates to its theme.

Week of 28/4/14: Death Cloud

Prompt: Pretend you are famous reporter on TV. Write a story about what you’ve read for the evening news.
Pages read: Start to 103

If we pretend that there was modern news back in the 1860's this blog should unreservedly make sense.

*Ahem* "Breaking news!  Two have been found dead in the town of Farnham.  Reports we have received notified us that both victims were described with bearing red boils on their face and arms and both had no previous major ailments. We haven't seen anything like this since the Plague...  Farnham doctors have issued a warning to all inhabitants of the town, and all are advised to bathe regularly and avoid contamination from colleagues and neighbours.  From recent reports, symptoms include dizzying and incoherence, although this has not been proven.  Whatever affected the two civilians seemingly came up out of nowhere, and nothing has transpired about how this can be directly prevented.  We have two townspeople here today to talk to us about what Farnham is going through...."

"Sir, may we speak to you for a minute about the recent plague affecting your city?"

"Sure.  Ya know we all ain't seen anything like this in our lives... Frankly, all we can do is try and protect our wives and children, but this damned thing better not take anymore of my workers.  Charles was a good man, always an earnest worker.  I don't know why this plague has gotta be in Farnham, almost like it was planned... I swear if anything malicious is going on here and it's human, I'll be the first to put him to death.  I don't believe it's a plague, it's a ploy by someone who's thinks he's clever and obviously deranged-"

"Yes, yes, thank you for your time..."

*Man huffs but returns to loading cargo into cart.*

"Excuse me miss, but do you happen to know anything more about these mysterious deaths?"

"Oh... No, no, I'd prefer not to talk of it..  We're all scared enough, why get everyone worked up over some virus affecting the unhygienic..."

*Two teenage boys run up behind the shaken woman, the shirtless, long-haired boy speaks first*

"I know, I know, there was a cloud, a death cloud!"

*His dark-haired, tall friend interrupts, and they both desperately try to inform the newscaster of their discovery.  This continues for awhile.*

"Yellow powder on the scene of the death- I inspected it myself.  I made a few deductions, one of which is-"

"The cloud just crawled out of the open window, it climbed the walls, it disappeared!

"This is not the plague.  More likely, they events are poisonings.  The question is, who did this..."

"Let 'em talk, he's real bright, oh listen miss!"

"I examined the footsteps around the body, they were erratic in the moments before he fell, but previously straight and normal.  Yellow powder lay on the grass.  If my friend Matty's theory is true, Farnham is in great danger."

"Cloud of death, I tell ya!"

*The newscaster frantically interrupts, and behind the boys a large, burly man grabs their shoulders.*

"Sherlock!  What the hell are you doing?"

"Well folks, that's all we have time for today....!"

Week of 21/4/14: Legend

Prompt: What are the two most important ideas from what you’ve been reading?
Pages read: Start -70

Legend is another one of those dystopian YA novels.  You know the type, the books that feature governments whacked out of proportion, citizens fighting for survival, districts/sectors/divisions. Those are the trademarks that averted me from popular novels such as Divergent and all those zombie apocalypse stories...  To be honest, I wouldn't have picked up Legend if I hadn't met the author, Marie Lu.  But, while listening to her talk about her book and her inspirations for it, I grew increasingly interested.  When she asked me if I'd read the book while I was getting it signed, I said I'd start reading immediately.  While that didn't prove to come true, I am very happy to be reading it now.

To get to the actual prompt, I feel this book already has some important ideas.  These ideas are shared with many other novels akin to Legend, but they all present their self differently in each.  In Legend, we learn the harsh reality of totalitarian government and plague.  We see one of the main characters, Day (this book is split between two points of view) and his sister looking after his family who are suffering from the plague.  This shows the idea, or theme, of staying together through hardships and the general idea of family.  To pinpoint one idea exactly, it would be when Day and Tess see the soldiers marking an "X" with another slash through it on the family home and they are frightened, as this is something they've ever seen through years of dealing with the plague and those infected.

Switching over to the other main character, June, we see a prodigy as determined from the government's grueling aptitude test.  She receives perfect marks in the academy, but often gets on the teachers and students nerves.  June has a penchant for getting into trouble, although she is not (at least for now) mean-spirited or bad; she is just smart enough to not abide by the imprisoning rules.  An interesting quirk/strength she has is her ability to make deductions about people and their recent activities using acute details.  On the back of the book, it states this is a detective versus criminal story, and I am positive intelligent  June will be the detective and athletic, cunning Day will be the criminal.  Detective versus criminal happens to be my favorite subgenre, you can probably tell that from my recent blogs... I haven't read far ahead enough yet to get a profound idea from June's side yet, but I can predict it will have something to do with rebellion.

Week of 14/4/14: Rebel Fire

Prompt: Why do you think the author wrote this? and Describe the main characters.
Pages read: Start-140

The plain and simple answer to this prompt is that the author, Andrew Lane, is a big geek over the Sherlock Holmes books.  Really, the Holmes saga, with all the different adaptations of the original books by Arthur Conan Doyle.  It's something we have in common, my infatuation started in fifth grade after reading "The Hound of the Baskervilles".  This adaptation (which I am thoroughly enjoying, I highly recommend it) is focused on Sherlock's life as a teen, where he is being guided through his brother's connections and crazy adventures.  Long story short, I highly respect this geeky author...

I'm sure we all know the basic idea of Sherlock Holmes' persona, so I will not dwell too much on him. Though this reworking of the classic paints him in a more innocent light, as he still has not made a name for himself in the detective scene. He is in the learning stage, which is very intense. He has an American tutor, which is rare because this is the late 1800's in Britain.  Crowe, his tutor, likes to make Sherlock think perceptively and differently, and he makes his very first deductions about the world around him.

Mycroft Holmes - what a character.. He is older than Sherlock and working for the British government, which has given him immense power, more than Sherlock knows.  He has put on weight while working, which gives Sherlock plenty to tease him about.  The don't have the same love/hate as they have in other retellings and the original, but there is the brotherly love element in there.  He is more intellectually advanced than Sherlock, and likes to boast about it.  Which is definitely justifiable, he is absolutely brilliant.

In the end, I am very excited about this book and I have loved the characters even before I started reading, so I hope this book will not let me down.

A Midsummer's Nightmare

Prompt: Pretend you get to create the music soundtrack for what you’ve been reading.  What five songs would you include? Write an explanation for each song: why would you include it, how does the song connect to events.
Pages read: Start to 160
Author: Kody Keplinger (who I met last week!  she was lovely!)

To give you a bit of background, our main character Whitley is a semi-rebellious, party animal who is in her senior year of high school.  Currently, she is on summer break and with her dad.  Though it is not the same.  This year, he has gone off and gotten engaged to a pretty but very uptight lawyer, without telling Whitley.  Obviously, she is angry and frustrated because her whole life in the summer has basically been changed, and not in a good way.  She spends a lot of her time now laying out in the sun listening to music.  So I thought she would like these songs.

1.  Joan Jett - "Bad Reputation".  I know Whitley would like this song because she has a reputation for being, well, easy.  She tries not to let it get to her, and as the song's first line goes, "I don't give a damn about my bad reputation."  She is both tough and crazy like Joan Jett, who is one of my personal favorites.

2.  Dead Kennedys - "Lets Lynch the Landlord".  This song is all about rebelling against the owner of the property you reside in, and that is something Whitley does a lot.  Either by bringing alcohol into her future step-mother's pristine home, or like the song says "I don't turn off the water, I don't turn off the heat."

3.  Alice Cooper - "School's Out".  As the title suggests, school's out for good.  Whitley is still trying to find a college suitable for her lifestyle and high school is over, making her very happy, but also nervous.  She just wants to have fun in a boring town on her summer break, but she's not happy.

4.  Morrissey - "Everyday is Like Sunday".  I have this song running through my head a lot during reading.  The lyrics suggest the narrator is in a boring, nearly desolate town, which perfectly describes Whitley's feelings towards the town she has to spend all summer in.

5. New Order - "Bizarre Love Triangle".  This is just a song I can totally see Whitley and Harrison dancing to.  Harrison is the only thing close to a friend she has there, and it's a dramatic but fun song, like their times together.