Reaction to Chapters 1-2 in ATPH

So far, I have not enjoyed All The Pretty Horses very much. I think that the writing style that Cormac McCarthy has employed is confusing and hard to follow. I find myself at times trying to figure out which character is talk, as there is no quotation marks and very little indication of who is talking and when. Although Ms. West assures us that we will love this book, I have not been able to get excited about it. Hopefully the all-knowing Ms. West will be right, and the plot will pick up a bit so that I can enjoy it.

Quote Time!

Here is a perfect example of the amount of details and description the author puts into every aspect of the book:
"... I catch sight of my hands. They are knobby and crooked, thin-skinned, and-like my ruined face- covered with liver spots. My face... withered and spotty, with dewlaps and bags and long floppy ears. A few strands of white hair spring absurdly from its spotted skull" (Gruen 111).

This is a description of what Jacob looks like when he is older. It shows us the diminishing appearance of him in his extremely old age, but yet, as we learn, he still thinks and (tries to) act like a young person. It is a perfect example of how the body may waste away, but one's mind and soul will be there in full strength until the end.

Water For Elephants Reaction So Far

As I approach the midway point of this book, I find myself enjoying it more and more to the point where I cannot put it down. It keeps me interested throughout each chapter with the plot and character development only adding to its greatness. The thing I like most about it is the fact that the author has almost religiously added description to each passage so that the reader is able to imagine what life would be like in the early 20th century working for a traveling circus. I also enjoy the little flashbacks/flashforwards that happen from time to time. I find the author is spending more and more time in the past, which, naturally, is the more interesting part.

Water For Elephants Post #3

This next quote shows us how Uncle Al, the evil ring leader of the circus, came to power and made the show what it is today.
" Uncle Al had the good fortune to be in the vicinity and was able to score a sleeping car and two flats for a song from railroad officials desperate to free up their sdidng. Those two flats easily held his few decrepit wagons, and because the train cars were already emlazoned with Benzini
Bros Most Spectacular Show on Earth, Alan Bunkel retained the name and officially joined the ranks of train circuses."
This shows us this deep root of all of Uncle Al's, otherwise known as Alan Bunkel, evil. He is greedy, intimidating, power hungry, and worst of all, looks for the easy way to do things in everything he does. Uncle Al, so far, has been the antagonist in the book, as exemplified when he puts Jacob in an impossible position as the circus vet. Only time will tell if Uncle Al continues his questionable ways throughout the book.

Reaction to The Odyssey

In general, I enjoyed the Odyssey as a book. I felt that, for the most part, it kept the reader interested in the plot and the characters. I think that learning about the gods and Greek traits was entertaining and a good mix up to what we normally do in English class. Although the book became slow and was a little long, I felt that Odysseus' story was somewhat inspiring, and if not that, pretty cool. It was good to see a real hero as the main character of the book, and find all of his heroic traits, whether obvious or not, throughout the book.

Water For Elephants Chapters 3-5

The next significant quote I found in Water For Elephants is in chapter 3. Jacob is a newcomer to the circus setting up crew, as he has just jumped on a train and gone wherever his life may take him.
" We are adjacent to a huge grassy lot. Beyond it are scattered brick building, backlit by the predawn glow. Hundreds of dirty, unshaven men pour from the train and surround it,like ants on conday, cursing and stretching and lighting cigarettes. Ramps and chutes clatter to the ground and six- and eight-horse hitches materialize from nowhere, spread out on the dirt." (Gruen 32).
This quote shows gives us an idea of what kind of lifestyle Jacob is jumping headfirst into. It is dirty, hard work, and overall not very pleasant. Jacob does not mind, however, because he knows he now has no family or money in his name, and this is a new source of income, food, and shelter for him.

Reaction to Books 15-19 in The Odyssey

My thoughts on the next series of books that we have recently read in Homer's Odyssey is overall frustration. It seems to me that the story has slowed down exponentially and has no more action or points of interest anymore. I feel frustrated that Odysseus has kept himself hidden throughout this whole time when he was interacting with the suitors. I found at least 4 points in the story where he could have easily revealed himself and killed all the suitors without breaking a sweat. Altough Odysseus' actions often anger me and make me want to stop reading the book, it shows the characters iron-clad will and ability to follow order (in this case handed down to him by Athena). These events demonstrate Odysseus' heroic charcteristics, those being that he is willing to be patient and stick to a plan in order to achieve his goal. I also see these characterisitics appearing more and more in the young Telemachus, who knows the suitors want to kill him but is sticking to his father's plan, too. Overall, I feel that Telemachus is almost a mirror image of his father and is bound to grow up just like him, just without as much arrogance as Odysseus.

Water for Elephants Chapters 1-2

The first chapter of Water for Elephants, written by Sara Gruen, is set in present time. The main character, Jacob, is in his early 90's and in a nursing home, his own personal form of hell. Jacob is a widower, and frequently regrets not having his wife with him until he dies. But he also shows some of his selfishness when he says the following: "Although there are times I'd give anything to have her back, I'm glad she went first. Losing her was like bieng cleft down the middle. It was the moment it all ended for me, and I wouldn;t have wanted her to go through that. Being the survivor stinks" (Gruen 13).
Jacob shows us in this quote that he was and still is immensly in love with his wife and would do anything for her at any time. It also shows us that Jacob is literally willing to die for his wife, and the quote may be forshadowing for a story to come later on in the book. This quote can also tell us about Jacob's character; obviously very unselfish, loving, and most of all, heartbroken.

Reaction To Books 1-10 of the Odyssey

I thought that most of the first part of Homer's Odyssey were quite interesting. It seemed like there was alot of Greek and Roman mythology that the reader needed as prior knowledge in order to understand the book. Taking notes and learning all about the gods and the battle of Troy has helped my exponentially during the reading. I also feel like this is the first book we have read in class this year which keeps me interested because of the complexity of the story, the nature of the characters, and the mystical overall feeling. For example, when we first meet Odysseus, we see him as a humble, sad, hardened man who just wants to get home to his wife and kid. But we quickly learn of his overconfidence and cocky decisions that ultimatly lead him to his doomed fate of drifting for years upon years at sea. Plot and character twists like these are what keeps me interested and urging to read more of the the book.

Quotes from the Outside Reading

Here are a couple of interesting quotes that I found in my outside reading book:
1. "We were brothers. All of us. We had to work together, live together, eat together, sleep together, fail together, and succeed together. We had to know what each other was going to do at any moment and know how we would react to each situation with them. It was our job" (Kranz 83).
2. "At Mission Control, cetain things were understood. Every mission must achieve its objecties, and it ust be accomplished on schedule if we were to keep John F. Kennedy's pledge to land a mon on the moon in this decade" (Kranz 208).

Shakespeare

So far in the Shakespeare book, the story has gone nowhere. I feel like the plot has the potential to be interesting, but it is jsut talking and planning, no action. Yes, the book is literally about nothing, as stated in the title. But I still feel myself getting mad at Shakespeare for not getting the show on the road, so to speak. Although the characters are michevious and often very funny to read about, the story, like I said before, has gone nowhere. I am interested to see what will happen when Don Pedro's plan to set up Benedick and Beatrice goes into action. It seems intruging to me to think about what will happen when these two worst enemies who both hate even thinking about love, fall in love. It makes me chuckle inside already.

Comparisons?

When I look at the two books I am currently reading, Much Ado About Nothing and Failure is Not an Option, I do not see many similarities between the two. Much Ado is a love story and, as the title reveals, really should not be taken seriously by the reader. It is apparent that Shakespeare did not intend to make this a story that people are affected by, but the book is still interesting and fun to read. Failure, on the other hand, is a nonfiction book that gives you insight on the evolution of the space program and also teaches the reading about many themes that they can use throughout their life.

Science in the Book

One aspect of the book that has impressed me was the explanation of the Scientific aspects of NASA. The author explains fairly well how the rocket team had to find a new chemical for all the rockets because the old fuel was not producing enough thrust per pound to get the larger rockets into orbit. After months of experimenting with chemicals, NASA finally found its perfect fuel for the launch. The chemical is called Ammonium per chlorate, and it gave the astronauts the perfect amount of power to lift the multi-ton spaceship off the ground and into space. The chemical is so powerful that the American space program still uses it today for its space launches.

Halfway Reflection of the Book

Like I said before, the writing style of the author is a large negative to the bok. I sometimes feel myself drifting off into other thoughts while reading the book. It seems to me that Gene doesn't try to 'spice up' the books words and writing styles. The thing that keeps the reader interested is the story of his rise through the ranks of the infant Space Program and all the trials, sucesses, and failures of the program, and with it, the U.S. itself.

Writing Styles of the Book

Gene Kranz's writing style is not very complicated. He (obviously) writes nonfiction. But he is comletely straightforward. He does not add any inuendos or imagery at all. Gene's writing style seems to reflect his personality perfectly. He is a hard worker, no nonsense, straight to the point person. He never fools around, always meets his deadlines, and his leadership was the exact job description of what NASA needed at the time. His writing style is just that. Blunt, descriptive, and not very interesting. Some people would think that the book wouldn't be very interesting, but it is actually the story that keeps you into it.

Outside Reading Post #3

One of the themes is see prevailing in this book is not only the important human characteristic of never giving up (as demostrated by the books title), but that hard work may at some times be a bad thing. It seems to me, as I stated in my last post, that Gene's wife is simply sick and tired of him never being home and would enjoy his increased company. However, Mr. Kranz's excrutiatingly hard work has left him stuck at Cape Cavnaveral until further notice. There is simply not enough time in the week, the month, of even the year to take an 'unnecessary' break and visit his family. I sense that this will be a major conflict later on in the book when the Space Race really takes off and the Americans set a goal of being the first to put a man on the moon.

Failure is Not an Option #2

In this next chapter in my book the narrarator talks about his time after the first sucessful American man in space. Mr. Kranz details his hard work with making the manual on how to operate the mission control, which was his main duty when he first arrived at the Cape. His growing experience from the frequent launches that take place at Cape Canaveral have helped him write this manual, which figures to be the precedent for every other mission control in the United States. Mr. Kranz knows he is in the middle of American History, but he says that there is really no time to step back and "smell the roses" so to speak. Gene says he is always on the move, always working, getting almost no time at all to sit back, relax, and reflect on his workday like most of his fellow Americans. He also says that the hectic work takes a toll on his growing family. He has a baby on the way, and although his wife says that she fully supports him and his work, he can sense a longing for him from his wife and it seems to me that it eats him up inside.

Failure is Not an Option

My choice of quarter 2 outside reading is a book title Failure is Not An Option, by Gene Kranz. Mr. Kranz was the original head of mission control and really the voice of the space movement during the 20th Century. In the first chapters of the book, we learn about how the space program started out- with only a handful of men in a primitive program nicknamed Mercury. Mr. Kranz was a former WWII Air Force Pilot that was interested in the space race with the Soviets during the early days of the Cold War. His task was to put together a launch manual- the first of its kind- for the days that the space ships would be taking off. He essentially wrote it on the job, as him or any other of his colleagues had any experience with space control. He goes on to talk about how the men had many failures and were viewed as an American failure in the public's eyes. He then details the account of the days before and the day of the first American was going into space. This book is an exciting nonfiction account of how the space program in the United States was started from scratch and turned into one of the most successful in the world.

All My Sons

I thought that All My Sons was an interesting book and drew alot of compassion out from the reader. The fact that Joe Keller kills himself was tragic and unexpected. The increasing sadness I felt as the book went on was a great aspect that the book provided for the reader. The book showed us a darker side of the pursuit of the American Dream and really opened our eyes to the faults of the justice system. It showed us that people will do anything to get out of trouble, including lying and blaming their friends. I felt that the author tried to portray that and taught us about the fact that primitive human nature is not always good. It is all about surivial and our nature is to, whether it is ethical or not, to stay alive.

Review of Godfather

I was absolutely addicted to this book. It had everything I like; drama, action, and a great plot line that had you guessing at every turn. I loved the fact that it gave you an insight on an elaborate operation. The description that the author adds really helps me visualize what is going on and greatly improves the quality of the book. I felt that the book could even be better than the movie, which I plan on seeing now that I can compare the two. I would recommend this book to anyone over 14 because of the violence and adult situations, but I feel that it is interesting enough to keep a 10 year old into it, even it is in an adult mindset.