Tell us your initial reactions to your final quarter book. What is the story about? Are you enjoying your reading thus far? Explain.
22 Comments
Jared Fogarty
2/19/2015 08:57:20 am
I finished Life of Pi by Yann Martel a little while ago, and I did enjoy it. The book had a very developed plot and included a lot of great imagery and action scenes. Essentially, the novel is about Pi Patel, an Indian man, giving an account of his early life and the hardships he endures at sea. He talks about his family life, how he grew up in a zoo and became very religious, and provides a detailed account of how he became stranded at sea with his zoo's tiger after his cargo ship sank.
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Cassie Quinn
2/19/2015 10:47:09 pm
I am currently reading The Girl with a Pearl Earring. During class I admitted that it seemed boring, but I will admit I am changing my mind. My previous thoughts were most likely due to my slow, page-by-page reading approach and now, after a day of reading a larger portion and the plot building a little more, I am invested in Griet's life in the Oude Langendijck. When her father, a tile painter, becomes blind in a kiln accident, young Griet is forced to go work as a made at the home of the famous painter Vermeer. Unlike the other household members, only she is allowed in his studio to clean around the scenes of his paintings. This causes a jealous wife, and Griet becomes the target of one of their bratty little girls. Now, the painter and Griet's relationship is building it seems with his growing trust in her.The novel seems so realistic that I have looked up the paintings and people many times. It is so accurately described and told, that it is hard to believe it is fictional. I am really looking forward to see what unfolds with Griet in her new life.
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Remington Schneider
2/19/2015 11:32:44 pm
I am currently reading Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya. I am only a few chapters in so far and there's already been more interesting than my quarter 2 book. The most action packed part was a crazed man who went on a rampage, killing a well-respected man of the southwestern village. But the main part of the book was an elderly woman, who is a family friend, moves in with the Luna family and appears to have a very, very strong connection with Antonio, the main character. Ultima, the elderly woman, is a curandera. She uses the herbs, roots and natural elements to make cures and potions but seems to have a mystical connection with nature that also connects to Antonio. Once Ultima shows up, Antonio starts having visions of the past that his mother verifies as true stories. The book has been set up to turn into a good one so far and I am interested in finding out what happens next.
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Remington Schneider
3/10/2015 11:32:13 pm
Now that I have finished my book I can say that I enjoyed it. The best thing about this book was that I never found myself uninterested in it. There is always something new happening and I thought it was very well written. I don't really want to give too much of the plot away but it is basically about Ultima coming to live with the family and many bad things happen in their little town but Ultima can usually help. It is told from Antonio's point of view, the youngest of the family, and he has some interesting experiences. I would recommend reading this if you are looking for a book to read.
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Nate
2/20/2015 05:01:23 am
A Clockwork Orange is definitely intimidating in the beginning. Burgess presents very complex characters, setting, and language. The language especially is what contributes most to my early impression. At first I was frustrated and thought it was unfair to try and read this foreign language. However, page after page I continued and effectively learned how to read the new slang. Aside from the language, Burgess' setting and overall theme of the story seems to be a blend of Cold War era Russia and America, presenting a truly unique and intriguing style.
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Nate Day
4/1/2015 05:53:17 am
After finishing my book, A Clockwork Orange ended rather cliche. It ends with Alex wanting to discontinue his commitment to thuggery and pursue a family life. At first, I thought that this kind of thinking was completely contrary to Alex's personality. It couldn't be that the treatment has had a lasting effect-- physically or psychologically because he was returned to his former self after trying to commit suicide. After some thinking, though, I realized that I understood Alex wrongly. The idea of Alex's character is the juxtaposition of someone who does bad things but is only doing them because thats what makes him happy. To me, this means that Alex is not truly evil just as he wasnt truly good during the middle part of the book. He is a teenager doing what makes him happy, which we are lead to believe will eventually change into creating a family.
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Alison Von Haden
2/20/2015 07:32:39 am
I am currently reading “The Lovely Bones” by Alice Sebold. I have about 60 pages left in the novel due to it being a quick read. The novel is about a young girl, Sophie, who was brutally raped, murdered, and cut up into pieces. The reader finds this out in the first chapter of the book! The reader knows who the murderer is but the family and community do not. The point of view is different than other books because it is told from Sophie’s perspective as she watches over her family from heaven. In my opinion, this has the most interesting book that I have read for quarter books.
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Natalie Carlberg
2/23/2015 06:48:14 am
I am reading The House of Spirts and it is definitely an interesting book. So far there is a family and they have 15 children, the oldest one, Rose, is set to get married to a miner when he comes back home with enough money, but she gets poisoned accidentally and dies before he comes back. Nine years later the youngest sister to Rose, Clara states that she will marry Rose's fiance and then she does. They have a family and interesting children and so far are just living an interesting life. Clara totally avoids her husband and does not talk to him or anything and then he always goes to the town and meets other women. It is an interesting book so far and I am sure that it will get more interesting as it goes on!
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Sara King
2/25/2015 12:14:34 am
I am reading "High Fidelity" by Nick Hornby. So far, the novel is just ranting on about this guy named Rob and all of his past girlfriends. I am not too far into the novel so far, so I hope it gets a little bit more interesting. Rob seems to have a commitment problem with all the women that he has been with, and does not always seem to care about the women that he is with, which is why all of his relationships end. So far, this is the novel's main theme.
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Mitchell Johnson
2/27/2015 02:12:19 am
White Teeth by Zadie Smith is probably the worst book I've ever read. It is well written, don't get me wrong, but the plot, is thus far, two generations of people who had bad childhoods, and are now making many bad life choices. I am going chapter by chapter, and the difference in my outlook on life before and after reading one chapter is devastating, this book is really telling me what not to do with my life! Would not recommend this book as of now, halfway through, this is not a very enjoyable book.
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Mitchell Johnson
3/23/2015 05:46:23 am
So I finished the novel, but my feelings on the book haven't really changed. I will admit it got a little better, and for like one chapter I wanted to keep reading, but overall it was a long book with a dissatisfying ending. So I still wouldn't recommend this book to anyone, but its not as terrible as I stated in my first response.
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Faith
3/1/2015 03:38:56 am
I am reading "All the Pretty Horses" by Cormac McCarthy. I was a little skeptical about the book at first because the writing style is hard to follow. The author uses very few tags when writing a conversation between two of the characters so I am constantly tracing back paragraphs to find out who is saying what. As I've read on however, I find it easier to follow. The story plot is pretty interesting and entertaining, but I have not yet reached a big conflict point (I'm halfway done), which makes me wonder if there is one.
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Taylor
3/1/2015 11:47:03 pm
I am reading "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood. So far I really like this book. It is one of the future society novels, but it is one that is fully set up and stable. The main character can still remember her old life and her daughter and husband which makes the story more interesting. The book also does not come right out and say things or explain what new things mean. Over the course of the book you just discover more about the new world and how it all fits together and I really like that. I am excited to learn more about the book, this is the most intriguing quarter book I have read yet.
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Cole Snyder
3/9/2015 12:38:44 pm
I am reading "The Things They Carried" and so far I love it. I'm about half way through and it's the best war novel I've read so far. I enjoy how in depth it goes with the daily tasks that the men had to do. It's very explicit, which is also helpful in understanding the true nature of Vietnam and it's inhabitants. I am excited to keep reading.
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Elizabeth Anderson
3/10/2015 12:15:52 am
"The Poisionwood Bible" is the book I chose. It's been boring so far so I haven't had much motivation to read it. The book is about a religious family in the 1960's who move to Africa to be missionaries. Nothing much else has happened yet but I'm hoping it will pick up the pace.
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Elizabeth
4/1/2015 12:58:53 am
I finished the book over spring break on my drive home from Utah, and despite the scenery around me I couldn't put it down! I said earlier that it was boring but I totally take it back now that I finished the book and did an analysis for my presentation. It was fascinating and so different from other books I've read. The author made the characters seem so real and I wanted them to succeed (most of them). It was such a good book, really eye-opening to a different way of life.
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Aidan Manley
3/10/2015 02:09:44 am
I am currently reading Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. The story is kind of a war story about World War 2, but it is also kind of about aliens. Needless to say, it is an extremely weird novel. It is a fun read, however, and I am enjoying it.
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Aidan Manley
3/27/2015 01:58:57 am
Update on Slaughterhouse-Five: I finished reading the novel, and it becomes less weird as the story progresses. The book is actually really good, and it has a strong anti-war message. It is a very short and quick read. However, the story is not in chronological order, so it's not exactly the easiest read. The novel, even though it is extremely weird, does have some important themes and messages, and the author's use of humor makes the difficult topic of war and death easier to talk about. I would definitely recommend this book.
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Miranda Haack
3/10/2015 11:26:41 pm
I am currently reading The Color Purple, by Alice Walker. I had wanted to read this book before, so I had high hopes that it would live up to the hype that I had heard about it. I was initially turned off by the book when on the first page, very sexual themes were spoken of. The author also uses sort of "code words" instead of just coming out and saying what is going on, so I am sometimes confused by those. As I continued reading I began to understand the language, and the sexual themes were less prominent. I keep finding myself reluctant to read on in the book, but once I start up reading again, I don't ever want to put the book down.
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Hank Larson
3/24/2015 12:28:57 pm
I read A Gesture Life for my quarter 3 book. My initial reacting to my book after reading a couple summaries on it and read the first parts of it was that it would be an interesting book about a many recalling his experience in WWII as a Japanese Medic. It seemed like most of the book would be a recollection of his war experiences as a medic- what he did and saw. Upon reading further into the book it learned that the author switched between the setting of the main character's current life, his earlier life after moving to the U.S. and then raising an adopted daughter, and recollections of the World War II in Japan. The switching of setting was not all too confusing because the setting didn't change too often. The book tied the three times of his life together, related the past to the present. The book had both interesting and dull points to it, but over all was a decent book.
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Tyler Ellefson
3/27/2015 01:10:08 am
Little late to the party here seeing as I am already done with my book but I would just like to say that Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a great book. It follows a young Afghan boy as he grows and becomes a man. After a traumatic experience in his youth, he struggles to overcome his past and redeem himself for his mistakes. It is very easy comprehend and the diction is not as complex which made this novel very easy to read. I also liked that the book was action packed and there were no lulls in the story line.
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Pearl Davis
3/29/2015 08:02:38 am
I read Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. The book, though mainly focused on the struggles of Calliope Stephanides, delves back into her ancestry to find the source of the gene that leads to Calliope's realization that she is in reality Cal, a hermaphrodite. The book looks into the incestuous relationships between not only Cal's grandparents, but also his parents that leads to his rare condition.
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