It scares me...

While finishing the book Heaven is for Real, I continued to read It, and basically the children are all admitting that they've seen the mysterious creature in some way or another at this point. It's really weird to them though, because they've discovered that only kids are able to see the monster. Thats what I'm assuming at this point anyway, because Beverly saw blood all over the bathroom, but when her parents walked in, they acted as if there wasn't even a spot of blood. So now they are all trying to figure out what to do, and I think this is where the pact comes in, but I'm not there yet.
I went to a couple haunted things this weekend and last weekend that involved clowns, so this book is scaring me a little bit, because it talks about a creepy clown. I think the author uses some really good word choice that makes my stomach churn at times. I really want to watch the movie now that I've been reading the book, but I don't know whether I should watch the movie or finish the book first.
To vent about reading....these past couple weeks I've just been so stressed, and I've been doing the reading, but I haven't really been that into it. I feel like I'd rather read short 150 page books instead of these big ones just because it will feel less stressful, and God knows I could use a little less stress. We'll see what happens, but I think I'm going to go to the library and pick up some quick reads and see how that goes. I've got so much homework in all my other classes, it's kind of hard to put reading as a top priority. But somehow I manage to get the reading in every week! I just can't wait to be less stressed!!!! 

Close-Reading Bingo

Weakness Blog #1 : phyllis http://fifteen-to-twentyseven.blogspot.com/
Weakness number 6: The author uses blunt language and literal description to communicate with the reader.

 Weakness Blog #2: Under the Oak http://alix2278.blogspot.com/
Weakness number 9: The mood set by this is formal straight forward attitude while also giving a sense of laid back and just telling of the story.

 Weakness Blog #3: Apples to Apples http://wowfaktor.blogspot.com/
Weakness number 4: It holds an uncensored array of words that give you the perception that nothing matters and the main character doesn’t feel a necessity in explaining any factual minutiae about his parent’s past.

Weakness Blog #4:  Fire side Reading! http://bookwormsfiresidereading.blogspot.com/
Weakness number 1: He displays the laziness in teenagers when he says, "I don't feel like going into it." He uses vulgar words like "crap," "hell," "damn," and "goddam."


Best Response:  from InsideOut
http://inside-out-lily.blogspot.com/2011/10/pda-not-public-display-of-affection-its.html

"Baker elaborates on the mezzanine, the centerpiece of his novel, with a subtle passion, as he begins his journey to his office. He observes a "needly area of shine . . . [fall] against their brushed-steel side-panels" and the "long gloss highlights" waver on the black rubber handrails-- and he is amazed."

Practice Diction Analysis

In Chapter One of The Mezzanine, Nicholson Baker's elegant and flowing elevation, journalistic and descriptive denotation, and slightly sweet musical tone convey the vivid detailing of the narrator's office. Although there is not an emotional tone to the passage, it still presents a brilliant and exact description of the building and its surroundings. His scholarly word choice is depicted through "radians of black luster that ride the undulating outer edge" and the lobby's "towering volumes of marble and glass." His denotation is evident through the descriptions of "the struts and piers" and the "black Penguin paperback and small white CVS bag" which are clearly easy to picture. The mood isn't very uplifting, but the connected words of "sunlight," "glossy," and "shine" help to emphasize the melodious sound that Baker employs.

Heaven is really for real

This weekend I finished the book Heaven Is For Real, by Todd Burpos. It was an extraordinary book and I recommend it to anyone. It was just so weird to hear about Heaven from a little boy's point of view, and how everything he saw was correct according to the Bible, and reality. Like the fact that he could pick out his grandfather from Heaven, when he'd never even met him before he died. It was just crazy to read, and a couple parts made me tear up. It was a very quick read. It probably took me between two and three hours to read.

This weekend I also read more of It. And right now I'm watching a scary movie on Lifetime Movie Network (a.k.a. Lame Movie Network according to my dad), so it kinda fits right now. Although the only thing this movie and the book It have in common are missing children. This movie's pretty dumb, but It is a really good book! I'm about a third of the way done. I'm waiting to get extremely scared, like the pee your pants kind of scared, which hasn't happened yet. But I think it will happen soon...I'm not sure if I'm going to read another Stephen King book this semester. I want to try some other genres for a while, and maybe books that aren't 1,000 pages plus long, so that I don't feel overwhelmed. And so I can carry the book with me in my book bag and not have it weigh 18 pounds. That would be fantastic. So I'll have to venture to the IMC soon and find some new good books. Oh and I should probably finish The Screwtape Letters too, I forgot about that one. But I don't know if I really feel like finishing. I'm more interested in reading an actual story at this point.

Anyway, I'M SO EXCITED FOR HALLOWEEN:) it used to be my favorite holiday. Now Christmas is my favorite, but Halloween is a close second. I can't believe its coming up in a week already!

Currently

Books this week:
It by Stephen King
Heaven is For Real by Todd Burpo

It= 300-355 (55 pages)
Heaven is for Real= 1-105 (105 pages)

Total this week= 160 pages
Total this semester 1,164 pages


Style Mapping Favorites:
swimstrong: http://smellslikechlorine.blogspot.com/
In another excerpt from The Mud Below, Annie Proulx creates a poetic and loose style that has somewhat of a country twang which creates a melodious sound.

I like this sentence because it uses words different than those on the blackboard. I like the use of "country twang."

the Chief: http://chieftian.blogspot.com/
The adealine injected cheering of the crowd and violent spasisms of the bull give a noisy claging sound to this excert.

although there are some spelling mistakes, I think that this excerpt has some good word choice!

Less than Three: http://thoughtful-attempt.blogspot.com/
It pays no heed to the way that words sound together and has extraordinarily little figurative language.

Again, really good word choice. I think that her paragraph was overall really good, and she understands the concept of style mapping.

These three have chosen the best adjectives that weren't on the board.

Heaven is for Real!

Tonight I started reading the book Heaven Is For Real, and I reallly like it. It's about a little boy and his family who go through some crazy and painful experiences, and the little boy sees Jesus when he "dies" during surgery.  Right now I'm only 60 pages in, so I don't know much that has happened yet, but I started reading and had to force myself to stop in order to blog. I kept telling myself, "okay, just one more chapter," like five times. And I can't wait to go upstairs and read more. It was kind of weird, because the living room is right below my room, and my parents were watching TV in the living room. I could hear the TV, and then as I was reading, it was completely quiet...but when I looked up from the book, I could hear the TV again and my parents laughing. I was so zoned into the book that I couldn't even hear what was going on around me!


Someone in the class already read this book, and she recommended that people read it. I definitely recommend it as well. It's an easy read, I read 60 pages in an hour or less, and there's only like 150 pages. I'm really into reading Christian books, and books that deal with Christianity at all, so I'm finding this to be a really good book. It also puts me in a lot better mood than the other book that I'm reading, It. Maybe I should stick to positive, encouraging books like these...

I talked to my friend from Penn High School today and I told him I was writing a blog for a class and he said he thought it was really cool that we blogged for school! Pretty exciting stuff, I said.

"Style Mapping"

The three different excerpts that I am choosing to compare are Neil Gaiman's Stardust, Annie Proulx's "The Mud Below," and John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. Stardust has a literal denotation in this excerpt, with a scholarly, intricately-designed level of elevation, and a sound neither glorious nor dull. For example, the line "to the south is a treacherously placid lake served by the streams that drop from the hills behind Wall to the north," represents the straightforward denotation and elegance that is medium in sound. Contrastingly, "The Mud Below" has a poetic, imagistic connotation, a common, familiar elevation with a country twang, and a sweet, musical sound that creates an overall sense  of contentment. Here is an example: "Diamond took the end, mad his wrap, brought the rope around the back of his hand and over the palm a second time, wove it beween his third and fourth fingers, pounded the rosined glove fingers down over it and into his palm." The last excerpt, from Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck uses a picturesque, attractive connotation of nature, an elevated yet familiar altitude, and a melodious sound producing a beautiful scene filled with wildlife. A major example of this use of language would be in this sentence: "The water is warm too, for it has slipped twinkling over the yellow sands in the sunlight before reaching the narrow pool."

It reading this week.

This week I've been reading It by Stephen King, and a lot of different encounters have happened with whatever "It" is. People see different things for "it," kind of like whatever their fear is. So far most people see the clown, but a couple different kids have seen different monsters for  "it." One kid (who had his head ripped off) saw a green sea monster, while another kid saw a giant black bird-like thing (which he escaped from). At this point the story hasn't gotten to the point of defeating "It;" the story has only mentioned that every kid in the group has seen "it" but has kept it hidden until this point

What I've learned from this portion of reading is about loneliness, and how grateful I should be for having as many friends as I do. Some days, I'm sure for everyone, it feels like you don't have many people to talk to about your problems, but in reality, you're just being self-centered, because a lot of teenage kids don't have any friends. Ben Hanscom is one of those kids, and he is really happy when he finally meets some friends, Stuttering Bill and Eddie Kaspbrak. They are all bullied by the older kids that were held back into their grade, but they become friends when they decide to build a dam together. The book is very descriptive about how excited Ben is to finally have some friends. So overall this section of the book put a very grateful mood into my week.

Also, this week, the reading hasn't really been scaring me, so I'm able to read the book at night now without throwing the book outside my room from fright. But I have a feeling that in the next couple days that will change...We'll see.

Quarterly

This semester I have done more reading than I have in a long time. I don't remember the last time I read a lengthy book I actually wanted to read...probably freshman year when I read a couple books over winter break. I've noticed that when I have time to do whatever I want, I'll dive into one of my books. This semester, the book that has challenged me so far is The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, since its from a devil's point of view which is obviously not my point of view, so its different to read from someone else's perspective. The most pleasurable reading to me was Bag of Bones and It, not because the reading was nice and calm, but because it was really intense and I wanted to keep reading. I usually read in the couple hours after 5th period that I had before cross country practice, or a lot of times I read in the evening closer to when I go to bed. I'm going to challenge myself for the rest of the semester to read an even amount throughout the week, instead of cramming 150 pages into the last 3 days of the week. Reading is a relaxing thing so I definitely need to keep myself less stressed by spreading out the reading.

Response post for this week

This week I read alot of the book It and right now I'm not at a very scary point. I'm currently on a really big chapter of about 100 pages that describes Ben Hanscom's childhood. He was a chubby child in 5th grade when he first saw It. He was "in love" with Bev Marsh, one of the girls who also witnessed It that summer and was involved in the promise. Ben has no friends, yet the book says if someone asked him if he were lonely, he wouldn't really know what that meant. The narrator compared it to being blind at birth--someone blind at birth wouldn't fully understand what being blind is, because they've been so accustomed to it their whole life. It's the same for Ben. He's been so used to never having friends, always finding comfort in food and books and imagination, that he's never really understood what being lonely was.

In his town of Derry (during 1958), 5 children of all ages had been murdered, and all the bodies had been found completely mutilated and destroyed. Due to this, police made a curfew of 7 o'clock for all children, until the "psychopath" was found. Ben remembers his mother setting him down on the couch, and making him promise to be at dinner every night at the exact same time every summer, or else she'd call the police and put in a "lost child" notice. He says "Yes, Mamma, I promise to be home every night at the right time." She gives him a Timex watch, and then asks him if he's seen anything suspicious at all, and he is so entranced by the watch, and he doesn't want to upset his mother...he decides to not tell his mother about the clown he saw. And that night, the clown shows up in his dreams. He wakes up with tears on his pillow, not remembering his dream...

I really like this book and I hope I can finish it over the next few weeks. Its over a thousand pages long, so it'll be tough to finish quickly.

On a happy note, I've discovered that I've read over 1,000 pages of my own choosing this quarter. I haven't read that much of books I actually wanted to in a long time, so I feel really really good about it! :)

Currently.....last week (week 7)

It by Stephen King  70-159   89 pages
Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis  65-105 40 pages 

Total this week: 139 pages
Total this semester: 1,004 pages

Favorite sentences this quarter:

1. It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is done by keeping things out.

This came from the Screwtape Letters, and I really like this because it puts things into a new perspective for me. Typically I see it as the devil's main goal is to put evil thoughts into our mind. But even when we have these evil thoughts once in a while, God still forgives us. That's why the main goal of the devil is to keep the pure and healthy thoughts OUT of our head, in order to let the evil flow in.

2. "We all have a voice or style, but it takes practice, practice to find it."

This is from Palo Alto stories, and although it's my third time posting it, I still really enjoy the quote. I always think about it whether I'm referring to cross country, choosing a college or major, or even just sitting with my friends. We all really do have our own voice, but sometimes we hide it underneath everything else because we're scared to really search for it.

3. "We kicked them until the lion lost its face; it was bent inward, the eyes all wrong."

This quote is also from Palo Alto stories, and it's a weird sentence to choose, but I still like it because it shows their transition from innocence to rebellion. The lion face is on a rocking horse type thing, where they used to play and rock back and forth on as young kids. I just find it kind of sad that all their years as kids have passed already and now they're smoking and drinking and doing anything to vandalize the school--and they just don't care. 

Last week....

Last week I forgot to blog twice...so I'm going to do that now! For the last half of the week I read the book It by Stephen King, and its continuing to creep me out. In what I read last week, a few different events occurred. All the kids that were related in the incident back in 1958 were called by one of their childhood friends by phone, and completely dropped everything to leave for Derry. Each man or woman had made a promise in their childhood that if It were to come back and starting wreaking havoc, they would come back to Derry. The first man called was either killed, or committed suicide, in a bathtub, drowning in his own blood will the word IT was carved into his arms. The other people were all either in abusive relationships, or relationships that they "settled" into. Each of their significant others had no idea why the phone call made them freak out and act so different. And many recalled the specific expressions on their face after the phone call.They all did crazy things that they typically never would have done before the phone call.

At my point in the book, they are about to arrive in Derry. I don't know how soon they will encounter It, but I'm nervous for it because this book is scaring me. A couple of times I have skipped out on reading because the only time I will be able to read is at night and the book freaks me out  to much...I end up throwing it out onto the floor outside my room haha. I know it scares me, but for some reason I love being scared.The adrenaline rush is what gets me I think. Like i know if I watch a scary movie alone I'm gonna cry from fright, but for some reason I do it anyway (only when it's light out though...). This book is sooo long, I think it'll take me forever to finish but I've always wanted to read it, so its not a big deal.

Right now my mind is more concentrated on Sectionals tonight!

Screwtape Letters

I wish I had more time in the week to just read. I really enjoy reading, but these past couple months have literally been the most stressful months of my life. I feel like I have no time for anything and worrying is a big struggle for me because I do it all the time. Hopefully when cross country ends I'll be able to relax and start reading as much as I want to.

Anyway...

At this point in The Screwtape Letters, Screwtape says that Wormwood is losing his "patient", because he let the man indulge in simple pleasures such as taking a walk alone, or drinking tea at an old mill. He says that when men our left to do these things, they find a greater appreciation for the "Enemy," or in a Christian's words, God. However, he claims there is still hope to get the patient back to the side of "Our Father Below," by preventing the patient from "doing" anything. This means that he can think whatever he wants, but his actions must be prevented, because "active habits are strengthened by repetition but passive ones are weakened. Therefore, if he only thinks it, that certain thing is weakened.

I think this book is a good book for me to read because its more than just the typical Christian book. It displays the thoughts of demons who are trying to pull you away from God, and I think it's a really helpful tool if you want to strengthen your faith. In letter 14, Screwtape discusses how people find themselves to be humble, and say to themselves, "Wow! I'm really humble!"...which, alas, makes the person a proud person. I feel like thats how I am a lot of times. I'll say to myself that I'm more humble than others, and kind of be proud of myself for that...which makes me proud. And these demons are talking about how this thought of mine makes it easier for them to get into my head and try to change my beliefs. It's kind of scary actually, but it makes me realize that I really need to start living for God rather than myself.