Books I want to read next

1. Divergent by Veronica Roth
2. Insurgent by Veronica Roth
3. Allegiant by Veronica Roth
4. Hunger Games series by Susan Collins
5. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
6. Room by Emma Donoghue
7. Miss Peregrins's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
8. Hollow City by Ransom Riggs
9. The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen
10. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

Book Talk Presentation

Book Three Review

I’m reviewing The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. This book is about two young cancer patients. One’s name is Hazel Grace Lancaster, who has terminal lung cancer, and the other is Augustus Waters who suffered from osteosarcoma, but has been in remission for a couple of years now. They meet at a cancer support group and quickly take a liking to each other. Over the course of this book, Green takes you through their growing relationship and through their cancer battle at the same time. You’re with them through many of their firsts, and their lasts, riding an emotional rollercoaster the whole way through.

What sets apart this “love story” from another is that there’s no sugar-coated, happy ending. Green takes you face to face with the harshness of reality and the fact that sometimes, things don’t end the way we want them to. The Fault in Our Stars predictably ends with a death. Now saying this you may think the entire book is tragic and tear filled, but John lights it up. He takes their presumably doomed romance and adds life and happiness. He makes you smile and laugh and blush, while at the same time feel for these characters. As crazy as it may seem, it may almost be a happier book then others. If any of you have read The Notebook, you know Noah and Allie go through many hard times throughout the book, mainly pertaining to Allie deciding her fate. It all ends up creating a lot of conflict between them. Now, while The Fault in Our Stars indisputably has conflict, it’s handled much differently. Hazel and Gus both know they aren’t going to live a full life, and they come to terms with that, so throughout the book they live like there’s no tomorrow rather than fighting over stupid little things. The majority of this books tone is on the happier side! This came as a shock to me, as it’s not what’d you’d expect after reading the prologue.

            As for theme, Green has some pretty clear cut themes. They’re not ones you’d have to sit down and think for a long time about. For that reason, if you’re a reader who loves getting deep into the mind of an author, this book probably wouldn’t be for you. Not saying this novel is an easy read, there’s just not a lot of deeper meaning hidden throughout it. It’s more of a simple story, and in some ways it can be predictable. That’s where the author is the weakest; he has a typical plot without any major climax that stops your breath. It doesn’t take away from the characters and their story, it almost adds to the theme. Hazel and Augustus both don’t believe in miracles. They know they’re love will have an end and there may not be an eternity. As Hazel says in chapter 1, “There will come a time, when all of us are dead. All of us. There will come a time when there are no human beings remaining to remember that anyone ever existed or that our species ever did anything.” This shows how she knows she won’t be cured and how she’s accepted it in a beautiful way.

            Like I was saying before, the predictability of this book, doesn’t at all take away from the characters in this story. I have never read a book where I felt like I’ve know the characters their whole life, until I read The Fault in Our Stars. Hazel and Augustus are very similar with their views on the world, but often ‘agree to disagree’ on many subjects. There’s never any bickering between each other because they respect each other’s opinions. I definetly admired that about them. Hazel has a very strong mind and both of them are extremely intelligent. Their conversations would make you think they’re much older than they really are. A passage that definitely caught my attention was Gus’s words on page 153, “I’m in love with you, and I’m not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things, I’m in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout in the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we’re all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we’ll ever have, and I’m in love with you.” Just from this passage you can get a glimpse of how real Green makes these characters. You definetly feel for them in ways you wouldn’t think you ever would.

            On an overall 1-10 scale, I’d rate The Fault in Our Stars a solid 9. Mainly because of how true to life this book is. The characters themselves are so wonderfully crafted and Green has a flawless writing style. This book is indisputably the best love story I have ever read. It’s an outstanding novel, although it may not be incredibly thrilling, it’s definitely worth a read.

Blog Post #9

Do we tend to like books with female or male protagonists?

Thinking about this question was difficult. At first I believed it was all about preference, but thinking about it a little more, I found that there’s more.

In The Fault In our Stars, there's a strong female main character. Hazel does a great job of expressing how she feels about life but at the same time, I wondered if i would like it even more if it was told from a males point of view.

With a female protagonist the story will almost always involve a romance element or a love interest because girls are known for being more focused and obsessed with relationship, where guys could live without them. Also, girls tend to over analyze everything, so having a female narrator or main character would give you a better insight on the character. The great thing about a woman protagonist is that they are very relatable and stand for women’s rights, which middle aged ladies are always looking for. They do a fantastic job building outstanding character-reader relationships, because they are more profound with their feelings.

As for male protagonists, they stray more to the side of action and adventure. You’re much more likely to have an action novel with a leading male character rather than a female. I think this is definitely due to stereotypes. We take tough-guy, strong minded, male characters more seriously than women. This isn’t fair, but it’s simply how we view things. I’m not saying a woman couldn’t do the things a man could, they just are better suited for a romance novel or love story.

I like to read thriller and action, so I always find myself liking the guy main characters better. Also, with a male narrator, they focus in on the story and plot, which I find is a better read than being dragged through someone’s subconscious.

So all in all, I believe that it's better that The Fault in Our Stars was written with a female narrator. I feel this way because she fits the genre better and in result, she enhances the story with her thoughts on the subjects.

Post # 4 (A bit late)

I realized my counting was flawed and forgot to do blog post # 4 for book 1 so here it is:

A quick run down of Thirteen Reasons Why

So 13 Reasons Why is a story about a girl, Hannah, who commits suicide and the tapes she leaves behind. Each of them contains a name and as the tapes a passed around by 13 people, their roles in her suicide are revealed.

This book was very emotional and almost too depressing for me, which is saying something. There wasn't really any happy parts in it and nothing to really look forward to from an emotional standpoint. It did have a lot of suspense when you waited to find out how Clay fit into the story, which is why I think it's such a good book.

All in all, if you do think about reading it, make sure you're ready for some tears.

Blog #8

I feel half-truths are almost cheating in a way. It's like you make up a story that stretches the truth and you realize that it wouldn't be popular if it was fiction because it's not exciting enough, but you know if you said it was completely true, it's be a very popular memoir. So you choose to make people believe that it's a 100% true story. That's not fair to non-fiction writers who are trustworthy and don't lie. You also get a ton of popularity and fame because people believe you're some brave super-human who went through this unimaginable event when in reality, you made half of it up.

Writers who add lies to enhance a true story do not deserve to be put under the non-fiction genre.

In my opinion, if you claim to have written a memoir, it has to be 100% true or else it should be called fiction.

In James Frey’s case, he did deserve to be called out. He made people feel bad for him and believe that he went through a way worse situation than he actually did. If people knew that he lied beforehand, he would most definitely not have sold nearly as many books as he had, let alone have gotten published in the first place. In my eyes, he cheated the system to get more success. If I had read his book and felt all these emotions for him only to later find out that he didn’t even go through the things he claimed he did, I would’ve been hurt. It would’ve completely changed my view on him as an author.

Blog #7 Trailer

Here's our trailer for I Am Number Four

Blog #6 Readicide

Gallagher brings up many interesting ideas as he talks about Readicide. His points really make you think about the two types of reading: for school and for enjoyment. I believe that Readicide is a major problem. Schools give us these books that are literary fiction, filled with a bunch of content that we don’t understand and feel as if it is our duty to know what it means. They go on to teach us how to comprehend these boring books from ancient times. What’s the point of it? In our real world job, nobody is going to need to know about Shakespeare’s religious metaphors and the figurative language in Macbeth. That doesn’t fuel our imagination or make us any smarter. It simply helps us read old books. This in my opinion is completely and utterly useless. It’s like we’ve been scarred as readers. After reading a literary fiction book in school and having an awful time analyzing every single sentence trying to figure out its’ meaning, we’re NEVER going to want to do it again, especially not for our own enjoyment. No one will say, “Wow, I loved having to figure out every little detail in Romeo and Juliet, I’m going to go read even more Shakespeare.” That’s unrealistic if they think that’s what students do. Some people don’t even read due to the emotional process they were dragged through at school. The people who do read, read genre fiction. Books that they enjoy reading, which they wouldn’t mind having to annotate or do projects on. They read books that inspire and excite them, not bore them to death. We learn valuable lessons from these books rather than knowing the difference between an allusion and symbolism. But, since the joy of reading a good book was killed by our education system, nobody would know the bliss of reading a good book that you can read by yourself and actually enjoy.  

Book One Project

Thirteen Reasons Why: Tapes & Map

If you’re craving more 13 Reasons Why, today is your lucky day. We have the perfect thing for you. We are now offering a copy of Hannah’s tapes to extend your relationship with the book. You can listen to these tapes to really connect with Hannah on a different level. Also you’ll be able to feel the same emotions as Clay did when he listened to them.

In 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher, Hannah Baker leaves behind 13 explaining why she took her life. The novel follows Clay Jensen and his experiences as he listens to the tapes and tries to figure out how he fits into Hannah’s story. While the audience is reading they can use the copy of Hannah’s tapes to follow along with the book. Instead of just reading, “But now, I hope you understand. My world was collapsing,” you can hear it in Hannah’s own voice. This product offers all 13 tapes read by a 16 year old girl who can portray the emotion Hannah would have had while recording the tapes to make it more legitimate. Along with the tapes you will also receive a map of the town and pictures of the places Hannah talked about and Clay visited. When Hannah says, “Our first red star can be found at C-4,” you can use your map and pictures to enhance the reading experience. So, in the story when Clay goes to, “E-5… The best ice cream and the greasiest burgers and fries around. Rosie’s Diner,” you can visit it with him to have more of a visual understanding of what he’s going through. You can even look at pictures of the seat where Hannah waited for Marcus to show up. This takes the book to a whole new level of reading. It will submerge you in the story and get you lost in it even more than before, which is exactly what the fans are looking for.

This idea will work because people who read this book love emotion and this opportunity gives them even more. It’ll make more people want to read it because it’s different from a normal book. A lot of people want more than just a simple read. They want something more exciting, and the tapes do exactly that. Also, the tapes, maps and pictures will cause the fans who have already read it to read it again. They can grow even fonder to the book and the author. Fans are going to want more from the author and buy more of her books. 

All in all, this package of the 13 tapes and the map with pictures, will attract new readers and makes fans fall even more in love with 13 Reasons Why.

Adapting I am Number Four into a movie

          Some challenges the director would face in the recreation of I am Number Four into a movie would be adding more dialogue. The book has a lot of moments where Number 4 is thinking about things and not really talking outloud. The director would have to find a way to have more talking and interraction going on rather then him just dwelling on his own thoguhts. He'd also probably have a hard time capturing all of the book into a two hour film considering it is a pretty lengthy book that takes place over a period of time. He'd probably have to fast forward through a lot of parts in the book.
       
          In adapting this book, it's really important to keep most of the characters considering there isn't that many. Most of them contribute to the story a lot and would take away from the plot if they weren't in it. You also need to keep a lot of the fights that go on because they have a large importance to the novel. They are what make the book so excititng. Also, you'd definetly have to keep the relationship between 4 and Sarah because that adds something to the movie to make it attractive to both genders and not just have constant fighting going on. It also adds more conflict.
       
         There are some things you could get rid of that don't matter to the story are the part where 4 and henry have the long road trip to Ohio because it's pretty boring and meaningless. You could also take out the parts where 4 is training in his backyard becaus nothing important happens and it wouldn't take away from the plot.