5/20/15

Book Blog


I'm currently reading Letting Ana Go, by Anonymous. it is one of the books in the same group as Go Ask Alice, a book I read earlier this trimester. It is an anonymous diary, from a girl who suffered through anorexia. It is interesting to me how it shows her going from a perfectly healthy girl to a girl who is barely enough to survive. At this point I'm actually almost done with it, as it is a fairly easy read since it was a real diary.

So far I actually have enjoyed it more than I liked Go Ask Alice, which isn't exactly fair because they were very different topics. I still felt this book was more interesting because the way it was written wasn't all 'I need to stop,' or 'this is so bad' because she doesn't feel anythings wrong.

I think this book so far has been an incredible read. I would recommend it, but only to 7th and 8th Graders, if even. It does deal with mature topics, which may be hard for some.

5/17/15

Book Blog


Recently I read We Were Liars. It is about a rich family who vacations at a small island each summer. It focuses on Cadence, the oldest grandchild of the Sinclair family, as well as her cousins, and a family friend, all who were around the same age. They would spend each summer together on the beaches of their island. Until one summer when Cadence woke up in freezing cold water, not returning to the island for two years. When returning she finds it to very different. As the book progresses she begins to remember what happened on the island two years prior, leading to a plot twist that will shock you. 

I thought this book had a good plot. I thought it started off well, and made me want to keep reading. I think it had good enough character development and did a decent amount of description. I would have to say it was a fairly easy read though. 

5/1/15

Manarola

The day is young. We have just checked into our home for the next few days. And it stinks. Literally. It smells like garbage. The outside is beautiful, it's a small townhouse, just a few minutes away from the beaches of Manarola. With a wall that is actual rock, from the cliff it's built into. This rock though was clearly not wearing its deodorant for it stank.

Eventually though the smell want away, and we could finally enjoy the house. We could walk around the streets, looking at cool shops, you wouldn't find anywhere else. Going down to the rocky beaches, with 30 foot tall rocks, people would jump off of into the crystal blue water. Looking up at houses, with brighter colors than you'd ever see in Denver. With the warm sun tiptoeing up and down your back. And warm water splashing you. Watching sunsets, with colors more vivid, than our cameras could capture. Taking trains, going fast through Riomaggiore, Monterosso and the rest of the Cinque Terre. A trip, never to be forgotten.

4/28/15

Book Blog


Last week I read The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson. It is about Jenna Fox, a 17 year old girl who has just woken up from a coma, after over a year. When she wakes she hardly remembers anything. Day, by day she begins to remember the person she used to be. She remembers words she once knew, and movements she did everyday before the tragic accident that changed her life. She feels normal, and almost thinks she can make her life go back to normal, shes going to school, she has friends. But. She's not normal, she never will be. Because after her accident no one thought she'd live. Until her parents broke the law and uploaded her mind to a hard drive. And created a new Jenna Fox a Jenna Fox who was not quite human, and a Jenna Fox who was now the perfect ballerina height.

I thought that this book was interesting. I think the plot was an amazing idea, and was carried out extremely well, making this a worthwhile read. I think that the author did an amazing job portraying Jenna's emotions, especially the intense anger she felt after finding out what her parents did. I think this book was an amazing read and I would recommend it to a lot of people in our class.
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This week I am reading We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. It is about a rich family, that is rich both in money as well as in secrets and lies. Right now I think it is good, but I am not that far along in the story.


4/26/15

Pabu

Dear Pabu,
You are so loud. You give me such a headache. You do not make all my days fabulous.
Yet, I still love you very much. You are kind and loving, caring and sweet. Even though you don't smell great. You also whine whenever you don't get your way, which admittedly I do too. You are many things annoying is one of them, but you are also my best buddy in the world, and the best dog ever.
~Quinn

4/21/15

Book Blog



I recently finished Kindred by Octavia E. Butler. It is about a black woman named Dana who suddenly gets the ability to travel back in time, which she soon figures out is only to save the life of her ancestor Rufus Weilyn or 'Rufe' as she calls him many times throughout the book. As the book progresses you witness Rufus slowly turning from a lovable little boy, to a slave master, almost as cruel as his father, at one point ordering someone to whip Dana.

I thought this book in all honesty sucked. I thought it had poor character development, and it didn't introduce characters well. I think that Dana, was an incredibly unlikable character, who had no real values and was only saving Rufus for her own sake, not because she truly cared for him. Also at the point of the book when she was a slave, she looked down at the other slaves, which I thought was incredibly shallow and immature of the character. Once I started this book I wanted to stop reading it.

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This week I am reading The Adoration of Jenna Fox. I am not very far but I can tell you it's about a girl named Jenna who gets in a car accident and is in a coma for over a year, and finally wakes up, now remembering anything.

One of my favorite things about it so far is the little poems that begin each chapter. I also think this book is a giant leap from Kindred.



4/14/15

Book Blog



I have been reading Kindred by Octavia E. Butler for my book group book. This story follows a black woman, named Dana. Who mysteriously gets the power to travel back in time. After going back once or twice she discovers that the little boy, Rufus she keeps returning in order to save is her ancestor. She has many issues while in the past, due to the fact it takes place in the era of slavery. This makes it very dangerous for her to travel through time. She keeps going back and coming home, but she only comes home when she fears for her life.

I do not enjoy this book. I think the plotline is good, but I think that it wasn't carried as well as it could've been. I think a lot of the time things just go perfectly, when in real life they wouldn't, such as when Dana throws burning curtains out the window of the second story of a house in the middle of the woods, and they happen to not catch anything on fire. It also isn't very descriptive and has a lot more flaws. So far I don't like this book, but maybe thats just my opinion.

4/10/15

Walking

We leave the house. Closing the door gently behind us. We pick a way to walk and then begin the quiet walk, going wherever our feet take us. Following the directions they tell us. Taking the journey step
by 
step. 
One foot in front of the other.
Walking
On and on
Until somehow we make our way home. 

4/7/15

Book Blog



Recently I read Asylum by Madeleine Roux. It follows a boy named Dan, who is attending a pre-college program at a local college. This school was very well known for it's amazing teachers, whom all the students loved. Once there he finds out the old dorms were not being used instead they would be living in a former Insane Asylum, that had been shutdown for their methods of treatment. He quickly makes friends with Abby, an artist, and Jordan, a math prodigy. In the first couple nights they sneak into an office, in which they find disturbing photographs of former patients. Soon they begin receiving strange notes. Then there's a string of murders similar to those of a famous serial killer whom once stayed there. 

I enjoyed this book, I thought it was too easy at times, but the plot was beautifully constructed and I found few plot holes when reading it. But I also felt it had weak character development at times, and the characters were incredibly dependent on each other and seemed to be unusually uneducated in the basic rules of the world and being actual good human beings, for their age. 

3/30/15

Done

31/31 of March challenge
Done. We are done with this challenge. And done with the month of March. I am done writing about my life everyday always stressing about when I'm going to find the time to sit at a computer, and write about whatever's in my mind at that moment. Whichever memory I think is interesting or important enough to share with the world. I am done rushing to my computer at 7:55, hoping I can write my slice in time. Especially even though I'm sick. And cringing whenever I look at a clock. I am done looking at the clock while I eat my dinner, making sure I have time to write my slice about Starbucks, or snakes, or the colors that are in my room. I am done looking at the slice of life logo, that I have had saved to my desktop for the last month.  Done surfing through pictures for some inspiration, or reading old writing to see what I have done in the past. I am so done. This challenge was fun at first. But now I am just done.

Snake

30/31 of March challenge

This one time I saw a snake. It was cool. It slithered a lot, and my sister cried.