How To Love by Katie Cotungo

Elsie Winfield

Pre-AP English

March 11 2015

I read How To Love by Katie Cotungo. This book was very well written and I personally really enjoyed her style of writing. The author has a very descriptive style of writing, she writes about the small details which allows you to clearly see what she is writing about . A sentence that show her style is when she's describing what's is happening when the main character, Reena sees Sawyer for the first time in a year “Water from the storm outside drips from my all purpose braid and onto the dinghy linoleum; a tiny puddle forms around my feet” (1). She adds small descriptive sentences like this which I believe gives you a clear picture and makes the book more enjoyable to read.

A  really interesting part about the book  How to love is that the author writes before and after Reena gets pregnant. Because she writes the book this way it seems like you're reading two books in one and keeps the book very interesting. How to Love is a love story but it also touches on very serious topics such as teen pregnancy.  The quote “The hideous thing is this: I want to forgive him. Even after everything, I do. A baby before my 17th birthday and a future as lonely as the surface of the moon and still the sight of him feels like a homecoming, like a song I used to know but somehow forgot.”(142) In this quote there is a lot of  romance but it still talks about why she shouldn't forgive him because he left her when she was pregnant.

I believe everyone would enjoy this book because its very well written and talks about serious topics while still being lighthearted. This book is mostly focused to teenage girls and is a very good for girls to read. Its a good book for teenage girls because it talks about the consequences of getting pregnant as teenager and how it stops you from living out your dreams and in the book this is something  the author talks about often. Even though the book is focused towards teenage girls its still a very universal book for anyone and I believe everyone would enjoy it.

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach


In The Art of Fielding, Chad Harbach uses an informal writing style throughout his novel, which I personally favor because it feels more natural. The reader gets a sense of what college life can be like and the age of the students. For instance, Pella talks in a relaxed way, using normal everyday conversation. "There's nothing to be afraid of. It doesn't, like, change your personality or anything" (419) captures this informal writing style best. Formal writing wouldn't use the word "like" and wouldn't sound so personal. Another prime example is, "He's got a hat that says Yankees and it's the real deal, yo" (150) said by Izzy on the bus ride to one of the games. I don't know of many formal writing pieces that use the word "yo" because it isn't very professional.

My favorite section in the book is the beginning of chapter 76. This is the section where Henry wakes up in the ER and Schwartz tells him about what happened and how Henry won the Championship game for them by taking a pitch to the face. This was the reason he was unconscious in the ER. "The movement was arrested by two tubes that were taped to his forearm. A bitter taste stung his mouth. Schwartz was sitting in a chair by the bed, motionless in the dark" (475) gives the reader a sense of what the room is like when Henry comes to. It creates a feeling of being trapped and hurt so the reader can imagine what Henry is going through as Schwartz starts to fill him in on what had happened.


I would recommend this novel to anybody who can stay focused and don't have to be hooked early. Not all 512 pages will have you on the edge of your seat, but the exciting points in the plot line are well spaced to keep you interested. Also, the suspenseful atmosphere he builds up with drama keeps the reader guessing whether or not the characters' lives will take a turn for better, or for worse.

Blair Donaldson

March 11, 2015

English blog.                            Unbroken. By: Laura Hillenbrand

            For our independent reading book, I choose Unbroken by: Laura Hillenbrand. Since the book is based on true story I was captivated right from the beginning. The whole book itself keeps you wondering what is going to happen in Louie’s life and the events he endures.  Louie Zamperini is the main character that the book is about. The book is about survival and inspiration and World War 2. Louie was also an Olympic runner which makes it even more inspiring to me personally and he becomes a Christian. Throughout the whole book you feel like your with Louie and feeling the pain or suffering that he had. For some reason something about a book being a true story makes it easier to relate too and intriguing. It’s also very inspiring which makes you want to be like him, because he is so strong and makes it through such difficult times.

            Some quotes that I loved from Unbroken that help you in vision what Louie sees. “Such beauty , he thought was too perfect to have come about by mere chance. That day in the center of the pacific was, to him, a gift crafted deliberately, compassionately, for him and Phil.” (166) These are Louie’s thoughts as they are drifting along the Pacific Ocean after their plane crash, and have been on the ocean for weeks and are floating into the world of starvation and dehydration. This quote I think is an essential in this certain chapter and part of his life, because Louie was on the edge of death, and yet he takes the time to see the beauty of the sunset and thinks of all the blessings he has, he said it was like a gift to them, Louie kept so positive and saw the beauty in everything even during such a hard time like this. Louie and Phil had been on the ocean for 47 days and survived, through having a Japanese plane shoot at them to having sharks lunging themselves out of water, Louie and Phil lived through it all. But then they were captured by Japanese and taken too a POW camp, Louie had gone through I think 2 camps before he came to his last 3rd camp. All camps were nightmares for Louie, he was tortured and beaten over and over again. There was one Japanese POW sergeant named Mutsuhiro Watanabe nicknamed by the POW's "The Bird." The Bird had an obsession with Louie. He tortured Louie constantly he even had every prisoner punch Louie in the face. But there was this one time were The Bird made Louie pick up a six foot beam and the book quotes, "Louie stood in the sun, holding up the beam.....Louie locked his eyes on the Bird's face, radiating hatred.(295) "He felt his his consciousness slipping, his mind loosing adhesion, until all he knew was a single thought: He can not break me." (296)  This quote is so important and there is so much strength in it, Louie was weak and starved and beaten and yet could hold up this six foot beam for around 30 something minutes. It's something so amazing, it shows Louie's strength and how he was not going to let the Bird brake him. You feel like your there with Louie and watching him, sometimes the book even makes you feel you are him. One last quote I find important in the book when Louie was seeing Billy Graham ( a preacher) he had a flashback of the day on the raft. "....He was on a body raft, dying of thirst. He felt words whisper from his swollen lips. It was a promise thrown at Heaven, a promise he had not kept, a promise he had allowed himself to forget until just this instant:If you save me, I will serve you forever. and then , standing under a circus tent on a clear night in downtown Los Angeles, Louie felt rain." (375) This quote is so important to this book and so beautiful and powerful, because it shows that he  remembers this promise, and he goes on to full fill it, and finds peace and forgiveness with God, he even forgives the Japanese sergeants who beat and tortured him. Louie's devotion to God is so amazing and his story of what he went through and how God helped them is so inspiring.  Louie even takes up his running career once again.

                  In the end this book is so inspiring most definitely the best book I have ever read. I would recommend this book to everyone. It shows you how tough life can be, but you just have to push through it and not let anything break you. It's very reflective and reminds you how lucky your are, to be where you are and to have what you have. This book is so amazing and if anyone has the chance to read it, they most definitely should. You get so captivated in the book that you can hardly put it down, I never wanted to stop reading. Unbroken is inspirational and everyone should get the chance to see the life of Louie Zamperini.  

The Maze Runner by: James Dashner

            The Maze Runner is the story of a teenage boy named Thomas who has been placed in what he later finds out to be an experiment designed by the government. He is brought into a world known as The Glade full of other young boys in the same situation. The Glade is described by author, James Dashner, as being a sort of grassy, almost farm-like area with many trees and other plants as well as animals. It is also surrounded on all sides by large, stone walls that open up to an enormous maze that has never been escaped by any of the Gladers. Thomas was brought into The Glade not remembering anything from his past. As the novel goes on however, he starts to recall certain events from his past that eventually help him and the other Gladers escape The Maze.

            Dashner's diction as well as syntax really help in making this novel such a success and interesting to read. He creates a sort of, code for the boys living in The Glade which makes it a lot more interesting to find out what each term means. "Thomas once again felt a pressing ache of confusion- hearing so many words and phrases that didn't make sense. Shank. Shuck. Keeper. Slopper "(6). Since the reader only knows as much as Thomas does, they get to learn what the terms mean along with him. At some points in the novel, it can be frustrating not knowing exactly what is going on, but that's exactly the goal of Dashner's suspenseful style. In the novel as well, the syntax is short and choppy while Thomas and some of the other Gladers are out exploring The Maze. "Five feet. Four feet. Three. Two. Thomas knew he had no choice. He moved. Forward "(112). Thomas' urgency in The Maze causes the reader to feel on-edge and worried for his safety. The imagery used in the novel is also pretty intriguing. "Yet the trees were tall with sturdy trunks, packed tightly together, the canopy up above thick with leaves"(67). This really helps the reader visualize the setting of The Glade and feel more a part of the story.

            Overall, I really enjoyed this novel and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys suspenseful and action-filled stories. Though very little, there is even a slight romance towards the end of the novel. I was never very bored while reading because there was always something interesting going on. Thomas is such a great character and interesting to read about. The whole story is very original and can really make the reader think about what the future may hold.   

              

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

An Abundance of Katherines 

For my independent reading book I read, An Abundance of Katherines by John Green. An Abundance of Katherines is about a boy named Collin, who after graduating high school goes on a road trip with his best friend to try and get over his ex-girlfriend, Katherine. Collin has dated and been dumped by 19 Katherines. This made the story have a good plot and made it very unique and interesting. John Green uses a different type of style in this book then he has used in his other books I have read. The story is told in third person and uses flashbacks to create the style that makes you won't want to put the book down. 

John Green uses flashbacks throughout the story explaining his relationships with each Katherine. This helps the reader know more about the main character, Collin. It also helps build the plot of the story. For examples in the book it states, “It's just that I learned a while ago that the best way to get people to like you is not to like them too much”(145).This quote is an example on what Collin learns from his past relationships that helps him move on. Another example is, “You don't remember what happened. What you remember becomes what happened”(199). This is another example of how Collin learns by flashing back throughout the story at his past relationships and how he ends up moving on. These quotes show how Collin grows and how the plot builds from flashing back throughout the story. 

This book was great. It is defenitly one of my favorite John Green books. I recommend it to anyone and everyone. If you have read some of his other books you should read this one because it is a little bit different from his other books because it was one of his first books he wrote. My favorite part was when Collin and Lindsey's relationship grows after her and her boyfriend (who was also a Collin) break up and she helps him solve the theorem of relationships by adding a couple variables. All in all I think every John Green fan should read this great coming of age book.

Insurgent

I read the novel Insurgent by Veronica Roth. This author’s style is more contemporary than anything, and very descriptive too. The words are very simple. The sentences are also very short. I honestly do not enjoy that type of style. I like my books to be lengthier and it’s diction to be greater. One paragraph that exemplifies this on page 42 is: “I inch closer to Tobias, not sure how to comfort him without making things worse. I pick up my apple with my left hand, and grab his hand under the table with my right. But I can’t keep my eyes away from Marcus. I want to know more about what he said to Johanna. And sometimes, if you want the truth, you have to demand it.” As you can see, the first two sentences are pretty descriptive. But as it carries on, the sentence length seems to become shorter. And in this paragraph, there are not any crazy uses of syntax whatsoever. All of that isn’t necessarily bad, as this book is written for teenagers. This creates an affect of rush and thinking fast, as the main character, Tris, is rapidly thinking about the situation at hand.

One of the best quotes in the whole entire novel is: “I feel bare. I didn't realize that I wore my secrets as armor until they were gone, and now everyone sees me as I really am.” I personally believe this is a really good sentence containing imagery. Although her secrets are not technically real, she still compares them to armor. It’s as if those secrets protected her throughout her journey. But since her secrets became visible to everyone, she no longer has that armor to protect her. She is now vulnerable to mental and physical attacks on the body and mind. This can also be applied to the real world, as almost everyone my age has secrets that, if found out, could destroy them, or, like Tris, make them vulnerable to the world.

After reading this book and its predecessor (Divergent), I would in fact recommend this book to my peers. It’s a good book, although not super challenging. But a book doesn’t always have to be a challenging read in order for it to be enjoyable. I’d especially recommend this novel, and not just the novel but rather the whole entire Divergent series. If a friend or classmate enjoyed series such as The Hunger Games, I’d say: “Hey, why not pick up this series. It’s pretty good.” Plus the movie is coming out in like a week, and you must read the book version before seeing it’s on screen adaptation. All in all, good book, 5/10 stars.

"The Tragedy Paper" Overview

          The Tragedy Paper, written by Elizabeth Laban, is mainly about a tragedy story of "first love and heartbreak" of a 17-year old albino, Tim MacBeth. Tim recently transfers to the Irving School and suddenly meets a girl, Vanessa, who goes to school that he's transferring to. Throughout the beginning of the book Tim falls in love to Vanessa, but he finds out that she has already a boyfriend who goes to the Irving School, Patrick. This book is a stirring story, because Tim is situated in a truthful dismal life and love triangle. The ending is also something that is unexpected.

          Elizabeth Laban creates an interesting style in the novel; she uses two alternating viewpoints from two different characters. One of the viewpoint is set on the present time, and it is use in the third point of view of Duncan. Duncan is currently a senior student in the Irving School who is listening to Tim's tragic story, through the CD recordings that Tim left for Duncan as a "treasure". The other viewpoint is the first point of view of Tim. As Duncan listened to Tim's CD recordings he realized that he couldn't stop listening to it, and he needed to find out Tim's whole story. "Duncan knew what Tim had set in motion. Why couldn't there be a big flashing red light that goes off when someone makes a bad choice, or in this case, a disastrous choice? . . . It was so frustrating that he considered throwing the CDs out his little round window and never thinking of them again . . . The last thing he needed was to go through it all again" (166). Duncan has no other choice but to sit and listen to discover Tim's tragic past and mistakes. "For Vanessa, Patrick would always come first, and she would always see me as an albino---that was all I would ever be to her" (245). This is one of Tim's heartbroken moment realizing that he had no hope to getting to Vanessa.

          After reading this book, left me an unsettling but satisfied feeling. It was a slice of life, because the way it was told realistically. I would recommend you reading this book because there might be things that you can find out about this tragic love life just like I did. As I started reading from the beginning of the book it made me kept reading and finding out Tim's appalling story, it's as if I was Duncan in the story. Elizabeth Laban did a fascinating story by creating two different viewpoints and synchronizing the two characters situation in the book together.