Praise on Winston

This week, I read Winston’s blog post, “The Last Thing I Remember.” The post is very well written in style, and has a unique focus. I really like how Winston connects the story to himself and then relates the theme to what he already discusses. He also describes how even though the story is not that realistic, parts of it are.

One of the things that I love most about Winston’s blog post is the way that he summarizes it. The summary is explained in such a way that does not reveal anything, but adds suspense. He does this by creating short, dramatic sentences to make it mysterious. For example, he says, “He has no idea what is going on, but nobody will believe him. He wants to discover the truth. He’s on the run.” That is the very end of the summary. Doesn’t it make you want to find out what happens? The way he writes the summary is much like the back cover of a book in that it is secretive but very intriguing. I love this way of writing, and I think that it makes his blog post unique and all the better.

The content of his piece is also very interesting because he connects the story to himself. The way he does this is by saying that the book is not realistic, but the characters feelings are. I liked how he admitted that the book is not very realistic, which is exactly what I was thinking when I read the summary. But he acknowledges this and I think that shows that he is passionate about the book and is open minded to what it is really about. He further uses what he says about the character’s emotions being realistic by comparing them to his own life. But what I especially liked about this is that I could connect with what he says about his own life. “There are times when people don’t believe what I say, even though I’m telling the truth. This frustrates me.” Who can’t relate themselves to this? I know it is especially frustrating when someone doesn’t believe me and then I am so annoyed that I smile or laugh, which nudges that person even farther away from believing me. And then what I like even more, is how Winston uses his knowledge of what the character feels from his own experience to describe how he better understands the character.

Winston’s blog, “The Last Thing I Remember”, is well written and has great, thoughtful content. He uses what he says about feelings and relating the character’s emotions to his own to relate to the theme of the book. The way he makes the summary mysterious makes me want to read the book. It sounds unrealistic, but it also seems like an interesting story. Winston does not say the usual “I like this book because…”. Instead, he describes to the reader what makes the book stand out to him. But, we can see that he likes the book because even though it is not realistic, he can relate to it in a way that many other people can.

This is a link to this blog:  http://readingbooks2479.blogspot.com/

non-fiction

In the article “Fireballs in the Sky are Not Exclusive to Siberia“, the author, Andy Newman, wants the reader to know that the meteor that landed in Syria was not as rare as people often think. In the New York region, many meteors and meteorites have landed, especially in the past few hundred years, and people may not notice them as much because they watch TV and spend time with electronics more and more. He also explains that sometimes the meteor that is sighted is found to be manmade, or fake. But there have been many accounts of real meteors in the sky and people finding them in their car or even living room in Brooklyn, and other nearby cities. Andy Newman proves his point by having actual accounts in quotes to show that people actually saw meteors. One account that was mentioned said: ‘“I was standing with a friend in Thirty-fourth-street, near the southwest corner of Madison-avenue, when we observed a luminous body rising rapidly from behind the houses on the southerly side of the street.”’ This makes the reader understand that people actually saw these meteors and many of them were real. Another example of this would be in an article published in Utica, New York. It said: “This morning at 1:40, the most beautiful meteor seen in this vicinity for years flashed across the northern sky nearly from horizon to horizon.” Another way that Newman proves his point is when he describes that a cosmochemist said “I just think that people aren’t as in touch with the natural world as they used to be and that includes meteorites.” This helps show how new technology is hurting people’s knowledge of the world and nature.

Andy Newman hopes that the reader will be more interested in meteors and their history, but also feel that they are not so rare and that they happen almost every day. Towards the beginning of the article, he says, “The New York region has seen more than its share of meteors and meteorites”. That means that there have been many sightings in the New York region alone, imagine the number of meteors that have landed in the world. That is probably a lot more than people expect. To further show that that is what Newman wants his readers to feel, he titles the article based off of this idea. “Fireballs in the Sky are Not Exclusive to Siberia” is pretty straightforward and the reader already knows how Andy Newman wants them to feel.

I definitely got the message from this article. I was one of those people who found what happened in Syria “improbable and exotic”. But this article made me realize that where I live, there have been many meteors. What shocked me the most was that even though landings occur often, especially in New York, I have never seen one, or even heard of a meteor landing. This article has most incredibly shaped the way that I think about meteors because I had no idea how often they land on earth. But thinking about it more makes me realize that it makes sense. There are billions of rocks flying around space and earth is not a very small target. It is understandable that meteor landings occur so often. I would love to know more about the statistics about how often they occur and where meteors most often land.

To Kill a Mockingbird

I am now reading “To Kill a Mockingbird”. So far, it is about Scout and Jem and their friend Dill. Dill convinces Jem to want to see Boo Radley. Boo has some sort of mental illness and therefore if feared in the town. Rumors are made up about him, and his house is avoided. But Jem and Scout have a different relationship to him. Boo Radley seems to know what they are up to, and is even nice to them. But Jem and Scout have never seen him or been able to contact him. They are beginning to discover that he is friendly to him. I also think that Boo knows what else is happening in the town, and that is why he will not come out.

Towards the beginning of the book, Jem, Scout, and Dill try to look into the window of Boo Radley’s house. Boo’s father shoots at them and they escape, but Jem without his pants. Later, when he goes back to get his pants which were caught on the gate, they were neatly folded and sewn up as if he were expected. It does not say, but I think that Boo Radley did this to become friends with Jem and Scout. There is another example of his kindness as well. When a neighbor’s house burns in the middle of the night, Boo puts a blanket around Scout when she was shivering outside his house. She didn’t notice this act of kindness, but this was certainly an attempt to create friends. Boo is doing only nice things for the kids, and I think that he will continue to help them until they figure this out.

It seems like the townspeople are afraid of Boo because he has a mental illness. This is why they make up mean stories about him and are cautious around his house. This is also why he will not come out. He does not know anybody and he is afraid of how people will react to him. And as time progresses, he is losing his chance of being accepted as more rumors are created. Because he is acting as if Jem and Scout are his friends, it makes me think that that is the reason he stays in his house: because he has no friends. If people accepted Boo even though he has an illness, he would come out. Then he would be treated even better. This issue also comes up in modern times. In Newtown, a man with a mental illness killed people in a school. People are afraid of him, for the right causes, but also for the wrong ones. He did kill people, but if America helped people who are mentally ill even more, this may not have happened. This makes me realize how Boo must feel because I know how afraid we are of people like him. I would not like to be such a cause of fear.

Boo Radley is not what the people in “To Kill a Mockingbird” think he is. He is kind, and just wants to fit in. But because of all the nasty rumors, he feels he cannot come out and therefore is feared even more. He also has a sneaky friendship with Scout and Jem, and I think that this friendship may persuade Boo to come out later in the book.

The Help 4

I am still reading “The Help” (because I have to read other books for the book bowl), which is about Skeeter’s book. She writes undercover and interviews maids to see what it is like to work for white families. I think that the book revolves around Hilly, the president of the League. She knows almost everybody in the town and all of the characters are afraid of her. “Help”, the title of Skeeter’s book, causes quite a ruckus in Jackson, Mississippi, and of course, Hilly is in the center of it.

 Hilly is a quirky character. On the one hand, she is very nice to all of her friends and has them over to play bridge and hang out. She has a popular side of her too, the side everyone sees most. She knows everyone in the town and always must know what is going on. But, she has a gossip side as well. Whenever she has the smallest hunch about Skeeter’s whereabouts or anyone else’s, she tells everyone she knows. She hurts many people this way. After Skeeter publishes her book, Hilly spread both true and false rumors about who is in the book. She tells people to fire their maids, and even send them to jail. But because of this, people are starting to realize that Hilly is not such a nice person. One woman, Lou Anne, tells Skeeter that Hilly is wrong and that she would never send her maid to jail, or even fire her. I think that later in the book, this will start a wave of rebels against Hilly. I predict Skeeter will become president of the League because people (only the people who believe what Hilly said about Skeeter writing the book) know she wrote the book, but are proud. Lou Anne already told Skeeter that she was not going to vote for Hilly again. One thing I wonder, though, is if Hilly knows that people don’t like it when she gossips. Does she know that she is only hurting herself though she thinks she is hurting other people? I think that if she did know that, she would stop telling people all of these things. But the fact that she changed her mind and now thinks that the book does not take place in Jackson (it does) makes me think that she knows she is spreading some false knowledge.

Hilly finds it entertaining to hurt people. She is known for revenge and does a good job holding up that title. But if it wasn’t for Skeeter, Hilly may not be liked in the town anymore. The book is making people realize that she is selfish and wants to see people suffer. But that will backfire, and fewer and fewer people will like Hilly, the same thing that had happened to Skeeter.

The Help 3

In “The Help”, the most important character changes often. First, it was Aibileen because she told much of the story which revolved around her. Then it was Skeeter because she had to write a book and find enough people to help her. Her book tells the story of how blacks feel working for whites. People disagree with it because no one has ever done this view before. After Skeeter’s time to shine comes Miss Celia Foote. She is probably my favorite character because she is so unique and outgoing. Miss Celia adds to the story by making it more complicated and adds suspense.

Celia is not friends with many people because she is new to the town. Her maid is Minny Jackson, who did something very bad (but hasn’t told the reader what yet) while working for Hilly. Hilly is a leader and has a lot of power and knows many people, so after this something happened, she tells everyone. This makes it very difficult for Minny to get hired. But Celia had just moved, so Minny gets the job from her. Celia has no idea what Minny did, so I think that she is the one who I can most relate to because she has the same amount of knowledge as the reader does. But no one (until Celia accidentally tells Hilly) knows that Minny works for her. Now Hilly is upset that Minny found work and she is mad at Celia for hiring her. Celia adds complications because now Hilly might tell her what Minny did that was so bad and Minny would have no work. No one else in the town will have her as a maid because of this one thing that she did. But Minny cannot ask Celia because that would give it away if Hilly actually hadn’t told her. Minny doesn’t know if Celia knows about what she did. This makes things very difficult for Minny, and it makes my head spin. This is sometimes what it feels like for me during group projects at school because I am not sure who is doing what or if they will actually do it and well. This makes me better know and understand the confusion in the story, and how each character’s lives get more and more complicated every chapter (or day).

The plot of “The Help” is very intricate with many details that bring the story to life. I think that most of the clutter and confusion is caused by Celia Foote. She adds to the story in so many ways, which is what makes it so complex. But it is also what makes the story so interesting and fun to read. It is probably one of my favorite books, and all because of one character: Celia Foote.