Post #9: Book 4 Listicle

5 Reasons Why Alex is the Perfect Guy for Katie,  Erin

            Choosing Safe Haven I had to go into the book with an open mind and not know what kind of details would be thrown at me. I had seen the movie and wanted to read the book. After reading the entire book, I look back and see how perfect Alex is for Katie. He fights for her to notice him and when he finally gets her attention he loves her for everything that she has been through. He wasn’t letting Katie’s past scare him away. That to me is amazing.

1.      Alex owns a store in Southport, North Carolina and there is where he first notices Katie. “Another woman interested him, though he knew almost nothing about her, aside from the fact that she was singe. She’d been coming to the store once or twice a week since early March” (19). There was something in Katie that drew him to her. Alex knew nothing about Katie and he was determined to find out the real her.

2.      As the summer progressed Alex was noticing some changes in Katie. “She’d changed in recent weeks. She had the beginnings of a summer tan and her skin had a glowing freshness to it. She was also growing less skittish around him, today being a prime example. No, they hadn’t set the world on fire with their scintillating conversation, but it was a start, right?” (47). In this example Alex and Katie are starting to build a friendship kind of. Katie was also beginning to relax around Alex, which is a good sign. Alex use to be a detective and could notice some deeper things in Katie. “From the very beginning, he’d sensed she was in trouble, and his instinctive response had been to want to help. And of course she was pretty, despite the bad haircut and plain-Jane attire. But it was seeing the way Katie had comforted Kristen after Josh had fallen in the water that had really moved him. Even more affecting had been Kristen’s response to Katie. She had reached for Katie like a child reaching for her mother” (47). Alex was starting to have feelings for Katie because of the way she reacted to his children, Josh and Kristen. Alex could tell something was off that she was hiding but he doesn’t care about her past.

3.      Katie didn’t know how to drive and couldn’t afford a car even if she did have her license. She would walk everywhere she went, to work or the store. One day it was raining pretty hard, so Alex gave her a ride from the store. The storm was really bad and it wasn’t going to be letting up anytime soon. Later that even Katie and her friend Jo were talking and Jo goes to leave and that’s when they found a present that was left for Katie. “A woman’s bike, it had wire baskets on each side of the rear wheel, as well as another wire basket on the front. A chain was wrapped loosely around the seat, with the key still in the lock. ‘Who would bring me a bicycle?’” (67-68). Alex and his kids fixed up an old bike they had laying around and gave it to Katie because she needed easier transportation. On Katie’s side she didn’t want to keep the bike. But once she listened to Alex’s side, she knew she had to keep it.

4.      Alex asked Katie on a date and she offered to make dinner for the two of them at her house. Katie had finally accepted that Alex made her feel safe and it was time for her to open up to him. So he knew the entire story of Katie, or should I say Erin. “This what it feels like to really love someone, she thought, and to be loved in return, and she could feel the tears beginning to form. She blinked, trying to will them back, but all at once, they were impossible to stop. She loved him and wanted him, but more than that, she wanted him to love the real her, with all her flaws and secrets. She wanted him to know the whole truth” (129).  

5.      The ending of Safe Haven is when the hero of Alex comes out. Katie was babysitting Josh and Kristen while Alex went and picked a friends daughter up at the airport. Katie had put the kids in bed and she fell asleep watching TV. “Smoke meant fire, and now she could see the flames outside the window, dancing and twisting orange. The door was on fire, smoke billowing from the kitchen in thick clouds. She heard roaring, a sound like a train, heard cracks and pops and splintering, her mind taking it in at once. ‘Oh, my God. The kids.’” (305). She proceeded to the children and got them out of the house. Then when they got out she saw, Kevin, her husband she left for a fresh start. Kevin had set the house on fire wanting to kill them all. Kevin was very drunk and was beating Katie as soon as he saw them. Katie got the kids to run for safety. Alex soon showed up and got her away from Kevin and they soon went to her house because that’s where the kids were. Kevin had left before them and he was waiting for them. Kevin ended up hitting Alex in the head with a crowbar, but then Kevin died. Alex was in the hospital with some head injuries. Katie was sure that he wouldn’t ever want to see her, but she was wrong. “’Because it’s true. We survived and that’s all that matters.’ He reached for her hand and she felt his fingers intertwine with hers” (327). At that moment she knew Alex wasn’t going anywhere for a very long time.

    

Post #8: Book Talk Presentation

Post #7: Book 2 Trailer

Post #6 Book 3 Listicle

Five Reasons Why Susannah is a Very Strong Woman

When you pick up Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan, you have no idea what you are about to dive into. It starts off with “Maybe it all began with a bug bite, from a bedbug that didn’t exist” (3). At this point I was thinking what that what am I about to spend my time reading? That is until we really got to meet Susannah. By the end of the book you see how strong of a woman Susannah Cahalan is.

1.     Susannah had this amazing job at The Post Newspaper and she was doing pretty well. Then one day she had a meeting that she was completely unprepared for, so she was just going to wing it. “’That’s really just not good enough,’ Steve interrupted. ‘You need to be bringing in better stuff than this. Okay? Please don’t come in with nothing again.’ Paul nodded, his face blazing red. For the first time since I’d started working on my high school newspaper, journalism disagreed with me. I left the meeting furious at myself and bewildered by my own ineptitude” (6). After this meeting she was going to never walk into a meeting unprepared again, but that didn’t happen. There was something going on inside, medically maybe even emotionally? Who knows?  

2.     Susannah was going through something and wouldn’t tell anyone. “Moments later, the migraine returned, as did the nausea. It was then that I first noticed my left hand felt funny, like an extreme case of pins and needles” (12). That was the first sign of something not right inside. That event was just foreshadowing when Susannah would have a seizure in front of her boyfriend. “I was gasping for air. My body continued to stiffen as I inhaled repeatedly, with no exhale. Blood and foam began to spurt out of my mouth through clenched teeth. Terrified, Stephen stifled a panicked cry and for a second he stared, frozen, at my shaking body” (40). This was the start of a very long month of being in the hospital and having tests done to find out what was wrong inside.

3.     Being in the hospital for Susannah was very rough. “Two escape attempts earned me a one-to-one guard; now, after the third attempt in as many days, one nurse casually suggested to my father that if I kept dislocating the wires and trying to escape, I wouldn’t be allowed to stay” (91). Susannah worked hard and tried to the best of her ability not to rebel. And she got moved to another floor and got into a “normal” routine. “By now, my family had developed a routine. Now that I was again comfortable in his presence, my father would arrive in the morning, feed me a breakfast yogurt and cappuccino, and play a few games of cards that I was often too disoriented to follow” (100). 

4.     It then came time for Susannah to meet another doctor, Dr. Najjar, he had a really good reputation so they had high intentions of figuring out what was wrong. Dr. Najjar came into the room and did series of little “field” tests, then he thought clock test. And at the end Najjar and the family finally got some results. “Dr. Najjar, beaming, grabbed the paper, showed it to my parents, and explained what this meant. They gasped with a combination of terror and hope. This was finally the clue that everyone was searching for. It didn’t involve machinery or invasive tests; it required only paper and pen. It had given Dr. Najjar concrete evidence that the right hemisphere of my brain was inflamed” (131).

5.     Once everything was figured out, Susannah was able to go home and receive treatment from her house. Susannah considered this part her partial return. “A nurse would arrive midmornings to hook up my IV to the bags of immunoglobulin over three to four hours. Between July and December, I had twelve infusions” (210). Now after her partial return she is going to work and having a social life again. “I recall agreeing obediently as Human Resources suggested that they would start me off slowly at first, part time for only a few days a week. Instead I jumped right back in as if I had never been gone” (214).

In conclusion, after Susannah had a very rough month, she wasn’t going to give up on getting answers. She needed to know what was wrong, so she could get back to her normal lifestyle. Then once she got an answer she jumped back into her job with both feet and she also continued her relationships she had, had before being sick.

Post #5 Truth in Memoirs

Books this, books that. Books have so many different labels; when the number one label, the most important label is the story the book is telling. Since the books are divided the way they are the authors and readers should respect that. It’s like a universal rule.

When it comes to the non-fiction title of a book you have to think of what that means. So to define non-fiction I went to http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/nonfiction and it said “the branch of literature comprising works of narrative prose dealing with or offering opinions or conjectures upon facts and reality, including biography, history, and the essay (opposed to fiction and distinguished from poetry and drama)”. By the true definition of non-fiction, I believe the story needs to be 100% real and then, as the author, you may insert opinions to the original content. Because if you are going to alter the story then the book is leading more towards a fiction book.

In my opinion half-truths are fine, but the title of the book just needs to be changed. The book just cannot be considered a non-fiction book because the author has not work the narrative with 100% original content. With that being said, I think it does matter that Frey or other memoirists bent the truth to tell their stories because those stories are not true non-fiction stories.

Books are stories being told to us by an author that has something to say. Is a label really needed? When it comes to non-fiction and fiction, I think so because it tells the readers if we are going to be reading something truthful or just something that was off of someone’s head. David Shield’s was wrong, because it does matter, you can’t just lie about your life to millions of people. And the labels are important for the what to expect aspect.

 

Post #4: Adapting Your Book

When thinking about making Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn into a movie you have to think about the thick plot she has created throughout the entire book. Every page turn the plot gets thicker and thicker. That in itself is a huge challenge a filmmaker will have to face when turning this fantastic book into a movie. I have finished the whole book and I loved it, so having to pick three specific scene to keep is difficult. I believe that most of the scenes that happen in the book are so important to understand what is going on in the book.

One scene you would definitely need to keep is where Nick discovers Amy missing from their home. Nick was at The Bar, the bar his sister and him own, and he gets a call from his neighbor explaining there was something not right about their house. So, he came home and discovered the front door opened, cat outside, the iron on, the living room messed up, and Amy gone. That is where the craziness of the book starts, it’s like a snowball effect in my opinion. Another scene I think that needs to be in the movie is when Andie comes into the picture. Nick and his sister Go were talking about the day’s events in Go’s living room. Go then goes to bed and Nick is laying on the couch to sleep and his disposable phone rings. He answers it, the person on the other end tells him to come outside. It’s Andie, his mistress that he has been with for over a year. This a turning point in the book because it explains Nick’s weird behavior of hiding things. A third scene that for sure needs to be in the book is when Amy decides to show the real Amy to the audience. She is running from Nick to teach him a lesson and is framing him for her murder. She is staying in these cabins, until these two people, that she became friends with, figured out who she was. That is when she changed the plan. She murdered an old friend, Desi, when he came to rescue her. She told the police a completely wrong story. This point in the book is when the audience sees the true Amy, a psycho woman.

Now it’s time to think about the parts to cut. Oh man that’s hard because above I didn’t even talk about all the parts that need to be in the movie. But I guess one part that could be cut is when Nick describes how he looks at Amy. The book starts out with how he looks at her, he looks at her head and just really her head nothing else. And in the big picture of things the movie could go on without that part. A second part that doesn’t need to be in the book is all the detail of their past. It could briefly be in there but not in so much detail. It’s not that important, but in the end of the book Amy wants what they use to have at the beginning.

Post #3 Book 1 Project

How would you feel to be in Clay Jensen’s shoes? Would you be freaking out inside and wondering what was going on? Would you think that you were being pranked by someone? That would be a sick joke to play, when a girl just died. Why would someone mess with something like that? Well here is your chance to walk in Clay’s shoes and experience it yourself. My idea for the best fan experience ever is to have a game where you are Clay. You will be able to walk through the map and tapes like Clay had to do and to figure out what he did. While reading Thirteen Reasons Why I continually thought how I would feel if I received a package with tapes from a dead girl. That’s where I got the idea, what if there was a game where you could be Clay Jensen? Being able to walk in his shoes and relate to him, the ultimate fan experience. How would this game work you ask? You would start the game off with receiving the package on your front porch step. Just like Clay did, “A shoebox-sized package is propped against the front door at an angle… A hurried scribble on the wrapping addresses the package to Clay Jensen, so I pick it up and head inside” (Asher 5).  
 

You would see something similar to the package to the above. Opening the box you will discover the cassette tapes inside. Then you will head to the garage to find out what these tapes are all about. Popping in the first cassette you will soon know the purpose of the seven cassette tapes you had received. “I hope you’re read, because I’m about to tell you the story of my life. More specifically, why my life ended. And if you’re listening to these tapes, you’re one of the reasons why” (7). Here is where all the fun begins. While Clay listens to the tapes, he also follows the map that was included in the package. This is where you walking in Clay’s shoes become literal. As Clay you will go place to place and listen to the cassette tapes, and along the way you will come into some road blocks. Some of these road blocks may include; Clay’s mom being noisy, going to Tony’s and sneaking the walkman you need to complete the game, or the several situations he runs into on the way to Tyler’s house. “Marcus holds a fist-sized rock just below my eyes. ‘Take it,’ he says…. I look over at the window. At the duct tape. Then I look down and close my eyes, shaking my head. ‘Let me guess, Marcus. You’re on the tapes’” (107). Dealing with Marcus is just one of the many road blocks you will face. The game will continue until you reach the end of the cassette tapes and figure out the big picture. I believe this idea would work out very well because; it gives the readers a chance to relate to one of the main characters. For me relating to the main character always helped understand the story more. This game idea would broaden the audience because people will want to know more details of the story after playing the game for hours on end. After finishing the book, I didn’t want it to end. I wanted to experience more of the story. With the game fans are able to stay connected to the book by actually being a character. And actually living out the story of Hannah Baker. It also gives the fans a chance to understand what was going on in Jay Asher’s head when he wrote Thirteen Reasons Why.

Post #2: What is a book?

A book is a place. A place where you can escape to for a few hours, when life is dull, crazy, or overwhelming. While reading you can control who plays the characters and what they are wearing. Imagine what kind of car they drive around town and what brand of milk they drink. You have that freedom as a reader while filing through a good book. These books I speak of come in all different shapes, sizes, and forms. Whether it’s a kindle, nook, hardback, or paperback it delivers a story to an audience. I agree with the opinion of Joe Meno, in his section A Book is a Place one of his lines stuck out to me. “What I’ve come to acknowledge or slowly accept is that the idea of the book is more important than the actual form it takes” (Meno). I agree with this statement because I don’t think it matters what form the book comes in as long as the story being told is interesting and worth reading. In my opinion over time I think all the books are going to turn in electronic copies. Now a days everyone has a cellphone or a tablet of some sort, so it is going to be easier to just have the book on the device we have instead of carrying another item along with us. As long as the story isn’t being changed it doesn’t matter how it is being delivered to the readers. Just think about it, when you are on a road trip and you are about to finish a book and you don’t know which book to read next. Having all your books in one place helps save space and doesn’t make you wish that you brought that one book. A book in paper form is slowing dying. Enjoy it while it lasts.

 

 

Post #1: Why I Read

Why I read you ask.


Reading is like a separate world apart from reality. So when you need a break from all the chaos in your life pick up a book and get away for a few hours. That is one of the many reasons why I love reading. When life is getting a little to crazy I pick up a book and escape for a day. I remember when I was little my mom and dad would hide my books, because I wouldn't get my chores done. I would read all the time because I loved the movie I played in my head when I read. As I have gotten older my time to read has gotten limited. I have two jobs, school, and a Christian ministry I'm highly involved in. The only time I find myself reading is when I have to for school or when I'm on a road trip, which is often because of the Christian ministry I'm in. My goal for my senior year is to find more time to read the books I want to read and not just the books I have to read for class. I do in face enjoy reading. Reading makes time pass when you have a good book to read.