Quarter 2- Blog # 3

Although I was challenging myself by reading my name is red, I just don’t think I can handle it right now. With so much literature already assigned, I have decided I want my outside reading to be more laid back. Therefore, for this quarter I will be reading the sequel to twilight, called New Moon, by Stepahanie Meyer. After reading twilight I really wanted to know what is going to happen next in the series. Since a lot of my friends talk about Twlight constantly, and always have to make sure they don’t give anything away in the series, Its best I just find out what happens on my own. For this blog I have read about 100 pages, which didn’t take me long because it’s a very quick read. What has happened is that Bella was celebrating her birthday and accidentally got a paper cut, and Jasper attempted to attack her. Luckily Edward was there to save the day, but tensions arise after the accident. Edward and his family decides it is best for them to move. Because no one in the family ages, they all have to “start over” somewhat frequently. It would become suspicious if Carlisle for example worked in the hospital for 20 years, yet never seemed to age. Bella does not take the news of them leaving well. She is heartbroken, it is almost as if the soul in her is taken out. Edward had been such a large part of her life for so long and now to have him gone is horrible. It will be interesting to learn how she deals with this trouble.

Quarte #2- Blog 2

This book was recommended to me by one of my teachers, and it is turning to be a lot different than what I first expected, which is not a bad thing, just different. To begin, I thought the book was going to be told only by the perspectives by the murderer and the victim. But as it turns out, its not just those to characters its any eyewitness that would help give a clue onto solving the mystery. For example, the chapter I just read was written by a dog. This book is all written in first person, so it was kind of weird to hear a dog’s perspective… I really like this because the book is essentially giving you all the clues but you have to work out the mystery. Another thing I am not completely content with on the book is its level of difficulty. I have been having a bit of trouble reading it because of the language, and the length of the pages. Going from McCarthy to this book is quite a stretch. In My Name is Red, there is a lot of description, and it is not as to easy to “quickly skim the pages.” You really have to be involved ( and not tired ) to get something out of the book. Another thing about this book is I find myself not knowing a great deal of the words, I guess this is good though because I will be learning more vocabulary by reading it!

Quarter 2- blog #1

For this quarter, I have chosen to read My Name Is Red, by Orhan Pamuk. This book is a murder mystery, and every other chapter is written by either the murderer or the victim- but it is unknown to the reader which it is. The fist chapter is obviously written by the victim, because it talks about his death, but does not reveal the murderer. As I continued to read the 2nd chapter it gives you background information on the life of a man, but we don’t know who it is. The book is set in ancient times, I’m not quite sure when, and is set in the middle east. I am going to have to get used to the culture of the characters. For example, one of the characters in the novel is in love with his cousin.
On a different note- One quote I enjoyed from the first chapter is:
“‘Is there life after death? Where’s the soul? What about heaven and hell? What’s death like? Are you in pain?’ You’re right, the living are extremely curious about the afterlife(pg. 4).”
I like this quote because the speaker begins to talk about his life, but then we see this quote where he is talking about how humans care so much about the afterlife. I can relate to this- it seems that in life so many people are just worried about what is going to happen after they die. Its very interesting to see this topic brought up within the novel.