Reading

Two Fancy Reading Responses

Reading Response 1: The Variant

This book is kind of super really depressing.  It's about a kid. He's trapped in a school.  There's locking doors, cameras, robots, and all sorts of freaky things.  Just reading this book makes me want to crawl under the covers and hide.  It's spookifying, and sad.  The kid's name is Benson, and he's trapped in this creepy school that he thought was an opportunity to become free of his previous stinkish life, and now, instead, he finds himself questioning who he even is, and if his 'friends' are even real people, or robots.  It's the sketchiest book, and pretty dang intense.  But the wizardry of the words makes the plot weave around you like a spiderweb, and you get trapped in its deathly embrace

It's totally dark and gory at times, though.  There is also a lot of love triangles, complicated friend circles, and a general feeling and air of distrust that mist pretty much every situation the characters are dumped into.  And, just to be clear on this -- your opponent knowing your every move makes your life an almost impossible situation to get out of.  Reading this book also makes you paranoid about stuff.  What if, for example, you were like him?  What if you ended up being a stupid science experiment that never ends?  Yeah, this book is super disturbing.  The writing is also gripping.  So, to whoever ends up reading my book review, watch out yo!  'Cause this book is a trap.

Reading Response 2: Catching Fire

So I don't really like the whole 'Hunger Games' arc saga of books, mainly because of the focus and theme -- killing, gore, romance more as an asset more than something authentic, corrupt government, etcetra etcetra. All in all, it's just got a lot sketchy themes that don't appeal to me much as a whole.  That sure doesn't stop most readers, though.  Really, I think the motives for these books are because they're intriguing, and the real reason book-devourers get into them is because of action and the fluidity and studliness of the writing.  And even though Katniss is kind of mental sometimes, readers can understand if not relate to her decisions as well.  Honestly, that's got to be it.  It just sucks you in like a soul vacuum.  But anyways, I picked it up one of the reading days, so I might as well write about it.

Katniss Everdeen, our unconquerable hero, takes the stage again in Catching Fire, Book 2 of the Hunger Games love fest.  She's rich now, as is Peeta, her ex-fake-boyfriend tragedy from the first book, and they each own ridiculous mansions compared to the broken poverty-stricken people that make up most of the populace of District Twelve.  Haymitch has a house thrown in as well, and  his wealth is no exception -- he is richer than chocolate syrup melted with a Hershey's chocolate bar.  But anyways, Katniss is attracted to both Gale and Peeta, and can't decide, and there's now a growing tension and awkwardness between both relationships, and in my opinion, that's so skewed.  Seriously?  Just make up your mind, sweetheart!  But whatever, I am not Katniss the playa.'  Where I was reading, Katniss was also trying to help the poor townspeople wherever she could, and buying all their wares and stuff.  But she is also readying herself to leave yet again with Peeta, and take the stage yet again, and yet again have more fame pouring in from all directions.  And yeah, that's kind of where I left off.  Believe me, Mrs. Lister, I'm sure as heck going to try and pick up a different book next time I forget mine.


6 MORE VOCABULARY WORDS
(Yay!)

Dissecting
My Definition: Separating, Taking apart, unassembling
Official Definition:

Verb

1. Methodically cut up (a body, part, or plant) in order to study its internal parts.
2. Analyze (something) in minute detail.

Campaign
My Definition: A quest or process of reaching a goal
Official Definition:

Noun A series of military operations intended to achieve a particular objective, confined to a particular area, or involving a specified type...: "a desert campaign"

Verb Work in an organized and active way toward a particular goal, typically a political or social one.

Wingman
My Definition: Someone's right-hand-man
Official Definition:

Noun

A pilot whose aircraft is positioned behind and outside the leading aircraft in a formation.
A man who supports another in approaching a desirable woman, typically in a public place such as a bar.

Exaggeration
My Definition: An overestimation of something
Official Definition: 
Exaggeration is a representation of something in an excessive manner, as in hyperbole.

Vintage
My Definition: Old, ancient
Official Definition:

Noun The year or place in which wine, esp. wine of high quality, was produced.

Adjective Of, relating to, or denoting wine of high quality: "vintage claret".

Aviator
My Definition: Something that has to do with airplanes
Official Definition:

Noun

A pilot.













Late Reading Posts and Vocab!

9 Vocabulary Words:

Pricked

My definition: Stabbed, needled

Official Definition: Make a small hole in (something) with a sharp point

Stirring

My definition: awakening

Official Definition: causing great excitement or strong emotion; rousing

Ripple

My definition: disturbance

Official Definition: a small wave or series of waves on the surfaced of water, esp. as caused by an object dropping into it or on a slight breeze

Caterwauling

My definition: yelling, howling

Official Definition: a shrill howling or wailing noise

Avenge

My definition: to take revenge upon

Official Definition: inflict such harm on behalf of (oneself or someone else previously wronged or harmed)

Regardless

My definition: No matter what, without regard to

Official Definition: without paying attention to the present situation; despite the prevailing circumstances

Jubilant

My definition: elated

Official Definition: feeling or expressing great happiness or triumph

Swath

My definition: mixed lighting

Official Definition: a broad strip or area of something

Bristled

My definition: angered

Official Definition: react angrily or offensively

(Wikipedia.org)

Reading Response 1:

Artemis Fowl:  The Last Guardian

So Opal Koboi has used her younger version of herself as a tool to break herself free from fairy prison.  By enlisting two useless gnomes, she has killed her younger self, and in the process become the first ever person to survive.  The only reason she did was thanks to the police in the fairy world.  It was their duty to hold her in a container, so that her explosive energy wouldn't destroy the whole fairy world when her younger self died.  But in the process, Opal Koboi escapes and prepares to unleash her rage on the whole of human kind, simultaneously bringing the fairy world to their knees.  And it is once again up to Artemis Fowl to stop her before it is too late.

This is an interesting start to what I believe will be the last book to the Artemis Fowl Series.  I am honestly not as sucked in though as I was to the first couple of books, as sad as that is to say. :(  The characters seem old, the dialog seems stale, and it all seems uninteresting and instead, (shudder, shudder) predictable.  As unfortunate as this is, I guess it's the truth.

But there is always that spark of hope from the reader that keeps you going.  There's the hope that somehow, the book will get better in spite of itself… And it kind is intriguing, at some parts.  So it isn't total bile, nor is it total glory.  But hey, you get what you get, and you don't throw a fit.  And who knows?  Maybe it's just me.

Reading Response 2:

Book 1 of The Immortal Nicholas Flamel Series: The Alchemist

This book is ssiicckkk!!  Okay, now I'm good.  Let's move on.

So basically this one is about Nick Fleming and Perry Fleming, two ordinary people.  Or so it seems.

They have actually been alive for hundreds of years thanks to an alchemist book that keeps them alive.  Nick Fleming's real name is Nicholas Flamel, and his wife's is Perenelle Flamel.  And technically, they are immortal.  But the secret remains hidden within the book.

I haven't gotten that far into it yet, but basically, there's these two kids, Josh and Sophie  Newman, and they are twins.  They worked at a book shop and a coffee place across the street from each other, and their coworker and boss were Nick Fleming and Perry Fleming, and their lives get turned upside down when a bunch of bad guys come in and kidnap Perry, and leave Nick injured, and without a book that is somehow key to the world's survival.  Somehow, it is up to them to save it.

This book has promise.  I guess a good sign is that my sis wouldn't put it down.  I didn't get into it the first time, so now I guess I just ought to knuckle down and read it through before judging it prematurely.  That's the gist of what I think about this book.

Reading Response 3:

Warriors: Into the Wild

This one is about a cat named Rusty who finds that there is more to life than eating kitty snax and sleeping by a window in the sunshine.  He finds that in his forest, there are other cats, wild cats!  And they live in clans, fight for land, patrol their borders, and live sophisticated lives of adventures.  It ends up that he is meant for that life.  One night, he enters the forest, never to return for a long while…

I haven't read this book for awhile, and it's one of my favorites.  So when my sis checked it out, I was like -- Score!  And that was that.  But I am not that far into it, so I'll just write about what I've read so far.

There has been a skirmish in the woods by the boundary between River Clan and Thunder Clan.  The River Clans were victorious because of the overwhelming odds that Thunder Clan was placed in.  After the fight, Bluestar, the clan leader is told of a prophecy from the medicine cat -- Fire alone can save our clan.  Meanwhile, a normal house cat named Rusty is about to enter into the mystical woods…

Reading Posts and Vocabulary Due Sunday, Febuary 17, 2013


Reading Response 1

Artemis Fowl the Arctic Incident

The protagonists, (Holly Short, Commander Root, Mulch Diggums, Butler, and the most prestigious Artemis Fowl) are breaking into Koboi Labs to stop Opal Koboi and Lt. Cudgeon from taking over the lower element police and all of fairykind.  It was impossible to break in unless you went through a crack in the earth's mantle that stayed open for around three minutes maximum.  They flew in using a fairy shuttle from the lower elements police station and they barely made it through the fissure before it closed.  Then they broke in through the infrastructure using a dwarf that helped build Koboi Labs.  When they were inside, they split up into three groups.  One of the groups was just Artemis's body guard and butler.  The second group was Commander Julius Root and Captain Holly Short of the Lep.  The last group was Mulch Diggims, the dwarf, and Artemis Fowl.  Holly Short, Commander Root and butler took on the goblins inside Koboi Labs while Artemis Fowl with the assistance of Mulch Diggims broke in to defeat Opal and Cudgeon.

I guess what I got out of this was that working as a team is really important.  Everyone needs to lean on someone else at one time or another.  It especially clicked for me since I like to be independent.  But sometimes, it's better to let someone else help you out.  I guess that's the point of this reading post.

Reading Response 2

Artemis Fowl the Arctic Incident

They have to escape some goblins so they get on a train, but they can't get on the train very easily since butler and Commander Root are unconscious.  So, Artemis gets on first and then Holly uses a moon belt to get Butler and Commander Root on.  It works since it cancels out some of the gravitational pull.  But, in the process of getting on the train, Holly loses her trigger finger in the door and Artemis is knocked unconscious and accidentally uses up Holly's magic.  When Artemis wakes up he finds out what happened and with the help of Butler and commander Root who are now conscious, they get off the train.  The goblins are gone, but now there's a new problem.  If Holly loses her trigger finger, her career is ruined as a lower elements police captain.  But she always keeps with her an acorn and some dirt just in case she needs to perform something called "the ritual" which gives her back her magic powers.  They are able to help Holly perform the ritual even while she's unconscious and she gets her powers back just in time to fix her trigger finger.  

I guess what I got out of this is that where there's a will, there's a way.  We should never give up no matter how hard it gets or how impossible things may seem.  We should be true to ourselves no matter the circumstance.  We shouldn't change our goals or what's important to us to make other people happy.

Vocab Words (6)
graft

My definition:  Replace.
Official definition:  Surgery . to transplant (a portion of living tissue, as of skin or bone) as a graft.


jibes

My definition:  Musical sound.
Official definition: to shift from one side to the other when running before the wind as a fore-and-aft sail or its boom. 


chipper

My definition:  Happy.
Official definition:  being in sprightly good humor and health 



stupor

My definition:  Daze.
Official definition:  mental torpor; apathy; stupefaction.



limber

My definition:  Flexible.
Official definition:  readily; flexible; pliant.


disembark

My definition:  Evacuate or exit.
Official definition:  to leave an aircraft or other vehicle.




Vocabulary From Basher Five-Two

Credit to Google Definitions for the Official Definitions you see hear

Note: My Definition includes what I thought before I found out the actual definition.

Topographical

My Definition: A map definition, especially for landmarks, not always accurate

Official Definition: Of or relating to the arrangement or accurate representation of the physical features of an area.

Convoy(s)

My Definition: Vehicle with four wheels, used to carry supplies

Official Definition:

A group of ships or vehicles traveling together, typically accompanied by armed troops, warships, or other vehicles for protection.

Marksmanship

My Definition:  Accuration, especially in shooting

Official Definition: Skill in shooting

Chaplain

My Definition: A position in the military that notifies family of deaths.

Official Definition: A member of the clergy attached to a private chapel, institution, ship, branch of the armed forces, etc.

Vocabulary From The Unwanteds: The Island of Silence

Encroaching

My Definition: A term used for when one is accusing another person.

Official Definition: Intrude on (a person's territory or a thing considered to be a right).

Ponderer

My Definition:  A person who thinks.

Official Definition: muser: a reflective thinker characterized by quiet contemplation.

wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

Grievances

My Definition: Subjects of sadness over a loss

Official Definition: A real or imagined wrong or other cause for complaint or protest, esp. unfair treatment.

Dissent

My Definition: A betrayal or quitting of something.

Official Definition: Hold or express opinions that are at variance with those previously, commonly, or officially expressed.

2nd Vocabulary from Basher Five-Two

Sorties

My Definition: A position of new recruits in the army or military.

Official Definition: 

An attack made by troops coming out from a position of defense.

Reading Posts

I'm not sure how many I did that week so instead I put down my total number of pages for the book at the time as best as I could figure out.

 

Reading Response #1

Reading Response

By Jeff Hakala


Right now I'm reading Inheritance by Chris Paolini, but unfortunately, I either lost my journal, or didn't write it, or transferred late, or whatever.  The thing is that I messed up.  So I'm kind of feeling around in the dark here, trying to get this done before it's too late.

Here's a reading response from a scene in the Inheritance book I know I read in class.

Nasuada, leader of the Varden, the group of rebels that oppose the evil King Galbatorix, and his empire, is imprisoned, days before they plan to lay siege to the capital of, Uru Baen.  She is being tortured by the king.

Now, to me, this scene is anxious, and a little bit scary.  She is locked on a slab of rock, and forced to endure the King's impudence and falsehoods, and even while she learns of how misplaced she is, and argues about the fate of the whole land, she is being tortured with a hot poker.  Quite an intense scene, if I do say so myself.

I can see myself crumbling in this situation, or maybe holding firm.  Either way, it seems very unfair that as she is trying to do what she knows is right, she is being tortured for it.  What an unfortunate series of events.  It totally stinks for her.

All I can hope for is that she escapes before she swears to him in the ancient language and her cause is lost.  We will see. 

Reading Posts: Reading Post 2 - The Unwanteds

When I first started to read Harry Potter, I didn't think that the following paragraph was a jumpy enough start.  A little interesting, and choked with foreshadowing, but if the rest of the book was about snooty dumb neighbors than who would read it?  And that's why everyone is always taking a chance picking up a book.  But if no one ever took chances, what would the world be like anyway?

"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say

that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last
people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious,
because they just didn't hold with such nonsense."

--Chapter 1: The Boy who Lived, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, By J.K. Rowling

And that's why everyone is always taking a chance picking up a book such as this.  But if no one ever took chances, what would the world be like anyway?  So that tells you the extent of my young mind at the time.  Now I realize you have to learn to love or hate the characters before you can even make the reader care what happens to them in situations such as fighting off a dark wizard.  But that's just an example of how things can totally turn on you, and in The Unwanteds, that's exactly what happened for me.

The world is like that a lot.  And much as some people want it, you can't plan for everything.  The world is a crafty land full of plots, and tricks, and enigmas.  But hey, that's part of life.  And that's the point of my reading response essay #2.

Reading Post 1  11/26/12 Pgs. 123 
The Unwanteds: Island of Silence

I started reading the Island of Silence because the last book was good.  It is about the aftermath of the battle of Quill and Artime, a land of creativity vs no creativity at all land.  I was enthralled by this gripping novel.  It is an easygoing yet entertaining and cool book. It is impossible to put down.

The main character's name is Alexander Stowe.  He is a kid that knows magic; I wish I could do what he can do when I get mad at people sometimes.  He has a cool life, and is stress free a lot of the time.  I wish I could have that a lot of days.

My favorite character is Simber, a winged cheetah statue at Artime because he sure knows how to be himself.  I want to be in charge of my destiny and take control of my life.  I want to follow my dreams.  I hope that is what happens someday.  I know that I will definitely see it through.

His twin is angry at him.  They were on opposite sides during the war.  Aaron Stowe, his twin, believes that if Alex had not brought the two worlds together he would have Quill.  And he is probably right about that.  Now Alex is next up to bat to become the new leader of Artime.  Aaron, meanwhile starts to set up a resistance against all this happiness, and I can already imagine a big climax, although I am not yet finished.  I am excited to finish the book.

Reading Post 2  11/23/12  Pgs. 10
LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring

The way JRR Tolkien writes is enchanting.  I love how easily accessible it is.  He and his friends are very amazing at how they evade death but stumble into danger at every turn.  I've already listened to The Hobbit in sixth grade, and it is super cool.  I love the series and I think that although some people say the movies and the books are boring, it is truly magnificent.  I love it all, and I flat out disagree with people who say its not worth taking your time to experience.

My favorite character by far is Samwise Gamgee, the gardener at Bag End, and Frodo's closest friend.  He is a long time family friend, and he understands what a lot of people don't -- true loyalty.  He is smart and always hungry.  But I love him most for his strength, friendship, and courage.  He never gives up.

The part I read was when Frodo is going to the ferry and when he is in the tavern with the ranger.  He also disappears using the ring of power on accident.  I loved it all, and would definitely recommend this book to anyone who hasn't yet read it.

The way it was written was intoxicating to me.  The writing seemed as if it was a for a child, yet the book for a grown up.  That is intriguing to me and I actually find it really slick.  The words just flow.  In conclusion, LOTR rocks.

Reading Post 3  11/27/12  Pgs. 72
Basher Five Two

I'm finally at the part where Basher Five Two, an air force pilot, gets stuck in enemy territory!  He has gotten himself shot out of a plane, but he luckily pulled the yellow ejection handle in time to save himself before his fancy F-16, a multimillion dollar jet placne, exploded into a largish fireball on the ground.  He then opens his billowy parachute in dangerous winds, and barely escapes into the woods, grabbing his pack and sprinting for it.  He ends up about twenty yards away before his legs go out from underneath him due to all the the shock.  Praying that he'll make it out alive, and unable to move, he struggles to stay hidden in the brush, as search parties of unfriendly people surround his position, armed with rifles and shooting anything that moves.

Looking back, this part must've been so tense.  He was probably shaking with fear, hunched down, emotionally and physically spent, and his adrenaline coursing through his body faster than lightning.  I know I probably would've been caught had I been him.  But he was trained and had his know-how, and it undoubtedly saved his life.

This book is pretty cool.  It sucks you in just enough to keep you reading.  Plus it takes care of my World Geography homework.  I love it so far and think it's great.  It's fairly intense and pretty fast-paced.  This book keeps you on your toes.  I just hope it's worth the read.