Why I chose this book?

I guess I am slowly starting to run out of things to talk about the book The Choice by Nicholas Sparks so I am going to tell you why I started reading this book in the first place.

I have always heard girls talking about how good Nicholas Sparks' books are but I never really got around to reading them. Yes, I was one of those girls that never read The Notebook or The Last Song. I never actually got to read any romantic books before but to my surprise after I started reading The Choice, it turns out that I really enjoy reading them.

Reading this book was actually not my first choice but, this was one of the only Nicholas Sparks books left in the library. I really hope that some of you start reading these books because trust me, you will not be able to get away from them once you start.

Summary of The Choice So Far...

I know it has probably been nearly a month that I have started to read this book. But, I like to take my time and really understand the book so I really hope that no one judges me for taking this long to read the book.

So far, I am at the point where Travis invites Gabby over to his boat ride that he is going to go on with his friends (or family). Gabby feels nervous about going on this trip with Travis because she feels like it is a bit too forward. She doesn't want to come off too strong. At the end, she ends up agreeing to the offer. When Gabby goes on the trip, it is nothing like how she expected it to be. She started making new friends very quickly. It even surprised her how well she knew everyone by the end of the trip. Towards the end of the chapter, Gabby starts questioning herself about whether or not she feels attracted towards Travis. Now, Gabby already has a boyfriend but now that Travis has entered her life, she is starting to wonder if Kevin is the right man for her right now.

If you read this blog and are really confused, I am really sorry about the confusion. You are just going to have to read the book by yourself. I would say that it is one of the best books I have read so far.

Most Important Line from The Choice by Nicholas Sparks

I am still currently reading The Choice by Nicholas Sparks. I think the most important line so far in this book is, "Have you had her checked by a vet?". This line may seem very straight forward at first but, when you read later on in the book, that line has some great significance. I don't want to give the whole story away but I will give just enough information so you can understand the meaning of this line.

Gabby goes up to Travis and confronts him by saying that Travis's dog is the reason that Gabby's dog is pregnant. This issue get Gabby really fired up. She really believes that Travis should take some responsibility to take care of the puppies. On the other hand, Travis thinks that that is not the situation. He tells Gabby that she should get her dog checked by the vet to either make sure that she is or she is not pregnant. Later in the story, we find that Gabby does indeed go to see the vet. But, to her surprise, the vet ends up being Travis.

The thing to take away from this is that some lines may seem very simple but in the end they have great significance and impact on the story.

Krista Ramesy

I decided to read the column about a reading teacher who wants students to pass a test and love books at the same time.

Summary: Krista Ramsey talks about a third grade teacher who works really hard to tutor and teach students how to pass the reading OAA test. This teacher tries not bore kids with reading but rather incorporates fun activities to get them to love reading.

Column: Krista Ramsey Column

Best Line: I think that the best line in the column is, "For her students, the stakes couldn’t be higher: Pass the 2½-hour Ohio Achievement Assessment or be retained in third grade, at least for language arts." After reading this line in the column, the reader should be kind of intimidated. This line portrays two different spectrums, either pass the test or stay in third grade. One option could make a kid's life better while the other could possibly ruin it. The author uses great diction in this line. For example, she uses words such as "stakes" and "retained". The writing style seems kind of flowery becuase this sentence is very long compared to the rest of the column.

Ramsey's Writing Style: Krista Ramsey's writing style is very unique. I feel like she is kind of formal almost like she is writing an article but she does include some of her own voice which brings out the creativity in her columns. A piece of evidence that supports this claim from the first column, For better vision, kids need time outdoors, "You see it all the time. Your teenager at the dinner table, waiting for his checkup at the orthodontist office, sauntering to his car-continually hunched over his smartphone or iPad." I felt that this line really exemplifies her writing style because at the beginning of the column, she starts off very informal with some examples but later in the column, she starts giving statistics and writes very formally. Based on the above evidence, I feel like this column is written in a very journalistic way. Another piece of evidence that supports this claim from the second column is, "The amazing thing isn't that two super jocks know how to dress well, but that they actually seem to want to." I think that the sentences are very elegant. I feel like they flow very nicely together. This writing makes it informal because she uses the word "jock" and she uses that term very loosely. The last piece of evidence from the third column is, "In her five years of teaching, she’s never retained a single student." The writing style in this column is very solid. The author is to the point and very formal at trying to make her point.

Questions:

• Do you find your inspiration for the columns from everyday life problems?
• How have developed the interest in writing columns?
• Do you get much critisicm for the columns you write?

Symbols of Characters in The Choice by Nicholas Sparks

I am not very far into my book right now. But, I think that I have a pretty good understanding of the type of characters in the book so far. You may not know these characters but try to relate to them as I explain their symbols.

Travis: Travis is the main character in the story. I think that a rubber band best represents Travis's personality. I feel like he is a very resilient person. Travis is the only bachelor in his group of friends and his friends' wives try to find him a perfect match so that evetually he could get married too. To me, Travis seems like that use and throw type of guy. He has been in a relationship with many girls before but none of them really impact severely. He is very resislient, he goes back to his normal life even when he has just been through a major breakup.

Laird: Laird is one of Travis's best friends. He is also in the group of best friends with Travis. I think that a clock would best represent Laird's personality. Obviously, a clock measures the amount of time and sometimes, people look at clocks in hopes that time would move faster than it already is. In the book, it states that Laird was one of the first ones to get married. "Laird had been the first to marry-he and Allison had tied the knot the summer after they graduated from Wake Forest." (pg. 14) Laird always seems like he is in a rush. At one gathering at Travis's house, Laird and Allison were the first ones to leave. Travis believed that they were the cause for everyone else to leave after them and therefore they were the so called "party poopers".

Megan: Megan was married to Joe. I think that a hair tie would best represent Megan's personality. She always tries to keep things togther. She kind of acts like the matchmaker in this book. She keeps on asking Travis about other girls and recommends him to date girls that she knows. She tries to pair a girl and Travis up but she knows that Travis still wouldn't like that.

The Choice: About the Author

Nicholas Sparks is a very famous author for writing several New York Times Bestselling Books. Nicholas Sparks also happens to be the author of the book that I am currently reading right now. Sparks wrote one of his best-known stories, The Notebook, over a period of six months at age 28. Sparks lives in North Carolina with his family. He contributes to a variety of local and national charities, and is a major contributor to the Creative Writing Program (MFA) at the University of Notre Dame, where he provides scholarships, internships, and a fellowship annually. I have also heard that girls favor many of Nicholas Spark's books. This may be because, Sparks tends to write a lot of romantic novels which definitely appeal to girls. Trust me, I would know. I really encourage anyone to read any of Nicholas Spark's books!

The Choice by Nicholas Sparks

I decided to start reading a new book named The Choice  by Nicholas Sparks. I just started reading this book and I am not very far into it either so, this post is going to be very short.

I will start by talking about what I think is going on in the book so far. Travis Parker is the only bachelor in his group of friends. All of his friends are married off and he was the best man in each and every one of them. He is also pretty good friends with the wives of his friends. One day, they he was just hanging out with his friends and their wives when they asked him about his romantic relationships. He claims that he has dated a lot of girls before but, his friends think that none of them are good enough. They end up trying to find him a girl in hopes that one day, he will marry.

Even though, I am barely ten pages into the book, I am very interested and drawn in. I decided to start reading some of Nicholas Sparks books because, I have heard that he writes books that are strongly appealing to girls. I really enjoy watching and reading "chic flicks" so I am very excited to find out what happens during the rest of the book.

If you are interesed, take a look at this video:

Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan Book Review

This book is called Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan. I had really enjoyed this book because I was able to really relate to it. The author bases the book off of the Indian culture. Since I am indian, I was able to really understand some of the terms the author uses.

I will provide just a brief summary of the book. Like many girls her age in India, thirteen-year-old Koly is getting married. When she discovers that the husband her parents have chosen for her is a sickly boy with wicked parents, Koly wishes she could flee. According to tradition, though, she has no choice. On her wedding day, Koly's fate is sealed. In the wake of her marriage, however, Koly's life takes an unexpected turn, and she finds herself alone in a strange city of white-sari-clad widows. Her only choice seems to be to shed her name and her future and join the hopeless hordes who chant for food. Even then, cast out into a current of time-worn tradition, this rare young woman sets out to forge her won exceptional future. And a life, like a beautiful tapestry, comes together for Koly--one stitch at a time.

Some people might find this book to be very disturbing because of certain actions that take place in the book. But, we as a society have to accept that these things do happen and we will have to live with it the rest of our lives.

The author's writing style was also very authentic and I would give this book a rating of 4 of 5 stars. I hope that you guys add this book to your list of future reads.

2nd Trimester Blog Reflection

One thing that I have learned this trimester is that I can be a great writer I really try. I learned a lot about myself and me as a writer. I have definitely grown as a more analytical writer this trimester thanks to the weekly blog posts.

One thing that definitely helped me to find some of the books that I read during this trimester is Goodreads. This site was a great help for me to look at some of the books that other people find interesting and their thoughts and ratings of the book. When I had some free time, I would go on Goodreads and look at some of the books that people rated as a 4 or a 5. And these are some of the books that I had enjoyed most throughout the trimester.

Some strengths that I had with blogging include summarizing, reviewing, and evaluating a given text. I was able to read a certain text and come up with my own summary of the text. I was also able pick out some important lines or pieces of text from a book and talk about it and also talk about how that line or piece of text relates back to the book as a whole. From one of my blog posts called Most Important Line from Chapter: Love. I created this blog post when I was reading the book Incantation by Alice Hoffman. I was able to pick out a line from one chapter and relate back to the chapter as a whole and the book as a whole as well.

One thing that I struggled with through this experience is being able to connect the text to anything else. I found it difficult to make connections with the text. I was able to make the connections while I was reading but I found it difficult to put my connections into words. I overcame or worked through this struggle by jotting down notes when I made a connection with the text. I would later use these notes to create a well-rounded blog post.

            The quality of my writing has definitely improved over the course of the trimester. My first blog post was the summer reading assignment blog post. I had the read the book Have a Nice Day by Julie Halpern. In this blog post, I mostly just summarize the book and I don’t take a closer look at the smaller details in the book. Towards the end of the trimester, I posted a post called Maximum Ride-School’s Out Forever Book Review. In this post, I talk about the summary of the book, the type of audience for this book, what I would rate the book and the writing styles that the author used when writing the book. I feel like I have definitely provided more information of the book and my thoughts about the book as well compared to the blog post at the beginning of the trimester.

            I really enjoyed blogging and independently reading this trimester. This opportunity allowed me to read a lot more than I would have without having to do the blog posts. I am definitely looking forward to reading a lot more and blogging next trimester for the English 1B class.

The Kite Runner

I started reading a new book called The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. I had first heard this book from a friend, who really enjoyed to plot of the story and how well the book was written overall. This book takes place in Afghanistan.
When people first hear the country name, Afghanistan. They usually think of a place where there are many wars. They also have that stereotypical mind set that if they cross the borders of Afghanistan that they might get killed and might not return back again. I wanted to read this book because, I know it would be much more different than the usual stereotypes.

According to the New York Times Book Review, "This powerful first novel tells a story of fierce cruelty and fierce yet redeeming love. Both transform the life of Amir, Khaled Hosseini's privileged young narrator, who comes of age during the last peaceful days of the monarchy, just before his country's revolution and its invasion by Russian forces. But political events, even as dramatic as the ones that are presented in The Kite Runner, are only a part of this story. In the Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini gives us a vivid  and engaging story that remind us how long his people have been struggling to triumph over the forces of violence-forces that continue to threaten them even today."

I really look forward to reading this book!

Nevermore by James Patterson Vocabulary

I am still in the process of reading the book, Nevermore by James Patterson. I want to dedicate this post to carefully examine the type of vocabulary that is used in this book so far. James Patterson used a great variety of vocabulary to enhance the writing and his style of writing as well. Reading this book, has definitely allowed me to recognized the different types of sentence structures that I can apply to improve my own writing as well.

For example, "The news anchor peered out at me with grave accusation. Yep, felt like a Monday." Words such as, "peered" and "accusation" definitely bring a different perspective to the story. Not only does the author use a great variety of vocabulary but he also incorporates some figurative language. He is comparing the news anchor staring out from the T.V which, makes him realize that it definitely feels like a Monday morning.

Another example, "When the image was crystal clear and the monotonous beeping had ceased, he cocked his head, listening to the talking head deliver the morning doom with unbeatable pep." The author uses words such as "monotonous". I also noticed how the author uses one word to describe something that he could have written in two or more words. How shows the readers a tip that "less is more".

Nevermore Author Review/ Romeo and Juliet

I have just starting reading the book, Nevermore by James Patterson. I haven't really got much into the book so I am going to dedicate this blog post to talk about the author.

James Patterson is a great author who wrote many great books which include the series of Maximum Ride. James Patterson was born on March 22, 1947 in Newburgh, New York. Patterson published his first novel in 1996, after retiring from a successful career in advertising. Patterson currently lives in Palm Beach, Florida with his wife, Susan, and son, Jack. He has published many books and also has some TV shows and films that he has started. He explains his other works in the following video. I hope you enjoy it.

Romeo and Juliet:
I am definitely enjoying Romeo and Juliet right now. I find it to be more interesting than what I expected it to be. I feel like I am kind of used to Romeo and Juliet because, I am able to understand the Elizabethan Language and derive the meaning out of it into my own words. I also noticed that there are some small characters in the play that definitely play a major role in the play. In some parts of the play, it is very comedic but there are also some tragic factors to it too. I personally feel like Romeo and Juliet is a great love story that may not turn out to have a very good ending.

Maximum Ride-School's Out Forever Book Review

I read the book Maximum Ride-School's Out Forever and I had really enjoyed the book. Not to spoil the book for you or anything but here is just a small summary just to get you going:

Max, Fang, Iggy, Gasman, Nudge, and Angel, six absolutely unforgettable kids. With some major problems. They are being hunted by killers. But who? It's even worse than that. Max is sure that a microchip has been inserted under her skin-leading freakish forces of evil to ambush them at any moment...and worse! She and hte others are supposed to save the world. But from what? when? and how? Max will stop at nothing to find answers. One thing she does know: it's got somehting to do with an astonishing ability they have that no other can claim. They can fly. Max's heart-stopping quest to protect her "family" and investigate the mind-blowing mystery of her ultimate destiny continues in the sariest, strangest, and funniest James Patterson thriller yet.

The type of audience that would enjoy this book would be any teenagers. This is because some of the vocabulary and writing style of the author is more upper class and yonger age children might not understand the book that well. This book is a suspense filled thriller and it would definitely draw the teenagers into this book.

I would give this book a rating of 4.5 stars out of 5 with 1 bieng the lowest and 5 being the highest. This book had definitely drew me in and would not let me go till I had finished the book. But, the beginning of the book was slightly boring, but once all of the characters were introduced then, the actual action began and the book got more interesting.

The writing style the author used made the book even more interesting. This is becuase with the use of short and reasonably long sentences, it keeps the reader engaged and won't let them doze off without paying attention to the small details in the story that might make a difference in understanding the book as a whole. But, overall I really enjoyed this book and I am looking foreward to reading the next book in the Maximum Ride series.