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This year for reading was unique to me. This year, I read more books than previous years, a total of 5 (almost 6). For some, that seems small, but for me, it is a big leap. I liked the open reading idea of choosing your own books to read. It would have been interesting to read classic, but if I wanted to read those, I would have. I read a good number of books I wanted to read, mainly in the horror genre. I would say that my favorite book of this year was either World War Z or Day by Day Armageddon. Surprisingly, these are both zombie stories. I liked horror, and this wasn’t “classic” horror, but it was more of an atmospheric horror. Both books showed the calm before the storm, which I love, but WWZ was multiple stories while DBDA was a narrative. The choose your own book approach to reading was good, but as someone who isn’t the fastest reader, but likes to read, is set back with the reading page grade. Yes, if I spent every single second of my free time reading, I would have made the goal, but then I would have felt like I was doing homework every second. I like stress free reading, so if we have to do a reading grade, I would prefer a reading time goal, needed to be signed by a parent, so that we can read without worrying about our grade diving. This year was good for my desire to explore a new liking, the horror genre, and I will continue my reading in the future.

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Recently, we started reading the famous play Julius Caesar in class. We are only on act 2, so Caesar isn't (SPOILER ALERT) dead yet. There are themes throughout the play, so I will be naming a few. Based off the last scene of the first act, a major theme I notice is how your fate is certain. In the play, there were signs from the gods, such as raining fire, a lion being docile and not attacking anyone at the capital of Rome, and many more signs from the gods, prophesizing Caesar's demise. Eventually, Caesar's wife talks him out of going to the capital and receiving the crown due to a dream she had of Caesar's death. After that, a conspirator trying to take down Caesar convinces Caesar to go to the capital, because the people would love him. In Caesar's vanity, he decides to go through with the ceremony. We all know how Caesar's life ends, so this shows how your fate cannot be changed, and how fate guides you through life. Caesar had a chance to avoid the ceremony and avoid his death in the process, but he continued with fate's journey. This theme is evident in many other plays, literature, and even movies. In Romeo and Juliet, the two lovers are destined to meet and die. In my book which I started reading, Dead by Day Armageddon Shattered Hourglass, (which is the third book of the series) there are lots of events and things I want to talk about, but we will stick with themes. The main character from the previous books, named Kilroy, has several survivors, who he now considers friends, since that's the most valuable commodity in the zombie apocalypse, but they haven't betrayed him, as what happened in Julius Caesar. The theme that fate guides you, and cannot be changed is prevalent in my book, since every single person on the planet will eventually join the zombie horde, and that can't be changed (unless a cure is found), it can only be delayed. Another great example of fate was that in the very first book, the narrator is called back to a military base, but he doesn't leave his house, because of fears of the plague spreading to the base. In the second and third book, Kilroy is called back to the remaining military, starting in the second book with the marines promoting him to acting commander of Hotel 23, and in the third book "Kil" is promoted from lieutenant to commander due to his survival knowledge. This is fate in action, showing how his previous knowledge will lead him back to the military, and with the military base getting overrun in the first book, may lead to the aircraft carrier acting as home base being overrun too.

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Recently, we did a "Socratic Seminar" where we had a class discussion about themes, such as if "assassination is ever ok?", or "what makes a good leader?" Now, I was given the assignment to write questions about my book. So, let's jump right into it.
Since my book is about the zombie apocalypse, the first theme in mind is that you must do anything for survival. Another theme of my book, Day by Day Armageddon Beyond Exile, is that survival isn't just physical, it's mental.
My questions I can put out is:
"How far will you go to survive in a life or death situation, would you compromise your morals for your survival?"
"Would you take another life to save yours, would you kill a child?"
"Is it better to be physically healthy or mentally healthy?"
"Is it better to push on or give up in a hard situation?"
These questions all tie into my book, since the zombie apocalypse takes a toll on survivors. The narrator of Beyond Exile has been stranded after a helicopter crash, and has to now survive alone, more than he was before since he was in a group. He goes through life or death situations, and sometimes thinks about ending it all, but he keeps going, why is that? It is because A) he was trained in the military to have a strong mindset and B) he is scared of death, of becoming "One of those things."
Survival is something most of us today don't have to worry about, but if we were in that situation, what would you do?

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The past week we had a STAAR test at school, so I will just be writing about whatever comes to mind, my book or STAAR. Starting with my book, Day by Day Armageddon Beyond Exile, the main character has been in some predicaments recently, which makes the story live up to the title. To sum it up, before I get to literary analysis, the narrator crashed in a helicopter, and has been on the run from certain death trying to find his way back to camp. On his adventures, the narrator gets airdropped some supplies: guns, food, water purification tablets, and a missile launcher (I think). The strange thing is that the survivor didn't call for any backup, besides a radio beacon he had until it burnt out. Every day the narrator has to go survive, and I don't think it's by chance. Earlier in the book, there were mentions of some governments still standing, but I don't know if we can trust the government. The narrator is in charge of a group of marines back at Hotel 23, but a real government couldn't be standing. I think that some rogue offspring of a official government is helping him out, probably from helping out the marines. Enough summary, lets move onto literary mumbo jumbo. The narrator has been drifting off into a dark place; talking about how he would die. The special thing about the survivor although is the fact that he was in the military, and that he has a survivor mindset. One thing that's different than the military of then and now is the fact that his enemies outnumber him one-million to one. In the military, you can have the mindset of persistence, and eventually victory, but you can't have that goal in the zombie apocalypse. The narrator is just prolonging the inevitable until he switches sides and becomes another mindless, hungry drone, and the survivor notices that. The only thing that he has to live for is "warm food" the next day. The apocalypse got rid of the survivor's sense of hope, and is breaking him unlike any other combatant he has ever fought. There's a reason why the book is called Day by Day, it's because every day is another step closer until you stop stepping, and then you step again.

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Every author is different, and every author uses a different style. The book I’m reading, Day by Day Armageddon Beyond Exile, has a style of writing far different than any traditional book. My book is in the style of a journal, with each entry being a new day. This is interesting to me, since I haven’t read books like this before, and it’s new and interesting. The characterization of the story is vague, but in a good way. Since the book is written like a journal, the author can’t go full depth into how someone is, but it’s occasionally mentioned in paragraphs. You can see the progression of the characters from civilians to survivors, and that is interesting. The author writes the date on the top of each day, and usually writes about the previous day, but sometimes the author skips a couple days if they go on a mission, or do something important, which makes the book seem more realistic. Since the author can’t write while scavenging for food, he writes about it the next day. My favorite part of the book is that it is in Texas, which is where I am from, so I can clearly visualize the highway that the narrator is driving down, or how he mentions that San Antonio was (Spoiler) nuked. I wouldn’t use this style of writing since I never wrote like this before, but it is cool (for a lack of terms) and I would like to try writing like this someday.

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Welcome back to my reading log. Recently, I finished Day by Day Armageddon, and I have started reading Day by Day Beyond Exile, since I really liked the first book. The books are a personal narrative of a military man’s road to survival, in the style of a journal. I really like the idea of the journal layout, and zombie stories always get my attention, so I decided to read them. Since I have just started the second book, I will review the first book’s pivotal moments. Near the middle of the book, the narrator leaves his base in a marina, since it was sinking, and started looking for a new base with 5 other people and a dog. The narrator eventually discovers a bunker in the middle of a field in Texas and finds out that it was a government missile base. The narrator and his trusty companions settle there for the rest of the book and prevent an invasion of the base. If the narrator didn’t stop and rest there, the survivors may have been overtaken by zombies, or died of starvation, since the base was stocked with food and water. The decision to settle here was a pivotal moment because it allowed the survivors to thrive, and in the second book, leads into an event involving the remaining U.S. military. There are other pivotal moments in the book, such as when they decided to rescue a family of 3, or to save a girl trapped in a car, but the settling of “Hotel 23” was the most eventful moment in the book.

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Hello again, it’s been a while. I have been gone for a long time since I didn’t have any blog prompts. Anyways, it is now 2019, and I have read a good number of books, for me. If you looked at what books I’ve read, you know that the books I chose didn’t really change. I had the exception of reading The Giver, and American Gun, but generally I read horror. If you were looking at my list, you’d think that I am pretty one dimensional. I recently got into the horror genre, about last year, so I decided to focus my reading into that genre. The books itself that I read, however, have been short. The last book I read was a collection of stories, but the book itself was about 360 pages. I like the short stories, since I feel like I have a shorter attention span when it comes to books that are 500 pages long. The only long book like that I have read was Harry Potter, but who haven’t read Harry Potter. I don’t read that often, and that many pages, but I like to read, but I don’t like to read for a grade. If I want to be a better reader, I would have to read harder, and longer books, and get out of my comfort zone. I can read books by Edgar Allen Poe, or other authors, but I like to read things more modern, and relatable. I like reading modern horror, and I like to look at a page on Reddit called r/NoSleep, or I should say, listen, to stories. The classics are what all stories are based off though, unless they are true stories, so if I want to have a deeper understanding of horror, and literature, I will have to read them. I will be writing my blogs more often now, so thanks for reading.

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I have recently finished Fear, and I am currently in between books, but I want to talk about the characters in my previous book. The characters in my book all have a common thread to them, they all are closed minded about the supernatural. In the chapter, Jeepers Peepers, the main character of that chapter is a teenage babysitter girl, and a blind, poor, boy. In the beginning of the story, the babysitter does not want to go babysit, a "I don't want to go work" teenage attitude. Eventually, the teen succumbs, and meets the mother, who alerts the girl that all the previous babysitters never return, which throws the girl off, but that doesn't stop her from going to work. The blind boy she eventually meets has a surprisingly scary imagination. The boy conjures up monsters that feed off his fear, and the babysitter was taken aback by this fact. At the end, the blind boy is able to gain courage, and turn the devilish monsters into whimpering children. The main message of that story was to believe in yourself, which is one trait the boy had. The blind boy summoned up courage and saved the day, which is one trait I like about him, and the girl was the one supporting him to use his imagination to turn the monsters into weaklings, so she has the trait of believing in others. Both of these people gained a new trait from a shocking event, which brought out the best in them. The traits in the people, is something that I wish to have; the ability for others to gain courage when needed. I don't know if I have the trait of being able to persevere through a harrowing event, since I thankfully never went through anything like that, but for others who have and have gained confidence, I am glad they came up well over a terrible event.

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I finished World War Z about two weeks ago, and I want to say that it was a really good book, and I recommend people who enjoy dark, end of the world, type stories to read the book. I have gotten into a new book called Fear. Fear is a collection of stories all having the same genre, horror, which if you haven't noticed already, is a favorite genre of mine. Fear is mainly about having the reader experience that, fear. The stories collected by R.L. Stine, are quick stories, which usually have good descriptive details in the passages. One story, about a cannibalistic family, yes, you heard me right, describes Mrs. Perfect, the mother of the meat-eating family, with exquisite detail. "She wore a neatly tailored pantsuit, designer shoes with tiny heels, and black leather gloves. Not a hair was out of place. She smiled with approval, as she swiftly eyed me from head-to-toe." The descriptive words makes me dress Mrs. Perfect in my head, as I design her to be my own. In relation to the your imagination idea, one story, called Jeepers Peepers is about a blind boy who imagines up monsters, and in the end, SPOILER ALERT, he uses his imagination to change the evil, gelatinous like monsters, into whimpering little weaklings. Imagination in books is the most important part when reading, because you can picture a monster in your head any way you want, scary, or not so scary. The picturing skill I have acquired is mostly from listening to scary stories on YouTube. Since the narrator uses a generic background of a storm, if it's about a stormy night, or a video of a road, if it's about a story on the road, or whatever story, the person is talking about, I have to imagine it playing out in my head, like a movie, which is why I love the horror genre. No other genre can you imagine with such vivid detail. You can decided how the story is supposed to look like, which is why I picked the book, because I was ready to be scared, on my terms, in my imagination. (The link is a shortcut to a YouTube channel I listen to)

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Here you will find straight to the point videos which mostly consist of scary true stories & events. Feedback / Requests? Send me an email. Feel free to send me stories, news events, or any strange findings from the internet, and hopefully it could be included in a video.

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Point of View, what do YOU think about this?

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Point of View, what do YOU think about this?

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World War Z, the zombie war. Let's think about this. It is a WORLD war, which means it affects everyone, and everyone has their story. The book is about a UN official, documenting the stories of different people's accounts of the zombie war, from a corrupt business man, hiding in Antarctica, to a blind atomic bomb survivor in Japan. With the POV changing each chapter, the characterization happens really fast, but you get a liking to some of the characters. There is a chapter about an Astronaut who worked on the International Space Station during the war, and his point of view of the war is far different than anyone else's. The astronaut sees the world get worse each day, and can only watch. Since he is only in one chapter, you hear his abridged story, and when the chapter is over, you want to hear more, but since the author is so good at the character development, you move into a new person, with new stories, and you get a new liking towards them. The story has these complex points of view from all around the world, but it would be really interesting to hear about the interviewer’s story. The interviewer is a quiet person throughout the story, so you just hear about the interviewee’s story, but it would really interesting to know how he survived through the apocalypse. The UN interviewer would probably be safer compared to the masses, but who knows, he could have had tragedy in his life, trials, tribulations, and all of this would be answered if there was a singular point of view .

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Well, let's start this by saying, I haven't read that many books over the year. I have read, "The Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy" over the past summer, and I started "Sherlock Holmes and the hound of the Baskervilles", but didn't finish. World War Z is a collection of memoirs, from different perspectives and times of the zombie apocalypse. My books were expository, so it just showed the same perspective of the same people. The only book I would say that would be "Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy" because in the book, sometimes the characters get separated, and not to spoil the book, but it shows a whole new perspective in the book, and expands the story. I have noticed how I am drawn to dystopian stories, or scary stories, probably because of my liking towards the holiday, Halloween. I have recently gotten into this theme, probably at the beginning of last year, but I feel like I have grown, since when I was young, I was terrified of anything scary. It doesn't matter if it was creepy dolls in my sister's TV show, or if it was a "Bloody Mary" video on YouTube. I also have a love towards space stories, which is why I read "The Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy" since I heard it was Elon Musk's favorite book, and I love Elon Musk, he's like the modern day Iron Man and Batman all in one. Reading wise, I feel like I really haven't grown, since I typically choose books all of the same size, and I feel like I don't have the time to actually read a book like "IT", which is one of the books I want to read one day, but I spend a hell of a lot of time on other entertainment, TV, video games, YouTube. But in the end, I want to grow as a reader, but I tend to stay in my comfort zone, and I am alright with that for now. Thanks for reading, Goodnight.

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Common problem in the Zombie Apocalypse.... I wonder what it is?

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Common problem in the Zombie Apocalypse.... I wonder what it is?

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The common problem throughout this book, is in the title of the book, and is something that you would not expect, Zombies! Who would have thought? The reason why Zombies are the common problem is because no one could have prepared for the dead rising. You can prepare for war, chemical attacks, the power grid shutting down, even nuclear war, but you can't prepare for the dead to rise. The virus started in either Africa or China, the book didn't clarify that, and it spread since no one knew what it was. People would go to treat victims of the virus, and would get themselves bit, spreading the virus, and would just do common treatments to get rid of the pain. The reason why the virus became a world wide pandemic, is because no government knew of the virus in the early stages, and if any did, they focused on other things, because "it couldn't happen". Infected people would get on planes or boats and travel to other countries, and would eventually spread the virus, without it being noticed. Once it got noticed, during "The Great Panic", everyone knew of the virus, but no one did anything about it, except for a few. Israel was the first to do anything about the virus. Israel sent out messages to the world, telling any "foreign-born Jew, any foreigner of Israeli-born parents, and any Palestinian whose family had once lived within the borders of Israel" can come to Israel for "voluntary quarantine." But Zombies weren't the only concern. People were a huge problem. I'm not talking from a zombie's perspective, but rather, from a fellow human's. The Great Panic, and after, made people go crazy to escape from where they live, to go North, since that's what the TV said. Millions of people traveled on the roads, and rivers, all trying to move North. When people ran out of gas, they tried to get rides. Food, Money, anything, even revealing yourself to the driver, would let you in the car, and who knows if you even survived the ride. Settlements were set up, and eventually, it all turned brutal, people would fight and/or kill people for food, shelter, warmth, all because no one knew how to live like this in the wild up North. The many characters and stories did not handle this well, but some people were lucky, and didn't have to experience the panic of society going into general disarray. The lucky ones left early, and had a relatively good life, considering it's the apocalypse. If I was in the situation that everyone was in, I would leave as soon as I could, getting supplies from stores, stocking up on food, and gas, and leaving ASAP to somewhere where there are natural land borders, like steep hills, or rivers, so the zombies, or other people, couldn't get me. The conflict in the story is similar to the Syrian refugee crisis I would say, since you don't know which person could be "infected" with radical ideas, so it would make it hard to trust anyone. The conflict in the story sure was a surprise, huh?

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Why I Chose My Book... the answer may SHOCK you!

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Why I Chose My Book... the answer may SHOCK you!

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The book I chose was called World War Z by Max Brooks. I chose this book because I enjoy the Zombie/Monster books which has a main antagonist which is supernatural. I like this book specifically because of the zombie apocalypse phenomenon which many people enjoy. The idea of society going into mass panic from a creature that nobody really knows until it hits you. The book talks about before "The Great Panic", and how people were gossiping about what the disease is, rabies, not rabies, who knows, and the calm before the storm is what I love in books. The genre of these books, fear, horror, general disarray, is something that I am a fan of, because of the the fear in the stories. The idea that something is going wrong, terribly wrong, in someone's life, and your life is going perfectly fine, but the reader knows that something is wrong, is why I chose this book. I like TV shows like the Walking Dead, and movies like World War Z, Halloween, and other media that has a sense of fear, and that is why I chose this book. World War Z is a book I enjoy, because I like to pretend that the Zombie Apocalypse will happen (even though it probably won't, but hey, better safe then sorry), and this book shows the first zombie attacks, how civilians were completely unprepared, and government and military were addressed on the enemy, but barely prepared. I chose this book, mostly to get a scare, and to be prepared.