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Me being able to pick and choose the books that I want to read encouraged me too read more. Reading hasn’t been an issue for me up until high school. It was hard for me to time manage my time to read when I didn’t even know how to time manage my time period. When it came to challenging myself, I will have to disappoint you and say I did not. I tried reading “The Crucible” but it put me too sleep. I feel that it is one of those books/plays that is better to watch than read…maybe. Besides that the rest of the books I read were straight forward and simple. Not that they weren’t exciting, like Children of Blood and Bone or Fangirl or Eleanor and Park, they are interesting stories, but they don’t make me think too hard. Or maybe they do because I do find myself pausing and reflecting but would I call those books challenging? No. My favorite book this school year would be the book that I read most recently and that would be “The dangerous Art of Blending in.” It was one of those books that I couldn’t put down. I like to consider myself a pretty social person but with that book in my hand I wanted to be in a secluded corner reading it. I brought it to my dance banquet actually in hopes that I would not be bothered, and I could just continue reading it but that dream didn’t last and I was forced to socialize eventually. I want to change my answer now that I really think about all the books I read. “The Dangerous art of blending in” is now my honorable mention and Scythe is my new favorite book. It was one of those books that I couldn’t put down AND it started influencing how I speak if that’s ever happened to you. How can you effectively improve the reading program? I don’t know. It seems that you’re already doing a great job and the system will always be flawed but I have no clue. Maybe have a class book, like a pass it forward but for the class so you can have a book talk or reflection or something like that.

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 The end of the year is so close but yet so far...     I read and finished “The dangerous art of blending in.” It was good, it’s about a teenage boy named Evan who is trying to find himself and his sexuality while his mother consistently abuses him mentally and physically. I like how real this book felt. Sometimes the reasons for a character acting the way they do is murky and unclear, or they just have no reason at all which I absolutely hate. They have no consistency to their character; every villain or antagonist has a reason for doing their wrongdoings. Every person treats one person one way because of how they feel. I like that the antagonist in this story had a reason for the way she acted. She believes that her son is evil, she believes that God disapproves of him. She is a firm believer in God but to the extent where she believes that day dreaming and art and wearing too much makeup is a sin. She knows her son is gay so she abuses him to get him to feel powerless and to listen to her. We don’t quite know why she uses this method of punishment until its revealed that her brothers did the same to her. It’s like she uses that to justify what she does to her son. Not to anyone in particular but more to herself. She knows it’s wrong because she doesn’t want anyone to find out but she also believes that her truly deserves all of what she does to him. Throughout this book I found myself hating the mother more and more with every page that I turned. One amazing thing that counteracts the mother’s cruelness is Henry, Evans best friend who he has developed a crush on. They eventually become more that just friends and that is probably the cutest part in this entire book. There was also this Love Triangle in the begging of the book that ended up being very anti climatic. I found it really funny how anti climatic it was, it was a buildup of emotions for Evan and he was so worried about it and it ended up being close to nothing. I loved how it wasn’t one of the main focuses of the book. It was there and then it wasn’t and I loved that.  

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 The end of the year is so close but yet so far...     I read and finished “The dangerous art of blending in.” It was good, it’s about a teenage boy named Evan who is trying to find himself and his sexuality while his mother consistently abuses him mentally and physically. I like how real this book felt. Sometimes the reasons for a character acting the way they do is murky and unclear, or they just have no reason at all which I absolutely hate. They have no consistency to their character; every villain or antagonist has a reason for doing their wrongdoings. Every person treats one person one way because of how they feel. I like that the antagonist in this story had a reason for the way she acted. She believes that her son is evil, she believes that God disapproves of him. She is a firm believer in God but to the extent where she believes that day dreaming and art and wearing too much makeup is a sin. She knows her son is gay so she abuses him to get him to feel powerless and to listen to her. We don’t quite know why she uses this method of punishment until its revealed that her brothers did the same to her. It’s like she uses that to justify what she does to her son. Not to anyone in particular but more to herself. She knows it’s wrong because she doesn’t want anyone to find out but she also believes that her truly deserves all of what she does to him. Throughout this book I found myself hating the mother more and more with every page that I turned. One amazing thing that counteracts the mother’s cruelness is Henry, Evans best friend who he has developed a crush on. They eventually become more that just friends and that is probably the cutest part in this entire book. There was also this Love Triangle in the begging of the book that ended up being very anti climatic. I found it really funny how anti climatic it was, it was a buildup of emotions for Evan and he was so worried about it and it ended up being close to nothing. I loved how it wasn’t one of the main focuses of the book. It was there and then it wasn’t and I loved that.  

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I read Eleanor and Park and it was lovely and beautiful and heart felt. A shared theme between Julius Caesar and Eleanor and Park was how blind someone can be when they feel great, if that makes sense. I’m not sure if that was put into the right words but I can’t currently think of anything else. Everyone knows how blind Julius Caesar is. He is so blind that he can’t see the bad omens that are telling him not to go, the very clear bad omens. The ghost could be haunting him telling him not to go and he will find a way to say it wasn’t meant for him or it was all a joke. He is blinded by his power or his “greatness” that he clearly can’t see the signs telling him not to go to the capital. I feel that in Eleanor and Park, Eleanor was blind to see what Richie has planning. She was so caught up in Park and avoiding Richie to never stop and truly analyze him. She almost caught him with the book but then her clothes were ruined. Richie was a surprise, even to me, but even surprises have subtle hints. I’m sure he would have given her more hints but he had to be acting some sort of way towards her and he probably didn’t give her that money for Christmas out of the goodness of his heart. There was a reason he didn’t allow her to have guys around and mostly everyone reading the book, including myself, assumed it was because Richie is an extreme butthead, but It’s actually because he’s overly possessive. If it lives in his house its automatically his and he gets to do what he wants to do with it. What I’m saying is if Eleanor wasn’t blinded by not only Park but of trying her best to avoid and seclude herself out of fear she might have seen the subtle signs of Richie ticking down to his last straw.

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In regard to stylization of Neil Shusterman’s writing I absolutely love the way his writing changes with each character’s present mind. The thunderhead uses excessively large words but not without meaning and care. I love the way that I don’t even have to look to tell that it’s the Thunderhead or Scythe Anastasia or even Rowan. I can tell how the writing changes and automatically know its them. It’s like individual voices each person has and although they sometimes become hard to decipher, the way they say certain sentences clears everything up. I love how Rowan is calm and calculating although his sanity is becoming more and more questionable, and Neil Shusterman display that very well. The lines that he draws are not murky and I love that about his writing. I love how each character doesn’t sound the same or somewhat the same, sure they share similar ideas but who doesn’t? I love the way his writing style changes to fit each character, although not completely because the story is told from third person point of view. I also love the way that its written to compel me into really believing that the “mortal age” that I currently live is long past the age of living. It draws me into this world that feels so real that by the time I come back to reality I find myself talking very sophisticated like the book and it takes a while to shake it off. I end up taking on some mannerisms from the book, and only really good books affect me that way.

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The book I am currently reading is a sequel to the book Scythe. I am reading Thunderhead and you already know what that is about, so I’ll just skip the summery. The pivotal moment I’m picking out of the many pivotal moments is how Rowan takes it open himself to start changing the Scythedom system on his own, with the right intentions but with the wrong course of action. He became a “False” scythe and went by the name Scythe Lucifer. Which I thought was absolutely horrid and stupid. I mean “Scythe Lucifer” is practically calling yourself evil, and he wears all black! The black doesn’t bother me but along with the name Lucifer is just frustrating. He tries to justify his name but since I am from the "mortal age", I can’t see it any other way besides the big fat fallen angel that no one likes to talk about. Anyway, he begins killing or “gleaning” scythes that are abusing their power and are not gleaning randomly or is randomly gleaning too much. These scythes are called the new order and his plan at first was to take out as many as the new order scythes as he can before the immunity clock, he has strikes zero and his own gleaning will take place. Then he started giving them options like, “Stop or ill glean you,” to put it simply. Which personally I liked a lot more, it showed that Rowan had a soul. Personally, I’m worried for him and afraid that he’s going to ruin my ship, between him and Citra, because of his devious ways. Anyway, this is important to the plot because this puts a dent in the Scythedom which never happens. It adds juice to the story verses a dry system like how it has always been, well until Citra and Rowan and the new order.

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The Children of Blood and Bone chronicles 11/11/18

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The Children of Blood and Bone chronicles 11/11/18

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I’m currently reading The Children of Blood and Bone and I hardly doubt you need a summery and I can’t provide a thorough one anyway since I’m only on chapter three. But a social/cultural issue that my book implores is the hatred for the diviners I believed their called. They’re pretty much these people that were born with white hair and supposed to have these powers to protect the land and give it life but then you always have to have that one group of kids that has to ruin everything and abuse their literally God given powers and disturb the piece. Since the people’s peace is disturbed they get triggered or angry and they start fighting anyone born with white hair. Like bro chill, you can’t blame all for the actions of some but they clearly didn’t get the memo. I guess the gods got tired of it, so they kind of just gave up on the white-haired people and stopped supporting them with power. Lil bit cruel but it really be like that sometimes. So now everyone pretty much hates the color white on hair even though it serves no purpose anymore. At least for now, I have a feeling this will all change. So, right now I’m reading Zelie who’s got white hair, a dead mom, a depressing backstory but I guess that’s to come with the dead mom, and a crappy life in general. I’ve only seen 3 people that don’t hate her and 2 of them are family members. Her brother and dad. I can’t possibly imagine EVERYONE hating me but maybe they do and I just don’t know it. Anyway, her dad and brother almost die because they can’t pay up the king and that is another issue. The kings just a Regina George. I have a feeling everyone hating her isn’t the main issue at hand but it seems like a big issue to me. It hurts me, not gonna lie. By the way if you haven’t noticed I’ve named each blog after a show on Netflix, I just re-arranged their names.

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I am currently reading The Crucible and I am not sure what it’s about except that it takes place during the Salem Witch Trials and at the moment 2 kids named Ruth, and Betty have been touched by the 🤬’s hand and is fighting for their lives. The character that I have chosen to blog about is Abigail. She is a little horney teenager that is craving vengeance. So, she had an affair with John Proctor, a married man, while she worked at his house. She got fired and his wife spread rumors about her to the village people. The village people thinks she is gross and now little Abigail is left with no job and no man. She then decides to try and 🤬 Mr. Proctor and his wife using witchcraft. In the process, I guess she convinced her uncles daughter that she can fly and some women named Mercy was running around naked while a maid named Tituba was chanting words over a fire. Just another day in the shoes of Abigail. Once the Uncle, Parris, saw this he scared a flying Betty to become ill and she’s been in bed ever since. At least that is what I got out of that. In the end Abigail is trying to convince her Uncle that she was not conjuring up spirits. She is also pretending to play the innocent role. How do I feel about her? To put it simply I am done with her and I only just started the book. She tried to get back the Proctor when he visited Betty and threatened Betty and the other girls that if they spoke a word she would 🤬 them. A scared Betty complained that she wanted to fly to her mom knowing very well that her mom is dead and started screaming when she heard the Lords name. Which, leads me to believe that Betty is faking also. As a child, she probably thinks this is funny and a game or she is just pure evil, either way I don’t like her either. Back to Abigail, Is she likeable? Apparently so if the Proctor had an affair with her and has slightly admitted that he still loves her by affirming that he stares at her window like a creep. Do I like her? Absolutely not. If I could give her a personality rating I wouldn’t even bother to fill in the chart.

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It’s not quite the ride I expected but a good ride at that. Usually I’m in to action filled fantasy or dystopian. Something with edge to get my adrenaline pumping. And Fangirl isn’t such an edgy book, but I like the break it gave me. I was afraid that there would be a love triangle because I absolutely HATE them. If you truly cared about the first guy then you wouldn’t like or even consider the second guy in the first place. They are just stupid in my opinion. They’re only a couple exceptions and they weren’t pure love triangles most of the time. Anyway, I was extremely afraid that that would happen with Cath and her roommate’s boyfriend. Turns out its thankfully not and their relationship is perfect. I love how Cath excepts Levi (Her roommate’s ex-boyfriend) and his flaws and chooses to love them. And he loves Cath and her weird introvert-ness. They’re just adorable. Although Cath is more dangerous than I originally thought she was. She was afraid to let Levi touch her for fear what she might do, and I thought, “OH SHE WOULDN’T DO ANYTHING! ITS CATH WE’RE TALKING ABOUT HERE!” Well, she is very touchy feely and she let’s say her lips are very active. I was extremely surprised at this outcome and found myself having to close the book for a break sometimes. It just felt too intimate, like I shouldn’t be reading it because I felt like I was there. Then I would jump back in just to close the book again take a deep breath and continue. Cath also has a sucky mom that walked out on her and I hate that. There was this chapter in the book where Wren gets alcohol poisoning and her mom comes, checks to see if Wren is okay and the leaves. How dare she even come in the first place. She talks about wanting to get to know her kids while they’re grown but she keeps throwing her shot away. Wren says her mom didn’t want kids. Well then, she can’t talk to the girls then, because they may be grown but they will still and always be her kids.

P.S I don’t know if you noticed but my titles have been Netflix titles with a twist. Just wanted to let you know.

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How does point of view affect the book? Well for starters I feel that third person point of view delivers details that Cath, the main character, doesn’t notice at first. Also, there is SO much content in this book that if it were in 1st person point of view it would take forever. Instead of just saying this and that happened and move on, Cath would have to say what she saw or heard happen and maybe talk about how she feels about that. This way the story goes by slightly faster than if it were told in 1st person point of view.  At least that’s my opinion. Since the P.O.V is third person limited we just see how Cath goes about college or certain situations. I feel that if it were the dads point of view it would be COMPLETELY different or even Wren’s. If it wasn’t Cath that we were following the plot would change and how we would perceive other characters would change also. We would see Cath as annoying instead of Wren. The plot would no longer be surviving college without your twin sister, dad, and most of your Simon Snow belongings, instead, it being partying every Friday night and trying your best to ignore your over protective, still obsessive over a children’s series twin sister. When it comes to characterization, I feel that we get to see more of Cath from third person P.O.V. I wouldn’t know that Cath is pretty mean when it comes to making new friends. She would just make an excuse and I would believe it if it were in 1st P.O.V but looking at it from afar, she can actually be pretty mean.

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When it comes to the main character in this book I can’t really match her personality to any others that I have read this past year.  Maybe to the web comic Lets Play but they don’t match each-others personality completely. The book Fangirl that I’m reading seems to be pretty original so far. The character seems a little boring to me so far but who knows she might surprise me. Maybe she might tell her twin sister how she feels about the whole situation one day. It’s very different than what I’m used to reading. I’m used to reading females leads who are pretty strong whether they are physically or emotionally strong because the weaker kind of roles bother me. They get extremely annoying to me. The only exception that I have is if the girl has gone through a big traumatic experience. Then and only then is it tolerable. Cath, the main character, doesn’t seem to be a lousy character so far. She didn’t let her new roommate’s boyfriend into her room alone with her, which gave her +3 Jada points. So, Cath let him sit outside until her roommate came. Honestly, I would have felt guilty but Cath had no issue with that. He didn’t either I guess since when he got in he didn’t seem to hurt or torn up about it at all. He literally smiled and continued a conversation with her like it NEVER happened. I haven’t read too much of it to know the plotline yet or where the book is going but I CAN tell you the girl has an addiction to a certain author. This book is different than what I normally read. My go to’s are usually dystopian, or fantasy, or 🤬 mystery, or thrillers, or just something to keep me on the edge of my seat. Something with an epic battle, and it doesn’t just have to be a literal one, it can be a mouthy one too, or an internal one. Just something to keep me interested. Maybe this book IS up my ally. I guess I’ll find out won’t I.

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So, when it comes to conflicts Johnny may have murdered someone although we're past that. At this point this week Dally comes to pick up Jonny and Ponyboy to bring back home. On the way back home the church that Jonny and Ponyboy stayed at is on fire and some kids that had the bright idea to go play in it are stuck. Their parents are idiots and are looking for them, probably ignoring the crying that’s coming from inside the burning building. So as the nice kids that Johnny and Ponyboy are they go inside and rescue them. Ponyboy lives and doesn’t get any serious injuries unlike Dally and Johnny. Darry and Soda come to see ponyboy and bring him back home. Johnny ends up dying and takes my heart with him. Dally goes and gets himself killed because he’s sick of life. And Ponyboy goes insane. He tells himself that Johnny isn’t dead and that he was the one that killed Bob even though he didn’t. I understand why Ponyboy is reacting this way and I don’t blame him for the way he’s acting at this point. To lose 2 people in one night and to be there for both their deaths is a lot take into a 14year old’s head. It really messes you up, he was already sick in the head because he was in the rumble (A fight between the Socs and the Greasers) and a Soc repeatedly kicked him in the head. If someone repeatedly kicked me in the head and then right after I went to go see my best friend die I would be pretty crazy also. Honestly, I would probably react like him, he felt so numb to everything and I feel that at that moment I would be too. The only that would be different is at some point that night I would have cried, although he didn’t really have the time too. So maybe I wouldn’t have either. I don’t know what I would have done. So, I finished the book and it really did hit me in the end. I thought that Ponyboy would never get better but maybe he will. I’m content with the ending unlike other stories. I understand why Dally got himself killed and why Ponyboy acted like he did. It wasn’t just a weird ending.

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The first book I chose was The Outsiders by S.E Hinton, which I found ironic since I found it inside your room. It follows a boy named Ponyboy-yes that’s his actual name- who goes through a series of unfortunate events. He lives in a town that is split into two, the Socs and the Greasers. It’s almost like Grease but its heading a little downhill and at this point you have no clue what’s going to happen. As to how and why I chose the book I want to say it captured my eye or it looked interesting but I thought about other books before choosing this one and when it comes to looking good, half the cover is ripped off. I’ve heard good things about this book, a lot of praise and love for it. So, I said “why not?”. The book seemed appealing to me after the first couple of pages. I was afraid for Ponyboy, he was about to get jumped by Socs and the poor boy was defenseless. I wanted to jump in the book and yell at them. It would have gone something like this “Stop! Leave the kid alone!” and they would respond with “OK.” It would have been just as smooth as that-hint my sarcasm-. OK, I don’t know what I would have done but I know I would have stopped it. When it comes to predictions I’m, usually good at them. When you read enough you become a predicting master mind, which I’m sure you know, but oddly I couldn’t predict too much for this book. I feel like I failed as a master predict-er, although I haven’t read many books like The Outsiders. What an amazing excuse to cope with my disappointment in myself. I predict that the Socs will not be happy with them if they decide to go back, which I’m sure they will. Poor Johnny, a member of the Greasers and Ponyboys friend, will probably get arrested for 🤬 and Ponyboy will get let off easy, but the Socs will get him again because they have anger issues. I feel that the book is good, would I call it my favorite so far, no, but it’s not bad either. I like the slang that they use in the book, like how the police is the fuzz, or how they say blast it instead of dang it. I will say this book is not challenging, people think I have trouble reading because I read slow but I just like to take my time, cruise through it, and so far, I haven’t hit any bumps. It’s a simple read and is not hard to comprehend at all. I didn’t want to choose a book that would challenge me just yet, I wanted a “starter” book. A book to get me started for the year but I already have my next book in mind that won’t be as easily read. So that was my first blog that I have ever typed, boy do I feel like that girl sitting on her bed writing her blog and feeling satisfied with herself when she’s done. Makes me excited for a book that I'll have something to REALLY rant about. Jada Out.