Month: November 2024

Dead Poets Society is a novel written by Nancy H. Kleinbaum, that is based on the 1989 film. It focuses on identity and the struggle for self-expression. The story is set in an elite boys’ prep school and shows the life of John Keating, who is a teacher that always encourages his students to “seize the day” and embrace their own passions.

“We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.”   

Through his unusual teaching methods, the boys begin to question the  structures of their lives, and the pressure from their families and school. The novel shows the emotional and mental journeys of the students. Specifically Neil, who desires for freedom and self-expression while his dad believes in strict parenting. Dead Poets Society shows the consequences of going against social expectations but also represents how education can show the importance of being true to yourself.

Secrets of Sable Island by Marcia Pierce Harding is about an island at the edge of the Continental Shelf or the southern side of Halifax Nova Scotia. The island sounded by sandbars that go on for miles and is covered by an almost constant wind pushing the sand around burring buildings and shifting the island into different shapes unexceptionally. The story takes place with a boy names Caleb on a bout sailing through a storm past sable island and is swept off the side go the boat by a rough wave, he’s swept to sable island and lays in the mushy sand as he feels the water rising higher and higher till he feels the warm breath of something on his face to see a big horse standing over him. He passed out again watching it run away and wakes up when hes grabbed and thrown over a mans shoulders “as a sack of potatoes” he explains. He wakes up in a cabin that smells like smoke and the breakfast the man is preparing for the two, Caleb realizes theres a bandage on his head and wood planks wrapped around his leg. The man preparing breakfast see’s Caleb awake and explains the horse came and got him throwing a fit outside his window and leading him over to Caleb saving his life.

Elvis and Me is a book written by Priscilla Presley. It explains what her life was like with Elvis Presley. The book explores their relationship, from their initial meeting when Priscilla was just 14 years old, to their marriage, life together, and eventual divorce. Their relationship was controversial due to the big age gap. Priscilla has even made a movie about their relationship to show people what Elvis Presley was actually like. Priscilla struggled to have friends while dating Elvis, and this continued even after they had a daughter, Lisa Marie Presley.

“You have so much to share, you have so much to tell, you have so much you want to expose, so much that’s inside that you’ve learned from that life period. There are really very few people I can share that with.” (p.116)

Priscilla Presley says this quotation. It reflects a deep sense of personal experience and wisdom. The quotation speaks to both the desire to connect with others and the challenge of finding people who can genuinely relate to one’s life journey. She believed few people understood her and appreciated what she had to offer.

Divergent by Veronica Roth is a book set in a dystopian future where society is divided into five factions, each representing a different virtue; Abnegation (selflessness), Amity (peace), Candor (honesty), Dauntless (bravery), and Erudite (intelligence). The story follows Beatrice “Tris” Prior, is a sixteen year old girl who discovers that she is “Divergent,” meaning she does not fit into any specific one faction. Being Divergent is considered a treat to the societal order. Tris chooses Dauntless, the faction dedicated to bravery, and begins a very difficult initiation process. As Tris navigates the challenges of her new life, she uncovers dark secrets about the society and begins to question the system that controls them all.

“We believe in ordinary acts of bravery, in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another, becoming fearless isn’t the point. That’s impossible. It’s learning how to control your fear, and how to be free from it.”

This quotation is said by Four a divergent leader, who later in the story becomes close with Tris teaching her all his ways, this quote suggests that real courage isn’t about getting rid of fear, but about managing and controlling it as well as  using it to empower yourself to take action towards better good.

The title of my book is “ Hatchet” and the author is Gary Paulsen Hatchet is an adventure novel about Brian Robeson’s survival after a plane crash. The novel shows examples of positive thinking and perseverance as Brian faces challenges from nature, like bears, porcupines, dehydration, and starvation, all with only his trusty hatchet to help him. “Patience, he thought. So much of this was patience waiting and thinking and doing things right. So much of all this, so much of all living was patience and thinking”. I chose this quote because patience is very important and if your not patient then you will not succeed because patience is needed in everything.

“We have always lives in the castle” by Shirley Jackson is an intriguing story that follows the life of a young girl with antisocial personality disorder, her name is Merricat Blackwood. Merricat lives in a mansion with her uncle Julian and her sister Constance. The rest of her family died from poisoning. Merricat lives in a society where people don’t like their family. Merricat has to go through a lot of tension while getting the groceries for Constance, everyone in her village judges her and makes mean comments about the family. People are still trying to solve the mystery of who poisoned the family. Constance and Merricat were sexually abused by their father. We find out later that Merricat was the one who poisoned the family. She put poison in the sugar because she knew that her sister Constance did not eat sugar, and she wanted her to stay alive because she loved her.

I decided that I would chose three powerful words, words of strong protection, and so as long as these words were never spoken aloud no change would come. I wrote the first word – Melody – in the apricot jam on my toast with the handle of my spoon and then put the toast in my mouth and ate it very quickly. I was one third safe. (p. 49)

This quotation represents how unsafe Merricat feels. She doesn’t like change and she gets scared really easily. That’s why she poisoned her family.

Dragonsong is a book written by Anne McCaffrey featuring a young girl called Menolly, whose dream is to make music and sing. But her father is incredibly strict as women aren’t generally allowed to sing. So after a tragic incident leading to her severely injuring her hand and no longer being able to play, she runs away from home and lives alone in a cave with 9 fire lizards as her friends. When she is caught outside during a thread fall she is rescued by a patrolling dragonrider, and taken back to the weyr, where she eventually leaves to go to the harper hall to pursue her dream of music.

“Does he hear what I’m telling you?” Menolly whispered anxiously in T’gellan’s ear. “Yes, so be careful how you speak of him. He’s very sensitive.” “I haven’t said anything, have I, that would hurt his feelings?” “Menolly!” T’gellan looked back at her, grinning, “I was teasing you.” “Oh!”

I chose this quote because She is talking to a dragonrider about his dragon. Literally a gigantic dragon up to 45 meters in length and height, and she is worried about hurting his feelings. I just thought it was really funny. Also I was really struggling to find another quote.

 

The book is Harry Potter Sorcerer Stone by J.K Rowling. Uncle Vernon was trying to be nice to Harry. Then they heard the mail man dropping off the mail for that day. Earlier before that day there had been another letter. They also argued when Harry wanted the letter but Uncle Vernon would give it to then.

With a strangled cry, Uncle Vernon leapt from his seat and ran down the
hall, Harry right behind him. Uncle Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to the
ground to get the letter from him, which was made difficult by the fact
that Harry had grabbed Uncle Vernon around the neck from behind. After a
minute of confused fighting, in which everyone got hit a lot by the
Smelting stick, Uncle Vernon straightened up, gasping for breath, with
Harry’s letter clutched in his hand (p.30).

I love this quotation because it represents Uncle Vernon and Harry’s relationship throughout the book and how the rivalry they have. I also love how J.K Rowling says everyone got hit by the Smelting stick even though he was going for just Harry.

The book is called Harry Potter Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling. The book is about a kid named Harry Potter who goes to a school called Hogwarts, it’s a school for wizards and witches. This quotation talks about the dream Harry was having before his aunt woke him up and it explains the dream that he is trying to remember after being woken up.

There had been a flying motorcycle in it. He had a funny feeling he’d had the same dream before.

His aunt was back outside the door.

“Are you up yet?” she demanded.

“Nearly,” said Harry. ”

Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don’t you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy’s birthday.”

Harry groaned.

“What did you say?” his aunt snapped through the door.

“Nothing, nothing…” (p.15)

I chose this quotation because I can relate to how Harry Potter felt in that moment.

I just finished reading the catcher in the rye and the ending was a bit sad. Holden meets up with Phoebe to talk, but he waits for her for a long time before she shows up. When she does, she comes with one of his old suitcases filled with some of his clothes from home. He takes her to the zoo, and they talk for a while before he pays he pays for her to go on a ride. He is filled with happiness. When it’s time for him to leave, Phoebe begs to come with him, but he denies and tells her that she cant. He tells her that he is not leaving and he will go home at the end of the walk at the park.

“Then the carousel started, and I watched her go round and round…All the kids tried to grab for the gold ring, and so was old Phoebe, and I was sort of afraid she’d fall off the goddam horse, but I didn’t say or do anything.”

He had many thoughts when phoebe was on the carousel, the thoughts that were made clear to us showed that he was afraid of something, it shows that he was afraid of her falling of or injuring herself on the ride, but he is probably just scared of missing her too much. At the end, he says:

“Don’t tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody”

These were Holden’s last words to Phoebe before he left. this phrase could have multiple interpretations. The main one tells us that Holden has started to change and is hopeful for the future he has ahead of him, and he is no longer bitter and angered by the thoughts of having to deal with everything and everyone.

The DaVinci Code, by Dan Brown is the book I have been reading for a while now. It is about a symbologist named Robert Langdon, who meets a cryptographer named Sophie Neveu at the Louvre museum in Paris when they are investigating a strange murder. The person who was murdered left a code and arranged his body in a particular way that meant something to Langdon and Sophie, But no one else. Them discovering and deciphering the code entangled them in a dispute between the Priory of Son and Opus Dei over a possibility of a child.

Telling someone about what a symbol “meant” was like telling them how a song should make them feel – it was different for all people (p.35).

This quotation symbolises and reminds us of perspective, and how everybody has a different one. Everybody looks at a situation differently, but it also makes us think about the other part of perspective, that everybody views the same thing differently. 100 people can listen to the same song, and if you give them enough describing words to use, each person will probably have a different description of what the song meant to them, and how it made them feel. Same thing with paintings, and symbols.

In the book Make Your Next Shot Your Best Shot by Dr Bob Rotella, it stresses the idea of anyone can be great if you want to be. He talks about the idea of people putting in the effort and exceeding while if you don’t believe in yourself you aren’t going anywhere. To reach your best potential you need to surround yourself with people who support you and believe in you. If your coach told you at you could just be good or you could be ok…. would you believe in yourself then? Finding people who believe in you and can help you become great is so important.

“I only think you’re delusional if you’re thinking you’re going to be successful in your quest without a work ethic, belief, discipline, persistence, or patience (p. 41).”

This quotes stresses the idea of putting in the effort. No great athlete became great without practice, practice and more practice. If you keep pushing and practicing everyday it will eventually come. Sometimes it will take weeks, months or even years but you just have to be patient. Greatness takes time.

 

Picking Daisies on Sundays by Liana Cincotti is a friends-to-lovers romance novel. The story starts with Daniella, known as ‘Daisy’ who is a hopeless romantic finding herself near the end of college. She enters into a fake relationship with her childhood best friend, and first love named Levi. They initially enter the fake relationship for convenience, but slowly realize they have deeper feelings for eachother.

Being with you is like coming home after a long journey. I’d forgotten the feeling of comfort and certainty you bring. It’s as if every Sunday, we were just picking up where we left off, each petal a memory, each laugh a promise of something more.

This statement represents the comfort between the characters, and how they trust and rely on eachother. “Coming home” represents that they find safety, and belonging when they’re with eachother. Throughout the book they switch perspectives, giving a viewpoint on each characters emotions and thought process.

Overall, the story reminded me that sometimes love can feel like a journey, where past feelings and new experiences collide. It made me think about second chances, and how important it is to be honest to have a true connection with another person.

The Boy in The Stripped Pijamas is a book thats based on world war II,  where the an 8 year old living in Berlin to take residence near a concentration camp, witch his father was just going to be the commandant. Bruno was sad, he didn’t wanted to live his friends and house, Bruno alone at his home one day he looked at his window and saw the concentration camp but he didin’t know what was it, he wondered why the big chimneys smelled so bad and why was everyone wearing pijamas, one day he  decided to go explore, he found the camp, bruno realized that near the fence was a boy, looking sad, but what bruno was most intrigued about was that he was wearing striped pijamas. he asked was his name was at first he was quiet and didn’t say a word but after time he told him his name Shmuel, Shmuel and Bruno became friends and every chance bruno had he went to see Shmuel.

“Bruno: We’re not supposed to be friends, you and me. We’re meant to be enemies. Did you know that? ”
? John Boyne, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

This quotes meaning is that Bruno and Shmuel are from different worlds, Shmuel was jewish and Bruno was the son of a Nazi, more specific the son of the concentration camp commandant.  So Brunos dad is all against jewish people witch exactly Shmuel happens to be jewish, that is why Bruno bruno says they aren’t supposed to be friends they are men’t to be enemies, because all of the bad things brunos dad has told him about jewish people.

good girls guide to murder by holly Jackson takes place in Fairview where Andie bell was allegedly killed by her boyfriend sal singe. We find out at the end of the book that Andie bell wasn’t killed and was in a relationship with Elliot Ward a teacher at Fairveiw and threatening to out him if he stopped doing what she wanted. We are also told that Andie went to Elliots house one day and was upset about sal leaving for university. she began destroying paintings that Elliots wife had made a few days before she had died. Elliot pushed her away from them but pushing her towards his desk hitting her head. He ran to get the first aid kit but when he was back she was gone. Following the times Andie went missing Elliot began to panic and decided to kill Sal this is how the conversation with Elliot and Pip went:

Elliot:  I called in sick for work and dropped the girls off at school. I waited outside, and when I saw sal alone in the parking lot I went up too talk to him. he wasn’t copping well with her disseverance. so I suggested that we go back to his house and have a chat about it. id planned to do it with a knife from the Singhs house. but then I found some sleeping pills in the bathroom and I decided to take him to the woods; I thought it would be kinder. I didn’t want his family to find him. we had coffee and I gave him the first three for his headache. I convinced him that we should go to the forest and look for and ourselves; that it would help his feeling of helplessness. he trusted me. he didn’t wonder why I hasdnt taken off my leather gloves. I took a plastic bag from their kitchen and walked out into the woods, and when we walked far enough into the woods. I had a penknife and held it up to his neck and forced him to swallow more. I said I was helping him that he wouldn’t be a suspect if it looked like he’d been attacked too. he swallowed a few more and then he started to struggle. I held him down and forced him to take more. when he’d started to get sleepy I held him and started to talk about Yale, about the amazing the librarys, how beautiful campus looks in spring just so he would fall asleep, thinking about something good when he fell asleep, when he lost consciousness I put the bag around his head and held his hand while he died.

pip: then u sent the confession text to his dad.

Elliot: yes.

pip: and Andies blood?

Elliot: it dried under my desk, I missed some when I had first cleaned, so I placed some under his nails with tweezers and put Andies phone in his pocket and I left him there.

Pip finds out the rest of the story and discovers and bell in the addict of Elliots old home where he had been keeping her but pip believes it’s not Andie.

Five survive, by Holly Jackson, is about 6 friends who are taking a road trip for spring break and on their road trip they got lost, they took a turn and ended up in a dead end forest road. While they were trying to turn around they popped one tire, which they figured out and fixed easily. Once they got back in the RV that they were driving for spring break, turned around, and all four tires went out. This means they were stranded and they had no cell service. They went out to check it out, and the gas tank was also leaking, someone had shot at the RV.

Simon scoffed. ‘Sure, just a misunderstanding. There’s a sniper out there with a high-powered rifle and a laser sight who’s decided to use us as target practice. But yeah, just a misunderstanding.’ He’d changed his tone. (p.70)

In this quotation Simon (one of the 6 friends) is responding to one of his friends who says that maybe this person thought they were someone else and they didn’t mean to shoot at them. In this quotation he is being very sassy towards his friend and saying sarcastically that what his friend said was very wrong.

The Lord of the flies by William Golding

The lord of the flies is a amazing book that talks about the dark side to humanity it is very interesting as well as very depressing. The story line of the book is about a group of British boys that are stranded on on a  deserted island they try to start there own society and make there own rules however it gets hard because there is no adults there and the kids start to become violent and brutal.

“Maybe there is a beast maybe it’s only us.”

This quote is very deep and means a lot it is trying to say that the boys did believe in the beast but that the beast is actually the evil in each one of them this has lots of sense to it and is a very wise quote. I suggest to read this book if you enjoy sad and intense plots.