New Book!

I finished The Shack last week so I found a new book for this week. It's called Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult. Since we have been doing book talks every Monday, Mr. Hill has asked us to say how we became acquaintances with the book. Because this is a new book I think you should know how I found this book. I started reading books from this author last year when Mrs. Kovach told me to read them. I found this book because it was on display in the library and it has the word sing in it. I love to sing and listen to music so I decided that this book would be good for me to read next. It also has it's own soundtrack with it, inside the book! I haven't listened to it yet but I am going to before I finish it. Supposedly it goes along with the chapters and you are supposed to listen to the song before you read the chapter that it corresponds to. I haven't done that but I probably should. So here I am now. Here is a picture of the cover in case you were wondering what it looks like if you wanted to read it:

So far it's really good, just like any other book I have mentioned before in my blog. It's about this girl named Zoe. Right off the bat, I have a connection to it. One of my cats, at my dad's house, is named Zoe. She is really stubborn and ornery so I wonder if Zoe, in the book, will be the same. Anyway, Zoe is a music therapist for mostly burn victims in the hospital. You wouldn't think of a job as being a music therapist but that's what she does. She sings and plays different instruments for people, hoping that they forget about what is happening in their life and just enjoy something different. It works for the most part and she loves what she does. I used to play the piano but I stopped because I didn't like practicing and I had too much homework. Right now at school I am in the beginning concert choir. I was in it last year too and I plan to be in it next year. Music is my life. It calms me down when I am stressed out. I think I will really be able to connect with this book.

Close-Reading Bingo

Weakness 5. "Full quotations" can't sit all by themselves like a quote island.

• "And love was why Brooks walked backwards everyday, guarding our vulnerable rear as we moved."  Source: http://thinking-anonymous.blogspot.com/

Weakness 1. Avoid "he says" quote introductions.

• In the excerpt from The Mezzanine  by Nicholson Baker, he writes with an elevated refinement that is both dignified and straight-forward.                                                                                                Source: http://morgan-happygolucky.blogspot.com/

Weakness 9. Don't say "this" without putting a noun or a noun phrase after it.

• This gives the impression of a fancy an intimidating lobby.                                      Source: http://skullandglossbones3.blogspot.com/

Weakness 6. "Avoid the verbs "use" and "shows."

• In the exerpt from Cather in the Rye, J.D. Salinger, utilizes a use of simple, but complex vocabulary. Source: http://barrellxc2012.blogspot.com/

My Favorite Response:

• In the excerpt from "The Catcher and the Rye," Salinger's noisy, comical banter highlights his childish gullibility. Although he is a teenager, he makes no effort to compose in impressive vocabulary. He describes his childhood with the word "lousy" and a general introduction as "stuff that bores me." On the subject of his parents, he says "they're touchy as hell." Salinger has no boundaries as to what can be said; he lets Holden say what he wants about everything in life. Writing with such a low, familiar diction emphasizes how some teenagers truly feel about their home life and their story.                                                                                                                                             Source: http://laughapalooza22.blogspot.com/

Practice Diction Analysis

In the excerpt from The Mezzanine, Nicholson Baker’s elevated and figurative diction express a sense of uneasy resignation. Baker describes the escalators the narrator takes up to his office, as “free-standing” and “without struts or piers to bear any intermediate weight.” This suggests that the day to come might be a little overwhelming and bleak. Sunlight is shining onto the handrails “formed by intersections of the lobby’s towering volumes of marble and glass.” The description of the building and the escalators creates a mood of apprehension for the readers.

Style Mapping

If you are wondering why I am doing this today and not Wednesday, it's because I was absent on Wednesday and Thursday. I started it in class Friday but I didn't get to finish it because I took my vocab test that I missed on Thursday. Anyway...here's my paragraph.

From reading the first page of The Help, by Kathryn Stockett, I could tell that the language is very low compared to most other books because I believe the narrator is an African American lady from the sixties. There is a little bit of common vulgarity to it as the she tells us how she has raised many children. There are multiple grammatical errors that make the language seem dull, and clattering. When reading it aloud, it seems choppy and not put together well but the story makes sense none the less. The passage from Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy also contains familiar words, used in every day language. There is a lot of figurative language though, almost every other sentence. It takes you a second to understand what is happening because of that. It uses descriptive words to describe what the night looks like. It creates a picture in the readers mind while using blunt language. The last excerpt is from Neil Gaiman's Stardust. There are many colloquial words but how they are arranged with other colloquial words makes it seem like an elevated and rich writing style. It kind of seems musical, in a sense, but not harsh at all. It is written very well, allowing you to picture what is being described. By reading the first page of these three novels the language is different yet similar, depending on how you look at it (from what axis).

Currently

Books I Read this Week:The Shack by William P. Young

Pages this Week: 78
Pages this Semester: 1405

Favorite Style Mapping Sentences:
1. They are not assuming or overly colloquial - they are merely middle-of-the-road words that get the point across. - Becca's Blog
2. Even though she uses a high language it has at the same time a harmonious and sweet sound to it. - Underwater
3. Her words are not harsh, but they are not musical by any means. - BookLover17

I really don't know why I chose these sentences. When I was reading different people's paragraphs, these sentences just stuck out to me. I like how they go straight to the point and you don't have to wonder what that person is trying to say. They say if for you!

Almost the weekend.

I didn't go to school today either. I still have a fever which sucks! I plan on coming in to school tomorrow unless I wake up with a fever again, which is what happened today. I finished The Shack today! I only had 18 pages left. It was really good and it had a twist at the end. I would recommend it to anybody that wants a good read for their next book. I think for this week I only read about 60 pages but that's only because I was sick. I still got 2 posts in but they don't nearly add up to 600 words. opps! haha. Oh, well.

Untitled

This week I haven't read that much. I have a fever right now and I don't feel good at all. Earlier today it was 102.6 but it has gone down to 100.5. Obviously I didn't go to school today. Instead I slept all day up until about an hour ago. So I don't think I will read 150 pages this week. I think I only have like 40 pages read. I thought I would finish The Shack this week but now I'm not so sure. I will finish this book next week, hopefully.