Things Fall Apart

Currently, I'm reading Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and I'm reading this book for Global. This is a book about the events that take place in African villages (yeah I know, a place we don't really talk about in our daily conversations nowadays). The main character is Okonkwo. Okonkwo grew up with a father named Unoka; a lazy and irresponsible man who drank excessively and was known throughout the village to be the person who owed the most debt. Okonkwo grew up with a poor father figure and thus was further motivated to work hard in life for the things he wanted so that he wasn't looked down upon by others. Okonkwo finally made a name for himself when he wrestled a man called the Cat who had been undefeated and unbeatable. Oh and if I forgot to mention, if there's one things loved more than all the rest, it's achievement. From that point on, the book shows different conflicts that arise in the villages

So far a lot has happened but I'll tell you my thoughts. It's a pretty interesting book. The thing I like is that the book has a mix of an African folktale and a traditional story. It's a fairly fast read and I'm enjoying it...

The Reader

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffeneger

This book is about a woman named Clare a man named Henry. Clare and Henry have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six. Henry has been diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder and disappears spontaneously through time in both the past and future making every moment unpredictable.

I actually watched the preview for this book's movie with Rachel McAdams and I thought that the plot was really out of the ordinary and it seemed kind of like a Tuck Everlasting book that deals with time and age being altered.

This book very fascinating and entertaining. At times, Henry goes through time and he'll meet a six-year-old Clare that doesn't know him and he'll have to explain to her that he's a time traveler by proving to her that he knows her such as: her full name, birthday, parents, siblings, or how she loves to eat Dairy Queen ice cream in a vanilla cone with sprinkles, etc). Or other times, he'll meet Clare for dinner and will not know anything about her and she'll have to remind him that they went on dates together and went to special places on particular dates and give him something to prove that they know each other and have met before.

To be in Clare's position must be extremely lonesome, painful and emotionally tough to see Henry leave at any time especially when she's so madly in love with him and she has to spend days, months, years waiting for him and not knowing at what point he'll come back. How tough it must be to live life being lonely.

I kind of like the whole love story and unpredictable plot. I'll just have to wait and see which ways the author takes the story.

The Reader

Continuation 11/16/09-

This book is getting more and more interesting after each page. I just finished the part when Henry tells Clare about the accident his mother was in one awful-winter day and how he would have also been dead but he time traveled and he ended up naked on the road wondering how it had happened and he breaks down into tears while he tells Clare about it.

Like I mentioned in my first blog about the book, I love how the book contains an unpredictable plot and I find it fascinating that Henry isn't really allowed to tell or answer questions that may interrupt her current time in life. I love how the author keeps Clare with almost completely limited knowledge of the future otherwise it would spoil her life.

I do have some questions. Henry time travels back into time and the book clearly says something like Henry 32, Clare 16, but I just find it confusing when he goes back to when he was younger. Doesn't his family think it's weird to see Henry when he's 32 when he's only supposed to be 7? I don't really understand that part.

Other than that, I love the romantic relationship that Henry and Clare have as Henry travels back into time and meets Clare at different ages of her life. Something that has been really bugging me is that I can't imagine what Clare does when Henry doesn't time travel and how unbearable it must be to wait for him.

The Reader

Continuation 11.30.09--

I just finished the part after Clare and Henry got married and I'm comfortably through Part II of the book.

A couple of questions that came up as I was reading this book was the part when Henry goes to Ben Matteson to get drugs/medicine that would help him not get stressed so that he wouldn't time travel during the wedding (because he has a tendency to time travel in times). I'm curious because Ben warned Henry that the drugs had nasty side effects and there was one time that Henry ended up on the kitchen floor passed out and had to go to the emergency room. Because there is no cure for Chrono-Displacement Disorder, it would be pretty bad for Henry to take an experimental medicine (with no guarantee of actually working) and end up dying. I mean Henry also drinks quite a bit and I'm wondering if maybe he'll possibly give drinking alcohol to cope with stress and find an alternative way to relieve stress so he can stay with Clare.

I wonder what experiences Part II (A Drop of Blood in a Bowl of Milk) and married life will contain...

-The Reader

Continuation 12/10/09

I'm almost finished with the book but one part of the book that struck me was when Clare was going through a series of miscarriages. She had a total of six miscarriages and I can't imagine the sadness that ran over her each time the doctor had to deliver the news. In addition, I can't imagine the endless fights that occurred between Clare and Henry about having a child because Henry wanted to protect Clare but Clare only wanted something that resembled Henry and something that would stay with her. Furthermore, I can connect this to Glee because Terri and Will are also trying to have a baby and Terri wants a baby so badly that she ends up having a hysterical pregnancy. Because she doesn't have the courage to tell Will and she doesn't want him to leave her, she pretends she's pregnant. Both situations relate because there is one person in the couple that desperately want a baby more than anything but there are consequences. For Clare and Henry, it's that Clare has a chance of dying and the baby may be born with the same disorder as Henry, and for Terri and Will, it's the consequence of a broken relationship because Will trusted Terri and she lied to him because she loves him so much.

Can't wait for my next book,

The Reader

First Quarter Blog Overview

Blogging has been a great way to reflect back on what I read and it's really important to stop at points in the book to understand what is going on. After looking back to my past blogs, I noticed that many of my observations dealt with things that I learned or took away after reading the book. I gave many scenarios in the book where I felt emotion and a majority of the comments had to do with picturing what it would be like to be in a character's position. I also included specific quotes and events in the book that were memorable and significant. In addition, I connected the book in some way to my life, or in a way that it could be applied to life.
For second quarter, I'd like to set reading goals as well as blogging goals. As far as reading goals, I need to make an effort to read a little more than I have been. This means aiming for around 50-60 pages a week and maybe a few challenging books. For blogging, I think I'm doing a pretty good job but I should vary my discussion topics a little more. Maybe I should talk more about the internal conflicts or troubles, etc.

The Reader

Continuation 10/27/09

There have been quite a few connections from the book to what we are learning in some other subjects. After Morrie's mother died, he was taken to a factory to get a job and he was still very young. The conditions of the factory were horrible; "The room was dark and hot, the windows covered with filth, and the machines were packed tightly together, churning like train wheels. The fur hairs were flying, creating a thickened air, and...Morrie could barely breathe." This connects to the Industrial Revolution because many children were hired to work in filthy and dangerous factories/working conditions. In addition, like the children of the Industrial Revolution, "...felt as if the weight of the mountain were on [their] shoulders."

I also could connect this book to an assignment I was given for health. The health assignment was to create a letter that would be read out loud on your 100th birthday. This letter looked back on and picked out some memorable moments of those a hundred years.

As I was looking back on my life, I wished that I hadn't stressed myself out so much over little things like tests, projects, grades, approvals, perfecting so many things, how I looked on a certain day, and making a really big deal out of something that wasn't. I kinda wished that I just had more fun and I wasn't so critical and this is how it relates to the book.

In the book, Morrie confronts Mitch one day saying, "Well, the truth is, if you really listen to that bird on your shoulder, if you accept that you can die at any time--then you might not be as ambitious as you are... The things you spend so much time on--all this work you do--might not seem as important. You might have to make room for some more spiritual things."

I hear the phrase, "you should live each day as if it's your last", but it really hit me when I wrote the health paper and read this line. It's always going to be something that I (and many other people) will struggle with but I just hope that it can help me to reconsider things and just live life as if it truly were my last day.

The Reader

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

This book is the incredible story of the relationship between Mitch Albom and Morrie Schwartz and the inspiration Morrie gave to his students. Morrie was diagnosed with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis...a.k.a. Lou Gehrig's disease), but he never let dying hinder him from continuing his life. Over time, he lost strength in his body to dance, drive, walk, and even moving was very difficult.

Tuesdays with Morrie is actually my second book by Mitch Albom. I read The Five People You Meet in Heaven and it was probably the most unique book that I have read.

I was really engaged in the book when I saw Morrie's optimistic character and his insights on life even though he is getting crippled by the seconds. I haven't gotten too far into the book but I can see that a lot of the discussions will have to do with the meaning of life, handling things that life throws at you, and how to prepare yourself for death.

After finding out about his incurable illness, Morrie is faced with the question, "Do I wither up and disappear, or do I make the best of my time left?...He would not wither. He would not be ashamed of dying." First of all, Morrie is very grounded even though he KNOWS that for every day that passes, he gets closer and closer to dying. But he handles it almost effortlessly and without fear.

10/20/09- Although I completely admire and respect how Morrie handles knowing he's going to die, I feel like this book is a little repetitive. I kind of feel that finding the meaning of life and fearing death are being said over and over again in different words. I feel like there's an excessive amount of pages before Morrie dies, not that I'm happy about that, and I think the book moves at a relatively slow pace.

One thing that I picked up as I was reading this book was that every time Mitch Albom has a dialogue quote, his words are not in quotation marks. I wonder why he does this.

The Wal-Mart Effect by Charles Fishman

This book is about Wal-Mart's impact on the world. The book starts out with saying how once, Wal-Mart and retailers decided the paperboard boxes of deodorant were a waste. They gave examples of how the boxes took up too much shelf-spot, wasted fuel and cost more money to ship. So they decided to get rid of the box and it has saved the nation a tremendous amount of money ...(we're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars).

Personally, I didn't know that Wal-Mart has been "shaping" the world. I was surprised to see that it is THE most influential company in the world. This books shares insane facts like how "Wal-Mart sells more by Saint Patrick's Day...than Target does all year" and it's crazy to see how such a powerful company impacts each and every person in some way, shape or form. This book was published in 2006 and I wonder how different some of the numbers and facts would differ. I wonder how the recession has affected Wal-Mart. This book is definitely different from what I'm used to reading but it's actually interesting how a mix of books helps you think.

Thanks for Reading,

The Reader

A Child Called "It" by Dave Pelzer

This is an autobiography/ nonfiction books that shows the abuse that Dave Pelzer went through as a child. It shows the almost-unimaginable struggles Dave Pelzer went through growing up in a home with an alcoholic mother.

When I received this book from the librarian, I thought that the book would mention something like a child being hit and yelled at, but it was more. I never imagined a person starving their child, burning them (purposely), violently punching and kicking and slapping them and dislocating their shoulder. What’s worst is that she MAKES her child make up some lame story so if anyone asked, the child would know how to answer in response. On top of that, the mother goes on living her life as if nothing had happened. Normally when you think of “mother”, none of those images come to mind. You think of loving, nurturing, tender-hearted, patient and comforting person, right?

Can you imagine living fearfully day-to-day not knowing if you’ll stay alive because you were sooooo hungry, or always having to think about what evil plan your mom has planned for you? Or sleeping in a freezing cold basement while your brothers were treated like princes and royalty? Can you imagine what it’s like being HATED by everyone in your school because you stole their food when no one was looking and you knew if you didn’t you would die? Can you even begin to picture what it’s like to have cuts, bruises, welts, scars and scrapes all around you and you can’t tell anyone?

Yeah? So the next time your mom tells you to clean you room, or she tells you that you can’t go to the REALLY important party because you have to see your family, instead of saying something like, “Why!? I HATE YOU….you ruin my life!” you might want to give her a big hug and say, “Thanks mom. I genuinely appreciate all the concerns you have for me. Thank you for loving who I amJ”.

I know this was another book I learned from. I’m one of those fortunate ones whose family shows me so much love and I don’t realize how rare it is sometimes. I have brothers and sisters all around me that care so much for me that they would jump out in front of a car to save me. My family feeds me TOO much that I might die of being overstuffed before I die of old age. My parents are soo patient and they love me unconditionally.

Let’s be thankful and live each day as if it’s our last,

The Reader

Continuation...(10/1/09)

As I was reading further into the book, the punishments became even more gruesome. How would you feel if your mother started laughing like a hyena while you were begging for food? Think about being in Dave's position always wondering "why" she treats him worst than a piece of trash, or always hoping to earn just "an ounce of respect; one little bit of dignity". Envision a your mom leading you into a bathroom and filling ammonia and Clorox together and telling you she read about it in a newspaper and the the next thing you know, she leaves the bathroom but she tells you not to open the door. You stay there and within minutes you breath in the fumes and your throat feels like it's on fire (and raw) and cough up blood. What about having to lay down (naked) and keep your head down in a ice-cold bathtub for hours until your skin gets all wrinkled and pruny?

"I felt God had hate me? What other reason could there be for a life like mine?" This made me want to start bawling my eyes out. I've had times when I thought my life was REALLY difficult but I have it really really good compared to the life of the child called "it". This was probably more of an eye-awakening book than it was sad and depressing. I know people say this all the time but we really DO have to REALIZE that things could be a lot worst and our concern is so minute compared to other things...