The
level of my writing has somewhat improved over the course of the trimester. In the
beginning of the trimester, I had a few grammatical errors (marked in green)
and a few spelling mistakes (highlighted in red). Within my first post, I had
four grammatical errors in approximately nine paragraphs, and averaged one
spelling mistake every other paragraph, while in one of the more recent posts
on my blog, I counted zero grammatical errors and zero spelling mistakes. His is
likely due to the fact that in the beginning, I would just ramble on about what
happened in the book and summarize it by parts, rather than slow down, think
about what I’m posting and include details from the story and requirements from
the Blogger’s Rubric. This would also explain the difference in length between
the two posts: the first I longer, as I basically just summarized the novel,
and the recent ones are lesser in length because I post based on the rubric,
think harder about what I’m writing and revise the post before publishing. As far
as the quality of writing goes, I feel I haven’t changed dramatically. The qualities
of both posts are about equal, only one summarizes and one focuses on a
specific element of the story. It depends on how you look at it, and what “quality”
refers to, but I feel there was growth from the first post towards the end.
Throughout
the trimester, I struggled to read enough to keep up with the blogging, and
that shows. Along with other hard courses taken this trimester, blogging was much
harder to keep up with than I thought. Obviously I’m not the only student in
class with a tough schedule, but finding time to read enough to blog along with
studying and homework was a struggle. As the end of the trimester approached, I
started to find more time to read, but I don’t have a computer at home that I can
blog on, so that’s a problem that I’m still trying to work out. I feel that my
posts were thorough and were at least somewhat well-composed and conveyed my
thoughts into a coherent, comprehensible post that can be easily understood and
evaluated by others. My reading goal for the year is ten books, and as of now, I
have read four books (I know my blog says otherwise, but I can’t update Goodreads
from school), so I’m on track to meet my reading goal. It should be much easier
to find time to read and finish books in the second trimester, as the courses I’m
taking will be much easier and likely have less homework, so I can read more
and finish more books. Using Goodreads isn’t a problem, I just try to use it to
keep the number of books read and page numbers current, as well as the books
that I want to read in the future, but I’m not sure about using it for other
reasons…to be honest, that seems kind of pointless.
As everyone in the country knows, Halloween is coming up very soon. Because of this, I thought why not read a scary book? So, after I finished The Fault in Our Stars, I started reading a book that better fits the season: Asylum by Madeleine Roux.
David Crawfors is said to be an extraordinary student who excels greatly in the subjects of history and science. He is goinng to a summer program for gifted students: The New Hampshire College Prep program (NHCP). This is a fantastic cant-miss opportunity for David and his educational career. There is one twist however to the build-up of the story...
The program is for those who are acedimically gifted and would regularly be treated with great honor to its attendees, but the housing for the summer has been closed, as they were being renovated, and now the students must stay in a former mental hospital (Brookline), or a Dan explains, an asylum. The building is more of a hair-raising, goosebump-bringing creepy rather than a hold-me, scream-for-your-life scary. There is not a well-paved road on the way to the asylum; trees formed a tunnel over the bumpy gravel road, the sunshine peering through the gaps in the leaves. There were overgrown bushed along the path. The inside wasn't so bad, Dan was directed to his room, where he found suitcases zipped up and tucked under the nearest bed, neatly organized clothing hanging in the closet and books organized on a bookshelf. Next to the unclaimed bed was a bedside table and a decent desk. Inside the top drawer of the desk was a photo of a man, likely a doctor with the eyes scribbled out.
So far, within the first three chapters, nothing too out-of-the-ordinary has happened besides the picture. Granted, Roux does seem to mysteriously build up the level of creepy printed on the pages. Nonetheless, I'm sure something lies within the pages ahead that could give nightmares to a Marine.
Above is the a picture of the cover page. I"m not necessarily sure whether this displays how creepy the novel is going to be, or something else but...
The Fault in Our Stars is so full of conflict that its comical. The book, like most else is completely revolved around the conflict the goes on in Hazel's life. I guess it's a girl thing to get so deeply rooted in the conflict of your life that it consumes your life, but I'm not going to get into that. Anyway, from what I gathered from reading the book, there were three main types of conflict.
As soon as, or even before if you read the back cover of the book, we learn the main character (Hazel) has a form of cancer and tumors in her lungs. This represents a self vs. body conflict because she has no choice but to live with and fight the cancer. Her cancer pretty much controls every aspect of her life: she has to go to the doctors for treatment, she has to go to support group, she has to drag an oxygen tank everywhere. Every aspect of her life. She doesn't like going to get treatment all the time and despises the need to have an oxygen tank all the time so she can breathe, well, not even breathe, but replenish her lungs with oxygen. Support group was something that Hazel didn't even like going to until she met Augustus.
When Hazel is introduced to the perfect specimen that is Augustus Waters, she is instantly intrigued by his approach and ignorance to the cancer that he has and how he doesn't avoid her, and her cancer. After going to his house for dinner, Hazel and he exchange books and begin to hang out more and call eachother to talk as often as they can.
The book is told in a first person account of a character with the name Hazel. Being the main character and narrator of the story, she is obviously a round, dynamic character. Every element of the story revolves around her; when a moment occurs that would differ the viewpoint or emotion of a character, she is involved. As early as the first chapter, she has already changed, in that she was strongly opposed to attending the Cancer Group Meetings at the church, but is happy to find Augustus, a guest of Isaac, at a meeting. Most of the action between characters is present when Hazel is too: Hazel talking with her mom, being with Augustus, monologue at the meeting and more. Hazel is the protagonist of the book: she is well-developed (round) and undergoes changes because of the plot (dynamic).
Other Characters such as hazel's Mom and Augustus are introduced as rather flat characters. The interaction with these characters in the story takes place when the characters are with Hazel. Hazel's mom is mentioned in the story when she is talking with Hazel, and driving her to group. She has not yet been mentioned with other characters, which means she is not fully developed (or flat). Gus (Augustus), is also present when Hazel is also. He is more devloped in the story than Hazel's Mom, but not yet fully developed, so not yet a round character. So far, he has been mentioned at the meeting, driving Hazel to his house from the meeting, and when he introduces Hazel to his home and his parents. Obviously, there are other characters in the book, but they are not yet mentioned enough by the auther to be classified by how developed they are, nor their emotions.
In order for the reader to visualize what is happening in the story, the author also needs to give the characters physical and personality traits. Hazel is portrayed in the book as a sarcastic girl, with rather rude monologue, and looks like an average girl (only, one who drags an oxygen tank around). Gus, as described by Hazel, is the perfect hunk who is sweet and charming (but also as bad a driver aas they come due to his bad leg). Isaac, a character mentioned only twice so far in the book, is a thin teen boy with long hair that covers his glass eye, he's kind of shy and doesn't talk much at the meetings, but has no problem showing a little PDA outside of the church. Not every character in the story has to be developed, but to enhance the story and help the reader visualize, the author must give each character traits (and John Green has done a great job of doing so).
As you can tell from the title of this post, this week I have begun reading The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. You're probably also thinking, "What in the heck is a boy doing reading this book?" Well, I probably should've known from all the girls reading this book that it was going to be on the girly side, but I already bought it from iBooks, and I'm going to have to read it. To be honest, though, for the style that the book is written in and how girly it is, the book isn't too bad.
I am only on page 32 of the book, nine of which don't even count, so I haven't learned much of anything about the plot or anything yet. One of the few things I have learned is that the narrator of the book is a sixteen-year-old girl named Hazel, who has cancer. From what I can tell, the story takes place in modern society; there are cars and TV and major treatments for cancer, but that's all I know. Hazel is depressed from her cancer, so her doctor says to attend some cancer support group that meets in a cross-shaped basement of a church. The importance of the cross-shaped layout of the meeting place is that the members circle around where Jesus' cross would be, so they are all in his heart.
She hates going to the meetings, and would rather watch "America's Next Top Model" (again, a girly thing, I think?) with her mom. Her luck turns, to a point, when Augustus goes to the meeting to support his pal, Isaac. Hazel describes Gus as, and I swallow my pride as I say this, a total hunk and that he's so perfect and what not. The last part of what I've read so far just describes how bad of a driver Gus is on the way to his house, Hazel as his passenger, and the setting of his house.
I'll update more as I read into the book...
Looking for a picture of the book cover, I was also interested to find that there is a movie based on the book, and that there have been short "sneak peaks" of some scenes leaking out.
Over the summer, I read the book One Shot at Forever by Chris Ballard. It was an interesting tale of a small-town baseball team from Macon, Illinois (the Ironmen). In the mid-1900s, Macon was behind on the "counterculture" era going on in America, and was still a highly conservative city. There were very large issues throughout the community when liberal English teacher, and later baseball coach, Lynn Sweet was hired and gave his students so much freedom in the classroom, instead of the normal, disciplined-style teaching.
Nobody in Macon took kindly to Sweet as a teacher, but rather as a drinking buddy in the town's three taverns. The parents of the students, and the school board disagreed with him, and they almost fired him because of his style of teaching. Even better, when the spring of 1970 rolled in and Lynn Sweet was new, first-year baseball coach, now the Ironmen had a liberal "hippy" to coach their baseball team.
Coach Sweet modeled his teaching ways in how he coached. He made a rule stating that practice was optional because he didn't was to force the boys into playing if they didn't want to. It was almost as if he was coaching a "pick-up" team, and really, he was. The team didn't have matching uniforms, or a good field to practice and play on, and worse, the harsh weather conditions of spring in central Illinois made it nearly impossible to get a season's play in. But the Ironmen did, and were surprisingly successful year under Coach Sweet, earning a very rewarding record during the season, and advancing all the way to regional finals, where they were set to play Decatur, but were disqualified, as one of their players was ineligible.
The second season under Lynn Sweet was even more shocking. Macon trampled over teams during the regular season, winning the conference title easily. By the time the Ironmen made it to the regional finals for a second consecutive year, they were starting to make a name for themselves to other small schools. They obviously played the role of the underdog in the tournaments, playing better-known schools with bigger boys with more "traditional" coaches (conservative men with short hair and short tempers). Macon was a team of small-town hippies; players with long hair and peace-signs on their hats, emulating their one and only coach. Still, they put up a fight against all teams in their spectacular run.
When the team made it to sectionals, they were still thought of as an team that could be beaten easily by their bigger, more well-rounded competitors. The Ironmen were bigger underdogs than ever after they advanced past sectionals and into the State Tournament. They were the second-smallest school in the tournament, and had by far the weirdest ball club. Their opponents looked like baseball players, and big ones at that. Most were averaging at six-feet tall and weighed close to 200 pounds, while Steve was the largest on the Ironmen, being 5'11" and weighing in at 165 pounds. Nobody thought that Macon had a slight shot at the big boys from Lane Tech or Waukegan, who were both nearly regulars in the dance. Winning one game would be impressive, two would be more of a miracle than their entire run to get to this point, and three, well that was as close to impossible as it got.
That brings me to my next point. Throughout the novel, Ballard is successful in communicating a central message through a story: one mustn't disregard a smaller, less-likely competitor from doing spectacular things and outdoing those who were expected to excel, for the better of society. In short, don't judge a book by its cover, or you may get burnt. A quote from the book that speaks this very well is when the author talks of the pre-tournament press meetings in Peoria: "If the Ironmen were supremely confident in their chances, they were the only ones. At the press reception the night before, the Peoria Journal Star had asked twenty-six writers, baseball luminaries, and radio and TV reporters who they thought would win the state tournament. Not one had picked the Ironmen. Judging by the votes, only a handful thought they'd even win one game," (Ballard 174). As I mentioned earlier, the Macon baseball team were underdogs and nobody projected them do perform as well as they did against the high-leveled competition of Illinois High School Baseball. Even Sweet prevented the team from getting involved in the traditional parties and gatherings of the tournament so the team would not be intimidated by seeing their opponents off of the baseball diamond. Residents of Macon didn't think they had much of a shot either, but were excited that their team had gone further than it ever had in the history of the Ironmen athletics. The team itself were the only ones who gave themselves the props they deserved, and believed in themselves that they could do something legendary.
All of this made their State Title run more of a miracle than anything else, and made for an amazing story to be told. Overall, the book was very well-composed and made for a fun experience for required summer project, which otherwise would have been a nuisance if I had chosen a book that didn't give me the quality read that this one did. Reading of a miracle, underdog story in a sport I love was exhilarating, and I enjoyed it very much.
There are many articles and reviews on the book, informing me that the book is based on an article he wrote for Sports Illustrated in 2010. The One Shot at Forever review basically sums up my summary in less words. It reminds us of the inspirational tale of the Ironmen and their unorthodox ways of practicing, warming up, and presenting themselves. This article concludes simply by telling us the importance of a "hometown hero" and how one game can change a life.
I found a video on the book and it is from YouTube. It may not be from a credible source, but it was, I think, the best one out there because it involves players, Coach Sweet and gives Ballard's thoughts.
