Longest Book I've Ever Read

After almost a month and a half of reading The Stone of Tears by Terry Goodkind, I have finally finished it. A whopping nine-hundred seventy-nine pages, every one of them was worth the read. It is just the second book in a series that is an incredible fourteen books long. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and the book before it. Even though it took a lot of time, there was never a point while reading it that I wanted to give up. Each page develops the characters a little bit farther, or leaves a nugget of wisdom for them to use in the future.

This book follows the adventures of Kahlan and Richard separately; they had been split up after Richard went with the Sisters of Light to learn how to be a wizard. (WARNING SPOILERS) While on his journey of learning to become a wizard, Richard encounters a man named Nathaniel who is over a thousand years old. He also happens to be Richard's great-great-great-great and a lot more greats, grandfather. While he is talking to Nathaniel, Richard learns of the Wizard's Second Rule. Richard had been struggling to learn the Second Rule and Nathaniel explained it as follows, "The second rule is that the greatest harm can result from the best intentions." (Goodkind, 886) At first Richard doesn't understand the rule, but it is still a pivotal role in all of the decisions he makes after this. He is now more able to carefully weigh his options and predict the repercussions that may come out of his choices. This furthers him as a character so that he is now able to fight evil with more cunning.

If anyone likes to read fantasy books that have smart characters, witty characters, and sharp characters, this is definitely the book for you. Richard is my favorite kind of character, gentle and caring, but he isn't afraid to get his hands dirty if he so needs to. He also is quicker to think his way out of a problem then to just kill people to get out of it. So, if a fast-paced, intense plot and cunning, dynamic characters are your thing, this book is definitely for you.

This book as well as the first one have been adapted into TV specials that just ran for a few episodes. Pictured in the center is Richard holding the Stone of Tears while Kahlan stands behind him looking at it.

The Stone of Tears

After finishing the first book in the Sword of Truth series, I had to continue reading. Terry Goodkind is becoming one of my favorite authors. They way he crafts plot twists is intriguing. Either he will make it so that you know it's coming, and something totally unexpected happens, or he will make it so that you don't know it's coming but you knew that the event would have happened sometime in the book.

The book that I am reading right now is The Stone of Tears. Like the previous book, this story follows the lives of Richard Cyper and Kahlan Amnell. It picks up almost exactly to the minute where the last book stopped. This book follows the events of what happens after the antagonist is stopped in the last book. Even thought that character isn't in the book directly for some parts of it, his lasting effects are still seen throughout the book. It becomes bigger than Richard and the antagonist and comes to include the destruction of the whole world.

Since I am still reading it, (about halfway through) I have no spoilers for this book. Out of about 900 or so pages, I am around the three-hundred to three-fifty mark. Already the plot is heating up and the characters have me hooked to this book. I can't wait to continue reading and find out what else Terry Goodkind has cooked up to shock me out of my shoes.

The Wizard's First Rule

I just finished the first novel in The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. It was titled The Wizard's First Rule. This book is an excellent blend of fantasy and romance. It follows the story of a man named Richard Cypher, as well as his main two counterparts, Kahlan and Zedd. It takes place in an almost Middle-Earth sort of world that is divided into three main sections. The Westland, The Midlands and D'Hara are the three main sections of the book, but inside of them are many other little sections just like states that we have today. Richard Cypher grew up in the Westland, a land of no magic. At the beginning of his quest he begins to move into the Midlands, with the help of Kahlan, to defeat Darken Rahl, a man threatening to take over the whole world. Richard is in for a huge shock when he adventures into unexpected and confusing territory that is the Midlands. This series is titled The Sword of Truth because that is what is bestowed upon him by his friend Zedd. It is what allows him to become The Seeker, who is on the search of the ultimate truth.

This book is a classic fantasy novel, which contains magic, love, action and different beasts along the way. Terry Goodkind masterfully crafts the characters and the plot into a huge mountain that is always going up and down. Sometimes a difficult charge uphill into battle, or maybe a jump off of a cliff into the unknown. I love Richard as a character because he is very witty and well-rounded, but if it comes to fighting, he will do what needs to be done. He is also funny in the fact that he doesn't take it from anyone.

The first two books in the fourteen book series have been adapted into television shows. Richard (middle), Zedd (left), and Kahlan (right), are all pictured above. The last episode of the second season aired in 2010.

Columns

This week we started our columnist unit. Of the few columns that we have read so far, I have enjoyed them very much. I love the way that you get to see the writer's craft really come alive. We recently read a few that were on the topic of Thanksgiving, and some of them were very funny. My favorite was the one that was written from the point of view of a turkey. It was funny to think about what a turkey would say if it could actually talk. Just this past weekend we read five columns all by different authors. Two of them were by Mike Lupica which was pretty cool. I enjoyed the one that was about the Miracle on Ice. That is one of my favorite sports movies and I thought Lupica's take on it was unique.

I realized while reading the columns that however much I may enjoy the sports columns that Lupica wrote, I enjoyed Dave Barry's columns a lot more. I am a very sarcastic person and his writing was very sarcastic. It was funny to read someone who enjoys humor the same way I do. Out of the two that we read, I liked the one that was titled A Ruff and Ready Playmate. If you haven't read this yet, I highly recommend this to anyone who has an enthusiastic dog. I can relate to what he says about "fake throws" so I thought it was totally hilarious.

http://www.miamiherald.com/living/liv-columns-blogs/dave-barry/article1931129.html
This is the link to Dave Barry's A Ruff and Ready Playmate.

A dog.

Fahrenheit 451 Handout

Alex Acuna, Caroline Bass, Jessi Berger,Erin Gilliland

,Rollie Sheriff, & Carter Witmer-Gautsch,

Bell 1

Theme Statement: In the wrong hands, technology can be dangerous.

So why is this theme important for our understanding the story? Well its important because without the forces of technology such as the hound, or the TV walls, a lot of the conflict wouldn't be there, the walls made it so that he could no longer talk with his wife, and the hound made it so that he had to find a new way to escape or hide books, and without this technology this conflict wouldn’t be present.

How does this theme connect to modern day society, and how we see it play out in our lives? We see today how technology consumes most of our lives, and a lot of it can be powerful such as military weapons or even daily technology that can easily persuade our minds, and its important to study this or notice it, because technology easily has changed our lives for the good, but in the wrong hands it could be for the worse, as

Fahrenheit 451

I recently finished the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. This book takes place in a modern day country that isn't explicitly stated, but we can assume its the USA because there are references to Chicago and San Francisco. It is centered around the ideas of censorship and that books are illegal. Ironically, firemen in this novel set fires that will burn books instead of putting them out. The society is basically brainwashed by the government by devices that they call "parlor walls", which are essentially walls that are TVs. There are also devices that they call "seashells" which are basically headphones that the citizens always wear. They are hooked up directly to the government and the broadcast major events that happen as well as music.

This book focuses in on one particular citizen who is named Guy Montag. He is a fireman, and he burns books. He is a very dynamic character who at the beginning believes everything that the government tells him. He is married to a woman named Mildred and has no children. This book details his journey as he realizes that TV and burning books aren't the only thing that the world has to offer. He meets a few people who will change him, as well as one main protagonist who is constantly against him. The protagonist is the fire captain at his job, who is named Captain Beatty. He makes Montag rethink some of the most important decisions he will make as a dynamic character. Montag transforms from a destructive, brainwashed citizen, to someone who could very will change the course of history in this book.

I rate this book a 7/10. I love the idea behind it, the plot and the characters. However, the language that Ray Bradbury uses is sometimes hard to understand and you really have to be actively reading if you want to understand this book. Bradbury masterfully crafts the pace of this book, so that once you get about halfway through, you can't put it down. I would recommend this book to any mature reader who is looking for a science fiction book that you really want need to think about.

Ray Bradbury, the author of Fahrenheit 451.

Farenheit 451 Narrative Activity

"I won't come in this fireman's crazy house again in my lifetime!" Mrs. Bowles stormed out of Montag's house, his words still ringing in her ears. She couldn't believe Montag had read out of a book. A book! He was a fireman, his sole purpose in life was to get rid of the very thing he had just read to her. Walking into of her house, she settled down on the couch. She looked around at the parlor walls. With her 'family' surrounding her, Mrs. Bowles felt much safer. The multi-colored walls shimmered. Families talking, clowns, music, everything was such a blur on the walls.

Mrs. Bowles turned off the parlor walls. She sat in the black room for a moment. The sweet silence rang in her ears just as Montag's words did."Go home and think of your first husband divorced and your second husband killed in a jet and your third husband blowing his brains out..." Montag had told her to think about them. And she did. She tried to think of her first husband, her second husband, her third husband and all of the abortions and her kids. Mrs. Bowles tried to think about all of this but she couldn't. She couldn't remember the name of her first husband, what her second husband had looked like, when she met her third husband. All of these thoughts flashed through her head as she lay back on the couch, her heart beating furiously in her chest. Why couldn't she remember? What had prevented her from all of this? These thoughts all flashed through her head as she drifted into unconsciousness on the couch.

The next morning she rose to the sound of the parlor walls all blaring around her. She yawned. Glancing around, she looked for her Seashells. Maybe she had left them at Mildred's house. A cold feeling tingled down her spine. Hadn't something happened at Mildred's last night? Mrs. Bowles instantly dismissed the feeling, all they ever did was watch the parlor walls anyway. She sighed and pressed a button on the wall causing a robotic arm to pop out of the wall and begin to make her some toast. She settled down on the couch, once again waiting to talk to her 'family'. She smiled. It's good to have a family, she thought.