End of Semester Post

This semester went by really quick and I didnt get to read all of the stuff that I wanted to read. However, I did get a lot books read that I wanted to read and the book I am reading right now I have really wanted to read. A lot of the book I read this semester were required, but I did have a few that I picked independently. I definitely branched out a little bit this year with my reading, as last year I mainly read fantasy books. This year I read a realistic fiction book called A Long Way Gone. This was new for me and even though we had to pick this kind of genre for school, I really enjoyed it. I finished the Maze Runner series this semester as well as reading Outliers which is a psychology book that looks at what makes people successful. I chose my books on what I liked as well as recommendations from friends and family.

My blog posts this semester evolved a lot since my first one about summer reading. They started out being very dry and analyzing, with no engaging diction. I believe that by the time I got to the seventh or eighth post I finally began to start putting feeling into them. I started to put some of my feelings into the blog instead of just saying it was a good or bad book. My posts were focused and hopefully the readers enjoyed what they were reading. I was also good at including the Goodreads widgets on the side of my scream, However, there were some things I was not so good at, especially including a wide variety of pictures, videos and links into my posts. Another thing that I wasn't very good at was including direct quotes from my book into the blog posts. Overall I think my blogs evolved enormously and were much more entertaining than when they had just started out.

My first goal for the next semester is to meet my book reading goal. I want to try and read fifteen books instead of the ten I will this semester. For blogging I want to make my blog more interactive with photos, videos and links so that my blogs are more fun to read. My final goal for blogs is to make sure all of my blogs are on time. I made some of them a little late and it affected my grade, so next semester I want to make them all on time.

The Maze Runner Series

I have just now finished the third and final book in the Maze Runner series. I can honestly say, it left quite a lot to be desired.

WARNING: SPOILERS

I really liked the first book. The second book kind have had a little bit missing but it didn't even come close to the amount of the disappointment the third book gave me. All of the buildup throughout the entire novel kind of just fizzled out at the end, leaving us wondering what is going to happen next. And also, whats with the fact that we don't even get to see what memories Thomas had? If you're anything like me, you want to know what Thomas was involved with in the maze and how Teresa also played a part. WARNING MAJOR MAJOR SPOILER. On the subject of Teresa, what's up with her death? This may be one of the most pathetic, cliche deaths in the entire book. After everything they could have been through, James Dashner killed her with a piece of falling building.

Now that I've finished my rant, honestly this was a very good series. The first book was by far my favorite with the rest steadily getting worse. I would recommend this book to anyone who is into the new young adult books that always end with the world barely being saved.

This is the cover for the prequel to the series. I may read this book hoping for a little bit of back story that we never got to see in the real series.

The Maze Runner Series Book Two: The Scorch Trials

Wow. Thomas is probably the unluckiest person left on the destroyed earth. This week I finished The Scorch Trials, which is the second book in the Maze Runner series. WARNING THIS MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS. So if you are reading and want all the surprises to be surprising, I advise going to a different blog.

So where do I begin. Thomas experiences misfortune after terrible event and I don't know how much this kid will be able take. At the end of the first book it seems like finally this group of kids will get a break. But then, surprise WICKED is still in control. This book is all about the second trials the remaining Gladers face after escaping the maze. There are many twists and turns in this book. Almost too many. I admire what James Dashner is trying to do, but the amount of plot twists is almost too many to keep up with. Also, it seems like at least half of the chapters end with Thomas passing out or falling asleep. This was a pretty good book but I liked the first book a lot better. It's almost like you get to a bad part and think, "Hm, I wonder how hes going to get saved this time. I can't wait until it happens again." (Sarcastic)

To all who have read the first book: Keep reading the series. All those lingering questions tugging at the back of your mind won't be answered this book, but I'm about 60 pages into the third book and stuff is already making a little more sense. Dashner can only include so much heartbreak, betrayal, death and destruction into one chapter right?

A picture of the sun flares. The main cause of the disease that is known as The Flare in The Scorch Trials. Thomas and his friend's mission is to get through an area of the world known as The Scorch. At the end of the destination will be a place called The Safe Haven. There they will find a cure for the horrible disease. 

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah

My partner and I are nearly finished with the book A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah. This book takes place in Sierra Leone, during the civil war there in the mid 90s. The author lived in a village that was attacked by rebels when he was around the age of twelve. He was not in the village at the time but it was destroyed. Knowing that the rebels would soon come to the village he was staying at, he and his friends went on the run. During this time he is recruited for the governments army. While he is there he learns how to kill mercilessly and do drugs when he is not at war. This book includes his memories on his time in the army.

While I was reading this I realized that war is only cool in movies. In reality it is gross, disgusting and repulsive. Some of the things that Ishmael was told to do by his lieutenant were absolutely horrible. To make matters worse, all of the terrible things he did, he did as a boy that was between the ages of thirteen and fifteen.

In our society today we have many forms of media that make war look "cool". Many of the video games we have today make the killing look awesome and fun. However, after I read this book I started having second thoughts on those kinds of games. The stuff that Ishmael experiences should never be purposely recreated for someones pleasure.I do not agree with a lot of the video games that exist after reading this book.

The Maze Runner

I am about three-fourths of the way through this book and I love it. It's incredible how James Dashner can capture you and pull you into the story. I think this is in part due to the fact that it seems like every chapter ends in a new cliffhanger (sometimes literally). The chapters are so short that while you're reading you keep saying to yourself, "One more chapter and I promise I'm done." It makes it really hard to put this book down.
 
So far, the most important line from a chapter is, "'The walls, you shuck. The Doors. They didn't close tonight."(Dashner, 235) This is extremely important because the lives of the Gladers revolve around the Doors. They are the only thing that stops the Grievers from coming into the Glade and killing everyone. Now that they aren't closed, I predict that there will be a final stand off between the Gladers and the Grievers. This will develop the plot and make it so that there is even more conflict between the Gladers, the Grievers and anything that may get in the way.

This is the cast of the movie The Maze Runner and I can't wait to go see the movie as soon as I finish the book. Which will be soon.

The Maze Runner

I am just now starting the book The Maze Runner. I have had this book recommend to me multiple times by multiple people. The first person to tell me about this book was my brother. He is in 7th grade and he had only good things to say about the book. Typically, he reads a little bit slower than average, but he liked this series so much he finished it in about two and a half weeks. Another person who recommend this book to me was my cousin who is a sophomore in college. She loved the series also. This shows that the book can entertain a middle-schooler even to someone in college. People who have read it said that it has fast paced action and developing characters and thats what I look for in a book.

The other reason I am reading this book is the fact that they just came out with a movie for this book. I have a rule where I wont watch a movie based on a book until I have read the book or the entire series. I watched the trailer for movie and I got sort of a sense of what the book might be about. I am excited to see what it has in store!

The Outliers

This week I continued reading the The Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. The chapters I read this week talked about geniuses. It analyzed one specific man, whose name is Christopher Langan. Chris is an extraordinary man, he has an IQ of close to 195. This classifies him as over the level it takes to be a genius. The book talks about how after a specific number of IQ, it stops mattering what your IQ is. If there is a person with an IQ of 120 and another with an IQ of 150, theoretically there shouldn't be any variation of what they can and cannot do. Outliers is a very interesting book because it can help you figure out what you need to do to theoretically become successful. It can also look a little differently at your life and what you can do to change it.

Outliers: The Story of Success

I am currently reading a book called Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell. Outliers is a psychology/self-help book and it analyzes what it takes to have extraordinary achievements; to become an outlier. I chose this book because it was reccomended to me from my dad and it is a very interesting read. It will make you ask questions and really understand why some people are more "successful" than others. The first chapter of this book talked about why some people are just better at sports than others and the idea of people being born with a talent. For example, they talk about Canadian Hockey League and its roster. The majority of kids on the team are born in three of the twelve months: January, February and March. Their "talent" is mostly based on the fact that the cut off date for hockey is January first, so the kids born closest to that are the biggest, fastest and all around more mature. Outliers talks about what it takes to master something and why some people are better at school, sports and other stuff.

I won't ruin the whole book for you, but I strongly encourage anyone to read this book. It will really make you think differently about what it takes to succeed and it will answer some of your "why" questions. 

Whirligig

I read the book Whirligig, by Paul Fleischman. Whiligig is a realistic fiction book. This isn't my favorite genre, but I decided to branch
out a little bit. This book had a very good theme but it wasn't developed fast enough.
 The characters took a while to
develop, and there was only one main dynamic character. I liked the lesson that the main character learned
at the end of the book but it took too long to get to and it wasn't really an interesting book overall.
There were too many details that really didnt need to be in the story. I know that some of them were
supposed to be symbolic, but many of them were still needless. Whirligig is good for someone who likes
realistic fiction and also if you like a good theme. The theme of this book is that if you do 
something bad you should do something to make up for it. I would rate this a two out of five because it
just wasn't fast enough for me. The plot is a mountain style.This is a good style of plot, but the author
didn't write the book with enough momentum to really capture the reader into the story
 Overall I would not recommend this book to anyone, unless they want something heartwarming to fall
asleep to.

The Fat Boy Chronicles

The Fat Boy Chronicles is based on the journal of a boy named Jimmy Winterpock. Set in the present time Cincinnati, Jimmy's character is someone who we can all connect to in some way. Jimmy is fourteen, 5'5" and weighs 187 pounds. He is constantly bullied at school because of his weight and sometimes he can't stand it. He was raised in a strong Christian family that believed outward appearance didn't mean much. It was on the inside that counts. Even though he believes this, he still finds it hard to deal with every day life when there are so many tempting food commercials and his sister always orders pizza and leaves it sitting around where he could eat it. Jimmy will find friends in unusual places, and his quest to lose weight will not be easy. He will lose a lot (in more ways than one) but he the experience will change him for the better. This book is one of my favorites because everyone can relate to it. Yes, I know that everyone isn't fat, but there is that one thing that people always pick on us for and we hate it. If you are a high school or middle school student I would recommend this book to you. Its not very long, and it keeps you engaged the entire time in Jimmy's wild life. It's was based off of a journal from Jimmy (whose real name is Doug) so the writing style is that of a fourteen year old forced to keep a journal for his English class. From suicide and drugs to the bond of family and overcoming huge obstacles, this book always keeps you engaged and will leave you with a good feeling at the end.

 

This article talks about childhood obesity, the effects and how to prevent it. This is what Jimmy struggled with in the book and what Doug struggled wit in real life as a high school student. Childhood Obesity 

This is the trailer for the movie based off of the book.

Summer Reading Book

In The Universe Versus Alex Woods, the main character is a boy named Alex Woods. Alex Woods is a regular ten year old boy that has his life changed forever. He gets struck by a meteorite and that changes him forever. Alex sees this as a defining moment in his life because it brings so much change into his life. He goes from living a quiet life to having press lined up to see the boy who got struck by a meteorite. All of a sudden, neurologists, astronomers and all kinds of other doctors and specialists are trying to help him out. Flash forward about three or four years later, he starts having seizures. It is diagnosed as epilepsy. These transform his life because they make him miss a year of school so he is "technically" behind. Alex has trouble interacting with people because he was always shy in the first place. He gets bullied at school for liking reading, having seizures and because his mom runs a clairvoyant business. When the bullies accidentally introduce him to Mr. Peterson, it changes him forever. He finds a reluctant friend in Mr. Peterson, someone that is both opposite and the same. While Alex is quiet and shy, Mr. Peterson isn't afraid to voice his opinion. However, they both love reading and Mr. Peterson has a special love for Kurt Vonnegut. Together they both explore his books through a book club that that Alex sets up. You can see Alex evolve as a character when he starts this book club because he stops worrying about the bullies and starts just pursuing what he loves. Alex also evolves when he helps Mr. Peterson make a very controversial decision that gets him chased down by the police and eventually arrested. Alex starts out as a quiet, shy student but by the end of the book has evolved to be a character that isn't afraid to voice his opinion or stand up for what he believes in.

My article is another summary written by a different person that is a big overview of the story not just a focus on charaters. Alex Woods Summary