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Ashes to Ashes by Jenny Han – Reading Blog 34

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Book #  34                          Words: 75943                                          Date: 14/Apr/2015

 

Title: Ashes to Ashes                                                                           Author: Jenny Han                              

 

Genre ~ Fiction Type:  Realistic Fiction      

                                                                           

 

  • Opening Sentence:

     I’m high up in the rear balcony of Holy Lady of the Sea, and it is pure agony.

 

  • Favourite word / phrase / sentence:

We ride in silence, except for the swish, swish, swish of the wipers as they push the tiny snowflakes off my windshield.

 

 

  • Vocabulary and new terms (with part of speech) and definition:

Compensate: Give someone something typically money, in recognition of loss, injury, or suffering

 

 

  • Reflection, Connection & Personal Response:

When I took a first good look at this book, I knew that it was one that was depressing. My sister had recommended me this book as she thought that it reminded her of something that she had read before. I took it and started reading. Along the way I had noticed that it was similar to a widely watched and read series. Pretty Little Liars. I thought that it was similar because of the fact that it had a person that ended up dead and friends unite because of this incident. Instead of having a person killing people, it was just death. But I think that it is similar to the Pretty Little Liars series. In this book I read about death, friendship reuniting, a girl that was broke that had no family, and also trouble between relationships because of lies. Each girl had a memory of Rennie that was personal that they didn’t want anyone to know. This book reminds me of when these two specific people in my school died because of certain reasons. It took everyone in surprise because it was so sudden and no one could have said bye to them before they had passed. I think that this book taught me to not keep secrets from anyone and to not make anyone feel bad about themselves or feel bad because you did something to hurt them. I think that this book is an amazing book with tragedy and also friendship. These four girls have to go through tough times when their friend died and with that they came together to become friends and grieve together. I think anyone should read this as it teaches lessons that cannot just be taught by saying that you cannot do this. 

There You’ll Find Me by Jenny B. Jones – Reading Blog 33

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Book # 33                                Words: 76194                                                Date: 11/Mar/2015

 

Title:  There You’ll Find Me                                                                         Author: Jones, Jenny B.                                

 

Genre ~ Fiction Type: Realistic Fiction        

                                                                           

 

  • Opening Sentence:

Sometimes I think about when I was little, and my older brothers would take me out to fly kites.

 

  • Favourite word / phrase / sentence:

Some peace. Some healing. To hear God’s voice again.

 

 

  • Vocabulary and new terms (with part of speech) and definition:

Contemplated: Look thoughtfully for a long time

 

 

  • Reflection, Connection & Personal Response:

This book is about this teenage girl named Finley who is grieving for her dead brother who died a few months ago. She came to Ireland to seek God and to also continue her senior year. On the way there she meets this boy. He is a celebrity everyone adores, but Finley hates him. Once they leave the airport, Finley then finds herself in a hotel. In this hotel, she then encounters the celebrity Beckett Rush. He then asks her to become his personal assistant. With that, everything changes. I have never experienced death on my sibling so I don’t really understand what Finley is going through. One thing I do understand is the aftermath of when someone in your family dies. My grandfather died when I was only eleven years old and when he died and when I got home and ‘left’ him, I felt like that there was his ‘ghost’ that was haunting me. I felt like I haven’t done enough even though I had spent three of my school days back in my hometown where he had died. I think that was how Finley was feeling. I think that she felt as if her brothers ghost was haunting her and she felt like she needed to go to the places where he felt god truly was. With that she then goes to Ireland. I never really did anything when I felt that there was a ghost because I thought that I was dreaming, I was right. I was just dreaming because after awhile that feeling was gone. I then confirmed that he was in heaven with god and he was safe. I feel that after this book, I feel like I’m not the only one who feels alone and also seeing things. After Finley’s story, I finally feel understood by at least somebody. I would definitely recommend this book to any teenage girls out there. Even if some boys what to read this, they should. This book not only talks about Hollywood and filming movies, it also talks about religion and this girl who is trying to seek god and his ‘home’. I think that anyone should read this, it is such an amazing book that could be read by any person of any age.

City of Glass by Cassandra Clare – Reading Blog 30 (31) (32)

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Book #  30 (31)(32)                             Words: 150516                                  Date: 4/Mar/2015

 

Title: City of Glass                                                                  Author: Clare, Cassandra                                

 

Genre ~ Fiction Type: Fantasy, Adventure       

                                                                           

 

  • Opening Sentence:

The cold snap of the previous week was over; the sun was shining brightly as Clary hurried across Luke’s dusty front yard, the hood of her jacket up to keep her hair from blowing across her face.

 

  • Favourite word / phrase / sentence:

Isabelle entered the room in a swirl of black hair and tiered silvery skirts.

 

 

  • Vocabulary and new terms (with part of speech) and definition:

Ozone: a colorless unstable toxic gas with a pungent odor and powerful oxidizing properties, formed from oxygen by electrical discharges or ultraviolet light.

 

 

 

  • Reflection, Connection & Personal Response:

This third book of the series the Mortal Instruments is another book that I love and I think that it is as amazing as both of the other books Cassandra Clare has written. This book starts off with the permission of the Clave to go to Idris. According to the colorful description of the city, I would find the city an amazing and pretty place. I think that this book is called ‘The City of Glass’ because of the city, Idris. I picture this place as a place with buildings covered and built in glass and everywhere you look, it is transparent and blue. Another color I see is green. From the description of the lake I also see green. I can relate to this because once in a movie, I saw a city that was entirely made of glass. It was gorgeous even though it wasn’t real. Personally I think that so far, I am in love with the series of the Mortal Instruments. I find it so good that I had already read three of the books in two days! I find that it has an amazing description of everything in the book so it makes it seem like this book is placed in the real world. Sometimes, when they describe some scary things, I can see the picture of the scary things and I would get so scared. I personally would recommend this series to anyone since it is such a good series that I personally think everyone would enjoy.

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare – Reading Blog 28 (29)

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Book #   28 (29)                                  Words: 120608                                  Date: 4/Mar/2015

 

Title:  City of Ashes                                                                 Author: Clare, Cassandra                                  

 

Genre ~ Fiction Type: Fantasy, Adventure         

                                                                           

 

  • Opening Sentence:

The formidable glass and steel structure rose from its position on Front Street like a glittering needle threading the sky.

 

  • Favourite word / phrase / sentence:

She smiled fleetingly. “We were human once.”

 

 

  • Vocabulary and new terms (with part of speech) and definition:

Condominium: A condo

 

 

  • Reflection, Connection & Personal Response:

I personally loved this book so much that I had to read the second book right away. From the last book, she left us at a cliffhanger. I really didn’t like it so I had to read the other book to continue my fantasy. This second book is as good as the first one I had read. This book does have the same concept as the first one and I like that because it is so appealing to me that I find it so hard to tear my eyes away from the page. I feel that if I didn’t read the book right away, I would think that the book would just vanish into blank pages. When I started this book I felt this tension between Jace and Simon, Clare’s friends. To me, I think that this tension is going to mess up the time when they stop the bad guy, Valentine. Another issue is the fact that his step mother or the woman who took her in after he had gone from Valentine, his father had threatened Jace and set him an ultimatum of saying that he didn’t like and hated Valentine or else if he didn’t he wouldn’t be allowed to stay in their house. Like every son or daughter, you cannot say that when this particular person raised you. Although Valentine is the bad guy in this situation, Valentine still did act as the fatherly figure in Jace’s life and Jace cannot thank him enough for doing that. I can connect with him because if I were ever threatened by a person to say that I hated my parents, I would automatically be set back because why should I hate them? They had raised me to become who I am today and they took care of me. I once again think that everyone should read this book, but like always, in a book with a series, you should always read the first book before moving on to the second book.

 

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare – Reading Blog 26 (27)

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Book #   26 (27)                      Words: 130949                                              Date: 4/Mar/2015

 

Title:  City of Bones                                                                Author: Clare, Cassandra                                

 

Genre ~ Fiction Type: Fantasy, Adventure      

                                                                           

 

  • Opening Sentence:

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” the bouncer said, folding his arms across his massive chest.

 

  • Favourite word / phrase / sentence:

The boy’s green eyes scanned the dance floor, where slender limbs clad in scraps of silk and black leather appeared and disappeared inside the revolving columns of smoke as the mundies danced.

 

 

  • Vocabulary and new terms (with part of speech) and definition:

Imperceptibly: so slight, gradual or subtle, as not to be perceived

 

 

  • Reflection, Connection & Personal Response:

My sister recommended me this book because she had said that this book was ‘incredible’ and also it made her ‘read all the books in one day because it was so good’. She was right. This book is about a girl named Clary Fray and she is not human. Her parents were apparently these people with magical powers, but not real supernatural powers, they were granted with this special blood that was given by an angel to make human kind stronger and more powerful. These people were called shadow-hunters. These shadow-hunters hunted demons and the bad things in the world. They were meant to keep people from danger. But when the book started, there was one thing that Clary didn’t know. She didn’t know she was this super human, she thought that she was as mundane as a human can ever be. When she was growing up, her powers became stronger, so to keep her from all the demons coming towards her to haunt her, Clary’s mom, blocked her powers from generating and blocked Clary’s memory of ever coming across any type of power like this. But her mother knew that she could never keep her at home at all times. Clary then grew to the age of eighteen and she was let go from her mother to go out for the day. She then went out and spotted some shadow-hunters who was killing a demon. I can never connect to whatever Clary is going through. There are obviously no such thing as shadow-hunters, no such thing a lurking demons on earth, and there is absolutely no such thing as werewolves. Although this has nothing to do with me, sometimes I do feel like her too. Sometimes I feel like I am a person who is not normal and also a person who stands out of a crowd, but in the end, I think to myself that I am just a person who is just like everyone around me. Even though I will never come across any such thing, I can put myself in Clary’s shoes. If I were she, I would feel scared because from the first eighteen years of my life, that would be the first time I was told that werewolves were real and vampires were real when I was told for many years that they were just fairy tales. I would be terrified at night asd I would think that one of these creatures would pop out of nowhere and kill me. I personally never thought that I would come across such a book because it is so good. I finished this book within hours and I thought it was one of the best books I have ever read in my life so far. Cassandra Clare, had written in such a way that it almost seems real, it made me visualize many things that I thought I would never before, and I thought that was amazing. I personally think that this book was like an eye opener in my head. It was like I had unlocked a new ability of imagination. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fantasy and also enjoys action and adventure books. But overall, people all over the world should read this book, as I think it is one of the few books I think are amazing.

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Hans – Reading Blog 25

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Book #  25                               Words: 81660                                             Date: 4/Mar/2015

 

Title: To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before                                              Author: Han, Jenny                                  

 

Genre ~  Fiction Type:  Realistic Fiction      

                                                                           

 

  • Opening Sentence:

I like to save things.

 

  • Favourite word / phrase / sentence:

I wish (and this is a thought I’ve had many, many times, too many times to count) I was more like Margot. Because sometimes it feels like I’ll never be done.

 

 

  • Vocabulary and new terms (with part of speech) and definition:

Exorcisms: the expulsion or attempted expulsion from a supposed evil spirit from a person or place

 

 

  • Reflection, Connection & Personal Response:

When I first started reading this book, I was unsure on who was older. Laura Jean or her sister Margot. I read this book thinking that Laura Jean had these extremely well thought out advice that only the eldest should give, but on the other hand, when I read her personal thoughts, it had seemed that she was unsure and very insecure. I think this because she had a thought of herself making coffee when Margot was gone and she said she didn’t know how to work it. Another thing that made me take a step back and look at what she had thought was the fact that she said that she wished that she was more like Margot because she thought that sometimes she can never be done. When she had said that, something in my mind snapped. Before that, she had implied many times that she was insecure, and she was always dependent on Margot. When she had said that she would never be done, it also made me think that she also didn’t know how to make quick choices on the go. When I read this, it had reminded me of a friend. Whenever she came to my house and had to decide on whether she wanted to sleepover or not, it would always take her till the last minute, where she is put on the spot to make a choice. If she had a chance, she would also ask her Mom, my Mom, her helper, and myself on whether she should stay. Once somebody made a choice for her, she would stick to that, no matter her opinion. This reminded me of her because I feel like both of them have this issue when they depend on people too much. When Laura Jean said that she will never be done, I felt that it meant that she would never be able to make a choice in the end, and this is something like my friend. I feel that this book is a definite good read because of the fact that the plot is interesting and that it catches peoples or readers attention; like it did with me. I don’t usually look at books like this one since I prefer books with more of an interesting or more action like plot, but to me, this book is really interesting because of many aspects. Even though this book is more opinionated or more to the main character’s thoughts, it had less dialogue. Like I had just said before, I like books with dialogue. Although this happens, I feel like this book made me carefully look into this character’s feelings and how she felt every time she put a letter in that box. Personally, I think that this book is great for anyone who likes this type of plot in a book, similar to this one where a girl puts letters from herself to the ones she had loved in the past in a box, then somehow it gets sent to them because of someone. I think that it is great and they would love it!

Mohandas Gandhi by David Downing – Reading Blog 24

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Book # 24                                Words: 23595                                    Date:  28 /Jan/2015

 

Title:  Mohandas Gandhi                                                                 Author: Downing, David

 

Genre ~ Non-Fiction:  Biography      

                                                                           

 

  • Opening Sentence:

It is early April 1930.

 

  • Favourite word / phrase / sentence:

A handful of salt.

 

 

  • Vocabulary and new terms (with part of speech) and definition:

Satyagraha- force of truth

 

 

  • Reflection, Connection & Personal Response:

This book is about Mohandas or Mahatma Gandhi. From this book, I had learned that he was promoting peace and also he was a lawyer as well. I had learned that he had been through some tough times as well. He had been in jail for a long time as he had also been beating up when he had picked up salt. When he had picked up the salt, he was apparently disobeying the rules. You were not allowed to pick up salt in India, according to the British. I would never had thought about being like him. I do try to promote peace, but I would never disobey the laws to do it. To me, I try to stick to the rules when I do something. I would not dare to break the laws to do it. What he had did was brave and without that braveness, nothing can be achieved. I learned from this book that you need to be brave to be able to do what you want. Without this characteristic, you may not be able to get anything done. I would definitely recommend this book to anybody to read. I would especially recommend this book to those who are interested in these public influential figures such as Martin Luther King Jr., or Nelson Mandela. All of these people are very interesting and if you are interested in them, I would recommend you to read about Gandhi. When you read about him, you would be truly amazed. 

The Rule of Thirds by Chantel Guertin – Reading Blog 23

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Book #  23                               Words:  65824                                   Date: Jan/20/2015

 

Title:  The Rule of Thirds                                                               Author: Chantel Guertin                                 

 

Genre ~ Fiction Type: Realistic Fiction         

                                                                           

 

  • Opening Sentence:

“Can you Photoshop this?” Dace asks.

 

  • Favourite word / phrase / sentence:

There is clearly, obviously, something wrong with my phone right now. I’m not getting any texts.

 

 

  • Vocabulary and new terms (with part of speech) and definition:

Ashen – Very pale with shock (v)

 

 

  • Reflection, Connection & Personal Response:

When I first saw this book I automatically saw an amazing eye catching cover that made me want to read this book. Although you are not supposed to judge a book by its cover, I just loved this book since then. When I started reading it, I learned that the main character of this book was Pippa or Philadelphia Greene. Pippa was a girl that was interested in photography and she had entered a photography competition. Two boys then greeted Pippa. One being her rival in her competition and two, the boy she had liked since she had entered this school. This rival of Pippa’s is Ben. He is a person who tends to trick people into doing things. For instance, Pippa’s camera and her photos for the instrument were stolen when he had pretended that he was her boyfriend. For her crush, he is Dylan. Dylan is a person who is well known around the whole school. He also currently has a slowly improving cancer. Since Pippa’s dad had died from cancer, she was terribly afraid of cancer. To deal with this, Dylan had told Pippa that he worked in the Hospital as a volunteer. In the end, Ben had stolen her photos and Dylan had become her boyfriend. But what happened to her current situation, the competition at hand? Well, Pippa had dealt with this by taking new photos. These photos consisted of her dad and Dylan and them getting over, or dying from cancer. She had learned on how to get over the fact that some will get cancer and die while some others will get cancer and live. She had both experiences and she had gotten over her fear of cancer. I have gone through something like what Pippa had gone through. Like her dad, my grandfather also got pancreatic cancer. Also like her dad, he had died. This was a terrible experience, but we all need to learn that everyone will eventually die. It would just depend on whether they die earlier or later. I would recommend this book to anyone that is interested in photography. Even though it only has a little detail of photography, it does revolve around the competition and there are competitions of the best photos in the real world. This would then give them a snip bit of how a real competition would feel like. I would also recommend this book to any one young or old because this book has taught me to let go of things and I think that some others would need to learn this lesson too.

Allegiant by Veronica Roth – Reading Blog 21 (22)

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Book #  21 (22)                                   Words: 110354                                  Date: Jan/6/2015

 

Title:   Allegiant                                                                       Author: Roth, Veronica                                  

 

Genre ~ Fiction Type: Science Fiction        

                                                                           

 

  • Opening Sentence:

I pace in our cell in Erudite headquarters, her words echoing in my mind: My name will be Edith Prior and there is much I am happy to forget.

 

 

  • Favourite word / phrase / sentence:

I stand, though I’m weak and dizzy from the serum. The room is packed with people, shoulder to shoulder, and I can’t find the exit for a few long seconds, until someone takes my arm, a boy with warm brown skin and a wide smile – Uriah.

 

 

 

  • Vocabulary and new terms (with part of speech) and definition:

liberated – to be free (v)

 

 

 

  • Reflection, Connection & Personal Response:

Sometimes I feel like Tris. I feel an urge to help people who had hurt me before too. This is like the postion Tris was in. Although Celab was a person that did hurt Tris and betray her, she still protected him by throwing herself at the bullet that was meant to kill Celab. Tris then ended up dead because of the bullet she took for him. Even though I am not put in that situation, I also feel an urge to help people when they are in trouble or put in a position where they are stuck. When I started this book I thought that this book was going to be unlike the other two books. The reason why I thought this was because in the beginning it was really calm and less violent than the others. But I was wrong. In the end I was wrong. Many people had died, including the main character, Tris. To me I felt that this book wasn’t as good as the other two. Although I love the way the author writes, I found the plot slightly shocking. Not many authors would go and kill their main character as the readers expect a ‘happy ending’, but Veronica Roth decided to make it a little sad. Other people like Tori had died as well. She was also a really important character to the book as well. She was the person who had directed Tris around and also partially protected her too. Without Tori, Tris would have been long dead. But overall I like this book. Other than the deaths of many important people I’d say that this book was a great book to read and other should read it too.

Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela – Reading Blog 18 (19)(20)

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Book # 18 (19)(20)                              Words: 247392                                              Date: 9/Dec/2014

 

Title:  Long Walk to Freedom                                                                     Author: Mandela, Nelson                                

 

Genre ~ Non-Fiction: Autobiography        

                                                                           

 

  • Opening Sentence:

Apart from life, a strong constitution, and an abiding connection to the Thembu royal house, the only thing my father bestowed upon me at birth was a name, Rolihlahla.

 

 

  • Favourite word / phrase / sentence:

She said the devil would certainly take me to task for my sin.

 

 

  • Vocabulary and new terms (with part of speech) and definition:

Thatched- a roof covering of straw, reeds, palm leaves and anything close to the material

 

 

  • Reflection, Connection & Personal Response:

When I first picked out this book my sister told me that it was too hard for me to read. She was obviously right but still I wanted to read it. This book took me awhile to read. At times I found it boring but then I kept pushing on. In the end I learnt a valuable lesson from Mandela, it was to keep on trying. The way I read was also demonstrating this technique. I did push myself to read it and when I had problems such as unknown words, I asked. With this, I learned lots more words that I had not known. This book is an amazing book. This not only shows how you have to keep pushing yourself, it also shows the life of Mandela himself. I learned a lot about Mandela too. His life while he was staying in prison was terrible too. I have never been in the same situation as Mandela. I have never been to prison for doing nothing bad and I also have never stood up for something I believed in. Now, I know to not only keep on trying, I also need to stand up in what I believe in too, and to also take risks. This book was an amazing book anyone should try reading and like before even though some parts may be a bit boring, just push on and the lesson behind the whole book will stand out.