Tag Archives: Connection

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. 

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!