Beastly

I finished Unwind a few days ago and finished another book called Beastly, by Alex Flinn, yestrday. Unwind was good, i really like it. I dont want to givea way the whole ending in case someone wants to read it but il just say the three kids i talked about in the previous post all lived...one thing about the book that i liked was that it was told from all of their points of view and then occasionally from one of the other characters views. It gave variety and made you see different poeples sides. So Beastly was basically a more modern version of Beauty and the Beast with slight variations. It was mainly about a 16 yr old who lived in Manhattan named Kyle Kingsly. He was filthy rich and got whatver he wanted, but he treated anyone who wasnt rich and beautiful like they were worthless. So a which put a curse on him to turn him into a beast, it could only be broken if he fell in love with someone and she loved him back within 2 years. It ended happily ever after, but ive gotta say like this version more than the Disney take.

Unwind

Well i finished Eggs yesterday. Again, i did like it, but its not one of my favorites. It ended that Primrose moved back in with her mother and David opened his heart up to his grandmother and started to let go of his mothers death. So afterward i started another book called Unwind by Neal Shusterman. Im pretty sure it takes place in the future...and if not its just science fiction. Im up to page 32 so far cause i just started it, but to be 'Unwinded" means to basically be killed, taken apart and have the body parts used for science or donated to people who lost theirs. You can only be unwinded before you turn 18 and it happens to most people in their teens. The three characters so far that are supposed to get unwinded and are all trying to run away are Conner, Risa and Lev. Conner is labeled a 'troublemaker' and his parents signed papers sentencing him to be unwinded without telling him, but he found out. Risa is an orphan, living in this place thats obligated to take in any unwanted children. Risa is told that they need the space and feel that she has reached her 'full potential' in life so they were going to send her to be unwinded. Lev was a 10th child and knew he was gonna be unwinded when he turned 13 at a very young age. His parents said it was for their religeon and they threw a HUGE party for him on his 13th bday as a goodbye i guess.....thats the part im up to [the party]. so all i know is that they are all gonna run away and escape and im guessing somehow meet each other. I like the book so far, though the idea is creepyish. ~ <3

Eggs

Again i took this book out of the library because i didn't have much time and wanted something to read, its called Eggs by Jerry Spinelli. Apparently a lot of people know him as an author but i have to admit this is the first book I've ever read by him. It pretty interesting so far....not a favorite but its good. I'm up to page 168 and i'll be done probably by tonight. The main characters are a nine year old boy named David who's mother died and he lives with his grandmother because his father is always working and a teenage girl named Primrose, she decided to move into a van and make it her room because she did not want to share her incredibly small house with her mother. Her mom thinks she is psychic, but she just tells all her customers that they will have long and happy lives. Hmmm.....i'll get more into detail in my next post, after i finish the book :)


P.S. I WANT TO READ A FANTASTIC BOOK....HAVE ANY RECOMMENDATIONS??

My Heartbeat

After i finished my last book i read a book called My heartbeat by Garret Freymann-weyr. Honestly i took it out of the library just because i wanted something to read and couldnt find anything else but i ended up liking it. It was simple and bitterwseet and real. It was about a girl named Ellen whos closest friends are her older brother Link and his friend James. She is in love with james and always has been and both James and Link know about it. Throughout the story though noone is sure if Link is gay or not and they are confused about whether or not they are a couple. Link and Ellens Father is afraid of Link being gay but his mother just wants him to be happy. In the end Linkis still confused, Ellen and James are together but james is going to go to collegde in Germany. So it really isnt an ending but i liked it. It was real life, they love eachother but are not going to see eachother for a while, and no one made decisions or anything but everything was pretty much alright.

Finished

I finished the book the Picture of Dorian Gray a few days ago and have to say i agree with my mom and my previous math teacher, it was a truly great book. the author took sucha simple idea and developed it and told it througha story i will never forget and this book will always be one of my favorites.

Thought is more superficial than beauty

I'm not that far into the book yet because this is very deep and i don't want to read it to fast and miss anything but already it is an amazing book. The idea behind it is so simple yet the author Oscar Wilde was able to write an entire AMAZING story about it. Even though I'm not far into the book i think the theme is the difference and status of inner and outer beauty. In society outer beauty and youth are of extremely high value but being intelligent is in a different category and not as high status because that is on the inside you cannot judge that without getting to know someone. Someone [or something] can be breathtakingly beautiful on the outside and be accepted and loved but can be dangerous or dull on the inside and that goes unnoticed. People are shallow and judgmental.

"...People say sometimes that Beauty is only superficial. That may be so. But at least it is not so superficial as thought is. To me, Beauty is the wonder of wonders. It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances. The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible..."
--Lord Henry, page 24

Symbolism

I just started the book but on the first page of the first chapter they mention a tree called a laburnum which is in the artist, Basil Hallward's garden. All parts of the plant are poisonous and can be lethal if too much is consumed. i think that Oscar Wilde chose a firery and poisonous yet beautiful plant to symbolize how something can be so beautiful and mesmerising on the outside, almost unbearable, but on the inside its poisonous and can cause harm. Its also actually very common for people to put in gardens and this shows how people use things just for their outer beauty and put aside and ignore the actualy danger ans uselessness.

the Picture of Dorian Gray

Now i have started to read the book The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. I am only up to page 7 and think it is amazing. My mom bought me this book because she read it when she was my age and told me it was one of the best books shes ever read and believe me she has read TONS of books. This is part of the preface:

The highest as the lowest form of criticism is a mode of autobiography.
Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault.
Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope.
They are the elect to whom beautiful things mean only beauty.
there is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.

JINX

Today i started and finished the book Jinx by Margaret Wild. I actually borrowed this book from Tiffany and wasnt expecting that much from it but i really really like it. Its told through very short and simple but kind of poetic narratives and i absolutly love the story but i think the reason i liked it so much is because of the form and way it was written. The story is mainly about a girl named Jen who later renames herself Jinx because she believes that she is bad luck. The ending was not happy go lucky but it wasnt exactly sad and i think it was perfect. :)

hehe....

This book is simply amazing. Its very sarcastic and random but very smart and funny. Ive owned it for a while but never got around to reading it, im so glad that i am even though its very long i recommend it to everyone. think about it if you read it then you will understand all the very strangeposts il be making....xD IM FINISHED hehehe......

FoRtY tWo

42 IS
THE ANSWER TO LIFE, THE UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING.

YOU CANNOT ARGUE WITH THIS LOGIC.

continuation....

"...Curiously enough, the only thing that went through the mind of the bowl of petunias as it fell was Oh no, not again. Many people have speculated that if we knew exactly why the bowl of petunias had thought that we would know a lot more about the nature of the universe than we do now..."

one of my favorite parts....

"...Another thing that was forgotten was that against all probability a sperm whale had suddenly been called into existence several miles above the surface of an alien planet. And since this is not a anturally tenabble position for a whale, this poor innocent creature had very little time to come into terms with its identity as a whale before it then had to come to terms with it not being a whale anymore. This is a complete record of its thoughts from the moment it began its life till the moment it ended it.
Ah.....! What's happening? it thought.
Er, excuse me, who am I?
Hello?
Why am i here? Whats my purpose in life?
What do I mean by who am I?
Calm down get a grip now....oh! this is an interesting sensation, what is it? sort of...yawning, tingling sensation in my...my...well, I suppose I'd better start finding names for things if I want to make any Headway in what for the sake of what I shall call an argument I shall call the world, so lets call it my stomach. Good. Ooooh, it's getting quite strong. And hey, what about this whistling roaring sound going past what I'm suddenly going to call my head? Perhaps i can call that....wind! Is that a good name? It'll do...perhaps I can find a better name for it later when I've found out what it's for. it must be something very important beacause there certainly seems to be a hell of a lot of it. Hey! What's this thing? This...let's call it a tail--yeah, tail. Hey! I can really thrash it around pretty good, can't I? Wow! Wow! that feels great! Doesnn't seem to achieve much but I'll probably find out what it's for later on. Now, have I built up any coherent picture of things yet? No. never mind, hey, this is really exciting, so much to find out about, so much to look forward to, Im quite dizzy with anticipation... Or is it the wind? There really is a lot of that now, isn't there? And wow! Hey! What's that thing suddenly coming toward me very fast? Very, very fast. So big and flat and round, it needs a big wide sounding name like...ow...uond....round.....ground! That's it! That's a good name--ground! I wonder if it will be friends with me?
And the rest, after a sudden wet thud, was silence...."

DONT PANIC

"...it has the words DON"T PANIC wrriten in big friendly letters on its cover..."

"...more popular than the Celestial Home Care Omnibus, better selling than Fifty-three More Things to Do in Zero Gravity, and more controversial than Oolon Coluphid's trilogy of philosophical blockbusters, Where God Went Wrong, Some More of God's Greatest Mistakes and Who Is This God Person Anyway?...."

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

For the independant reading project I chose to read the Hitchhiker's Guild to the Galaxy. I chose to read this book because i know parts of the story and it really interests me. Also I love science fiction and ive been planning to read this book anyway. The author is Douglas Adams, he claimed that the title came from a 1971 incident while he was hitch-hiking around Europe as a young man with a copy of the Hitch-hiker's Guide to Europe book, and while lying drunk in a field in Innsbruck with a copy of the book and looking up at the stars, thought it would be a good idea for someone to write a hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy as well. The Hitchiker's Guid to the Glaxy is only one book but i plan on reading the entire series which in total is 815 pages. If i read 100 pages a week, it will take me 8 weeks.