2014 Summer Reading fourth post

The reason I chose SHIP BREAKER out of all of those I could choose from was in part mostly to two reasons. The first and foremost reason I made my choice the way I did was because my primary choice was unavailable to me when I went to purchase a hard copy. The second reason was that at the service counter in the book store I talked to a woman that informed my mother and I about their lack of stock of my selected book was kind enough to pull up the list of books so I could choose another. After taking a minute and searching the monitor I made my decision based on the most fascinating name to me and received a brief description by the kind employee. After hearing her description and the word "pirates" my interest had me nearly begging for its location ( on the inside of course, we need our public appearances at the very least), and was settled the moment I saw the cover. However I was disappointed later in the reading that pirates are only mentioned not seen active in the novel. After reading and during my posting I pondered on any relationships I had with the novel and sadly could not come to a sort of realization or greater understanding of myself. If I were to specifically target a reading audience to recommend the novel I chose it would be to those interested in seeing the differences in the social class at the top and bottom of the society at almost every aspect, and the challenge one faces when dealing with unrealistic disadvantages and being hunted by dangers known only to those that survive them. This going into the challenges Mailer the main character faces and overcomes when he finds his "lucky strike".


P.S.    read the book to get the lucky strike business, or feel forever foolish about it!

2014 Summer Reading third post

The section of the book I found that had the intent of hooking any potential readers was the first paragraph of the first page. Going into greater detail, the last sentence drew my attention the most with vital information hidden inside of it that lets readers pick at bits of the main character's life. The sentence is, "A meter' s worth of precious copper tore loose in his hands and dust clouds enveloped him". This revealed three interesting tidbits to me, the copper, his hands, and dust clouds. Firstly the idea that he describes copper wiring shows his low social class standing and appreciation of things others of a higher social class wouldn't look twice at. Secondly going along with the first the naming of his hands an  not gloves leads one to wonder if the character can afford safety materials or not. And lastly the dust clouds made me realize that our lower class character is venturing into locations not used by others for extended periods of time. And with the context you can use with the sentence, " The staples pinged about the cramped metal passage like coins offered to the scavenge God" you are informed that there is a sort of scavenge God suggesting they do scavenge and the area in which the character is living in an environment where there are gods of different areas of life and offerings are made to them. All of this is great for hooking readers because you are telling the readers that the characters or at least this individual goes through rigorous work gathering materials in small chambers that are bad for breathing with all of the dust and unexplored locations. Not to mention the things people will do in the name of their gods and even ones where "offerings" are not only allowed but encouraged. So with all of that you can only imagine how hectic and dangerous daily life must be for the characters in this situation. Now take all of this in and realize the author slammed this must information in your face on the first paragraph of the first page, and that is why this section has a hook bigger than the average fisherman's for the common reader.

2014 Summer Reading second post

Some things I have noticed  about the two main characters as I have read is that Nailer seems to have a soft side hidden underneath all of the dust and grime from hos work crawling through vents in light crew. Also that all he wants is to get away from the living hell of the beaches and their rusting giants. Pima has the same general plan except she doesn't want to leave she only wants to make it bog, or big enough to get off crew and pay off her debts. Another thing about the both of them that really separates them, it is that Pima will kill to acquire her dream while Nailer would risk it all to protect a human life even if he eternally damned himself into the work crews. Next up I have noticed two themes while reading that became mildly evident, the first being fear and the second is escape. Firstly I noticed the theme of fear in the form of Nailer, and Pima talking about scavenging the wrecks and how any day they could die and since they don't want to die and are desperately trying to survive it suggests a fear of death. The second theme escape is more simple, they are secretly attempting to make it big with a lucky strike and get off of light crew no matter what and this shows a desire to stop the repetitive deathly tasks required of them whilst they work in the crew. Finally the book I  structured in a many of chapters numbering to a total of 24 and the book has an epilogue with an addition to the story along with an intro that jumps immediately into the daily life of Nailer as he collects copper to survive in order to draw in readers to the amount of danger the main male character faces on a daily basis. If you have also read ship breaker please comment below on other themes you may have noticed while reading.

2014 Summer Reading first post

The  book I have chosen to read this summer is Ship Breaker where the main characters I have found are the small boy called Nailer and his boss Pima who is also his elder. These two hard workers are members of a light crew who scavenge derelict tankers that have had rights claimed by greedy entrepreneurs. And all of this is taking place on the beautiful beach turned black and dotted with camps set up by light and heavy crews, Bright Sands Beach. Although they work hard they know if they are kicked out of light crew neither would last long, and so Nailer collects copper and Pima manages the crew so as to ensure they survival. Whilst reading I stumbled across something that really messed with me, Nailer' s father is Richard Lopez and even though that makes Lopez Nailer' s last name no one calls him by it not even the boss who owns the scavenge light crew. When I saw this I simply thought to myself what gives, is it not more common for a superior to call a subordinate by last name on the work area? Also I wanted to connect the feeling of isolation that is seen in the light crew from the mainland with rich people that the crew sees about and tells tales of like the fused in the book Pure and their views on those who lived in the dome member struggling to survive. Lastly I would like to end with a prediction I have for my current reading, a major storm has blown in and is greater than anticipated, Nailer seeks shelter with Pima and her grandmother only to be separated as the grandmother ventures into the storm to save Nailer' s drunken father from their flooding shack. I believe the grandmother will disappear with the storm but a few days after will show up again with the dead father saying something along the lines of getting there too late and due to him being in a drunken stupor was unable to survive the vicious storm. Please leave your comments below of what you think will happen. p.s. the grandmother used to be heavy crew.

Final Blogging Assessment in English 1B

     My book Flood Tide makes use of lots of strong vocabulary and includes several pieces of elevated diction. One example of elevated diction I found in this mysterious piece was, "The darkened windows rolled up, its occupants unseen, the car seemed as if it was part of a nocturnal funeral procession carrying mourners to a cemetery"(Cussler 56). This quote gives us a really elevated word like nocturnal to describe the car some unseen people are driving. Another reason this quote shows strong and even a little interesting vocabulary is the use of words like procession, occupants or mourners that are mildly advanced words that I at first glance failed to realize the meaning of one(I misunderstood the word procession at first). If you the reader are indeed interested, please comment below about whether or not you misunderstood any of these words and what you took them for.

     Another example of my book Flood Tide using high level vocabulary or strong diction is, "To the initiated, it was a classic act of interrogative coercion"(Cussler 32).This line of text from Flood Tide uses a word that I had no idea what the true meaning was until I later looked it up. The high level vocabulary example, coercion, made my mind fumble all over itself trying to find its hidden meaning and to me it was like finding a needle in a haystack, nearly impossible. Luckily for me however the internet gave us the true meaning of  the word coercion, the definition was "the practice of persuading someone to do something by using force or threats". This was no surprise due to the context of the text telling us it was a interrogative action. That I would need to look up definitions of the words in Flood Tide shows the kind of level of the vocabulary that is in almost every other paragraph or so in my independent reading novel Flood Tide.

Clive Cussler the author of Flood Tide

Final Blog Reflection

One blog post that best shows my ability to analyze text and its meaning is my week 2 early conflict review post. This post shows how I can depict what is happening in the scene or line of text and support an idea of what will happen next in the story based on other character's gains and losses in the situation. An example of me using other character motives to support an inference on the developing story is ""A red stain blossomed on his shirt, and Artemis gave up the fight to stay conscious." This line is important to developing the plot because it shows how Artemis, the main character has been severely injured and is out of action for some time. This is important because this gives the main villain, Opal Kaboi the time she needs to further her plans without the interference of her only intellectual equal or even better, Artemis Fowl." This shows how I can depict a piece of text and logically analyzes what it means and how it affects all the other characters in the story. My blog is exemplar because it shows the main points of conflict and has a strong analysis of character feelings and thoughts in both of my posts on the opal deception

My goals for reading and writing for the next trimester are to increase my literary skill by reading more developed books and using cites like good reads to choose books appropriate for my level of reading instead of rereading old books. I need to work towards improving my writing in the sense of keeping sentences short and preventing long lasting lines. Also in the aspect of reading I need to advance in my analyzing skill while reading due to my difficulty depicting what the author is trying to tell the reader with their novel. I will also need to improve my handwriting for next trimester because as many of my teachers have commented that it is "too light to read", so I will need to darken my handwriting and take more time writing out my sentences.

week 2 early conflict review

The most important line in the Chapter I am currently reading is "A red stain blossomed on his shirt, and Artemis gave up the fight to stay conscious." This line is important to developing the plot because it shows how Artemis, the main character has been severely injured and is out of action for some time. This is important because this gives the main villain, Opal Kaboi the time she needs to further her plans without the interference of her only intellectual equal or even better, Artemis Fowl. This line is also the most important because due to his injury Holly Short a L.E.P operative to drag him away and heal him, this is important because it separates Artemis from butler, forcing him to return to fowl manor where he encounters the old dwarf ally Mulch Diggims, the wanted escaped convict from the dark prison of Atlantis the underwater city.