The Outsiders- Completed Reading

After being sucked into The Outsiders I finally finished it. This book was really good, probably my favorite book I have read in a while. The only thing that could have made it better is if the book was longer, so I could have kept reading it. The book was very good since the beginning but after my last blog post it got really intense. The book got sad at some parts but the ending was great. I like how it showed the characters changing through the book. In the beginning the socs were thought to be these snobby rich people by Ponyboy (the narrator) but in the end after he talked to some of them, he realized they were like him in some ways and that they were not as bad. ***SPOILER. The book got sad after Johnny died because he seemed innocent. This reminds me of Catcher in the Rye in the sense that innocence was one of the main themes of this book as well. Also when Dallas (Dally) dies it was sad because it was really unexpected but the reason for it was justified (I don’t want to say he should have died or anything along those lines but since he had nothing to live for after Johnny dies you realize why he did what he did.)***SPOILER ENDS. Anyway, I felt that this book was definitely worth reading and it is too bad that it is a short book because I wanted to read but the ending came up really fast. I also just found out there was a movie made for this book, although it is really old, I am looking forward to watching it to see the similarities between how I pictured it and how the movie shows it. The characters were also described very well so hopefully the movie didn’t ruin that to much (I understand they can’t find the same exact person as the character was described.)

The Outsiders- Middle Reading

So far this book is great. It is about two gangs, the socs and the greasers. They are rival gangs and are constantly fighting. The story is narrated by Ponyboy, who is one of the members of the greasers. The greasers are the lower class group, with many of them having to work hard in order to survive and a few of them either don't have parents (Ponyboy) or their parents are abusive (Johnny). The socs are the upperclass and normally start the fights with the greasers. One of the things that is really interesting about the book is that the author; S.E. Hinton uses different objects to distinguish the two groups. For example he uses cars to describe the groups. He makes sure when he is first introducing the people to mention their car in order for you to know how they are. One example of this is on page 76, “Shepard and some of his outfit and us were hanging around there when she drives up in her little ol’ Stingray.” By him mentioning the car, you can tell what group she belongs too. Along with this, the book is great; the plot itself is very interesting. It is similar to Catcher in the Rye because it is about a teen that is learning the ways of life and learning about how society acts. He also mentions his opinions on other characters, like Holden does, very frequently in the book. If you had given me these two books to read without me knowing the authors, after reading each one once without doing a large amount of analysis on either, I would think it is the same author.

The Outsiders- Before Reading

I have not heard a lot about The Outsiders but my mom told me she read it as a kid and liked it.  I know that this book is classified a “coming of age” book, and there is gang violence as well as bad language and drug use. After doing a little bit of research I found that the author of this book was in high school when writing this book. This makes it interesting because the book is about teenagers and since a teenager is writing it, I think the perspective will be interesting. Overall, I do not really know what to expect of this book, although since it is considered a classic it means a lot of people enjoyed reading it so hopefully I will too.

David and Goliath- Completed Reading

It hurts me to say this, because I am a big fan of Malcolm Gladwell and have read all of his books but I did not enjoy David and Goliath. Normally, Gladwell presents these amazing ideas and that is what makes his books so enjoyable. In David and Goliath, he was lacking this "touch". In the beginning the book was great when he was talking about the story of David and Goliath and in this part it seemed like another one of his great ideas. After this he talked about a youth girl’s basketball team that were big underdogs and ended up going to the State Championships, this was also very interesting. From this point on, the book was not very interesting but I kept reading because I hoped that it would get better. At some points the book did get better but shortly after it became boring again. The points that he was making also did not seem to relate to his overall thesis, that underdogs are not always the underdog, it is just the way that society views them. For a good portion of the book, I was confused trying to figure out how what he was saying related to this point. Normally when he is writing, he makes a wide variety of events and ideas come together and relate to his thesis but in this book it was not there. The topic of underdogs seemed so interesting but the end result was a disappointment.

David and Goliath- Middle Reading

      So far I am about half way done the book and it is okay. After reading Malcolm Gladwell's other books, I do not think that this one is as good. It is still very interesting but the conclusions that he comes to are not supported enough. What he is arguing is that underdogs are not really underdogs, it is just the way that society perceives it to be. For example, with the story of David and Goliath, he says that David is not an underdog, but appears to be one because one of the main things we do when deciding who is stronger is size. After he talks about the story, one of the points he makes is that, the "slingshot" that David used, was very common for the time period the story takes place and were often used in the army. He then talks about the power of a slingshot and mentions it has the same power as a .22 caliber pistol. After reading this, it is not really surprising that after Goliath got he, he fell over. This point, as well as the other points he makes are very good and apply to his thesis. When I got deeper into the book however, the points he makes get a little shaky. In one of the scenarios he talks about the British's reaction to German bombings during WW2.

    On page 96, he uses this section from the diary of a British women during these explosions, "I lay there feeling indescribably happy and triumphant. "I've been bombed!" I kept saying to myself, over and over again--trying the phrase on, like a new dress, to see how it fitted. "I've been bombed!...I've been bombed--me!"

   It seems a terrible thing to say, when many people were killed and injured last night: but never in my whole life have I ever experienced such  pure and flawless happiness.

   To me this quote seems unbelievable, he must have searched through hundreds of quotes to find this one, and the person writing must have had some sort of mental issue. This does not seem to be a very trustworthy quote to use. He uses another similar quote on the next page describing a citizen refusing to move out of the bomb zone because he wanted to stay and watch the explosions. 

     Normally Gladwell is a very reliable author, but after using quotes like these, it puts this book behind the other books I have read, such as Outliers and Blink.

David and Goliath- Before Reading

I have read almost all of Malcolm Gladwell's other books, and have enjoyed all of them. The way he writes and the ideas that he presents are great, which keeps the books interesting. The ideas that he presents are very fascinating, which  is why I think I like reading his books. I found out this book was being released over the summer, but never got around to reading it, now I am. Malcolm Gladwell's books normally take an idea that is well known and shows a new perspective on this well known idea.  In David and Goliath, he is looking into the idea of someone being called an underdog but when looking into it, they are actually at an advantage. I am really looking forward to starting this because there seems to be so much potential for a really "mind-blowing" theme for the book.

Angels and Demons- Completed Reading

SPOILERS INCLUDED: WILL HAVE *** AT THE BEGINNING AND END OF SPOILER.

I finished Angels and Demons last night, the ending was great and very surprising. The books plot was very interesting while reading, it did not seem like there was one climax in the book. There were multiple problems and each one seemed like it could be the climax but while reading I could not tell, each one had the potential to be the climax. When one problem ended, there was another problem that occurred. I believe since this story takes the form of a quest, all of these problems are part of the rising action and when ***The Camerlengo finds the antimatter, that is where the final problem that last the whole book finally ends. *** After this everything started to unravel such as when everyone finds out who is behind the whole problem. One of the other interesting things with the plot is that the problem is first revealed before you learn anything about the characters. The book begins with a prologue, with the first sentence being, “Physicist Leonarda Vetra smelled burning flesh, and he knew it was his own.” I felt this was very effective because it pulls the reader into the book. With some books, I find that the exposition can make the book very boring and undesirable to read because it is lasting too long and there is nothing to look forward to while reading. With this method, I instantly wanted to find out what had happened to him and knew that after the characters were introduced, there would be something interesting to keep me reading, there was. This book was very good and now I am looking forward to watching the movie and seeing if it is similar to how I pictured it and also if anything had been changed from the book to movie.

Angels and Demons- Middle Reading

This book is really good at the point that I am at. It is filled with multiple problems that keep the book moving along and making every single chapter very interesting. It follows the same plot as many mystery books in which the main character is faced with a problem that he is then forced to solve, while also having to confront a personal problem, in this the main character, Robert Langdon has to solve the mystery of the Illuminati while also being tested on a personal level because he had never faced these problems. One of the most interesting things in the book that I enjoyed was the science that is mentioned in it. SOMEWHAT OF A SPOILER SPOLIER SPOILER One of the characters that dies in the prologue, Leonardo Vetra (dies in prologue) is working on a top secret project. His daughter, Vittoria who is one of the main characters helped him on it. Mr. Vetra’s goal was to prove religion through science instead of having them against each other. As exclaimed by Maximillian Kohler, the head of the laboratory they worked in (CERN), “Vittoria you have me at a loss. It sounds like your telling me your father created…out of nothing?” (Brown 72). This shows what his goals were and also how the science in this book work. In the beginning of the book, the author, Dan Brown actually states that antimatter (what this is called) has actually been created. SPOILER ENDS There are many other scientific and historic facts in this book that make it even more interesting to read. I felt like although this book is an exciting mystery book, I am also learning a lot about Italian history and also science that I never would have never known. My prediction for this book is that it will end like a normal mystery novel ends, where the killer of Leonardo Vetra is caught and the SPOILER antimatter is destroyed. SPOILER.

 

Angels and Demons- Before Reading

So far I have heard a lot about the book, but I am not exactly sure what it is about. I know that the author, Dan Brown has written several other books, such as the Da Vinci Code. I am also aware that there has been a movie made for this book, and the Da Vinci Code, which I plan on watching after I finish the book. I believe that the book covers the topic of the Illuminati, a very secret group. What I know about them from a small amount of research I did is that this group of people were against Christianity and the group consists in many powerful people in history. My dad read this book and told me it is in the mystery genre, so I am looking forward to surprises while reading.