I have recently had to switch to a different book because my book is currently in Montana. I chose to start Under the Tuscan Sun (by Frances Mayes written in 1997) because I saw the movie years ago and loved it. I’ve only just started it but already I was told that the book was really good and has an excellent pizza recipe so I’m excited. So far in the story the main character is looking for a house in Italy and she’s just talking about how she has fallen in love with Tuscany. She describes Tuscany as “My idea of heaven still is to drive the gravel farm roads of Umbria and Tuscany, very pleasantly lost.” I’m only on page twelve but I’ve got good vibes from the book already.
I've decided to read the book "White Oleander" By Janet Fitch. I am currently in to the story roughly around page 115. In California, a teenage girl named Astrid is living a tough life. The one person that she has in her life is her mother, who she describes as the insanely beautiful, swedish, poet with the gorgeous blonde hair as white as snow. Her mother, Ingrid, begins to see Barry, a man that would not take no for an answer. Ingrid starts to break her rules, one after another, about men, allowing herself to be in love for the first time in a long time. When Ingrid discovers that Barry is seeing a new woman, she sets her heart on making his life a living hell. This ultimately leads her to commit his murder. Not too long after, Ingrid is arrested, send Astrid to go live in a foster home. Starr, the foster mother, is an ex-junkie/alcoholic/stripper, "devoted" to God. As Astrid settles into the family, she visits and writes her mother a few times, as well as forming a bond with Starr's boyfriend, Ray. Starr's suspicions about a possible affair between Ray and Astrid (which end up being correct) send Starr back to her drinking. That's as far as I've made it, and I love it so far. It's a unique story with great description.
So far I have read 81 pages. The novel, The Kite Runner, by Kahled Hosseini (2003), is a fictional story of a young boy, Amir. Amir lives with his father, because his mother died when he was a baby, in Afghanistan. He has a servant, a Hazara by the name of Hassan, who he is very close with and is also friends with. Hassan and his father, Hassan’s mother left when he was a baby, stay with them, and Amir’s father’s servant, Ali. The relationship between Amir and his father is rather rocky. He loves his father very much, for he is an amazing man. His father, however, wishes his son were stronger. He wants him to excel in sports, but Amir can’t seem to live up to his father’s expectations. He has two great strengths, one of which is writing. He is an amazing writer. He tells Hassan stories, and one day, he begins to make things up as he goes along, and Hassan tells him it was the best story. So Amir decides to write it out, and tell the rest to Hassan. He also show’s Hassan’s father, who congratulates him greatly on his writing skills, something his own father would never do. Amir’s other great strength is kite running. He and Hassan take great enjoyment in running kites. Amir’s father also supports this and buys them magnificent kites, because they have trouble making them. When they enter a kite running competition, Amir begins to get nervous, but Hassan comforts him, and in the end he decides to go through with it. The competition goes well, and their kite stays up. Soon there are only two kites left. Their kite and another one, which is taking down kites left and right. They managed to win, and Amir’s dad is proud of his son. Hassan, however, decides to get the kite that was second to winning for Amir, and runs off. When he doesn’t come back, Amir, fearing for the worst, goes after him. But the neighborhood gang catches Hassan first. Their ringleader, Assef, hates Hassan, and does something despicable to him, Amir, who had found Hassan too late, is forced to watch. After the event, Hassan pretends that nothing happened, and Amir plays along, so Hassan won’t know what he saw. His father questions him if he knows what happened to Hassan, because he had been acting strange, but Amir still stays quiet.
I have read part one of The Life of Pie, written by Yann Martel (2001). Part one of this book encompasses the first 93 pages and seems like an opening to the main part of the story. First, the book goes into some detail about three-toed sloths, which the reader is supposed to later connect to Pi’s life after his impending adventure. After the reader is thoroughly taught about these creatures, the novel moves foreword into the story of Pi’s namesake and childhood in Pondicherry, India. Pi was named after a swimming pool in France thus the name Piscine Molitor Patel. Piscine later shortened this to Pi due to some unfortunate pronunciation of his name. After all of this is explained in ample detail, the book moves on to describing the setting of Pi’s upbringing which happens to be a zoo, owned and managed by is father. Next, Pi justifies the wellbeing and happiness of zoo animals by comparing their conditions in a zoo, where there are no predators and food is provided, to those in the wild, where animals must protect themselves, and forage or hunt for food. After this, the book explains the psychology, training and showcasing of large cats as well as some odd zoo stories and happenings not only from their zoo but also from others around the world. Pi’s father then feels that it is necessary, for his sons’ safety that he display to them the ferocity of the animals that reside in the zoo. He begins to do this by showing them a hungry lion and feeding a deer to it in front of his sons, then telling them of the peril that they could face were they to come too close to each animal. Next, the reader learns of Pi’s love of religion and his respect for his own, Hinduism. Once the reader is convinced of Pi’s devotion to Hinduism, Pi travels to Munnar, another Indian town where his curiosity leads him to a church. Pi is puzzled by Christianity and speaks with a priest, Father Martin, about the religion and after a few days of discussion and pondering, Pi decides that he would like to become Christian. Father Martin tells Pi that he is already Christian at heart and Pi returns to Pondicherry where he continues to practice Hinduism as well as Christianity. Not long after, Pi finds himself in the home of a Muslim baker and is easily convinced of the beauty of this religion and begins to attend mosque in addition to temple and church. Pi’s religious practices are kept a secret from his non-religious parents until one day while he and his parent are walking in the esplanade in town. During this walk, at the same time, the priest, imam and pandit from the church, mosque and temple where Pi worships converge on Pi and his family. The scene turns into an argument between the religious figures and confusion from Pi’s parents. The three men say that Pi must choose just one religion to which Pi replies “Bapu Gandhi said, ‘All religions are true.’ I just want to love god.” After the men leave, Pi’s parents ignore the matter for the rime being. After this meeting, Pi finds that he is scorned by the priest, and imam and is forced to visit a different church and mosque. Once he is again settled in places of worship, Pi asks his father for two things: a prayer rug and to be baptized. The answer to these requests is some contest and a referral to his mother who tells him to ask his father. In the end Pi gets a prayer rug, which he loves and is baptized. Next in the story, Pi’s father and mother tell him and his brother Ravi that they are moving to Canada due to the failing of new India according to Pi’s father. What follows is a long process of letters and paperwork regarding selling the animals to American zoos. Part one of the novel ends with Pi’s family boarding a cargo loaded with the zoo animals on a journey to Canada.
I have recently had to switch to a different book because my book is currently in Montana. I chose to start Under the Tuscan Sun (by Frances Mayes written in 1997) because I saw the movie years ago and loved it. I’ve only just started it but already I was told that the book was really good and has an excellent pizza recipe so I’m excited. So far in the story the main character is looking for a house in Italy and she’s just talking about how she has fallen in love with Tuscany. She describes Tuscany as “My idea of heaven still is to drive the gravel farm roads of Umbria and Tuscany, very pleasantly lost.” I’m only on page twelve but I’ve got good vibes from the book already.
ReplyDeleteI've decided to read the book "White Oleander" By Janet Fitch. I am currently in to the story roughly around page 115. In California, a teenage girl named Astrid is living a tough life. The one person that she has in her life is her mother, who she describes as the insanely beautiful, swedish, poet with the gorgeous blonde hair as white as snow. Her mother, Ingrid, begins to see Barry, a man that would not take no for an answer. Ingrid starts to break her rules, one after another, about men, allowing herself to be in love for the first time in a long time. When Ingrid discovers that Barry is seeing a new woman, she sets her heart on making his life a living hell. This ultimately leads her to commit his murder. Not too long after, Ingrid is arrested, send Astrid to go live in a foster home. Starr, the foster mother, is an ex-junkie/alcoholic/stripper, "devoted" to God. As Astrid settles into the family, she visits and writes her mother a few times, as well as forming a bond with Starr's boyfriend, Ray. Starr's suspicions about a possible affair between Ray and Astrid (which end up being correct) send Starr back to her drinking. That's as far as I've made it, and I love it so far. It's a unique story with great description.
ReplyDeleteSo far I have read 81 pages. The novel, The Kite Runner, by Kahled Hosseini (2003), is a fictional story of a young boy, Amir. Amir lives with his father, because his mother died when he was a baby, in Afghanistan. He has a servant, a Hazara by the name of Hassan, who he is very close with and is also friends with. Hassan and his father, Hassan’s mother left when he was a baby, stay with them, and Amir’s father’s servant, Ali. The relationship between Amir and his father is rather rocky. He loves his father very much, for he is an amazing man. His father, however, wishes his son were stronger. He wants him to excel in sports, but Amir can’t seem to live up to his father’s expectations. He has two great strengths, one of which is writing. He is an amazing writer. He tells Hassan stories, and one day, he begins to make things up as he goes along, and Hassan tells him it was the best story. So Amir decides to write it out, and tell the rest to Hassan. He also show’s Hassan’s father, who congratulates him greatly on his writing skills, something his own father would never do. Amir’s other great strength is kite running. He and Hassan take great enjoyment in running kites. Amir’s father also supports this and buys them magnificent kites, because they have trouble making them. When they enter a kite running competition, Amir begins to get nervous, but Hassan comforts him, and in the end he decides to go through with it. The competition goes well, and their kite stays up. Soon there are only two kites left. Their kite and another one, which is taking down kites left and right. They managed to win, and Amir’s dad is proud of his son. Hassan, however, decides to get the kite that was second to winning for Amir, and runs off. When he doesn’t come back, Amir, fearing for the worst, goes after him. But the neighborhood gang catches Hassan first. Their ringleader, Assef, hates Hassan, and does something despicable to him, Amir, who had found Hassan too late, is forced to watch. After the event, Hassan pretends that nothing happened, and Amir plays along, so Hassan won’t know what he saw. His father questions him if he knows what happened to Hassan, because he had been acting strange, but Amir still stays quiet.
ReplyDeleteI have read part one of The Life of Pie, written by Yann Martel (2001). Part one of this book encompasses the first 93 pages and seems like an opening to the main part of the story. First, the book goes into some detail about three-toed sloths, which the reader is supposed to later connect to Pi’s life after his impending adventure. After the reader is thoroughly taught about these creatures, the novel moves foreword into the story of Pi’s namesake and childhood in Pondicherry, India. Pi was named after a swimming pool in France thus the name Piscine Molitor Patel. Piscine later shortened this to Pi due to some unfortunate pronunciation of his name. After all of this is explained in ample detail, the book moves on to describing the setting of Pi’s upbringing which happens to be a zoo, owned and managed by is father. Next, Pi justifies the wellbeing and happiness of zoo animals by comparing their conditions in a zoo, where there are no predators and food is provided, to those in the wild, where animals must protect themselves, and forage or hunt for food. After this, the book explains the psychology, training and showcasing of large cats as well as some odd zoo stories and happenings not only from their zoo but also from others around the world. Pi’s father then feels that it is necessary, for his sons’ safety that he display to them the ferocity of the animals that reside in the zoo. He begins to do this by showing them a hungry lion and feeding a deer to it in front of his sons, then telling them of the peril that they could face were they to come too close to each animal. Next, the reader learns of Pi’s love of religion and his respect for his own, Hinduism. Once the reader is convinced of Pi’s devotion to Hinduism, Pi travels to Munnar, another Indian town where his curiosity leads him to a church. Pi is puzzled by Christianity and speaks with a priest, Father Martin, about the religion and after a few days of discussion and pondering, Pi decides that he would like to become Christian. Father Martin tells Pi that he is already Christian at heart and Pi returns to Pondicherry where he continues to practice Hinduism as well as Christianity. Not long after, Pi finds himself in the home of a Muslim baker and is easily convinced of the beauty of this religion and begins to attend mosque in addition to temple and church. Pi’s religious practices are kept a secret from his non-religious parents until one day while he and his parent are walking in the esplanade in town. During this walk, at the same time, the priest, imam and pandit from the church, mosque and temple where Pi worships converge on Pi and his family. The scene turns into an argument between the religious figures and confusion from Pi’s parents. The three men say that Pi must choose just one religion to which Pi replies “Bapu Gandhi said, ‘All religions are true.’ I just want to love god.” After the men leave, Pi’s parents ignore the matter for the rime being. After this meeting, Pi finds that he is scorned by the priest, and imam and is forced to visit a different church and mosque. Once he is again settled in places of worship, Pi asks his father for two things: a prayer rug and to be baptized. The answer to these requests is some contest and a referral to his mother who tells him to ask his father. In the end Pi gets a prayer rug, which he loves and is baptized. Next in the story, Pi’s father and mother tell him and his brother Ravi that they are moving to Canada due to the failing of new India according to Pi’s father. What follows is a long process of letters and paperwork regarding selling the animals to American zoos. Part one of the novel ends with Pi’s family boarding a cargo loaded with the zoo animals on a journey to Canada.
ReplyDelete