Hounded chapters 1 to 14

Hounded by Kevin Hearne stats out with Angus O'Sullivan, a 2,100 druid manning his potion shop when the book inserts action immediately when three monsters attack him. As the god of death takes their bodies she tells him that the God of love Aenghus O'g is hunting him down to take back Angus's sword Fragarach which he stole from Aengus long ago. He meets with flidas the god of the hunt, Leif Helgarson a vampire viking, Hal Hauk an Icelandic werewolf, and the Morrigan god of death to find Aengus before he finds him. Angus must also cover for his dog Oberon, who is wanted for mauling a park ranger in a hunt gone wrong. The tension is build as more and more threats are coming from Aengus and his minions. I am anxious to see how a 21 century old Celt would fare against the god of love.

Crank

I have read about 150 pages through Crank and I am enjoying it thoroughly so far.  Though it is written in a weird way, I really like the way that the author articulates her ideas and makes it so that everything is easy to understand although its written in a weird way.  I think that Bree/Kristina really embodies what the book is about.  She is two different people combined into one, one with almost zero inhibitions, while the other is very guarded and would never do something as reckless as sleep with Adam or walk with the monster.  As the story changes to her living with her father however, Kristina is almost non existent and Bree is the only one who exists in that world.  And as she experiments more and more with meth, the monster, and Adam she becomes even more free and morphs into someone who isn't a good girl from a small town suburb anymore.

In the Heart of the Sea

The story the Heart of the Sea, by Nathaniel Philbrick is a book that starts off very slow in my mind, but I still remain optimistic as I venture farther into the novel. The 3 main characters in the book sofa are George Pollard, Thomas Nickerson and Owen Chase. Right now where I am at, the 3 characters, who are all from Nantucket, are preparing to go on a whaling boat called The Essex in the year 1819. This is Thomas Nickerson's 1st time aboard a whaling ship, but he has in fact prepared himself for it. I do not know much about their voyage yet, but as the plot builds up I will gain more knowledge. From the author's writing style, I have noticed that the book is told from the narrators point of view.

Gone girl

In the the book, Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn, the main characters are Nick and Amy Dunne, a couple who lives in Missouri after relocating from New York. He was a journalist but lost his job. Amy was also fired from her job. In the beginning there is not much action, but it starts by Nick talking about Amy's head which is strange. Their relationship is very interesting and difficult. He questions what she s thinking which is also interesting. He asks many different questions about what she is thinking and also explains their relationship. They do not have a usual relationship.  In Missouri, Amy is not happy. She wants to rent a house so they can move, but they love each other very much so she is willing to make sacrifices for him. It also explains how they met. They seemed very happy then together and very in love. Despite this, their marriage is going through tough times at this point in the book.

Connor Walden
Four Update

   So far I like the book Four by Veronica Roth. As of now, I am on page 40, and there are already apparent conflicts between characters, especially between Four and his father Marcus. Just recently in the story, Four has defied his father and all that he strived to make his son like by choosing Dauntless and leaving him. This decision seemed to be very arbitrary, and it makes it seem like he is doing it just to hurt his father in a way. So far, I like the way the story flows, and since I have read the books that are sequels to this, I understand fully what is happening and I can relate what goes on to how it eventually plays out in the other books.

Gone Girl

I like the book Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn so far. The two characters that are introduced in the beginning are Nick and Amy who are a couple. The book itself started out strangely because it was Nick describing his Amy's head. He ponders about her and how she is feeling. This seems like an odd relationship between the two because people don't usually ask these questions or wonder what's in each other's minds.  Nick was a New York writer for a magazine, but both Amy and Nick were fired from their job. They just bought a house in Mississippi which Amy is not happy about and rather wants to rent so they can move whenever. However, we can see that she loves him enough to make this drastic change. The reason that they moved was because Nick's parents are dying, but he did not take in any of Amy's opinions on the move. I think that their relationship worsened after they moved because they're both going through a tough time since Nick is losing his parents, they used to live in New York, and they lost their jobs. The next chapter talks about how Amy met Nick on January 8, 2005. She says how happy she was when she met a boy at her friend Carmen's party. We can tell how important that day was because they ended up moving together into a new home in Missouri.

A Long Way Gone

I think the book as been really good so far up to chapter 3. It already as alot of action even though it's only the firdt 3 chapter. The main character in this story is Ismael Beah. Other main charcters in the story are Ishmael's parents, his brothers, and his grandmother. The story is about Ismael and his struggle in Sierre Leone during the 90's. It is a very violent time and Ishmael and his family is struggling to survive. Rebels have taken over many of the villages in the country and are creating a violent revolution. The story is formated as it is told in Ishmael's perspective and is a biography of him.

Eleanor & Park

Eleanor & Park is a nice story so far. Currently, in chapter 4, their relationship hasn't progressed much. Park is trying to deal with her and even though he secretly likes her and how she's different, he's considering ditching her because everyone hates her and he is being influenced by society. Except for some reason, he isn't able to move seats on the bus, this is because he felt bad for her and he knew that his family would smack him around if he told them what he had done. Park is ashamed of his good deed of letting her sit next to him because he knew it was a mistake considering everyone hates her, except he just felt too bad. Eleanor ends up being in a lot of Park's classes and I found out a lot about Eleanor and her family who doesn't seem to care much about her. In conclusion, both characters are very different yet very similar, and have yet to bond over music and understand each other. I am excited to read more about the two.

Chapter One "In the Heart of the Sea"-Andrew Cronin

So far "In the Heart of the Sea" by Nathaniel Philbrick is a decent book. The characters mentioned so far are Owen Chase, George Pollard Jr. and Thomas Nickerson, who are all apart of the same crew on the Essex, a whaling ship. Thomas seems to be the main main character, for the first chapter starts off with the narrator talking about him seeing the Essex for the first time as a child, then being apart of the ship's crew years later. The book is in third person. The author talks about the characters and their experiences. I think that this book will only get better, for it started off slow only because the author had to introduce the characters.

Family- Micol Ostow

Family is about a girls who is recruited into the family if Charles Manson. She is taken off the streets, and because she comes from a troubled background, she falls quickly into the arms of the welcoming "family". This new family welcomes her, and while she is wrapped in the loving arms of caring people, she falls easily to their wicked ways, while she is completely oblivious to the things that they do.

The Heart of the Sea 1st Chapter Response

What do you think of the book sofar?
Sofar, I think that the book is alright, but I am still optimistic about it because I am excited for the climax. 

Who are the main characters?
The main characters sofar are Thomas Nickerson, George Pollard Jr. and Owen Chase. Owen chase is the first mate and George pollard is the captain.

What is the plot?
The three characters boat, the Essex, was Nickerson's first ship and he had been preparing for a long time for his first journey at sea.

How does the writer structure the paragraphs?
The author made the paragraph be from the narrators point of view, and solar we don't really have a good understanding of the characters at this point, but that will change.

In the Heart the sea

        The book In the Heart of the Sea, by Nathaniel Philbrick  is a very good book and i am enjoying only a couple chapters in. The three main characters Thomas Nickerson, George Pollard, JR. and Owen Chase are on a whaling boat in July of 1819. There ship was one of 70 Nantucket ships that sailed out to go whaling. They had one of the oldest and smallest ships out out of the fleet, but she was known by everyone as a very lucky ship George Pollard JR. was in his first year taking over the boat and Owen became his first hand. This was Thomas Nickerson's first time going on a whaling ship but he has worked had in preparing for his first time out.  While people are home Nantucket is becoming a rich town and Whale oil prices are going up. The structure of the book is from the narrators point of veiw.

Crank

So far, a lot has happened in Crank. The main character, Kristina or Bree, has lived without her father for a while. In her eyes, he was her hero and knight in shining armor, but as it turns out, he was addicted to crank. Kristina has gotten herself into some sticky situations while visiting her father. She meets a boy and starts to go on the wrong path of crank. I can't wait to see how her decisions pan out.

 I am reading the book Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell. The book takes place in the beginning of the school year in 1986 for 2 high school students. Eleanor is new at her school and is bullied by other people. She is not thin and has big red hair. She has family problems cause her mother is newly married to an abusive man who doesn't try to support the Eleanor, her little siblings and her mother. Park is an awkward, kinda short, yet attractive kid. He was nice to Eleanor on the bus by letting her sit next to him on the bus. She thinks she has beautiful brown eyes. I predict that these two will actually begin to like each other and end up having a lot in common.

The main character of the book so far is Ishmael.  Ishmael has travled with a couple of friends to promote their talent through a show.  While away he finds his hometown has been raided and then deserted by the people.  He is devestated and determined to survive past the constant fighting and tries to avoid becoming part of the problem.  Ishmael is a very good person and has a lot of courage even to still be alive.  He realizes he won't see his family anytime soon so he realizes the best he can do is keep him and his friends together.   He describes the events as surreal as he couldn't believe the civil war actually hurt and effected his and his family's life.

I'm reading In the Heart of the Sea, by Nathaniel Philbrick, and I think that it has very good potential. At the moment, it is not very interesting, only because they are just setting up the story, but I feel like it will eventually get very interesting. Once there is some action, I think it will be very interesting. The main characters are Thomas Nickerson, George Pollard Jr., and Owen Chase. Thomas Nickerson seems to be the main character of the overall book so far. The plot so far is that these 14 to 18 year old kids who are from Nantucket. They are getting ready to go on a whaling voyage on this very old and small book called The Essex. I have noticed that the book is told from the Narrator's point of view. The structure seems to be from the future when they come back from this long voyage. It is telling an old story. I really like this book and it is going to be a great read.

The Heart of the Sea Reading

 The Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick is about the dangerous adventures of the ship, the Essex.   i like the book so far because the story is about ships and i find that interesting. The main characters introduced in the book so far are Thomas Nickerson, Owen Chase, and Captain Pollard. i believe that the characters are poorly developed and they could have been changed to make the story even more interesting. The crew of the Essex are about to go on the voyage for the whales and it is going to be a rough trip for them. The book is written from the narrators view about what the crew is doing.

Gone Girl (So Far)

So far in Gone Girl, I have seen the differences between Amy and Nick, and their conflicts between personalities. Beacause of these conflicts, it foreshadows their future even though this book is written as looking at the past. After Nick forces Amy to move to his hometown, she still loves him and accepts it even though she doesn't want to. That just shows what kind of person Amy is, and how she would do anything for Nick. Nick has a strong connection and relationship with his twin sister, Margo (reffered to as 'Go') who stuggles to be the alpha female in Nick's life. It shows how Nick values both women by spending time with them both, but it also shows he would let someone take precedent over Amy.

So far in the book Butter, Butter is about to go through with his plan to eat himself to death but this girl that he likes knows that he created a fake profile online to talk to her. She is waiting for the boy who she talked to online but she finds out that he isent coming and the boy "JP" from online is really Butter. The girl Anna is very disturbed and embarrased when she finds this out. Butter plays the song on his sax that "JP" wrote for Anna but really Butter wrote it for her. She had showed her friend the song and when Butter plays it in front of everyone at the party Anna and her friend realise who the real Jp is. They are both very upset by this, and Butter almost regrets playing her the song. This is where I left off in the book.

Update on Just One Day

Just One Day is a good book so far.  It is about two girls, Melanie and Lulu (who's real name is Allyson), who meet this boy named Willem.  Willem is a free spirit who travels around Europe just being him.  When he meet Mel and Lulu he has a connection with Lulu.  Lulu is the type of girl who always plays by the rules and never does anything wrong.  He asks her to leave the tour she is on and come to Paris with him.  She does and Mel, the wild crazy one, covers for her.  Lulu is worried that she is alone traveling to Paris with this boy she just met and she is always worried he is going to leave.  The book is very intriguing at this point.

Crank

I chose the book Crank by Ellen Hopkins for multiple reasons. One reason why is I love how it is written. This style is appealing to me because of the emotional that is able to be conveyed. I also chose this book because it reminds me of a good book I read called Wintergirls. A third reason why is because the situation in this book can happen in real life.

A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah

I chose this book because the cover and the inside cover of the book looked interesting to me. It looks like an interesting non-fiction story and I enjoy reading non-fiction. I hope I gain knowledge from this book about the Africa region I haven't had before.

In the Heart of theSea

I chose this book because it sounded very interesting and the plot sounded very suspenseful. Normally I don't read many books like these and I though it would be cool to try out a different genre of reading.

Butter By: Erin Jade Lange

For my free read book I choose a book called Butter written by Erin Jade Lange. One reason I choose this book is because I have never heard of the author and in the past every time I have read books from less known authors I have enjoyed them. Secondly I found the short blurb about the book on the back interesting and I wanted to further explore the character named Butter.

Gone Girl, By Gillian Flynn

Carolyn Kemp

I chose Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn for many reasons. On reason was that the cover of the book really drew me in. It is very interesting and mysterious. It makes  the book seem like it is very deep and mysterious too. It is a picture of a man and clouds. The are also faint eyes on the book adding even more to the mysteriousness. Also, the topic drew me in. The whole plot of the story seems very interesting and thrilling. It seems like the type of book that I would not want to stop reading. I am very interested in thrilling books compared to other types of books like romances.

Heart of the Sea

Heart of the Sea

I chose the book “the heart of the sea” because I thought it looked very interesting based on the fact that the book takes place in the ocean and the boat came from Nantucket. I thought it would interesting to find out more about Nantucket so when I go there, I can have a better understanding of the area. I also think that adventure books are very appealing because they are so riveting and make me want to keep turning the page. It makes me want to know what happens next. I like to see characters develop throughout the story and see how they change from the beginning to the end. The Heart of the Sea looks like it is going to be a very fun book to read and I can't wait to see what happens.

In the Heart of the Sea

I chose the book  In the heart of the Sea, because I have always loved survival books. When the book was a shown to me it was the only one that caught my eye. I haven't read books about being at Sea but I hope it will spark a new interest in books for the future. I haven't read one of Nathaniel Philbrick's books but I hope his writing will make me enjoy more of his books.

The Dinner by Herman Koch
I chose this book because the concept intrigued me. I want to know why the parents are so tense at dinner, and what the children did. The book isn't something that I would usually read, but I feel like it will be a good way to broaden my genre of literature.

hounded ben hamilton

 I chose this book because it is a funny book and I want to read about a new subject. I also have never read any of this authors books and i am interested about his work.

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

I chose the book Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. This book grabbed my attention because the two characters on the cover are listening to music, and I have a strong connection to music. After I read the inside cover of the book, it interested me even more, because it didn't have a description of the story, but instead, a description of the two characters, then gave a small blurb about what happens under the descriptions. As soon as I found out it was a love story, I had to choose it, because it has music and love and those are probably my two favorite things, especially when they are in stories. The two characters bond over music and that connects to me because I've bonded and made friends with many people over music. After picking up this book, I asked around about it and everyone that has read it told me it was a really good book and that I would really like it. So I am very excited to start this book because it has everything I look for in stories!

Gone Girl

I chose the New York´s Time´s bestseller book Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. I chose this because the cover looked interesting. There´s a man standing by a sea and there are clouds around the title with dark eyes in the back. Also, I have heard about this book from other people that liked it. It´s about an investigation where a woman disappears and people are trying to figure out who was involved with it. This interests me because I love to read mystery books.

In the Heart of the Sea

I chose the book “ In the Heart of the Sea” by Nathaniel Philbrick because I’ve always loved survival shows like Bear Grylls Man Vs. Wild and Dual survivor, so I thought I would definitely enjoy a book about several whalers surviving for days in the middle of the ocean. Furthermore, reading the back of the book's description informed me about the three month journey and that the eight that survived had to eat the bodies of fellow dead shipmates, which really had me interested in the book.  

I wanted to read In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick because I was interested in the journey of the crew and how they manage to overcome the attacks of the whale and survive. Nathaniel Philbrick is one of my favorite authors and I am excited to read another one of his books.

A Long Way Gone

I choose the book A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah because "everybody else" in the class "wanted" to read the book In the Heart of the Sea .  However, besides my original pick being that, I think I'll like this book because it is nonfiction, and is a current conflict that will help me better understand present events and situations going on.  I'm excited for the book because it has good reviews and rep from peers of mine and of the other person reading this in the class Ryan (the Baller) Mennit.

I chose to read Just One Day by Gayle Forman because I thought the plot seemed very interesting.  I really like how it is a romance novel, but there is also some mystery in it.  I also am interested in the book If I Stay, so I already knew that this is a good author.

Four

Veronica Roth

I chose this book because I read the other Divergent books in the series and really enjoyed them. This is the prequel to them and I am exited to read it because the author in the other books did such a great job and the divergent books are one of my favorite series

Thirteen Reasons Why (First Book)

I chose the book Thirteen Reasons Why  by Jay Asher because it is a New York Time bestseller, so people must have liked it. From the cover and the back blurb, it looks like a book about a girl who died but left behind pieces of her life which seems interesting. The cover looks like it is a mystery, which draws me in.

First Impression

The book that I chose to read for my first semester reading book is Four by Veronica Roth.  I chose it because I have read the first three books of the series and absolutely loved them.  The ending kind of disappointed me so I was ecstatic to find out that there was another book in that serried that I could read.  I am really excited to see how the book turns out and how much I like it.

Semester Reading Blog Assignment

In addition to the books we read in class, you will have the opportunity to read books of your own choosing this semester.  For some of you this may mean only one book, while for others it could mean ten books.  You are required to read at least one full additional book.  We will have time in class for reading in addition to the reading you will do outside of class, so there is plenty of time to have that first book read by December vacation.

You will keep track of the books you’re reading and submit “One Pagers” and posts on the blog.  You’ll receive more details about this, but the point is to keep reading!  Try out new genres, find some new books and authors that you like.  Some of you mentioned that you never read a book that made you laugh.  For those of you who haven’t laughed while reading a book, it’s time to find one!

So today, find your book.

Accept the invitation I sent you to blogger.com for our class book site.

• Login using your school google account
• Create a post with your book title, picture of the book, and why you chose that book

Tips for using blogger.com

• Type your response out in an email, word doc, google doc or copy and paste before you click submit in case the website times out as you write
• After you click ‘publish,’ go onto the site and make sure you’re post is there
• If it’s not there you have the text you wrote saved in another doc or have copied it so you can paste it back in
• If it’s still not working for some reason, email me your post so I can see you did it, and we can always post together to work out any of the kinks

Jenni Fagan's Panopticon

I chose Jenni Fagan's Panopticon as one of my semester reads for several reasons.  First I am familiar with Jeremy Bentham's panopticon design from Foucault's Discipline and Punish and was interested to see how/if Foucault's work was brought into this novel of a teenage girl.  Second, I saw the blurb from one of my favorite writers, Irvine Welsh, touting Fagan as a new voice in Scottish literature using the vernacular. 

So far I've read about 70 pages, and the main character, Anais, certainly has my attention!  When the book starts, she is just entering the new facility, the panopticon and trying to navigate her way through.  As the story continues, she begins to reveal portions of her life, some of it vividly distorted from the opiates she takes as an escape from her world.  One is never quite sure what is actually taking place and what is a hallucination on her part.  What is vague, however, is exactly what transpires to get her to the facility, although it appears she has killed a police officer.

Anais seems to have a few people in her life that she could count on and is beginning to acquaint herself with her fellow inmates.  There's Brian, who has killed a dog in a most disturbing way, which she considers a worse, more horrific offense than her crime.   However, she does seem to wonder about this, asking herself if it is indeed worse. 

I'm anticipating that Anais will continue to reveal more as she trusts her reader more, just as she begins to open up to the other inmates.  While I'm not quite sure that I like her as a character, there are certainly moments of empathy.  Is she a kid who has found herself in difficult situations because she is on the search for a family/loved ones or is she truly distrubed and unsaveable is question still to be determined.