Reading
By: F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Great Gatsby is possibly the best book I have read for school. Everything in this book falls into place. Fitzgerald manages to build characters in such a way that their lusts for their own interests drive themselves into the perfect catastrophes. He also describes the setting in such a way that I could understand what life in the 1920s would be like. My personal favorite thing about this book is his use of structure. He sets the book up by having the main character, Nick, reflect on the story after it happened. As Nick meets new people, we get to see the characteristics, mannerisms, and wants of these new characters. These wants eventually drive the characters against each other, leading to many of the conflicts existing in the story. I like how the conflict is built by the characters, instead of by pure coincidence. This is something I hope to include in my future writings. Overall, I am glad this was one of the required reading books of this year, and hope to apply the writing techniques I have learned from this book towards my own writing
The Great Gatsby is possibly the best book I have read for school. Everything in this book falls into place. Fitzgerald manages to build characters in such a way that their lusts for their own interests drive themselves into the perfect catastrophes. He also describes the setting in such a way that I could understand what life in the 1920s would be like. My personal favorite thing about this book is his use of structure. He sets the book up by having the main character, Nick, reflect on the story after it happened. As Nick meets new people, we get to see the characteristics, mannerisms, and wants of these new characters. These wants eventually drive the characters against each other, leading to many of the conflicts existing in the story. I like how the conflict is built by the characters, instead of by pure coincidence. This is something I hope to include in my future writings. Overall, I am glad this was one of the required reading books of this year, and hope to apply the writing techniques I have learned from this book towards my own writing
By: Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (Honors)
Breakfast of Champions is a novel Vonnegut wrote for himself as his own 50th birthday present. It explores the story of Kilgore Trout and Dwayne Hoover, a science-fiction writer, and business man/car dealer. Kilgore, who sees himself as widely unknown. is invited to a large arts expo as a keynote speaker. Dwayne Hoover, who is interested in Trout's works, eventually meets Trout, and reads his novel. Hoover takes the premise of the novel as a message from the creator of the universe, and his insanity is triggered. What I find most interesting is Vonnegut's style of writing. He is constantly involving himself in his novels. One way he does in this book is by designing the characters after himself, I believe. Vonnegut is obviously a writer, and he also used to deal cars after the War. Also, the narrator, who may represent Vonnegut, is inserted in the book as a character. He does this in Slaughterhouse Five as well. In BOC, the narrator describes that he made up all of these characters, and how he is continuously re-deciding their fates. I find this style of writing intriguing, and hope to read more from Vonnegut.
Breakfast of Champions is a novel Vonnegut wrote for himself as his own 50th birthday present. It explores the story of Kilgore Trout and Dwayne Hoover, a science-fiction writer, and business man/car dealer. Kilgore, who sees himself as widely unknown. is invited to a large arts expo as a keynote speaker. Dwayne Hoover, who is interested in Trout's works, eventually meets Trout, and reads his novel. Hoover takes the premise of the novel as a message from the creator of the universe, and his insanity is triggered. What I find most interesting is Vonnegut's style of writing. He is constantly involving himself in his novels. One way he does in this book is by designing the characters after himself, I believe. Vonnegut is obviously a writer, and he also used to deal cars after the War. Also, the narrator, who may represent Vonnegut, is inserted in the book as a character. He does this in Slaughterhouse Five as well. In BOC, the narrator describes that he made up all of these characters, and how he is continuously re-deciding their fates. I find this style of writing intriguing, and hope to read more from Vonnegut.
By: Rebecca Skloot (Honors)
This is a non-fiction book about Rebecca Skloot, and her journey in researching the life of Henrietta Lacks. Skloot first heard of Henrietta in a community college bio class, and she was astonished with how little information there was about her. Henrietta is an African-American woman born in 1920 who had cancer. Some of her cancer cells were taken from her, and used for research. They are consistently reproducing, so they would be grown, and sold to labs for research. The cells were dubbed HeLa cells after Henrietta Lacks, but it wasn't until the late 1970s until Henrietta's name was even released. Skloot uncovers most information about Henrietta through Henrietta's daughter, who she has when she was only fourteen years of age. Her story helps illustrate how ethics, race, poverty, and business all play an important role in the world of science. I mostly just enjoyed this book since it presents a new perspective on modern science that usually isn't brought up— ethics. In the book, Henrietta's family says they feel betrayed and taken advantage of, since they essentially used Henrietta as an experiment for business. I feel like there are many other stories that relate to this theme that I would like to explore.
This is a non-fiction book about Rebecca Skloot, and her journey in researching the life of Henrietta Lacks. Skloot first heard of Henrietta in a community college bio class, and she was astonished with how little information there was about her. Henrietta is an African-American woman born in 1920 who had cancer. Some of her cancer cells were taken from her, and used for research. They are consistently reproducing, so they would be grown, and sold to labs for research. The cells were dubbed HeLa cells after Henrietta Lacks, but it wasn't until the late 1970s until Henrietta's name was even released. Skloot uncovers most information about Henrietta through Henrietta's daughter, who she has when she was only fourteen years of age. Her story helps illustrate how ethics, race, poverty, and business all play an important role in the world of science. I mostly just enjoyed this book since it presents a new perspective on modern science that usually isn't brought up— ethics. In the book, Henrietta's family says they feel betrayed and taken advantage of, since they essentially used Henrietta as an experiment for business. I feel like there are many other stories that relate to this theme that I would like to explore.
By: Edgar Allan Poe (Honors)
This is really just a collection of all of Edgar Allan Poe's short stories and poems. I chose to read it mostly for the poetry, though, since I could relate it back to my honors project. There was one poem that really stuck out to me. It was called A Valentine. Lines like, "brightly expressive as the twins of Loeda," describe his feeling towards a girl. He uses the simile "twins of Loeda" to describe how her eyes were expressive as the stars in the night sky (the constellation twins of Loeda). He also references pieces of history to describe his feelings. For example, when he says, "and yet there is in this no Gordian knot which one might not undo without a sabre." I looked up what a Gordian knot is, and Gordain was a person who made a knot and said that the first person who could untie it would be dubbed the pharaoh of Egypt. A man then took a sabre, and just cut through the knot. I think what Poe is saying is that their relationship is fairly simple, can be ended fairly simply, but also holds great importance. The final thing I thought was pretty cool in this poem is that if you took the first letter in the first line, second letter in the second line, third letter in the third line, and so on, it would spell out the girls name. I wanted to implement all of these factors into my honors project. Overall, there were plenty of poems in this book I took influence from, and greatly enjoyed all of its content.
This is really just a collection of all of Edgar Allan Poe's short stories and poems. I chose to read it mostly for the poetry, though, since I could relate it back to my honors project. There was one poem that really stuck out to me. It was called A Valentine. Lines like, "brightly expressive as the twins of Loeda," describe his feeling towards a girl. He uses the simile "twins of Loeda" to describe how her eyes were expressive as the stars in the night sky (the constellation twins of Loeda). He also references pieces of history to describe his feelings. For example, when he says, "and yet there is in this no Gordian knot which one might not undo without a sabre." I looked up what a Gordian knot is, and Gordain was a person who made a knot and said that the first person who could untie it would be dubbed the pharaoh of Egypt. A man then took a sabre, and just cut through the knot. I think what Poe is saying is that their relationship is fairly simple, can be ended fairly simply, but also holds great importance. The final thing I thought was pretty cool in this poem is that if you took the first letter in the first line, second letter in the second line, third letter in the third line, and so on, it would spell out the girls name. I wanted to implement all of these factors into my honors project. Overall, there were plenty of poems in this book I took influence from, and greatly enjoyed all of its content.