Reading: The Lucky One

Thibault thinks that Beth's ex husband broke into his house.  Beth talked to Nana to try and figure out why.  Beth started to get scared that maybe Keith (her ex husband) would try to scare Thibault away.  I think that knowing the way Thibault feels about Beth there is no way that he would be scared away by Keith.  Thibault went to talk to Keith about breaking into his house.  Thibault had a video camera up so it saw Keith breaking in and Thibault still had the disk with the pictures that Keith took while spying on girls.  Thibault told Keith to 1. Stay out of Beth's business 2. Stay out of his business and 3. Not take his anger out on Ben.  Keith had been chasing away any guy who had tried to date Beth ever since they got a divorce.  Technically that was black mail but it was not hurting anyone it was overall helping the situation.

Keith found out that the guy who was showing Beth's picture around was Thibault.  Keith thought that Thibault had stalked her and wanted to know how he got the picture.  Keith was confused and knew that Beth probably would not like the story he heard.  After reading that I knew that something bad was going to happen.  If Beth did not think something was wrong with that there is something wrong with her.  Some may say that Thibault's trek to find Beth was romantic.  I agree somewhat but I think it is more creepy. 

Close-reading Bingo

1. "...Carrying a black Peguin paperback and a small white CVS bag...".  Weakness #8
http://stanfield6.blogspot.com/
2.  "In Nicholson Baker's work The Mezzanine, he uses elegant and intricate diction to create a formal tone." Weakness #6 http://clayballl.blogspot.com/
3.  "The girl screams to her sister “I will kill if you touch this, Julie, and if you do I swear to go I will kill you, no mercy, no take-backs private property, this means you, Julie, you” which explains how the infuriated girl feels toward her sister." Weakness #2 http://emily1212.blogspot.com/
4.  "The negative connotation of his words is straightforward, making his word choice easily believed by others. " Weakness #3http://littleduckkie3.blogspot.com/

Favorite: http://xchoosier3366.blogspot.com/

In Chapter One of The Mezzanine, Nicholson Baker's elegant and flowing elevation, journalistic and descriptive denotation, and slightly sweet musical tone convey the vivid detailing of the narrator's office. Although there is not an emotional tone to the passage, it still presents a brilliant and exact description of the building and its surroundings. His scholarly word choice is depicted through "radians of black luster that ride the undulating outer edge" and the lobby's "towering volumes of marble and glass." His denotation is evident through the descriptions of "the struts and piers" and the "black Penguin paperback and small white CVS bag" which are clearly easy to picture. The mood isn't very uplifting, but the connected words of "sunlight," "glossy," and "shine" help to emphasize the melodious sound that Baker employs.

Practice Diction Analysis

In the excerpt from JD Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, the blunt yet dull diction displays his view on life and portrays him as an angry young man.  Salinger uses words with mainly negative connotations that are easy to understand yet are somewhat hostile.  He also uses dull sarcasm like when he describes his parents as "nice".  That is a strong case that shows even though Salinger may be straight forward on some things, the verbal irony can create an interesting diction.  There is also a lot of common vernacular that makes the story a little more relateable.

Currently

The Lucky One  by Nicholas Sparks

Original Style Mapping Sentences:

1.  In Cormac McCarthy's novel The Road, the straightforward descriptions of the stripped wilderness give the text a minimalistic feel and forcing attention to the rare dialogue between the father and son. That was from Norwegian Wood and I like the imagry it shows and uses adjectives you normally would not see.

2. These diction types enforce the suggestivly imaginative connotation as he describes normal objects with a certain blunt hyberbolishness. That One Guy's Blog said this and I enjoyed the feeling given from the words especially hyberbolishness.

3.In 1984 by George Orwell, he portrays low language through his blunt diction and coarse observations giving the reader a sense of fear as well as disgust. Orwell uses vulgar descriptions such as, "The hallway smelt of boiled cabbage and old rag mats," which illustrates the setting of the novel. As Told by Ginger used the quote very well to help illustrate the feeling in the writing.

Style Mapping

Authors tend to have different writing styles that help protray their mood and theme of the writing. The Help by Kathryn Stockett uses moody and somewhat suggestive tone within the words that tend to have a somewhat hidden meaning.  Stockett's words are overall more in the middle on the map.  In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling's words are very connotative, elevated, and magically musical.  On the other end of the spectrum, Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy does not send a whimsical or inspirational feel but gives off more of a graceful or elegant feel.  These authors all use different diction that change the mood completely from story to story.

Reading: The Lucky One

Beth starts out talking about how it was her brother who took the picture with him over to Iraq and how Beth didn't want to hire Thibault because he was a marine.  It reminded her of how Thibault made it out alive but her brother didn't.  Her brother Drake was killed by friendly fire.   After Beth had told Thibault about her brother her ex husband Clayton pulled up.  Ben got out of the car with a bloody black eye from a supposed ball that Ben missed when playing catch.  For some reason I think that someone hit Ben because the description of the wounds do not sound like something that is from a ball.  Clayton was the police officer that Thibault saw taking pictures of the girls on the beach.  Clayton started to yell at Beth and then at Thibault but Thibault stayed calm and asked Clayton to leave.  Clayton seemed intimidated and left.  Clayton was a little jealous and became determined to make Thibault hate the day he showed up into town.  I think Clayton is over reacting and holding a grudge on something that he has no right to hold a grudge on.  Then Beth asked Thibault to go on a date with her and they had a great time.  If you were reading the book you would know that the date was bound to happen so it was not surprising.  The bulk of the date was spent talking about Zeus, Iraq, and why Thibault was in the town.  He never told her about how he found her picture in Iraq.  At the end of the date they both said how they loved eachother.  Personally I think they threw that out there pretty fast but it was sweet.

Quarterly

I have read a lot more this quarter than I have in a while.  When I was younger I read all of the time but as I grew older I stopped reading for the most part.  I went from knowing what books I was going to read next months in advanced and having the librarians know me by name to not being able to figure out what book I was going to read for this class next.  The most challenging reading by far is literary.  Popular books are more fun to read and overall easier to read and follow than literary.  I really enjoyed reading The Help.  Not only was it funny with a great plot line it was inspirational and just a great book.  That was probably my favorite book of the semester by far.  I usually read at night around 8:00 or so and it is not for an extremely long time in one sitting.  I also read during third period where I'm a teacher's assistant.  I will usually read in my room with some light music playing in the background.  I think a challenge I need to place for myself is putting my phone downstairs when I'm reading upstairs in my room.  I get distracted when my friends text me which makes me stop reading too early.

Reading: The Lucky One

After searching around in North Carolina Thibault figured out the mystery girl's name.  Her name was Elizabeth "Beth" Green.  She is a divorced school teacher who helped out at an animal shelter.  Thibault went to meet Beth and possibly get a job at the kennel.  Beth thought Thibault's whole situation was odd.  Beth's Nana like Thibault and decided to give Thibault a chance with the shelter.  A downside to hiring Thibault was that he was a marine which reminded Beth of her ex husband.  I think the way Thibault nonchalantly made his way into Beth's life was funny and smart.  Then a little boy came up to Thibault outside and started talking to him.  The boy's name was Ben and he was Beth's son.  Ben seemed to like Thibault from the first time he met him.  The connection Ben felt with Zeus and Thibault from the first time they met was really sweet and possibly foreshadows Ben wanting his mother to date Thibault.  Beth also started to think about Thibault and things she liked about himi.  She has not made a move yet but it seems like it is bound to happen sooner or later.

Reading: The Lucky One

There are certain weeks where it is harder to get your reading and blogging done than others.  This is one of those weeks. My friend just gave me The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks.  This is actually the first Nicholas Sparks book I have read.  I have heard mixed emotions about his books but the majority I have heard really like his books.  The main character is Thibault.  Thibault is a former marine who was on tour in Iraq.  While he was on his daily jog one morning, he saw a laminated photo sticking out from the sand.  It was a picture of a girl who was probably in her early twenties.  Although he usually loses, with the picture of this girl in his pocket he won the card game.  When he returned home from Iraq, he decided to take his dog Zeus and go find the girl.  He starts in Colorado and is walking all the way to North Carolina where he believes the girl will be from clues in the picture.

I think it is ridiculous that he is walking across the country to try and find a girl he isn't even sure is there.  It's a total long shot! But in the other sense, it is also romantic.  I love the relationship Thibault has with Zeus.  Zeus seems to understand everything that Thibault says to him.  Zeus listens, does what he is asked, but still has a little bit of an attitude.  This is one faithful german shepherd.  I really want to know why Thibault was so compelled to find this mystery woman.

Currently

Population: 485 by Michael Perry

This week: 150

Last week: 110

Total: 973



1.  "Summer here comes on like a zaftig hippie chick, jazzed on chlorophyll and flinging fistfuls of butterflies to the sun."

2. "Uncle Shotsy was a victim of optimistic physics."
3. "Shes wearing a tight red sweater a red skirt and enough makeup to scare a hooker."

The imagry and and adjectives in the first one really help you understand what the author is trying to show and makes it creative and fun to read.  It also goes along with what we have been doing in our recent assignments with using creative adjectives.  I like the other two because they are funny, especially in the context of the story.

Reading: Population:485

He talks about his life as a firefighter and the dynamics of his town mainly.  He said something earlier in the book about how a family had a lot of children and the dad was a farmer.  Most farmers would have their kids help in the fields but the father said that a lawyer would not expect his kids to help in his practice so why would I expect my kids to help me farm.  I think that is a valid point.  Most kids of farmers talk about the chores and jobs they have to do.  On the other hand, children of parents of other jobs just have to do regular house chores.  There is a sharp curve in a road that is talked about a lot in the story.  People tend to take that curve too fast and then the either roll their car over or go off the road into the field that is next to it.  We are lucky that our roads in Fort Wayne are better constructed so that we do not have problems like that.

The main character gives a little insight on the background and family life of some of his fellow firefighters and the higher ranking officers. They have nicknames such as Beagle and Tricky.  It is cool to see how the comradery is portrayed so easily.  Even though there are some good stories in the book, it is starting to get more monotonous and repetitive.  The author is using less colorful language and adjectives which makes the story less fun to read.

Reading: Population:485

The main character starts to talk about his experiences as a fire fighter.  He talks about one of his rookie runs which was really gross.  There was a lady who had a seizure earlier in the day and was stuck between the toilet and the sink.  The entire house smelled like puke from this lady.  Once they started to try to pull the lady out the family started to sympathy puke.  I also caught a vocab word!  It was mnemonic talking about ABC. ABC= Airway Breathing Circulation which is one of the most important things to remember no matter how major or minor the injury or problem.  Then the next couple pages tells how big mnemonics are and there are about 9 more.  They also talked about an important instrument called a KED (Kendrick Extrication Device) here's a picture of it below because I had no idea what it looked like.  /I guess it is used to immobilize patients but one man gave the firefighters a hard time when they were trying to put it on him.  It was cool to see how hey tried to save this lady and other people.



  In movies, the hero usually runs in and while trying to save a child is just taken up into the nimbus of flame.  He talks about how rare that actually happens.  Most firefighters die from a heart attack or running out of air.  It is funny how im most movies the firefighter will die a heroic and easy death or make it out untouched.  While we wish all firefighters would make it out safely all the time, that unfortunately does not happen.  The author really sheds light onto that situation.  Since the town his man lives in is so small, the joke is that all you need to join the local fire department is a valid driver's license and a pulse.  After a while the volunteers have to take a course but it is sad there aren't enough people wanting to do this job that departments are struggling to find volunteers.