In Cold Blood, Pt.I

I have only read the beginning of this book so far, but I am already pulled in. So far, the book has been introducing characters that come up later on in the story, and introducing the general plot. A very traditional family in a small, Kansas town are brutally murdered by a pair of robbers out on parole and looking for a good "score". They're constant reassuring of each other that there will be "no witnesses" is very eerie foreshadowing for the rest of the book. Truman Capote, the author, is a brilliant writer who is very detailed and is a famous writer. He is able to paint a vivid picture of the setting in rural Kansas, and makes the characters in the story seem like people that you have known for your entire life. Unfortunately, that won't be such a good thing once you get to the point where they are murdered (haha).

Into The Wild, The End

As we found out in the beginning of the book, McCandless did not survive. Of course, it was still a shock to see how he actually dies, starved to death in an abandoned bus in the middle of the frozen Alaska wilderness. It's kind of sad that he still wrote only happy entries in his journal, right up until he starved to death. After articles about him were published, their authors received a lot of hate mail. People called him stupid and criticized him for knowing nothing when he went in to the wilderness. However, these people were shot down when this book was published. McCandless knew how to hunt, knew what he was doing, and knew how to survive. He only died because of an injury and lack of a map. He was aware of how important a map was, but chose to ignore it and live on his own. He wanted to live in the wild away from people, and his wishes should be respected even today.

Into The Wild, Pt. II

Coming nearer to the end of the book, I'm starting to like the main character Alex. He just wants to be nearer to the wilderness, and wants to be more in touch with the environment. So far, he has come in contact with many people along the road who have similar views. He meets drifters driving along the highway, and hitchikes with many people who all have stories to recount about him when later interviewed. One man even went so far as to say that he asked Alex if he could adopt him. It was clear that Alex made connections with everyone that he came across. He stayed in touch with two drifters that he hitchiked with to get to Alaska. He also kept a semi-permanent residence in Ohio, where he held a job working on a lumber company. He was constantly entertaining the people of the town with his stories.

Into The Wild

The story of a man who went into the wild of Alaska to live off of the land, Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer is a book that makes the reader wonder. At first, my thoughts were "How could anyone be so crazy as to wander off in to the frozen Alaska tundra with no money, food, or worldly possessions. My first thoughts were that this man was not mentally well. However, as I read on, I began to learn a little bit more about who Chris McCandless (the main character) really is. He is really just someone who wants to be in touch with the world, one to one. He grew up in a very privileged home, and wanted to get away from the whole upper class scenery. One day, he just abandoned his home, left his college, and set out on the road for years just looking for a place to go. As the story goes on, the reader begins to feel for McCandless, and I began to understand where he was coming from. Granted, I'm not going to give up everything I own and go in to the wild, but I can see his point and why he did it. I hope to find out more as the story goes on.

Tex

This is a novel by S.E. Hinton, the same person who wrote The Outsiders. I am only on page sixteen but so far, I am not really enjoying the book. There is a very strong focus on living in the country and riding horses. The main character, Tex, has a horse named Negrito which he rides almost every day after school. He is very attached to the horse, and treats him like a human. He talks and has conversations with his horse, and discusses with the reader how his horse stomps his feet and tries to say how annoyed he is when he is not fed on time. I can tell that there is definently a very deep connection between the boy and his horse. Unfortunately, there is not really anything interesting going on in the story, and the book is slow.

Nineteen Minutes

Over the summer of 2009, one of the books that I read was Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Piccoult. This was a very deep book, and really made me wake up and be exposed to some of the things going on in high schools around the country. The main character in this story was physically and verbally abused so badly that he was driven to bring a gun to school and open fire on students for nineteen minutes. This book shows fictional examples of atrocities that actually do occur. The main character, Peter, is the but of all the jokes from the school jocks. Even in kindergarten he is bullied by the fifth graders. This book made me think about what goes on at Ardsley High School. Although we do not have as big of a bullying problem as the high school in this book did, we still have bullies. It could happen at any high school where someone is abused so badly that they just snap. It makes you think, even when you're just messing around with your friends.

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