My Inspiration...

     Inspiration is something I have never thought about. So when asked what my inspiration was for class, I drew a blank. So many things inspire me... Movies, books, people, places, music... the list could go on for a while. Since I was only told to choose one, I'd have to say that Movies inspire me. I do realize that thats crazy, but movies are the thing I look to. They take my mind to new places and they can even teach you things. When I have writers block I look to movies for ideas... not to plagurize but to just move along the process. I absolutly love movies (possibly the reason I work at a movie theater). I've gone from watching The Little Mermaid and Herculies to watching The Black Dahlia and Cleopatra. There is not one movie that I could pick that is my one true inspiration. I think they all inspire me to do something. I want to tell a story as good as the ones portryed to me in a movie.
    I think that may be why I have so much trouble with the research papers. They dont eally tell a story like I would prefer. I love to write my own little stories and cast them with real actors and play them out like a movie as I write them. Every time I watch a new movie, I get a little obsessed and look up the historical parts of it (if any) and the actors, and all that jazz. Movies inspire me to try and write stories that can take people the same places the movies did. If that made any since...
    Everyone has their own thing and movies have recently become mine. I've always enjoyed them but recently I have been watching more and more and falling in love with them. I love when books are turned into movies and I can literally see my favorite parts come to life. I want to give that to someone. Movies dont just inspire me to write, they inspire me to do a lot of things, like travel. When you see a place in a movie, and it's beautiful, chances are you will want to go there!
     I hope I did a well enough job of explaing why movies inspire me... possibly not. Sometimes there are just things you cannot describe in words to someone and I guess thats my situation now. They just make me want to give someone the feelings I get when I watch them!

"The Sun Also Rises" (Post 5)

     In Ernest Hemingways first novel published in 1926, The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway takes us into a world full of writers and artists in the deserving city of Paris. A diverse group of characters have been introduced to us: Jake, Braddocks, Brett, Georgette, Roger Cohn, Frances and a few others. Only being on page 35, The Sun Also Rises has yet to seriously impress me. Having tried to read it last year, I thought I'd try it again! Already, I think I like it a little more... 

   Hemingways short and to the point writing style is hard to get used to. The characters hardley even speak five words at a time. The dialogue is simply to the point. At this point, the story line is Cohn is not nesscarily having a midlife crisis, but he is realizing that he hasn't really lived his life. A writer, he moved to Europe with Frances (who only wants his money and status) to try to write and eventually got published in America! Due to his realization about life, he's trying to get Jake to go to South Africa with him but Jake is not interested at all. Jake is also a writer, but for the newspaper. Jake is engaged to Georgette. He and her seem to be somewhat distant however. While out dancing, she dances with other men while Jake discretley slips out of the bar with Brett. Brett is gorgeous. She is also in love with Jake and he seems to share these feelings! The two quietly ride around and have a chat. 

     This really doesn't seem like a very interesting book, but I think it;s one of those that needs to be read, by people who want to read it. Not one that teachers make you read and you complain about, but one that you stumble upon in the Library and try on your own. Hemingway is a very famous author and I've been trying to read more classic books recently. I'm really holding out for this book to get good. I don't think I much care for his writing style, but I guess I'll have to get used to it! Hopefully, something exciting happens and something goes awry. I'm putting a lot of hope into this book and it better check out! 

"One generation passeth away, 

and another generation cometh; 

but the earth abideth forever... 

The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down,

 and haseth to the place where he arose... 

The wind goeth unto the north; 

it whirleth about continually, 

and the wind returneth again according to his circuts... 

All the rivers run into the sea;

 yet the sea is not full; 

unto the place from whence the rivers come, 

thither they return again"

-Ecclesiates

Response 4 "Dreamland"

                                           

     Caitlyn has lived in the shadow of her sister Cass for a very long time. Even     when Cass runs away, thats all her parents can talk about- even though it's Caitlyns birthday. Excepting Cass's move, her parents begin to see Caitlyn as "the new Cass." Caitlyn is made a cheerleader even though she hates it. Eventually, she meets Rogerson, and the two become a couple, even though Rogerson is a drug dealer. Caitlyn begins to meet Rogersons friends and begin to live the sort of lifestyle he lives.  She starts to do drugs, and her school work begins to fail. And then something even more shocking happens. Rogerson beats her. He hits her, over and over. And she takes it. Caitlyn begins to kind of leave the world. She becomes more and more secluded and alone. Her and Rogerson begin to sleep together and Caitlyn states that it is the only time she feels safe with him. Eventually, Caitlyns mother sees Rogerson beating Caitlyn within inches of her life and calls the police. Caitlyn enters a rehab facility and begins to get her life back.

     Dreamland is my favorite book yet by Sarah Dessen. This is the second time reading it for me, and this time It ment more to me. When I first read it, I was only about 14. Now that I am 16, and I have friends that actually do have lifestyles similar to Caitlyns. I sometimes feel like Sarah Dessen has hit being a teenager right on the nose. I love the books by Sarah Dessen, all of them because I can relate to them. No, I dont have a boyfriend that beets me, but that isnt the point. I know people who do. Any girl can relate to a Sarah Dessen book, at least one of them. I have read all of her books thats shes written thus far and I love them. I dont want to give to much away about the book, but it is one of the better books you can find in the library.

    I'd been taught since sixth grade about Peer Pressure and Bad Influences and Just saying No. But for all I knew, I could be the kind of girl that smoked. I could be anything.

   I lit the bowl and took a big drag, feeling the smoke tangle in my throat, making me cough hard, fast. Tears came to my eyes as I handed it back to him, already feeling something change in me, as if I was slowly falling into warm water, one inch at a time.

     Like Caitlyn, I know what it feels like to live in the shadow of my sister. I know how it feels to want to do something so crazy just so people remember you for something other then just being someones sister. I cannot tell you how many times someone has called me my sisters name. I think that has influenced me to change myself and be different then the other people in my family. And I think thats what Caitlyn has been doing. Shes changed herself so shes not just Cass's sister anymore! And that is why I love Sarah Dessens books! They really do relate.

Twenty Boy Summer Response

Frankie and Anna have been best friends forever. They're neighbors and practicly grew up sisters along with Frankies real older brother Matt. But one summer, Matt dies in a car crash, where Anna and Frankie were sitting right next to him. A year later, Frankies parents decide to take a vacation down to their beach house in Zanzibar Bay, and decide to bring Anna along. Frankie has plans for them this summer though. She has planned for Anna to finally have her summer romance by meeting one boy every day while they are there. However, unknown to Frankie is that Anna has already had that summer romance the previous summer. With Matt, Frankies brother, right before he died. Matt and Anna never told their parents or Frankie and when Matt died, it was over, nobody would ever know. Anna carries a journal with her everywhere, keeping her thoughts about Matt with her, secretly hidden on the pages. Both of the girls have changed since Matts death, but Frankie is completly new. All she worries about it is Clothes, Makeup, Boys and of course finding a boy for Anna. Teasing Anna all the time, Frankie does find Anna and herself two boys to spend the summer with, Jake and Sam.

   Sam and Anna begin to spend large amounts of time together, alone. Anna is slowly able to enjoy being around a guy who isn't Matt. Their romance along with Jake and Frankies are able to flourish, away from home. Having secrets from your best friend never turns out spectacular though and soon both girls are able to learn new, hurtfull things about the other. The biggest surprise is for Frankie when she learns of her bestfriends romance with her brother.

                   “Anna, he was my brother. Mine,” Frankie screams.

                      “You have no right to have anything left of him!”

   Even though "Twenty Boy Summer" is on a few Banned Books Lists, I would recomend it to anyone. Honestly, I couldn't even tell you why it is banned in a few places. It's enticing, and one of my favorite books. I wish that I could read it again for the first time. Sarah Ockler does an amazing job with this book. She is able to hit those fights between best friends spot on. All in all, if you do find yourself looking for a good book, pick up "Twenty Boy Summer" by Sarah Ockler.

     

    

Reading Response 2 (Jude pt. 2)

     Nothing for Jude has been easy in his life. He grew up thinking his mother had abandoned him, leaving him with his abusive father. He's been moved around his whole life and untill just recently, Judes never known why. However, Jude recently whittnessed his fathers death. Judes promise of secrecy is the thing keeping him alive. Being whisked away into a new world, Jude meets his mother, Ana, the DA. Jude is able to learn about his fathers past of being a police officer, an abuser and a kidnapper. Judes mother has saved the newspaper articles from the past and Jude is able to put together his life. His mother and father were married and a year latter, he beat her. After a realizing she was preganat, Ana finally reported the abuse. In a fit of rage, Judes father takes him from his room and runs away. After reading this, a confused Jude finds himself in a loving home for the first time in his life. Anas boyfriend Harry, finally askes Jude about the murder. Jude decides to just tell Harry that he did it to get everyone off his back. Harry (a police officer) agrees to keep Judes confession a secret.

     A year later, Judes life is good. He has a loving family and a home. But then, one of Judes friend, Nick over doses on Herione. The big problem here is that Jude was seen with Nick when he bought the herione. The police eventually realize that Jude is somehow involved. Harry comes up with a plan with Jude. They decide to have Jude get caught-- even though he didnt really do it. They plant heroine on him and evetually the police get him. All according to plan, Jude is sent to Prision. Jude soon learns that Harry has betrayed him, having promised him a re-trial, Harry decides to leave him in prision. Jude gets in a few fight in prision after a few weeks.

  While reading "Jude" I find that as much as I like the story line, the characters don't impress me. Jude is monotone and we never really get to see how he feels. The characters are hardley described or talked about in detail. There is no describing of the physical apperance of them, and while I like that my imagination is able to create them and change them, I have no base of what they should even resemble! Other then the descriptive details lacking, I like the book.
 I'm finding that this is one of the only books I have read in awhile that actually surprises me! There are twists that I never would have seen coming and I actually found myself baffled by what had happend!

Kate Morgenroth

Author of Jude

   "Jude woke in the infirmary, woozy from the drugs pumped into his system. His moments of consciousness were scattered, and it was hard to keep track of the time. He didn't know if it had been only a few days or if had been weeks." The way that Kate Morgenroth opens and closes her chapters makes it hard for me to stop reading. She makes me want to know why he is awakening in the infirmary or why he had been pumped full of drugs!

 Overall, I would recomend the book to others because it's a good read and it has several fantastic parts in it that will leave you curious!

Reading Response 1: Jude

               

       Jude is not a typical teenage boy. Jude has “family problems.” His mom is absent and his dad is a drug dealer.  Selling cocaine to get them by, Frank, Jude’s dad has been skimping on his shipments. When Jude skips his usual after school basketball game due to ill fitting shoes, he just goes home. At Home he finds his dad busy at work cheating people on their drugs. After beating his son around, Frank is shocked with a surprise. Two men come into their ramshackle apartment and murder Jude’s dad right in front of him. Agreeing to keep the men’s identity a secret, Jude is spared. Lying to the detectives isn’t to hard for him to manage until they confront him about the discrepancies in his story from that of a neighbors. Jude is whisked away down to the police station and his world becomes filled with Attorneys, Detectives and police. When the DA turns out to be Judes lost mother, he finds out about his parents past but mostly about his fathers.

                Even though I’m only on chapter three, Jude’s new world has become mine. From summaries on the back cover, I think I’m going to like “Jude.”  He’s just a kid barly older then me, yet he is dealing with inner demons and monsters I couldn’t imagine. If Jude’s life was messed up before the murder of his father, It’s completely opposite of a normal one.

                I think Jude is going to be a promising book full of surprises and twists. With flashbacks to his life before his fathers death, I learn more and more about what It’s like to have a life I couldn’t even imagine. I like that Jude’s life is completely opposite of mine, because I get to see what other people could potentially go through. I have a feeling that I will like this book and wont be able to put it down once I get even more into it.