Stepping Out of my Comfort Zone

For my out of comfort zone book I read a book that was within my favorite genre, but it was a book I could not get involved with. For some reason I cannot remember the book wouldn't grab me. But when I picked it up for this project I fell in love. I read A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1: A Game Of Thrones. It was a very nice read, difficult but perfect for me. I loved the experience and in hindsight I do not remember why this book was out of my comfort zone but I do know that I fell in love with the series and now am on the third book A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 3: A Storm Of Swords.

Author Visit

Christina Baker Kline recently came to visit our school, which was very interesting. She told us a lot about the progression of her novel, including writing it, researching it, and getting the idea. I found it very intriguing because it was an insightful visit from what I recall. This happened quite a while ago now and my memory of the day is fuzzy but what I do remember was how she didn't explain her book, but explained the orphan trains which was nice since we had literally just read her book. Another thing I liked about her visit was her explanation of the writing and editing process because I like to write so it was a very insightful visit.

Orphan Train

Orphan Train was a book that I liked very much, it was a book that kept me captivated due to the shifting perspective. It was an interesting story line with a lot of detail. It was a pleasant quick read. I learned a lot about the Orphan Trains and the orphan system of the early 1900s, I also learned about the modern day orphan system that doesn't always work. One definite strength of the book is that the multiple perspective was beautifully written, meaning that it was always a nice change and it wasn't abrupt or off setting. All in all, it was a very good book, that was easy and fun to read as well as educational.

High fantasy and science fiction have to be my two favorite genres, I have not read many books within high fantasy but one book left such an impression on me that it immediately tied with science fiction as  my favorite genre. The books that I've read within this genre are:

A Game Of Thrones by George R. R. Martin,

I read this book for class as an out of comfort zone book, and it was one of the best decisions I've made as a reader. It was out of my comfort zone because of a few factors, the gore, the depth of the descriptions and the amount of internal conflicts. I loved this book for all of the things that made it an out of comfort zone book. I loved the many twists and turns this book made and the style of writing within high fantasy really impressed upon me the grandeur of the genre. I love the fact that each high fantasy author has to create a world of his own and then write stories within his world.

Science fiction:

Science fiction, before I met High Fantasy, was my one and only. I love it because of my interest in all science and also the way it was written. I love the way that the story revolves around science, but other than that I cannot really explain the love I have for science fiction. 

I loved this particular book because of the fact that it is a Jules Verne book and that it revolved around the Nautilus, which is the submarine that they travel in, and the fact that it was so far before its time. 

Boys And Reading

Boys do need to be attached to books, at least that is what I know from my experience as a boy reading. I read a lot, and fast, but I have to feel some sort of attachment to the book. If I am not interested in a book it will take me much longer to finish it and I will probably start to read other books in the meanwhile. I do, however, think that there is hope for boys, as I do not think that there will ever be a time where there aren't at least some boys that read. In the New York times article it said that boys gravitate towards non fiction, and I find that interesting, not just because I prefer fantasy and science fiction, but also because I have noticed that most boys like fiction with a basis in nonfiction.

In one of the other articles it said that "A good book for a boy is one he wants to read."  I find this statement to be stupid because it is common sense that good books are ones that the readers like, because the whole basis of "Good Book" comes from opinion and wanting to read implies opinion, so I think that phrasing this sentence in a gendered way is stupid.

Independent Reading Choice

My recommended book was The Martian by Andy Weir. It was recommended to me by a worker at Barnes & Nobles, and this was because he saw the books in my hand, which were Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne, Treasure Island, and The Grimm's Tales. I picked it up because he recommended it to me and I picked it up because I couldn't think of a reason not to. I loved this book so much so that it ties with Lord of the Rings as my number one book. It was funny and always kept me interested. The book was never dull and I would recommend it to anyone interested in science and with no aversion to swearing. I would rate the book with a very high score as I found nothing wrong with it. I was surprised that it contained so much swearing but that made it so much more real. Even if you have an aversion to swearing I would recommend this book because it is a fantastic read that is very worth it.

Family LIfe

For Readers Choice we had to read Family Life by Akhil Sharma. I found the book incredibly dull, and I was never fully invested in the book. The book was a relatively quick read, I finished it in a few hours. It had little substance and nothing really happened at a pace which would keep me interested. I was able to relate, but only because the story of how my family came to America was very similar, so I was fairly bored by the whole book. It was not bad, it just wasn't good in my opinion.