The Guardian

1. Include the following pieces of information:

• Title

The Guardian

• Author

Nicholas Sparks 

• Genre

love story

• Number of pages read this week / total number of pages in the book (Ex: 50/250)

180/382

2. Report Section

Describe: Briefly summarize what you have read over the past week

Consider the following questions and use them to guide your response: 

• What is happening at this point in your reading?
• What have you learned or discovered in this section of your reading?
• How have these developments affected the characters, relationships, situation OR your understanding of the issues presented withing your reading?

This week I really enjoyed reading this book because finally something I wanted to happen happened. While Richard was out of town, Mike used that to visit Julie one night. They talked just like best friends do but then Mike suddenly asked Julie on a date. After this date came another date and then a couple of more. There was even a kiss and finally you could see both main characters happy. After Mike;s and Julie's first date when Julie came back home Richard came to see her. They started to fight because Julie was out with Mike but soon Richard started apologizing and telling her how he was out of town because his mother died. As much as Richard wanted Julie back, Julie was now in love with a different man and Richard was just a friend now. In one of the chapters we see that Richard is planning to do something to Julie and to make her come back to him. I really enjoyed reading so far and seeing how Richard and Mike are switching places. I hope that by the end of the book Julie and Mike will be together and Richard will be gone for good. 

3. Response Section

Reflect: On what you have read over the past week

Consider the following questions:

• What do you think about what you have read?
• Has your recent reading fulfilled your expectations?
• What do you expect for your continued reading?
• How satisfied are you with what you have read?

Add: Any concerns, questions, additional comments on this reading

As I mentioned above, I really enjoyed reading the book so far. I think that later on Mike and Julie will be together and they will get married and live with Singer. While reading there was one thing that really confused me. Was Richard planning to destroy Mike and be with Julie or get rid of them both? I hope I will find this out soon. 

4. Passage Section

Copy: Select a passage (1-4 sentences) that you believe to be significant or representative of the reading, or that is otherwise meaningful to you. INCLUDE page number.

Explain: What does this passage reveal about the book--its theme, focus, characters? In what way(s) does this passage trouble / intrigue / delight / frustrate / reward / challenge you as a reader?

"Mike, however, heard nothing at all. Lost in her breathlike touch, he knew only one thing for sure: In the instant their lips first met, there was a flicker of something almost electrical that made him believe the feeling would last forever." (167)
 This is probably my favorite part in the book so far. I love seeing how to people that are made for each other finally get to experience that. I think that this part is very romantic and very well written. Sparks did a very good job explaining their first kiss that will last forever. 

A Series of Unfortunate Events (Book: 4) "The Miserable Mill"

Title: A Series of Unfortunate Events (Book: 4) "The Miserable Mill"

Author: Lemony Snicket

Genre: Series for Kids.

Pages I read this week: 50

Pages I have read in total: 150/194

I have continued reading my book and it is really interesting. In my opinion this might be the most important part of the book because many things happen. The most important thing that happened in this part of the book is that Klaus had an accident and was hypnotized, so, his sisters, Sunny and Violet had to bring him back. They went to the Library and tried to find a book which would help them learn how to bring their brother back.
I think that this part of the book might be the most interesting and important, but I hope that the last part of the book will be even more interesting.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows #3 post

Harry Potter and the deathly hallows post 3

J.K Rowling

Fantasy, Fiction, Thriller

285/759

At this point of my reading, Harry, Hermione and Ron have left Grimmaulds Place and they are on their adventure of finding the seven horcruxes. They knew that their first task lied somewhere in the ministry of magic. In the Ministry of Magic was where everything political within magical world could be found. It was also the place where Harry Potter could not be seen. To be able to get into the ministry of magic without being recognized, they would need to use the “Polyjuice potion”. The Polyjuice potion was used to temporarily transform a human into another person. All they needed was to find someone that was on their way to the ministry of magic. That way they could use a charm to put them to sleep and take one small hair and insert it into the potion. Without the hair there would be no possible way for the transformation. Harry was disguised as Allbert Runcorn, who worked in the muggle-born registration commission. Hermione became Mafalda Hopkirk a commander in chief of the improper use of magic. Lastly, there is Ron who was disguised as Reginald Cattermole, who was a magical maintenance department worker in the ministry..  The horcruxes that was placed somewhere in the ministry was Salazar Slytherins locket. He was the founder of the Slytherin house in Hogwarts. The locket had to be somewhere in the property of Hogwarts ex professor, Dolores Umbridge. It was stolen from Grimmaulds place by a dealer of wizarding artifacts and given to Umbridge as a bribe. Dolores was wearing the locket when Harry, Hermione and Ron saw her in the ministry. After they successfully took the locket of her neck, they needed to get out of the ministry because they were getting recognized as Harry, Hermione and Ron. Dolores was furious and made sure to have the dementors capture their souls so that they wouldn't be able to escape. Fortunately, they successfully got through to the dementors and escaped. They found themselves in the middle of the forbidden forest. Ron was horrible injured. Ron’s left side and face were bloody and a big part of his flesh was missing from his arm, as if though someone had scoped it by a knife. Their plan was to stay in the forbidden forest until Ron starts to feel better so that they could continue with the search. There were six more horcruxes to find.

It has been very interesting to read these past chapters. They all kept building suspense and you never knew what could exactly happen. At this part of the book I learned more about the horcruxes. Each horcrux has its founder and inside there is a part of the owners soul. The horcruxes provide immortality for the dark witches or wizards. One thing I realized since I first started reading the book was that every time I would stop at a certain part, I find out about some new character or learn more about the previous characters. This time I learned about a character, Mundugus Fletcher. He was a dealer of wizarding artifacts. Earlier in the book he pretended to help Harry Potter, but then latter on I discovered that he was the man who gave the locket to Umbridge as a bribe.

                Harry opened his eyes and was dazzled by gold and green; he had no idea what had happened, he only knew that he was lying on what seemed to be leaves and twigs. Struggling to draw breath into lungs that felt flattened, he blinked and realized that the gaudy glare was sunlight steaming through a canopy of leaves far above him. Then and object twitched close to his face. He pushed himself on to his hands and knees, ready to face some small, fierce creature, but saw that an object was Ron’s foot. Looking around, Harry saw that they and Hermione were lying on a forest floor, apparently alone.

So far in my reading I haven’t read a passage this descriptive. I really enjoyed reading this part of the book because I could really picture what was going on. There were absolutely no parts where I got confused and didn't know what was happening. All of J.K Rowling’s sentences are very clear, very descriptive and very enjoyable to read. This was my favorite passage so far in the book. I reread it a couple of times so I could picture it in my head all over again.  This passage also gave away the setting of the last chapter I read and where Hermione, Harry and Ron were going to be spending time before continuing their adventure. 

Quater1 Post 3

 Wee Free Men

Terry Pratchet

150/300

Now as Tiffany is pronounced the leader of the Nac mac feegles (the little blue men) she needs to marry one of them so she chooses the biggest one, but says that they will marry once one bird itself removes a mountain. The feegles fall for it but suggest that they could remove this mountain much quicker. Then Tiffany goes out of the hole where the mac feegles live and sits down thinking where she can find her brother who has disappeared and she remembers the “teachers” words: “Look beyond” and she keeps looking upon the hills until something catches her eye. Between the ancient rocks she sees that there is something unusual going on ,so she crosses and the weather suddenly turns into winter. The feegles quickly follow her and are all shocked. They tell her that this is the kingdom of “The Queen” who is their biggest enemy. Then as they proceed through the kingdom trying to find their way out they encounter multiple dangerous of monsters such as a three headed dog with fiery eyes, a dreamer which causes them the most trouble and a bunch of unfriendly fairies. In this passage I learned that Tiffany has the other witches frog in her hat which has magical talking abilities and also that the dreamers are monster that transfer you into a dream, but you think it is reality so if you don’t find the real dreamer in the dream and kill it which is hard as it can take any form it will eat you. Also as she is pronounced a mother of the feegles and crosses over to the kingdom of the witch her magical abilities are boosted and she discovers she can do more of them.A thing that develops is the relationship between the feegles and Tiffany they are no more afraid of her instead they are caring towards her and are like friends even though she is now assigned to be their mother and she is no more afraid of them either and knows what their abilities are and so feel secure.

Quater 1 Post2

Wee Free Men
Terry Pratchet
Fantasy
100/300

After what had happened in the farm with the cheese and so she goes to her grandmas house where she used to stay a lot when she was a kid and still went when ever she felt sad or she was confused, or simply wanted some quite time and like she used to when her grandma was still around. On her way there it suddenly became really cold and sit started snowing and she saw a headless horseman riding towards her. She panicked and started running away but tripped and dropped her pan that she was carrying just incase as her only protection. As the attacker got close she was certain that that was the end of her but then suddenly out of no where one of the tiny blue men jumped down from a near by tree and head butted the horse and in seconds there were many little blue men running around and as quickly as everything started it all finished and the men were gone. She got up and slowly continued her journey now certain that something was going on and that she will find this portal the “teacher” had told her about to the witch school. As she got there she looked around and saw that there was smoke coming from the ground and she got closer and she looked down the hole and saw light then she fell through and discovered that there is a little city then she gets called from their queen who tells her that she is dying and that she lets her know that she leaves her to be responsible to take care of her kids which is the whole village of little blue men and then she passes out.

Outside Reading: Hunt For Red October (3)

Hunt For Red October

Title: Hunt For Red October

Author: Tom Clancy

Genres: Novel/Action/Suspense

Percent read: 50/100

 

Summary:

 

Building on what I wrote in my second blog post this section starts off with the author confirming Ramius’s brazen statement about defecting to the United States. In respons the entire soviet fleet turns around and sent to sink the Red October (still unknown to the October’s crew). The entire Northern Fleet is now chasing Red October under the pretext of a search and rescue mission.

 

When the October’s stealth drive is engaged, the submarine disappears off the sonar of the USS Dallas, a Los Angeles class submarine which was tracking Red October as it set out to sea.

 

Through the sudden launch of the soviets entire northern fleet and the October’s stealth drive Ryan deduces Ramius' plans. As tensions rise between the U.S. and Soviet fleets, the crew of Dallas discover a way to detect Red October. The section then ends with Ryan being assigned the task to protect and gain the Red October. 

 

Throughout this section I noticed that Ramius wanted to defect not because he was unaware of the October’s value but more so because Ramius was simply dissatisfied with the entire soviet rule.

Response:

 

To me the section I read this time was very interesting because so much of the plot war revealed. For example the October’s intentions and what the stealth drive can do and how it is used.  All in all this section completely fulfilled my exceptions and I greatly enjoyed reading this section.

 

I predict in future reading that there will a major conflict maybe even onboard the October. Also I think that there will need to be some more elaborate planning on behalf of the United States.

 

Passage:

 

“It would be well for your government to consider that having your ships and ours, your aircraft and ours, in such proximity... is inherently dangerous. Wars have begun that way, Mr. Ambassador.”

 

This quote to me shows the tensions building between the United States and the Soviet Union. I feel this quote is supposed to give a feeling of the real danger between these two powers. Especially in terms of an actual war.

 

Quater 1 Post 1

Wee Free Men
Terry Pratchet
Fantasy
The title of the book is “Wee Free men” by Terry Pratchet. The genre is defiantly fantasy, but it has lots of adventure and comedy in it. So far we understand that Tiffany is a girl that lives on the farm and is a very curious girl with a smaller annoying brother. The story starts with a witch making an experiment and finding a hole in that reality touching with another one. Then as she observes this other reality she finds that there is another witch in the other reality but she could see that this witch isn't experienced and so she decided to hop over and have a look. Meanwhile in the other reality the witch whom we also know as Tiffany is observing her surrounding while taking care of her little brother who is playing around in the mud. Then she notices he is trying to eat mud so she goes near him explaining that mud is not to be eaten. Then as she has given this oh so important information she start to “tickle a fish”, but suddenly the fish swims away and Tiffany notices two small blue men on a leaf which she supposed that their boat. As they came closer she could hear that they are speaking in a really strong dialect. They were arguing and hurrying somewhere. Then as they disappeared in the weeds Tiffany noticed that the water is becoming dark and suddenly a monster jumped out and went for her brother, luckily she was ready and smacked it across the head with a pan and went home with her brother straight after. Now she was looking for an answer and planned on looking through their books, but all they had is their grandma’s sheep book and a dictionary, so she asked her mom for some food that she could go to see a traveling group of teachers to look for an answer. There she meet the other witch but she doesn't know that this “teacher” is a witch and here we understand that neither does Tiffany know that she herself is a witch. Then the woman uses that opportunity and gets as much information about this monster as she can. The next few days go as normal but one day Tiffany notices that there is something suspicious going on while he is making cheese and gets angry and starts warning the little men that she suspects are behind this and when she finishes she notices that the cheese she was making is finished.