Something different...

So I wanted to mix it up since it's the LAST BLOG POST! I am going to blog about a book, that I haven't read yet.. Let's see how this goes!
 So I have always wanted to read to Kill A Mocking Bird. Apparently, it is not about physically killing a mocking bird. Thank goodness! And it is supposed to be a love story. I am ready to read this!
It is not about what the title says it to be. An example of not judging something by its cover. But I wondered why she decided to name it that.

So in a Yahoo!® answer(which is probably not the best source) they refered to a line in the text, "Atticus said to Jem one day, "I’d rather you shot at tin cans in the backyard, but I know you’ll go after birds. Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird." That was the only time I ever heard Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it. "Your father’s right," she said. "Mockingbirds don’t do one thing except make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corn cribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird."
I'm guessing that this was a pretty important line in the text. But the only way to understand is to read it!

Woah...what just happened?

Have you ever read a book where in the beginning, you have no idea what's happening? I bet you have. But have you ever had a book where, a guy commits suicide, the main character wakes up in the hospital with a gunshot wound to the head and no memory, and the doctor gets shot in the chest by a mysterious woman with spiked hair? I don't think so; unless you've read The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown.
"Langdon watched in horror as Dr. Marconi staggered backward into the room, falling to the floor, clutching his chest, his white lab coat drenched in blood." (25)
That was the last sentence of Chapter One of The Lost Symbol. This author sure knows what he is doing, because from that point on, I was hooked to that book. You have to have good beginning to get your reader hooked. Without a good beginning, it will be slow and it will be hard to get your reader to keep reading your book. I have personally stopped reading books because it was so hard for me to get into it. If you ever right a book, and I highly doubt you will, but just in case, write a good beginning that stays with the reader and makes them blog about it!

(When I die young) 2x

If any of you are not Twilight fans, then do not keep reading because you will not like this blog very much. This blog does not talk specifically about Bella, Edward, or Jacob, though it does have to do with their way of life. If you are a Twilight fan then you might have heard about the book that Stephenie Meyer wrote off of her book Eclipse; The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner. Bree Tanner made an appearance in Eclipse when the Cullen's were fighting against the newborn vampires. Bree Tanner was one of those vampires. But then she got burned by the Volturi and died. Well this book shows her life after she got turned into a vampire and before she got burned by the Volturi.
Bree was 15 when she got turned into a vampire. She has been a vampire for three months and she just recently met Diego who was one of the older, tamer, vampires and Riley's (the boss) right hand man. But when she met him, he actually talked to her and made her think and not about blood which is on her mind 24/7.  She, of course, ends up falling in love with him, and I think Diego is doing the same. But, Bree does get burned by the Volturi so her romance can't last forever. But maybe her romance with Diego will spark and they will die loving eachother.

Lego Lifesavers

Locking into the magic of Legos

When they say Krista Ramsey makes the invisible visible, they were right. I mean, who thinks about Legos? Ramsey's column, Locking into the magic of Legos, was very insightful. She talks about how Legos are great for kids and for parents. Kids develop good characteristics when they build Legos that they learn all on their own. Parents get quiet and alone time that they sometimes do not realize they need.

One line that really stood out to me was when she was talking about how kids are so involved with other stuff that Lego's are a good thing to sit down with every once in a while. "They're in a world beyond learning objectives and select soccer, safely out of reach of arranged play dates and online language programs." Krista Ramsey is using a listing technique to try to put an effect on the reader on how the children these days and what they do for fun is very serious with a lot of pressure on them. They need something simple and something they can use their imagination with; like Lego's.

Krista Ramsey's writing style is meant to bring out your emotions; sadness, humor, thoughtfulness, curiosity.

Some questions I would ask her:

Did she know she wanted to be a columnist and how did she know what to do in college to be a columnist writer?

Did she experience a lot with her voice and writing style before she found the right one?

Do the situations she writes about just come to her, or does she go out and find them?

The Pigpen Cipher

Usually, I read because I love the adventures books take me on, and how they help me escape from the real world. But reading The Lost Symbol, I realized a whole other reason I read.
My dad tells me that whoever reads is really smart because you are gaining knowledge and getting smarter. Well, I don't know that if you read you automatically become smarter. (But I am smart and I read a lot so it just might work!) But I can definitely agree that you are gaining knowledge when you read and that is the other reason I read. To gain knowledge. And I have realized this when reading The Lost Symbol. Want to know what I learned? ↓↓↓↓↓↓

The Pigpen Cipher! When I saw this, I thought this was so cool! In the book, the main character, Robert Langdon, discovers a small pyramid with this code on it. This was the old Masonic code that the Masons used to write in code. But since it was so easy to break they went to another code.

Using the key above try to decipher this:




Hilarious right? But if you do not have an incentive to read books, read them for new, cool knowledge. And start with this series by Dan Brown!

The Cunning Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes is not a book you hear a lot of freshman are reading right now. Even I wouldn't usually read this kind of book but the reason I am reading this book is first of all, I like mystery and Sherlock Holmes is all about mystery. Second of all, I have recently finished all the seasons that are out right now of the television show Sherlock on the channel BBC. That show is one of the best TV shows ever in my opinion. I wanted to learn more about Sherlock Holmes because all I knew about him was everything I learned in the TV show; which is not always accurate. So I went straight to the source of the television show which was the book. So I am now on page 348 of 1712. The book is made of a collection of short stories about Sherlock's adventures. The story I am currently on is The Five Orange Pips.

A funny thing about the character Sherlock, is he can take things in from a scene and know almost everything about it. You would think there is absolutely no possible way he can know that, but then he explains it. Then your thinking, "Anybody can do that!" But this mostly happens in the TV show because I can see what is going on. But this makes Doyle that much better as an author because not only does he just say Sherlock does this and figures this stuff out, but he also explains this and makes it seem real which means not only is Arthur Conan Doyle as smart as Sherlock, but he is smarter. But a good example of this is in The Boscombe Valley Mystery, in the book, when Sherlock was describing the murderer based on things found at the crime scene:
"'[The murderer] Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears thick-soled shooting boots and a gray cloak, smokes Indian cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt penknife in his pocket.'"

So you're probably wondering just how he knew that much about the murderer like he was looking at a picture of him. He does explain what he just said but I am just going to show you a little snippet:

"'And the cigar-holder?'

'I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt penknife.'"

After I read stuff like that I am just thinking, "How did Doyle think of that?" In the TV show I can see what is going on which makes it easier. But someone had to write this and think this up! It is not that easy to just think up a thing like that which makes Doyle that much better as an author because not only does he just say Sherlock does this and figures this stuff out, but he also explains this and makes it seem real which means not only is Doyle as smart as Sherlock, but smarter.

So I would also suggest watching the television season Sherlock, because it is not just a mystery show, it is a comedy!