Quarter 4 Outside Reading #1

Sweethearts
By: Sara Zarr

For my quarter four outside reading assignment I am reading the book 'Sweethearts' by Sara Zarr. I am not too far into the book yet but so far I really like it. This book reminds me of the book 'Nectar in a Sieve' because of the way they both go back and forth in time and the main character things about things in the past a lot and as they are thinking you learn new things about them that you didn't know before. One flash-back in this book is when Jenna, the main character, is remembering her seventh birthday, "I turn to see him, Cameron's dad. He is tall, a lot taller than my mom and most of the teachers at school, and has Cameron's big eyes." This quote is significant to the book because it lets you know why it is that she hates her birthday and dreads it every year. This quote also desribes Cameron's father and lets you know more about Jenna and her past experiences. This book also reminds of me of the Private series by Kate Brian because of the way that both books are written in the point of view of the main character. I like books that let you see inside the main characters head because it really makes you feelw aht they are feeling and lets you know everything that is going on in their lifes at that time. I think this book is really interesting so far and I am looking forward to reading more and finding out what happens next.

Quarter 4 Outside Reading Book

For my quarter 4 outside reading book I choose to read the book Sweethearts by Sara Zarr. I choose this book because a few of my friends have read it and really liked it so when they told me I should read it so I decided I would. I have read a few pages of this book already and so far I really like it and it makes you want to keep reading and reading and never put it down. I am glad my friends recommened this book to me and I am looking forward to reading more.

outside reading 9

Bollywood Confidential
By: Suketu Mehta

For this blog I found an article about Bollywood written by Suketu Mehta that was posted on someones blog. This article is and Indians point of view on Bollywood movies. Mehta says, "Why do I love Bollywood movies? To an Indian, that's like asking why we love our mothers; we don't have a choice. We were born of them." I think that is how most people feel, even in America, we love american movies because that is what we are born into and that is what we are used to and what we have grown to like. I thought this article was very interesting because I found out that a true Bollywood film has between 5 and 14 songs, no blockbuster special effects, just real people singing and dancing and showing respect for their mothers. At the end of this article that author closes by saying, " My shoes are Japanese. My pants English. On my head a red Russian cap. Still my heart is Indian."

Mehta, Suketu. "Bollywood Confidential." New York Times. 14th November, 2004. 1 March, 2009.
http://nirvana73.blogspot.com/2009/03/bollywood-confidential-article-by.html

outside reading 7

Bittersweet Sixteen
By: Carrie Karasyov and Jill Kargman

For this outside reading assignment I read the book 'Bittersweet Sixteen' by Carrie Karasyov and Jill Kargman. This book is about 2 best friends named Laura and Whitney who's lives are changed when a new girl named Sophie comes to their school. Whitney has always been the most popular girl at Tate Academy and everyone knows she is going to have the best sweet sixteen birthday party, until the new girl Sophie comes to their school from L.A. and changes everything. The characters in this book deal with the change by trying to get used to it and making the best of it. Laura and Whitney start by trying to become friends with Sophie and soon Whitney and Sophie have decided to have a combined birthday party and everything seems okay again. Then another change happens and the two girls get into a huge argument and make their parties seperate again. This event changes the entire school; suddenly people have to choose between the girls and Laura, who has become best friends with both, trys to stay in the middle until the two decide she needs to pick side. When Laura can not pick a side the whole school turns on her and she is forced to deal with this change. I think this book shows that the best way to deal with change is to let it happen and go along with it because if you don't things will get out of hand.

Karasoyv, Carrie. Kargman, Jill. "Bittersweet Sixteen." New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2007. 22 February, 2009.

outside reading 6

Privilege
By: Kate Brian

For the outside reading about hope I choose to write about the book Privilege by Kate Brian. This book is a series of the the Private series by Kate Brian. In this book the main character Ariana Osgood is sent to the Brenda T. Trumbull Correctional Facility for Women because she murdered one of her classmates, Thomas Pearson. Ariana had a whole plan for her life and it did not include wasting her life in the Brenda T., so she plots to somehow escape and live the life she should have had. Everyday when Ariana is sitting in the Facility she is always hoping she will make it back out into the world some day and eventually she does. I think the book shows that no matter what you hope will happen, as long as you want it bad enough, can happen if you work hard for it. Even though it was a bad thing for most people that Ariana escaped, it was what she hoped for and because she never stopped working for it, it happened for her, and that is what I think Kate Brian is trying to tell the readers.

Brian, Kate. "Privilege." New York: Simon Pulse, 2008. 17 February, 2009.

outside reading 5

How China Got Religion
By: Slavoj Zizek

For this outside reading assignment I read the article called, 'How China Got Religion' by Slavoj Zizek. This article focuses on almost all of China's religions and talks about each one and how the government of China is a lot different then it was many years ago. A long time ago China was a country thats government was mainly focused on religion but now it has a seperate government and economy. I think this article was good but it was also very long and had too many facts that I do not think were necessary to put into the article. Another thing that this article talks about is how some people like Falun Gong want their religion to be seperate from the state control. Over all I thought this article was very interesting and I'm glad I had the chance to read about this because I didn't really know anything about it before.

Zizek, Slavoj. "How China Got Religion." New York Times. 11 October, 2007. 15 February, 2009.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/11/opinion/11zizek.html

outside reading 4

Female cops test traditional gender roles in Afghanistan
By: Mark Sappenfield

For this outside reading assignment I read the article 'Female cops test traditional gender roles in Afghanistan'. This article was about female Afghans searching for equality in their country. The Afghanistan police department is an occupation dominated by men and as women try to make it into it they are faced with a frustrating lack of opportunity. There are some 80,000 men working in this department and no more then a few hundred women. In most countries the gender role in the job area has been fixed long ago but in places like Afghanistan they are still having difficulties with the change. I do not think this article was very well written because it offered little information was filled with useless facts that made the article very long.

Sappenfield, Mark. "Female cops test traditional gender roles in Afganistan". The Christian Science Monitor. 7 January, 2009. 6 February, 2009.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0107/p01s03-wosc.html