Final Essay #3 Personal
In this class I learned how to judge a grate book. From my point of view a books greatness is judged from the eye of the beholder. But taking this class has helped me to better articulate in my own mind how a good book should be judged. What I mean is that I have always known if a book was good when I read it but now I know how to quantify and explain why I think that way. In this way, I feel that a really great book has something special it can teach everyone. One good quality of a good book is that a good book is persistent in its storytelling and is written in such a way as to make the story believable. I have seen this in the books we have read for class all of them are able to put the story together without any potholes. A good book also helps you to feel empathy for the characters. This is an important part of the book because it helps you to imagine the story and be able to enjoy the story better. If the characters are interesting then the reader is able to disband disbelief easier.
Ever since the young age of second grade I have loved books. I was always found with a nose in a book. Because of this I feel that I have a fairly good background on books and so therefore can determine if, in my own opinion, the book is really good or not. But as in all things there is more to learn and over the course of this semester I have had to stretch my reading capability to its very limits. I have really enjoyed this opportunity to read some of the most
When we were required to read books for school, other classmates complained about it, but it was one of my favorite parts of class. Even though I didn’t always like the books, I liked to read books that I wouldn’t have picked out to read. I liked being surprised when I enjoyed a book that I didn’t think I would like.
Good Literature is what it sounds like it’s good but nothing amazing. It is for example, the Hunger Games, where it is a fun and exciting read, but doesn’t spark a change or awakening. This distinction between good and great is vital to the gradual understanding of what makes the human mind tick. Good literature might be nice for a quick and easy read on the beach, but Great literature or nonfiction will change one’s view point and requires detail and focus to extract its full meaning.
James Patterson perfectly sums up my lengthy, arduous, and ever-changing relationship with reading. "There is no such thing as a kid who hates reading. There are kids who love reading, and kids who are reading the wrong books." As I grow older, and come to appreciate the influence that words have over the human mind and soul, this quote resonates with me more deeply. The interpretation of words has had an immense impact over my life, and is something I will be forever indebted to.
The book is a good book because it makes you ask questions while you're reading it but what's happening and to get a better understanding on what's happening in the story. Like in my book the characters wonder if their dad is going to come home from the war and if he's alive or dead. This makes you question if he is really dead or alive
My experience with literature started when I was in the first grade. My first-grade teacher was named Ms. Young. Every Friday, all the teachers would come together to have story time and read the children a book. I would be so excited for story time because I would sit down with my best friends Ashley and Jordan, and we would listen to the teacher that was assigned to read to us. During story time, all the children would gather around in a big circle and the teacher would be in the center in a big brown rocking chair, and read. Over time in the school year, the children would read bigger and longer books like the Junie B. Jones series, chapter books, and the extreme level, which would be the Harry potter series. Sometimes I would fall asleep because the book that was read was very dull. I remember Ms. Young read to us the “Very Hungary Caterpillar”9 by Eric Carle. I loved that book as a child. It had great illustrations of the caterpillar turning into a butterfly. This book made me love reading for the rest of my life. Now in college, I love to read books. I only
In college, there are two main classifications of books: those read because they are required reading and those read because they are desired reading. Sometime however, a book can be read to both fulfill a class requirement, and be enjoyed on its own merit: The Alchemy of Race and Rights: Diary of a Law Professor, by Patricia J Williams, is one such book. It is obvious what makes a book required reading, but what is it that makes a book desired, enjoyable, even fulfilling reading? In a polling of several university students, the most common responses to this question were: “the book must be well written”; “a book in which the reader can personally relate to the writer or characters is held in much
I have made it my goal this year to read harder and older books rather than newer and easy books. I think that I have followed through quite well, though I did read a few easy books. Three years ago I purchased an Amazon Kindle Paperwhite I have found it easier to read challenging books. It makes books easier to read because, of the in-text dictionary I can look at the definition of an unknown word inside the book, it takes the words I have searched and, makes them into flashcards that I can go through later. By virtue of this technology I was able to read many challenging books such as the Three Musketeers, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, a quarterly synthetic biology journal, and many other challenging books. Fiction books I read mainly for pleasure, unless assigned or if it's a fiction wrote in an historic time period. I appreciate historic books because they offer an insight on the thinking and way of life of the people of that era. I also think that reading books written in an classical style influences your writing style. It is my opinion that some of today's literature has become more simply worded and not nearly as descriptive as previous eras. I found that in Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne there were many outdated theories that I had never heard of this gave me an insight into the ways people thought. I have two mediums by which I read first of which is my Kindle Paperwhite which has almost every
I as a reader enjoy reading, however I do not do it as often as I would like. I always have trouble starting books, I would say that the first five to chapters are the hardest to get through. I admire how with reading you are able to make your own depiction of what’s happening, instead of seeing what others envisioned. To me a great book must have twists and turns to keep me interested. I love being able to get to know the characters, feeling as if they are apart of your own life, being able to see them as almost a friend in your own life. Taking their life lessons and putting them to use in your own. I like more romantici books where they have to get over many obstacles to obtain their great love. I also enjoy reading about a character who is able to turn their troubles around and become better than they once were.
I want to discover why it is good. When I read, I am able to embark on a personal journey. It helps me control my levels of stress and it brings me happiness. With To Kill a Mockingbird, I, a lover of books of all shapes and sizes, would grow frustrated and frankly, bored, whenever I was assigned to read it. I craved for the opportunity to share out my thoughts and feelings about the book but was unable to. Instead of growing as an intellectual, I became preoccupied with remembering character’s names and certain events in the book so I could pass the next quiz.
Which I was shocked because I never wanted to read one whole book in my life. So back to the library I went to get my second book, and then read that before anyone else finished their first book of the year. Looking back to those books some of those are the best books I have ever read to this day. Right after school I would rush as quickly as I could to the front office and laid on the ground reading until my mom got off work, then reading on the bumpy car ride home, after dinner and right before bed. Sometimes, when I was really close to finishing a book I would even stay up super late to finish and use a flashlight as my light so my mom wouldn’t see my bedroom light on and know I was up past my bedtime, just so the first thing I said to my teacher the next day was that I finished another book, and of course I said it loud enough so the whole class heard me. They were so shocked that I read so much in so little time. I was on a roll and I didn’t want to stop. I had read more books than anyone else in my class and even in my entire
First things first, I would like to apologise that it took me such a long time to send this essay of sorts but the reason it took me so long is exactly the same reason I read this book in the first place.
“No two persons ever read the same book.” (Edmund Wilson) It is difficult to distinguish a good book because everyone has their own interpretation of the same words. Everyone will embark on their own journey that could range from life-changing to a waste of time. I treasure the books that strike me with feelings of love, comfort and inspiration. Books serve as a means of escapism and security from the real world. In essence, a good book is a safe haven.
What makes a book good? What about bad? Is it too much action? Not enough? WHat about too much dialogue? Not enough sense? Everyone has an idea of what makes a book good or bad. To many people might think a book is bad, simply because it is a book. Of course, more book aficionados tend think a book should have certain written way. How do you decide whether a book is good or bad? Books such as The Delany Sister’s First 100 Years by Annie Delany, Sarah Delany, featuring Amy Hill, An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen, and To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee are books that exemplify a ‘good’ books. Books such as Great Expectations by Charles Dickens and Macbeth by William Shakespeare are ‘bad’ books. Why are these books put into categories like
There has been more than one occasion in life where I have made a quick, stupid decision when buying things that was not well thought out. The dumbest of them all, the one that wins the prize of dumbest thing I have done with my money, was back in either ninth or tenth grade. A new Rick Riordan book had just been released and I was dying to get my hands on it, along with another book that I honestly cannot remember. The books are not what I regret buying. What I quickly bought without thinking while standing at the cash-register with a line of people behind me is what I regret buying. Where I live, behind the counter of Indigo or Coles stores are most often things on sale. On this particular day, I obviously was not paying much attention
My reading level this year has grown a lot and I think that is because of the amount of independent reading that we have done. I have also been reading a lot on my own and I am starting to really enjoy it. The book that I read this year that I really enjoyed was about space. Life in the Future was my favorite book I’ve read this year by far. This is because it is about a pilot at an air show in Wisconsin that crashes his plane and his body gets preserved into the future and later on saves the world. What really interests me about this book was that the airshow in Wisconsin actually exists today and I have been to it. It was like I was in the book by the way they described it. I like how we have a reading log and a reading goal every week. It helps me pace myself and I can enjoy the book while doing so.