the end is nothing but a new begining

So, after today, this blog is going into retirement, its been interesting, and a more fun way of exploring books than entries for sure. I am going to miss this blog, but I will start another one, in fact I will be continuing on a blog a am already on though I haven't written on it much lately, my fellow writers have contributed a lot. I will definitely continue to write on the blog. As for the interwebs themselves, I feel something must be said for the abuse it takes in general, from cussing teenagers, saying things they would never have the guts to say in person, to creepy adults, trying to whisk children who are not careful away. As long as there is freedom on the internet, it will NEVER be a safe place.

This blog has also made me think a lot about... well, just think - A LOT! which is a good thing. Issuses have come up in my mind that I had never bothered to think about before, like whether all of the freedoms we have in America, are good, or bad, also, what is good, is it what is moral, the right thing to do - and what is right - the thing that has the best consequenses, or what is accepted by society as the "correct" thing to do,

I just wanted to say farewell

I'll miss you so much
but it's time to leave now
I'll never forget you

A Hiku, by Eli Rose.

To kill a mockingbird finished I did says I

Hooray! Hooray! Hoopla! Hoopla! (what's a hoopla?) I have finished to kill a mocking bird, and (sopilers ahead, watch out!)

Oh my gosh Boo Radley - saved SCOUT & JEM??? After all they did to him? There are many philosophies in this book, but none so significant as the all important cliche, don't judge a... well you fill in the rest, it's quite obvious, and I would be surprised if my readers ( which I doubt I have) couldn't fill in the - Oh very well, I suppose if there are any people who can't tell what the saying is it's don't judge a book by its cover There I said it, happy? Anyway, this proves true in more than just the outright obvious way, AKA, Arthur Radley saved scout, and Ewell tried to kill The Kids.
Mr. Cunningham, for example, while only briefly mentioned, went with a mob to try to kill mr. ATTICUS FINCH then changed his mind when Atticus's kids showed up and mentioned how they were friends with his child. Outright, you are drawn to hate him because of what he did however, as Atticus tries to explain, he was just caught up in the mob mentality, and while that is no excuse, you can understand where he is coming from.
People sometimes need a slap in the face to realize what they are doing is wrong however they also usually always have some good in them, and deserved to be treated as though they do have good in them.

To kill... A MOCKINGBIRD

To kill a mockingbird one of the best selling, and most critically acclaimed books of all time, has everything to do with philosophy. This book chronicles the ever-twisting story of Jean Louise Finch, (or scout, as she is usually called) Her brother Jeremy (Jem) and her "husband to be" a boy her age, Dill. The part of the story I am concerned with is the trial, the jury votes all guilty, no hung Jury, nothing, just twelve angry men all over again. The jury is composed of white men, all intent on putting an innocent African American man in jail simply because he is an African American.
Racism has, whether americans choose to accept it or not, been part of american until quite recently, as there has always been someone willing to jump to some farfetched conclusion based solely of the ethnicity of a person. Politics played a strong role in making sure the unethical choice always appeared the be the favorable one, especially when the consequences of such a law were foreign and distant, as they truly had no effect of the average person.
The government has limited the rights of many simply because their salary, and pride are on the line. I find it disturbing that such an atrocity could occur in our society of all places, in the place where quote " all men are created equal." It just goes to show that all government is corrupt, no matter which way it is.

Warriors

Re-reading children's books and starting a post on freedom, I would like to comment on the freedom that the cats in the books have. While the warrior life claims to be free and wonderful, in actuality it is limited by rule, after rule, after rule. These rules ( otherwise known as the warrior code.) have limited the freedom of these cats. Even in the wild there must be some sense of order.
Must there always be order, if not, when should and shouldn't there be order? With out order are people really free? I don't believe so, from what I believe, you stop yourself from being free. My logic in this is that, you always have a trait, a flaw, or not a flaw, which restricts you, be it pride forbidding you to act humble, or happiness forbidding you to be sad, you are always restricted, if by nothing more, then simply by yourself. Order is always imposed in some way shape or form. No one can ever truly free for they would be nothing, no thoughts feelings or emotions to guide them. a random, unguided zombie like creation that knows no bounds, like... this is going to sound reaaaaly odd but, like baby almost.
Babies (before they begin to develop understanding of the world around them) act randomly, and will do anything as they have no sense of wrong or right - before they can even be happy or sad. This is the closest we have ever gotten to being compleatly free, and even then we are limited by essential needs, such as food and water, and sleep.
Good night all...

starting the Giver - Again

What does it mean, to leave your family? I mean, what does leaving what you have come to know as right really mean? does it mean that you are betraying the part of your life that lived with your family, betraying your family as well, or does it simply mean moving on. at 18, all children are considered, officially, adults. They get voting rights, considered as individuals (pay taxes) etc. However, what is the difference between this, and running away. You are not an adult - the only difference. Legally, you are still under your parent's custody. to shift positions from child to adult, can that happen before 18? legally, no, however I believe that you can. If you have to take responsibilities on for yourself, fend, in any way, for yourself, I feel you have reached adulthood. Perhaps not willingly, however I am of the opinion that you are.
If you have suffered abuse in the past, does this warrant leaving family behind? If someone abuses you in your family, are they still family. Is family, family through blood, or through love, can you be unloved and still have family. My opinion is that family is only family so long as they care for you, respect you, and most importantly love you. You cannot have family without love. Jonah's parents don't know the meaning of love, does this mean that they are not family. They have cared for him, doesn't that warrant respect? My opinion is respect is warranted only if they positives of your life outweigh the negatives of it. Jonas watched his father kill a child, and knows he killed many others, however he still helps the community. To me, murder = outweighs any positive that may come up about the person in question. To forcibly take a defenseless life sickens me. If I were in the position of Jonas, his father deserves no respect, he murders, and does not feel. But - is it his fault really - after all, he is completely INCAPABLE of feeling. Should that be pitied and not thought of as wrong. Though the actions taken by his father are wrong, is he himself guilty - ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking it, but what about inability to understand it, inability to follow it? I feel his actions were wrong, and jonas should not have to live with this man, however, he should be pitied not punished.
In many ways, the giver is more family to Jonas than his father. The Giver loved him, taught, and respected him. He let him go when he was ready, but prepared him for the world. I He openly helped Jonas, taught him, and helped him understand the world. the meaning of family is not blood

It is love.

children's books

revisiting children's books has taken up much of my time as of late, as I have not been able to get to the library, so I flip through books that I owned from previous times. One of these books was the Percy Jackson title, I noticed how many morals they manage to cram into these books. MAny of which seemingly are all standards long ago seemingly thought to be ethical. But out of all the ideas viewed in the books, "follow your heart, do what is right, don't lie, etc., one thought disturbed me greatly; how could all of these morals be followed, as in, some of these rules do not always work in real life, don't lie, for instance, you should be able to lie to protect loved ones, spare feelings, etc. Also, could these techniques be used to alter what children believe, some lessons of course are universal, but what about more cultural standards?
I was also wondering about the religious views of children's books. Could a book have religious tones to it, and if so, is that okay. I believe it is. In books such as chronicles of Narnia, and A Wrinkle in Time Christian beliefs are mentioned, but it is not as if they are being forced upon children. I believe that only when ideas are trying to embed themselves in peoples minds, and trying to erase all other beliefs, they should be eliminated. Not that I'm at all for religion being taught in schools, as history or anything else, as it is a group of peoples beliefs and not fact that are dealt with in religion.
I don't know if its possible for science to exist with religion, however, I feel a Wrinkle in Time does a nice job holding the two together. in my eyes (THIS IS AN OPINION) religion should be examined but not taught.

(and I didn't post this on thurs. because blogger wasn't working - whyyyyyy?)

A wrinkle... IN TIME????????? What?????? No way!!!

I love this series sooooo much! In this story, the Murry family, mother and father are theoretical scientists, working to better mankind, the father is working on a tesseract, a way to travel trough space, when he suddenly disappears. much to my dismay a spoiler must be the rest of the following post. If you have not read this book, click 1)because you must read this book. Now I would like to point out, that this story is a coming of age for Meg Murry. Originally, I assumed that Charles Wallace Murry would come of age simply because he is the youngest, and seemingly, and in some ways is, the most innocent. Charles is also in some ways, the most vulnerable, as he is not used to the evils of this world, however Meg must learn to deal with herself as a person, as a gift, Ms. Whatsit gives Meg "her faults". Meg grows up to become a beautiful smart woman who is married to Calvin, the boy who accompanies her on her journey to the mysterious planet of Camazots.
Charles wallace remains absent from many of the other Wrinkle books, however Madeline claims that he is still alive. This author has written beautiful work and developed the characters wonderfully along the course of the story. Some references are made to the bible , however, instead of detracting from the book it, like all of Madeline's other information, has a sturdy basis in our world, instead of her science fiction one. The story forces us to think in more ways than can be counted.
For this book, thank you Madiline

NEW BARTIMAEAUS BOOK!!!!! YAYYYYYY!!!!!! (42?)

I received this book a while ago, meaning, about when it came out, however I have yet to post on it, and all its glory, and I must say, I AM A RAVING FAN!!!I started reading these books at about 10, and was so distraught when the series ended

SPOILER!!!!

I was so sad when Nathaniel died, I actually cried a bit. More for kitty than anyone else, and she had to do something but she just couldn't. Bartimaeus and Nathaniel had become so close (one body close) they had to merge, and Kitty finally gained Bartimaeus's trust...

SPOILER OVER!!!!

But now, though the series featuring Nathaniel and Kitty, the quick tongued djinn is ever present, this time between a conflict with Solomon the great and the queen of Sheba. Again the plot follows an outline of trust gaining, this time focusing more in depth on the role kitty played, the commoner, the slave, etc. It makes you wonder, truly, what is slavery? Is it willing. Should you accept the fate given to you. Or is, in this case, ignorance is truly bliss. But is bliss worth it for the loss of knowledge? I would say no, as a quote I can not remember the speaker once said, "the more you know the less you don't know" (maybe hitchhikers?) does forty two then mean knowledge, in which case bliss should not be sacrificed... because if 42 is made for knowledge, then should we sacrifice 42, simply for our own happiness, after all, we can do so much more with knowledge than with bliss... as of now a bid you all a farewell,

remember FORTYTWO means KNOWLEDGE!!!

PS If you didn't know what that meant, please read the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, and the rest of the series

PPS the other books are
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Life, the Universe, and Everything
So long and Thanks for all the Fish
Mostly harmless

PPPS Also, read the bartimaeus books, I know I didn't do the best job describing them, but they are amazing!!!

harry potter 3...

After re re re re...... REREADING (many re's) harry potter and the prisoner of askaban. but I have noticed something different about the reading this time. J. K. Rowling writes this book, and this is the last time in a book, other than the seventh, when there is a happy ending. In the end of the fourth book, there is no happy ending, diggory has died, and the Dark Lord is alive (or close to it) once more. In the fifth book, sirius dies, the sixth, Dumbledore dies, and the seventh, while it is somewhat happy, the ending kills dobby (I really cried) Tonks, Remus, Colin (REALLY, DID SHE HAVE TO DO THAT?) and many others.

Belatrix's death was fit for an evil queen, killed by Molly Weasly, in an epic duel. however, the seemingly random slaughter of the innocent is shocking, and the cause is worth the death however, in the end, it was he who created the monster, kept it alive, and had to kill it (harry) The tragedy was questionable,why did the books quite suddenly get darker. The plots twists become more violent, and the bells at hogwarts ring for the dead. Perhaps Rowling felt her audience was growing up, however how would younger audiences assimilate into the series.

the darker twists make you wonder the reasoning behind these provoking deaths, and changes in writing. An event in her life, a suggestion, or what...

a fraction of the whole

This remarkably quirky book about a family who thrives on their own despair, it seems, comedy comes out of the oddest crime family ever. This book starts with the life of the boy known as Jasper dean, nephew of the long dead crime lord Terry dean, and son of a philosophical grumpy man who happens to be terry deans brother.

The whole book (not a spoiler as it tells you on the BLURB ( or back cover... :) ) ) is based around the death of Jaspers Father as he tries to become someone in life. he is cynical and all together not a good person who really does love his son.

the themes in this book are somewhat unclear until towards the end, but all I will say is that they have to do with trust (even if it isn't smart) and finding yourself (at least before you kick the bucket, so to speak.)

though terry's death seems signignificant, as does mairtains and... well, they aren't really . except the last one. Which I didn't say... so, all and all this is a wonderful, very heart wrenchingly funny book.

Swamplandia!

Swamplandia is a story mainly focused on the story of two children on their way to becoming adults, a coming of age story (rather cliche I know) but this story, if anything, is nothing but cliche. It is heart wrenching, and witty, cold and happy, with a twist of disturbing proportions to top it off.

it focuses on two of the three Bigtree children, running an alligator theme park on an island away from the mainland, away from the world of darkness as it is more commonly known. As Ava, one of the main characters, copes with a sister who can see ghosts (or thinks so) an the other main character, her brother, who has run away to get money for the family, all with a mysterious ( and alarming ) character known as the bird man twisting in and out of the text.

Through the families twists and turns, secrets are exposed
Secrets
are
dangerous

Secrets

That should never be told

but it leaves us to wonder, what would happen if there were no secrets at all - would we be content, no, everyone needs, a little privacy now and again, the question remains, how much is too much?

A book that made me laugh, and quite literally, cry.

The Book theif

Liesel Memenger's Journy during world war II, and her experiences, from being taunted by her best friend Rudy for a kiss, who both loved eachother, to hiding a fugitive Jewish Citizen from the concentration camps, her story, told trough death, a tired entity, with no more awareness then us, just a job he detests, as even death is touched by this young girls struggle.

His style (Markus Zuzack) was not unlike that of shakespere

who reveals the ending of his plays.

Leisel lives on to witness the death of rudy, kissing him, praying, for him to wake, he never does. She steals books forknowledge, and money from her kind foster family to mail letters to her mother which will never be recieved, through the bombing love hate and fear, The character development, description, the story. Through each reading I cry more and more, laugh more and more and I know these characters exist outside of the confines which so many others are kept, and together, Liesel walks with death as an equal, I miss them

Already...

Post on a post to post for a post because we all post.

so, I have a post about a post to post. (is it just me or did that sound somewhat odd.) Anyway... I am posting about Corinna's blog post (here is a link! http://xt0ki.blogspot.com/2011/02/curious-incident-of-dog-in-night-time.html just copy and paste it, as I can't work this thing... I am not good with technology...) I want to make note about the way, and language which Corinna wrote her blog, it was compelling, and if I hadn't already read the book, I would really, want to read it, in fact, I think I want to read it again!

The main reason I am posting this is that I would like to go into some depth about the idea of the mother being at fault. Now I am not defending what she did, however I feel that if I had had a child with autism, I would have a hard time dealing with him/her - probably him as autism and aspergers syndrome which is what he has, there is an argument that aspergers is an high functioning form of autism, I find this possible but unlikely, as he displays symptoms which don't appear frequently in autism - like his want to communicate, though in high functioning autism this can appear as well... oh I just argued against myself didn't I... anyway, maybe it is I won't go any further into it... but back to the main topic

If you were a parent of a child like Christopher, you would love and cherish him but honestly could you handle him. My mother works with children with autism, and it is hard work, but fun, from what she says. But it must be stressful, and with some people, the stress could break them. That could happen, and does sometimes. Sometimes when stress like this occurs, the work can separate families.

Though I disagree with the mothers choice of action would you do better, look at yourself and say, could I go through that. And some will say yes, and some amazing saintlike people have, and should be greatly revered. Children with autism, are wonderful and unique. But I can't help feel some pity for the mother...
that's all...
so with a rather sad end to this post, I bid you all ado

The trilogy concludes

Now, for the third time, I have finished the Bartemaeus Trilogy.

I really do love this series for many reasons, but I would first like to make a sort of disclaimer; the rest of this blog post will have A LOT of spoilers, so as they say, reader beware

Now back to business at hand, I would like to say that when I first read this series, I noticed all the little details between the relationship between Kitty and Bartemaeus, and the death of the major djinn Farqual, Bartemaeus's long standing Arch-rival. I wold love to say I noticed all of the subtleties, however to say that would be lying.

However when reading the books over again, you could really examine the relationship between Nathanial And Bartemaeus. Nathanial seems to adore him through a curtain. He never releases the djinn, and I don't believe that Nathanial thought that Bartenaeus would reveal his true name. The two were always arguing, but I feel, again in some wierd complex way, that Bartemaeus was really Nathanials master. The noble, (not to mention sharp tongued) Djinn was always there for the boy even when Rathanial believed himself to truly be one of the gov't. Sadly though Bartemaeus's wise tutelage ended in nathanial makeing the same sacrifice Ptolemy made back in Alexandria, all those years ago.

Bartemaeus Trilogy

hello again here. I would like to speak about the Bartemaeus trilogy, an amazing series of boooks entirely devoted to many different stories, as in different characters

this is meant to, I feel, give an entierly whole perspective on the story, whith this entire perspective, I believe that the story is told from everyone's point of view, especially the pro/antagonist, Bartemaeus. he is an unlikely hero, one which turns out to feel more compassion towards magicians and, mostly Nathanial, I feel that this is sort of, in a wierd way a comming of age, not just for Nathanial, but for Bartemaeus, as he is the one who begins to soften and develop respect for everyone in the relm of our world.

I ALSO have come to notice the simplicity of the way the magicians speak as opposed to the way in which the djinn talk. They speak in a superior tone, which is an interesting dynamic, as if, the magicians have found the means to control one more powerful than himself or herself.

The screwtape letters

After seeing The Screwtape letters on Broadway, I thought it was time to delve into the mysterious world of our own devils, and daemons, all with the guidance of "your affectionate uncle Screwtape" This story by C.S. Lewis (yes think Narnia) is a lesser known story than Narnia, which, for all the hype it got, I feel myself detesting. However, the screwtape letters are simply amazing. They follow a daemon named Wormwood, through his uncles letters to him, about the person he is trying to bring to "our father below."
The story itself is almost a moral, and pokes at our own vices. And is hilarious. (yes this is still the man who wrote Narnia)but I love the way that it seems when the devils are looking down on us the way we look down on beings who we see lower than us. It talks about humanity, as below them, something which i would bet would make most of us humans feel pretty uncomfortable, I mean being thought of as food, and, even highly inferior, really puts you in your place. I hate to make a horrible pun here, but at this point I feel I must point out tat Lewis has us playing the devil's Advocate. Seeing what life would be like down below. And shockingly, it isn't that different from life up above on earth. person attacking person and makes us think about our humanity as a whole. I like it a lot more than I thought I would. It is an amazing boo, and I would recommend it to anyone who has ever thought about any of these issues.

Harry potter and the order of the pheonix

well well well, it seems I am re reading harry potter for the umteenth time. I love that series. Out of all of them, I feel this might have been the book that people liked the least, but really, it supplies a solid backround for the next two books. without the * spoiler * Death of sirius black, harry's godfather, he wouldn't have been so prompted to want to make a change and fight all out against voldemort, it wouldn't have set the, harry ron hermione alone backdrop for book 7, they could have just stayed with sirius. If he haden't gone out with Cho, then he wouldn't have gone into hogsmede, and began to have gotten jelous of Ginny. As well, without sirius's death, aberforth couldn't have sent dobby to help harry at malfoy mannor, because sirius would have seen it but not have been able to apparate in. As well, dobby wouldn't have died, and harry would have someone to go to after dumbledores death * spoiler * events of the fith book, many events couldn't have occured. as well, it expressed the fact that the trio is growing up, and with them, really promotes the oncomming darkness of the series. Sort of the maturity of the books, and those of us who grew up with the series know that as we grew, so did the books. The themes of loss and dispair began to change too, but also the theme that provides closure in the seventh book, the idea of not just friend ship, but that they have "something worth fighting for". Also, it begins to promote the idea that voldemort has alot more to him then just an evil antagonist. * In the sixth book we find tha voldemort like harry was an abused "orphan", as Voldemort's father was as good as dead. Voldemorts life reflects the alternet life of harry. He could have channeled his anger and fear and dispair in an evil course, but he chose not to, he chose to not hide, like voldemort hides "behind the mask of lord voldemort, for which he has hidden for so long." Albus dumbledore. It also sets up dumbledores great weakness, it proves he can fail, and is a major loss of innocence part, he realizes dumbledore cannot solve everything and resents him for it.

Today I am reading where's my wand

okay so I finished it, I know I haven't posted on it yet, but I read fast. Anyway, this book follows the life of Eric Poole, an 8 to 15 year old struggling with his belief in god and magic. Okay, so he stars out, in the 60's in church, listening to all of these amazing tales of goe, and believing all of them, I am no atheist but I wonder why they (the church would feel it's okay to force a kid to believe something, he thought he could do magic by dressing up like a character in the old t.v. show bewitched, now of course he grew out of this but, the church really forced him to think it was their way or the highway.
I also think that the way his parents behave is interesting, more specifically, is mom and his moms mom, or his grandmother. I think his mom who acts like a total neat/control freak does so because her mother was so the opposite, and I feel while that is not necessarily the best way to be, it is complexity normal, and I feel alot of people tend to gravitate toward who their parents aren't.
Another theme in this book is loss of innocence. He thinks that he is magic and that everything will last forever, but it won't, things don't happen like that, and that is his major discovery throughout the plot of the story, that you can't be a child forever, however much you'd like to be.

letters from mum

So, here I am, I want to post about a shocking revelation in the book, that demonstrates the complicated relationship shared by father and son. First
a spoiler ALERT

*****THE MOTHER IS NOT DEAD********** there but they found some letters from his mother before the incident ************the mother wrote letters to the son to try to communicate*********** the father hid these letters, I just think that this proves that the father might be, in a way, jealous, he was trying to protect his son, but I feel, jelous of his wife for the life she has.

to fairness, it must be hard, to take care of someone with aspergers syndrome, but still, I feel his response was not okay by any means. He wanted to protect but also protect himself from what she did, and felt his son would feel the same way but was afraid he wouldn't, this is my opinion.