Johnny Manziel Column

http://www.cleveland.com/livingston/index.ssf/2014/05/johnny_backup.html#incart_river

I was reading a column about the role of Johnny Manziel on the Cleveland Browns because I am a Browns fan.  I have heard many opinions about how Manziel will do in Cleveland, but I thought I should read from a Cleveland sports columnist to see what they thought about him.  Bill Livingston reports that the organized team activities happening right now are what will have the biggest impact on who plays quarterback for the Browns this year.

Livingston explains that it will be a long process for Manzeil to get used to the Browns' offense.  To describe this he uses a simile,"'Install,' the noun, is sort of like 'rebuild,' the noun."  The use of this simile keeps the readers interested and helps them understand his point.  He also states that Brian Hoyer is not willing to give up his position to Manziel and both QB's have a chance at starting this season.

The two quarterbacks are compared in the article.  Unlike the attention hungry Johnny Football, Hoyer is quiet, diligent, industrius.  However, Manziel has a chance to do great things in Cleveland, and he gets the fans very excited.  Bill Livingston is very informative for fans of Cleveland sports.  For the fans in the Dawg Pound, Livingston is their entire news.

Columnist Assignment

Krista Ramsey discusses the benefits of children playing with Legos that they don’t get from other activities.

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/opinion/columnists/krista-ramsey/2014/02/15/krista-locking-into-the-magic-of-legos/5521245/

“Because this is not just the World According to Legos, this is the World According to You.”  This is a quote from Krista Ramsey’s column that is very powerful.  This line shows how kids become very creative by playing with Legos.  Because she makes the World According to You a proper noun, the reader thinks of this as an actual place they can go.  It makes the imagination that comes with Legos seem without end.  This line is very impactful on the reader of the column.

Krista Ramsey uses high diction in all of her columns.  She uses figurative language and sophisticated words to enhance her writing.  She also uses many proper nouns to say where she gets her facts from.  Overall, her writing is very impactful and she makes readers think about things they might not have thought about before.

Questions for Krista Ramsey:

How are you personally impacted by all of the people you interview?

Where did you study to become a columnist?

How do you find ways to incorporate so much figurative language in your writing?

What I like best about A Time to Kill

A Time to Kill by John Grisham is a very exciting and intense book.  It keeps me reading and wanting to turn the page each time.  I would recomend this book to anyone who likes thrillers.  I like the intensity of the book, but another thing  I like is its elevated diction.  Grisham uses many sophistocated words with many syllables. He also uses a lot of figurative language, such as personification.  In one part of the book, Grisham describes a man turning off his alarm clock.  He says, "He found it where he had left it, and killed it with a quick and violent slap."  Grisham uses personification in this passage.  He makes the clock seem alive by saying that the man killed it.  We as readers can understand this personification because the alarm clock is making annoying noises like something that might be alive, and the man silences it.  This is only one of many examples of figurative language in the book that enhances the story.

Characterizing Sheriff Ozzie Walls

Ozzie Walls is the sheriff of Ford County, Mississippi in A Time to Kill by John Grisham.  He is an African-American and he is respected by the citizens of Ford County, who are mostly white.  He played football in college and then went to play professionally for the Rams.  An injury caused him to come back home to Mississippi.  He has authority over others and criminals fear him.  He can relate to Jason Bourne, because he is a good person, but he can be tough when he needs to be.  Like Bourne, he is without fear and he will do whatever is necessary to carry out the law, just like Bourne would do what ever is necessary to protect himself.  Although Boune did not have legal authority over others, he had physical authority over them so Bourne and Ozzie are very similar.  This scene shows how Sheriff Ozzie has authority and he can scare criminals, "Looney handed Ozzie the longest, blackest nightstick ever used in Ford County.  Willard was panic-stricken.  Ozzie cocked it and struck the center of the table, sending beer and cans and foam in all directions."

Why I chose to read A Time to Kill

 

I have just started reading A Time to Kill by John Grisham.  I have only read one chapter so far, but the book is already intense.  It starts with a ten year old girl who has been abducted and is being beaten, but she escapes and is found and returned home at the end of the chapter.  I am very intrigued to continue and find out what will happen to the men who did this.

I chose to read this book because I have read the Theodore Boone series.  This is also by John Grisham, but these books are intended for kids in middle school, and that is when I read these books.  I wanted to read some of his adult books and I was recommended this book.  I am glad I started reading it because it is very good so far and I think I will read more books by John Grisham in the future.

Post #10: The Bourne Identity Review

                One of the most suspenseful and intriguing books out there is The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum.  There is suspense from the very beginning of the book as an unknown man is shot six times on a boat and falls into the sea.  This man wakes up with no memory of who he is and people are trying to kill him for reasons he doesn’t understand.  The book is about him looking for clues to find who he is, with a lot of danger along the way.  This book is an intense page-turner.

                The plot of The Bourne Identity has many twists and turns.  This makes the book very exciting and interesting to read.  One instance in the book when the plot turns is when Jason is in a bank in Zurich and as he is leaving, he sees a man pull a gun out.  This man and other men attack Jason and he fights them off, but then he realizes there are many other killers coming after him.  This was very suspenseful because we don’t understand why Jason is being attacked, since we don’t know about his past.  Another moment of suspense in the book occurs just as Jason thinks he has escaped the killers in Zurich.  It says, “His eyes were looking at two thin intersecting lines!  Crosshairs!”  This was very suspenseful because it seemed like the killers were everywhere and it seems to the reader like it is going to be impossible for Jason to get away from them.  As in the examples mentioned so far, the plot in the book is very fast-paced at most times.  However, the plot can also be very slow-paced.  For example, the plot is very slow at the part when Jason and Marie are working to find clues in order to discover his identity while they are in Paris.  This part of the book is slow because there is a lot of dialogue and not a lot of action.  The book is still interesting at this point even though the plot is slow, because the reader is intrigued to discover more of Jason’s past and answer questions that might have come up earlier in the plot.  There are many unknowns in the book and it can become very confusing.  Overall, the plot of The Bourne Identity is intriguing and suspenseful.  It forces the reader to turn the page and keep reading.  The author also uses characterization to add to the book.

                The main characters in The Bourne Identity are well-developed.  Jason Bourne and Marie St. Jacques are both very likeable characters.  Robert Ludlum characterizes these characters through their dialogue and their actions.  We can see that Jason is willing to do anything to discover his identity when he abducts Marie and uses her to get himself to safety.  We can also see that Jason is a good person even though he does this because he was only doing this to keep himself safe and he also keeps her safe.  We can also see that Marie is a good person because she refuses to leave at any of the times Bourne tells her to leave because it is too dangerous.  Carlos is a very mysterious and evil character.  He is not characterized as much as Jason and Marie, but he still adds a lot to the plot of the book.  The reader sees small glimpses of Carlos throughout the book and is intrigued to find out more.  The characterization of Jason, Marie and Carlos enhances the book, as does Robert Ludlum’s writing style.

                Robert Ludlum does many things with his writing to make the book more interesting.  The book is written in third person, but sometimes it changes to first person in italics for one sentence to show Jason’s thoughts.  These thoughts come to show what Jason thinks about the things he finds and what he thinks those things might mean about him.  They also show him remembering what the doctor told him to do when he sees something familiar.  One time when Jason was thinking, the book said, “Specifics may come to you…certain repressed conduits…prodded into functioning.  Was it happening now?  Oh Christ, I can’t stand it!”  Jason’s thoughts add suspense to the book because they are popping up in his head when he needs to focus on getting to safety.  The writing style of the book definitely adds suspense.

                The Bourne Identity is a great read.  Anyone would like this book, but especially people who enjoy thrillers.  It is intense, suspenseful and hard to put down.

Post #4: Informal Reflection on 11/22/63

11/22/63 by Stephen King was the longest book I have ever read.  It was worth my time though.  I enjoyed the book very much with all of the plot twists.  It wasn't the best book I have ever read, but I would give it 4 out of 5 stars.  From the very beginning of the book, I was intrigued and I wanted to read more.  I read 100 pages at one time when I first started the book because I thought it was so good.  The middle of the book is sort of slow and that is why I struggled to get the book done on time, but overall I still enjoyed the book.  I would reccomend this to someone who likes history or suspense, but you have to be able to make a commitment to this book because it is 850 pages long.