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.

Post #12: Reading Wishlist

After this Best Sellers course is over, I will continue to read.  There are many books that I want to read, and the book I will read next is The Hunger Games.  I have never read it and everyone else enjoys it so much so I think I should read it.  Other books I plan to read in the future are: The Bourne Supremacy by Robert Ludlum and the rest of the Jason Bourne series, Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, Let Me Off At the Top! by Ron Burgandy, Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin, A Time to Kill by John Grisham, and more.

Post #11: Book Talk Presentation

Post #9: Charachter Reflection

The two main characters in The Bourne Identity are Jason Bourne and Marie St. Jacques. Both characters are very likeable.  Although we dont know about Bourne's previous life for most of the book, we can see how he acts after his memory loss and can tell that he is a good person.  Readers of the book really learn to root for Bourne after reading the beginning when he struggled for nineteen weeks to try to regain his memor because you really want him to find out who he is.  Even though he abducted Marie, he made sure she was safe the entire time.  One example of him trrying to protect her is when they were at a restaraunt and a man walked over to the table they were sitting at to speak to Jason.  Jason said to Marie, "A man's coming over here.  A fat man, and he's afraid.  Don't say anything...And dont look at him...For your own good,.  There's no point in him being able to identify you."
Marie is very likeable as well because she cares about Bourne.  She realizes he abducted her because of the situation he is in, and she is greatful that he saved her life.  Many times Bourne tries to tell Marie to leave so that she can stay safe, but she cares to much about him, so she stays with him and helps him figure out what is going on.

Post #7: No Country for Old Men Trailer

Post #8: Truth in Memoir

In order to be considered a non-fiction book, a book must be completely true.  James Frey claims that his book, A Million Little Pieces, is non-fiction, although some of it is untrue.  He claims that 95% of it is true, which makes it non-fiction.  I disagree with this.  If you tell someone that a book is non-fiction, they are going to believe that everything in the book is true.  You can't put fiction in a non-fiction book.  His book might still be a good book, but it is fiction because he made some of it up.  People shouldn't be misled into believing what they are reading if it is labeled as non-fiction, but is really not true.  There does need to be a line between fiction and non-fiction.  It matters so that people know what they are reading.  In order for A Million Little Pieces to be non-fiction, Frey would have to take out the part that is not true.  If he wanted to keep that part of the book, it would have to be labeled as fiction.  I disagree with David Shields when he says there doesn't need to be a distinct line between fiction and non-fiction.  He encourages readers of Reality Hunger: A Manifesto to cut out the pages where he cites all of the quotes he plagiarized in his book.  I think that it is important for people to know what they are reading, so there does need to be a line between fiction and non-fiction, and people should know where the information in his book comes from.

Post #5: Adapting No Country For Old Men

One scene from No Country For Old Men that is important to be in the film adaptation is when Moss returns to his wife and says he is in danger and he might not come back home.  This is important because it introduces his wife and it is when Moss first states that he is going to keep the money and face whatever danger comes at him.  Another important scene is when Chigurh flips the coin at the gas station for the first time.  This is a very important scene because this scene develop's the character a lot so you get to know more about him.  One more important scene is when Moss and Chigurh meet at the hotel, because it is an intense confrontation between the two of them and it helps move the plot along.

One scene that is not important is when Chigurh gets hit by a car.  Although this part of the book is cool, it does not move the plot along at all and it would have to be cut in the movie.  (Although this part is kept in the real movie.)  The scene when Moss goes back to where he found the money is important, because an assailant sees him and shoots at him, but the movie should not include all of the detail from this scene, because there is not that much time in a movie to give a lot of detail and the scene would still make sense without all of the detail.

Post #6: Readicide

Readicide is a problem in schools.  The love of reading is dying because all we are reading in school is literary fiction and it is boring to students.  Students like to read genre fiction and lessons can be made out of those types of books also.  If genre fiction was used more in school, maybe students would actually read the books and not just use Spark Notes.  It is still important to teach some literary fiction, but the 50/50 idea should be used so that students can read some genre fiction in school as well.  Literary fiction is not relevant to our current culture.  Kelly Gallagher said that one of his 18-year old students didn't know what Al-Qaeda was.  The student asked, "Who is this Al guy?"  This is ridiculous because this student was about to graduate and would be able to vote in the next election.  It is important that we read genre fiction that is more relevant today than literary fiction.  Not only do school curriculums need to start incorporating more genre fiction, but book awards also need to recognize the popular books that people enjoy.  What the book awards are doing now is preaching philosophical books that few people enjoy and trying to get people to read them.  Genre fiction is not less "worthy" than literary fiction, because it actually entices readers with interesting plots.  Books do not have to be based on ideas in order to be great.  It would be good for students if Macbeth were swapped for Hunger Games.  Things like that need to be done so that people will continue to enjoy reading.  Readicide will always be a problem until the curriculum is changed to include more interesting books.

Post #3: Book 1 Project

An idea for a fan experience to promote 11/22/63 by Stephen King is an 11/22/63 theme park.  There could be different areas in the park based on the different places Jake lived in in the past.  The different areas of the park could be Derry, Jodie, Fort Worth and Dallas.  The park could include thrill rides as well as restaurants based on diners from the late 50’s and early 60’s.  The thrill rides could be based on the events in the book, such as when Jake tried to stop Frank Dunning from killing his family.  During September and October, there could be haunted attractions.  An example this could be Sadie’s house when John Clayton broke into it and tore it apart before slashing her face and holding her hostage.  This part of the book is very creepy and it would be a good thing to use to scare people.  There could be pillars around the park that have actual information about the Kennedy assassination on them.

This idea came from many different parts in the book.  The idea for the restaurants comes from the many different restaurants Jake visits in the past and the descriptions of those restaurants and the food served there are included in the book.  An example of this is when Jake has a root beer at Kennebec Fruit Co. in 1958 in Maine and says, “He filled it from a tap and I could smell the root beer, rich and strong.  He scraped the foam off the top with the handle of a wooden spoon, then filled it all the way to the top and set it down on the counter.”  The idea for a haunted attraction came because the book is very disturbing at parts and adding haunted attractions could increase the amount of people interested in coming to the park.  An example of how the book can be creepy is when Jake says, “There, written in her own lipstick, were two words in letters three feet high: DIRTY ****.”  The idea for the pillars with actual facts and information about the assassination came because there are many is a lot of actual information about the assassination in the book.  Before Jake goes into the past, his friend Al tells him a lot of facts about the assassination and about Lee Harvey Oswald that are interesting and those facts as well as other facts should be included in the park.  Also, in the book, Jake encounters many people who were actually involved in the events leading up to the assassination, such as George de Mohrenschildt, who was a good friend of Lee Oswald.  At the point in the book when Al is giving Jake his mission, he says, “…somebody tried to kill General Edwin Walker… same rifle, ballistics proved it.”

This idea could greatly increase the audience for this book.  People could hear about the theme park and want to read the book before going.  They could also go and become very interested in the JFK assassination by learning facts about it.  This could lead to them wanting to read the book to get a different perspective on the assassination.  People who are already fans of the book would definitely want to come to the park to go through some of Jake’s experiences.  This would add more fun to the experience of the book and it would encourage fans to continue reading books by Stephen King.  Also, a lot of people would think the book is really cool because it has its own theme park.

This is an example of a diner one might eat at while at the theme park:

Post 2: What is a book?

A book is a written piece of text that can be entertaining, persuasive or informational.  A good entertaining book is an escape from the real world into your imagination.  Good books don't just tell you a story, they paint a picture in your mind.  Not all books are very good, but they are still books.  The content of books doesn't matter.  A book can be on paper or on electronics, it doesn't matter.  A book is still a book even if it is on a Kindle or iPhone.  Sure, I like to hold the physical paper book, but e-books are way more convenient.  I can have 200 books on my kindle that doesn't take up very much space, but 200 paper books take up a lot of space.  Also, it would be much easier to take a kindle to school with an 850 page book on it than take the actual book which doesn't even fit in my backpack.  Also, the length of a book doesn't matter.  A 20 page picture book is a book, and so is a 500 page novel.  Non-fiction books give information about science, history or anything else and they are books just like fiction books.

Post #1: Why I Read

Why do I read?  I read for entertainment and pleasure.  If I don't have anything to do, reading is a good thing to fill my time.  I try to find books that keep me reading without wanting to put the book down.  If I have read about 1/3 of a book and it is still boring, I will stop reading it.  I don't know why anyone would read a book that is boring.  I like to read historical fiction books a lot, but realistic fiction and fantasy are also very entertaining to read.  I like fast paced books, where something is always happening.  I will usually read for a long time so I can find out what happens.  I don't like to have to end reading with a cliffhanger.  I like books with a first-person point of view more than books with a third-person point of view, with the exclusion of the Harry Potter series, which are in third person and still are my favorite books.  If there is a movie coming out that is based on a book, I will read the book first so that I can compare them.  I read books to find good figurative language, because without it, books can be very boring.