Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

George and Lennie are close friends. They live together, move together and look after each other. They work on ranches but not theirs. They are poor and they have a dream of owning their own. They keep it secret from everybody because it is between them.
I like how they support each other. George is smarter than Lennie but George doesn't hurt Lennie. George says Lennie is dumb but George appreciates Lennie. George knows how to handle Lennie and Lennie needs someone that knows how to treat Lennie himself. They are equal and they cherish each other equally. It is a relationship to have besides family.

A farewell to arms final entry

In the last chapter, the expected baby is born but dead and so is Catherine. She had a hemorrage and a doctor couldn't stop it. Henry feels sad and walks to the hotel. The end.
I thought the ending is really sad. There is no salvation. No hope whatsoever. Henry has nothing left to cherish. I mean he really depeneds on Catherine. Catherine is the most important thing in his life. He is crazy for her. I don't see how he's going to recover from her death. But then he has been always cool about everything before he meets her so I think now that nothing keeps him in the back, he is just going to back to the front to work if he can. Or maybe he goes back to the US.
Some themes are the war, friendships, loyalty and glory in the war and love. The war was really painful. Everyone hates it. Rinaldi hates it too. The friendship saves him many times. Many people helped him when he is on escape from police. The loyalty and the glory of the war is constantly brought up in the book. Some people value and some people don't. Love has ended in the ruin. Henry loves Catherine but the life gets kind of boring. Moreover, he has no love for his child. Just kind of feel sad. Then Catherine is dead so...really love is as much sad as the war.

A Farewell to Arms 2

To get better, Henry is located to the hospital in Milan. At the same time, Catherine is moved to the same hospital too. There, he spends fine days with Catherine (nurse) and he gets surgery for his leg because it was badly injured. They go dinner talk in Henry's room at night or go to racing and wins. They pretend to be married and talk about kids. He eventually gets well and goes back to the war front, separating with Catherine.
I like the time in Milan because it's peaceful and delightful. Part by part, I see the shadow of the war but it is better than the warfront. The last chapter's last was dreadful and painful. I hope Rinaldi is okay because he is the best guy you want to have as a friend in the world. Rinaldi and Henry is the best friends and their conversation is funny. Mostly Rinaldi teases Henry.

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

The setting is in Italy during the WW1. The protagonist of the story is Lieutenant Frederic Henry and the story goes from his view. He is a driver of the ambulance on the front and the headquarter. He meets a British woman named Catherine a nurse (not real one but does the same duty as they do) and gets along with her. She lost her love during the war and (I believe) still loves him. One time, she kissed Henry seeing him as her lost love. But Henry doesn't mind that and he thinks it is some kind of love game. Henry and Catherine gets along well though as friends. Their life is surrounded by the war and the imagery or the scene is full of guns and helmets and sand smoke the tank makes on the road.
Henry is not so passionate about anything particular but feels lonely and hollow when he doesn't see Catherine.
I like how Henry speaks in the novel. It's made up of easy words, sometimes confusing(because there are too much "and" and I forget what the description was before that and feel like running on sentence) but like the style better than Fitzgerald's.

TKAM final entry

In the end, Bob Ewell attacked Scout and Jem because he cannot defeat Atticus. Arthur Radley saves them and kills Ewell. The sheriff came and talk with Atticus about it. The sheriff concluded that Ewell died accidentally and leaves the house. They were to save a mockingbird. And they lived happily ever after....I wish I had read this book when I was 9th grade. I'm really sorry to miss the opportunity because I feel like if I read this book when 9th grade, I had enjoyed it more. Themes were loss of innocence, prejudice (not just for the race) and the family strength. I like how Atticus has broad perspectives of the people and the world. I enjoyed this book very much and recommend to people strongly. I don't think I need to recommend because most people had read this book already when they were 9th grade if they went to high school.

TKAM 2

Changes gradually appears in the life of Scout and Jem because Atticus defends a black man, Tom Robinson. They are really getting into the world in which racial prejudice decides. At school, Cecil Jacobs makes fun of Atticus defending African American. In Finch's Landing, Francis calls Atticus "nigger-lover" so Scout beats him up. The neighbor, Mrs. Dubose says nasty things about Atticus and Jem destroyed her garden. Cunningham, once friend of Atticus, appears in front of him to attack Tom Robinson. He may have hurt Atticus if Scout weren't there.
Everyone shows aggressive hostility toward Atticus defending of a black man. I think that is so sad. Scout and Jem are on Atticus' side but they hurt a lot too because they like Atticus. No one wants to love to hear people cussing about someone he or she loves. Jem destroying Mrs Dubose's garden is kind of outrageous but this is because Jem cherishes Atticus a lot. I guess Maycomb people thinks Atticus is a traitor. They liked him all right but they cannot forgive him for defending a black person because they believe him that he will be on their side.
There is a good Japanese proverb about this situation. "The more you cherish that person, the more hatred you have once you start to hate him or her".

Maycomb's people are sad people but understandable.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

The setting is Maycomb in Alabama which is a deep south state. It's about the time of the great depression. The protagonist is Scout who is a young girl. Through her eyes, the story goes. She has a brother named Jem, and father, Atticus, who is a lawyer. The part 1 was mainly about her usual life and a little effect of defending an African American.
I like Scout. She is honest and thoughtful, not precocious. Jem and Scout are very close. Jem is very wide hearted because he plays with her and he looks after her. Even after he had kind of grown up a little, he shoos her but never hit her. Come to think of it, Scout and Jem may tease each other but never gets a serious fight with each other. They don't hate each other. The story gives me the impression of them close and care about each other, never hurt each other. I think it is because of Atticus, who never hit Scout. Scout trusts Atticus and he always tries to talk with her whenever they have some kind of problem. Somehow, Atticus is more like an older person like than a father. I mean someone like grandma.

RoT, HmC final entry

T.J. rubs the white man's house with two other white boys but only he is blamed for the crime and his family is almost killed by village white people. Logans distract angry mobs by burning their land. People help to silence the fire. In the end, Cassie cries for T.J. because he will be sent to the jail (but he was not lynched)and for their land because it was burned. I thought this ending was kind of hopeless but it is the reality that makes this book amazing which are something like How prejudice is everyday incident and how it was nothing unusual for white people. I like the scene when Cassie has revenge on Lilian-Jean. People have got to be tough to overcome such prejudice. It was a quite sad story but it felt very real, I guess. I'm happy that we had civil rights movement and equal achiivement of right of people no matter of race.
By the way, this was the second time to read this book and I think I understand more about it this time because I knew what I was looking for. Moreover my English is still improving so that helped too. It was good measurement.

RoT, HMC 3

The core text book "The Raisin In The Sun" have lots of common things in RoT,HMC. I'm going to call the former one Raisin and latter one Thunder from now on. Over all, both are all about African American in the U.S.A. They are struggling to live their life but there are many things that bother them. First of all, they are poor. Second of all, they have to face Whites prejudice against them. Third, some other fellow African Americans try to get their way. In Raisin, Willy takes Younger's money. In Thunder, T.J. asks Logans to help him ( By asking help, he involves Logans and as a result, Logans has to burn their land although he's been nothing but trouble for Logan family. He is a berk. But I think his role was to enhance how the Logan family is a good family to help poor fellows.)
Personally, I think Raisin and Thunder have so many wise remarks. Not only about family but also about dreams and prejudice.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Cassie and her family visits Vicksburg which is like a market to buy everything. Then she bumps into Lilian Jean who is very rude to her. She resists to apologize but Lilian's father comes out and her grandma orders her to do so. she does it while feeling humilated."No day in all my life had ever been as cruel as this one" (116). When I first read this I don't understand why this Cassie doesn't understand about racism thing but now I assume that she has humiliated officially that day because of racism. She always doesn't like the idea of black being lower status than white. I think it is because Cassie doesn't know about racism. She is raised among blacks so she may not be aware of it. Maybe she just thinks that the fact that whites always get good is just unfair, nothing less, nothing more. But now she knows it and I'm sure she will have revenge to beat nasty white fellows.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry / Mildred D Tyler

The setting and time is the southside of America during the reconstraction era. The protagnist is Cassie Logan,African American, who lives with her family owning a quite a lot of land which is unusual at that time.
It is a first day of school and Cassie and Little man, her brother, receive a textbook which are used til like the condition is very poor by whites. They see that they are called Negro. Their teacher becomes mad because they reject having them. She tells their motherabot the incident, urging this is nonsense.
I like the scene when Mama says that "but that doesn't mean they have to accept them...and maybe we don't either"(30)
we see the background there that she had a hard life

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli :final entry

On the ending stargirl leaves the high school without saying good bye. After decades, Leo still remembers about her and talked about her with his friends. People in the grade of 200whatever in which star girl was in meet every 10 years but nobody knows where she went. The largest theme of the book was the popularity. Stargirl was popular once but then people hated her and again they started to like her. Popularity is something like that. It shifts away so often so quickly. so it is not truly important because it is not something that lasts long. What is important is keep your uniqueness and not to merge into the sameness so easily. I thought at first that this book is very boring but kept reading it hoping it would be interesting, and it was right. I think the later part was something to read. So, it was exciting reading time, I must say. I thought that stargirl was careless but she was just immature. She acted like a baby. She just did not know how to act. She was ignorant. Anyways, I enjoyed this book very much.

Stargirl

As the story goes, people starts to hate and ignore Stargirl. Her boyfriend Leo is not comfortable with it. He tries to persuade her to be normal. I thought what Leo likes about Stargirl is her uniqueness and he should not say anything cruel about her differences. But if I were him, I would just stay away from her because she doesn't care about what others think, in a bad way. Stargirl is homeschooled so she may not understand but taking picture of someone and following them without their permission are not very welcomed. she says when a boy grows up he may want to know about when he was little. so she takes a picture and record what he does in a book. when he grows up she will give it to him. He'll be happy. this is okay while she is just a girl but if she is like an adult it is creepy. She goes to the funeral, sharing griefs even though she doesn't know the dead person. I just don't see what is the good of this girl. She is so careless. She does what she wants to do. Leo sees her as some kind of saint because she does so-called generous things but I think she is just a chunk of egocentric and hypocritic person.

but I think I know what the author wants to say by showing stargirl. she is pure. she is innocent. she cares about everyone like merciful god. she cries when someone dies. she cheers when someone wins. no matter who the person is. That's like Jesus.

Stargirl

The narrator, Leo, goes to Arizona high school. One day a new girl whose name is Stargirl comes to the school. She has some weird characteristics such as carrying a rat named cinnamon and singing a birthday song in the lunchroom everyday. More over, She puts a flower vase in her desk every class she attends and when class finishes she takes it in her bag. Then she goes to the next room and does the same thing. when she "Half the lunchroom kept staring, half started buzzing"(4). The example is that when a new student comes to the school, other students stare at that person because they are curious. By the way, Leo is interested in Stargirl and accepts as who she is. others consider her as weird but no intention of hostile until she cheers for other teams when they attend the basket ball tournament. Hillari, another student at Mica high school, hates her. She says Stargirl isn't real. It means something to me because I know this is just a story and not real but her weird behavior is even more unrealistic. that sinks this story. I can not understand what she is thinking. Hopefully later chapter I guess I will know who she really is.

Stargirl / Jerry Spinelli

Stargirl porcupine necktie is a symbol of identity. She describes it as "... the neatest thing in the world." and "I kept looking for one of my own, but I could never find one."(P1) These quotes mean she is looking for idintity of her, like something that represents her characteristics. the necktie she likes is her uncle's. So the necktie is the symbol of its identity.I think her name is her symbol too. I mean names represent people and on the first day of the school she sings in the lunchroom and people clap. I think singing is like a star and her name is stargirl. she is a girl like a star. I consider that her name shows what kind of person she is and it foreshadows what she does as the story goes.

The perks of being a wallflower final entry

Charlie sees and hears a lot of things and he's very emotional toward them. He faints often and he ends up in the bed at the hostpital because he uses drugs and he's not tough mentally. He learns that he can be himself and be honest to other people. He doesn't have to keep his feelings. He often says he loves his family because around him there are many bad parents who have bad influence to their children and children screw up. By saying that he's making sure that his parents are good and he's a good boy. But he's scared sometimes. The significance is that he learns the way children grew deoends on their parents but children are not always bad just because thier parents are bad. So he felt better and thats what he learns and the significance of this book.
I enjoyed this book because charlie's perspective is very unique. I never experienced that my favourite person died so I guess thats the new perspective I got from Charlie. After I cry I feel healthier but after charlie cries his heart is still broken so that's painful. Moreover he's mentally sick and fragile. i hope i help someone who is like charlie.

The perks of being a wallflower/stephen chbosky

characterization of sam
Sam is "a very pretty girl"(p,19)and has "a very nice smile"(p,19)
She has "very brown hair and very very pretty green eyes"(p,19).
"I thought Sam was very pretty and nice, and she was the first girl I ever wanted to ask on a date someday when i can drive"(p,20)
I am wondering about the relationship between charlie and sam.
They are friend now but are they going to go out?
I hope they do because Charlie really likes her and Sam knows about it.
I'm very excited about it.

The perks of being a wallflower characterization

Charlie is a protagonist in the story.
He cried about his friend's death a lot in the first letter. He even screamed about it.
"Especially in that office because I was crying still. I never did stop crying," (p,4).
"Then, I started screaming at the guidance counselor that Michael could have talked to me. And I started crying even harder,"(p,4).
When Charlie doesn't stop asking what is up with his aunt, his father slapped him and Charlie cried.
"I don't remember much more than that because I started crying really hard..."(p6)
From these quotes I guess he's very emotional.

Soul Taker : final entry

Lewis realizes that Ladslow swindles him and Jennie to make dolls.
Ladslow tries to take Lewis' and Jennie's "souls" for his dolls, but Ladslow is beaten by Lewis and his strong will.
Ladslow dies and everything turns allright. Happy ending.

I think the major theme of this book is "Good can come out of bad."
Afterall, Ladslow helps Lewis to change from the worst to the best. If it was not him, things would not be changed.
Other themes can be don't trust people too much, or "a deal is a deal."
or you can change yourself if you have enough strong will to do that.
Lewis and Jennie are still together even Ladslow dies.
Ladslow says he did help to shape a good life for Lewis but Lewis and Jennie denied that.
I'm starting to think that maybe it is because of Lewis' effort that he has changed to the best him.
I enjoyed this book very much. I like Lewis and how he has changed.

Soul Taker: ch 6 to ch 8

Lewis James starts to change. He gets kiss from Jennie, his dream girl.
He has "flat belly" and "well muscled thigh." because he trains himself like "sit-up" and "press-up" "running round the block" and "riding his bycycle to school."
Ross, his bully, is surprised about Lewis body's solidness and stops bullying him.
He starts to go out with Jennie and he becomes a part of the popular group.
Everything comes out fine to Lewis.

I think this is weird. I think this goes too quickly and too well for Lewis.
I never tried to lose weight seriously but from what I heard, it is not that easy to get good muscled body.
Lewis is changing like one or two month. I can't help but suspect that Ladslow helps him in many ways.
I hope Lewis realize that and be causcious about how generous Ladslow is.