As he spoke, his nose, long though it was, became at least two inches longer.

I finished Pinocchio this morning and it was really enjoyable. It was an incredibly quick read, I started it on Sunday, and finished it this morning (which is a Wednesday).

Things I liked:

1. The lessons it teaches. The Disney movie teaches that you shouldn't lie, yes, but the book is always better than the movie, right? There were so many great lessons about hard work and trustworthiness. If I have little boys, I will definitely be reading this book to/with them.

2. The brevity of the chapters. I think the longest chapter was 4-5 pages long, most were only 2-3. Also, each chapter had a heading telling the reader what was going to happen, kind of like the scriptures have.

3. How loveable Pinocchio is. He tries so hard to be good, but he just struggles. I think he is a great representation of people in general, but especially young people who know they should do certain things and obey their parents, but they are overcome with the need to rebel or do what they want instead. In that way, we see, in the end that Pinocchio is changed into a "real boy" because he finally does what he is supposed to do, he works hard and cares for others. What an excellent moral.

Things I didn't like, well, thing I didn't like:

1. The illustrations in this specific edition were way creepy looking.

This is a delightful collection of stories about a loveable puppet and I would recommend it to anyone!

Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs

The basic premise of this book is that the people on a small island off the coast of South Carolina "worship" Nevin Nollop, the author of the sentence "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog." They have a statue in town that displays the sentence, a letter per tile. What happens is that the tiles start to fall down and as the letters fall, the government prohibits their use. The people on the island are no longer able to write, read, or speak the fallen letters, if they do, they are severely punished and made an example of in town. The story's main character is a young woman named Ella Minnow Pea, who, along with her family and friends, is trying to come up with a way to make the government see that they are being irrational and that they should reinstate the fallen letters.

Things I liked:

1. It is an epistolary novel (which means it is written solely in letters).

2. I learned so many new words, including the word epistolary, haha! I got to use my brain to figure out what some of the words meant.  I love his use of unusual words. A couple of my favorite words were piscivorous: which means feeding on fish (I figured this one out by dissecting the word, which I did often with other words while reading this novel) and aposiopesis which means suddenly breaking off when you are speaking (I just looked this one up because I didn't think my brain could even handle trying to figure that word out).

3. I don't want to spoil anything so I won't post details, but the ending was so good. The book was kind of boring, to be honest, but the ending was so cool. I got chills when I read it, and laughed out loud.

 Things I didn't like:

1. This book was not as exciting as I wanted it to be. The story was a little blah for me, I wanted to be invested in the characters more, but maybe the fact that it was written all in letters deterred me from being able to really get to know the characters, that and the fact that I didn't know anything about their lives prior to the letters falling, so I wasn't invested in the characters.

2. Towards the end when they had lost most of the alphabet, the characters wrote phonetically. I am fine with having to figure out some words phonetically, but I became a secondary teacher for a reason. When I was reading the correspondences in which the words were spelled out phonetically I just thought about my roommate from student teaching who taught first grade and how she constantly had to read phonetically to understand what her students were writing. In this novel, at first I kind of chuckled because I was having to read this way, but then it just became annoying.

Just an observation:

Very odd concept that the man, Nevin Nollop, who composed the sentence "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" is the higher being for the people on this island. They literally say that he is omniscient and omnipresent and that "his will be done." To me it seems ridiculous becauseof my own religious beliefs, but in this fictional land, they believe an author is a deity. Interesting.

As an English teacher, I love words and have studied language in depth, so I had an easier time than other people might reading this book. If you are not a fan of big words or dictionaries, I don't recommend this book to you. But if you find words loveable, give it a try! 

(and i think i could i think i could yes i think i could)

Finished #32 Carrie by Stephen King last night. It was one of those books that I just couldn't put down.

Things I liked:

1. I know this sounds weird, but I liked the weirdness of her family. The story wouldn't have been nearly as interesting without her overly religious mother. Her relationship with her mother was so odd, too. I guess it was just like any teenager, one minute they love their parents the next their parents are ruining their life. But it was more than that with Carrie and Margaret White. Her mother was cruel to her because she believed that Carrie's conception was a sin and when she saw that Carrie had these special abilities, it just made it even worse, her mother believed she was of the Devil, and even planned on more than one occasion to kill her. There were many times in the book when an article would say that it would have been helpful if they could know more about Margaret White, and I wish there was more about her in the book. In the end we finally learn why she sees Carrie as such a huge sin, but it would be so interesting to learn more about her mental state. Carrie constantly thought ill of her mother, and of course she even killed her mother, but at the end, right before she died, she cried out for her mother, even after she had been abused her entire life. I think that is so interesting, maybe I should have studied psychology.

2. Miss Desjardins and the principal of the school both fought for Carrie. However, it took them a while to do it. I guess it took all of the girls in her gym class making fun of her for getting her period for the first time for them to do something about the fact that they had been teasing and abusing her since grade school. I especially thought when the principal went up against Chris Hargensen's father and said if they sued the school, the school would counter sue for abuse against another student. I think it took a lot of guts to do that, and I'm glad that he did. As an educator, it really made me think about what I would have done in a situation like this and I think both the principal and the gym teacher handled things as well as they could have, other than the fact that it took them so long to finally stand up to the girls that were bullying Carrie.

3. Sue and Tommy, well, at least they meant well. Sue is a character that I feel like high school students should know about. With all of the bully prevention programs that are going on in the world, people should know about Sue Snell. She is a good person, and she realized that when she decided to stoop to the level of her peers in the showers, she had made a huge mistake. I admire her for deciding not to continue bullying and for trying to make things right. Poor Tommy, poor, poor Tommy. Honestly, he was just trying to do something nice for his girlfriend and for this girl that had been picked on and abused her entire life. It's sad that he had to die, but I honestly can't really blame Carrie for wanting to take her revenge on everyone at the prom. Would I have killed them all? Of course not, but she was pretty mentally unstable, and had years of pent up anger, and had to make the book interesting, so I understand.

4. The very last "letter" in the book was so chilling. It made you worry that another child was going to end up like Carrie. Spooky

Things I didn't like:

1. The other students were so horrible to her. I couldn't even believe the way they treated her just because her mother was so religious. I'm so glad I was never persecuted the way she was for being religious in a different way than most people. It made me so sad to see the way she was treated.

2. The only other thing was there was too much sex.

Lots of things are mysteries. But that doesn't mean there isn't an answer to them. It's just that scientists haven't found the answer yet.

Last night I finished #54, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon. I was really excited about reading it because it has gotten such high praise by almost everyone I know and even most critics. This post contains SPOILERS.

Things I liked:

1. I felt like I was reading a book written from the perspective of a person with Asperger's Syndrome. Haddon's voice for Christopher was spot on. I loved his way of deciding whether it would be a good day or a bad day because of how many yellow or red cars he saw. Just little things like that.

2. All of the pictures and diagrams. I liked that the author allowed us to visualize many things the way that Christopher did instead of the way I would see it.

3. His mother chose her child over Mr. Shears the second time around. I'm glad they ended up being able to work out a way to all live in the same town and even though his parents weren't together anymore, he still had both of them close.

4. The way they showed that they loved each other. Christopher didn't like to be touched, so instead of giving a hug, they would put out their hands and spread their fingers and then just touch fingertips. I thought that was really touching that even though he didn't want hugs or kisses from his parents, they found a way to show their affection.

5. All of the British slang and words that I kind of had to figure out what they meant as I was reading. A lot of them I knew, but it was still fun to decipher a little bit.

Things I didn't like:

1. I found it to be a little bit flat. The story was interesting, but the pacing was too slow for me. I got bored and sometimes went a couple of days without reading it, which is how I can tell that I don't LOVE a book.

2. The way his father handled just about everything. He hit Christopher, he took his "book" and hid it from him, he killed the neighbor's dog, and, oh yeah, he told him his mother was dead. Sorry Ed Boone, but don't expect any father of the year awards anytime soon. Now, his son does have special circumstances, but I'm just gonna put it out there that when your kid feels like they need to have an open Swiss Army knife in their pocket because they are afraid of you, you did something wrong.

Overall, I liked it OK. It wasn't one that I want to read again, but it was good. I don't know that I would recommend it because of it's HEAVY use of the Lord's name in vain and the F-bomb, but if you are interested in knowing how the mind of a child with Asperger's Syndrome works, you should definitely give it a read.

"And in that moment, I swear we were infinite."

Just finished #228. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky and I really liked it. That means I've read 45 of the books now!

I went into reading this book not knowing anything about it other than what I saw on the preview for the movie, which really isn't much. The only thing the preview tells us is that this kid is in high school and he's probably not the most popular guy around.

It was a really easy read first of all, I think I read it in a total of 3 sittings. It probably took me between 5-6 hours. It was one of those books that you sit down to read and time passes but you don't realize how quickly. One night I read for two hours and it felt like 5 minutes. That is most likely due to the formatting of the novel. The entire book is letters from Charlie, a 15-year old guy who is really scared to start his freshman year of high school because his best friend killed himself and he doesn't have anyone else. He makes friends with some seniors that are in a "rougher" crowd, but absolutely loves them and they feel the same way about him. Basically, these letters are chronicling his freshman year and all of the experiences he has with his new friends.

Things I liked:

1. Charlie's whole entire world felt so realistic. There were so many details of his life that teenagers would be able to relate to. Personally, I didn't really relate to the character, because I didn't have the experiences he did, but I thought about how many of the students I saw at Mesa High could definitely relate.

2. I liked that at the end, Charlie was alright. He tells the reader not to worry about him, that even if he doesn't always feel good, eventually, he'll be fine again. 

3. That his friends Patrick and Sam really loved him for who he was. He didn't have to change to impress them. Even though he did change because he was with them, they never forced him to do anything.

and my favorite...

4. He loved his English teacher and all of the books that he assigned him to read. I like that his teacher was there for him. I want to be that kind of teacher.

The things I didn't like:

1. I know that it was all part of his journey, but I hated that he started drinking and smoking and doing drugs. It's just the teacher in me, but I thought it was so sad to see such a bright person go down that path. It was hard to see what it did to him as well. When he woke up from his LSD trip, that was just really scary. I know it happens to real kids in high school, I just hate that it does. 

2. His aunt. All through the book you think that she is this cool awesome lady that he really looks up to and loves because she always gets him two separate presents even though he was born on Christmas, but in the end, she is most likely the reason for his mental instability. I felt so horrible for Charlie, not only because he was sexually abused by his aunt, but because he still idolized her. He didn't know how to deal with what she did because he was so young. It was just heart breaking. 

Now I just need to see the movie. I like reading the book before seeing the movie because I like being surprised in books. Plus, then I can see if I agree or disagree with the way the characters and experiences were portrayed, which is fun for me. I just don't know how I feel about Emma Watson playing Sam. I kept trying to picture it, but it was hard. But, we'll see!

"You love me. Real or not real?"

I'll begin this post by saying that I haven't really ever been a HUGE fan of The Hunger Games series. I liked them fine, but I wasn't just itching to read the next one as soon as it came out. I began reading Mockingjay a few months after it came out and I couldn't get past the first chapter. I put the book down and told myself I'd try again later. Roughly two years later, I picked it up again. I got a little farther, I think I finished Part One, but when it was due at the library, I wasn't sad, and I returned it. So, last week, I was in the library and saw the audiobook and thought, I am GOING to finish it this time. It's going to happen. It happened today. I don't know that I've ever been more ready for a book to be over. DON'T READ FROM HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS.

Things I didn't like:

1. I just felt so bad for Katniss, well really for all of the characters. It was like she/they could NEVER catch a break. It was just one thing after another and every time she turned around another one of her friends was dead. Firstly, I just wanted her suffering to end. Secondly, I was just getting sick of all of the depression. It was UNENDING.

2. I hate that she watched Prim die. That was just cruel.

3. That she didn't seem happy in the end. After it was all over, she still seemed depressed. But I guess who could be happy after watching their sister die because of a bomb created by your best friend, who also abandoned you. Not to mention that her mom couldn't stand to be in their home because of all of the memories, so they decided it would be best for her to stay and help in a hospital leaving Katniss with no family in that same place that her mom couldn't handle because of all of the memories. Even though her new life had begun, she still didn't seem happy, which was really sad.

Things I did like:

1. That Katniss created relationships with people she didn't think she ever would have. Joanna and Finnick are two really good examples. I'm glad she got to know them and even kind of create friendships with them. Plus, I liked her relationship with Haymitch more in this book than I remember liking it in the other two books. I guess I just liked Haymitch more in this one.

2. That she believed Snow at the end. I don't know why she did, but I'm glad she did. I don't know that I would have after everything that had gone down between the two of them. Also, I'm glad he died, too.

3. THAT SHE ENDED UP WITH PEETA!!! I've been Team Peeta from the very beginning. I just didn't really care for Gale at all. I think it's because Peeta has more of the characteristics of a person I would want to be with. Gale just seemed blah to me. However, I liked him more in this book than in the others.

So, there it is. My full opinion of the last installment of The Hunger Games. I will have to say I am very interested to see how they plan to recreate some of the things in the book for the movie. I just recently saw The Hunger Games movie for the first time and so as I was listening to this book, I kind of tried to picture the people from the movie in my head. All I can say is Jennifer Lawrence has her work cut out for her and I hope the odds are ever in her favor.

Gatsby...what Gatsby?

This blog post has spoilers about The Great Gatsby, so if you are currently reading it, plan to read it, plan to see the movie, or just don't want to hear about the ending of the book, please do not continue reading!!! 

Just finished reading #116 on the list, F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel, The Great Gatsby. So that means 44 books down and 295 to go! I really liked the book overall.

I enjoyed that the narration was told from the point of view of the rather shy next door neighbor instead of Gatsby himself. I do wish, however, that Nick Carraway and Jordan Baker would have ended up together in the end. I was a little sad when he called her up and she said she was engaged to someone else. I guess it was for the best because he wanted to get outta West Egg anyways.

Of all of the female characters, I feel most sorry for Daisy, and that's saying something I guess because one of the other women gets hit by a car. I hate that she ends up staying with Tom at the end. I mean, let me just put it out there that I pretty much loathe Tom Buchanan. He is such a dog. He had a girl on the side, but as soon as he found out some other man wanted Daisy (and that she wanted him, too), well he just wasn't going to have that. Ugh, what a pig. Anyways, I just felt bad for Daisy, because she really did love Gatsby, but she had to move on with her life, and maybe she didn't love Tom as much as she loved Gatsby, but she didn't know if he would ever come back into her life. So, she settled I guess, which is sad. Then, Gatsby shows up again, and she wants to be with him, but she's married and it's a whole big huge mess, and I just feel bad for her. Although, I guess being married doesn't really stop her, but her husband is a cheater, so I guess she doesn't feel too bad about it. Her choice between Gatsby and Tom is a huge conflict in the novel.

Then there is Gatsby.  Oh how I enjoyed the mystery that was Jay Gatsby. I wish I could go to a party thrown by Jay Gatsby. I'm not really a big party goer, but let me tell ya, I'd be at Gatsby's house in a hot second if I was invited. If I was Daisy, I would have easily fallen in love with him as well. I guess I may have been more apt to fall in love with him because he was Leonardo Dicaprio in my head as I was reading. His death was so tragic, or I guess I should say his funeral was. Hundreds of people would come to his parties, and not one of them would come to his funeral. That is depressing. We don't really ever find out exactly what Gatsby does to acquire his fortune, but we can make a pretty good assumption that it isn't favorable, or even legal. Some people said of his death that he got what was coming to him, how sad is that? These are people that came to his house and were entertained by him frequently, and they have such cruel things to say. It's just sad that people really think that way.

This book is easily one I could over and over again. It's definitely staying on my book shelf. Fitzgerald has a way with words that just made me want to keep reading. I didn't want to put the book down. It was one of those books that you stay up until 3 am reading because you want to know what is going to happen next in the lives of these characters that you have come to develop in your mind. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys stories of the Jazz Age, although, anyone reading this has probably already read it because I told you there would be spoilers. Anyways, I love that time period, the 1920's are so interesting to me, and I really felt like I was there when I was reading this novel. Loved it.

The end.