Ordinary World

In Stephen King's "Cell" the protaganist, Clayton Riddell, is not in his ordinary world for very long. Clay is a struggling graphic artist who was in Boston for business, selling the rights for his first graphic novel and it's sequel. After the success of his books being sold, he decides to buy himself some ice cream, and all hell breaks loose. While waiting in line, Clay notices that many people had been using cell phones, and at 3:03pm those people began to go crazy. From a man ripping off his dog's ear with his teeth, to a pilot of a plane crash-landing in the middle of the street, it was impossible to disagree that the world had gone mad. Clay, along with a man named Tom and a young girl named Alice; must now make the journey to the other part of Clay's ordinary world, Kent Pond, Maine where he hoped to find his wife and son safe from the harm of the animalistic crazy people.

That's Classic.

clas·sic

–noun  

~ an author or a literary work of the first rank, especially one of demonstrably enduring quality.

(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/classic)

I have no doubt in my mind that the book I am currently reading (Christopher Pike, Thirst: Red Dice), will NEVER become a classic novel. Red Dice, as I mentioned in an earlier blog post, is a story about a 5000yr old vampire named Alisa. Red Dice is also part of a 3 in 1 book, in a series of 3 books. Not only is the vampire genre just a fad (with the only 'classic' vampire novel being Bram Stoker's Dracula), but I have never in my life heard of a classic novel with more than 2 sequels. For these reasons and more, I find it nearly impossible to even imagine this book becoming a classic.

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

"With my supernatural balance and reflexes, with practice, I can roll any number I desire. I have been  practicing in my suite since I returned from the compound. Carefully I set the dice upright in my left palm in the configuration: five and six. In a blur, I toss them out. They bounce happily, seemingly randomly to the human eyes. but they come to a halt in the same position they started out. Andy and I each win a hundred dollars on the number eleven." Christoper Pike, Thirst: Red Dice, 474.

This scene is portraying the main character Alisa gambling in a game of craps. It reminds me a lot of the movie "21", in which 5 MIT students use their ability of card counting to win large sums of money while playing Black Jack. Although both the gambling games, and the methods of cheating are different, the reasoning behind it is the same. Use your unique abilities in your favour, and good things will come your way. In this case, the good things are hundreds, possibly thousands of dollars.

"I do not think of my self as evil." ~ Christopher Pike

"Strange as it may sound, if you think of me as a monster, but I can love most passionately. I do not think of myself as evil." - Christopher Pike The Last Vampire, 7.

At the moment, I am reading Thirst, a 3 in one book revolving around Alisa Perne, a 5000 year old vampire. Over the course of the first 2 books, Alisa has mentioned 6 past and present lovers. Some she has cared about deeply, others she only used for blood, but over all they usually die because of something she does. What I have learned from both reading this specific quote and from reading the books, is that Alisa is somewhat contradicting. Yes she can love extremely passionately, and would die to save certain lovers, but I think that I could consider her to be evil. Not only has she gotten her lovers killed because of her on various occasions, but she has also turned people into vampires for her own selfish reasons. I think that Alisa will be in a lot of danger because she turned people she loved into vampires. The reason I say this is because her most recent lover turned vampire was captured and taken to a military base to be tested, which could prove very dangerous to both of their lives.

The reason I chose the trailer for "Let Me In",  is more because of the similar situation between Abby, the main character of the movie and Alisa, than the emotion of the video. Both characters have been alive for a very long time, and have knowlegde and experience well beyond their youthful appearences. Another similarity, that really stood out to me was that Abby also had people she loved, people who would do anything to help her, that were killed because of what she is. Although the plots of each story were very different, the emotions felt by both Abby and Alisa are very similar, and that could be one of the many reasons I enjoyed both "Let Me In" and "Thirst".

"Lord of the Flies"

The book "Lord of the Flies" is set in in an unknown time period. While being evacutated from Britain due to an on-going war, a plane crashes on an isolated island, with the only survivors being young boys ranging from age 6 to 12. As the story progresses, the boys lose the importance of rules and civilisation and become more and more like savages, to the point where deaths occur when people don't do things their way.

With only 10 pages left to read of this book, I am very glad that I am almost done. Not only was I not very fond of most of the characters, (Piggy was very annoying, Jack was mean and Ralph wasn't the nicest person all the time either) but I also did not enjoy the great detail that went into describing very gory parts of the book. I admit that compared to the few other 'classics' I have read it, was very well written,but it definitely isn't something I would read again.



Picture found at: http://www.knowledgerush.com/wiki_image/d/df/Lord_flies_cover.jpg



Sands of Time

Out of the types of readers described by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, I think that I would probably fall under the catagory of a sand-glass reader. For the most part, I don't take much away from what I read, and I read for fun and to pass the time. Another defining characteristic of my reading is that certain things can make me very emotional. Similar to how I am affected by sad movies and teenage drama tv shows, books can make me very emotional, evening pushing me far enough to cry. An example of a book that had this effect on me was "The Last Song" by Nicholas Sparks. While nearing the end of the book, I almost stopped reading. The last few chapters were so depressing that I wasn't even sure if I wanted to finish the book. Although "The Last Song" made me cry in various parts, I really enjoyed this book, and am considering reading it again sometime soon.

Books let us into their souls and lay open to us the secrets of our own. ~William Hazlitt

When I first read this assignment, I thought I would have to just pick a random quote and lie about what it meant to me and how it represents my feelings towards books. When I started searching for quotes, I came across a quote by William Hazlitt, "Books let us into their souls and lay open to us the secrets of our own." I knew as soon as I read the quote that it was the perfect way to explain my feelings for reading.  Whenever I read a book, I feel as if I find out something new about myself by the time I'm finished reading the book. Whether it's realizing how much I hate books with no story lines, something I realized while reading "The Catcher in the Rye" or when I read "Beastly", reminding me of how much I love "Beauty and the Beast" and other Disney movies. Books truly can reveal secrets hidden in our hearts and souls.

Website used: http://www.quotegarden.com/books.html