Finding New Books

Something about the cold weather today made me think of Andrei Makine, a contemporary Russian author. He grew up in Soviet Russia and emigrated to France in the 1980s. He writes about his childhood in the Soviet Empire, about the shift from aristocratic Russia to the Soviet Empire, and about being an emigrant in the United States (bonus points for anyone who can explain the difference between an immigrant and an emigrant). Dreams of My Russian Summers is his most popular book, but Once Upon the River Love is my favorite. And the graveyard on Elmwood Avenue in Burlington always reminds me of The Crime of Olga Arbyelina, for some reason.

However, I didn't want the boring certainty of something I had already read. I wanted to discover a new story. How does one find a new book when one is in the mood for something specific? Several of you have mentioned friends or family members who can recommend books, based on what they know of your tastes. I tried that today; I asked the librarians at the Fletcher Free Library, in Burlington, if they could recommend somebody like Makine. I had to think hard for a second to really identify what it was about Makine's books that I enjoyed, but I was pleased by the results. The first recommendation was Paul Auster, whom we have read in class. A brilliant suggestion, except for the fact that I've read all the Auster in the library. However, I ended up with four authors, all new to me, and walked away with two new books.

Another tool is the website, gnooks.com. This website suggests authors related by writing style or thematic style. You type in an author you like, and the website creates a web of similar authors. An easy way to get some direction towards new books you might like. Sometimes it's successful, sometimes you end up with a dud, but it's a starting point.

Speaking of libraries, are you all patrons of your local libraries? The school library is quite impressive, but there are lovely libraries with other books all across Vermont. Fairfax, Fairfield, Georgia, St. Albans, and Waterville all have local libraries, so you don't have to fight over the one copy of Redwall.

josiah

Salamandastron-Some Thoughts

In Salamandastron, I’m getting to the exciting part – the climax! Last night, I had trouble putting it down. When I have trouble putting a book down, that means I’m really enjoying it. Does Thrugg succeed, or will everyone at Redwall die? Who will win Salamandastron – Urthstripe or Ferahgo? Do Samkim and Aurula ever get the sword of Martin the Warrior back? I won’t tell you what’s going on – I don’t want to give anything away – but I will tell you that those questions are being answered as I read. I want to know the answers!

Brian Jacques, the author, keeps switching between seemingly separate stories, so that you don’t tire of reading just one. He leaves one on a cliff-hanger and then switches to another, and as a result, there are multiple cliff-hangers at once. You want to keep reading to find out what happens next in one story, so you want to read until you get there. You end up reading part of one of the other stories and you get hooked on that one, so it goes on and on. (Is there a name for the technique of having multiple plotlines and switching between them?)

In the series, the characters are all animals. Mice, squirrels, hedgehogs, moles, otters, badgers, and shrews are always good, while rats, ferrets, weasels, stoats, and foxes are always evil. I actually care about every one of the species listed as “vermin,” and I think it’s a bit unfair never to let them have a chance to be the heroes. I mean, in most children’s stories, the wolves and foxes are bad guys but the mice and rabbits are good guys. This series pretty much sticks with the traditional good-evil roles stuck to those species. That is pretty much the one thing that bugs me about it. What would make things really exciting would be to have, say, a good fox or weasel, or even more unusual, an evil mouse or hedgehog.

Well, I’m into talking animal stories. At the moment, I’m making attempts at a series of my own – but in mine, species makes no difference in matters of good and evil.

Warroir cats

I have put up a link to there site for people. I think that they are the best books in the whole world because I like cats a lot.

The music of the dolphins!

The book music of the dolphins by Karen Hesse is a great book! I think that this book is good so far because she is trying to explain to people that she belongs to a family of dolphins. I think its a funny story because the people she is staying wiht will not believe her she is a dolphin too. She tries to tell people that grew up with dolphins since she was four years old. The people she is staying with are like doctors. They teach her how to read and learn as a human not as a dolphin. She can make dolphin noises and things like that. She also has an amazing voice! The doctor's give her music and a harmonica and she teaches herself to sing. She wishes everyday to go to the ocean so she can swim with the dolphins. If you want to learn more read the book "Music of the Dolphins". If you like dolphins I think that you might enjoy this book, becauseIi know for sure that i did.

Jaws

This book interests me because it explains regular life in high detail. It also explains what its like for these people of Amity. They are feeling scared and uncomfortable. Also I like how it has a good amount of terror. Although it has not mentioned "Jaws" in a while. I'm on page 159 and finally the dinner party is over. Right now the Mr. Brody is heading to work. He has had a terrible day so far. This book I believe is about to get really interesting.

book

In my side of the mountain is pretty boring right now because he is just chopping wood and trying to get ready for winter. But earlier it was good because a raccoon got in his food storage room

why I think Redwall is good

Why I like it is becuse I like the phraseing like I will have your skulls for scittls wich I think means I will kill you if you have any more problems I will kill you .

and I like animals fighting like huwmans in the mid evil time.

and sofar I rely rely like it sofar

Dragonspell

I am in the middle of dragon spell. The author of dragon spell is Donita K. Paul. The main character is kale. Along the way kale met Dar and Leetu Bends. Kale took a journey to vendela to find a person who can help her defeat this wizard who is trying to get Kale's dragon eggs. I like these kind of fantasy book because it is in the past and I like the animal dragons

Jaws

I'm now on page 143. The book is really boring right now because the only thing happening in it is a dinner party. I really hope the book gets better. In the dinner party the main, Martin Brody character is really uncomfortable because his wife old friends from school are there. I'll update this blog again soon hopefully.

book

In my side of the mountain the character met a teacher ho teched him haw to make clay pots and whistle. Than the main character makes a fire plays out of clay.

Salamandastron-Update

It turns out that Thrugg is not alone in his quest. His friend, the little dormouse Dumble, is coming with him, partially to avoid sickness, and partially because he and Thrugg are closen friends. Thrugg and Dumble have found a young falcon named Rocangus. Rocangus’ wing was broken by crows, who later attack the trio. Where I am right now, the crows are ready to fight, and the three are not expecting to win the battle.

Meanwhile, Ferahgo has sent Farran the Poisoner, a black fox, into Salamandastron. He was supposed to poison all the food and drink in the mountain, but he made it too strong. Someone died, and everyone else caught wind of the Poisoner’s scheme. They chased him and have him cornered. Now, Urthstripe is ready to duel him one-on-one.

Mara (a badger) and Pikkle (a hare) are two young ones who ran away from Salamandastron towards the beginning of the book. They were frustrated with all the rules there, and decided to run off with their newfound “friends” Klitch (a weasel, Ferahgo’s son) and Goffa (some random ferret from Ferahgo’s horde). It turns out that Klitch and Goffa were just tricking them, and they were captured by Ferahgo’s horde. A couple hares from Salamandastron helped them to escape, but then, they were captured by toads. They were thrown in a hole, to be eaten later. There are many shrews in the hole, members of the Guosssom – Guerrilla Union of South Stream Shrews of (did they mean in?) Mossflower. One of them is Nordo, son of Log-a-Log, their leader. Just when it looks like they’re done for, Log-a-Log and the Guosssom come and rescue them. Now, they are on a mission. You see, once, when Nordo was little, he was playing with the Blackstone – whoever holds the Blackstone is Log-a-Log by Guosssom law – and he lost it on an island in the middle of a huge lake. A white badger took it, so they’re sending Mara to get it back. However, in that lake lurks a monster known as the Deepcoiler…

Samkim the squirrel and Arula the mole are going after the sword of Martin the Warrior. It was taken earlier by two stoats, but both of them are dead now – one by Dryditch Fever, the other by decapitation. He was found by a search party from Ferahgo. He was a deserter, and Ferahgo wanted to make sure that no one escaped him. Now, a fox has the sword. Samkim and Aurula met a hedgehog, Spriggat, who is helping them track the fox and his party.

Redwall

wye I like Redwall I like animals and the book is about animals that behave like humans and talk and fight. and I like fiction and it is fiction.and I like it all.

RANGERS APPRENTICE

In Rangers Apprentice Will and Halt just found a wild bore which are very dangerous they are tracking it and they have sent someone to the baron and the battle master to get their men ready for a wild bore hunt.

dragonspell

I am reading dragonspell. It is about a girl named kale. The Authors name is Donita K. Paul. Kale is an apprentice of the hall where she will be trained for diffrent stuff. Then her journey came along when she met Dar and said to her that she can't come to the hall. along the way Kale found seven dragon eggs.

Jaws

Not much has happened in the book. They're has only been what I call " bad details". One of the only thing that's happened is the Brody family is throwing a dinner party. Also a new character named Matt Hooper has entered the book. Matt is a shark specialist, and is trying to help Brody with the shark problem. That's about it. I am on page 130.

Responding as Writers

The idea of writing for an audience may be unfamiliar for many of us; it certainly is a new consideration for me. I'm very comfortable writing for my own enjoyment or my own research. Writing to communicate my findings with another person raises frightening considerations. How do I know what my audience will connect with? What do they need from me in order to understand what I'm saying? How do I find the answers to these questions, especially if I don't know my audience personally?

Fear not! In class on Friday, after reading Paul Auster's "Why Write?" we identified some details that make writing interesting. First of all, he created context by giving details that fleshed out the story; thus we cared about the story (not just a "then I did this and then I did this" roller coaster).

I also noticed how many of us had a personal response to the story, mostly because we could identify with the emotions experienced by the main character. This emotion answers the question, "How do I relate to this story?" We have all felt disappointment. I imagine we have all idolized someone or something, especially at that young age. Maybe we don't know the first thing about baseball, but we know about wanting something and not getting it.

Thirdly, the piece very clearly answers the question, "So what?" By drawing the thread from the experience with Willie Mays to the devastation felt to carrying a pencil to using that pencil, Auster creates the story that this childhood experience caused him to become a writer.

This personal essay, I think, stands as a concise model of good writing. However, I encourage you to use it to deepen your reading. Because you all are reading books you enjoy (if you are not, stop now and get one you do enjoy), you are experiencing some connection, some hook. As you read, question that connection. How do I relate to this story? Why do I care? How has the author managed to keep me invested in the lives of people very distant from me? If you are reading Jaws, what makes the book different from newspaper accounts of shark attacks that happen all the time? If you are reading Redwall or any book that uses animal characters, how is it that you can understand what the animals are feeling?

I suspect that you will start to notice what it is you like about your favorite writing, you may appreciate the books more, and you will have more tools to improve your own writing.

Salamandastron

Salamandastron is the fifth installment in the Redwall series by Brian Jacques. As I write this, I am not even halfway through the book, but I know what it’s about. In this book, Lord Urthstripe the Strong, Badger Lord of Salamandastron, must defend his mountain fortress (Salamandastron) from an army of vermin led by Ferhago the Assassin, a cruel, blue-eyed weasel who smiles quite a bit. At the same time, Redwall Abbey is struck by an epidemic of Dryditch Fever! Apparently, there is only one cure for Dryditch Fever – the Flowers of Icetor, which grow on the northern mountains. It is up to Thrugg, the brave otter, to find them in time to cure everybody in the Abbey.
The Redwall books tell at least two stories that occur at the same time. That is one of the things I enjoy about the series. In fact, there’s one main thing I don’t like about the series. Virtually all the mice, squirrels, otters, badgers, and hedgehogs are good, while virtually all the ferrets, weasels, stoats, foxes, and rats are evil. I actually like all the species listed as “vermin,” especially foxes, and I think it’s a bit unfair to have them all be bad just because they’re what they are.

Jaws

The book im reading right now is called "Jaws". Its about a huge shark that lives in a town called Amity. The people of Amity keep getting eaten by the shark which makes life very hard for the people of Amity. Jaws has now eaten 6 people in the book. I am on page 113.

RANGERS APPRENTICE

The reason for me reading RANGERS APPRENTICE was because I got bored with Harry Potter and I saw rangers apprentice on the book shelf and it looked like a good book to read.when I first read this book it was like I was in the book with the characters every page was exciting .I thought author really did good with writing rangers apprentice.I liked everything about the way he wrote.Whats happening right now is Will the rangers apprentice getting his weapons he is extremely excited to try them out.I'm having so much fun.

Eragon

I think that the book eragon is a lot of fun to read. I like the style of writing a lot. I'm only on the page 70 but it's great.

dragonspell

I am starting to read dragon spell and the main character is kale. The book is about a girl who was going to the hall to be an apprentice. I think poeple who read fantasy books should read dragon spell.