Reading Wishlist

1. Life of Pi - Yann Martel 2. The Fault In Our Stars - John Green 3. Room - Emma Donoghue 4. Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock - Matthew Quick

Book Talk

Post #10 book 3 review

When you have a jail filled with people of all races that come from all different backgrounds and you add a white suburban newly engaged lady named Piper, you get a pretty hilarious outcome. Orange is the New Black about a woman name Piper Kerman who is sent to jail after smuggling heroin across borders. She must leave the life she has now being a producer in New York City to live in a jail called Danbury for 11 months. 

The book was published in 2010 and became an instant hit. The book was then made into a Netflix TV series which is out right now. The base of the book is about Piper who has to leave her husband Larry and her family, you see the journey she takes and the people she meets and how maybe jail isn’t so bad after all. “Do you have to find the evil in yourself in order to truly recognize it in the world?” pg 242. This quote  is later on in the book towards the end and I think that it shows how far she has come and how her thoughts at the beginning of the book were very weak but now she is showing that she is strong and maybe that there is so good in bad things.

At the beginning of the book you see Piper struggle with jail and the people she meets. The plot itself is very interesting and it makes you keep reading more and more.  Nothing is going her way and she is a newbie and is harassed by the other inmates. Piper is special to Danbury because as said in the book, you don’t see a lot of white suburban lady’s in the jail. Piper is called hot and is picked on while trying to shower, sleep and eat in the cafeteria. Piper told Pop who is the head chef that her food wasn’t too good and Piper got reprimanded. Even though you see Piper go through hard stuff you get to see her thoughts written down and you know that inside she is really strong and she can battle anything. “I knew that I would have to be brave. Not foolhardy, not in love with risk and danger, not making ridiculous exhibitions of myself to prove that I wasn't terrified--really genuinely brave. Brave enough to be quiet when quiet was called for, brave enough to observe before flinging myself into something, brave enough to not abandon my true self when someone else wanted to seduce or force me in a direction I didn't want to go, brave enough to stand my ground quietly.” Pg35. I like this quote because at the beginning of the book Piper like I said before is really weak minded and this was a really bold statement for her at the time because around this time in the book she is still considered a newbie in the jail world.

There are a lot of characters in the book but there are a few that Pipers actually becomes good friends with. Something great about this book is how the women in jail do not judge what each of them has done to get there. They are overall really accepting and are willing to do anything for their other jail mates. One thing Piper does is that she gives out books and magazines to people who want to read them. She also bakes a cheesecake and brings it to the parties whenever and inmate is leaving. Overall the inmates get along and they have each other’s back no matter what race they are and no matter where they have come from. It shows that you can be friends with anyone if you just give them a chance and it shows that everyone had a background and history but if you look past all of the bad there may eventually be good in everyone.

The style of writing is very detailed in a bad way. You have to understand how preppy and proper Piper is and then you will understand the things she says because she mentions things that are more upper class. When Piper is talking about her emotions she is just normal English grammar but when she describes the people around her or something unusual at the jail she uses slang as if she were African American or Latino. I think the slang in the book helps because sometimes the book can be a little boring and too detailed so whenever Piper comes in contact with another character it is funny to see the way they behave and act.

Being that the book is about a lady going through jail and the 11 months she spends there, the book isn’t all too entertaining. Yeah, the characters and the plot idea are good but overall it got really boring and it just wasn’t anything exciting happening for me to really be wowed by it. I probably wouldn’t recommend the book especially if you have watched the Netflix series.  Some life lessons of themes are that you get to see a women not only accomplishing something unique but also meeting some very loyal friends no matter where they come from and that was a good life lesson that many people could gain from Piper. I would give this book 3 out of 5 it is mostly aimed towards female readers. For females it should be empowering and maybe even a motivational push towards the idea that “you can overcome any obstacle”.  “In my travels I had encountered all kinds of people whose dignity seemed to have a price -- widely variable -- and I thought that next time I had better set my price higher than anyone would pay.”  This quote does describe the personality of Piper very well and she would want women who would read this book to get something out of her book and that hopefully her struggle can be uplifting to others.

This is a picture of Piper Kerman the author on the right and the actress who portays Piper in the netflix series on the left.

Post #6

I think a 21^st century English reading list should look like just what we have in school. I think the books mold us into the people we become. As a senior I can say that yes some books we read in school are boring but it wouldn’t be right if I decided not to read them because I wouldn’t be up to date with the rest of the seniors in America. I think in school it is nice that we read classics because it makes us more well-rounded people and knowing history and classics is something I find important. I think schools give us freedom to also explore books we like, for example when we do an independent book project. You usually get to choose the book and it gives yourself a sense of what you like.

Kids today should read book because without reading we would get nowhere. To the average kid reading is boring and meticulous but they often forget that every day we read, if it is street signs or a text message on your phone. I personally love reading and it kind of upsets name how selfish people are when it comes to taking reading for granted.

With the curriculum I think that they should forever force kids to read classics because it makes us mature and they are called “classics” for a reason. We shouldn’t be reading Hunger Games or Twilight because not everyone thinks those are good literary books. We need to realize that we are reading the books in school for a reason, not just because they are boring.

Post #9

Likability: The narrator along with the main character is Piper. She is a forty year old suburban wife who is charged with an international drug deal that she did in college. She is now having to face the time of what she did in her past. I think Piper is really likable because she is new to the environment of being in a jail and the fact that she is wealthy and has a nice life kind of makes things in jail harder for her because people start to realize it. The genre of the book is memoir and I think Piper does a good job at telling us as the reader the details of jail and how most people haven’t been to jail so the way she describes it really helps me get a visual of what it would be like to live in jail. I also like how you can look at someone like Piper and think "You went to jail?!”. I think the whole thing is pretty shocking and I like how it is told by Piper and how you can get a feel for what she goes through. I think if it wasn’t told by her and it wasn’t a memoir it wouldn’t be as believable and I don’t think many people would have chosen to read the book. Since it is told in first person you almost feel like you are Piper and you get to go through the same feelings and emotions as she is going through.

Post #8

In my mind I think that a book should be all facts if it is considered non-fiction. When I am looking for a non-fiction book I expect it to be all true because that is why I am looking in that genre. If a non-fiction book was only partially true I would expect it to be in the fiction section. I think that a story can be half-truthful if it is put in the right genre. I think that some stories are really good and after I found that it wasn't true but I was okay with it. I think that Frey messed up because you can stretch the truth and call it a memoir because thinking back on a  memory and be exactly truthful is impossible but going so far as Frey did is wrong. I also think that the fact that he knew his book wasn't a memoir but he called it one was a big indicator that he even wouldn't consider it truthful. I think personally that we need to have a line between fiction and non-fiction because how we to know as people what is facts and not facts.  When I am supposed to do a research paper I am going to go to the non-fiction section because I know that those are reliable and factual books that I can site in my paper. When I want to read an exciting and thrilling mystery I will go to the fiction section. It would honestly make me so nervous if one day we didn’t have any genres.

Post #7 Trailer

Post # 5

The book I am reading is Silver Linings Playbook. This book has already been made into a movie and I personally like the movie better so far. I think the filmmaker would have a really hard time with making the characters so unique like in the book. The main character is Pat and has a mental health problem which makes him seem crazy and he overthinks everything. I think that in the movie it would be hard to have Pat talking or thinking constantly in the background of the movie.

The first scene that would have to be kept would be the moment in the book where Pat visits his therapist for the first time. As he walks into the office he hears Kenny G playing through the speakers and he has a complete episode of rage and anger, he starts tearing magazines off the walls and screams at the receptionist. Once you find out that the song that was playing was his wedding song and that his wife and himself are divorced because she cheated on him it starts to make sense. This scene is so important because it shows us as the reader how much he still cares for his "wife" and the reason to why he is seeing the therapist.

The second scene that would have to be kept would be when Pat and Tiffany meet. Pat goes over to his friends house for dinner and there he meets this woman named Tiffany. Tiffany has also had a bad past with the lose of her husband and the lose of her job. Tiffany along with Pat both have mental emotional problems and I think the scene where they first meet sets the mood for the way they act towards each other for most of the book. You can tell that Tiffany is mean yet vulnerable and that Pat is nice but still attached to his wife. This scene gives you insight on the relationship that is about to form between the two main characters.

The third scene I would keep would be where Pat, his brother and father are all in the living room about to watch the Eagles game. The Tillman family is big time into the Eagles football team and every Sunday they gather around to watch it. Since Pat went to a mental hospital his father has been ashamed of him and hasn't talked to him in years. Once Pat gets back home his dad still does not speak to him except for that Sunday when the Eagles were playing The Houston Texans. All of the boys in the family gathered around in a circle and Pat’s dad put his arm around Pat's shoulder and started chanting the Eagles victory song. At this moment you realize that people do care about Pat even though he does have some mental issues. You learn that things will start getting better for Pat including himself.

The scene that I would cut would be the part where he takes Tiffany out on a date. Even though it is big that he asked her out, all they ate was a bowl of Raisin Brand that they shared and then they left. I think the scene is kind of stupid because Tiffany's view about Pat doesn't change. They walk thirty minutes to the diner without talking, eat cereal and then walk another thirty minutes back where he walks Tiffany back to her house. The scene really does nothing for the book.

Another scene that I would cut out would be the scene where he gets in a physical fight with his parents over the ending of a book. First of all Pat is reading old high school books to impress his "wife" and he gets into a big argument with his parents about the way it ends. I think that this scene doesn't show who Pat really is. He is normally really sweet and caring but this scene shows a dark side to him.