Blog Post #3 (3rd Trimester)

I have continued to read my book, The Eye of Minds, as I really do like it. It provides me with suspense, action, mystery, and comedy. But one of the greatest things the author, James Dashner, does really well is add imagery to the text. This helps the reader understand the novel better and connect with it in different ways. One mere example of imagery is, "Skull-pounding music thumped and bellowed from the massive speakers hung on the ceiling, and strobe lights flashed and dazzled. A red glow permeated everything else, cast over the people dancing and gyrating and jumping out onto the floor. Body heat filled the space, warm and sultry." This example of imagery must provide a great sense of where the protagonist, Michael, is at this point. Dashner uses a variety of different adjectives to further embellish the writing. Rather than saying, "Loud music...", Dashner instead uses exagerating vocabulary such as "Skull-pounding...". The author also expresses the setting using words that are not in everyday vocabulary. For example, instead of using "circulating", he uses the word, "gyrating", which really adds on to the tone of the author. Adding on to the tone furthermore makes the book more interesting for the reader.

This article gives a good idea about this book.

Blog Post #2 (3rd Trimester)

This week, I began a new book called The Eye of Minds by James Dashner. It's about a male teenager boy,  named Michael, who is extremely interested in the video game VirtNet. This book takes place in the future, so in this particular video game, it is possible to go inside it. Michael is a hacker, and usually goes into the game to relax and hang out with his friends. They can then do whatever they want there because all of them are great programmers. "Eyes closed to access the raw data, manipulate a few lines of programming, and voila-a free feast." This sentence from the book is a perfect example to show the techniques used by Michael to enjoy life in VirtNet. If you feel hungry, all you need to do is manipulate a few lines of code, and you have a full meal right in front of your eyes.

Wake up, go to school, get on VirtNet, and sleep late. This is Michael's daily routine, until one day, when he is kidnapped by the VirtNet security in real life. They give him a mission to stop an extremely powerful gamer in VirtNet. This gamer supposedly has intentions to destroy the world. Michael has no other option but to accept the offer. I predict Michael and his friends will work together to find this gamer, but along the way will encounter many challenges. When they finally capture him, I predict they will be trapped in the game for what will seem like forever.

Blog Post #1 (3rd Trimester)

My favorite book from last trimester was The Kite Runner. This is because the book incorporated lots of imagery that really contributed to the overall message behind the book. This helped me understand the book because it allowed me to feel the feelings of Amir, the main character, better. This in turn helped me imagine how I would feel if I was in his position. As an author, Khaled Hosseini uses figurative language, such as metaphors and personification, to enhance the tone and overall quality of the book. This figurative language helps the reader understand the book.

Overall, I would award this book 4.5 stars out of 5. The book has a great meaning to it: every action develops into another action.The figurative language througout the book really appealed to me. On a deeper note, the message of the story touched me and I believe it did in fact teach me a valuable lesson. Although the vocabulary of my book was spectacular, as was the theme, I would have liked to know more about Hassan's son, and how he came to adapt to the different world in America.