Reading in the summer? Nah...just kiddin'

I love summer. Everything about it, from the warm sun to the swimming and just the hanging out. Sadly, I will have to read The Good Earth, but also a few other books of my choice(which are nearly ALWAYS better than books we have to read!). Also the book for AP World...Hopefully, nothing that I ever pick will be something like a book where in the end pigs stand up and "turn into" humans-ahem. Animal Farm=an embarrassment to literature(OK...not really but you get the point)!

The following books are on my POTENTIAL reading list:

First, a very short read, which is the book One Whole and Perfect Day, by Judith Clarke. Generally in the summer i enjoy doing nothing, running around(not meaning actually running... but the sense of it like hustling around slowly doing things with friends), playing soccer and funny and good books, and OF COURSE laying in the hammock. I love hammocks. I just wish i lived in a tropical place with palm trees, hot sun, waves crashing, soft sand...OK back to the subject. I think that this book will hopefully cover that since I have gotten recommendations from several friends. Also, I love books about non-real, or "book life" because they have it so much easier than us. In some fantasy novels this is how THEIR life might go. In the morning, they get up and a robot makes their breakfast, makes the bed, cleans the house, does their homework. And then, they get in their little modern flippy car thing that flies them to their school while they are eating a chocolate milkshake. How good is that. I'm not even going to START about real life...but anyways, sometimes i wish i could just live in a book! Another book I would like to read, is Tomorrow, when the war began, by John Marsden. I have always enjoyed multicultural novels and novels with high action such as this one. When seven teens from Australia return from a camping trip to find that their country has been invaded, the must hide to survive. The plot of the book sounds like a great story! I always thought it would be kind of cool to have to hide to survive. Very, ya know, crazy and...suspenseful! I guess not if you actually had to, but in most books cases the story is told through someone as if they were living in the moment so technically, they would have had to live to tell the tale.

Astrolololology

To me, Astrology signs have always been rather, well, I don't know how to put this nicely-pointless, annoying, i don't know, non-purposeful. Sometimes when I look in a random magazine I pick up( because i don't understand why you would want to read some of the magazines being published now), I see my "monthly horoscope". Of course in February, all of them for every single month have to do with, "oh! you will fall in love and everything will be happy and pink". Stuff like that. Seem like me? I didn't think so...Sure, sometimes they can be true-but sometimes what they say could be true of anybody. Over the years, some horoscopes have said that my sign is Scorpio while some have said Sagittarius- i don't really know how that happens, but anyways. One goes from October 23-November 21(Scorpio), and the other one (Sagittarius) goes from November 22-December21. Although I highly highly doubt it, someone could believe that this could be an "influence" on my no good decision making skills...I really really hate making decisions. One horoscope website said that the following was my horoscope for may 4th...

Tue May 4: Maternal Moon

The ties that connect you to your family should be especially strong today while the maternal Moon zips through your fourth house of home and family. Intuition is strong, so pay attention to any hunches you might have now. The past has a funny way of influencing the present and the future, so take a good, long look at yours. Where have you been and where would you like to go? Beneficial colours are pearl white and teal. Lucky numbers are 11 and 17.

Since spring break I have been tanner than I was so i guess white has looked better on me than before...and i guess i have always loved teal, but the rest to me is jibber-jab. Anyways, this relates to the play in many ways because of the characters' opposing views. This is shown when Romeo says, "O, I am Fortune's fool!" (3.1.142) because fortune/fate is something they believe determines their future. Also, maybe that fortune is responsible for Tybalt's fate.

S.O.A.P. -Not by Other Girls - Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet

It's a lot like Romeo and Juliet
It feels like
Something´s happening to me

In the summertime I met a guy
He was so fine, He blew my mind
My friends are telling me
Girl he's a loser
But they can't see

It's a lot like Romeo and Juliet
It feels like
Something´s happening to me

From the first time I saw his eyes
There was sunshine
Everytime he walks into the room
I feel my heart go boom boom boom

It's a lot like Romeo and Juliet
It feels like
Something´s happening to me

There was a time, when I was young
And love it felt so strong
Now it comes back to me
What's going on

It's a lot like Romeo and Juliet
It feels like
Something´s happening to me


In the song Romeo and Juliet, by Soap(Not by Other Girls) , there are many direct references to Romeo and Juliet(the novel). 
The song not only uses the names Romeo and Juliet, 
but also talks about the plot-how two people fall in love(in the song in the summer), 
and also the song brings up the very common motif of "sun" in the novel. 
Although unlike in the novel, the person in the song realizes that it was a typical "summer love", 
while in the novel their love is much more(all though weird) real. 
Also, instead of being in feuding familes, other people (like her friends) 
thought that he was a loser(as it says in the text of the song) which in the book is one of the main conflicts. 

Although there were many scenes in this novel, very few contained lots of action. Three that would be interesting to perform, would be:

1. When Pip first meets the convict. This was one of the events that actually contained suspense and intrigue. Mainly the parts where pip is getting shaken up and he stutters and doesn't always know what to say. This part was interesting because you don't know if he will actually get his liver taken out and such at this point in time (although considering the fact he is the main character and there are still about 487 pages to go...). The only two people in this scene are Pip and the Convict, so it would be a pretty easy scene (although I wouldn't want to be the one to be in it!)...

2. Another scene that would be fun to see, would be when Miss Havisham catches on fire. Yay! just kidding...This scene actually contained action and you don't know whether he is going to live or die. The characters in this scene are Miss Havisham and Pip. This is one of the more interesting and DRAMATIC scenes of the book.

3. Also, another scene that would be interesting to see was when Pip is first sent to Miss Havishams to play-the part that would be interesting, would be when Estella just calls pip out on everything he does. Like calling jacks knaves and all that stuff...Although this wasn't one of the more suspenseful scenes, it would be fun to act out [no lack of arguing :) ]

THE END

Great expectations that really aren't so great...More and more questions...

In this weeks reading, there were many mysteries revealed including those pertaining to Pip's benefactor and Miss Havisham's intricate web of social life. One of the parts I was confused about, was on page 357 when Pip narrates that Drummle reminded him of Orlick. "I could not have said from where, whether from the inn yard, or the street, or where not- and as Drummle leaned down from the saddle and lighted his cigar and laughed with a jerk of his herad towards the cofeeroom windows, the slouching shoulders, and ragged hair of this man, whose back was towards me, reminded me of Orlick." (357) I don't really understand if Drummle was ever associated with Orlick or if Pip is just reminded of them? Is he missing his past? I don't really get the connections between all of the characters...

Great Expectations

"Poor dear Joe, entangled in a little black cloak tied in a large bow under his chin, was seated apart at the upper end of the room;where, as chief mourner, he ad evidently been stationed by Trabb. When I bent down and said to him, 'Dear Joe,how are you?' he said, 'Pip old chap, you know'd her when she were a fine figure of a-' and collapsed my hand and said no more." (280)

My question is, does Pip actually feel sorry for Joe, and is he in mourning about his sisters death? He seems to not really care or notice or produce any emotion? IN the rest of the story, he doesn't really seem that concerned. Especially when he forgets about his family and thinks only of his social life. He doesn't really seem very caring, and he seems almost as if he is glad that his sister is dead(and that it won't make a difference in his life) thanks :)

Great Expectations: Picture

This picture of a saddened horse reminds me greatly of Joe(if you don't understand the connection, blacksmiths work on horses). When Pip leaves because he wants to become a gentleman, Joe loses one of his best friends in more than one way, because he has always been like a child and now Pip is "growing up" and leaving his side. Because Joe was a blacksmith, this picture ties in with his personality and profession. When he is saying goodbye to Joe, Pip finally seems to realize how much he owes to Joe. He now appreciates more and more what he and his family and friends have done for him in the past years.