Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen

     Another book I chose for my blog is Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen. It is basically about a girl (Ruby) who has a mother that is abusive and is an alcoholic. One day Ruby comes home to find that her mother has left her and Ruby lives on her own until someone finds her and sends her to her sister's home. When Ruby first gets there, she acts really ungrateful and tries to run away. This makes me consider how I would react in her situation. I think I would be happy to be there and at a nice home where I wouldn't have to work in my mom's place, but then I realized that I would never be able to tell what I would do in Ruby's situation since I didn't have the same childhood as her. This book really made me realize that where and how you grow up really plays a part in how you act when you are older. It really makes me think about all of the children growing up with parents that are bad examples or that can't support themselves. 

     It was really interesting to read this book and see how Ruby changed, even if it was just fiction. It really shows how much the environment the person is in can affect a person and how a person can change. Ruby goes from taking help from no one and basically trusting no one to learning that it is not a sign of weakness to take help that people offer to you. Ruby was also finally able to let go of her past and go on with her life- like going to college. Basically, how somebody is raised and where they are raised can really affect somebody. Also, the people around you really have an effect on you. It makes me think that we really need to make our world a better place and always be nice and accepting of people because we never know what they've been through or the effect we could have on them. 

     Another example of people affecting people is when Ruby's new neighbor Nate Cross reaches out to her. Even though she was rude to him and didn't want to be his friend, he kept being nice and being there for her which had a big impact on Ruby. It really got Ruby to start trusting people. She does the same for Nate when she discovers that his dad takes his anger out on him and makes Nate work for him. At first Nate acts just like Ruby did and doesn't want to tell anyone. I think this really shows that always be understanding of people and try to help in any way you can. 

     I'm really happy I read this book just because I've been looking for another book to read and considering that I liked this book, I think I should give other Sarah Dessen books a try. That is the only thing I don't like about finishing a book- having to find a new book afterwards. There are so many and it's hard to find one that I think I would like. A lot of times I don't think I would like them but I do or the other way around. The Barnes and Noble samples he'll, but sometimes they just don't show enough. So, I like to be sure I would like it before I get a book. So, Sarah Dessen seems like a good author to start on. 

Gone by Michael Grant

     I was having a lot of trouble deciding what book I should read for my last book. Finally I decided to read Gone by Michael Grant. I got the sample for my Nook a long time ago but I forget why I never downloaded the full version. So, I thought it would be a good book to read. I really liked how it had many things going on and didn't focus on just one thing, like how instead of just one problem it had Caine trying to take over, how to get through the barrier, what caused the FAYZ, how will they get food when they run out, and what is the darkness? Some of these were similar but it still kept me interested in the story and what will happen. Overall, this book is not my favorite, but I still liked it and it was worth reading. 

     One thing I didn't really like or understand about the book was why everybody over fifteen disappeared. I think it would have made a lot more sense and be easier to write a story about if the author had made everyone over eighteen disappear. First of all, then it wouldn't just be a random age and it would actually really be all the adults disappearing. Maybe there's a better reason for it later in the series, but I still think eighteen would have worked better. Also, some of the things that the characters did in the story I found very hard to imagine a fourteen-year-old doing, no matter how crazy the kid was or even if they had super powers. My sister is fifteen, and I can't see her doing half of the things that happened in the book. I can imagine everybody going to the main part of town and trying to decide what to do and trying to find all of the food and search the houses, but I can't imagine them trying to take over. I agree that some kids would step up and be in charge, but I don't think they would really try to be the boss. I can see people being leaders, but not bossing people around like Caine was trying to do. There were many times while I was reading that I forgot the characters were fourteen, which I didn't really like. I think that if the author was going to make the characters fourteen and under, he should have made it obvious. I really didn't see the point of fifteen and not eighteen. I'm sure there are a lot of people who like how it was fifteen and over, but for some reason it just didn't work for me. 

     Whenever I read books about people with super powers (Which isn't many, since I usually go for fiction books), I always try to decide which power I would like to have. I wish I could say that Sam's fire/light power is my favorite since he is the main character/good guy, but I can't. I guess it might be the most useful as a weapon in a world like the FAYZ, but with the way we live in real life, I would much rather have Caine's telekinetic power. I think it would be really cool and fun to move things with your mind, and it would really freak people out. Then I started to think that if everybody had telekinetic powers, they would probably all get overweight, like in the movie Wall-E when people just rode around in chairs while machines did most of their work for them. Still, I think it would be fun to be able to move things without being near them. Reading about the powers in books like this one is probably my favorite part. 

     Thinking about this makes me realize I probably should give more books a chance. If it's not fiction, I usually figure I wouldn't like it. Still, the Harry Potter books are my favorite books ever, and they are definitely not fiction. I'm also a Twilight fan (which isn't fiction), which made me read The Host since it was also by Stephanie Meyer which is science fiction, which I absolutely thought I hated, but I really enjoyed. I made my family watch the movie to The Host and my mom even commented that she enjoyed when she doesn't like science fiction either. So, even though I had a problem with Gone with the whole age thing, I kind of appreciate the fact that it made me realize I should really give more books a chance. Anyways, I still have my complaint about the age part of this book, but I'm still glad I read it and I'll probably finish the series. And I'm glad I decided to do this book for my blog because it was when I was typing this that I thought I really should give more books a chance. Basically, I think this book would have been perfect to me if it had been eighteen and older that disappeared, even though I still enjoyed reading it. 

The Giver

     Earlier this summer I was having trouble deciding which book I wanted to read off of our reading list. I really had no idea what a lot of them were about. So, I just randomly chose The Giver, and I'm glad I did. I don't really know what I was expecting, but I was surprised when it turned out the book was set in the future. It reminded me a lot of the Matched series by Ally Condie. It wasn't exactly the same, but some things were like how jobs were chosen for the people. I also didn't really expect the Giver to be a person. I should have guessed that it would be when Jonas was called the Receiver, but I didn't even think of it. 

     Whenever I read books about a future like this (Basically just this book and the  Matched series.), I can't help but wonder how their society could come to be like that. Even if our government did fail, I don't see how anybody would want their choices taken away. To enforce those new rules, the new (Or maybe our government now would eventually attempt to become like those societies.) government would need followers and an army, which are made up of the common people, and I don't think the common people would agree to a life where there is barely any freedom. I guess it is possible that people could be lied to and maybe they won't know what they're working towards while they're working towards it. Plus, if those people in that community had never known life before then, they wouldn't know what they were missing out on and have no reason to not just go with it. Also, once society gets to be like that, it would be near impossible to go back as the people living there have no way to fight back, if they'd even want to. Still, although some things about that type of society would be easier, I'd rather have to make hard choices than have no choices at all. 

     When I read the ending to this book (Spoiler Alert), I just figured that Jonas had reached another community and that it was the same sled as in his memory because the memory had been of the place where he was. Then I thought that the music he heard coming from his old community was the people singing because they had been exposed to those memories when Jonas had left. I didn't even know there were other interpretations until I was seeing what other people thought of The Giver and saw the other thoughts of how it ended. Until I saw those, I didn't even think of the possibility that the last scene was a dream or a hallucination of Jonas' old memories, but thinking about that now, I see that it is very possible. I don't like to think that Jonas and Gabriel die, but it could be just a memory that Jonas is seeing. Or, as one of the reviews of it brought up, it could have been Jonas and Gabriel entering an afterlife instead of a dream. I know that all of these are possible, but since I like happy endings, I'm just going to hope that Jonas and Gabe reach a new community while back at their old one, things were changing since Jonas left.

     All together, I liked The Giver. Books set in the future aren't really my favorite, but I still like them. I saw somewhere that it is a series, but I'm going to have to make sure. I still wouldn't say this is my favorite book ever, but I definitely enjoyed reading it and I would like to read the series, especially because I can't stand not knowing how a book or series ends, unless it is absolutely terrible or I just don't like the type of story it is, but so far that's never happened to me before and hopefully never will!

 

Harry Potter!!!

       So, I finally finished the Harry Potter series! I have to say, I was amazed. There are some books that I thought I loved, but they are nothing compared to the Harry Potter books. I always heard that they were amazing, but I always figured I wouldn't like them because I never really liked fantasy and usually always go for fiction. Still, I thought I should at least try them and make sure I wouldn't like them before I gave up on them. Obviously, I loved them. I really had no idea how good these books were. I don't know if liking these books means I will always like fantasy, but I know these books really surprised me. I have to say that these books are definitely my favorite books ever. It was also great knowing what people were talking about when they referred to something having to do with the Harry Potter books. I really liked how all of the books were about a different thing, which of course was in the title (Like Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows was about the three Deathly Hallows.). Anyways, to sum up, I was very impressed when I read the series and could not put the books down. They were a lot more than just Harry vs. Voldemort, which made them much more interesting to me.

       While reading, I was surprised to realize that the spells used had something to do with what the spells did. This was pretty obvious even in the first book, but I didn't even think about it at first. It must have really taken a lot of thought and research to come up with the spells and have them relate to Latin meanings like they did (For example, the spell/charm used to summon things was accio which, in Latin, translates to something like to call or summon). If I had been writing these books, I probably wouldn't have thought to do this and just made up words (That would be actually possible to pronounce.). But the author of these books really seems to have put some thought into it. Whenever I came across a spell that sounded like what it did, I tried to make a note. One I found was lumos which made light come from the end of a wand, which to me sounded like illuminate (The lum part). After I looked it up, I saw that the Latin word lumen means like a light or a lamp. Of course, it's pretty obvious even in just the first book that the spells actually meant something, but I thought it was interesting to see exactly where they came from and what exactly they meant. I would say that almost, if not all, spells in the Harry Potter series have some meaning that shows that the spell would do.There are way too many examples to list, but I will try to list a few.

Accio

Brought an object to the person who used it

Latin: summon 

Reparo

Fixed things

Latin: Restore, renew, revive

Crucio 

Used as a torture curse

Latin: torture

Nox

Made the light at the tip of wands go out

Latin: Night

Stupefy

Stunning spell

Latin: Stupeo: To be stunned, numbed, astonished

       There are more, but I don't think it would be fun to read or list all of them, so I won't. Plus, I'm sure I don't know all of them. So, I'll leave it there. Another thing I loved about the Harry Potter series was the surprise endings. (Although I think most people who would read this post have probably read the series, I still feel I should say SPOILER ALERT. Because I'll pretty much be saying the endings to the books right now.) Although all of the books were a surprise to me, I think the third and sixth books were the most surprising. In the third book the whole thing was surprising- finding out the dog was Sirius Black, then that Professor Lupin was bad, then that both Sirius and Lupin were good, and then that Scabbers was Peter Pettigrew, who was one who really betrayed Harry's parents and was on Voldemort's side.. Basically, the whole thing added together was a shock. The reason I'm saying this is to point out how this book really made me think to understand what was happening. I always love the part of a book where everything connects or the final piece of information is revealed. Then, in The Half-Blood Prince, I thought for awhile that Voldemort was the Half-Blood Prince, because the textbook was made fifty years ago, which was when Tom Riddle was at Hogwarts and opened the Chamber of Secrets. Also, Voldemort is a half-blood, his mother being a witch/squib and his father being the first Tom Riddle, who was a muggle. Another is that even though Voldemort was evil, he was still a great and amazing wizard, so he would know how to do the potions and spells written in the book. So, I thought that Voldemort might be the Half-Blood Prince. Also, some of the spells in the book were very evil, so it would fit Voldemort, considering he is evil and was probably good at spells. I'm saying this to show how these books can change very suddenly, which is always interesting to me. Now, thinking back, it makes sense that Snape would be the owner of the book, considering he was the potions master for awhile. I was still surprised when Snape said he was the Half-Blood Prince. Another thing in the sixth book that surprised me was, of course, when Dumbledore died. I couldn't believe when Snape killed him; I really thought when Snape showed up that Dumbledore was saved. So, I was completely shocked when Snape killed Dumbledore. I really like surprising endings; I think the reason is that if you could predict the endings to books, then they wouldn't be any fun to read. It would just be boring if you knew how a book ended and I would feel like I was reading for no reason. Still, somehow I always figure that I have an idea how a book will end and then I am always pleasantly surprised to see that really, the book ends in a way I never could have imagined. It makes it interesting to keep reading and see if you're right. Anyways, I really loved the Harry Potter books and I'm really sad I finished the books; It makes me wish I would have read slower! I hate finishing a series that is really good. It always makes me feel sad to see it end. And then I have nothing to do for awhile. Although I was glad to finally know how the whole series ended, I was so sad to not have anything more to read about Harry Potter. Still, I was not at all disappointed with these books and they are definitely the best books I have ever read. Now, I am watching the movies. So far I have finished the first five and am halfway through the sixth one. I always love seeing movies after reading the books and I have loved the movies almost as much as the books. My only complaint is that Peeves is not in the movies! I really like Peeves. I love at the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows when Peeves sings, “We did it, we bashed them, wee Potter's the one, and Voldy's gone moldy, so now lets have fun!” Although it's hard to remember everything Peeves said throughout the series, I'm pretty sure that that quote is my favorite thing he says. I really feel bad for all of the people who have seen the movies and not read the books; There are so many things the books have that the movies don't, not just Peeves. Anyways, all I have to say is that if I could go back to when I was first starting the series, I would!