Blizzard Blog

I really like independent reading. I just finished reading A Walk to Remember  and I'm about to start reading Divergent. I like independent reading because you get to experience new things while staying cozy on your bean bag. I get to go to futuristic societies and learn their conventions. I get to watch the sappy love novels of Nicholas Sparks unfold in my lap. I can go anywhere anytime and learn anything. My imagination is able to make me a movie, a new scene every chapter. Most of all I can escape from everyday life. Trade out all the school work, lacrosse, and occasional drama for adventures. My vocabulary expands with every page. Don't get me wrong, I really only enjoy reading if I like the book. If I am reading something that (in my opinion) is boring, it can be torturous. I usually don't end up reading the entire book, just snippets and sections that hold my attention and then I skip to the last 50 pages. If a book is too ordinary I usually toss it. A book can't be something I would be able to experience everyday.

To me a good book has to have one of the following; take place in the past or future, acton... lots of action, at least one extreme point of view, a controlling force, a complex protagonist with layers that the reader rips off, the characters can't ask too many questions that is just annoying, the plot actually has to be substantial, If the plot isn't substantial then the characters need to make up for it, a character that I admire in someway, a character that I absolutely despise, a tiny hint of romance, MYSTERY, history, and lastly I have to relate in somehow. A bad habit I have is prejudging a book. I know probably one of the worst thing you could do as a reader but it is easy to. Titles, cover pages, even the first couple of lines can ruin a book for me. However without reading my life would be very boring. Even though I am very busy I always enjoy kicking back and enjoying a good book.

Letter to the Author

Nicholas Sparks,

I have just finished reading your book, A Walk to Remember and I really enjoyed reading it. The whole book was very dicriptive and every page came with a new picture in my mind. Also it was full of cliff hangers. At the end of chapter 11 the very last line was " 'I'm dying, Landon.' " It was impossible to put down after that. Although the ending wasn't exactly your fary tail ending you would expect, it was subsatntial and did not leave me wishing for a better conclusion. One of my favorite examples of diction is on page 217 "The sun continued to lower itself, casting its glow as far as the eye could see, before finally, slowly, vanishing beneath the waves. The moon continued its slow drift upward, shimmering as it turned a thousand shades of yellow, each paler than the last, before finally becoming the color of the stars" (Sparks 217). To me this image is vividly painted and even better this kind of diction is throughout the whole book. The only thing I disliked is how sappy this book is. I know I should expect that, it is a romance novel. However I felt like some of it could have been left out. Over all this book was amazing, I will defiantly read another book by you. Thank you for all of your great book!

                                                                                                     Sincerely,
                                                                                                       Emmaline Russell

Character Development: A Walk to Remember

I am nearing the end of my book which is actually upsetting because i really liked it. However for the character Jamie, and unexpected turn happened in her life last summer that the reader is just now finding out about. I can't give too much information away without ruining the book but this plot twist has made this book hard to put down.Over the course of the book the main character Landon Carter has made some biggest character changes. At first he was a jerk. All he cared about was what people thought of him and trying to be cool. Now at the end he is a much bigger person. Eventually he asks Jamie out but it took him awhile to get over himself. Also he used to be embarrassed to be seen with her which is very shallow in my opinion. Now he could care less about what people think about him. He is OBSESSED with Jamie, he told her that he loved her and will do anything for her. He lost a lot of his friends because to them he changed for the worst. Now Jamie has revealed her well kept secret to Landon and it has totally affected him. However this has made him more understanding and patient in my opinion but you can also tell that he is scared for Jamie. He is trying to find a way to fix things which shows how much more determined he has become but he doesn't understand... Some things just can't be fixed.