Question 2

This summer I read the book "Catch 22" for the theme SELF-DISCOVERY.  The novel's main character discovered that when faced with fear or a difficult situation he usually ran away.  He took as many evasive actions when flying missions to make sure that he came out alive.  He didn't care if the mission was successful or not his only thought was to make it out alive.  However, towards the end of the novel he learned that he had to stand up and face his fears.  The officer in command of his squadron kept raising the number of combat missions whenever he ran out of people to fly them so that no one could return home.  The main character knew this wasn't right so he decided to rebel and not fly anymore missions.  When they faced him with the choice of cooperating with his commanding officer or face being court marshaled, he decided to run away for one last time.

     This discovery was applicable to me because it shows that I will be faced with some difficult things and life and I have to make the decision whether to run away from my problems or to face them.  This concept of standing up to your challenges is applicable to all readers.  While reading the novel I learned that I am not like him.  If I am faced with a difficult challenge I try to face it head on.  At least that is what I hope to do.

Question1:

You read 3 (or more) books this past summer. Which book from the summer reading list did you find to be the most "interesting"? In a paragraph or two, tell me what it takes to make a book interesting (in your opinion) and how the summer book you chose met the standard of "most" interesting. If NONE of the books qualified for that title (again, in your opinion) tell me where and why they fell short of your standard.

Finally, tell me what things you read OTHER than assigned books? Did you read magazines, other novels, travel guides for a vacation, instructions for how to work something, whatever? Think it over, this could be a longer list than you first imagine! Which of these other things was the most interesting.... did you use the same standard as you did for paragraph one? If not, why not?

The book that I read that I found most interesting was Catch 22.  For a book to be interesting to me it must be easy for me to read and follow along with and I must be able to relate to it.  The book must catch my attention and keep me entertained.  If a book is boring and has nothing to entertain me then I get very bored and distracted.  I have to be able to relate to it as well. If I can put myself in some of the situations throughout the book then I can enjoy the book.

This book was the most interesting of the 3 I read because it entertained me.  I have never been in a war so I couldn't put myself in many of the situations but the book used humor to grab my attention and kept me reading.  The irony contained in the book and the strange situations made it easy for me to read and understand.  The other two books, "1984" and "Sense and Sensibility", weren't able to do this as well.

The only other book I read this summer was "Beyond Belief" by Josh Hamilton.  Josh Hamilton is a major leage baseball player that battled against a drug addiction that almost kept him out of baseball, but he managed to overcome it agaisnt all odds and now has become the all-star player that he was always expected to be.  It met my standards because it was extremely easy for me to relate to since I play baseball and it was extremely easy for me to read.  The only other reading I did was ESPN the Magazine and that was easy for me to relate to for obvious reasons.

** The Hamilton book sounds like an interesting read! good post! - Mrs. S