The English Inquisitor

Rudolfo Anaya is known as the father of Chicano literature. He has written several important books, including Bless Me, Ultima, Heart of Aztlan, and Tortuga. Anaya said “I’ve always used the technique of the cuento. I am an oral storyteller, but now I do it on the printed page. I think if we were very wise we would use that same tradition in video cassettes, in movies, and on radio.”

You can find out more about Anaya and read an interview with him on The Big Read.

Wow.

I am totally dorking out. I have my highlighting tabs, highlighters and am all set to go. An idea I had. Since my brother told me to pay attention to the chapter titles in terms of chronology, I am flagging each type of chapter with a certain color. I think this will help me keep track later down the road.

I’m interested by Wallace’s use of the word “like”. I haven’t decided if it’s a stylistic choice, character voice, or just part of Wallace’s own speech. However, every word is so delibrate, I can’t imagine he would just use “like” in everything. So far it seems confined to the character Hal, so I was thinking maybe it was a Hal thing? Just something interesting.

Good Quote: Pg 26 – “He didn’t reject the idea so much as not react to it and watch as it floated away”.

Send us your pictures! We’ll feature them here and in class!

Dear Fellow Book Lovers,

I just finished reading Cormac McCarthy’s novel “The Road”. It was extremely enjoyable. It paints a picture of life after an unnamed apocalyptic event of some kind. A man and his young son travel constantly through a nuclear winter.

The writing itself is deliciously full of imagery, wonderful word choices, and a lack of chapters. Without chapters it adds to the feel that time has no boundaries. Through the nuclear winter, the sun can no longer be seen, and there is no more electricity. Days, months, and years start to blend together, just like the writing, with no clear ending or beginning.

The book is decently gloomy and bleak and very sad. It’s a story about survival and love. Somehow it ended up in Oprah’s book club. I’m actually pretty surprised by this, just because of how depressing it is. But it’s definitely worth a go if you’re up for wanting to think about some of life’s more interesting questions.

Happy Reading!

Mrs. Emery

My homepage:  http://www.shelfari.com/emery

English IV Book Club: http://www.shelfari.com/groups/21021/about

Yay Books!

“The Story of ‘Night’” by Rachel Donadio in The New York Times

“This fall, Elie Wiesel’s “Night” was removed from the New York Times best-seller list, where it had spent an impressive 80 weeks after Oprah Winfrey picked it for her book club. The Times’s news survey department, which compiles the list, decided the Holocaust memoir wasn’t a new best seller but a classic like “Animal Farm” or “To Kill a Mockingbird,” which sell hundreds of thousands of copies a year largely through course adoptions. Indeed, since it appeared in 1960, “Night” has sold an estimated 10 million copies — three million of them since Winfrey chose the book in January 2006 (and traveled with Wiesel to Auschwitz).”

Click HERE to read the rest of the article.

Pammy Dutoit writes:

I have never been interested in vampires or anything of that nature, until I read “twilight”, from the author Stephanie Meyers. I was drawn into this book only after the first couple of chapters.  This story is about a girl named Bella Swan, who chooses to live with her father in a small miserable town called Forks. She falls for Edward Cullen, who is the most handsome boy in school, and also has a huge family secret, they are all vampires. Even though it can cause so much trouble for them to be with each other, they fight for it. This is just such a great love and adventurous story for anybody.

Emily Kuykendall agrees:

I have read all of the books in this series and i absolutely love them! They are incredibly well-written. I was so captivated i couldn’t put them down! I would recommend them in a heartbeat.

Samantha Pridgeon also likes the series. She says:

Those books are simply amazing. If you like mythical creatures like Vampires and Werewolves, then you will adore them. A simple, yet not so simple love triangle for a human girl, a vampire, and a teenage werewolf. I am so excited for the release, and I am actually getting the book shipped to me on Tuesday. But in those books, Stephanie Meyer, has a writing style, that will catch you and make your jaw drop to the floor in anticipation of the next page. I just nearly died when I couldn’t read the fourth book, just as what happens in the end leaves you dying for more. They are probably the best I have ever read so far.

Well I’ve finished reading Fast Food Nation and will not be consuming fast food ever again. It was a little heavy on the factual side, but still very interesting to read. And scary.

I’m now almost through with one of Alice Walker’s Non-Fiction books, We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For. It is a wonderful collection of essays about a range of topics. Alice Walker is known most for her book The Color Purple, which became a film and now a musical. If you’ve never read her Non-Fiction, it’s lovely. I’m really enjoying it.

An excerpt of a review from Booklist by Vanessa Bush: “Walker, best known as a novelist, offers a collection of her essays and talks in a variety of venues and efforts . . . Talking to midwives, black yoga instructors, college students, Buddhists, and other admirers of her work, Walker offers commentary on the ways that modern society is destroying itself and the earth, and yet stands on the threshold of promising development . . . In a commencement address, she urges her listeners to value “the pause,” the time between accomplishments when we wonder what is next and are afraid of the temporary emptiness. Taking her title from words by the poet June Jordan, Walker encourages the reader to recognize the potential that each of us has to make positive changes in the world and our lives. This is a thoughtful and reflective look at life and the search for meaning.”

 Happy Reading! ~ Mrs. Emery

I have just started reading “Fast Food Nation” by  Eric Schlosser . So far, this is a great book. I don’t eat fast food, so I have enjoyed the information he provides. However, a word of caution. If you eat fast food and are still interested in consuming it, this book may not be for you! This is a great nonfiction book that provides a lot of info about the fast food industry. Schlosser even talks about the spies McDonald’s has to infiltrate different organizations to find out information. Hmm. I’m only a little bit into the book so far, but needless to say I am not interested in eating fast food any time soon!

 ~Mrs. Emery~