2nd Period 2010-2011 discussion

Hey all! - For this prompt, I want you to tell me your all-time favorite book, and why. Did it change your life? In what way? Did it change how you think about things? How? Did you read it more than once? Was it different the 2nd time you read it - if so, how? Another way to think about this: Suppose the internet keeps expanding and, with exception to cereal boxes and stop signs, people do all their reading online. Which book do you smuggle into this increasingly (if not exclusively) electronic world? Or suppose the government starts banning and burning books. Which book do you save from the flames of censorship? WRITE ABOUT THAT BOOK.

Is this an essay-form response you're looking for?

Cole wrote: "Is this an essay-form response you're looking for?" Well, I suppose a couple hundred words should suffice. But "essay" in the sense that I am looking for clear reasoning, yes.

Mr. S.

One of my favorite books I read was "Becoming Enlightened," by Dalai Lama. I was interested into this religion a lot once I read this. This has a positive influence me as a different person. My life has change a little. My perspective from other people is different now. When I look at people, just don't see him, I understand what they been through. Well, not exactly everyone, but I know a lot more about how life works. I want to read this book again to refresh my mind, but this is my first time reading it. I wouldn't want this book to burn because this book has so many things I didn't recognize. This book is not really base on words choice they are looking for, but the knowledge of what are the life roles in society. It’s teaching us how to become a better person. If this book were really to burn then they just burn Buddhism. I would this book is recommended for all readers even if you have a different religion. This book doesn't talk about Buddhism in general. The key points of life, for example, karma. Don't bury this book! I'll be disappointed. This has really changed my life effectively.

My favorite book is Fight Club. I don't think people always get the right idea when they here a name like that, though. People think that Fight Club is literally what it says on the cover, the same way a can with "CORN" in large, bold letters probably contains corn. They assume that Fight Club is all about people fighting and being macho and beating each other to a pulp, like some bad grindhouse movie (which is implying that grindhouse movies are ever good on purpose).

Fight Club is a love story.

Its the story of three people,a man, his best friend, and a women. The main character wants his friend, the friend wants the women, the women wants the main character. The book isn't the against culture, but on what culture does to us. On what our fatherless, single mother generation may become. Violent outrage against the society that raised them to look up to their fathers, but instead became outcasts against the system, violent people with out a purpose or agenda to work towards.

Or maybe Fight Club is a book about corruption. Maybe it is talking about how even the simplest ideas can be changed into evil and hate filled. That nothing is pure, because anyone can do the same thing as you, only worse. It might be about that.

Perhaps it might even being a coming of age story long put off. A man no longer in his youth, but still naive and innocent, finally breaking away from a shell that is around him, and proving that he himself needs no one to help him any more, and he is finally and forever free to make his own choices.

But it might just be that this book is just the white noise of life, telling the tale of a man who goes through his life, with everything that happens to him out of his hands, on a never ending path to self destruction.

Whatever the book is, I can't tell you. What it can do, though, is be something more then the sum of its two hundred and eight pages, something that few books can claim for themselves.

In response to the comment by Joseph: YES, you are right. One I hear "Fight Club" I think of various male specimens in Levi's without shirts beating each other senseless for a couple thousand dollars in the basement of some underground bar with dim green lights along the ceiling. But when you said it's a love story I had to read on. The book sounds interesting, or the idea rather. That love always seems to latch on to the person ahead of them and never back around to who's latching on to them; like a bunch of people in shackles or something.

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Anyway, my favorite book would have to be "Milkweed" by Jerry Spinelli. There was no intimate relationship between me and the book, there were no epiphanies or life-altering thoughts that took place afterwards; in fact I read the book in 6th or 7th grade.

To me, at the time, it was just a really good book.

Now looking back on what I read I can draw a lot of things from the book that I ignored as a middle school student. As I read the book I experienced what it was like to be an orphan during the rule of the Nazis. I had read things about Hitler before and had an idea of what happened then but until just recently the strife sunk in as I read it a third time.

When I first read the book it wasn't much. For some reason, in middle school I was obsessed with Jerry Spinelli and was constantly in the library picking up another novel of his just to say I had read it. But when I came across the book again my freshman year I decided to read it to refresh my memory and that's when it became deep in meaning.

Thien wrote: "One of my favorite books I read was "Becoming Enlightened," by Dalai Lama. I was interested into this religion a lot once I read this. This has a positive influence me as a different person. My lif..."

I really like the case when reading a book can change a person's life. Thien, you are in a very interesting situation. By reading about your comment, I can see that you have a great dedication to Buddhism and respect the value in the book as well. By reading the title "Becoming Enlightened," I could automatically infer that this book would be about teaching how to live positively. Dalai Lama is a positive figure on educating people/followers about life and promote the concepts of universal responsibility, secular ethics, and religious harmony. Thus, assuming with a great dedication to the book, life changing situation would be possible.

My favorite book of all time, that I would 'smuggle' in to a world of censorship, is "The Stranger" by Albert Camus. I have only read the book once, but before reading the book in the eighth grade, I had imagined this book being about some sad, depressed and ignorant lost soul who wished for attention. However, after reading the book, I suddenly became amazed that it was quite the opposite.

The story was more along the lines about a man named Meursault who had just lost his mother, but expressed no emotion of any sort. Eventually, he made a very random and mindless mistake, in which he actually killed a man. Yet, he still prevailed with his indifferent behavior, appearing at his court hearing with no remorse. After the court found him guilty and sentenced him to death by the guillotine, then he finally clammed up and lost all composure because he was going to die just because he didn't care.

I found this story to be life changing in that up to that point in my life, I was like him and didn't care about anything. I took having two parents and a steady childhood as granted. Now I understand a bit more of why I can't give thanks enough to what my parents provided for me and still provide for me to this day.

Shaheed wrote: "In response to the comment by Joseph: YES, you are right. One I hear "Fight Club" I think of various male specimens in Levi's without shirts beating each other senseless for a couple thousand dolla..."
In response for Shaheed's favorite book, I love how mention that you get experience to be an orphan, "I experienced what it was like to be an orphan during the rule of the Nazis." I would say that you learn a perspective of an orphan which really nice to have that. Understanding the roles and its values. This is great for you because you have a great of understanding of the perspective of an orphan. I don't get that. Author may do very well describing a daily life of an orphan, especially during Nazis days. Now coming in conclusion, this book has teach you a lot of the daily life of an orphan, especially how he would describe this way. Really like how the author starts this plot. It’s a great way to talk about this. Thumps Up!

My all-time favorite book is A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn that I had to read in preparation for APUSH exam last year. Let me be clear first, this is neither a textbook nor a test-prep book. This book is about the history of United States written in a very radical, compelling, extreme perspective compared to the fairy tales written in other regular American History books. This book totally changed my view about the history of the US.

We have been always taught that Columbus discovered America, the place that he’s been mistaking to be India/Asia. Then many refugees came from Europe settled in America, shared the lands with the Indians, and then established thirteen colonies of the early United States. Well, in Zinn’s horrifying viewpoints and powerful description of the history, Columbus had covetousness of gold and because of that, he cruelly exterminated or enslaved indigenous people living in America. This excerpt described it:
“Because of Columbus's exaggerated report and promises, his second expedition was given seventeen ships and more than twelve hundred men. The aim was clear: slaves and gold. They went from island to island in the Caribbean, taking Indians as captives. But as word spread of the Europeans' intent they found more and more empty villages. On Haiti, they found that the sailors left behind at Fort Navidad had been killed in a battle with the Indians, after they had roamed the island in gangs looking for gold, taking women and children as slaves for sex and labor,” (Zinn, 5).

The exploitation of conflicts and inhumane ways that the government treated people in history was a horror story. Zinn concentrated on many other issues such as wars, slavery, equality and gender issues, equality and racial issues, economic differences, unjust laws, etc. Although this book is very negative, it creates a true sense of what the real history is. You might be affected a lot if you are a patriotic person.

In response to the comment by Tyler: “I found this story to be life changing in that up to that point in my life, I was like him and didn't care about anything. I took having two parents and a steady childhood as granted. Now I understand a bit more of why I can't give thanks enough to what my parents provided for me and still provide for me to this day.”

I think a story that is life changing is certainly worthwhile to read and good because it made you realize how important your parents are and what they do for you. By reading your comment, I saw that you related to the character in the book who didn’t care about anything but after reading it, you understood the importance of your parents. This reminds me of the quote: “You never know what you have until it’s gone” because we don’t ever appreciate what we do have in life and tend to always complain or want more not realizing how fortunate we are compared to others less fortunate. This book seems interesting to read.

My favorite book is “Little Brother” by Cory Doctorow that I read during sophomore year. This was the first dystopian type of book I have ever read and it just amazed me of how the government could be following us every moment of our lives and be keeping an eye on everything we do. The book got me hooked on right from the beginning when there was a terrorist attack and all four of the best friends got arrested despite being innocent. They got sent to an island off nowhere where they were tortured. It made me think if this really happens and if there was innocent people being tortured to death by the Department of Homeland Security today just because they were suspicious.

Besides talking about how the U.S. government constantly follows us, I was intrigued by the love story too. For me a book turns even more exciting to read when there is some sort of love angle to it and adds the cherry on top of the ice cream. Also, the importance of friendship is really emphasized in this book and gives a message to how trust is such an important factor in your friendship. I learned that you only know who your real friends are in times of hardship when you need someone to stand by you and trust you. Even though Marcus had 4 best friends who he considered his own all his life, they all didn’t stand by him when he was accused by the government. He realized who his “true” friends were once he was placed in the worst situation possible.

This book has a good mixture of dystopian elements, friendship, and love angle which makes it one of my all time favorite books. This book was one of the few books that I didn’t want to put down and keep reading until I got finished.

Maninder wrote: "My favorite book is “Little Brother” by Cory Doctorow that I read during sophomore year. This was the first dystopian type of book I have ever read and it just amazed me of how the government could..."
I also love Little Brother. Its one of those books that definitely shook me from one of my more self destructive stints as a state socialist. It provided a new platform with which to begin building my own anarchism again.

Anyways, my favorite book is Cannery Row by John Steinbeck. A condensed epic vision of the grandly miniscule scale of humanitys' strivings for life, and love in a more warm yet greasy setting. The industrial setting in the book is heavily overshadowed by the colorful personalities of its characters. Mack and the Boys, Doc, Lee Chong. These are characters that come to mind every time that I write any kind of fiction. Cannery Row was not just a tale that left an impression but also a tale which lead to many an epiphany. The first one was about my idea of life. Before reading Cannery Row I had thought of life as mostly as a series of random occurences leading nowhere. Afterwards the actions of Mack and the Boys and Doc gave me an interesting direction to push towards

Joseph wrote:"But it might just be that this book is just the white noise of life, telling the tale of a man who goes through his life, with everything that happens to him out of his hands, on a never ending path to self destruction."

I have not read the book "Fight Club," but I have seen the movie more than once. From what I remember, I agree that the story, to a large extent, is about a man who goes through life with everything that happens to him out of his hands. Of course, isn't that how every man's life is? Doesn't every man, woman, human being live a life without a definite yes or no on what will happen to them? I think that the story is as much about a man's life through time as it is about fighting in general. Will you fight today or not? Who will you fight or not fight?

With this, could we possibly say that the real motive around this story was to provide a fictional example of what could happen when our world loses all government protection and leads to anarchy? Or, could we possibly say that the motive around this story was one that tried to reveal all of what is already happening around us?

Oh, and by the way, this is an open question for anyone who has seen the movie AND read the book. Is the book worth opening even after watching the movie?

I don't have a favorite book right now but one of my favorite books is "Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld, which I read last year.

What I liked about this book was that it really showed that physical appearance isn't everything and that just because something may be one way, doesn't mean that it can't change later on.

In the book there was a city full of "pretty" people and a city of "ugly" people, and when you turned 16 you got surgically worked on to look pretty and moved to New Pretty Town. But the people who were pretty acted rude or higher than the ugly people just because they looked better. This is a real life issue in the world and though it doesn't apply to everyone, it does go on and is something that I felt was good to address. Not everyone who is pretty has a good personality and vice-versa. It allowed me to keep that in mind and I tend to treat everyone equal no matter how they may look. This book for me, just showed me what some people do in this world and how they judge people that they may not no much or anything about.

I also liked how Tally, the main character, changed her mind and when she was pretty was still able to treat uglies right. At first she was air-headed and self-centered like the other new pretties. But in the end she realized that even though some of the uglies were ugly, they had nice hearts and great personalities. Better ones than the pretties. That showed growth in her and showed that even though you may act a certain way you can change and become a better person.

When Joseph said: "My favorite book is Fight Club. I don't think people always get the right idea when they here a name like that, though. People think that Fight Club is literally what it says on the cover, the same way a can with "CORN" in large, bold letters probably contains corn. They assume that Fight Club is all about people fighting and being macho and beating each other to a pulp, like some bad grindhouse movie (which is implying that grindhouse movies are ever good on purpose)," I agreed.
When I saw the title, I too thought it would be a book with a lot of violence. The first thing I thought was it probably was about boxing or something since that is a physical sport that includes you beating someone up. But after he said that it was a love story I thought that was clever of the author. I'm not sure that he/she made this the title intentionally so he/she could capture the attention of people who come in contact with the book. But I like that the author did this because when people did read the book and realized that it wasn't a book that had a lot of violence, but was a love story they would probably be surprised and like the spin on the title.

Maninder wrote: "My favorite book is “Little Brother” by Cory Doctorow that I read during sophomore year. This was the first dystopian type of book I have ever read and it just amazed me of how the government could..."

I remember reading "Little Brother" sophomore year too. Although it's not my all time favorite book, the story did have an impact on my thinking. We were in the Utopia/Dystopia part of our unit and we were choosing our books, but "Little Brother" wasn't exactly my first choice so i wasn't too excited to read it. But after I actually began reading it, i went into a phase where it went from stoic to confusion to anxiety and wonder. All in all, the story hooked me.

What really got me was how the story was complex but at the same time simple. The story had a pretty good pace overall. I think the biggest impact this story had on me was how curious yet cautious it made. I was always thinking, "The things that happened in this story don't seem so far fetched as to not happen in real life."

Queenelle wrote: "My favorite book is "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" by Mitch Albom. The title is self-explanatory and I don’t want to give too much of it away. My seventh grade social studies teacher read it to the class towards the end of the year because it was his favorite and it caught onto me."

I also remember reading this book also in Mr.Knight's class. I remember we got to watch the movie too. And it was a good book overall. It definitely makes you think who your five people are. In the book it tells us how all of us are connected to each other & who knows that one of our five people could be in our 2nd period class.


Rochelle said: "I don't have a favorite book right now but one of my favorite books is "Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld, which I read last year.

What I liked about this book was that it really showed that physical appearance isn't everything and that just because something may be one way, doesn't mean that it can't change later on."

I haven't read the "Uglies" yet but after reading what you said I might consider it. But I agree with you about how the physical appearance isn't about everything. Some people would just judge each other on the outside such as clothes & etc. But people should consider that "beauty comes from within, and that beautiful people do beautiful things". Some gorgeous people who do ugly things are just ehhh. But people with very good personalities may not have good looks and all but everyone should realize that sometimes being beautiful isn't just about having the best face or body.

In response to Joseph’s post I had recently seen Fight Club the movie although I’m pretty sure the book was better. But I can see where you’re going with your thinking that Fight Club isn’t really about fighting and beating other people up but more about really trying to find yourself and learn who you really are but also keeping yourself together. Another thing that I thought about while watching the movie which you covered was how he was an outcast and what society did to him. I also felt like he was bored and sad with life and needed to find a way to truly live and that was Fight Club.
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I wouldn’t say that I have a favorite book, because I dread reading for some odd reason, but if I had to pick a book that I enjoyed it would have to be Anne Rice’s Memnoch the Devil (1995). The story picks up right after the Tale of the body Thief, The vampire Lestat is haunted and stalked by a powerful force that he soon finds out that it is the Devil himself. The Devil narrates the history of heaven and hell, leaving Lestat confused and questioning his beliefs.
As this is one of the later books in her series she was starting to become a Christian so this book carries some religious tones. I myself am Agnostic (A person who believes in a higher power but not specifically any higher power). Although I am not really a religious person I found this book to be very interesting in the different things that were said because it made me become more open to different ideas, and how Memnoch had depicted god as. During this time she had only written a few more books before ending the series due to her conversion to Christianity but as of 2010 she has revoked her religion.

I don't really have a favorite book of all time but I would have to consider "Chicken soup for the preteen" to be the one I can most likely relate to when I was younger and the one that I would always come back too.

I received this book when I was in 5th grade at a book fair & I still have it til this day. It has a lot of stories that I can relate to especially about family, love, & death. There are plenty of stories that have touched me because everyone is going through a lot. & I can defiantly relate. I have read every single story in this book since its a collaboration of different kid's story put into one and to be honest some of them have made me cry. This book changed my life since I was going through that stage in life where I was heading to middle school and my whole life perspective was changing. I was nervous going to a new school and meeting different people and this book helped me through it all when I was younger because it reminded me of different people's experience about middle school & that everything is going to be okay. I have read this book more than twice because it comforted me through the good & bad.

Like Rochelle, I don't have a favorite book of all time at the moment but I do have a book i love reading.

One book that I've loved ever since elementary school was "Stravaganza: City of Masks" by Mary Hoffman. I know the book sounds a bit childish, hell it's a young adult book, but what attracted me was not so much the story as it was the setting.

In "Stravaganza", a boy named Lucien is bed ridden by cancer. With a special journal, he's able to swap between his world and the world of Venice. In a sense, this book could very well be compared to movies like Inception or Avatar in the fact that a version of themselves in better condition is used in the counter world while their true selves sleep.

The reason i would smuggle this book into our ever turning world of technology would have to be because there is no real talk of technology in the book. The people are in tight knit communities where they travel everywhere by mandola, follow strict rules and continue superstitious traditions.

Katherine wrote: "I don't really have a favorite book of all time but I would have to consider "Chicken soup for the preteen" to be the one I can most likely relate to when I was younger and the one that I would alw..."

The Chicken Soup Series is definetly one of my favorite books, especially "Love & Friendship." I used to have all of the series, until I moved here.

It was one of my favorite books throughout elementary and middle school, until I got into more deeper books. The Chicken Soup collection is very inspirational & motivational. It changed me because, teens my ages were also going through the same situation I was in and I wasn't alone. I think Chicken Soup is one of the influential things in my life, because if it has taught me something, it has taught me Hope and that everything happens for a reason.

I can also relate to you, because I was also going through though situations in middle school, but Chicken soup taught me to hope for the better and there's always a brighter side. I would always re-read some of my favorite stories because I would compare their situation to mine, and in there's always a happy ending.

I don’t necessarily have an all-time favorite book, but one of my favorites would have to be “The Last Song” by Nicholas Sparks. I really enjoyed reading this book because of the similar father daughter/family relationships it had that I dealt with and am also a sucker for love stories, so Nicholas Sparks would be the perfect author to turn to for that type of genre. I also enjoy this book because it not only made me smile but was the first book to ever make me cry, especially towards the end and is definitely a page turner because of how well it held my interest. The book didn’t change my life but it did change the way I think because in the book the father dies of cancer and it made me think about how devastating it would be if my father died and my father and I don’t have the best relationship at times. So reading that specific chapter got me thinking about how you really don’t know what you have till it’s gone. There are many life experiencing key points in the story such as letting go of long term grudges and to stay strong no matter what situation. I loved this book so much that I actually was able to read it twice (which I don’t normally do) because of the different situations that were relatable and was basically well written from beginning to end.

My favorite book, the book I'll be saving from the flames of censorship is The Road by Cormac McCarthy. After reading The Road, my view of the world has changed. Watching the movie has enhanced this view further (this doesn't mean that the movie was better than the book, it merely means that the movies provided better images). Before reading The Road, I thought the world was a tender place to live where cruelty and greed is apparent only in the lives of shameful people. Now the thought of a tender place is only apparent in a utopia which will never happen. My point is the world can never come to terms of agreement and to promote world peace. During times of need, like how Cormac McCarthy displayed in The Road, people are greedy and cruel because of the drive to survive is overpowering. During the time I was reading the book, the rumor of the end of the world in 2012 was creeping into my mind. The book was some kind of epiphany that the world could really end. The realization has brought me to the concept of enjoying life to the fullest and from then on my life wouldn't be filled with lies of a perfect world, but with truth of reality.

Thien wrote: "One of my favorite books I read was "Becoming Enlightened," by Dalai Lama. I was interested into this religion a lot once I read this. This has a positive influence me as a different person. My lif..."
Thien, I really like how you symbolized the book as a token of Buddhism. As a Buddhist myself, I try to be a good person and help whoever I can. If a book could give you such a realization, then I might consider reading it myself. Even though I say I'm a Buddhist, I am not totally familiar with the wisdom of Buddhism. To enlighten myself, I will read that book. You also make the point of that the book doesn't talk about Buddhism in general, but about the key points of life. I believed that the book is centered on the religion of Buddhism but is relating its concepts and ideas to other religions, such as "be a good person", which is the main rule for almost every religion.

I have to agree with Kathreen and Jamaica. The Chicken Soup Series is definitely one of my all-time favorite books I have read and soon to-read.

I think my favorite book would have to be Chicken Soup for a Girl's Soul. At that time when I read this book I was only in the 6th grade and reading those stories about real girls going through real shocking events was an eye-opener. I learned a lot about what the world has to offer and most especially for what teenage girls like me have to face. There were some stories in here that I could totally relate to and it made me happy to know that I wasnt the only one left out there to feel a certain way. Other stories made me realize what could happen if I don't make the right choices.

Overall this book taught me many lessons and really engaged my mind into what I might be putting myself into and face true reality.

My favorite book is MAXIMUM RIDE by James Patterson because while reading this book it made me realize what living life on the line is like. Not having a place to live being free to do whatever you want. Well it changed my life because when I was younger I would always wish I could do whatever I wanted to do. But now I realize that being home with my parents in a safe enviroment is a more comfortable life. I have been reading the entire series that Patterson has wrote and have enjoyed every single one of the Maximum Ride books.