What an assembly! What a great day for Reynolds and for all those involved in the Cops for Cancer fundraising.
The task this weekend is simple and set to allow you to get into your reading and to get into commenting on the blog. In your responses, please follow all the formats and expectations that you normally would if you were submitting a paper for assessment (i.e. proper grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc.).
Task
Read 20 pages of your novel this weekend. From your reading, choose the passage (from one sentence to a paragraph) that you wish you had written. It could be beautiful in its descriptive nature, startling in its word choice, or just amazing to you. Please include the passage in the comments and, in turn, make a comment on why you have chosen this passage to share. Please include relevant information as well (Title of the novel and page number of the passage) so others can have context for your passage.
Please email me for clarification, should you need it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I do not know if I am suppose to write this here, but I am going to anyways!
ReplyDeleteI am reading "Emil and Kumar" and it is written by author Yankev Glatshteyn. The text that I had wish I wrote from the story is
"Three big, hulking men dragged his mother away from him. Her screams could be heard outside, but no one came to help."
(page 3)
I wish i had written this piece of text because it is so attention grabbing when reading. It basically draws out all these possibiltys for the story and it raises some pretty main questions.
-Why is she being taken away from him?
-How come nobody is helping her?
I just can't wait to read more and see if my questions are answered!! =D
I am reading “Rogue Warrior 2 Red Cell” by Richard Marcinko and on the first page he stated 10 commandments of specwar and the one that appealed to me was number 5
ReplyDelete“Indeed, if thou hurteth in thy efforts and thou suffer painful dings, then thou art Doing It Right.”
I found this somewhat true in real life and other would too so that is why I selected it.
I'm reading "The Devil in the White City" by Eric Larson. In the first chapter it is talking about a murderer at the Chicago fair of 1893. The passage I wish I had written is:
ReplyDelete"It was so easy to disappear, so easy to deny knowledge, so very easy in the smoke and din to mask that something dark had taken root. This was Chicago, on the eve of the greatest fair in history." (page 12)
I wish I wrote this because it is very descriptive of how the murderer is. It is a creative way of talking about the dark side of the fair. The word choice is attention-grabbing.
I'm reading Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. The quote I choose is
ReplyDelete"By the time you read this, I hope to be dead"
Pg 1, 1st line.
I like it because it's a great way to start a book because it interests you immediately and the first chapter is equally interesting because there's a school shooting and lots of people die in the first 20 pages.
Emmy
ReplyDeleteI'm reading "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman. The text I chose is:
ReplyDelete"He fluttered from her shoulder, and she saw his little shadow appear in the crack of light." pg. 8
I chose this sentence because I really love the use of adjectives e.g. "little shadow" and "crack of light". Also, the use of the word "fluttered" pulls the sentence together for me. It's a strong but soft word, and used in this sentence it's truly beautiful.
I'm reading the book "Anthem Of A Reluctant Prophet" by Joanne Proulx.
ReplyDeleteThe line that caught my attention was:
"The sun just kept getting brighter, and everything but the tremble in my gut got quite, until all I could hear was playing on the inside---vibrations shifting and spinning, growing into something big and beautiful, something built on waves of sonic light" p.9
I chose this line because the language used caught my attention. It creates an interesting image in the mind. It also sounds majestic in someway.
I am reading The Runaway Jury by John Grisham.
ReplyDelete"They drove past the Biloxi courthouse, and past the semi-abandoned dime store where Fitch and associates maintained a hidden suite of offices with fresh plywood dust on the floor and the cheap rented furniture."(Grisham page 7). I wish I had written this sentence bcause it accurately dscribes the setting with a limited amout of words.
A.D.
I am reading It's Not About the Bike by Lance Armstrong.
ReplyDelete"I do everything at a fast cadence: eat fast, sleep fast,"
I wish I had written this sentence because this is me the cool guy that always goes fast.
Z
I’m reading the book How Soccer Explains the World by Franklin Foer.
ReplyDelete“Who do you hate most?” A pause for a few seconds’ worth of consideration. “A Croatian, a cop: it doesn’t make a difference. I’d kill them all.” “What’s your preferred method for beating a guy?” “Metal bars, a special kick that breaks a leg, when a guy’s not noticing.” He sharply stomps down a leg, an obviously well-practiced move. (page 10)
I wish I had written this passage because I find it truly amazing how a sane human being, along side a translator, could stand before five Serbian gangsters and question them about one of the most fierce hooligan gangs in soccer history, The Ultra Bad Boys. I admire his courage and bravery to do so because I know for a fact that I would not have the guts to take in all their horrid and violent answers. Especially after reading a little later on that as he left, his translator told him that Krle (one of the Ultra Bad Boys gang members), had said that “If [he] met this American asshole on the street, [he’d] beat the shit out of him”. (page 10)
ET
The Novel i am reading is titled "Impossible" by Nancy Werlin. The piece of writing that caught my attention was..
ReplyDelete"From the sting of my curse she can never be free
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and thyme
Unless she unravels my riddles three
She will be a true love of mine"
i choose these words because they are the first words said in the book, they are a song, a song filled with tasks and unpleasant and hard things to accomplish. These words are meaningless up until you read deeper and deeper into the story. soon enough they actually turn into tasks and quests that the main character has to go on and achieve, in order not to go insane. It definitely sounds different, but its interesting so far. i wish i had written it because its such a clever idea to base a book upon a song. (its a real song aswell)
The novel I am reading is entitled "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown. The excerpt that I found thought-provoking was...
ReplyDelete"The goal of tatooing was never beauty. The goal was change."
The paragraph goes on to explain how tatoos are a way for a person to show that he/she is in control of their body. I like how Dan Brown's books explain a facet of everyday symbols.
The novel I am currently reading is "Nineteen Minuets" by Jodi Picoult. The passage I wish I had written and found insightful was:
ReplyDelete"What Lewis hated the most was the sound of the metal doors slamming. It hardly mattered that, thirty minuets from now, he'd be able to leave the jail. What was really important was that the inmates couldn't."
The reason I had chosen that paragraph, is because really makes you realize what you take advantage of in your day-to-day life. While the character is this book is free to go as he pleases, while everyone else has lost that freedom.
I chose "Oliver Twist" by Charles Dickens. The passage that really stuck out for me was:
ReplyDelete"'Please, sir, I want some more.' The master was a fat, healthy man; but he turned very pale. He gazed in stupefied astonishment on the small rebel for some seconds, and then clung for support to the copper. The assistants were paralysed with wonder, the boy with fear."
I chose this passage because of its familiarity and the almost sarcastic tone the narrator uses. 'Please, sir, I want some more' is a famous line, it stuck in my mind because I recognized it. The narrator also seems to be mocking the characters as he describes the scene; exaggerating their reactions for effect. I think it perfectly represents the novel, because the quote shows Oliver's misery, longing and hope for something more. Also because the narrator uses this mocking sarcasm throughout the first chapter.
The novel I have began to read is "The Power of One" by Bryce Courtenay. The text I wish I could have written is are the lines,
ReplyDelete"He snorted in amazement, and the snotty bomb shot out of his nostril and landed on my face. His hand followed a spilt second later. I felt an explosion in my head as I was knocked to the floor."
I choose these couple lines becuase I thought it was very insightful and descriptive. My story is about a young african boy and his journey through life. This really makes you think about the harsh and brutal things some young people in less-fortunate countries have to endure. I can't image some of the things to come.
I'm reading "Contact Harvest" by Joseph Staten. It's a fictional series based off a video game featuring bio-genetically enhanced super soldiers clad in advanced exo-skeletons.
ReplyDelete"Then again, Dadab thought, maybe the Huragok felt a certain kinship with his prey. They were both voiceless servants." (ch6 pg91)
This quote struck me as very sensitive. The one creature Dadab was hunting what appear to be mice by throwing rocks at them and killing them. His companion "lighter than some" (the Huragok) saw this mouse like creature similar to it's own, a speechless, ever enslaved race and his friend killed them for mere sport. Later on Dadab realizes the severity of his action and apologizes.
I'm reading "A Scanner Darkly" by Richard Linklater. It's a Fictional, grafic novel based off a novel by Philip k. Dick, about a new drug that eventually splits the users brain into, seperate combative entities.
ReplyDelete"They're IN my hair, ON my skin, IN my lungs. And the pain, Barris.
They're ALL over the place. OH, and completely gotten millie too. I looked them up, they're APHIDS." (scene1,p16)
I found this quote very interesting in combination with the illustrations; It really captured the Metality that the users have after using the drug and how it affects the mind.
mortia said...
ReplyDeleteI'm reading "Suite Francaises" by Irèrne Némirovsky and it's a fictional novel based on true events in the 2nd world war. It's about a couple that lives in Paris during the german invasion.
The whole piece is extremly metaphoric and poetic, and every word seams like art. I chose, "As for the Seine, the river seemed to absorb even the faintest gilmmers of light and reflect them back a houndred times brighter, like some multi-faceted mirror."
I chose this quote because the author could have simply said that the mirror reflected the light, but she went further and created a stronger image in the reader's mind.
I’m reading the book “My Sister’s Keeper” written by Jodi Picoult.
ReplyDeleteThe passage that I wish I had written is “I have often wondered why I get more rest in a place where, for the most part, I’m roused out of bed two or three times a night. I think it’s because in a firehouse, I don’t have to worry about emergencies happening-they’re supposed to. The minute I walk through the door at home, I’m worrying about what might come next.” (My Sisters Keeper p. 142)
I have chosen this passage to share because I think it really describes Brian’s life. It shows how difficult it is for him to constantly be sitting on the edge, waiting for the slightest tap of Kate’s Cancer to send him falling.
-Wime
"The beet is the melancholy vegetable, the one most willing to suffer. You can't squeeze blood out of a turnip...
ReplyDeleteThe beet is the murderer returned to the scene of the crime. The beet is what happens when the cherry finishes with the carrot."
Page 1, Jitterbug Perfume
-Tom Robbins
I chose this passage because it was a good one. It made me want to read the rest of the book, even though it didn't tell me anything about what the book might be about.
Ucar
I am reading “Ghost hunter’ by Michelle Paver. It is set in the Stone Age and is the 6th book in the series The chronicles of ancient darkness. In this passage he has met a boy who was thrown out of his clan and has lived on his own with only an albino raven for company.
ReplyDelete“He appeared to be Torak’s own age. Grimy and thin, he was blinking and shielding his eyes from the light. He wore a shaggy robe of musk-ox wool, and had no visible clan tattoos. But this wasn’t what made him extraordinary.
He looked as if someone had stolen all his colour. His long, tangled hair was white as cobwebs. His brows and lashes had the hue of dead grass, his face the pallor of fresh-cut chalk. His pale gray eyes made Torak think of a sky full of snow.
“Who are you?” said the boy with an odd blend of fear and longing.”
I chose this paragraph because, her use of adjectives is very masterful and you really get a sense of how he looks and even his personality from one line.