Out of Comfort Zone

For my out of comfort zone book I read The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. Rachel, always fantasized about the perfect couple she watched from the train. Jason and Jess. They seem perfect until she meddles her way into the situation of Jess going missing and realizes they arent exactly what they seem to be.This book was a thrill-seeker and a must-read.

Stepping out of my comfort zone and reading The Girl on the Train was hard for me. Paula Hawkins is the author of this book and it was number one the best sellers list for a few weeks. Before I started reading this book I was nervous I would not like it or have a hard time getting through it. In the end, It took me a little longer to get into it but once I did, I finished it rather quickly. It was out of comfort for me because it was suspenseful and kind of a mystery. I normally read romance novels so this was a bit different for me. Personally, I really enjoyed this novel. I thought by reading a book out of my comfort zone i was ale to expand my horizon and I might want to read more like this.

Orphan Train Impression

Orphan Train written by Christina Baker Kline is about a teenage girl Molly who has to do 50 hours of community service to avoid going to juvie. Molly's community service takes place in an old woman, named Vivian's house. Molly is going to help her clean and organize her attic. At first, Molly is a really negative person and is dreading her community service and everything about going to Vivians. Mollys community service turns into much more than just helping some old woman. She ends up learning a lot about Vivians life and how they have gone through similar things. In the end, Molly ends up helping Vivian reunite with her family. Although, I didnt really enjoy reading this book I felt that this novel was actually very-well written and I found it very interesting. What I did enjoy about this book is how Christina Baker Kline included flashbacks from Vivians childhood to really capture the mood of all the different aspects of each character being portrayed.

Author Visit

Recently, Christina Baker Kline visited our school. Christina Baker Kline is the author of Orphan Train a book we just read in class. This book was about the transportation of orphans through the country during the 1920s. The elderly woman Vivian in the novel was apart of the Orphan Train system. As the novel goes on she releases secrets of her past and stories.

Molly is a 17 year old girl who is in a foster home. She recently got into trouble and to avoid going to juvie she had to do 50 hours of community service. She ended up cleaning Vivian's attic and helping her uncover old artifacts she had from traveling on the Orphan Trains.

Having Christina Baker Kline come to our school to teach about her book was an interesting experience. In some ways I learned more about the book than I knew before but most of her presentation was repetitive. Overall, I thought it was a good experience because I have never really been to an author visit before.

Genres

For the Genre project I presented Romance. I enjoy reading romance novels because they give me an escape from reality. I normally get into a book and start to vicariously live through the female character of the story. There are so many sub-genres for romance, examples are historical romance, contemporary, and fantasy. My personal favorite is contemporary romance. Contemporary romance takes place after the World Wars and is normally ficiton based with a happy resolution. Contemporary romance is the biggest of subgenres which includes my two personal favorite of The Lucky One and The Fault In Our Stars written by Nicholas Sparks and John Green.

Nicholas Sparks is a key writer in the romance genre. He has written so many love stories that so many people have fallen in love with. Many that have also become award winning movies. Nicholas Sparks has the sappy-love filled books that people like me love to read.

The Lucky One is about a guy who is in the army who finds a picture of a woman who he claims becomes his good luck charm. At the end of his service in the war he walks across the country to find this woman. He finds her and finds his way into her life.  It obviously took a lot longer for things to come together but they evntually come together and everything works out.


The Fault in Our Stars is a young love story. This book is by John Green who is a phenominal author in not only the romance genre. This story was about two teenagers who both had cancer one who was in remission while the other still terminally ill. The teenagers had met in a "group" meeting for kids with cancer or for kids who just needed support. At first the two characters Hazel Grace Lancaster and AUgustus Waters became friends and then they eventaully had fallen in love and helped each other through a lot of ups and downs. Un fortunately in the end things took a turn for the worse for one of them and the rest is up to you to find out. I strongly suggest reading this amazing book.

INdependant Reading Choice

I have recently read Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan. This book was recommended to me by a friend. She was not finished reading it when she recommended it to me but had said it was a cute story and an easy read. With those two comments I thought it would be a perfect choice for my second Independent choice. This book was about two different kids both named Will Grayson and when they met, they changed each others lives. I thought a weakness of this book was the separation of the Wills'. At times it would be hard to depict which Will was which. A strength of this book was that it had a strong story line and everything came together at the end perfectly. I thought this was a good book but at times it could get a little boring. If I was to rate it I would probably give it a three and a half out of five stars. It had more strengths than weaknesses but was still not my favorite book to read. I would say it's worth the read but only  recommend it to someone who wanted a quick read and likes cute, quirky stories.

Family Life Commentary

As a class we read Family Life, by Akhil Sharma. Before reading it and reading reviews, it sounded like it could be a good book and an interesting story. At first I gave it a chance by trying to understand how different and how important the move from India to America was for the Sharma family. I tried to put myself in Ajay's shoes and started to feel sorry for him. As it went on, I started to get bothered by Ajay and just the story in general. Personally, I did not enjoy reading this book at all. I thought that by giving it a chance I may like it and learn something from it but I couldnt.  It was a well-written story about the family moving and experiencing traumatizing events but I did not enjoy it all.

Readers Choice 2015

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The Books of My Life

Favorite Childhood Book-
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

Goodnight Moon was always my favorite childhood book. When I was little my mom would read it to me every night as goodnight story.









Book that Inspired Me-The Perks of being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky



The Perks of Being a Wallflower

This book inspired me by showing me a new experience that teenagers could go through. It showed different situations and problems that the main character went through and was able to create new solutions for.









Book that Made Me Cry-The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

The Fault in Our Stars is about teens battling cancer who end up falling in love. For having cancer and going through their hard time they are able to accomplish life goals they evntually won't be able to do anymore. It's an amazing stroy written by John Green and I would reccomend it to anyone.













Favorite Beach Read-
The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks

 

The Last Song is another love story that is perfect while laying on the beach.













Book i recommend  to friends-

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

I recommend Thirteen Reasons Why to teens and young adults. I was able to finish within a few days because of how interesting it was. Not many books can keep my attention long and this one held it from start to finish.

Introduction

 Hi my name is Sophia, welcome to my blog for Readers Choice 2015! I am a highschool student and  I am not the biggest reader, but I enjoy reading romances and mysteries. I read a lot by John Green including, An Abundance of Katherine's, Will Grayson Will Grayson and The Fault in Our Stars. Another book i have read was Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. This book was a sort of mystery with a lot of suspense.  I would like to become a more regular reader and Readers Choice is helping me fulfill that goal.