Rad Reading- October

In October, I read That Was Then, This is Now by S.E. Hinton. That Was Then, This is Now is a 171 page coming of age story about two friends, Bryon and Mark, who live in Tulsa, Oklahoma in the late 1960s. This novel is about the two boys’ lives as less fortunate individuals, and their overall different views that they take on in life as they go through problems with friends, each other, and other relationships during the period of the book.

Something that I loved about this book was that the author wrote it very realistic to what I think a sixteen year old boy, or just teenagers, would act and feel like. This story is set from Bryon’s perspective, and includes him and Mark doing some dumb things, like getting into fights with each other and other people, mostly about little things, but sometimes about protecting one anothers honor and feelings. While sometimes immature, their thoughts and feelings were still real and not just brushed over or barely acknowledged. Their friendship seemed like it could never be split apart.

My favorite character is M&M. M&M is a thirteen year old boy, who got his nickname from his love for the famous chocolate candy. He is described as honest and nice, but a little strange. A quote that represents his honesty is found on page 23, when M&M said, “You make me sick! You just rescued me from some guys who were going to beat me up because I’m different from them, and now you’re going to beat up someone because he’s different from you. You think I’m weird — well, you’re the weird ones.” This phrase shows his honest demeanor because he said what he thought, even though Bryon and Mark clearly weren’t thinking about what M&M would’ve thought about their wrongdoings. The two boys obviously are bigger and stronger than M&M, but he still spoke his truth, instead of being afraid of what they could do to him.

My favorite quote from this book is found on page 89, “I guess I just couldn’t see standing there — alive, talking, thinking, breathing, being — one second, and dead the next.” This quote is important to me because it shows how hard grieving is for a person to grasp. When someone dies, they are gone. Most people’s minds can’t comprehend how somebody can just be gone forever so quickly. People grieve in all different ways, but it is hard for everyone. Bryon, at this moment, was in denial about the death of someone close to him, and didn’t know how to believe he was truly never coming back. He was confused about everything, why his friend died, and why he didn’t seem to feel angry or sad, but not happy either. Just numb.

My Perfect Day

My perfect day would be calm and relaxing, but still memorable. My day would contain a rainy atmosphere at my house. This is because rain, to me, is super calming. I wouldn’t go to school that day so I could do whatever I want. I would be able to watch new shows, movies, or read books I haven’t read before. Then, I would go shopping in a bunch of stores to get a lot of new clothing, but not with my own money. Then, later when there is no rain, I would hang out with my friends at the beach, with calm but nice waves. Later, at night, I would have a fun movie night with my friends or family with my dog and a bunch of cozy blankets and candy to eat.

Seven

If I could be one age forever, I would be seven. My first reason is because school is easy at that age. For example, many assignments you are given when you are seven are easy and quick to accomplish, and you don’t have to really worry about good grades, because the majority of the work is  either just participation or completion, or other effortless tasks. Another reason is because you have more time to do fun things. This is because you don’t have to worry about much homework, so time after school can be spent hanging out with friends or doing sports without having to stress about extra schoolwork. My last reason for wanting to be seven forever is because I wouldn’t have to pay for anything. Due to seven being a very young age, I wouldn’t be getting paid so my parents will pay for things that normally I would have to pay for.

Nugget

Nugget frantically ran in circles on the ground, almost disappearing upon the tall blades of grass. Her brown and black fur blowing in the wind as she sprints. Nugget is a chihuahua and cocker spaniel mix. On this hot summer day, she is chasing her throw toy which was thrown by Gerald. She leaps up and grabs the toy with her teeth, then happily runs back over to Gerald to get him to throw the rope toy again. “Okay, Nugget, I think that is enough playing for today.” Gerald says, rubbing Nugget on the head. She drops the toy, then bursts through the dining room door to head inside. When Gerald gets inside, he sees Nugget drinking her ice cold water from her bowl. That must be super refreshing after running around for a long time. Nugget, tired out from playing, goes over to her fluffy, grey dog bed, and plops herself in the middle of the comfy paradise, almost immediately snoring. “Phew, am I beat.” Gerald says, also starting to lay down on the couch to get some much needed rest.

Stand By Me

If I could live in any movie it would be Stand By Me. I would live in this universe because it demonstrates friendship when the 4 boys featured in the movie go on a journey. The friendship between all four of them, particularly the characters Chris and Gordie, have a really special and close friendship where they would do anything for each other. Another reason I would want to live in this movie is because of the overall fun they had when the boys were all together. They experienced many fun things, ran around, camped, helped the others get through tough times and got to know one another way more. My last reason I would want to live in Stand By Me is because of Gordie’s stories. One of his hobbies is writing stories, and he tells some good ones throughout the film, like the one with a pie eating contest. This is absolutely a world I would like to be living in.

Rad Reading- September

In September, I read Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen. Girl, Interrupted is a memoir about the author’s life and her journey when she was in the psychiatric hospital, called McLean Hospital, for her Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). This book was set in the late 60s, starting in 1967. The book goes over the realistic views of a patient in the hospital, which includes the breakdowns of many residents, including Susanna, and the mental illnesses of the characters. It shows how things actually went down with their illnesses, and doesn’t sugarcoat their lives. The autobiography also goes over recovery, relapse, and overall mental illnesses that Kaysen witnessed or experienced during her time in McLean.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, because it was very descriptive and genuine. Everyone in the book, including patients and nurses, were all described very clearly, which made me be able to picture what was really happening in the book. Everything was from Susanna’s point of view, so the readers got to really understand her thoughts and feelings when struggling with BPD. While not all of her opinions or writing may be exactly what others were feeling in the moment, she put all of her raw emotion of what she experienced into the book.

Lisa was my favorite character, because of her very courageous personality and actions. Quotes that show this are “The worst was that she was always caught and dragged back, dirty, with wild eyes that had seen freedom.” (20). This shows that Lisa wasn’t scared to get in trouble, and just wanted to get out, even if it was just for a short period of time, just to explore The outside world and finally feel free. Lisa was a patient who was a sociopath. While Lisa was not the best person overall, her character was very interesting to read and learn about.

One of my favorite quotes from the book was on page 39. It reads, “I wasn’t a danger to society. Was I a danger to myself?” This is one of my favorites because it shows the confusion of Susanna on how she ended up in the mental hospital in the first place. She knew she hadn’t hurt others. She told herself that she wasn’t crazy, and she thought she had no reason to believe so. Nobody would tell her the overall truth of why she was there, leading to her having to ask herself what other people thought of her. Was she crazy or dangerous and was blinded by the fact that she didn’t want to be? Was she hurting herself, and didn’t notice because it was so normal to her? This excerpt is very important to Kaysen, leading her to have to question everything.

 

Favorite Meal

The thought of my favorite meal makes my mouth water. We normally get this food on more special occasions, but whenever I am asked what I would want for dinner that night, I always answer, gnocchi from Roma D Italia. This food has a creamy tomato sauce that makes the soft potato gnocchi impossible to not want to eat. I personally strongly dislike tomato anything normally, but this delicious sauce is too good to be included in that. When you order from this food place, you can also get rolls included. When these rolls get dipped in the sauce, it is an amazing burst of flavor. I usually just like a glass of ice water with this, because it doesn’t interfere with the flavor of the overall taste of the divine meal.

Design My House

If I could design my own house, it would be a two story, comfy, Craftsman style house near or in the mountains. I like a comfy style because I love to come home after a long day and get to go to bed or just sit and watch TV comfortably on the couch or in my bed. I want my house to be near the snow because I love cold weather and just snow in general. But, I would want my house to have a beach close enough to where I could travel down to the sand and sun for the day. I would want my house to have a cute spiral staircase leading upstairs, which would include my bedroom, bathroom, and a room for my pets I could get. I would like an indoor pool included in my home so I could still use it even when it’s freezing and snowing outside.

Hawaii

If I could travel anywhere in the world, it would be Hawaii. One reason is because of its beaches. For example, Sunset Beach, O’ahu is a very beautiful place, which has a very sandy and wide beach, which is great to run around or lay out in the sun. Another reason is because of the Haleakala national park. This national park has views and is home to the Haleakala volcano. This park is also known for having endangered Hawaiian geese that are in the park. My last reason for wanting to visit Hawaii is because of Kauai. Kauai is known for its very luscious greenery and its overall beauty.

Introduction

Hi, my name is Sarah. Welcome to my blog. Allow me to introduce myself. I am in seventh grade, and I go to a middle school located in Santa Ana. I have 8 pets, including my six chickens, my parakeet named Penny, and my dog, Nugget. I enjoy reading in and outside of school. Some of my favorite books are The Outsiders by S.E Hinton, The Body by Stephen King, and many more. I also love to hang out with my friends whenever I can. Thank you for reading my intro!