Jane Austin's Book Club

I honestly hated this film. I do not think there is anything I would rather avoid watching. I do not see a single redeeming quality, just reasoning for me to dislike this film. The first and most obvious reason is the constant jumps in time, and quite frankly, those made it hard for me to follow the film and it aggravated me. The next issue in my opinion with this film is the underlying feminist message, as they bring up Austin in one scene, they nearly imply that she was too good for men, therefore she never married. Also, I found the acting to be unbelieveable, just like when anytime emotions were supposed to be expressed. I could not believe the acting, I found the movie aggravating and  I just was not satisfied. I would recommend this book to people I can not stand and also people who like to waste two hours.

Stepping Out of My Comfort Zone with Emerson

Normally, I am not at all a fan of classic American literature. I typically find it to be boring, and highly overrated, especially in novels such as To Kill a Mockingbird. As an assignment for my Reader's Choice class, I was told to read a book out of my comfort zone and I chose one that I had ordered as part of a lot on eBay that had been sitting in my house for months. This book seemed clearly out of my comfort zone, being that classic American literature bores me to no end, yet I read it; The work I read was Ralph Waldo Emerson's Self Reliance.

This text was something that actually amazed me, causing a juxtaposition on my view on literature and life in general. The work begins with Emerson staring at the stars, discussing the beauty of nature, something I find highly relatable. The next topic brought up was one that truly has drawn me in and enamored me; commodity. Emerson states how the thought of commodity has changed from when humans were hunters and gatherers, once valuing things needed to survive, such as water, instead of things that now hold monetary value such as gold. Emerson continues to discuss society in general and how overall, people are far too reliant on others and often feel a sense of entitlement due to this.  Being a right-winger, I personally view this as highly true when applied to a political landscape, overall, many are far too reliant on government programs, instead of going to their original roots and relying on one and their tools to survive and thrive. Lastly, Emerson discusses a theory of self-genius, where intelligence is determined about what one does well at, such as a gunsmith being a genius of firearms, which is another theory that intrigued me. Instead of the idiotic common core system of valuing one's intelligence based upon tests made by a private company, many people thrive in their own respects.

Thus, I am overjoyed to have had the privilege to read this work and I plan to read more Emerson in the future.

Christina Baker Kline's Visit

No matter who the author, or ones opinion on his or her writing, meeting an author and speaking with them about the novels they have written is a privilege in itself. I was fortunate enough to hear Ms. Christina Baker Kline speak in the James Caldwell High School auditorium, and I was rather amused with her tales, despite the fact that I am not at all a fan of her hit novel, Orphan Train.

Her first tale is of why she made Niemh, the main character of Orphan Train, a redhead. This was because her two sons are both redheaded and she wanted to use the redhead stereotypes to give reasoning behind Niemh not being adopted as quickly as the other children had been. The next rather interesting story of hers was how she decided to write this novel was her picking up a book in the house of her mother-in-law during a snow storm, explaining how her father-in-law was adopted from one of these trains. This then drove her to insure there was a high amount of accuracy in respect to the still living train riders. Kline also discussed the way she formed Molly as a character. This was from her observations of her sons' friends, but in this case I believe she should be slightly more strict about those whom her sons bring home because Molly is a depressing pessimist in my eyes. Lastly, she discussed her potential for a new novel which will be starring a future version of Molly and quite frankly, as my previously expressed opinion would make obvious, I do not plan to read.

Overall, I was pleased to have Ms. Kline speak at my school and it made the doldrums of a school day slightly better. She had a rather friendly presentation and also a professional way of speaking, which was rather appealing to me and other audience members.

Orphan Train #1

To be completely honest, I am not at all fond of Orphan Train. I view this entire novel as a weakness in itself, with very few redeeming qualities. The foremost weakness I see is the impossibility for me to follow a story due to the constant change in character. Using Vivian and Molly is highly aggravating me because I do not enjoy their flip flopping and change in time periods on a frequent basis. Also, the name switching on Vivian's part from Neimh to Dorothy to Vivian was irritating to me as well. This also made the novel even harder to follow upon, and adding insignificant characters such as Dutchy just overwhelmed me. Lastly, the biggest flaw in the novel is Molly herself. Kline claims she captures the attitude of Molly from teenagers in her home in Montclair, NJ that were friends with friends of her sons. In this case, Kline needs to reevaluate the children she allows into her home because Molly was an aggravating pessimist who looked to be upset. I only see one mildly redeeming quality was the historical accuracy in respect to the way the children were described. Overall, at this point in the novel, I rate it a 3/10. Thumbs Down.

Dystopian Genre

My favorite genre is dystopia, for the reasoning that typically, one can draw parallels in classic dystopian novels such as Orwell's 1984, despite the fact that it was written in 1945. Also, the elements of risk and overbearing government are involved which always are able to keep my attention. Lastly, I also enjoy the comical sense of irony in many classic dystopian novels, such as anything written by Vonnegut.

Out of this genre, my favorite novel by far is Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. It takes place in a future state that is seemingly supposed to be and oversensitive America, where books are completely banned from the hands of civilians and a firefighter's job is to burn them. Guy Montag, the main character is a fireman and he begins to go through a transformation after burning the books of a woman, who later burns herself alive. Soon, Montag is reading and questioning society and gets caught by his chief, but only warned once. After meeting a retired English professor named Faber, he becomes further enamored in literature after reading the bible and soon has an episode that causes him to be investigated and go on the run. I will not tell the ending because it is a novel all should read.

The next one of my favorite dystopian novels, and also novels in general is George Orwell's Animal Farm. This novel is an analogue of the Russian Revolution and the transformation from Lenin to Stalin using animals on a farm. Old Major (Lenin), leads the farm at the beginning and  the farm is meant for people like Snowball (the proletariat)  and the other animals to prosper equally from the work of society as a whole. Napoleon (Stalin) then brutishly pushes his way into power and the society begins to collapse. Snowball is killed (The Great Purge) and Napoleon begins to violate the traditional rules as Stalin did as he took power. Overall, this novel represents what Orwell sees as a real-life dystopia.