Summer Reading

When deciding who I should ask for a book recommendation, I knew right away that I was going to talk to my mom. I always see her around reading a book, always with a new one, and knew that she had read a variety of genres. When I went to for a recommendation she immediately told me about The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo trilogy. I read the first book over my trip in Israel and was unable to put it down, it was incredibly captivating and I couldn't stop reading it. As soon as I got home I had to read the second book, The Girl Who Played With Fire, also written by Stieg Larsson. The book that I decided to focus on for this blog, was the second in the series, as that is the one I read over the summer. I sat down with my mom to ask her more about the trilogy and what I could expect from the second book.

My mom told me that she had been recommended the book series through a friend and when I asked her for what book to read next, she immediately thought of the series. She knew that I would fall in love with the books because I enjoy a good mystery and she knew that I have read series before, my favorite being Harry Potter. But I wanted to know more about her opinion of the books and why she enjoyed them as much as she did. What captivated her about the series started with of course, the first book. Lisbeth Salander, is a young woman who is introverted, socially awkward, and has a style like no other. She is petite and seemingly weak in body type which is quite contrary to her personality and her other physical appearances. She has piercing and tattoos, short hair and doesn't care what other people think of her. My mom loved that the character was true to who she was and didn't let the opinion of others change that. That was a quality my mother could relate to as she feels that like the main character, she is judged by others before they get to know her, based on her physical appearance. My mother dyes her hair bright red and knows that people make their own assumptions about who she is because of that. But what she learned from the story is that you cannot judge others before you get to know them, as the main character turned out to be complete surprise and much different than what you would think based on how she expressed herself. My mom was intrigued by the plot of the first book and the journey of Lisbeth and a journalist, Mikael Blomkvist, work together to find out about the mysterious disappearance of the granddaughter of a very wealthy man. All of these aspects, along with the surprise ending, which was a mystery in itself, made her want to read the next book to find out how the next part of the story unfolded. 

I then talked with her more about the second book and what I could be expecting from that. Again, she told me mystery. Mystery is the main word she uses to describe the book. Every question I asked, no matter what it was, was usually answered with the word mystery. You truly never know what is going to happen next. She also explained that there was a lot more going on in this book. The plot contained more twists and turns and all around the book was filled with more information, so to speak. She explains that what sets this book a part from the second is that the book is more involved with the main character, Lisbeth Salander's life, rather than in the first where she was uncovering someone else's life. 

Summer Reading - Impression

Reading The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series was one of the most incredible and memorable reads of my life. I have never come across books like these and want nothing more than to keep reading them until the very last page. Let me start off with the first book, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. I had no idea what to expect from the series at all besides that it was a mystery. But I didn't know what that meant and I certainly never expected it to be as incredible as it actually was. The first book truly was a mystery, as a young girl disappeared decades ago and was never found. Her grandfather wanted to know who murdered her and what happened, so he hired a journalist by the name of Mikael Blomkvist and then along came Lisbeth Salander. Together they became involved in a family filled with years of hidden and dark secrets and risked their own lives in order to solve the disappearance. But these books are not your normal cliche mystery books. They are in a league of their own, no matter how well I try to describe the books, I won't even begin to do them justice. You have to read them to understand their complexity, wit, and chilling details. As soon as I had finished the first book I knew that I had to read The Girl Who Played With Fire, and that I did.

Lisbeth Salander

As soon as I began reading the second book I could already tell that is was much different from the first. The book picked up a few months later and began with the relaxed lives of the main characters. But as the book continued it turned into a twisted murder plot, a prostitution ring, and a man known only by the name "Zala." Right off the bat two journalist that worked with Mikael Blomkvist were murdered, and shortly thereafter Lisbeth's legal guardian was also killed. Immediately evidence was found that implicated Lisbeth for all of the murders. And so the hunt for her began. Her face was plastered all around Sweden, she was being portrayed as a deranged and physco killer with a dark past. I loved that the book dived into these murders straight away. I myself was sucked into wanting to know if Lisbeth was responsible for the murders. What I think the author did amazingly well was portray to the readers a Lisbeth that we all know and love and deep down believe that there is no way she was the killer, yet are strung along with the police in the investigation of her as a suspect.

I don't want to give away too much of the book, because it is an absolute must read. But I will say that the book was very unexpected and my mom was right, mystery was the perfect word to describe it. I never knew what was going to happen next, who was going to believe Lisbeth was the killer and who was going to defend her. But it was so much more than that, Lisbeth's past began to unsurface, which we had never learned about before. As we began to look into her past we realized that darkness that came along with it and things that I had never even thought possible. You saw how much this poor girl had been through in her life and why she would be the way she is today. You feel sorry for her, you want her to prevail in the story and seek the revenge that she so deserves.

With that being said, I thought the ending was absolutely brilliant and could never have been predicted. Books that keep you on your toes and shock you, are the best ones because they are unpredictable in the best way possible. The ending was a cliffhanger if I've ever seen one and left me hoping for the best. I couldn't wait to read the third and final book, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest. Currently I am reading the third book which has given me a lot of insight on the past two. What sets the first book a part from the second is exactly what my mom said, it focuses on the main characters personal lives and a mystery of their own, rather than the searching of someone else's.

I would recommend this book to everyone, no matter what their interests are. It will keep you guessing till the very end, make you want to read until you've uncovered the mystery, and shock you with every page you turn. These are some of the best books that I have ever read and suck you into the captivating world of a young woman who is anything but ordinary.

Summer Reading - Post Read

After reading The Girl Who Played With Fire I sat down with my mom again to discuss the book and some things that struck me. There was so much to talk about, that it was hard to know where to begin, so I first started off by telling my mom that she was right. The book was in fact a mystery, filled with twist and turns and a plot to die for, to say the least. I understood what she had been talking about and explained to her how thrilling it was to read the book. She agreed with me completely, she had the same experience in the sense that she was constantly curious about the book and wanted to continue to read it until she uncovered what it was all about.

The main subject we talked about was how well the author had written the novel. I explained how I was constantly left guessing about what was going to happen next, who was behind the conspiracies, and who was going to be killed. We both really loved how unpredictable the story was because we enjoy being surprised and shocked at the same time. I told her that one of my favorite parts about the book was getting to learn about Lisbeth Salander, as in the previous book she was closed off and private. It was really neat to see a different side of her and get a glimpse into her perspective of things. My mom couldn't have agreed more. She told me that getting to know her better was one of the best parts of the books, because she is such a complex character. We were constantly uncovering new traits and stories about her past through the reading.

I had a few questions with my mom and first asked her what she thought about Lisbeth Salander going into hiding immediately after she was accused of murder and not allowing anyone to help her or contact her. I had my own opinion on that, but wanted to hear hers first. My mom told me that she thought the situation was very tricky because if she herself was in that position, and innocent, she would have gone to the police explaining her innocence and helping them with their investigation. But, she felt that Lisbeth had no choice but to run because she was being sought after and hunted as if the police knew without a doubt that she was the killer and would accept no other explanation. I thought that this was a really interesting answer as I hadn't thought what I would have done if I was in Lisbeth's shoes, but I would have to agree with my mom and would have stepped forward myself. I originally thought Lisbeth should have too, but after listening to my mom I would have to agree with the decision Lisbeth made because she had no other alternative.

Lastly, I asked her about predictions for the final book and she told me she expected the investigation into the murders of Lisbeth's guardian and the two reporters to continue but explore other suspects besides those of Lisbeth. She also told me that she couldn't wait to find out if Lisbeth would live or die from her fatal accident at the end of the book and if she lives, what measures she would take to seek revenge against Zalachenko, a man who left a dark mark on her past.

Summer Reading - Honors Humanities

For honors humanities I was recommended A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Tooler, from Neil Baffert, now a senior here at High Tech High Media Arts. I asked Neil a few questions about his  reasoning behind his book choice and the impression it left upon him, through an e-mail he sent me.

Here is Neil's response to my questions:

Why did you read this book?

I read A Confederacy of Dunces because it was a recommendation from my father to me. Actually it was a Christmas gift. He told me that it was one of those books that everybody needs to read at some point in their life, a classic, but isn’t often read by schools. He said it would teach me a lot regarding the value of life, what things are worth, how to live life, and show a little bit of scenic detail from New Orleans.

Why do you value this book?

I value A Confederacy of Dunces because, while it did teach me things, it actually was a very good read as well, stylistically. I normally do not like reading books, it has nothing to do with my reading capabilities, for I am good at reading. The only problem is it is challenging for me to find a good book that I don’t speed through. This book was perfect for that, not only was it something I could actually enjoy, but it was long enough and slowly paced enough for me to read it over a decent amount of time.

How has this book impacted your life?

This book has impacted my life by showing me the life of somebody who didn’t try. Who got to ahead of themselves. It showed me that no matter how highly you think of yourself, at some point you are going to have to do things you don’t want to do in order to make it to the top.

Neil's E-mail

Summer Reading - Honors Humanities Post-Read

From Neil's e-mail I got a sense that he enjoyed the book not only for the writing style but for the moral that prevails due to the main character's egotistical ways and self righteousness. I also learned that the book took place in New Orleans and was a classic novel, though I had never heard of it before. At first glance I wasn't exactly ecstatic to read the book, though I love reading. I very rarely read books that take place in a different time era because I haven't explored that genre yet. From reading the back of the book and the reviews on the inside cover, I got a sense that the main character was a very large and pompous jerk that created hilarity for the reader. Seeing the reviews that this was an "epic comedy" from the Washington Post and "one of the funniest books ever written" from The New Republic, I was much more interested in reading because let's face it, who doesn't love a good laugh? Other than these basic facts I truly did not know what to expect from the reading but was pleasantly surprised.

After reading A Confederacy of Dunces I was really impressed by Neil's recommendation and understood why he enjoyed the style and took away a larger message. One of the main things that stood out to me was how funny the book really was. There were moments where I actually was laughing out loud, which is a sign that a book has done its job. It impacted me in a way that sucked me into the book and into the main character's troubled and unorthodox life. As a thirty year old man, Ignatius Reilly still lives at home with his mother and refuses to get a job, despite his many years at college, his impressive education, and complex vocabulary. He wears an unforgettable green cap that makes him stand out even more than his oversized body and commanding personality does. In fact, the green cap is almost a character in itself.

After much push and threatening from his mother, and a drunk driving accident that came with a hefty price, Ignatius ventures out into the real world. Through the book we follow Ignatius in his job hunt, his attempt at being an employee, and his thirst for power getting in the way of following the rules, resulting in the lose of multiple jobs. All of these things were the basis for the humor and created a story line that was unpredictable. 

The author does a great job of connecting the characters in such a way that all of their lives in someway coincide with one another, creating a web of characters that are often times unknowingly connected with each other. For instance, we learn about Ignatius's college professor from Ignatius and in the next chapter learn the professor is reading the newspaper and finds his former student as the headline news. Though the professor no way impacts the story-line, it creates a dynamic and adds to the main character's background and is another reason the book is filled with so much humor.

I would recommend this book to anyway who wants to learn about a different time era, culture, a city, that sometimes you need to take a step back in life, and get sucked into the crazy games of a thirty year old man.

Summer Reading - Honors Biology

For honors biology I read the book Genome by Matt Ridley, which was recommended to me by James Armenta, a senior here at High Tech High Media Arts. I asked James a few questions about the book and why it made an impression on him, which he answered through an e-mail.

Here is James's response:

What is this book about?

The book I gave you, Genome by Matt Ridley, is a biology book that focuses each of it's chapters on one of the 23 different genomes of human DNA. Because the human genome is so incredibly complex, the chapters could not fully encompass what traits each genome may be the cause for. Instead, a certain characteristic that has been related to each gene (such as IQ, or the possibility of Asthma) is discussed.

Why did you read this book?

I chose to read the book because I wanted a more tangible way to think about genes. It's easy to understand that they code for certain proteins which ultimately lead to physical characteristics in the body, but I wanted to apply it to the real world in some way. The way Ridley explains each of the characteristics makes for a much more simplified read about the complicated human genome. 

Why do you value this book?

The most value I got out of this book was really seeing the duality between how much our genes define us and how much free will we truly possess. Ridley explains many times in the book that there are many other factors that contribute to what makes a person than just their genes. That being said, we cannot escape the destiny of our genes. From the very moment of conception, or even before, our genetic code defines us. It was fun reading about the balancing act between the two & how it could easily be seen both ways. 

How has this book impacted your life?

Seeing how a simple mutation in a set of genes can so greatly change your life. Reading about all of the problems that could occur in a human's genetics, really made me realize how fragile life is. 

James's Email

Summer Reading - Honors Biology Post -Read

Genome

After receiving the book, Genome, I was really nervous to start reading because I was afraid that the book would be incredibly boring and just purely facts, not a read that you could get into and that was interesting. Also, science is not my strongest subject because it is sometimes hard for me to fully understand scientific concepts as they can be so grand and complex, but I was pleasantly surprised by this book. In James's e-mail it seemed that he enjoyed the book because he was able to understand the complexity of the genome in a simplistic way, which is very helpful to those of us who aren't scientists and knowledgeable in that area.

Right off the bat the author first broke down what a genome actually was, which was very helpful. A genome is a set of human genes that is comprised of twenty-three pairs of chromosomes. The book explores each one of the chromosome pairs and touches the surface of what traits and information has been learned about that specific chromosome. There are still thousands upon thousands of traits that a chromosome affects but have yet to been discovered. The genome in its entirety is so vast that there are still many mysteries that are being uncovered. Through the book we get a general knowledge of what the genome is comprised of and the chromosomes.

Though this was just a broad knowledge of the genome, there was so much information that was packed into it. At times, I must admit, it was hard to follow the book because it became a bit mundane, boring, and confusing. At those times I wasn't as interested in the book and I also didn't fully understand what I was reading. Even though this book would be considered more of a beginner's guide to the genome, it still talks of very complex concepts and uses of each chromosome. I wish that I had read this book with someone or as a class to be able to discuss the chromosome and the trait that was being explored from each chapter.

That being said, I still learned a ton of knowledge about the human body and genome and a few pieces of information really stuck with me. First off, in the second chapter titled Species, or rather with the second chromosome, I was shocked to learn how similar we are to gorillas and chimpanzees. We are ninety-eight percent the same chimpanzees and ninety-seven percent the same as gorillas. I couldn't believe how closely are genes are to those of these animals, though we may look quite different we both in fact have "thirty-two teeth, five fingers, two eyes, four limbs, and a liver" as said by Ridley himself. In fact, chimpanzees have twenty-four chromosomes while we have twenty-three, but what is so interesting is that the only reason we have twenty-three is because two of the chimpanzees' chromosomes fused together into one chromosome, resulting with us have twenty-three.

Another striking piece of information was with chromosome eleven that discussed personality. Our genes and our chromosomes make up what color hair we have, how tall we are, and so on. But this chapter also explored that our genes also make up our personality. One specific paragraph caught my eye. Ridley was discussing how employers base their decisions on who to hire on their personality, among other things. This Ridley says, is just like physical discrimination, because we cannot help our personalities. He explains how it is socially unacceptable to discriminate based on eye color, skin color, and other physical appearances, but it's socially acceptable when it comes to psychological issues, such as personality. This struck me because I never thought that our personalities are, in a way, programmed by our genes, to a certain extent we cannot help who we are, yet I believe many people don't realize that and judge people based on how they act.

The last fact I want to touch on was in the Immortality chapter which covered chromosome fourteen. I learned that different species age at different rates. The example Ridley used was that an elephant, a larger animal, lives longer than smaller animals, such as a mouse. He explained how this would seem to be the opposite as to keep the elephant alive, rather than the mouse, the cells have to do more work, This is where it really gets interesting, it was then discovered that though the elephant lives longer, both the animals have the same amount of heartbeats in their lifetime as the other. The reason the elephant lives longer is becuase its pluse rate is much slower than that of a rat. Therefore, if you compare their lives through the number of heartbeats, they both live the same amount.

Genome definitely taught me about what a genome actually is and what the chromosomes do in our bodies. All of this was taught in a general sense and as easily as this complex subject really could. Though at times the reading wasn't the most interesting or easy to understand, I am glad that I read this book because even if I only take a few things away from it, I came out learning more about the human body, and myself, than I knew before.