Post #8: Book 4 Independent Reading Project

@sidney_crecelius rated Cryer's Cross:  ★★★★☆  

 

I have recently read James Patterson's book Beach Road and I enjoyed the mystery novel but I was more interested in the romance aspect that was described in the synopsis of the book and I never really got much out of it. But when I read Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann.. WOW! This was a book that always kept my attention. McMann made me care about her characters. I felt like I knew Kendall and Jacian. I could feel the tension between them when they were in the car together or when they were playing soccer. McMann made the characters relatable so we as readers could put ourselves in our shoes. Things that they went through and felt are normal human everyday life things. It wasn't some out of the ordinary story, some sort of fantasy that could never happen. I think that is something I also enjoyed about Beach Road; both of the stories were realistic.

A woman named Emily with her own book review site wrote: 'I'm not really into horror. It tends to give me nightmares. Yes, actual nightmares complete with monsters. I guess my psyche never got the memo that those were supposed to go away after like the age of 8. But, the creepiness factor was just enough that it kept me turning pages to see what happened, but not quite enough that I had to sleep with the light on.' I would have to agree with her review as well. It is quite a thriller that will have you curled up in your bed or chair wanting to hide your eyes with a pillow so you don't see what going to happen next. You feel like you are right there with Kendal!

One negative side of the character development that Emily did touch on was: '[T]he OCD component of Kendall's character was underdeveloped. I don't have OCD, and frankly, I don't know anyone that has OCD, but it seemed that the only thing that Kendall was obsessed about was the pattern of the desks in the room. And, other than her need to get to school early to fix the desks every morning, it really didn't impact her life all that much.' I think the OCD side of Kendal was really just there to help with the flow of the book and help with some of the plot so it did at sometimes seem forced. But I thought it was cute how Jacian picked up on it and Kendal's OCD was one of the things that brought her and Jacian closer.

As a book as whole I thought it was a good story and well developed characters but it was a bit of a let complicated read. You can tell it was a young adult award winning novel and not a Paperback Fiction award winning novel. I appreciated the romance and the thriller aspects of the book and really enjoyed this book as my final book for the semester. This class has really helped my interest in reading grow and I can't wait to continue reading :)



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Post #7: Patterson vs. McMann

When I picked out my book three I was looking for a mystery novel with a romance aspect in it. Unfortunately, the synopsis of the book misleads me into thinking that’s what I was getting myself in to. James Patterson’s novel, Beach Road, was mostly just a crime solving. A man was charged with cold blood murder and the two lawyers who were supposedly ex-lovers helped show he was innocent. I was disappointed because I wanted to romance drama in the book. Besides that fact I thought Beach Road was a well written book….very easy to follow. In my fourth book that I am reading right now, Cryer’s Cross, I am very satisfied so far. The teenage girl, Kendall’s classmate has been missing for the past year and the people of this small are still healing because this isn’t normal in Cryer’s Cross, when suddenly Kendall’s boyfriends (but she doesn’t like to call it that) goes missing too! What the! I am enjoying this book a lot better because I like to hear the romance part of the story and Kendall constantly talks about how much she misses Nico, her “boyfriend”. But then there is this other boy in the story named Jacian. I think Kendall and Jacian are going to end up liking each other. Right now they act like they hate each other but I think they will end up having feelings for each other. I have enjoyed McMann’s mystery-love story more than Patterson’s attempt into adding romance in to his crime novel. Round of applause to Lisa McMann!

Post #6: Book 3 Listicle

5 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Live in the Hamptons 

1.       People don’t wear hats.

Interestingly enough, in the Hamptons instead of wear a hat on your head people instead just buy them to keep them on a shelf. “It’s unlucky to wear a hat for the first time,” says professional athlete Dante Halleyville. So instead of wearing them he keeps them locked up in a cabinet in his room to never be worn. Why waste the money on a hat if you aren’t even going to wear it? That is like going to Jeff Ruby’s Steak House, ordering a 60 dollar steak, and then not eating it! A hat is meant to be worn to keep the sun out of your face. Dante’s grandmother even backs him up on it, when Kate, Dante’s attorney, asks Marie Scott is Dante ever wore the hats…MULTIPLE…outside, “’Never!’ says Scott so loudly that the whole courtroom feels the fury in it,” (Patterson 252). Pshh, sounds ridiculous.

2.       There is no such thing as backyard basketball.

Growing up in a suburban area there is usually a group of kids that hangout, play some hopscotch, ride bikes, do lemonade stands, and maybe play a little pickup basketball. But no, not in the Hamptons. If you try to have a little competition you will end up being held at gun point. No smack talk is allowed, no rough housing, because you might be seen as a threat. Might as well not go to get coffee in the morning because of you order the same thing as the person in front of you, uh oh, you better watch out that might whip out a PNG and accuse you of copying them. The Hamptons is just not a family friendly environment.

3.       Citizens of the Hamptons are more likely to become a drug addict. 

Anywhere you go you are going to find a group of people that are invested in to the drug world. It’s inevitable. But it seems as if in The Hampton everywhere you sure there is a drug dealer, or someone that knows a drug dealer, or someone that buys drug from a drug dealer. Multiple people are murdered in this novel because of drugs. Those that live in the Hamptons typically have a lot of money. Usually too much money that they don’t know what to do with it so they begin to experiment with drugs. The police, especially Officer Hugo Lindgren, will let you get away with just about everything if you give them what they want.

4.       The jobs of those in the Hamptons are not valued.

Of course with the economy these days, jobs are tight. You have to perform at your best in order to maintain or obtain a job. It can get pretty competitive. But in the Hamptons, they will toss you overboard as soon as you don’t do one thing the way they want you to do it. For instance: Kate Costello an attorney at Walmark, Reid, and Blundell, one of New York’s most honored white-shoe law firms was asked to represent a man named Randall Kane. Now, Randall Kane was a very rich man that gave this law firm a lot of money. When Kate refuses to represent him because of the horrible rape crimes he committed her boss, Mr. Reid fired her right on the spot. Who would blame Kate for not wanting to represent a ruthless sexual predator? Those that live in the Hamptons are obsessed with money and will once again do anything to get it.

5.       You will die.

There were 4 murders, 3 gun fights, and 2 bar crawls all in a matter of 2 weeks at the Hamptons. The amount of risk in the Hamptons is equivalent to downtown Detroit at 2 a.m. on a Friday night. Who would think that the Hamptons (picture on the right) would have anything to do with murder? Truth is, a man who was guilty almost go put away for life for committing the murders because a police officer in the Hamptons was paid off by a main drug dealer to set Dante Haleyville. Bottom line is, just because the Hamptons is a rich, beautiful part of the country, the Hamptons really isn’t the safest place to live.

 

 

 

 

Post #5: Truth in Memoir

In my opinion, for a book to be labeled as nonfiction it has to be at least 95% true. If it isn't then the plot in the book isn't really what happened in real life and therefore is nonfiction. As an author I would feel guilty and as a reader I would feel betrayed if a nonfiction book wasn't true. I understand if you try and make the book more interesting but then don’t label it as nonfiction. I think it is okay to change minor details like what you ate for breakfast, or what you wore to school, or maybe even some of the conversation because you might now remember it so vividly. But if you exaggerate or alter the event that is changes its effect on you, others, or other events in the story line I don’t think it is okay. I understand where David Shields is coming from when he discusses eliminating non-fiction and fiction as a whole. It would eliminate this whole argument and conversation. But I think when someone sees the statement “based on a true story” or something like that about a movie or a book people are more likely to get into it and you become more connected to the book because you want to be with them through the story. I know when I read Marley and Me I got became connected to the characters because it actually happen. For some reason, true stories are a bit more encouraging and inspirational than made up ones. Bottom line, if a book is only half true… it’s not nonfiction. 

Post #4: Adaption "Gone Girl"

If I were to be asked to be the director of the adaption of Gone Girl I would have to make sure I have the right actors/actresses to take be the characters. This is important because the characters in Gone Girl are very complex and they have many different side to them. They are good at lying, and cheating, and twisting their words and actions. They are conniving, and sly, and enchanting all at the same time. When I think of a good actor for Nick Dunne, I think of Dylan Walsh from the movie The Stepfather. He would be a good fit because in The Stepfather he was a completely different person than he was acting to be and I thought he did a very good job as a lying, deceiving character. Another decision I would have to make are what scenes are essential. Obviously when adapting the movie it is hard to get every single itty-bitty detail into the movie. But I think some of the most important parts of the book would be all the press interviews. It is important to still keep the concept of the book and still keep all the special details the author of the book put his/her time into including to make the book so successful that it should be turned into a movie. The third, and last, important decision I would have to make would be is what to change about the movie. I think in order for the book to be more exciting (*heads up here’s a spoiler alert*) and thrilling is if in the end Amy and Nick don’t end up together. Everyone who reads the book knows that there is no way Nick and Amy would end up together and maybe that is the whole point of writing a fiction novel is that there is no way that that would ever happen. But I think the movie would be more successful if the ending got a bit creepier because that is what people will remember when they walk out of the theater. The end is their last impression and what the viewers are going to talk about on their way home.  

Post #3 Book One Project: Fan Experience

The Longest Ride Ranch is coming! On June 13, 2015, The Ride, a new ranch, is opening in Black Mountain, North Carolina. The Ride will feature bull riding, live music, horseback riding, hiking, and Mama’s Homemade Kitchen. This have-to attraction will allow is visitors to live the life of Sofia and Luke for the day! Hiking trails, horseback riding, and bull riding will be open Sunday-Thursday 8am- 8pm and Friday-Saturday 8am-11pm. On the weekends, there will be bull riding competitions and live music. The Ride will allow fans of The Longest Ride and Nicholas Sparks to see the book come alive. The Ride is created for its visitors to walk a day in Sofia and Luke’s shoes. See if you can ride the bull like Luke or eat one of Mom’s meals.

When Sofia, a senior at Wake Forest College, and her long term boyfriend break up, Sofia’s best friend drags her to a rodeo that’s in town about 20 minutes from their campus. There she meets this bull rider Luke and her life is turned upside down. Luke isn’t the usual type of guy Sofia will go for. In the book, The Longest Ride, Sofia and Luke fall in love and his ranch has a large part in their love story. It’s funny the first time Luke and Sophia met was when he broke up a fight between her and her ex-boyfriend. They were very different from each other. Not like anyone either of them had been with before. “But the girl on the railing interested him. There was something different about her, though he couldn’t pinpoint what. Maybe, he thought, it was the unguarded, almost vulnerable way she stared into the distance”. Luke was one of the best bull riders in the country which is why the bull riding aspect is an important part of The Ride Ranch. On their second date Sofia visits Luke at the ranch and he takes her horseback riding for the first time. While on horseback, Luke would take Sofia all over the ranch and show he places that he and his father would go before he passes away. “We used to stay out here all day. It was kind of our place, just for the two of us.” The Ride the visitors are able to ride paths just like they did and if they choose, can ride all the way back to the pond in the back of the ranch to fish like Luke and his father used to. The third time Sofia visited the ranch was when Luke invited her to dinner with his mother. This night Sofia got to know Luke’s mother and she made a home cooked meal for them. Here at The Ride, the visitors can eat at Mama’s Homemade Kitchen for breakfast, lunch, or dinner to get a taste. The first night that Sofia and Luke spent together was in this cabin out in the middle of nowhere, another place he and his father used to go. This was the place that Sofia and Luke first said “I love you,” to each other. The hiking trails are a way for the readers and fans to connect with the cabin Sofia and Luke would go to. Specifically the night when they were driving home and Luke noticed the railing on the side of the road broken. Luckily Luke and Sofia were able to stop and see that there was a car that had driven off the road and called 911. What’s so unique about The Ride is it is stationed in Black Mountain, North Carolina, the same place that Ira and Ruth, Ira’s beloved wife who passed away 9 years before, would take trips to and buy artwork. Ira was the man in the car crash that Luke and Sofia discovered one night on their way back from the cabin. Ira and Ruth loved each other very much and their love story inspired Luke and Sofia and basically the whole book. The Ride offers a chance to become your favorite character and experience what they experience in an interactive environment. Just by walking through the ranch the fans will be able to feel the same passion Luke and Sofia felt while they were reading the book all over again. “You don’t see the good in yourself what others see in you. You think you are not handsome enough, but you are these things, to, and that you are not aware of your best qualities is part of your charm. You always see so much in others—as you did in me. You made me feel special”. The Ride is a special ranch because it allows those who read the book a way to put the pieces together and for those who are just visiting a taste of Luke and Sofia’s epic love story.

The Ride ranch was created for the readers and the fans. It is a way for them to relive the story again and get to do the things that the characters did. The Ride literally bring the book alive. It’s not just something you watch on a digital screen or do sitting in your family room. The Ride is a full on interactive experience. They are riding the bulls. They are riding the horses. They are hiking the trails. They are eating Mama’s food.  They are in Black Mountain, North Carolina, the inspiration for his book. Nicholas Sparks wrote this book based off of the Black Mountain College because of all the famous art work from WWII. That is when Nicholas Sparks got the idea of Ira and The Longest Ride just grew from there. Those who visit The Ride ranch will all share a special connection that only those who read the book will fully apprehend.


Want a sneak peak of what to expect at THE RIDE? Check it out here!

Post #2: What is a book?

A book is a getaway. Whether it is the feeling you get when you see the beautifully designed book cover or the words that were carefully chosen by the author on each page. Each book has its own meaning. Its own message behind it. Somewhere hidden inside the lines and spaces is a memory of the author. I believe that the author has a purpose for writing the things he writes. He or she develops a story based upon a feeling they want you to experience or a memory they want you to recall. I think that books can take you places. Books have the power to let you picture and imagine the story and characters however you would like. You can take each character and just envision what it would be like if they were sitting right next to you in that moment.  A book can help you break free from reality and go to this little world that the author has create.

I like being able to hold an actual paperback book in my hands. I know that’s what the author meant for the book to be when he or she wrote it. The way the format of the words as they are typed out on the page, the font that the book is in, or the weight of the book in your hand or lap as you read it. That book has volume not only in the number of pages but in the emotion that was put into the book. I hate how Victor LaValle makes fun of the idea of an author “bleeding on the page” in a way. I have gotten books handed down to me through the years and I think it means a lot getting a book that my mom gave to me and her mom gave to her and my grandma’s mom gave to her. It’s special. It grasps on to history and carries it with you wherever it goes.

I understand the convenience of a kindle, iPad, or phone. I think they are amazing devices that are technologically advanced. They can do more than just read books and that the valuable part about them. But the thing is, that doesn’t change the value behind a physical book. Books have mass, they have weight, they have a special feeling, and they have a book cover that you see every time you go to read the book. A story is a story; they are right about it in that sense. But a book is more than just a story. A book is a getaway.