Thursday, November 27, 2008

A thousand Splendid Suns

I continued my reading with the book A Thousand Splendid Suns, written by Khaled Hosseini. This was a very interesting part in the book because Mariam was starting to realize that she did not belong in Jalil’s world, and he did not want her there either. Jalil set up a suitor for Mariam, and then a few days later the two were married, and Mariam would be 500 miles form Jalil, far enough so there would not be any trouble. Mariam did not like her new husband; he scared her, smelled of beer and cigarettes, and was about thirty five years older than her. She was not a very good wife, her husband said, and she had to get her act together. She cleaned, cooked, and did everything a wife was supposed to do, in his point of view. I think this is a very important part in the book because it really shows how independent and alone Mariam is. She has lost her mother, her father doesn’t want her anymore, and so she is living with some old, big, smelly, creepy guy. Not the best situation to be in, in her point of view. Overall this book is very interesting and I am waiting to see how she learns to be a wife.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

A Thousand Splendid Suns

I thought of with my reading of the book titled A thousand Splendid Suns. This is getting very interesting because of Mariam, the child. Mariam is very curious and she really loves her father, Jalil. Her mother, Nana, hates Jalil because the two if them divorced after Mariam was born. Nana is a servant and Jalil a wealthy noble, so the relationship would not work within the two completely different social classes. Jalil comes and meets Mariam at the house once every week, and he always come at the exact time, and always at the exact same spot. One day Jalil doesn’t come and Mariam wants to go down to the town where he lives, just over the hill, and find him. Nana says that if Mariam goes she will not live anymore, she will take her life, because Mariam is the only one that she has. Mariam decides her mother is not serious and walks down the hall. She finds her father’s house, but is not let in, even though he is inside. She sleeps outside to wait and in the morning Jalils butler makes her go home. He takes her into his car, and takes her home. Once they are in her yard, they start walking toward the house, and then the butler yells stay back, but it was too late. Mariam saw her mother swinging from the tree tops, with a rope around her neck. She had told Mariam the truth. I think this is a very important part in the novel because it shows how desperate Nana was and how much she hated Jalil.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

A Thousand Splendid Suns

For my outside reading project, I chose to read the book titled A Thousand Splendid Suns, written by Khaled Hosseini. It is a story about Afghanistan’s last thirty years. The main character is a girl called Mariam, and she is a girl, and she was treated very poorly by her family. She was called things by her mother that she never understood until she was older, her mother said that Mariam was a waste of space, and that her mother didn’t deserve a child like her, for all the suffering she has been through. I am not very far into the book yet, but I am very excited to read it because I like Khaled Hosseini’s style. I previously have read the book The Kite Runner and really liked it. This was one of the main reasons that I picked to read this book, because I have previous experience with Khaled Hosseini and his writing, I understand it more. I think this book will be very interesting, also learning about the past of Afghanistan. It is very interesting to learn about the history of the country. All of the past rulers, the good ones and the bad ones, and just the past events that made the country what it is now. I can not wait to keep reading this book and am ready to find more about the character Mariam, and who she really is.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Maximum Security

The book that I am currently reading is from a new author. The book is titled Maximum Security, written by Robert Muchamore. It is about a boy named James Adams, who is involved in an organization called CHERUB. This is an organization that houses children with “special talents”. The children become secret spies, which they can put all over the world in different situations depending on when they’re needed. In this book, James is sent to a prison with Dave, an older CHERUB, and they are trying to catch one of the world’s deadliest weapons dealer. Her name is Jane Oxford and her son, Curtis is cell mates with James and Dave. It starts out, and James and Curtis start to become friends, this is when James also learns about all the stuff he can have, if he had good connections. James also learns he can receive protection from the other thugs, by hanging around with Curtis. Later in the book James and Dave are planning to “escape” and Curtis wants in. Of course they want Curtis to come, so then he will take them to Jane, so they let him in on the plan. They have a spectacular break out, knocking out the guards, but most importantly coming out quietly. After they knocked out the guards they are free, no one notices them, they still a car and then Curtis calls his mom for the pick up. So far this is a very cool book, it is filled with lots of action and it is just fun to read. Overall, this is another very good adventure book, so I recommend you read it.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Ark Angel

This week I finished my reading of the book, and the series, titled Ark Angel, written by Anthony Horowitz. I will write about the end of the book, which I think is the best part. First off Alex Rider discovers many horrible things, first he discovers that Drevin is one of the biggest criminals in the world, and second he finds out that the terrorist group Force Three was made by Drevin as a scapegoat. Alex is at Drevin’s palace, where he is getting ready to launch a key piece to Ark Angel, a space hotel, and Drevin finds out who he really is. He tries to kill Alex, by drowning him, but amazingly he escapes. Alex is rescued by the secretary, who was secretly working for the CIA, then they swim back to the island and are taken captives. There Drevin tells Alex of his plan, Ark Angel is a billion dollars in debt, and he doesn’t know what to do. Also he knows that the Americans have been building a case against him and have been keeping all the papers and files at the Pentagon. Drevin wants to crash his space hotel into the Pentagon, and destroy all the files against him and also receive money from the insurance. Later, Alex breaks out and has to kite surf back to where the CIA are, which is ten miles away. He is almost there when three of Drevin’s boats pull up, and they take aim. The book was a really fascinating read, full of action and adventure, but to find out the end you will have to read it.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Ark Angel

Right now I am reading a book called Ark Angel, which is written by Anthony Horowitz. I am in the middle of his series and like the books a lot. This one again is with Alex Rider this time he has just recovered from a major injury. Scorpia, an assassin group, recently tries to shoot Alex, but somehow he survived and is put in the hospital. His room is right next to Paul Drevin, the son of a multi-billionaire. A group of terrorists called Force Three try to kidnap Paul, Alex thinks for money, but Alex can’t let that happen. He creates diversions and defeats four of the men but at the end is knocked out and taken prisoner. He is taken to a building where they interrogate him and he tells them he isn’t Paul, his name is Alex Rider, and then they plan to kill him. They set the building on fire, but by a miracle Alex escapes off the roof. He then is invited By Mr. Drevin himself to tea and then to a vacation where he can recuperate. I think this vacation would be awesome because you would get to be with a multi-billionaire and use all their stuff, pretty much do whatever you want, but Alex is hesitant. I can see why he would be hesitant, his past experience with a multi billionaire had almost gotten him killed. This book seems so good because it would seem like nothing could go wrong, but at the same time it is too good to be true. All of Drevin’s riches, it just doesn’t seem to fit all together, and that’s exactly what the CIA think.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Scorpia

Now I am reading another book written by Anthony Horowitz, called Scorpia. Again it is another story about the teenage spy, Alex Rider and this time he’s trying to find out about his past. Earlier in his life, an assassin called Yassen, told him to go to Venice, find Scorpia, and find his destiny. That’s exactly what he did. Scorpia is a group that you could consider terrorists, they are assassins and Alex goes to find them and he does. One of the main leaders, Julia Rothman, is having a party in Venice, and Alex wants to do to it. He breaks into the party with a disguise and then goes to Julia’s office and searches around. He doesn’t find any important files, but a man called Nile finds him. Nile works for Scorpia and when Alex meets him he questions about Scorpia, then Nile and him fight. Nile knocks him out and then takes Alex down to a cell. Alex thinks he is just being held captive until water starts seeping in from the floor and he understands, he’s supposed to drown. He breaks out by swimming through the well into the river, where he is safe. I think out of all of his adventures this one is the most threatening, he is about to drown, he was just beaten up, and all just to find about his past. I think Alex’s life, yet again is very stressful and is full of many adventures. He tries so hard and never receives praise, just to figure about Scorpia was a huge accomplishment, and he was punished severely for it.