Ratings:
Do not recommend -★☆☆☆☆
Okay -★★☆☆☆
Incredible -★★★☆☆
Life changing -★★★★☆
Will read over and over again -★★★★★
March 1 – March 31
An Abundance of Katherines- John Green
Number of pages: 58
Rating: ★★★☆☆
I completed this book I would say that I have enjoyed it much better than I did last month. I still believe that the book went a little bit too slow but it has taught me the lesson that change is good and you do not have to do the same things in life to be satisfied with yourself as seen that he had dated nineteen Katherines and he finally ended his streak to date a Lindsey. The part that I liked the most in the novel was when Colin finally created a theorem. This theorem helps him to figure out the result of any relationship to determine if he should stay with that person or not. Before I finished this book I understood he had made a theorem but I did not know the importance of it until the end. The novel shows that love can not be determined. When he made this theorem it shows that it can be.
I am still giving this novel the same rating as last month which was a rating of three stars because it was an interesting book to read and it had a great sense of humor. It was a good book for enjoyment and relaxation and I was able to pick up a few themes as I read. I believe that I should be able to learn a few more things to make this book life changing. This book should make me do something different or new in my life to make it even better.
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl- Jesse Andrews
Number of pages: 266
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl- Jesse Andrews
I really loved this novel and their would be a few occasions when I could not resist putting the book down. Greg Gaines, the main character of the book, is a high school student who finds ways to be unknown and not hated by people so he joins all the groups in his high school from jocks to a choir kid. Everything goes down hill when he is informed and forced by his mother to visit Rachel, a girl with cancer, and become friends with her. Greg eventually starts to visit her almost everyday and they become friends. He learns to deal with someone who is dying. At first he feels like he has to visit her only because his mom forced him to but eventually he likes hanging out with her. In this book I have learned that someone dying may not mean much to someone until the person actually dies and that is when they feel a rush of emotions coming in all at once. This is how Greg felt when he saw Rachel dying in her hospital bed.
I really enjoyed reading this book. The majority of pages that I read per day came from this particular book and I read it everywhere. The reason why I rated this book three stars was because I was able to deeply understand the character Greg even though I may not agree on a few things. I felt a rush of humor in my head whenever I read something extremely funny. What I would change about it though to give it a higher rating would be more meaning within the novel. I would include more lessons that makes me to change something in my life that I have been doing different. This would make it life changing.
How it Went Down- Kekla Magoon
Number of pages: 156
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Although I am not yet finished the book I really liked it. The book has not really taught me much because I am only about halfway done. It is about a black teen, Tariq Johnson, who gets shot by a white man. This happens in a small city and the news picks up this information. Not only does the local news pick it up but also the national and international news. This book shows that it is time to stop the hatred that the whites have against black people. The characters show this by showing awareness on the news. Since I am yet to finish this book it is not determined what measures they have taken to resolve the issue of Tariq’s death. As readers we learn the perspectives of each of the characters by the ongoing days of their emotions and the memories they had with Tariq this included some of them who were able to witness it and prove the white man wrong. The man had shot Tariq due to self defense and the fact that he was armed with a gun. Many of the characters in the book were able to argue against that.
The reason I give this book three stars was because it shows awareness to the readers to take action and realize things from other people’s perspectives. So far it has allowed me to relax while reading it and connect deeply within each character and what they believed in. I was able to easily know what everybody was feeling at a certain moment and especially the white man who had shot Tariq. The novel also has many metaphors that I have never before thought about that I could use in any type of writing. Although I really enjoyed the book I do feel like it was not original enough because there are many books similar to this type of topic.
Reading Rate
15 pages/day
Reflection
I feel like I was really slow at my reading at the beginning of this month. I gradually began reading more through the rest of the month especially as spring break arrived. I have also noticed my reading becoming more frequent the more I read as opposed to before I stared calculated my reading rate. I am glad to see my fifteen pages per day as it was my goal from last month. It was a huge gap of change opposed to the ten pages that I read per day. My goal for next month is to read seventeen pages per day but with more advanced novels to help me improve my writing even better.