Reading Wishlist

Being in Best Sellers has really opened my eyes to the possibilities of books I want to read after this trimester. Here are some of the few that I hope to read for next trimester: 1. Dark Places, by Gillian Flynn 2. Eleanor and Park, by Rainbow Rowell 3. Divergent, Veronica Roth 4. Heaven is For Real, by Todd Burpo 5. This Star Won't Go Out, by Esther Earl

Book Talk Presentation

Book Reivew: Cross My Heart by James Patterson

                The book, Cross My Heart, by James Patterson portrays the action story of the famous detective Alex Cross. His everyday hero acts are now being tested by solving three different mysteries of murders, kidnapping babies, and finding his missing adopted daughter, Ava. Meanwhile trying to discover the person behind these crimes, he has his own enemy plotting against him, his old detective partner Marcus Sunday. Throughout the story we see both the perspective of the hero and the bad guy, and understand how all the crimes being committed are somehow connected together, but how long will it take Alex Cross to figure this out himself?

In the very beginning of the novel you get the perspective of Marcus Sunday. He is famous for a different reason, being an expert of what goes through minds of criminals. Takes a criminal to know a criminal I suppose. In the novel you understand he is an extremely intelligent man, he knows how to convince people, to persuade, how to plan everything out. He finds himself different from Cross and believes he is a lot better than him and should have more credit, “What Detective Cross and I have is a strong difference of opinion. Nothing more.”  (Patterson 3%).You understand that he is the criminal behind the next events which brings Alex Cross into the story. As a character though, you start to love seeing his perspective, you are looking through a criminals mind, his ideas and the details Patterson gives throughout the story is written so well. 

Alex Cross’s perspective comes in during an investigation of a crime scene of a prostitution building. Three victims are found on the ground covered in blood, their wounds were caused by multiple bullets. In the mind of Alex Cross he is able to visualize any crime scene and how they occurred making him an excellent detective, “I counted four 9mm shells around the bodies. It appeared that the killer had sprayed disinfectant all over the room. Stream of it stained the bodies, the furniture, and the floor.” (Patterson 5%). The police force is very reliant on Cross’s gift of visualizing the scene, both he and his wife are well known for being in the same department. The way Patterson is able to write scene by scene with much detail makes you drawn into the novel, because it is very easy to picture what is going on throughout the story. 

What’s very interesting about the writing style of this book is to see Sunday’s perspective while committing the crimes and plotting against Cross. Why such an intelligent man want to pursue a criminal life? He feels this sort of rush of killing people and his love interest and assistant Acadia feels the same, “But Acadia was not a gator. She was a jaguar, a panther. She was always a big cat at moments like this, hunting for the darkest part of herself.” (Patterson 35%). These two insane people have driven motives of getting revenge and showing their power. Sunday uses a computerized model to see Cross’s house as a 3D virtual world, making him almost invincible. Seeing a perspective of a criminal is almost as seeing the average world into a completely new world.

Patterson puts Alex Cross throughout the story in a maze puzzle, fitting the pieces together while going through different obstacles. The lives of victims are at stake and time is running out for Cross, but little does he know his own life will also be at stake. Will he figure out in time who is behind the crimes or will it be too late? The fact that the reader already knows who is behind the crimes makes them wonder how long will the author will finally make Cross discover it himself.

The theme of the novel would portray how different criminal investigations can tie together. This novel would definitely be under the categories of intense, action and excitement. The author gives very detailed visuals where as if you feel you are seeing the book as a movie. By seeing the perspectives of both the hero and the bad guy, you wonder how long it will take Cross to realize his own enemy is a lot closer to him than he thinks. An amazing story written extremely well, I am now a huge fan of James Patterson as an author. 

Blog 9

Well first my book has two narrators throughout the story, both the protagonist, Alex cross, and the antagonist, Marcus Sunday. In all honesty I love both of the narrators, they both have likable traits. So I’ll start off with Alex Cross, who is a detective and is trying to figure out 3 different cases, finding his missing adopted daughter Ava, a woman kidnapping babies, and a pattern of murders happening in Washington. For a lot of stress that goes on throughout the book I am impressed with how well Cross is handling all of it. He’s very lenient, daring and does anything to bring justice. He’s really a character you would admire and would want to know what his next plan is.

Marcus Sunday though is a very interesting character. Now if you want to talk about a plot twist, Marcus Sunday who was Cross’s investigating partner… is now secretly turning against him. He is now plotting ways to kidnap Cross’s family, and is the criminal behind the crimes Cross is trying to figure out. It’s really interesting that we as the readers already know who is committing the crimes and wondering how long it will take Cross to figure it out for himself.  But the biggest crime of all is about to come. Sunday is definitely an interesting individual. He’s extremely intelligent and devious it’s just so interesting to read the mind of a criminal. Even though all the crimes he has committed are downright evil I seriously love him as a character. I honestly could picture Tom Hiddleston playing him as a character he is just that brilliant. It is amazing how much thought and detail he has put into to get revenge at Cross, he would definitely be in stage two which is obsession for revenge.   

Choose your own adventure:

Why is Marcus seeking revenge from Alex?

To be honest the book never really gives a reason why Sunday is doing what he is doing. It just sort of happens. The only reason I could maybe give is I believe Marcus Sunday was in the shadow of Alex Cross and wanted to show everyone that he has more ability than Cross ever would. I believe it is a sense of power and determination to prove his capabilities. He enjoys the rush of killing and plotting the next crime. He own dark thoughts have taken over him and he will not stop until he gets his satisfaction, and that is what strives into a true criminal.

Blog 7

Blog 8

To be honest I believe as long as the actual events happened it doesn’t have to be 100% true. By far I am not a fan of nonfiction, for me it’s boring and the story just drags so long. However when we watched that one author who basically stole written work from other sources, that for me just makes me think he was a down right lazy writer who couldn’t come up with his own sentences. An author’s job no matter what area of genre they are in their job is to entertain readers in order to sell more of their books.

Half-truths I believe are completely okay as long as it describes the event that actually happened. In reality we all twist our stories when we tell our peers to make it sound more interesting. If the story goes beyond what actually happened authors need to get it out from the nonfiction section in the library to the fiction section. Especially in Hollywood the very beginning of several of scary stories they put in a caption, based on a true story, to get people more interested and scared for the movie. It is to grasp our attention and to keep us readers entertained, the art of writing is also a business to be the best and most creative author out there.

I believe you should label books fiction or nonfiction. If the reader wants to read a memoir they want it to be factual but also entertaining. If later on the reader finds out the book was completely fake then it will create huge disappointments. You can exaggerate any story but you cannot create events that never happened or turn away from the actual truth. Authors of nonfiction must reevaluate the definition of nonfiction novels and see if their book fits that standard.

Blog 6

I believe readicide is a problem in schools. I believe teachers should give students books that they would actually be interested in reading in. In all honesty...if we don't understand what’s going on in the book then spark notes will be the main source. The only time I actually enjoyed reading a book was the Great Gatsby because I wanted to read it before it came out as a movie. I think especially like reading a series will actually help students to become more engaged in the novel. I think definitely more modern books will help spark interest in students. I don't understand why teachers make us read novels that were written in a different time period, the language is unfamiliar to us. More books are being produced in modern language, which increases popularity. By forcing kids to read books they will dislike, it causes to have less interest in reading any book all together.

Now I am being one sided by saying this, there are students who enjoy Shakespeare, old literary novels etc. But unless you are pursuing a career as an English teacher, I don’t see how these novels is preparing students for the job market they are about to enter. However, I do believe it is important for students to understand how to analyze a text and the use of different writing strategies. One method I really like that English teachers do is create seminars where the class would discuss the book all together. It challenges students to use the amount of knowledge they have of the story and get more in depth with it. That I believe is a good way of challenging students’ knowledge of a book without giving a test on it. Those capabilities will help students going into college. I do believe the school system should encourage students to read books, but it will only be encouraging and not forceful if students actually like the novel.