I'm sorry this post is late two weeks in a row. Today, I really do not have a good excuse.
History
This week for history, I did more of those mini bios that I did a bunch of last week (and will be doing more of next week). I did a worksheet on the spread of Islam in the early middle ages, and I wrote a couple of paragraphs on the differences between Sunni and Shiite muslims, both in the middle ages, and today. I was also supposed to read another chapter out of my textbook on Byzantium, but I did not get to that. Luckily, it was the only thing I was supposed to do this week that I didn't get it in all my subjects. :)
Science
In Earth Science this week, I finished up the chapter on rocks, and then moved into the chapter on energy sources. The last section of the week had to do with unrenewable energy sources (oil, natural gas, coal, ect.).
Math and English
In math, I finished up the chapter on roots, and started the one on quadratic equations. I have done all of this before when I did Life of Fred Advanced Algebra, but since I started back at the beginning when we switched to Teaching Textbooks, I have been doing a lot of review. In English, I continued through the section on verbs, nothing really new or interesting there.
Spanish and Rhetoric
In Spanish, I finally started moving out of number, and began learning the months and days of the week. I am finally nearing the end of this introductory, conversational chapter, and will be moving into some actual grammar and vocab soon. In Rhetoric, I just continued through the section I was in.
Other Stuff
I got a start on blogging for November this week. I want to make sure there are posts going up, but I'll be too busy with NaNoWriMo to do a lot of blogging, so other then two update posts a week, the rest will have been written ahead of time. I also wanted to do some editing this week, and while I did get some done, it was not as much as I would have liked.
All right, that's it for this week. I have cleaning to do, and a Halloween costume to try to finish. Does anyone know where you could find some rather authentic looking hobbit pants? And what to do about the feet...
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Friday, October 11, 2013
Cory Montieth
Three months ago, I read on the news that Cory Monteith had been found dead in a hotel room in a city an hour from my house. I was surprised, but in the end, it really didn't make a difference in my life whether he was dead or alive. I don't even watch Glee, though my mom does.
For the next week or two, the headlines on Google News were all about Cory Monteith, and Lea Michelle. There were stories about what he'd been doing that night, about his childhood, about Lea Michelle, and how she was coping, and sooner or later, articles about what Glee would do without him. The spotlight stayed on him until Kate Middleton went into labor several weeks later.
He is not the only celebrity to have died in the past few months. E.L. Konigsburg, Tom Clancy, and Seamus Heaney all died this year as well. For me, all these deaths were sad, but not so immediate, not so sensationalized.
So why all the attention? Why do we care so much?
Because Cory Monteith was 31 years old when he died, and because he is immortalized in Glee as a high school student. For me, his death was a shock for a few reasons. One was because I knew who he was. I have several episodes of Glee, and many other videos and clips from it.
The other reason is because he was so young. It was one of the first times when I felt like a celebrity who I know of well died who was around my age. It is true that he is sixteen years older then me (almost exactly, I looked up his age and saw that his birthday is the day before mine), and so not really all that close in age. But, he is in the generation that gets pushed together with mine. According to TIME magazine, the Millennials are the generation stretching from 1980 to 2000. I managed to just make it in with a few years to spare.
I think what is really is for me is that he was part of a group of celebrities that became famous in my memory. He is not one of the many actors and actresses who have been famous for longer then I can remember, probably longer then I have been alive. While I didn't regularly watch Cory Monteith in anything, or really even care about him that much, he is part of a phenomenon that came to be in my memory.
Today, when I watched a short clip of last night's memorial episode of Glee, it reminded me of this, and made my think about why I was so surprised. It was because he was young, and it was also because he was never able to defeat his demons. We all have our issues, some of us have worse ones then others, and his killed him in the end. It's hard to realize that our choices may come back to haunt us, and that there are some choices that are nearly impossible to unmake.
Sorry if this post was a bit random. I have been meaning to write a more organized version of this since July, but never got around to it. I'll probably put up another post today, this week's Homeschool Friday post, so look for that this afternoon or evening.
For the next week or two, the headlines on Google News were all about Cory Monteith, and Lea Michelle. There were stories about what he'd been doing that night, about his childhood, about Lea Michelle, and how she was coping, and sooner or later, articles about what Glee would do without him. The spotlight stayed on him until Kate Middleton went into labor several weeks later.
He is not the only celebrity to have died in the past few months. E.L. Konigsburg, Tom Clancy, and Seamus Heaney all died this year as well. For me, all these deaths were sad, but not so immediate, not so sensationalized.
So why all the attention? Why do we care so much?
Because Cory Monteith was 31 years old when he died, and because he is immortalized in Glee as a high school student. For me, his death was a shock for a few reasons. One was because I knew who he was. I have several episodes of Glee, and many other videos and clips from it.
The other reason is because he was so young. It was one of the first times when I felt like a celebrity who I know of well died who was around my age. It is true that he is sixteen years older then me (almost exactly, I looked up his age and saw that his birthday is the day before mine), and so not really all that close in age. But, he is in the generation that gets pushed together with mine. According to TIME magazine, the Millennials are the generation stretching from 1980 to 2000. I managed to just make it in with a few years to spare.
I think what is really is for me is that he was part of a group of celebrities that became famous in my memory. He is not one of the many actors and actresses who have been famous for longer then I can remember, probably longer then I have been alive. While I didn't regularly watch Cory Monteith in anything, or really even care about him that much, he is part of a phenomenon that came to be in my memory.
Today, when I watched a short clip of last night's memorial episode of Glee, it reminded me of this, and made my think about why I was so surprised. It was because he was young, and it was also because he was never able to defeat his demons. We all have our issues, some of us have worse ones then others, and his killed him in the end. It's hard to realize that our choices may come back to haunt us, and that there are some choices that are nearly impossible to unmake.
Sorry if this post was a bit random. I have been meaning to write a more organized version of this since July, but never got around to it. I'll probably put up another post today, this week's Homeschool Friday post, so look for that this afternoon or evening.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
The Government Shutdown
On Monday, our new current events class met for the first time to discuss the government shutdown. There was a little discussion, a lot of listening, and a lot of background information about the shutdown.
I am a news junkie, as my mother calls me, and as such, I like to know what's going on in world, especially when it is going to effect me or people I know. Over the past ten days of the shutdown, I've heard a lot about it, through various sources. This all came in handy when the dad who is running the class asked us all to email him our guesses about when the government would reopen, and how.
I'll admit that since I told him my guess, I've been watching the news even more carefully to see if I'll be right. So far, I'm thinking I could get lucky. I guessed that the government would reopen on Friday the 11th (that's tomorrow!), and it is looking like things might be headed in that direction at the moment, though we will see soon enough. I could still be totally wrong.
If it does reopen, I'll get an email notification from NPR (as I do with any major news event), and I'm sure I'll see it on Google News pretty quickly as well. If it happens in the morning (before 8sih, PDT), I'll hear about it on NPR. Sometimes I think maybe I'm connected to a few too many news sources. :) Oh, and within a day (maybe less), I'm sure SourceFed will have a video about it too. You can never have too much news...
I am a news junkie, as my mother calls me, and as such, I like to know what's going on in world, especially when it is going to effect me or people I know. Over the past ten days of the shutdown, I've heard a lot about it, through various sources. This all came in handy when the dad who is running the class asked us all to email him our guesses about when the government would reopen, and how.
I'll admit that since I told him my guess, I've been watching the news even more carefully to see if I'll be right. So far, I'm thinking I could get lucky. I guessed that the government would reopen on Friday the 11th (that's tomorrow!), and it is looking like things might be headed in that direction at the moment, though we will see soon enough. I could still be totally wrong.
If it does reopen, I'll get an email notification from NPR (as I do with any major news event), and I'm sure I'll see it on Google News pretty quickly as well. If it happens in the morning (before 8sih, PDT), I'll hear about it on NPR. Sometimes I think maybe I'm connected to a few too many news sources. :) Oh, and within a day (maybe less), I'm sure SourceFed will have a video about it too. You can never have too much news...
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
The Spectacular Now - Tim Tharp {Book Review}
Today, I am reviewing The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp
. I really liked this book, and I am excited to share my thoughts with you. If you have read this book, I would love to know what you thought of it!
Amazon Description
SUTTER KEELY. HE’S the guy you want at your party. He’ll get everyone dancing. He'll get everyone in your parents’ pool. Okay, so he’s not exactly a shining academic star. He has no plans for college and will probably end up folding men’s shirts for a living. But there are plenty of ladies in town, and with the help of Dean Martin and Seagram’s V.O., life’s pretty fabuloso, actually.
Until the morning he wakes up on a random front lawn, and he meets Aimee. Aimee’s clueless. Aimee is a social disaster. Aimee needs help, and it’s up to the Sutterman to show Aimee a splendiferous time and then let her go forth and prosper. But Aimee’s not like other girls, and before long he’s in way over his head. For the first time in his life, he has the power to make a difference in someone else’s life—or ruin it forever.
My Review
I thought the writing in this book was completely amazing. Sutter's voice felt so authentic, and real. I honestly believed at times that I could be inside his head. It was written in such a way that even though you experience everything directly from Sutter's experience.
The plot of this book was almost painful at times. It was good, it was real, but was hard to read at times, especially as it gone on towards the end. The number one thing I have to say about this book is that when you finish it, you will feel a little empty, and a little (or maybe a lot) sad, and realize that whatever else this book was, it was 100% honest. I never felt that any character did anything out of character. They were real, and honest, even when it hurt.
The characters were really good as well. Sutter was a train wreck you just can't look away from. Aimee was so sweet, all the way to the end. You just can't help but hope for all her dreams to come true. Cassidy was a very three dimensional character who really made me pause and think a few times. I don't have a lot more to say here.
I feel like I should touch briefly on the ending, though, don't worry, no big spoilers here. If you are really worried, skip to the next section. The ending reminded me a lot of Eleanor and Park's ending. I hoped it wouldn't happen, but I kind of secretly always knew it would. Beyond that part of the ending though, I can't help but feel that it could not have been more true to real life, as hard as that can be to accept at times. I think the end of this book could be used in an ad to keep kids from drinking. To me, it was that kind of sadness that I felt. The inevitable, yet still painful kind. It was almost like Sutter was my best friend who's choices I had been trying to ignore, trusting that everything would work out fine, until suddenly I was forced to realize that it had gone too far, and it couldn't turn out fine. Okay, the next paragraph will have major spoilers, but I will put it in white, so you will have to select it to read it.
I really held out hope for Sutter and Aimee up until the very last page. It wasn't until then that I realized exactly what was going on. I think that maybe the author intended to make it feel ambiguous, but to me it did not. To me, it meant that Aimee had moved on (or been forced to), and Sutter was continuing down the path he had started down years before. I saw no hope for them as a couple, and honestly no hope for Sutter as a person. Aimee now had a whole life ahead of her she wouldn't have had without Sutter, so their time together wasn't for nothing, but at the same time, maybe it was best for her that it ended when it did. I don't think she had the ability to do for him what he had done for her.
Who Should Read This Book?
I would recommend this book to just about anyone, since I loved it so much. If you liked Eleanor and Park, by Rainbow Rowell, this has some similarities (and a lot of differences). If you are really sensitive about drinking, this is not the book for you, since that is really a main theme. In fact, I might even go so far as to call Sutter's alcohol problem a character that develops throughout the book. There is some sex and swearing, but not to what I would consider an abnormal amount for a book like this.
. I really liked this book, and I am excited to share my thoughts with you. If you have read this book, I would love to know what you thought of it!Amazon Description
SUTTER KEELY. HE’S the guy you want at your party. He’ll get everyone dancing. He'll get everyone in your parents’ pool. Okay, so he’s not exactly a shining academic star. He has no plans for college and will probably end up folding men’s shirts for a living. But there are plenty of ladies in town, and with the help of Dean Martin and Seagram’s V.O., life’s pretty fabuloso, actually.
Until the morning he wakes up on a random front lawn, and he meets Aimee. Aimee’s clueless. Aimee is a social disaster. Aimee needs help, and it’s up to the Sutterman to show Aimee a splendiferous time and then let her go forth and prosper. But Aimee’s not like other girls, and before long he’s in way over his head. For the first time in his life, he has the power to make a difference in someone else’s life—or ruin it forever.
My Review
I thought the writing in this book was completely amazing. Sutter's voice felt so authentic, and real. I honestly believed at times that I could be inside his head. It was written in such a way that even though you experience everything directly from Sutter's experience.
The plot of this book was almost painful at times. It was good, it was real, but was hard to read at times, especially as it gone on towards the end. The number one thing I have to say about this book is that when you finish it, you will feel a little empty, and a little (or maybe a lot) sad, and realize that whatever else this book was, it was 100% honest. I never felt that any character did anything out of character. They were real, and honest, even when it hurt.
The characters were really good as well. Sutter was a train wreck you just can't look away from. Aimee was so sweet, all the way to the end. You just can't help but hope for all her dreams to come true. Cassidy was a very three dimensional character who really made me pause and think a few times. I don't have a lot more to say here.
I feel like I should touch briefly on the ending, though, don't worry, no big spoilers here. If you are really worried, skip to the next section. The ending reminded me a lot of Eleanor and Park's ending. I hoped it wouldn't happen, but I kind of secretly always knew it would. Beyond that part of the ending though, I can't help but feel that it could not have been more true to real life, as hard as that can be to accept at times. I think the end of this book could be used in an ad to keep kids from drinking. To me, it was that kind of sadness that I felt. The inevitable, yet still painful kind. It was almost like Sutter was my best friend who's choices I had been trying to ignore, trusting that everything would work out fine, until suddenly I was forced to realize that it had gone too far, and it couldn't turn out fine. Okay, the next paragraph will have major spoilers, but I will put it in white, so you will have to select it to read it.
I really held out hope for Sutter and Aimee up until the very last page. It wasn't until then that I realized exactly what was going on. I think that maybe the author intended to make it feel ambiguous, but to me it did not. To me, it meant that Aimee had moved on (or been forced to), and Sutter was continuing down the path he had started down years before. I saw no hope for them as a couple, and honestly no hope for Sutter as a person. Aimee now had a whole life ahead of her she wouldn't have had without Sutter, so their time together wasn't for nothing, but at the same time, maybe it was best for her that it ended when it did. I don't think she had the ability to do for him what he had done for her.
Who Should Read This Book?
I would recommend this book to just about anyone, since I loved it so much. If you liked Eleanor and Park, by Rainbow Rowell, this has some similarities (and a lot of differences). If you are really sensitive about drinking, this is not the book for you, since that is really a main theme. In fact, I might even go so far as to call Sutter's alcohol problem a character that develops throughout the book. There is some sex and swearing, but not to what I would consider an abnormal amount for a book like this.
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Homeschool Friday: Sept. 30-Oct. 4, 2013 {Week 5}
I'm sorry this is a day late! My poor cat got cut claw cut a little too short yesterday morning, and I spent most of the rest of the morning trying to get her to sit in one place long enough to make sure the bleeding had totally stopped. Luckily, she is fine, though I lost several hours of my day cat wrestling, and later, cleaning many tiny drops of blood out of the tan carpet. I think they all came out, which is kind of amazing. Then my sister spent the evening watching a movie with our Dad at his place, so my mom and I watched Lost.
Anyway, all of that was to say, yesterday was kind of crazy, and I didn't get a chance to get this written until this morning.
History
In History this week, I did a lot of textbook reading about Islam and the Middle East in the 800-1100's. I also did a map about the spread of Islam through Europe and Asia during that same time period, I did mini bios on several of the people I had read about, and added a bunch of dates to my timeline. I was supposed to do more bios and add more timeline dates yesterday, but I did not get that done.
Science
For earth science this week, I was studying rocks. I did one day on an overview of rocks, and then on on igneous rocks. I did not get the last on of the week done, which I think was on metamorphic rocks.
Math and Spanish
With both of these subjects, I have just been continuing on without anything particularly new this week. The math lessons I did were on radicals and roots, while the Spanish was on learning the numbers 13 and up.
Rhetoric, English, and Vocabulary
For Rhetoric, I finally finished the chapter on definitions I have been working on for weeks. In English, I did more stuff on verbs, and I did a chapter in Vocab.
Other Stuff
This week also marks the beginning of a few discussion groups I have joined. Both are made up of local homeschool families, and one is being led by a homeschool dad. That one is a Current Events group that will meet twice a month, with the first day being next Monday. The topic this time is the government shutdown, and so I read some articles he suggested about it. Our new World Lit groups will also be meeting once a month, and October's book, which I started this week, is the The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
.
*This post contains affiliate links.
Anyway, all of that was to say, yesterday was kind of crazy, and I didn't get a chance to get this written until this morning.
History
In History this week, I did a lot of textbook reading about Islam and the Middle East in the 800-1100's. I also did a map about the spread of Islam through Europe and Asia during that same time period, I did mini bios on several of the people I had read about, and added a bunch of dates to my timeline. I was supposed to do more bios and add more timeline dates yesterday, but I did not get that done.
Science
For earth science this week, I was studying rocks. I did one day on an overview of rocks, and then on on igneous rocks. I did not get the last on of the week done, which I think was on metamorphic rocks.
Math and Spanish
With both of these subjects, I have just been continuing on without anything particularly new this week. The math lessons I did were on radicals and roots, while the Spanish was on learning the numbers 13 and up.
Rhetoric, English, and Vocabulary
For Rhetoric, I finally finished the chapter on definitions I have been working on for weeks. In English, I did more stuff on verbs, and I did a chapter in Vocab.
Other Stuff
This week also marks the beginning of a few discussion groups I have joined. Both are made up of local homeschool families, and one is being led by a homeschool dad. That one is a Current Events group that will meet twice a month, with the first day being next Monday. The topic this time is the government shutdown, and so I read some articles he suggested about it. Our new World Lit groups will also be meeting once a month, and October's book, which I started this week, is the The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
.*This post contains affiliate links.
Thursday, October 3, 2013
One Month In: A High School Update
I am now half way through the fifth week of the school year, and so it seems like an appropriate time to look back at the first month of 10th grade at talk about what worked and what didn't.
I'm also linking up with the October Let's Homeschool Highschool Bloghop, so check out all the other posts at the bottom of the page.
My main complaint about the first four weeks of school is that I did not get as much done as I would have liked in some subjects (history and math). This is something that I need to just not worry about. There were various personal struggles going on over this period of time that contributed to that, and those are not things within my control. What I can do is focus on scheduling, and getting things done in a timely manner to keep that from happening again.
One little kink that I have come to is that I have been having trouble completing that amount of school work I have to do in the time I have to do it in. Here is an example of why. On an average Tuesday, I would have this to do (to see what curriculum I'm referring to, click the 10th Grade Curriculum button in the header):
One History lesson: This might include reading 20 pages from my textbook
, and then summarizing or outlining it. It would take about an hour. Other lessons might be as little as 30 min, or as long as two hours.
One Math lesson: Watch a short video lesson, and do about 25 problems. Generally takes between 25 and 45 minutes.
Two Spanish exercises: Each one usually involves listening to something, and then either talking or writing. This would take about 20 minutes altogether.
One English lesson: This varies a lot, but usually takes between 15 and 45 minutes.
One Vocabulary exercise: This take five to ten minutes.
The problem lies in the large amount of variation in many of these lessons. It could take me anywhere from an hour and thirty five minutes to four hours.
I am slowly switching into an approach where instead of having a daily to do list where the lessons I need to do are listed out ( History 15, Math 33, English 68 ect.), I will do each subject for a period of time each day (1 hour History, 30 min. Math, 30 min English, ect.) In some cases, this will mean that I won't get a whole lesson done, and in other cases it might be a lesson and a half.
I am hoping that this will keep me from burning out part way through my work, and then getting behind. Maybe doing five lessons of History in a week isn't a reasonable goal. If that is my goal, and I only do four, that stresses me out, while if my goal is to do five hours of history, and I do five hours, then I will feel like I did what I needed to, whether that ended up being three lessons or six.
So, in some ways, this change is mainly for my sanity, but I have found that it can be very hard to work without it. :)
I'm also linking up with the October Let's Homeschool Highschool Bloghop, so check out all the other posts at the bottom of the page.
My main complaint about the first four weeks of school is that I did not get as much done as I would have liked in some subjects (history and math). This is something that I need to just not worry about. There were various personal struggles going on over this period of time that contributed to that, and those are not things within my control. What I can do is focus on scheduling, and getting things done in a timely manner to keep that from happening again.
One little kink that I have come to is that I have been having trouble completing that amount of school work I have to do in the time I have to do it in. Here is an example of why. On an average Tuesday, I would have this to do (to see what curriculum I'm referring to, click the 10th Grade Curriculum button in the header):
One History lesson: This might include reading 20 pages from my textbook
, and then summarizing or outlining it. It would take about an hour. Other lessons might be as little as 30 min, or as long as two hours.One Math lesson: Watch a short video lesson, and do about 25 problems. Generally takes between 25 and 45 minutes.
Two Spanish exercises: Each one usually involves listening to something, and then either talking or writing. This would take about 20 minutes altogether.
One English lesson: This varies a lot, but usually takes between 15 and 45 minutes.
One Vocabulary exercise: This take five to ten minutes.
The problem lies in the large amount of variation in many of these lessons. It could take me anywhere from an hour and thirty five minutes to four hours.
I am slowly switching into an approach where instead of having a daily to do list where the lessons I need to do are listed out ( History 15, Math 33, English 68 ect.), I will do each subject for a period of time each day (1 hour History, 30 min. Math, 30 min English, ect.) In some cases, this will mean that I won't get a whole lesson done, and in other cases it might be a lesson and a half.
I am hoping that this will keep me from burning out part way through my work, and then getting behind. Maybe doing five lessons of History in a week isn't a reasonable goal. If that is my goal, and I only do four, that stresses me out, while if my goal is to do five hours of history, and I do five hours, then I will feel like I did what I needed to, whether that ended up being three lessons or six.
So, in some ways, this change is mainly for my sanity, but I have found that it can be very hard to work without it. :)
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
A Painted House - John Grishom {Book Review}
Today, I am reviewing A Painted House by John Grishom
. I have pretty mixed, though positive feelings about this book, which should make for an interesting review. :)
Amazon.com Summary
The hill people and the Mexicans arrived on the same day. It was a Wednesday, early in September 1952. The Cardinals were five games behind the Dodgers with three weeks to go, and the season looked hopeless. The cotton, however, was waist-high to my father, over my head, and he and my grandfather could be heard before supper whispering words that were seldom heard. It could be a "good crop."
Thus begins the new novel from John Grisham, a story inspired by his own childhood in rural Arkansas. The narrator is a farm boy named Luke Chandler, age seven, who lives in the cotton fields with his parents and grandparents in a little house that's never been painted. The Chandlers farm eighty acres that they rent, not own, and when the cotton is ready they hire a truckload of Mexicans and a family from the Ozarks to help harvest it.
For six weeks they pick cotton, battling the heat, the rain, the fatigue, and, sometimes, each other. As the weeks pass Luke sees and hears things no seven-year-old could possibly be prepared for, and finds himself keeping secrets that not only threaten the crop but will change the lives of the Chandlers forever.
A Painted House is a moving story of one boy's journey from innocence to experience.
My Review
For me, characters can make or break a book, and in this one, they made it. Luke is a terrific narrator, and through his eyes, you come to meet many unique characters. This book has a lot of characters in it, and I was pretty impressed at how really human many of them were. There are several antagonists over the course of the book (one of them was not a person), but none were really hateable to me. You only experience life as Luke knows it, and so you find yourself experiencing some of the characters as you would if you were a child. I'm having a hard time explaining exactly what I liked so much about the characters, but they are truly the best part of the book in my opinion.
The plot was good, though I would say that it is the weak link in this book. There was a point about half way through were I found myself just getting a little bored. There is not really an overarking plot, but more of an ebb and flow, which is very realistic, but not always as gripping for the reader. In the end, I was pleased with the story, and was happy I stuck with it, but be warned, there are some moments where you may be tempted to leave it for something a little faster. The plot is enjoyable, and there are some exciting parts, but many of the early conflicts get resolved rather quickly, and the new ones do not come up right away.
The writing was very enjoyable. I really liked how if really felt like it was being narrated by 7 year old Luke, and that part never felt fake. I think it worked because it was written in an almost nostalgic style, and so it feels more like an adult remembering and describing what life was like the summer he was seven. This keeps it from feeling too young. Also because of this, you can appreciate the characters in a way the Luke might not, because you can see the motivations behind their actions that a seven year old could not. The writing is easy to read, and felt real (for 1950's Arkansas) without feeling like historical fiction, where dialects and trends are often over emphasized.
At the risk of being a little spoilery, I am going to say that the end made me inexplicably sad. I was happy for Luke (and particularly his mother), but at the same time, it made me sad, since I know that everything Luke is saying about it is true. I don't deal well with change in my own life, even positive change, and things like this make me being to feel nostalgic. I felt particularly that way because of that one little corner of the house on the farm. They got so, so close.
Who Should Read This Book
Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in a thought provoking, unique glance at cotton farming in Arkaksas in the 1950's, or to those with a thing for baseball. This book is easy to read, but it really makes you think about the secrets you keep, and what it really means to be a child in an adult's world.
Do you have any question for me? Let me know and I will include them in a Q&A post soon!
*This post contains affiliate links.
. I have pretty mixed, though positive feelings about this book, which should make for an interesting review. :)Amazon.com Summary
The hill people and the Mexicans arrived on the same day. It was a Wednesday, early in September 1952. The Cardinals were five games behind the Dodgers with three weeks to go, and the season looked hopeless. The cotton, however, was waist-high to my father, over my head, and he and my grandfather could be heard before supper whispering words that were seldom heard. It could be a "good crop."
Thus begins the new novel from John Grisham, a story inspired by his own childhood in rural Arkansas. The narrator is a farm boy named Luke Chandler, age seven, who lives in the cotton fields with his parents and grandparents in a little house that's never been painted. The Chandlers farm eighty acres that they rent, not own, and when the cotton is ready they hire a truckload of Mexicans and a family from the Ozarks to help harvest it.
For six weeks they pick cotton, battling the heat, the rain, the fatigue, and, sometimes, each other. As the weeks pass Luke sees and hears things no seven-year-old could possibly be prepared for, and finds himself keeping secrets that not only threaten the crop but will change the lives of the Chandlers forever.
A Painted House is a moving story of one boy's journey from innocence to experience.
My Review
For me, characters can make or break a book, and in this one, they made it. Luke is a terrific narrator, and through his eyes, you come to meet many unique characters. This book has a lot of characters in it, and I was pretty impressed at how really human many of them were. There are several antagonists over the course of the book (one of them was not a person), but none were really hateable to me. You only experience life as Luke knows it, and so you find yourself experiencing some of the characters as you would if you were a child. I'm having a hard time explaining exactly what I liked so much about the characters, but they are truly the best part of the book in my opinion.
The plot was good, though I would say that it is the weak link in this book. There was a point about half way through were I found myself just getting a little bored. There is not really an overarking plot, but more of an ebb and flow, which is very realistic, but not always as gripping for the reader. In the end, I was pleased with the story, and was happy I stuck with it, but be warned, there are some moments where you may be tempted to leave it for something a little faster. The plot is enjoyable, and there are some exciting parts, but many of the early conflicts get resolved rather quickly, and the new ones do not come up right away.
The writing was very enjoyable. I really liked how if really felt like it was being narrated by 7 year old Luke, and that part never felt fake. I think it worked because it was written in an almost nostalgic style, and so it feels more like an adult remembering and describing what life was like the summer he was seven. This keeps it from feeling too young. Also because of this, you can appreciate the characters in a way the Luke might not, because you can see the motivations behind their actions that a seven year old could not. The writing is easy to read, and felt real (for 1950's Arkansas) without feeling like historical fiction, where dialects and trends are often over emphasized.
At the risk of being a little spoilery, I am going to say that the end made me inexplicably sad. I was happy for Luke (and particularly his mother), but at the same time, it made me sad, since I know that everything Luke is saying about it is true. I don't deal well with change in my own life, even positive change, and things like this make me being to feel nostalgic. I felt particularly that way because of that one little corner of the house on the farm. They got so, so close.
Who Should Read This Book
Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in a thought provoking, unique glance at cotton farming in Arkaksas in the 1950's, or to those with a thing for baseball. This book is easy to read, but it really makes you think about the secrets you keep, and what it really means to be a child in an adult's world.
Do you have any question for me? Let me know and I will include them in a Q&A post soon!
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