1st Quarter Reading Reflection

1st Quarter Reading Reflection

And so here we are, a total of 9 weeks have come and gone for us, and instead of reading over and over fantasy books of magic and such, I've taken to reading memoirs about nature instead, such as Winterdance, by Gary Paulson: A memoir about Gary Paulson and his preparation for his first race in the Iditarod and the following (comical) troubles he had preparing for the race and racing in general. (Said troubles include nearly getting disqualified and getting absolutely off track) 

Other such nature memoirs I've read include A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson: A memoir about Bill and his companion Katz and their experiences hiking through the Appalachian Trail while having a few humourous (Yes I used the British spelling, does the addition of an "o" really matter that much?) encounters such as with the baffling Mary Ellen, who's notions about hiking are frankly really really stupid  absurd.

Then there was Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, a book about the 1996 Mount Everest Disaster in which it details Jon's recollection of the events leading up to everything that happened-while admitting that his account may not be accurate due to the circumstances of the disaster (oxygen deprivation).

I also read Falling Leaves: The True Story of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter, a memoir where all I can really express is just one heartbreak after another. (In other words, if you don't wanna read a tearjerker story then this story is NOT for you)

Finally, there was House of Scorpion, a book that's NOT a memoir and is completely fiction, House of Scorpion, is a Science Fiction book that while the beginning might be considered weak (Then again, I have no patience for beginnings) overall is a great book covering the subject of the ethics of human clones (The main character is a clone of the drug lord Matteo Alacran) and the repercussions of being revealed dark secrets that lie in people that you care about.

Overall, I feel like I can expand more into different genres, as I've really only read memoirs (Most of them being about nature) and really only read one fiction book: House of the Scorpion, while reading memoirs are nice, I feel like I can expand into other fictional genres to see what themes they express. Speaking of themes, it's almost interesting that while I enjoyed all of my books, I could only really extract a concrete (well, as concrete as a subjective lesson can be) theme from the one fictional book I read: "House of Scorpion" I'm not sure if this had something to do with how I took my (what's little of it) leisurely time reading or memoirs just are harder to find a theme, I don't know, perhaps because I don't have that much time due to the many extracurricular activities I have I just read things faster than I should, perhaps.

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I WAS going to end my reflection there, but then I looked at the pseudo-rubric and realized I missed the required list of 2 goals, which I shall state plainly here:

1. I'll attempt to, in an ironic inversion of my reading goals last year, read more fictional genre books
2. I'll attempt to try and gain more "meaning" from my books, and by "meaning" I mean I'll try harder to figure out a theme from my book