All the Pretty Horses

We started reading All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy in class this past week. So far what has happened is that these two guys, John Grady Cole and Joe Rawlins, leave their home and head off for Mexico on their horses. They meet a boy named Blevins and take him with them on their journey even though they are afraid he will cause some trouble since he stole a horse and ran away from home. So far I really like the book. It is much easier to read than The Odyssey but is still a little challenging to read because of McCarthy's style of writing. He doesnt always use quotations and his sentences can be anywhere from three words to a full page long. The dialogue can be hard to read at times but I have gotten used to his writing now and understand the plot so it is fun to read. I like the story line too because when you read the title, it seems like it would be a girly book about horses and an easy life but really it is an adventure story about guys going to live in Mexico and facing troubles along the way. I can't wait to read more into what happens to John Grady, Rawlins, an Blevins along their journey through Mexico.

Marley and Me 3

For John, it was important that Marley had one rightful owner that would control the rules in the house. He believed that a dog could only answer to one owner or master and that he wanted to be that master for Marley. Because of that, John took comlete advantage of the fact that the first couple weeks Marley was home, Jenny wasn't going to be there. He spent his time trying to house train and discipline Marley with his own tactics of scolding and prasing at appropriate times and treating him with beach visits and dog treats. Things were looking good for the duo except for the fact that Marley, like John had readin books, was a lab and growing at a very quick pace. By the time Jenny got home from her trip, the little puppy she had picked out so long ago had now grown up and gained about thirty pounds. With his bigger size and stronger muscles, it was harder to train him too. Marley gave a whole new meaning to the phrase "tail wagging." Vases and other object would be shot off the table if Marley's tail was anywhere near. He gained the nickname Mr. Wiggles because he was always happy and jumping around which didnt help with the tail wagging either. After a while, John and Jenny decided they would need to completely baby proof their house because the obedience training with Marley wasn't having the effect they would have hoped for. That also made John a little disappointed because he had high hopes for "Grogan's Majestic Marley of Churchill" and wanted badly to be the master. Even with the disappointment, John made a commitment and promised himself he would not give up.

O Brother Where Art Thou

We have been watching o Brother Where Art Thou based on the epic, The Odyssey by Homer in class for the past week. It is about three guys who escaped from jail and went searching for this treasure. The encounter many obstacles along the way like a man named Dan who is significant to the cyclopse in the book. it follows the story line pretty well with a few alterations. In the book, the cyclospe is blinded because Odysseus and his men thrust a spear into his eye. In the movie the make it a little more creative and Dan catches the spear right before it makes contact and instead he is then crushed by a burning flame that was lit for the secret meeting he was attending. Although there were many differences like that in the movie, there were also many similarities. The names of many of the characters were similar such as Odysseus was Ulysses and they called the man his wife was going to marry a suitor. Also the personality of each character was similar. Ulysses was the leader of everyone with the brains and masculine traits and the other two men were just kind of partners like the crew members. Overall I think O Brother Where Art Thou did a good job of creating a fun remake of The Odyssey while still keeping the character and theme of the story.

Marley and Me 2

After Marley came home and had been living with John and Jenny for a while, they realized that they had never really done any research to find out what kinda of dog they should get. John's curiosity led him to reading a couple books about it and they were almost completely alright with their decision. The guilt of thinking they had done a bad job went away for a bit when he read that labs are "a breed America could not get enough of" (Grogan 17), but as he read more he started to change his mind. The breeder had not shown them Marley's father and it wasnt until after buying Marley that they had met the energetic, wildly crazy male that they realized maybe that was a mistake. They can now only hope that Marley took after his sweet calm mom instead of his father. By what they have seen so far, it doesn't seem to be the case but John is still hopeful. He picked Marley the same way he had picked his first childhood dog who was, according to him, the best dog a person could own. John had called his dog saint shaun bacause of his good behavior but Marley wasn't looking too promising for that title. In the end, John was somewhat disappointed to admit defeat with his new pup but wasnt about to completely give up yet. Sometimes the dog just needs to be trained and disciplined first.

weekend

This weekend was especially fun for me. I haven't been out of the house hanging out with friends or going to soccer practices for the past couple of weeks because I have been out sick with the flu. I was really bummed cause my brother also had to rub it in my face by telling me he and a couple of his friends were going to Fargo this weekend for a tennis tournament and I would be stuck home once again. To top it all off, he told me they didnt have to go to school friday and so I got pretty mad and jealous when I heard that. Thankfully for me I had one thing to look forward to, a party saturday night with all the friends I hadn't seen in a while. As the weekend got nearer things started to be getting better. I found out that it was finally getting warmer in Edina and it would be a good weekend to go outside. It also helped to know that my brother was going farther north to the cold and his trip wasn't going to be nearly as good as he had said. Saturday night came around and I had a really fun time dancing and just hanging out. When I got home, I also heard the news that my brother's trip was going a lot worse than planned. He lost his first game and didnt know how the rest of the tournament was going to go. After the whole thing happened I guess I should have felt bad for him and everything but the previous jealousy and anger he caused me made me feel like revenge was needed. He is still not home yet but I cant wait to tell him about how much fun I had this weekend and hear about how badly his went.

New semester

This new semester means we are going to be reading a lot of new books and writing a whole new portfolio of essays for class. I think im looking forward most to finishing up the Odyssey because its a book that I have heard all about through elementary middle school and have always wanted to read. In latin class and world history we hear about all the myths and stories behind the tale of the great odysseus and gods that help him get back home from his journeys and now I have finally got to read about them together instead of in portions. The Odyssey also brought its share of reading challenges and was extremely confusing at parts. Book 10 was the easiest for me to understand because we read parts of it in class and got to discuss it while we were reading. Although it has been interesting to learn about the gods and this epic journey, I am also ready to start a new book for the semester. Im ready to learn about a new story and see what the next adventure is for second semester.

Marley and Me

For my outside reading book for quarter three, Im reading a book called Marley and Me by John Grogan. Its different from the other books I have read this year because the other books were something about a girl and her family struggling with a big struggle in life like school or poverty. The reason Marley and Me is so different is because it is about a man named John and his life and experience with his best and worst friend, a dog named Marley. They face struggles very different from the ones in the girls' lives like for example, Marleys attachment issues in his new home. John had to stay up very late the first few nights Marley came home because he would not go to sleep. John's wife, Jenny, also had some troubles with Marley. Because she and John both worked at a newspaper, they had a hard time trying to figure out what to do with their new puppy during the day. She sometimes would have to come home to look over him and let him out. The Grogans realized soon after their new purchase that having a bouncing lab puppy wasnt going to be as easy as they would have thought. Im excited to see what happens next with John, Jenny, and Marley in the book, Marley and Me.