The
quality of my writing has improved greatly over the course of this trimester. When I first started blogging this trimester,
I wasn’t producing very cohesive posts; that is to say, I felt like sometimes I
would trail off on one point, and then have to suddenly “snap” back to my
original point. Also, I felt like sometimes my sentences trailed on and on, and
shouldn’t have. For example, in one of my earlier posts, the sentence “It takes place in the modern
day Vatican City, where Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is swept up in a
whirlwind experience that involves the examination of a murdered physicist, a
mysterious Vatican spy known as Janus, and an ancient brotherhood known as the Illuminati
that appears to remain active to this day,”. YIKES! That ONE sentence is
almost as long as my entire paragraph up until that point! Now, I feel like my
writing is more concise and gets the point across more effectively per
sentence. This is a sentence from a more recent post: Throughout Leo's visit to Ogygia, Calypso, as
always inevitably fell for him; only this
time her love was finally matched by her island's guest. By
incorporating a semi-colon, it gives the reader a chance to BREATHE between all
the words.
As for
the things I struggled with throughout my blogging experience, I have to be
honest; consistently blogging. I had to really work at reminding myself to
always blog twice a week, and often times I still found (find) myself blogging
on Sunday nights, to make sure I didn’t fall behind. In order to work through
this struggle, I attempted to plan certain days when I would get the second
blog post completed; this occurred usually on either Wednesday, or often times
late on a Friday night after I had already been home, and just wanted to get it
finished so I didn’t have to worry about it over the weekend.
Also,
one strength that I felt that I had had during this trimester of blogging was
my textual support in my posts. I tried to always have at least one quote taken
from whatever book I was blogging about, and usually had more.
And in regards to my reading goal, I did make
it, and even exceeded it. I obviously intend to read FAR more than just 5 books
this school-year; the 5 book marker was mainly just for this 2013 year, which in any case
seems that I have underestimated myself in any case. I found that Goodreads.com was a very helpful
resource during this process, and I will definitely continue to utilize its
advantages.
Over
the course of this trimester, I feel that I have improved as a reader, because
this blog forced me to look deeper into the meanings behind my books and their characters.
Also by using Goodreads I was able to track my reading and really see the
progress that I was making, which was a great motivator. All in all, I see
myself a better reader because of everything I have done his trimester.
(POST #1) Book Recommendation! (Angels and Demons)
The prerequisite to The Da Vinci Code and The Lost Symbol (the book that I am currently reading), Dan Brown's Angels and Demons is in my opinion one of his finest works. It takes place in the modern day Vatican City, where Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is swept up in a whirlwind experience that involves the examination of a murdered physicist, a mysterious Vatican spy known as Janus, and an ancient brotherhood known as the Illuminati that appears to remain active to this day. The Professor is in a race against time to discover the whereabouts of a time bomb planted inside the Vatican. He, along with Italian scientist Vittoria Vetra embark on a chaotic journey that takes them all across Rome and through its many historical monuments and buildings (both those that are world renowned and famously known, to those that have been long forgotten by most).
In my opinion, the book is a great read for nearly everyone. It has so many elements of so many different genres that I feel it is bound to mix well with practically any reader's taste. There is action that has to do with the conspiracy element, along with undertones of science fiction, countless historical references, and even a hint of romance. I highly recommend the book
Angels and Demons to all who feel like their taste in books falls into any or all of these categories; and I especially recommend and challenge those who don't think so, to give the book a try. After all, you will never know what you have been missing until you give a try. Maybe you will even have to continue on and read more of
Dan Brown's works.
(POST #2) Reading Skills for The House of Hades
"Seven half-bloods shall answer the call.
To storm or fire, the world must fall.
An oath to keep with a final breath,
And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death"
Known as the Next Great Prophecy to the Greeks, and the Prophecy if Seven to the Romans, this prophecy plays a key role in the entire Heroes of Olympus series, by
Rick Riordan. I want to, for my purposes, focus on the third line;
"An oath to keep with a final breath,"
In the book, one the Seven half-bloods, Leo Valdez is blasted from their flying ship, Argo II, and winds up on the island of Ogygia, the home of Calypso. Calypso is the daughter of the Titan Atlas, and her punishment for assisting hi in the last war is that she must remain on this island. Part of the island's curse is that she always falls in love with the men who wash up onto her island, and once they leave the island, they can never find it, or her again.
"'You can't come back,' Calypso insisted.
Leo's heart went clunk. "'Because I'm not welcome?'
'Because you can't. It's impossible. No man finds Ogygia twice. That is the rule.'
Leo rolled his eyes. 'Yeah, well you might've noticed I'm not good at following rules. I'm coming back here with my dragon, and we'll spring you. Take you wherever you want to go. It's only fair.'
'Fair...' Calypso's voice was barely audible."
Throughout Leo's visit to Ogygia, Calypso, as always inevitably fell for him; only this time her love was finally matched by her island's guest.
"As his raft skimmed over the water, taking him back to the mortal world, he understood a line from the Prophecy better- an oath to keep with a final breath.
He understood how dangerous oaths could be. But Leo didn't care.
'I'm coming back for you, Calypso,' he said to the night wind. 'I swear it on the River Styx.'"
In their world, swearing on the River Styx is a
binding oath, that I can't hardly think of any demigods breaking throughout the entire series. It's much like The Unbreakable Vow, for all my fellow Harry Potter fans!
This conversation between Ron and Harry takes place in J.K. Rowling's book
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It shows the extremity of the Vow, as does the third line of the Prophecy imply about the vow it is referring to. I honestly think that Leo's vow to come back for Calypso is indeed the "
oath to keep with final breath" that the Prophecy is referring to. I feel like this could be compared to the ULTIMATE of all promises, pinky-swears, and the likes, yet it doesn't even come CLOSE. The fact that there is some form of power surrounding these vows and oaths (and not just our own human consciences) makes them all the more intimidating.
It is not unheard of for people in our society today to give "promise rings" as a symbol of exactly what the name implies; a promise. Well, in my opinion, a promise ring would have been much more simple in this case; but then, where's the adventure in that?
Hopefully, this oath is indeed completed and is not broken, thus resulting in whatever terrible consequences that would befall Leo.
