Famous Last Line

“She sat staring with her eyes shut, into his eyes, and felt as if she had finally got to the beginning of something she couldn’t begin, and she saw him moving farther and farther away, farther and farther into the darkness until he was the pin point of light.”

This quote belongs to Flannery O'Connor. O’ Connor was born on March 25, 1925 in Savannah, Georgia and died on August 3, 1964. She went to school at the University of Iowa for her master’s degree and after studying the poem The Geranium, started publishing and working on her own works. Her writing is based in the south and usually has a religious theme in it. O’ Conner drew from her experiences being Catholic in the South.

The book that this quote comes from is called Wise Blood. The book follows a WWII veteran named Hazel Mote who comes home bitter from the war. After seeing and experiencing all the horrors of war, he begins to resent his old faith and resolves to create an anti-religious church. Throughout the book, he meets certain characters and defines them based on if they have wise blood- “an idea that one has innate, worldly knowledge of what direction to take in life, and requires no spiritual or emotional guidance”. Trying to start his church, Mote finally begins to realize what the meaning of life is and that sometimes we wear more than one face.

I am still on the fence about this book. There are some humorous parts in the plot, but there are a lot of serious thematic elements that I don’t know if they would ruin the book. Also, I love the setting that the book takes place in, but maybe not the content that is explored in the book. 

Famous First Line

“If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.”

This quote belongs to J.D. Salinger. He was born on January 1, 1919 and died a few years ago on January 27, 2010. Salinger didn’t start off wanting to become a writer; he actually went to school for business. He flunked out of many schools that he went to, and then took a trip to Europe where he found his love for writing instead of business like his father wanted. When he got back, a professor named Whit Burnett at Columbia University developed Salinger’s passion and led him to start publishing his works in big name papers such as the Saturday Evening Post. His career was interrupted when he was drafted into WWII, but resumed when he came back and published Catcher in the Rye in 1951, a novel he wrote while in the war.

Catcher in the Rye is a fictional story about a boy named Holden Caulfield who begins the story as a flunk out. Deciding that he needs to find himself, he goes on a little adventure that teaches him about belonging, identity, loss, and connection with those around him. Many teenage readers love this book because they can relate to the themes of angst, rebellion, and alienation that is portrayed in the book.

I think that I would enjoy this book. Caulfield sounds like someone who I would love to meet. I also am very intrigued on the idea of going on an adventure and having all the experiences to figure out who you are and where you are meant to be.

Don't Quote Me on That

Honestly, if you want to see all the quotes that have made me feel anything at all, please look at my board. It has all words to describe me and to give me that kick start when I need to get moving!

     

In the {News}Paper

Scorpio (Oct. 24-Nov. 21)

                Someone will save you when you’re right in the middle of a perilous task.

I look at the numbers printed in ink on our bill receipts, counting how much debt we are in for this month. Between starting a business that’s growing slowly and providing for my family and my husband’s drinking problem, it would be a miracle to be in the black. I quickly calculate over and over again, maybe a hundred times before I am sure of the total we have to survive- a meager 178.46 for a month.

As I sit at the family table decorated with stains and remains of past meals, I wonder how we are to survive. I can’t keep doing this, raising a family with no support, and adding a new business that is like a newborn baby. Glancing at the digital green numbers reading 2:13 AM, I realize that soon the hustle will take hold in as short as four hours. I guess I can file this night away as another sleepless one.

I don’t remember when we started to have financial problems- him and I, we were the perfect couple. High school sweethearts who went to the same college, got a degree, had kids, and settled in the beautiful state of North Carolina. We had big dreams and aspirations, knowing that the future was so far away, you couldn’t tamp us down.

But all good things must come to an end. After coming back from maternity leave, I resumed working at the restaurant I was head chef at, only to find a new one in my place. They assured me that I was still going to work there, I had done so much for the business. As the budget got tight however, they went back on their word. To make matters worse, my husband started to go back to the frat ways of drinking. Pretty soon, he lost his job due to coming into work drop dead drunk and losing clients as a results. With nowhere to turn, I invested my life savings into my new business, an Irish restaurant and bakery.

Suddenly, I hear a tap on the door. A visitor this late? Quickly I glance from my vantage point at the kitchen table and see no one. I quietly get up and open the door, careful to not wake up the family. I see tucked inside our mailbox a white envelope. Picking it up, I see nothing on it. Opening it up, something falls out. I pick it up and realize that this is the miracle I’ve been waiting for. Money. Someone has saved me in the perilous task of raising my family.

Writers as Readers

1.        When you read, what do you need to be comfortable (environment, snacks, lighting)?

·         You can usually find me wedged between the arm of our living room couch and some pillows with a munchy type of snack, such as pretzels or popcorn. In the summer, I love to catch the sun on my back when I’m reading. When it’s winter, you can find me in a blanket with a cat on my lap.

2.       Do you think books have the power to move people to action in something they have no interest in before they begin the first page?

·         I am one of the people that don’t like to read books based on popularity. For example, when The Fault in Our Stars came out, I waited to read the book until all the quotes and memes and jokes died out so that I could have my own personal experience with the book. I do have to say, by being introduced to TFIOS, it opened so many other books that I have enjoyed.

3.       What was the first book you remember reading? Why does this book stand out?

·         I first remember reading Pajama Time with my siblings. I remember feeling so proud that I was able to read a book that my parents read to us every night. This book really stands out to me because it was such a fun book that introduced new words and kept my attention. I also enjoyed how much fun I had reading it with my siblings, which helped out tremendously.

4.      What is one of your best memories connected with reading?

·         One of the best memories I have connected with reading was when I earned a gift card to Borders! In our first grade class, we had a challenge to read as many books that we could in one month. I remember that I came home dedicated to win that 15 dollar Borders card to buy some more books. That was when I was introduced to the Nancy Drew series, and to this day I still give credit to my mother for reading with me and pushing me to not give up when it got hard.

5.       What is your favorite book or series? Why is it your favorite?

·         My favorite book is The Help. I got this book because the movie had come out in the summer, and parents had gone to see it. I picked it up and started reading, and honestly, I couldn’t stop reading. Page after page I became so wrapped up in the lives and the struggles of the women in the book and I honestly felt like I knew each of them in their small town of Mississippi. I still would love to have a sequel to the book!

Memorable Passage

“Then one day the boy came to the tree and the tree said, Come, Boy, come and climb up my trunk and swing from my branches and eat apples and play in my shade and be happy.”

“I am too big to climb and play,” said the boy. “I want to buy things and have fun. I want some money. Can you give me some money?”

“I’m sorry,” said the tree, “but I have no money. Take my apples, Boy, and sell them in the city. Then you will have money and you will be happy.”

And so the boy climbed up the tree and gathered her apples and carried them away.

And the tree was happy.

This paragraph is really emotional for me. It reminds me of my mother and how much I ask of her. Talking with her yesterday about this project, I asked her what her most favorite of all time book was. At the end of the discussion, she turned to me and said, The Giving Tree. I reflected on that children’s short story, and I read it for the first time in probably six years.

When I read the paragraph, it really hit home how the tree was willing to do anything to see happiness in the boy she loved. I also was hit hard by the boy saying how the power to buy things and have fun would make him happy. It reminded me of how so many people believe that money is the answer to everything and that it will eventually make them happy. This conclusion even led me to one of my favorite movies, “The Pursuit of Happyness”, where a father changes his life to provide for his son, and realizes what really matters in life.

Going back to what we talked about yesterday when Laura mentioned reading a book at different points in your life, I thought that this book just might be a good one to reread over and over and over again.

Pillow{talk}

He twists and turns, then wakes up, startled, wide eyed and looking around the black room. The darkness almost threatens to suffocate him. He looks at the clock, it is 2:13 AM. Quietly he tries to remember what military time translates into this civilian time. Next to him lays his wife, so glad that he is finally home, safe and sound. Little breaths are heard coming from the right of the room, his one year old is finally fast asleep.

Trying to gather his thoughts that are consuming him like a fire to dry trees, he tries to repeat what his therapist told him to do, to calm him down.

My name is Taylor Graham. I’m 25 years old and married. I am a father to a one year old. I came home about 5 months ago fro-AAAAAHHHH! Instant flashback to the dream he woke up from, where he is trying to save his comrades from an IED explosion that hit their Jeep. His dream still allows him to remember the dead in the vehicle, already long gone without any hope of revival. He smells the smell of burning flesh, machine fire, and war, hears the cries of pain and desperation. He is drowning in this dream-he can’t escape the dream, he hears and smells and touches and tastes magnified a hundred times in this dream.

He wonders when this will stop. His wife has been so supportive, helping him with his therapy and the daytime nightmares that plague him. His family thought the war was done for him when he stepped of the plane and into their arms.

In reality, the war really started for him then-a quiet war raged in his own mind, silent to any outsider.