Emily+Hackenmiller


 * __ Blog #1 __**

My Favorite Books

One of my favorite books I've read throughout my various English classes would have to be To Kill A Mockingbird. It kept me intrigued throughout the whole book and I never grew tired of reading it. I'm not one who loves to read, so it takes a lot for a book to catch my attention. Also, I'm a fan of the Twilight series. It may just be a teenage stage, but I find them to be well written and entertaining. I also like the author Lurlene McDaniel. She writes books about people who go through certain obstacles in their life (usually concerning health issues), and how they overcome these obstacles. These kinds of books really trigger your emotions and make you realize whats important in your life.


 * __ Blog #2 __**

Reading Assignment

I am planning on reading A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway. I chose this book because it seemed like an intriguing romance novel, and it takes place during the time of WWII. Although I was not particularly fascinated by his other book, The Old Man and the Sea, I thought I'd give this one a try. Also, I plan on reading A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. It seemed like an extremely odd story line, which I found fascinating for some reason! I compared it to 1984, but learned that it would be more interesting.


 * __ Blog #3 __**

Review: http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/personal/reading/hemingway-farewell.html

Summary: Lieutenant Henry is a young American ambulance driver serving in the Italian army during World War I. At the beginning of the novel, the war is finishing up and Henry decides to take a tour to Italy. Henry meets Catherine Barkley. Later, when Henry is wounded on the battlefield, he is brought to a hospital in Milan to recover. Henry finds out that Catherine has been transferred to Milan and starts his recuperation under her care. During the following months, his relationship with Catherine becomes even greater. Their love for one another becomes beyond powerful.

Favorite Line: "If people bring so much courage to his world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them. The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially." This is on the front cover of the book, and it seems to set the tone for it before the reader starts this novel. I also like it because it's an intriguing thought.

__** Final Blog **__ Characters: The four main characters in this novel are: Lieutenant Frederic Henry, Catherine Barkley, Rinaldi, and the Priest. Lieutenant Frederic Henry is the narrator and protagonist. He’s a young American ambulance driver during World War I. He displays a great deal of courage but shows slim to no patience. Catherine Barkley is a nurse who falls in love with Henry. She is described as incredibly beautiful. Rinaldi is a mischievous surgeon and Henry’s closest friend. The priest is a very kind, sweet guy who provides guidance to many of the characters.

Plot Summary: Lieutenant Henry is a young American ambulance driver serving in the Italian army during World War I. At the beginning of the novel, the war is finishing up and Henry decides to take a tour to Italy. Henry meets Catherine Barkley. Later, when Henry is wounded on the battlefield, he is brought to a hospital in Milan to recover. Henry finds out that Catherine has been transferred to Milan and starts his recuperation under her care. During the following months, his relationship with Catherine becomes even greater. Their love for one another becomes beyond powerful. As soon as Henry is healed he must part from Catherine and be sent to the front once again. Catherine reveals that she’s pregnant. Catherine and Henry declare their mutual devotion to each other before he leaves. Henry’s experience at the front is a horrid one, he shoots one of his engineers and one of the drivers is shot dead. Chaos breaks out, until the battle police get ahold of Henry who then swims to a safe area downstream. Henry goes to return to his Catherine where they escape to Switzerland.

Rating: **(Average)**
 * I liked that this was a romance novel, but it started out too slow for my liking and I didn’t particularly like the vocabulary used. It made it very hard to follow and keep my attention. I, however, thought the story line was good. Beginning this I told myself to give Ernest Hemingway a chance, and I’m not sure if that was a great decision or not. I wouldn’t say I loved this book, but I guess I wasn’t entirely disappointed. **

__ Blog #5: __ March 25th Book: The next book I will be reading is __Watership Down__ by Richard Adams.

Reason: I chose this book for the reason that it seemed to be intriguing and have a lot of analogies (being the characters in the story are rabbits).

Summary: I haven't started reading yet, but from what I've heard, it's about a traveling group of rabbits. Also, that it shows struggles for freedom. My sister and mom recommended this to me, so I decided to give this book a chance!

__Blog #6__: April 1st

__Watership Down__ by Richard Adams



**"He said, 'Dance for me' and he said,** **'You are too beautiful for the wind**  **To pick at, or the sun to burn.' He said,**  **'I'm a poor tattered thing, but not unkind**  **To the sad dancer and the dancing dead.'"** //Sidney Keyes, Four Postures of Death (page 107)// This is my favorite quote because it shows great compassion between one another.

I've read up to Part II in the book so far (page 127).

Final Blog

This book was a pretty long read, but I found it to be pretty good! I liked how I'd catch myself giving the rabbits human-like qualities and forgetting that they were just animals. Richard Adams did I tremendous job with the rabbits and changing the way that most people viewed them (cute&cuddly) into something new (heroic hero). I wasn't prepared for such a book of depth for the reason that it's main characters were rabbits. It was a good read and I'd recommend it to anyone!