Grace's PRABE week 5
Just a reminder to people on my friends list because it has been a while, my PRABE entries are for a class assignment and they are public.
OK, so here’s me trying to catch up with my PRABE assignment. I think the ironic thing about this assignment is that I read too much, but did not write about what I read.
Like I said in week 4’s PRABE entry, I’ve had good opportunities to read while the kids are napping at the daycare where I worked. So basically that worked out to about at least 1 hour to 2 hours of reading time daily, depending on the schedule the front desk gave me. The schedule changes sometimes, but I knew for sure for weeks 5 to week 9 (about a month?) I had 1 hour of reading time Mondays through Fridays, so that for sure meets my weekly 90 minutes requirements. In addition, I read the new online every morning when I eat my breakfast, using my iPhone. I checked the weather, read about the Olympics this past month, and just browsed for stories of interests. My breakfast reading usually take about 45 minute to an hour, so adding that to my 1 hour already, like I said, the problem with this PRABE assignment is that I read too much and wrote too little.
Since I didn’t keep a good log of exactly how many hours I read daily, I’m just going to base each week on a book that I read and write a reflection of that book.
Week 5 - I finished the Hunger Games and started and finished Catching Fire.
Reflection
I will not be afraid and gush that I have become a fan of the Hunger Games. Probably not as big as a fan as I was of Harry Potter but this trilogy is quite amazing in its own way. I’ve actually re-read it all 3 books once in the past month - I was hoping to jolt down some notes for my reflections for PRABE but like I said (and I suppose I will repeat this quite a bit) I read too much and didn’t write enough. I suppose that’s me, personality wise? Some people are readers, and some people are writers, and a few talented are both. I will have to make do with just being the group of readers.
Let’s see if I can recollect my memories and put down some thoughts about Hunger Games (HG) and Catching Fire (CF). Of course, since I already read all 3 books by this point, some of my thoughts might pertain to Mocking Jay too (MJ), but I will try to separate MJ reflections into a different week.
-I think it was after a re-read of HG that I realized not only the story was written in first person narration, but Collins used present tense verbs for Katniss to narrate her story. I think that’s why the story feels so intense. Ah, what a great example to illustrate how word choice can effect the voice and tone of the writing! (me thinks of the students and their 5 traits of writing). Anyway, after I realized that, I noticed a little more of when Katniss uses present tense and past tense.
-In response to writergirlie’s comment about how it took a while for her to get into the first book, I examined my own thoughts and think I liked HG right away. I don’t remember feeling any strong likes or dislikes for Katniss as a character. It was the compelling plot that intrigued me and pulled me in. I did like Katniss from the get go, simply because I can sympathize or empathize with her protectiveness over her sister. I think I can also empathize with her coldness towards her mom, because I have a mom who fell apart and I understand how that feels, when a grownup you depend on suddenly becomes your dependent. Anyway, I liked the books from the get go.
-I read Catching fire faster than I read Hg. When I started reading HG I felt the plot was so intense that I had to stop and read something else (The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown, see week 4 PRABE). I didn’t do that with CF. However, that might or might not have anything to do with the intensity of the plot. When I started CF, I lend HG to my sister-in-law. Well, she really got into it, and she was half way through HG when I was about two thirds in to CF, and she wanted to read CF next. Knowing her reading habits (which is if she is on a roll keep her rolling, she stopped in the middle of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and haven’t been able to pick it back up since then, to my regrets!), I hastily finished CF so I can loan her the book. On the other hand, I feel that once the plot advanced to the quarter quell and Katniss, Peeta and co. are at quarter quell, you really can’t put the book down until you reach the end. The beginning of quarter quell, or where Katniss and Haymitch were settling their agreement to keep Peeta alive was actually one of the points where I was wondering IF Peeta was going to survive. And of course at the end of CF I was desperately wondering what was going to happen to Peeta.
-I will not hide that I like the Harry Potter (HP) books more than I like HG trilogy. I think they are very different and both have its merits, but somehow Harry Potter means more to me. That’s the bias of a reader, I suppose, and literature is art and art is in the eye of the beholder. I think one reason I like HP so much is because of the humor in it. Even when times are bleak Rowling always manage to insert humor into the situation. There’s less to laugh about in the HG triogy (and, that’s not a bad thing, just different plots and different writing styles), so I think my favorite parts in the books are the ones that made me laugh a bit. In HG, my favorite part was when Katniss tricked Peeta into eating the sleep syrup and she was smug about it after he fell asleep “who can’t lie now huh?.” In CF, it was when Katniss and Finnick rubbed the medicine all over their body and then stealthily approached sleeping Peeta to wake him up. I am looking forward to seeing that scene in the theater (hopefully they don’t cut it out, although they might).
-Speaking of theaters, I haven’t seen HG the movie yet! Hopefully I will get a chance to rent the DVD before this month is over.
-This is quite a bit for week 5, hopefully I have as much to write about about the books I read in the following weeks. Now I have to stop and go eat lunch.
OK, so here’s me trying to catch up with my PRABE assignment. I think the ironic thing about this assignment is that I read too much, but did not write about what I read.
Like I said in week 4’s PRABE entry, I’ve had good opportunities to read while the kids are napping at the daycare where I worked. So basically that worked out to about at least 1 hour to 2 hours of reading time daily, depending on the schedule the front desk gave me. The schedule changes sometimes, but I knew for sure for weeks 5 to week 9 (about a month?) I had 1 hour of reading time Mondays through Fridays, so that for sure meets my weekly 90 minutes requirements. In addition, I read the new online every morning when I eat my breakfast, using my iPhone. I checked the weather, read about the Olympics this past month, and just browsed for stories of interests. My breakfast reading usually take about 45 minute to an hour, so adding that to my 1 hour already, like I said, the problem with this PRABE assignment is that I read too much and wrote too little.
Since I didn’t keep a good log of exactly how many hours I read daily, I’m just going to base each week on a book that I read and write a reflection of that book.
Week 5 - I finished the Hunger Games and started and finished Catching Fire.
Reflection
I will not be afraid and gush that I have become a fan of the Hunger Games. Probably not as big as a fan as I was of Harry Potter but this trilogy is quite amazing in its own way. I’ve actually re-read it all 3 books once in the past month - I was hoping to jolt down some notes for my reflections for PRABE but like I said (and I suppose I will repeat this quite a bit) I read too much and didn’t write enough. I suppose that’s me, personality wise? Some people are readers, and some people are writers, and a few talented are both. I will have to make do with just being the group of readers.
Let’s see if I can recollect my memories and put down some thoughts about Hunger Games (HG) and Catching Fire (CF). Of course, since I already read all 3 books by this point, some of my thoughts might pertain to Mocking Jay too (MJ), but I will try to separate MJ reflections into a different week.
-I think it was after a re-read of HG that I realized not only the story was written in first person narration, but Collins used present tense verbs for Katniss to narrate her story. I think that’s why the story feels so intense. Ah, what a great example to illustrate how word choice can effect the voice and tone of the writing! (me thinks of the students and their 5 traits of writing). Anyway, after I realized that, I noticed a little more of when Katniss uses present tense and past tense.
-In response to writergirlie’s comment about how it took a while for her to get into the first book, I examined my own thoughts and think I liked HG right away. I don’t remember feeling any strong likes or dislikes for Katniss as a character. It was the compelling plot that intrigued me and pulled me in. I did like Katniss from the get go, simply because I can sympathize or empathize with her protectiveness over her sister. I think I can also empathize with her coldness towards her mom, because I have a mom who fell apart and I understand how that feels, when a grownup you depend on suddenly becomes your dependent. Anyway, I liked the books from the get go.
-I read Catching fire faster than I read Hg. When I started reading HG I felt the plot was so intense that I had to stop and read something else (The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown, see week 4 PRABE). I didn’t do that with CF. However, that might or might not have anything to do with the intensity of the plot. When I started CF, I lend HG to my sister-in-law. Well, she really got into it, and she was half way through HG when I was about two thirds in to CF, and she wanted to read CF next. Knowing her reading habits (which is if she is on a roll keep her rolling, she stopped in the middle of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and haven’t been able to pick it back up since then, to my regrets!), I hastily finished CF so I can loan her the book. On the other hand, I feel that once the plot advanced to the quarter quell and Katniss, Peeta and co. are at quarter quell, you really can’t put the book down until you reach the end. The beginning of quarter quell, or where Katniss and Haymitch were settling their agreement to keep Peeta alive was actually one of the points where I was wondering IF Peeta was going to survive. And of course at the end of CF I was desperately wondering what was going to happen to Peeta.
-I will not hide that I like the Harry Potter (HP) books more than I like HG trilogy. I think they are very different and both have its merits, but somehow Harry Potter means more to me. That’s the bias of a reader, I suppose, and literature is art and art is in the eye of the beholder. I think one reason I like HP so much is because of the humor in it. Even when times are bleak Rowling always manage to insert humor into the situation. There’s less to laugh about in the HG triogy (and, that’s not a bad thing, just different plots and different writing styles), so I think my favorite parts in the books are the ones that made me laugh a bit. In HG, my favorite part was when Katniss tricked Peeta into eating the sleep syrup and she was smug about it after he fell asleep “who can’t lie now huh?.” In CF, it was when Katniss and Finnick rubbed the medicine all over their body and then stealthily approached sleeping Peeta to wake him up. I am looking forward to seeing that scene in the theater (hopefully they don’t cut it out, although they might).
-Speaking of theaters, I haven’t seen HG the movie yet! Hopefully I will get a chance to rent the DVD before this month is over.
-This is quite a bit for week 5, hopefully I have as much to write about about the books I read in the following weeks. Now I have to stop and go eat lunch.