City Of The Beats - Title Meaning 10/27/14

Blog for week of: October 27, 2014

Writing Prompt: What is the title of what you are reading? How does it fit the story? If you

don’t know yet how it fits the story, what is your best guess?

          I am reading a very interesting book named, City Of The Beast. I have been reading this book for a long time and, although still have pages left to read, feel like I have a good understanding of what the title means and how it fits with the story. Alexander and his grandmother go on a expedition, along with other people, to the Amazon. They are there for many different reasons and one of those reasons is because of this mythical creature that is said to roam the jungles of the Amazon. This creature goes by the name of the Beast.

          So far in the book that Beasts has showed two or three times. The beats gives off an awful odor. The smell is so strong that, no matter how hard you try not to, you get knocked out by that powerful stench. Some characters have run into the Beast but because of his odor have not seen him. Well they haven't seen him clearly. The smell of this creature is its defense mechanism. By the way they describe the Beast in the book it doesn't sound like he needs one! The Beasts is said to be this ferocious and dangerous animal but, if they've never seen it then they don't really know. They are basically just going based off of what they think the Beast looks like. Like I have said before, the Beast has been seen but just not clearly.

          Since I have more pages to read I have not yet understood the title completely. The title is City Of The Beasts. The ending is Beasts which is plural, because of that I am not sure weather or not there is going to be more that one Beast. That is something I will soon find out as I continue reading. Most of the book is not about the Beast and talks more about the Native Americans, which they see a lot of since they are in the Amazon. As I read on I hope to learn more about the meaning of the title and how it fits the story.

City Of The Beasts-reporter review 10/20/14

Blog for week of: October 20, 2014

Writing prompt: Pretend you are famous reporter on TV. Write a story about what you’ve read

for the evening news.

          Alexander Cold and his grandmother, a magazine reporter for International Geographic, go on an expedition to the Amazon. Of course Alexander and his grandmother didn't travel alone. They had an expedition group. A group that contained a celebrated anthropologist, a local guide and his young daughter Nadia, and a doctor. Why are they in the Amazon? Well they are looking for the Yeti of the Amazon named the Beast. Now, they know that you can't go to the Amazon without running into some Native Americans. In this case their prior knowledge isn't of much help.

          This is a basic introduction to the wonderful book that I am reading. That wonderful book is non other than, The City Of The Beasts. I am quite far in the book with only a little over 100 pages left. I know that 100 pages might seem a lot and the book seems to be no where near a solution to the problem they are facing, but I think that there has been real character development and I have learned a lot from this book. I have gained all kinds of information on the types animals and vegetation that make their homes in the Amazon region of South America.

          From what I have read so far I have been overall entertained, informed, and always interested in what I am reading. There has been a recent conflict that the characters are having trouble resolving. I'm not going to get to specific because this conflict is unexpected one and I wouldn't want to give any spoilers to anybody who want to read this book. Let's just say that the Native Americans don't really like foreigners such as well, you'll have to read for yourself. Speaking of reading for yourself, why don't you check out City Of The Beats next time you get a chance. I know when I did I wasn't disappointed.

"The Lady Or The Tiger?" new ending

          Without the slightest hesitation, he went to the door on the right, and opened it. The princess heard the creak of the handle as the lover opened the right door. She trembled at the thought of what was going to happen next. For even though she knew the events that were coming her way, she did not want to witness them with her own eyes. She covered her face as a small tear formed and gently slid down from her eyes.

         When the lover opened the door a beautiful black and orange striped animal with a shiny white under belly, was standing there waiting to pounce. The king watched as the fierce beast ripped the man's body to pieces. As the princess slowly lifted her hands from her face she saw the tiger laying down next to her lover, that was now in bloody pieces all around the ferocious animal.

         The princess could not bare to witness her lover be killed right in front of her eyes, but she rather that then he live a life with another women. The princes thought that if he just die at once that he would wait for her in the blessed regions of the semi-barbaric futurity. In her mind she thought that was better than having him be instantly married to a women that she disliked. This was the very reason that the princess, after long consideration, told her lover to pick the door on the right.

1st Quarter Reflection

          This quarter I have learned so many new and different things. One thing that really taught me something was the weekly Article Of The Week or, AOW. Having a different article to read every week has really helped me learn things about what's going on in the world. Before we started doing AOW I had no idea what Ebola was or what ISIS was but now I know all kind of different information about both of those topics. If we didn't have AOW I wouldn't know what was going on in the world around me.

          Along with learning different information about the world I have also expanded my vocabulary. Before August, or the start of the quarter, I didn't have weekly vocabulary tests that taught me new words. I can now use the word analyze instead os saying look at. Or I can say plethora instead of a lot. Having this expanded vocabulary also has helped my writing skills improve.

City Of The Beasts-Charcterization 10/13/14

Blog for week of: October 13, 2014

Pages read: 172-204

          I am reading the book city Of The Beasts and it's about a group of people who go on a trip to the Amazon looking for a mythical creature called the Beast. While they are looking for the Beast they run into some indians. This book I am reading includes a lot direct characterization. There are not near as many indirect characterizations as there are indirect characterization but there are a few.

          My  Book, City Of The Beats, has many direct characterization. An example of direct characterization in City Of The Beast is, "Poor Borobá didn't even move; he was stuck to Alex's back like a barnacle, frozen with terror." This quote shows that what Borobá is or paralyzed with fear because of what just happened or what is happening in the story. Another example of direct characterization in City Of The Beast would be, "Pulling on the rope, Alex brought up Nadia, who landed on top of him, stupefied by strain and fear." This quote from the book shows that the character Nadia just went through something that made her scared and is having a hard time calming down.

          Along with many direct characterizations there is also some indirect characterization. An example of indirect characterization would be, "Alex pumped hard, swinging almost blindly, and wrapped his arms and legs about the limp figure." This quote doesn't exactly tell you that Alex was tired or sweating but you can tell from the way the author uses the phrase pumped hard that Alex was working pretty hard.

City Of The Beasts 9/29/14

Blog for week of: September 29, 2014

Writing Prompt: What is the mood you feel when you're reading this book (happy, sad, funny, serious, etc.)
Pages Read:1-172

          City Of The Beast is a book about a group of people who travel to the Amazon in search for a mythical creature called the Beast. The sound of this book seemed interesting to me at first which is why I decided to read it. In the beginning of the book I was interested. The mood I was feeling was pleasant and I was interested in what I was reading. Now I have found that when I read City Of The Beasts there isn't a lot of interesting breathtaking parts like I had hoped. So my mood isn't as pleasant it's more of a feeling of disinterest. The reason I continue to read this book is because every now and then there are some parts that I find pleasing.

          I wouldn't say that I don't enjoy reading the book because if I didn't then I wouldn't read it but, I wouldn't say that I love this book because that's not entirely true either. The book includes factual information about the Amazon (which is the main setting in the book) while also making it interesting. I would say that currently I have an indifferent mood while reading this book. I don't completely like or dislike thins book. I'm totally into or not into this book. My basic point is this book has me in an alright mood.