Catcher In the Rye (Pages 185-214)

Finally got around to finishing J.D. Salinger's Catcher In the Rye. It was an okay book, although I don't really understand it. It was just about this guy traveling around trying to figure out his problems, and yet somehow in the end everything is magically okay because he sees his little sister Phoebe riding around on a merry-go-round. The book just didn't have any meaning or personal connections to me until the very end, like maybe the last 3 pages even. In these pages Holden is summarizing what has happened to him and the people he's met. He says that he is always asked what he is going to do next with his life, and how he has no answer to that question when people ask him. He says that it's a bad question because no one ever really knows what they are going to do until they actually do it. That quote was probably the most meaningful part in the book for me, because I can actually relate to it. Whether you thoroughly think through a situation or not, you never really know what you are going to do, how you are going to respond to any type of situation. For example, if you happen to be in a bank while it is getting robbed, everyone in the world would like to think that they would be the one to step up and save everyone, but that's just not realistic, and no one will ever know until they are actually put into that bad situation. I guess people just like to think that they have the ability to be a hero and step up whenever they want to, but the fact is that very few people probably would step up for others. On a more personal level, I am a lifeguard, and I know how to respond and act if I see someone sturggling to breathe or something. And although I know that I know what to do, it's sometimes difficult to believe that I can do it because I have not yet had to do it, if that makes sense. That's why I want to get my first save out of the way, just so I can prove to myself that I can handle the pressure and perform when it counts. I guess the book was okay, just not what I expected it to be.

To Kill A Mockingbird (Pages 259-277)

In the story, we meet a man named Mr. Raymond, who is very kind to the black people, which was looked down upon by society. They say he always carries around a paper sack, which they assumed he used to drink alcohol in. They learn otherwise when Mr. Raymond offers Dill some of his drink and Dill accepts only to learn that the drink is really Coca-Cola. He explains to the children that he only carries around the paper bag to make it appear that he is drunk all the time, which would explain for his actions towards the blacks in general. When people see the sack, they assume he is too drunk to know any better than to treat the blacks with just as much respect as the whites. A few days later, the entire black community has loads of food placed on the doorstep of Atticus' house in order to thank him for defeneding an innocent man in Tom Robinson. Although he was found guilty, Atticus tried his absolute best to protect Tom by any means necessary, and the black community respects him for that. Later that day, the children learn that Bob Ewell called out Atticus around town, spat on him, and called for his revenge in the future.
I imagine that the children in the book have a great sense of pride towards their father in that he is a truely great man, and defends a man he knows is innocent. When they hear the news about Bob spitting on their father, I'm sure they're first response is only to hate Bob more, yet they should really feel sorry for him. By the end of the book they do. Bob is a pitiful man who's life is headed south. The children realize the importance of their father to the community, to Tom, and to themselves. He reminds me alot of my own father, a great man who would go to extreme measures to do what is right.

To Kill A Mockingbird (Pages 175-259)

Scout has just found her old friend Dill hiding under the bed one night after Atticus has yelled at her. She learns that he ran away beacause his mom and dad didn't pay enough attention to him at all. When Atticus learns that Dill is here, he thinks it over and lets him stay. I think Atticus understands where Dill is coming from and gets why he ran away in the first place. Because of that, he lets the situation play out. They give Dill food and let him stay the night at their house, but not without telling Dill's aunt about where is really is. One night, the kids sneak out and find Atticus sitting in front of Tom Robinson's jail cell reading a magazine. He is there to protect Tom from an angry mob he suspects will show up sometime in the night. As the kids watch, the mob arrives including Bob Ewell and Mr. Cunningham. They have a little bit of a stand off, but not much happens besides that. Atticus convinces them to go home, not knowing that Mr. Underwood had him covered with a shotgun the entire time. This again shows how good of a guy Atticus is.
Dill running away from home and staying the night at his friend's house makes me think of elementary school when it was cool to have official sleep overs. My friends and I would go over to each other's houses every weekend and do fun stuff all night. Of course, we were little so we our bedtime was naturally around 9 or so. Regardless, we always found a way to have a good time, and I feel like Dill is only trying to do the same thing, while also searching for people who love him.

To Kill A Mockingbird (Pages 163-175)

I'm at the point where the trial is taking place, and it's getting intense. The second time I've read this book, I'm realizing how great of a lawyer Attticus really is, and what a good person he is also. Bob Ewell is called to the stand and Atticus makes him sign his name, then he notes which hand he writes with. He notes that Bob is left-handed, and that the bruises on his daughter's face were on the right side. Only a good lawyer would even think to bring that kind of evidence to the courtroom. He makes Scout proud with his great tactics. I'm impressed with how good of a man he truely is.
This Isn't just some Judge Judy case that Atticus is trying to win. He's trying to fight for an innocent man's life. To me, that is the greatest accomplishment one can achieve, saving another at the cost of yourself and your reputation. Atticus gives up his reputation to defend a man he knows is innocent. Not every person can say they've done that for someone. That makes Atticus a great man.

To Kill A Mockingbird (Pages 97-163)

Just finished part one of To Kill A Mockingbird, and made it a few chapters into part two. So far, nothing new is really sticking out for me from reading it for a second time. I'm connecting with a few parts of the book more because of personal experiences, but nothing new in terms of things I felt while reading it the first time. I'm remembering growing up being a major theme in this novel, and I'm seeing more and more of it with every chapter I read. Although Scout is getting into fights at school over kids making fun of her dad, I can see her growing as a person with more moral values. How is it that kids can sometimes see what grown ups can't? Scout realizes how bad it is to treat people differently because of the color of their skin, yet adults remain oblivious to the damage their doing. This also illustrates the innocence of childhood. So pure and filled with love, Scout is learning to respect others more.
This weekend we had some relatives over and we opened our pool. It's been super nice outside, so my sister and I have also started running more. We're planning to run a marathon at the end of the summer, so we better start training now.

To Kill A Mockingbird (Pages 43-97)

Just got to the part where Jem loses his pants when he jumps over Boo Radley's fence. I had forgotten about that part, but it made me laugh out loud when I read it again. It makes me think of a time we were in Ohio visiting some relatives for a BBQ at one of their houses. This was probably ten years ago now, so I was about seven. We were playing kickball in the backyard and the ball went over the fence into the neighbor's yard. The neighbors had a big scary looking dog that we thought was chained up to its doghouse. So, all my cousins convinced me to hop the fence and go get the ball. We were wrong about the dog being chained up. As soon as I picked up the ball I heard barking and started running for the fence to hop back over it. Just as I reached the fence the dog had reached out and bit me....on the buttocks. Pretty embarrassing, but I'm sure I cried alot. Then there was this big ordeal about finding out if the dog had rabies or something. I don't remember that part. But, that day was no fun. At least I got a good story out of it. For some reason, Jem losing his pants made me remember that day where I hopped a fence, and got bit by that big dog.

To Kill A Mockingbird (Pages 1-43)

I'm taking a break from Catcher In the Rye to read a book that we read last year that I liked alot called To Kill A Mockingbird. I remember this being the first book that I actually got into, well at least out of all the books we've read for school. Not sure whether it's the suspense, or the morals in it, but something about it has stuck with me since last year. Enough for me to want to read it more in depth. Hopefully the book is even better a second time around. Mr. Radley also reminds me of someone very close to me.
He reminds me of my next door neighbor who recently died from a stroke. He was always very kind to everyone, and although a little more outgoing than Boo Radley, he had the same humble atmosphere about him. I have mowed their lawn every summer for the last seven years, and still do it even though he's gone. Maybe he's the reason this book has left such an impression on me. He was everything I hope to be when I get older, he was an overall cool guy.

Catcher In the Rye (Pages 170-185)

Holden goes home to see his sister, and to hide from his parents. His sister's name is Phoebe and she's real young, I think he said 6 or 7 years old. She gets mad at him when he tells her that he quit school, but they dnace and have a good time anyway. It seems that no matter what happens in each of their lives, nothing will ever tear them apart.
I can relate to that with my siblings. I feel like there's not a thing they can do that would do anything to effect our relationships. They're my best friends and I would do anything for them. We're all watching Ricky Bobby right now, as a matter of fact. We don't have to do much togther, we just enjoy each other's company. I think that's the case with Holden and his little sister Phoebe.

Catcher In the Rye (Pages 135-170)

I got to the point in the book that solves my questions about Mr. Lough's comic strip from my last post. It's just a brief section, but Holden is explaining to his sister that he only cares about few things. He also says that there's only one thing he would want to be when he gets older, and that is a catcher in the rye. The name of the book. Apparently he means that when a bunch of kids are playing in the rye by a cliff, he would be aqt the edge of the cliff, waiting for kids to run off course so he can catch them and prevent them from falling off the cliff. I don't really understand how that's something you can just want to do, but whatever works for him. Why can't he just be a firefighter or an astronaut? Maybe that's the point. Maybe he's a special kind of guy that only wants to help others. Anyways I have about 40 pages left so we'll see. Also, Mr Clough gave us Lord of the Flies today.

Catcher In the Rye (Pages 105-135)

The main character just got cheated into buying a hooker for more money than he thought by an elevator operator. Not sure how a kid his age legally got one in general, but oh well. Apparently they didn't even do much besides talk, but the pimp wants ten dollars when he had previously said he only wanted five dollars. This led to Holden getting punched in the face for the second time in the book...so far. I'm predicting this kid will get punched at least another two times before the book is over.
Mr. Lough had a comic strip today with a reference to this book. I can't think of exactly what it said, but it was a reference I still don't understand. I guess I haven't gotten to that part in the book yet.

Catcher In the Rye (Pages 75-105)

This book is starting to get better, finally get it. I'm still not exactly sure what the whole point of this book is, but about half way through it, I hope the plot starts to thicken here pretty soon. It seems like Holden (the main character) is just going through life lazily and hanging out with random girls along the way. I guess that was the thing to do back then? Either way something exciting better happen soon.
There's a part in this book where Holden is hanging out in his dorm room and his roommate comes back to hang out. It reminds me of dropping my sister off for the first time at Ball State. It kinda sucked as first but after a week or so life at home wasn't so bad without her. Anyways, I used to go there for the weekend sometimes and we'd hangout in her dorm with her friends, just like they're doing in that particular chapter.

Catcher In the Rye (Pages 61-75)

The main character;s name is Holden, as I've finally found out. He is rooming at school with a big kid named Stradlater. One night, Stradlater asks him to write his paper for him, which has to be a very descriptive paper about anything such as a house or room. Holden decides to describe his brother's old baseball glove, which had a lot of poetry written on it, so he could read while he was waiting for a pitch. His brother had earlier died of leukemia.
This book isn't too bad so far. Finally starting to make sense to me, and I finally found out the main character's name was Holden. My brother told me he had read this book, so hopefully it's as good as he says it is.

Catcher In the Rye (Pages 59-61)

Iv'e only read a few pages since my last post. Been kinda busy lately, but not much has happened in the few pages I have read. This book is sort of reminding me of a combination of The Kite Runner and The Great Gatsby for some reason. Maybe it's becuase it took me a while to figure out the main character's names in those books, but the author still has yet to flat out say the main character's name, which I find strange.
Prom was last night, and it was pretty fun. My brother, who came home for the weekend, went to a wedding last night that just happened to be at The Grand Wayne Center also. We had no idea, but eventually we figured it out and he got to meet my date and everything. Pretty good night. Good thing I've never seen the movie Prom Noght, or last night would've been terrifying.

Catcher In the Rye (Pages 7-59)

Finally starting to understand Catcher In the Rye, although I couldn't tell you the main character's name. Apparently he's in some high school that has dorms for their students. He's failed out, but his parents don't know about it yet. He's going home for the week, and is hoping his mother has cooled down from the bad news by the time he gets home.
Cavs lost last night :(. Pretty mad about it. Oh well, there's always next year. As long as LeBron James sticks around.

Scar Tissue (320-465) Catcher In the Rye (1-7)

Scar Tissue is finally over with, although I liked it alot, it was pretty long. I think it was the longest book I've read so far. Just started Catcher In the Rye today, and I don't really get it so far. My sister gave me the book from a small list of books that I decided I wanted to read from her small collection. Her taste is pretty bad, but I'll give her another shot. It's a relativley short book, so it shouldn't take too long to read it. I'll give it three weeks.
Cavs are on tonight in a must-win game against Boston. We don't look too bad so far, but LeBron better step it up in the 4th quarter.

Scar Tissue was a pretty good book overall. I never realized how corrupted these guys' lives were. I remember hearing about Anthony's drug addiction mentioned in songs like "Under the Bridge," but I never realized how out of control it had gotten. I think I counted three or four trips to rehab for him. Not really sure what I'm going to read next yet, haven't really found anything that has caught my eye. I might trey to keep reading band books, but we'll see what I can find. My brother told me about a Led Zeppelin book he was reading a few months ago and said it was pretty good, maybe I'll look into that. I think it was called Hammer of the Gods?

Today is mother's day, and we got my mom some flowers and a pretty awesome balloon. She's on a diet, so we can't really take her out to eat without it being really hard for her to get something within her range of foods she can eat, but oh well. Next weekend is her birthday and Matt is coming home on Friday, so we'll probably take her out then.
I recently decided that since i've been downloading so much music that I will need an ipod that will hold more music. Not really sure how to go about selling my old ipod (ebay? craig's list?) but hopefully i get alot for it. The Cavaliers are on tv today at 3 I think. After a huge win on Friday night, I'm hoping we can put Boston away for good this time.

I'm so close to finishing Scar Tissue, about 75 pages left. I recently decided to start looking up some of RHCP's older stuff from the 80's and early 90's, and it's very different. Stuff from Freaky Styley and the Uplift Mofo one is pretty hardcore funk. I never knew they were friends with Geroge Clinton, who is awesome. I guess they hung out all the time and he helped them write some good music. My brother just saw Clinton in Atlanta a few weeks ago, and he said that the guy still has it. Although at this point he probably doesn't have to do much to entertain, just him being there should be enough.

Scar Tissue is for some reason taking me forever to read. It doesn't help that the book is 500 pages, but I'm interested in this kinda stuff so it shouldn't take this long. Got about 150 pages left now, and not much has changed. Anthony's back on drugs again even though he's been to rehab twice now, what's wrong with this guy? Oh well, at least he's making good music. Mom's birthday and mother's day just happen to be on the same weekend, and I have no idea what to get her. Hopefully I figure that out. Gotta love fat cats.

Just got to the point in Scar Tissue where Hillel dies, apparantly of drug overdose i'm assuming. It seems that's what everyone was dying of back then. What I don't get is how Hillel got the worst of his drug addiction, when Anthony's addiction appeared to be much more dangerous and drawn out over a long period of time. I'ts amazing to me Anthony is even still here today. Either way it seems that Anthony doesn't give Hillel much of an obituary, one page he's alive, and the next he's dead. One would think he'd give him a little more recognition than that. Myabe they weren't as good of friends as people think, or maybe he just wanted that stuff to be private. Then why would he write a book? Anyways i'm almost done with the book and A Tale of Two Cities sucks so far. Oh and the Cavs won game 1 last night!

Tale of 2 Cities

Haven't read any more of Scar Tissue since my last post, but I started A Tale of Two Cities for Mr Clough's class today. First of all I have no idea where we are in this book so thats bad right off the start. Secondly, because school is pretty close to being out I am in no way interested in reading a 400 page book about God knows what. You'd think he'd give us a break and give us an easy read, but no, here's another 400 page book for you to read and oh yeah, you should be at page 100 by now. And besides that, I just spent an hour on Jefferson stuck in traffic. I don't know who the idiot is that decided to do construction on Jefferson, Abiote Center, and Illinios all at the same time, but I want to punch him/her in the face. Hopefully this is a long enough post. I should probably read more.
Not my cat but I thought it was pretty cool of the owner to make him a helmet.

I'm now around page 300 in Scar Tissue. The book finally started talking about the band, the good stuff. I never realized how many different people it took to run a successful band. They went through ten or fifteen different guitar players and drummers before getting to where they are now. And it seems that the stars aligned to bring those guys together.
Cleveland Cavs won last night against the Bulls and now have to play the Celtics in the semis. Not sure when the first game is but I'm pretty excited about beating them, considering I hate all Boston sports. Patriots, hate them. Red Sox, hate them. Celtics, hate them. Hopefully LeBron's elbow is okay or whatever was wrong with him. He should suck it up anyways, it's the playoffs. Go Cavs.

The last hundred pages of Scar Tissue have been pretty much the same as the first hundred. Anthony is still battling his addiction to drugs and alcohol, and his band is doing very well in the industry. He's having sex with pretty much every girl he meets and somehow doesn't get any of them pregnant. Can't figure that one out. But overall not a bad book so far. Since I pretty much grew up on the Red Hot Chili Peppers, I don;t feel like I'm learning too much new stuff about them yet, hopefully the book gets into the actual band soon. Just like Pearl Jam, my brother introduced me to them at a very young age, and they grew on me. I don't know much of their old stuff with Hillel, but everything from Mother's Milk to Stadium Arcadium I'm pretty familiar with.
Is it just me or does the drummer look like Will Ferrell?

Scar Tissue 2

Scar Tissue keeps getting better and better. Not only is Keidis talking about his life growing up in Cali, but now he's finally getting into how the band formed and what their inspiration was. I guess alot of people have read and like this book so now I'm one of them. Nothing else has happened really besides that so far, I mean i haven't really read too much since my last post.
My brother introduced me to the Red Hot Chili Peppers when I was first getting into music around age 6 or so. He's been a huge influence in my life, so I wanted to like the kind of music he did. Eventually they started to grow on me and I began liking them for their sound instead of attempting to have similar tastes as my brother. His name is Matt by the way. I'm very glad he introduced me to them at such an early age.
Not sure who this baby is. Picture came with the computer.

Scar Tissue

I'm about 50 pages into Scar Tissue, and it's actually pretty good so far. It was written by the singer himself, so it has a good point of perspective in it. In the beginning, he talks about his family and what life was like living with his druggie dad. His dad originally introduced drugs like pot, cocaine, and LSD. I was surprised to learn how early Anthony got into drugs, which was about 7th grade. I didn't realize that was the thing to do back in that day. His dad would often take him into night clubs and let him have sex with his girlfriends.
None Too Fragile: Pages (1-200) hopefully this is my 200 of literary?
Scar Tissue: Pages (1-50)

Pearl Jam

I just read None Too Fragile, which was about the band Pearl Jam and the life of Eddie Vedder. It was pretty good, considering it wasn't written by one of the actual band members. I like the band alot, and I think it helps you understand their music and where exactly you're coming from when you learn more about them.
My next book is Scar Tissue, by RHCP frontman Anthony Keidis. I've heard good things from everyone who's read it so far so I have pretty high hopes for this one. Plus, it's about one of my favorite bands of all time. Although it seems like a huge book I image it will be a pretty easy read.

None Too Fragile

Today I finished the Kite Runner. It turned out that Amir and Hassan were brothers and somehow didn't know it. Amir goes back home to get his nephew from the Taliban. He meets Assef there, the dude that raped Hassan, and has to fight him for the kid. Assef beats the junk out of Amir but then the kid takes his slingshot and shoots Assef in the face, actually the eye I think. So, they get away and eventually go back to America where Amir and his wife adopt the kid and everything turns out great. In the end, Amir and the kid have a kite battle with a random kid, and when Amir cuts the other kid's kite, he runs after it just like Hassan used to.
I went to te library and picked up my next book called None Too Fragile. It's a biography about Pearl Jam and lead singer Eddie Vedder. Hopefully it's as good as I'm hoping, since I love Pearl Jam. I'll be starting it later today.
Random fact: I remember buying Pearl Jam's first cd, Ten, on September 11, 2001 when I was in third grade. I was actually listening to it when I found out about the Twin Towers. So for me Pearl Jam is associated with the worst day in my generation's lifetime, but oh well, I still like them alot.

the kite runner

I'm currently about 300 pages in The Kite Runner, and it's really good. The main character, Amir, watched his best friend Hassan get raped earlier in the book,so he feels really bad about himself because he did nothing about it. The desciption of the bad dude raping Hassan is graphic and shocking. I didn't expect anyone to get raped i a book I thought to be about kites. Apparently, kite running is when you battle kites in the air, someone cuts the other person's kite, and goes after the kite while it floats away. Which raises the question why don't these kids have balls to play baseball orsoccer with? I mean most of the other kids in other countries play soccer or something. But I guess flying kites is the most exciting thing to do in Afghanistan. Maybe that's why they're so angry all the time? I'm no doctor but it's an idea. Which reminds me how bad I am at flying kites. I can remember trying once with my dad to fly a homemade one. It was not fun at all. Maybe because it wasn't very windy at all, or maybe I just suck at it, but I would never get as excited about as these kids the my book do. So Amir finds out that Hassan had a son and has to go back to his hometown to save him from the Taliban. That's as far as I am right now, hopefully he gets the kid back.

A Clockwork Orange pages (50)
Kit Runner (300)

New Stuff

I am definitely not liking this website so far, or blogging in general for that matter. It took me forever to figure erverything out and I'm sure there's tons of other stuff I need figure out. Thank god I have nothing else to do today. Ohio State in playing right now, so I'm kind of half watching them and half doing this. Go bucks.
I'm about 50 pages into the Kite Runner, which is actually pretty good so far. Not exactly sure what "kite running" is yet, but hopefully they'll explain that soon. I'm not really connecting with this book so far, it's just really easy to read. I guess i can picture the super skinny Indian kids the author describes, but other than that, I've got nothing. Apparently this book is over 400 pages, so I'm not particularly looking forward to that, probably the longest book I've read so far.
Although the osu game is tied, Ohio State looks pretty good. Hopefully they can pull this one off, otherwise it'd be a huge upset. Not quite as big of a let down as Kansas though, suck it KU fans. I'm gonna go out on a limb and predict Ohio State in the final 4, with Kansas out of the way, it shouldn't be that farfetched. I guess that's a pretty good first bog. Hopefully figuring this site out gets easier.