Before beginning my journey into high school this past summer, I was provided a summer reading book which had to be completed prior to my beginning of the ninth grade. I can see the teachers beginning to create their list of required reading that included “ A Separate Peace”. The question now can be asked, for the purpose of required pre high school summer reading, do books that are listened to, as audio books are, count as books that I have read and should I be credited with completing my summer reading assignment if I have never even picked up a book or touched a typed page? If I only push “play” on a device and hear the book read to me, is that the same as me physically handling the pages? “The Hobbit”, for instance, is available in audio book form and if listened to completely, it will take 11 hours and 16 minutes (Dell’ Antonia 2012) Did I just read that? It is my opinion that I did.
I am going to be perfectly honest with you right now, at this point in my teenage life, I do not enjoy reading. For whatever reason, it does not excite me. But, in my mind, I have heard in my brain every word that has been written, I have listened to and understand the story and its content to the point that should there be a test on the material, that I may or may not pass. I have never touched a page or held the book in my hand, but I know the
…show more content…
content of the story and I am able to answer questions about the story. I can even decide whether or not I have enjoyed the book. So I say that reading a book does not count more than listening to a book. Some people may say that listening to a book actually counts as reading that book because although you did not visualize with your eyes the words in the sentences, as long as you have paid attention, you understand the story and comprehend what has been written as if you did. All books do not have to be read for educational and grammatical knowledge, some books are just plain entertaining. Who cares about perfect grammar and plots and tones? Just entertain me. That person should not consider themselves a reader though since reading really requires most skill. Identifying words quickly to maintain understanding and hidden ideas as stories unfold on the pages that you read, that requires more effort, a rewarding effort. To prove my point, I want to suggest that reading the book “A Separate Peace” by John Knowles could certainly be an interesting read, I guess.
I’m not necessarily into first and second world war and all those types of genre but I have to believe that if I were to listen to an audiobook version of A Separate Peace, in a deep male’s voice it would be way more interesting than hearing my minds ear read the words. My voice is the voice of a young woman; I do not sound like John Knowles. When I listen to a book I like, the characters will come alive in my mind and the difference in what I hear in my head can help me to enjoy a book
more. There are certainly a list of reading skills that can be created from seeing the words in text, how they are used in the sentence, memorizing vocabulary words, understanding what is taking place in the story and what the outcome will be once you have read the whole book from start to finish, and knowing how the word is spelled. It may take you a period of time to read a great book because reading out loud to yourself in your young, or older tone of voice takes up more of your time than just silently reading. Some people may disagree to a certain standpoint like this one for example about how J.R.R. Tolkien wrote the book “The Hobbit” for a certain age group of children that range from the ages of ten years old to thirteen years old. (Dell’Antonia 2012) In regards to my conclusion looking back at reading a book does not count more than listening to a book that may be a financial issue for some parents. Also due to some children who like to listen to the book they need to read on an audio instead of actually reading it to enjoy it. I now feel that even though reading a book does not count more than listening to a book, doing both of these two types of reading may be able to process the same amount of information that can be taken in to understand on an audio and for the regular reading of your own enjoyment.
When you read, especially fiction, you experience a broad sweep of human life. You gain access to the thoughts of others, look at history through another person’s eyes and learn from their mistakes, something that you otherwise would not be able to experience.
In a country like the United States of America, with a history of every individual having an equal opportunity to reach their dreams, it becomes harder and harder to grasp the reality that equal opportunity is diminishing as the years go on. The book Our Kids by Robert Putnam illustrates this reality and compares life during the 1950’s and today’s society and how it has gradually gotten to a point of inequality. In particular, he goes into two touching stories, one that shows the changes in the communities we live in and another that illustrates the change of family structure. In the end he shows how both stories contribute to the American dream slipping away from our hands.
Literary Analysis Anthem and Station Eleven are both dystopian novels. Both books relate to the citizen having little to no freedom with the government that is controlling them. Anthem was written by Ayn Rand, she wrote about how the government in this area controls what each person is destined to be whether you like it or not. Whereas in Station Eleven the world has practically ended due to a deadly flu virus and, somehow, ended up with a man as many know as the Prophet attempting to rule the word. Both dystopian novels have a very unfair dictatorship type government.
Each year as I grow old, I tend to discover and learn new things about myself as a person as well as a reader, writer and a student as a whole. My educational journey so far has been pretty interesting and full of surprises. Back in Bangladesh where I studied until high school, my interest for learning, reading or writing was so very different compared to how it has become over the years. I could relate those learning days to Richard Rodriquez’s essay “The lonely Good Company of Books”. In the essay the author says, “Friends? Reading was, at best, only a chore.”(Rodriguez, page 294). During those days I sure did feel like reading was a chore for me and how I was unable to focus and I could never understand what all those jumbled up words ever meant. It was quite a struggle for me in class when the teachers used to assign us reading homework. I felt like reading a book was more difficult or painful than trying to move a mountain. Just like how moving a mountain is impossible, trying to find an interest in reading was
I began to read not out of entertainment but out of curiosity, for in each new book I discovered an element of real life. It is possible that I will learn more about society through literature than I ever will through personal experience. Having lived a safe, relatively sheltered life for only seventeen years, I don’t have much to offer in regards to worldly wisdom. Reading has opened doors to situations I will never encounter myself, giving me a better understanding of others and their situations. Through books, I’ve escaped from slavery, been tried for murder, and lived through the Cambodian genocide. I’ve been an immigrant, permanently disabled, and faced World War II death camps. Without books, I would be a significantly more close-minded person. My perception of the world has been more significantly impacted by the experiences I've gained through literature than those I've gained
I came into this class under the impression that I already wrote well enough and wouldn’t need to improve. However, as I progressed through the semester I learned that there is always room to grow. The first paper I produced was not at the level I was hoping but after I actively decided to improve my writing my papers became much better. Looking back on my work in the class I wonder how much my writing has changed and where I still have room to improve. Without evaluating my work I can’t hope to become any better. Through this class I have grown much as a writer but there is still more I can learn.
“Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life” (Samuel Ullman). As teens go along in life, they learn through the things they read, hear, and see; in particular, when one reads a book, they can connect with the connotations and it can alter someone or influence. Being able to connect to something that another is feeling can really draw people in like bugs to a light. As more and more people can connect to books it becomes more popular so that they may feel a sense of security. Anthem by Ayn Rand and The Giver by Lois Lowry are two very great examples
After studying in this course over several topics throughout United States History from Ancient America to 1877 the destruction of the Mexica Empire interested me the most. After Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic ocean, falling short of his desired destination landed on the island of Espanola, (present day Dominican Republic and Haiti). Thus this begins several voyages from Spain to the America’s in order to seek gold, glory and honor for themselves and their county. Before the start of the history of the United States, it started off as a conquest of lands and peoples.. CONTINUE HERE2
Over the course of five weeks we’ve had to write three essays (four if you include this one). With every essay I’ve written I have improved my writing process. Having the chance to practice my writing skills in English 102 has made me a better all-around writer. From the beginning of this course, I knew I had a few major issues that I needed to overcome to improve my writing. The biggest being my issues with punctuation, specifically comma splices. Comma splices are something that I just can’t seem to wrap my head around. Although I have gotten better at recognizing comma splices they still seem to sneak in to my writing.
When I was younger, I was interested in reading. I loved leisure reading and used to get different books from the library at least once a week. As I have grown older, I read dramatically less and reading is more irritating. I hate reading and sometimes get annoyed when I have reading assignments in class. Through the years, there were readings that I was forced to read and did not enjoy. It has turned me off from reading for the most part. I know that reading is something that is important, but I also know that it is something that I hate doing most of the time.
Over time reading has built a reputation to kids of being a waste of time and very boring, but reading is not all that bad. Reading acts as a mirror and a window. Last summer I read the book "Lord of the Flies", which is about the life of young boys who ended up on an island with no adults. In the beginning they were civilized and create a small society, however, over time, the children started to separate into two tribes. This led to the disbanding of their laws, as the children started to fight and act like savages. Over the course of the book, the children became less and less civilized because there were no adults or consequences for any actions. The book really portrayed the idea of whether humans
Personally, I would not recommend this process to anyone. For one thing, I feel as if that a story is a source of fulfilment. For instance, every individual can pull a totally different perspective on one matter. Such as one person seeing a glass half empty, yet another could see it half full. It all goes the same with reading in my eyes. In other words, comprehending books do not have to be taken so seriously because books are a work of art. Art is put out in the universe not to be followed by rules, but to be buoyant.
While reading a book, a person needs to consider things like meaning, intended audience, and even the author. For example, an adult person read "The Princess and the Frog" and reads that they should kiss a frog to find their true love, and they do the action and develops a disease from it. First of all, a sane person would not do that and secondly, they would not certainly blame the book that it influenced them to do that. The book was simply a children's book intended for fun and that should not be taken seriously. A person should not skip reading a book and make assumptions on a piece based on what the opinions of others, personal beliefs, or peer pressure to believe in it a certain way.
When I was younger, I didn’t like reading much at all. I always questioned my teachers what was the purpose of reading; I never got an answer from either teacher until I was in the seventh grade. Starting junior high school was different from elementary. In seventh grade, we were in our reading class for two hours a day. I asked the teachers why didn’t we have the privilege to stay in our other classes for two hours; I never received an answer from my teachers.
During the course of this class, I have had the opportunity to read literature from authors who come from different backgrounds and places in the world. Some of the stories and poetry we read were straight forward while others were confusing and sometimes required a second look. But one thing is clear, it changed the way I think about literature in a few ways that I wasn’t expecting. Three works in particular stand out in my mind. “ I Wont Let You Go” by Rabindranath Tagore, “To New York” by Leopold Senghor, and Pedro Peramo by Juan Rulfo all had an impact on my thinking for similar yet different reasons. They all incorporate their cultural backgrounds into their work through the setting of their pieces. They also compose their pieces in a way that makes you want to research their history to find the deeper meaning. Finally, a couple of the authors write about things they are emotionally connected to. Some of the examples we will look at, really opened my eyes to going beyond a superficial understanding of literature.