I don’t think all the books in the world could ever be enough for me: mystery, comedy, satire, tragedy, historical, educational, fiction, and non-fiction. The endless possibilities of books I can read are endless, and yet I have always, and always will, want more. Perhaps it has been the way I have been raised, or perhaps it is something I acquired from school. Either way, my love for reading is something I has possessed since I was a young child, and I have always enjoyed each genre. Yet, no genre really made me question the world around me and wonder what the future holds. That is until I was given a book that was the first book I had ever read that was of a genre that questioned societies future. The book was The Giver, by Lois Lowry, and the genre that turned my question in a 180 was that of dystopian literature. …show more content…
While I didn’t mind reading, I would have much rather read the books I wanted to, than the books that were assigned to read. However, I went along with it, because I did not want to get into an argument about the reading. The books assigned included “Little Women” and “Island of the Blue Dolphin”, and while they were interesting, I was not extremely engaged, nor did I care very much to learn their overall message. It was until I was assigned to read “The Giver” that I was as engaged in the story and the message as I was when I read a book I wanted to read. It was unlike anything I had ever read before: It was dark, terrifying, and mystifying all at the same time. I was mined blown at the concepts it presented, with the story of a seemingly perfect society, yet under the surface is a world that is destructive and corrupt. This was my first taste of dystopian literature, and I have been hooked ever
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and believe it to be one of the best books I have ever read. It was extremely well written and challenging for me to understand at times. It conveys that dark side of human ambition very well, and it has given me much to think about.
Fahrenheit 451 shows us a future dystopian world which in a couple ways could resemble a future outcome of our own. Ray Bradbury wrote this book almost 65 years ago because he saw the world changing and he decided to write a story about a future society where everything had gone wrong. He had no idea what was going to happen, but he made several different predictions of what he thought could happen in the future and for a lot of it, he was spot on. Our society has banned books, and even though there haven’t been many, it has been happening. Our society has also lost a lot of good social interaction and replaced it with social media interaction and a whole lot of screen time. That’s really only the tip of the iceberg with the similarities between our societies, but those are two of the bigger ones. Our society is not quite what Fahrenheit 451 describes, but it’s close enough to make us wonder, is our society becoming a
I think my favorite thing about this novel was the realistic ending. Some books try to just give you a fairy tale but this book had an ending that mad you think in the end if I was in the same position would I do the same thing. I didn’t like the fact that the novel portrayed mental illness in a way to say that it needed to be hidden and protected. I thought this novel was very believable for the time period that it was set in. I think the ending to this novel was perfect it was an accurate ending to this
This book is a must read for each and every one who has an open mind to what extent and reality the world could come to or to someone who would love to enjoys a fantastic dystopian world in the book. I personally loved this book and the rest of the series and I would love to read it over and over again so that I can relive and go through various emotions that the character in the book went through.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book, it takes an in depth look at individuality and the thought process with and without outside control. It makes you think about how indirectly the government controls small details around you. What would happen if the government wanted to take control of you completely? How easy would it be?
My earliest memories can be found at the hands of paperback novels. Books were my escape from the world around me. The thrill of being able to leave behind the world and it’s baggage and enter another that books provided captivated me, and left an impact on me. The emotion I experienced solely from taking a small step into another person’s story was unlike any I had felt before. I desperately wanted others to feel what I had felt, and love whatever I had become entranced by with the same passion as I did.
Ever since I was a child, I've never liked reading. Every time I was told to read, I would just sleep or do something else instead. In "A Love Affair with Books" by Bernadete Piassa tells a story about her passion for reading books. Piassa demonstrates how reading books has influenced her life. Reading her story has given me a different perspective on books. It has showed me that not only are they words written on paper, they are also feelings and expressions.
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 would only read books that were required for class, and even then I usually would not finish them. Reading was never something that I liked. When I got into high school, I started reading books for fun a little more than before. I was always a Harry Potter fan but since I did not like to read I only watched the movies. I remember reading those books and actually liking them. My junior year was also a time in my reading history that I remember well. As a class we were reading the Great Gatsby in time to see the movie for the midnight premier. Each day we were instructed to read up to a certain page, no further. I did not like the book at first, just like any other book I was forced to read for school. But, one night I was reading and the book got so interesting for me I could not put it down. That was the first book in along time that I enjoyed reading that was assigned to me. After my junior year, I went right back to my old ways of not reading books. My senior year I took AP English, so this required a lot of books. Thinking back to that year of school I remember finishing maybe one or two of those books. Although, I didn’t read all of those books, I still got a good grade in the class. One thing I did learn from that class about not reading all the books was reading the summaries is not good enough because, they leave out all the
My dad taught me that books could be my teachers, my mom taught me that our backyard could be my classroom, and my sister showed me that you could bring books into the swimming pool. I did not know it when I would spend hours in the pool reading a book that my parents weren’t encouraging it in vain, but my family life, for good reason, was centered on books. We were the planets orbiting around one sun that was the bookshelf. Little did I know that books would be the catalyst to academic success in my early life, and I owe it all to my family. Although a life with a book in your nose might seem boring, I was never bored. Living through the characters vicariously, I explored Narnia with Lucy, attended Hogwarts with Harry, and rode dragons with Eragon. Of course
My reading experience in junior-high and first three years of high school were not so much different. I had never been enthusiastic to read about predetermined topics assigned by my teacher and they continued to assign predetermined reading topics that made me feel frustrated and at times uncomfortable. But there was positivity that came out of these repulsive and devastating books, such as Lord of The Flies by William Golding or The Night by Elie Wiesel. Lord of the Flies caused me to confirm that humans must have rules and a government to help
The search for utopia continues strongly today, except in place of the traditional, constructive, positive utopias, we have what is almost a new literary strain-utopia in reverse, cacotopia, the worst of all possible worlds (Herzog 74). This anti-utopian society is one in which characters lead dehumanized lives because a utopian ideal has fallen apart or gone afoul of its original intent. The main characters in dystopian novels are often trapped in their lives and struggling to escape; these novels usually intend to criticize existing social conditions and political systems. While utopian literature portrays ideal worlds, dystopian literature depicts the flaws and failures of imaginative societies. Often these societies are related to utopias, and the dystopian writers have chosen to reveal shortcomings of those social systems previously considered ideal (Booker 10).
Reading always became tiresome to me. We had a reading block in class everyday. The reading block was to make us read fifteen minutes straight a day. Ms. Peshca, my seventh grade teacher, ensured that the class would read. I never read the books until we started reading The Hunger Games.
If one were to look at my varied reading habits, they would be struck by the diversity and over all unusualness of my mind’s library. I hardly remember the plot of the first book I read, but it was called Lonesome Dove. It wasn’t the actual first book I read, but I don’t really count the McGregor Readers from kindergarten. I read it in first grade because of my Grandmother’s fascination in the T.V. mini-series that was playing during the time. I wanted to be able to talk to her about it so I went to the public library that weekend and picked up a copy. Well, I actually didn’t pick it up, it was too heavy. It took me over two and a half months to read, but with the help of a dictionary and my grandma, I finally read it from cover to cover. I can’t really say that I understood it, because I don’t recall what it was about. But I do remember that it was quite an ordeal. Since then I have read many books. I enjoy fiction the best, especially those that are based on society, but have a small twist that leads to an interesting story. Some of the stories that I remember best from that early time in my life are Tales from Wayside Elementary School, Hatchet, The Godfather, and The Giver. I think that Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen, is the only book that I’ve read more than once. I liked the situation that Brian was put into, lost in the wilderness, with nothing more to fend for himself with than his mind and a trusty hatchet. The adversity he faces and his undying drive are what fascinated me most. Since that time my reading habits have grown into a different style. I have usually only read what was assigned to me during the school year because that was all I had time to do, but I have always strived to put forth extra effort. For example: last year for English 3 AP we had to read an excerpt from Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography. Although that we only had to read a small bit, I checked the entire book from the college library and read it all. Although the way that Franklin rambled on and on about his “Franklin Planner” was somewhat boring, the way he describe his life was pure poetry.
Reading and books became a real struggle for me from elementary all the way to high school because I found it hard to comprehend the books that I was made to read. These books were not interesting to me and I found myself starring at pages for hours at a time and would not know or understand what I read.