The Literature of our first few months...

The Catcher in the Rye - First of all, the title of the book has a "the" in front of it. Second, contrary to most of my peer's opinions, I enjoyed this book. Holden opened up a whole new insight onto the world that not many of us think about. He was a hypocrite considering the amount of times he said the word phony, but nonetheless, Holden was a real character; at least in the 1950s. Sure, most teenagers today don't get kicked out of high school and then flee to New York, but think about it. If it was you wouldn't you want to spend the weekend fooling around in the big city? I think the main reason I enjoyed this book was because it wasn't based around a character that could easily be translated into a Disney movie. Let's face it. Holden might be shallow, but he has a heart (at least in the scenes with Phoebe).

Inherit the Wind - I really liked this play. I like how the characters and plot was based off of real life events, yet Lawrence and Lee put their own twist on them to create a moral that we can all appreciate. The Right to Think. Sure, it's not written in the constitution or anything but it's more of an unwritten code. There is a part of me that agrees with Lizzy. I wish it was longer. I wish there was more to it. I really enjoyed this book and I feel that if there were more novels written on this topic I don't know if those would receive such applause.

My Ántonia - Okay. So, let us make this clear. I really disliked this book. It was drag and boring and the most interesting part was the town book and the end. Truthfully, I wish that this book wasn't so descriptive and it just cut to the chase. However, I do agree with Sam that she writes metaphors and conveys images in such a way that is just not possible to find in today's literature. With most books I read I fall in love with the characters, or I hate them, or I simply just understand what's happening, yet with My Ántonia, I didn't really connect with Jim which disappointed me.

First They Killed My Father - Maybe I have a strong stomach or maybe I've read too many books on genocide, but I felt like I didn't want to stop reading this. I've always found personal accounts of big historic event really interesting. The whole fact that this happened truly scares me, yet excites me. Don't worry, I'm not crazy. I just really enjoyed the amount of maturity that Loung gained and all of the courage that it must have taken to face this. It is genuinely inspiring. On another note, Loung's writing style was one of my favorites. It was concise and to the point. I was so happy that there were page-long descriptions.

A Midsummer Night's Dream - I've known this story for a while but actually sitting down and reading it was much better than just watching rewrites or parodies on TV. The only thing that I disagree with is that Shakespeare does not translate very well into the twenty-first century. Sure, some things continue to produce giggles among my classmates, yet other things are better left in the original time of the bard.