IRR #2 BOTH FEET ON THE GROUND

RR#2
I am about half way through Lance Armostrong Autobiography. However I finished this book early in the year so I decided to write a better blog about David Beckham's Biography.
Born in manchester, England, David Beckham isn't an average man. From the joys of representing his country in the World Cup, playing for Manchester United and Real Madrid, scoring countless goals, marrying the girl of his dreams and being the most famous international superstar athlete in the world. To the miseries of missing a penalty by 10 yards, getting red carded against Argentina and being hated by every English fan.
he first describes how he inherited his fathers love for the game. He illustrates his dad taking him all of the professional games and having tons of fun in the crowd suporting United.
Playing for local team, Southend Rovers, Beckham's performances and obvious talent created words on the street. Eventually, hes recruited by local youth academy, Manchester United. On the day of the try-out, Beckham exemplifies his nervousness and anxiety. He's almost too afraid to even show up. However, once he settles in, he becomes increasingly relaxed and plays well. He makes the team and now he is beginning to describes the friends, the enemies, the triumphs, the defeats and the adventures at the club of his dreams.
As the book is slowly transitioning from the middle towards the end, Beckham is altering his focus from soccer and his accomplishemnets to deeper meaning: his family. Beckham is dating his dream girl and future wife, Victoria Adams. he describes as if she was a inhuman: virtually flawless. He descibes his wedding as, "the best day of his life" obviously exemplifying that his family value overpowers soccer.
Recently after he is married, the family grows. "Posh", or Victoria beckham is pregnant. As David dreamed, he had a healthy son. Because of Beckham's obvious admiration for the United States, Beckham names his son Brooklyn. His second son is named Romeo, as Posh wanted. He continually states that he cares about his family more than anything...ANYTHING. He wouldn't sacrifice them for any soccer accomplishment, any soccer cleats, money or anything else.
I am beginning to love this book. I feel that its extremely interesting because i can relate to David. I understand and empathize Beckham's love for the game. Such a connection is rare, because unlike most books, I truly LOVE the topic.

IRR #1 THE CAINE MUTINY

RR #1 The Caine Mutiny

1. The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk was novel published by Doubleday in 1951.

2. One of the most meaningful moments in the book is when Willie, the main character contemplates leaving the Caine, but changes his mind when his father, on his deathbed, sends him a Bible and a letter saying that he should be committed to everything he does. As a result, he decides to remain on the Caine. This moment connects to The Thing They Carried because, like Tim, Willie had second thoughts about war, but outside forces influenced him otherwise.

Captain DeVriess: Disappointed they assigned you to a minesweeper, Keith?
Ensign Willie Keith: Well, sir, to be honest, yes, sir.

Another meaningful moment is when an unexpected hurricane hits the Caine. Queeg has no idea what to do. Because of this, Maryk takes it upon himself to command the ship into safety. This is meaningful because even though he was persecuted for doing so, he realized that the lives of the men were more important than the formalities of military rank. This can be related to The Thing They Carried because he is unlike Norman Bowker. However, unlike Norman Bowker he was unable to live up to the responsibility.

Lieutenant Tom Keefer: Will you look at the man? He's a Freudian delight; he crawls with clues!

3. As a result of the war, the narrator significantly changed. He learned that class distinctions and racial prejudice are unimportant superficialities because at first he resented May, but opinion changed by the end of the book. Additionally, Willie learned that the right choices are always the hardest choices. As a result, he realizes that nice guys do finish last.

4. From this book, I learned a lot about war. It gave me a new profound, new empathetic understanding of soldiers. I realize now that the mental price of war supersedes the physical price. Additionally, and most importantly I realized that, as a soldier not only do represent your nation and its values, but you have a responsibility for yourself and for the others around you. Unfortunately, this book gave me insight on racism and how acceptable it is during wartimes.

Slumdog Millionaire

I have heard from many people that the movie was very good but I have never seen the movie. Usually, book-based movies do not do the books justice so I had highexpectations for this book. I loved the plot and I felt a unique understanding of the characters. I reallt enjoyed the questions because I liked to see if I could answer them myself. My favorite part of the was at the end, when you find out that the girl is from one of his stories. I also loved the part where Prem Kupar thinks he is really clever when he gives Jamal a different question during the commercial than on live television, but he knows both questions. I really enjoyed some of the morals, like faith, guts and honesty. Another really good read. 9/10

Outliers

Definitely one of my favorite books of the year, which was offered to me by Mr. Cappiello. A book that really interested me because it is based on success. I really liked it because it was not too long either. My favorite parts of the book where the chapters that described the Italian-Americans that had a 95% chance of not getting heart disease because they lived happier and healthier. I also really enjoyed the chapter that hypothesized the reason why asians are stereopically better at math than other ethinicities, because they have a more logical, faster language when it comes to math, because the brain memorizes things the best after the first 3 seconds or so. Leanred a lot from the book, enjoyed reading it, good writing style. 8.5/10.

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

I was under extreme time pressure to finish another book which had to be a great american story. That is why I chose The Lottery. However, I actually really like it. It was short which was good because I needed to complete by Friday but it was very entertaining. It is about this annual, "lottery," where a small village of 300 people choose pieces of paper. Everyone is given a stone, and the person who picks a black dot on the piece of paper is stoned to death. I really liked the story because it was interesting and it was very, very insightful. I am really interested in human nature which is why i liked this book and cuccok's nest. This book had a couple of motifs and ideas about family, selfishness, revolutionary thinking, risk taking and survival of the fittest.
I definitely recommend it. 8.5/10 (it is a little too short, though).

Freeze Frame

Freeze Frame is betterthan my other book: it had a clear problem, A LOT of emotion, a more difficult read and offered some insight. My only problem with the story was that it became very slow and got distracted from the real story.

It's about a boy named Kyle who witnesses his friend's rape and death while he stood in shock, unable o help his friend. He is severely depressed and taumatized from the incident. He is constantly questioning his own character and having moments of insanity. He is a key figure of his police's attempt to bring the friend's rapist to justice. However, every night, Kyle relives the incident in his dreams....every single night which is why it is called Freeze Frame. However, each time it is slightly edited like a movie.

The ending is good, but a little predictable. Good mystery. decent read. 6.5/10

When I chose this book it was morning Thursday. I was trying to get a book to read for independent reading the next day so it was a rushed random book selection. I learned that is better to read a book that I enjoy by making a better educated book selection than, rather than just pick a book for a grade.

It was a bad book, there wasn't a real plot because there was no clear problem, I didn't like the writing style, there was no real emotion until one of the biggest football games. I'm not a football fan. It was a short book and I did like a lot of the characters and enjoyed the postive perception of life it offered...but it got very old very quickly. Overall, uninteresting, despite being sports related. I'd give it 5.5/10