Dear John, by Nicholas Sparks disappointed me, but in a good way. The previews for this movie make the book seem like it will have a different ending than you would expect. By watching the previews, I thought that John would get hurt while at war or killed in battle but the book proved that theory wrong. I was very surprised by the turn of the events in the book.

I was shocked to find out that Savannah fell in love with another man while John was gone. It made me sad that she had moved on and I didn’t want to finish reading the book but I did and I actually enjoyed the ending. When John realizes that the man that Savannah fell in love with is dying of cancer he can’t help but do everything he can to make her feel better. He does the most selfless thing ever and gives up the hopes of him and Savannah ever being together and gives all his money to Savannah so Tim can get better treatment. John sacrifices his feelings to make the one he loves to be happy even if it’s with another man. I could never imagine anyone doing that and this book makes you feel that good people are out in the world and they might not always be who you think they are. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes surprise endings or a good love story. John sacrifices his feelings to make the one he loves to be happy even if it’s with another man. I could never imagine anyone doing that and this book makes you feel that good people are out in the world and they might not always be who you think they are. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes surprise endings or a good love story.

This week I read Dear John by Nicholas Sparks and so far I’m in love with it. I feel like I’m in the story with John and can feel exactly what he is feeling. The way Sparks writes out the relationship of John and Savannah is magical. I feel like the title of the book is a really good one. It’s simple and sweet yet at the same time I think it’s really deep. Each time Savannah writes a letter to John while he is in Germany, begins with the words Dear John. I think it’s a symbol for how she feels about him. Each letter is filled with the emotions of love, compassion and loneliness and I think that’s what Dear John represents.

            While reading Dear John, I truly realized the effect that going to war puts on relationships with friends and family. John was once so close with his father put from going to war, he now feels like a stranger in his own house. But the most important relationship that’s tested is the one with Savannah. They are sure that their relationship can beat the hardships of the war but no they are not so sure. Savannah’s letters seem less different than they were before and John can tell. I really hope that their relationship can make it through John’s time in Germany.

               While reading the third book of the Twilight Saga, Eclipse, I find myself relating my life to the characters of the book. I feel for Leah Clearwater in the book the most. She is forced to live with being the one and only girl werewolf in the pack. She’s faced with the task of looking into Sam’s eyes and feels the love that he feels towards Emily, not her. She wishes desperately to have no part of the pack and lets her anger out by constantly annoying the pack, trying to make anyone feel a tiny amount of depression she feels. I can relate to her because she reminds me of my cousin. She is forced to go to a school that she doesn’t like and takes her anger out on others.

               Another person I can relate to is Leah’s brother, Seth. He’s just a child enjoying the new outlook on life and couldn’t be happier. In many ways he reminds me of my brother. He is usually happy and it’s hard to resist the amount of joy that radiates out from him. Seth always keeps the pack in a happy atmosphere and shows them that being a werewolf isn’t that bad but rather an adventure. I think he represents all the good people in the world that focus on the positives in life rather than the negatives. I hope that I can act more like him in my life.

This week I decided to read Twilight and New Moon by Stephenie Meyer. I’ve watched the movie Twilight, over a hundred times and have seen New Moon seven times. I was curious to see how different the movies were from the books and I was very surprised to realize that they are different. I absolutely love the books more than the movies.

               In Twilight, I feel like they picked the wrong person to play Bella Swann. The Bella in the movie is portrayed as always sullen and gloomy. She never seemed happy but in the book, Bella actually is happy and I think they could have picked a better example. In New Moon, the same problem occurs. When Edward returns to Forks, Bella is very happy in the book. She was thrilled to see Edward but in the movie you would never now that. She seemed depressed and out there. I did not like the actress at all and thought she did a poor job of capturing the love between her and Edward.

               Another thing I noticed that I didn’t care for was they added parts to the movies. For instance, in the movie Twilight, when Bella goes to meet the Cullens, they weren’t cooking food and Edward never jumped on the trees. I think this made him seem more like Spiderman than a vampire. They also added in the attacks of James and Victoria which never happened in the book.  In the movie New Moon, Jacob shows up at Bella’s school to wish her happy birthday and gives her a dream catcher. This never happened in the book, Jacob forgets about her birthday and they make a game out of trying to determine their ages throughout their talents. This help develops their relationship and I think it is important.

After finishing the 428-page book, Memoirs of a Geisha, I decided to read The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks. Many people have told me what a great book it was and had high expectations for it. To my surprise, I did not care for it very much. After watching the movie a billion times, I expected it to follow the plotline. It was similar but not to close. I thought the book would explain how Allie and Noah met. I did not anticipate that they would start of when Noah and Allie had been separated for 14 years. It disappointed me because my favorite part of the movie was when they got to know each other. Though I did not care for it, I finished the book rather quickly. It took me only a couple of days to read all 213 pages.

               I also did not care for the ending of the book. I expected to cry when Noah and Allie died together like in the movie, but to my surprise, they did not die at all. It disappointed me because I think that what makes The Notebook, such a great book. The whole idea of even though being separated for years, you can still love someone and end up dying together in their arms. It gives people a sense of hope that love is a powerful thing and not even time can break it. I think that is a great thing to have. For a review of the book, click here http://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm?book_number=424.

While reading Memoirs of a Geisha, I realized something about what the author was trying to say about life. He wrote, “When I was locked in, I wanted to be out. Now life has changed so much, that finding myself locked out, I wanted to be inside again.” I think what he is trying to say is don’t take anything for granted here. When Sayuri was a maid, she wanted nothing more than then to be free of Gion and to find her sister. But now, during the war she wanted nothing more than to live her own life. She was tired of living her life starving, sewing parachutes for the soldiers in war. She wanted to go back to her life as a geisha which she used to desperately hate. She misses entertaining Nobu and the Chairman and wishes nothing more but to go back to her old life style. By feeling this wish, she feels she shouldn’t have taken her old life style for granted and that she should have enjoyed it. She now appreciates how she lived and doesn’t take anything for granted anymore.

Memoirs of a Geisha is by far the best book I have read in a while. I love the characters in it because I can relate them all to someone I know. Chiyo, or Sayuri, reminds me somewhat of myself. We both are striving to complete a task in the world to get closer to something we want. Sayuri goes through everything imaginable to become geisha in hope to become closer with the Chairman. I am doing all that I can to get though high school so I can start living my life. Pumpkin is most like my sister in the way that they our both under the pressure to be something that they don’t truly want to be. Pumpkin’s older sister, Hatsumomo, forces her to try and become the best geisha by doing things that Pumpkin doesn’t want to do. Similar to my sister, she is forced to do thing by my mom that she doesn’t like and she wishes she could do something else in her time. By having these characters relate to me and someone I know I feel like I can understand them better and what they are doing. I hope soon I can watch the movie so I can see if it is different or similar to the book.http://web.mit.edu/ealba/www/moag.jpg

After finishing In Harm’s Way, I decided to read the book Memoirs of a Geisha. I choose this book because I have always wanted to see the movie but I never had the time so I thought I should read the book then see it. So far this book has kept my attention. It is very different from what I am used to reading. The Japanese world is so much more different than ours and it’s very neat to see the differences.  I enjoy reading about the geishas and what they have to go through to become one. I never realized what it took to become one. There are many different steps one must take to be a geisha such as the training and school. I also find it very unusual that you don’t have to be pretty to become one. Most aren’t that pretty and it surprised me.

               I enjoy this book the most out of all that I read becomes it captures my attention the most.  I feel like I understand some of the problems that the “geishas in training” are going through. It also is neat to see a new perspective on things. I hope the movie is as good as the book. Click here to see the trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUqiU8ya5co.

This book, In Harm’s Way had good and bad parts to it. Obviously, the worst part of this book is when the ship sinks. It makes you feel so much emotion of despair and misery. You feel so hopeless for them and wish you could help the poor sailors. I also did not like the part when you just read endless pages of them sitting in the water. All the author talks about is one by one them both giving up and committing suicide or getting eaten by a shark and it is horrible to read. The good part of the book was when rescue came. You could almost feel how happy those people where to be saved. It’s amazing to read all the emotions they felt and what they were going through. Some even committed suicide again because they were so delirious they were convinced the US Navy was the Japanese in disguise. It was sad and happy all at the same time. The only other bad thing about this book was the ending. It was dull and not very well written. All the author wrote about was how the survivors were trying to clear the Captain’s name. I wish he would have put in a quote or something that sums up what they felt, something creative but other than that this book was very good and educating. To learn more about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis click here http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/indianapolis.htm.

My initial response to this book was that it was going to be easy to read and kind of boring but I was way off.  The book does start off slow, like most, but once you get into it, it becomes overwhelming. To hear what these soldiers had to do to survive is amazing, almost sickening. They are eaten by sharks, let in the ocean for day without food, water, or hope. Some have been burned beyond recognition or have third degree sunburns. It’s amazing to read what they went through. Many suffered from hallucinations and ending up killing each other because they what they were enemies. I was surprised to read that in one day 50 men were killed by each other because they all thought everyone was a Japanese solider.  Most of these people were good friends and I couldn’t even imagine having them kill each other after all they’ve been through together. (http://www.discovery.com/exp/indianapolis/stories.html This link will take you to some of the survivors stories) This book is actually a lot harder for me to read than I expected. The war terms they use are very hard to understand and sometimes don’t make since, but other than that I really enjoy this book. I’m fascinated by everything that they do to survive and that they never gave up. It is very inspiring.