Blog post 5

 No, I am not content with swapping out Of Mice and Men for Twilight, because Of Mice and Men is a true classic that I believe everyone should read. Rather than Twilight, which is a sad attempt of writing on Stephanie Meyer’s part (no offense.) The writing in Twilight resembles the reading level of a 6^th grader; which is downgrading the reading level of high school students, because they are spending their time reading books that are in no way challenging. Which is why I believe we should have some classics in the curriculum; the students need and should be challenged. Although the challenging books should be entertaining and there should be activities with the books, to properly engage the students. The students need to read for the pure joy of it, rather than reading so that they can do well on a pop quiz.  I believe there should be a 60% for literary fiction and 40% genre fiction. Students generally wouldn’t read literary fiction, so I believe that schools should more reinforce literary fiction. With literary fiction there is a thin line between boring and interesting, so the teachers NEED to know how to make the book interesting and how to engage the readers; for example reference the story to modern times. If the teachers don’t make it interesting then the student won’t care, and end up spark noting the book; which should not happen.  I agree with Jodi Picoult in “I don't think readers have to choose between literary and commercial fiction” Basically Jodi Picoult is saying that a good book is a good book, it doesn’t matter what genre the book is in or whether the book is literary or commercial fiction, if the book has interesting writing, plot, characters; it should speak for itself. Rather than go under the category of literary or commercial fiction.

Blog Post 4

                The challenged the filmmaker would make would be to find the right actress. Liz can sound “whiny” in the story, and if an actress doesn’t portray her right, she would sign selfish. Another difficulty would be to find an interesting way to portray what Liz is thinking, because a majority of the story Liz is thinking to herself.

If I could cut anything from my book it would be David, Liz’s boyfriend after she got divorced/separated from her husband, Steven. I consider David as a minor character, who doesn’t really have much importance in the story. He is just a character that is a background for the story, so I wouldn’t mind if he got cut out. Another part that was insignificant would be when she was talking about how two days before September 11, 2001 she called her husband and they fought; and when she heard about the twin towers she called her estranged husband, and then they realized that they were really getting a divorce. I feel like it wasn’t really necessary, Steven and Liz getting a divorce was inevitable; especially since they have been fighting and not living together.  Another point that could be considered not important would be when Liz talks about her past, she usually talks about her past a lot; and sometimes it feels repetitive and unnecessary. Liz should stop talking so much.

                An important scene would be when Liz decides to go to Italy. This was an important decision that was the start of her journey; essentially it was her first step. Without her deciding to go to Italy, the story would feel very fast, especially at the beginning; the readers would be stuck thinking about what made her decide to go to Italy.  Another important part would be when she decided to get divorced with her husband, because if she hadn’t divorced him, she wouldn’t have realized how miserable she would be. How for Liz, there was more to life than having a husband, and living in the suburbs. Finally, the scene when Liz broke up with David is important, and it helps us understand Liz.

Book Project 1

The Room, is a excellent book, and it is on my must read list. This book is really enlightening, even though it is fiction. The book has many different attractive aspects to it, we just need to market the positive aspects. The parts of the story that touch your heart. I have a couple of ideas: a tooth necklace, a board game, and a trailer which would eventually result in a movie.

For the accessory a significant object we constantly see with Jack, would be his mothers’ tooth. We saw it multiple different times during the most dramatic moments of the story. For example when he was rescued, and he was talking to the police officer. When he was thinking about his mom when she was in the hospital when Jack was at his grandparents house. “My family is Grandma Steppa Bronwyn Uncle Paul Deana and Grandpa, only he shudders at me. Also Ma. I move Tooth into my cheek. ‘Is she dead?’”(Donoghue 254). The accessory would be a tooth necklace, although it can be considered “gross” it would be a true perception of the hardships of Jack and his mom while he was dealing with the Old Nick. 

For the game, it would resemble what game Jack and his mom played while living in “The Room,” while in the room they found themselves playing different activities to keep Jack and his mom entertained. For example they would play track, and run around the room, to keep themselves fit. “For Phys Ed we leave our socks off because bare feet are grippier. Today i choose Track first, we lift Table upside down onto Bed and Rocker on her with Rug over the both. Track goes around Bed from wardrobe to Lamp, the shape on Floor is a black C”(15). The game would resemble the set up off the room, and to win you would be the first person to get out off the room. 

My last idea would be to make a movie trailer based off of the story of The Room,  this is sadly a story that we hear a lot, and although this novel is fiction; it is a good accurate portrayal on how hard life was for Jack and his mother. Donoghue talked about how the media was very persistent on getting the story, because they know that people would watch the news station. “It’s dark but then there’s lights quick quick like fireworks. “Vultures,” says Officer Oh. ‘Where?’ ‘No pictures,’ shouts the man police. What pictures? I don’t see any vultures I only see persons faces with machines flashing and black fat sticks. They’re shouting but I can’t understand”(159). The trailer would soon result in a movie.