So this really has to be one of the best books on love I have read in a long time. I guess you could say that I could be a romantic. However I think more than that I am a realist, which could be why I have so many posts on the effects of love. This book really takes an in depth look at the relationship between two people. It looks at the lives they lead and how love affected them. Read the rest of this entry »
Nicholas Sparks has become a popular writer here in the past few years, most notably for The Notebook. While The Notebook is a good book, I just wanted to write about another book that he wrote. It is not as famous as The Notebook but it is still good. Here’s a little synopsis:
The story surrounds Julie Barenson’s. She was happily married to the love of her life until he died suddenly from a brain tumor. She was left alone and thought her life was over. On Christmas Eve, a Great Dane puppy is delivered at the door with a letter from her husband. The book transcends four years later. She is twenty-nine and still living in Swansboro, North Carolina. She has been dating lately with some serious failures. She meets a nice guy that is normal comparative to the rest of them. However, she and Mike, her husband’s best friend, have come to like each other. So of course, she has to choose between Mike, which feels like she is betraying her husband and Richard, the new guy, that does all these extravagant feelings for her. She does choose the right guy.
This book is a little idealistic of love and happiness. I think that idea is great but I don’t think that love in real life exists in the same way. But it is a good read! It’s very interesting and makes you want to believe that Julie will find happiness after all!
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In my French class, we read a lot of books mainly children’s books. So we read a story recently that I thought that I would share. Books certainly reflect the times, values and ideals of a society. I had never thought about a children’s book reflecting the times of a society. However this one certainly did. The title of the book is Le Dernier Classe.
The story is set in Alsace, France. It is in the end of the 19th century when the Germans take over Alsace and Lorraine, which the French won back several years later. More into depth of the story now, it is set in a classroom with Franz, who is the main character. I actually really adore this character. He is precious and frustrating. He is a young boy who is curious about everything. And he never listens. When he arrives late for school as always, he expects to get scolded. He doesn’t because well he is le chouchou also known as the teacher’s pet. He doesn’t know that he is because is precarious and way too energetic. He soon learns that it will be the last day of class for him. He will in fact be learning German after this. This is really where you can the history of the culture because the German only took over this particular part of France for two years. He soon begins to regret all the things that he did to torture the teacher.
In the end, he realizes that his culture and life will never be the same. Language is the key to any society. The written language of a society will knowingly or unknowingly give away clues to the past, present and future.
I went to a library book sale a few weeks ago. You could put as much as possible in a bag for $1. So I got about 30 books for my nephew and niece. Kids’ books are awesome. However, there is one that he particularly likes. He carries this book around with him. Oddly though, it isn’t a book that you would expect for a boy to be reading. The book is Cinderella.
I actually got this book for my niece but he seems to like it. The book is the French version of the story. He likes for people to read it to him. At the end of the story, he’ll ask you to read it again. The great thing about this is that he is learning another language. He calls me “Cendrillon” now. And he’ll say sentences out of the book in French.
In the french story, some words aren’t exactly translated as the same words. For example, slipper doesn’t translate well to French. There are words for a sleeping slipper and a shoe. However, a glass slipper there is not. And similarly with English, there are language barriers. Some words in French contain meanings that cannot be translated in context.
I guess the moral of the story is that kids are amazingly perceptive. It’s a great idea to give them an opportunity to be exposed to a different culture and language.
So today the question is: Does real love exist as it does in novels? I would have to say no. And not because I’m a cynic about love and life but because it doesn’t exist that way.
Unless you’re looking at novels like Gone With The Wind, where Scarlett and Rhett battle each other the whole way, only to lose each other in the end. Not that all love ends that way, but I think the proof that this happens lies in the divorce rates around the world. For a short period of time in the novel, they have this great love affair. However as times change, circumstances and their love does.
So that is what I think most novels are missing. I think that novels like Pride & Prejudice and The Notebook only serve to set standards that cannot be achieved in real life.
One of my favorite books that I have probably read many times over is A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. It’s told from Francie Nolan’s point of view. To give a brief synopsis of the book:
The Nolan family is a family, living in Brooklyn. Like all the other families in their neighborhood, they are poor. Papa is an undiagnosed alcohol, who peddles away his time at the local bar. He was once a good singer. However, now, he sings as a waiter for events. Katie better known as Mama is a cleaning lady for the building that the family lives in. By cleaning the whole building, she manages to forego rent everything month. Then there are the two children, Francie and Neeley. Francie is a smart girl. She knows she’s smart even though she is poor. Everyone tells her she won’t succeed. In the end, she’s the one that gained the most. The story was set in Brooklyn during the early 1900s.
So now that you have a little more information, I think that you would really like it. Francie is this amazing child who has a will to learn. I suppose I like her because why anyone likes a certain character. She overcomes diversity. She becomes whom she wants to be without having to sacrifice who she is. I think that’s what all of us want in the end. To get where we are going, without having to give up part of ourselves along the way.
I also think that I like her so much because I can somewhat identify with her. I mean that is why books are written, so the reader can identify with the characters. I guess I feel like somehow I’ve fought my battles to get where I am today. And I’m not going to take less than what I perceive is the best for me. Being from a poor neighbor, Francie is thought of as dirty and worthless because she comes to school “unclean” and not clothed appropriately. In this particular era, there is a large gap between the successful and the down right dirt poor. And well if you aren’t in the successful half, you aren’t worth the time of day. Teachers tell Francie that she is stupid and that she won’t succeed. She is forced out of school when her father dies of alcoholism. She is forced to work so that she can provide for the family so that they won’t starve. But she, a poor girl from Brooklyn, makes it. She takes the college entrance exam without going to a day of high school. She passes them.
So in all this book is good. It makes you feel good at the end to see her succeed!