My Sister's Keeper

The second book that I am currently reading is My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult.  So far I'm really enjoying the book.  I have seen the movie a few times and I am interested to see how different it is from the book.  I've herd many different opinions of the book, some saying the movie is better and others saying the book is better.


My Sister's Keeper is about a girl named Anna Fitzgerald who's sister Kate has a serious case of Leukemia.    Anna isn't any ordinary child, she was born to help save Kate's life.  Ever since she was little every time Kate needed a surgery or donor Anna was their to help her out in whatever way she could, even though she didn't know what she was doing.


When Kate is thirteen she begins to realize that she is having her rights being taken away from her.  She was told that she would have to get a kidney transplant that would greatly affect both of the girls health.  This is when Anna petitions for medical emancipation.  I found it inspiring that a thirteen year old stood up for herself like this.  Most kids wouldn't have the courage to do this, especially when the surgery is for their sister.  She hired a lawyer, Campbell Alexander who helped her make the decisions that she did.


One thing Anna didn't think about before starting this lawsuit is that her mom used to be a lawyer.  Sara, Anna's mom represents her and her husband in the case.  This is as far as I have gotten into the book so far.  I can't wait to continue reading and see what happens in this case.  I'm hoping that Anna wins the case and her sister finally gets cured of her cancer.

Go Ask Alice

I am currently reading the book Go Ask Alice by Beatrice Sparks (the girl who actually wrote it is anonymous).  Im a little over half way into it so far and I'm really enjoying it, unlike a lot of books that I read.  This book is written in the form of diary entries.  Each entry has a date, some passages are only a few paragraphs and others a few pages.  I have read many other books in the past that were written in diary entry form.  I like reading that type of book the best because it is the style that I prefer most when writing.

The teenage girl in this book becomes addicted to drugs, and lives a very interesting life.  The diary entries begin with the girl moving to a new school and feeling like an outcast.  She meets a new friend Beth who she spends every day with until the summer when she goes away to summer camp.  For the summer the girl moves back to her hometown with her grandparents.  She runs into a girl Jill who invited her to a party.  At the party they all played a game where some of the drinks had LSD in them.  She had one of those drinks.  Her diary entry includes vivid detail of the intense trip she experienced.  This was interesting to read about because I've never quite herd and understood what the drug actually does to you.  Seeing how it is from the person who experienced it for herselfs' point of view was intriguing.  

From this experience on the girl starts experimenting with other serious drugs and becomes addicted to her grandparents sleeping pills.  As time goes on her friendship with Beth ends, and she starts to hangout with a new crowd of people.  She makes a new best friend Chris and they both begin to date college boys Ted and Richie.  They start selling drugs for their boyfriends to help them out until they find out that the boys were just using them for money all along.  They turn them into the police and then decide to run away to San Francisco.  This was my favorite part of the book because my plan is to move to San Francisco or somewhere in California after I am finished with college.  They start their own little store and she tells her struggles of how hard it was to earn her own money and live on their own.

During Christmas time the girls move back to their homes.  She turns into a new person free from drugs and other negative things.  I am not finished with the book just yet so this is as far as I've gotten.  I'm excited to finish this book and learn about the rest of her story.  My prediction is that she won't be able to stay away from the party scene, and she will get right back to where she was before.  I've only herd positive things from my friends who have read this book before so I expect it to just keep getting better and better.

My Reading History

When I was little my parents would always read books to me. Listening to a story before I went to bed each night was part of my nightly routine. James and the Giant Peach was one of my favorite books when I was young. That book that my mom read to me was a gift that was given to her when she was little. In the front of the book was a letter that my aunt had wrote to my mom, now in faded blue ink.  As I began to learn to read on my own, the very first books I would read were the Dr. Seuss series, like most kids my age.  The short and simple sentences quickly became easier and easier for me to read and understand.

As my ability to read grew stronger I began to read more challenging books.  Junie B. Jones was a popular book series for kids, particularly girls.  Every book fair at my school I would get more and more of these books because I loved them so much.  The series was about a girl Junie and each book told a different adventure she went through.  Time grew on, and I was on to thicker, longer books.  When it came to middle school this is when my true love for reading began.

Like every other girl at the time, I was hooked on Stephanie Meyer's Twilight Series.  My friend had lent me the first book and I continued to read the following three books.  I have read these books repeated times before seeing the movie in the theatre.  Another series I loved was The Chronicles of Narnia.  These books I could read over and over and never get bored of.  C.S Lewis' creativity has drawn me to her books, still to this day.

I have never been a fan of books that were assigned to read.  I love to read, but only when I am really interested in it.  In the past, reading has been a challenge for me because I just haven't had the drive to read long pages of words I had no interest in.  This year, I hope that this will change and that I will become a better reader and writer.