Greenwood Lab School

The Have and the Have Nots

Ernest Hemingway

pgs. 1-23

I’ve picked up another Ernest Hemingway book this week. They each seem to get more philosophical than the first no matter which order you read them in. But I can always count on getting that relaxed feeling when I sit down to read these books everytime. Basically just the beginning of the story is about a sailor man’s lifestyle, which someday I hope to live up to whenever I retire. The way Hemingway writes is somewhat difficult for some of us to comprehend. Some people that are more tense and stressed may have trouble reading these books. What I read was about how the man wakes up every morning in his little island shack on the coast, goes down to the tiki bar and the marina buys some drinks, and goes out all day to spend his life on the ocean with his friends or most of the time, alone. So far within the first couple pages, it seem’s as if Hemingway want’s to get you into this state of mind about the characters attitude and personality before he jumps into a plot or dilema.

The way Hemingway writes also reminds me of some of the music I listen to. This lifestyle seems to be a source of spirituality. To be able to live life to he fullest and do what YOU want every day, is very very healthy. Taking in positive media, like music the way I like to do is another form of this. The one island I think that these stories take place on everytime I read from him is St. John or U.S. Virgin Islands, Tortolla. Fro some reason that’s just what’s set in my mind. Some things I hope to see continue in the story are some positive quotes or messages, that I can focus the attention toward my life or reflect my attitude, a normal lifestyle that leads up to some kind of a plot and mainly I want to see some more detail about life on the coast and oceanography would be very interesting in my opinion to read more about. Telling from the title I hope to learn about possibly, those less fortuante thean I, that are still able to love life and live it everyday the way they enjoy to, and never get caught up in the, “next big thing,” or Popular… is a good word. So hopefully next week I can get even MORE out of this book!

The Old Man and the Sea

pgs. 25-45

Ernest Hemingway

This week as I was sick I continued reading the very intriguing book, “The Old Man and the Sea.” As I’m sure you know if you read my last reading letter, Ernest Hemingway is a very good writer and progressing through the book, I find each page is better than the last. The following 20 pages I read this week, were similar to the first 25. But I think what I read this week focuses on how alone the Old Man is, but I think that that’s the way that he wants to live his life, I think he enjoy’s his life this way because there’s nobody to contribute to the stress of everyday life. Something else that really stood out to me was that, this man, works for what he needs and wants. Like whenever he went out to sea to CATCH HIS DINNER! He caught a marlin and a fish called Albacore. So that’s basically a synopsis/reflection of what was read this week.

This book is very easy to reflect about mainly because it’s got a lot of meaning and heart to it. I really like the old man’s attitude in this book because it’s kind of related to mine. He’s being himself, having fun with life, doing what he wants to do to make a living, but specifically not caring what anybody else thinks of him. There’s a quote that I heard the other day that makes me think of this book and a couple other occurances in my life and it goes like this, “There are Hurricane, Earthquakes, and Tornadoes, and lots of really bad things happen to good people everyday….and sometimes….there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.” This quote reminds me of the story because the old man is a very wise human being. He’s spiritual, and intriguing, fascinating, and smart. This just simply reminds me of something that he would say. Other than that the story was very enlightening and I gess I want to leave you by saying that this book is a great one. If you’re that kind of down to Earth person who likes the coast and the ocean, and tropics, and FISH! Then this book is totally for you…

Shark Life

Peter Benchley

0/193

All that I have read is the back cover of the book. I was lokking through the books at my house and this one intrigued me the most. I recognized the author, Peter Benchley, as the famous author of the book Jaws.

From reading the summary on the back of the book, the setting is usually on a boat on the ocean or on a coast somewhere. The only character that the back of the book mentions is Peter Benchley, the author.

Mostly the book is about real life stories that involve the author or somebody that the author knows. The story that was an example on the back cover was about a great white shark that was attempting to bite through the line that connected the shark cage to the boat when Peter Benchley was in the cage. Just sitting and thinking about something like that scares me. In the book Benchley visits places such as the Indian Ocean, The coast of South Africa (which is on of the most dangerous bodies of water on earth). He also goes to places around the United States such as the Bahamas and the Gulf of Mexico.

This book sounded interesting to me, because I always want to read something that keeps me interested. Dangerous stunts like these will keep me focused on the book. I have also read books similar to this one and thought that it was really good, so I decided to give this one a try.