Post #2

What is a book?

     A book is another dimension. The portal, or the way into that other dimension, is by opening the cover. The idea has already been implanted into the book, the setting has already been set, the character's personality already determined- but the reader has the decision of the coloring or size of the setting, and the way the character moves as they speak with their pre-determined personality. The book itself can even have personality- the color, and size of the text of the cover, and the font of the title. On a black and white or gray screen- that personality of the book becomes obselete. No longer is there a need for color and fun font and font sizes because it has all been sized down to the absolute minimum- a screen with words.

     A book is like baking a cake. You see what it looks like in the cook book, that part is the idea of the book. There are some things in a cake and book that are predetermined. For a book, its the style of introduction, the plot, and the twist ending. For the cake, its the temperature you set the oven to, and the ingrediants that go into the batter. Once the batter is put into the pan, and the words are printed onto the pages of the book, it is put into the oven and fed to the mind of the reader. The oven is your mind- cultivating the cake until it is done all the way till the end, watching the cake rise like reading the rising actions to get to the climax of the story, and filling the cake with air- your own personal touch to the story by picturing the characters not as others think, but as the reader wants. Once the cake has reached the end, the timer of the oven goes off, meaning that it is time for the mind to move onto the next book and next step of finally finishing off the book. The decorations on the cake is the part of reflection of the characters that most every reader does once a book is finished. The icing on the cake and is the different emotions felt not only by the character, but also by the reader. When the direction of the icing changes- from going around the cake to moving up and down with from following the motion of the batter knife, the batter knife represents the emotion of the character, and the icing is the emotion of reader. When the emotion of the character changes, so does the emotion of the reader. The sprinkles shaken onto the top of the cake represent the tears that were shed when one of the characters had passed away in the book, or when they came to a life altering decision that took an emotional toll on their mental state of mind.
Through a black and white text, lack of smell to the pages, and lack of an actual feeling to the cover of a book- all of that meaning, all of that cake, becomes meaningless.

Post #1: Why I Read

The reason why I read is so that I can expand the way I think. Books teach us that there's different ways of thinking through different genres and styles of writing. Some authors, like Margaret Peterson Haddix in Double Identity, write mysteries by only allowing the reader to know what the main character knew. In The Hunger Games Series, there were twist ending and suspense. In The Giver, there was an inability to understand why society functioned the way it did. By reading different genres of books, the reader is able to think in different ways; like a detective in a mystery book.
Not only can books teach the readers to think outside of the box, but also, books are a source of pleasure. Books feed the imagination. Authors create situations that come alive with creatures, characters’ personalities, and the setting. The scene comes alive through the author’s diction and seems real to the reader. It becomes like a movie in your mind; an escape from reality.
And that’s what makes a book so great, and why it is so important to read.