Project One

These past couple of weeks I have been reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s books A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of Four. Both books have very different cases but the thing that I notice the most is how important point of view is. Whether it be (as I previously mentioned) the book being written in the point of view of Watson; Or in both A Study in Scarlet and A Sign of Four. The book was in the point of view of the case, showing how they solved who the killer was, having at the end of each a story or reason behind the murdered from a different point of views than what they had. This poster shows how Sherlock Holmes sees things and how Watson and other people see things. The difference being Sherlock Holmes seeing things “with more color and not just things being black and white, then showing that Watson sees things only in black and white and seeing things with judgment and assumptions.

What is a book?

I believe a book is a bike. The reason it’s a bike is that like a bike a book transports you somewhere. Bikes all have different gears, you can go fast, peddling hard and actually accumulating a distance, or you can switch gears peddle like crazy and move not even a foot. For Books their gears are the genera they are written in. Because when reading, which ever genera it is depends on how far you will get into a story. For me personally, a fantasy mystery would be a high gear, I would read through it effortlessly enjoying it and finishing the book quiet rapidly. But if I read a history book, it would take me hours to read, and I would probably have worked hard to even finish it. Books are also like bikes because depending on the make of the bike depends on how many places you can go. If you have a bike that is old with a handle bar basket that’s meant for a simple quiet ride around town, but if you get a bike that’s new and is multi-terrine you could ride the bike all over the place hours at a time with our worrying about wearing them out. A book is the same way, unlike what some people believe that new kindles are ruining reading and we over time will run out of books are not true. Hard cover/ paperbacks give you one book and on book alone, they are like the old bike simple well used something to hold on to. Kindles, nooks or any other tablet devise, are just new flash bikes; they allow you to store many books at once and enjoys them all with one simple device. I don’t belie we will ever get rid of hardcover/paperbacks because they are like old bikes people still enjoy to hold on to them and have them for leaser they love the feel of a brisk ride down the street just like paperback/hardcover lovers love those books because they have something to hold onto or the way it feels in their hands or that like an old bike its soft on the eyes. New bikes will be bold and flashy like kindles, some may not like them because they can’t read them or they think the old books will be lost . But I believe like old bikes. Old books will never be forgotten and will still be used.

Review #2 Sign Of Four

This week I read Sherlock Homes The Sign of Four pages 4-36. Something I really appreciated the way Doyle describes Sherlock’s quick thinking. I Knew from watching the movies that he was very quick witted, thinking several steps above his opponents, seconds before they make a move. When I started the book I was very curious about how Doyle would show this due to the fact that the books are all written from Watson’s perspective and in a movie all you do is add a narrative voice, allowing the audience to understand his thoughts. However this scene really came to show Doyle’s how well he writes due to the fact that in order to get Sherlock better understood and at times read his thoughts, he must think of creative circumstances to put him in. I feel that Sherlock’s vast knowledge was shown well in when they were blindfolded in a cab “I lost my bearings and knew nothing save that we seemed to be going a very long way. Sherlock Holmes was never at fault, however, and he muttered the names as the cab rattled through squares and in and out by tortuous by-streets. “Rochester row,” said he. Now Vincent square. Now we come out on the Vauxhall Bridge Road. We are making for the Surrey side apparently. Yes, I thought so.” (Doyle. 23) I find this a brilliant technique to show Sherlock’s thoughts by putting them in a situation where he is A. needed to share them out loud ( for rarely in the books he shares his “secrets”) and B. is in a situation where his expertise are at dire need. Now the reason I say this is if it were any other case, he wouldn’t really need to show his knowledge or immediately use it he would probably solve the case then and there, and then actually make an arrest based on others actions that lead to conform his original suspicion. In this scene however Doyle beautifully demonstrates Sherlock’s skills through changing the situation and putting him, where he needs to know where they are in the vast city of London, just by listing to his surroundings and then his knowledge is conveyed to us by rattling off the streets in a matter of seconds.

Here is an example of a scene that shows his quick wittiness, through his thoughts, something Doyle is unable to do writing as Watson, and thus must devise more imaginative ways to show Sherlock ability.

Redicide

I believe that we need to stop teaching literary fiction exclusively. However, it’s not because I hate reading and what teachers are giving us to read are pointless and out dated. I feel that teachers are focused only on their one subject alone and that if they taught you the true meaning in their class and what is required for them to teach they did a great job. But the problem is as students we have no idea about the outside world or how to really relate that to the outside world. I feel in this day and age where technology is advancing and we are begin to become more immersed in other countries and worldly things we need to get our heads out of the books, and focus on articles. Now that does not mean teachers should just stop everything they are doing and make us read news articles. No it just means we can stick to the books we are reading but to help show us the underlying universal themes and see how it is actually applied to real life; they show us news articles, recent books and more genres to broaden our connection of the lesson and truly understand why we are learning what we are learning.

Review 1 A Study in Scarlet

For my best seller’s project I will be reading the Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Author Conan Doyle, the first book I am reading will be A Study in Scarlet.

 When I first opened up the book and began to read I found it very interesting on what was happening. Due to society especially the film industry  ( making the new Sherlock Holmes films )I always think of the great Sherlock Holmes . . . and Watson but on the contrary in the books there is about an equal appearance/ effort put in to both Sherlock Holmes and Watson. However what I found the most interesting about the characters was that the book was not in the point of view of Sherlock Holmes himself, but in the point of view a Watson. This was deeply puzzling to me but then I found that the reason Doyle wrote it in Watsons point of view was to better appreciate the multifaceted personality of Sherlock Holmes; For example when Watson first living with Holmes he makes note of his living habits “Holmes was certainly not a difficult man to live with. He was quiet in his ways, and in his habits was regular. It was rare for him to be up after ten at night, and he had invariably breakfasted and gone out before I rose in the morning. Sometimes he spent his day at the chemical laboratory, sometimes in the dissecting rooms, and occasionally in long walks, which appeared to take him into the lowliest portions of the city.” ( Doyle  12) being form Watson’s point of view this shows Sherlock Holmes to be a quiet average and bit odd fellow. However once you really get into the book you begin to discover how exceptionally bright he is and that almost all of his actions are on purpose. If Doyle A. wrote the book form Sherlock’s point of view then you would not have much of a mystery to read, and not appreciate his brilliance. B. if he were to write it any other view then you wouldn’t appreciate the humanistic thoughts and questions that Watson brings up when on a case with Holmes and/ or is just merely observing him. By reading it from his point of view you get to better envision the greatness of Sherlock Holmes.

A Readers Reflection

~ A Best Sellers or Literature ?~

 I believe there is and there is not a difference between best sellers and literature. Literature at one time or another could have been a best seller. Literature is also very popular, most literature is known by many people, as many schools use literary works, in their teachings. Also when people discuss books or when we think of books, the first ones we normally think of are literary works, not best seller. However in regards to best sellers, I find that they are very popular and people can talk about them frequently, but that does not make them good literature. The best sellers would have to be well written holding a good story and giving us a new perspective on something in order to be considered literary. For example the Book Fifty Shades of Grey is at the moment a best seller however in my opinion I do not see it as literature.It is about the intimate relationship between a woman in her early twenties and a business executive in his twenties; the topics of this books is just something people should not really read and to be honest it doesn’t portray a message. Fifty shades and best sellers are just fads. A best seller must be on the list for years at the time being well written holding a good story line to be considered literature.

Why I Read.

Why do I read? Well there are many reasons why, but if I narrowed them all down to one specific reason it would be to escape. Now I don’t try to escape my life because it’s real horrible or because it’s extremely fun. No. My life is pretty simple, I read to go on adventures and try something new.  I escape because things like the life of a girl in a utopian society or the life of a teen spy are things that I do not encounter on my day to day bases, and I want to experience them. I read books like Harry Potter, to try out the adventure of being “the chosen one”. Being a kid who sure is sent to a boarding school, but the school is a enormous castle where he and his friends live together and get to go on wild adventures. In the book of the Secret Society I get to be a teen wrapped up in the lushes of Manhattan getting anything I want as long as I can keep a secret.  The danger and excitement of that story is what drove me to read it not wanting to leave the adventure. Both of those stories are things that I would never have the chance to experience in my life. Thanks to books I am no longer a girl living her life in the Mason bubble, but anyone who I want to be.