19 Minutes by Jodi Picoult Entry #2

So far, 19 Minutes by Jodi Picoult has been both a challenging and rewarding book. It talks about this flashback about Peter, the shooter, and his parents. The parents of Peter are wondering what they did wrong as parental figures or supervisors to cause their child to become so violent. The book is telling about the investigation with the police. the police is searching through all their property for evidence. One important point is that Peter's father, Lewis, is a hunter and owns several rifles. When Lewis checked back on those guns, he realized that some were missing. I think that Peter might have stolen some to use for the shooting. The rifles symbolize death, loss of friendship and distrust.

Favorite Quote:

One of my favorite quotes said in the book was "Well, these young men pull away from others. they tend to be loners. they talk about hurting themselves, or others. They can't function in school, or are subjected to discipline there. they lack a connection with someone- anyone- who might make them feel important". I think this quote is important because it shows what made Peter to do this crime.

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I made a connection with this book to the world and media. This story is very similar to Columbine. The book also mentioned a little about the story.

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So far, I like reading this book. Probably, one thing that I dislike is that it gives a lot of court information. At times, it tends to be a bit boring or too hard to understand.

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult Entry #1 (The Beginning: Pages 1-100)

After reading Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult, I realized that I have never read anything so interesting before. Nineteen Minutes tells the story of a school shooting at Sterling High School in New Hampshire. New Hampshire is a town where nothing really big happens because it is very quiet place. But one day, there was a shooting which changed the lives of everyone living there. Peter Houghton, a seventeen-year old shooter, was accused of doing the shooting. He had killed so many people that day. But, he decided not to kill Josie Cormier. Josie can not recall anything, that day. One tragic thing that happened to her is that her best friend, Matt, died. It is very sad to hear the stories of those who were at loss in Sterling High. What I enjoyed most about this book is how good it is about providing information. It is really suspenseful in giving the facts.

I really like this book so far because it is very interesting and that it is not a very common story that everyone will hear. So far, I really liked some of the writing structures like flashback. The book provided flashback of the story when Josie and Peter were friends and how their relationship changed. Also, it showed what Peter did in his early life and who influenced him before the shooting happened.

My Reading Process:
I have been reading this book towards the end of summer. I could say that this book was difficult for me to read and had difficulty with some sections of the book. I chose this book because last year, in one of my classes, a classmate recommended that this book is based on true, sad story. I have happened to read another one of Jodi Picoult books called My Sister's Keeper. It was a good fictional book.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes contemporary fiction and who likes suspense. This would be a good book for you!!!

Some links:

To buy Nineteen Minutes:
http://www.amazon.com/Nineteen-Minutes-Novel-Jodi-Picoult/dp/0743496728

An excerpt of Nineteen Minutes and a conversation with Jodi Picoult:
https://http//www.jodipicoult.com/nineteen-minutes.html

Other books by Jodi Picoult:
- My Sister's Keeper (which I have read before)
- The Pact

Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson

After reading Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson, it shows how people's character and behavior transforms/changes throughout their life because of their actions. This books, tells the story of a high school freshman boy named Tyler Miller, and how he faces problems with his family, his reputation, and himself. He went from doing a high school prank into losing himself. But, throughout the book, he had his best friend and his sister and others to guide and to protect him.

I really liked this book because it is very easy to read and to comprehend. Also, anyone who is in high school could relate to this book. It explains how sometimes caring too much about one's reputation causes problems, which is seen though the character of Tyler. Probably, one thing that bothered me would be the writing structure in this book. The book had no chapters, but only these numbers to tell what the characters did the next days. It would have been better, if there were some chapters. But besides that, I thought the book was at times a little too easy for me.

I thought the ending was okay, but I think it could have been better. First, of all it was way too short. But, it should of included more of Tyler spending some time with his family and for them to solve their problems.

My Reading Process:
I have been reading this book during the summer as one of my summer reading books. There were no sections that was a struggle for me, because everyone could follow up on this book. I decided to read this book, because some of my frends have recommended this book as a good "read" and the book's plot sounded good. I have read one other book by Laurie Halse Anderson called Speak. It is very similar to this book. Both books talk about the characters going through high school issues and overcoming their problems.

As said again, I believe anyone could really enjoy this story. It is a young adult fiction story and it is not a very hard book, so you could understand everything that is happening.

An excerpt from Twisted:

http://www.teenreads.com/reviews/0670061018-excerpt.asp

To buy Twisted:

https://www.amazon.com/Twisted-Laurie-Halse-Anderson/dp/0670061018

Other books by Laurie Halse Anderson:

- Speak (which I have read before)

- Catalyst