Reading Like a Writer #3: The Kiterunner

1. Notice a Passage: This passage comes from The Kiterunner. I just started reading it and already I'm hooked!

2. Passage: "It was an odd thing to see the stone-faced Ali happy, or sad, because only his slanted brown eyes glinted with a smile or welled with sorrow. People say that eyes are windows to the soul. Never was that more true than with Ali, who could only reveal himself through his eyes" (8).

3. Name: The author is using a cliche' to explain how this character, Ali, expresses his emotion.

4. Evaluate: Although I do like this description, I think that using a cliche' isn't always a very effective way to describe things. To really determine this effect works or not I will have to read further into the story to better understand Ali's character. But as of now, this cliche' doesn't work for me. It makes Ali's character seem somewhat trite, rather than the deep character that I believe the author intends him to be. I suppose I will see as I read. Maybe I'll change my mind.

5. Everyone raved about the girls hair. It was golden like honey and as soft as silk. Everywhere she went people couldn't stop stroking her head.

6. Using it: Well in this case, I want to avoid using cliche's when describing important, deep characters. I think that it makes the characters seem more superficial.

Don't Look!

Now you'll read this for sure, right? Because if you really don't want someone to look, you never say "Don't Look!" This was a fact of life that was learned in the 7th grade locker room. Anytime anyone said those magic words, everyone's heads whipped around to see what someone didn't want them to see.

Today I was reminded of the "don't look" concept. Except for me, today was one of those days that I just wish I hadn't looked in the mirror. Then I would be oblivious to the fact that I really do look terrible. Obviously not looking wouldn't change the fact that I still look exhausted and messy, but at least I wouldn't know quite how exhausted and messy I look. Oh Naivety! What a glorious thing. But I looked and now am no longer naive to the utter disarray of my appearance.

So Tired, So Funny; So Tired, So Dead

Recently it has come to my attention that hilarity comes after 1:00 AM. That is the deadline. After that minute hand clicks past that invisible barrier of time and space and the hilarity begins. It's inevitable.

Two hours of sleep pass....

The new day begins. The day is long. And now it is not so funny. I am dead. Dead tired. Was the hilarity worth it? Yes.

Confused...

Politics. Sometimes politics are confusing. Right now I am trying to figure out what my views really are. The problem: I don't always have enough knowleged to have an educated opinion. With this whole financial crisis. I don't know enough about economics to know the long-term effects of bailing out or letting be. Which is better? I don't know. Sometimes I feel like we have to know EVERYTHING in order to know anything. Confusing.

Slightly Frustrated

Want to yell and scream, but that won't do no good
Want to cry and whine, but know I never should

What else can there be to ease the tension out of me?
What else can be done to make this feeling come undone?

Run.

Run, Run, Run.

Run away, and there I'll stay.
Hiding out from all this doubt.
Maybe I'll come back again,
but right now, I don't know when.

How I Read

The other day when we read Siddhartha Chapter 4 one passage really struck me: "When anyone reads anything which he wishes to study, he does not despise the letters and punctuation marks, and call them illusion, chance and worthless shells, but he reads them, he studies them and loves them, letter by letter" (32). When I read this passage it hit me. This passage perfectly describes how I read. I am not a fast reader. I never have been and I probably never will be. I know lots of strategies to speed up my reading, but I don't like using them. When I read I like to feel each word, clause, sentence. I like each word to fill my mouth, to fully feel each aspect of the punctuation. That's what makes reading enjoyable. So, I suppose when I'm reading a text book I can use all those speed-up strategies where you read phrases and use your finger as a pacer, but not when I read prose. Nope. Because in prose each individual word deserves attention.

Is Awesome

Yesterday, when I looked at our class blog, I noticed that it read: "Scribbles & Specks Rocks." This was becasue the link shows the title of the blog: Scribbles and Specks, and also the title of the post: which happened to be "Rocks." I kind of liked how the two phrases fit together. So today I decided to title this post "Is Awesome." So that on my other sites the new update will say: "Scribbles & Specks Is Awesome." Words can be so much fun, no?