Reading Ladder 2018

Reading Ladder 2018

•In order of what had been read first

★★★★★  5/5 rating                                                                                                                                                           ★★★★     4/5 rating                                                                                                                                                           ★★★        3/5 rating                                                                                                                                                           ★★           2/5 rating                                                                                                                                                            ★              1/5 rating

February

1. Night :  Elie Wiesel(120 pages)  ★★★★★
2. The Divide : Nicholas Evans(339 pages)  ★★★
3. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café : Fannie Flagg(93 pages/402 pages)                             Total Pages Read: 552 pages                                                                                                                                 Pages/per week: 138 pages                                                                                                                                     Pages/ per day: 20 pages

 

February Reading Ladder: This month I read roughly 20 pages per day, which to me is an average amount, but going forward I would like to slowly increase the number of pages I read. In grade 8, the only books I read were candy books like “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”. As grade 9 approached, I never read many books outside of school other than my required novels. 552 pages in a month for me is amazing because not only have I read grade level books but I tried to incorporate a little challenge as well.

So far my favourite book has been Night because I love the way Elie Wiesel showed his experience with The Holocaust by making a book which can be read by many age levels. He didn’t confuse the reader with unnecessary wording and his paragraph structure was short and concise so that this book could have a large impact on us.

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café has been a unique book which captures the reader’s attention right away. So far, from my understanding, there are two ladies, Mrs. Threadgoode and Evelyn, who are telling each other past accounts of their life. Evelyn, so far, has developed a fear of aging as she is afraid of death but Mrs. Threadgoode shares her past life openly with this new stranger which is changing the way Evelyn looks at life.

The Divide had been an okay book with the story of Abbie cooper being accused of terrorism as she runs off with her new boyfriend Rolfe. Her parents divorced before this incident and the family seemed to tear apart right after they visited The Divide in Montana. These three books are great reads so I would definitely recommend this to anyone reading my blog!!!

In March I am hoping to read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and Wit by Margaret Edson. I chose these two books as I wanted to read more challenging books since I have only been reading just right or candy ones.

March

1. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café: Fannie Flagg(309 pages) ★★★
2. Frankenstein: Mary Shelley( 33 pages/ 212 pages)
3. To Kill a Mockingbird: Harper Lee(140 pages/ 281 pages)                                                                            Total Pages Read: 482 pages                                                                                                                       Pages/per week: 120.5 pages                                                                                                                               Pages/ per day: 17.2 pages

March Reading Ladder: This month I ready roughly 17 pages per day which was a decrease from last month’s reading rate. As I mentioned in last months reflection, this month my goal was to incorporate some more challenging books, which I managed to do. Unfortunately, my goal of also reading Wit was not possible because I underestimated the difficulty of Frankenstein and this month has been a little busy with numerous tests and assignments before and after my Spring Break. Since I chose a harder level book the outcome was not as many pages read due to the difficulty I had while reading. 482 pages is a little low for me, however, next month I am hoping to get back to my 20 pages per day reading rate.

This month I have a clear winner for my favourite book, which is Frankenstein, because Mary Shelley created a character, Victor Frankenstein, whom I can easily relate too. His thoughts on philosophy and ancient thinkers who differ from those of the modern world gave me some amazing insight.  The vocabulary is challenging however this just imbues me with more passion to continue reading this beautiful tale.

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café was a nice easy read for me before I embarked on my journey to read Frankenstein. After retelling past accounts of Mrs. Threadgoode’s life she, unfortunately, passes away and leaves behind only her memories, some recipes, and a few images for Evelyn to keep. This book, for me, was not as outstanding as I heard it to be, which is the reason I read it in the first place, but overall it was pretty good.

To Kill a Mockingbird has been a great book thus far with its use of first person narration from a child’s eye being retold from an older perspective. It is nice to see how the setting of this classic helps to modify the mood and how the pace of the story is not so quick. Learning more in depth of past prejudices and the norm of children in that period of time has been a great journey for me and I can’t wait to finish it. I would definitely recommend these three books for anyone who may be reading this!

In April, I am hoping to finish Frankenstein along with To Kill a Mockingbird. If after reading these books I still have some time, then I will read either Little Women by Louisa May Alcott or The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Both are great books, as I have heard, and I will read whichever one seems right in that moment.

April

1. To Kill a Mockingbird: Harper Lee(281 pages/281 pages) ★★★★
2. Frankenstein: Mary Shelley(212 pages/ 212 pages) ★★★★★
3. The Great Gatsby: F. Scott Fitzgerald(77 pages/172 pages)
4. The Prophet: Kahlil Gibran(107 pages/107 pages) ★★★★
5. The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes: Langston Hughes(160 pages/717 pages)

Total Pages Read: 664 pages                                                                                                                                       Pages/per week: 163.5 pages                                                                                                                                            Pages/ per day: 24 pages

April Reading Ladder: This month I read 24 pages per day which was an increase from my previous reading rate. I continued on my endeavor to read challenging books and feel satisfied with the quality; however, I am disappointed with my reading rate. 24 pages is not a lot, and I am hoping that next month it will increase to a higher number of pages per day. In April, I, unfortunately, did waste the first week of the month, which was spring break,  because I read close to nothing during that time. This is reflective of my reading rate, but I do feel accomplished knowing that I completed my goals of finishing Frankenstein and To Kill a Mockingbird with time to spare, so I later began reading The Great Gatsby. I have been, currently, reading two books at a time, which has helped me increase the number of pages read, but I feel that I can gradually increase this number to three books simultaneously. 664 pages is a good improvement, and this made me realize that I can read challenging books and still get a decent reading rate.

This month I have decided to choose a different book other than Frankenstein as my favorite because I chose it last month already. In April, my favorite book  was The Prophet because it gave an amazing insight into the philosophy of life. He pondered the aspects of human life such as passion, love, or children and looked at the optimistic side while touching fragments of a more pessimistic view. It was an inspirational book, which I read a few days ago because it was recommended to me by Mrs. Hunnisett, and seemed to give me a new take on life. It gave me a new lens to see the world out of, and I am glad that I read it. I definitely would recommend this book to anyone reading my blog!

The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes has been a great book thus far, and I can’t wait to keep reading it. His life consisted of many criticisms on his works because of the time period he wrote his poetry in. Langston Hughes experienced the prejudice against those with dark skin during and after The Great Depression. This had been the primary influence on his writing and he began to criticize Jim Crow laws and the unfair racial segregation of the two races.

The Great Gatsby has been an amazing book as well and shows the oddness of a man named Gatsby. Up till where I have read, Gatsby has many luxuries and wealth yet acts quite humble with all that he has. There are many secrets hidden in Gatsby, which the first person narrator does not realize until he is explicitly told. Not to ruin the book, but Gatsby was seen with another woman and the narrator was quite shocked and confused at this sight.

In May, I am hoping to finish The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes and The Great Gatsby. After finishing these two books, I would like to read The Picture of Dorian Gray and begin reading King Lear. I have heard that these books are amazing, so I will take the chance to read both of them if time permits me to do so.

May/June

1. The Great Gatsby: F. Scott Fitzgerald(172 pages/172 pages)★★★★
2. The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes: Langston Hughes(717 pages/717 pages)★★★
3. The Picture of Dorian Gray: Oscar Wilde(340 pages/340 pages)★★★★★
4. The Sea Devil: Arthur Gordon(10 pages/10 pages)★★★
5. The Persian Carpet: Hanan Shaykh(6 pages/6 pages)★★★★★
6. A Little Beaded Bag: Morley Callaghan(5 pages/5 pages)★★★★★
7. The Merchant of Venice: William Shakespeare(229 pages/229 pages)★★★★
8. Einstein’s Dreams: Alan Lightman(140 pages/ 140 pages)★★★★★
9. Hamlet: William Shakespeare(140 pages/140 pages)★★★★★
10. Impulse: Ellen Hopkins(350 pages/666 pages)
11. The Stone Angel: Margaret Laurence(30 pages/316 pages)

Total Pages Read:1904 pages                                                                                                                                       Pages/per week: 238 pages                                                                                                                                         Pages/ per day: 38.85 pages

   

May/June Reading Ladder: In these two months I was able to read approximately 39 pages per day which was a significant increase from last month’s reading rate. I feel much better with my reading rate now as opposed to the beginning of the year which was rooted at around 20 pages per day. Even though the quantity of pages went up, I still didn’t sacrifice the quality as I had many challenging books that I tried to include to stick to my previous goal. Unfortunately, I couldn’t read King Lear because I was introduced to other books. In May, I had lots of time to actually read many books which is where the majority have come from. When I calculated it only for that month my reading rate was 48 pages per day which was unimaginable for me. During this last reading session, I read occasionally three books at a time to improve my efficiency which worked out until I began reading Hamlet. This novel took me some more time to finish, but I am glad that I took the time to go through it. 1904 pages is amazing for me, and I hope to maintain or even possibly improve my reading rate for next year.

My favourite book was challenging to select in these two months as they were all truly a great experience. However, as I must choose one, I think Hamlet would be a definite winner. This book was quite challenging for me considering that I have only read The Merchant of Venice and looked through the script for Julius Caesar and Romeo and Juliet. Still, after many failures it began to piece together, and I feel that now I have a better grip on Shakespearean language. To summarize Hamlet, it was a book in which Prince Hamlet’s father was killed by (*Spoiler Ahead) Hamlet’s Uncle Claudius. He did this solely so that he could gain control of the kingdom and marry Queen Gertrude. This is such an amazing book that I will not reveal more of in case any of you would like to read it.

Another great book within these two months was Einstein’s Dreams by Alan Lightman. It was a completely different experience, and I am glad that I took the time to read it. The book wasn’t necessarily cohesive with a set plot line, but it did run under the same concept- time. It gave such great insights into theories about time including both mechanical and body time. Mechanical time is fixed and predetermined whereas body time is free to change. Another cool theory was that if fate is true and that all the actions of one’s life are already predetermined, then no one can be morally correct. This would be true because in order to be morally correct one must be given the freedom of choice which is not given in a fixed life. I would definitely recommend this book!

My last book is The Picture of Dorian Gray which was great, and I loved the portrayal of Lord Henry and Dorian. Not only was the plot unique and exciting, there were many aphorisms and insightful sayings that I took away from this book and tried to put in my writing. The idea of it was that Dorian Gray wished for the picture painted of him by Basil Hallward to take the burden of again away from him. Dorian wanted to remain young so that he would never lose his youth and become a man that looks “hideous”.

For the summer, I am planning to finish reading The Stone Angel and, hopefully but most likely not, Impulse. Then, I will read A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Wars. If I finish these books and time permits me to do so, then I might also read The Nightingale either before the start of school or during it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Featured Image:  https://gph.is/14hgfry

All cover images came from Amazon