A reflection on our first semester literature

The Catcher in the Rye: I really enjoyed this book. This was my favorite book we read first semester. It had a lot of emotion in it and it was very easy to relate to for a book written so long ago. Holden experienced a lot of things in 36 hours that made it interesting. He had many different emotions such as anger at “phonies”, sadness at his brother’s death, happiness with his sister, fear with Maurice, annoyance with Sally, and love with Jane. He was also extremely random and I am random sometimes too and it was fun reading about all the things he did. It also had important messages to take out of it, such as children will experience hardships and it helps them grow into an adult. Another important theme was to find out what you want to do earlier by trying in school so you do not waste your life.

First They Killed my Father: This was my second favorite book we read. I like how it is a true story and it is really sad. It made me think of how lucky we are to live in the US and how much we actually have. I cannot believe how much mental strength she has to survive what she did. Sometimes it felt like I could not put the book down because it had such a good story about a serious real topic.

Inherit the Wind: I did not like this book as much as others. I never felt like I wanted to keep reading. Some parts could get very dry and boring. I do not believe in evolution so I could not get too interested in it and I did not agree with a lot of stuff said in the book.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream: I thought this was a fun fictional play to read. It had a funny story in the forest about the lovers all loving someone different. That caused mass chaos and confusion which made it hard to put down because I just wanted to know what happened next. I agree with Missy when she says that when I hear Shakespeare I think about a book that is boring and difficult to understand. This was the exact opposite of that. I also loved listening to the book when it was read from the CD because it really helped my comprehension.

My Antonia: Although I think this is a boring depressing book I believe there are good themes to take away from this book. I did not like it that much. Jim’s life was pretty boring for the most part because he just went through life not really caring about his future. He would focus on the present at the time and end up worse and worse until he is in a loveless marriage reminiscing about his times with Antonia. It made me think about how we have to make the most of our lives and live it to the fullest.