The Jane Austen Book Club

Recently in my Readers Choice class, we watched The Jane Austen Book Club. I wasn't really a fan of the movie, but I didn't hate it either.  It did a good job showing how a book can change a couples lives, from good to bad.  It also did a good job how they find unexpected wisdom and guidance from reading the books.  It did not like how I knew nothing about the books they were talking about, and I would of like it if they would of explained it more.  I would recommend it to a person that is part of a book club or a person that reads a lot. This is because they should have connections they could make to similar experiences.

I feel as though when life imitates art is something we don't thing or hear about a lot.  I feel sometimes when reading a book I come across a something I would like to do in the future, and get motivation from reading about it to make it happen.  I felt this when reading The death of Ayrton Senna.  This is because I have always had a passion for cars, and racing.  Reading about Senna's career I felt motivated to get into racing cars, or go-Karts, where he started, in the future.

Stepping Out of My Comfort Zone

Daniel James Brown is a author I haven't heard about until I read one of his books, Boys in the Boat.  To start off I am yet to read a story focus sports, they just haven't appealed to me.  Having friends that go to another school and compete in there rowing programs, I thought it might go well, knowing people that know the sport.

I was very surprised on how good the book was.  I really liked it, the book told the story of nine Americans starting there freshman rowing season to there gold in the 1936 Berlin Olympic games.  I like the journey it told of the team and how hard they worked up there way to the top of there game. I really enjoyed reading this book, it had some good cliff hangers, on how they were going to do in a race or what was next for the team.  

If not for the assignment,  I would not have got a love for the genre.  I am glad I had to force my self in the beginning to start reading it, now that I am finished with the book.

Author Visit

Its not every day you get to meet the author of a book you read, a few weeks ago I got that opportunity.  In my English, class we read Orphan Train, Telling  telling the story of a orphan Train rider.  The Author Christina Baker Kline, then came to our school to give a talk about the book.  The Kline talked to us about the amount of time she spent doing research on the book. She she attended Orphan Train reunions, and interviewed the last of the Orphan Train riders.  The book ended up having some connections I didn't ever realize that would be in the book.  These mostly came from Jane Eyre and The Wizard of Oz.


It was very interesting for me to be able to hear an author talk about her book. This is because she talked about the work she did prior to writing the book, and how she did her homework to make sure the end product is very good.  Also, it was great to have the opportunity to communicate with an author, and relate to it.  You were also able to ask them questions that can not be answered  through reading the book.


Her presentation had some influence over my interpretation of the book. I felt with the knowledge I gained through her presentation I was able to relate to the book, and figure out why some things happened the way the happened.  I thought it was very interesting how some passengers on the trains thought that they were the only train ever going to the mid west with orphans, and never really talked about cause of embarrassment.  This changed how I felt about a few point in the book.    

Overall, I enjoyed listening to the author about her presentation on the book, Orphan Train.