Tri 2 faves and Tri 3 plans

I am about 3 quarters of the way through my current book, Out of the Easy so I will definitely finish it soon. Right now Jo is in a good place with her recommendation letter for a good college in hand that she blackmailed a businessman to write and is sending it off soon. She desperately wants to get out of the french quarter she lives in and her past. She wants a good education to start a fresh new life. While she is looking at a good full education she is having problems with the mentally unstable man who had taken her in many years ago. He recently cut himself, without knowing, with scissors she left out so she feels very guilty. I have really enjoyed this book and want to finish it soon.

This Tri I want to branch out in my genres. I have really stuck to depressing historical fiction for about two years now and want to try something new. I will probably read Steven Colbert's, I am America (And so can You!) I want to read something that interests me and I really like political humor so I'm going to give it a try.

Reflection

Blog Reflection

          In general I have really enjoyed blogging about my reading over the course of this trimester. It helped me keep track of all of the different events and conflicts in the book I have been reading. I am disappointed that I didn't even get through one full book this trimester but I have read more carefully and feel like I have a higher understanding of the book.  One of my bigger strengths through blogging was my ability to summarize the key events in my blog from my book. I also liked to see what other people were posting. It gave me ideas for future books I might like. It also helped to look at their blogs to get ideas for new posts

          My ability to closely analyze texts has improved very much over the course of the trimester. At the beginning had had brief summaries about what was happening but now I go into more detail of the events surrounding what's happening. My first post of this book was a summary and I really made just a few generalizations and just basically said what happened with no background info. it sounded like this," She has an interesting and tough life and gets no help from her mother". I am pretty sure that a lot of girls have tough relationships with their parents so this doesn't really tell the reader anything about the book. One of my later summary posts was much more detailed and I focused in on one or two big scenes instead of making a bunch of very general statements. It sounded like, "She started writing the letter with Patrick's dad Charlie who was very mentally unstable. They couldn't tell anybody about his condition because they didn't want him to get hauled off to an asylum." This is much more detailed and gives the reader more knowledge about the particular situation that the main character is in.

          Overall I have enjoyed blogging and wish I had started it sooner because it really does help me keep track of events in the book. I do think the quality of my posts increased throughout the trimester going from little, general statements, to more detailed sentences that tells the reader much more about the book.            

Character Connections

For my final blog of the trimester I thought I would go back and connect Jo to a different item since I have progressed in the book. Jo is like a car that you have had for a really long time. At first stuff is working and everything is good. but then something breaks and you have to get it fixed. Then a year later some new problem arises that you have to fix. Then there is a problem that arises that you kind of put off fixing like a recall on the car. All of these little problems are like Jo's conflicts in the book. She finds many problems in her life that she either gets resolved or puts them of like her letter from Mr. Lockwell. She put off the issue of Forrest Hearne's watch.   

Out of the Easy- Busy Night

I just finished a part in my book where a lot happened. I don't think it was the climax but a lot of Jo's problems either grew or shrunk in this section. It started with her talking to Mr. Lockwell who she was trying to get a recommendation letter out of. When she went in the only thing he wanted was to see her in high heels which she didn't where because she knew he didn't write the letter. He pretty much just flirted with her which she found disgusting because he is probably 25 years older and then  he offered her a job. She declined and took some of his stationary to write the letter herself. She started writing the letter with Patrick's dad Charlie who was very mentally unstable. They couldn't tell anybody about his condition because they didn't want him to get hauled off to an asylum. She put him in front of the typewriter hoping for a response from him. He only typed the letter "B" but that was a huge improvement. She decided to give him his medicine and see how it played out. She walked out for a moment and went she returned he was covered in blood and scissors were in his hands. He had a huge gash on his forehead and gashes on his arms. She panicked and held rags up to his head to stop the bleeding.
Patrick came in a moment latter and was freaking out. Willies sent a military doctor with Cokie. The doctor was drunk but he was able to sew up Charlie's wounds. Patrick was very mad at Jo for not giving Charlie his medicine and Jo felt terrible. Jo then went with Cokie to Willie's where she found Mr. Lockwell  who was have car problems. Jo promised to get a mechanic if he signed the letter he wrote. He agreed and she brought Jesse and he fixed it. So Jo is one step closer to going to a good college but is having more troubles with Charlie.
 

Out of the Easy- Conflicts

There are many conflicts in Out of the East both internal and external. At this time in the French quarter Jo is getting hit by a storm of problems. First of all she is trying to go to a good college but doesn't have the money, she is working two jobs everyday, her mother ran off with an abusive idiot, and on top of all of this she has a dead mans watch. She is having an internal conflict because she has mixed feelings about the watch and doesn't want to get rid of it. She feels like he was the only decent man to come to the area. She is also worried that Willie found out because for her 18th birthday Willie got Jo the companion watch to the dead man's. Jo is also in the process in blackmailing a man in the upper class to write her a recommendation for college after Jo caught him leaving Willies brothel. Though he is going to do it she is not quite sure that he isn't going to turn on her and wiggle his way out of their deal. Jo has a lot to worry about right now and is very stressed that she will be discovered with the watch or her mom will come back. Now for comments talk about whether or not you've ever been in this much trouble.

Blizzard Bag

1.) I am still reading Out of the Easy and I'm a little over halfway finished. At this point Jo is trying to leave the quarter and go to a women's college in Massachusetts called Smith. She has the grades but not the money and Willie doesn't want her to leave so she said that she will only pay for a local college. Jo also found Forrest Hearne's (a dead man) watch. She doesn't want to get rid of it even though it could get her in a lot of trouble with the law. She is also shocked when Willie gives Jo the companion watch for her birthday. Jo thought it was a way of telling her that Willie knew but she made no mention of it.

2.) So far I am enjoying Romeo and Juliet but mainly because of all of the dramatic irony. Since we all know the end of the story it is kind of weird to hear all of the hints that Shakespeare provide about the outcome of the story. I also find it funny on how quick Romeo and Juliet are to trust and love. It's like the second they see each other they have already decided to die if the can't be with on and other.
 This is the opposite of the character Jo in my book. She doesn't trust very easily even with the people she has known for years. Romeo and Juliet have known each other for only a few hours and have all ready decided to spend their lives together.

Jo

If Jo was a physical, tangible object she would definitely be a book. She would not be a book just because she works in a bookstore but because she is sort of closed to other people unless they put in the effort to get to know her. This describes a book because a person doesn't know what is in a book unless they put in the effort to read it. Jo is also very smart and full of knowledge, especially for her age. The people who just meet Jo don't always see the real Jo. She likes to trick them into thinking she is something she is not.  You can't judge a book by its cover with Jo like when she meets Charlotte she says her name is Josephine and lies about her parents. She does not tell her that her mother works at a brothel and she doesn't know who her father is. Also at the party at Charlottes uncles no one there knows about her family's past so she makes everything up about herself. The only people who know the true Jo put in the effort to get to know her.