Jordan Duckworth
ENG101
Pre-Writing Essay
08/23/2016
A Book A Day
Reading has had a major effect on my life, whether it was to alleviate boredom, help me escape, or give me knowledge on a certain topic. I began reading when I was very young and I read all the time back then, though it was usually only construction books or military books. Starting around elementary school I developed an interest in the weather and would spend almost all my time reading about storms or some other atmospheric occurrence. Eventually I almost stopped reading altogether but my love for books were re-sparked by an important set of books.
The Beast of Noor is an important book to me because it was the first challenging book I encountered and at the time I started it I wasn't all that into reading but i decided to give it a try and i am so thankful i gave it a try. The book is around 500 pages long and starts off by a man betraying his dog to save his own life which gets the dog killed. After the dog's dies the embodiment of death, who is outraged at the man’s betrayal of his best friend, gives the dog evil powers and makes him insatiably hungry for humans. The book then fast forwards to a brother and sister who are the descendants of the man which makes them pariah in their village in addition to that every time the dog kills the villagers blame them. The brother driven by everyone’s hate becomes obsessed with killing the beast to the point of losing his sanity. The book is very mature for its age group and once I started it I could put it down. Even now in my senior year I can remember it.
The second important book to me is Incarceron. When I first picked up Incarceron I didn't think I would like reading it because it seemed like an odd book. While the book isn't that large it contains many twists and paradoxes that keep the reader interested. This book really helped me to think outside the box due to all of these plot twists. The plot of the book is set in the future actually where mankind has created a prison/rehab facility called incarceron where the inmates can do as they like but cannot be released until the goal is met. There is a few enlightened individuals there to rehabilitate them and together with the prisoners make incarceron a utopia. Once that happens they can all be released and make the world a utopia. Outside of the prison the world leaders blamed many problems and wars on technology and reverted almost everything back to the 18th century to wait for the incarceron inmates to come.
My third major middle school book is probably the darkest of the three. Titled Scars the book confronts many issues in society and at the time I was kind of close-minded about things and didn't like the books because of the topics but after I finished it really helped me to think objectively about many problems teens in our society faces. Scars revolves around a girl who was sexually abused many times and became so terrified that it was going to go on forever once it eventually stopped she repressed the memories and could not remember who abused her but still has flashbacks without details about the incident. In addition to that the main girl is LGBT and has an issue with self-harming with several issues going on in her family.
Starting off high school I decided I wanted to further challenge myself with books so I read a lot my freshman year but one book that stood out the most was Romeo & Juliet which was actually an assignment in my english class. Romeo & Juliet piqued my interest in shakespearean plays and other classic literature. While I normally like books with a somewhat happy ending i did enjoy the twist and the unexpected ending it brought. The main thing I learned from the book is that sometimes there are no happy endings and we have to make good things happen for ourselves.
The 100 may have a younger reading level but many of the things in this book are deep topics that not everyone will understand or agree with. The main things i took away from this book is the people that one trusts are the most important people in their life and in the real world there really is no good or evil it's all just different views on different topics. The 100 is about 100 teens that are sent down from their space station after the earth was devastated by nuclear war to see if it's now survivable 90 years later. They find out the people running the station were keeping a lot of information from everyone and the earth is in fact survivable.
The most recent influential book to me is The Great Gatsby. This book has made me realise that success is different to every person and that a person should never stop pursuing their dreams. In The Great Gatsby Nick Carraway is recounting his earlier life in which he lived next to a billionaire by the name of Jay Gatsby. Events unfold and Nick is caught in a fight between two billionaires and finds out a lot about not only himself but those he is close to as well. This book deals with many issues that are still relevant in modern society and provides with a lot of wisdom on life.
Some people may not like reading but to say that one does not like books is like saying one does not like life itself. Books can help us through our darkest times or make a day one of the best in our life. To me the books I mentioned have made me appreciate reading to a new level, broaden my horizons, and gave me valuable knowledge that I use in my life.
ENG101
Pre-Writing Essay
08/23/2016
A Book A Day
Reading has had a major effect on my life, whether it was to alleviate boredom, help me escape, or give me knowledge on a certain topic. I began reading when I was very young and I read all the time back then, though it was usually only construction books or military books. Starting around elementary school I developed an interest in the weather and would spend almost all my time reading about storms or some other atmospheric occurrence. Eventually I almost stopped reading altogether but my love for books were re-sparked by an important set of books.
The Beast of Noor is an important book to me because it was the first challenging book I encountered and at the time I started it I wasn't all that into reading but i decided to give it a try and i am so thankful i gave it a try. The book is around 500 pages long and starts off by a man betraying his dog to save his own life which gets the dog killed. After the dog's dies the embodiment of death, who is outraged at the man’s betrayal of his best friend, gives the dog evil powers and makes him insatiably hungry for humans. The book then fast forwards to a brother and sister who are the descendants of the man which makes them pariah in their village in addition to that every time the dog kills the villagers blame them. The brother driven by everyone’s hate becomes obsessed with killing the beast to the point of losing his sanity. The book is very mature for its age group and once I started it I could put it down. Even now in my senior year I can remember it.
The second important book to me is Incarceron. When I first picked up Incarceron I didn't think I would like reading it because it seemed like an odd book. While the book isn't that large it contains many twists and paradoxes that keep the reader interested. This book really helped me to think outside the box due to all of these plot twists. The plot of the book is set in the future actually where mankind has created a prison/rehab facility called incarceron where the inmates can do as they like but cannot be released until the goal is met. There is a few enlightened individuals there to rehabilitate them and together with the prisoners make incarceron a utopia. Once that happens they can all be released and make the world a utopia. Outside of the prison the world leaders blamed many problems and wars on technology and reverted almost everything back to the 18th century to wait for the incarceron inmates to come.
My third major middle school book is probably the darkest of the three. Titled Scars the book confronts many issues in society and at the time I was kind of close-minded about things and didn't like the books because of the topics but after I finished it really helped me to think objectively about many problems teens in our society faces. Scars revolves around a girl who was sexually abused many times and became so terrified that it was going to go on forever once it eventually stopped she repressed the memories and could not remember who abused her but still has flashbacks without details about the incident. In addition to that the main girl is LGBT and has an issue with self-harming with several issues going on in her family.
Starting off high school I decided I wanted to further challenge myself with books so I read a lot my freshman year but one book that stood out the most was Romeo & Juliet which was actually an assignment in my english class. Romeo & Juliet piqued my interest in shakespearean plays and other classic literature. While I normally like books with a somewhat happy ending i did enjoy the twist and the unexpected ending it brought. The main thing I learned from the book is that sometimes there are no happy endings and we have to make good things happen for ourselves.
The 100 may have a younger reading level but many of the things in this book are deep topics that not everyone will understand or agree with. The main things i took away from this book is the people that one trusts are the most important people in their life and in the real world there really is no good or evil it's all just different views on different topics. The 100 is about 100 teens that are sent down from their space station after the earth was devastated by nuclear war to see if it's now survivable 90 years later. They find out the people running the station were keeping a lot of information from everyone and the earth is in fact survivable.
The most recent influential book to me is The Great Gatsby. This book has made me realise that success is different to every person and that a person should never stop pursuing their dreams. In The Great Gatsby Nick Carraway is recounting his earlier life in which he lived next to a billionaire by the name of Jay Gatsby. Events unfold and Nick is caught in a fight between two billionaires and finds out a lot about not only himself but those he is close to as well. This book deals with many issues that are still relevant in modern society and provides with a lot of wisdom on life.
Some people may not like reading but to say that one does not like books is like saying one does not like life itself. Books can help us through our darkest times or make a day one of the best in our life. To me the books I mentioned have made me appreciate reading to a new level, broaden my horizons, and gave me valuable knowledge that I use in my life.