The SisterHood: Entry #2: From the Voice of Bridget..

Marital Status:single
Residence: D.C.
Right now: soccer camp in Baja California
Obsession: ERIC ERIC ERIC ERIC ERIc!!!!
Oh my god, he is so hot! My soccer coach that is ;) ..I really want him!! He is soo gorgeous, he's a mixture of Hispanic looks and Caucasian! Whenever I look at him, I just want to show my talents off, I feel so overwhelmed and tempted to touch him and have him notice me. and trust me I will do anything for him to notice me! I've already tried ..but unfortunately he thought I was not a great player I think because he didn't even stare at me while I was doing that,okay so maybe I overreacted and took away the soccer ball from all of the teammates. Well, better luck next time, I really want him to love me but he said that he's my soccer coach so it's not "right." Can you believe him!?!?! What the heck is wrong with him? Well I've already asked dad to send me a lot of clothes to show off so here goes nothing...! He's going to have to notice me...I don't like it when guys don't realize I'm there ,especially if I like them.
Well tatz for now Diana just called me for a practice game between the Tacos and the Burritos! cheerio

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: Entry # 1 : Freewrite-"Review of The Hood ;) "

I really liked all of the stories but the one that touched my heart the most and made me feel emotion at one certain point was Tibby's story. Even though all the other girls, especially Lena and Bridget's stories were far more entertaining and controversial, I think Tibby's story and plot touched my heart and soul the most! It made me feel like I had read something that was supposed to hurt someone else's feelings. When Bailey slowly dies in the hospital, and when Tibby comes to see her secretly from the nurses and is by her side to show her that she's not alone was really sensitive and caring of her which I was not expecting from a rebellious girl like Tibby since she was sort of not interested in becoming friends with twelve year old girlS! but I'm glad Tibby and Bailey hit it off pretty well and they were great friends. I was actually crying by the time Tibby gets a phone call from the hospital and the funeral in the rainy afternoon in the graveyard. I was shivering with sorrow and an utter feel of mourning even though the author had said so little describing her death but the funeral description really nailed it for me. I think Ann Brashares is a great author with intellects and a sense of how to grab the reader's attention and drive their emotions in whichever direction she wants. That really impressed me about this book and how it's written; unlike The Joy Luck Club where the author goes from the past to the present and then from the present to the past, confusing the reader and focusing their attention on unwanted information rather than the real meaning or the idea of what they actually wanted to convey which Ann Brashares completely overrules and defines the real meaning of friendship and how people live together and face problems in their life but still manage to get over them and move on.

*rabiya*

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants- Ann Brashares

I started reading this book two weeks ago, and it's a book about four friends who were born around the same time and whose mothers were pregnant around the same time. Carmen, a Puerto-Rican-American sophomore girl, Tibby, a rebel, Lena who was Greek,shy,quiet and beautiful and didn't fall for boys that easily and Bridget,the athletic girl who had lost her mom. They were all different yet the same! This summer they were going to be apart for the first time; Bridget(Baja California for Soccer), Lena (Greece to spend summer with grandparents), Carmen (visiting her father for the first time in South Carolina) and Tibby was staying home. Each of them find new ways to have fun without each other; they all have different experiences , for some the summer is the worst and for some it's irrestible and never-ending ! Before departing,though, Carmen finds a pair of pants that fits them all and now that same pair of pants is passed around to the four of them with something memorable written on it from all of them to be reminded of the summer they had.
It was a great book with a lot of interesting things happening simultaneously with different characters which kept it exciting and progressing. I think the four characters and the way this book was organized reminded me of The Joy Luck Club and how it was written, and they were all friends with all of them having their own stories. This book was some pages around 350 and it took me two weeks to finish it. I'm really anxious to watch the movie now to see how the director portrayed the characters and the plot and if his/her interpretation was the same as mine. Usually I write the pre-analysis of the book I'm about to read but this time I tried doing things a little differently, with the information of the book after I have read it.

Girl who saved President "Samantha" and the President's Son..might there be something going on between the two!?

* An article based on the relationship between Samantha Madison and David after 5 years*
EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT!! PRESIDENT'S SON IS ABOUT TO MARRY THE GIRL WHO SAVED HIS FATHER'S LIFE!!!
We've all seen them going around together in limousines, trying to get away from paparazzis so they don't have their pictures taken for as long as five years. After the re-election of Mr. Preisdent, David and Samantha's love is in the air, or should I say the White House? Samanta Madison and David, the president's son are in love! it's all over and rumor has it that they're getting married this July. "We are so excited about this relationship just as much as Samantha and David," said Mrs. Madison when asked about the upcoming event. Samantha and David were seen recently at the Franklin Roosevelt Mall near Pennsylvania Street, shopping for their trip to Europe, maybe for a formal proposal perhaps at the Eiffel Tower? Since the last time when Samantha Madison had saved Mr. President's life, which was 5 years ago, Samantha and David had started dating and now when they are turning 22 soon,wedding bells can be heard a mile away! We hope the best for Samantha and David and our best wishes are with them
The Newsweek Journalism Team in Washington D.C.

Poem: All-American Girl

One minute, nobody knew me
No one cared for me,
They would force me and blame everything on me.
The time I risked my life to save someone else's
Everyone forgot the past, but not me.
I still remember them making choices for me,
Not listening to what I had to say.
You're the only one who appreciated me
Before and after I saved your father.

I wrote this poem from Sam's voice because before she saved the President, her parents forced her to do what they wanted, her sister never liked being around her and was shy to call her her sister. Only David, the president's son appreciated her at art school when he didn't know she would save his father's life. She has a tiny crush on David and maybe they will start liking each other more.

Introduction to ALL AMERICAN GIRL- Meg Cabot

I've just started reading All-American Girl by Meg Cabot.It's about a girl named Samantha, who lives in Washington D.C. now but had moved to Morrocco about 5 years ago and now came back into high school in D.C. again. She has an older sister named Lucy who is a popular "plastic" in her school and if there was a fashion police, she would be the head officer. Sam's other sister is a complete nerd and Sam is just an ordinary, deep,dark ,gothic sophomore. Her parents are going to make her take art classes every week which she is not at all excited about and will probably cut. She was caught sellling celebrity portraits in school and the best part is that she gets to save the president of the United States from getting shot in the head and becomes a national hero. She gets mass popularity and is treated almost like a celebrity. The president's son also goes to her art class whom she met before, David, and she kind of likes him a little bit.

Meg Cabot is a popular author who writes books for teenagers [mostly girls] and for adults. This book will take me about 2-3 weeks to finish if I read 100 pages per week.

I think I like this book so far but next time I will definitely pick a harder book to read.

FreeWrite: Finished Reading The Bell Jar

So I've just finished reading The Bell Jar and boy,was it depressing! I liked the main character and I could relate to her frustration, but I think it was a tad bit confusing at times. The author seemed to jump around a lot, she talked a lot about her future and past intervening with her present. It was too much for me at a point. I think if the sequencing of the story had been better, I would've definitely rated this book as my favorite. I had a lot of questions about Esther [SYLVIA!(the author) since this was a semi-autobiography], because she wasn't married when she went into an asylum but stated that she was expecting.It didn't make sense to me, because everything had to be inferred. Something that disturbs me about this book is that it was based on an actual life and it made me really depressed. I didn't like how Sylvia[Esther(character in the book]) had to go through so much and couldn't discuss it with anyone. She was let out from the asylum thinking everything had been normal but then years later she committed suicide!! When I was on the subway reading this book, a gentleman who was about 50 years old saw me reading it and he started discussing Sylvia Plath's life with me, he said how he was very depressed when he read this story and felt sorry for Sylvia because at one point, she couldn't take it anymore and instead of talking it with someone like her husband[WHO IS NOT MENTIONED IN THE BOOK] or her mother[who she accuses and says she hates in the book]. Even I felt sad for Sylvia because she was trapped in an asylum with crazy women who all thought Sylvia was going to be sent to the state asylum but she made it through. My response to when Sylvia is given electric shocks was horrific. I felt really sympathetic towards her because she was scared to get electric therapy because it hurt her a lot, she would see blue volts and would cry for help but no one would help her.Another regret I have for Sylvia is her mother..she was an inconsiderate,selfish woman, even Sylvia hated her. After her psychiatrist sessions, instead of helping her become normal again and arranging several appointments with other doctors, her mother just told her that she would be fine and sometimes even blamed her for such behavior. After that, Esther tried four ways to commit suicide which was unbelievable because she seemed fine to others but she didn't want to be alive. I blame her mother for her insanity, she took away her father's love and never provided her with sensible care. Also I want to give her credit for giving her book this amazing title. Through the first five chapters, I didn't know why the book was called THE BELL JAR but later in the book her explanation made so much sense to me. She had seen a couple of human fetuses in bell jars at a labor room who were not alive. After she was put in an asylum, she imagined herself as one of those in a bell jar,waiting for someone to twist the lid off and let her escape.In honor of Sylvia Plath, who took her life at the age of 32 because of emotional,psychological disorders.
(I WISH YOU HADN't~~!)

Character Profile: Esther Greenwood

Esther Greenwood is a 20 year old girl who lives in Mass. and is about to embark on a journey towards finding her major and setting up her career. After spending a month in NYC, where she was supposed to write for the course to get a scholarship, but didn't qualify, she comes back to live with her mother in Massachusetts. Esther finds out that she can't read or write anymore, everything in front of her eyes is a blur. Her personality is changing slowly but surely,she is strange,quiet and mischievous.She doesn't really like to socialize much and is quite confused about what she wants to achieve in life. Sometimes she wants to be a writer, at times a lawyer or even a waitress. Esther can't think of anything she wants to do with her life, she writes letters to her friends about running away to Chicago. Esther starts spending hours in afternoons trying to write novels or just sleeping for the longest time. She doesn't care about her life anymore,she doesn't bathe or go out to spend time with her friends,either. Esther tries about four ways to commit suicide; by taking sleeping pills, drowning at a beach, hanging herself from a rope and cutting her veins open but fortunately she fails all these times. Currently, she is admitted in a mental hospital but she feels completely normal and doesn't want to be sent to the asylum. She wants help but she's afraid they will label her crazy and put her in an asylum.It's somewhat sad because she really wants to go back to being normal but the doctors don't understand her.

Freewrite: The Bell Jar- Creepy,Freaky,Insane,Awesome!

So far, The Bell Jar, has been a fast pacer and is going well, it isn't boring. I really like the character in this book because she is similar to me in many ways. She wants to spend time alone and doesn't want to be bothered. Her life can be changed if she works hard at this trip given by a magazine company but she can't seem to focus and set mind straight to work so she's having a hard time.
In the beginning I got this book and read the details and the history of the author. The author, Sylvia Plath, committed suicide and this book is somewhat of an autobiography of her life. I was really creeped out and scared to death, I felt like I shouldn't read it because it was too real and quite honestly, really freaky! But I had no choice and I started to read it because I was curious. I love this book because it is showing Esther's mental growth and how she's slowly liking the loneliness and depression and gradually becoming insane.

Symbolism :Bell Jar

One symbolic object I found in the book I'm reading, Bell Jar, is a hot bath in a bathtub . The main character, Esther Greenwood, uses a bathtub as a source of healing. Her mental, physical and stressful elements are washed away as she soaks herself in the steaming hot water of the bath.She notices everything about the bathtubs with their sizes,styles and colors and even the soap holders. Her hot baths are like religious cleansing like holy water and I think that gives a hint of her personality because she practically associates everything with it and relaxes while taking a hot bath. The hot baths represent her mental state because while she is meditating in water, she thinks a lot about stuff and pretends that she's dissolving and everything else is dissolving in water as well. The bathtub is like a source of meditation and healing place for her where she can forget the rest of the world and just have some time alone to recover from the craziness around her, especially Doreen[her rich friend who is always procrastinating and doing wild things].

Candy : Girl Kills Two at a Cottage near London

At around 9 P.M. last night, Candy, a Caucasian 16 year old girl who was hiding away at a cottage with a 16 year old boy, Joe,stabbed to death ,Iggy, a 29 year old African American male who was about 6'3'' and weighed 190 lbs. Sources tell that their was something going on between Iggy and Candy, he was her drug provider and she used to work for him for the drugs. Joe promised to take her to a cottage,away from Iggy, and was helping her stop using heroine. However, Joe's hiding place was unveiled by Iggy and he kidnapped Joe's sister and threatened to hurt her if Candy wasn't given into his possession. Iggy arrived with his crew around 9 P.M. at the cottage with Joe's sister. But Candy approached him with a dagger hidden inside her coat and she stabbed him to death and scared away the other gang members,shooting the driver. The police arrived shortly after Joe called for help and now Candy is currently in a juvenile rehabilitation facility and is being helped both mentally and emotionally. Joe was asked a couple of questions afterwards and was given leave to go back home in his suburb.

Candy:the Bookcovers

These three bookcovers are different and unique in their own ways. The first one portrays that Candy is an emo girl with a red-streaked bobcut hairstyle. When I hadn't seen this cover I imagined her like the girl on the far left because the book I had gotten had the same cover art. Even though they are both great in their own individual ways, I prefer the one on the left. It shows a normal girl trying to escape her past through the barred windows,like in the book.However, the second cover is more interesting than the two,because it has Joe playing a guitar with a red backscene around Candy's head. This makes it so much more creative and eerie looking. I love how her eyes are shown red on the cover.

sources:

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/

Introduction to The Bell Jar

My next book that I will be reading is called The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath. It's a Classic American Narrative and sounds like a book older people would read and is not like the teenage novels that I've been reading in the past. It is about a woman named Esther Greenwood and her normal life slowly but surely turning into a crazy life with her going into insanity. I can't wait to read this book because it says in the summary that some of the written ideas were pulled out of Sylvia Plath's own life and it could be like semi- autobiography. I'm guessing the closer the book it is to Sylvia,the better and more realistic approach it has.A middle aged woman who has a mental breakdown seems quite interesting and exciting , also disturbing at a point but I hope it's a good read. If I read at least100 pages a week, it will take me atleast 3 weeks to finish it.Sylvia Plath was born in 1932 in Massachusetts and committed suicide on February 11th, 1963. An interesting fact about her and this book is how the plot of Esther and Sylvia match, they were both at a magazine convention and started to slowly lose sense of their life and become mentally illAnother interesting fact I just found out about Sylvia Plath and The Bell Jar is that this book was published around the time of her death under a pseudonym or pen name Victoria Lucas in 1963. However, in 1971, by demand of her family's protests, they published The Bell Jar under Sylvia Plath's name.

Evanescence - "Wake Me Up Inside " lyrics

Wake me up inside.
(I can't wake up)
Wake me up inside.
(Save me)
Call my name and save me from the dark.
(Wake me up)
Bid my blood to run.
Before I come undone.
(Save me)
Save me from the nothing I've become.

Now that I know what I'm without,
You can't just leave me.
Breathe into me and make me real.
Bring me to life.

(Wake me up)
Wake me up inside.
Wake me up inside.
(Save me)
Call my name and save me from the dark.
(Wake me up)
Bid my blood to run.
Before I come undone.
(Save me)
Save me from the nothing I've become.

Bring me to life.
(I've been living a lie.
There's nothing inside)
Bring me to life.

Frozen inside without your touch,
Without your love, darling.
Only you are the life among the dead.

(All of this sight,
I can't believe I couldn't see
Kept in the dark
but you were there in front of me)
I've been sleeping a 1000 years it seems.
I've got to open my eyes to everything.
(Without a thought
Without a voice
Without a soul
Don't let me die here.
There must be something more).
Bring me to life.

This song is something Candy would sing to Joe when he takes her to the cottage and tries really hard to make her stop using heroin. Joe is all what Candy has now and she relies on him a lot and he's her only hope to make her feel better again and become normal.Candy becomes lifeless,emotionless yet angry and wants to kill Joe for not letting her take drugs but he doesn't give in to her and stops her from using heroin. This song reminds me of Candy's inner voice because so many of the lines like "don't let me die here" and "bring me to life" are all evidence of how strongly she depends on Joe and wants his help. This song reminds me of Candy and Joe's relationship everytime I listen to it. It brings out her emotions like "I can't wake up inside" and "bring me to life" is how she screams for help from Joe.

Candy- the bitter truth

Candy, so far, is a real thriller. Every move Joe makes to meet Candy is rebellious. He sneaks out to bars in London just to see this girl he is madly in love with. I love how the book's plot keeps changing. Brooks doesn't stretch out one topic, he isn't stagnant so it makes the story go by a lot faster with more expression and dramatic sequences.It's sort of like watching a movie. Kevin Brooks' style of writing is expressive and detailed but not boring. Joe knows that Candy is a prostitute and sells her body to get drugs but he's addicted to her as well. Candy is somewhat like his drug, he cannot get enough of her even though he knows he's risking his life by meeting her because Iggy, her pimp does not appreciate him. Joe isn't suppose to be in London but he goes there just so he can catch a glimpse of Candy. It's funny how they're both addicted;candy to heroine and joe to candy. Joe doesn't realize it but he is putting his life in danger along with Candy's because if Iggy finds out that he is trying to get Candy away from the dark world of drugs,sex and violence, he will kill both of them.I guess Joe is really high and isn't thinking about what the consequences will be.

"Candy" by Kevin Brooks - Getting to know the author and the book

The book I chose to read is Candy by Kevin Brooks. He is a professional,all-time write who lives in England. One interesting fact I found out about him was that he used to work as a zookeeper in the London Zoo and in the book Candy, Joe decides to meet Candy at the London Zoo which shows some significance of Candy in Brooks' life. The main reason I wanted to read Candy was to find out about the dark,secretive world of teenagers from Kevin Brooks' point of view. The book is somewhat for adults because of the controversial topic but the characters in it are teenagers. I'm expecting a lot from this book because Kevin Brooks has quite a few books that were well acclaimed by critics like Lucas and Kissing the Rain. I'm also looking forward to reading about the way people,especially teens, live in England because this book's setting is in London. A lot of things made me want to read this book including the title, the author's previous work, recommendation from a friend and most importantly the storyline. The storyline seems thrilling to me and I hope I enjoy reading it. It's about a boy named Joe who meets a girl, Candy, and starts to fall in love with everything about her but later finds out that she is a prostitute. Since Kevin Brooks' previous books have been acknowledged by known critics,I'm expecting this book has to offer a lot as well. If I read 100 pages every week, I will be done with this book in 3 1/2 weeks.