My Summer Reading
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë:
Reading Jane Eyre was like reading a lively life story. Without a dull moment, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë goes from when Jane is a mistreated orphan living with her cruel aunt Reed, and three spoiled cousins Eliza, Georgiana and John, to going to school at Lowood Institution, to becoming a governess for Mr. Rochester’s Daughter Adele, and then to the tragic but happy love story of Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester. With beautiful language (after reading the book, several complaints were made by my sister about me talking like I was from the 1800’s) Jane Eyre is a story about a girl finding her path through life and finding her true passions. I recommend this book to anyone who is prepared to have a dictionary at hand while reading, and to someone who won’t be afraid reading a book that’s a little bit creepy at some parts, and who likes very deep books that make you think.
The Boy In The Striped Pajamas by John Boyne:
The Boy In The Striped Pajamas by John Boyne is a book that takes place during the time of The Holocaust. It is about an ignorant 9 year old boy named Bruno, being moved from his beautiful home in Berlin, to the Auschwitz concentration camp, for his father is a soldier working there (though Bruno doesn’t know exactly what his father does from day to day). Bruno doesn’t suspect anything horrible going on at the other side of the barb wire fence that separates him from all of the people in the striped pajamas, except for that there are nice people living on the other side that he longed to play with, for he was bored to death.
One day, when Bruno was “exploring” as he likes to call it, walking along the fence, he sees a boy on the other side, wearing striped pajamas. Bruno becomes friends with this boy, and every day he goes back to see him, bearing food, because noticing that his friend is very thin. Bruno has no clue what terrible things going on between Bruno’s father and everyone on the other side of the fence. This is the story of two boys in completely different circumstances becoming friends, despite everything going on around them and forming a friendship that will last forever.
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott:
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott is a book that never fails to be comforting for it is the wonderful story of four girls living with their mother while their father is at war, each of which finding an unexpected path with an unexpected conclusion, which they never would have expected at the beginning of the book. Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy are four sisters who start out where nothing can bring them apart, but then slowly events happen, and they drift apart. During the final chapter, they come together for a final picnic with their spouses and children for a lovely ending. Each of them are so different, but they manage to love each other so dearly. Meg, a lover of expensive and pretty things. Jo, a tomboy and a lover of literature. Beth, a sweetheart who is nice to everyone and loves everything good. Amy, a “proper” women with good language and a love for money.
No wonder this book is loved by so many people, for the bond of these four sisters is one that everybody cherishes.
The House On Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros:
My Annotations:
“This was the house Papa talked about when he held a lottery ticket and this was the house mama dreamed up in the stories she told us before we went to bed” -pg. 4-5
This shows that this family has a lot of hope and optimism about the future which helps me make a prediction that this family will keep hoping for a brighter future.
“The laundromat downstairs had been boarded up because it had been robbed two days before and the owner had painted on the wood YES WE’RE OPEN not to loose business” -pg. 5
It seems like they don’t live in a very safe place…
“Cathy’s father will have to fly to France one day and find her great great distant grand cousin on her father’s side and inherit the family house. How do I know this is so? She told me so. In the meantime they’ll just need to move a little bit farther north from Mango Street, a little farther away every time people like us keep moving in.” -pg. 15
It looks like Cathy isn’t latino and a lot of the people in this town are, and Cathy’s parents don’t want to be living in a part of town with a lot of latinos. It also implies that Cathy’s parents might be a little bit racist.
“The seventh time we drove into the alley we heard sirens… real quiet at first, but then louder. Louie’s cousin stopped the car right where we were and said, Everybody out of the car.” pg. 29
The fact that someone living in this town stole a car means that he doesn’t have a lot of money. The writer is telling us that this town doesn’t have very much money.
“‘Your mama, that’s who.’
‘My mama? You better not be saying that, Lucy Guerrero. You better not be talking like that…else you can say goodbye to being my friend forever.” -pg. 43-44
Esperanza obviously loves her mom a lot more than her other family members. She has said insulting things about her other family members, but when her friends insult her mom, she won’t be their friend anymore. Why does she love her mom so much more than the rest of her family? Does she just treat her better, or did something happen in the beginning of the book that made her love her mom so much more?
“She is in a world we don’t belong anymore. Nenny. Going. Going.” -pg. 63
Did this family used to have more money? Since Esperanza said that Nenny is in a world where they don’t belong anymore, it might mean that they used to be able to think about things that didn’t exist, and dream, and have very happy thoughts, but now that they may not have as much money, they have to stay down to earth and think about things more rationally.
“Aunt Lala said she had found a job for me at peter pan photo finishers on North Broadway where she worked, and how old was I, and to show up tomorrow saying I was one year older, and that was that.” -pg. 65
Earlier in the book, Esperanza’s parents talked about how important it is to have a good education. If she is working, will she still be able to go to school?
“I know that he will have to go away, that he will take a plain to Mexico all the uncles and aunts will be there, and they will have a black and white photo taken in front of the tomb with flowers shaped like spears in a white vase because this is how they send the dead away.” -pg. 68-69
They must have a lot of deaths throughout the year, since she knows exactly what happens when there’s a death in the family.
“She takes her dog Bobo for a walk, and laughs all by herself, that Ruthie.”-pg. 83
There are so many people in this book that, even though they don’t live in a very nice town, they still manage to laugh and have a good time, which I admire.
“She writes poems on little pieces of paper that she folds over and over.” -pg. 105
I’ve noticed that when Esperanza is talking about all of these people, she notices all of the little things that they do. Is that because she watches them, or because she knows them well enough that they tell her?
“Friends and neighbors will say, ‘What happened to that Esperanza? Where did she go with all those books and paper? Why did she march so far away?’ They will not know I have gone away to come back. For the ones I left behind. For the ones who cannot out.-pg. 134
Mango Street has a sentimental beauty. Though it is run down and a lot of things are broken, the people living there make it more than just a run down town. All of the people are so interesting and they each have a unique story, which makes Mango Street special.
I got the feeling that when she said she would come back for the ones who cannot out, she meant that a lot of people come to Mango Street, and can’t leave for whatever reason, almost as if Mango Street is some sort of prison that people get locked up in. I think that all the people who get locked up in Mango Street is what makes Mango Street special.