Close-Reading Bingo

Disclaimer: I feel really bad for pointing out flaws so please don't be offended if I use yours.

1&2. "At first, the character introduces the reader to the point of the passage." --ariadna permelia
           Rule #3-- What is the point of the passage? 
           Rule #4--Don't include "the reader"

3. "The girl screams to her sister “I will kill if you touch this, Julie, and if you do I swear to go I will kill you, no mercy, no take-backs private property, this means you, Julie, you” which explains how the infuriated girl feels toward her sister." --emily 
          Rule #2-- Break it into two sentences or shorten the quotation.

4. "In Nicholson Baker's work The Mezzanine, he uses elegant and intricate diction to create a formal tone."--Maddie 
          Rule #6-- Avoid the verb "use"

Best Response: KG

House of Leaves

House of Leaves includes a lot of commentary on human nature. Johnny in particular seems to make a big deal out of nothing. Karen often complains about her boyfriend although she is unfaithful and rude quite frequently. Karen and Navidson also talk badly about each other on Hi-8s a lot. The characters are pretty cookie cutter for the most part, it's just their actions that throw you off. Navidson decieves his girlfriend and explores the hallway before any official explorations begin and again later in the book. Although Navidson and Karen do not always treat each other right, their relationship works out because they love each other. They have a very realistic relationship.

Practice Diction Analysis

In the first page of his novel Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger’s literal, blunt diction expresses Holden’s attitude towards his life and his surroundings. Holden describes his parents as “touchy as hell” and mentions his “lousy childhood.” The negative connotation of his words is straightforward, lending them to be easily trusted. Even when speaking of his brother, Holden says where D.B. lives “isn’t too far from this crumby place.” Though Holden is capable of positive emotions shown by his compassion for his brother, Holden has a negative outlook of his surroundings.  

House of Leaves

While Navidson is lost alone within the hallway, the stairway flips and turns and he becomes very disoriented. To mirror this, the text on the page grows and shrinks, changes places on the page, makes you flip the book around, often doesn't exist, and is very unorganized. Just reading the book and flipping the pages as quickly as you have to makes you as disoriented as Navidson must feel. It took me a minute to realize which side is the bottom and which is the top. It's this varied writing style is what interests me about the book.

Currently

First week of the quarter!

This week:118 pages
Last week:266 pages

On the other hand, the figurative language detailing simple but memorable scenes in Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami provide deep emotional connections to the character.-- E

Even more casually written is Jack Kerouac's On The Road, which incorporates a stream of consciousness that mirrors the complex workings of the narrators mind using words that are far less complicated. The flowing, jazzy language including the description of a break-up as a "miserably weary splitup" begs to be read aloud because its sounds are so pleasing to the ear.  --Charliebucket

A Million Little Pieces by James Frey is written with crude diction that protrays the aurthors critical struggles and a repetitive flow that allows the reader to understant his thinking.--Phyllis

Style Mapping

1984 by George Orwell uses straightforward and exact diction, colloquial formality, and dull sound to create a harsh feeling for the reader, much like how Winston feels the chill of the bright cold day and the enormous eyes of the face watching him.  Homer's The Odyssey poetic connotation, elegant and scholarly formality, and melodious sound. In House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, literal, thudding, choppy, vulgar language allows readers a glimpse into Johnny's recently changed mind.

Quarterly

I haven't really surprised myself this quarter as far as what I read is concerned. I've basically always read what I had available to me and I've never stuck to one particular genre. House of Leaves has been the most challenging and I feel like it took me a long time to get in to it. I love the story, but absolutely hate the book. It's just a bunch of crap. There are references that don't exist, footnotes with footnotes, and the layout is unnecessary. Though I do hate it, I respect it. It clearly took a lot of thought and creativity and I'm really enjoying the challenge. It's a piece of art. I mostly read during fifth period and at night right before I go to bed. During yearbook, I've often found myself being a loner in the "patio room" reading. I really don't mind though, it's really nice to be able to hear the craziness but not actually be a  part of it. I also cuddle up with my puppies in this big blue chair in the sun room in my house a lot to read. I think my dogs probably enjoy being read to... haha. I usually don't have my cell phone on and I try not to talk to other people while I'm reading because if I get sidetracked, it takes me a while to get back to where I was reading with the same concentration I had before. I want to find more books that make me think though. I think I need to stop reading books because I relate to the characters. It's neat to be able to live vicariously through a character. I'll never be a crazy drug/sex addict, but it's cool to imagine what they think.

So the hallway in Navidson's house changes. The staircase took the explorers six days to reach the bottom and it only took Navidson five minutes. It basically says that each person has their own thoughts about the space before they venture into it. The explorers were searching for the bottom which is why it took them so long to reach the bottom, Navidson knew there was a bottom and had the goal of getting to the bottom. To relate this to the readers, it's like when you're a child and the year between each Christmas seems like a lifetime, though as you get older, the last Christmas always seems like just yesterday. It's also like visiting a place you used to frequent as a child and realizing it is actually much smaller than you recall. In this instance, you have grown, the space has not gotten smaller, but you don't notice the change in yourself. The more I thought about this, the more I started wishing I could feel others' interpretations of things and places. Clearly it's impossible, talking about it can't even clearly describe what you feel about a thing or place, but everyone has their own. I used to wonder as a child how other people viewed colors. Maybe my pink was blue to someone else. What if other people saw shades that I couldn't see? Is it not possible that we all see different colors and we just know the colors we see? Maybe what I see as black you see as my teal, but you've learned it to be your black. That's not something you can talk about though... how do you describe the color black? It's dark, it's the opposite of white, but what if adjectives are just relative? You'll never really know. The book is like this, it has more questions than answers.

Currently.

Pages this week:something just a bit above 100.... not really sure exactly since I don't have my bookmark

Pages last week:100 pages exactly

1. He could be funny for a while solid day without ever once being stupid, and one time during lunch he made me laugh so hard a noodle came out my nose.
 -A Girl Named Zippy
I think that is the ultimate definition of love.

2. "Be like a duck. Remain calm on the surface and paddle like hell underneath." -Rules for My Unborn Son
Because it's great advice.

3."Sleep's been stalking me for too long to remember." -House of Leaves
Because it's too true.

House of Leaves (again)

After the explorers have departed, the family in the house begins to hear a strange knocking-- three short knocks, followed by three long knocks, followed by another three short knocks. This is the S.O.S. signal. The explorers began randomly knocking and the house has translated their calls of distress. The whole book is starting to get creepy like this. Parts of Johnny's story are getting hard to decipher if he's having an attack or if these things are actually happening. Overall though, I'm really enjoying this book. It's different and it's challenging.

House of Leaves

I stopped reading this book for a bit because it's such a slow read. Not to say it isn't interesting and enjoyable, I just couldn't find the time or patience to read 100 pages of this per week. I've just begun the most interesting part of the book so far. Navidson has hired men to explore the dark side of his house and Johnny, the narrator, is experiencing attacks that are similar to anxiety or panic attacks. The book never said this, but it's pretty clear that Johnny was messed up from a young age, moving from foster family to foster family although his mother was still alive. Because of this void, I think he looks for women to feel a sense of worth. Honestly though, parts of this book are incredibly inappropriate and I pray no one is looking at my book over my shoulder while I read them.