Book 3 : Book Review



                           

                       

http://www.youtube.com/watchv=zZ0CTcU0Fd0&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active 

 book trailer for The Art Of Racing In The Rain

The two books I have read this last month are Love is a Mix Tape and The Art Of Racing In The Rain. Both of these books have different types of genres but at the same time they relate and have so many similarities and themes within their stories. Love is a Mix Tape would go under the genre of an autobiography and humor. The Art Of Racing In The Rain would go under the genre of fiction.

The first book, Love is a Mix Tape is about Rob Sheffield and his life. He talks about his love and passion for music. The story continues with the description of how he meets his wife and how music can bring people together. Throughout the book, it talks about Rob’s life and the events he has gone through.  The book tells of a major event that happens in his life and how it changed him forever. You see Rob go through the ups and downs in his life.  He struggles trying to get over a lost family member. You can tell that he is really sad and depressed from his loss. Throughout the book, you see how the Rob (main character), music, and time go by. The book shows how “America is a different place than it was in the nineties, when peace and prosperity and freedom were here to stay.” (216)  During the course of the story, you see how Rob grows and develops as a person.

The second book I read this trimester was The Art Of Racing In The Rain. This book is written in a dog’s view. The narrator of the book is Enzo, the dog of the Swift family. Denny is Enzo’s master who is married to Eve and they have a daughter named Zöe. Denny is constantly traveling because of his job being a professional race car driver. Enzo is an intelligent and wise dog. He sees and hears everything that goes on in his family’s life that no one else sees or hears. Denny’s life changes dramatically when a family member passes away unexpectedly. He is going through pain and depression from losing his loved one. He has to stop his professional driving car and work locally to take care of his daughter, Zöe. After the horrible loss of his family member, he accused of allegations and is taken to court for multiple things. His daughter is taken away and he is fighting to get  Zöe back.

Both these books are heart felt books where anyone can relate and feel the emotions of what the characters are going through. Each book is unique and different but in a weird way.  Both books are also so much alike because both characters have to go through a journey of trying to help themselves and family members to overcome obstacles. The common themes of both of these books are death and family. Each book has a different view on death and trying to get over a lost family member. For example, in the book Love is a Mix Tape, Rob goes into a depressed stage in life where he just wants to be by himself. He smokes and walks by himself. While in the book, The Art Of Racing In The Rain, Denny will have go back to work and deal with the court case as well as the loss. Love is a Mix Tape and The Art Of Racing In The Rain both have main characters trying to deal with the loss of a loved one and both characters handle it differently but at the same time, they have similar actions. These two books talk about deep and serious topics, I would recommend these books for teens or adults to read.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading these two books and I would recommend these books to other people to read. I would rate the book Love is a Mix Tape 4 stars out of 5 stars because there were certain things I liked and other things I didn’t care for. I like the writing style of the book and how it had fun elements.  Before each chapter, you read a play list of different songs that relate to it and the artist who sang the songs. For example, the play list would have Aerosmith, R.E.M, Foo fighters, Prince, U2 and many more artists. I thought that the playlists were entertaining and fun and I really liked the author’s writing style.   The author has a long history with music and he appreciated how it helped him throughout his life. For example, Rob misses cassette tapes as evident by this statement, “You hear something you like, and you press rewind to go back to it. But you can’t rewind the tape to the same place again. So you start fresh.” (219)  This quote also is metaphor about how you can’t always stay in one spot or one moment in life and how you can always start over. I thought the book was funny and even had moments when the main character Rob was going through a hard time in his life that he could bring humor to. The negative side of the book is that it was sometimes hard to relate to because the author wrote about the 80’s and 90’s music time period. Sometimes the book would be talking about a certain singer or song and I had no clue who it was or what they were talking about. The plus side of that was that it was fun looking up certain songs and listening to the music that the book talked about. So, I would recommend this book if you like music and want to learn about 80’s and 90’s music time period. If you like to read books with humor, good character development, and easy reading, this book is for you.

The Art Of Racing In The Rain is an excellent book that I truly liked. I would rate this book 5 star out of 5 stars because it was so good. The Art Of Racing In The Rain is a deep and wonderful story to read. This book is so different from the typical book because it is written from a dog’s view.  As you read this book, you can imagine what dogs really think and what they see on a daily basis. Enzo (the dog) is a fun character and is so wise. Enzo helps his family through the rough times and would do anything to protect his family. Enzo is sweet and funny dog who talks about how much he loves his master, Denny and race cars. Enzo relates “but a racer should not be afraid of rain; a racer should embrace the rain. I, alone, could manifest a change in that which was around me.” (44) Enzo also has a funny personality that will make you laugh, like in the book Enzo said “Those monkey-thumbs were meant for dogs.” (17)  The author does a really good job writing this book.  The book has an interesting view about the afterlife for dogs and for life in general.  Anyone who likes dogs, racing, cars, and family should read this book. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys humor, sad books, well written books, interesting characters, and plot development.

Post 6

Literary Fiction V. Genre Fiction

In my opinion, I feel like genre fiction is not less “worthy” than literary fiction because many people enjoy reading both genre and literary fiction. I feel like both types of fiction are equally valuable to read. I do not think that genre fiction is less worthy to teach in a school’s curriculum. In fact, I feel that some popular books that are genre fiction like The Hunger Games, Water for Elephants, The Road, and many other contemporary books could be beneficial to students and help students become more interested in reading.  Just reading literary fiction focuses on classic novels like Of Mice and Men or Lord of the Flies and these may not appeal to all readers. I feel that there is a difference between genre fiction and literary fiction because genre fiction is usually easier reading and appeals to a wider audience. I do not feel that their popularity shows less artistic value therefore, I do feel that genre fiction can be a great work.

What should Schools do?

I agree with Readicide and think that schools are ruining reading for kids in schools. Schools take some of the greatest and historically famous books that people have been reading for generations in schools like Romeo and Juliet, The Cather in the Rye, Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mocking Bird, and The Scarlet Letter and tarnish the value of the story by having students memorize characters, storylines, and test on the novel in preparation for standardized exams.  A lot of people might think the books in high school are boring and pointless to read, but in reality, it may be our school systems that are responsible for teaching these classic books in a boring way. The schools should teach the students to enjoy reading and discussing the book instead of just giving kids pop quizzes after the chapters so they can quickly get through the book. A lot of teachers focus on teaching students how to take tests and they don’t really focus on the classic itself. I am not opposed to adding more genre fiction to the curriculum because teachers need to make it fun for the students to read and if this means adding a variety of novels, then I feel this will benefit the students.  I feel that if the classic books like Macbeth or the Great Gatsby were taught in a more interesting manner, then students would appreciate these classics and enjoy reading. Shakespeare‘s Macbeth or Hamlet may be more fun to read in school it students were acting the play out and explaining the book instead of just reading and taking a test. I think that schools could make some of these classic books more exciting to read and also swap out some of the classics and add a few popular books from the best seller list to make reading more stimulating. If schools did add some books from the best sellers list like The Help, the Cinderella Man, or Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close then more students would be engrossed in reading and this would ultimately improve reading skills, grammar and literary interest. Schools could teach different writing styles, character development, talk about why these books are on the best seller list, and discuss the uniqueness of these books. A balance of literary fiction and genre fiction would probably suit most of the students better than focusing on one specific type of fiction.

The Lucky One Book Trailer