Hard Times of Hannah Baker

"There are thirteen sides to every story."

Thirteen Reasons Why is a book about a teenage girl who committed suicide. It takes place after her death when a friend of hers finds an audio tape collection. Listening to the tapes, he finds out that she left them for specific people to hear after she died, in order to help them realize that their actions made her miserable, and to seek revenge on them by making them feel bad.

Reminiscing on her past, she explains why she made certain decisions, and what was going through her head at the time. There are two narrators to the story, one is Hannah Baker telling her story, while the other is Clay Jensen. Each thing Hannah discusses in the book is apart of the bigger picture, it is a snowballing attempt.

The tapes were intended to be passed between the thirteen people who greatly impacted her choice for suicide. The first tape is about her love for her first real boyfriend, and how he betrayed her. The small role he played in her life, changed the dynamics of her social life for the rest of high school. As a new student in high school, Hannah relied on a few girls when she started school, one of which was Jessica. Her first boyfriend, Alex, turned Jessica and Hannah against each other.

Basically, other people's actions caused Hannah to become miserable. While the actions may have seemed harmless at the time, in the greater spectrum, they all impacted Hannah's life tremendously. When Alex makes the school think that Hannah is promiscuous, when she is not, Hannah becomes heartbroken. After Jessica leaves a scar above Hannah's forehead the school became infatuated with hearing the tales of Hannah Baker.  A creepy boy named Tyler, fueled the fire by sneaking yp on her and sending nude photos of her to the entire school. This only made her reputation worse, and the rumors started by a seemingly innocent girl didn't help Hannah's situation.  The book goes on to reveal the true Hannah Baker, and the hardships she personally dealt with in high school.

While spilling out her thoughts and feelings into this tape, the boy who uncovered them gets to know the real Hannah Baker, even though she was dead. He begins to fall in love with her, although it is too late. It is quite tragic. This book is a heartbreaking, and eye opening. Although the book is fiction, it makes the reader think realize that what you say and do, effects more than just you, and in ways you may have never intended, or even thought of. I give this book a four out of five tapes, because it was very intriguing and well written.

Charles Kuralt's America

Charle's Kuralt's America is an autobiography. Charles was a well known journalist, he lived from 1934 to 1997. Charles worked with CBS for most of his life, and started there when he was 22. He said that he was in love with his job. He says that his job was what gave him a reason to live. This was because CBS gave him traveling, excitement, and eventually a bit of fame and fortune. After 37 years of working with CBS, Charles grew tired of being in an office. His regular Sunday morning program wasn't for him anymore, so he retired, and wanted to go on adventures before he died. 

This book is a collection of Charles travels through America. The first adventure he writes about it going to New Orleans. This is his first adventure sense leaving CBS. He relaxes, explores the city, and meets many new people. As a journalist, Charles is used to interviewing people. He talks to people to learn about their culture, and their families. While in New Orleans he learns about the African American culture in the South. 

After he travels to New Orleans, he goes to KeyWest. He went on boats and again explored the city. While he is there met many new people, and roamed the beautiful beaches to see what they had to offer. Later he traveled to Charleston, South Carolina. Here he went to museums and and learned a lot about the history of America. 

He goes on to talk of his travels to North Carolina, Alaska, Minnesota, Maine, Montana, Vermont, New Mexico, and New York City. Charles uses a descriptive diction and goes into details of what he encounters on his journeys. Not only does he talk about the geography of each place, but the people and the culture. 

This book captivated some of the best things about America, as well as the things that aren't as great. Reading this book was like traveling across the country with Charles. I had a personal connection to this book, because my Grandmother actually met Charles on one of his adventures. Charles had a special way of connecting with people, which you could tell from his book. Although the book was a little monotonous, I enjoyed this read, it has the power to open a readers mind to the different people and cultures throughout America.

I give this book four out of five fish, because Charles often talked about his love for fishing in the book.

Marley and Me

Marley and Me

Carly Lansche

Marley and Me is a story of a rambunctious young dog, who will never be forgotten. A young couple, John and Jenny, are ready to start their lives together. They decide the first addition to their small family should be a dog, because it is good practice for having children. They wanted a Labrador Retriever, and when they went to adopt the dog, one stood out. They took home Marley, the young puppy that stood out to all the rest.

After taking Marley home, the couple soon realized how crazy he was. It seemed as though his energy was endless, he tore up their house, drooled on their guests, broke through a screen door, and ate almost everything he could, including jewelry. John and Jenny tried everything to settle him down, but nothing would work. As crazy as he was, the couple loved the dog, he didn’t have bad intentions, he had a kind heart. 

Through John and Jenny’s  first pregnancy and miscarriage, Marley played an important  role in their hearts. Marley and Me is a heart warming story of the love between humans and dogs. It is written in first-person, and has a laid back, casual kind of diction. It makes you feel as though you are experiencing what the Grogan family experienced having Marley as their pet.  

Subject: The subject of this book is mainly about the love between a dog and a family. It is unique because the reader can connect to it, how you understand the love the family has for Marley, and how they love him while he is obnoxious all at once. 

Occasion: The setting of this story is modern times, in a classic American town. The reality of John and Jenny starting a family, and having a crazy dog effects the setting of the story, they have to move houses to accommodate their needs.

Audience:  In my opinion, I think that this piece was for anyone who has is kind hearted, and understands the love that takes place in this story. 

Purpose: I think that John Grorgan’s purpose for writing this story is almost a healing process. It is a reflection on the good, and the bad of being Marley’s owner, and about life itself. 

Style: The style of Marley and Me is personal, casual, and relatable. It is not written to mean anything but what it means. It is to the point, something I love when reading. 

Tone: The tone of the author really does just depend on what is happening at the time in the book, for instance when Marley is destroying something you can tell it annoyed him, but you can still tell that he adores Marley and his innocence.  When Marley becomes sick, you can tell in the tone of his writing how sad it makes him, and how it hurts him to see Marley like that.  

I give Marley and Me, four out of five Marley's. 

OBAMA CARES

The 2013 Presidential Election is headed our way. We read about past elections in our history books. With each election, the fate of millions of Americas lives lay in its hands. This year the top candidates are Barrack Obama (Democrat) and Mitt Romney (Republican). In my opinion, Obama would be the best vote.

There are many reasons why to vote for Obama rather than Romney. For instance, with Obamas tax plans the U.S. economy will be strengthened. He will create new jobs, which will help Americans. The American Jobs Act, will provide jobs for Americans by giving tax breaks to companies in need. He says that “most jobs come from small businesses.”  Unlike Obama, Romney does not believe in raising taxes to help Americans gain jobs. Romney once said, “I don’t like taxes, and as governor I cut taxes 19 times and didn’t raise taxes.”

  Another area Obama would be a better vote than Romney is the fact that he would give federal funding to stem cell Research. This is important because stem cell research helps doctors understand birth disorders, the use of certain drugs on the body,  and is a step closer to curing cancer. Research shows that with stem cell research has helped find cures for leukemia, as well as help rebuild good cells lost in chemotherapy. It has countless ways of helping people, that have yet to be discovered. 

  A topic up for serious debate in our country is the use and legalization of medicinal  and recreational Marijuana use. Many studies have been done on this plant, and many have come out positive. It can help ease the pain of many medical conditions, including glaucoma, schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, anorexia, multiple sclerosis, and more.  Obama is for the use of Medicinal Marijuana, saying that it is similar to a doctor prescribing morphine or any other drug. Romney stands on the other side however, saying that it is a gateway drug, and leads to crime. Both of his stances here, have been proved wrong in many different studies.

Obama is more open minded to change, while Romney seems to be stuck in the past. He is old fashioned, which isn’t always a bad thing, but in todays day and age it isn’t always perceived as a good thing. For instance Romney isn’t for making gay marriage legal. Obama is not against same sex marriage, and doesn’t discriminate against it. He believe that same sex couple have the same rights as anyone else to get married. 

Obama is also for securing woman’s rights to abortions, and birth control. Meanwhile, Romney is on a completely different side of the spectrum, he is Pro-Life, meaning that he is against abortions. Obama wants to protect a woman’s right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, despite her reasons; may it be sexual abuse, or a teenage pregnancy. 

All in all, I believe Obama would make a better president for America. I like where he stands in topics such as Marijuana, abortions, stem cell research, gay marriage, and etc.  He is more open minded to what people want and believe in.

"Am I physically attracted to Pamela Anderson? Of course. But the more I see her, the more I realize I'm not looking at a person I'd like to sleep with; I'm looking at America."

Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs is a book on pop culture, written by Chuck Klosterman. It relates things in life to things in pop culture, explaining how they effect each other. He uses examples of video games, music, movies, magazines, sports, celebrities, and more to how we perceive the "real" world.

This book is a collection of essays, most are based on his experiences in life and his ideas for why pop culture is the way it is. I think this book was written for people who are at least ten to twenty years older than I am. He relates almost everything he says to bands, T.V. shows, and movies that my generation is completely oblivious to. If this book was written for younger generations I could relate to perhaps I would have liked it better. For example he states that "a program like The Man Show is legitimately negative for society, but not because it is misogynistic; The Man Show is socially negative because it actively tried to prove an inaccurate hypothesis that too many woman believe: The premise of The Man Show is that all men think exactly the same way." Unfortunately, I have never seen or heard of The Man Show, and most of the other things he uses as references in his book. And sense he never says what The Man Show is about, or most of the other things he refers to in the book, I am completely lost.


Chuck Klosterman is a smart man, with many, many, many, many, many opinions. He is so opinionated that is almost makes me sick. His entire book Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs is entirely made up of opinions. Sometimes he may throw a fact or two into the mix, but never something that can be proven with numbers and actually mean anything significantly.


One example he uses in the book is Sims. Sims is the video game creating a virtual reality. He basically says that the reason why Sims is so popular, or was, was because it gave people the chance to create what they have always wanted in life. He expressed frustration with his own Sim when he had to constantly buy it new toys to make it happy. He says that this represents the way the real world is now. For example, according to Klosterman Sims is "a game about experiencing life, and experiencing it in the most mundane fashion possible."Basically Klosterman can create an opinion about literally nothing. For instance  he stated that "nothingness still has a weight and a mass and a conflict."

I never usually dislike a book completely, but this book was not good at all in my opinion. I still give Chuck Klosterman credit for taking the time to write down his opinions on everything and make it into a book, but this book was not for me. Although it was well written, I was not a fan of the context. I give this book a three out of five Sims Diamonds.

Picture of Chuck Klosterman

"May the odds be ever in your favor. . ."

When a book can make you forget reality, it can be one of the sweetest type of escape from the world. When you no longer see the words on the page, but a movie playing in your head; you know you're reading a great book. Reading can take you anywhere you want, anywhere in the world, and sometimes even out of this world. My favorite type of book is always one that escapes reality. These types of books make you think and explore your imagination. Hunger Games is my favorite book, for these reasons listed above.

Suzanne Collins, author of the Hunger Games Trilogy, beautifully created a heart wrenching action packed story. The story took place in the future, and had an intense story line from the beginning. Not only was it filled with action, make believe, drama, but also it also dealt with love. The main character, Katniss Everdeen, took her sisters place in a competition required by law that select people fight til death. The competition is held every year to remind people of what it is like without the government. A boy and girl from every district in the country are tributes to the game. Each tribute is selected by drawing someones name, although some may volunteer to take someone else's place. This is what Katniss Everdeen did for her nine year old sister Prim Rose. 

To win the Hunger Games, you must be the only survivor. Filled with unexpected events and dangers such as; "Tracker Jackers," and fire balls targeting you, the games are no easy task. You must kill all other competitors to win. With Katniss's courage, strength, and smarts she is able to win the game, and even changes the rules. With the boy from her district, Peeta Mellark, she wins the audience over, as well as the game. By pretending to be in love with Peeta, they both make it out of the competition alive. Although, Katniss is really in love with her childhood best friend Gale.  This is record breaking and shows people that the government can be broken and changed. People rebel with Katniss and Peeta as their influence. This makes the two targets for the government. 

This book is entertaining to people of all ages. Both young and old, people can relate to Katniss's torn heart between Peeta and Gale. Her insane courage and smarts captivate's peoples mind, and excite them as she bends the rules. The story gives the reader a certain pleasure. You feel as though you are in the story with them, and it seems real. It is hard to put down the book when you are jumping to know what happens on the next pages.

I believe that this story will be read for generations to come, because sense it is futuristic people can always find interest in it. The writing is easy to comprehend, making it enjoyable for readers of all ages.  The imaginative side of things makes the story intriguing and lures you in to find out what happens next. The Hunger Games is my favorite book, no doubt. 

Favorite Book

My favorite book is the Hunger Games.