Roger Deakin’s observation of nature around him and his farm is minute, but never boring. With keen eyes and adroit hearing, he brings to life animals and their sounds, plants, trees, wind, and seasons. His observations lead him off into philosophical thoughts, or into humour, or through one into the other. But even with thoughts drifting, he never becomes either disjointed or chaotic in the flow of his ruminations.

If you like the countryside and are not living there, this book makes you hear and smell wet grass, hay, and fallen leaves. Deakin’s many observations about spiders, frogs, trees, and squirrels will remind you of times spent outdoors. It is not a wild book about the wilderness, but an orderly book about orderly country life with its joys and its sorrows, its complaints and its rewards.

I am no friend of posthumously published books. They usually seem like disjointed limbs being put together the wrong way; or they feel like the dustbin has been emptied on the desk and just been scanned. Not so here, where the book, I suspect, is more of an entity than the original diaries ever were.

When I had finished, I felt I had rushed through the book, though I had taken my time to read it. It is a book that lends itself to slow reading with long thoughts in between sentences or paragraphs. Ideally, I think, it should be read season by season and in season to get the feel for its ebb and flow. I will put it aside now, and take it up again in spring.

            For the average person, this may not be the easiest novel to connect with.  However, this novel can be connected to many movies like The Perfect Storm and Titanic, in the sense that they both have to do with being isolated in the middle of the sea, and have to do with the ship sinking. Furthermore, this novel could connect with other stories like The Cay, or Apollo 13 in the sense that they both explore isolation.  But it would be difficult for someone to personally connect with this story.

             Overall In the Heart of the sea story is an interesting story. The plotline is somewhat bland, and after an enraged sperm whale rams the Whale ship Essex, the storyline soon falls apart. However, there are some interesting parts, for example        “With barley a pound of crackers left, the crew dared to speak of something that had been on everyone’s mind, weather they should eat, in stead of bury the body.” This quote is a good example of how Philbrick shows how desperate the crewmembers were after their ship sunk about 1400 miles away from South America.  It is an interesting read, especially at times like this.  There were many exiting parts. For example when the ship was rammed, this go the slow story going.  Before the Essex sunk, the story was quite boring, but soon people started eating dead bodies. Overall the first half of the book is quite boring and bland, but after the climax, the book starts getting tip-of-your-seat, heart-pounding interesting.

            The Heart of the Sea contains many literary devices that make it worthy of literary recognition. Many colorful similes, metaphors, and personifications are used. For example: “ as darkness approached on the first day, the wind built steadily, kicking up a steep, irregular chop.”  In this one sentence, there are three creative personifications that add some pizzazz to the text. There are however, some parts of the story that are flat and bland. Unfortunately this takes away from the novel. At points of interest the story is able to come to life with a plethora of similes, metaphors, personifications, ironies and much more.

            In the Heart of the Sea challenges the thinking of readers.  It makes one think, “What would I do in a situation like this?” it makes them question their actions, and expands their minds. For example: (see quote paragraph 2) it makes one wonder “would I rather eat a dead human, or die of starvation?” this novel puts the structure of the human mind to the test.  The countless taboos that the crew performs are only part of the novel. This novel makes people see life in a new way, and thank that whaling was illegalized. This novel wasn’t only a source of entertainment; it was an experience as well.

All in all In the Heart of the Sea is a well-crafted novel that is known to many as “worthy of literary merit.”

These days, I see teenagers on the streets paying more attention to their I-pods and smart-phones. They don't seem to have the patience or desire to pick up a good novel and read through an enticing storyline. Then again, who can blame them? With all of the technology available at our disposal - television, the internet, cell phones - books are, to the average person, old-fashioned.

Many people consider books to be boring. And why read a book when you can watch a movie about it? They say an image is worth a thousand words. Well, a thousand words takes a while to read, whereas one image in a movie takes about 5 seconds to show, and it fulfills the same role as 1,000 words do.

That's not to say I hate technology - I don't. Personally, I think it's the best thing that has ever introduced to our civilization. But I'm just concerned that one day in the future, libraries might no longer carry books. All of the information will be stored electronically, or available in documentary movies.

So if life continues on its present course, will books soon become obsolete and a part of our history, just like tape cassettes and record players? I'll leave you to answer that question.

Charlie Wilcox Quotes

1.“At first I thought I’d go with him, back to the hospital, and then onto England, Blighty they call it…”(Pg.35, P.7)

I learned England is called Blighty.

2.“At first glance it looked like the floor was painted red.  He sniffed.  Blood.  There was blood everywhere.”(Pg.37, P.1)

I learned that everything is covered with blood, and many of the wounds where people get put in carts to go to the FDS, are shot wounds.

3.“You could smell them from a distance---blood, piss, petrol, and enough shell fire to scorch the nose and back of the throat.”(Pg.37, P.2)

I learned that the trenches really stink.  I also learned that shell fire leaves a smell.

4.“He spent the rest of the day removing bodies, or bits of bodies.  Occasionally they found someone alive.”(Pg.38, P.8)

I learned that the trenches are filled with bodies, or parts of bodies that were torn off by rats, or blown off by shell fire.  Many of these people are dead not wounded.

5.“Heard they they’ve regrouped in the St. John’s trench, what’s left of’em, plus the 10 percent they held back in reserve.”(Pg.39, P.6)

I learned that 10 percent of the regiment is held back in reserve before the battle.

6.“Just then a water-resistant rat paddled happily through the foul black sludge that covered the trench floor.”(Pg.42, P.5)

I learned that the trenches are filled with a black sludge and rats.

7.“I’m looking for volunteers to go on a raiding party tonight.  Capture a few Boche.  There’s a week’s pass in England for any who come back alive.”

            “What does he mean come back alive?”

(Pg.43/44, P.11/1)

I learned that if you go on a raiding party, you generally don’t come back alive.

8.“Phil scratched his chest too.  Fact was both of them were alive with lice.  Charlie knew the signs.  A blind man would know the sight of lice making a meal of the body.  They could do a man in, drive him crazy.”(Pg,44, P.9)

I learned that there are lice, living on the soldiers, and that they eat the body.

9.“There was black bread, hard cheese, a can of stew, and a can of plum and apple jam to share.”(Pg.47, P.3)

I learned that the rations are very bad, as they are hard cheese, and black bread, both of which don’t sound very appetizing.

10.“They heard a sound, thunk---like a fist coming down on a table.

            “Down! Sniper!”  The soldiers all threw themselves down onto the soggy duckboards and lay there, as still as dead men.”(Pg.48, P.3+4)

I learned that there is a sound made when sniper’s fire, and that you can hear it all the way across no man’s land.  Also when the soldiers hear the sound,  they throw themselves down to hopefully avoid the bullet.

11.“It was a haunting, ravaged place, a moonscape.  The once green, rolling French hills were now black, and pockmarked with craters---some as big as a house, others small enough to camouflage a single German machine gun and gunner.  The sounds of German artillery had been replaced by the ping, ping of snipers bullets as they hit the curly barbed wire that lay in fierce loops along the battlefield.”(Pg.57/58, P.9/1)

I learned that no man’s land is ravaged with craters from artillery, and all grass is gone too.  I also learned that there is barbed wire along the battlefield, in front of the trenches.

12.“Mother!”  The soldiers body went into a spasm, vibrating and quaking.”(Pg.60, P.5)

I learned that when dying, or in serious pain, the soldiers would scream for their mother, and lose control of their body.

13.“The place reeked of blood, iodine, urine, and antiseptic.”

I learned that the Field Dressing Stations stink of blood, and the other materials listed above, because they can’t clean it because too many patients have to be tended.

14.“Giant cucumber-shaped zeppelins often cruised silently across the night sky, dropping little bomb bundles at anything that twinkled.  They seldom hit much, but they were a nuisance.”(Pg.89, P6)

I learned that planes fly across the Allies territory, and drop bombs at night, trying to injure soldiers.

15.“Most of the wounded would be patched up and tossed back lie fish into a stream.  The next biggest group was made up of “Blighty wounds” bound for England. Lucky was the soldier with a Blighty wound.”(Pg.97, P.4)

I learned that people with serious wounds are sent back to Blighty. 

16.“But it all looked clean from up there.  Tidy.  No smells.  No rats.  No decay.  The war in the air was a tidy affair, different from the war on the ground.”(Pg.138, P.4)

I learned that the war in the air is completely different than on the ground,  nothing stinks and there is no evidence.

17.“In the middle of the dugout, flanked by three other cots, stood a scarred wooden desk with a lantern on top.  A small coke brazier squatted in another corner.  The place stank of paraffin, tobacco, and damp mud.”(Pg.189, P.5)

I learned that even the best living conditions in the trenches, which is the dugouts, are very poor.

18.“Down!” Tom had heard the sizzle of a flare going up.  He and Charlie dove into a shallow sap.”(Pg.206, P.2)

I learned that flares are sent up to try and allow snipers to see targets at night, and if they are seen moving a sniper will shoot them.

19.“Daw had made Tom a permanent stretcher-bearer, which, despite the added danger, was to Tom’s liking.”(Pg.196, P.2)

I learned that being a stretcher-bearer is more dangerous than being a regular soldier.

20.“And it had been said that a pilot would try harder to land his plane safely f he knew he couldn’t bail out.  Planes were more valuable than pilots, that’s what the brass thought.  Now the German pilots, they were protected by armored plates and wore parachutes.”(Pg.136/137, P.8/1)

I learned that the German’s protect their pilots more than the British.  And the British don’t get parachutes or armored planes.

The pendant is also made from an unbreakable crystal with gold and an unknown red crystal at its centre which glows red when a portal is near.  When the red centre is touched the portal will open.  When the pendant is first touched it becomes part of the wearer and only that wearer can use it.  If lost, the pendant will always find its way back to its wearer.

CHARACTER PROFILE

 MERLINA CHAMBERS:   She is 18 years old with long wavy black hair and dark brown eyes. Her mother is Thai  while her father is white.  She stands at 5 feet 5 tall and has just started university which she doesn't enjoy.  She is a tomboy.

 FREYA McCAIN:    She is 19 years old and has shoulder dark length blonde hair and blue eyes. She stands at 5 feet 6 inches tall and is Merlina's room mate at university.  She is also a tomboy.  Both girls love fantasy and sci-fi.

 ARTIMIS:    He is around 25 years old with shoulder length wavy black hair and bright green eyes that appear to look like cats eyes.  He stands at 5 feet 9 inches tall and is slightly muscular.  He comes from another dimension and is telepathic, telekinetic, and can make his skin blend into any environment.

 ASHER:-    She is 14 years old. She has long red hair and green eyes.  She is also from another dimension and joins the team while trying to escape from her captures.  She can listen to nature and shapeshift into any animal she sees.

I am a traveller.  I travel far and wide.  I am also on the run from the people I thought were my friends and family.  They tried to change things that shouldn't have been changed.  I want to put them right, put them back the way they should have been.  But they want to stop me.  They follow me everywhere, trying to guess where I will be next.  But some still continue to change things.  I am Artimtis and this is my story.

Appearance - In the story, Tom was a horse veterinarian. This is why I chose to have a picture of a man with a horse. He was also thin and of the same build as the man in the picture. This is why I chose this picture to represent Toms' appearance.   Relationship - In the beginning of the story, Sally is in love with Professor Clyve. He is the youngest person, age 16, to ever graduate college with a medical degree. Sally is also into medicine and the codex is a book of over 2,000 old Mayan remedies that Professor Clyve can translate. Sally finds Tom and they fall in love, a stronger love than she has for Professor Clyve. This is why I chose a kissing couple on a beach because I represents their love.  

Conflict - One of the greatest conflicts that Tom had in the book is Man vs. Beast. He was strong and willing to go on even after the conflict, didn't have anything against himself, and had the motivation to find his father; this is why I didn't make his conflict Man vs. Self. He was attacked by a jaguar which was following him for days. After he was attacked and while trying to save Sally, he was jumped on by it, and it was lunging for his neck and he stabbed it with a machete. this is why I chose this as one of his great conflicts in the story.  

Quote - This quote: "I don't need the money, I'm happy as a horse vet." shows he is a great person and is not consumed by greed even though his father was rich. It also tells about his happiness in life and shows that he is neither poor nor rich.  

Transformation - In the jungle everyone in their group, including Tom, was transformed from modern back to primal. They learned to make hammocks from grasses and remedies from trees and leaves. Tom and the whole group realized they no longer needed modern technologies to live in the jungle and find Maxwell Broadbent. This is why I chose the picture of a man turning back into an ape, contrary to the ape to man picture.

I thought the projects where well done. They had lots of information about their topic, and always had supporting facts. The projects had lots of pictures as examples of the deformations and such. They had examples of real people, or history facts that stated what they where talking about. The projects where visually animated, which made them interesting to watch. Every topic was clear and very well explained. Some projects had compressions like the one about Freak shows; it had a section about the 19th century freaks and today's freaks. The project about the deformation diseases had examples of different diseases which caused the deformations. I thought all the projects where well made and presented, which taught me a lot.

There are many seemingly unrelated plotlines in Bare Bones: The skeleton of an infant is found in a woodstove and the suspect is one of Tempe’s acquaintances; During an outdoors party her dog runs off to find a bag of animal remains and one human bone thrown in the mix; A plane crashes where the passengers were apparently smuggling drugs and maybe something more sinister as well; A handless and headless skeleton is found in an outdoor privy on the farm near where the animal remains were uncovered. As all these events turn out to be intertwined after all, Tempe’s probing might be putting her own life and that of her daughter in terrible danger, but she doesn’t even know what exactly she’s not supposed to be looking into…

The first-person narrative makes you feel very close to Tempe, and you sympathise with her and the stranglehold her career has over her personal life, something that many successful women can certainly relate to.

The fact that in the very first page we are told about something that will happen at the  end, however, takes away some of the sense of immediacy and suspense that is the lifeblood of gripping thrillers. If this book lacks anything, it is a creepy atmosphere thick with fear and foreboding, but it certainly makes up for that with wit and unusual plot threads. Although the endless tangle of plotlines remains a bit confusing to the very end, you are not left feeling lost, and Reich’s style makes the scientific information and complicated nature of the evidence feel manageable.

This is a book that is easy to pick up and easy to put down. You get an entertaining read and you might just learn a thing or two about bones in the process.

In this touching fable, we follow the story of several mole generations through the decline of Duncton. The two central characters are timid Bracken and loving Rebecca, who is the daughter of the fearsome Mandrake, a mole that rules the system with iron talons.

Religion, ambition, greed, lust, love, tenderness, compassion and cruelty: William Horwood succeeds in enthralling the reader in the epic story as these emotions shape the happiness and destiny of an entire world. Only every so often are you reminded that this world is only a very small corner of rural England, and then you are brought back for a moment into your human skin, but only for a moment.

Horwood reminds us of the human side of animals, and the animal side of humans, as the unnecessary tragedy and destruction of war take their toll, and tragedy after tragedy wreaks havoc on the lives of these small creatures. They ask themselves the  timeless questions humans have asked since they developed reasoning. They wonder about the existence and nature of a higher power, which for them is embodied in a stone. They love and suffer and wonder what the point of it all is. They hate and cause hurt even to the ones they love, but sometimes they acquire the wisdom to learn from their mistakes.

This is a deeply philosophical book, but while the slow pace means it is not exactly a page-turner, it manages to entertain and move the reader, leaving you with an odd sense of peaceful sadness as you finish the last few pages.

The trip from my new school, Buckingham High (they were about the only ones that would take me after Pency), was about 6 hours. I had this god damn, guy reading a newspaper behind me. He was reading the funnies and kept laughing loudly every 10 seconds. There was a mother with a baby siting next to him. The baby continued to scream. I was about cry myself if, that guy didn't stop. Then some hot shot comes over and asks him for his ticket. I looked back to see the guy was fumbling through his pockets trying to find his ticket. The conductor had a very upright posture and a commanding voice. He started to get annoyed after a minute. As if he had something better to do. I hoped that the guy didn't have his ticket so the conductor would throw him off at the next stop. I really did. I mean, it was nothing personal, but no one could take anymore of his laughing. After another minute or so, he found the ticket. The conductor seemed satisfied and continued to walk down the isle.

Another hour went by and I started to feel kind of crummy again. I was worried about leaving Phoebe behind with all of those sellouts. A nice attendant came along with a cart of sweets and offered me some. She was very pretty. She had this very long, flowing blond hair that went down he back. I got a bag of chocolate pretzels, just for the hell of it. She had a very nice smile. Her teeth were nice and white and all of her teeth were straight. That is more then I could say for the girls at Buckingham High. I asked for a scotch and soda and for her to join me, suave as hell. She ignored me and wished me a nice day. She continued on to the next row of seats.

When the attendant move foreword, she bumped into a man that was sleeping across the isle from me. The man woke up and the attendant apologized. The man was dressed in a tuxedo that was unbuttoned and wrinkled. His bow tie was undone and siting on his shoulders. His sat up in his seat and looked around. He leaned over to me and asked me what time it was. The guy didn't have anyone siting next to him. "Quarter to two" I answered. The guy let out a sigh and ask me what stop I was getting off at. "All the way" I said. The man started lecturing me on how I can save my money and on spending it wisely, as he wiped the drool from his face. I couldn't help but think of how phony this guy is. I looked at how the tuxedo was custom tailored. And gave a very unenthusiastic "ya, right". He asked he if I was going to see my family there or if I was traveling with someone. I lied and said that I was riding with my dad and that he was getting me something to eat from the cafeteria car. I also said that I was going to meet my mother in Vermont. The man was very uninterested. He had this very empty look on his face. I returned the question. He said that he was traveling with his wife. I asked where she was. Judging by how long it took him to answer, I'd say that he was lying. I just nodded and he was quiet the rest of the trip.

I started to feel really lonely. I really did. This phony wasn't helping, so I moved up to the next car. Good timing as well, I could hear the guy laughing again behind me. I sat down and I looked out of the window. We slowed down to the next stop. Just behind the station, I could barely make out a pond. I pushed my face up against the glass and strained my eyes to see if there were any ducks. I was very tempted to get off my train and go see. I wondered if the ducks were still there. Who knows, maybe I would see them as they just started to fly away and see were they went. It was cold enough for the pond to be frozen over. I might have been able to see how they survive, but I was too worried about missing the train.

Another hour went by and New York was just two stops away. I was dreading that my father or grandparents would get on. It was getting to be that time when my father would get out of work, and he would sometimes take the train home. I took off my red hat which I forgot I was wearing. Some part of me almost wished that my father would get on, but he didn't.

Just across from me there were these teenagers that kept making googoo eyes at each other and kept mouthing I love you. The guy would mudder something in the girl's ear, and she would start giggling. They were such phonies. I wonder how long they have been going out. Probably only a week. I wanted to puke. They kept doing that until I got up and moved up to the next car. We were pulling into New York Station. I walk into the next car. As I walked in, all of the god damn passengers look at me and have all these phony smiles on. I couldn't believe it, I was ridding on the frickin phony express.

I couldn't help but think about how alone I was. No one here understood me. I though about Phoebe, and how she listened to me. Come to think of it, most of the time D.B listened to me as well. He might be a sellout, but at least he listened. Thought about my grandparents and how it has been almost forever since I saw them. I stood up and put my red hat on, and slid the front of it back the way I liked it. When the train stopped I was the first one off.