Post book thoughts

So, I've finished it. The book I mentioned before. Before I start into that, the keyboard I'm using to write is trash. I imagine that the people who installed them on these library computers thought they were more effective, more economical. It has been like a week or so since I submitted my last post, so the new keyboards must have been installed since then, obviously. The keyboards I prefer are the ones with keys that are probably now considered over sized. The ones I like make a certain comforting sound. I can't explain it. The city of Plano puts a lot of money into their public libraries and to me there haven't been improvements lately. The checkout and return stations are highly automated. Even new bogus orange chairs have been placed throughout the three floors of the library this week. It's all a big mess if you ask me.

The biggest upside to finishing the book is to know there will be another. Arlo Finch and the Valley of Fire will be the former and Arlo Finch in the Lake of the Moon will be the latter. One of the things I struggled with while reading the first book was the setting. I live in a flat area devoid of any great hills and mountains. The in depth descriptions of the outdoors drew blanks for me. I haven't spent much time outdoors and because of that I had a hard time picturing the setting in my head. I'm not a boy scout (past age 10) either. This book showed me that there are so many cool things boy scouts do and I had trouble grasping. The sled construction, knot tieing, and the compass signaling were the most hard to follow.

The use of technology in the book tries hard to connect with what is modern. I think smart phones and advanced technology like Skype make it hard for a fantasy novel to answer "Why can't anyone take a picture or video of what is happening?". I think the author tried to explain that technology doesn't work in the magical areas of the book. I felt like he did, but I can't remember a more specific example.

From the beginning of the book, I had a mental image in my head of the house Arlo would be staying in. I couldn't help but think that the house would have bore a resemblance to the house in the movie Big Fish. The house in Big Fish I'm talking about is the one that the giant moves to an upright position. Because I quickly had that image in my head from the start, whenever something happened in the book that made me question my assumption, I just assumed the book was wrong! I've been attached to Big Fish since I first saw it in Mrs. Heck's 11th grade high school creative writing class.

Every time I felt I was lost or missing something, the answer was usually in the very near pages of the book. I liked thinking that the book had me locked in when I found the answers to my questions when they appeared. It felt like I was connecting with the book and the author was saying: "You've got it! Keep Going!"

As I am about to return the book to the library, I realized I have made an error. I thought the return date was November 14th, but as it turns out, the receipt clearly says November 4th. Three days ago. It's time to see how much money I owe. After, I will spend an amount larger than that to secure my own copy.

Back at it

I don't know if I can ever write like I used to given the circumstances, but I'm going to try. At this point in my life I want to try and take in more information in the form of reading. Movies are great, but I want to read. Maybe it will improve my writing? I'm reading this book right now and I am heavily critical of it. I want to think I could write and be just as interesting or more so than the author. Who am I to take someone's work and be so critical of it? I'm just some guy with no qualifications. Sure, I've taken some creative writing courses in high school and college, but when do you get to a point where your opinion is considered reputable? I'm lucky the author is someone I like and is writing to the target audience of preteens. I'm happier about the latter especially because I am more able to read it carefully and correctly.

I struggle a lot with reading but I feel a sense of purpose when I finish a chapter or just flip to a new page. If that is work then I want to work there. I want to try and start reading roughly one book per month. I'm not for sure how I feel about the aforementioned October book I'm reading now. I think I like it so far but I need to know how it ends. I do know that I don't want to write about my thoughts and comments on it until I finish it. I feel like I'm back in middle school while reading this book. I fit the target audience except I'm fifteen years or so above it. One thing I will say is that I'm pretty sure I already know what I physically want to do with the book. My family is full of men and boys that are either current or former boy scouts, which is the same as most characters in the book. I'm hoping if I gift this book and they do decide to read it, they will like it as much as I have so far.

I think the book isn't very predictable. I'm roughly 75% of the way through it and I can honestly say that I don't know what is left in the other 25%. I'm not sure if that makes for good writing or not? Should the author be leaving you with enough clues and foreshadowing so that you can guess what is coming next? Or is it a better book when you don't know what to expect? It depends on the book I guess. I'm happy to be back reading and writing. Hopefully I will have more specific, positive things to say about the book. I'm not sure if I will post again without having finished it, but we'll see how it goes.