Book 1 Project Post #3

Book Project 1: The Night Circus

            Imagine being able to jump into the mysterious and exciting world Erin Morgenstern created in the bestselling novel, The Night Circus. Well, now you can! The Night Circus will be a traveling replica of Le Cirque de Rêves that is beautifully described in the book. The circus will only be open from sundown to sunup and contain all of whimsy and magic created by Celia and Marco, the main characters. The circus is open to everyone, whether you read the book or not. It will create a new way for fans to experience the different tents and also interest people who haven’t read it to pick up the book and read.

            The idea of the circus came straight from the main setting and plot of the book. When Hector and Alexander started the competition between Celia and Marco, they created the idea of the circus for the two magicians to battle there. Le Cirque de Rêves is described in the novel as a place that is filled with light and imagination. One of the characters says that the circus, “glows from the flames to lanterns to stars.” (Morgenstern 117). When the circus is brought to life, it will be as close to the book’s description as possible. The first thing that people will see when entering the Night Circus will be a huge archway of lanterns and hanging twinkle lights. This directly relates to the novel because one of Celia’s specialties, which is light. She manipulates light and fire when she performs her shows. In the Night Circus some of the exact tents and exhibits will be recreated. For example, one of the tents will be the Hall of Mirrors. In the book, patrons of the circus describes the tent as a complicated hall, “with floor-length unadorned planes of mirrored glass, as you half expected, but hundreds of mirrors of varying sizes and shapes, each in a different frame,” (Morgenstern 211). In the replica, the Hall of Mirrors will be almost exactly how it was in the novel. The two main characters, Marco and Celia, are magicians put in a competition but they were never told their opponent or when it will start. All they knew was that only one would survive the competition. They both worked for Le Cirque de Rêves and eventually fell in love. In the Night Circus, there would be two magicians playing Marco and Celia playing out their star-crossed love for the audience. People will be free to visit all of the tents at any time, but in the middle Celia and Marco will be performing. Another example of a tent that will come directly from the book is the acrobat show. “Acrobats, trapeze artists, aerialists are illuminated by dozens of round glowing lamps hanging from the top of the tent like planets or stars,” (Morgenstern 343). There will be very talented acrobats performing a magical routine much like the one in the novel. These are just a few tents or performances that will be held at the Night Circus.

            The Night Circus will bring attention to this best-selling novel because all of the fans will come out and attend and all non-readers will be curious to what it is. The mystery of the circus will be intriguing to the people of the town it’s visiting. People who haven’t read the book will be more likely to read it after they attended to the Night Circus. It will bring in more readers and it will keep the current readers engaged.

                

Reading Wishlist Post #10

Abbie's bookshelf: to-read

Lolita

by Vladimir Nabokov

tagged: to-read

Gone Girl

by Gillian Flynn

tagged: to-read

Living Dead Girl

by Elizabeth Scott

tagged: to-read

Matched

by Ally Condie

tagged: to-read

Please Ignore Vera Dietz

by A.S. King

tagged: to-read

Book 2 Trailer Post #9

Book Talk Post #8

Book 3 Listicle #6

5 Reasons My Life Next Door is the Modern Day Romeo and Juliet

                Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is the classic story of forbidden love. There have been many remakes and interpretations of the tale throughout the years, but My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick is strikingly similar. From feuding families to concerned friends, Shakespeare’s great piece of literature shows great comparisons to this new piece of chick-lit.

1.       Jase and Samantha are star-crossed lovers, very similar to Romeo and Juliet.

All her life, Samantha was so very jealous of the Garret family (Jase’s large family). She had always wanted to be a part of them somehow, but her mother did not approve. Just like in Romeo and Juliet, where the Montague's and Capulet’s are pitted against each other, the Reed family had a hatred for the fun-loving Garret family. So naturally, she forebode her daughter to have any ties to the Garret’s. But of course, Samantha and Jase fall in love without the knowledge of Grace.

2.       They had to keep their love a secret from Samantha’s mother.

Similarly to the secrecy Romeo and Juliet had to partake in, Sam and Jase also had to hide their forbidden love from Grace Reed. Throughout the novel, they participated in secret meetings and always met in their hideout spot. This shows parallels to Romeo and Juliet because whenever they were to meet, it had to be in secret. 

3.       Jase and Samantha fall in love very quickly.

Samantha had always known about Jase and the Garret family, but she never had any interactions with them because of her mother’s disapproval. After only meeting Jase a few times, Samantha knew she loved him. While describing the feeling of being with him, she says, “It was as if everything else in the world stops as we lie here in the summer night,” (Fitzpatrick 253). Jase and Samantha had a love very similar to Romeo and Juliet. Even though they knew each other a little bit longer than three days, like Romeo and Juliet, Sam and Jase fell very hard and very fast, in love.

4.       The “incident” at the end of the novel resembles all of the Tybalt-Mercutio-Benvolio drama.

Without giving away too much of the book, the end draws a few parallels to all of the conflict between Tybalt, Mercutio and Benvolio. Also throughout the book, Jase’s brothers are very similar to Mercutio, in a way that they always gave him advice. His brother was a bit of an anchor for Jase and they kept him level-headed. At the end of the novel, they is a large blowout between the families, much like the fight between Tybalt, Mercutio and Benvolio.

5.       Samantha spends a lot of her time on her balcony.

Most of the major scene’s in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet take place on Juliet’s balcony. This is also true in My Life Next Door. Samantha and Jase had been neighbors for their whole lives, alluded to in the title of the novel. Since Sam’s mother never let her hang out with her neighbors, the Garret’s, she was always watching from her balcony window. Also throughout the novel, Jase and Sam spend a lot of time sneaking in and out of Sam’s bedroom window. “I sit up, edge over close to my window, and push it open, then next turning back to Jase, ‘Come on’”(Fitzpatrick 301). This scene is almost identical to the famous balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet.

        Romeo and Juliet may have been written centuries ago, it still has its modern implications. Reading its modern day remakes gives us, as readers, a better understanding of classic literature. My Life Next Door may be a fluffy chick-lit novel, but it does draw some parallels to literary writing as formal as William Shakespeare.

Truth in Memoir Post #5

Blog Post 5

                Truth is a very important thing when writing non-fiction, but many people disagree on how much needs to be true. Some may say that when author’s embellish non-fiction, that they are violating the author-reader contract. I think that the only thing an author owes to their readers is an interesting, well written story. It doesn't matter whether or not a minute detail is accurate, but the overall message or story is the truth. With genres like memoir and autobiography, a lot of the author’s experiences are let up for their interpretation. As readers, we have to know that any author will do a bit of embellishing, but to add to the richness or depth of their story. I also think that readers should appreciate that an author is willing to tell their personal story through a memoir and should trust anything they do change or add is for the reader’s enjoyment.

                I don’t think that there is a fine line between fiction and non-fiction. The line between them blurs when getting into genres such as memoir and historic drama. As long as the outcome or the lesson learned throughout the story stays true, then all of the details are arbitrary. When people sit down to read a memoir, it shouldn't matter whether or not the author stayed one night in prison or nine months. Readers should not be picking up memoirs to nit-pick every detail of someone’s life. They should read and learn from the author’s message being ultimately portrayed in the book. 

Blog Post #1

Why I Read

I can't even remember a time where I wasn't in the middle of, starting or finishing a book. Even as a kid, I was constantly taking trips to Half Price Books with my mom, searching for something new and interesting to read. I have always been open to read anything from a sappy chick-lit novel to an encyclopedia of marine animals. Books have been a way to get away from anything stressful or just an excuse to not talk to people on a plane ride. Reading is an escape from the real world and a place where you can dive into a character's problems and conflicts. I love to read because books have a lot to teach us; from simple, things like facts and figures, to more abstract things, like life lessons. It doesn't matter what or how I read something, I always get some kind of knowledge out of it.