A Clockwork Orange

I am currently reading a A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess for my outside reading. I chose this novel because I'm really interested in crime shows and scary movies. I find it completely fascinating that someone's brain can work in such a way that they find murder not only acceptable, but also thrilling. Dystopian societies are so much more entertaining than utopian societies where everything has order, structure, and no real excitement. I love knowing I'm not completely safe in this world and that I have to show caution when going into certain situations. Not everything will be easy for me and nowhere near perfect, but I like knowing that, however strange that may seem. If I had everything handed to me on a silver platter and was never challenged I would lead a very boring lifestyle. The boys in my novel do what they want, when they want, and to whom they want. They love beating others to the ground, making them bleed and beg until they have no fight left in their bruised, damaged bodies. When they see a girl they want they rape her for the thrill of the action. The whole novel is brutal. I may say that I like knowing my world isn't perfect, but I wouldn't want to live in theirs. The novel was a good choice for me because I get a little of the thrill without being in any actual danger. 

Summer Reading

This summer I didn't have a lot of free time to do my reading because I worked at a camp in Minnesota for the month of June and then went on a medical mission trip to Ecuador. Somehow I found time to get everything done between trips to the lake and college visits. The two books I decided to read were Atonement by Ian McEwan and Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. I chose Never Let Me Go because I had watched the movie with my mother and was interested in the story line. The book actually made me angry to the point where I can't even explain why I got so worked up. I feel like it's completely wrong to clone people just so they can donate their organs to the lucky members of society who will then live to be over 100 years old. It is seriously disgusting to think that people could ever be so heartless as to force people into dying for them. The book had some similarities with the movie but I appreciated the book a lot more. When I first started reading Atonement I wanted to find another book right away. It wasn't interesting and I didn't think there was any way that a little girl could commit as big of a crime as the back cover led me to believe. It ended up being one of my favorite books I've read for school. The relationship between Cecilia and Robbie was the best part of the book to me, except for when Robbie was at war. I'm really glad summer reading is over because I stayed up all night the night before it was due to get it done. Not fun.