Tina

toc

=Book Review=

No.1 Book name: Coraline Author: Neil Gaiman

Everyone has nature to forget about their reality and tries to imagine about something they cannot do. This is because real life is so limited that we cannot be satisfied with everything around us. However, there are many types of media that allow us to get vicarious satisfaction. One of the good examples is reading a book, and reading “Coraline” enables us to feel something different. “Coraline” is a well organized fantasy novel written by Neil Gaiman. I really like this book and I am sure anyone else who reads this book will think it as an attractive book. Before I read this book, I didn’t know what “Coraline” means. I am pretty sure that not many people will get what it means before reading the book. Actually, Coraline is a name of the main character in this book. There are also some happenings that occur because many people confuse between Caroline and Coraline. This story starts from a three house where Coraline’s family newly moved in. However, her family didn’t own the whole house, they owned only a part of it. Instead, there lived two other families below and above her flat. Coraline started exploring every corner of the house and even the outside. While she was exploring, she found out there are not only three families living in the house but one more! Even more, the mysterious family is not strangers but they are Coraline’s other family. Since Coraline visited the mysterious place by herself, there seems no way to escape from them. As she tried to get out of the house and go back to her real family, the other family tried even harder to keep Coraline there by kidnapping her parents. And story keeps going on by describing Coraline’s effort to get her real parents back. This seems a little bit nonsense, but still, this book is one of its author’s best selling books. The author, Neil Gaiman, has won many awards for writing fantasy novels since he published his first fantasy novel in 1990. So his books, including “Coraline”, are kind of guaranteed for high qualities. Besides, I really like his style of writing throughout the whole book. He has an ability to make the book be read by all-ages. When I first opened the cover of the book, I thought this is for younger kids because of the size of fonts. However, his descriptive skill is so great that sometimes I had to read again to get the exact meaning. For example, he described the scene- the other mother is eating blackbeetles like this: ‘She carefully picked out a particularly large and black beetle, pulled off its legs (which she dropped neatly, into a big glass ashtray on the small table beside the sofa), and popped the beetle into her mouth. She crunched it happily.’ From this part, I was able to draw the scene in my head easily. The book is almost full of this kind of live description. In conclusion, I want to emphasize that I really do recommend this book to those who has not read this book yet. This book is not only interesting but also causes readers to think about their own family again. I am sure that you can even learn descriptive skills and develop yours by reading his exemplary ones. = = No.2 Book name: Harry Potter and the Chamber of the Secrets Author: J.K Rowling

The Harry Potter books are one of my favorite series. Among them, the second volume- //Harry Potter and the Chamber of the Secrets// is my favorite. It is about Harry Potter’s second year at Hogwarts, and is so vivid and exciting. I have watched the movie and read the book more than three times. However, the original version, which was written by J.K. Rowling is far more interesting than the movie version. Amongst the whole series, the second year at Hogwarts was the most impressive and well organized. The story starts from the Dursley’s home, where Harry’s aunt and uncle live. As usual, Harry was having a hard time there, suffering because of the whole family’s bad attitude. Soon, heroes came to help him escape from the Dursley’s house and brought him to a better place- the Weasleys with the flying Ford. Then he got prepared to start his new year at Hogwarts. However, there were several problems inside and outside the school. When they tried to get on the platform it was not open to Harry and Ron, later at the school, a ball attacked Harry, and other students were attacked by an unknown invader. This is when Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s adventure began. They tried to find out what was really going on at Hogwarts, and rescue their school from closure while staying calm. Supported by each other’s help, they were able to get rid of Voldemort and make the school safe. J.K Rowling enables her readers to get involved in her story. While reading the book, I was totally engrossed by her writing and I felt like one of the characters. The most impressive part I remember is the lively scene of Harry and Ron riding the flying Ford to catch the Hogwarts train. I felt nervous and anxious almost as much as Harry did. I can even imagine the scene by myself without any help of a movie. Also, I was so envious of Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s friendship because they were such good friends they would even die for each other. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is the book that made me become an enthusiastic reader of fantasy novels. Since reading the book, my favorite genre of books has become fantasy novels, but still I cannot find anything better than the Harry Potter series. I wish many other books like Harry Potter would come out so that everyone could enjoy them. = = = = =Reflection on my Haiti speech=

I have given the speech last time to persuade Mr. Nordmeyer donate his 700kuai to my organization. I used a repetition technique to impress people that my organization is the best one. I also gave audiences the information of my organization so that they can trust and donate money to me. Next time, I should try the triple technique, as 3 is the magical number in a speech. Also, I have to slow down when I speak, because I have to give the listeners time to think about the topic. While I was giving a speech, I tried to eye contact with listeners. However when I began my speech in front of them, I was so nervous that I couldn’t see listeners’ eyes. Also, I need some body gestures to attract people’s attention and give my speech lively. I also had to vary the emphasis on each sentence but I forgot to make difference between each sentences. Also, more than not just look at audiences’ eyes, I unnaturally showed some habits like shaking (?) my hair and standing in an unstill pose.