"Going Bovine" by Libba Bray Post 4

"Going Bovine" by Libba Bray was a fun and enjoyable read. It was intriguing and kept me on my toes as I didn't know what was going to happen next. Looking at the books on the list, this one stood out when I saw the title. I didn't know what the word "bovine" meant so I thought I'd click on it. After reading the short passage about the book I knew I would like to read it for the summer and for this blog. I like fiction a lot and Bray easily hooked me into reading the book.

Although I didn't have any personal connections to the book, I was able to relate to it because I am in high school and so is Cameron. Because of this connection I have with the book, I would recommend it to any teen and some adults that could look back into high school years and like the book. This book is recognized as one of the best books written for teens and I agree with that title it has been given. Students in college could possibly relate to the book like I did and like the book as well. This is a great book and I rate it 5 out of 5 stars.

"Going Bovine" by Libba Bray Post 3

Here is a cool part of the book that I like how Bray wrote it. "A sonic boom of thunder drowns me out. Lightning crackles around us, and I get a glimpse:Big dude. Black armor glistening like oil. Spiked helmet, steel visor. Sword. The light bounces off the sword in arcs that hurt my eyes. Sword. He's got a fucking sword! Darkness falls again, and after the intense lightning, the night seems thicker than before. I can't see, can't move, can't think, can't do anything but breathe quick as a fish washed up on the beach, hoping to catch a wave back to safety. Lightning shreds the dark for another two seconds. He's gone. (Bray 71)"

In this part, Cameron was just biking home from, his friend, Eubie's music shop and he takes a back road instead of his normal direct route. This is before he is diagnosed with Mad Cow Disease. He sees giants made of flames as the storm forms itself over the fields. When trying to escape them, he runs into this knight or samurai. Cameron makes it home alive and then has another encounter with a fire giant coming out of his toaster. Nobody else in his family sees the fire giant. He is frozen with fear and is shaking and fighting. After this he ends up in a hospital bed where he expects to live the rest of his life at.

"Going Bovine" by Libba Bray Post 2

Cameron leaves the hospital with Gonzo after Dulcie give Cameron a watch like thing that gives him some strength to go out on the mission given by Dulcie. Having completed the mission, Dulcie said he would be cured and something would also be given to Gonzo as well. Cameron's main motivation and what he really wants is to be cured. He will also need to save the world along the way but he really wants cured. I don't know what Gonzo wants exactly, but I would guess that he desires safety. Gonzo would probably like to not be short, too.

One theme I could see is that family is important. Even though Cameron didn't have the best relationship with his family, he still misses them. Especially after hearing his parents worried voices when he makes sure they know he's alright. 

This book is structured with mountains and valley's as Cameron and Gonzo progress on their adventure. They walk down a hill moving along smoothly towards the end goal. Then, they have to climb up a mountain and not tire out as they hit a conflict in the trip towards a cure and saving the world. I hope they don't give in, but when does that ever happen?

"Going Bovine" by Libba Bray Post 1

In the book, there are 3 major characters. One of them, the most main of them all, is Cameron Smith. His new friend that accompanies him throughout the story is Gonzo. The last major character is an angel that Cameron sees within his disease given the name, Dulcie. She appears multiple times and leads Cameron through his adventure causing some conflicts as well. In the beginning of the book, Cameron was diagnosed  with "Mad Cow Disease" which has no cure at the moment.

Cameron goes to high school in his home town in Hidalgo, Texas and is bullied regularly. He refer's to himself as a being a loser, too, and doesn't care about much going on in his life. One thing I see Bray gave him is a bad family life. He doesn't get along with his uber-popular twin sister, Jenna, and his parents don't plan family things very well. The Smiths' don't have a very strong bond with each other. In the end, I would think that Cameron and his family will get along better.

Gonzo is a dwarf and seems to have a fear of everything. His mother is very protective of him as Gonzo is always in the hospital for any small problem. Dulcie told Cameron that Gonzo should go with him on the trip to find his cure as there is something Dr. X has for Gonzo, too. I would think his fear of disease and danger would change and maybe even become normal size with some machine Dr. X has. Can't wait to see.

Last Post

In the previous post, I showed good in depth analysis of the book for the post. Here is the link to it.

http://www.nijakowskireading.blogspot.com/2015/04/another-book.html

I gave a good and detailed description of the book that would have people like to read it. I used words like "struggle" and "exciting" to describe the trip of the characters. I was able to relate to the book as well which helped me understand the plot and describe it to others because I went to the Appalachian Trail over spring break which is where they went.

Another Book

Because of spring break, I started reading another book. Now I have 3 books being read at the same time. Oh well! They're all great books. The one that read while hiking the Appalachian trail is called "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson. It is about the author and his friend from high school, and they are both a bit heavy, attempting a thru hike of  the trail. Which is walking all 2,100+ miles of it at once. Spoiler, they don't make it. But it is very funny and entertaining as they struggle through the long and hilly hikes along with the troubles of the weather and bears. All of which I have experienced, without the bears, over the spring break. About 80 pages in, it is a great book.

Back to this Series

The next book of the series that started from Tunnels, they have dug Deeper, and they are now in Freefall. Getting closer and closer to the center of the earth, how will they be able to stop the Earth-wiping disease. They find interesting creatures and things as Will and Chester survive the jump into the Pore. Many characters, bad and good, have gone down into it also. I wounder if they all survived, Elliot, Sarah, and the Rebecca's. It will be interesting in the low gravity and pitch black to see how the plot will turn out. So far so good, only a couple pages in to clear me of the cliff hanger ending of the last one.

Satire

The purpose of this piece is to show that McDonald's food can make a person fat. It is showing the logo of McDonald's that is a lot bolder and could be called fatter. This is a parody of the McDonald's logo sign thing because it is different than the original and ridicules McDonald's.

A Krista Ramsey Column

The one I just read is about Larry Borcherding's legacy as an inspiring principal and teacher. It can be read here. This line from it is written really good, "As a science teacher at Delhi Junior High and later at Mother of Mercy High School, he imbued his students with confidence and academic ambition." The way she wrote that line projected what Larry put onto his students. There is good diction in the line, too. Krista uses words like imbued and ambition throughout the article. If there were some questions I would ask her, some would be, How long do you spend perfecting each of your columns? How did you find out about Larry's legacy and idea's for other pieces? How did you eventually become the writer you became? As great of a writer as she is, I would recommend anyone to read her columns.

Speaker for the Dead

Speaker for the Dead is a really interesting book right from the beginning if you read Ender's Game first. So it is 3000 years after Ender has eradicated the bugger aliens. And there is another alien race that the humans are trying to protect. They are also studying them and they call them the piggies. Ender has been traveling the universe to find a place to let the new hive queen start a new colony. He has been traveling with it for those 3000 years and he really hasn't completely killed all the bugger aliens. But it is his purpose in his life to restore their race. This is because he is pretty upset about how he killed off a whole race. And where I've come to in the book is where the hive queen in its cocoon has told him that the place for them  to start a new colony is Lusitania. The planet name that the piggies live on. I can't wait to read further. The questions I ask along with Ender is, Will the buggers and the piggies be able to strive together? and, Will the people of the universe allow the buggers to live again? I will have to see. Here is an interview on the movie Ender's Game.

                                     Here is a picture of the hive queen depicted in the movie.

New Book!

 The book Deeper was a pretty good book. But there are still three more in the series to read. I'm taking a break though and reading Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card. I loved his book Ender's Game and this book ties into it. It is a pretty big book with many words on one page. I have gotten through the introduction of characters and the setting and now I'm getting to the definition of the problem. At least one of them. Ender's Game had become a movie also. It was pretty good, but because the movie is limited on time, they couldn't show all the details in the book. I will just have to see how Speaker for the Dead turns out.

End of Book Feeling and More Details

The book could end right here and they live happily ever after. But here is the next problem to be solved throughout the series of 5. The Styx, the mean people in control of the civilization, are creating a deadly pathogen to wipe out the world. The Styx make the colonist in the caves believe they are living there to live through some catastrophe that the Styx will actually create themselves. This thing is just dragging on as all these different characters live in the deadly pitch black of the deeps where there lives are just trash right now. They could just end there lives and end up in a better place, they think they are able to do something. They probably will and that's probably why they are the main characters. I'm ready to read a different authors way of writing right now. Just 100 pages left. This feeling always comes by near the end of a book in a series. But I love books and can't just stop. I just can't wait till all the people that are split up find each other.  That will be the good part. Now here is a cool drawing of a Limiter that is hired by the Styx to hunt out people in the caves to use them as test subjects for the pathogen or to just kill them out. Not mush detail on all they do.

Goal is Close

     So the main goal of the main character is to find his dad in the deeps of a cave system that is huge. And the last time it switched to Will's Dad's perspective was when he was really close to him. Right now, it has switched to his perspective again as Will has accidentally wondered away from his friends of the deeps. He is now wondering lava tubes hoping to run away from the Limiters looking to kill him. He starts to shout for his dad and the chapter ends. Next chapter, his dad's perspective. It is getting really exciting in this point of the story and can't wait to read on. To the right is a picture of a coprolite that lives in the deeps.

What's Next...

     The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde was a great book overall. It started out slow in the beginning but I had to read the book. Less than halfway through the book, Jennifer, the main character, turned into a dragonslayer and it totally changed her role in the book and in her world. When the problem is resolved, you would think she just ended the book in a bad way. And then you see there are still a couple pages left. I don't want to spoil the book here though. I definitely recommend it to anybody.
     What's next? The book is the first in a series of books. I can also see at the end of the book that there is still lots more that could happen. I want to read the series as I usually do with any good book in a series. I'm currently reading Deeper by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams. I'm about halfway through this book and it is the second book in its series. I think there is two or three more to read. I have a lot more to do.
     If you read this post, comment what book you read over this summer.
  
  Here is a link to a summary of Tunnels. The first book in the series I'm reading.

Jasper Fforde talks about "The Last Dragonslayer" and visits Hereford, w...

In chapter 13 of The Last Dragonslayer, Jennifer meets a man named Brian Spalding. Brian is an old man who is the most recent dragonslayer of the dragon. Jennifer meets him on a bench and they have small talk at first. Then, they both find out that they are waiting for each other. Brian then takes Jennifer to the Dragonstation and quickly makes Jennifer the last dragonslayer. She is hesitant and not very sure about what to do. She is now the last dragonslayer and has nobody to help her. The central idea of this chapter is to have Jennifer become the important role of the last dragonslayer without the knowledge of what to do next.

This is a link to an article talking about the book and the author, Fforde. The Last Dragonslayer Article.

Here is a link to a video where the author tours the setting of the book, Hereford.