Instead of emailing me, could you just declare your writer, primary source, note-taking strategy, and first sentence or early line as well as your first impressions of this work.
Writer- Theodore Dreiser Primary Source- Sister Carrie Note-taking Method- Sticky notes on important pages First Sentence- "When Caroline Meeber boarded the afternoon train for Chicago, her total outfit consisted of a small trunk, a cheap imitation alligator-skin satchel, a small lunch in a paper box, and a yellow leather snap purse, containing her ticket, a scrap of paper with her sister's address in Van Buren Street, and four dollars in money." First Impression- •Dreiser is a very descriptive writer. •The story is in third person, and is about a woman named Caroline Meeber. •It's not exactly a compelling opening but it still makes me want to learn more.
Writer- Earnest Hemingway Primary Source- A Farewell to Arms Note-taking method- hand, pen. First Sentence- "In the late summer of that year we lived in house in a village that looked across the river and the plain to the mountains." First Impression- He seems to be a pretty bare-bones writer- the anti-Hawthorne. I like that he seems to get to the point. I'm going to get to the point and publish this post.
Writer- Herman Melville Primary Source- Moby Dick Note Taking Method- Laptop First Sentence- Call me Ishmael. First Impression. A surprisingly humorous book with an overwhelming array of references to things I could not possibly know. Very poetic, with a lot of foreshadowing. The narrator is very accepting.
Author - David Foster Wallace Primary Source - Consider the Lobster Note taking method - stickies at significant phrases on page, underlines, circles, footnotes, First Sentence - "The American Academy of Emergency Medicine confirms it: Each year, between one and two dozen adult US males are admitted to ERs after having castrated themselves." First Impression - DFW uses a very blunt factual style. No characters, narration. Off-beat subject. Jumping right in without an introduction. No nonsense writing.
Writer: Richard Wright Primary Source: Native Son Note-taking Method: Pen and Paper (like the Scarlet Letter note packets) 1st Sentence: "Brrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinng! An alarm clock clanged in the dark and silent room". 1st Impression: - Richard writes in a simple/plain but descriptive way - Stimulates the senses through sound and description - Uses a plain but catchy introduction to snag the reader - Creates down to earth characters that are easy to be fond of. - Uses inner city dialect
Bernard Malamud The Natural Sticky notes "Roy Hobbs pawed at the glass before thinking to prick a match with his thumbnail and hold the spurting flame in his cupped palm close to the lower berth window, but by then he had figured it was a tunnel they were passing through and was no longer suprised at the bright sight of himself holding a yellow light over his head, peering back in." This is a mysterious sentence, why would he be in a dark tunnel? I get the impression that this book is a little deeper than just a baseball story.
Writer - Joseph Heller Primary Source - Catch-22 Note-taking method - Sticky notes at important places First Sentence - "It was love at first sight." First Impressions - His writing is very easy to read, and from what I have read this seems to be a pretty compelling story that is sprinkled with some humor. He develops many different characters that all interact in different ways.
Writer: Kurt Vonnegut Primary Source: Cat's Cradle Note Taking: Stickies First Sentence(s): Call me Jonah. My parents did, or nearly did. They called me John. •Seems to almost parody Melville •First person point of view •Parents didn't really seem to love their son •Strong sense of humor in the writing style.
Author: Robert Penn Warren Primary Source: All The King’s Men Note-taking method: Sticky notes in text and the Note-taking template First Sentence: “Mason City. To get there you follow Highway 58, going northeast out of the city, and it is a good highway and new.” First Impressions: “The book seems very wordy – the entire first page was a block of text describing a road. His commentary is somewhat humorous, but he makes a LOT of said commentary, and it could be difficult to follow.
John Steinbeck Primary Source: Cannery Row First line of book: "Cannery row in Montery in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream.
Initial impressions: It seems that Cannery Row is a vary diverse area. From the terms Steinbeck uses to describe it, it seems that the inhabitants of this area span from very rich to impoverished.
Writer- Upton SInclair Primary Source- The Jungle Note Taking Method- Tags on important passages First Sentence- "It was four o'clock when the ceremony was over and the carriages began to arrive." First Impression- Sinclair's writing is very dry and descriptive, almost documentarian. The first sentence is not especially compelling, but it leaves the text wide open to form in any direction.
Writer-Michael Chabon Primary Source- The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay Note-Taking Method-Sticky Notes First Sentence-"In later years, holding forth to an interviewer or to an audience of aging fans at a comic book convention, Sam Clay liked to declare, aprops of his and Joe Kavalier's greatest creation, that back when he was a boy, sealed and hog-tied inside the airtight vessel known as Brooklyn, New York, he had been haunted by dreams of Harry Houdini" First Impressions- -Sam Clay and Joe Kavalier are main characters -Famous from comic books -Lived in Brooklyn -Impressed by Houdini
Writer: Edith Wharton Primary Source: Ethan Frome Note Taking Method: Sticky notes for important passages First Sentence: "I had the story, bit by bit, from various people, and, as generally happens in such cases, each time is was a different story." First Impression: The story is being told by an outsider, so in third person. She uses a lot of commas, but she doesn't start off by describing anything or any part of the setting. This makes me think that her writing will be more to-the-point. This beginning interests me to learn The Story.
Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire, notes will be on the computer
"The wind will not stop. Gusts of sand swirl before me, stinging my face. But there is still too much to see and marvel at, the world very much alive in the bright light and wind, exultant with the fever of spring, the delight of morning."
Abbey is definitely a transcendentalist, as his description of the world being "alive" is his focus. I'm excited to read his opinions, because it seems like he will have very strong and intelligent reasons for the things he says. Nature already seems like it is going to be a theme, as well as solitude.
Writer: Tim O'brien Primary Source: They Things They Carry Note-Taking-method: Stickys on paper First Sentence:"First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from a girl named Martha, a junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey. First Impression: It seems like a good book and i've heard a lot of good things about Tim. I'm excited to hear about this.
note-taking method: sticky in book- passage notes on paper (reading log?)
first line: "I first met Dean not long after my wife and I split up."
first impression: narrator has a troubled past, Dean- best friend or person he looks up to. Significant character because he is the opening of the novel.
Writer- Anne Tyler Primary Source- Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant Note-taking Method- Sticky-notes on the passages that I feel are important to my research. First sentence- "While Pearl Tull was dying, a funny thought occurred to her." First Impression: -Satirical tone -Third person -I found this sentence very interesting. It caught my attention which made me want to continue my reading further. -I look forward to continuing the novel
Poet- Jane Hirshfield Primary Source- Jane Hirshfield collection of poems Note-taking method-stickies-pen/paper First sentence- This was once a love poem, before its haunches thickened, its breath grew short, before it found itself sitting, perplexed and a little embarrassed, on the fender of a parked car, while many people passed by without turning their heads. First impression- -nice use of vocabulary -lots of metaphors - most of her poems don't rhyme -I like how she talked about the poem as the theme of love.
writer- e.e.cummings Primary Source- Collection of 100 select poems Note taking- sticky notes, note cards, notebook paper First Impression - poems are very easy to read -like how his poems seem like there about random things, everyday things. -seems like he writes about his everyday life, things he sees -poems are written in funny ways and traditional ways.
Writer: Eugene O'Neill Primary Source: Long Days Journey into Night Note-taking Method: sticky notes on important lines and reactions/notes on laptop First Sentence: Tyrone: "You're a fine armful now, Mary, with those twenty pounds you've gained." First impression: seems very interesting to me that a man calling a woman fat is considered a compliment in this play... However, the way it is written really gives one a clear vision of what the scene looks like and what the characters look like - makes it feel like a real conversation. It makes me want to read more and to know what this family is all about.
20 comments:
Writer- Theodore Dreiser
Primary Source- Sister Carrie
Note-taking Method- Sticky notes on important pages
First Sentence- "When Caroline Meeber boarded the afternoon train for Chicago, her total outfit consisted of a small trunk, a cheap imitation alligator-skin satchel, a small lunch in a paper box, and a yellow leather snap purse, containing her ticket, a scrap of paper with her sister's address in Van Buren Street, and four dollars in money."
First Impression-
•Dreiser is a very descriptive writer.
•The story is in third person, and is about a woman named Caroline Meeber.
•It's not exactly a compelling opening but it still makes me want to learn more.
~Melissa Agro
Writer-
Earnest Hemingway
Primary Source-
A Farewell to Arms
Note-taking method- hand, pen.
First Sentence-
"In the late summer of that year we lived in house in a village that looked across the river and the plain to the mountains."
First Impression-
He seems to be a pretty bare-bones writer- the anti-Hawthorne. I like that he seems to get to the point. I'm going to get to the point and publish this post.
Writer- Herman Melville
Primary Source- Moby Dick
Note Taking Method- Laptop
First Sentence- Call me Ishmael.
First Impression. A surprisingly humorous book with an overwhelming array of references to things I could not possibly know. Very poetic, with a lot of foreshadowing. The narrator is very accepting.
Author - David Foster Wallace
Primary Source - Consider the Lobster
Note taking method - stickies at significant phrases on page, underlines, circles, footnotes,
First Sentence - "The American Academy of Emergency Medicine confirms it: Each year, between one and two dozen adult US males are admitted to ERs after having castrated themselves."
First Impression -
DFW uses a very blunt factual style. No characters, narration. Off-beat subject. Jumping right in without an introduction. No nonsense writing.
Writer: Richard Wright
Primary Source: Native Son
Note-taking Method: Pen and Paper (like the Scarlet Letter note packets)
1st Sentence: "Brrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinng! An alarm clock clanged in the dark and silent room".
1st Impression:
- Richard writes in a simple/plain but descriptive way
- Stimulates the senses through sound and description
- Uses a plain but catchy introduction to snag the reader
- Creates down to earth characters that are easy to be fond of.
- Uses inner city dialect
Bernard Malamud
The Natural
Sticky notes
"Roy Hobbs pawed at the glass before thinking to prick a match with his thumbnail and hold the spurting flame in his cupped palm close to the lower berth window, but by then he had figured it was a tunnel they were passing through and was no longer suprised at the bright sight of himself holding a yellow light over his head, peering back in."
This is a mysterious sentence, why would he be in a dark tunnel? I get the impression that this book is a little deeper than just a baseball story.
Writer - Joseph Heller
Primary Source - Catch-22
Note-taking method - Sticky notes at important places
First Sentence - "It was love at first sight."
First Impressions - His writing is very easy to read, and from what I have read this seems to be a pretty compelling story that is sprinkled with some humor. He develops many different characters that all interact in different ways.
Writer: Kurt Vonnegut
Primary Source: Cat's Cradle
Note Taking: Stickies
First Sentence(s): Call me Jonah. My parents did, or nearly did. They called me John.
•Seems to almost parody Melville
•First person point of view
•Parents didn't really seem to love their son
•Strong sense of humor in the writing style.
Author: Robert Penn Warren
Primary Source: All The King’s Men
Note-taking method: Sticky notes in text and the Note-taking template
First Sentence: “Mason City. To get there you follow Highway 58, going northeast out of the city, and it is a good highway and new.”
First Impressions: “The book seems very wordy – the entire first page was a block of text describing a road. His commentary is somewhat humorous, but he makes a LOT of said commentary, and it could be difficult to follow.
John Steinbeck
Primary Source: Cannery Row
First line of book:
"Cannery row in Montery in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream.
Initial impressions:
It seems that Cannery Row is a vary diverse area. From the terms Steinbeck uses to describe it, it seems that the inhabitants of this area span from very rich to impoverished.
Writer- Upton SInclair
Primary Source- The Jungle
Note Taking Method- Tags on important passages
First Sentence- "It was four o'clock when the ceremony was over and the carriages began to arrive."
First Impression- Sinclair's writing is very dry and descriptive, almost documentarian. The first sentence is not especially compelling, but it leaves the text wide open to form in any direction.
Writer-Michael Chabon
Primary Source- The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
Note-Taking Method-Sticky Notes
First Sentence-"In later years, holding forth to an interviewer or to an audience of aging fans at a comic book convention, Sam Clay liked to declare, aprops of his and Joe Kavalier's greatest creation, that back when he was a boy, sealed and hog-tied inside the airtight vessel known as Brooklyn, New York, he had been haunted by dreams of Harry Houdini"
First Impressions-
-Sam Clay and Joe Kavalier are main characters
-Famous from comic books
-Lived in Brooklyn
-Impressed by Houdini
Writer: Edith Wharton
Primary Source: Ethan Frome
Note Taking Method: Sticky notes for important passages
First Sentence: "I had the story, bit by bit, from various people, and, as generally happens in such cases, each time is was a different story."
First Impression: The story is being told by an outsider, so in third person. She uses a lot of commas, but she doesn't start off by describing anything or any part of the setting. This makes me think that her writing will be more to-the-point. This beginning interests me to learn The Story.
Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire, notes will be on the computer
"The wind will not stop. Gusts of sand swirl before me, stinging my face. But there is still too much to see and marvel at, the world very much alive in the bright light and wind, exultant with the fever of spring, the delight of morning."
Abbey is definitely a transcendentalist, as his description of the world being "alive" is his focus. I'm excited to read his opinions, because it seems like he will have very strong and intelligent reasons for the things he says. Nature already seems like it is going to be a theme, as well as solitude.
Writer: Tim O'brien
Primary Source: They Things They Carry
Note-Taking-method: Stickys on paper
First Sentence:"First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from a girl named Martha, a junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey.
First Impression: It seems like a good book and i've heard a lot of good things about Tim. I'm excited to hear about this.
Jack Kerouac - On the Road
note-taking method: sticky in book- passage notes on paper (reading log?)
first line: "I first met Dean not long after my wife and I split up."
first impression: narrator has a troubled past, Dean- best friend or person he looks up to. Significant character because he is the opening of the novel.
Writer- Anne Tyler
Primary Source- Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant
Note-taking Method- Sticky-notes on the passages that I feel are important to my research.
First sentence- "While Pearl Tull was dying, a funny thought occurred to her."
First Impression:
-Satirical tone
-Third person
-I found this sentence very interesting. It caught my attention which made me want to continue my reading further.
-I look forward to continuing the novel
Poet- Jane Hirshfield
Primary Source-
Jane Hirshfield collection of poems
Note-taking method-stickies-pen/paper
First sentence-
This was once a love poem,
before its haunches thickened, its breath grew short,
before it found itself sitting,
perplexed and a little embarrassed,
on the fender of a parked car,
while many people passed by without turning their heads.
First impression-
-nice use of vocabulary
-lots of metaphors
- most of her poems don't rhyme
-I like how she talked about the poem as the theme of love.
writer- e.e.cummings
Primary Source- Collection of 100 select poems
Note taking- sticky notes, note cards, notebook paper
First Impression
- poems are very easy to read
-like how his poems seem like there about random things, everyday things.
-seems like he writes about his everyday life, things he sees
-poems are written in funny ways and traditional ways.
Writer: Eugene O'Neill
Primary Source: Long Days Journey into Night
Note-taking Method: sticky notes on important lines and reactions/notes on laptop
First Sentence: Tyrone: "You're a fine armful now, Mary, with those twenty pounds you've gained."
First impression: seems very interesting to me that a man calling a woman fat is considered a compliment in this play... However, the way it is written really gives one a clear vision of what the scene looks like and what the characters look like - makes it feel like a real conversation. It makes me want to read more and to know what this family is all about.
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