Summer reading Post #4

The reason that I chose this book out of all the options I had is because when I was reading the descriptions of the books this was the only one that sounded interesting to me. After reading this book the one idea that stuck with me that I could connect to myself was the idea of people having big dreams to go away and accomplish things with their lives but they just end up back home and with a normal job and they don't seem happy. Like they are living through life just doing the motions. The reason that this scares me is because I want to be a professional cyclist. I want to spend my life traveling the world and racing. this is obviously a very different route from what most people take and it is an extremely hard goal to accomplish with the fact that very few racers make the world tour pro ranks. There are so many hurdles that you have to jump over to get there. first you have to give up all of your time for training so that you can be the best physically fit, and the scary part about this is that no matter how hard you work there is the possibility that your body just doesn't have what it takes to be as fast as you have to be to be pro so you have to quit. And then you have the obstacle of having the mental grit to get up every day rain or shine and ride till your legs won't work anymore, and for some people there are just so many days that you can get up see that its going to be 40 degrees and you have to go ride 100 miles. even the strongest people in the world, because even if your muscles are ready, but your head isn't it the right place so it can't give the commands to go out and ride. So that is why this book really struck home to me. If I had to give this to to anyone, I would give it to my mom because she loves to read books that have messages like this one.

Summer Reading Post #3

This section from the book is quite early and is a quote from Gabriel,"'we need it,' he began. 'I mean they need it,' he nodded his head towards town. 'What do you mean,' Lucas asked, he and Mena now listening, as we all did when Gabriel decided to share one of his theories. 'Look at our town," Gabriel said. 'look at the people. how many happy people do you see in a day? how many people do you see that seem fulfilled?' 'I'm fulfilled' Mena butted in. 'You are young enough to think you can get out of here,' Gabriel said without hesitation. 'With me,' Lucas added, wrapping one arm around Mena's shoulders. 'Go on Gabrial,' I said, rolling my eyes at the happy couple. 'Thats the thing-this is a town full of people who used to be like us. you thin that anyone in Lily grew up dreaming about raising their families her? You think if they all had a choice, they wouldn't leave tomorrow?'" So in that quote you see how the people when they are young have so many dreams for the future. they aspire to go to college and see the world and be professional athletes and millionaires. when in reality they just ending right back at home where not much is going on because they really didn't want to put out the effort to get out of the small town since that is all they know. so everyone is stuck in the circulation of having big dreams, don't accomplish them, go back home to the small town and never truly be happy.

Summer Reading Post #2

Cullen-He juste wants to be happy and out of Lily. he doesn't want a ton of friends, he just wants to be with people that make him happy. When he talks about his ideal heaven it says" He imagines heaven not to be some huge city with streets of gold, and tall, white buildings, but a simple room filled with just enough of the good people to make him smile and feel like the center of attention as he tells a funny joke or talks about a new idea for a book. Lucas-He seems so happy on the outside but on the inside he is normal and sad. his brother died drinking and driving when Lucas was 8. Since than his mother won't let him go anywhere unless he tells her when, where, and why he is going to that place. Gabriel- He is a very different child. He is unique. he doesn't care what anyone thinks about him. He dresses different and listens to bands no one has heard of, he is also very smart. Benton-HE is very religious but on his first mission trip he doesn't like the way he has to teach jesus and god. He wants to spend more time with the people and immerse them in god. The theme in this book is that sometimes don't go with what others are doing. In Cullen's case it's not believing in the bird and in Benton's case it's not wanting to teach god the way his superiors are telling him to. The book is structured using the melting pot method where every other chapter the story is told with another character as the main character or from their point of view.

Summer Reading Blog Post #1

In the book Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley the main characters are Cullen, Lucas, Gabriel and benton. Every other chapter flips off from the pout of view of either Cullen or Benton who so haven't met and live in completely different places. The two settings in the book are Lily, Arkansas where Cullen is and Africa where Benton is on a mission trip. From what I can tell so far the major conflict seems to be the fact that a man has come to town saying that he believes that there is a bird there that has been extinct for over 60 years. He is getting everyone all riled up and into the search and belief of this birds existence. Since nothing ever Really happens in Lily this is a big deal to everyone and they want to go search for the bird so they can have something to do. The Problem is that Cullen and his friends believe that this is a hoax and he doesn't want to get all swept up into the wave of "the bird". The problem for Benton's side of the story is that on his mission trip in Africa he doesn't think he doesn't think that he is helping the people find god the right way. His routine is to go to each house and pervade 2 sacks of rice, a love of bread, and 2 gallons of water than say a verse from the bible. He wants to stay longer and really teach them about the bible and not just sway them with the rare food and water. Early in the Book Cullen talks about a girl that he likes but she has left for the summer to go to go to college early. I predict that she will come back and not believe in the bird thing and her and Benton will fall in love. So far this books reminds me of the summer reading book that I read last year, dark and dull.