Throne of Glass: How has the Character changed since introduction?

       I am more than halfway through reading Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas, and so far I seriously love this book. The suspense Maas creates throughout the book has left me increasing my reading pace so I can find out how it ends. Throne of Glass is about a competition between 24 criminals to see  who can serve as the King's Champion and after four years receive their freedom. Celaena is an assassin who spent a year in prison for her crimes. During the competition the competitors begin to be found killed, and Celaena has to destroy the evil in the castle before she's killed as well.

The Introduction: Celaena Sardothien
In the beginning of the novel Celaena wears filthy, torn clothes and is described as "frightfully pale beneath the dirt." Working in Endovier has made Celaena thin, pale and dirty due to the condition of the mines and the cruel treatment by the prison's guards. Celaena is cold, violent and dangerous.

Chaol orders a group of guards to watch her constantly to ensure that she doesn't kill anyone within the castle. Celaena is annoyed, and somewhat amused, by the guards because she knows it would take her minimal time and energy to injure or kill them. Celaena hates that the other criminals  are allowed to do as they please while she is forced to stay under supervision in her room and the training center.  When the tailors begin to measure Celaena for new clothes she's annoyed and "considered jabbing one of the tailor's pearl headed pins through his eye." Celaena doesn't care about any of the people living within the castle whether it's her competitors, the prince, Chaol or the staff.

The Transformation: Celaena Sardothien
Throughout the competition Celaena has become a more caring person. Although she's still supervised by guards, they respect her and let her explore the castle more freely. Celaena has become friends with both Chaol and the prince, opening up to them about her sad past. One of the most surprising friendships Celaena has made was with Nehemia, the princess of Eyllwe. Nehemia and Celaena meet regularly to talk, comfort each other or just for fun. Celaena used to be closed to friends and trusting people but she's beginning to value Nehemia's trust and friendship.

One event that illustrates the changes when Celaena tells Nehemia the truth about her past. Throughout the novel Celaena has been posing as Lillian Gordaina, noble woman, and only the King, Prince, Chaol and her guards knew the truth. Nehemia begins to question Celaena after she finds Celaena injured in her room (this is due to an encounter with evil killer). Celaena realizes that having Nehemia as a friend means more to her than keeping her secret, so she tells Nehemia everything.
"The truth was the least she owed her friend."
After she tells Nehemia the truth Celaena feared that Nehemia wouldn't remain her friend. After all, Celaena was an assassin who had lied about her identity. Nehemia doesn't care, surprising Celaena who thinks, "Friends like this did not exist. Why was she so fortunate as to have found one?"

The Transformation: How has my opinion changed?
Wow.
I thought Celaena was awful, I thought she was a despicable person who only cared about her freedom. I didn't like Celaena at the beginning of the novel and questioned Maas' choice of character. I wanted to know how I was supposed to like this book if the main character was a violent assassin who didn't care about how she effected other people.

Now though, I am completely amazed by the transformation Celaena went through. I won't spoil anything but her past was full of pain and suffering, some caused by the King, some caused by her friends and some caused by her choices. I think her part of her past led her to be the cold assassin that she used to be. Celaena's still dangerous but she also has a soft side and cares about her friends.

Throne of Glass: Setting

I have recently begun reading Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas, one of the few recommended books I've actually started to read. As I am only thirty pages in, I can't speak for the whole book, but thus far I really enjoy reading it.

Throne of Glass is set in fantasy land that was once filled with magical creatures and people with strange abilities. Unfortunately the King of Adarlan began to hunt down and imprison magical creatures, burning most of the forests they occupied. The magical creatures that were 'lucky' enough to be imprisoned rather than killed, were sent to Endovier to work in the mines. This is where main character Celaena Sardothien has spent the last year of her life, working in the salt mines with no hope of freedom.

What is Endovier?
Endovier is a slave-labor city that uses the prisoners' labor in the salt mines to profit King Adarlan.  Endovier's salt mines are found within a bone colored mountain on the far side of a prison compound. The walls surrounding all four sides of the compound and the sentries stationed near the wall eliminate the possibility escape.

Celaena is allowed to leave Endovier, she has been chosen to compete to be the King's champion and win her freedom. This gives her the opportunity to leave for a training camp in Rifthold, accompanied by the prince and his royal guard. While traveling, the group stops in the Oakwood Forest, one of the few remaining forests that the King hasn't destroyed.
Oakwood Forest is different from the other forests.
Magic remains within the forest.
The royal guards are unnerved by how peaceful and quiet the forest is, and hope the King will burn the forest soon.
Celaena sees the beauty of the forest.
Celaena describes the forest saying, "leaves dangled like jewels-tiny droplets of ruby, pearl, topaz, amethyst, emerald and garnet; and a carpet of such riches coated the forest floor around them." Oakwood forest has a unique beauty created by the magic that dwelt within the forest. Oakwood is one of the few places that still possess this type of beauty, most of this has been destroyed by the same men who fear it. The forest inhabitants are magical creatures, most have vanished but the old inhabitants were "gnomes, sprites, nymphs, goblins, more names than anyone could count or remember."

While I have only begun Throne of Glass I already have a good understanding of the setting due to the detailed imagery Sarah J. Maas uses.

One Perfect Day: Book Review

I was given One Perfect Day by Lauraine Snelling as a gift, and I began reading this book not knowing what to expect. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed reading One Perfect Day and loved how emotional the story was. *the book summary contains spoilers for anyone who hasn't finished the book.
       
One Perfect Day tells the story of two mothers on Christmas, Nora Peterson and Jenna Montgomery. Nora Peterson and her husband Gordan have two twins who are seniors in High School, Christi and Charlie. Nora is determined to make their last family Christmas perfect. Nora is already stressed when she receives news that Charlie has been in an accident.  Nora, Christi and Gordan wait at the hospital, praying for a miracle, when their worst fear is confirmed.

Charlie has died.

Knowing what Charlie would've wanted, they decide to donate Charlie's organs and are forced to accept his death. Jenna Montgomery only wants her daughter's health this year for Christmas. Jenna's daughter, Heather, is losing her life to a heart defect she's had the majority of her life. Jenna knows that this is probably their last Christmas together, and wants to give Heather a memorable Christmas. Jenna and Heather's prayers are answered when the death of a young boy leads to Heather receiving a heart transplant. While Jenna and Heather begin their new joyous life, Nora and her family are trying to learn to live their life without Charlie.

Not only did this tell the story of one family's emotional Christmas, Snelling went above and beyond to include the story of a second family's emotional Christmas. These two stories were an emotional roller coaster, I didn't expect to be as emotionally invested as I was. When Nora fell into a depression following Charlie's death, I actually found myself tearing up and was unable to stop reading. I don't react to books emotionally usually, but the way Snelling wrote made it easy for the reader to be pulled into the book. Snelling focuses on Nora's thoughts while she is depressed, this really lets the reader connect to Nora because they are able to understand her thoughts. One of the most emotional lines in One Perfect Day, is:
"Tears leaked from eyes seared raw. Surely, there could be no more tears. Where did they come from? What well that knew no bottom"
This is one of the thoughts Nora has one morning while she is trying to force herself to wake up. This line really drew me in, the idea that Nora should be out of tears made me feel very sympathetic for her.

The connection between the two stories was thoughtful on Snelling's part and granted closure to both stories. I had anticipated a tearful meeting between the two mothers, I thought that they would meet and be able to comfort each other. While that would have made for a good ending, it would have been predictable and wouldn't be memorable to the reader. Snelling choose to go a different route with her ending, I was happily surprised by the ending and loved the hopeful tone it gave the ending.

I would rate this book exceptional due to the emotional content and the surprising connection. For anyone looking for an emotionally engaging book I would seriously recommend reading One Perfect Day.

Fahrenheit 451: Handout

Engaging with difficult, uncomfortable thoughts and experiences is the only route to true happiness.   

Timeline of the Development of Theme:

Montag Montag Montag’s house Granger tells The group

meets witnesses is burned due Montag his leaves to

Clarisse woman die to the books plan for society rebuild society

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Montag and Montag begins   Montag meets Montag and the

Mildred grow to secretly read Granger and a men watch the

distant group of men city blow up

Three Quotes:

Beginning: Montag’s unhappy	Middle: Montag engages in difficult thoughts	End: Montag is more happy
Montag is living in a society full of censorship, hardship, and tragedy. Montag doesn’t question society and enjoys his job to burn houses. When a girl name Clarisse questions his marriage, job and life in general he realizes he’s unhappy. We chose this quote to show how Clarisse had effected Montag, and how Montag wasn’t happy.	Montag begins to question society and wants to change the rules regarding books. Montag doesn’t wants to be a fireman and doesn’t want to burn books. This is an example of Montag beginning to go against society. This is the main conflict throughout the book. We chose this quote to show how Montag is beginning to think that books are important and he wants other people to know.	Montag joins a group of men who enjoy reading and want to change society. Montag and the group watch the destruction of the city. They plan to memorize books and eventually when society is rebuilt they will rewrite the books. We chose this quote because it shows how Montag is doing better and is already beginning to move on from the evil society.
“He wore his happiness like a mask and the girl had run off across the lawn with the mask and there was no way of going to knock on her door and ask for it back.” (Bradbury 9)	“This afternoon I thought that if it turned out that books were worthwhile, we might get a press and print some extra copies” (Bradbury 81)	“Perhaps later in the morning, when the sun was up and had warmed them they would begin to talk, or just say things they remembered, to be sure they were there, to be absolutely certain things were safe in them.”(Bradbury 157)

The Theme is important to understanding the story because the theme shows how Montag has been able to change from being sad to happy by going against society.

It is important to understand the theme because it shows that you need to confront your fears/concerns in order to be happy.

One Perfect Day: How do the characters deal with conflict?

I just began reading One Perfect Day by Lauraine Snelling, so far I love how Snelling conveys the characters' emotion. One Perfect Day takes place in two households, the grieving house of Nora Peterson and the rejoicing house of Jenna Montgomery.

Nora Peterson and her husband Gordan have two twins, Christi and Charlie. As this is their last Christmas before Christi and Charlie leave for college, Nora wants it to be perfect. Jenna Montgomery and her daughter Heather, who is struggling with a heart defect, are praying for a donor and trying to forget that this could be their last Christmas. One event will change both families lives forever. *Spoilers* When Charlie dies in a car accident, Nora falls into a depression and can't figure out how to move on with her life.

Nora struggles the most outwardly to deal with her grief, while Gordan and Christi resume their normal schedule to try to move on. Nora avoid talking about anything that relates to Charlie, and refuses to enter his bedroom. After a few days Nora's friend Susan comes over to try to convince Nora to leave the house. Nora is reserved and considers ignoring Susan, she would rather sleep all day than live a normal life without Charlie. Nora agrees to go skiing with the condition that Susan "will not ask me any questions or make any comments." I think that Nora's actions show how caring a mother she is. Nora's unwilling to talk about Charlie's death because she doesn't know how to move on. As a mother, the last eighteen years of Nora's life have been focused on Charlie and Christi. Now that she only has Christi, who hardly talks to her anyway, Nora's unsure of what she's supposed to do. Nora questions if she's moving on to quickly and even feels guilty about how quickly the funeral took place.

In comparison, while we don't know Christi's thoughts, Christi tries to continue her life as normal. Christi and Nora begin fighting after a few days, when Nora tries to take down the Christmas tree. Nora believes that taking down the Christmas tree will make it easier for everyone to move on because they won't have to open presents and remember Christmas with Charlie. This clearly upsets Christi, she makes a point to tell Nora that "we haven't even opened our presents. I was hoping we could do that tonight." Yes, Christi is upset by Charlie's death and cries multiple times but she wants to be able to move on. This shows how strong Christi is, to be able to act normal when she's dealing with such a terrible loss takes strength. While Nora is sitting at home avoiding the thought of Charlie, Christi has to return to school.

I am looking forward to finishing this book, and can't wait to see if the two families ever meet each other. I would recommend this book to someone wanting a very emotional story that allows them to connect to the characters.

The most important line: The Overnight Socialite

I started reading The Overnight Socialite by Bridie Clark two weeks ago, and I love it. The Overnight Socialite is set in the Manhattan's elite social class, focusing on two opposites Wyatt Hayes and Lucy Ellis.

Wyatt, a Harvard graduate with large wealth, just went through a a break up with his girlfriend Cornelia. Lucy is an assembly line worker whose biggest dream is to be a fashion designer. Lucy works for Nola Sinclair, a well known fashion designer who treats her workers poorly and will never consider Lucy for a designing job.

Lucy ruins one of Nola's fashion shows and is immediately fired.

That same night, Lucy meets Wyatt and he offers her a once in a lifetime deal. Wyatt offers Lucy the opportunity for him to spend a month giving her a makeover to turn her into Manhattan's top socialite and thus help her break into the fashion world.  Lucy declines that night and spends the next few days barely able to pay rent. The most important line in this chapter is  when Lucy realizes, "There was one more option, one that had been creeping it's way to the front of her mind more and more often with each passing day. Wyatt Hayes IV." This line is important because Lucy's only other option was moving back to Idaho, and moving to Idaho would destroy any chance Lucy had of accomplishing her dream. Idaho has no large fashion industry, the only reason Lucy would move is if she was broke so she could live with her mother. Lucy had no friends or family who would be able to help her in New York,  when she left Idaho the only person she kept in touch with was her mother.

This is truly a turing point in the novel for Lucy because her previous mistakes become unimportant  and she is able to focus on her dream. Lucy begins to feel more confident about herself and realizes that she can become a fashion designer if she works hard. Not only does this change Lucy's life for the better, but Hayes realizes that there is more to life than money and Cornelia. Hayes begins to write a book for the first time, he had spent his life doing nothing and is finally accomplishing something.