Like Water For Chocolate

In class we read a novel by Laura Esquivel called Like Water for Chocolate.  This book was a very interesting but different book at the same time.  The novel I believe has a lot to do with me on a personal level along with all people.  I say that because the novel is about family and thats something we all have.  Its also about the cookbook of the families and how it was found and the story is being told along with the recipes at the same time, and we all have cookbooks, whether they are passed down through the family or a Rachel Ray cookbook.  Though my family is nothing like Titas because I feel Tita's family is dysfunctional in many ways which I dont believe mine is,  they are dysfunctional for example how the sisters don't get along very well like most sisters growing up but these sisters don't get along in a different way and its so interesting to read, it keeps you turning the pages.   I found the text to be very interesting,  It was an easy read because there were so many crazy things going on all at once.  The book is definitely all magical realism and it keeps you into it!  This book was very entertaining and I believe everyone should read it! I look forward to watching the movie!        

Zorro

In World Literature we read the book Zorro, which I found to be very interesting being that it was written like a comic book or graphic novel at that.  This book I would say has a lot to do with me as a person because in the book the young boy wants to protect all the people from the bad, I believe I am one who would want to protect people from bad situations if put in a situation where protection is needed.  Though he wasn't always the best person throughout the book nobody is perfect!  I don't think something like this can really happen, I don't find it realistic.  i believe this because having someone protect people would be great but its not really realistic.  We do have police officers that do protect us but thats a squad not one person.  I just don't believe one person can protect all people.  I did learn a lot while reading this book, I've never read a comic book though I have read comic strips never a whole book so I found this to be an interesting one.  I believe this book changes the way I look at all superheroes even batman because I believe it gives you an outlook on their background to figure out where they are from and what their past is like to become who they are.  I do think its good for people to believe there are people like Zorro and Batman t gives young children someone to look up to and makes them feel safe at the same time growing up.  I really enjoyed this book, I found it very interesting and entertaining at the same time.  i would love to read more books like this!

Borges Writing

Borges stories are very interesting stories. Though his readings don't have much to do with me I still find them very interesting being that these various things do happen to people in the world.  My favorite story was "Emma Zunz," I found that one to be my favorite because of the spin on the plot.  There were numerous things that happened in the story and you never thought she would kill Loewenthal in the end.  This was just a very different story with a lot of suspense wondering what Emma was going to do at the end.  Then Borges other story was "Gospel According to Mark," which I found to be very interesting.  I found this story interesting because I was raised religious and reading this story its a different aspect.  He hits the religion hard by criticizing the religion, but also supporting the religion at the same time.  I think after reading these stories I look at the writing differently being that all the stories we have read are all very different.  I feel like Borges has one of the most realistic aspects of writing.  His writings tell a story which makes it a lot more entertaining.

Marquez Writings

When I read Marquez's writtings it brings me into another world.  The way he writes is so interesting and what he writes about is so entertaining.  The story The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings I believe when Marquez talks about how the child is ill and the family wants to make him better, they believe the man with the enormous wings can heal him.  That makes me think when I'm ill how my parents would do anything to be in my plae to take the sickness away from me.  Family will do anything for one another.  I think in the story The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World when Marquez talks about how the women look at him as an object of desire It brings me back to when we were in class talking about how this story was from Playboy magazine.  The way the magazine takes the pictures of the women and photoshop all of the women to make them look as perfect as possible.  It takes away all their flaws that way one can disire them which is not real.  I would say Playboy is not the real world in my eyes.  I would also say that The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings would not be real world.  In the real world is there a spider lady? No.  But when you read and really think about Marquez writings you think about how he is using it in a metaphor way. I do think there is one thing that you could fight is a metaphor of the real world would be how the man with enormous wings could heal people.  When you think about that metaphor it makes you think about Jesus and the many religions.  Religion is also something that I really care about.  Its good to have a religion to believe in!  I enjoyed both of these stories very much I found them to be very interesting and a diffrent outlook on life with the many metaphors Marquez uses in his writings.  I would recomend his writings because they are so interesting and diffrent you just cant stop reading them and will never forget them!

Cortazar Reader Response

I believe the reading Our Demeanor At Wakes by Julio Cortazar to be very much a part of many lives.  Everyone has the people they love and care about pass in time, if they dont they know people who have. I had an Aunt I was very close to pass away over the summer after being in a car accident and my family and I went through a wake very similiar being that we are a catholic family like the family in the story.  There were a few things that were not the same those being, people taking over the funeral, people competing to see who could cry more/louder as well as hiring people to cry at the funeral.  I believe that to be something my family would not allow. In my view of the world I think its terrible for someone to take over a funeral and like Professor Benander said in class she has been to a funeral where someone took over and that is something that I find to be so Impolite and rude, but things like this do happen.  The writing of this short story is written so well with the many details within you feel like you are there and a part of the family.  When reading you almost hate the people taking over the funeral and feel sorry for "your" family since you start to believe you are a part of the story.  I found this to be one of the most interesting readings so far and look forward to further readings by Julio Cortazar!

In my World Literature Survey Two class we have read and discussed many things.  In class we read a section of the book Popol Vuh which I found very interesting.  This book was about how the earth evolved and formed life.  When I read chapters one through five, I really didn't know what to think since I grew up in one religion who believes one thing then, I read this section of the book and it makes you look at things so differently.  Reading these chapters I found it to be so interesting and even funny, being that the lands were created and the mountains.  Then later in the chapters the Gods create animals, but when those animals can't speak they move on to wanting to create something or someone that will worship them.  Then the Gods decide they will create the wooden people.  These stories are so hard to believe because when it nears the end of the section of the Popol Vuh, the dogs destroy the wooden peoples faces, the flood, their pots went after them and trees slammed into them. This was a very intriguing story to read and I found it very interesting to know that this was all written down in picture form to praise the Gods.  In the Popol Vuh there is a story about another God named Vucub - Caquix.  This God claimed to be the sun and the moon since those forms hadn't been created which was something so interesting and something I found to be so cool to hear about. This story got unbelievable but then you wonder how these stories came about? Could they be true?