Friday, February 18, 2011

Readers Response 2 + Vocab

 Vocab:
1.solecism
def- Any error, impropriety, or inconsistency. 
2.blatherskite
def- a person given to voluble, empty talk.
3. billingsgate
def-coarsely or vulgarly abusive language.

The Alchemist
p.1-p.34
35 min.
rating: n/a (haven't fiinshed book yet)
I got this book as a present, and even though I'd never heard of it before, it's a big international bestseller. Note: This is not the Alchemist book that's about Nicholas Flamel and sorcery. This is totally different. The book starts with a short story about a boy who spends so much time admiring his reflection in a lake that he falls and drowns. When the lake is asked(yes, the lake talks, it's a fairy tale)about the boy, he says that he didn't notice the boy, he was looking at his beautiful reflection in the boys eyes. The story then proceeds to tell about a shepherd who has a dream about a treasure, and a old man encouraging him to go after it.   The book proceeds very slowly, but sets a great, lazy tone to the read. Even though the book wasn't originally written in English, it flows pretty smoothly. The writing is very vague an there are lots of times where the book starts to feel like a giant metaphor. There's a lot of philosophies that the author clearly believes in embedded in the core of this book, and the whole story revolves around them. For example, the plot as of now is about a shepherd trying to find a treasure, and basically trying to find the meaning of life. It's funny how the meaning of life for a shepherd is to find treasure and get rich. So far there isn't much that's actually happened in the story, because the proceedings are often interrupted by and giant metaphor on what life is, which doesn't bother me. I actually like philosophy, and this guy's ideals are somewhat interesting. I'm not sure this book will "change my life forever" as the back cover says, but for now it's definitely a intriguing read.

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