Civil War Ghosts

So I just finished a book about Civil War Ghosts, which is literally the title of the book. I mean, I don't believe in ghosts, but I read books like this to see how history and noises mess with us. In the book, I read about people who saw a ghost wagon with injured men, dressed in mid-19th century clothes. There were a few witnesses. They claimed that they moaning from the wagon. Wow.

I read about the Luminous Lady whose ghost is supposed haunt a fort in Virginia. Her story is a love story. The woman's name was Camille, and her husband was Captain Kirtz. Kirtz was abusive to his wife. He yelled at her, and beat her. Looking for love, she met a young officer named Peter. Kirtz suspected other men in the town to have stolen his wife from him, but not Kirtz. Camille and Peter couldn't be together unless Kirtz left. They got the oppurtun ity when Kirtz was assigned a job, and he left.

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

The dead woman gets her finger cut off by a poor man. He brings the finger home to cook it. He eats it for dinner. He goes to bed, but he hears a noise. It's a hoarse voice, coming closer and closer, saying, "WHERE IS MY FINGER?"  Everything in his room clatters and clutters. They clink and clank. The voice comes closer and now the man hears footsteps. "WHERE IS MY FINGER?" Suddenly the locked door flies open and the corpse of woman enters. She points at the man. "YOU HAVE IT!" 

The book includes tales like these. But not all of them are similar to the corpse-coming-back theme. Some of them are about hitchhikers who are actually ghosts. They come back for a date and the go home by hitchhiking with their date. Their date forget something from them, and go back, only to find the person dead.  And speaking of dates, there are stories of ones that have gone horribly wrong. One may have a hook. A bloody hook. There are different types of tales. 

Do you believe in them? That's up to you. I'm more logical. These stories might have been made up to teach children a lesson. Or they have been made up for entertainment. Some people might believe in them. But people can be scared very easily. During a storm, winds blow so fast, they sound ghostly. Storms make trees move, which might cause branches to knock on your window. So to the ones who are easily scared, it might sound like a ghost is walking around in your house and calling you. Maybe this is why a typical scary story is set to take place during a storm.

There's A boy in the Girls' Bathroom

Bradley is troubled and he sees a social worker in school. Then he makes a friend, but his friend accidentally goes in the girls' bathroom, when his friends sees the couinseler. After that, Bradley does that too, by mistake. Bradley has a bad reputation, but his social worker helps him travel to the good side.

Frankenstein...P2

So I'm starting to understand what's going on in the story. I compared it from my script. Victor is actually telling us his experiences and thoughts in the book, rather than dialogue. So, In the book, Victor's mother has died, and his fiancee, Elizabeth is on the verge of dying.

Obsessed with life and death, Victor goes grave digging. Then he goes home, falls asleep, and has a nightmare. It was about him kissing Elizabeth, and then seeing her features change. At last, he's left with the corpse of his dead mother in his arms.I can imagine what he's saying, and it looks so dark, and ominous.

The next night, there's a lightning storm. Victor, his adopted brother and best friend, Henry Clerval, and his few manservants set up the corpse in a laboratory. Then they create a monster. Victor immediately hates his creation, because it's hideous.

Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

I'm reading Frankenstein cause I kind of have to. The  book is boring, because I have no idea on whats going on. All I'm reading is about Victor Frankenstein telling us about his obsession on life and death. I'm understanding more about Frankenstein from my script. I would NOT  read Frankenstein on my own, but my drama teacher told us to read it, so I'm seeing this as an assignment. I can't read it in class because phones aren't aloud. So I can only use iBooks on the train, or at home.

So, on to my review. I have not finished reading this, but what I account has happened is that Victor is crazy. He's a mad scientist! His father and mother adopts his future wife, Elizabeth Lavenza. Then they adopt Henry Clerval, to be his best friend, and have Clerval tutored. After that, they adopt Justine Moritz, to be a nanny, and Ernest. The Frankensteins have another son around the age of eight, named William. 

In the story, Victor is upsetting his college master, M. Krempe, meanwhile his mother, Caroline, and Elizabeth, are dying of Scarlet Fever. I still have to read more. It's kind of like slow reading on an iPhone, so yeah, it might take me another week or two finish this book.

Always Running... Finished!!!!

Always Running is the autobiography of a man named Luis Rodriguez. In the book, Luis tells us his story of life inside a gang. He talks about his experience with guns, violence, drugs, alcohol, murders, deaths, and suicide attempts. Luis grows up as a Mexican in the racism era. I think he was motivated to do all these after seeing his older brother get beat up.

Luis was only six, as he got picked up by white teenager and was forced to watch his nine year-old brother get stepped on, thrown, punched, and kicked. I think that in some way, he wanted to get revenge for this. So he became a gang member.

He ended his criminal teenage life by realizing what pain he caused to man. The man struggling to survive, just because of Luis.

Luis's son, Ramiro, inherited life as a gangster, and is now serving time in prison. Luis wrote his book and dedicated it to his son.

The advice he gives at the end is to stop running. And to get out there become a good person.

Catching Fire... Putting Them in an Arena... Let Them Extinguish Each Other

This is the blog post I have never gotten around doing. I read Catching Fire LAST YEAR... and now I'm writing about it THIS year... the new year... I almost forgot... HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!! I'm writing about Catching Fire in 2013... the year the movie is coming out!!!!!!! (November 22nd 2013) But, of course, the wait will take 11 months. The movie is still being made. This post is going to be a review, and what I think Catching Fire means.

In the story, Katniss and Peeta are both the victors of the 74th annual Hunger Games. For the next Hunger Games, or specially known as the Third Quarter Quell, the special feature will be... a Hunger Games full of victors. They will be reaped from the existing victors in each district, one male, and one female. And since Katniss is the only female victor, she's going back into the arena. Haymitch is reaped as the male tribute, but Peeta volunteers.

Katniss and Peeta start the game, and they form an alliance with other tributes. They figure out that the arena is in the shape of a clock, with each hour bringing new horror and torture. For example, muttations, acid rain, and screaming jabberjays.

One day, Katniss's alliance goes all around the arena, hooking up electrical wires, to blow up the borders of the arena. Well... the girls go. The boys stay back and work on survival and other things. When Katniss and the girls get back, the arena is exploding. Peeta is screaming for Katniss from far away, but Katniss gets annoyed. A District 13 hovercraft arrivess and takes her and a few other tributes away. Peeta is left behind, a captured by the Capitol.

In Catching Fire, nothing catches fire. So what could the title mean? It means Katniss truly knows what she wants at the end. She catches fire, the fire of the Capitol, and knows that she has to get her revenge and break free from their reign of terror and torture. Katniss, the girl on fire, has really caught fire.