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To be honest, so far I am really enjoying Maus I. it is definitely cool to be reading a comic instead of just a book. It enables there to be much more setting description and character emotions in very little words compared to something without pictures. The most interesting to me thus far in terms of the pictures is probably just how he manages to make all of the background there and very descriptive but it doesn't take away from our attention to the main characters. He uses shading over to make the background really drop back and the foreground stand out so much more. In terms of the story it's really interesting to me how it is his father recalling the story. I didn't expect it to be like that. The fact that he is telling it from a different time period and there seems to be a sort of story line going on in the present as well as the past he is recounting adds a lot more to the story. Oh, and the obvious, they are mice! The Nazis are cats the Polish are pigs. I am curious to see whether this is more than just a way to separate the peoples physically or if the Polish are pigs because of some actions they take. It just seems to me like there are so many more options that for it not to mean anything is only a slim possibility.

So I finished the book... under 12 hours from when I bought it... It was amazing. The ending is absolutely great. It's great how he ends up "dead". But is he really because it seems to me like maybe he just is in a mental institution. He says the bullet tore out his other cheek, like in the movie, implying it didn't kill him, but he says he's in heaven. The other thing I really loved is how everywhere things previously said subtly are said again and come up again. It has been happening all throughout the book too. The Robin Hood parts (I'm trying to find the first one again... the second is page 150) the snowflake thing, everything it seems. Oh, the blood dripping down Patrick Madden's wife's arms just like the woman who got cut on the perfume bottles. I love how he did that. This book was amazing, there is too much to type right here, I can't wait to write our papers!

Reading number 4, done. So he now knows Tyler Durden is him, and he is Tyler Durden, well at least that they share a body. The idea now is for him to not fall asleep, or for Marla to watch him if he does. I just saw a note I had written myself well earlier, and I wanted to just say it now real quick. Before we knew in the book he and Tyler were the same, we saw that quotes were there or missing at different points as he and Tyler "spoke". It gave the appearance of one of them thinking it, which it turns out they were actually doing. I just thought it was interesting. Anyways, back to this reading. The idea of materialism and big businesses is being brought out again with his discussion of space exploration. Also, the idea of us being "the middle children of history" is stated again. He says how were raised on television and what not. There are also the ideas about the fat being sucked from the rich and eventually sold back to them. Social criticisms abound... now time for the last 6 chapters...

I just completed through chapter 18 of Fight Club­ on my first day of reading it. If that doesn't prove I'm really enjoying it I don't know what would. The action is really heating up and getting to the point where it is very interesting. Project Mayhem has formed and Tyler has gone missing. Having seen the movie I know why, but I can't wait to see how it is explained in the book. I am really enjoying the social criticisms in the book. Not to say that I necessarily agree or disagree with all of them, I certainly do find them very fun to ponder. For example, the idea that the only way for us to get better is for us to hit bottom first true? I mean it makes sense in a way. There are so many other ideas presented too. I am ending this log now because I want to go read another section before it gets too late. More to come soon...

So having just read through chapter 12, I am really enjoying Fight Club. In regards to my previous entry, I realized Palahniuk uses a lot of sentences that aren't really complete sentences. It is weird to me that I don't notice most of the time, it all just kind of flows anyways. I am finding the book really hard to put down, even as I am supposed to be getting ready to go out to dinner I had to finish this reading and write this and I just want to read more. I really like the way we slowly start to see something is up with Tyler and him. The never being there with Marla and the way he just appears and disappears is clearly leading towards that. I kind of wish I hadn't seen the movie yet, but I have and it is still interesting to compare the two and I am loving the book. It really is interesting what Tyler is saying about hitting bottom before you can build back up. It almost makes sense but I know at the end of the movie at least, Tyler is more of the "bad guy" so it will be interesting to see if Palahniuk is supporting all of what Tyler says or is disputing it. Honestly though I don't remember a whole lot about the movie in terms of details so I am still finding the book reminding me of most things, not me just knowing them. How Project Mayhem is building at this point is cool, we are seeing how fight club is spreading with Big Bob talking about it and the group disbanding. Oh, also about them being the same person we have seen Tyler's words coming out of his mouth so that shows it too. I have to stop know because we have to leave, but I will probably read more and write another blog tonight because I am loving the book so much...

I just finished reading the first 6 chapters of Fight Club, and just as with Into the Wild I didn't want to put it down. I have already seen the movie, so it is interesting to read the book now knowing at least some (I don't know how accurate the movie is) of what happens. My first reading was really interesting. The way Palahniuk writes is very interesting. Its tough to explain but it sure does make for a very interesting read. It's written as if talking to the reader and the syntax is interesting as well. I did not look particularly at it, but it felt like there were many sort of short maybe simple sentences. I don't know if this is actually how it is, I will be sure to look though, it just felt very straightforward I guess. It's interesting to me that I already know that Tyler is merely in his mind already because in the movie you find out quite late into it but here it seems as if things are going to come out earlier. He keeps saying "I know this because Tyler knows this" and knowing what I do that is quite clear. I also found it interesting that it begins with basically the end of the movie. Lastly, the most intriguing part of the book for me so far is the philosophical undertones. While I realized in watching the movie some of these, they are very clear and much more out there in the book. It is all very thought provoking and I really can not wait to finish the book and see what Palahniuk is trying to get across and where I think it is taking American Literature. That's all for now, but I am going to read the next chunk right now, so I'll have more to say in a few minutes.

First of all, I know I messed up and am late in doing this, I didn't realize we were supposed to. Anyways, I am reading Fight Club since I already finished Into the Wild in one day. My plan is to read it in chunks of 6 chapters which gives me 5 logs. I am thinking this might change though, if I feel I come to a point where I would like to or feel the need to write one. But that is the plan for now and I will try to stick to it.

1. We learn that Hemingway really feels that "weather is very important" (from a letter he wrote to John Dos Passos). I think he sees it as potentially very powerful tool in wirting and he tries to use it to be as powerful as possible. For example in A Farewell to Arms the rain is key to understanding the situation throughout the book. Its not that without the rain it doesn't make sense, but the rain just helps to further the readers' understanding of the situation.

 2. We can use this to help us when we read other works because it demonstrates how weather is often used as a tool in this way. In terms of our writing it shows us that weather is a tool that is really not neccesarily too difficult to include.

1. This helps me to understand Hemingway because I must admit sometimes I question whether certain small details of a book were intended to have the meaning we assign to them. In this quote Hemingway says that yes, it is all intended. In this way, each way you read you should pick up on more and more of these little details that add to the meaning. Also, the more you read it the more you will see in general, not just the reinforcement of what is already seen but whole new ideas.
2. This helps me in  my reading in that I can be sure things were intended because I know that Hemingway put so much in and I probably can not read to much into anything if I tried to. It helps with my writing by really just explaining what he is trying to do and I know if I am able to do anything close to that I will be fairly successful.

After rereading chapter 1:

What are the themes and ideas that come out?

The themes and ideas that really come out are that of a relativly negative sort of vibe or feel with the rain and the leave falling and the cold and people dying of disease and what not. These aren't really themes i guess, so the theme would be the devastation of war. 

 How have they continued in the novel?

They have continued becuase we are seeing more and more the brutalities of war as we progress farther into the novel. The rain is coming more often and we understand much more of what all of this negative stuff means. when i read the first chapter the first time i didn't feel it had as strong of a meaning as it does to me now.

1. From this we learn, as the title of this blog suggests, what Hemingway's writing goals were. We learn that he really wants to tell things in a realistic way so that they can mean something. As he explains something that is all great and beautiful is simply not believable so he tries to portray things as realistically as possible so that they can actually have a meaning and a resonance with the reader. Also by making the reader feel as if the thing is theirs and that they experienced it he helps them so ascertain their own meaning of it on a much more personal level which again helps it to mean so much more to each person.

2. I can apply this to my reading and writing in that I when I look back much of my fictional writing is probably too simplistic and shows just once side primarily which means there is very little meaning felt by the reader becuase it is simply not realistic enough. By being sure to include both I can ensure that I give a realistic representation of whatever it is i am trying to portray and in doing so i can apply so much more meaning to it.