Blog 7: YA Novel

I greatly resonated with the discussion of reading preferences. It can be really difficult to pick out what book to read next that you think you’d enjoy. It can be even more difficult to pinpoint what it even was that you liked about books you’ve enjoyed in the past. You could distinguish it by author, genre, or topic, but I think that by always focusing on just one of these aspects could really narrow down your options and hinder the growth of moving into others. I like that there was a discussion about what the students like to read and why they liked to read it. I like even more that they were also asked what they don’t like to read and why. I find that that can be much more useful in recommending books, especially based off of their explanation. I think there’s a lot of bias towards certain topics and genres based off of one book that’s been read under that category. But the reality is, not every book is exactly like that one you’ve based your opinion off of. I think this is important to discuss about in a future classroom and will keep this in mind when recommending books to others and as well as recommendations for myself.

I’ve personally always struggled with the question, “What do you like to read?” I currently have a small bookshelf packed with books that I’ve read over the years and have a difficult time narrowing down these genres or topics. I can certainly group them together based on common themes, but that was never why I chose them or began to read them. The only thing I can say for sure is that my mother, little sister, and a few friends have have influenced my decision on what I should read next. Only a very few recommendations of books that I have borrowed from others have been quickly returned to these people. Most of the time, I end up buying the book myself and the rest of the books if it’s in a series. I’ve also broken my bias towards vampires with 2 book series about vampires on my bookshelf as evidence. Also, my initial absolute insistence on only liking to read fictional fantasy books has deteriorated with books that are still fictional, but much more realistic in its story. So, I think that by just giving other types of books a chance, you could lead yourself into the option of much more paths that branch off into all sorts of topics of interest.

Finn O’Sullivan is a main character in “Bone Gap.” He has dark eyes, brown hair, and is fairly tall. Just not as tall as his older brother. He’s considered very good looking and is even described as looking like a famous actor by one of the popular girls from school, much to his best friend’s Miguel’s obvious resentment. Finn lives in the small town of Bone Gap, Illinois where everyone knows everyone. He has many nicknames that others call him mostly out of endearment. He likes to taunt and tease Miguel and another man he’s close to, Charlie Valentine. But he also does so towards the Rude brothers under unfriendly circumstances that mostly ends up in a fist fight. He gives special attention to his love interest, Priscilla “Petey” Willis and used to towards Roza, who is now missing. Which caused him and his brother, Sean, to not be on much of a communication basis. Although he knows all of these people, he seems to occasionally prefer talking to the animals on the farm and spending time alone outside. Trying to avoid the whisperings from the corn field. He’s very conscious of his actions and how it would affect others, but he still occasionally does some reckless things. He also hardly seems to be mentally present around others or fails to make eye contact, thus his nicknames of Spaceman, Moonface, and Sidetrack.

“Finn shrugged. It was odd to be sitting on a million-dollar horse, talking to Priscilla Willis in the middle of the night, but then it was a relief to be talking to someone besides the cat.”

Even though he’s most often a loner, he still wants/likes to connect with others. He doesn’t hate people. He just prefers not to be around a lot of them that are gossiping and judging others.

I can’t decide if I like the book or not. I think it’s the mysticism sprinkled throughout the realism of the book. It doesn’t seem to mesh very well for me. But the book is primarily realistic, so I find it tolerable. What I mostly enjoy about it is the mystery of what in the world happened to the missing Roza. Her story is told in about every other chapter along with Finn’s and a few other residents of Bone Gap. I’ve always loved stories with alternating character narratives, so that also makes the reading more enjoyable for me! But, I don’t really think that I would recommend it to anyone that I know. I think I need to finish the book for there to be a definitive decision for that. I hope knowing the outcome of the story makes it completely worth reading it!