Log #7

In addition to book, I also learn something from movies. I watch a film called Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. It features a senior high school student named Greg. Greg is usually alone in the school. He doesn’t make enemies, doesn’t belong to any small group, and only has nodding acquaintances. The only person he is close to is Earl, but he even doesn’t call Earl a friend. Instead, he says he is a “co-worker”. One day, Rachel, Greg’s classmate, is diagnosed with leukemia, and her health condition is bad. Greg’s mother asks him to spend time accompanying Rachel, and this begins an awkward friendship between the two teenagers.

        This movie reminds me of a book I once read, The Fault in Our Stars. These two works both involve cancers, but I like Me and Earl and the Dying Girl more. The Fault in Our Stars talks about a love and growth story, which directly features a girl who has cancer. On the contrary, in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, the leading role is the cancer patient’s friend. It depicts the growth that this friendship brings to the leading role. The movie doesn’t overly picture cancer, nor does it focus on the wish list Rachel wants to complete before death. However, Rachel, who has cancer, brings huge impact to Greg. I think this movie is far from a typical cancer movie.

        At the end of the movie, not until Rachel dies does Greg know more about her by finding her hobbies and secrets in her room. He seems to re-meet her, and he realizes how neglectful he used to be of the persons around him. I don't have the experience of losing someone close to me, but I believe it's common that not until we lose someone do we find that we spend too little time to understand and to get along well with that person. Life is limited. Thus, I think we should cherish the time we have and go knowing and loving those we want to love. This is also the reason why I always remind myself to be a "genuine person"— to be a person cherishing the chance that brings others and me together, sincerely getting along with others, and trying to find everyone's merits. I think being genuine is an important personality trait, so I value it a lot and hope that I can keep it in mind.

Concept Map

Log #6

In the book The Perks of Being a Wallflower, the leading role, Charlie, is exactly the “wallflower,” a term to describe someone who is shy and introverted, but always silently observes people around him and gives concern to them. Because of his personality, he has few friends. However, after Charlie enters senior high school, he meets Patrick and Sam, who accept him into their group and bring change to his life. By making friends with Patrick and Sam, Charlie realizes the happiness of campus life and grows as he experiences friendship and love.

I think Charlie's story is sort of like mine. After making friends with Patrick and Sam for one year, he starts to worry about the fact that Patrick and Sam will graduate and leave him one day. When learning about Charlie’s feeling, I recalled something happening as I was an elementary school student. At that time, I was bullied by my classmates and had few friends, so I seldom talked and just kept doing my own business silently. However, a girl named Annie actively came to me for a chat and made friends with me; then I became very dependent on her. Afterwards, just like Charlie’s worry, we graduated and we were divided into different classes after entering junior high school. I often went to her class to find her for fear that our friendship would fade away. However, after all, we were in different classes and thus had fewer time to get together. One day I found that she and another girl from her class became good friends, and she spent less and less time getting along with me. I felt sorrowful in the beginning, but later I adjusted my mindset well, learnt to be independent, and made friends with others.

Although Annie and I are now attending universities in different counties and we seldom contact each other, I am very grateful for the times I have spent with her. In my opinion, having friends is really essential. A good friend can keep our company, experiencing many things with us. Besides, since we spend a lot of time being with our close friends, it's likely that we will be greatly influenced by them. Take Annie and I as an example. She was a very optimistic and outgoing person, while I was totally different from her. Nevertheless, after being with her for some time, I found she had great impact on my thoughts and personality. I learned to look on the bright side of life and became much more cheerful, which helped to know how to get along with others and befriended them.

All in all, just like what Stephen Chbosky said in The Perks of Being a Wallflower, "Things change. And friends leave. And life doesn't stop for anybody." There must come a time when we should face the change of things and people around us, but still, we need to keep moving forward on the path of life. However, also like what Stephen Chbosky said, "We are who we are for a lot of reasons." I think friends are exactly one reason that teaches us something, makes us grow, and makes us become who we are now.

Log #5

　　“We train our eyes to be constantly looking outward, never inward, and completely lose sight of who we are and what we’re doing.” This is the sentence that impresses me the most from Emily Warren’s TED talk entitled The Myth of Self-discovery. Indeed, we always focus on the kind of persons we expect ourselves to become rather than on the way we originally are. The expectations sometimes may make us lose ourselves instead.

　　This speech reminded me of a Japanese drama named Flowers for Algernon, which is an adaptation of a novel. The leading role of this works is a man with a low IQ of 68. Due to his intellectual disability, his mother has abandoned him since he was a child. Therefore, he always lives in the expectation that as long as he become smarter, others will like him more. One day, fortunately, after a brain surgery, he changes from a mentally disabled person to a genius. However, as he becomes smarter, he begins to doubt those around him. He believes that everyone around him approaches him with bad purpose, and thus he becomes not so happy as he used to be…….

　　From Flowers for Algernon, I learned that only when we are true to ourselves can we be truly alive. We always imagine that our lives must become better if we have the qualities we like or obtain what we want. Nevertheless, things will not necessarily be the same as we expect. Just like the leading role of Flowers for Algernon, he thinks his life must be better if he can be smarter, but as he become the way he wants, he also loses something essential in life - being trusting and happy. Thus, in my opinion, we should accept the way we originally are and have confidence in it.

　　However, I don't mean that we should always be satisfied with our current condition and don't pursue breakthroughs. As human beings, we must change to grow and to become better. I think the key to achieving this is to live in the moment. To live is to experience. By trying hard to live to the fullest and to feel every moment, we can find out what we truly take pleasure in. Moreover, living in the present can help us not to be limited in the expectations others or we ourselves make, and thus discover our potential strengths. Therefore, I think I should learn to appreciate every qualities I have now and be engaged in anything I do.

Log #4

        Imagine that a girl is forced to have sex with several men every day and lives in fear as well as despair, but never lets her buyers see that and pretends to like the sexual behavior. Or imagine that, with no money, no resources, nowhere to go, the sex trafficking victims finally go back to their traffickers after they are released from the jail. You may consider the above two situations unimaginable, but they do happen. In the documentary, What Happened to The Girl Next Door, some victims of sex trafficking bravely share their horrible experiences of being trafficked and call for the help to other victims.

        In the video, a girl shares her story as the victims of a process called grooming: the trafficker made her think that she was in love and gradually replaced love with abuse and controlled her with drug. When hearing her story, I recalled another woman’s story of moving to America in hope of finding a better job but in the end being cheated and becoming a prostitute. I noticed that many victims of sex trafficking are those who have high hopes and expectation. They are looking for love, job, or new life. However, the traffickers take advantage of it, bringing a totally different life from what the victims have expected. I think we should all learn to be sensible and try not to enable others to make use of our aspiration.

        After watching this video, we also can see the importance of helping the victims rebuild their lives. Since traffickers manage the victims’ money, food, lives, and control their minds through abuse, many victims don’t have the basic life skills. Thus, I think we can help them by raising fund to set up more charities, where the victims can live without worrying about being found by their traffickers and regain the basic life skills such as managing money, the way to eat healthily, and the way to take good care of themselves. Even more, these charities can offer job skills training to enable the victims to find jobs and live on their own after they leave the charitable organizations. Through doing this I really hope more and more victims can receive assistance and make their miserable lives changed.

Reference:

What Happened To The Girl Next Door - a documentary about human trafficking and prostitution

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljrselo4s1U

Truth Home – Truth for Women

http://truthforwomen.org/purpose/

Log #3

        When it comes to sex trafficking, we are most likely to think about the females as the victims of it. Indeed, women are intrinsically vulnerable than men are, and thus they are more likely to be kidnapped and become the sufferers of sex trafficking. Therefore, people focus mostly on the safety of women and try hard to rescue them from torture of sexual exploitation. However, I think this is exactly the reasons why male sex trafficking victims are very probably to be neglected and unsaved from torture. It is without a doubt that the proportion of women’s being sexual exploited is higher than that of men’s. Nevertheless, I think those male victims still should not be neglected because they are suffering from the same painful things as those women are.

        From the articles I read, I learned that societal expectation is also one reason causing the neglect of saving males from sex trafficking: gender norms suppose that men should be strong and take good care of themselves, and those admitting being victims of sex trafficking are shaming and mistrusting. Thus, identifying trafficked victims and rescuing work have become much more difficult. I always knew that the society has stereotype and some specific expectation on the males: they should be independent and strong and should not cry. These may more or less influence the males and they become unaccustomed to sharing their feelings and happenings. However, I didn’t know that the impact of societal expectation has gone so far: men are unwilling to tell others they are suffering from sexual expectation. From this we can see that societal expectation does have great influence on our thoughts and acts. Thus, I think we shouldn’t have specific stereotype and expectation for the two genders, and such pitiful things as failing to rescue the victims can be less likely to happen.

Reference:

http://humantraffickingcenter.org/men-boys/

http://www.endslaverynow.org/blog/articles/the-secret-victims-of-sex-trafficking

Log #2

After reading some articles about sex trafficking and having deeper understanding of it, I further moved on investigating in another form of sex violence – cybersex trafficking. Cybersex trafficking is also a type of sex trafficking which is on the rise as internet access increases everywhere. Victims of it, including children under 2 years old, are abused or forced to perform sex acts in front of a webcam, and “customers” can view the show anywhere in the world through the Internet. The more abusive the show is, the more the customers pay. The persons who set up the show exploit the children and make a profit from it.

When I learned the words “cybersex trafficking” for the first time, I thought it was about finding the buyers through the Internet and then selling the sex slaves. However, it goes beyond just this. Never did I think that a webcam – the tool we use frequently in our daily lives – is being used in this way for this kind of purpose. This invention becomes a weapon which may leave lifelong scars to the children. Even though the children don’t meet the customers in person, I think being imprisoned somewhere and forced to perform in front of a webcam are still great torture.

In addition, I think those customers who pay for watching the show have twisted mind. As human beings, we feel sorrowful and compassionate when we see adults being tortured, not to mention the fact that it is the little and cute children who are being abused. How can those customers be so cold-blooded and pay for watching children being treated like this?

Before I started reading the articles about the issue of sex trafficking and cybersex trafficking, I didn’t know that there are so many people who are suffering from them. Even though I am unable to give any practical help to those people, I still can pay more attention to this issue and pray for them.

Reference:

https://www.ijm.org/sites/default/files/IJM_2016_Casework_FactSheets_CybersexTrafficking.pdf

https://vimeo.com/192525122

Log #1

It is known that Isis seizes women as its soldiers’ sex slaves. However, for Yazidi women captured by Isis in an attack in 2014, the trauma they encountered were more than just sex violence. Isis kept them as sex slaves also in an attempt to wipe out this non-Islamic people. Because the Yazidi culture dictates that women forming relationship with non-Yazidis should follow their partner’s religion, Isis took advantage of this and attempted to rape the Yazidis out of existence.

From the article, I learned that Isis routinely kidnaps women and gives them to the “faithful” Isis soldiers. I consider this behavior really ironic and disrespectful. From the act of rewarding “faithful” soldiers, I think Isis values loyalty, cohesion, and self-identity a lot. However, it cannot accept and respect others’ believing in their own culture and self-identity just because others are different from it. Even worse, it wants to wipe out the “different” people and thus does such cruel things as seizing women as sex slaves. I think Isis is really selfish and does not respect others at all.

Although rape as a weapon of war or attack is nothing new, I still consider it really unfair and hurtful to women. This kind of suffering is painful not only physically but even more mentally to a woman. It may also become a lifelong fear haunting someone forever. I really can’t imagine if this happens in my surroundings. I feel very lucky that I live in this relatively peaceful place and hope that more and more women can be free from this suffering.

Reference:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-sex-slaves-lamiya-aji-bashar-nadia-murad-sinjar-yazidi-genocide-sexual-violence-rape-sakharov-a7445151.html

Log #8

Book: The Fault in Our Stars

Author: John Green

Page: (finished)

        I have finished reading this book, and I find myself quite into it. Some people think it’s again that kind of inspiring cancer-fighting and love story, and thus they don’t like it. However, generally I like it because I think this book is more than just cancer and love. What attracts me to keep on reading this book is the way Hazel and Augustus treat death. Hazel fears she would hurt others, so she dares not get too closer to others. On the other hand, Augustus is afraid of being forgotten, so he lives hard to be remembered. Their different ways of treating death make them have deep discussions about the meanings of life and have great argument over their own opinions. I think this is what makes this book worth reading. The two leading roles’ totally different viewpoints can arouse the readers’ deeper thinking of death—the issue that we hardly think about now—and what’s the meaning of life? what we really want to achieve in this limited life?

        Besides, this book makes me have a chance to see the world from cancer patient’s perspective. Hazel once mention that sometimes she thinks cancer is painful because the illness isolates her from others. This impressed me a lot. Sometimes we help patients because we feel pitiful for them and treat them as patients. However, maybe our sympathy also invisibly hurts them even though we truly want to help them. Maybe they want to be treated as normal persons and get along with others naturally as well. Thus, from this book I learn that when getting along with anyone, I should put myself in their shoes and be careful not to hurt others unconsciously.

        All in all, I think The Fault in Our Stars is quite worth reading. Although its subject might not be appealing to some people, but we really can get something by reading it!

Log #7

Book: The Fault in Our Stars

Author: John Green

Page: P.219 – P.313(finished)

        During the days Hazel and Augustus go to Amsterdam, Augustus confesses that his cancer has recurred. Unfortunately, after they return to their country, his health condition worsens sharply. His illness doesn’t become better even after he receives treatment in the hospital, and in the end, he still passes away….

        I think the ending of this book is totally gut-wrenching. In the very beginning of this novel, “death” has already been the issue talked about. However, I find it much more hurtful to know that Augustus really dies eventually. I also find that “death” gives me different reflections when I read the part Hazel and Augustus talk about it and the part Hazel truly experiences the pain of losing her beloved one. Two weeks ago, when I read the part they talk about death, the main things I thought about was the importance of living in the moment and being brave to go for what we want to accomplish. Since death is inevitable, and perhaps it will happen in the next moment, we should cherish the time we still have now. Nonetheless, as I read the love story between Hazel and Augustus and know their deep love for each other, “death” has become an even more weighty issue. Now I think that death is unavoidable and that no one can know how long they still can live. Thus, we should seize every moment and cherish everyone around us, especially the ones loving us and we love.

        Although I feel very sorry that Hazel can’t have a happy ending with the person she loves in the end, I still consider it worthwhile that she meets Augustus. I think in this way because, in my opinion, it is very hard to find a worth person who she loves and loves her very much, and who she can grow up and become better with. Therefore, although Hazel’s love for Augustus and his leaving eventually bring scar to her, I think still she will not regret falling in love with him.

Log #6

Book: The Fault in Our Stars

Author: John Green

Page: P.114 – P.218(C8 – C13)

Hazel and Augustus have good feelings towards each other. She recommended him a novel called The Imperial Affliction, and then they decide to pay a visit to the author together to know the unpublished ending of the novel. Although Hazel’s health condition is not suitable to go abroad visiting the author, she in the end successfully sets forth on the journey with Augustus and her mother. However, the author is not like the person she expects, and thus she is disappointed….

I really admire Hazel as a brave person who has courage to pursue what she wants. Her health condition is not desirable for her to go traveling abroad, but she doesn’t give up and still wants to accomplish her dream. If I were her, if I had cancer, I think I might hold myself back from going for the thing I am eager for. In addition to Hazel’s own determination, I think her family’s support is also a great helping hand for her to step forward. Worried as Hazel’s parents are about her health condition, finally they still decide to support her decision because they love her very much and want her to lead the life she wants. I think parents’ support is really important for every decision we children make. If my parents don’t back me up on what I decide to do, I will feel that there is great obstacle ahead and feel powerless. On the contrary, with their support, when I run into something difficult, I will recall that someone is with me unconditionally and regain my nerve soon. Thus, I think personal determination and parents’ support are all crucial to pursuing things we want.

I like the words Augustus said to Hazel, “You are so busy being you that you have no idea how utterly unprecedented you are.” These words convey a great concept—being ourselves. We don’t need to change the way we originally are to cater to other’s expectations. We just have to be sincere and be ourselves, and this kind of true persons are the most attractive. These words also make me recall a phrase I once heard from an ad, “You are more beautiful than you think.” Often, we only see our shortcomings and think others are better than us. We are unaware that we are actually as beautiful as others as well. Therefore, I think we should not pick on our imperfection and should embrace every part of us. After all, every man has his demerits and merits.

Log #5

Book: The Fault in Our Stars

Author: John Green

Page: P.3 – P.113(C1 – C7)

        Hazel is a teenager who is diagnosed with terminal thyroid cancer and has depression. To make her situation become better, Hazel’s mother takes her to attend a Support Group, which features a weekly meeting where people with cancers gather together and share with one another their life stories and experiences. Attending the Support Group, Hazel meets Augustus, a charming teenager who has lost one of his legs due to the bone cancer he had.

        When I heard about this book for the first time, I thought it was mainly about romance and the leading roles’ growth from love. However, when Hazel first meets Augustus, the very first issue they discuss is about death. I was deeply impressed by Hazel’s words, which are, “There will come a time when all of us are dead. All of us. …And if the inevitability of human oblivion worries you, I encourage you to ignore it. God knows that’s what everyone else does.” These words remind me of one minor accident I had two weeks ago. In that accident, I was very lucky to be safe and sound although I fell from the motorcycle. However, I kept thinking what if the motorcycle fell on my leg, what if there were no enough time for the vehicles behind us to brake? Then what would have happened?

After that accident and after I read Hazel’s words, I realize the importance of living in the moment. Nobody can know whether they are still alive in the next second. Thus, I learn that we should be brave to do what we want to achieve. Most of the time we have a lot of things we want to do, but we hold back from stepping forward because of the worry that our decisions may be wrong or that we will fail in what we tried. However, life is full of uncertainly. No one can know how long they still can live. Therefore, I think we should live in the moment and summon up courage to go for what we want as long as it is worth it!

I am looking forward to reading more about this novel now and expect that it will be different from normal love and growth stories.

Three Presentations I Like

Jenny Chang

Jenny was the first speaker, and I think she really did a good job opening the sharing. She was so well-prepared that the audience could follow her introduction and reflection to the books at a smooth pace. Besides, I think her reflection was very good. She combined what she learned from the book with her life, and truly benefited from what she had spent time reading. She also mentioned that now every day she spends at least thirty minutes reading. I really admire her perseverance, and I think I should learn this from her.

Jerry

Although the plot of the book he shared was very complicated, his explanation for it was very clear; thus we still could understand it. I was very impressed by his great ability to present a complex idea to the audience logically. Besides, I also think his presentation was the most special one. He told the audience his real thought about the book: he considered it nonsense. However, then he said we still could learn something from this nonsense. I think the way he presented the idea of the book was very novel and could successfully make the audience impressed by what he said.

Celine

From her sharing, I could see that she really loved the books she read. Her presentation made me recall that I once read an article talking the methods to give great presentation. It mentions that only when the presenters do have great passion for and deeply believe what they share will they move and convince the audience. Celine’s presentation did make me feel that she really liked what she introduced, and thus she was very confident of it. All in all, I think she made a great presentation, and I like it.

Log #4

Book: The curious incident of the dog in the night-time

Author: Mark Haddon

Page: 1 – 221 (finished)

        Christopher is a fifteen-year-old genius, who is especially good at logic and math. However, he seems to have no understanding of human emotions and have difficulty getting along with people normally. This book talks about Christopher wanting to find out who has murdered his neighbor’s dog in the midnight and he unexpectedly finding some truths in the process of investigating into the death of the dog.

        In my opinion, what makes this novel interesting and appealing is mainly Christopher’s being a very unusual person. He is very intelligent and rational, but at the same time, he seems to have no feelings. Because of his two extreme personality traits, I admire him but dislike him as well.

        To begin with, I do appreciate his wisdom and rationality. When one of his neighbors tells him that his mother has love affair with other man, he doesn’t feel sad at all. He thinks what his neighbor says is not really proved to be true and thus it is stupid to make assumptions of something that doesn’t exist and feel sad about it. I think Christopher’s opinion really makes sense. We always imagine things that aren’t happening now and worry about it. However, it is actually a waste of time because our worry can’t solve any problem, and maybe the truth is there is no such thing. Of course everybody knows the idea of not wasting time worry about what’s not happening, but it is much more difficult to do than to say it. Thus, I think Christopher’s ability to stay calm and rational is really worth learning from.

        Nevertheless, there is also something about Christopher that I don’t quite appreciate. He is a person with no emotions or feelings. He isn’t grateful for others’ care about him. In his story, there are one of his neighbors showing care for him and a lady concerned with his being hit by train. However, he just doesn’t allow anyone to touch him and even thinks everyone around him has bad intentions and may do harm to him. I think his excessive self-defense mechanism will increase the distance of his relationship with others and make it harder for him to get along with other people. Yet, it is not totally his fault because he is born having problems understanding the emotions normal people have. Thus, although I don’t like Christopher’s behavior, I think he is poor, and thinking of his story, I learn we should all cherish that we are born sound and can feel the warmth and love from those around us.

        This is a worth reading novel with special subject, and I enjoy the time spent on it!

Log #3

Book: Number The Stars

Author: Lois Lowry

Page: 1 – 137 (finished)

        The story is set during World War II, when Denmark surrendered to Germany and Nazis invaded Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. It mainly talks about a ten-year-old girl named Annemarie Johansen, along with her family, making every effort and risking life to secretly send the Jews to Sweden, the place still safe from Nazi armies’ threat. The book is not long, but the author perfectly draws an outline about what people’s life was like during the war. From the author’s compact description, I feel like experiencing an adventure with Annemarie.

In a part of the story, I see the great relationship between the Johansens and the Rosens, who were Jews. At that time, the Jews in Denmark were being “relocated”. In order not to make the Nazis take away Ellen Rosen, Annemarie’s best friend, the Johansens let Ellen pretend to be a part of their family and succeed in lying the Nazis. I admire the Johansens for being calm and making the Nazis leave without taking away Ellen when facing the cruel armed Nazis. I think their courage came from their strong resolution to protect their loved friend. Although they were of different races, they still considered each other good friends and tried best to protect each other. This touched me very much.

Another part that impresses a lot is the conversation between Annemarie and her uncle. When Annemarie’s mother and her uncle were planning to rescue the Jews, they concealed something from Annemarie. Annemarie was confused with why her mother lied to her, and thus she asked her uncle. Her uncle said, “It is much easier to be brave if you do not know everything.” This words impresses me a lot and reminds me of “white lie.” Indeed, only when we don’t know much about the truth will we keep the courage to face the difficulties. I think Annemarie’s mother and uncle chose to lie to her also because they loved her and wanted to protect her. If Annemarie had known too many things, she might have been frightened or been in danger. I think this part is telling us a way of staying brave and also a way love is.

All in all, I think this reading experience very good. This book does teach us something without tedious description or draggy story.

Log #2

Book: Thirteen Reasons Why

Author: Jay Asher

Page: 146 – 288 (finished)

        I have finished reading this book, and now I know the thirteen reasons why Hannah committed suicide, including the one about Clay, a boy who didn’t seem to have done something wrong that could contribute to her death. Hannah apologized for involving Clay in her list. She just considered Clay important in her life and wanted him to know more about her feelings and motives for suicide, so she made him receive the seven tapes as well.

Clay was a very nice person who actually wanted to get closer to Hannah and was willing to listen to her story. However, he was so shy that he didn’t dare to approach her. The only connect between them was a party, at which they finally had a chance to chat with each other. As Hannah was about to open her heart to Clay and told him all her sufferings, she suddenly felt scared and a sense of inferiority because of the rumors and hurt to her. Thus, she pushed him away and again bore the sorrow all by herself.

Although in the tape Hannah said that Clay’s story should not be included as a reason for her suicide, I think it did; however, I think the inflictor here was not Clay but Hannah herself. For the other twelve reasons, the twelve people all did something harmful to Hannah, but in Clay’s case, Hannah was the one who did damage to herself. It’s her who made herself lose a chance to have a listener, which further let her fail to find a way to release her emotions and pressure and led to such a tragedy to happen.

From Hannah’s story, I know the importance of releasing pressure. In my opinion, although Hannah did encounter something very frustrating, some acts from the thirteen persons were not so serious at all. I personally think some people were innocent and should not be included in the list and blamed for her death. Perhaps Hannah just ran into too many things at the same time, so those trivial acts became the last straw to make her finally chose to end her pain in the most extreme way. Thus, I think we should all learn to find a way to let go of our pressure instead of just bearing all the negative emotions in mind.

I think the ending of this book is very good. After Clay finishes listening all the tapes, he finds himself unable not to think about Hannah. He regrets that he didn’t show much care to Hannah, but no one can rewrite the past. Thus, he keeps Hannah’s story in mind and starts caring for other classmate who seems to have thought of killing himself. Although this book is weighty in general, I consider its story very meaningful and worth reading.

Log #1

Book: Thirteen Reasons Why

Author: Jay Asher

Page: 1-145

        This book is about a student named Clay receiving seven cassette tapes recorded by Hannah, a classmate that committed suicide weeks ago. In the seven cassette tapes, Hannah talked about the thirteen people and thirteen reasons that led to her depression. She also asked the tapes to be passed between the thirteen people, or a copy of the tape would be made public by an unnamed classmate. That is, those who receive the cassette tapes are to blame for Hannah’s death. However, Clay considers himself not so familiar with Hannah and didn’t do anything that might hurt her feelings, so he is confused with his receiving the cassette tapes.

        So far from what I have read, there are two reasons for Hannah’s suicide that impressd me a lot. The first one is Alex’s act. He wrote and passed to the class a “WHO’S HOT / WHO’S NOT” list and ranked Hannah as the hottest. This act didn’t seem to matter and to be harmful at all. However, because of this list, a bad boy got an excuse to sexually harass Hannah and still thought nothing of what he had done to her. Alex must not know that his unwitting act would bring such outcome and pain to Hannah. When I read this part, I was impressed because I think many things around us are just like what is in this event. We may do something we consider trivial, but in the end, it turns out to be something serious. Although it might not be our original plan, there is no denying that it should be attributed to our acts or words. Thus, from this part, I learn we should think carefully about the results it might bring before uttering a word or doing something.

        Another reason of Hannah’s suicide that impressed me most is about Jessica, the person who was supposed to receive the cassette tapes after Alex. Jessica and Hannah used to be good friend, but not anymore. In Alex’s “WHO’S HOT / WHO’S NOT” list, he put Jessica’s name on the right column, in contrast to Hannah. What’s worse, there were some untrue rumors about Hannah spreading on the campus, and Jessica chose to believe them rather than her friend. The two things contributed to the breaking of friendship between the two girls. In a severe quarrel, Jessica even slapped Hannah in the face, bringing more hurt to her. I was very impressed by this part because I once broke with my friend due to something not-so-important as well. I think it’s a pity that friends quarrel because of misunderstanding or distrust. If we can trust others more, there must be less pitiful things like this happening.

        So far I think the story in this book is very interesting, and I can’t wait to know more about the thirteen reasons and what Clay will do after getting deeper understanding of Hannah’s story.

My Reading History

I think I used to be a reader when I was in elementary school, but now I consider myself a reader “sometimes.” When I was an elementary school student, I made a friend who enjoyed reading very much. She took me to the library during every break time and recommended me a lot of books she liked such as Arsène Lupin series. From then on, I developed the habit of reading and enjoyed visiting the library as well. Pitifully, after I entered junior high school, I gradually lost the habit of reading because the library was very far from my classroom and also because of my school work. Now, I mostly read articles in the textbooks or extracurricular books at teachers’ request.

The book that impresses me most is Gone with the Wind. The story happened on the eve of American Civil War, talking about a female’s growing-up story. When I read this novel for the first time, I only thought about that the female leading role was very willful and blunt to understand who she really loved. However, when I read it again after I grew older, I began to consider her a great woman. She used to be a rich man’s daughter and was very proud, but when the war broke out and all men were called up into the army, she bravely took on the whole responsibility of caring for her family. I really appreciate her personality—being strong and direct, and I think her story is quite inspiring. That’s why I enjoy this novel a lot.

As for the persons who made me a reader, I think in addition to the friend I made in elementary school, my aunt was also an essential one. When I was little, my parents were busy working. Thus, they entrusted me to my aunt, the teacher in an after-school class. My aunt valued reading a lot, so she prepared many children’s books and asked her student to read them every day. I would say my aunt was the person who led me to the entrance of reading, and my friend was the one who took me to the journey of reading. Although I’m not a regular reader now, I still hope that I can regain my interest and habit of reading someday, even without teachers’ request.