Response to "Northern Lights"

I really have enjoyed reading the first 1/3 of the book "Northern Lights".  I'm usually very picky when it comes to reading;  I get bored easily.  However, "Northern Lights" has really caught my attention with the story-line of a woman who goes crazy and leaves her fiance once she finds out her deceased father wasn't her biological father.  Her travel to Finland to discover her real father has been very interesting so far.  She doesn't resist Kari, the bus driver when he pursues her and tries to take advantage of her.  She just goes along with what he is doing, without care, which surprises me.  When he becomes ill, she just leaves him there and moves on with her life, forgetting him.  She becomes cold towards people.  She doesn't have a very friendly or loving personality, but for some reason, her goal is to fin her father and start a new life with new people.  

Her personality seems to have been damaged psychologically from childhood by her mother.  Clarissa had felt betrayed by her fiance, her mother, and father.  She felt like she could trust nobody.  Also, as a child, Clarissa's mother was never very caring until just before she left.  She made Clarissa feel terrible when she left her at the mall just because she was running a few minutes late to the meeting spot.  However, she has had some resentment towards her mother.  She is an interesting character to follow because of her temper and strange behaviors.  At times it seems like she reverts back to childhood tendencies.  She has started to lose her mind it seems as her mother had done before she left.  Her mother used to talk to the neighbor's cat sometimes and would give it milk.  

I am excited to read on to find out what happens when she meets up with her biological father.  It ended with the cliff-hanger of her talking to her father on the phone.  I predict that Clarissa will learn a lot more about her mother and maybe why she left and why Clarissa herself was raised by another man.

Developing Through Reading

Reading is a great part of our everyday lives, whether one is reading a newspaper to catch up on the daily news or reading a fictitious story for enjoyment.  Not only does reading inform and entertain but it also develops one mentally.  Reading is a way to improve an individual's writing and vocabulary, helps them acquire knowledge, benefits in comprehending many different perspectives of life, and is advantageous in many other ways.  People enjoy distinct kinds of texts and take various approaches while reading.

Personally, when reading, I like to be in a well-lit room that is absolutely silent.  I like to sit comfortably in a chair because if I am in bed, I become too sleepy to concentrate.  Also, it is difficult for me to read when there are noises in the background.  I simply cannot concentrate in that type of atmosphere.  When reading for a class, I try to annotate and take notes within the margins of the book or article.  I highlight important paragraphs that will catch my attention when reviewing through the text.  I always try to ask myself questions about the text to see if I am understanding what I read.  Consequently, it helps me better comprehend the material and stay focused.

It was difficult for me to focus on my reading assignments in high school.  I just wanted to get through them and wasn't concerned with learning the text that I was covering.  Nowadays, I have actually begun to care about what I have been reading and have developed a sense of interest.  Nevertheless, I feel like in high school, reading was a chore with all of the "check-up" quizzes that followed every couple of chapters.  Thus, my attitude towards reading was completely negative.  I longed for the reading that I had done in elementary school, when I was rewarded for reading books.  I had a choice of what I wanted to read and if I read enough books, I could win prizes.  There was no time limit, I could choose the book I wanted, and it made reading fun.

I especially enjoy reading books on my own for fun.  My favorites are romance novels.  They really grab my attention and make me want to keep reading.  I like reading about passion and intrigue.  Reading on my own gives me my own pace to take in what I have time for.  I don't have a due date.  It's a great way to pass time while I'm on an airplane or waiting for my next class.  However, I like to read in small portions at a time, unless I am at a certain part of the book where I just can't put it down.  When this happens, I don't even want to stop for dinner.  I feel like I just need to read on until I figure out what happens in the story.

When I read, I read to entertain myself, inform myself on what is happening in the world, or for an assignment for a particular class.  However, through any kind of reading, I am strengthening my vocabulary and writing skills.  It also lets me into many different perspectives or various people from diverse backgrounds from numerous periods of time. Reading develops throughout one's life.  Therefore, it can change people's lives just by taking in many perspectives of life and informing them of the different views.  There are different approaches that people take while reading.  I personally am very picky about where and how I read.  I like silence when studying or concentrating on any piece of text.  It helps me take in what I am reading better and makes it easier to understand and furthermore developing me as a reader.