Starting: The Secret Life of Bees

:D I am starting The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. I decided to read it because I heard it was a good book from almost everyone in this world. Except for Zhao that is. I'm the one that told her that I heard it was a good book.-_-;; oops. Sorry Zhao~ This book is 302 pages so it's gonna take me about three weeks to finish it. Sue Monk Kidd was born in Sylvester, Georgia on August 12, 1948. It took Sue Monk Kidd 3 1/2 years to write it. Can you believe she was a nurse?! It's about prejudice, I think. Also, bees... Probably. I think it will be a good read because it is a well known book and also everyone tells me that it is a good read. Good bye~
<3-Love Stephanie--<<

Finished with Tuesdays With Morrie!~

I finished Tuesdays With Morrie a long time ago actually, and I am starting a new book. I couldn't do my blogs because, well you know why. Anyways, I am OFFICIALLY DONE with the book! (OMG:D) I finished in class actually, and if you people didn't notice, I was very very teary. It was so sad though! I had to read the part when Morrie died... It was so sad!!!!!!!! Mitch and Morrie were so close, and then Mitch had to let Morrie go. He saw Morrie get sicker and weaker and he eventually saw him die. Morrie fell into a coma and he died two days after. Everyone was so sad. This book is real. It happened to Mitch Albom for REAL. He's so lucky though, because he had the chance to meet such a wonderful person like Morrie. He was his "coach", and he taught him life's greatest lessons. Makes me wonder, if I will ever meet a teacher like that... It's so sweet and I wish I met Morrie too. Wow, I'm getting teary again...
This is my most favorite book ever!!!!!! (Along with Howl's Moving Castle, and Castle in the Air) Now, I want to read The Five People You Meet In Heaven, by Mitch Albom. I heard it was a good book. Simple and sweet.

STUPID INTERNET!

ARGH! STUPID INTERNET AND CABLE MODEM!!
Sorry that I couldn't post weekly... My internet has been broken for a while and now all my posts are very random and out of order. I swear it'll be back to normal. Sorry Sorry Sorry!~

Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom

On Pg. 200!!! This is such a good book!~ It is very inspirational and I can't wait to read more!~ This book is very good. So far, Morrie and Mitch are just talking together about random things in life because Mitch wants to know and learn from Morrie because Morrie said that he knew a lot about the world since he is about to die. I find it very inspirational that Morrie is not scared to die. He looks at his disease very positively because he is dying very slowly, so he has a lot of time to say goodbye to the ones he love. I think that is really sweet. If I had ALS, I would be crying my eyes out until I have no more strength to cry anymore and just die. I learned that death is the final stage of life that everyone must go through and it is nothing to be scared of. To every beginning, there is an end.

Starting Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom

I've decided that I will read Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom. I've decided to read this book because I always had this book in my bookshelf and it was aging and collecting dust so I felt bad for it. Also, this book was on the list and I figured, why not? I think that this book will be a really good read because so many people said that they enjoyed it and many people were moved by this book. I love inspirational, heart-warming, and sad books, and this is one of those books. Mitch Albom is also the author of The Five People You Meet in Heaven, (a book that Elizabeth keeps telling me to read^^) If I read 100 pages each week, it will take me three weeks to complete this book. I can't wait to finish this book! :)

Starting Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones

The book that I choose to read is Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones. I choose to read this book because I read the previous book Howl’s Moving Castle, also by Diana Wynne Jones, and it became my favorite book! I am very curious about what will happen next and I am pretty sure that this sequel will be just as fun to read as the first book. I think that this book will be a good read because the first book was absolutely flawless and since Castle in the Air is the sequel, it should be splendid. (I wrote about Diana Wynne Jones in the first post, but I think I have to do it again.) Diana Wynne Jones is a very well known author who lives in London. She is one of London’s top fantasy science fiction writers. She wrote over 40 children’s and adult’s books. If I read 100 pages of this book every week, it will take me 3 weeks to finish it. Well, I hope that this will be a enjoyable book to read!!

NOTE: SORRY, BUT I COULDN'T POST THIS THING BEFORE SO I HAD TO POST IT ALL TODAY... YES I KNOW EVERYTHING IS OUT OF ORDER! I CAN'T HELP IT IF MY CABLE MODEM BROKE DOWN AND MESSED EVERYTHING UP! :( OH WELL... PLEASE EXCUSE MY TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES AND MY OUT-OF-ORDER BLOG POSTS!!

Abdullah character profile!

This is a character profile for Abdullah, the protagonist in Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones. Abdullah is a young man from the city of Zanzib. His hobby is daydreaming about having the perfect life. Usually, he daydreams about being in the most spectacular and breathtaking garden and also there would be a beautiful young maiden. Abdullah speaks really politely. REALLY politely. So politely that you would think that he was flirting with you, but he is not. That is Abdullah's nature. Also, that is really the custom in Zanzib. Abdullah is a carpet merchant in Zanzib, and he sells carpets in the marketplace in a stall. Next to his stall, is his friend's stall and he sells smelly fish/squids and he has a just as smelly dog too. Abdullah sells carpets because his father sold carpets too. His father passed away, so Abdullah had to take over. Abdullah's father married this woman, (not Abdullah's mother), and her and her family are very annoying people. They are also very nosy and it drives Abdullah nuts. Abdullah buys a magic carpet one day and the carpet takes him to the garden of his dreams and there he falls in love with the princess by the name of Flower-in-the-night. Abdullah is very poor, and he is not really worthy to marry the beautiful Flower-in-the-night. They decide to run away to get married. When they are about to, Flower-in-the-night gets kidnapped, and Abdullah was very determined to get his princess back. He was very brave to go up against the Djinn like that. He was also very clever because he and Flower-in-the-night found out where the Good Djinn's life was. Abdullah later becomes the husband of Flower-in-the-night and they live happily ever after.

Finished Castle in the Air!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am finished with Castle in the Air!!! Wow wow! That was such a good book! I enjoyed it very much! So much things happened that I don't even know where to start! First of all, Howl and Sophie are actually in the book! I thought that they would never come out but they actually did and I was so happy! Of course Calcifer, and Lettie, and Benjamin Sulliman and all those other people came out too! I really don't want to kill the book for everyone, but oh well. :) The castle in the air in which the wicked Djinn took Flower-in-the-night to, was actually Howl's moving castle that was transformed into a different Castle so that the Djinn can steal all the princesses. If you don't know what a Djinn is, it is actually a very powerful immortal creature who's powers are far greater than even Howl and Calcifer combined. A Djinn could either be really good, or really bad. There are many Djinns out there. The weird thing is, is that the Djinn that kidnapped Flower-in-the-night and all the other princesses, was actually a GOOD Djinn! He only did that because his brother (who is also a Djinn, but a very bad one) forced him to do it. More like threatened him to do it. The bad Djinn stole the good Djinn's life, and if the bad Djinn crushed his life, then the good Djinn could die. So, the good Djinn was forced to steal Howl's moving castle, place it high in the sky, and kidnap every princess in the world and stuff them in the castle. The bad Djinn wanted to live in the castle with all the princesses by his side, and that was a very mean thing to do, isn't that right?! Thankfully, Abdullah, Sophie and the magic carpet flew to the Castle in the Air. Sophie really went there to get her baby back, who was "kidnapped" by the soldier and genie. (Sorry if you don't know who or when the soldier and genie came out, but many things happened and I can't explain every single aspect of the book....) Abdullah, on the other hand, went up to the Castle to rescue Flower-in-the-night (obviously). After Sophie found Morgan (Sophie and Howl's baby), she was really happy and Morgan was not a kitten anymore. (Sophie and Howl got into a fight so he turned her into a cat, and when Morgan was born, he was a kitten.) Abdullah found Flower-in-the-night and he was so happy, but she didn't seem so happy to see him.
(WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS!)
Soon, everyone found out that the Djinn that kidnapped the princesses was a good Djinn. The good Djinn explained to everyone his situation, and everyone decided that they had to help him. The bad Djinn was there also, and he was being very evil and weird. He was acting as if all the princesses were his wives. Everyone had to think of an ingenious plan to find the good Djinn's life, so they thought of one, and then they executed it. Flower-in-the-night was the one who had to talk with the Bad Djinn and find out where the good Djinn's life was hidden. She solved the riddle, and the Bad Djinn lost! They found out where the good Djinn's life was hidden, and the Bad Djinn had to be punished. Sadly, the good Djinn had to punished as well, because he was actually enjoying his time while committing crimes. Then, a princess wished the genie to be free, and it turned out that the genie was Howl all along! Sophie was so happy! ( And so was I<3) Also, the magic carpet turned out to be Calcifer!! Wow wow! I was so astonished and speechless while reading that last chapter! It was so awesome! Then, the castle fell down to Earth again. Everything was back to normal. Flower-in-the-night and Abdullah got married and Sophie and Howl lived together with Calcifer in the moving Castle. The ending was superb and I found out that there is another book coming out in the "Castle" series in June or July. I can't wait until it comes out! This book absolutely awesome and everyone should totally read it!

Castle in the Air Symbolism

Yay I read up to page 235 and the book is really great! Many different things happened but I do not really want to spoil it for the other people because I want them to read it:) ♥♥ There are really no symbolism in this book so, I decided that I will make one myself.☺
In my previous blog, I said that Abdullah bought this magic carpet. The magic carpet is all raggedy and smelly but it can fly to any location and all you have to do is just say where you want to go! I also said that Abdullah fell in love with the beautiful girl named Flower-in-the-night. I think that the magic carpet symbolizes love because without the magic carpet, Abdullah would have never found his way to the girl of his dreams, Flower-in-the-night. Also, even if Abdullah did meet Flower-in-the-night (which is kind of impossible), then he wouldn't have been able to meet her without flying to her garden. Without the magic carpet, there would have been no love. Without the magic carpet, there is really no point in this book and this book is really all romance. That is why I believe that the magic carpet symbolizes love.


Well, that is my symbolism post! You guys should really read this book it is really awesome! Have fun reading your independent reading books guys!
-Love Stephanie♥♥<-----<3

Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones

As I said before in the previous blog, I finished reading the wonderful book Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. There is a sequel to this book called Castle in the Air and it is obviously written by Diana Wynne Jones also! I wanted to read this book because Howl's Moving Castle was such a good book and when I found out that there was a sequel to this book I was so excited and I knew I just had to read this book. I really wanted to know what happened to Howl, Sophie, Calcifer, Michael, and everyone else in the book, and I knew that the sequel would be just as fun as Howl's Moving Castle because Diana Wynne Jones is such a good writer. I started reading Castle in the Air! I read the first 100 pages and I was very confused and upset that Howl and Sophie isn't coming out in the story. The book even says "sequel to Howl's Moving Castle", but there is no sign of the original characters! This is very sad, but even though Howl and Sophie are not coming out, I will keep on reading this book because I think it is okay.
What happened so far is that there is this carpet merchant named Abdullah, and he is just an average person living in Zanzib who always loved to daydream. He always daydreamed that he was in beautiful garden and there was a lovely girl there. One day, this man came up to him and he said that he would sell him a very dirty, ugly, and raggedy carpet to Abdullah. Abdullah did not want to buy it because it was so disgusting, but then the man said that it was a magic carpet, and he said that he wanted 500 gold pieces. After much haggling, Abdullah finally bought it. The carpet really was a magic carpet because the carpet would go anywhere that the rider wanted to go. The rider had to simply state where he/she wanted to go and then the carpet would zip away!!!! But the thing was that whenever Abdullah said the place where he wanted to go, the carpet wouldn't move and Abdullah was very mad. When he got home, Abdullah slept on the magic carpet and when he woke up, he found himself in the beautiful garden that he always daydreamed of. Then, he saw the beautiful girl. The girl and Abdullah talked a lot with each other. He found out that her name was Flower-in-the-night (I find it very odd but he thinks that it is such a beautiful name o_O), and they fell in love. Actually, Flower-in-the-night never met a man besides her father so she thought that Abdullah was a girl, but later on Abdullah brought pictures of many different kinds of men and Flower-in-the-night said that she still liked Abdullah the best. (How romantic!!) Abdullah thought that it was a dream, but it wasn't and he really wanted to go back to the garden in which Flower-in-the-night was in. Abdullah always slept on his magic carpet and he always seemed to wake up in the same garden. One day, Abdullah and Flower-in-the-night decided to get married, but then Flower-in-the-night's father wanted her to marry a prince, so they had to run away to get married. Abdullah came to the garden again and then Flower-in-the-night was about to hug Abdullah but suddenly, a monsterous creature came swooping down and kidnapped Abdullah before his very eyes! This is all I really read so far. Pretty interesting if you ask me. Still, it would have been better if Howl and Sophie came out because I just love that couple!~

I am Finished!!

I am now done reading Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones!!
It is currently my favorite book right now because I just completely fell in love with it!!
The book was really different from the movie. Even though they were very different, I think that they were very enjoyable in their own ways. I think that the book was a lot more detailed though... Hayao Miyazaki took out a lot of scenes that I thought was very romantic.... :(
Still, I recommend everyone to read the book and watch the movie!!!~ While I was reading the book, I was beginning to worry that Howl was never going to fall in love with Sophie, but in the end, Howl proposed to Sophie in such a romantic way that I thought that I was going to cry!!!!!

"Howl said, 'I think we ought to live happily ever after,' and she thought he meant it. Sophie knew that living happily ever after wih Howl would be a good deal more eventful than any story made it sound, though she was determined to try."-pg 328

I thought that it was so romantic and it makes me feel so jealous of Sophie... :( In the end, Howl killed the Witch of the Waste and Sophie put an end to Calcifer and Howl's contract. Calcifer was free, but then he decided that he just wanted to stay because he made such close bonds with everyone. Howl and Sophie fell in love with each other, Sophie's curse was lifted and she became young again. Wizard Suliman and Lettie fell in love with each other too, and I thought that it was very romantic. The ending was very happy indeed, and it makes me want to read more!! There is a sequel to the book and it is called Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones. I can't wait to read it!!!

Howl's Moving Castle!

I've been reading Howl's Moving Castle and I read up to page 141. The book is about a girl named Sophie. Sophie is very strong-minded. Sophie is the eldest of three sisters, and that means that she will have the most unadventurous life. Because she was the eldest, she had to stay in her father's hat shop while her sisters went to week their fortunes. One day the Witch of the Waste cast a spell on Sophie because she was not pleased with the hats. Sophie was cursed and became an old lady. Sophie left the hat shop to find her own fortune. Then she finds her way to the ever moving castle of Wizard Howl. Sophie works for Howl as a cleaning lady so that she could stay in th castle.


Calcifer is a blue fire demon and he has a contract with the lecherous Wizard Howl. Because of the contract, Calcifer must always work for Wizard Howl. Calcifer is usually grumpy because he wants to break the contract and be free. Sophie likes to bully Calcifer into doing things.

Michael is Wizard Howl's apprentice and he is only a teenager. He is in love with Martha , Sophie's youngest sister, and Martha works in Cesari's pastry in Kingsbury.

Howl is a very handsome and powerful wizard. He does not have a heart. Howl always spends all his money as soon as he gets it. Howl is a player as well. He is always going out to court ladies. He is also very obsessed with looking beautiful/handsome.

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

I decided that I will be reading Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones for my independent reading project. I chose to read this book because I saw the movie and it was great! It is my second favorite movie. Also, my friends told me that it was very different from the movie so I want to read it. I want to see how different the movie and the book is. I think it will be a good read because I am a fantasy lover and I read some other books from Diana Wynne Jones and she is in my top 5 favorite authors. Diana Wynne Jones lives in London, England. She is one of Britain's top fantasy and science-fiction writers. She wrote over 30 books for children and adults, and won awards for them all around the world. She was born on August 16,1934. She is an outstanding writer and I respect her greatly. If I read 100 pages of this book every week, it will take me 4 weeks to finish it. I can't wait to read this book!♥♥