Literary Blog Assignment #3- L.A. Candy Quote

   "Jane tried to absorb this new reality. Twenty grand-just for being filmed doing stuff she would have done anyway, like going to work and hanging out with friends. She couldn't believe it. She had never made that much money in her entire life, not from all her part-time jobs put together. And of course, Fiona was paying her minimum wage, basically. Maybe now she wouldn't need to dip into her savings as much, or she could tell her parents they didn't need to help her out anymore. Was this really happening?" (Conrad, 126).

I chose this quote because I found it interesting, and when I read it it was like a "wow" moment for me.  They will be paid $20,000 just for being filmed doing the things they normally do, and that paycheck is only for the first ten episodes to make up the first season!  That's $2,000 per episode!  This is an eye opener because you get to know how crazy good the pay is!  Jane reacted like this too.  She was in shock and even in denial a little because she thought it was too good to be true!  This quote is important to the plot of the story because it is important for us readers to know how much they will make and know Jane's reactions to the news.  Knowing Jane's thoughts after her and Sacrlett talked about it develops character and we get to know who Jane is a little more.  L.A. Candy is written in third person.  Lauren Conrad uses imagery (synaesthesia) to make us feel happy (for them), excited and curious (because we want to know what they will do with the money and we wonder what we would do if we got that much money), and maybe even jealous of Jane and the other girls because they don't do anything to get rich suddenly.  I know what your thinking, getting jealous of a book character, really?  But we all can't deny that getting $20,000 would be nice!  Mood is also used.  I picked this quote because I wanted to write about something shocking and interesting.  I was going to choose a different part when Jane and Scarlett were getting miked and ready for filming because I thought that it was different than us average people are used to hearing (they have to get miked before every video shoot, which means arriving thirty minutes early wherever they are shooting).  But then I found this quote.  On the page before this one (125) is Sacrlett and Jane's reactions when they find out how much they are getting paid.  I would have chose that, but there was foul language and I thought that I better play it safe and not use that quote because this blog is for a school project!  So it came down to this one! 

L.A. Candy

I have started a new book called L.A. Candy by Lauren Conrad.  It is the first book of the trilogy.  L.A. Candy being the first, Sweet Little Lies as the second and Sugar and Spice as the third book.  What happens in the novel is that 19-year-old Jane and her best friend Scarlett move to L.A. where Scarlett goes to school and Jane works at Fiona Chen Events Management for an internship.  One night when they are out at a club, they are approached by a television producer who wants to star them and two other girls in what he thinks could be the next big thing.  They both agree and before Jane knows it, she's Television's hottest star!  The neat thing about L.A. Candy is that Lauren Conrad is writing by her own first hand experiences!  She is the star of MTV's number one hit show called The Hills, and also lives in Los Angeles.

When I stared reading it I was debating whether or not I should stop reading and move on to another book.  If you read the first chapter, you might know why I wasn't too keen to continue reading.  I was thinking the entire book might only be about what guys the main characters have slept with.  But I talked with my friend who recommended the book to me, and she said it gets better, so I kept on going.  Now, I'm almost half way though this book and it has turned out better than I thought it would and I actually want to read the others in the series! 

L.A. Candy Trilogy

Say What??!

Hey guys!
Guess what?  Thirteen Reasons Why is turning into a movie!!  Not to sure about you, but I'm super excited!  If you haven't read this book yet, you totally should before the movie comes out!  On the down side, we'll have to wait until sometime in 2013, oh well it could be further!  That's only a year, not even, I'm still really pumped!  Selena Gomez will be playing as Hannah.  I think that they should have a different actress, who is blond.  Not Lindsay Lohan who I mentioned before, but someone different... humm.  Lindsay Lohan is someone who I'd think looks like the Hannah would.  Also, Jay's other book (co-authored by Carolyn Mackler), The Future of Us, is getting its own movie sometime in the future too.  In the mean while, here's a little video that I found that summaries the book a little.
Enjoy!  :)

Literary Blog Number 2

   I just finished reading Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher.  It was a really great book, even though it was sad.  I would definitely recommend it for many different reasons.  One being, Jay Asher uses such good description in his writing.  This is also his first novel!  It is put together very well.  Also, being a high school student reading about another high school student I was brought to think, people in the same high school that I go to are probably feeling the same way as Hannah.  It inspires me to smile at everyone in the halls.  As Jay Asher once said, "...even though Hannah admits that the decision to take her life was entirely her own, it's also important to be aware of how we treat other. Even though someone appears to shrug off a sideways comment or to not be affected by a rumor, it's impossible to know everything else going on in that person's life, and how we might be adding to his/her pain. People do have an impact on the lives of others; that's undeniable."  I completely agree with Jay Asher, and I think that this is a great reminder that we do have an impact on others even if we don't think what we do is a big deal.

One of the covers for Thirteen Reasons Why, a suspense novel.

1) What is Thirteen Reasons Why about?

   What the novel is based around is the main character, Hannah Baker, and her decision to commit suicide.  Before her death, she records thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life on cassette tapes.  Hannah sends the tapes out to the people that she thinks are somewhat responsible for her death.  One person is responsible for one reason (except one person who is responsible for two).  We (the audience) follow Hannah's former class mate, Clay Jensen, around while he is taking his turn listening to the tapes.  He doesn't know what he did to get on Hannah's list.  He was always good to everyone, especially Hannah because he had a crush on her.  So he walks around town and listens to Hannah's tapes all in one night, to try to understand why.  For the people on her list, Hannah also makes a map of the small town that she lives in.  Each starred location on her map marks where something went wrong in her life (a reason) since she moved to town. Throughout her tapes, she mentions the places on her map that she wants her listeners to visit, Clay visits most of them.  Hannah worked at the movie theater, so Clay decided to also get a job there. He was probably the person that cared the most about her.  Hannah's parents were too busy to spend much time with their daughter.  They barely even noticed when she cut her long hair to her shoulders! Jay Asher writes a dual narrative (when two people are "telling" the story), Hannah as the protagonist (main character) with little Clay parts in between, reacting to what he is hearing. It is being told in second person (Clay) and first person (Hannah).

2) Who is Hannah Baker?

   We don't get to fully know who Hannah is before her life started to turn up side down. We know that she is attractive (from what Clay has thought and others have done), kind, loving, and wants to fit in but not much else.  She becomes untrustworthy, desperate and depressed towards the end of her life, and sees little hope in her future, even though she tries to reach out for help.  She was the opposite when she first started high school as a freshmen, trusting and hopeful, making plans for the future.  But as her life continues, she gets betrayed and harassed by her classmates, which leads to her giving up and committing suicide.  Us as readers get to know about Hannah from what she says on the tapes and how Clay reacts to hearing them.  Hannah is an only child and her parents don't pay much attention to her at all.  She also has no true, best friend.  We are not given much information of what Hannah physically looks like, other than she is attractive and has long blond hair (until she chops it off).  If Hannah would be played by a famous actress, I think that Lindsay Lohan would be the perfect match because Lindsay and Hannah have same physical features (pretty, blond).  To make this match even better, Lindsay is having troubles with her life (drugs, alcohol, etc) and Hannah was also having issues with her life.

Lindsay Lohan

3) What is the setting?

   The setting in Thirteen Reasons Why takes place in a small town, which Jay Asher has decided to keep unnamed.  It takes place in the present era (2000's) even though cassette tapes are used.  There is an interview in the back of the book where Jay Asher says that the town is made up of two cities that he grew up in.  He picked out certain places and things from both cities to make the town that is in his first novel. Now in this small town, there is a movie theater (where Hannah and Clay worked), library, gas station, a Rosie's Diner, a Monet's Cafe, a hospital, playground and more.  Each one of these spots are marked on Hannah's map.  The entire novel takes place during two days; afternoon to evening, evening to night, night to very early morning, very early morning to morning.  This story also takes place on a weekday because Clay comes home from school the first day then goes back (more like drags himself back) to school on the second day.  This setting reminds me a little bit of towns like Teulon and Selkirk even though they are bigger than the town in the book.


I find it funny that Jay Asher also has a blog, using blogspot too!  I might just have to start following his blog!  You can find him at, www.jayasher.blogspot.com.



ALL ABOUT ME

   Hey, I'm Jess and welcome to my blog!  Although this is my first blog, I have made a few websites in the past.  My recent obsessions are Australia and Pintrest.  Why Australia you ask?  Well to be honest, I'm not too sure myself!  I like traveling and summer, so I guess when the two merge they equal Australia!  Maybe I'm also attracted to their awesome accents (even though I think that South African accents are better), I don't know.  I find it a bit ironic that I like traveling but suck at geography.  My favorite Aussie singers are Keith Urban and secondly Cody Simpson.  Keith Urban is also my favorite country singer, if not my favorite singer in general.  I love listening to music.  My iPod is mostly made up of country and pop music, but I don't really have a genre that I absolutely cannot listen to (well that is if you consider scremo a type of music).  As for books, I like adventure, suspense and a good mystery.  Except after reading mysteries, I don't feel smart because the "murderer" or whoever is always who I didn't expect.  Even though I like reading, I don't read that much.  Art and photography are hobbies that I also enjoy.  I get many craft and do it yourself (DIY) ideas from Pintrest (of course) and then I want to try them all, but I don't have (or make) the time to do so.  I have a rather large family, two brothers and three sisters, plus me.  All of my siblings are older except one younger sister.  I don't like to disappoint people and sometime I can be really hard on my self.  This is something that I need to work on!   I have always had a  love animals.  I have four pets, a dog, a cat and two hamsters.  I love shiny jewelry, Nutella and Reese's Pieces!!  I am athletic and love basketball.  Michael Jordan is my inspiration.  Did you know that he didn't make his high school basketball team?!  He stayed after his other basketball practices and ran man makers on his own because he wanted to get better!  That is determination people!  Currently, I am playing for the Junior Varsity girls volleyball team at my high school and I am super excited for the rest of the season!  I also play softball in the summer, and enjoy running.  I signed up for the cross country team at my high school, but before it even started I ended up quitting because I'm too busy with volleyball and basketball.
That's me!