Reading Diary A: Dante's Inferno

I chose to read Dante’sInferno for my reading unit, and I am so glad I decided to! I have always heard that it was an amazing peace, and I knew that it was about Dante describing his experience in Hell; however, this has been my favorite unit, and I now want to read all of Dante’s Inferno. The section in the first half that stuck out the most was The Gates of Hell and Charon. The writing over the entrance immediately gave me chills. How terrible it would be to see writing like that and still have to go through. Later on the section mentions people willing to cross over, I just could not imagine that. Those people literally lost all hope and there was never going to be any hope of a better circumstance. The images of their faces soaked in blood and tears, and then to be eaten by worms, that is something I won’t be able to forget. This section was so dark, and it definitely set the stage for everything that followed in the later sections.

(Image from WikiArt)

Reading Diary B :Celtic Fairy Tales I

I absolutely loved TheStory of Ivan in the later half of the Celtic Fairy Tale I Unit. This story is loved easy to apply to daily life. The over arching theme that I took away from it is: money cannot buy happiness and it is not everything. I cannot agree more with this statement, and Ivan probably agrees as well. Ivan gave up three years wages for advice on life, and it paid him back in full. I also took away the importance of listening to the old and wise. The way I read the story, I assume that the farmer is old, and old age brings on a lot of wisdom. The farmer was nice enough to share what he has learned with Ivan, and Ivan was smart enough to listen. I also like that in the end, Ivan still got his three years wages even though he did not need it. If you do not make money the priority, then you will not be bothered when you have none or too much, and that is the way I want to live.

(Image from the Richest)

Reading Diary A: Celtic Fairy Tales

For this reading diary, I want to focus on the SprightlyTailor story. I like the tailor a lot. He was very confident and daring in his adventure to the old church. I don’t know why McDonald challenged him to sew in a haunted church, but he did it and showed McDonald up.  I found the whole ghost scene to be pretty interesting though. I don’t know if the ghost was trying to scare the tailor by slowly coming out of the floor, and then got mad when he was scared or what. It was interesting to say the least. I thought that the tailor was going to triumph over the ghost or something, so I was a bit surprised when he ran away. But I did like the last bit about no one ever seeing the long threads, so I guess the ghost did manage to scare him some. It was an interesting/enjoyable read altogether.

(Image from Collins ClipArt)

StoryTelling for Week 11: A Modern Day Hero

As I leaned by in my lazy boy watching TV, I glanced over to my wall. Staring back at me were all my many achievements. The Olympic gold medals, the two Medals of Honor, the Purple Hearts, the Bronze Stars, the Nobel Peace prize, and my game trophies. I read the I achieved so much in such a little time; I mean I am old 55 and I almost done everything. Most people would die to just earn one my many achievements; however I was most certainly not satisfied in my achievements. There was one thing I desired to do, and I would give anything to do it. Just to taunt myself I had it hanging over my achievements. That bloody, beautiful mountain just hung there laughing at me. I could never deny how majestic Mt Everest truly was, and I only wanted to climb it. I wanted to be on top of the world, look out over the clouds, and see God’s amazing works. With a tear in my eye, I looked down at my right arm; well what would have been my right arm. Climbing this mountain would never be possible for me if I only had one arm, regardless of how fit and strong I am. Now I am not the one to regret things, and especially not losing this arm. If I still had my arm, then my fellow brother in arms, Ben, would not be in bed with his wife, and his kids would not have their father. He and I would always joke about how saving him from that chopper blade was the worst best decision I made. He knew my longing to climb that mountain, and he still feels a little bad about the accident. It wasn’t his fault, and he shouldn’t feel bad. I would save him even if it meant my life and not just my arm. I reread the one of the Purple Hearts, “This award is to recognize James Patterson and his courage and compassion he shows on the field of battle protecting this great country.” The last line was “God save the Queen”, and I managed to chuckle at that line. The Queen was not all sunshine and roses like the media displays; if she was I would not be on the couch for convincing our son to embarrass her at a distinguished dinner party.

I was not about to fall asleep when I heard a pounding at the door. When I opened it, it was ben standing there with a huge smile on his face. He was holding what looked like a carbon fiber arm with an icepick attached as the hand.

(Image from SummitPost)

Author’s Note: I adopted this story from the Beowulf Unit. There isn’t really one story that I focused on. I focused on Beowulf as the person. I tried to make someone in today’s time equivalent to his achievements. I tried to create a modern day Beowulf.  The book itself is “The Story of Beowulf” by Strafford Riggs. I wanted to have a man who has done so much, but is still never satisfied with his achievements, but unlike Beowulf the man didn't die in an adventure. I wanted my man to die of old age.

Reading Diary B: Beowulf Unit

The stories I loved the most were Battle with the Dragon and TheEnd of Beowulf from the Beowulf Unit. Both stories are about the battle with the dragon, and I loved it all the way from start to finish. The detail the author goes into is so great! When Beowulf called out the dragon, chills went down my back when I read it. I also liked the side note of Wiglaf laughing. I just enjoyed seeing the glimpse of friendship those two shared. The battle itself was describe so well, I felt like I was right there watching it all. I was also able to picture the magnitude of the dragon and all the raw power it possessed. Describing the detail of the flames and the heat from them, the toughness of the scales, and even the strength of the dragon gave me an awesome picture of what the author was illustrating.

I loved how Beowulf’s life ended. He died the way he intended, in battle and a legend. I loved his last words as well; he was a true hero. His last words were of forgiveness and love, which is probably the best last words anyone could say. There was no fear of death or regret. Beowulf was a true man till the very end.

(Image from Pixgood)