But now for my reasons why I havn't posted lately. Let's start at the very beginning...
Several weeks ago one of my sisters read my blog for the first time, and posted on her Facebook page about it, and included a link. Now, it just so happens that she has some 450 friends on Facebook, and it seems that just about every last one decided to show up on my blog, boosting my view count to... about 450. You can guess the rest. First, the newspapers started blaring my success all over the world. Three days later, the president of the United States called me up.
"Son, I heard that your blog has over four hundred veiws now," he said. "I'm just calling to personally congratulate you on this incredible achievement, and to let you know that June 15th is now an international holiday."
With all this fame, the newspapers have obviously been scrambling to get an interview with me. In fact, I've been so busy talking to newspaper reporters and going on talk shows that I have just had no time for my blog. And so I apologize, but being a world-wide celebrity just eats up your time. These accusations against me that say that I
A few weeks ago I somehow I found myself in a bookstore with ten bucks in my pocket. Of course, ten bucks doesn't get you very far in a bookstore, so I didn't have much hope that I would find a book. However, I soon stumbled upon the teen "bargain books" section, where all the books were something like 75% off. However, most of them looked uninteresting. There were plenty of books with pictures of girls in flowy dresses. There were plenty of books with pictures of girls in flowy dresses staring adoringly at shirtless guys with six-packs. There were also plenty of books with girls in non-flowy dresses staring adoringly at guys who didn't have their shirts off (although these books were the minority). In fact, there were so many of these kinds of books that I considered ditching the teen section altogether. (Perhaps I should have, and instead bought myself a new dictionary. I obviously need one to tell me that "flowy" isn't a word.) However, right then I saw two books that actually didn't look sappy. One of these was a big thick book that had to do with an alternate world and wonky glasses. This one was the first to catch my eye. However, it turned out that the book that was on sale was the second in the series, and they didn't have the first book available in the store. What's up with that?
Anyway, the second book was called If We Survive. I bought it for $5.99 and the rest is history.
This book follows Will Peterson and his four companions as they travel to a poor region of Central America to build a school. Unfortunately for them, the country they travel to ("Costa Verde," they call it. From Wikipedia, I can tell you that Costa Verde is not an actual country, but could be: 1. a coastline in Brazil 2. a "coastal region" in Portugal or 3. a coastline in Sardinia) is on the brink of a revolution, which breaks out in full force just before the Americans prepare to leave. Quickly, the group find themselves at gunpoint, with no idea how to escape. Hostile rebels swarm through the streets. The country's government quickly collapses. They plan to get to a plane and fly out of the country, but it's looking grim...
I have just a couple problems with this book. First off, the characters. I had several people who I quickly hoped wouldn't survive, so as to rid me of having to read about them. First and foremost there was a girl named Nicki, who was constantly screaming, crying, and being generally useless. Then there was a guy named Jim, who more or less just sat in a corner and spouted useless facts about Costa Verde. There was also a 20 year old named Meredith, one of the leaders in the group. She just happened to be completely angelic and fearless throughout the entire novel. Literally nothing could shake her. And so, she quickly became boring as well. The main character, at least, I could stand, although he was also unremarkable.
As well as one other adult in the group, who I actually liked, there was also an ex-soldier who, as the back of the book said, had "lost his faith" and could "betray them at any moment". The only thing is, it was extremely obvious that he wasn't a bad guy, despite the book's efforts to make you think otherwise. He never really looked like he was going to betray them at all, truth be told. But actually, he was another of the likeable characters.
Aside from some people who I didn't like in the book, however, my objections to the book are fairly minimal. But they are definitely still there. For example, the main antagonist at the beginning of the book was a rebel leader named Mendoza. Fairly early into the book, the surviving members of the party seemed to escape him. But then, he turned up again, a hundred miles away. Why was a small local thug suddenly, conveniently, right where the group of Americans was? Didn't they already get past this guy? Are there no more thugs to take his place? Apparently not. In fact, even when they shook him a second time, he decided to try his luck a third time. To be perfectly honest, in fact, it seemed that Mendoza had made it his life goal to track these people down, whereas every other rebel in the country gave up after a few chapters.
But as usual, I'm being way to harsh on a good book. I mean, it was an easy read, despite the subject matter. It was entertaining. I enjoyed it enough to finish it in a couple days. The book was well paced, had an interesting premise and a good plot. In fact, I was impressed enough with this book to look up what else the author has written. And that right there should tell you something. So, considering all these points, I'm going to give the book a healthy 7.5/10 stars.
As always, thank you for reading, especially when the article drags on for as long as this one has :).
I'll see you soon,
-Mark
(By the way, before editing this post was just over 1300 words; roughly 5 pages in a book! After deleting a sentence here, adding a sentence here, and changing a sentence here, the post is now at 1330 words. New record!)
(Oh, and a final note; a special thanks to my assistant editor for this post, Laura Jones)
"Son, I heard that your blog has over four hundred veiws now," he said. "I'm just calling to personally congratulate you on this incredible achievement, and to let you know that June 15th is now an international holiday."
With all this fame, the newspapers have obviously been scrambling to get an interview with me. In fact, I've been so busy talking to newspaper reporters and going on talk shows that I have just had no time for my blog. And so I apologize, but being a world-wide celebrity just eats up your time. These accusations against me that say that I
- Am too lazy to write on my blog
- decided to ditch several books I was halfway through or
- am just a slow reader
A few weeks ago I somehow I found myself in a bookstore with ten bucks in my pocket. Of course, ten bucks doesn't get you very far in a bookstore, so I didn't have much hope that I would find a book. However, I soon stumbled upon the teen "bargain books" section, where all the books were something like 75% off. However, most of them looked uninteresting. There were plenty of books with pictures of girls in flowy dresses. There were plenty of books with pictures of girls in flowy dresses staring adoringly at shirtless guys with six-packs. There were also plenty of books with girls in non-flowy dresses staring adoringly at guys who didn't have their shirts off (although these books were the minority). In fact, there were so many of these kinds of books that I considered ditching the teen section altogether. (Perhaps I should have, and instead bought myself a new dictionary. I obviously need one to tell me that "flowy" isn't a word.) However, right then I saw two books that actually didn't look sappy. One of these was a big thick book that had to do with an alternate world and wonky glasses. This one was the first to catch my eye. However, it turned out that the book that was on sale was the second in the series, and they didn't have the first book available in the store. What's up with that?
Anyway, the second book was called If We Survive. I bought it for $5.99 and the rest is history.
This book follows Will Peterson and his four companions as they travel to a poor region of Central America to build a school. Unfortunately for them, the country they travel to ("Costa Verde," they call it. From Wikipedia, I can tell you that Costa Verde is not an actual country, but could be: 1. a coastline in Brazil 2. a "coastal region" in Portugal or 3. a coastline in Sardinia) is on the brink of a revolution, which breaks out in full force just before the Americans prepare to leave. Quickly, the group find themselves at gunpoint, with no idea how to escape. Hostile rebels swarm through the streets. The country's government quickly collapses. They plan to get to a plane and fly out of the country, but it's looking grim...
I have just a couple problems with this book. First off, the characters. I had several people who I quickly hoped wouldn't survive, so as to rid me of having to read about them. First and foremost there was a girl named Nicki, who was constantly screaming, crying, and being generally useless. Then there was a guy named Jim, who more or less just sat in a corner and spouted useless facts about Costa Verde. There was also a 20 year old named Meredith, one of the leaders in the group. She just happened to be completely angelic and fearless throughout the entire novel. Literally nothing could shake her. And so, she quickly became boring as well. The main character, at least, I could stand, although he was also unremarkable.
As well as one other adult in the group, who I actually liked, there was also an ex-soldier who, as the back of the book said, had "lost his faith" and could "betray them at any moment". The only thing is, it was extremely obvious that he wasn't a bad guy, despite the book's efforts to make you think otherwise. He never really looked like he was going to betray them at all, truth be told. But actually, he was another of the likeable characters.
Aside from some people who I didn't like in the book, however, my objections to the book are fairly minimal. But they are definitely still there. For example, the main antagonist at the beginning of the book was a rebel leader named Mendoza. Fairly early into the book, the surviving members of the party seemed to escape him. But then, he turned up again, a hundred miles away. Why was a small local thug suddenly, conveniently, right where the group of Americans was? Didn't they already get past this guy? Are there no more thugs to take his place? Apparently not. In fact, even when they shook him a second time, he decided to try his luck a third time. To be perfectly honest, in fact, it seemed that Mendoza had made it his life goal to track these people down, whereas every other rebel in the country gave up after a few chapters.
But as usual, I'm being way to harsh on a good book. I mean, it was an easy read, despite the subject matter. It was entertaining. I enjoyed it enough to finish it in a couple days. The book was well paced, had an interesting premise and a good plot. In fact, I was impressed enough with this book to look up what else the author has written. And that right there should tell you something. So, considering all these points, I'm going to give the book a healthy 7.5/10 stars.
As always, thank you for reading, especially when the article drags on for as long as this one has :).
I'll see you soon,
-Mark
(By the way, before editing this post was just over 1300 words; roughly 5 pages in a book! After deleting a sentence here, adding a sentence here, and changing a sentence here, the post is now at 1330 words. New record!)
(Oh, and a final note; a special thanks to my assistant editor for this post, Laura Jones)
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