Michelle’s Weblog

there was almost an immediate gap i noticed in the first chapter of extremely loud and incredibly close. the writer all of a sudden brings up his first and last class of jujitsu. i had heard of jujitsu but did not know what it was as i kept reading i finally got an understanding of what jujitsu is but still do not have complete knowledge of it. this is one of those gaps we talked about in class. I haven’t really hit any borders but the chapter that seems to have been written in 1963 left me with plenty of questions and a little in the dark about the situation. who is the writer, thomas? why can’t he talk anymore? who is the child who that he is writing to? how does this story pertain to the rest of the book?

i’ve done my fair share of reading in my life and from these experiences i have found what works and what doesn’t work for me as an active reader. some people can read with the tv on, like my roommate for instance. however, i am NOT one of these people. i need to have complete silence. and if i go to the living room to read, i have to be the only person in there…. i get distracted if someone else is where i am when i read even if they are far away and not talking to me. when i read a book i like to be completely engulfed in it. another thing i have notice about the conditions in which i study is that if the room temperature is hot or even just warm, i find myself dozing off. the warmth makes me want to go to sleep. so i ususally need a cool, calm, distractionless room to be my best active reader.