See-you-next-time part

Dear diary,
This is the time to remember everything we've done together this semester.
I'd like to start with the choice of the book. We spoke a lot about how important it is to find a suitable book for reading and how many aspects the right choice has so I don't think I should repeat it all. I just need to admit that the theory about choosing a book really works. It goes without saying the book I read is definitely the right one. It helped me a lot to fill my vocabulary up with new words and I am pretty sure that I will keep them all in mind just because they are wide-spread and simple to remember.
Last time we read the book which was written by British author, this time the book is American. The difference is easy to notice. Even the weather is different. Reading "Speak" we can see snowy winter coming to America and rainy and windy England which knows nothing about snow in Cecilia Ahern's book.
Moreover, "Speak" is that kind of books which makes you think it over and over again after reading. I was full of thoughts and emotions after readind and both upset and happy. Upset with the fact that the book is over and happy for Melinda who finally managed to collect her strength and overcame all difficulties.
I think "Speak" is one of the best books I've read so far and I am satisfied with the fact that the books I choose for reading get better and make me think them over.
Everything comes to the end sooner or later but I hope the habit of reading at least one useful and interesting book a semester will stay with me for as long as possible.

P.S. Anastasia Gennadievna, thank you very much for giving us an opportunity of expressing our thoughts right here. For me it was the best way of presenting the individual reading. It makes think a lot not only about the book but about everything concerning it. 

Because of you I am afraid

Each of us faced it. We all have been teenagers. It is one of the most important parts of our lives – it is just that very time to become an adult. But this time is so hard. It causes lots of problems – that is what everybody knows exactly. How to deal with them? No one knows.

The main character of the book “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson is a teenage girl. Her name is Melinda. “She has entered high school with the wrong hair, the wrong clothes, the wrong attitude and she does not have anyone to seat with.” She cannot tell anyone about her problems because she cannot trust anybody. Is there something special about her problem or it is just behavior of the teenager who wants to get attention?

Reading the book we are making the acquaintance of the people who Melinda is surrounded by: her parents, new friends, ex-friends and teachers. They all try to help us to find out what is wrong with her, what she conceals from everybody and dying to tell someone at the same time.

Melinda’s parents seem to have too much to deal with to pay attention to their daughter. I suppose it is the common problem of the majority of modern families. They do not want to make any effort to understand their child while the kid is just in need of parents’ attention because the parents are the closest people we have in our life.

On the other hand parents are the people of a different generation so it might be hard to explain teenage problems to them because life is changing so fast. Who else can be that person that will help you? A friend. Your best friend who seems to know everything about you, who you have known since your childhood. The only problem about it is in fact that your friend is a teenager too and he might have lots of prejudices.
Can it really be so that Melinda will never tell anybody her big secret which she suffers from?  Teachers are my last hope. Mr. Freeman, the teacher of Art attracted my attention. His name clearly represents him. He gets on well with all his students and seems to be the only one who understands that there is something wrong with Melinda. Something that she hides. He tries to make her to believe in herself, and he has had a success. “If he thinks I can do it, then I’ll try one more time”, - Melinda thought. Mr. Freeman “doesn’t care how many mistakes Melinda makes” and this is exactly what the girl needed. She wanted someone to believe in her, someone who would be interested in her life, someone she would be able to trust.

The Melinda’s story represents the life of the modern teenager. What happened with her could have happened with everyone. Everyone may face misunderstanding at that age. This is the problem most teenagers or young people might be facing around the world.  

So as you see, it’s very difficult to be young nowadays as indeed it always was. But you can only be young once and some wonderful things can happen to you only when you’re young. So it’s better to enjoy youth while it lasts.

Speak or stay silent?

Hello, my dear friend!
I am bursting with news today! So much to tell you!
First of all, I watched a movie based on the book we've read and I would like to share my emotions with you. Can you believe that this is the first time I really liked the screen version of the book I've read before? The director

 is

Jessica Sharzer and to my mind she succeed in showing those main character's emotions which Anderson wanted to underline in the book. Also this time watching the screen version of the book when I was comparing my own imagination skills and director's view I have found a lot in common which is very important for me for some reason.
The leading role is performed by young Kristen Stewart. I cannot say that I like her very much as an actress but this time she did for the role perfectly.
And now, my darling, meet Melinda and her mum who will tell you some new words ;)

Long-awaited come-back

Hello, darling!

I am with you again and I'm glad to inform you that we are going to read a new book. It is "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson. I have never heard about this book before, so I decided to google some information about it. Wikipedia told me that Speak, published in 1999, is Laurie Halse Anderson's young adult novel that tells the story of Melinda Sordino's rape, recovery, and confession. Speak is considered as a problem novel, or trauma novel.  Melinda's story is written in a diary format, consisting of a nonlinear plot and jumpy narrative that mimics the trauma she experienced.

To be honest, I do not think that I have read something like this before. Have you? (the question is to all of you, I'm waiting for your answers in comments).

So the book is going to be really interesting to read. This is all for today, dear. See you soon. Be ready to learn new vocabulary and meet some new friends. Bye :)  

Self-assesment

Hello, my friend,
Now I would like you to listen to my thoughts about our time which we spent together.
To my mind this term I have done a good job concerning extensive reading. I liked the book I read very much, I learned a lot of new phrases and words and also I liked the way we were to present our reading projects. "Reading diary" is a good way to think your book over and to understand what you've read. I like reading and this term I also understood the importance of choosing the book. How should we choose a right book and what will happend if our choice will be wrong? First of all, if you dislike the book you dislike all your reading time. Then, the difficulty of language should be suitable for you not to translate every word with dictionary but to understand the plot and to enjoy your reading. So, to be a good reader you should choose the right book.
I know that I should work on my vocabulary harder and I should learn how to do all the tasks on time. I understant that they are the problems I should work on as soon as possible.
And now, my dearest, I am afraid that it is the time to say good bye. We had a great time together and I hope we'll meet next term to read something even more gorgeous then we did this term.

                                                                                                                              With love,
                                                                                                                              Your reader,
                                                                                                                               Rita.

So many men - so many minds.

My dear,

I would like to tell you the latest news. Preparing for talk with you I had been looking for something interesting and the topic of our discussion had come to my mind immediately after reading some reviews of our book and especially after the review of some Clare County Library Staff member. As I understood the member was middle-aged man who was interested in history and sience books and who had been read "P.S. I love you" somehow. Of course, there are no doubts that he disliked the book so much that he adviced people not to read it saying that the book was just "holiday-book" and there was nothing serious in it. My darling, do you think that every book should be very very serious and teach us history, maths or something like that? I cannot deny that our book is a kind of books for fun but I cannnot say that there is nothing usefull in the book.
After reading that negative review I came across some women's impressions of the book. Should I say that all the comments were positive and there was no one who said that she wasted her time reading this book?
To conclude I can say that tastes differ. Everybody has a right to have his owm opinion but we should express it in more polite ways, to my mind.

Something really important

Hello, my friend,
Today I woke up with the strongest desire to show you something. They are the final Holly's thoughts about her new life. To my mind they express everything I wanted to tell you. Just read it and you will understand how her life changed.
"Tears formed in Holly's eyes as she watched Tom and Denise dancing together for the first time as husband and wife, and she remembered that feeling. That feeling of exitement, of hope, of pure happiness and pride, a feeling of not knowing what the future held but being so ready to face it all. And that thought made her happy; she would not cry about it, she would embrace it. She had enjoyed every second of her life with Gerry, but now it was time to move on. Move on to the next chapter of her live, bringing wonderful memories with her, and experiences that would teach her and help mould her future. Sure, it would be difficult; but she had learned that nothing was ever easy. But it didn't feel as difficult as it had been a few months ago, and in another few months it would be even less difficult.
She had been giving a wonderful gift: life. Sometimes it was cruelly taken away too soon, but it's what you did with it that counted, not how long it lasted."

How do you feel now, my dear? don't you think this thoughts are just the proof of Holly's ability to start a new life? Maybe she had already managed to do it?