A Bunch of Random Opinions about Books and Genres!

I was once asked which genre of books I like to read. My reply was simply that I love all books. But that statement was not completely true. My favorite kinds of books don't really have a genre. I like to read books that are based in the past and have a Christian point of view. Christian books in general are not always categorized with all the other books out there, as with music and everything else. So how do you categorize these books? I think that big name book company's would find Christian Historical Fiction too much of a mouthful. When I tried to look up that category on one of their websites only one book showed up.

Another favorite genre of books is sort of science fiction with a more realistic twist. I'd have to say that if an author want's me to read about alien planets and time travel they need to be a really good writer. The story cannot be only scratching the surface of the character's personality. I need to completely understand what the characters are going through in order to love the book.

I could list off tons of genres that I like when it comes to books, but it's not the genre that I love, it's the books themselves. I can enjoy books that are fantasy, sci-fi, historical fiction, and even classics. It really all depends on the book.

November

November is a wonderful month. At the beginning we eat Halloween candy, in the middle we have a Thanksgiving feast, and at the end we sing Christmas carols. Somewhere in there is apple cider, pumpkin pie, holiday movies, and colorful leaves.

When I think of November I can smell the spicy aroma of cinnamon and apples. I see the pumpkins, turkeys, and piles of beautiful leaves. I can feel the millions of tiny raindrops falling from enormous gray clouds. The sky is a beautiful, rich, dark, blue in the mornings and a pale overcast white in the afternoons. The nights are ravaged by mighty rainstorms. Thunder and lightning shake the ground. The days are spent staring out the window at the beauty of nature, rather then paying attention in class. The world seems to have a golden glow. I can taste the salty morning mist, and the crisp evening air chills me to the bone.

The month is a transition time. A walk outside can be chilly even though the sun is shining. November is our last glimpse of fall before we are engulfed by the icy chill of winter. It is the climax of the season, where one may look upon all of the glory of fall. No other month is like it. Because November is so sincerely unique, so genuinely gorgeous, I will always look upon it as the absolute best month of the year.

When I Grow Up...

The question when I was younger was, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" I wanted to be a teacher for a long time. Then I had fanciful ideas of becoming a novelist of some kind. The problem was, I couldn't even get a few pages written without completely changing my mind. Then I would come up with a whole new "better" idea. Each time this happened I was sure it would be the one idea that would work. It still hasn't worked...

I recently discovered a love of foreign languages, and was considering becoming a translator or interpretor someday. I am taking two foreign language classes as well as Honors English. Part of me thinks that I could really make it in that field of work, but my mind is constantly changing. We are doing a careers project in English class. We have to pick an occupation and do research on it, then we have to do a presentation. For me it is a hard project. I am the most indecisive person in the world. So for now I'm just stuck with my indecision... I think, the question shouldn't be what do you want to be when you grow up, but rather what will you want to be when you grow up?

Perfidy

The looming lights in the distance grew brighter as the dark abysmal feeling in my heart grew darker. I didn't want to face this. I was bound to this fate, yet my heart cried to be set free. My one companion floated silently by my side. His small weary wings fluttered soundlessly. My eyes, filled with dread, slowly turned toward Henry, the winged tortoise. Don't be afraid young warrior! The message from Henry flowed into my mind like liquid fire, melting away my fear. But sometimes the replacement of fear is far more terrifying then fear itself. The sleeping warrior within me awoke, transforming me into the dragon slayer within.

L'écharpe's impatience got the better of his determination. With a puff of smoke he arose from his lair and streched his frozen brittle wings. From above L'écharpe was nearly invisible as his mass of white scales blended with the snow covered wilderness before him. The unseen assassin scanned the dark forest below him for the pitiful human who dared to defy him.

A monstrous shadow fell on the wilderness. Nothing but the bitter wind broke the stillness. Against the night sky L'écharpe's white scales shone like diamonds. Not beautiful undying diamonds, but deadly diamonds with the power to destroy. I watched from my hiding place waiting for the glowing purple orbs that were the monster's pitiless eyes to fall on me. Fear tried to creep back into my mind, but I pushed it away. L'écharpe was not just another deceitful conniving monster. He did not prey on the fear of defenseless weak humans. L'écharpe killed for revenge. He was not always the treacherous monster that appeared before me now. The story of his past, scattered with perfidy, struck fear in the hearts of generations of villagers....

This is a continuation of "Dread" before this...

Dread

The freezing morning air penetrated my thin clothing sending icy daggers down my spine. My cold emotionless eyes searched the gray morning for any sign of escape. The dimly glowing light in distance promised warmth but I knew better than to trust in deceitful lights. Dread paralyzed my heart, but I kept on walking through the fog towards certain destruction. I had no choice. I am not free in this world. Right then I wished for nothing more than wings to fly above the mist and disappear into the land were fantasy and reality collide. A secret hiding place where hopes and dreams live on forever and no tears can fall. If only for a moment, I would stay in this land of freedom. Running but never growing tired. All dreams must end though, and when the bright sunlight of my imagination faded into the dark gray of the morning, the only feeling left inside me was dread. A deep unending dread that flowed through me like an electric current. Invisible chains clinging to me, an inescapable bondage from which I will never be free. I was lost out there in that wilderness, yet I knew exactly where I was going. The lair of the dragon. Every sound in the distance sent a chill down my spine, yet I proceeded, for every second I wasted the hearts of of millions suffered unbearable tragedy. L'écharpe, the furious monster who awaited me, hid in the darkness. He wanted nothing more than to avenge the deaths of his kind, and I wanted nothing more than to avenge the deaths of mine. L'écharpe lay hidden, his pale white skin camouflaging him against the snow covered ground. Puffs of smoke rose from his nostrils as steam would rise from a geyser. He waited for me there in his hiding place. I waited for him in mine......

This is only the beginning of what I am working on, and it may amount to nothing at all. The character (me) is a ninja/dragon slayer who is trying to escape the past by slaying the monstrous and troublesome dragons of the "land" (for lack of a better term), but I wish for an escape from this profession and something in my shady past keeps me in bondage to this job. L'écharpe is the leader of the dragons and the most destructive. In this scene I am wandering through the frozen wilderness hunting the mighty L'écharpe....he's also hunting me.

Fragile

Shimmering glass

Looks strong

Hidden frailty

Illusions all wrong

Seemingly invincible

Secretly destructible

As fragile as glass

Danger awaits

In unexpected places

Masked beautifully

With false graces

Seeming invincible

Suddenly destructible

As fragile as glass

Realization shakes

Broken pieces

Shattered on the floor

Illusion ceases

Seemingly invincible

Shouldn't be destructible

As fragile as glass

Glue can't fix

Tape won't seal

What now is lost

Time will heal

Seemingly invincible

Shockingly destructible

As fragile as glass

Reflecting in darkness

Light shimmers

From broken pieces

Healing glimmers

Seemingly invincible

So much for destructible

As fragile as glass

A tragedy recently struck my school. The realization that life is fragile struck me unexpectedly. We all think we're so indestructible , then realization hits us like a ton of bricks! So I wrote this poem to help me (and anyone else who wants to read this) remember this simple fact that life is fragile. Like glass.

the love of a shark

I touch the glimmering reflection of the moon. A chill runs through me. My heart is pounding. Slowly I back up. One...two...three...four...five steps.

Then I take off running. My feet leave the solid safety of the rock. For a second I hang there suspended in the air. Then I feel my fingertips split the glassy smooth water. I open my eyes and find the water as clear as its glassy surface.

As the initial chill fades away I find a calmness I've never known before. The water completely engulfs me. All sense of time and direction has left my mind entirely. Strangely I feel no need to surface and fill my lungs.

I am jerked out of my lost state of mind by the realization of something or someone else's presence near me. My heart skips a few beats. A shark! Fear clenched my heart. I have lost my ability to move. I begin to slowly descend. But the shark does not make a move. As quickly as it came my fear melted away into a state of slightly hypnotized awe. It is the biggest shark I have ever seen, but also the most beautiful. Its skin is pure white. It shimmers in the moonlight, or is it giving off it's own light?

The bio-luminescent shark does not attack me. I cannot figure out why. Its jaws could swallow me whole. I do not know why but a sudden impulse leaves me staring into its beautiful eyes. In its eyes I find, not a look of anger or hunger or greed, but of compassion!

The biggest shark in all the ocean caring for me? It could just as easily gulp me down its throat! I am deep in thought, but still an answer will not come. When I find my brain too tired to think anymore I again drift out of that deep land of thoughts. But by now the shark is gone. I find myself wishing and longing for it to return again. Again to see the love of a shark!