Reading Log 1 – 1 – Full Body Burden (pages 1-27)
Hey you guys!
As you guys know (or not), this old lady went back to school this year. It is just our local community college, so nothing major, but college is college – and this shit is scary y’all!
One of the classes I am taking is English – Writing. I know, I know. I’m not trying to bore you, y’all asked for this! I swear! One of our assignments is to keep a reading log over the assigned book for the semester. I mentioned this on twitter (and facebook) and several of you guys asked if you could see my logs. I was worried about the whole, posting assignments online thing. Plagiarism and all that. Well, I asked my instructor if she would mind if I posed it online and she was fine with it. So… Here you go. This is the first post of my reading log. The book is:
Full Body Burden: Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats by Kristen Iversen
Release Date: 2013-06-04
Full Body Burden is Kristen Iversen’s story of growing up in a small Colorado town close to Rocky Flats, a secret nuclear weapons plant. It’s also a book about the destructive power of secrets—both family secrets and government secrets. Her father’s hidden liquor bottles, the strange cancers in children in the neighborhood, the truth about what they made at Rocky Flats—best not to inquire too deeply into any of it. But as Iversen grew older, she began to ask questions and discovered some disturbing realities. As this memoir unfolds, it reveals itself as a brilliant work of investigative journalism—a shocking account of the government’s sustained attempt to conceal the effects of the toxic and radioactive waste released by Rocky Flats, and of local residents’ vain attempts to seek justice in court. Based on extensive interviews, FBI and EPA documents, and class-action testimony, this taut, beautifully written book promises to have a very long half-life.Now with Extra Libris material, including a reader’s guide and bonus content
| 
| Reading Log 1 – Full Body Burden (pages 1-27) |
This is my first reading log. As a book blogger/reviewer IRL, I am used to giving my opinion on books. However, I usually just jot random notes, and wait UNTIL THE END to really share them with anyone. I am nervous about reading for school. Is it possible there is a “wrong way” to read? I hope not. I have decided to treat this assignment like it is an extended version of my reading progress on my goodreads account. So… with that said, here is my notes! Initially sitting down to read this book, I found I was dreading it. I am really worried it is going to be boring as crap. I have so many unread books I would rather be reading right now, this one is really going to have to be something amazing for me to get into it. Beginning a new book is always the hardest for me. This is the real point where a book truly either makes my hits or shits list. I really try to give a new book at least 30 pages to get into it or not. So how did this one start? The beginning for this story starts with the main character, and narrator, as a child. As I turned off page one, I was bored. Where was the “hook” to get my attention? Not there yet. 29 more pages to give it to me, or I’m going to hate this thing. Page two gets a little better. We get a little back story, and learn about our main character and her family dynamic back then. We also learn about their house fire and how she felt about it growing up. This is helping me connect with the character a lot, since I too suffered a fire as a child, and as children do – always felt like it was my fault. Getting to see this character grow up is letting me connect to her. Their secret club, etc. Reminds me a lot of Steff and me as kids. Also, cribbage! YAY! Up through page 8, the backstory on the plant, etc. I know I need it, to get the whole measure of the story but guh… snore. GREAT QUOTE! “golden dream of suburban life and all its postwar promises” – pg 9 Around page 10 we are clued in to the alcoholism of her parents, and I find I am worried about how that is going to play into the story. Not good, I can imagine. Pg 14 – 16. Made me roll my eyes a little. I mean, typical. Girl wants a pony for her birthday and gets it. Girl jumps on horse after just being warned its not broken and breaks her arm. Well duh. *insert eye roll here* “Be careful what you wish for” Yeah, I get it. Why does she not feel her arm break? That makes no sense to me and find it distracting me from the story, wondering if there is some “deep” hidden meaning or foreboding clue there. Reading fiction has made me so bitter and suspicious. LOL GREAT QUOTE: “It means you’ll always come back to the place that makes you happy” – p16 Page 17, back to the plant. The alarm was disconnected to save space? This makes no sense to me what so ever. Page 27 – Finally starting to pick up, I guess. Thoughts on what I’ve read so far: Im really not a fan of the timeline hopping. Also, there are a crap ton of characters (along with backstories) being introduced. I hope they ALL play a big enough roll in this story to warrant my time being introduced to them. Too many characters gets confusing. Storywise, not bored to death with it, but not so intrigued that I would pick it back up had it not been an assignment. It is starting to pick up, but it just took too long to get going for me. I’m bored. |
There ya go, guys! Hope you found it, at least, interesting! LOL I’ll post my other updates later on. I don’t want to post them while they are still the “current” assignment, if that makes sense. Anyhoo…
Have a great weekend!!!!
XX