Second Qtr. Post #3

I read the next few chapters of The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. After overhearing his father talk about how he is weak Amir tries to be tough but still does not gain his father's respect. Amir often reads to Hassan in a tree because Hassan is unable to read. One day Amir makes up his own story instead of reading from the book, and to his surprise Hassan says it is his favorite story he has ever told him. Encouraged by this Amir writes a book, although his father doesn't even give his book a glance, Rahim Khan his father's friend tells Amir that his book is great and persuades Amir to keep writing. The book than skips ahead a couple of years to a local kite tournament hosted by Amir's neighborhood. Amir and Hassan have always been good kite fighters and the tournament is a big deal in Kabul. The night before the tournament Baba tells Amir that he thinks he has a chance of winning the tournament. Amir sees this is an opportunity to earn his father's respect and is determined to win. The next day after long hours of kite fighting Amir finally wins the tournament. Hassan has an uncanny way of finding opposing kites (or kite running) so he offers to chase down the last kite. Later Amir notices that Hassan still hasn't came back and frantically looks for him. My prediction is that Amir finds Hassan dead and the opposing kite gone because when Hassan goes kite running Amir says that is the last time he saw him smile. If Hassan ends up to be dead I am also curious about what will happen next because the whole book so far has been background information on Hassan and Amir and there is still a lot of the book left.

Second Quarter Outside Reading Post #2

So far I have read the first three chapters of The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. In the first three chapters of the book the reader is introduced to the main character, Amir, his father,Baba, Hassan, and Hassan's father Ali who works as a servent to Baba. Amir and Hassan are good friends and early in the book the reader learns that both Hassan and Amir don't have their mothers around because Amir's mother died giving birth to him and Hassan's mother left him when he was seven days old. In the second chapter the reader learns background information on Baba and how he financed his own orphanage, became one of the richest merchants in Kabul, married  a woman regarded as one of Kabul's most respected, beautiful, and virtuous ladies, and was a great soccer player. In the third chapter the reader learns about Amir and the tension he has with his father. Amir is awful at soccer and doesn't even like attending games, Amir also likes books and reads them often, and allows other kids to take advantage of him. Towards the end of the chapter Amir is enraged when he overhears Baba talking about him and saying that he is weak and he doesn't seem like he is his son. So far I like the book and I like how the first three chapters were written. I predict that Baba and Amir's relationship will get better because after hearing his father's complaints, Amir will try to not be weak. I also predict that many more characters will be introduced in the coming chapters  because I don't think enough characters are in the book right now.

The Rawlins Scene

I think that Cormac McCarthy puts the scene where you follow Rawlins instead of John Grady Cole because at the time John Grady Cole is really just sitting outside and what is happening with Rawlins is more exciting than what John Grady Cole is doing. I also think that because McCarthy has stayed with John Grady Cole the whole time the reader can assume that nothing significant will  happen to John Grady unless the reader is following him.

Quarter 2 Outside Reading

For quarter two outside reading, I decided to read the book The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini. I decided to read this book because I have heard from many people that it is a good book and it was on the list of books on the blog. I also think that the situation in Afghanistan is interesting and will be interesting to read about.