Ham on Rye Sandwich

Right now, I am reading this crude-funny, and enthralling book called Ham on Rye by the wonderful, Charles Bukowski. When I first saw this book, Daisy was reading it- actually, this is her book. At first, I thought it was some boyish book and it looked so boring, but then she showed me some funny parts in it and I fell in <3 with it. I'm not very into the book yet, only on pg. 51 yet this book had me laughing countless times in project R.E.A.L.

This story is about a boy named Henry Chinaski, a small boy living with his Mother, Katherine and his cruel father, Henry. Other people included was Emily, his crazy grandmother on his Father's side, Leonard, another crazy grandfather who Emily divorced for being a alcoholic, Ben, Henry's Uncle who's dying of tuberculosis up in the high mountains, and lastly, Anna, his Aunt who was abandoned by his uncle John, with no money and no food. You might think, 50 pages in and already so much family? Actually the story starts into family conflicting which I think was interesting, usually the stories I've read so far gives out kind of a introduction [?] and then starts into the story. Ham on Rye is actually a autobiographical (semi) on Charles Bukowski, the author's life. Henry Chinaski is said to be his alter ego, according to the blurb of the book. All of the characters in the book were modeled after his own family, which I found quite interesting- it's such a weird mix, something I'd expect to be fiction type material. Anyway the story so far is about Henry, he lives with his parents who alienates him from playing with other kids, with talking out too much, just behaving bad. His father beats him often, for no reason sometimes. He talks about his school life and his family life, and the girl next door (ooooh...) Lila Jane, I believe her name is. I forgot, anyway he meets her and they get along, they play together and kiss (he's just in second grade.. aw) and he asks her to have sex, which was one of the things that made me laugh.

In the book, he reminds me of a limp little boy who doesn't know anything about the world, yet he turns out to be one of the tough guys everyone's scared of. And to think his parents don't let him hang with other's, I think it's like a reaction to what his parents caused. Because being so alone the whole time can make a person act up, I think. Well back to Lila Jane, she seems like a big part but she's really not, I think she was a crush type thing and how they're all happy together now but I predict that when Henry's older, she'll 'leave' him because she'll be one of the pretty girls and he's going to be a fat boy with acne who's obsessed with sex. I don't know... just a thought.

Overall, I love this book and I cannot put it down. I guess the real lesson is you should never judge a book by it's cover, because then I wouldn't be reading this right now! It's interesting how it's a book after his life... wow even more interesting, he must've had a fun life. Sarcasm intended. I recommend this to anyone, but on the older more mature side because this book is pretty crude, -ahem- dirty.

Yours truly,

Zarrin S Class 813 [:

11 All Star Mentors & Counting...

There are so many amazing, thought provoking blogs out there in the ELA blogging world, but I chose only a few to write about in my "All Stars Mentor" post today.


1- Hannah Seitz 813: It goes on for generations.
Hannah never fails to impress me with her exquisite writing. She writes so much, it's crazy. Every line she types has humor, and a unique feeling to it. All of her titles have interesting titles, always with a story behind it. When I mean that, I mean this post. It starts off with, "It goes on for generations..." which got me hooked as soon as I read it! Hannah's posts have a lot of opinions which I personally enjoy, to see how people take a different perspective on it. Like I was saying before, her posts are SO long. She always breaks 3 paragraph limit, which I appreciate because not a lot of people do it. Everyone should check out Hannah's amazing blog, I love it. <3


2- Mustafa Almuradi 813: The Hunger Games
Mustafa's post are ALWAYS on top. This one exceptionally stood out to me. In this particular blog post, he gave a lot of detail on the book and what he thought about it. He included a small moment, which I love doing when I write blog posts. The questions in the beginning of his blog post got me really thinking about The Hunger Games since it's been a while since I read it. It got me thinking again about the book. His posts always really grab my attention, they're just great! Check 'em out.


3- Rafaele MacDougall 813: My head hurts.
Rafaele's blogs is definitely one of my favorite blogs of all time. His blogs are so funny, and are always interesting. He includes vocab words like me, in a good way too. His posts are short but to the point. His titles always catches my attention, even if they're as simple as "My head hurts." In his blog, he includes bits of his life & other stories which I think is fascinating- I love reading it! Also, his posts include passion and it looks like he takes time on it, I can definitely see that through every line he types. I knew Raf is really dedicated to writing his posts because really, he has 36 posts! WOW! That's incredible, like I can't express how good that is! 
I could write all day about his posts, that's how good they are. (: PLEASE GO READ ALL 36 OF HIS POSTS! They're worth it.


4- Kayla Cruz 812: Dear John
I lovelovelove this post so much mostly because of the small moment included. The moment she included, I could relate to because I read the book and watched the movie with Kayla! I always read Kayla's post, and I felt that this was one of her strongest posts because it was exceptionally long and very detailed. I also really enjoyed it because it was really structured unlike my posts, so I definitely look at this as a mentor for structure. I read beyond the spoiler and completely related to what she was feeling. At the end she gave kind of a warning because it's a really emotional book to read like all Nicholas Sparks' books, and I admired that because going into a book you never know what you'll expect. Anyway, loved the post. I look forward to more posts like this from Kayla (:


5- Daisy Faragher 813: What Does "Disney" Have to do With Slavery and Prostitution?
Daisy's blogs like Rafaele's is one of my favorites. Especially this post, she really unpacked a topic no one, I would think would ever do. It showed how good of a eye she has. The title of this post was so captivating even my sister wanted to read it! I love this post because it's not a typical reading post, she went deeper into what anyone could have. Her posts are really lively like I can imagine her saying what she says in her posts in real life. They're also super long, I wanna make my posts as long as her's, so that definitely makes her a mentor for me. Her posts is a good mentor for anyone- it shows detail, structure & theory. Check out her blog, I'm sure you'll enjoy it as much as I did.


6- Gigi Salimeni 813: Can you be changed by the....."goods" ???!
This is one of my favorite posts of all time mostly because it was really humorous, well in my mind. Gigi showed her true potential in writing in this post. It's really detailed. Her title really got me thinking, like what was the sacred "goooooooooooods??!?!?"She was really opinionated in this piece which I loved because I adore opinion based writing just to get a look at people's heads. Gigi definitely shows off a lot of feeling and meaning in her writing. This piece should have been picked for "All Star Mentor of the Week!" so should all of the ones above, people should get the credit they deserve.


7- Nina Attal 813: It's Actually, Kind Of A Funny Story
Wow! I was waiting to write about Nina's posts. Honestly, all of her posts are amazing, like so good I don't want to single any of her's out. BUT, I have to. I picked this post because I could have kinda related to it. I like how the post consisted of her picking up the book, like seeing it not reading it. It was a different kind of post. Her titles are very clever too, they give me an insight of what she's going to talk about in her writing. This is a blog to definitely to check out really!


8- Keiame Lee Chong 813: Sometimes, The Cover Means A Lot.
I love Keiame's blog, always will. It's so funny and clever at the same time. Her structure's sosososo good, that's what makes her my mentor. Of the week? No, of all time. I like how her posts start off with a story, a moment sometimes a retell. Her retells are really good, she gives the right amount of info- not too much, not too little. She's an amazing writepurpor! I would love if everyone checked out her blog.


9- Pip Van Genabeek 813: The list of events that Great expectations gives you.
Well, to start off- Pip's writing is.... well.... wonderful! All his posts are great, filled with meaning and purpose. I love this post, because it's Pip writing about Pip! At first, I was like "...what?" but then that's what caught my eye! Pip was the main character of the book the Great Expectations. It made me want to read it to see if the character was like Pip, himself. I can tell he puts a lot of effort in his writing, it really shines through!


10- Isabelle Fernandez 804: the world kind of sucks...
I have only been on her blog once or twice since she's not in my class but I absolutely love her blog! When I first went on her page, I got this weird feeling, a good feeling. A feeling of good writing. In her blog, she incorporates a lot of music & fashion- I admire her for that because she goes outside of ELA/reading to write about something she loves. Her titles are really interesting too. 


11- Janee Brice 813: The Book Theif
I love this post because of the title. At first, I thought she was writing about the book, The Book Theif but she wasn't. She was talking about HP. I loved how the title was a different thing from what she was writing about. Her writing has a lot of passion & meaning. Everyone should check out her prodigious blog!


I wish I could talk about everyone's blog, but I'm limited so check out everyone above- they're amazing, seriously!


Yours truly,
Zarrin S Class 813 (: