Books I Haven't Finished...yet (Mateo Hernandez)
Books that are still in progress...
I love
reading. It’s a great way to relax and unwind after a stressful day at school, to
learn, or to spend your free time. But sometimes, even if you love to read, you
don’t always finish your books. Whether it’s because you lost interest, ran out
of time, or got distracted, it happens to all of us. Here are some books that I haven't finished and why:
1.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
I began reading this book towards
the end of summer break when I reached a point of boredom with my free time
that I couldn’t stand. So, I asked my mom to pick up some books when she ran to
the library. I specifically asked for classics because I enjoyed previous ones
like Of
Mice and Men. She returned with The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain. This book is essentially about a boy named Huckleberry Finn who has
many adventures travelling down the Mississippi River with a slave named Jim. The
novel touches on themes of freedom, social class, race, and many others.
I am still in the process of reading this book. But with a lot going on in school right now, I have not gotten a chance to finish it. Another reason why I haven’t finished this book yet is that it is hard to understand, literally. Twain wrote this book attempting to depict an African American dialect of the time, but I found it challenging to read. I.e., here is a quote from Jim; "Chickens knows when its gwyne rain, en so do de birds, chile," (Twain 56). Moments like this are a little hard to decipher but after I read over it a few times, I realized that Jim was trying to say that he knew it was going to rain because he was listening to nature. So that is one thing to keep in mind while you read this book.
2.
The Hatchet
I first began this book a few
years ago, when I was 8 years old. It was a birthday present from my Granny who
delivered it with a real-life hatchet for some reason. The book is about a boy
who is in a small airplane with the pilot who has a heart attack while in the
air. So, the man dies and the plane crashes in a forest in the middle of nowhere.
The boy survives the crash and learns to survive in the wilderness with only a
hatchet to aid him.
You must be thinking, but Mateo,
it has been a few years, and this story sounds interesting. Why didn’t you
finish it? Well, to be honest, it got boring. I remember that the last time I
read this was at a restaurant called Maize in Downtown Champaign and I brought
this book along with me but didn’t get very far. After enjoying most of the story,
it just got really slow towards the end. It seemed like the protagonist wasn’t at
any immediate risk of death and basically all he was doing was crying
about how sad he was, so my younger self just got kind of bored of the book and
now it’s somewhere lost in the basement. But this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t
give this book a go! You should definitely try out this story and you might enjoy
it. Maybe after I finish Huckleberry Finn I might even go back and finish
this story now that I’m a little older.
3.
The Bible
As a Christian, it is recommended
that you read the entire Bible. Since my grandfather gave one to me as a gift a few
years ago, I feel a little pressure to read this sooner than later…Well, I haven’t
gotten that far yet. On average, most translations of the Bible have 1,200
pages. That’s a lot of words. The Bible has the Old Testament, which is before Jesus
was around and focuses more on God’s covenant with the Jewish people, and the New
Testament, which records the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
I still continue to read the Bible
(almost) every morning and it’s a great way for me to learn and grow. But it takes
a while. Sometimes I lack motivation to continue reading it or I have a hard
time focusing or understanding it. Slowly but surely, I’ll get there and
finish it.
While these are some books that I haven't finished, I still love to read. I can definitely recommend all of these
books to you but if none of them catch your eye, no worries. If you try to
choose genres of books that you enjoy then you will almost always finish them.
. . or not. But there are plenty of books out there for you to choose from. So,
try to find time for it and keep on reading.
-Mateo
P.S. Have you read any of these or have any books that you
never finished? Make sure to let me know!
Hi Mateo! This is a very interesting list. For one, I have encountered a similar problem as you described for Huckleberry Finn. I've found it hard to follow when reading older books like Uncle Tom's Cabin, especially with the different dialects and writing mannerisms, so usually never finish them. I've read the Hatchet for school once, and it was a forgettable book at best. Of course, you remember the big moments, like the pilot's death, but overall, everything kind of mushed together and made for a not-so-enjoyable read. Honestly, I don't really have time to finish books now. But in the past, whenever I've encountered a book I didn't like, I almost always buried it back in my bookshelf, so I really can relate to this post. This was a really good blog, and I enjoyed reading it. :D
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ReplyDeleteHey Mateo I really liked this blog! I was absorbed the whole time when you went into your explanations on why these books are difficult for you to read. I love how your grandmother brought you a real hatchet and found it funny. I also like how you took a real photo of your possessions and put it above the blog. Overall this was honestly my favorite blog I've read and it's very heartwarming! Excellent job!
ReplyDeleteI've also encountered this problem with reading many books and not finishing either of them! In fact, I have a stack of unfinished books on my desk as I'm writing this now...
ReplyDeleteHi Mateo, this is a really creative blog idea! It is hard to finish books sometimes as there is almost always a point in the book which is harder to get through than the rest. Good luck on your reading and have a good day!
ReplyDeleteHi Mateo. Although I have never read the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn or the bible, I agree with your opinion on Hatchet. In 5th grade, we had to read Hatchet as a reading project, and the last few days felt extremely long. In the beginning, I was very excited about reading a survival story about a boy around my age. However by the end, the only thing I remembered about the story was this one scene with a plane. I've never read Huckleberry Finn but I think it may be an interesting read. Thank you for your opinion on these books.
ReplyDeleteHey Mateo, I found this blog super relatable. I've started so many books that I haven't finished, for a multitude of reasons: they were long, boring, or even just didn't make sense. But the biggest barrier is the lack of time recently. Just to name a few books that I started recently but haven't finished, I have The Westing Game, The giver, Of Mice and Men, as well as so many others that I've given up on. Great blog!
ReplyDeleteHi Mateo, This blog is reflection of my life because I too have started books that I haven't finished for a bunch of reasons. Good Blog Mateo!
ReplyDeleteHi Mateo, cool blog! I remember reading Hatchet more than a couple years ago, and at the time I thought it was one of the best books ever (obviously, I was wrong). I might try Of Mice and Men or Huckleberry Finn soon.
ReplyDeleteHi Mateo, this was a super relatable blog post! I personally have read through the entire Christian bible and it is honestly one of the more difficult ones for me to grasp, so I definitely feel you on that one ;-; but honestly, it's such an interesting read and I think you should continue to push through and not give up on it!
ReplyDeleteMateo, I really connect with this story. As a generally lazy person, I tend to not finish books. Often I'll lose interest if the plot isn't interesting enough. I tend to lose focus while reading a "boring" book, and have to reread passages multiple times to fully understand. After too much of this, I just throw in the towel. I think that if I were able to stay focused and comprehend what I read more easily, I could read more in depth novels that have some meaning to them.
ReplyDeleteHi Mateo, this is a really cool blog! I always face the problem of not being able to finish book because of school work (like you mentioned in the blog). I remember trying to read the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn about a year ago. I faced the same problem that you faced too. The dialect really confused me sometimes, and at some point. I got frustrated. The book lost it's appeal to me. This blog really made me think back on my past experiences with reading books halfway. Great blog!
ReplyDeleteHey Mateo, I like how you turned the ideas of books you haven't finished into a blog. I will be sure to check some of these out! Great job!
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