I picked "Read For The Fun Of It", mostly because I heard it was an easy class. What I heard was not all true. You did have to do some work, and did have some deadlines to meet to fulfill your tech requirement, but overall, it was not too bad. I actually like doing the blog post, and commenting on other peoples blogs, and posts. This course got me back into reading regularly again, and that is definitely not bad for me, because I used to read for pleasure a lot, but now, for some reason, I just lost it. This course got me back into that groove. I liked putting up pictures, videos, and sources, while talking about them on my blog. I also took advantage of this blog, and showed a few people, including Ms. de Young, what kind of books and writing I like to read. During this course, I have been reading "The Lost Hero", by well known author, Rick Riordan. Also, I have been reading "The Hunger Games", by New York Times Bestselling author Suzanne Collins. Both of these books are suspenseful fiction, and that is the genre that I mainly like. I discovered over this course that Rick Riordan is my favorite author so far, and his books are amazing. After Rick Riordan's books, I am starting to take a liking to Suzanne Collins' books, as well, which inlcude a trilogy. I started that trilogy by starting to read "The Hunger Games", which was recommended to me by Ms. de Young. I am glad that I picked this course because it taught me a lot more about blogging that I did not know before, and it helped getting back to reading for the fun of it!
I am reading "The Lost Hero", by well known author, Rick Riordan. I honestly really enjoyed this book. I liked all of the elements that were put into it, and I could sense the amazing creativity that the author possesses. Rick Riordan is my favorite author. I was introduced to him and his books on Greek mythology, by my 6th grade teacher, Mrs. Stubbs. She told me that I would probably like these books, because she could tell I was taking a liking to Greek mythology already. From then on, I was kind of hooked on these books. I kept reading them, and waiting for the next addition in the series to come out. I also love how Rick Riordan is quick about trying to please his fans, because he comes out with another book, really quickly, and they do not lack in quality, either. He is very talented at fitting all of the main and specific elements of literature into these books. He has mystery, action, adventure, romance, and much more. This series is fiction, of coarse. I also like that Rick Riordan came up with the idea about using Ancient Greek Mythology in modern times, in his books, to explain many things that are "unexplained" in the world, like the Bermuda Triangle. This author, and each of his books that he has based on Ancient Greek Myths, has many critiques and reviews, mostly being good, and having more than positive feedback. I know a lot of people around me, like friends at this school, who love Rick Riordan's books, as well. They understand why I like them, the same way I understand why they like them. Basically, Rick Riordan kept his books simple enough to read, and still very descriptive at right times, to keep the story interesting and moving forward in the overall plot. Overall, I think that the Rick Riordan books should not stop, and that Rick Riordan is my favorite author.
Here is a review from an average reader, that I found on youtube, that is speaking about their thought on "The Lost Hero", by Rick Riordan.
This source on the web gave me good insight on what the average critics think about Rick Riordan's books in general. The same thing with my other sources for this blog post. They also talked about the book I am reading, which is "The Lost Hero".
This website/source on the internet also gave me a better general idea about what the average critic thinks about Rick Riordan's own genre of literature, or writing. I agreed with most of the thoughts, because they were positive about his books, and wanted him to write more.
This website/source on the internet gave me the same help and guidance that the other sources gave me. It supplied me with additional insight that helped be get a better idea of what the average person or critic thinks about Rick Riordan's books, after reading them. The reviews that I liked would usually state something along the lines of loving his books, and being hungry for more. I totally agree with them.
The novel that I am currently reading is called "The Lost Hero", by Rick Riordan. This novel is a fiction novel. This is the first book, in its new series of stories, but is definitely not the Rick Riordan's first series. In "The Lost Hero", the main characters, or protagonists of the story, differ from the previous series of Percy Jackson, but old characters do come into play off to the side, and the background or setting of the novel(s) is almost exactly the same. The first book that Rick Riordan had written and published, that revolved around Greek mythology was "The Lightning Thief", which was the first addition to the "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series. That novel was adopted into a big and popular film, or "motion picture". Anyways, to fully understand the details and somewhat tense storyline of "The Lost Hero", it would be very sufficient and helpful to have read the whole previous Greek mythology series, by Rick Riordan, which is what I have already done. Basically, "The Lost Hero", stars three new characters, whose names are Jason, Piper, and Leo. They are all half-bloods, or demigods. In other words, the three of them are each half human, and half god. Jason is the son of Zeus, and if you remember Thalia from the previous books, well, she is Jason's sister. That was not common, to have two demigods from the same mother and father (same god parent, and same mortal parent). Piper is the daughter of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, beauty, and charm. Leo is the son of Hephaestus, the god of fire and engineering/smithing. The three of these demigod characters end up together through some odd circumstances, and happen to befriend each other quite quickly during the story. They end up going to "Camp Half-Blood", which is a hidden camp, that is a safe haven for demigods, all over the world. There, they meet other heroes, some who were from the previous books, such as Chiron and Annabeth. The plot involves the heroes having to free Hera, the goddess of faithful marriage and child bearing. They go through many obstacles and small adventures to try and do so, but you read it to find out what happens!
This source was helpful, because, when I was prompted to write about my book, I felt a little bit unsure, because I was not completely finished with it yet. This source on the internet helped me get a better "feel" or "awareness" of the book without spoiling anything about it. Also, this source gave me a lot of background information about the author, who is Rick Riordan, and had links to pages made about him.
This source was not specifically about the book I am reading. Instead, it gave me some strong information about the books that had come before this one. What I mean by this, is that this source on the internet basically refreshed my memory, or taught me some new facts, about the previous series of Rick Riordan, the series of "Percy Jackson and the Olympians".
This source did not help me much with the information, but gave me some cool pictures that I could use for my blog post(s). For example, I got the picture that I used in this blog post from this source/website. Also, it gave me some pictures that I can use for some of my other blog posts.
The book I am reading is one of many that have been written by my author. My author's name is Rick Riordan. His full name is Richard Russel Riordan Jr., but he goes by "Rick" for short. Rick Riordan was born on June 5th, 1964, In San Antonio. Today, he is 46 years old. He attended and graduated from Alamo Heights High School in the year of 1982. Then, Rick Riordan attended and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in the year of 1986. He had double-majored in English and History. He has written a total of 19 books so far. I am reading his latest book, which is the first in his new series. This novel is called "The Lost Hero". This series revolves around the exact same world as the "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series, but with different main characters, or protagonists. He has created series' for adults/young adults, and other series' for teenagers and younger children. He is currently working on the next books in line to be a part of his new series, as I mentioned before, starting with the novel called "The Lost Hero". Rick Riordan is definitely known for writing in fiction, generally. In my opinion, I like fiction better, which was one of the reasons that I started to start reading his novels. Rick Riordan also has his own website, which has tons of information on it. It includes information about his life, how he got into writing, pictures, and all the books he has read and is working on currently.
Here is a video of an "out speaking" interview, with author Rick Riordan...
From this website/source, I did not get many facts about Rick Riordan's life/bibliography, but more on the side of information about what he is planning to do next, what he thinks about writing, is he satisfied with his writing styles... things along those lines. This source/website, is actually also Rick Riordan's main/official website.
From this source, I got a ton of information about Rick Riordan's life. This was basically a reliable mini bibliography for me. I used it to my full advantage, and got lots of interesting facts out of it, about Rick Riordan, that I definitely did not know before.
From this source, I did not obtain too much information, but I did obtain some cool pictures for this blog, as shown above. The pictures were all there, which saved me some time in getting all the pictures of the covers, of all of the Percy Jackson books, by Rick Riordan. Also, I got the picture of the cover of "The Lost Hero" book, by Rick Riordan, from this source/website.
For my vacation this past winter break, me and my family went to Dubai. If you do not know where Dubai is, or what it is, it is a city located in the United Arab Emirates. The U.A.E. is a small country, located directly south of Saudi Arabia, which is a large country. Me and my family have relatives that live in Dubai, and it is somewhat tradition to go and see them at least once a year. While I was staying in Dubai, I stayed with my relatives that live there. This one trip to Dubai, I did not stay in Burj Al-Arab, which is the famous hotel there. Also, in Dubai, I went skiing in the mall. The mall itself is quite famous, in Dubai, for being very huge. Within the Emirates Mall, there is Ski Dubai, which is the part of the mall you can go skiing. It is indoors, and includes 3 high slopes, like mini mountains, and 2 areas for playing in the snow. The slopes area extends to be about half of a mile, which is quite amazing for an indoors ski place. My family, relatives, and I all also went out to eat almost every night, to very great restaurants, which were also very expensive. Besides skiing, expensive restaurants, and amazing hotels, there is also golf in the desert. I did not get to play because renting equipment would take a lot of time, and we wanted to go ahead and continue to the desert safari. The desert safari is actually a "safari" at all. This activity is when you and your family get in a jeep, which has reinforced metal bars covering the top. The driver basically slams the gas all the way, for about 45 minutes up and down huge sand dunes, and flipping the jeep upside down a few times. After 45 minutes, you get to a camp site, which is a huge circus tent, with a hole at the very top, where you could see smoke coming out. Inside, there was barbecue, soda dispensers, a karaoke stage, music, and right outside the tent, you could participate in ATV races, which are quad-bikes. Overall, my trip to Dubai was extremely fun, and I cannot wait until I go back again.
This source gave me some information about the seven star luxury hotel in Dubai, that I did not know before, and helped me incorporate some new facts into my blog.
This source gave me some information on the new tower that was built in Dubai, that I did not know before, including the fact that it is actually one of the tallest buildings in the world, and is approximately half a mile high.
This source helped me with some facts that I was confused about Ski Dubai, that I may not have really talked about in my blog, but did clear up some confusions I had about exactly how big it is, and when it was fully built.
