Kaitlyn+Ernwine

**Blog: 4 (Final Blog)**

 * 1-4-11**

__The Keys to the Kingdom: Grim Tuesday__ By: Garth Nix

The Pit was a dark, isolated, part of The House. It was owned by Grim Tuesday and his Dawn, Noon, and Dusk, whom he had combined into one, then split apart into seven different entities to heighten productivity. They were called the seven Grotesques. The Pit itself was used for the mining of Nothing, the base material of everything, which the Grim used to patch the house, and to make goods, which he shipped out all over the house. This is where Arthur finds himself in the second book of Garth Nix's awesome series, __The Keys to the Kingdom__. Arthur returned home after his first encounter with the house and its inhabitants, and found himself almost immediately called back. Enraged but worried after his call with Dame Primus (the first part of The Will to which Arthur had handed over the First Key and given power over the Lower House.) was suddenly disconnected, Arthur decided to seek out the house. He hadn't even left his room before things start heating up. Two men came to Arthur's house, and declare that it was going to be demolished to make room for a new shopping mall. Soon after, the stock market began to crash. The university that Arthur's brother, Mitchel had just gotten accepted into went bankrupt, and the music industry that supported their father's band started to fail. All of this only hours after Arthur got home. But that's not even the worst part. The worst part is that that The House is nowhere to be found. In this book, Arthur returns to The House, Escapes Grimm Tuesday's Pit, meets an overgrown eyebrow, befriends a magical mariner, rescues part two of the Will, and battles the pure elements of Nothing that surround the Far Reaches of the house. The book was amazing. Truly amazing. I'm getting sucked deeper and deeper into these books with every line I read. Which is good, because I love reading them. The story was so fun. The action started incredibly early into the book, so there was no boring introduction. This book, as with __Mister Monday__, was a very quick read, and so I was done with it the same day that I started. Also, as with __Mister Monday__, I found underlaying subliminal text, one of which supported a theory that I had developed while reading the first book. While Arthur is looking for the second part of The Will he meets an old mariner who happens to be the son of The Architect, ( the creator of everything ) and The Old One. The mariner, Tom, was on instruction to destroy Arthur and Susy, but doesn't after Arthur informs him that he is master of the Lower House. Tom then takes Arthur and Susy to the center of a burning sun to fetch the second part of The Will. But while they're there, Tom warns Arthur of something. "The works of my Mother's, even the Keys can corrupt mortals." Sound familiar? Yup. The old one warned him of the same thing in the first book. If that doesn't scream FORESHADOWING, then I don't know what does. This is such a great series. I'm currently working on the third book, __Drowned Wednesday__, and it's beginning to become even more spectacular than the first two. What with the ship, and Susy, and. . . well, I'm getting ahead of myself, here. If you like what I've been blogging about, then go out and buy these books. They're simply astounding, and the best part is that there's seven of them! So you don't have to stop after the first. Well, that's it. I'm going to keep reading these books, but there won't be any more posts from me (or anyone else on here, I assume.) Maybe I will again, someday in the future, just for the fun of it. But until then, take care, have fun, and keep reading! ~ Kaitlyn Ernwine~

**Blog: 3**

 * 12-6-10**

__The Keys to the Kingdom: Mister Monday (cont.)__

"The Minute hand had moved up a fraction of an inch. It was 1:00. On Tuesday morning." Anyone who's read the book __Mister Monday__ by Garth Nix would agree that this is, perhaps, the most suspenseful ending to any book. It closes off with Arthur Penhaligon returning to the Secondary Realms, ( Earth and the surrounding universe ), with the Nightsweeper. ( a cure to the Sleepy Plague that the Fetchers had brought with them when they had invaded the Secondary Realms under Monday's command.) Before Arthur returned to the Secondary Realms, he defeated Monday, and gained the hour hand. With the power of the Lower House in the possession of the rightful heir, Dawn, Noon, Monday, and Sneezer returned to their prior, well-minded selves, and Arthur set them up as the High Workers of the house, giving the Key itself to the Will. However, before Arthur gave the Key to the Will, he took brief thought to keeping the Key, ruling the House, and forgetting all of the responsibilities that he had back in the Secondary Realms. He snapped himself out of it, however, and, realizing that the Key was a powerful weapon and had a strong dangerous influence, quickly passed the Key onto the Will. This moment struck me as particularly important, even though it was only a short, and seemingly insignificant part in the story. Much earlier on in the book, Arthur met a being that resided in the House known only as 'The Old One'. The Old One helped Arthur, but before Arthur left him, The Old One warned Arthur that a thing as powerful as the Key could alter a person, especially a young mortal like Arthur. I didn't think all that much about it when I read it, but when the key started to work it's influence on Arthur, it seemed to me to be a bold foreshadowing of future events. I fear that Arthur, as all people when tempted by power, will be weighed down by the seemingly simplistic idea of leaving his old life in the Secondary Realms for his newfound one in the House. I worry that, at some point, Arthur will be tested in this and fail, and suffer for it greatly. The greatest part in the entire book was undoubtedly the ending, when it hinted that Arthur would be swept right back up into things, even after the Will had promised him five or six years before he was contacted again with matters concerning the House. It's truly one of the most fantastic books that I've read yet, and I've already started into the second book. I'm truly looking forward to the fantastic adventure that awaits within the pages of Garth Nix's __Grim Tuesday.__


 * Blog: 2**
 * 11-18-10**

__The Keys to the Kingdom: Mister Monday__ By: Garth Nix (Note: Sadly, Sophie's world ended up wet and ruined, so i wasn't able to continue reading that book. This is the book that I picked up in replacement.)

Rummaging around in my closet after the depressing loss of __Sophie's World,__ I figured that I might pick up another philosophy book, or maybe one of my many physics books. This, however, was not the case. The book that caught my eye was one that I hadn't read for years. __Mister Monday,__ by Garth Nix, is a book that I had first read four or five years ago. I remembered that it had impressed me when I had read it then, and figured that it still might prove to be an interesting read. When I pulled it off my book shelf, I flipped it over to the back, and skimmed over the short summery printed there. The feeling of familiarity came over me and I realized that it had been too long sense I had last read this book. When I began reading, I did so knowing what the ending of the book was going to be. However, I had little recollection of the plot itself, which meant that every twist in the plot shocked me as much as it did the first time. ( Though after each twist I could hardly keep from uttering a quiet, "Oh! I remember that!" ) __Mister Monday__ is an incredibly short book. It's only 361 pages long, and the text is relatively large, making this book rather easy to read for me. However, this doesn't stop me from loving every minute that I spend reading it. The plot is wonderful and well developed and has hidden undertones that indicate a much deeper meaning than one might see on initial glance. The story itself is about a young boy named Arthur Penhaligon, and the strange events that lead him to a place called The House, which is governed by the corrupt trustees. Each trustee, or Morrow Day, as they are called in the book, is named after one of the seven days of the week, and each trustee has control over the day the corresponds with his/her name. Arthur is chosen by The Will, a living written document containing the will of The Creator, to be the heir to The House, and inherit the Morrow Keys. Each Morrow Key is in the possession of one of the Morrow Days, and they don't want to give them up. As Arthur battled against the Morrow Days, I began to see a pattern. Each Morrow Day seemed to correspond with one of the seven deadly sins. Upon looking at it more closely, I found that each Day did indeed seem to represent one of the deadly sins, with a different sin for each day. I thought that this was amazingly creative, and I found the Days far more interesting after realizing that. All-in-all, __Mister Monday__ by Garth Nix is an incredible book, full of suspense, hidden undertones, wonderful characters, and a twisting plot, making for one awesome book. I'd recommend this book to those who struggle with reading and enjoy the fantasy touch, and/or to those who simply feel like laying back with a quick, easy, fantastical book.

**10-4-10**
__Sophie's World__ By: Jostein Gaarder

From what I understood when I picked the book up from the book store, it was, basically, the history of philosophy told in the form of a fantastical mystery story. The person who recommended it to me described it as "...Kind of like __Through the Looking Glass,__ that's how it's written. Only along the way, you pick up the history of philosophy." Philosophy has always fascinated me, and I loved __Through the Looking Glass__, so once I heard that, I couldn't wait to read it. The first character that you meet in the book is the main character, Sophie, where she lives, and her day-to-day life. Soon after, however, Sophie starts getting strange letters in the mail from her so called 'philosophy teacher', who takes her through the history of philosophy. This is where it starts to look a bit like __Through the Looking Glass__. Sophie begins to find strange messages to a girl named Hilde, and is suddenly thrust into a strange new world within her own. I've just now gotten to a part in the book where Sophie is reading one of her papers from 'The Philosopher', and it's talking about one of histories greatest philosophers of all time, Socrates, and there was one of his theories that struck home with me. Socrates states, "If a man knows what is right, he will do right, for if a man knows what makes him happy, he will do it. And why would any man //choose// to be unhappy." In short, what a man perceives as right, is, in part, what makes him happy. And why would anyone do something that made them unhappy. It's a bit hard to understand, but I've based almost every moral idea of mine off of that statement. Sophie's world is, so far, an amazing book, but it's not easy to understand, and it's not a fast read. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about philosophy, or someone who enjoys a challenge.


 * FIRST QUARTER**

__The Grand Design__
By: Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow

Of all of the books that I've read this quarter, my favorite is the book that I'm currently reading. __The Grand Design__ by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow. I've only just begun, (I'm on page 22 of 166, not including the list of terms and names in the very back of the book) but I'm already beginning to grasp a picture of what I'm going to be learning in this book. And let me tell you, it's quite the image. In __The Grand Design__, Hawking and Milodinow aim to answer some of the most fundamental, and controversial questions in the history of mankind from a scientific view, using physics. Why is there something rather than nothing? why do we exist? Why do we abide by the physical laws that we do? And according to Hawking, "Unlike the answer given in the __Hitchhikers Gide to the Galaxy__, ours won't be simply, 42." From the first moment I started reading __The Grand Design__, I knew that I was going to have to //try// to under stand it. The theories and ideas that make this book up are beyond complicated. However, I was glad to realize that the book spent little time on the mathematical theorems, and algebraic equations that make up the world of physics, but rather worked to explain physics in a more 'wordy' manner. Taking the time to explain each term and expression that the reader may not be familiar with. Diverging further into the book, I found that it's main focus is on Quantum Physics, the section of physics that deals in the smallest molecular structures, and, just recently, the macroscopic behemoths found in the outer reaches of the universe. Once I began to really read it, I became almost addicted to it, I can't put it down~!