Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Hacksaw Jim Writes In and An Epic Story of a Boy and His Deer

Greetings, fellow readers. We have a new comment form our friend Hacksaw Jim Duggan from the Guys Read blog. It's about the Percy Jackson Book Club:

Hey Guys,

That club sounds really cool! I'm a huge Percy Jackson fan, and I would so be in that club! I havent had a chance to read the latest book yet, though, because I'm re-reading the series b4 I read the Battle of the Labrynth. It's sitting on my shelf, taunting me, so I'm reading the books as fast as I can! Hope the club continues to go well!

Hacksaw Jim Duggan from Guys Read


Thanks, Jim! You'll really like the fourth book. BTW, have you all seen the What's More Macho post on their blog? It's a good one. Write in and them what you think would be the most macho thing.

Well, I'm starting to recover enough so that I can talk about books. I can't do any new ones yet, so I'll tell you about a some of my favorites for a while. Here's one of my very favorite single books ever, The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. This is a book any guy would love because it has all the action and adventure that you could want but it also deals with things we all deal with-- friendship, family, and what to do (or not do) when life isn't fair.
The story takes place in Florida right after the Civil War. This isn't the Florida you'd think of today--it was a real wilderness, full of scrub pines, palmetto trees , and swamps. Life was a constant struggle for survival. In this backwoods country lives Jody Baxter with his Ma and Pa. They manage to make a decent living with their crops but there is always danger from bears, illness, and thunderstorms that last two weeks! Pa is a good-natured guy but Ma is tough and grim from years of living in the wild. Jody finds a young deer while out hunting and doesn't have the heart to kill such a helpless creature. Could he keep it as a pet? Pa doesn't mind but Ma doesn't want something else to feed. Besides, she says, wild animals won't grow up tame. What will happen when it starts eating their crops? And what will Jody do when that does happen? The answer will really hit you like a blow to the head. Don't think that this is just a cutesy boy-and-his-pet story; it's a real guy kind of book. There's the epic bear hunt that Jody takes with his Pa, the story of Jody's unlikely friendship with Fodder-wing, and what happens when Jody runs away. These events will stay in your mind for a long time. I can't say enough about this book. Go and read it!!! It's long, yes, but long in a good way. Like The Lord of the Rings, it's long but you don't want it to end. I read after I had an operation and had to stay out of work for a month. I was up one night and wanted to read a few pages before going to bed---and stayed up for hours until I finished it. I couldn't stop reading! You won't either!! Go find it!!!

Carl

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Carl & Bill,

Thanks for putting me up on your blog. I just wanted to say that I've started the fourth book, and right now I'm on page 73. I'm already enjoying the book alot, especially the way Riordan does action scene after action scene. I can't believe Percy screwed up and couldn't go on his date with Annabeth!! That made my so mad!

Hacksaw Jim Duggan from Guys Read

Lord Vader said...

Hi everyone, I'm past the halfway mark of my reading club log. I finished Garfield: Older and Wider. It was great and really funny. A few had my mom and me really laughing. There is a "made you look" comic that I can't wait to try on someone. Garfield is by Jim Davis and this was the 41st book. The other book I finished was Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling. I liked the book because it was a little different than the movie. I liked the basilisk (I think snakes are cool). I also liked the play on Tom Riddle's name.

Mikie (a.k.a Lord Vader)

Anonymous said...

Hey guys,

I saw the comment made by Cassie, and I've got a question for her..

Why would you not want Percy to hook up with Annabeth??

I finished the "Battle of the Labrynth" and I personally think it's the best in the series so far. Obviously, Percy can't go out with Calypso because he'll never find her island again. As for Rachel, I think that she likes Percy, but I think if he had a choice, Percy would rather go out with Annabeth. So, please answer my question Cassie, because I would like to know...

Hacksaw Jim Duggan from Guys Read