Lit Circle Letter 1 & 2

My book for the second lit circle is called A Hole In My Life. It is an autobiography written by Jack Gantos. In the first two parts of the book, Jack starts off in jail talking about the different people in there and also his dad who taught him a lot about the town they lived in and the people that lived in it. In his time in jail, Jack fears most about being attacked. But not only that, he fears being attacked by someone who he would never expect to attack him. The story jumps ahead to when he is 19. He and his family move to Puerto Rico where Jack hopes to get back into school after never finishing his 11th grade year. He doesn't want to repeat that year so he never brings it up and hopes it slips through when talking to schools about enrolling. The only problem is Jack doesn't speak Spanish so he can't go to the public schools. His family is too poor to afford private schools where English is spoken so Jack moves back to Florida alone where he hopes to get a high school diploma so he can get a job to help support his family. He is responsible for himself now. He moves in with a family who put a roof over his head and a place to sleep. In return, he treats the house horribly and the family too. He always gets drunk and throws up everywhere. As a result, he gets kicked out and is forced to live on his own. He finds an ad in the paper for a motel room that is being rented out for cheap.

While reading the book, I didn't take as many notes as I did while reading the last book and that made typing this a little more difficult because I had to go into the book and look for individual paragraphs looking for details that I wanted to talk about. I did a lot of the reading at home especially when I didn't have any homework because of the Holocaust week being this week. So that really helped with being able to catch up because I didn't do any reading over Spring break. I find it difficult to read during class because of how many distractions are in there and I just find it difficult to completely ignore everything that is going on. Plus when I read it at home it is usually right before I go to bed. I don't know why, but I feel I retain information way more when I am sleepy than when I am sitting in a class distracted. But I will still try to read during class because that way I can still talk to people in my group when we are in class.

I am liking this book more and more as I read more of it and I think I will actually like it more than the last book my group read. Both books are talking about troubled childhoods and the results of not having a strong relationship with any parents or an authoritative figure. I think both authors wrote their books to educate the youth of today and talk about what happens when you get into trouble early in your life. Their lives are fine now, sure, but that is because they turned their lives around quick after realizing that you only get one life and that you shouldn't waste it. I am definitely looking forward to reading more of this book and hope that when I finish, I will have a new outlook on things in my life.