Nick Washuta-final post

Over length of the quarter I have read part of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling (152 pages), finished Tangerine by Edward Bloor (303 pages), and read the Ultimate Gift by Jim Stovall (112 pages). In the 2^nd quarter I have read 567 pages.

I finished Tangerine (which I know most of you have read) and near the end lots of mysteries begin to unravel. Paul meets Luis Cruz who gets killed by Erik and Arthur…which Paul also knew. Later Tino and Victor show up, to beat up Erik, at Erik’s high school football award ceremony when he is getting his awards. Tino and Victor accomplished what they came for and ran away. Paul runs too after he jumped a coach and is cornered by Erik and Arthur near his home. He has a flashback at that moment and figures how he nearly got blinded…by Erik and his old friend in Texas spraying spray paint in his eyes…not by staring at an eclipse. The book ends with Paul on his way to a new school rolling the windows down smelling the scent of the golden dawn tangerine.

Now the Ultimate Gift.  Alright I’m going to be honest with you… the only reason I was going to read this book was to fill in the last fifty some pages that I needed to read. I didn’t even plan on finishing the book. From saying this, though, I couldn’t put the book down, one of the very few. This book had a great outline and marks as one of my favorite books. Red Stevens, a multi-billionaire, has provided everyone in his family with everything they needed. The family soon became very greedy when Red dies. Everyone shows up at the reading of his will and get what they get and leave. The only person left with nothing is Jason Stevens. He is the main character in the book and thinks he is all it. His life changes when he is sitting in the room and the TV turns on, and Red appears; “Jason, if you are watching this right now I must be dead…” in the long run Red asks Jason if he wants to go on a year long journey receiving life lessons and learning what life really is. He regrets it in the first few months but later notices how thankful he is for everything. Red put together 12 months worth of life lessons and on the last one he would receive the ultimate gift. The life lessons/gifts were the gift of: work, money, friends, learning problems, family, laughter, dreams, giving, gratitude, a day, and love. In the end he thinks his ultimate gift was learning the all the gifts but it turns out Jason inherits Red’s billion dollar trust fund! This book was very inspiring and I would recommend it to you even though it was an easy read.