Browsing Essay, Research Paper

My browsing was not like any other students’. It was probably a lot easier. I know of people fabricating what they write, but I can not do that. My decision came from a talk with Mr. Piquet; therefore, I am not able to misrepresent what happened during that conversation. I am also not able to stretch on anything because he knows what was discussed that day.

About a month ago, I went to Mr. Piquet wanting to get ahead on the author project. I did this knowing how difficult is was for my brother last year, thus I wanted to begin this lengthy project. Initially I sat down at his round wooden table to talk about a recent paper I had written. This conversation went in the direction of the author project- the discussion was very brief due to few mistakes in my previous paper. Then I popped the question “How can I get started on my author project?” He began to tell me that it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. There was one major way that I could get ahead and that was to pick my author. Then out of no where he launched a series a questions that would help me. “Do you like to read?” “What authors have you read that you’ve like?” I wasn’t sure how to answer these questions. Honestly I dislike reading and the authors I like are ones I am forced or strongly recommended to read. As I answered his questions, I told him that I don’t like to read, but I do like Fitzgerald; I only like his writing because it keeps me interested and it flows. Mr. Piquet asked me another question, “Did you like Toni Morrison?” This time I was very straight forward with him. I told him that I absolutely hated her writing style; it was the opposite of Fitzgerald. I felt that it took her way too long to get me interested in the book and the only reason that I finished it was because it was an assignment.

Mr. Piquet looked very puzzled and asked me yet another question “You’re a wrestler like Mike Willman, right?” Here we got off the subject and started talking about wrestling and how we lose weight and are very tired and grumpy. After this five minute diversion from the topic, Mr. Piquet told me that he knew of an author that was a wrestler and he wrote some great novels. He brought up the name “John Irving.” As he told me about him, I wasn’t that interested because he told me that he writes six-hundred page novels. Mr. Piquet sent me on thinking about this writer, John Irving.

My mind was not set in John Irving yet but he would soon be my best candidate. I was thinking about Stephen Hawking, but as I thought about him, it took me three months to read and somewhat understand “A Brief History of Time.” I realized that he would not be a very good author to do. I also thought about Theodor Seuss Geisel but I realized that he writes just like Stephen Hawking and his novels would be too difficult to read. Theodor Seuss Geisel was my author until I saw one of his books and it said Dr. Suess. He wrote “Cat in the Hat.” I understood that this was not a good idea.

The next day when I saw Mr. Piquet, he handed me three thick books by John Irving. As he handed them to me I thought “How am I ever going read all of these books?” Well I took them home and put them on my desk. They sat there for at least a week. Then I asked a few of my friends what they thought of this author. My dad told me that he couldn’t believe that I was going to read these books because he read them when they first came out. He couldn’t remember if he liked him or not, but he has read some of his material. My wrestling coach, Mike Skinner, told me ,while we were running, that he loves his work and John Irving is probably his favorite author. Many other people that I talked to told me that he was a great writer and that I should really consider doing my project on him.

I began reading his famous novel “The World According to Garp” I became instantly attached to his writing and found that I was getting very involved in his work. Once this happened, I knew who I was going to pick for my project.

That weekend I went to Barnes and Nobles and searched for his autobiography. I found it in the biography section because they had no autobiography area. I approached it this way knowing that we had linked many of Fitzgerald’s stories to his life. I hoped that it would be the same and I would be able to find links from his life in his novels.

Though my stay at the book store was brief I still had a great experience there. The instant I walked in, Terry asked me if I needed any help. I told him about my situation with the author project and who I was looking for information on, and he directed me to the correct section. Terry was very helpful to me. In fact, he brought over recent books that he thought I might also be interested in. I told him that the only book I really needed was the autobiography but thanked him for trying to help.

I am now currently reading Irving’s novel “The World According to Garp” and am enjoying it. I am also enjoying the fact that I am ahead of the game in this project. I plan on staying ahead so that it does not become a overwhelming task. I am so appreciative of Mr. Piquet for leading me in the right direction.

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