My active reading is going pretty well I think. I'm having no problem finding and highlighting parts of the text that stand out to me or the moments where the writing is at it's best. The only thing I'm running into as a problem, is once I start reading, I have a momentum, and stopping to uncap my highlighter or going back to highlight something can ruin my train of thought, but it's getting slowly better. It's still something I have to get used to.
Part of the text in The House on Mango Street that I highlighted was the last paragraph of the story Marin. "Marin, under the streetlight, dancing by herself, is singing the same song somewhere. I know. Is waiting for a car to stop, a star to fall, someone to change her life." This paragraph really struck me with awe. The way it's structured, and just the feel I get from reading it makes it note worthy. It's poetic in a sense. Especially in the last sentence.
I much prefer A Long Way Gone simply because of the material that is involved. I've known that things like this have gone on in the worlds past, and present, but I've never had any actual knowledge of what it is like to go through something so horrible and traumatizing. And to hear in the words from a child is just incredible. It gives a very realistic and heavy view of what humans can do to another, but also shows what we long to get as far away from as possible as humanity as a whole. Horrors and situations of this kind should never be a part of someones life. Everyone needs to realize that things like this are still occurring today, and we need to think of ways to stop it. Peace, or preferably world peace, should be the ultimate goal, but sadly it's not.
I completely agree with you. A Long Way Gone is also what I prefer, and I think just simply putting an effort to world peace will make a huge change in our world and how we view others.
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