YA Lit

The article Darkness Too Visible by Meghan Cox Gurdon is about how YA novels or teen books are about violence. Gurdon's articles talks about, how YA books are affecting teens, teens reading books kidnapping, brutal beating, and more evil stuff is making their minds evil and such explicit YA novels traumatize a teen. Gurdon proves her point by giving a summary of the worst parts of books.


The article Why the best Kids Books Are Written in Blood by Sherman Alexie is about how a teen should pick any kind of book he/she wants to read. In the article, alexie strongly disapproves with gurdon's view on the on YA novels. Alexie says that novels that are about brutal beating, sexual or physical abuse, or evil doesn't traumatize a teen or make him/her evil, but such novels can save them. Sherman points out that "evil" novels help teens fight "evil" in their life.

I don't read novels or books very often, i reading alot of manga. Manga are graphic novels, but they are exactly like books, they are full violence, rape, alot of cursing, and some are even full of sexual content. Like sherman alexie says in his article that it's okay to read any book a teen wants to read, i have the same reason for reading mangas, and I enjoy reading mangas. Yes, the kinds of mangas I read are full of violence, and evilness, but they all have good content, the reason why the main characters are so violent is because if they don't fight then they will lose their loved ones.

Sherman alexie's point of view about is true. dark themed books help and encourage teens to fight and diminish evil in their life. Personally speaking, reading mangas that are dark themed has prepared and encourage me not to fear anything in life, and face any situation without any fear, face them with a strong will, determination, and with a strong heart.    

How to Refill an Empty Life

The essay I would like to recommend is How to Refill an Empty Life by Albert J. Nesbitt.

One day about fifteen years ago I suddenly came face to face with myself and realized there was something quite empty about my life. My friends and associates perhaps didn’t see it. By the generally accepted standards, I was “successful,” I was head of a prosperous manufacturing concern, and led what is usually referred to as an “active” life, both socially and in business. But it didn’t seem to me to be adding up to anything. I was going around in circles. I worked hard, played hard, and pretty soon I discovered that I was hitting the highballs harder than I needed. I wasn’t a candidate for Alcoholics Anonymous, but to be honest with myself I had to admit I was drinking more than was good for me. It may have been out of sheer boredom.

I appreciated this essay because while reading this essay I felt a connection with the author of this essay.  Nesbitt talks about despite been “successful” in his life, one day he realized his life was empty. Same thing occured to me in my early year's of high school, I had perfect classes that i wanted to be in, my grades were high, it was a nice, smooth life. but sudenly, like Nesbitt, I also felt emptiness in my life. To fulfill his emptiness, Nesbitt, return to the Christian principles on which he was raised. Since i felt the same emptiness, I begun to wonder to what to do, how to fulfill the void of emptiness in my life. With lot of thinking, I concluded that, I felt emptiness because I was focusing to much on my studies. Because of that I decided to do things I always to do, and then I begun to live a full life.