Reading Journal Two

From the Reading Journal Two, I have chosen The Beatles Live On, The Power of ‘Hello’ and Making It Up as I Go Along. They are my top three favorite essays in this reading journal.

From the essay, The Beatles Live On, my favorite quote is ‘music brings people together’ I could not agree more with this quote because when people sing together or listen to music together, an inner connection can be felt despite the differences between them.

‘Even a dog can wag its tail when it passes you on the street’ is quoted from The Power of ‘Hello’. It sounds funny but, it is meaningful. Here, I learned the importance of being courteous by acknowledging people’s presence.

Another favorite quote is extracted from Making It Up as I Go Along. It is the first sentence of the essay, ‘Just because you have only six plates and three glasses is no reason why you can't invite 12 people to dinner’. It captured my interest to read.

The obvious similarity of the three essays is they are told from the first person’s point of view. Hence, I know the exact thoughts and feelings of the writer about what had happened in his or her life.

Besides that, I can sense optimism in all the three stories at some point. In The Beatles Live On, the narrator’s father was hopeful to get back his family’s dog by playing the Yellow Submarine aloud in the car. For the Power of Saying ‘Hello’, the founder of the company motivated the narrator by saying that the latter could go for the most top position in the company. As a result, the narrator became a Vice President of the company. The essay of Making It Up as I Go Along is full of optimism. The writer had a positive view at everything that happened in her life. Even when her restaurant bankrupted, she just walked away satisfyingly for the lessons she had while running the business.

The three essays differ from each other in term of theme. The Beatles Live On is about association of a boy’s family music with the memory about his father, while The Power of Saying ‘Hello’ is about a man who learned the importance of acknowledging people’s presence in his life and practiced it. The last but not the least, Making It Up as I Go Along is about a woman who did not plan for the upcoming events in her life but enjoyed doing them when they come along and she enjoyed learning from them.

My favorite essay is Making It Up as I Go Along because I enjoyed reading the experience of the writer who was open to learning all the time. The writer learned new things by doing anything that came along in her life. For instance, when she ran the restaurant, everything was new for her. Despite running a business, her goal was not money, but knowledge of handling business. She was a flexible person who did not follow preset rules and procedures. She made steak for dinner by busing only a knife and scissors! She was a creative person who can come up with different recipe. When I read this essay, I feel like someone is describing a part of me as I share the similar attitude as the writer.

As a personal response to Making It Up as I Go Along, I would like to say that having the urge to try new aspects promises knowledge that enriches our life.