Thoughts about the book, Flight of the Intruder

I think Flight of the Intruder is a great book so far.  I am 81 percent through it as of December 4.  In the book, there are lots of action with the raid missions.  There is the suspense of what is going to happen to Jake Gafton after he secretly went on a mission to bomb Hanoi without the Captain's knowledge.  I have not gotten to the part yet so I will read and try to finish it tonight.  I like the missions and the fighting going on in Vietnam.  It is nothing heroic like you may expect books to be.  There are deaths along with the war.  It is a road bump for the United States and for the people on the Navy boat, Shiloh.  The sailors and pilots have to deal with it but Jake Gafton, like many other American's at the time, did not want to go into the Vietnam War in the first place.  That is what I do not like about the book.  I think the author could have made a different path to this story, a better one.  I feel like the dead one's can change the stories a lot.  It does meet my expectations and even exceed it.  I am not a military plane person but a commercial plane person.  I have enjoyed the action the Navy offers, at least in this book.

A-6 Intruder, the plane flown is landing on an aircraft carrier.  The plane on the bottom left hand corner is a F-14 Tomcat.

What is a book?

A book is what the author is believing or imagining in their minds. Sometimes, a book can be an airplane trip for me because I can put myself in the seat of the pilot or the passenger. I can go back to the feelings I had on previous airplane trip and apply those to the book which makes it feel like another fun trip. I enjoy ANY opportunity to ride a plane, go plane spotting or seeing planes from a distance. I feel the same way when authors mention about an airplane. That's what they see in their minds and make me see it.

"It’s not the book, but the idea of the book. Some man or woman spent weeks or months or years or a lifetime bleeding on the page!" (LaValle). I think agree that a book is important because of what is in it. The paper itself does not matter without the writing. I do not hate a particular part of any excerpts that is in the document.

A book on a Kindle, iPad, or phone is not even close to the same thing as the hard cover. The feeling in your hands is different (obviously) but mentally, I want to go back to the paper books with the unique texture each book provides. I have a hard time concentrating on the screen because sometimes, I eyes can lead off or accidently turn the page without trying. I also want to know how long the chapter is so I know how long I will be reading. I usually do that before I go to sleep so I can estimate if I can read before I fall asleep. In a electronic reader, I can not tell when the end of the chapter.  The "magic" is in the story, not the book(any type of book, not just paper back).

Flight of the Intruder by Stephen Coonts

I chose the book Flight of the Intruder by Stephen Coonts.  I chose this book because Ms. Gentene searched this book for me when I requested for an aviation related fiction book.  When she found the book in the school library, the book just happened to be The Runway New York Time Best Seller.  It was just what I needed for the first book project.  I wanted to read aviation related book because that is what interests me the most and when I read something that interests me, I tend to read at a faster pace and understand the terms and words in the book.   Then I may connect with the book which the language arts teacher says it is good.  An Amazon contributor, P. Connors, comments,” For a debut novel, this one was extremely well done. It was the entrant to a series that I hoped Coonts would write, and subsequently did. I like Jake Grafton because he is a man all of us could only hope to be. Most of all, he is a man of honor and integrity and this is demonstrated when he decides to put his on the line by going after a target "downtown" after President Johnson has called a bombing halt over Hanoi and Haiphong.” 

Why I Read

I like to read news articles and mostly non-fiction books.  I read those types of books more often because I can feel what the author wants me to feel.  I can experience firsthand accounts, such an airplane crash.  I do not want to be in the airplane crash but I would like to “experience” it since I want to become a pilot and you have to study those accidents anyway.  I have read 3 airplane crash books in the last year and they have all been good stories (one being a historical fiction).   I also want to relate a book to my life because I can understand a similar situation from a different perspective.  I would also like to be informed of current and past true stories to learn how we got to the current society here and why.  I truly think this information will help me in the future with classes and life.  I also read just for enjoyment.  I hardly read for enjoyment but when I do I read some series books go well with the first book so I keep up with the character’s life and their surroundings.  Lastly, I read to learn more vocabulary and the English language.  I moved from Japan and spent 6 years in ESL.  I did not like it because I felt like I did not fit in but I liked reading the short chapter books I was capable of reading at that time.  I learned a lot from language arts classes as well as books and has helped me achieve passing scores on the Ohio Achievement Assessment.