this is me freaking out about a book

guys.

i am a bookworm.

a starving bookworm, but a bookworm all the same.

it has been entirely too long since i have sat down and devoured pages simply for the devouring pages.

maybe i've just been hibernating from reading. (bookworms do that, you know.)

guess what woke me up.

GUESS.

THIS woke me up.

ERMAGERD....ITS HERE.

i have waited for this book...SO LONG.

the rest of the series is good. its about good vs. bad, superheros and villians and secrets and hidden identities and there's even a really adorable romance. GO READ THE FIRST TWO and then we can squeal over the third installation together.


(not to mention THE COVERS ARE GORGEOUS. #dying)

All the Light We Cannot See (book review #6)

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE
From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, the beautiful, stunningly ambitious instant New York Times bestseller about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.

Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great-uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.

In a mining town in Germany, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie-Laure’s converge.

Doerr’s “stunning sense of physical detail and gorgeous metaphors” (San Francisco Chronicle) are dazzling. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, he illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another. Ten years in the writing, a National Book Award finalist, All the Light We Cannot See is a magnificent, deeply moving novel from a writer “whose sentences never fail to thrill” (Los Angeles Times).

GOOD: STOP EVERYTHING AND GO READ THIS BOOK. seriously guys, it was amazing. it is now the best stand-alone book i have ever read. like, gaaaaahhhh.... *flails* *falls over* *cries silently* *lays still* *takes a deep breath* GAAAAAHHH. Here's why: 
a) this book is written from two different view points. you may have heard me rant about the difficulty of this. Doerr NAILS this. i've never read better. Werner is quiet and thoughtful, a constant battleground for good and evil. Marie-Laure is a forest clearing filled with forget-me-nots and daisies, always seeing the good even though her eyes don't let in the light.
b) description: one character is blind, the other is not. seriously, the chapters switch like that. Marie goes by smell, taste, touch, and hearing. She goes by memory, she goes by instinct. she is a sponge for knowledge and her chapters in the book are steeped in it. she is also obsessed with 3-D maps (you'll get that later) and the ocean. Werner, on the other hand, sees everything. His eyes are the sponges, flitting about, pulling in information and analyzing not only the facts but the feelings, the emotions, wondering why at every opportunity. and his chapters. oh golly. his chapters make me cry. and he loves radios. seriously, this kid makes. my. world. although he kinda breaks my heart at the same time.

BAD: there's some language. there's also some really heavy real life stuff. which is difficult to swallow sometimes. one girl gets raped. one character is willing to blow up half of Europe (oh wait, that was Hitler. okay, blowing up the continent would be an exaggeration but you get my point) in order to heal himself. characters are blown up, shot down, impaled, frozen by water in the middle of the night, and some are taken to prison camps. you know what? i fully expected all of that. this is a book written in the middle of the Second World War. There were bad things happening then. a book that doesn't detail these would be lacking historical accuracy and depth. 

DIFFICULTY: the undaunted book queen in me says not hard at all. i mean yeah the book was more than an inch thick BUT HEY who's counting? however, the tiny little girl in me disagrees. for it was indeed a difficult book to read considering the fact that there would be one sentence describing how the field was full of daisies and you could hear a cow's bell in the distance and you could smell the sea and life was normal, and the next sentence would be talking about how the character hadn't eaten in three days and they were on the brink of wishing for death. this wasn't an easy book to read as far as content goes. definitely not for the weak of heart. 

1-10 SCORE: 10. All the way. This book won 6 awards. and it won 6 awards for a reason. it will break your heart and then heal it again. for me, it is forever on my favorites shelf. 
let me put it this way: i normally don't buy books. normally i just borrow them from the library. 
i bought this book. 

OVERVIEW: All the Light We Cannot See is intense, a web of stories and people and facts and myth and time that weave together into one grand climax and leaves you wondering what the purpose of life is. It makes you wonder how you are living today. It makes you think about what you notice, what you give into the world. It changed the way i think. i don't see bad things anymore. i see empty voids capable of good or bad, equally equipped and with equal opportunity to take over that space. at one point in the story Werner is trapped in a basement, listening to a radio. there's absolutely no light, and yet he doesn't feel scared, because the voice that is transmitting over the radio carries light with it. it lights Werner's soul. this scene left me wondering if physical light is not the most important. maybe it is the light that's felt, and heard, the kind that changes our hearts, i think that's what matters. and oh how much there is of it, all the light we cannot see. 

that's what i got out of it.

THE BIG BAD WRITERS TAG

FIRST THINGS FIRST: This lovely tag came from Kate @ the goodness revolt. so go check it out. :) 

second things: this was supposed to be a vlog, but i'm a rebel and a scaredy-cat, so no vlogs for me yet. maybe later. 

THIRD THINGS:  the tag. if you write, you're it. :D 

now let's get down't to business. 

WRITE FUEL: WHAT DO YOU EAT/DRINK WHILE WRITING? i will eat anything from edamame to ice cream to regular old dinner and usually only drink tea in unbelievable quantities. (i really really really love earl grey. like, if earl grey were a person, it would be a man, and we would be married.) (either that or this weird vitamin c tea that my mom makes that's like, lemongrass and rose hips and hibiscus. its actually quite lovely.)

WRITE SOUNDS: WHAT DO YOU LISTEN TO WHILE WRITING? absolutely nothing. see, my brain works best when there is little to no noise. so, you can usually find me barricaded within a fortress of silence, violently typing away at my keyboard. sometimes my iPod is even banished from the room. even when it's off. just procedure, principle, whatever you wanna call it. NO NOISE.

WRITE VICE: WHAT’S YOUR MOST DEBILITATING DISTRACTION? my mother. i love my mother to death. she's amazing; you would love her. BUT - i can be in my little zone, and she'll walk into the room and start talking and i kid you not my brain shuts off. it's like "oh mom is in the room and she's talking. EVERYBODY GO HOME UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE." hence the barricading inside the fortress of silence discussed in the question above. so yes, my mom is rather distracting. 

WRITE HORROR: WHAT’S THE WORST THING THAT’S EVER HAPPENED TO YOU WHILE WRITING? i once wrote a paper for an English class that was quite possibly the best piece of first draft ever written by my hand, except i had typed it, and my computer crashed and didn't save it (#327 of why i hate technology) and i had to rewrite the whole thing. but it wasn't the same. really guys: it was beautiful the first time around. i almost had a funeral for it. 

WRITE JOY: WHAT’S THE BEST THING THAT’S EVER HAPPENED WHILE WRITING OR HOW DO YOU CELEBRATE SMALL VICTORIES? usually its just a small line of something really beautiful that i really really like. for example, from my book, when my main female character gets kidnapped:

"and then he sprays something in my face and it feels like fire and then everything goes blacker than the night sky above us."

i don't know why but i REALLY love that line. so basically my small victories are really good sentences, and i celebrate by walking around with a stupid grin on my face. (i swear i'm not proud.)

WRITE CREW: WHO DO YOU COMMUNICATE WITH OR NOT COMMUNICATE WITH WHILE WRITING? Jana and Jacob. Jana because she sings my praises (lol, she's also my cranky editor...). Jacob because he's not afraid to tell me when its terrible awful and i need to throw certain chapters away. and he's got really grand ideas usually. (there's always a few that i'm like "no. just no.")

WRITE SECRET: WHAT’S YOUR WRITING SECRET TO SUCCESS OR HIDDEN FLAW? write without ceasing. although its not actually possible. so do the next best thing: write in your mind without ceasing. practice your page voice. when i think, i think as far outside the rhetorical and cliche and the box as possible. when i notice smells, i think of what they remind me of, and when, and how it makes me feel, and i write two sentences in my mind. when i notice people, i fit their body to a voice, and their voice to a personality, and the personality to an adventure and voila, you have a story. i think the way i want to sound. i think the way i write. sometimes, i even try to write with voice inflections. (you may notice the excessive italicized and caps-lock usage.) and of course, sarcasm. i don't think i could live without sarcasm, so i try to add it to writing. sometimes. as in, when i'm feeling adventurous.  

i heard something on the radio that i think actually could apply to writing really well: they were talking about how to be a good listener.  and to practice being a good listener; so, listen to something on the radio or audio book or something, and then turn it off and talk to yourself about it. literally have a conversation with yourself. i think as a writer, because we are all of the characters and all of the scenes and all of the heartache and joy and EVERYTHING, its important to have the ability to play multiple parts. so its okay to practice that. just like its okay to make faces at yourself in the mirror. just like its okay to sing in the shower, or squeal at the slightest little things, or have any weird quirks. idiosyncrasies are our blood. be flexible. practice that. 

WRITE-SPIRATION: WHAT ALWAYS MAKES YOU PRODUCTIVE? a good nights rest and a story that is going to drive me insane. sometimes arguments get me in the mood, or even just a 10 minute walk outside to get the creative juices flowing.

WRITE PEEVE: WHAT’S ONE THING WRITERS DO (OR YOU DO) THAT’S ANNOYING? Any writing perspective not done well. For example, first person perspective ("I went and did this, felt this way, she looked at me, he glared at me, etc.") done from two different character's views, but you can't tell the difference.  when it sounds like the same voice, the writer is doing it wrong. 

or, third person perspective. a person has to be INCREDIBLE at third person perspective to keep me entertained. i have to feel like i'm in the story, which is why i tend to favor books from first person perspective. but if its done right, you feel as the characters do. you see the same things, fight the same battles, etc. etc., even in third person. if done right, it is an exquisite balance of dialogue, description, and swashbuckling debonair. (ie: it will sweep me off my feet.)

 

WRITE WORDS- SHARE ONE SENTENCE FROM A PROJECT. PAST OR PRESENT. 

i can't do it. only one sentence? i already did that.....how about a whole paragraph? you're welcome. :)

ll

Going back to my barracks, I stop by the watchtower. They watch everything outside and inside the base, so they’ll know if Nick left or not.

“Hey, Joe. Has anyone come out of Barracks 9?” I know the watchman. He’s usually on this time of night. We’ve talked a few times, and he always flirts, but he smells of engine oil and his hands are always dirty. He’s a Machine Specialist in the mornings.

“Well, look at you, all ready for war. Who is it this time? Did your boyfriend leave the toilet seat up?” Even though he can’t see my weapons, Joe knows that I’m basically an assassin. My jacket must be bulging from the handgun. Joe is trained to notice these things, though, the little things that no one else would notice. That’s what makes him a Specialist. He fixes the things no one else will, just like I take out targets that regular soldiers can’t harm. Joe leans across the counter into the open air, his scarf falling forward from his jacket. He frowns at it and stuffs it back into the unzipped portion of the leather coat. It’s falling to bits. I can’t believe his Sergeant hasn’t made him get a new one.

I roll my eyes at his audacity to suggest that I have a boyfriend, and ignore his question. “Uh-huh. Has anyone come out?”

“Only your boyfriend, about 5 minutes ago. Why?”

“He’s not my boyfriend. He’s my target.” I slide a bill across the counter. Standard procedure. He gives me information, I pay him.

“Keep it, sweetheart. What say you and I go get drinks this weekend instead?” He’s smiling a little bit, but the light is coming from behind him, and while his face is a little hard to see, I know mine is fully illuminated. Right now he knows I have murder on my mind. I leave the bill.

“No.” And then I stalk off into the night. And back. “Which way did he go?”

“Drinks,”  he says, and I pull a knife from the back of my collar.

“Where did he go.” It comes out as a demand, not a question.

Joe smiles. “That way,” he points to the left, in the direction of the gates. I start off. “See you Friday!” he calls. Idiot, I think.

ll

TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK OF THE SNIPPET. oh, and do the tag. please please please do the tag....

Source

darn you, john green (my 10 favorite quotes)

So, you say John Green quote and its like #heaven.

Rule #1. Don't read the books becuase they are not clean. There is a hearty percentage of non-Christian content in these. And that content is gross and repulsive.
Rule #2. If you do read these books, there is some really profound and intense writing (I am indecently jealous of John Green's abilities as a writer) which will make you think that it makes up for the bad stuff which is wrong. The bad stuff is bad enough that you shouldn't read these.

but I did. and darn you, John Green, you came up with some INCREDIBLE quotes.

Allow me to share them with you:

note: these are all from Pinterest. But PROBLEM: some of them are grainy. sorry.

i didn't know how to fix it.  dang it, technology.

DAY 28: what i read in october

i finished this one: my review is here.

and i'm working on this one: so far it has beautiful descriptions and a mystery that I AM DYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT HAPPENS. i'll let you know what i think of it.

and coming up: this one. it looks interesting, but it will probably take me FOREVER. yay.

my reading skills have diminished greatly. must fix them. any good books that you'd like to recommend? TELL ME! my most favoritest thing on the planet (other than chocolate and travelling and poems that make my heart hurt and pinterest) is book recommendations. I LOVE THEM so don't be shy. :)

Kisses From Katie (book review #5)

What would cause an eighteen-year-old old senior class president and homecoming queen from Nashville, Tennessee, to disobey and disappoint her parents by forgoing college, break her little brother’s heart, lose all but a handful of her friends (because the rest of them think she has gone off the deep end), and break up with the love of her life, all so she could move to Uganda, where she knew only one person but didn’t know any of the language? A passion to make a difference. Katie Davis left over Christmas break her senior year for a short mission trip to Uganda and her life was turned completely inside out. She found herself so moved, so broken by the people and the children of Uganda that she knew her calling was to return and care for them. Her story is like Mother Teresa’s in that she has given up everything—at such a young age—to care for the less fortunate of this world. Katie, a charismatic and articulate young woman, has gone on to adopt 14 children during her time in Uganda, and she completely trusts God for daily provision for her and her family, which includes children with special needs.

To further her reach into the needs of Ugandans, Katie established Amazima Ministries. The ministry matches orphaned children with sponors worldwide. Each sponsor's $300/year provides schooling, school supplies, three hot meals a day, minor medical care, and spiritual encouragement. Katie expected to have forty children in the program; she had signed up 150 by January 2008; today it sponsors over 400. Another aspect of the ministry is a feeding program created for the displaced Karamojong people—Uganda's poorest citizens. The program feeds lunch to over 1200 children Monday-Friday and sends them home with a plate for food; it also offers basic medical care, Bible study, and general health training.

Katie Davis, now 21, is more than fascinating, she's inspiring, as she has wholeheartedly answered the call to serve. 

GOOD: INSPIRATIONAL TO THE POINT OF TEARS. i kid you not. this was a really incredible book in the genre of testimonies and auto-biographies. this girl dropped everything - i repeat EVERYTHING - for God so that he could move her across the world and have her start a non-profit ministry that would care for +200 kids not to mention an uncountable number of adults. Oh! and in the process she adopted 14 children.
INSPIRATIONAL: YES. GOD THING: DEFINITELY.

BAD: it took me a bit to finish this book. it was a little slow at first. i really like the last half of the book, maybe just because i was more focused and i didn't have other things distracting me? it was a little slow, but totally worth reading.

DIFFICULTY: harder than Ranger's Apprentice, but easier than the worst book you read in school last year. (that's not vague at all. *sigh* just go with it.) (the ONLY problem that i had was that it didn't involve dragons. but i say that about every non-fiction book i read.)

1-10 SCORE: 9. seriously guys, it was that good. GO READ IT.

OVERVIEW: to read a book that tell sthe story of a girl who felt that she wasn't comfortable inteh cultural norm REALLY spoke to me. that she did something about it was INCREDIBLE. and that God worked through her even when she didn't understand what was going on, but then later she was able to look back and see his hand prints over every single moment is TOTALLY COOL to me. i really really really really liked this one, guys.

that's what i got out of it.

Rangers Apprentice #8, #9, and #10 (book review #4)

When a cult springs up in neighboring Clonmel, promising to quell the recent attacks by lawless marauders, people flock from all over to offer gold in exchange for protection. But Halt is all too familiar with this particular group, and he knows they have a less than charitable agenda. Secrets will be unveiled and battles fought to the death as Will and Horace help Halt in ridding the land of a dangerous enemy. 

The renegade outlaw group known as the Outsiders has journeyed from kingdom to kingdom, conning the innocent out of their few valuables. Will and Halt, his mentor, are ambushed by the cult's deadly assassins when Halt is pierced by a poisoned arrow. Now Will must travel day and night in search of the one person with the power to cure Halt: Malkallam the Sorcerer.
















When Horace travels to the exotic land of Nihon- Ja, it isn't long before he finds himself pulled into a battle that is not his - but one he knows in his heart he must wage. A kingdom teeters on the edge of chaos when the Nihon-Ja emperor, a defender of the common man, is forcibly overthrown, and only Horace, Will, and his Araluen companions can restore the emperor to the throne. Victory lies in the hands of an inexperienced group of fighters, and it's anybody's guess who will make the journey home to Araluen.












GOOD: guys, these are the Rangers Apprentice. I HAVE NO COMPLAINTS. (other than the fact that certain characters who are supposed to be romantically involved with one another are STILL NOT TOGETHER. #problems like, seriously. i'll be dead by the time they get married.) The entire series is really cool, not too hard to read (either by actual reading level difficulty or mentally/emotionally. You know how some books  make you think about the purpose of life? these...not so much.) its basically about a boy who learns his trade as a woodsman-type guy. Think Robin Hood hired by a good king to be the sheriff and then he grows up to be one of the best Rangers that there is and saves the country 7 times...or something like that.

BAD:  Sometimes, the stories drag on and on. Basically its: they come across a problem, send the Rangers and the Rangers buddies to deal with it. Which usually ends up with tactical obstacles and sometimes they need an army to defeat their foe, but they're all so resourceful that they never lose. (predictable? NEVER.) in the later ones there are also a couple of swear words, too, so if you've got issues with that then probably don't read them. (although i think there's only like, 7 swear words in all 12 books.)

DIFFICULTY: not too bad at all. If you're looking for an easy, entertaining read, DEES BOOKS URR GUD. 

1-10 SCORE: 8.76 (i'd give them a 9 but a) cussing and b) predictability.)

OVERVIEW: my reaction= DAAAAWWWWW *throws books across room* WHY ARE YOU SO CUTE? these books make you feel like you're 8-years-old again and your only problem is that your homemade bow and arrows aren't actually real. plus this lovely series is HILARIOUS. (i snort-laugh [its a thing] at the amount of sarcasm in these humorous tomes.) I was driving in the car with my mom one day while reading one of these and started hysterically laughing to the point where she was worried about me. AWESOMENESS. plus, you know, they have Skandians, which are the equivalent of our Vikings. SO COOL. they even have accents. SO READ THESE whenever you get bored and need to fill out your TBR list with +12 books. 

that's what i got out of it. 

Day 14 and 15: memories buried in pages

i don't have a particular favorite fall memory.

they've all sort of mashed together into a magical feeling of loveliness that oozes from me every time the word "autumn" is mentioned.

i can visit that feeling anytime, because its bottled up inside. its the same feeling i get when i think about the smell of books, the sight of towering mountains, or the sound of ocean waves in my ears. its labeled home and nostalgia. i can visit anytime i need a quiet place to collect my thoughts back to who i actually am.

the year upon year upon year of going to the mansion, rolling around in the leaves and grass until our noses were pink and our hair filled with twigs and dead leafage. the collection of school books, being excited by the bleachy odor of new notebook paper, woody pencil shavings, the wax-ish aroma of colored pencils, armed and prepared for the battlefield of the coloring books. the morning crumpling of newspapers for the fire, lit by the match that my mother could always strike on the first try, the flame seducing the paper to burn, burn, soon followed by the crackling of pine wood. and behind it all as a backdrop is the warm settled feeling of applesauce in my stomach.

each of these is layered in the pages of books i have read. memories lovingly wrapped in the fictional newspapers of places that i have only been in my mind. memories more precious than great-grandmother's china, cupped and cradled by the minutes of meetings that only took place on paper. 

books were my ground, my dirt for growing. woven through my childhood memories was the privilege of a library. a narnian war took place three weeks before christmas one year. laura ingalls and her father were crossing the prairie when easter rolled around, and the boxcar children found their grandfather just before halloween. even later, Redwall fought for its inhabitants as i recieved my final grades for the year, and the Wormling found his identity before the summer was out. 

now, Kisses from Katie has wormed its way around my heart, reminding me what i'm actually supposed to do. i'm supposed to be a missionary. i'm supposed to love others and be a light and have constant communion with God and be available and open as a person. it speaks of following Him wholeheartedly, and what that looks like, how we can carry that out in our everyday life. i've finished that book now, but its rather haunting me, asking me to objectively look at the way i live.

i look forward to All the Light We Cannot See. i've heard wonderful things about it. a blind girl learning how to live in Nazi-invaded Poland. a story of struggle and perhaps triumph. (i don't know about triumph because i haven't read the end yet.)

its book season as much as it is autumn season. its nostalgia and home. its my comfort zone.

BLOGTOBER - T-minus 5, 4, 3...

I always say "oh, yeah...i'm gonna blog more."
WHATEV.
BECAUSE I ALREADY MISSED THE FIRST FIVE DAYS OF BLOGTOBER.
WHICH MEANS I FAIL AT BLOG.

but like i said - WHATEV.

i'll do it anyway.

DAY ONE: October Goals.

() take pictures of the leaves (i've already started and i don't intend to stop)
() finish my TBR list
() write more in my book, because its all stuck in my head and it needs to get out onto paper BEFORE IT DRIVES ME NUTSO.
() make pie dough and bread with my older sister
() hang out with my younger sister and maybe make music. but basically hang out.
() get more christmas shopping done. (yes. i have already started.)

DAY TWO: Fall Essentials.

~ red, orange, and yellow leaves. (more on that later. we had a lovely time.)
~ scarves and leggings
~ train trips across the country to visit freinds. (i didn't know this was an essential either. BUT IT IS.)
~ apple cider. and apple pie. and basically anything APPLE.
~ BOOKS. DUH and aviators.

DAY THREE: October To-Be-Read.
(*whispers* oh my gosh who created this tag...they are the best. i need them.)

LET ME SHOW YOU MY LIFE:

() these. because i've only actually read 3, 6, 7, and 8. so i have a lot left.
() and the rest of the Ranger's Apprentice series (11 & 12) because HELLO FLANAGAN WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US YOU WEREN'T DONE.
() Lion Heart by A.C. Gaughen
() Where the Moon Isn't by Nathan Filer
() Still Writing by Dani Shapiro (this has been half-read for over a year now. i need to put this book out of its misery.)
() Spark by Evan Angler (this series kind of went downhill for me, but i still want to see how it ends.)
() Fairest by Marissa Meyer (CANNOT. WAIT. FOR WINTER. which is the next book in the series.) (seriously, the suspense is killing me.)
() The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

DAY FOUR: This Week I...

AM GOING ON A TRAIN TRIP. YAAAAAYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!
It's gonna be a quick trip, but HEY it's something new and we get to see friends that we haven't seen in over a year so NO DUH ITS GONNA BE AMAZING. I will take 7.68 gazillion pictures for you. plus, like, TRAINS PEOPLE. I'm going to feel like one of the Pevensie children and probably talk in an British accent and wish i was dressed up like someone off Downton Abbey. BECAUSE - TRAINS.

DAY 5: 5 Tips I Would Give to a New Blogger

1. KEEP WRITING. Because if you don't write, then its kind of hard to have a blog. You don't always have to post it. But write it down. It makes the creative juices happy.
2. Read. Read books. Read other blogs. Read the classifieds in the newspaper if that's all you have on hand. READ. because reading means life, and new ideas, and FUEL for the fire.
3. Don't push yourself too hard. Only post the stuff you actually like, when it feels right.
4. Create your voice on the page. We all have ways that we talk in real life; find what you sound like when your thoughts are in paper and ink. (or, pixels and light if we're talking about computer screens.)
5. What needs to be said? Say it. What needs to be photographed and documented? Post it. What needs to be seen? Show it. We are the up-close-and-personal connection from life to internet. We provide the stories that are everyday. Not to mention the nifty little DIY pages and how-to's. You don't HAVE to have a strict blog for a certain genre. I mean, if you're obsessed about something, then go for it. but then there's me, and i have several obsessions and one of them is poetry and another is photography and then there's reading and lovely british television that sucks me in and doesn't let me go. SO WHAT THE HECK LETS WRITE ABOUT WHATEVER WE WANT. Be you. Its your blog...you can do what you want with it!

YOU SHOULD TOTALLY DO THIS CHALLENGE. HERE. DO IT.
and tell me about your first five days of October. Isn't fall lovely?

I took the pic. My sister posed. Isn't she lovely? :)

The Princess Bride (vs. Eleanor & Park) (book review #3)

so, i try and fail valiantly to prohibit myself from reading more than one book at a time.

this time, it was indeed a war-zone in my bed as i attempted to throw Eleanor & Park out the window and focus on the paperback version of The Princess Bride that i got from the library three weeks ago.

i will bring your attention to three words: "and fail valiantly".

because that's what happened.

two books at a time can be a good thing though. you start to realize what exactly you like in books, and which ones you read because you somehow feel obligated to do so.

and for me, two books means i read them faster. (don't know why, but i do.)

we'll start with Eleanor and Park because honestly i liked it better.

it wasn't on the list, but let me tell you, it was beautiful in an ugly way.

Eleanor... Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough...Eleanor.

Park... He knows she'll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There's a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises...Park.

Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. 

GOOD: There are some books that restore your faith in humanity. Sometimes i think that everyone wears a mask; that being real isn't something that people strive for; that searching for yourself isn't something that is encouraged, but should be. This book made me think that maybe, just maybe, there were still people out there who know what it is like to live passionately, and with every intention of giving more to life than what we get out of it. Eleanor and Park were both themselves. They couldn't help it. If they tried to be someone else, bad things happened. So they just decided to be them. and it worked out beautifully, and painfully. which is life, i guess.

BAD: this was not what i would deem a "clean" book. there was a lot of cussing, which was disappointing. i have issues with this whole cussing issue. the "ouch doesn't cut it" phenomenon explains it best i think. sometimes "ouch" doesn't work. sometimes you need something a little stronger to figure out the pain. in this book, there were contrasting characters as far as the cussing went. both Eleanor and Park use language, but only when they don't know what else to say. other characters are a little more fluent with colorful language, and Eleanor and Park both feel uncomfortable using swear words frequently. so, read at your own discretion. it was a secular book. and some people would say that it's full of crap. (which is partially true) but it was beautiful. life is full of crap. but it's beautiful.

difficulty: not that hard as far as writing style went.  (personally i love books that switch back and forth between characters perspectives, especially if its in first person.) as far as content goes - it could be considered more difficult. Eleanor lives with a) a broken family, b) an abusive step-father, and c) her personally created isolation because she really has about ZERO people she can trust, until she meets Park. that can be difficult.

1-10 SCORE: (i hate this part.) How is it that whenever i read a clean book, its not interesting at all and then the second i read a book that should receive a lower rating because of its non-Christian content it pulls at my heartstrings like a child tugging at its mother's sleeve? oh my heart. this was one of those books that wormed its way onto my bookshelf and i really don't mind that its staying. so...7 stars, and don't read it if you get easily offended.

OVERVIEW: GAAAAH. this book was beautiful, and filthy. it was heart-wrenching, and gut-wrenching. i wanted to pull to my heart and then throw in the trash. sometimes we constrict our view of life to the small pinhole of light that we have been exposed to in our few years here on earth. and that if we pulled away our black bowl under which we hide, then we would see that there is much light around us. "To love is to risk."-Leo Buscaglia. to love is to open ourselves. E&P were "smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try."  somehow, i agree. that life will hurt us.  but we can either try to make our life beautiful, or we can hide from it and never live. 

that's what i got out of this one.

 NOW:

What happens when the most beautiful girl in the world marries the handsomest prince of all time and he turns out to be...well...a lot less than the man of her dreams?

As a boy, William Goldman claims, he loved to hear his father read the S. Morgenstern classic, The Princess Bride. But as a grown-up he discovered that the boring parts were left out of good old Dad's recitation, and only the "good parts" reached his ears.

Now Goldman does Dad one better. He's reconstructed the "Good Parts Version" to delight wise kids and wide-eyed grownups everywhere.

What's it about? Fencing. Fighting. True Love. Strong Hate. Harsh Revenge. A Few Giants. Lots of Bad Men. Lots of Good Men. Five or Six Beautiful Women. Beasties Monstrous and Gentle. Some Swell Escapes and Captures. Death, Lies, Truth, Miracles, and, well...in short, it's about everything.

GOOD: its the original story from the movie. of course its good. i mean, you get POV's from both Inigo and Fezzik. You get a close up of the albino (because let's face it, the accent thingy he did in the movie the first time we see him in The Pit of Despair is AMAZING). you get to realizing that Buttercup is a spoiled brat.  oh, and Goldman's italicized monologues and reasons for cutting out parts of the old book were actually amusing. which surprised me because i've been told that they're rather annoying. basically, you get the depth that a book offers with all the good parts of the movie. 

BAD: its a 300 page book made into a 98 minute movie. its gotta be slow.  that depth that i was just talking about? that's what you get with this - in excess. whenever i do the unpardonable act of watching the movie before reading the book, i end up disappointed. it was good because i got to see where the idea for the beloved movie came from. it was boring because honestly, movie editors only take the very best parts. and writers leave in everything, good or not.

DIFFICULTY: it was hard because it was long. i kept reading it because it had a great page voice, but that was the only thing (as far as just reading it, all partiality aside) that it had going for it. simply, the plot line was a little slow.

1-10 SCORE: 3. *sigh*...honestly, watch the movie instead.

OVERVIEW: it could have been better. it was good to see the passion that the author had behind it. Goldman wrote it with the idea that his father read him this story when he was a kid, but Goldman himself never actually opened the pages. So when he gives his son a copy for his birthday and his son doesn't like it,  Goldman investigates and finds that the original version is extremely boring. So he edits out all the boring parts. he gets the "good parts" version. and its quite a feat. the idea was wonderful. the book itself was good, really. but it just wasn't something that sparked with me. 

that's what i got out of it. 

Earth Girl (aka summer reading list #2)

2788. Only the handicapped live on Earth. Eighteen-year-old Jarra is among the one in a thousand people born with an immune system that cannot survive on other planets. Sent to Earth at birth to save her life, she has been abandoned by her parents. She can’t travel to other worlds, but she can watch their vids, and she knows all the jokes they make. She’s an “ape,” a “throwback,” but this is one ape girl who won’t give in.

Jarra makes up a fake military background for herself and joins a class of norms who are on Earth for a year of practical history studies excavating the dangerous ruins of the old cities. She wants to see their faces when they find out they’ve been fooled into thinking an ape girl was a norm. She isn’t expecting to make friends with the enemy, to risk her life to save norms, or to fall in love.

GOOD: there was one main aspect of the book that I loved: the book was set in a utopian future, not a dystopian future. the difference? dystopian means the world ended but the people survived and everything is terrible and the government is possibly bad and controlling. utopian means that the world didn't end, everyone is in agreement on what the government does, and changes have been made to make peace between people and people, people and nature, people and deity. So, in this book, Jarra is stuck on earth becuase her body goes into shock if she does, but other people can leave earth for other planets (outside the Milky Way) which is how everyone lives today: making use of other planets out there. even though she hates it, Jarra has to stay on earth. Really, the conflict isn't between her and an outside force (government or nature) but between her and herself. Jarra has to come to terms with who she is. I liked that.

BAD: it was slow. very slow. I actually took the opportunity to skip ahead oh, 80 pages or so. it didn't really make a difference. i did go back and read the whole thing becuase 1, i was feeling listless and i do pointless things when i feel listless, and 2, i did miss a part of the plotline that WAS THE plotline, so i had to unskip. See, books like that bother me. You shouldn't have to spend 200 pages getting your book set up for the plot line. Your reader should know when they're getting to the big main good part. and you should start your reader IN the conflict, or at least right before it. Earth Girl was lacking in this area.

DIFFICULTY: this one was harder to read. it didn't seem to flow. there were long passages of description that weren't description, just facts thrown together in a jumbled heap. there wasn't much of a plotline...i had to convince myself  finish it.

1-10 SCORE: i'm giving this one a 2. (oh, i'm cruel...) like i said. it just didn't go with me.

OVERVIEW: there were good parts. like when Jarra decides that maybe the norms aren't so bad after all. when she realizes that she's just like them, and that prejudice can be two-sided. when she realizes that she has made friends that are like family, and even though she lied to them they are standing by her. overall though, it was fairly disappointing. it reminded me of my dad's old BB gun (the pellets ROLL out the end of the barrel, and then pathetically drop to the ground.) maybe that's a bit harsh, but that's what i got out of it.

Legend (summer reading list review #1)

What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic's wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic's highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country's most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem.
From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths—until the day June's brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family's survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias's death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.

here's what I got out of it:

GOOD: there was some really good unpredictability in here. (me: OH MY GOODNESS DID THAT JUST HAPPEN- that just happened. HOLY DORITOS that was really good...how did they DO that?) also, i found the description of the location quite vivid. you could see the surroundings, you knew what the character was seeing as far as inanimate objects went. also, the characters had incredible potential: two geniuses with super-assassin abilities that grow up in completely different lifestyles. both are trying not to die. oh, and one has an awesome sidekick. 

BAD: i felt like their wasn't enough of a plotline. this book was about a third of the storyline...i ended it going wait...that's it? i thought there would be more...also, as much potential as the characters had, they didn't really use that potential. i still don't have a solid picture in my head of what they look like, which is really confusing. I mean, the reader is told that the main characters are 15 years old, but they act more like 18 or 20. also, while a lot of the book was unpredictable, a lot of it wasn't, too...i found myself going i bet this is going to happen next.  and then five minutes later yep, totally called it.

DIFFICULTY: this only took me 6 hours to read. it was fast-paced and exciting; it wasn't one of those books that you can start reading and then skip forward a little bit and go i think i know how they got there. it was more of a can't miss a word otherwise i might miss something. so, a fast read, but not really a hard read.

1-10 SCORE: at best a 5. I'm so mean. and critical. and picky about the books I like. 

OVERVIEW: i am sad to admit that i was disappointed with Legend. it just didn't spark. 

the predictability ruined it for me. (i like a book that takes me 100% by surprise, not 75%.) and the character development was below par, in my book. (no pun intended.) that bothered me.

it really could have been a great book. there was a good plotline, good character potential, good thought to how the story developed...i just felt like maybe there wasn't enough of it for one book. Maybe if they smacked the entire trilogy into one book, that might do it.

 I mean, its a dystopian novel about government control, running away, two characters that are trying to escape the system...

wait. did i just describe Divergent? or was it Hunger Games...

i wish i could say that this was more than just another dystopian novel, but i can't.

that's what i got out of it. 

10 books to read...aka: my summer reading list

So, in the summertime, this is what I do:
Eat.
Read.
Sleep.
Read.
Work.
Read.
Work-out.
Read.
Read some more.
Repeat.

All while NOT getting tan. (My skin thinks it's a sin to be anything a shade darker than "pale".)

Seriously though.
I will read more than 10 books this summer.
Let's face it.
I've already read 10 books this summer....so what's 10 more? ;)


Problem: I've got like, 90 books that I want to read...and I feel like I should make myself read a variety of books because otherwise I'll get stuck in the Young Adult Fiction section of the library and NEVER LEAVE.


So, there's some fiction, non-fiction, serious, funny, dystopian, romance, classic, new, etc., etc., etc.....because that's life.
It's also what my bookshelf looks like.



1. Station Eleven: It looks like tragedy on paper. I love tragedy. How bad can it be?




2. All the Light We Cannot See: I'm going to need tissues for this one.

3. #8, #9, #10 of The Ranger's Apprentice: ONLY THREE LEFT...and I must finish this series...I think they should just make it into one ginormous book. (Because that would be AMAZING...)




4. Sense and Sensibility: one must have a classic on every book list...

5. I Was Here: this one looks sad too...what is it with me and sad books?

6. The Princess Bride: I know the movie, but not the book, and that's a problem that needs fixing.

7. Legend: This one is in the stack by my bed. As we speak. Like, I have to read this or I will be forever ashamed.

8. Earth Girl: Also in the stack, although I've never heard of it before the librarian recommended it...the description on the back reminds me of the Lunar Chronicles (which are excellent, by the way.)

9. Kisses from Katie: I have this prediction that this book will be very motivating for me to read because it's about missions. Also, personally I find her story extremely inspiring.

10. A C.S. Lewis book: either The Screwtape Letters or Mere Christianity...or both.... :D

11. BONUS: A Severe Mercy (mwahahahahaha...eleven books....I'm such a rebel...)

So, the other thing that I really want to do is a review for each of these. Something along the lines of "on a scale of BOOYEAH to heckno, where does this book fall?" sort of a thing...

*sigh* There's so much to look forward to.



keep it chill people,
sami




P.S. Just an FYI: This is part 1 of a 10 part series: The 10 Things. It's gonna be epic, so stay tuned.