Follow Friday #50

[This is going to be my last FF post. *sniff*sniff* I've thought about it for several weeks now, and decided that since fifty is such a nice round number, I'll stop here. I want to focus less of finding new readers and more on entertaining the ones I have.]

Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee.

Q: Activity! Share your favorite literary quote.

Meep! I have so many. Like seriously... SO MANY.

Here are some of my favorites:

"You are dust, her eyes said. You are dirt. You are nothing. Why do you bother surviving? Why are you still alive?
I am the dust in your eyes was the answer in Hathin's look. I am the dirt that will bury you. I am the nothingness waiting to open up under your feet. And I can hold on longer than you can."
~Frances Hardinge, The Lost Conspiracy

"There are places that are truly dark in the world, Ven, but this place here is not one of them. It's not really dark here -- it's just night."
~Elizabeth haydon, the Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme: The Floating Island

"You can burn the paper,
but you cannot burn what it contains;
I carry it within my heart."
~Ibn Hazm (Spain; 994-1064 AD)

"When she came to write her story, she would wonder exactly when the books and the words started to mean not just something, but everything."
~Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

How about you? What are your favorite quotes? Have a blessed Friday and weekend!

Follow Friday #49

[Meep! School is over! Summer vacation!! ;D]

Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee.

Q: Activity: Spine Poetry. Create a line of poetry with your book spines (take a picture). Not feeling creative? Tell us about your favorite poem.

My webcam isn't the best. And neither are my photography skills. So, here are the books and my line of poetry:

"Cinder:
Beautiful Creatures Marked,
The Throne of Fire Chosen."

[Cinder (Marissa Meyer), Beautiful Creatures (Garcia/Stohl), Marked and Chosen (Cast and Cast, The House of Night series), and The Throne of Fire (Riordan, the Kane Chronicles book 2).]

I don't really know what my own poem means, but it sounds really cool. It sounds like something out of Narnia. "People judged to be too beautiful are sent to the Throne of Fire, a sort of electrical chair except instead of killing you with electricity, it enlightens you and brings you to life by setting fire to you..." Or something like that. It sounds like an idea for a novel... Hmm...

(And, just because... Can you see the tops of the spines of the books below them? Can you guess which books they are? Okay, I'll tell you. In no particular order, there are Levine's Ella Enchanted, Rowling's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and Goodman's Eona.)

As for my favorite poem... William Blake's "The Tyger." No contest.

"Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?"

Symmetry is pronounced "sihm-ih-try". Gotta say something for poetic license.

There are a whole six stanzas in the poem; I'm too lazy to copy the whole thing, only what I know from memory, so feel free to look the rest of it up. In fact, here, I googled it for you.

How about you? What's your favorite poem? What does my poem mean to you? What sort of poem can you create with the spines of your books? Have a blessed Friday and weekend!

Follow Friday #48

[Yay! I only have to go to school two days next week, and then I'm out for the summer! :D)

Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee.

Q: Have you broken up with a series? If so, which one and why?

There've been plenty of series over the years that I've just neglected. There's Beautiful Creatures (Garcia/Stohl), which I only read the first of. Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series (you, know, The Golden Compass?), which I got halfway through the second one. I read the first and maybe part of the second of Redwall (Brian Jaques).

There are plenty more, and not always because they didn't interest me. The ones I just mentioned were because I moved on to other books and I just never got around to picking up the next book. Some series, like Garth Nix's Keys to the Kingdom (I got up to book 5), it's because I never found the next book. (I still hold out hope for that series -- I think one of my local libraries has the sixth. I just have to find a copy of the 3rd so I can re-read the series!)

But really, I try to finish series. Sometimes I don't around to it, for various reasons.

How about you? Do you ever break up with a series, and if so, which ones? Have a blessed weekend!

Follow Friday #47

Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee.

Q: What blogger would you most like to meet in real life? Tell us about him or her.

Oh, goodness. Umm...

In case you don't know (which is quite likely; you've either read my blog and not met me, or you've never heard of me at all), I am quite shy in real life. In fact, "shy" is a bit of an understatement. It took my friend nearly three years to get me to talk to her in more than monosyllables.

This means that if I did meet a blogger in real life, I'd freeze up. Meeting new people is not a cool thing for me. It's like the opposite of cool. More like the one of the scariest things. (I probably have anxiety problems, though I've never been in a doctor's office for longer than a check-up, so I can't tell you with any scientific certainty. Because... well... I don't like strangers.)

(Scientific certainty. What a wonderful phrase!)

Anyways... If I had to meet a blogger, or rather if there ever was a blogger I'd like to meet, I'd say one of three people: Annie from The Epic, the Awesome, and the Random because she's just awesome like that; Steph Bowe from Steph Bowe's Hey! Teenager of the Year, because if I did meet her, we'd be in Australia (where she lives); or one/both of the ladies from The Bookshelf Muse, who I've followed for a very long time and who've published one of the few books on writing craft that I actually own.

So, that's my list. How about you? Who would you like to meet, or do you have shyness problems like me? Have a blessed weekend!

Follow Friday #46

Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee.

Q: The #FF is 150 weeks old! And we want to hear from you! What would you change about the hop? What do you like about it? Or just suggest a question to be used for next week!

I don't know if I would change anything. I mean, it's fun the way it is -- answer a question and see the answers. I'm amazed, sometimes, the answers people come up with; and sometimes I'm surprised at what answers I come up with.

Coming up with questions is hard. I'm a bit ashamed to say, I'm glad other people come up with them on this meme -- it provides questions I wouldn't normally think to answer on my blog. And also, I follow a schedule of sorts: Monday is a book review, Wednesdays are randomly assigned to Fun Historical Facts, a Short Writing Spiff, or Psychology Trivia (or sometimes a rant on my personal opinions). Fridays, if I stopped doing FF, I think I would devote to reading/writing Q&A like this. It makes up a goodly portion of my life, you know?

That being said, I haven't participated all 150 weeks and I'm kind of nervous to come up with my own question. What if it's been done before? But I know y'all nice persons won't criticize.

So here goes:
"Do you read the last page of a book as soon as you first pick it up? Or do you prefer to read only the back-cover summary and wait until you've read up to the ending? Why?"

How about you? Any changes/praises/questions for Follow&Friday? Have a blessed weekend!

Follow Friday #45

[ugh. My laptop has a virus, so I'm stuck on the family computer. Bad keyboard, no privacy, and bugs that walk across the computer desk. I have to use a jump drive between my laptop and this computer for my writing, and I can't save anything in my favorites to read later. Like I said -- ugh.]

Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.

Q: School is out! What is your favorite summer reading book?

 I wish school was out for me. I have until June. (Can you tell I'm in a bad mood?)

Anyways, summer reading... I oftentimes save heavier reading material -- series, or literary classics -- for the summer. I especially save books I might be embarrassed caught reading in school for the holidays.

Last summer, I read Lord of the Rings. (The one volume edition, which is literally over 1,000 pages long.) One of my favorites to read over the summer though, every summer in a sort of tradition, is Artemis Fowl (Eoin Colfer). That series is so awesome, but I don't like taking them to school with me. Don't know why.

I have a whole slew of others, but the keyboard on this computer truly is sucky, and my favorite TV show comes on in about ten minutes. So I'm cutting it a bit short.

How about you? Having a better week than me? Enjoy reading the harder classics when you have vacation time? Or do you like frilly romances while at the beach?

Have a blessed Friday and weekend! 

Follow Friday #44

[This post will be kinda short because I'm a bit worded out. I took my AP Language and Composition exam this morning. Three essays in two hours, and 55 multiple choice in one.]

Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee.

Q: Happy Mother's Day! Who is your favorite mom from fiction?

Gracious-wisdom... umm, let me think....

I thought Mrs. Jackson from the Percy Jackson series was pretty cool. I mean, she had to be, right? Mrs. Fowl from Artemis Fowl -- she actually showed up a bit more than Artemis Senior (the father). A strong woman who knew about her son's involvement with fairies books before Mr. Fowl.

And, of course, Mrs. Weasley. I can already tell she's probably a popular answer -- everyone loves Harry Potter, but Mrs. Weasley is the mother everyone loves.

How about you? Who are some of your favorite literary mothers? Have a blessed weekend!

 

Follow Friday #43

Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee.

Q: Give us a sneak! What are you reading? Tell us about a fun or fail scene in your current read.

Well, I'm currently reading For Whom the Bell Tolls by Earnest Hemingway. I figured Hemingway was a classic, so I might as well read it, if not to love it then to at least be able to say that I read it. Every writer should know Hemingway, right?

Which reminds me: I will probably not be posting my usual book review on Monday. This is a pretty hefty book (almost 500 pages), and I'm getting through about 50 pages a day. But I should be able to finish it by the end of next week, and I'll be back to my normal schedule.

I haven't really gotten far enough into it to find a fun or fail scene. At this point, a bit less than 100 pages in, there's a guy. He has to blow up a bridge. He meets a bunch of people who're supposed to help him blow up that bridge. And he's met and fallen in love with some beautiful girl, all in one day. The current scene I'm reading is where he's sleeping outside and that girl -- and this is still his first night in the camp -- climbs into his sleeping bag with him. I don't know if this is going to get that intimate (didn't they have something against printing sex scenes in books in 1940?) but I still can't say I approve.

This novel, I admit, is not exactly my favorite so far. But, I hope that with each page that passes, it will grow more interesting. I kinda like that gypsy character, Rafael, who's an eater, not a fighter. I should be able to get through this book.

Anyways, how about you? Reading an awesome book? Any scene or character that catches your eye? Ever read (or loved) Hemingway?

Have a blessed Friday and weekend!

Follow Friday #42

[Guess what?! My birthday was earlier this week! I'm seventeen, now! AND, my blog's anniversary passed. My blog is a year old. *fake tears* So, I am mildly happy, despite the ton of review stuffs and the AP exams in two weeks.]

Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee!

Q: Is there a song that reminds you of a book? Or vice versa? What is the song and the book?

YES. Absolutely. In case you didn't notice the title of my blog. (I am a musical-linguistic sort of person. I can't help it.)

Here is a list of songs (their artists in parenthesis) and a book to pair with them. Feel free to look these songs up on youtube. Cuz, you know, these songs are cool to me, and I hope you find them cool, too.


New Tail/Short Hair (How to Train Your Dragon soundtrack/Mulan soundtrack) -- Eon by Alison Goodman.*

Any song by Owl City -- The Complete works of Narnia, by (of course) C. S. Lewis.

Kingdom Come (the Civil Wars) -- Foundling by D.M. Cornish.

Any song by Heather Dale -- The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale.

Beauty from Pain (Superchick), Beautiful Tonight (Krystal Meyers) --  Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Because I Am Furniture by Thalia Chaltas,

There She Goes (Sixpence None the Richer) -- Scars by Cheryl Rainfield.

According to Plan (The Corpse Bride soundtrack), Demons (Imagine Dragons), Carol of the Bells (Trans-Siberian Orchestra), Awake and Alive/Rebirthing (Skillet) -- Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer.**


That is not nearly all of it. The title of my blog is the Inky Melody, after all. This is a small sample, because the full list would stretch around the world a couple times. (Not really; it's digital fluff, you understand -- hard to stretch a youtube video and all that.) And this isn't even including the playlist for my own novel, which I still cling to the hope of publishing some day.

Anyways, look up songs and love music and try new stuffs. And whatnot. How about you? Any special music-book connection? Have a blessed Friday and weekend!

*Yea, How to Train Your Dragon is Viking-medieval-y, not really Chinese-ish like Eon. But I still think it fits. Oh, and I purposely didn't include Eona, the second book, because I didn't like it so much as the first.

**Shush up about my Artemis Fowl obsession. Parts of those songs remind me of the book, and to different characters (though mainly, of course, Artemis Fowl himself). Not like, the whole song. Because that is a pretty hefty list of songs, and not even all of them. And in case you were wondering, it's the confident, suave, epic (and sometimes classical-music) parts of the songs that remind me of that series.

Follow Friday #41

Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee.

Q: If you could hang out with any author (living) who would it be and what would you want to do?

Tamora Pierce, for starters. She's an awesome fantasy writer; I remember loving her Circle of Magic Quartet in elementary school (though I can't remember if that quartet is MG or YA). I sort of imagine that we're sitting in the Starbucks section of a Barnes and Noble, chatting about our favorite books.

I'd kinda like to meet Eoin Colfer, the author of the Artemis Fowl series. I believe he's Irish, and Irish people are awesome. (I've never understood how America and Britain could treat the Irish peoples so terribly over the centuries. Seriously, Ireland is possibly among the world's Absolute Coolest Places ever, according to me.) I have to find out what happens after the last book! And Artemis's fate is a lot more authentic when it comes from the author's mouth, not my own speculation.

J.K. Rowling, of course; everyone wants to meet the Harry Potter Author. But for some reason I can only picture us talking when we're walking through Flourish and Blott's.

There are a ton more authors (*cough*of-every-book-I've-ever-read*cough*) that I'd love to meet. But since I'm typing this up during the commercials while I watch Law and Order (Special Victims Unit), I'm leaving it at that.

How about you? Who would you like to meet? Where would you be? Have a blessed Friday and weekend!

Follow Friday #40

[40! A somewhat odd even number, pardon the oxymoron. Half of 40 is twenty; half of twenty is 10. But then half of ten is 5. This is going nowhere -- I'm just moving on to the post now.]

Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee!

Q: We are about to see a lot of posts and tweets about reader conventions, RT, BEA, ALA, and many more starting soon. Which one would you love to attend? Where and why?

Um... honestly? I've never attended a conference. I rarely actually leave my home. I sit on my computer all day. (Well, not literally. I mean I listen to songs on youtube and read internet articles on writing, book reviews, and the news. I don't mean that I close the lid of my laptop and sit on it like a mother bird sits on her eggs. That would be weird.)

I would love to attend one, though! It would have to be up here in the Border states, though: Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland. And it would have to be next year, when I actually have my driver's license so I can get there.

I'd love to attend one eventually, though. Anyone have news on conferences (writer's or reader's, really) in this area? I know ALA is in Chicago and BEA in NYC, but how about around here?

I'd love some news! How about you? Where are you attending, and where is it? Have a blessed Friday and weekend! :)  

Follow Friday #39

Follow  Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee.

Q: Have you ever read a book you thought you would hate -- ? Did you end up hating it? Did you end up loving it? Or would you never do that?

Well, I have and probably will in the future. I'm going to take this to mean not merely that indifferent feeling, like you don't really feel like picking up the book but you don't really have anything against it. I believe you mean, you really, truly think you're going to hate this book.

I really like to avoid this situation, if possible. Self-fulfilling prophecy, anyone? You go into a book already knowing you're going to hate it, so you end up proving yourself right. You end up hating it simply because you thought you would hate it when you picked it up.

But, of course, being a student, I simply have to read books I hate sometimes. And, because I'm also a reader who still likes to cling to the belief that all books are beautiful, I also have to come across books I hate sometimes. Fact of life: beauty is subjective, so not all books are beautiful to me; but they might be beautiful to other people.

Take Twilight. I went into this with that iffy, already-kinda-hating-it-from-the-summary feeling. I forced myself through the other three, as well, out of pure stubbornness. Hated them, with the possible exception of New Moon. And I only liked that one because I liked Bella's pain. (I know, I'm a mean reader.) On the upside, I can say that I don't hate them just because of the hype; I hated them because I've read them. They start off kind of iffy and they don't get any better.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne? Had to read that a couple years ago for an English assignment, and I hated it when I saw it. Of course, I hated it plenty more ten pages in, twenty, a hundred... and that was before I did the assignment attached to it. Bleh.

I'm trying to think of a book that I thought I'd hate but ended up liking it... I suppose there's I'd Tell You I Love You But Then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter. It was one of those books that I didn't really like the sound of, but I randomly promise to myself that I'll read it and I just have to keep that promise. So, I ended up doing so -- despite it being a romance -- and it's still on my greater-favorites bookshelf, along with the next two books in the series. I can't remember if I loved it that much, or if I'm simply too lazy to take them off the bookshelf.

Anyways, that's my list. Do you read books that you're sure you'll hate? If so, what books? Did you end up liking or hating it?

Have a blessed Friday and weekend!

Follow Friday #38

[YAY! Spring Break! I have all of next week off. I'm so happy; I can finally watch Downton Abbey and Doctor Who uninterrupted. And also, it's Good Friday. Happy Good Friday, if that's what you believe in!]

Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee.

Q: Tell us about the most emotional scene you've ever read in a book -- and how did you react?

Ooh, that's tough. I'm not much of an emotional person; I rarely cry. Like, ever.

But I did finish reading Between Shades of Gray (Ruta Sepeteys) recently. Oh goodness, that whole book is heartbreaking. Especially the end, but I'm not spoiling that. I don't think I cried, but I came mighty close. It was certainly emotional when I set it down -- I almost didn't pick up another book the next day.

And if we're going awhile back, I remember when I read the Warriors series by Erin Hunter. I became really attached to those characters. It's about the lives of these wild cats who live in a forest in 4 distinct clans, and the interactions between those clans.

I first read those books in 4th grade, and by the end of middle school I'd read most of them at least once, if not twice or three times. I remember a scene in the 3rd book where a cat dies, and I cried for hours. (Of course, I was in middle school, or perhaps 5th grade -- I was a little girl who loved every book, regardless of anything.)

Well, that's... really it. I don't get overly upset about things -- of the books I do get really attached to, they don't often involve something overly emotional, or if they do, it's forgotten, because it's balanced with humors and layers of depth that makes me somewhat more peaceful about it. What can I say? I'm a bit desensitized. We all are, in some form.

How about you? Any emotional scenes that left you in tears? I'd love to hear! Have a blessed Friday, and an awesome weekend!

Follow Friday #37

[Whew! Thank goodness it's Friday!]

Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee.

Q: What is your guilty pleasure as far as reading? Is it a genre, or is it a certain type of book?

I love epic fantasy. You know the type: other worlds, adventure, magic. The works. If it avoids tangling romance into its already complicated mix, even better.

Don't get me wrong. I love plenty of types of reading -- as soon as I finish reading my current book, the Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (fantasy), I plan on picking up Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys (historic). And after that, Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer (memoir).

But really, fantasy is my genre. The medieval type, with a strong heroine and no romance and weird premises, that is my style. Hard to find books like these at my local Barnes and Noble, but they're worth it. One of the reasons I write -- so I can add to the meager collection of my specific style of book.

Really, though, if it's fantasy, I'll consider it over other types of books. Even with romance, I might choose the fantasy over, say, a memoir or a general fiction. What can I say? It's a guilty pleasure.

What about you? Any special preferences? Have a blessed Friday!

Follow Friday #36

(I love the number 36 -- such a lovely even number. Perfect square; and divides by four. *sigh* I have had a long week. Pardon this little side note on numbers.)

Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee.

Q: What is a book you didn't like that all your friends raved about or what book did you love that wasn't popular?

The first part of that question:
I didn't like Twilight.* My sister is absolutely obsessed with it -- though I don't remember if she actually read the book, or if she just watched the movie and heard the hype -- and is Team Edward, apparently.
I read the entire Twilight series. I kept hoping it would get better, but it never did. I wanted to see the hype, I really did; I even bought a copy of New Moon, which sits on my bookshelf right now, with my own money (as opposed to getting it from the library). But it just never flew with me. Bella seemed too stuck in herself, and too obsessed with Edward. Edward might've turned out a cool guy, if he wasn't so stuck in himself, too, moaning about how such a bad guy he is.

The second part:
Can I answer more than one book?
I read a lot of books that other people haven't heard of, for whatever reason. Sometimes it's YA, sometimes it's MG, sometimes fantasy or science fiction or whatever. It's kind of interesting, and a lovely feeling -- it feels like a secret between me and the author; not any of that generic junk you find off any bookshelf, or that's so popular, it seems generic simply because it appeals to so many.
Here are a few titles:
Varjak Paw by SF Said
The Divide by Elizabeth Kay
Dragon's Bait by Vivian Vande Velde
The Minstrel's Daughter by Linda Smith
(This list is kinda subjective. I don't know the level of popularity these books have, or perhaps have had in the past. But most people I know would look at me funny if I made some reference to the book.)

So, that's my answers. What were yours? Any special love for the unpopular books? Any disdain for popular books you feel shouldn't make the cut?

*I didn't underline Twilight like I underlined the other books, because Twilight is sufficiently popular that you could recognize it as a book or a reference immediately; it seemed a bit extraneous. As I said, I didn't really want to hate the book, and I don't mean any slight against it by not underlining it. Just wanted to make that super-clear.

Follow Friday #35

Happy 1st of March! Lovely, green month, full of unexpected weather. It could snow, or it could be seventy degrees outside. You can never tell with this finicky month, and I have no breaks off from school, but at least green is a pretty color.

Anyways.... Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee.

Q: Confess your blogger sins! Is there anything as a newbie blogger that you've done, that as you gained more experience you were like -- oops?

Um, not really. I had horrid color choice. Still do, but I like this scheme a lot better than some of the others I've chosen. I've been blogging close to a year now, so I hope I've learned something.

Truth is, I've focused more on everything else than on my blog and on my writing. I think that's what I've realized is the biggest blunder -- letting myself slack on self-imposed writing/blogging deadlines. If I can't keep my own deadlines, how will I ever keep to others' deadlines? Little wonder I do poorly with homework.

The question today probably meant more of an extended incidence, but I think most of my blunders are not the sort of blunders that happen once and I go, "oops!" They're the sort of blunders I repeat over and over, because it's a by-product of my mindset. I really have to work on this; perhaps March is the month I'll actually get around to being social. If I can drag myself out of my own little world.

So, really.... I forgot where I was going with this. Dang it. I think I meant to say that that pretty much sums it up. sorry -- I'm writing this at like, 10:15 pm. It's past my bedtime. So, good night, have a blessed Friday and weekend!  

Follow Friday #34

Follow friday is a weekly meme hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee.(!) (I wanted to put an exclamation point there for some reason, but I thought it would sound too preppy.)

Q: We always talk about books WE want. Let's turn it on its head. What books have you give other people lately?

Oh, goodness. I tend to buy or keep books for myself. (That is, when I'm not borrowing them from the library.) I don't often give other people books unless I've read them myself and didn't like them, or if I've somehow garnered enough self-control (goodness forbid!) to give away a book I haven't read yet.

I did give my mother a copy of The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente. I've never read it before; but I've been dying to read it. I don't want to read her copy, because that makes it seem like I bought the book for her just so I can read it. But it's really tempting. I mean, look at that title!

I gave my friend a copy of After by Amy Efaw. I'd read it and was kind of iffed about the ending (can't remember why). And I gave my other friend a copy of a series called Wolves of the Beyond (Kathryn Lasky). Haven't read that book.

So, really, I can't stand giving away books I've read because it feels icky. I keep thinking the book feels somehow betrayed that I've just given it away. (I think of books like most people think of babies. Quite literally, apparently, reading over that last sentence.) Giving away books I've never read -- and therefore, never bonded with, in either a good or bad way -- is a bit easier.

Gah! Listen to me, going on about babies books. Anyways, what do you think? Do you give away books easily, and if so, what sort of books? Let me know!

Have a blessed Friday! =D

Follow Friday #33

Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee.

Q: Write a letter to your favorite character. Rant, rave, or gush... just pretend like they are real and you just want to let them know a "few things".

Dear Emily Strange,

You. Are. Awesome. 'Nuff said.

You are a genius; you are a weird genius, who knows how to build a golem and an amnesia machine and a duplicator; you are an antisocial genius, who is destined to become a Dark Aunt with magical black rock...

In my book, you are one of those few lady characters who was written right. I love how you can invent the best things ever -- like, as I mentioned, a duplicator -- and how you have the wierdest, randomest talents.

I don't know why more people wouldn't want to be friends with a cat-loving, skateboard master, sewer-mural-painting prankster such as yourself. Their loss.

Sincerely,
JDanielleM.

(*Emily the Strange: the Lost Days by Rob Reger. Published: 2009 by HarperTeen. It's worth reading, guys.*)

Follow Friday #32

Happy First of February! (That alliterated! Sweet! =D Sorry, I love alliteration perhaps too much.) Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.

Q: What is the first thing you would do if you woke up to find yourself in your favorite book?

It depends on which I'd get to wake up in. I have a lot of favorites, really. I have so many favorites, I have to separate them between my greater-favorites bookcase and my lesser-favorites bookcase. But of course, I am in love with fantasy, so I would probably first of all perform magic.

Magic is epic. If I woke up in Hogwarts, I'd try to levitate myself. (Or a feather, perhaps.) If I woke up in Inkheart (or Inkspell, really), I'd go sightseeing. (Fairies, underwater creatures, oh-goodness-the-possibilities...)

Or I'd go riding on a dragon. Find an invisible spell in some world. Capture a tooth fairy!*

It really, really, depends on the world. But you can bet your giraffe the first thing I'd do involves observing or performing magic. Your giraffe would be perfectly safe, and the person you bet against would mournfully hand over their panda bear. Or you could be nice and tell them they can keep their panda bear; there's really not enough space in your house for more than one bigger-than-a-human animal.

How about you? What would you do? What obscure books have you read that would be lovely (or at least epic; don't want to go into some of these book-conflicts!) to jump into? Have a blessed Friday!

*What the Dickens: the Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy by Maguire. Truck yea, I pick good books.

Follow Friday #31

[It's been a strange week. Snow's hit us randomly throughout the week, so we had a two hour delay for school yesterday, and a two-hour early release today (at the last minute; we were informed of that during lunch). Now it's really snowing outside. Knowing our weather, it'll be warm enough for short-sleeved shirts before the weekend's done.]

Anyways... Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee.

Q: What is the last book that kept you up late into the night just to finish it?

I don't know. There's a lot of books that keep me up. I recently read Un Lun Dun by China Mievelle, which was bizarre enough to catch my attention. There's the Inheritance series by Christopher Paolini. The book I'm currently reading, Divergent by Veronica Roth.

I guess it depends on what you mean by "kept up late into the night". Books like the ones I mentioned keep me up until, like, 10:30 pm. I've never had a book keep me up later than that; waking up for school at 6 in the morning tends to ruin any chance of reading later. (Not that school starts at 6:00; we're not crazy. It's starts at 7:30ish, but my bus comes at 6:40 and I need a little time to prepare.)

Even over the summer, I don't give up too much sleep for reading. I don't know why. Maybe it's because I spend every waking free moment reading -- including between classes, on the bus, and instead of my homework -- but I don't really feel the need to. I've never liked giving up sleep, so I content myself with reading less. I know a lot of readers (and writers, for that matter) spend a lot of time usually reserved for sleep on books, but I've always managed reading in the day.

Am I going to technical into this? Perhaps you simply wanted a list of books I read recently that I enjoyed.

• The Aviary by O'Dell
• The Butterfly Clues by Ellison
• The Inquisitor's Apprentice by Moriarty 

Plus the books I mentioned above. Basically, most of the books I've read this month. And a couple from last month, since I read the first three Inheritance books in December. And there are a few books I missed, but I can't think of the titles so I assume they're among my lesser-favorites.

Anyways, that's really my recent-books-to-love list. There're plenty of others that I haven't read for a while, but that'd take too long. (I read over a hundred books a year, guys! And I at least semi-like around 2/3s of them!)

What's your list? Or book, if you've had a bad January book-wise. Have a blessed, snow-filled weekend!