Top Ten Tuesday #5

So, Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. This week's theme: "Top Ten Book Nerds."

These are not in any particular order, and I think I might do only 5. Book Nerds -- I'd kinda like to see more cross my path. And more book nerds who don't end up in some angsty relationship with the bad boy, or the popular boy, where she then moans about how unpopular/ugly she is, and why would he choose her?? That romantic plot needs to be burned at the stake, please.

(I'm in a slightly bad mood at the moment. Everything I'm picking up lately has some sort of weak romance in it. Now I don't mind romance if done right, but I'm talking about the they-wanna-get-married-after-knowing-each-other-two days sort of romance, where it is obvious that these two characters a.) have nothing in common, or b.) plan on getting into a relationship that is unequal/somewhat creepy.)

Anyways.

1. Hermione from Harry Potter (J.K. Rowling)

Of course. Who isn't choosing Hermione? The thing about Hermione is that she has a confidence and an intelligence that isn't mocked or made a joke of. Harry, Ron, and Hermione form a solid friendship with each other, and Hermione is an equal part of that -- the other two often rely on her intelligence and her ability to figure out what's going on.

2. Meggie from Inkheart (Cornelia Funke)

Meggie... I haven't read Inkheart in years, but Meggie was one of my favorite characters growing up. Apart from the enviable ability to read things into existence, she was a tough, resourceful young girl and adventurous to boot. Many young girls go out on journeys to find lost fathers, lost friends, or other lost loved ones, but Meggie stood out from the crowd by her character and her tenacity.

3. Annabeth from Percy Jackson and the Olympians (Rick Riordan)

I haven't read this series in a long while, either. But who doesn't love Annabeth? I like her better than Percy, in some respects. She's incredibly patient with him. And she's going on these adventures for her own sake, not because she's in love with Percy -- she wants to go out and see the world, rather than just reluctantly tag along. She's quick, clever, and courageous, and she is a real hero. There may not be a prophecy where she's the Chosen One, but I'd read a story with her as the main character any day. (Plus, she reads things in Ancient Greek because she finds it easier than English. Don't tell me that's not epic.)

4. Matilda from Matilda (Ronald Dahl) 

Okay, yes, I didn't finish reading the book. I did watch the movie all the way through. That counts for something, right? Matilda's love of books didn't consume her character; she was so much more than just the "avid reader". She used her powers to cause mischief for the bad guys and to have fun. I read way too many novels where the main character angsts about her newfound powers and what it means and how magic cannot possibly be real. Matilda acts on her own, without needing any Wise Old Mentor sit around explaining to her exactly what her powers are and what she needs to use them for.

5. Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)

In all honesty, I didn't even like the Hobbit when I read it the first time. Surprising, I know, considering my love of fantasy. But when I read it a second time for an AP Lit project, I fell in love with it in a way I didn't the first time around. I can actually sympathize with Bilbo Baggins -- being dragged away from a comfy home and all the books for an adventure?! No thank you! And unlike an awful lot of other novels, Tolkien played this character card without dipping his novel in angst and cliches. Bilbo is remarkably adaptable, despite his yearning to go home. And he's realistic in his complaints. He doesn't whine and let everyone else do all the work; he grumbles and he saves their butts several times.

The other five nerd characters are still ideas in my head. I can't very well spoil them for you.

What about you? I'm sure you chose at least one of the above. Leave a comment about who your favorite characters are!

Top Ten Tuesday #4

Alright, so it has been a long while. Summer is not my best time; neither is during the school year. I am thinking about this blog, though. And I will continue to post sporadically until I can put myself on my feet and get to work.

So, without further notice...

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. This week's topic: "Top Ten Books of 2015 (thus far)". I am actually only going to post 5, because it's after 9pm right now.




1. The Black Butler manga series by Yana Toboso.

Yes, manga totally counts. I've only read through Book 7, due to slight difficulty finding them, but they are amazing. Sort of supernatural Artemis Fowl set in Victorian London. But it stands quite unique, with its own charms!

2. The Wish List by Eoin Colfer.

I absolutely LOVE this standalone novel. Yes, it is by the Artemis Fowl author. The style is so Colfer, and the characters so outstanding, that this book is definitely one of my greater favorites.

3. Castle Hangnail by Ursula Vernon.

I found this book in the library, and it looked kind of cute, so I picked it up. And I am so glad I did. The characters are fabulous, the play on stereotypes witty and amusing, and the plot is just perfectly paced and executed.

4. The Full Metal Alchemist manga series by Hiromu Arakawa.

Yes, another manga series. The library near my college has the full set, but here in my hometown I only managed to grab books 1-6. Definitely a good read, though, and perfectly balanced between fun and serious. (I am not as fond of the anime TV show, the first season of which you can find on Netflix. But that is mainly because I don't like the voice actor for the main character. He doesn't sound... like how I imagined the main character should sound.)

5. The Big Over Easy and The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde.

This one's cheating just a bit, since I read the Big Over Easy back in high school. I did read the sequel, the Fourth Bear, for the first time. Both are bizarrely excellent, with its witty humor, plays on literary works, and unnecessarily (and amusingly) complicated plots.





Alright, that's my list. What's yours like? Feel free to comment!

Have a blessed day!

Top Ten Tuesday #3, and another apology.

So, another apology: I haven't been doing things on this blog as often as I would like. I know I keep saying I'll keep up with it. This summer shall be a bit different, with this Top Ten meme. I have little to do and more will to do anything at all.

With that said, this Top Ten might be a little difficult. Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. This week's theme is a freebie, so I thought I should mention my Top Ten Song-Book Character Matches.

(Or, the top ten songs that match a certain book character really well. Look at the title of this blog again, if you expected me not to take this opportunity to share great books AND music.)

As a side note, the music is written artist:song title, and each link goes to a video with lyrics. (Or most of them do, anyways.) If I don't list an author in my little summary, then it is either easily searchable or extremely popular.

1. Sebastian (Black Butler manga) -- Pirates of the Caribbean: Pirates Montage

Yes, it's a manga, not a book. But the difference between manga and novels is a post for another day. Sebastian, a demon butler, fits the suaveness of this piece really well. The adventure caught up in both the music and the manga fit together better than some puzzles. (Don't get me started on puzzles.)

2. Kelsier (Mistborn) -- Imagine Dragons: Ready Aim Fire

Kelsier is a true revolutionary in a dystopian future. The mood of both Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series (specifically the first one, which is the only one I've read) and this song fit really well, and the lyrics do, too.

3. Katniss's Mum (The Hunger Games) -- The Civil Wars: Kingdom Come

I don't remember Katniss's mum's name. I know. But I like this song for her because you cannot tell whether she is good or bad. She is a very gray character; she is not at all the sort of stereotypical mom you usually find in media, but neither is she the demonized "bad" mom that you might also find. She's not high on drugs, but neither does she take care of her children. She cares for them -- she takes care of Prim while Katniss is away in the Games -- but her grief after her husband's death has subsumed her character. And this song (which, I know, is from the Hunger Games movie soundtrack) captures that grayness.

4. Lia (Wintergirls) -- Helio: To Write Love on Her Arms

Lia definitely deserved to hear this song. She was dark and sick; mentally ill. This song is made for the TWLoHA project (To Write Love on Her Arms), which is meant to help self-mutilators and raise awareness. This song both fits her and would have been an inspiration to her. Lia's anorexia and her grief after her best friend dies combine in a spiraling way, and this song both acknowledges the pain and the mental illness, and tries to comfort.

5. Jennifer Strange (The Last Dragonslayer) -- Superchick: Not Done Yet

Jennifer Strange is a very tough character, but not in the muscles-and-kicking-butt sort of way. She sticks things out and is always fair, even if that means being forced to kill a creature who is the last of the kind. She is one of the only people in Jasper Fforde's world who wants to stick out and give a dragon the fair end of the deal. And this song represents that willingness, in the same easygoing way that Jennifer herself has.

6. Maddy (Gamer Girl) -- Britt Nicole: Headphones

Now, Maddy is not a music person, and the song, of course, tells you to put on your headphones. But both are about that escapist healing. Maddy disappears and grows through her manga drawing and her video game, which this song captures so perfectly. Put on your headphones, pick up a video game, find something to distract you and make you happy! (This book is by Mari Mancusi, in case you want to read it.)

7. Luna Lovegood (Harry Potter) -- Owl City: Fireflies

Yes, I have to pair two famous, widely loved things. Luna and Owl City just go together. They both have that scatterbrained, chaotic splendor that makes them such compelling dreamers. Although they seem somewhat random (Fireflies? Nargles?), their randomness shows perfectly an undercurrent of emotion that speaks deeper than the practical characters around them.

8. Joe Zabbidou (Black Book of Secrets) -- One Republic: Secrets

Okay, this song is less Joe and more the people he deals with. He deals in secrets, and records them in a big, black book. (Hence the title.) F.E. Higgins wrote this quirky book, and it is quite a good read. The mysterious pawnbroker of secrets has a knack for making people feel that yearning to share what's on their mind, the same compelling that is behind this song.

9. Devon (After) -- Linkin Park: What I've Done

I wasn't overly fond of Amy Efaw's novel, After. Devon is a very unlikeable character, but I am not sure that is why I didn't like this novel. In any event, she is a very complicated young woman -- the book revolves around the aftermath, as she waits for the trial to convict her of putting her newborn in the trash. And, while the Linkin Park does not match the atmosphere of this novel -- Linkin Park has a darker, deeper, timeless quality to their music, where After has a much more contemporary feel to it -- I think the message behind this song does match an undercurrent to Devon. "Let mercy come/and wash away/what I've done" and all that.

10. Doctor Who -- Celtic Woman: A Spaceman Came Traveling

Okay, this is totally cheating. Doctor Who may be a TV show, but I feel that there is enough fanfiction written and published on this show that I can sneak this one in last. Really, this song is perfect for Doctor Who; the background singers are even wearing TARDIS blue! I can imagine a fanfiction somewhere about the Doctor showing up at the birth of Jesus.

Those are my Top Ten this week. What're yours? Leave a comment!

    

Top Ten Tuesday #2

Alright, so I know I skipped last week. Life is hard. 

The Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week's topic is "Top Ten Inspiring Quotes from Books". (These are in no particular order.)

1. The story itself unfolds in the space between the "before" and the "after". 

-Lisa Cron, Wired for Story  

I like this quote so much because it is so true -- the character before the story began is never the same as the character after. Lisa Cron's writer-help book is full of amazing gems like this quote.

2. 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.

-Francis Hardinge, The Lost Conspiracy

I love the courage in this silent exchange. It is the courage of an individual who has never shone, never spoken out, but who holds a quiet brilliance and resilience all her own. Of all the quiet characters I've come across, I would most want to be Hathin.

3. There are places that are truly dark in the world, Ven, but this place 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

This quote reminds me that the places and people my characters meet are never truly evil; there is no haunted forest, no Dark Lord. Everything is composed of shades of gray. It reminds me that every place and every character in a book is just waiting for its dawn.

4. But there are times

When peace just becomes

a broken mouthful.

A word that no tongue in the world

can pronounce.

-Melanie Little, The Apprentice's Masterpiece

This is not particularly inspiring, on the surface. It seems kind of dreary. But it is a reminder of life, that the world is a difficult place in spite of everyone's good intentions. And it is a reminder that these are just times, and that you can get through them. That is what this book is about -- two boys who get through the Spanish Inquisition, one of those bloodiest of historic conflicts. 

5. We believe in ordinary acts of bravery, in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another... We believe in shouting for those who can only whisper, in defending those who cannot defend themselves.

-Veronica Roth, Divergent

Okay, so this quote cannot be found in the actual story -- it's found in the manifesto for Dauntless, in the back of the book. But it still struck a chord with me. 

6. 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

I actually did not like this book all that much, but I have to admit that there were plenty of quotable things in it. This particular quote stuck out in that it reminds me of the power of books, and the way words have of getting into your heart.

7. Ordinary thoughts are pretty dull. Powerful ideas have a life of their own; they carry on, unshakable, from person to person.

-Jasper Fforde, The Last Dragonslayer

Fforde is an amazing writer. I love this quote so much, because for once he wasn't being funny: he was being thoughtful. It keeps me writing, sometimes, to think of this quote. It reminds me that these powerful ideas cannot be bottled up -- I need to write them.

8. Books have to be heavy because the whole world's inside them.

-Cornelia Funke, Inkheart

Yes, another quote about words. It is so true -- the whole world is inside a book. I'm sure there are several people quoting Inkheart, but that is because Cornelia Funke is absolutely amazing. I've been a big fan of hers since I was little.

9. If everyone is yelling, no one can be heard.

-Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

I love this quote because it is exactly the opposite of what people normally advise you to do. Everyone tells you to speak up for yourself, for others; but Donnelly reminds us that sometimes we have to sit back and listen, as well.

10. If I win, I'm a prodigy. If I lose, then I'm crazy. That's the way history is written.

-Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl

Yes, if you've been to my website before -- or simply poked around my blog a little -- you'll notice I'm a big Artemis Fowl fan. This quote has always stuck out in my mind, because it reminds me that I can dream big; the worst that can happen is I'm called crazy now.

So, those are my quotes. Now that I have laid bare my soul for you to take inspiration from, you can return the favor. Comment! Share your own stories, tell me which of my quotes you already knew, or the ones you'd never heard but you took to immediately. 

Have a blessed day.

    

Top Ten Tuesday #1 and a Note.

I should probably start with a note. Perhaps you haven't noticed, but I have taken a strange sort of on-again, off-again hiatus for a long while now. I want to reassure you, though, that I plan on coming back. Hopefully regularly. Life has been up and down for me this past year (starting last March, when my grandfather died, up through this March, when my college announced that they would be closing).

So, in an attempt to be regular, I thought I'd try a meme. I've been watching the Top Ten Tuesdays for awhile, and it looks like fun and an easy way to connect with people. And without further ado, I will continue with this post.

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. This week's topic is Top Ten on the TBR Pile. (These are in no particular order, by the way.)

1. Huntress by Malinda Lo. I am currently reading Ash, and Huntress is the prequel. The book is so good -- excellent prose and synopsis, deep, well-rounded characters -- that I can't wait to continue in this world!

2. The Story of Owen: Dragonslayer of Trondheim by E.K. Johnston. I am a sucker for a good dragon story, and this one looks very promising.

3. The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima. I've had this one in my sights for a long time -- it seems like a solid fantasy novel, with an excellent synopsis, but I could never find our copy at home. So I checked it out from the library.

4. The Tough Guide to Fantasyland by Diana Wynne Jones. Jones is hilarious and her take on fantasy cliches is truly great fun to read. I started it, but had to put it down awhile ago, and I cannot wait to pick it up again!

5. Ship Fever by Andrea Barrett. This one isn't really YA, but neither is #4, so I'm going with it. I actually have to read this particular book for class, but it sounds really interesting -- short stories all tied together through history and science.

6. A Spell for Chameleon by Piers Anthony. Again, not YA, but this series is pretty much a fantasy classic. My mother (who has read them many times!) highly recommends it, and says the puns are to die for.

7. The Wide-Awake Princess by E.D. Baker. I have loved previous novels of Baker's (including her Frog Princess series), and I look forward to this one.

8. Emily's Dress and Other Missing Things by Kathryn Burak. This one looked like a fun read, full of Emily Dickenson and adventures.

9. Poisoned Apples: Poems for You, My Pretty by Christine Heppermann. This one promises to be full of deep, thought-provoking poems about tough issues.

10. Agatha H and the Airship City by Phil Foglio. I had never heard of this MG series until Amazon randomly recommended it for me. But it sounds very fun and very intriguing.


How about you? What are your Top Ten? Have a blessed day.

Thanksgiving. (Yesterday's Account.)

I am thankful for my family, (though we are reeling from loss).
I am thankful for my life, (though I am hurting).
I am thankful for the roof over my head, (though it's painful to be home).
I am thankful for my health, (though I've had a cold this week).
I am thankful for my books, (though I can't escape myself completely in them anymore).
I am thankful for my college, (though it is painful to be there, as well).
I am thankful for --
For --

I am thankful for my faith and belief in God and Jesus, (because without that, I would truly go mad.)

Angel (left), Tumble (right)

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

Sometimes, I worry that I'm not the hero everyone thinks I am. 
The philosophers assure me that this is the time, that the signs have been met. But I still wonder if they have the wrong man. So many people depend on me. They say I will hold the future of the entire world in my arms.
When they see me, do they see a liar?
Once, a hero rose to save the world. He failed.
For a thousand years since, the world has been a wasteland of ash and mist ruled by the immortal emperor known as the Lord Ruler. Every revolt has failed miserably.
Yet somehow, hope survives. Hope that dares to dream of ending the empire and defeating the Lord Ruler. A new kind of uprising is being planned-- one that depends on the cunning of a brilliant criminal mastermind and the determination of an unlikely heroine: a teenage street urchin named Vin.
Where a hero rose to save the world and failed, can a young heroine succeed?

~Print copy, 659 pages
Published: 2006 by Tor Teen

So, I realize I've been a bit absent on this blog lately, but never fear. I have been ruminating. Mulling over. Cogitating. Pondering. And, as always, voraciously reading fiction in between staring at the ceiling and watching TV.

And so, a new idea for book reviews has surfaced in my mind: a way to satisfy my love of lists and make some form of organizational sense. Normally, I'd just freewrite my entire review, rambling on about plot and whatever happened to stick out while I was reading. Now, I've got A List of Areas, and a fraction of how much I liked this particular area. 1/5 being it was either entirely unremarkable or almost painful to read, and 5/5, of course, being absolutely amazing and remarkable and very much a pleasure to read.

So here goes.

Character: 4/5

There's a little bit of a misnomer about that summary. It glosses over the "criminal mastermind" part and elaborates on Vin. When in reality, this is the first in a series and Vin is... she's more like an apprentice. In this novel, at least.

That "brilliant criminal mastermind" is named Kelsier. He's a Leader. The driving force behind the whole book, really. He's creative and impulsive, a genius, a strategist of Big Plans. He is given a job by the leader of a rebellion to gather an army, but he takes it much further -- he takes it to big heights. He plans on killing the immortal Lord Ruler, with his magical ability and some metals. (I'll elaborate on that later.) And his crew of soldiers, noblemen, and craftsmen all look up to him.

Vin, on the other hand, is an urchin, one of many thieves in an underground thieving crew. Her abusive brother abandoned her in this nest of leery criminals and she's wielding the only ability she can to survive in such conditions: she can Soothe the emotions of other people. And it's this ability that catches the attention of Kelsier, who takes her on as part of his own "thieving crew".

The character arcs of these two alternating narrators are pretty amazing. Over the course of over 600 pages, Kelsier goes from the bragging survivor to the somewhat-more-levelheaded leader, from an ambitious thief to a thoughtful authority figure and inspiration for thousands of people. Vin stretches from survivor to dazzled noblewoman to someone who can finally trust the other members of her crew.

Vin, truth be told, had me a little underwhelmed at first. She's tough and distrustful at first, very down-to-earth. And then she becomes a spy for Kelsier in the rich world of the noblemen, and becomes... almost like them. Grown away from her roots, she becomes her fake persona, Valette. But she redeems herself in the end. She makes some fumbling mistakes, spends some time soaking in the wrong message, but in the end -- she's a character to root for. She redeems herself something powerful.

Kelsier, well, I won't go into him too much (spoilers, after all), but... he is the more spectacular figure. There is no doubt to anyone who reads this novel that Kelsier is that person, the Artemis Fowl of this story, if you will. Powerful, confident, and just a bit too arrogant, he steals from the rich and is sympathetic to the poor. He's the Hero. (Though not, of course, the one that failed a thousand years before the story takes place.)

Worldbuilding: 5/5

Gracious wisdom, is the worldbuilding in this novel fantastic. It's fantasy, so of course it's well thought out... but it goes beyond that.

There are people called Mistings and Mistborn, who can swallow metals and "burn" them in their stomach in order to produce magical effects. Mistings can only swallow one of the eight Basic Metals for use. Mistborn -- like Kelsier and Vin -- can burn all eight, and then a couple more (the rare two Higher Metals). Both groups' magical abilities can range from Soothing and Rioting emotions to pulling and pushing metal objects around them.

It's all very organized. The metals are grouped into groups of four, according to whether they "push" or "pull" (Soothing emotions involves "pushing" the emotions down until the recipient is calmed; Rioting emotions involves "pulling" on certain emotions to excite the person). They're also grouped according to whether they are "external" or "internal" (Soothing and Rioting are external, because they affect someone else's emotions; but enhancing one's senses [pulling] and enhancing one's speed, strength, and endurance [pushing] are all internal, because they affect the Misting/Mistborn themselves).

And, of course, this is only one aspect of the worldbuilding. As impressive as the magic system is, the world itself is very vivid. The ashfalls from the nearby volcanoes and the mists at night are the dominant weather patterns. But it's not some backdrop: it highlights the brutality shown to the working class, the "skaa", who are seen sweeping the ashes away into the river; who struggle to keep the bare plants from dying under the dismal sunlight and frequent fallings of ash. It's for the skaa, who are abused and neglected at the hands of the noblemen, that Kelsier puts up this whole "kill the Lord Ruler" idea.

The strict class system, in which skaa are slaves and the noblemen are supposedly descendants of the Lord Ruler's allies back a thousand years before, is a tense one. The rebellion breeds under the Lord Ruler's nose, but he doesn't bother quenching it entirely. And the noblemen squabble amongst themselves regularly. But there is little overlap between the two groups -- noblemen are required by the Lord Ruler's law to execute any skaa women they bed. But some of them fall through the cracks, and what results is someone like Vin -- a skaa girl scratching out a living in a thieving crew, while possessing the Mistborn talent that is inherited only by the noblemen families.

All of this becomes a major part of the novel, tied tightly to the plot. And that's how worldbuilding is done -- tied so tightly to the plot that it becomes impossible to separate the two.

Plot:   4/5

The plot is pretty darn beautiful. It all unfolds in just the right way. It's very well-thought-out, like the worldbuilding.

It all centers on the struggle between the Kelsier, Vin, and the skaa rebellion vs. the Lord Ruler. Vin is just a street thief, until Kelsier comes along and hires her for her Mistborn talents. The leader of the skaa rebellion has enlisted him to raise an army 10,000 strong to march against the Lord Ruler, but Kelsier wants to take it a step further -- he and his friends (a soldier, a nobleman, and a skaa woodworker) all map out a plan to throw the capital city in chaos, and he needs Vin's help to do it.

Of course, Vin is kind of an apprentice here. She almost takes a backseat; she's not a leading character like Kelsier, and ends up another team member with the secondary characters, spying on the noblemen for information while Kelsier does the job of throwing the city into chaos. But she slowly takes a bigger role as the book progresses.

But, like I said, this all unfolds just slowly enough. The pacing is just right, despite the hefty 600 pages. There look to be a few slow places, but at the end of the book I look back and realize tha those scenes were good -- they helped you catch your breath after all of the daredevil magic and action.

Theme: 3/5

I was a little less enthusiastic on themes.

For one thing, despite Vin's redemption in the end, she still appears for most of the book to oscillating between prissy, spoiled noblewoman and hardened thief. And the idea behind it was a little sketchy, like, "Of course she'd be wowed by all of the beauty of this place; she's just a girl. So of course she'd just throw out this crazy idea of noble excess that she's held her entire life."

But I'm not really doing it justice. This idea is turned on its head at the end. Still, reading it, I feel like the former idea stretched on for too long a stretch, and the revelation that really, the opposite is the theme came a little too late.  And she is still one of the only female characters in this book, besides maybe one noblewoman she's turned into an enemy and a couple of female skaa workers. So the idea makes it seem like women don't really have a place in such rebellions, unless they have special, rare magical talents.

Still, I think the other themes aren't too out there. The whole theme of "chaos can be a beautiful thing" is pretty good. Many books attempt it, but this one actually engineers the chaos, and harnesses it for social change. And the themes on class, how the clueless excess of the higher class can blind it to the oppression of a lower class, hit spot on. The nobles see the skaa as something less than human, something other than human, and that's a very familiar line of thinking when it comes to traditional race oppression in this world.

The subtler gender ideas in the novel don't appear to be deliberate. And the other thematic ideas presented more obviously are ones I agree with. But let's just say I prefer enjoying the magic and worldbuilding more than the themes.

Overall: 4/5

Overall, I did really enjoy this novel. I would definitely recommend this book to others -- the world and the plot are fantastic. There were a few things that prevented me from making this a true, 5/5, fantastic novel -- mostly the lack of other females and my slight irritation with Vin's spying-on-the-nobility gig. But overall, a real nice novel.

An Update on my Life.

Hello. I realize I haven't posted much this month. Life has slammed into me.

Let me start with the bad news. My grandfather died a few weeks ago. We had his funeral -- my mother organized the entire thing, because she's getting her master's degree in religious studies or Christianity or some other such thing in that general area of study, and she wanted to make it personal. My grandfather -- my mother's stepfather -- was married to my grandmother for 42 years. It's been a rather hard blow, to know the laughing, easygoing man I knew as Granddad Richard will now be gone from everywhere but our hearts and memories.

In better news, though, I've applied to 4 colleges and three of them have accepted me. (The fourth hasn't answered back.) All are in-state, all are offering me scholarships over $17,000, and two of them look like viable options for my future. (One is near where my other grandfather, my father's father, lives, while the other is offering a pretty substantial scholarship and entry into their honors program.)

I have been super-busy organizing things with the colleges: I've met with an admissions counselor from the latter (the one offering entry in their honors program), who promised to repeal our financial aid and see if she can't cover more, and asked me to look into scholarships outside of the college. I've scheduled an interview at the college near my grandfather's place, in order to determine if I qualify for a full-tuition scholarship. And I've been desperately researching scholarships online, to see if I can't cover some of the cost.

Good advice for this month, from my perspective.

And, while this sort of pales in comparison with the other two bits of news, and hasn't really affected my posting schedule (seeing as how it occurred only today), I have taken my first field trip since 8th grade. I'm a senior in high school now. I've been a bit anxious about it for the past week, which is why I mention it. The field trip was to Old Town Petersburg, which in case you don't know is actually old. We visited the Blandford Cemetery and the the old part of the city to take pictures, for photography class. I ended up with 4 rolls of black-and-white film (~70-80 pictures), and a curiosity for this city a half-hour's drive from my hometown.

Some cool things Petersburg has to offer:

1. In the Blandford Cemetery, the oldest gravestones dates back to the 1700s! I saw one headstone for a woman born in 1785 and died in the 1820s-1830s.
2. The Blandford Church contains fifteen or sixteen Tiffany Windows, one for each of the Confederate States. Each window depicts a saint and the state's name. The only Confederate state that didn't contribute a window was Kentucky, because it couldn't raise the funds after the Civil War. Tiffany also donated the Jeweled Cross window. I didn't get to see the windows from inside the church, to see the light shine through, but I saw the dull grayness of the windows from outside.
3. The Trapezium House was built either in the late 1700s or really early 1800s. The man who built it was an eccentric man who believed that evil spirits resided in right angles, so he built his house without any right angles whatsoever.
4.  I managed to get a shot of the Hiram Haines' Coffee and Alehouse, which has been around since pre-Civil War (early 1800s -- 1820s, I believe?), where several famous people gathered. Edgar Allen Poe had his honeymoon there, in 1839. It was reopened 2010, I believe, and is in business today. Sadly, grabbing lunch at this historic building was not on our itinerary.

What the Church looks like today (public domain photo)

I wish I had the pictures to show you, but we haven't developed the film yet. We'll be doing that next week. In the meantime, it's nice to let you know the Cockade City is still a historical treasure, one that withstood a siege during the War of 1812 and was nicknamed after its patriotism, so called by James Madison. (A cockade is like a pin they stuck in their hats, and so many people wore them and so many lost their lives during the War of 1812 that President James Madison stopped by to address them.)

So, this has been quite the eventful month. Good things tossed with the bad things, as life often likes to throw at us. For a quiet teenager who leaves her home only to go to school and the library (and occasionally Wal-Mart), the whole blasted thing is like something out of the Lord of the Rings, except my life has no obvious plot or point.

For now, I think I'll just have to take a pain-reliever for my headache, finish up a good book, and draw myself a nice hot bath. And then we'll see about April.

Have a blessed day, and hope you visit a few ancient sites yourself.

It's Wednesday.

This will be a short post. I have calculus homework. And spanish homework. And AP Lit homework. And AP Bio homework.

Here's a small rundown of my life at the moment:

1. As mentioned, I have a ton load of homework. It must be the upcoming month. Something about March makes teachers pile on the homework.
2. I have been questioning my existence, mortality, and what is important in this world, and have concluded it is nothing like what the world tells me is important to my mortality. I will likely not marry, have children, or try YOLO, which appears to mean doing drugs, partying, and/or having sex. I also will not try traveling, bungee jumping, most sports, or watching said sports. I don't think focusing on school will happen, either, at least not public high school. According to my own calculations, books, cats, music, and God feature very heavily in what is "worth living for."
3. I finished The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde and am halfway through The Dust of 100 Dogs by A.S. King. Both feature romance pretty heavily, and in the latter case, a rather detailed scene of a rape. I didn't feel like writing a book review. Needless to say, they will not be put on my greatest-favorite bookshelf.
4. Sudoku puzzles! I have loved them since middle school, but now I would much rather solve another few sudoku puzzles than do my homework. Which is a problem. Technically. As I mentioned, school does not make it to my List of Things Important to Living.

This is shorter than I realized. So, I'll leave you with a quote and just say, have a blessed day. :)

Mozart

I found a collection of Mozart's letters translated into English on Scribd. I don't normally use Scribd; usually only my mother uses it, to look up books on knitting and crochet. But I found my Nano draft, which is about Mozart, so in a research frenzy I decided to read through them and take notes.

Here are a few of those notes:

• Born: 17th January 1756 in Salzburg, Austria. Father: Leopold Mozart, an intelligent, ambitious man who's always used his knowledge of music to get ahead. Wolfgang and Nannerl were the only two of Leopold's seven children who survived.
• By the age of four, Mozart required only 30 min. - 1 hour to learn a piece of music. By age five, he was composing short pieces.
• In 1769, letter (in Latin) to his sister: "I should like to know the reason why indolence is so highly prized by very many young men, that neither by words nor blows will they suffer themselves to be roused from it."
• At the very least, he knows Latin and Italian (and, I presume, German). Very knowledgeable about opera and singing, as well.
• Apparently fond of a poet named Herr Gellert (though I believe "Herr" might be a title, not a first name.)
• August 1771: "I don't like to sleep after eating."
• 1777: he gets up at 8:30 in the morning, spends the entire morning composing/writing, then afternoons giving lessons to various individuals, and then after supper he converses with his students or reads a book.
• He always refers to his mother as "mamma," even in 1777 when he is almost 20 years old.
• Seems to be very honest and good-natured; in a letter to his cousin, he rhymes the entire thing.

This is a somewhat short list, but rather specific. And it sort of makes me rethink making him the bad guy in my Nano draft; it's easy to see why no one touches him in regular fiction. But I still want to make him a bad guy, even if it's just because he's too good-humored for me. I think I've settled on making a Bad Guy By Neglect.

Perhaps one day I'll manage to organize and edit this Nano draft into a proper novel. And while he might not figure quite so large a role as the villain, he might still make a great source for tension, busy as he is with all that opera-writing.

Have a blessed day. :)

Quick Update.

So, I planned on doing a book review of Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve, but I still don't know how I feel about it. Sort of uneasy-concluded-finished-with-it sort of attitude. Yea, it doesn't make much sense to me, either.

So, quick update of my life:

• I went to visit my sister two hours away from where I live, and to take a tour of a college just a few blocks from where she lives. It's the furthest I've been from my house in years. It was like a freaking Lord of the Rings adventure for me.
• That college? Yea, it's very... big. Grand, classical furniture, really good technology, two theaters and nice people and living on campus all four years. I'm applying, but I have no clue if I would actually go there, unless they offered me a full scholarship.
• I was meant to go to another college tour, too, but my mother has trouble navigating big cities like where my sister lives, so we called and rescheduled for sometime next week. My mother's car is a stick-shift with no power steering, and the city in question has, like 90-degree roads* because it's located in the foothills of some mountains. 'Nuff said.
• I've gone driving more! Instead of the small Mustang, though, it's our big ole Suburban. And that thing's a freakin' tank. Still, my dad has relaxed some and says I've been improving already.
• I went to Hobby Lobby. Apart from bookstores, craft stores are among the greatest places to be. They're just so interesting. Miniature Victorian-style dollhouses (about five, all of which would come up to my waist if they'd been set on the ground); strange owl and frog statues; expensive-looking paintings of flowers, street corners, and paths in the woods; many, many decorative crosses; and a whole aisle of stickers. It's like some creative world that exploded inside a mundane building.
• I have had a snow day today and yesterday. And we didn't have school Monday, either, because of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. And I went to visit my sister last Friday. So I haven't ben in school for a pretty darn long time, and I'm getting a little giddy. (Oh yea, and we don't have school tomorrow, either.)
• My laptop has -- again -- shut down on me. This is the one I just got for Christmas. I don't know if it's me, or if I just get really terrible laptops. 

So, yea. This is what's been going on. I've started free online courses on Coursera and Open2Study, one on water and one on morality, so I'm not completely academic-free. I've settled on a relaxation day tomorrow; watching TV, maybe going to the library. Not much.

Anyways, I hope you have a blessed day! (Especially if it involves snow and no school!)


*Not literally 90 degree angles. Just really, really steep hills, and confusing turns -- like, fork in the roads instead of the neat square intersections like what I'm used to around home.

"Resolutions" I Might Actually Keep

It's the first day of 2014, guys. The ending of a year, the beginning of one. I suppose I should be happy for a clean slate this year, but we all know that in school, it's not "clean." I still have to do my projects from before break. (Namely, and AP Lit project on WW1 and a textbook assignment from AP Bio.)

But I don't want that to spoil my first few days, at least. And my last few days of break. And since I didn't finish reading the book I told myself I'd finish yesterday, I think I'll post some of my New Year's Resolutions.

(As a side note: why do they call them "resolutions?" You've resolved to do something, yes, but you rarely get around to them. So aren't they more under the category of, "Promises I Only Intended to Keep?")

Anyways. I hope to:

1. Finish at least half of my TBR pile. (The whole pile is numbering close to fifty, now.) 
2. Paint my room over. (It's my little sister's old room, and the most atrocious yellow color. Also, she left a few foul-mouthed messages written across them.)
3. Get my driver's license. (I've only got my learner's permit right now.)
4. Turn 18 years old in April. (That one should be easy to keep.)
5. Graduate in June. (Also easy. I'm pretty much guaranteed it at this point, as long as I keep showing up to school.) 
6. Work on my knitting. (As in, at least every week. Right now, it's looking pretty sad.)
7. Work on clay. (Something I've always wanted to do, but now that I have clay and space to work with it, I find myself reluctant to start.)
8. Put up some puzzles. (I have half a dozen of them sitting around my room.)

This seems like a rather paltry list, and doesn't even include my writing resolutions, but it towers over me with all the menace of Cerberus.* I'm not used to proactively doing things for myself. I read a book, I wait for someone to order me to do chores. Watch some documentaries on TV. I barely even do my homework for myself.

Which is why I've set the threshold so low. Some puzzles, working with clay, turning 18 years old. Though, really, these are all big milestones. At 18, I'm officially an adult. Officially Not a Child Anymore. And I have an entire lifetime in which I have to proactively do things for myself. So I've got to get a head start a few months beforehand.

This post seems rather serious to me, for a day we're all supposed to be celebrating. There are no exclamation points, no smilie faces. Just talk of my plans. I've never been good at humor or light-hearted material.

But I suppose that's what New Year's is about. The beginning of a year, and talk of what's going to be done. (Or what might be done.)

Have a blessed Wednesday, New Year's, and life, everyone.

*Cerberus the three-headed dog from the Underworld in Greek mythology. It's extra menacing because I'm not overly-fond of dogs, since we own an Australian Shepherd who barks at everyone but my mother.

Zazu says to keep to your resolutions.

A Recap of 2013

Hello, and happy... Monday. I can't even remember if today is the last day of December or the next-to-last day. Either way, I won't be posting another post on this blog until 2014. :)

I decided to go through my archives and pick out some of my favorite posts from this year, separated into categories. So, here you go:

Books:
My favorite re-read: I re-read The Warriors Saga by Erin Hunter over the summer, and it is every bit as amazing as I remember from middle school.  The Hobbit comes as a close second.

The Book That (Pleasantly) Surprised Me the Most: The Lost Conspiracy by Frances Hardinge, while expecting it to be the cumbersome, over-500-pages-long MG fantasy that it is, had the most fantastic worldbuilding and characters. The Apprentice's Masterpiece by Melanie Little comes as a close second.

The Book That (Unpleasantly) Surprised Me: Inside by Maria Snyder had a good premise, but the romance detracted from it for me. 


Literary Stuff:
I wrote on Strong Female Characters, and what they are, though I include many self-conscious "in my opinion..."s.

For the sake of Diversity! I talked about the diversity of characters and people.

I explained the difference between the fantasy and paranormal genres.

You can read my picking apart an argument of YA vs. Epic Fantasy.

And, ever important on my blog, my views on romance (and why I don't like it).


Other Stuff:
A selection of my music (without links; you'll have to look them up on Youtube yourself).

I explained my dealings with photography-- specifically, photograms. 

I watched a documentary on Ancient Japan.

Also, I watched a documentary on Lipizzaner horses. I watch a lot of documentaries.

This is my list in summary. I watch documentaries, listen to music, and read too many (but not enough) books. You can look at any or none of these posts, but they're my favorites of this year. If you have any comments, you can post them to this post!

Have a blessed end of the year!