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!

A Note on Manga (which is totally within the scope of this blog.)

Alright. So.

I have recently become more and more interested in manga. Which is completely different from comic books/graphic novels. Let me show you.

First of all, manga and comics/graphic novels have entirely different styles of art. Comic books and graphic novels reflect Western standards of art; the people, though in a cartoon-y style, have that quality to their face and clothes. That quality I can't describe, because I don't have a degree in Art History (yet). But manga has a more angular quality to the face, with more expressive emphasis on the eyes. There are other differences, as well, in scenery and such like.

They also have different tropes. Comics, in my experience, often involve superheroes, or people with superhuman abilities who save the world (or city) from evil. I realize that is a gross simplification, and anyways, done right the superhero trope can have infinite fascinating variations, and the characterization can be quite good. I admit I am mostly familiar with Superman, Batman, and others (not through reading them, but through pop culture). Again, I am not an expert on comic books by any means, and I am sure there are plenty of exceptions to these guidelines I've set out. 

Graphic novels, from what I see, are often more typical novels in an image form; there's a graphic novel for Artemis Fowl, for some of James Patterson's works, and other such works. Again, I am not an expert on graphic novels. I don't read them as much. But I have come across original writing in graphic novel form (one such is Amulet by Kazu Kibuishi -- which is called a graphic novel in its Amazon review, and does not have that distinctive manga style to the artwork).

But manga is both original art/writing, and is not focused on black and white/good and evil. I've come across many on supernatural themes (Soul Eater, Black Butler, etc), but also on fantasy/sci-fi themes (Full Metal Alchemist, etc), and the characters are generally more... nuanced. There's a fascination on the shades of gray. In Black Butler, for example, Ciel Phantomhive saves Victorian London from evil... but he is cold-hearted himself, and of course his butler is a demon he summoned to help avenge the Phantomhive name. In Full Metal Alchemist, brothers Ed and Alphonse Elric travel the world looking for the sorcerer's stone... but not for idealist standards. They are looking to get their bodies back, after a horrifying and forbidden alchemical ritual to raise their mother from the dead went wrong.

(Let me state again: THESE ARE TROPES. AND I AM NOT AN EXPERT ON SAID TROPES. If you are fascinated by the intricate differences between comic books, graphic novels, and manga, then do some research yourself.)

All of that being said, I do believe manga novels are a legitimate form of media, not inferior to Western artwork, and most definitely can be a books-and-writing sort of topic. A fiction novel sort of topic. Because they are like regular novels, in the sense that they convey a story (in print) through the use of characters, dialogue, backstory, plot, and narrative. And in the same way, anime (the video form of manga novels) are definitely a sort of movie/cinematic form of media, as they do the same as books except in video, moving-picture form. The same as regular movies, only anime. 

Why am I going on about this topic, you may ask? Because I keep meeting people who think anime/manga are inferior/not as good as Western "literature"/find it lowbrow entertainment/ think it's for children. And I've been watching anime, reading manga novels, and I have to say, I don't find these arguments to be true at all.

First of all, why would you compare manga and Western literature? Western literature has survived the ages, yes, but they aren't some objective marker for what is good and pure in the writing world. Western literature has generally survived by fate, luck, what-have-you. For every literary work of literature, there's a hundred good literary works that didn't survive, due to a fluke of time. And manga/anime aren't even Western; why measure them against it? What does that prove? Nothing. They stand on their own feet, and there are just as many good stories in manga/anime as you'll find in any other form of media. 

Second of all, I hate the "lowbrow/inferior entertainment for the masses" argument. That is what sci-fi/fantasy is, as well -- "lowbrow." "Inferior." There are many, many good stories, with intricacies and nuances you miss because you think the work is a fluffy nothing. I hate that argument when I come across it in my favorite genre, fantasy; and I most certainly hate it in anime/manga. It's not even about you insulting my taste in bookish things. It's about your stubborn and worrying hatred of something so... random. They're books, stories -- they won't melt your brain if they aren't considered the Western-literature standard by society. Open your mind a little, and you might find something amazing waiting beneath your nose. 

And third of all -- children? Really? I realize they look a little like cartoons, and cartoons are usually associated with children. But anime/manga is enjoyed by all ages. As are cartoons, and children's books, and other things associated with children (like Froot Loops). And I don't really think anime/manga is geared towards children. Take a look at Attack on Titan, if you hold the opinion manga is for children. I guarantee you won't be thinking that afterwards. Also, that argument ties back in with the other two -- a work isn't childish because it doesn't "compare" with "Western" standards. Because it's mainly composed of pictures, and not even pictures based off of Western ideals of art. They are legitimate stories, and have adult themes in them as often as YA and Adult novels do.

So. Consider some anime/manga, will you? It's a cool section of the bookstore. There are many wonderful, nuanced stories to be found.  

Tiny Pretty Things by Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle

How far is too far?

At one of Manhattan's most elite ballet schools, wafer-thin ballerinas pull their hair into sleek buns and lace their pointe shoes high, waiting for their chance to shine. But beneath the pretty, polished surface, these girls are hiding some terrible secrets and telling some twisted lies.

Prvileged Bette is tiny and beautiful -- like a ballerina in a music box. But living forever in the shadow of her ballet-star sister and under the weight of family expectations brings out a dangerous edge in her. 

Perfectionist June can turn a flawless plie and diligently keeps her weight below 100 pounds. But she's never landed a lead role. Tired of always being the understudy, this year she'll settle for nothing but the best -- even if she must resort to some less-than-perfect means to get there. 

And new girl Gigi isn't your traditional ballerina. A free-spirited California girl, she's not used to the fierce competition. Still, that doesn't stop her from outperforming every dancer in the school. But even she's hiding a ticking time bomb, and the very act of dancing just might expose her secrets to everyone. 

Being a prima isn't all satin and lace; sometimes you have to play dirty. With the competition growing fiercer with every performance, and harmless pranks growing ever darker, it's only a matter of time before one spark ignites... and even the best get burned.

~Print copy, 438 pages
Published by HarperTeen


So, my first review in awhile. Here goes.

Plot: 3/5

The plot was alright. The pacing was pretty well off; the pranks grew steadily more menacing, while Gigi (the butt of most of the pranks) grew more and more tense and on edge. There were places it dragged a little, and there were places that didn't seem to fit with the rest of the plot, things that were brought up and never went anywhere or were mentioned again. One of these things was the (creepy) way Mr. K, the ballet instructor, took sexual favors from girls. But that wasn't even a minor part of the plot, just the basis for a nasty rumor about Gigi that wasn't even one of the worse pranks. And it was just casually tossed in there, and nothing happened with it.

Overall, plot was fine. Not the most engaging plot I've ever encountered, but definitely not the worst. A bit clumsy in places, but tension/pacing were good.

Worldbuilding: 4/5

I didn't have any problem with the worldbuilding, really. It was done well. The book is set in Manhattan, in New York City. But most of the novel doesn't take place outside the walls of the Conservatory. There are several key points when the characters go outside -- most notably at the end -- but the intensity of the girls' ballet practice makes their choice to stay inside completely believable and necessary. I know little about ballet, I confess -- I did take a beginner's class this past spring, but that's about it -- but in my limited experience, the ballet part seemed believable. The technical part of the dancing, I mean, not just the world it's taking place in. But I like the sparse detail and the intense characterization; every detail helps convey that particular viewpoint character's mind. And they all view the details differently.

Characters: 4/5

The thing about the characters isn't really an issue I see other people having with this novel. My main problem is the boy-centered obsessions between the girls, and that sort of thing isn't really my style. (You can find my opinions on romance here.) Gigi and Bette are almost exclusively fighting over priviliged ballet man, Alec. And even my favorite viewpoint character, June, is fighting to steal the boyfriend of her ex-friend, Sei-Jin. The jealousy plays a major role in the bitterness towards Gigi, of course, but more of the drama in this novel seems to come from Alec's attentions and the creepy French boy Henri's attentions towards Bette.

But June is also very centered on her family and her own eating disorder, which makes her my favorite. Suddenly, she isn't trying to be the girlfriend; she's fighting with herself, and her family, as she struggles to find out who she is. Gigi gets everything in this novel, even as she's harassed mercilessly for it; I don't mind her, in a way, because while she gets the man almost right off the bat, you can see the effect the harassment has on her. And Bette -- what I love about Bette is how much mystery there is surrounding her, even as her point of view is being told in first person. The clues are there; the interpretations are several, none confirmed. Bette was handled masterfully by the authors. She is the ultimate mean girl, but she is also crushed by her family, which makes her only slightly sympathetic; and the authors aren't afraid to rip everything away from her. But did she pull the pranks? Did she pull all of them? She is as mysterious as she is mean, desperate, and lonely.

Writing/Theme: 4/5

The writing is pretty well-off in this novel. The tension and pacing, as I mentioned above, were good. I didn't notice any typos at all. And the handling of character and plot arcs are wonderfully done. I don't know what quality is missing, that makes the writing go from "good" to "superior", but I don't sense it. I don't know. Perhaps it is all of the romance, and all of the troubling boy-centered drama that I don't like. I don't like what that says about the characters, and what theme is coming across with it: that girls are only obsessed with boys? That boys are the center of a woman's world, even in a world where there are few boys at all to be worrying about?

And the relationship between Henri and Bette (I'm not confirming an actual relationship, I mean in general terms) is too... weird. Creepy. Henri was the boyfriend of a girl Bette played cruel pranks on, and he becomes really creepy in his attentions -- several times, he's described as pushy, aggressive, too eager, and manipulative. He's constantly threatening to expose her secrets, and yet she continually is described to be somewhat attracted to him. And at one point, Gigi encounters his sexual creepiness, too, which is waved off. Perhaps this rant should be under character, but I don't like the implications of this particular character. It's like nobody sees him for the creep he is, except for (sometimes) Bette.

Ending: 5/5

What I love most about this novel, actually, is the ending. Not in an "I'm glad it's over" sense, but in the sense that it was masterfully executed. I won't spoil it... but it isn't happy, and it isn't tied up all neatly with a bow. There are loose ends and mysteries never solved, and it isn't happy at all. Because this novel isn't a fairy tale, and neither is the dance world it's set in. The ending perfectly conveys the atmosphere of competition that's promised in the summary.

Overall: 4/5 

I do like this novel, despite my dislike of romance. I knew when I picked it up that there would be drama of the boy kind. It seems like all novels inevitably have such drama in it, and I was just sick of trying to find otherwise. But I am glad I picked this novel up, even if I never read it again. I would recommend it to you, if you like contemporary fiction and jealousy and melodrama between girls.

 

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.

I know, I know. It's a New Year.

Welcome to 2015. Enjoy your stay!

Last year, I made a list of resolutions to keep for 2014. Do you want to know how I did?

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.)

#1 -- No. My TBR list grew, if anything. Sadly, my local B&N has closed, as of a few days ago, and now my source of books has become mainly libraries. Happily, there is a library in the small town not too far away from my college, and they have an agreement with my college library -- so I don't even have to leave school grounds to turn in/pick up books!
#2 -- No. It is still yellow. But now that room is my mom's office, and so it is her problem now.
#3 -- No. I still have my learner's permit. Perhaps I shall always have it.
#4 -- Yes. I did manage to turn 18, at least.
#5 -- Yes. I did manage to graduate, It was great, somewhat.
#6 -- No. They even have a knitting group at my college, and I never remember to go. I keep thinking, maybe next week.
#7 -- No-ish. I worked on it once. This past December. And it never came to anything, because my parents are too busy to dig out the kiln and help me fire it.
#8 -- No. They are still here, waiting to be put up. Maybe I'll get around to it this week. Maybe not.

So there you have it. 2/8 of my resolutions last year. Aren't I wonderful at keeping promises. So, what's new this year? My resolutions? They are not quite new, I suppose, they are the same things I have been resolving to do for a long time. Namely:

1. Exercise more. (Say, more than once a month.)
2. Go back to college, study more. (Incur even more debts in the process...)
3. Blog more often. (It's been awhile -- where did December go?)
4. Eat healthier. (Not too hard at college, but near impossible in my own home.)
5. Get out of my (dorm) room more often. (There are plenty of concerts and such like at college.)
6. Play more video games. (Which does not usually feature on people's resolutions, I gather.)
7. Make some jewelry. (I have plenty of pendants, not enough chains, wire, or pliers.)
8. Keep my living spaces cleaner. (Everything I come into contact with becomes cluttered.)

I have a nice schedule next semester, so I'm looking forward to it. Only 13 credit hours, instead of the 16.5 I had last semester. (12 is the lowest required number of credit hours to be considered a full-time student.)

What else? My blogging, I hope, will flourish under a lesser school load. It doesn't seem likely, though, since as you can see, video games is another one of my resolutions. I think I might be able to keep more of them this year. My college is pretty big, land-wise (over 3,000 acres), though there aren't many people (the Class of 2018, my class, is less than 150 people). That means it takes exercise to get anywhere -- it takes about a 5 minute walk to get up to the library, for example, but it's quite hilly and there are a great number of steps in the way. (Did I mention those 3,000 acres are nestled a penny's throw from the mountains?)

The one I think I will have the most trouble with is the last one. I can never summon up enough energy to clean things, unless I am feeling sick. It's odd, I know, but if I am nauseous I will feel this urge to get up and clean the bathroom, or organize my desk, or do my laundry. Luckily, by the end of fall semester I found a new study place that I love -- the laundry room in the basement of my dorm building. It isn't usually busy, and the sound of the laundry machines is soothing. There isn't much in the way of desks or chairs, of course, but there is a nice table under which I can sit and go unnoticed (for the most part).

2014... is over. I am glad. I am scared, too, because I do not know what the new year will bring -- for the first time, I dreaded the new year coming, because can it really be better? The unthinkable has already happened, but is this one of those things where it has to get even worse before it gets better? I hope not. I hope I am allowed a break, to have a happy and healing year. Or if not happy, then at least the latter. The new year will bring what it may, but I hope for a few pauses in which to simmer and boil and have my grief come from an unfinished state to something whole. A part of me, rather than a piercing thorn in my heart.

So, here is a toast to the old year -- a picture of Odin and Mary Shelley. If you scroll through my old posts, you will see a couple pictures of them. They died November 2014 -- just a couple months ago. My older sister -- a wonderful, eccentric person -- was heading to her apartment in Lynchburg when she -- well, they said she must have dozed at the wheel; it was late at night -- she hit a tree. She and her two cats all died. It's been tough, these past few months. But it is the start of a new year, and I don't think Chelsea would have been pleased to have me mope about, doing nothing -- she always used to complain about that. I set a list of things I think would be simple enough to put into practice, and I lowered my credit hours to 13... and I can only hope that with this simplifying of my life, I can find the time to do my life well.

Have a blessed day, and have a happy new year.

Odin.

Mary Shelley. 

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)

It's Been a Long Time -- Or, a Serious Blog Talk.

The time, my friend, has come 
To talk of other things --
Of shoes and ships and ceiling wax,
Of cabbages and kings --
And why the sea is boiling hot, 
And whether pigs have wings.
~Alice in Wonderland (1951) (Disney)

So, I know it has been months. You've stopped noticing. Stopped caring. Moved on with your life, as it were. I'm real sorry about that.

Right now, instead of bits of my own poetry or a book review or some fluffed out rant on romance or summaries, I want to have a Serious Blog Talk. Not the serious talk of I'm-About-to-Quit-Forever. It's the talk of the future and the past, of where I want things with this blog to go, and how I'll keep to a posting schedule.

Because I like this blog. I want to keep it. It keeps me sane, sometimes, to flick through my own sometimes childish or clumsy writings, and to write some more. And goodness knows, these blog posts are easier to read through than 50,000 word manuscripts, or my painful-to-look-at poetry.

My problem is posting it in the first place. I have a hard time getting up the urge to post. I shouldn't listen to "urges" or "the Muse" or anything else -- I know that. I should sit my butt in the chair and work. But this is a lot harder now, at college, where there is a ton of other work that needs to get done -- for example, the two papers I have due next week, or massive amount of textbook reading I haven't gotten to because I've been attending classes, working on shorter, more immediate homework like translating Greek sentences, or attending cool things like the Fall Festival, where we got free mason jars to decorate and popcorn and candy to eat, while sitting around having a normal conversation with friends.

The list goes on and on. And, to make things worse, my life has gotten sticky and sad. I don't want to do much of anything anymore. It was like that before -- before November, before college life, before high school, even. But it's gotten worse, because my sister died.

Chelsea, my older sister, was 22 years old. She got her Bachelor's degree in Biology this past May -- my mother, her, and me all graduated at the same time. We got to stand up at the podium, at the front of the sanctuary at our church, while a line of people came up to congratulate us. She had just started working toward her Master's this semester. She loved bugs, and free food, and drawing, and Dumpster-diving.

She died in a car accident November 2nd, 2014. A couple weeks ago, now. At times, it doesn't hit me -- I sit there and smile, and the thought begins to form -- Chelsea would love this -- and then I choke. What does random Greek sentences matter, in the face of that? What does posting on a blog matter, or reading a book, or attending class?

It's only been a couple weeks. It's as clear and bright and painful as the slowly-growing-colder air. Everything has to keep being arranged, when I want to go back in time -- to 2013, 2012, 2002. Some other time, before such a horrific event, before any of us knew this was coming. When we could have a measure of peace. When we were a whole family, complete -- because we can heal, now, after the event, but we will never be whole without our Chelsea.

But we have to deal with the future, no matter how much we want to go back in time. Life moves forward. My parents have to clean out her apartment. I have to continue my studies, make up the week I lost when I went home for the visitors and the funeral. I have to eat meals, and take showers, and pull out all these blasted sweaters and scarves and fingerless gloves. I got a work-study job, Monday afternoons -- I'll only be making around $22 to $27 a week, but it's money. I need to start thinking about Christmas, of what I'll get my family.

I have a mountain of laundry to do, and blog posts to write. I have a weekend to look forward to -- a trip on Sunday to Richmond, to see the Agecroft Manor or VMFA (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts). Later tonight, my friends are going to the movies, and they invited me.

All of this leads up to my main point, that this blog is going to look a lot different. I didn't want to bring my personal life into this, but it's a personal blog -- it's about books, which are as close to my heart as cats or my family. Well, maybe a bit less, as I've found myself more inclined to stare out windows and feel numb than reading books.

I don't think I can stand, right now, cheeriness and book reviews of lighthearted novels. I can't be enthusiastic about anything, not characters I love or fantastic worlds. I still love them -- I may still gush about them -- but I think that I need to take a step back, and talk more frankly about more. About my own writing. About the books I'm reading for class -- like English Women and War Literature. About the ways I'm keeping track of everything, from my personal reading to my class reading to my writing and personal time.

Poetry, I'll post -- most of it is spur-of-the-moment, stream-of-consciousness, which almost defines my writing. That's what this blog post is, after all. I'll probably still post book reviews, and things I find aggravating in books, like how ridiculous it is when authors try to cram a romance in their novel, for no other reason than to do it, and then don't even mention such a thing in the summary.

Right now, I have many things to do. I want to post, say, once a week. I'll try to do so. It's hard to do anything right now, but I want to try. So, I'll leave it here, and see what comes next week -- if I can keep to my word about this.

English Classes

I sit through
English 108:
Women and Literature.
More like
Women and War.

Greek soldiers,
Mrs. Dalloway,
countless women refugees

Somewhere,
deep within,
a tree creaks under the weight
of
death,
grief,
violence,

I should have --
dropped the class?
But the thought goes
unfinished

Because
it weighs
heavy and silent,
but so, too,
weighs the thought
that perhaps I
should join these authors
some day.

--JDM,
The Girl Who Sits Silent and Listens.

A Small Switchover (Or rather, a Big One)

So, I'm a college student. Hooray and all that.

But what I want to discuss right now is non-fiction vs. fiction. Because I am about to read a slew of articles and textbooks, and quite frankly I'll have to stop this whole "I'm gonna read in bed all day. For fun." attitude. I simply cannot afford to spend all day reading books -- novels -- in bed all day, when I have so much to learn and stuff into my head for tests and just general knowledge in case I do need it later on.*

Today I had Early and Medieval Britain. In which we learned some very interesting things (Cheddar Man, anyone?) but more specifically, my professor gave us a list of books on Celtic and Early Britain, Ireland, and that general area, in case we need to write a paper later on. (Hint hint, nudge, wink.)

And some of the titles look interesting. Lots on ancient Ireland, on Celtic Mythology and just Celtic 101, that sort of thing. And of course, it's likely to be dry reading. Dry as the textbook we have for class. And maybe a little confusing, as names change and there's no written records from that time period and etc.

But maybe I want to try it. Inure myself to the dryness of the text and engage with it in an intellectual way. What does this time period really look like? Primary sources are one thing, but modern books? Our textbook declares that this period of Britain (the 1st millenium, which is to say about from the time the Roman invaded to the time of the Norman conquest) is shaped not just by the Anglo-Saxons -- which is a belief held by a lot of scholars -- but by the whole of Europe.

(Britain at this time is very insular -- they're islands. Separated from the mainland, and not just geographically, but culturally. Rome/Greece was where the "civilization" is -- the Celts, for all intents and purposes, are stuck in a sort of Stone Age, despite the fact that they are brilliant metalworkers. I mean, they're known for painting themselves blue and rushing naked but for their shield into battle, where they are likely to fight with all the might of a mythical Berserker.)

And I want to learn about it. Ireland fascinates me. Mythology fascinates me. And the idea that there are no written records -- that all we have to go on are archaeological finds, like spears and shields and cairns and the like -- excites me. Because, like in literature, there is some level of speculation in this. It's not that my textbook is dead right and I should memorize it -- it's that I am allowed to read it and rip it apart if I like, or I can praise it to the heavens. I can form my own educated opinions, because the text serves the dual purpose of informing/educating me, and letting me decide myself if I believe what I've been given.

This is a revolutionary idea for me. AP classes, sure, tried to teach me that, but for the first time it sinks in -- I am an adult, and now I get to inform myself. It's not just doing homework; I am paying a lot of money to learn, and that I had better do.

And all of this is a roundabout way of saying that, for the time being, perhaps I want to set aside my fiction. Just for a little bit. Maybe just the semester, or just the month. But I kind of want to try my hand at nonfiction, at the reference books I brought with me but didn't think I'd ever get around to reading. At the wealth of knowledge waiting at my fingertips in our library on campus.

And maybe I'll share some of the less-dry ones here with you. My book reviews may be dominated for a while with non-fiction. Or maybe they won't. Maybe my self-imposed sentence will fall apart on me. Maybe I'll spend my time balancing fiction and textbooks.

But a small part of me tells me I need to learn to toughen up. Discipline myself. And where better to start than in my reading style? Like I said, I am up to my ears in student debt. It'd be a shame if that fell apart because I can't sit through reading my textbook. Inure myself to the world of non-fiction. Because I am decently sure that it should be worth some of my attention, too.

I have textbooks in at least six of my seven classes. All of them want me to read and understand. So I'd best get started.

*This is not to say novels teach me nothing and are a waste of time. Novels are very informative. They have taught me, at some time or another, all that I know of myself and the basics of human nature. And, of course, plenty of authors do their research, so I may take some of the general information and know that, too. But what I mean here is that college needs specifics: for example, one of my classes, my Honors Inquiry class (which is worth 1 credit hour, not the usual 3) deals with the history of my college. It used to be a plantation, there's a slave burial ground, even. But I need to research deeply -- through the archaeological and written records, I need to examine the real individuals who worked here, who lived here, and who died here, and how it is all of these people and their influences on the college founder came to the decision to turn this college from a plantation into a college. I need letters from the founder's father, not a novel set in this time period at this college. Because I am dealing strictly with this reality, and therefore I need non-fiction.

I love fiction, but I have never given much attention to non-fiction. And I think it is time for me to try it on, and the best way for me to do so, I think, is to focus on it for awhile exclusively, to get myself into the habit of reading non-fiction. That's my way of doing things: instead of trying to get it to penetrate my daydreams and bring myself to earth, I often incorporate it into my dream world and there it sticks. The details I need.

And also, by the way, this is probably necessary background reading. To understand anything on the history of a place, I need the knowledge. I will still be sitting in bed all day, reading books. But now, I do not have the luxury of reading whatever I want or feel like reading. I just want to pick up the reading I have to do, but also am curious about and want to read, also. This very long aside is because, while I feel a tad guilty for setting it aside, fiction needs to take a backseat while I figure all of this out and make some coherent form of sense in my classes.

Hello, Dear Friends.

It has been a long while. I know. Summer is not the most productive time for me. For some reason, being given all the time in the world to do whatever I want, I invariably choose to sit on the couch watching Bones or Law and Order, while occasionally picking myself up to go sit on my bed to read a book.

However, now that summer is over, I am in college. Yep -- college. Where the cost of textbooks and the amount of homework both pile up as time goes on.

But this is not really what my blog is about. As I mentioned in my last post, this is a reading/writing blog. So I shall endeavor to explain my reading and writing schedule for the next month.

As my laptop has no Microsoft Word, and I am not entirely fond of Open Office, my writing has been moved to pen and paper. This goes slowly, as I am not used to writing out whole drafts. I hardly manage to write out outlines on paper, and I love outlining. As again, my plot is not anywhere near workable -- I know it is this element that is off, somehow, ringing false in my own head. The pivotal element of my previous plots hinge on actions my character has no inclination to do, for it is outside of her personality to choose such options.

But this time I think I may have it right. I always think this, of course: if I didn't think the plot idea was right, then I wouldn't write out a full draft exploring it. But I am learning more about my work as I progress. Each failed plot, each wrong draft brings me closer to a workable one, because it presents to me new angles through which to see my character and setting, and what themes I want it to reflect.

I had thought I knew everything about Spike. I thought I knew her likes and dislikes, her intelligence and grace, her flaws and arrogance and entitlements. But now I realize I have not been able to discern her next move. When confronted with Enemy A, does she back away? Does she engage in conversation? I am sure she doesn't try to fight it out. That is the one move I know she would never pull. Which is why it is very hard to articulate a plot which moves forward smoothly, and which forces her to take that action she would never do.

The move to pencil and paper is a drastic one. It is different, scrawling it out: it takes more time, and it LOOKS different in my handwriting. But working in a computer lab on campus means leaving my dorm room, and anyways, I do not entirely remember where they are. So I am hoping the change in writing equipment is for the better.

Right now, I need to practice Greek, and read up on Early and Medieval Britain, and yes, to keep writing. But I will try to post once a week regarding books I've read, works I'm writing, and perhaps to recommend certain tips to you about research (as that is what college is good for: taking whole classes so you may learn one crucial detail on how your novel plays out).

Have a blessed day.

  

So, an Update Might Be in Order

In case you hadn't noticed, I changed the theme of my blog around. I liked the black and white and blue, but I needed a change.

Lately, I've been thinking more than usual. If you follow my blog, you might have noticed I've posted much less this summer than I have for most of the year. And mostly, I've been thinking over what I want from this blog. (And about cats.* But that's not unusual from me.)

This blog, evident from its name, is really about the Writer Me. The Reader Me. The part of me who'd spend the rest of her life in a library if she could. And yes, the change in its looks goes into that. I like the slightly more mellow look this has; it looks more relaxed and softer, somehow, and that's what the reader part of me looks like: a girl who likes books, and daydreams about being a fairy, and likes writing about her daydreams.

But I feel like I've begun to lose focus. A lot of what I post are book reviews and ranting against random book-ish topics. I started this blog for that, yes. But a large part of what I post is also personal updates, and why I have trouble following a regular schedule. The Writer Me is not my whole identity. But my "whole identity" isn't really a part of this blog. I didn't start this blog for it to be about my whole identity.

And so, henceforth, I plan on posting more book reviews and more book-related topics. Maybe there'll be the occasional gem dug up through the constant research I go through. But I feel uncomfortable just writing stream-of-consciousness here.

I realize the majority of you lovely readers are probably readers. Maybe you are writers, too. Maybe you review books. That's what we have in common: we love books. That's what this blog is about, sharing a love of books.

Now, that still leaves the matter of the rest of me. Like many writers, I have a life outside of my writing. (If I didn't, I would probably end up on the streets; writing doesn't exactly pay well when you haven't even been published yet.) And I want to talk about that, too.

After a lot of thought, I think I might start up another blog, one on the Student Me. The one that wants to go to college, and get good grades, and learn everything I want to know. (The writer part of me likes to conveniently forget homework and studying that I don't want to do.)

Since I am going off to college, I'll be pretty busy. And running two blogs won't help. So, instead of posting on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays (and failing miserably), I'll likely post on one blog every Monday, and the other every Friday. With maybe the occasional Wednesday post. I'm thinking I'll post on here on Fridays, since the weekend is when I do most of my writing/reading/random research.

But I want to know what you think. Should I keep a separate blog for my more personal life? Or do you like my sporadic, stream-of-consciousness posts under my Life In General tag? Comment on this post or vote in my poll!

Have a blessed July day and enjoy these photo of my sister's kittens. :)

*Odin: his main talents are looking cute and knocking things over. Also, he's very good at being curious and taking his medicine.

Mary Shelley: fun-loving, adorable, and very jealous that she is no longer the center of attention. But I still love her.

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.

And... I'm officially a graduate.

Today, I woke up thinking about how everyone else has to go to school.

My younger sisters and my younger brother all have school for this week. But I graduated on Saturday. I graduated. I will never be going back to high school again. 

It is both a scary and glorious feeling, this newfound freedom. I can go to college because I want to -- not because I have to. I can get a job. Move out of the house, if I had any money. Shoot, I can sit in my room all day without worrying about my school attendance and whether I'm doing all the homework I need done. Because I don't have any homework. There's no school attendance anymore. I'm done with that.

And yet, I keep this almost obsessive need to repeat those patterns. I signed up for two free online classes this summer on Coursera: one of Greek&Roman mythology and one on how, sociologically speaking, innocent people can end up in prison for a crime they never committed. (They sound interesting. If anyone's interested, you can easily search coursera.org for the classes -- it's actually a pretty well-organized site, with tons of different classes taught for free by various colleges and universities.)

Why would I sign myself up for more classes, with homework and learning and stuff? I'm not actually a fan of how education is orchestrated in this country. There's too much telling, dictating what should be memorized for a quiz/test. There's not enough emphasis on showing, on learning and that "Eureka! That's why this works!" feeling.*

But I did. I still want to learn. It's worth it, for those "Eureka!" moments when I'm trawling through the lectures and the supportive readings and the grueling agony of having to come up with an intelligent response to what I've just been lectured on. For that moment where I'm like, "So that's how Tabasco sauce is made. Wait, there are concerns for the Pompeii site today, because all the traffic that goes through wears it down? That makes so much sense!"**

That's why I'm going to college. That's why I thirst for a higher degree, a Bachelor's, a Master's, a Doctorate. That's why I plan on majoring not in English or Creative Writing, but in archaeology -- because archaeology actively searches for more knowledge about a place, through digging, through interpretation and scientific techniques. Worst case scenario: I hate my day job as an archaeologist, but unconsciously incorporate all of the history and psychology and science I know from the job into my writing. Best case scenario? I get all of my interests satisfied -- not just writing, but the culture and day-to-day details of history. I get to know more, learn more, in inter-disciplinary field, and still combine it with the fiction writing craft I love.

I've also got quite a few reference books waiting to be read. From several collections of fairy tales, legends, and myths, to writing craft books, to library books on beekeeping, forensic science, and ancient inventions, I plan to keep reading and researching all summer long. Not because I have to for some class. Just... for fun. For writing purposes (research is amazingly relevant for otherworldly fantasy). To broaden my base of knowledge, so I'm not left in the dark when it comes to any references to mythological works in literature. (And for when I go off to college!)

This summer, I am probably going to get a job at the factory where my parents work (well, my father -- my mother's busy with Master's classes at the moment). Eight hours a day, or four if it's part-time (obviously, nothing's been decided or talked about -- I graduated two days ago, for glory's sake), doing menial work with people I may or may not like, but it won't be my choice to just not work with them. From my parents' complaints, some of them won't even be industrious workers -- just people who'll watch me work and take the credit for working hard.

It'll be a lot like high school. And that's why I'm hoping that I will be able to cover the cost of college (~$5k) with scholarships and grants, and get the editing done on my novel in record time, and sending out queries and getting like, an instant response, all before college starts and maybe I'll have an advance in my pocket to spend on books and groceries. (I realize how impossible a dream that is, by the way -- even with all the free time in the world, I have a particular habit of procrastination which'll keep me from spending all that time productively.)

But I've got books to read and notes to take and two online classes to listen to. I'll be filling out paperwork for college, going to B&N and the library, pretending I know what on earth I'm doing while I experiment in cooking my own meals. (I'm going vegetarian, but the rest of my family isn't. They seem to think foregoing meat and junk food will kill them. "The protein!" they cry. "The iron!")

So, I don't think falling into the routine of familiarity will be entirely a negative experience this summer. I just got out of school, yea, and taking more classes over the summer while I wait for college classes to start seems crazy. But I've got this. I've got books. I've got the thinking capacity. And, if I'm honest, I desire to be productive this summer, not just lazing about on the couch or on my bed.

(Though, to be even more honest, there are documentaries to be watched. I will spend a goodly portion of my summer watching documentaries and reading random internet articles. Where else would I learn how Tabasco sauce is made? Programs on the History channel, the Science channel, and the -- what's it called? The Bio Channel. It's changing its name to the FYI channel, apparently, come July. Anyways, I consider such educational TV channels and shows to be a supplement to my research.)

Maybe I'll get some more scholarships. Maybe I'll finish my edits and query. Maybe I'll be researching while I watch Food Tech and How It's Made. And maybe I'll find a few talents in cooking, or in working with the clay that sits beside my desk and calls my name, or in building worlds and characters with precise words. Even while a heavy weight sinks in my chest at the thought of what can bind me and drag me down this summer, I can still hold out hope of acquiring new skill or knowledge.

Have a blessed day.

*Yes, that is an overt reference to the writing maxim, "Show don't tell." We can all learn that lesson, writers or not.

**The site gets worn down by tourists, by the way. Yea, there's a recreation of Pompeii, with all the plaster molds and everything, and people like archaeologists and managers and stuff are legitimately concerned. People who take small "souvenirs", the crowds wearing down the roads, people with heavy backpacks who accidentally knock against a section of wall or something? All wear it down. I read some articles on it a few months ago, when I was taking an online course on Coursera about archaeology.