AKA: True crime only fueled my paranoia. And yet... I liked it?
So, at this big interview thing, my interviewer (seems like bad word choice) asked me what genre I disliked the most. And I just blurted nonfiction. I don't know, I guess I was thinking of my social studies text book (which does include tidbits of fun; like really fancy people in the middle east used to have parties where people would admire their super expensive, imported tulips, at night, by candlelight. Candles on top of turtles. Yes.). But generally, that book is awful. The lady tries to butter me up, talking about this book, Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand. It's about a shipwrecked Olympian runner who fought in World War II.
We were selecting nonfiction to read for Lit, and for who knows what reason, I started looking for In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote. I saw Unbroken near by, and honestly, it looked so much better. But In Cold Blood is a classic, and I felt like impressing my teacher by subjecting myself to reading it in a ridiculously tight timeframe.
The book takes place in the late fifties to mid sixties, so it'd be a lot of fun. Except, the book starts out from the perspective of the Clutter Family (alternating between a religious father, Herb Clutter, a quiet fifteen year old son, Kenyon, a popular sixteen year old daughter, Nancy and a mother with depression, Bonnie), and then to the perspective of Perry Smith, and Richard Hickock, their murderers, as it recounts the last day of their life.
After that it goes from the alternating perspective of the killers and the detectives.
The thing about the book is that... when you read a good fictional book, you are pulled into a different world. And when you read nonfiction you're generally aware that it's the real world. It's weird that for me, this means that nonfictional people- real people- are the two-dimensional ones, they're dead and gone, or they exist in a world that's unnatainable to you, but that you are still aware of... so I don't care. They're doing what they do... or did what they did, and unless they say or do something really prolific I don't feel like I'm the one keeping them alive (Yeah, apparently I am a host for parasitic fictional characters).
But in In Cold Blood I felt like I was keeping the Clutters alive, and more powerfully than that, that I was keeping Perry Smith alive. It was said that Truman Capote fell in love with Perry Smith. Half of the book is actually from Perry's perspective. This man is a killer. A heartless killer. And no one lies about that. He's despicable. But this book explores the other facets of the human personality. It's a book that doesn't objectify people to a single aspect of their personality.
I'm not one to sympathize with killers, out of the blue, or because of a 'troubled past'. And at the same time, I wanted to cry at Kenyon and Nancy's childish naivety. The Clutters were portrayed as truely as possible, and as wonderful people. So you read this book and you have these conflicting emotions. A good family that you feel like you knew, was killed. And for forty bucks. So you want justice, but at the same time, you see Perry as this abused child who still wets the bed, cries, and sucks his thumb. A boy who was treated unjustly because of his ethnicity, a friendless, loveless man who dreams of traveling the world. A musical genius who loves little kids, who declares no prejudices, whose fingers are stained with paint and loves animals.
After I read this book, I haven't looked at recent mass murderers and thought, 'That guy just needs a hug', and sometimes when I was reading the book I had to pause and think, 'This isn't fiction. These people are evil'. Have you ever wondered how you would feel if a friend was a murderer? You felt like his friend. A friend of the murderer and the murdered. And it tears you apart a little.
So Nonfiction can be fun. And traumatizing? Maybe. OH! I finished reading Looking for Alaska, by John Green, speaking of traumatizing. It was great! I'm super sorry I waited so long to post anything. I'm a terrible person. But I hope that this convinced you to... read a book about your friendly neighborhood mass murderer. If it did, then my job is done. Bye!
LES MISERABLES: One of the saddestlongestmost depressingwordiest best books out there!
...I'm certainly not shamelessly promoting this book in the vague hope that I'll become annoying enough to where you'll *cough* Sara *cough* read it....seriously, you should've seen this post coming. I've only been ranting about it for weeks on end, stalking around Tumblr, and furiously pinning anything remotely Les Mis related on Pinterest...it's getting really bad actually. I'm going to annoy all my friends away. HA! What friends? Anywho, this post is going to be a spoiler free review/rant/feels vent (hopefully my Pinterest board hasn't already spoiled it...seriously...DON'T LOOK AT IT), so here we go!
Okay, first of all, if you can't tell by the picture, this book is ginourmous. I'm not kidding. Even the fandom affectionately calls it 'The Brick'...I'm relatively sure that you can severely injure someone with it. It clocks in at around 1,088 pages and is among the longest books ever written. To be honest, I may have never read it if I wasn't forced to for my English class (and we read the abridged version that was 500 pages; I'm currently wading through the full version). But I'm telling you, if you simply ignore the length, this book is jaw-droppingly beautiful and entertaining; just as any good book should be. In my opinion, the book wouldn't be the same without being so long. Since Victor Hugo (the author) writes so densely, the reader is forced to slow down and absorb the material; there's no way you can speed through this book AND comprehend it in, say, a weekend. The characters in this book must endure a long, winding journey and the reader is encouraged to experience that journey with them.
Les Miserables takes place in 19th century France, and the better half of the book centers around not the French Revolution (as most who have not read the book incorrectly believe), but rather, the June Rebellion of 1832 (I suggest not googling it unless you don't mind minor spoilers). The main character is a convict named Jean Valjean (NO, it is not pronounced Jeen Valjeen) who was sentenced to twenty years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his starving family. Sounds harsh, right? Admittedly, he did try and escape prison one or two...okay, LOTS of times which may or may not have piled on more years in prison, but still. It's prison. Who wouldn't try and escape? Anyways, I don't want to give away too much, but Jean Valjean basically breaks his parole and for the rest of the book, he's on the run from a justice-obsessed police officer named Javert (it's not Jah-vert by the way...it's Jah-ver). And of course, there's a ton of coincidental run-ins with an entire cast of characters who are, you guessed it, miserable in one way or another. Fair warning: YOU WILL CRY. It isn't literally called The Miserable for nothing. And since this is a literature blog, I'll spare you from hearing me rant about the amazingly wonderful and beautiful and awesomely fantabulous musical and recently released musical movie...but seriously, once you read the book, WATCH THEM BOTH. Well, goodbye for now, and I'll see you all next week unless I decide to procrastinate again !
P.S. Don't worry, I'm going to read Howl's Moving Castle as soon as I finish Graceling (I'm almost done with it and it's AWESOME!).
That’s right. I’m going to go through all of the books that
I read in 2012, in no particular order, excepting the first series. Finishing this post was like trying to remember everything I've eaten since last January. The new year started out with myth and magic and Quidditch. And
I’ll start… NOW!
Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling- Sometimes when you’re young…
and me, you don’t get on board with all of the trendy books; that was a bad
idea. I’ve decided I’m going to run off and attend Hogwarts… even if I'd be a little too old to be a first year. Honestly, the characters and the beautiful writing were just as magical as the plotline, and all of the charms in Hogwarts, with plenty of gut-wrenching character deaths to keep things interesting.
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte- I thought this book would
be scary. But it was dark and romantic and kind of morbidly hilarious. So I
read it, and reread it, and I still laugh at all of the wrong times; it’s kind
of one of my most favorite books now.
The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening by L. J. Smith- Where the heck was Ian Somerhalder? Haha, no. It was so different from the show, I mean, it was kind of it's own world- no universe. But I have to give it credit for spawning a brilliant tellivision show and I'm setting out to finish the series.
Delirium by Lauren Oliver- At Samantha’s urging I read this
book… and I would say I fell in love with it, but that’d mean I’d face some
serious surgery in this lovely dystopian world. I mean, I’m reading this book
and then everything explodes- love.
Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver – AND THEN I READ THE SEQUEL! In
practically a few hours, which I’m sure is horribly unnatural. This is the
series one must read when they’re facing withdrawal from The Hunger Games.
Divergent by Veronica Roth- Books with typology attract
people- or maybe, again, this might just be me. But either way, this was a year
of Dystopian novels, and this one was also explosive (Aside from being
descriptive and fun and terribly frightening).
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchel- Scarlett, for being
a bitch, is one of the most hilarious, honest characters. And when I say honest
I mean to herself- to her audience. Rhett and Ashley didn’t know the half of
what went through that girl’s head. BAH! I just want to own Tara and marry
Rhett Butler and tell Melanie that she is a fantastic person! Books. They do
this to me.
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold- Well this was tragic. One of
the many tear-jerkers I divulged in this year. And boy did I cry! It was a
beautiful, horrible tragedy, a dream-like book with an ending that just makes
everything in the entire freaking world worthwhile.
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green- Ah! Here’s another one
of those beautiful tragedies. Literally. Have you ever cried for half of a
book? And I don’t mean shed a tear. I mean you couldn’t FREAKING see the words
on the page and you had to stop reading to calm yourself down before you could
finish. And you just doubted everything in the world and everything was sad.
But this book was more than that it was funny and dreamy and wonderful.
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas- 5000 odd pages
of craziness. It was told in such a way that made the pages fly and made you
feel like you were really living on the edge.I mean what would you really do with a butt-load of money and a ton of
enemies that had totally wrecked your life? Well just go at them! And then in
the end, do something ridiculous, because you freaking can.
Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones- I initially
doubted my decision to read a book written in the eighties for sixth graders.
And by initially I mean, before I began. And then I read it and bleh! I fell in
love with a narcissistic wizard and just want to live in this fairy tale world
forever. I mean, this is one of the best books I read this lovely year, albeit
designed with a much younger audience in mind.
The Lost Hero by Rick Riordin- I fell in love with Mr. Rick
Riordin’s amazing interpretation of Greek and Roman Mythology, when I thought I
wouldn’t. It had been so long wince I read Percy Jackson and the Olympians that
I didn’t realize how much I loved these books. Everything is right again.
Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David
Levithan- It was the weirdest Christmas book I’ve ever read. Well… not the
weirdest. I mean, it was a story with an epic mismatch of personalities. And a
love story that came together in a beautiful, nerdy way.
Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton- it was a brutally
honest book, and although I might not give it enough credit, it was required
reading after all, it was sort of enlightening, in a weird way. I mean it was
about a spiritually aware man that had more than his share of faults trying to
come to terms with everyone else’s faults, but better than my explanation of
it.
Night by Elie Wiesel- This was one of the most depressing
things I’ve ever read. Not in a sob-fest sort of way, just a ‘well there is no
hope for humanity’ sort of way, which is awful. But it was all true. Which is
even more awful.
The Unidentified by Rae Mariz- It’s a Dystopian novel… I
think… it was really, really cool, and completely atypical. It’s kind of that
wild, crazy, amazing dream. You go to a mall every day to follow this really
loose interpretation of ‘learning’… what could go wrong? But really. Can I live
in this book?
Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan-
This was freaking hilarious and kind of perfect. I meanit’s John Green, right. So perfection- bound
to happen. But honestly, it was clever and cute and beyond hilarious. It was a
rough start. I mean, I liked one Will Grayson better than the other. And then I
realized they were both sidesplitting, so all was well.
Flash Burnout by L. K. Madigan- I read depressing things.
This is a conclusion I have recently come to. This book was indeed, sad. Most
of the book felt kind of hopeless, but it was a book about the beauty in your
struggles and the hopefulness of friendship, only in more words.
I Saw Zombies Eating Santa Claus by S. G. Browne- Haha, this was the weirdest Christmas book I've ever read. And yet, as promised in all the reviews it was endearing, and funny. It really got me thinking about more plausible zombie apocalypses, ya know? (I am obsessed with zombies o_O)
I feel like I should have read more books than this. Perhaps
I’m just slacking… or maybe my memory is awful and I have read more. Who knows? Here’s a funny quote from a book I’ve
never read.
“It struck me as
pretty ridiculous to be called Mr. Darcy and to stand on your own looking
snooty at a party. It's like being called Heathcliff and insisting on spending
the entire evening in the garden, shouting "Cathy" and banging your
head against a tree.” ― Helen Fielding, Bridget Jones's Diary
Just keeping it interesting. I’m a sucker for a good quote,
and I admit, I’m a sucker for Heathcliff, even though he’s a freak. Sorry for
posting so late! And happy almost birthday Sam!
You see, my original plan was to blame my needlessly long absence on the hecticness of NaNoWriMo, but seeing as I actually didn't complete much of anything during NaNo and it's WAY past November...I have no excuse...so deal with it. Anyways, I'm never sure what to post after a really long absence, so I just ramble in little short posts like these and try to make it look like I have a reason for not posting...so yeah...rambling has commenced...and is quickly fizzling out as I run out of things to say...you know, I have an idea! We're only five days away from Christmas, so how about some literature related Christmas songs? ENJOY!! :D
Twelve Days of the Hunger Games
Cedric Baby (not sure what to make of the puppet...)
The Twelve Days of ChristMiz (Yep, this is Les Miserables Sara! But don't worry, you may not understand any of the references, but it's not spoilery)
That's all for now, folks!! Happy holidays, everyone!!
I FREAKING LOVE THESE!! I was laughing so hard. Gotta say, Wuthering Heights is my favorite. Basically my thoughts as I read that book. I can't remember what I ate for breakfast and this chick can remember entire conversations she had at the age of twelve. Well, I appologize for my (EXTREME) lateness. Obviously, you can tell I've been up to a lot... what with looking up stuff like this. There are more Better Book Titles...HERE.
I don't know about everyone else who is planning on participating in NaNoWriMo 2012, but with just a month left until it kicks off, I am in one hundred percent panic mode. I can barely find the time simply to do my homework right now. How do I think I'm going to deal with all my school responsibilities as well as write an entire friggin' novel IN ONE MONTH. That doesn't even include all the other craziness in my life. Madness, I tell you. Madness. I guess the worst part for me is that I'm a perfectionist, and NaNoWriMo is all about not worrying about writing something absolutely amazing and instead simply writing. The whole idea of turning your inner editor "off" is going to be a challenge for me considering that my inner editor seems to be permanently working overtime. I told myself I was going to prepare myself in advance. Maybe outline a plot, create an entire cast of characters, develop complex themes, etc, etc. But you know, master procrastinators like me can't be bothered with "working ahead". So here I am with nothing but two underdeveloped characters and a vague idea for a story...in other words, I'm screwed. But you know what? I DON'T CARE. I'm going to do NaNoWriMo, even if what I write ends up being the single worst thing ever to be written in the history of writing and deserves to burned to a pile of ashes. I'll just have to edit like a crazy person right after and refuse to reveal it until I finish. So I hope you're ready Sara, because we may or may not lose our sanity in November (like it already isn't hanging by a thread).
Basically. I bought a lot of books this spring/summer/early autumn. But there's a catch.
I bought them all at yard sales and estate sales and thrift stores. It's like adopting a rescue dog versus buying from a puppy mill. Which is a pretty darn good simile.
Anyway all of these second hand places sell them cheap, and by cheap I mean two dollars or less. For the point of this comparison I'll say that I paid two dollars for every book. There were a few gifts from second hand bookstores that accept store credit. I'll get into those first. Hard back books are bold.
STORE CREDIT:
Harry Potter and the... Prisoner of Azkaban Goblet of Fire Order of the Pheonix Half Blood Prince Deathly Hallows
Wuthering Heights
I recieved a kindle for christmas, and if you have a special amazon account you can get some of the classic books free so I have these on there right now...
FREE EBOOKS:
Wuthering Heights
Household Tales of the Brother's Grimm
Jane Eyre
Byron's Poetical Works, Vol 1
1,001 Arabian Nights
Vanity Fair
Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Emma
Call of the Wild
And then I bought a book on my kindle... for one dollar.
EBOOKS:
The Count of Monte Cristo
On to the yard sales/ estate sales/ goodwill... I'll lump them all together....
SECOND HAND:
The Help
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Gone With the Wind
The Lovely Bones
The Da Vinci Code
The Lucky One
My Sister's Keeper
Out of Africa
His Dark Materials...
The Golden Compass
The Ameber Spyglass
Sunday's at Tiffanys
The Vampire Lestat
Life of Pi
Wicked
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
The Vampire Diaries...
The Awakening
The Fury
Dark Reunion
Jurassic Park
I bought some books full price, I must digress... Well, just two...
FULL PRICE:
A History of the World In Six Glasses
Delirium
And amazon has a special on soft backs, I'm not sure if it still stands but there's a buy two get one deal.
BTGO:
The Vampire Diaries:
The Struggle
And I had to complete my Harry Potter set so I bought the following on ebay...
EBAY:
Harry Potter and the... Sorcerer's Stone Chamber of Secrets
So all in all that's 40 books. So if I bought them new it would look something like this... hard backs would be $20.00 and soft backs would be $10.00, but I'm rounding everything up to two dollars (the price of hard backs at your average thrift store and leaving free things free. I'll do a little comparrison.
Full price I would have paid $490.
But I paid $65.
Technically less. Most of the books were a dollar or less which would have made that about $55... maybe less than that.
So that's exciting. It's kind of amazing where you can find books and how cheap they can be compared to their retail value. I saved four-hundred and twenty-five dollars. That's a freaking lot.
So... buy second hand, your saving book puppies from being put down, and you're saving your money... from a similar demise.
This little exercise also clued you in on some of the things I've decided to read soon. I've only read The Harry Potter Books, Sundays at Tiffanys, The Lovely Bones, Delirium, The Awakening, Wuthering Heights, Gone With the Wind, The Count of Monte Cristo, and some of the Grimm's Household Tales. Oh! And the History of the World in Six Glasses, but that was required. I've almost finished my side of the swap, so I have also read The Fault in Our Stars and Pandemonium. I'm reading the 'Curious Incident....' right now, and it's pretty darn good, but I'd like to get into either His Dark Materials or The Lord of the Rings... I don't know, either way. I have an essay to write first!
Sorry I didn't post yesterday, by the way Sam, I have to cram all of my homework in, last minute fashion and all of this math just irks me. I'm sure I miscalculated somewhere, just a little bit. Most likely counting the books. Ah, whatever! Looking forward to your post next week. It's nearly October... which means nearly one month till... NOVEMBER. o_O BYE!
Yes, I'm aware that it isn't Friday. I really have no excuse for not posting. I know. I'm a despicable human being. Here's a hamster to make it all better:
Yep, I haven't posted in two weeks and I think that Sara wants to kill me I need to make up for it, so I'm going to try and make this an interesting post by just sharing everything I think is awesome and deserves to be shown off to you, Sara, and the rest of the world. Music, television shows, movies, etc. Don't worry, it's still relevant to the overall literature theme of our blog. They're all things that inspire me creatively :) See, it relates!
Okay, first off: music. Oh, do I have a crap ton of songs to share. I'm just going to list them, but you will notice, Sara, that I've already told you about a bunch of them. I just couldn't resist posting them here though! Okay, here we go in no particular order:
Animal-Neon Trees
Prodigal-OneRepublic
Breakdown-Jack Johnson
Hazy-Rosi Golan feat. William Fitzsimmons
Kill Your Heroes-Awolnation
Lego House-Ed Sheeran
Kings and Queens-30 Seconds to Mars
World Spins Madly On-The Weepies
Round and Round-Imagine Dragons
Accidentally In Love-Counting Crows
Here I Am-Bryan Adams
This Is War-30 Seconds to Mars
You Could Be Happy-Snow Patrol
All Eyes-Imagine Dragons
Banana Pancakes-Jack Johnson
Bloodstream-Stateless
Wake Up-Awolnation
Hurricane-30 Seconds to Mars
Everybody Talks-Neon Trees
I Don't Mind-Imagine Dragons
Darling I Do-Landon Pigg & Lucy Schwartz
I Will Follow You Into The Dark-Death Cab For Cutie
Marchin On-OneRepublic
Beggars-Thrice
The A-Team-Ed Sheeran
Found You-Ross Copperman
The Man Who Can't Be Moved-The Script
Meteor Shower-Owl City
Amsterdam-Imagine Dragons
I Will Always Return-Bryan Adams
Look After You-The Fray
Far Away-Nickelback
Vox Populi-30 Seconds to Mars
Demons-Imagine Dragons
Pieces-Red
Iridescent-Linkin Park
All This Time-OneRepublic
I Need a Hero-Jennifer Saunders
It's Time-Imagine Dragons
Fix You-Coldplay
They'll Never Know-Ross Copperman
Iris-The Goo Goo Dolls
Turning Page-Sleeping At Last
Alibi-30 Seconds to Mars
Radioactive-Imagine Dragons
Be Still-The Fray
Better Together-Jack Johnson
Kiss Me Slowly-Parachute
Give Me Love-Ed Sheeran
Digging My Own Grave-Thrice
Run-Katherine McPhae
Run-Snow Patrol
Search and Destroy-30 Seconds to Mars
Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall-Coldplay
Rhythm of Love-Plain White T's
Everybody Loves Me-OneRepublic
On My Way-Phil Collins
Kick Drum Heart-The Avett Brothers
Rescue Me-Daughtry
Rubik's Cube-Athlete
Dark Prince-Young Heretics
Whew! That enough music for you? I told you it was a ton. Okay, now onto my favorite shows of all time again, in no particular order (I'm pretty sure you know every single one of these, Sara :P):
Merlin
Avatar: The Last Airbender (the SHOW not the movie!!)
The Vampire Diaries
The Legend of Korra
And here are some shows that I'm seriously considering watching:
Game of Thrones
Doctor Who
So, are you tired yet? Yes? Well too bad, cause' now we're moving on to movies!!! :D Here are my top picks (I'm sure there's more, but I'm having a hard time remembering them all):
The Hunger Games
Tangled
War Horse
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
Shrek 1 & 2
All the Harry Potter Movies (of course!)
Next up, are trailers for movies that I am DYING to see:
Rise of the Guardians (Jack Frost is ADORABLE)
Epic
Whelp, I hope this incredibly long post suffices for my equally incredibly long absence! I'll be back next week!!
~Sam
EDIT: I totally forgot to mention The Help in favorite movies!!!
I've been listening to a lot of music lately... and writing down songs and artists... everywhere... seriously. Mirrors, notebooks, scraps of paper, on my hands. I'ts because I'm planning for nanowrimo.That's write.
Now that we have returned to our blog I have returned to my puns. Be excited. All dull puns aside, we have been preparing for nanowrimo for a good solid three months, maybe longer, right? I feel so pressured. It's my first year doing this... I hardly have enough time as is to finish homework... and I want to just write it now! But I can't, so I'm preparing... I've been looking up strange medieval recipes analyzing personality types... sifting through meaningful names... and I've bought two HUGE reference books full of fashion through the ages. Not to mention trying to narrow in on a specific time period and hammering out those weird plot holes in the original story.
So I have been listening to music... a lot of music. There are always some songs that really capture what you're story is about... so you listen to them. Again and again and again and again... so on and so on, etc. Jackson Pearce talked about how she bought three hours of ocean music to listen to when writing her modern day adaptation of The Little Mermaid.
So I'm really curious. Do you do this too Sam? I'm really curious about that book you just posted about. I know you said it's short but really... I need to read this thing! Sorry about the short post but I have been SO lazy today. And I lost my phone. So basically today I cleaned my room... slept... and tried to catch up on the second season of Awkward. needless to say, I also listened to a bunch of music. I'll just jump right into that playlist.
Snow Patrol- What if the Storm ends?
Corinne Bailey Rae- Like a Star
Christina Perry- Arms
AWOLNATION- Sail
Florence + the Machine- No Light, No Light
Fever Ray- The Wolf
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros- Home
A Fine Frenzy- Electric Twist
Passion Pit- Moth's Wings
Gregory and the Hawk- Boats and Birds
Ellie Goulding- Starry Eyed
Bats for Lashes- Wilderness
Coldplay- Princess of China
Keane- Somewhere Only We Know
Alex Goot- Lightning
King of Anything- Sara Bereilles
Asha Ali- The Time is Now
VV Brown- Shark in the Water
Imagine Dragons- On Top of the World
Amy Winehouse- Back to Black
Peter Bjorn and John- Young Folks
Drops of Jupiter- Train
Bruno Mars- Mary You
There's more... of course. But those were some of the main ones. If you look through them you'll notice that they all involve either astrology, meteorology, royalty... or sound like a Disney Princess would sing them while dancing through a meadow. Well... maybe a couple are plot oriented. We need to have a playlist on this blog. I'll take the liberty of starting one right this instant! Bye
Well it has been a long hiatus my friends; too long. We can just pretend that I was gone for two weeks instead of two months (I apologize profusely for that). Anywho, this is just a quick notice to let you all know that I'm back and ready for some awesome blogging action! My posts will be back on schedule, so it's safe to say I'll have a new post up next Friday. Get ready, Sara; we have some major blogging to do ;)
*No fireworks of any kind areinvolved in this blog post.
**Notices are. Yeah, sorry.
Through complications that have arisen Samantha will be rendered unable to blog for the next two weeks... however, we are experimenting with some other blogging ideas that might work, such as a couple little 'About us', Q&A type of posts.
But if you actually read this blog do not be deterred! We'll have lots of fun things this month! Besides the Q&A's which I promis if we actually post them will be amazing. We're doing a swap! I feel awful for posting two boring and yet verbose paragraphs explaining basically we aren't doing anything for a couple weeks, so I'll post the titles and brief pitches of some of the books I'm contemplating swapping.
Feed M. T. Anderson:
Samantha loves dystopian novels, and personally, this is my favorite in the genre or at least on par with the Hunger Games, while it lacks action it's more of the classic oblivious citizens, domineering government scenerio. It follows the story of a wealthy teenage boy named Titus and Violet, who has a dysfunctional feed but is very conscious of politics and aware of the looming war and rapidly deteriorating environment. It's so eye opening and entertaining. I bawled, but that might just be me.
Wuthering Heights Emile Bronte:
Wuthering Heights stands strong ont the edge of the English moors, the moors are without common law, a wild and feral place where a misanthropic boarder of Thrushcross Grange finds himself. Thrushcross Grange is under the control of the mysterious wealthy Gypsy who also reins control over the imposing fortress Wuthering Heights. Upon visiting the Heights he finds the sparse inhabitants harbor hatred and paranoia for their master, Heathcliff. Upon spending the night in the room of the late Catherine Earnshaw, that the Heights, specifically Heathcliff are haunted. The story is told through an elderly maid who grew up with Catherine Earnshaw, her brother, and Heathcliff. It's dark and gothic but really fantastic.
As You Wish Jackson Pearce:
I talked about Jackson Pearce in my fairy tale post, but here it goes again. Viola has had relationship problems, and by that I mean her last boyfriend turned out to be homosexual, and although he's still her best friend she feels that her peers think she's invisible, and as an aspiring artist she paints this invisibility, all the while wishing she were whole or visible again. Jinn a genie or djinn who is supposed to keep an impersonable and respectfull relationship with Viola then falls into her life, but after three wishes are up she will forget she ever met him.
Gone with the Wind Margaret Mitchell:
I talked about Gone with the Wind in another post as well... but a little shorter and more about plot. Scarlett O'Hara is the belle of the county, with the smallest waist and the most beaux she is despised by all of her fellow women, including her sisters. She strings men along, stealing them from dowdy relationships purely for fun but really has eyes only for Ashley Wilkes, who's dreamy looks and artistic mind are unatainable. Then the war starts. It's a story laden with good looking men, beautiful clothes, of poverty and wealth, of the Confederates on their rise and collapse, of reconstruction and marriage, of children and slaves. It's just everything old and a little frayed around the edges, with patches of darkness and sprinkles of light.
The Once and Future King T. H. White:
King Arthur. Merlin. Guinevere. Lancelot. Gawaine. It's all just very old and mythical, and nerdy. A lot nerdy. Arthurian Legend is in my opinion degraded. But how can an old story that has stayed strong through centuries, of faries and wizards, of unicorns and knights... of swords in stones... be degraded? Arthur was hidden as a child, given to a noble family and raised as a second son affectionatly called Art, but destined for virtually nothing great. He dreams of becoming The Black Knight and standing up for chivalry, and he tells this to a man he comes across in a forest, a man who supposedly ages backwards from the end of time to the beginning, named Merlin. From turning into fish to pulling the sword from the stone to the love triangle between his fair wife Guinevere and his most skillfull knight, Lancelot, this book is worth reading.
I lied. I'm a hufflepuff. This is a post about personality typing. A subject near and dear to my heart, that plagues my mind day and night. Well... maybe not so much. But I think it's really cool! ~ The dork
I think you've seen Whitney Lee Milam's video on youtube entitled Personality Typing + Hogwarts Houses. Well if you haven't... I will provide it... right below these sentences. There.
Well, I'm going to try to elaborate on her video as well as try to simplify the different systems in the most convenient ways possible. Yes. Personality typing is super complex and really inaccurate. I mean. How can you honestly expect to fit perfectly into a mold? Before I start I need to rant a minute. I'm already dreading explanations, because I have so much to say.
When I watch movies or more often television shows with lots of characters, most recently Lost, I think... I bet many of these people have overlapping personality types... be it the sixteen modern PTypes, or the four humors (four temperaments), or the sixteen Myers Briggs types. So on a show with seventeen characters there has to be overlapping. It's really fun to type strangers, if not creepy.
A lot of people make tests to try to sort you or type you, but they include questions like 'If a woman was dying and you could provide medicine, would you?' Which basically catagorize you into two types 'heartless' and 'normal'. (Hufflepuff speaking)
But before I explain the shortcuts, I'll tell you how I typed myself. Hello, I'm Sara, I'm phlegmatic, Conscientious, an INFP, a virgo, and a Hufflepuff. They don't all match up, and I don't demonstrate all the characteristics of each type, but I found some ways to make more sense out of them... and here's how.
Humorism
I won't dwell on this, because it's explained pretty well in the video. People were drained of either blood, yellow bile, black bile, or phlegm, based on whether they fell into the sanguine, choleric, melancholic, or phlegmatic humor, and they were then drained of the respective metabolic agent to 'normalize' them. They would be either pleasure seeking, power seeking, knowledge seeking, or a sort of relationship seeking person. Simple enough. What do you want in life, right? There are other characteristics in the diagram to the side, like introverted Melancholic and Phlegmatic and the extraverted Choleric and Sanguine. I feel like I display a lot of the Melancholic traits, reserved, anxious and moody, but am also reliable, passive and careful. And as I will explain when I talk about sorting, it can be about what traits you want to enhance in yourself or you think or more important.
Sorting
J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series features groups or 'houses' that match up with the Humors. Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff. While these houses demonstrate qualities of the humors and inhabitants, in reality it's a choice about your own ideals. What you value, bravery, power, intelligence, or family and friends (relationships). Hermione was really intelligent, but she valued bravery over intelligence, and Harry basically just chose to be in Gryffindor, although he had overlapping characteristics. I just really like these types and they're just so easy to sort people into.
Also, each house has a mascot or symbol, an element, and a metal. The house of Gryffindor is symbolized by a lion, a creature of bravery and passion, the element of fire and gold. Slytherin is symbolized by a serpent, the symbol of cunning water, and silver. Ravenclaw is symbolized by an eagle, as clever and intelligent as any of its fellow birds, air, and bronze. Hufflepuff lastly is symbolized by the badger, an animal that burries underground and lives with its family in catacombs, and is generally peacefull unless provoked, when it becomes fierce and formidable, earth, and the color black.
I explained the animal symbols, but I might talk more about them under 'animals', and I will talk about the elements below, but for now I'll talk about the elements. If you're unfarmiliar with Harry Potter or its houses, then you might be reeling at 'the color black'. Gold, silver, and bronze are often associated with first, second, and third place in competition. Perhaps in terms of passion for competition, leaving Hufflepuff out of the running. However if you've read The Goblet of Fire you'd know that Hufflepuff can be just as competitive as its fellow houses. However when you add the color combinations red, green, blue, and yellow, you could make the connection between Hufflepuff's and bumble bees. Busy bees working together for a higher cause, fiercly loyal and willing to die to protect their queen or one another.
But I mean, literally took all sorts of tests and was sorted into every house save Slytherin, and don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with some serious ambition, but it's not really me, and yes, I would give the dying woman medicine.
PTypes
I really reccomend going to www.Ptypes.com for further explanation of the PTypes. These include conscientious, sensitive, vigilant, dramatic, aggressive, idiosyncratic, inventive, solitary, leisurely, serious, self-sacrificing, devoted, self-confident, adventurous, mercurial, and exuberant. While each word is a pretty good clue what the type is all about, the website has all sorts of little details. I'm a thrifty perfectionist. However, I'm not so neat and tidy. Check it out.
Zodiac (Star/Sun Signs)
Well, if you've been following me up until now, I might loose you with this one. As much as people can believe typing, it's harder to believe that your personality can be influenced by the stars you were born under. They don't exactly correspond with each month, so you do have to look at the specific days to find your Zodiac and then you're off to understanding your future exactly by looking at charts in the back of magazines. No. I'm not so dumb as to believe Seventeen magazine's predictions of my life, but the Zodiac is really cool and if you want, you can make you're own charts. The picture on the right, by the way shows the actual constellations, which is cool. You're a capricorn, right? The Goat. Practical, prudent, funny, and pessimistic. Stable and independent, they are an eart sign. Virgo's an earth sign, too, which matches up with Hufflepuff as well. Interesting. You are liable to knee problems and are often taken advantage of. You ruling planet is Saturn. Like most personality types there are symbols attatched to each sign, however they are the constellations themselves and are really what the characteristics are based on. Virgo, the virgin, is innocent and shy, makes sense? Again with the Lions, Leo's are outgoing, domineering (Kings/ Queens of the Jungle) and brave (Gryffindors).
To make a natal chart you can follow these steps: http://www.wikihow.com/Create-an-Astrological-Chart or go to some of the free chart making websites, if you like the easy way out. I did. Here's a good website: http://astro.cafeastrology.com/cgi-bin/astro/natal that makes free charts for you!
It's worth a shot and I feel like I embody a virgo. Well... http://www.astrology-online.com/ is a great resource.
Elements
Different figures on the zodiac associate with different elements, which is also worth checking out, then the Hogwarts houses associate with fire, water, air, and earth. However the humors they match up with do not have the same elements. Air, fire, earth, and water, which is strange. I mean, you kind of have to really think about what the element means to you or the world. Air is free and moving, essential to life, climbing higher and: flying. Air is a wet and hot element. Fire is hot and dry, raging and destructive, it profits from oxygen and can be put out with water or smothered with earth; loyalty and reason, as much as it embodies passion, which could translate to the Choleric or Slytherin passion for power. Earth is stable, rigid, and according to the humors dry and cold, however when you think about how often earthquakes take place earth can be a violent, angry element. Lastly water, the cold and wet element. Water goes with the flow quite literally. It takes many forms, but is always essentially H2O, it's inside of all people and all living things. Everything needs water. Everyone needs loyalty and goodness, determination and kindness. So I lean more twoards the Humorism's interpretation of the elements.
Animals/Symbolism
I went into a Native American store the other day, looking for a worry stone. Yeah, dumb problem. And they asked me what my Totem Animal was. So I just looked blankly at them and said I hadn't really ever put much thoughts into it (none at all). But a lot of Native American jewlery and medicine changes based on your Totem Animal. The Eagle is a universal totem in case you came unprepared like me, but don't come unprepared! Think about it! Right now!
I heard that in some native tribes of various countries this is a pretty big deal, there's this whole ceremony where the leader or the shamen gets his son high or super drunk and the son journeys through the forests of their mind until they find an animal and then they take over the tribe identifying with that animal. That's really cool and would be a really interesting experience sans the whole high/super drunk aspect.
Crazy psychics online suggest you sit still and meditate on the subject, of course, in today's world you aren't limited to identifying with animals just in North America, because theirs things on every other continent and some islands that all have distinct personalities and characteristics and although you'd have a fantastic time looking for zebra-totem specific items in a Native American store, it's you and your life and you can always just be an eagle in America! (Again that's really cool because it might signify Ravenclaw being a universal, accepting house...)
This website is pretty good at explaining animal totems in America, and like the houses it's really more of what you aspire to be instead of what you already are. http://www.starstuffs.com/animal_totems/
Myers Briggs
I feel pressed for time so I might have another post in the future to explain these all better, but I'll give my shot and my personal favorite. Myers Briggs.
Are you introverted or extraveted? Simple enough. Do you recharge by yourself, reading or some activity alone or at parties or hanging out with large crowds. A ridiculously high percent of the population is extraverted, so keep that in mind, and it doesn't men you're antisocial to be introverted or you're not ever alone as an extravert, it's just a majority or preferencial thing.
Are you sensing or intuitive? So basically a bit superficial, or a bit of a know-it-all?
Do you feel or think? It doesn't mean you're dumb. Would you rather act on people's feelings, kindly or what you know is right or will end up all right in the end (rationally).
Do you judge or percieve? Are you more into concrete and literal, or do you look at things more abstractly?
Then when you judge your own type look them up on the following website for career, relationship, friendship and even parrenting advice: www.personalitypage.com
Or to go this website to find out interesting stuff too like famous fictional and non-fictional people who share your type, as well as more information into how you process things: www.typelogic.com
And here's this really helpfull diagram with the sixteen types that also have the most common careers the types tend to choose:
Well basically that's it. A much quicker guide than I was planning on to deeply understanding yourself and others, in your daily life or in the fictional world.
~Sara
P.S. I loved the story, and I really want to find it and read the full version. It was pretty freaking deep for a fairy tale, a little creepy, which isn't that strange in fairy tales but all around really good!
Gah! I'm just so punny. This is a post about fairy tales. But yeah, it'll be grim, no kidding.
I'm a sucker for fairy tales. I'll just get that out of the way. The myth and romance and all that old world charm. Knights, princesses, wolves and witches. I love fairy tales. Although Hans Christian Andersen was a writing genius, I infinitely prefer the Grimm Brothers' collections of the folklore that they gathered throughout their lives.
Andersen's mind birthed The Little Mermaid, Thumbelina, and The Ugly Duckling while Grimm unearthed Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, The Frog Prince, and Hanzel and Gretle, all of which have been adapted and readapted into television shows and movies, whether dramatic, as the recent Snow White and the Huntsman or mellowed down into Disney flicks for children, as well as translated into hundreds of languages. Of course, patterns in folklore can be redundant, and varieties on some of the Grimm brother's tales can be discovered if one looks hard enough on nearly every continent.
Folklore or fairy tales were nearly always dark, and somber, designed entirely to frighten children into behaving a certain way or to make them aware of some basic moral; 'Don't lie', as in The Little Boy Who Cried 'Wolf', or to be weary of secluded forests, and strangers, courtesy of Little Red Riding Hood, or true love.
However, the modern enterpretations end with '...happily ever after.' or scarcely envolve death, not the case in the original tales. An example... Cinderella. Her step-sisters cut off parts of their feet to fit into the slipper, as per request of their mother, and they are discovered as blood seeps out of the glass slipper.
I've been a bit obsessed with a local author from Atlanta, Jackson Pearce. I'm not sure if I've told you about her Sam, but she's really great. Apart from a book As You Wish, accuratley about a djinn who falls in love with the girl, Viola, whose servant he has temporarily become, and Purity, a YA romance novel, he has also started a series of fairy tales set in modern times, which include Sisters Red, a modern retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, about sister werewolf or Fenris hunters in Atlanta, Sweetly, a Hanzel and Gretle tale, and Fathomless, a varient of The Little Mermaid, following Hans Christian Andersen's original story, significantly more closely than Disney, which has yet to be released, and unfortunatley does not have it's former's amazing cover art. Too bad. But really, they're great interpretations and really readable and entertaining.
As if that wasn't enough of fairy tales, that was barely scratching the surface. Few of the folkloric stories became a part of our pop culture. And hundreds of thousands were left behind, some of which I think have just as much charm, if not more.
I'm going to tell you about The True Sweethearts.
A poor girl lost her mother at a young age and has been under the custody of the stereotypical evil step-mother. She really wants nothing more than to gain the wicked woman's love, however her step-mother is constantly giving her ridiculous tasks, that seem laughable if not impossible, and a mysterious woman (who I take to be a fairy godmother) comes to her aid at the presence of her tears, and completes the impossible tasks for her in order to save her from beatings.
Eventually the girl recieves a task to build a fully furnished castle in a day, or face dire consequences, but the girl is incappable of carrying a single one of the designated stones, and cries for the fairy godmother, who comes to her aid and builds it, the large stones flying into place and furnishes it with rich woods, velvet upholstery, exotic birds in gilt cages, wardrobes full of jewels and beautiful dresses and enchanted pots, pans, brooms, and feather dusters, keeping it tidy and preparing dinner. Not to mention a secret trap door that becomes her step-mother's untimely demise, to the poor girl's dismay. However one cannot mourne a total beotch for too long, because there are parties to attend and suitors to turn away. A woman in possesion of such an enchanted castle is bound to have suitors, right?
I think that's a bit unconventional, a girl is the one with the money and power, with no one to sell her away and without some foolhardy prince to save her from her poverty.
Regardless, eventually the local prince does pay her a visit and they fall madly in love. Eventually the prince decides to embark on a few hour voyage to his castle to announce their bethrotal to his family, and the girl tells him she will wait for his return beneath the beautiful lime tree in her yard.
But hours turn into days as she wakes early each morning to ventur out to the tree and return late each evening to sleep.
Eventually packing three of her most gorgeous dresses and some jewels she leaves her enchanted castle in search of her true love, a task that undertaking meant a year of traveling, degrading herself to the life of a cow-herd, and eventually discovering that her beloved prince was marrying another a few days after the town's three-day festival.
So she dresses up in her jewels and gorgeous dresses and attends the festival intending to steal back her sweetheart.
It's strange, because it has elements of other fairy tales, but, I don't know her position, and the humor that transcends time just makes it great, and if you add little details, like he was enchanted, and the castle was the castle of her dreams, it adds a little something to re-reading the story. So that's The True Sweetheart, and my freaking long Jackson Pearce and Brothers Grimm blog post.
~Sara
P.S. I am dying to read The Fault In Our Stars. Swap, maybe? And still on fairy tales, what's your favorite fairy tale? And if it's pretty unknown you should summarize it! I know you have a similar fairy tale fanaticism, so discuss! Bye!
Gone with the Wind, a love story really ambiguously about love, set in good ole' Georgia during a fun notorious four years called: The Civil War. This is why you should read it...
Sam, I'm not sure if you've seen the movie, but I know you got pretty far into the book.. before you quit. Whether you've seen the movie or not, the film is so different from the book and the book was just so entrancing, you might as well read it.
Scarlet O'Hara should be really hard to relate with. She's a girl who will flirt with your boyfriend, manipulates people who love her, has a one track mind, is shallow, obsessed with wealth, undervalues true friendship, and at times seems only concerned with her stomach. But who does this sound like? Why, she's an extraverted Katniss Everdeen! Nah, but I gotta try.
Anyway, for all of her faults, Scarlet is so unconventional that she can be so freaking hilarious at times, and the way that Margaret Mitchell writes, the way that Scarlet thinks is so relatable.
The way her brain processes things makes so much sense. You just get it. When she's worried or anxious, or analyzing a person, it's just that it feels human. It takes her to the next level and makes her something more than just some book character, something vital. She could be real, because she can think.
As it's difficult not to relate to Scarlet, or at least understand her, you don't have a heart if you don't feel sympathetic towards the dashing Rhett Butler, or if you don't absolutely adore Melanie and her heart of gold. The characters you are supposed to like you love and the characters you are supposed to dislike you hate.
The book is so descriptive. From every house on Peachtree Street to every button Rhett Butler ever wore, it's explained and it just colors the story. It's readable.
Gone with the Wind so emotional and potent. You can't be angry at any of the characters, because whatever they feel, you feel, even if it's stupid or unreasonable.
I felt that at the end Scarlet should have been ninety, not in her twenties. Ashley, Rhett, and Scarlett's reflections on life before the war seem so far off and dreamy, full of ghosts and dead values. I felt like I was ninety and reflecting on my past.
Gone with the Wind was a great reading experience. So colorful and spectacular. So full of passion and emotion. You need to read it.
This wasn't really a review, so I hope there weren't any spoilers, it was more of a pitch, which is my excuse for why it's so short.
Oh! And I'm glad you liked those web series. I wanted to read your post so bad. But I don't want to spoil anything. You better swap the first Heroes of Olympus with me. See you soon!
~Sara
P.S. Notice: Sam is going to be posting on Fridays and I on Saturdays. If it's not always regular we apologize in advance, thanks!
It's sort of ironic that the first post on Le Book Blog is very vaguely about books. Regardless, it's story time!
So Web Series are like really short tellevision shows online. These three below are all found more specifically on Youtube. I'll provide links. Anyway, Web Series are often more heavily funded and more fine tuned than a vlog or just an average video, and they tell stories. Let us devulge into the world of Web Series.
Job Hunters is a web series with longer running episodes like in the twelve minute range. It's really high quality and really entertaining.
It focusses on this group of friends in a dystopian future where due to overpopulation and unemployment young adults enter MAEWIN, which stands for the Mandatory Arena Education Worldwide Initiative. These 'job hunters' stay in a safe house with other job hunters and have to act friendly with them despite conflicting goals and personalities, with breaks every few days or even weeks between where they are shipped off to an arena to demonstrate their skills and determination, while killing their friends. It's not a 'to the last man' sort of deal, it's a nine to five deal, a buzzer then goes off and they are to immediatly stop killing and return to the safe house to whatever remaining friends they still have.
More Job Hunters arrive but the likelyhood of being selected by an employer and removed from the arena is next to zilch.
Each person uses a different weapon that reflects their personality, like a nonconfrontational girl using grenades, and they're all vying for different careers, like doctor or pop singer.
It sounds like it could come off like the Hunger Games , which it could, but it's a little less focussed on the government right now , and more on character development and the relationships between the Job Hunters. It's also a bit silly or more comical than the Hunger Games.
All in all you should check it out. You'd love it Sam and tell me what you think of it after you see it. Le link's beneath the picture.
You're reading Pride and Prejudice right now, Sam, so depending on how far you're into the book don't watch this yet!
These episodes are much shorter, like four minutes maximum but there's bound to be more of them. It's a twenty-first century retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Elizabeth Bennet, or Lizzie is keeping a vlog with the help of her best friend Charlotte, who's running technical things.
Lizzie is a twenty four year old grad student majoring in mass communication with a sweet older sister named Jane, who is a fashion intern, a younger air-headed, party girl sister, Lydia, a quiet submissive father, and a mother who's entire goal in life is to marry off her three daughters to rich men.
A mysterious, wealthy, med student, Bing Lee moves into the neighborhood, buying the mansion Netherfield, nearby, and bringing with him his sister Caroline Lee, and an even wealthier, and ever so handsome, William Darcy.
At a local wedding Bing and Jane hit it off but as for the girl who catches the bouquet and the guy who begrudgingly caught the garter that hit him square in the chest... AKA: Lizzie and William... not so much.
It's really cute and such an interesting take on one of of my favorite books (that we will both need to review when you're finished reading it).
There's also a tumblr with Jane's looks in it, and twitter posts where you can read just what William, Caroline and Bing talk about.
Everyone might as well watch this one too, it's really spectacular and I'm a Pride and Prejudice-aholic so it works out well.
The girl who plays Lydia plays Zelda in Squaresville, a show about Zelda and Esther, two misfits living in a town of squares, where they don't think they belong.
Lydia and Zelda want nothing more than to get out of the town and go on adventures. The show follows them as they make new friends, in unlikely people, discover themselves, and even as they fall in love... also with unlikely people.
There's only a few four minute episodes up, but there's a guarenteed twelve coming up in the near future. This definatly looks promising. It's really relatable and cute, with good acting and pretty good characterization.
It's definatly something to watch.
~Sara
Well, there you go Sam, our first post. I really want to do one on Gone with the Wind , when I finish and all sorts of other stories- of all kinds.
