I just finished The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe the other day. It was alright. The main character was so stupid though. She did not comprehend anything. She could not put clues together. I couldn't understand how she was supposed to be this brilliant student but she somehow forgot her name. What the hell. As someone who goes by a SHORTENED version of my MIDDLE name, I know that my first name is required in a lot of day to day situations like filling out forms and going to the bank and other things of that nature. How in the heck does one simply forget their full name. It's like the girl was refusing to let any sort of knowledge into her head at all. She was dumb. Sorry, I just couldn't get over that. Other than that it was alright. The flashbacks kind of dragged a little bit. If you're going to have 2 different story lines at least make them equally intriguing. I don't know.
Also yesterday I reread The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis before the movie came out at midnight. It was great. And even though I can clearly see all the Christian stuff that is no longer an undertone to me, it makes a little more sense after having read a little of C.S. Lewis' non Narnia stuff this summer, you know all that Christian stuff that I don't really care for but it's interesting none the less. One thing I found strange was how they would say all these things about Eustace, like how he read smart books and was a pacifist and his parents were vegetarians and stuff, and they would kind of mock him for it. I mean he deserved it kind of, he was not a nice guy, but it was just weird. Anyways, the movie kind of sucked. They made up a bunch of unnecessary things like this random family that was not in the book, that didn't add anything to the movie whatsoever. The book was way better. It kind of sucked because I really liked the movie version of the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe but whatever. Can I read 12 books in 20 days?
Friday, December 10, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
Holy shit
It's the end of November? I've only read 16 books? Okay seriously this has to be an all time low. Ew.
Been Busy
Haven't posted in forever! Between work, backpacking my ass off in September, and school, not only have I not had time to read but when I have read I haven't had time to post about it. I only recently got into a groove where I can cut corners in homework and stay up ultra late to get a couple chapters in every night. Essentially giving up sleep.
At the end of summer before I left for my big backpacking trip to California, I read The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley. I remember really liking her books in middle school and was feeling in the mood to visit the desert, but this book just didn't cut it for me. The main characters' name was Harry, and she was a girl, and I just couldn't get over it. If you're going to have a strong woman she doesn't have to have an incredibly horrible and manly name, it can at least be androgynous and I'll understand what's going on. Like Casey or something. Another thing that bothered me was the writing. A lot of it seemed like something I would write, and I'm a terrible writer. My sentence structure is so odd and doesn't flow well anywhere but my brain, and this is fine with me, but I'm not writing novels to sell to people. One sentence was something along the lines of "the children threw stones at the birds, but only small ones." what is small? the children or the stones or the birds?" I was so confused. Also, there is no romance whatsoever throughout the story, no inkling of passion or love or anything. This would be alright, except for the fact that in the last chapter the author is like "Oh wait by the way Harry is in love with this dude and they're getting married the end." And it's supposed to be all romantic, only it's just really weird because they've shown no sign of liking each other before then, I can't even tell if they were friends or not before then. It was all very rushed, and their speech admitting their love to each other is really formal and detached and weird. I guess this wouldn't be a problem if I wasn't as big of a fan of love as I am.
After that, I packed along The Hobbit by Tolkein with me for the trip. I've read this about a million times and it's never ceased to blow my mind. This was probably the longest I've gone without reading it though so I had forgotten the ending. In fact I think I forgot it again. It took me like a month to read it, which I'm ashamed about, but whatever. I read it in a cozy sleeping bag during a snowstorm in the mountains while drinking tea so it was awesome. And I read it sitting on a log by a lake with a friend who was also reading it, and that was awesome too. I also had a boy read it to me out loud on a long car ride. I also read it simultaneously with another boy and we ended up kissing so it was cool. So I'm not too down on the fact that it took so long, because it happened.
I guess I never posted when I read Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote either. I really enjoyed it, I couldn't put it down. Essentially I read it in one sitting but truly it was 3. It's one of those books that a friend kept in the back of her car for in case she needed something to read at any point, so on the way to a hiking trip to the coast in early July I read a little bit, which was bad because we missed some turns because I was in charge of directions. I finished reading it on the way to and from a camping trip in the south in late August. It was delightful and I'd like to read more by him. I was definitely not expecting the not-so-innocent Holly that I didn't pick up on when I watched the movie in middle school. I also read all of the short stories contained in that edition and I liked how honest they were. I can't think of a better word than honest right now, but I think it sounds dumb.
I hadn't read anything but textbooks and a couple stories from my folktale book from the Hobbit up until last week when I borrowed The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold from a friend. As I mentioned before, I definitely had to give up sleep to read it, but it totally drew me in and I was hooked. Though it wasn't the best book ever, it was certainly entertaining and a good break from all the stress of this fall. Also it was a good supplement to my profiling serial killers class.
With winter break coming up, and my newly found plan of lacking sleep, I may be posting more often hopefully. I am definitely behind on my book goal but whatever, I live my life.
At the end of summer before I left for my big backpacking trip to California, I read The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley. I remember really liking her books in middle school and was feeling in the mood to visit the desert, but this book just didn't cut it for me. The main characters' name was Harry, and she was a girl, and I just couldn't get over it. If you're going to have a strong woman she doesn't have to have an incredibly horrible and manly name, it can at least be androgynous and I'll understand what's going on. Like Casey or something. Another thing that bothered me was the writing. A lot of it seemed like something I would write, and I'm a terrible writer. My sentence structure is so odd and doesn't flow well anywhere but my brain, and this is fine with me, but I'm not writing novels to sell to people. One sentence was something along the lines of "the children threw stones at the birds, but only small ones." what is small? the children or the stones or the birds?" I was so confused. Also, there is no romance whatsoever throughout the story, no inkling of passion or love or anything. This would be alright, except for the fact that in the last chapter the author is like "Oh wait by the way Harry is in love with this dude and they're getting married the end." And it's supposed to be all romantic, only it's just really weird because they've shown no sign of liking each other before then, I can't even tell if they were friends or not before then. It was all very rushed, and their speech admitting their love to each other is really formal and detached and weird. I guess this wouldn't be a problem if I wasn't as big of a fan of love as I am.
After that, I packed along The Hobbit by Tolkein with me for the trip. I've read this about a million times and it's never ceased to blow my mind. This was probably the longest I've gone without reading it though so I had forgotten the ending. In fact I think I forgot it again. It took me like a month to read it, which I'm ashamed about, but whatever. I read it in a cozy sleeping bag during a snowstorm in the mountains while drinking tea so it was awesome. And I read it sitting on a log by a lake with a friend who was also reading it, and that was awesome too. I also had a boy read it to me out loud on a long car ride. I also read it simultaneously with another boy and we ended up kissing so it was cool. So I'm not too down on the fact that it took so long, because it happened.
I guess I never posted when I read Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote either. I really enjoyed it, I couldn't put it down. Essentially I read it in one sitting but truly it was 3. It's one of those books that a friend kept in the back of her car for in case she needed something to read at any point, so on the way to a hiking trip to the coast in early July I read a little bit, which was bad because we missed some turns because I was in charge of directions. I finished reading it on the way to and from a camping trip in the south in late August. It was delightful and I'd like to read more by him. I was definitely not expecting the not-so-innocent Holly that I didn't pick up on when I watched the movie in middle school. I also read all of the short stories contained in that edition and I liked how honest they were. I can't think of a better word than honest right now, but I think it sounds dumb.
I hadn't read anything but textbooks and a couple stories from my folktale book from the Hobbit up until last week when I borrowed The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold from a friend. As I mentioned before, I definitely had to give up sleep to read it, but it totally drew me in and I was hooked. Though it wasn't the best book ever, it was certainly entertaining and a good break from all the stress of this fall. Also it was a good supplement to my profiling serial killers class.
With winter break coming up, and my newly found plan of lacking sleep, I may be posting more often hopefully. I am definitely behind on my book goal but whatever, I live my life.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Summer Reading
I haven't been posting on here because of Goodreads, but they don't keep track of when you read books so doing a yearly count would be hard. So, just finished Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier. It was so sweet and so full of folklore and fairytales. I loved it, and I'm sure I would have loved it more when I was younger and going through my Ella Enchanted phase. It was aimed for younger kids but I still found it impossible to put down. It was predictable, but in a good heartwarming way. Also read Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall by Bill Willingham. Another beautiful book full of retold fairy tales, though this one was darker and very clever. I would love to read more books in this series. I reread The Perilous Gard, by Elizabeth Marie Pope. I loved this when I was younger, and it's definitely good for a rainy day. Unfortunately it lacked in adventure and I read it in the sun, so it was almost like I would rather be having my own adventure in real life. Also read 100 Hikes in the Central Oregon Cascades and 100 Hikes in Northwest Oregon & Southwest Washington by William L. Sullivan. I can vouch for how awesome these books are in beautiful pictures, because they show without a doubt that Billy Sully knows how to lead a kid through the wilderness. Also, Pirates! by Celia Rees. This book tried..but ultimately wasn't too impressed by it. I don't mean to compare it to better books with similiar themes like Bloody Jack, but it just wasn't that awesome. The romance was terrible and not that heartwrenching, the adventure was somewhat dull, and it was far too anticlimactic. I think that's about it though. Wow I need more adventure novels!
Monday, May 17, 2010
Wow I suck.
I actually havent even read that much this year. I am like halfway through 5 books. But, finished Eating Animals- loved it. Finished The God Delusion- liked it. For school, I read The Tempest again, and Twelfth Night and Much Ado about Nothing and A Midsummer Nights Dream again and whatever other book we were assigned to read I don't think I got to it. But yeah. Busy year. I was working and going to school full time getting straight A's and all that but I took a little off my plate so hopefully it will give me more time. Plus I am in the mood because summer is coming up and I need some good adventure or fantasy books to inspire me to have the best summer. So yeah, hopefully I won't do such a crappy job from now on.
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