Borders Closing and Booksale

Note: I was going to do Dewey's readathon this weekend, but I realized this morning was the annual library booksale and then I have a large wedding-related event for my friend later? That's like 6 hours long? So idk.

I visited my sister in New Mexico last weekend. When we got there on Friday, she was still at work, so we were trying to decide what to do. I had this vague memory in my head that a Borders was closing in Albuquerque (where we were), so as a good book-lover does, I looked up all the info, got directions, and persuaded my parents to drive across town with me. Once we were on the highway, we realized it was 4 pm on a Friday, which was very unwise. trollololol traffic.

BUT we eventually made it there and it was LOVELY. So many books. So many tragically empty shelves. :( Cute clerks though. One of them liked my Transformers TV show shirt. Woot.

Then the next day, we all went to Santa Fe to be tourist-y and all, and I remembered (from my research the day before) that the OTHER NM closing Borders was in Santa Fe! TROLLOLOLOL I didn't even have intentions. It was just a "Hey let's go to Santa Fe and look at the Miraculous Staircase" and then once we were there I was like OH BTW there's a Borders RIGHT OVER THERE. So I went there and bought more books?

Then this morning was my public library's annual Friends of the Library fundraiser booksale. So as one does I went and bought a million books. I think this was the most amazing year I have gone (I have gone three years running now). I bought a box-full but it was all stuff I REALLY wanted for whatever reason.

Funny story: I was looking in the "Literature and Drama and Verse" section for any Old English anthologies or whatever. There was a volunteer right there sorting books.

My brain: "I should ask her if she's seen any Old English books. Nah, she's probably not paying that much attention, or even worse, she'll misunderstand what I mean by Old English. But...she's right there, all perky and helpful looking. It can't hurt, right?"

Me: "Excuse me, have you by any chance seen any Old English books around?"

Her: "Oh, yes! I saw a William Shakespeare anthology around here somewhere..."

Me: "Oh. No, thanks. Just thought I'd ask."

*MOVES AWAY QUICKLY*

Volunteers are wonderful, but oh babies. I died a little inside.

So, here are PHOTOS! Because you all WANT them, right?

From the booksale:

And from the closing Borders:

This contest makes me breathless ;)

Beth Revis is giving away the books of the authors that she was on a book tour with. Go here to enter. I really want to read The Replacement and Matched (already read the Revis XD).

Fellowship of the Ring Read-a-long: February

Chapters read: 6, "Fog on the Barrow-downs" through "Many Meetings." This time around, I'm just going to give you a few thoughts on each chapter, because I have a lot to say and there's not really a better way to organize it.

"Fog on the Barrow-downs" If I saw this chapter filmed, specifically the bit in the actual barrow, I'm pretty sure I would pee my pants. SO UNSETTLING. I love how it's terrifying and yet we don't actually see much. Also, Frodo is pretty cool in this chapter (except for the "Oh, Tom Bombadil didn't REALLY mean that we shouldn't sit on the east side of wight-y things, right?" I was also surprised by how much I enjoyed this entire chapter, cuz generally I skim the TB trilogy. Also-also, I think it's cool how Tom Bombadil often has a sort of loose rhyme to his speech. Example: "Few now remember them, yet still some go wandering, sons of forgotten kings walking in loneliness, guarding from evil things folk that are heedless."

"At the Sign of the Prancing Pony": I have an absurd love for Nob. No, really. I love every little bit that he is in. Frodo is back to failing epically in this chapter. Strider's entrance: omfjam win. Favorite quote, though, goes to Pippin and Merry: "Mind your Ps and Qs, don't forget that you are supposed to be escaping in secret, and are still on the high-road and not very far from the Shire!" "All right!" said Pippin. "Mind yourself! Don't get lost, and don't forget that it is safer indoors!"

Merry really is the responsible one, isn't he? I always thought of Frodo as the sensible one, but Merry gets things done.

"Strider" is traditionally my favorite chapter, just because Strider/Aragorn finally comes into the story, although I was surprised to notice that really not much else happens in this chapter. But I really like how Strider is desperate for trust, and Frodo really wants to trust him. THEY ARE DESTINED TO BE FRIENDS. Also, more Nob in this chapter.

"A Knife in the Dark": I strangely wasn't scared by this chapter like I usually am.

"Flight to the Ford": Glorfindel, my dear, let us retire to a quiet corner of the Hall of Fire and....discuss poetry.

Ahem. I also like the actual "fleeing" bit at the end of this chapter.

"Many Meetings": The Hall of Fire is one of my favorite locations in The Lord of the Rings. If I went to Middle-earth, I would hang out there the most (hopefully accompanied by an Elf-lord or two). I like Arwen and Elrond's entrances here, and also Bilbo and Aragorn's discussions about poetry. "As a matter of fact it was all mine. Except that Aragorn insisted on my putting in a green stone. He seemed to think it important. I don't know why. Otherwise he obviously thought the whole thing rather above my head, and he said that if I had the cheek to make verses about Earendil in the house of Elrond, that was my affair."

A Note On Dreams: Someday I'd like to read through this, write down everyone's dreams, and note where they come true, and how. Frodo has some really interesting foresight-y dreams early on, but I can't really remember that habit continuing.

A Note On Poetry: I love the barrow-wight's song ("Fog"), Strider's poem ("Strider"), Gil-galad song ("Knife"), and of course, Bilbo's "Earendil" chant ("Many Meetings").

Coming Up: I meant to get to "Council of Elrond" this month. I think I'll devote an entire post to that chapter this next week, and tear it apart (analytically, not angrily). That chapter is a beast.

Thanks for reading!

AND OMFJAM THE BALROG THIS MONTH.

Hello from the Writing Ogre!

Have a photo of a deeply unsettling ogre. You're welcome.

So those of you who are following me because I write, not because I read, have probably noticed I don't post much about my writing any more. The main reason for this is that I usually say everything I want to say about my writing on my Twitter. So if you're serious in your stalking of me, you might want to go over there.
That being said, I figured I should talk about some of the writing projects I'm working on right now. I am writing much more this year than I have since 2008 (ah, the good old days!??).

Beta version of "Mad As Gods"

This is my 2010 Nanowrimo. It's a sequel to my 2007 Nano, it's quite rough, and it doesn't really know what it's trying to be, who it's trying to star, or what it's trying to say. There's a lot of love and bad jokes (as in stupid) and innuendo (as in sketch) and gratuitous snakes. I'm sharing it slowly with my small core of awesome Nano-ites, and getting super fantastic feedback (as in helpful, not as in "omg this story is perfect in every way" XD). It's always great to know what people like, and more importantly what they do NOT like. Then I can get a sort of idea of what is working and what isn't.
I am also getting to read my friends' Nanos, and giving them feedback. That's also really helpful for me (besides them, of course, lol) because it forces me to look at how their story is working, how they've structured it, etc, and how various bits work and various bits don't work. The benefits of analysis, fellow writers, are legion.

Drafting "Batty, Batty, Bats"
This is one of those projects that is pure sugar and cream. There is nothing not fun about writing this story, but I'm certain that once I finish it, I will never touch it again. It's just not publishable for a lot of reasons, mostly structural. It's kinda like one big character development/psychological exploration. It revolves around one character who has a lot of trauma in his past, and I start with him as a teenager and then go through his 30s or so, just kind of visiting the significant turning points in his life. Almost like a coming of age story, but prolonged and, yeah, very psychological. This description almost makes it sound smart, LOL! But it's mostly hilarious banter and panic attacks and misunderstandings and BAD CHOICES. It's also set in a night-club, so, seriously, what is not fun about that.
This story was/is also a great outlet for all of the stuff I wanted to include in "Mad As Gods," but couldn't, either because of plot constrictions or world constrictions or because I was trying to keep tiny-minor characters from hijacking the story. "BBB" grew from "Mad As Gods" in a lot of weird, unexplainable ways.

Short stories
A couple of friends and I committed to sending each other a new short story every week, or at least an excerpt of something we're working on. There has been a bit of cheating going on, for all of us, I think, but we've all written a lot of stuff we otherwise never would have written. I'm actually struggling with this project right now, because all I want to write is "BBB," but hopefully soon I will get back in gear.

Editing Snazel's stories
I'm also helping a friend edit some short stories that she's going to submit to get into a writing workshop (or somesuch). It's a lot of pressure, lol! I want to be as helpful as I can, which means I'm wayyyy over-analyzing everything, and I have to figure out how to communicate my thoughts on various bits and word choices and such. It's a hard game, but it's also helping my writing-brain figure stuff out, which is fabulous.

Weir of Hermiston by Robert Louis Stevenson

This is the first book I read for the Victorian Reading Challenge. I didn't realize it was an unfinished novel until I, well, finished it, so I am pointing that out now for any potential readers.
But from what we get (9 chapters), it looks like it was supposed to be a sort of bildungsroman for a Scottish aristocrat trying to escape the shadow of the father. The novel focuses on Weir, Sr., and Weir, Jr., who are reasonably well-to-do noblemen. Sr. is a judge, infamous for harsh justice and no mercy. Jr. (named Archie) is a bit of a thinker, shy, but usually comes off as reserved and proud, so he has trouble making friends. He is eventually banished to the country house, Hermiston, by his father, for being an outspoken prat. There he tries not to rot away, and has to deal with two different Kirsties who both seem a bit obsessed with him.

There's also a villainous sort of guy, Frank, who is the worst of the best of Archie's peers, if that makes sense. He was the most intriguing, 3-dimensional character here, I think, because he doesn't exactly have malice at work in what he does, but he is hugely self-centered and moves himself through life by ruining or putting down other people. Sorta like the guy who trips his friend so the bear will eat the friend and he can escape. But he's charming and really doesn't think, "Hey, I should ruin lives today," he just sorta does it. It was fascinating for me to watch and I really would have liked to see what happened to him.

Archie is the sort of character that you really want to see grow and stand up to his father and get the girl, but in this novel we only see tiny foreshadowings of that transformation. Young-Kirstie starts out as a flat, typical-adolescent girl, but we also see some glimmerings of character and personality for her, notably in the final scene where she tells Archie she won't be used.

Robert Louis Stevenson is one of my favorite Victorian writers. His writing style is just really lush, if that makes sense. I love watching the man describe stuff. He is also very good with young male heroes who have good intentions but have to learn how to...execute their intentions properly, as it were. The pacing of this story is a bit slow, although depending on how the rest of it turned out, it might have been okay. There is also a lot more Scottish dialect than I was expecting, which can take a bit of time to "translate" as you read, unless you have much Scottish experience, which I don't.

Overall, Weir of Hermiston is a bit slow and never gets far enough to really flesh out its characters, but has a lot of potential and a few good moments. I gave it 3/5 stars.

Dragon and Soldier by Timothy Zahn

(I didn't realize until after I finished reading that I can totally use this as a Men In Uniform book, because he is totally in uniform, albeit a mercenary one, for most of the book. I am going to bend the rules for all of my challenges as much as possible, if that wasn't clear.)

I really enjoyed the first book, Dragon and Thief, in Timothy Zahn's YA sci-fi series, "Dragonback." An orphan teen, Jack, who has been raised as a petty criminal, teams up with Draycos, a symbiotic alien, and the two of them try to save Draycos' people from another alien race bent on genocide. The first book chronicles how they meet, learn to work together, face off with some villains, and clash ideologically.
In the second book, Jack and Draycos are trying to track down the people who are helping the villain-aliens, and to do this they decide to infiltrate a mercenary group. Draycos is increasingly uncomfortable with Jack's ambiguous moral center and selfish attitude. Draycos takes it on himself to train Jack as a warrior, both mentally and physically. His task is NOT helped by the mercenaries, who are kind of the worst example of a militarized body ever, and the fact that Jack really, REALLY does not like guns.

Reading this book directly after Starship Troopers was a little bit painful, because of how incompetent all of the military figures are in this book, except for Draycos (because Draycos is awesome). But Zahn generally has awesome military characters, so he makes sure that all his characters make fun/criticize the ineptitude exhibited by the mercs here.
I think a big strength of this series is how different Jack and Draycos really are. Draycos thinks about others first, he is very skilled in fighting, stealth, and such, he's a bit of an intellectual, and he has a very strong moral code. Jack is very clever, good at getting in and out of tricky situations, and of course knows all about stealing, breaking into places, hacking, and manipulating people. He usually ends up doing the right thing, but it's a struggle for him. This dichotomy between them, of course, is nicely echoed by the fact that Draycos literally can't live without Jack (or a similar biological pile of life-force, lol).
I think a weakness in this series is that Timothy Zahn is very careful about his content-level. He usually writes for adults (and his adult-novels are very clean, generally) so I think he's not quite in tune with just how much dark violence teenagers can take. At several points in these books I'm expecting something much darker than what it will actually happen, so then it's like, oh, okay, everything's fine, everything's chill. But maybe the stakes will heighten in future books?

Specifically in this one, I loved the rivalry between Uncle Virge (the AI computer on their ship) and Draycos, especially the warrior-poetry sub-sub-plot (is that a term? It SHOULD be!).

We are also introduced to a new character, Alison, who is a teen girl with Secrets and may or may not be a love interest for Jack. I think I would have cared more about her if she wasn't quite so soulless, and also if she had a little more common-sense. But I have hopes for her in future books. She's a bit like a young, learning-curve Mara Jade (for TZ fans).
Overall, not the best Timothy Zahn book I've read, but it's a good setup for the rest of the series, I think, and I am eager to have time to read the rest (which are sitting on my shelf, all pretty and clever). I gave this 4/5 stars for enjoyability.

10 Signs of Book Addiction

I borrowed this from The Story Siren:

10 signs of Book Addiction

I have a problem.... do you? If you find yourself nodding your head to any of these statements, you might suffer from Book Addiction. Don't worry you are not alone.

You might be a book addict if:

1. You buy your purses based on how many books you can fit inside. [ALWAYS. The smallest purse I own can fit a small paperback. The largest purse I own can fit five hardbacks.]
2. The Fed Ex and UPS carriers, know you by name. [Well, no. They tend to drop and run.]
3. Your family refuses to buy you books because they don't want to support your habit. [My family rarely buys me books. This last birthday was an exception.]
4. You own multiple versions of the same book. [Yes. Mostly books I love like The Lord of The Rings, Henry James, Shakespeare, etc.]
5. You dream about books. (Getting them... meeting the authors that write them.) [Yes. I've had dreams about being BFFs with authors.]
6. You always have at least one book on you at all times. Even if it's just a quick trip to the dollar store. [Like I said, my purses are important. If I don't bring a book, it's like not bringing my cellphone: I fidget and worry.]
7. You usually help shoppers at the bookstore, because you are more knowledgeable than the staff. [LOL no, sorry. But I do know my local Borders like the back of my hand.]
8. You've been known to skip family functions or outings with friends because you can't stop reading. [Would I actually admit to that?]
9. There are books in every room of your house. [Hm well no but I share my house with several other people who steal books.]
10. If you are within five miles of a bookstore, you find yourself drawn to it like a homing device from the mothership. [YES YES YES YES TAKE ME MASTERS.]

Score: 6/10.

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

This review contains *SPOILERS* for the first half of the book.

I went into this book very cautiously. I liked the Percy Jackson series, but by the end of the series I was a little weary of all the characters and plotlines that settled out exactly as I expected them to. I wasn't sure if this would just be more of the same, or have even less interesting characters.

But, lucky, I was pleasantly surprised. I loved all three main characters, which rarely happens in any book, and I was definitely not expecting it from Riordan (I like Percy, but am pretty meh on the other leads). I found Jason, Leo, and Piper to all be lovely and interesting in different ways. Jason is a natural leader but he's also really sweet, and doesn't remember anything, which is his issue. Leo is an inventor-genius with a snappy wit, but is haunted by guilt (DUN DUN DUN). Piper is fierce and smart but has her weak spots. Did I mention I liked the darker backstories? Like Leo's mom's death and Piper's insecure movie star dad? Yeah, I did, quite a bit.

All of those things are well and good, but these characters were just extremely likeable for me, and since I read primarily for characters, I would have enjoyed this book even if the rest of it was meh.

But it wasn't! Riordan didn't just do the same old plots. I mean, it's a similar formula, with the three heroes on a quest, but the way he incorporated the Roman pantheon (and everything that that implies), the darker backstories to the three main characters, and villains that we weren't able to see before, because they're DEAD...all that was lovely. Plus, we're getting Hera/Juno in a big way, and Romanies like Khione and Aeoleus. Lots of possibilities here. I also liked that the Hephaestus/Vulcan cabin is more important, because of Leo and also because of all their cool inventions! Festus, too, was a great addition to the story and especially Leo's journey.

The overall plot with the sleeping soil-covered lady/the giants/the living dead is really cool, too. In some ways I think it's cooler than the whole Kronos thing. Most of the major Kronos plot points, especially the ones involving Luke, I spotted from book one (I'm not bragging, really! It was transparent!). In this book, I was never sure what was going to happen. Plus, Riordan has now enabled himself to bring characters like Minas and Medea in, which is ALWAYS a great idea. :D So many villain opportunities now!

The main things I didn't like were a couple of characters, specifically Coach Hedge and Chiron. Coach Hedge had all of the things I disliked about Grover and NONE of the things I liked about him. Pretty much any moment where Hedge was unconscious/frozen/gold were good times for me. And Chiron....don't get me started on Chiron. Gandalf or Dumbledore or Oreius, thou art NOT. I'm never sure if Riordan means for him to be a strong, wise, mentor type or not. Certainly the MCs in Percy Jackson and this book view him that way. But when has Chiron ever been helpful? He's always really depressing and just discourages and emotionally abuses the MCs, and then let's them go to fight and die. /rant

4/5 stars from me. I'm excited for the next book and am actually considering picking up The Red Pyramid now, which I was definitely on the fence about before.

PS-Reading this book while also reading The Aeneid is a bit of a mind trip.

So I just wrote this.

"He yawned and shifted, and realized that not only was someone lying beside him, but that someone was breathing in the room besides himself. As opposed to waking up next to a corpse, which would be ten times creepier."

It was one of those times when you're writing, and stop after a sentence, and question when, exactly, you thought you might have the skills to write for a living. XD

Fellowship of the Ring Read-a-long: January

Chapters read: Prologue, 1-7
Favorite chapter: "Three is Company," because we see our first real glimpses of Sam and Pippin, and we meet our first Elves, including Gildor Inglorien (he's hot, wise, and provides Elven booze for our heroes).
Looking forward to: meeting Strider!
Things that struck me differently: I used to love "Shadow of the Past" but I was really bored with it this time around. I'm guessing that it's because it's a world-building chapter: very fascinating when you don't know much about the world, but very boring once you know it all. I did enjoy Sam getting caught "dropping eaves" at the end, though.
The runes. I've been learning in my Old English course that the runes that carry into the Old English of the Middle Ages from the pagan past have a lot of significance. They all have a signature word, for example the rune "M" (which doesn't quite look like our "M") means the word "mon," the letter M, and also has various other connotations. I thought about this when I read the part about how Gandalf's fireworks are marked with a "G" rune and with an Elven rune. Tolkien was an Old English scholar; did he assign meanings and connotations and such to his runes?
Further, I'm noticing all of the Old English influences in names and words, or words that are probably derived (like "mathom"). It's NERDY. And distracting.

Character notes: I'm not loving Frodo, but he's never really been a particular favorite. I think Sam is awesome, especially how loyal and protective he is of Frodo. He's determined to follow Frodo even if it's to the death. He's also offended by people who think Frodo is a liar, like Ted Sandyman, and is suspicious of nice guys like Maggot just because he beat Frodo in the past when he was a stupid kid. Dawww.
And I forgot how responsible Merry is! What a dependable chap! The movies have clearly broken my brain, cuz I always think of Pippin and Merry as buffoons. Even Pippin isn't an idiot, he just suffers from tunnel-vision and doesn't take things seriously enough.
As for Gandalf, the more familiar I get with him, the less he impresses me. In these first few chapters he does a good job of extricating Bilbo from the Ring, but then he is just all vague to Frodo, then he info-dumps, and then he disappears. Come on, G...
I have nothing to say about Tom Bombadil and Goldberry. I always sleep-read through their chapters, and the best I could summon this time was forced interest.

Coming up:
BARROW-WIGHTS! STRIDER! NAZGUL!

Serenity Vol 1: Those Left Behind

Serenity Vol 1: Those Left Behind by Joss Whedon, Brett Matthews, Will Conrad

Spoilers Ahead!

Art:

Sometimes movie tie-in comics lean too much toward directly copying the actors who portrayed the roles, and end up looking creepy, because it's not realism but it's not quite traditional comic either. Serenity: Those Left Behind hit a nice balance between the two. The characters evoked their on-screen counterparts but the art was still pretty, unique, and not too realistic. Win! The spaceships and space-battles, especially, were quite well-done.

Story:

The point of this volume (series? I believe there are to be more) is apparently to fill in some of gaps that exist between Firefly (the tv show) and Serenity (the movie). For example, Shepherd's reasons for leaving the ship, and the disappearance of the Hands of Blue. It was really cool to learn the answers to some of these questions, but I was a little disappointed in the Hands of Blue. We are told everything and at the same time, nothing. Plus, their deaths were totally anti-climatic. Like, oh, that's all they needed to do? Why didn't you SAY so? I wouldn't have spent nights awake terrified of them.

But the story was very consistent with the existing canon, I suppose because Joss Whedon helped write/create it. All of the dialog matched the characters we know and love, which I was worried about, and all of them acted in character. However, River seemed to be more her Firefly self than her Serenity self, and there was no hint of a transition to her Serenity self. Seriously, I am bothered by River's shift in between the show and the movie, and was hoping this comic would help a bit. But maybe they cover it in the future volumes? This one seemed to cover everything else in between, though (we get a teaser for The Operative, as well).

Random nerdy bit that I loved: BADGER! He's probably my favorite show-only character.

Nerdy bits I didn't love: The lack of Kaylee and Simon. Also, WHY IN THE VERSE WAS DOBSON THE MAIN VILLAIN? Hands of Blue should have been the main villains. There was really no need for more Dobson.

Rating: 4/5 stars

Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein

Plot:

Juan Rico (or "Johnnie") never planned to join the military. But when his best friend Carl and his crush Carmen both join up, he spontaneously does so as well. The future society of Terra (Earth, of course) is ruled by the law that only people who have served a term in the military can receive full citizenship rights, including the right to vote. So that's a perk, anyway. Starship Troopers is about Johnnie's personal journey through boot-camp, the companies he is attached to at different points, and his desire to become an officer. It's also about the starship troopers in general, or "Mobile Infantry" (MI): what they are, what they do, how they're set up, how they think, and the bonds between them.

My review:

I could have used more science fiction in this novel. I mean, I've heard about it for years as the classic military sf novel; plus, it's HEINLEIN. All of the science fiction seemed marginal to the military descriptions and commentary. That being said, I loved the hints we got of the future society in this book, particularly the idea that only people who fight should be allowed full citizenship rights. I also loved the tech bits we got, like the suits and the capsules. The Bugs terrified me, easily, but I felt bad for all of the aliens in this story. They were all painted as either treacherous, stupid, or really, really freaky. The humans weren't quite to the genocide level yet, but they definitely didn't mind killing as many of the aliens as they possibly could. Science fiction is so different now, it was almost amusing.

Speaking of being out of date, I could instantly tell that this book was published before the Vietnam War. Nowadays, any US book that includes a war in its plot has to at least suggest the idea that the soldiers are all deluded, brainless machines. Soldiering can be a noble cause, from the present POV, but only if the war is without a doubt moral and just and proper, and everyone seems to have different definitions of that. This book has virtually no discussion on whether it's "right" that the soldiers don't care what war they're fighting. They care about keeping their people alive and completing whatever the mission is, no questions asked. And you know what? I kinda LOVED that. They were brave enough and loyal enough that they just did what they were asked, and trusted their officers. It was refreshing to have a military book be about the fighting and the soldiers, and not have to worry about the politics or morality. In the same spirit, I'm not going to launch into a discussion of the real-world viability of that, or the definition of a just war.

I am now going to awkwardly segue into another thing I liked about this book: the military competency. Well, generally. All of the soldiers were SO well-trained, and the officers were too, it was just fantastic. I hate reading military stuff where everyone literally FAILS AT LIFE. Some of the really high-ups were incompetent (like the Sky Marshals), but all of the people actually fighting or directly commanding the fighters were awesome. Yay!

I think my main complaint was the lack of consistent characters. Very, very few characters were present for the whole novel, or even ALIVE for the majority of the novel. The ones who lived went on and off screen with only tiny bits with our narrator. The ones who died would have a chapter or so in which we got to the point where we remembered their names, and then they were offed. Blargle. But Johnnie was a jolly good MC, so it was survivable.

Rating: 4/5 stars.

PS: This is my first read for the ""Men in Uniform challenge, and oh babies, were there men in uniform!

The Deathday Letter by Shaun Hutchinson

Jacket Blurb:

The clock is ticking.
Ollie can't be bothered to care about anything but girls until he gets his Deathday Letter and learns he's going to die in twenty-four hours. Bummer.
Ollie does what he does best: nothing. Then his best friend convinces him to live a little, and go after Ronnie, the girl who recently trampled his about-to-expire heart. Ollie turns to carloads of pudding and over-the-top declarations, but even playing the death card doesn't work. All he wants is to set things right with the girl of his dreams. It's now or never.

My Review:

I gave this 3 out of 5 stars, and I still can't decide if I want to burn it or love it. I almost stopped reading it (and throw it across the room) like five times because the main character was such an ASSHOLE. Grade A. But simultaneously you feel bad for him and want to hug him and make him be a JOLLY. There was a ton of dirty humor (basically typical 15-year-old boy humor) which turned me off, but at the same time there was a lot of other humor that had me in stitches. The plot was inevitable but still kept me wondering WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT.

Clearly I'm bewildered by this book. I think for people like me, who are constantly turned off by the content but manage to finish it, will at least appreciate the overall effect of the book. Some people, I'm sure, will read it and love it just because of the humor.

I thought Ronnie and Shane were fantastic supporting characters. I especially admired them for sticking by Oliver regardless of whatever stupid stunt he was going to attempt next, both to keep him company and also keep him from doing anything TOO illegal/stupid/degrading. Oliver's family was fantastic and crazy: I want Nana to be my BFF, and I want to observe the Evil Twins from a safe distance and laugh at their victims.

This book also reminded me of the film Stranger Than Fiction, specifically a conversation that Emma Thompson's character and Dustin Hoffman's character have about characters that know they're about to die. This book kinda contradicts their conversation, and is basically exploring the idea of, "What if we KNEW when we were going to die? Would it change anything?" If that concept bothers you, don't read this book.

A Bookish Birthday

Expect regular posts soon, because I have a LOT of drafts thanks to 750words, plus a lot of end-of-Jan updates/reviews on my various challenges. But for now I just have BIRTHDAY SWAG for you to drool over.

I got a LOT of Timothy Zahn books from my sister and my parents. He's probably my favorite science fiction author and one of my favorite authors ever. The titles are:

• Dragonback Bargain (omnibus including Dragon and Thief, Dragon and Soldier, and Dragon and Slave)
• Dragon and Herdsman
• Dragon and Judge
• Dragon and Liberator
• Night Train to Rigel
• The Third Lynx

The last two are part of a different series than the Dragonback ones.

Then I got a bunch of Cressida Cowell's dragon books, featuring Hiccup the Viking and Toothless:

• How To Be A Pirate
• How To Speak Dragonese
• How To Cheat a Dragon's Curse
• How To Twist A Dragon's Tale
• A Hero's Guide To Deadly Dragons

I've read those before, but they are all excellent! So now I own the whole series except the newest one.

The rest are:

• Dangerous to Know: Lady Emily #5 by Tasha Alexander (the cover is gorgeous, let's FACE FACTS)
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
• The American by HENRY FREAKING JAMES
• The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan (which I've started...it's really fun so far!)

Graphic Novel Mini-reviews

Hatter M Volume 2: Mad With Wonder

This is the second in Frank Beddor's graphic novel versions of his "The Looking Glass Wars" YA trilogy, which is a reimagining of Alice in Wonderland. From what I've gathered, Princess Alyss is the main character in the trilogy, but here, her bodyguard, Hatter Madigan, is the hero. He's on a quest in our world to find Princess Alyss, who has disappeared. Meanwhile the imposter Queen Redd is ruling Wonderland and trying to kill Hatter.

The artist is different from the artist for the first volume, but I didn't really notice. The art is still the same bizarre weird that sometimes comes out as beautiful and fantastic and MAD, and sometimes just looks butt-ugly. The writing seemed worse to me this time around. There was a lot of awkward dialog, a lot of cheesy dialog, and a lot of dialog that made me want to head-desk. Hatter Madigan is still a madly intriguing character, and the bonus art they include in these volumes are GORGEOUS. I want prints.

I thought the story wasn't as interesting in this volume, because it didn't include as much of the Wonderland plotlines or the fun stuff about the Imagination. I loved the arc in the first volume at the orphanage where everything was dark and gray except for when they used their imaginations, and then the color was promptly stolen away by the baddies. There wasn't anything close to that awesome in this volume; mostly it was just dark and gray and historical. The plots centered on the Civil War, insane asylums, etc, and didn't have enough fantasy and Wonder for me. I may continue reading this series for Hatter and the occasional gorgeous panel, but with even more unflagging indifference to its content.

Tactics Volume 6

I am loving the Tactics series. The main plot revolves around a folklorist/demon hunter, Kantarou, who hunts down the "Demon Eater" who has been sealed away long ago by who knows whom. Kantarou releases the Demon Eater, names him Haruka, and the two of them frolic around and hunt demons, some of which are nice, some of which are not so nice. There's also a Big Mystery with Haruka's past.

In this volume, the main storyline, as always, is cruising along and rocking, but there's been a bad habit in the last few volumes of giving half the volume to random side-stories. The side-stories are fun, but I kinda feel like there's enough of them to do a whole different series of publications. But then no one would buy them, cuz, OH HEY, no one cares. We read them because they're there, and we might laugh, or cry, or like the art, but at the end of the day, or rather, the beginning, we just want to know when Haruka is going to spill the beans. I'm curious how long they can keep stringing us along without cluing us in on the Enormous Lurking Backstory in the room. We got a lot of big hints in this volume, despite the lack of main storyline.

And is it wrong that I constantly want to cuddle with Kantarou? Eesh. Even though he's like, what, 26? He looks like he's 12. And that makes me feel a bit like a cougar.

This is one of my favorite series ever. As long as the rest of it doesn't break my heart, it will remain so. The characters are hilarious and interesting, the art is my favorite (it's a lot like Black Cat and Black Butler....or like a manlier version of CLAMP). I am eagerly awaiting volume 7 which should arrive any day now.

Bats are nocturnal, fast, and out of their minds

750words is my new favorite site. I heard about it last year, tried to use it last month, and am finally utilizing it this month. It's basically a blog site, but very simple, private, and is geared for Wrimos and the like. You can earn fun badges if you write 750 words a day for enough days in a row, or if you complete challenges or do other jolly things. It also has search and export functions for your entries, stats, and stats on other people to keep you competitive and all that. Plus, it is soooo satisfying to see the little Xs at the top to show how many days in a row you've done your wordcount. I don't know why it's easier to use this site rather than stare at my Microsoft Word and demand I write 750 words. I mean, it's completely mental. Check it out, tell me what you think. :D

I've started a new story called "Batty Batty Bats." I don't actually know what it's about yet (superheroes, contemp. pantheon, organized crime? Idk!), but it's a lot of fun. Here are three very short excerpts from it:

The first is after the main character Saul gets injured.

A ferocious roaring filled his ears, drowning out that thought, and a deep, rhythmic thud made his bones ache. Was he back at Damien's club? It was like listening to Daft Punk while drunk and hungover and under water.
Screams. Shouts. The roaring ceased--no, was replaced by the roaring of voices. Saul wished they would stop.
They stopped.
Cool, Saul thought. I wish for a pony and a plastic rocket.

The second is an early morning convo between Lyssa and Alex, two randoms.

"Your hair," Lyssa said, unable to control her response.
Alex raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"
"It's purple."
"And four people saw Damien come out of your room this morning."
Lyssa considered this. "Fair enough."

And the third is the plot trying to animate itself, but turning into a sideshow to Damien's feature film.

"Saul! SAUL!"
"Yes?" Saul asked.
"I need MEN!" Damien announced.
"What kind of men?" Saul asked, bemused.
"PRETTY ones!"
Saul stared at him. "Are you intoxicated? It's 9 in the morning!"
"Why wait for alcohol?" Damien waved a hand expansively as he walked toward him. "Silly!"
"I saw him put tequila in his morning coffee," Alex said, popping his head out of the doorway beside Saul.
"Holy-" Saul started.
"Get me men, Saul!" Damien repeated.
Saul looked at the ceiling for patience and divine comprehension. "What kinds?"
"At least one sniper, two marksmen, and maybe a demolitions man, just to be thorough."

The Eagle has LANDED?!

I saw Tron: Legacy today. This post is not about Tron: Legacy. This post is about The Eagle. When I was finding my way to my theater, I saw this larger, friendly poster for a movie called The Eagle. First I saw Romans. "Yay, Romans!" Then I saw Channing Tatum. "Yay, Channing Tatum!" Then I saw Jamie Bell. "OMFJAM JAMIE BELL!!!!" Connor gave it The Eye and we went to Tron: Legacy. Then God smiled on me and gave me the trailer for The Eagle before Tron started. Here is the trailer and my thought-commentary moment by moment:



"Dude, it's that movie!"
"Dude, Romans."
"Duuuude, Channing Tatum."
"Dude, Hadrian's Wall!"
"OMFJAM JAMIE BELL!"
"DUDE SLAVES! AND ROMANS!"
"DUDE BETRAYALS!"
"DUDE JAMIE BELL AND CELTS!"
"LOL SLAVES!"
"Chariooooooooots!"

As you can see, I am not exactly the most discerning of viewers. But oh babies, if the world has any goodness, that movie will be awesome and I will heart it. That trailer has pretty much everything I want in a story: pretty boys, fake!history (not to be confused with real!history or just plain History), horses, military, FRIENDS, conflicting loyalties, slavery, betrayal. The only thing it's missing is witty banter. But I didn't see any skanky girls (their absence is a plus, yes), and the witty banter might be hidden.

Arma virumque cano

There's some Vergil for you. Now you can say, "I read some Vergil today," and sound totally awesome. If you want to sound even more awesome you should know that that means, "I sing of weapons and a man," which, in my opinion, are pretty legit things to be singing about.

I am taking three dead languages this term. It is...wearying, but fascinating. On the fascinating side, I found out there's a graduate program at my school for ancient languages. Should I do it? Idk. But it's a possibility. Anyway, for the last week and a half I have been primarily reading "The Dream of the Rood" in Old English, The Aeneid in Latin, and the Icelandic sagas in Old Norse. Yeah, no big deal, I'm reading Old Norse. *insufferably smug*

I am also reading through my friends' 2010 Nanos, which is hugely entertaining. So between those and ancient poems, I am pretty busy, reading-wise. I'm also working on my first graphic novel of the year, Mad With Wonder, and the LotR read-a-along

I will post a review of I Am Number Four, hopefully soon. Also White Cat.

Writing-wise I am.....well, writing. Which counts for something. I've written a short story already this year, "Annie and the Ocean of Hands" which was all right. I'm also working on Saulos' backstory/futurestory, because it's insanely fun. His life is SO psychotic and lolzy. Uhhhm I'm also thinking about (haha) working on "Drem" some more. I think my main writing goal should be to finish a second draft of "Drem" this year. Blargle.

For any English lit nerds out there, has anyone else noticed how trendy The Tempest is lately? Everyone's reading it. I'm reading it in my lit crit class, and I read it in my Shakespeare class last year, and Advanced Shakespeare is reading it this year, and they're making the movie, and...WUT? I don't even like that play, much. Completely personal opinion. But is anyone else noticing the trendiness?

*WAVES TO 2011*

Heyyyy guys and gals and indeterminates! 2010 was pretty chill. I just wanted to post some stats on the fact, and also the results of my December CRAZY. Let's be backward and talk about December first.

Books read in December: 12 from the list, plus 2 debuts, plus 8 library books=22.

Blogs posted in December: 20.

Comments: I definitely did better in the first half of the month. The second half had the actual holidays, wedding prep for my cousin, and I was feeling ill most of the time. I got all of my debut reviews done sans one, but I think since I only joined in AUGUST, I can live with myself. Although I really expected to finish I Am Number Four and get a review up. >.>

2010 stats!

Short stories written: 16.

Follow the White Rabbit: A chapter in my Alice in Wonderland reimagining. In which Allie meets Warren, an odd college student with white hair.

Uncertainty (parts 1 and 2): Part of my Star Wars fanfic, featuring my Star Wars OC, Loreli Scrye.

Annie and the Four Winds: A Hans Christian Andersen-inspired fantasy.

The Bird and the Stone: A brief introduction of Saetone and Falarra, two sprite characters of mine.

Recipes: Alec and Bahnree attempt to make a spell while arguing.

Vakko Round Five-The Pit: Vakko kicks Atlantean butt while spidercrawling on a wall.

Moosen Freedom Fighters: Freedom Fighters. On Moose.

The Privateer: In which I confuse my history and Benjamin Trades makes his comeback appearance.

the dark: A fantasy based on an artwork by sandara on deviantART by the same name.

Sand Fae: The humans come to the planet of the sand fae and of course start decimating them. We get a few words from a sand fae prisoner.

Messy Magic: Alec and Rogue meet up in a bar, and get in a fight with zombies. As they do.

Beaten: A William Faulkner fanfic that I had to write for a class. I never lie to you, bloggers.

One of the Living: A one-shot from the POV of Adrastus, one of my OCs from "Hell Hath No Furies."

A Day in the Life of an Electro-bot: Pure crack. Fish, electrons, and robots.

Annie and the Forest of Voices: Annie's career continues and she meets up with a Wind again.

The Morning After: The Nutcracker fanfic. >.>

Novels written: 1.

"Mad As Gods" rough draft was started and completed in Nanowrimo. "Mad As Gods" is the sequel to my 2007 Nanowrimo, "Hell Hath No Furies," and continued the adventures of my versions of Dionysus and Ariadne, as well as producing two new characters, Ektor and Saulos. I vote Hades.

Editing work: Nada.

I rock.

Books read: 114.

Everything else of interest in 2010 is over at my other post, Best Read in 2010. Thanks for reading, following, and commenting! :D I hope 2011 rocks for everyone.

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Plot synopsis:
Clay is confused but interested when he gets a box of outdated audio tapes in the mail. After digging out his old stereo and beginning to listen, he is horrified by the voice that speaks: his old crush Hannah, who committed suicide mere weeks before. She committed suicide for a reason, she says. Thirteen reasons, as a matter of fact, and each of those thirteen reasons will receive the tapes in the mail, and have one tape dedicated to them. The novel is set up as a dual narrative, simultaneously telling Clay's story while also telling Hannah's. Both stories compliment, parallel, and overlap constantly.

My review:
When I started reading Thirteen Reasons Why, it became apparent very quickly what kind of story it was going to be, and I wasn't sure if it was going to be particularly effective at it. Suicide stories, especially ones like this, can turn out extremely heavy-handed, melodramatic, and insincere.
But I was surprised in a good way at how excellently Asher told the story. I think the most effective part was that we get into Clay's head and REALLY understand how he is feeling at each given moment. We get his side and Hannah's, and his dialog to Hannah and her dialog to him, even though they're not actually speaking to each other, and we can come up with our own conclusion about how justified each of them is (as well as the other 12 characters who are featured on her tapes).
Asher also dealt with the dread of what was going to happen very well. This book was intense and a bit soul-crushing at times, but not so much that I wanted to stop reading (which I also feared would happen). This wasn't a Mockingjay for me. Yes, it was tragic and I was dreading each new revelation, but it was a well-told story and made me empathize with Hannah, but also Clay and Tony (Tony, btw, is a delicious, fantastic minor character) and various other characters. AND there was enough hopeful moments stuck in that it didn't feel like you were being keel-hauled with no break for all 300 or so pages.
The high school setting and various scenarios were also very believable, which I appreciated a LOT because, well, I've been reading a lot of books set in high schools lately, and soooo many of them are trite, cliche, OR just really unbelievable. The world here is very realistic but still interesting and keeps you on your toes. Sometimes things turn out how you think they will, but often they twist around and do something else.
Did I mention I liked Clay? He was a fantastic narrator. He's a good guy, he has flaws, and overall he's just a normal high school guy who makes good choices, makes mistakes, and owns up to everything.

Rating: 5/5
Recommended for: Everyone