Beauty by Robin McKinley

I read this book in one sitting, in about 4 hours (which includes a couple of potty breaks). If you look up the page count you can see what a slow reader I am. ;) But the important thing to note here, is that I almost never do one-sittings. Nevah! Even if I'm really into a book I will read it over a couple days, especially if it's longer than 200 pages. I can't really explain why I read this all at once, except to say that it's SNUGGLY.

As far as plot goes, it's a pretty straight-up rendition of the Beauty and Beast fairy tale (legend? myth? I don't know what this goes under), at least as far as I could tell. And no, I do not mean the Disney movie. Get out. This one has Beauty's sisters and non-crazy!father and wonderful brother-in-laws and invisible servants and the whole, "Oh yeah, Beauty likes roses" thing. ^_^ Seriously, Ger, I love you. Greatheart, the horse, did remind me a lot of the Disney!horse, Filippe, but I don't know what the source on that is.

The tone of the book is also very fairy-tale-ish, which could get a little too snooty at times, but I still liked it and thought it worked well since she was going straight with the story. It was funny because I had totally wrong preconceptions about the book; somehow I figured it was a newer rendition and by that I mean has a big twist on the original story. So I kept expecting something that never came. Kinda like when I wait for trains. Or the bus.

I really loved Beauty as well as her Beast. ^_^ He was completely adorkable. However, I think that lessened a lot of the tension in the story. I mean, the Beast is just a SUPER NICE GUY. After his initial "K GIVE ME YER DAUGHTER AND DIE WITH GUILT" temper tantrum, he's a complete gentleman to everyone, and was completely not-scary, despite the fact he's enormous and has giant, if retractable, claws. I like the Disney version in that the Beast has a temper and is not the best person until Belle gets to work on him. This Beast seems to have all his problems worked out (whatever they were in the first place, that was unclear) except for his emo tendencies.

I also thought the ending was wayyyy too happy, but again, that's kinda a trope of the fairy tale business unless you're doing one of those twisted versions that I kept expecting, so this might be a casualty of my own preconceptions again.

But besides those two things, yeah, this book was VERY entertaining and enjoyable and cute and all that rot. I loved ALL the characters, they were just too cute and/or jolly. Yes, jolly. So I guess I would recommend this book to people who don't mind a lot of happy fluff and not many surprises-unless you grew up in a cave and don't know the story at all. 4/5.

HUGE ARC GIVEAWAY

Carol's Prints is doing a HUGE ARC giveaway, including Paranormalcy by Kiersten White and Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, plus MANY OTHERS. Go! Be free! Sign up!

55 Quirky Questions for Readers

Meme from the Literary Lollipop! I love that name.

1. Favourite childhood book: The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, I guess. I have a lot! Little House on the Prairie, Big Bear's Book, Moog, Harriet the Spy.

2. What are you reading right now? The Book That Changed My Life ed. Roxanne J. Coady and Joy Johannessen

3. What books do you have on request at the library? Many debut novels. I'm most excited about Hex Hall, probably.

4. Bad book habit: Buying too many, too fast, and reading them too slow. :P

5. What do you currently have checked out at the library? The Book That Changed My Life, The Changeling Sea, and Beauty (read Beauty straight through last night).

6. Do you have an e-reader? Nope. I may get a Kindle someday.

7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once? Depends. If I start one and am bored with it, I will start another one. Also, if I'm in school, there is really no limit.

8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog? Not really. My reading habits have changed from READING other people's blogs. ;)

9.Least favourite book you read this year: Hm. Blu's Hanging. Made me feel icky.

10. Favourite book I’ve read this year: YOU IMPOSSIBLE QUESTIONER. I'll just throw out The Blue Castle by LMM because I read it twice in a row. ;)

11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone? 30-40%, because of school and YA recs.

12. What is your reading comfort zone? sci-fi, fantasy, children's, and old classics. I'm pretty PG-rated too.

13. Can you read on the bus? Yes.

14. Favourite place to read: A couch or a deck-chair.

15. What’s your policy on book lending? I rarely do it and only to close friends, unless I have duplicates for some reason.

16. Do you dogear your books? No. O.o

17. Do you write notes in the margins of your books? Sometimes for school. I do underline, if I'm in the mood.

18. Do you break/crack the spine of your books? I TRY NOT TO???? But actually, I usually read paperbacks, and it's pretty impossible to read a thick paperback without CREASING the spine.

19. What is your favourite language to read? English. I can only read Latin besides that. :P And that takes me 10 times as long.

20. What makes you love a book? The characters and/or the writing style/language.

21. What will inspire you to recommend a book? If it is amazing in every way and overlaps in several genres, or is ungenreable, OR if I know someone well enough that I know they will love it.

22. Favourite genre: Probably children's fantasy.

23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did): historical

24. Favourite Biography: OOO HARD GAME. I haven't read many. I liked Tom Shippey's Tolkien bio, but it wasn't really a bio...yeah fail. Fanny Crosby by Bonnie C. Harvey was good.

25. Have you ever read a self-help book? (And, was it actually helpful?) I've read a lot of writing self-help books. No Plot? No Problem! by Chris Baty is a fave. 7 Habits for Highly Effective Teens (or something) was pretty good but I didn't actually end up USING it to help myself. lol.

26. Favourite Cookbook: I've never spent enough time with one to have a fave. :P

27. Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or non-fiction): Little Women, strangely. I really identified with Jo (I know, how original of me! But that's what makes it classic, I guess).

28. Favourite reading snack: Reese's pieces. :P

29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience: Hunger Games almost....I had such high expectations that it was just difficult to be objective. I also wasn't a huge fan of Wicked Lovely, but I don't think I would have loved it even if there wasn't hype. So I dunno.

30. How often do you agree with the critics about about a book? I don't really read book critics, so I don't know. And book bloggers all have different opinions, so if they ALL love a book, it's usually something special.

31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews? lol I'm fine with it. I'm not really a "professional" book blogger reviewer person though.

32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you choose? Latin? I want to be fluent, really I do!

33. Most intimidating book I’ve read: The Historian. 900 pages of travel and art and research and a little bit of thrill.

34. Most intimidating book I’m too nervous to begin: Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

35. Favourite Poet: Elizabeth Barrett Browning, maybe. Or Robert Frost?

36. How many books do you usually have checked out from the library at any given time? 1-3, or 1-8 if we include manga.

37. How often do you return books to the library unread? 1/3?

38. Favourite fictional character: Faramir? Elizabeth Bennet? Howl Jenkins? TOO HARD.

39. Favourite fictional villain: Darth Vader. We've been like this & ever since I was 5 or so.

40. Books I’m most likely to bring on vacation: Something lengthy, fictional, and what I hope to be an engaging read.

41. The longest I’ve gone without reading: No idea. I had issues last year, before the summer.

42. Name a book you could/would not finish: I can't think of one just now.

43. What distracts you easily when you’re reading? Sometimes music. TV/movies.

44. Favourite film adaptation of a novel: The Fellowship of the Ring, probably.

45. Most disappointing film adaptation: Eragon, because at the time I loved the books way more than I do now.

46. Most money I’ve ever spent in a bookstore at one time: $50

47. How often do you skim a book before reading it? If it's for school, probably.

48. What would cause you to stop reading a book halfway through? If the writing is sloppy, and/or if I don't care about ANY of the characters.

49. Do you like to keep your books organized? Yes, plz! Especially now that they all fit on my shelves.

50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once they’ve been read? Keep them, unless I hated it or don't plan on reading it again.

51. Are there any books that you’ve been avoiding? Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell, and The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan. They're super long.

52. Name a book that made you angry: Liar

53. A book I didn’t expect to like but did: Albatross by Josie Bloss

54. A book I expected to like but didn’t: Gifts by Ursula K Leguin

55. Favourite guilt-free guilty pleasure reading: Manga and Star Wars novels.

Fall Term Booklist

GREETINGS! This fall, as an English lit major, I'm taking an American novel course (that covers 20th and 21st c, I think) and an English novel course (that covers 19th c, I think). So, being a nerd, I'm going to share the titles and first sentences of all the books I'm going to be reading over the term.

American Novel:

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin: "I stand at the window of this great house in the south of France as night falls, the night which is leading me to the most terrible morning of my life."

Monkey Bridge by Lan Cao: "The smell of blood, warm and wet, rose from the floor and settled into the solemn stillness of the hospital air."

The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich: "In the year 1896, my great-uncle, one of the first Catholic priests of aboriginal blood, put the call out to his parishioners that they should gather at Saint Joseph's wearing scapulars and holding missals."

The Sound and The Fury by William Faulkner: "Through the fence, between the curling flower spaces, I could see them hitting."

Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson: "Why is the measure of love loss?"

Yonnondio: From the Thirties by Tillie Olsen: "The whistles always woke Mazie."

English Novel:

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins: "In the first part of Robinson Crusoe, at page one hundred and twenty-nine, you will find it thus written: Now I saw, though too late, the Folly of beginning a Work before we count the Cost, and before we judge rightly of our own strength to go through with it.""

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light , it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way-in short, the period was do far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."

She by H. Rider Haggard: "There are some events of which each circumstance and surrounding detail seems to be graven on the memory in such a fashion that we cannot forget it, and so it is with the scene that I am about to describe."

Dracula by Bram Stoker: "Left Munich at 8.55 p.m. on 1st May, arriving at Vienna early next morning; should have arrived at 6.46, but train was an hour late."

What's your favorite of these first sentences? Which one would you possibly read for fun?

2 Questions: Hunger Games and Bookshelves

Okay, people, this is SRS BSNS. I have serious questions.

1. Does anyone else LOVE the Hunger Games books but loathe Katniss? AM I A HORRIBLE PERSON??? I keep reading all these reviews and blog posts anticipating Mockingjay, and they keep mentioning how incredibly smart and brave and wonderful Katniss is, and I keep being surprised by this.

Don't get me wrong, Katniss has skills. But she is not badass, and she is not that smart. I mean, she occasionally does all right in a life-threatening pinch, but it seems Haymitch, Peeta, and/or Cinna do the brainwork in her life. She just has to be pretty, get people to love her, and occasionally shoot people. She is very good at all of those things. And she obviously cares enough about the people in her life to risk her life for them.

I think the main thing about her that annoys me is her neediness and drama-llama tendencies. She continually uses Peeta and/or Gale to make her feel better (which makes sense, as she has a horrible life in a horrible world), she's continually bursting into tears or having emotional problems or angsting about all her problems for a whole chapter.

Catching Fire did make me understand Katniss a lot more. In the first book, I was just "WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS GIRL" but in the second book it was a lot more clear that she is very scarred emotionally and mentally by her upbringing. She's so scared of having children that could be killed in the games that anything approaching commitment puts her off. Which just makes it easier for her to lead Peeta and Gale on.

I'm trying not to make this a hate-post, but honestly, I just can't like Katniss. I can empathize with her, and I hope she turns out okay. But I don't admire her much.

What about all of you? Do you agree with me? If you don't, what do you like most about Katniss?

2. Completely unrelated question/scenario. Imagine with me, for a moment, a bookshelf. Half of the shelves on this bookshelf are filled, and have two layers of books on each shelf (if you know what I mean....one layer in the back and another in front of them...the shelves are deep enough).

Then imagine with me a different bookshelf, on which all of the shelves are filled but only one layer deep. Which, to you, appears to have more books?

*waiting anxiously for Mockingjay*

Jane Austen Challenge

I am hereby accepting this challenge. I've already read most of Jane Austen's books, so I'm just going to go with the "Newbie" level for now:

**Newbie 2 books by J. Austen, 2 re-writes, prequels, sequels, or spoofs (by other authors)

Austen Challenge books I will read:

1. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

2. Becoming Jane Austen by Jon Spence

3. The Watsons by Jane Austen

4. Sanditon by Jane Austen

5. Lady Susan by Jane Austen

Find Hot British People! Win Books!

Stephanie Perkins is giving away an ARC of her book, Anna and the French Kiss, over at her blog. Go. Do it. Fight. WIN! Her book has been reviewed (favorably) by Maureen Johnson. THIS MAKES HER AWESOME. She is also friends with Kiersten White. MORE AWESOME.

One way to earn points (besides the usual) is to find her a picture of a Hot British Person. Here is mine:

(Benedict Cumberbatch)

Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan review

So, there's a major problem with reading the first 10 books in a series and then not reading the next for at least 5 years. Especially books as long, complex, and including literally thousands of speaking characters as the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.

My disorientation in this book included, but was not limited to trying to figure out:

-who was bonded to who. I MEAN REALLY. EVERYONE AND THEIR DOG IS BONDED TO AT LEAST ONE PERSON.

-who the bad guys were. The problem with WoT is that the good guys are unaware of several villains, and if the reader IS told that they're a villain for sure, you get one scene telling you so, and then you have to remember it forever more.

-the state of Sea Folk politics. Again, I MEAN REALLY. Sea Folkiness is complicated enough.

-and, of course, who the heck all of the characters are besides the main 10 or so.

I could, of course, have re-read the whole series before tackling Knife of Dreams. But that would have taken me another 5 years at least, probably. :P

Anywayyyy this is supposed to be a review. Despite all of my confusion, this addition to the WoT series was pretty fantastic and lovely. For once in a long while, we had plotlines with ALL THREE of the Male Leads: Rand, Perrin, and Mat. Usually one of them will not be present in a book, just because there is sooo much going on in the series at this point. It was GREAT to be able to spend time with all three. The same mostly goes for Nynaeve, Egwene, and Elayne, who I consider to be the main Female Leads (but feel free to dispute that). Elayne, unfortunately, still made me want to slaughter villages of angel kittens. She's already the most moody, selfish girl ever, and now she's got wayyyy more hormones than she knows how to deal with. *SIGH*

In this book, Jordan seems to have really made an effort to start tying up threads, even if just started. :PI don't think I should go into too much of the plot, as it would be nonsensical to people who haven't read the series or aren't up to speed. But the Tower (Black and White) threads (pretty much all of them) get a lot of progress, as do Perrin's rescuing rampage of Doom, Mat's hilarious pursuit of the Daughter of the Nine Moons, and Elayne's bid for succession. The ending of the book didn't have an ENORMOUS HUGE OMFJAM climax like WoT books often do, but in a way it was kind of nice. It got some stuff done that needed to happen, and in mostly satisfactory ways.

My main complaint in this book was a few scenes from POVs that seemed completely pointless. That's my main complaint of WoT in general: if Jordan kept his plotting and characters a little bit tighter, the story wouldn't get quite so out of control and epic and bogged down. I mean, for example, did we REALLY need a scene with Arymilla and her cronies? No, no, we did not. Everything that we learned in that scene we learned AGAIN from Elayne's POV. All it did was add a completely boring meal scene in the middle of THINGS HAPPENING.

Overall though I really enjoyed this book; it's probably my favorite WoT since Lord of Chaos (book 6. Yeah. Forever ago.). One of my favorite things about the series is Rand and his insanity, or lack of, or battle against, and he got a lot more POV-time in here than he usually does. Many of the other characters got much-needed "character moments" as well, to remind us of just how much we love them and why.

I'm looking forward to tackling The Gathering Storm sometime soon!

Continued book meme from Picaresque.

Part 3– The best book you’ve read in the last 12 months:

This is an absurd question. But okay. I'm just going to put my top.....6 from 2010 (cuz it's easy to check on Goodreads, lol).

-The Blue Castle by Lucy Maud Montgomery

-The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

-The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle

-The Bostonians by Henry James

-The Game by Laurie R. King

-Fire by Kristin Cashore

Part 4 – Your favorite book or series ever: This is such an impossible question! But I'm going to say The Lord of the Rings trilogy, because honestly it's really what turned me into the bookworm I am today. :D A close second would be Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, because I've read it countless times and love it to bits.

Part 5: A book or series you hate: Twilight? I don't know, I tend to block out books I hate and just refuse to think about them anymore. OH I did have to read a book for school this year, Blu's Hanging by Lois-Ann Yamanaka, which despite being good writing I completely hated. It was just too disgusting for words.

Part 6: A book that was adapted into a movie you liked better than the book (or vice versa, or both): Well I've never read a John Grisham book, but I love the movies The Pelican Brief, The Client, and The Runaway Jury. Does that count? Books that I like better than movies include Howl's Moving Castle, Inkheart (although I loved the movie except for the last scene), Dark is Rising, and of course Eragon. I don't care how much you hate the Eragon book, the movie is a travesty to humanity.

Part 7: Least favorite plot device used in books you otherwise enjoy: Random tragedy or deaths or emotional angst that is used just to get you to "connect" or "empathize" with the characters. Save me useless drama, people. If it's needed for the story and completely understandable and believable, okay. Otherwise, no.

Versatile Blogger Award

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award.

2. Share 7 things about yourself.

3. Pass the award along to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic for whatever reason! (In no particular order...)

4. Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award.

I was given this award by Maria A. Hughes, aka shield maiden, who is awesome in every way. Thank you so much Marie! I'm kind of a blog lurker so I probably spend more time reading other people's blogs than working on my own, but I still really enjoy posting here and chzatting with everyone!

7 things about Bahnree

1. I read manga almost as often as I read "normal" books, but I don't often talk about it. I guess it's sorta like a guilty pleasure, only I don't actually feel guilty. I take a vindictive pleasure in defending manga when someone bad-mouths it; I just don't wear it on my sleeve, I guess.

2. I have a secret dream (oops not secret anymore?) of becoming a voice actor. I love quoting, I love voices and working on different ones, and I love animated movies and TV (although there's a lot of of crap in the market).

3. Studies have implied that I could live on root beer and mushrooms for a week.

4. I make beaded animals when I'm really bored and need to do something with my hands.

5. I was in drama in high schoo and miss it DESPERATELY.

6. My family is very important to me, and often people give me a hard time for how much time I spend with them. Don't judge me? ;)

7. I'm a Christian but I don't actually hate you. Jesus says to Love your enemies and Love your neighbor as yourself.

Awesome Bloggers You Should Visit

(mmmmKAY?)

1. Stories of Medusa
2. Just A Good Book
3. Picaresque
4. Kiersten Writes
5. Hyperbole and a Half
6. Natural/Artifical
7. Poisoned Rationality
8. The Lost Entwife
9. The O.W.L.
10.Unputdownables
11. Lavender Lines
12. Fig and Thistle
13. Smitten With Books
14. In The Forest
15. A Girl Reads a Book

BBB Read-a-thon Wrap-up

So it was a lot harder to read in the car than I thought. I forgot we were not going on an interstate but an older highway, so windy, narrow road+reading=sick Bahnree. I just would read a few pages, then have to take a break, read a few more, etc.

But I still managed to make progress on the Conqueror's Trilogy, even if I didn't get it finished or anything else read. Let me tell you, catching up on blogs last night and today was really awesome but also really depressing...everyone read SO MANY BOOKS. :D Good job!

Conqueror's Pride: 389 pages

Conqueror's Heritage: 342 pages

Total weekend:

1094 pages read (the above plus Knife of Dreams)

3 books finished

10 bottles of water consumed

Thank you to Monica for hosting, and to everyone else for participating! I had a lot of fun following blogs and seeing all the TBR lists go down. :D

I will probably post mini-reviews for the books I read this weekend a little later today, so if you're interested, stay tuned. ;)

Read-a-thon: Day 1

GREETINGS.

Today I finished Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan. Which considering I had my niece's birthday party and am leaving on a 9-hour (one way) car trip tomorrow, I think that's pretty okay.

The book was fantastic, btw. Probably the best Wheel of Time book since Lord of Chaos, or on par with Crossings of Twilight, at least.

Books read: 1

Pages read: 363

Saturday and Sunday I am planning to read the Conqueror's trilogy by Timothy Zahn, or however much of it I can manage. I won't have internet again until Sunday night, so don't expect any updates from me. :( Good luck everyone! Hope you're having fun!

Book Meme parts I and II

Book Meme from Picaresque. :) Who knows where it started.

Part I: A series you wished had gone on longer or one you wished would just END ALREADY (or both!): I would read Diana Wynne Jones' Howl books until the world ended. I don't know if that's healthy or whatever. But it's true. It's unlikely we will get any more.

Series that need to END are Paolini's Inheritance "trilogy" and Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series (which also started as a trilogy). Both series have major weaknesses, but I also love them to bits and would like to see some CONCLUSION.

Part 2: A series or book that you wish more people were talking about and reading: Hmmm....hard game. Well it's actually quite hard to find some good old Henry James lovers....I keep gushing about the poor man and everyone thinks I'm insane. I would love to discuss his books and themes in-depth. Also I was very sad for a while because I didn't know anyone personally who had read Howl's Moving Castle, despite its utter MAGIC, but that's solved now, yay! The Perilous Gard and Sherwood's Ring by Elizabeth Marie Pope are, as far as I can tell, extremely under-read and underrated.