I'm Back, Baby!

I know that I wrote about September sucking, and I really meant it.

I've been doing this thing this year where I've been looking at the number of blog posts last year and trying to beat each month. So far, I've totally done that and I'm so proud. I noticed that my posts were really low last year in Sept and there were none in Oct.

Usually when I go through a period of radio silence it's because I'm going through a blue period and I can't function in public. My mum calls it "going into (my) cave". I'm sure other people who deal with depression do the same thing. I go through these periods where it's really hard to get out of bed and difficult to function and I feel like I just should not be around humans. Nothing sounds good, I'm completely unmotivated, and it's all I can do to get up, go to work, and make sure the boys stay alive by feeding and clothing them. I don't feel like anything; reading, eating, getting dressed, writing, nail polish, etc. Listening to music is painful; nothing sounds good, there are no good songs, and I can't get out of my funk.

So far, the only cure is tie a knot and hold on, and time. Hopefully I will be able to figure out a better resolution, but this is what has worked for me for the last forty years or so.

I'm happy to report that I'm out of that - the evidence is in the library hold list. When I'm blue, I can't read. It's just not interesting, and I find my mind wanders too much and my brain starts to cycle and I can't pay attention any way, so I just give up. Just recently, I got inspired to read again, and I have 5 books on hold at the library, and three on my night stand. The books on hold are ones that are already checked out, so I have to wait my turn, which is fine, I like to use the library hold system as a lottery system; whichever book comes off hold first is the winner and therefore the one I read next. I actually went for several months where I was waiting for nothing on hold. It was a weird experience.

I'm really looking forward to reading some things that I can really love and sink my teeth into. Books that take less than a week to read because I actually have the desire to make the time to read.

Book Report - Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie

Title: Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie
Authour: Jordan Sonnenblick
Length: 273 pages
How long it took me to read: 2 days

What it's about:
Thirteen-year-old Steven has a totally normal life: he plays drums in the All-Star Jazz band, has a crush on the hottest girl in the school, and is constantly annoyed by his five-year-old brother, Jeffrey. But when Jeffrey is diagnosed with leukemia, Steven's world is turned upside down. He is forced to deal with his brother's illness and his parents' attempts to keep the family in one piece. Salted with humor and peppered with devastating realities, DRUMS, GIRLS, AND DANGEROUS PIE is a heartwarming journey through a year in the life of a family in crisis.

The ending is the most important part: Everything is wrapped up very neatly. I ended this book with a smile

Last word: I'm really glad that I read this after Dewey got the "all clear" at his five year cancer treatment check-up, otherwise this book would have upset me. It was funny, and sweet, and true. I really enjoyed it.

Spoilers after the jump:

Book Report - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Title: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Authour: Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Length: 274 pages
How long it took me to read: 2 days

What it's about:
“ I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers.”January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb….

The ending is the most important part: Very satisfying. Definitely a happy ever after.

Last word: Now I want to go to Guernsey!

Spoilers after the jump:

Book Report - Rapunzel Untangled

Title: Rapunzel Untangled
Authour: Cindy C. Bennett
Length: 293 pages
How long it took me to read: 3 days

What it's about:
Rapunzel is not your average teenager.

For one thing, she has a serious illness that keeps her inside the mysterious Gothel Mansion. And for another, her hair is 15 feet long. Not to mention that she’s also the key to ultimately saving the world from certain destruction. But then she meets a boy named Fane, who changes all she has ever known, and she decides to risk everything familiar to find out who she really is.

Filled with romance, adventure, and mystery, Rapunzel Untangled is one story you won’t want to put down. Discover the true meaning of love and friendship in this modern twist to the classic fairytale.

The ending is the most important part: Definitely a happy ever after.

Last word: This was an easy, cute, fun read. Fane was adorable.

Spoilers after the jump:

Book Report - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Title: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Authour: Betty Smith
Length: 496 pages
How long it took me to read: 2 1/2 weeks

What it's about:
The beloved American classic about a young girl's coming-of-age at the turn of the century, Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a poignant and moving tale filled with compassion and cruelty, laughter and heartache, crowded with life and people and incident. The story of young, sensitive, and idealistic Francie Nolan and her bittersweet formative years in the slums of Williamsburg has enchanted and inspired millions of readers for more than sixty years. By turns overwhelming, sublime, heartbreaking, and uplifting, the daily experiences of the unforgettable Nolans are raw with honesty and tenderly threaded with family connectedness -- in a work of literary art that brilliantly captures a unique time and place as well as incredibly rich moments of universal experience

The ending is the most important part: There was no smashing ending, or major conclusion, but life went on to another chapter. I found that the story just ended with no major conclusion - she just went off to college.

Last word: Francie Nolan gets to join Besty Trotwood and Holden Caufield as one of my favourite fictional characters of all time. I very much enjoyed reading this book.

Spoilers after the jump:

Book Report - Jane Austen Book Club

Title: Jane Austen Book Club
Authour: Karen Joy Fowler
Length:  250 pages
How long it took me to read: A day and a half

What it's about:
In California's central valley, five women and one man join to discuss Jane Austen's novels. Over the six months they get together, marriages are tested, affairs begin, unsuitable arrangements become suitable, and love happens. With her eye for the frailties of human behavior and her ear for the absurdities of social intercourse, Karen Joy Fowler has never been wittier nor her characters more appealing. The result is a delicious dissection of modern relationships.

The ending is the most important part: The group finishes the books and everything is resolved. The end.

Last word: I loved this book. I devoured this book. What a lovely book!! Go ahead and read it whether you're an Austen fan or not, you will love these characters!

Spoilers after the jump:

Book Report - Angela's Ashes

Title: Angela's Ashes
Authour: Frank McCourt
Length:  363 pages
How long it took me to read: Two and a Half Weeks

What it's about:
Despite extreme poverty and desperation of his childhood McCourt recounts his early age in an affecting and uplifting voice in this luminous memoir.

The ending is the most important part: I was so happy this book ended. There was hope at the end and it did end well, but I hated this book

Last word: Ugh. What a drag. Don't Read This Book.

Spoilers after the jump:

Book Report - Beautiful Redemption

Title: Beautiful Redemption
Authour: Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Length:  451 pages
How long it took me to read: A Week

What it's about:
Is death the end . . . or only the beginning?
Ethan Wate has spent most of his life longing to escape the stiflingly small Southern town of Gatlin. He never thought he would meet the girl of his dreams, Lena Duchannes, who unveiled a secretive, powerful, and cursed side of Gatlin, hidden in plain sight. And he never could have expected that he would be forced to leave behind everyone and everything he cares about. So when Ethan awakes after the chilling events of the Eighteenth Moon, he has only one goal: to find a way to return to Lena and the ones he loves.

Back in Gatlin, Lena is making her own bargains for Ethan's return, vowing to do whatever it takes -- even if that means trusting old enemies or risking the lives of the family and friends Ethan left to protect.

Worlds apart, Ethan and Lena must once again work together to rewrite their fate, in this stunning finale to the Beautiful Creatures series.

The ending is the most important part: This whole book is an ending and the ending is satisfying... ish. I'm sad that the series is done.

Last word: Usually when I take longer than a week to read a book it's because I don't like it, but I was so sad for the series to end that I took my time with this one. The book ended how you thought it should, all happily ever after, which for once, seemed a little anti-climactic, but I still recommend the series.

Spoilers after the jump:

Movie Vs. Book

I'm big on reading the book before seeing the movie. I like to have my own version of the story in my head before the look is dictated to me by a movie. Unfortunately, I end up spending the entire time watching the movie grousing about how they changed it and that's not how it was in the book. Usually the book is better, but sometimes I'm surprised and the movie has been as good if not better than the book.

Often times, I've read a book just because I heard that they're going to make a movie out of it.

Other times, I see a movie and hear that it was a book first, so I read that book and try to block out what I saw in the movie, so I can form my own vision. It doesn't always work that way, but I try.

I read the Harry Potter books before I saw the movies, but the movies had already been released, so I already had a vision of what Hermione and Ron looked like, even though they're described differently in the book, so now I have two versions of what the Harry Potter kids look like in my head.

I'm such a visual person, that when I read a book, I always let the story flow in my head like a movie. When I see the movie, I expected that same movie to play out, but that is not always the case. I have had to come to the mindset that movies are merely adaptations and can only be a synopsis of the book, and sometimes they have to add in things in order to make the story flow better as a movie. It drives me crazy, but I have to talk myself down; telling myself that this is only an interpretation of the book, another version. I still yell in my head "That's not how they did it in the book!" The funny thing is, if I see the movie first and read the book second, I never yell in my head "That's not how they did it in the movie!" I think well, they sure got that part wrong in the movie! I always blame the movie.

Book Report - Walk Two Moons

Title: Walk Two Moons
Authour: Sharon Creech
Length: 280 pages
How long it took me to read: A Week

What it's about:
"How about a story? Spin us a yarn."
Instantly, Phoebe Winterbottom came to mind. "I could tell you an extensively strange story," I warned.
"Oh, good!" Gram said. "Delicious!"
And that is how I happened to tell them about Phoebe, her disappearing mother, and the lunatic.

As Sal entertains her grandparents with Phoebe's outrageous story, her own story begins to unfold — the story of a thirteen-year-old girl whose only wish is to be reunited with her missing mother.

In her own award-winning style, Sharon Creech intricately weaves together two tales, one funny, one bittersweet, to create a heartwarming, compelling, and utterly moving story of love, loss, and the complexity of human emotion.
The ending is the most important part: This book will make you laugh all the way through, then the ending will make you cry, but it's okay.

Last word: Usually, the longer it takes me to read a book, the less I like the book, however, I loved this book. It is funny and real and touching and wonderful. I recommend this book for anyone.

Spoilers after the jump:

Book Report - When You Reach Me

Title: When You Reach Me
Authour: Rebecca Stead
Length: 197 pages
How long it took me to read: One day

What it's about:
By sixth grade, Miranda and her best friend, Sal, know how to navigate their New York City neighborhood. They know where it's safe to go, and they know who to avoid. Like the crazy guy on the corner.

But things start to unravel. Sal gets punched by a kid on the street for what seems like no reason, and he shuts Miranda out of his life. The apartment key that Miranda's mom keeps hidden for emergencies is stolen. And then a mysterious note arrives, scrawled on a tiny slip of paper. The notes keep coming, and Miranda slowly realizes that whoever is leaving them knows things no one should know. Each message brings her closer to believing that only she can prevent a tragic death. Until the final note makes her think she's too late.

The ending is the most important part: What a good ending! It was just what I thought was going to happen, but still not predictable.

Last word: I could not put this book down because it was enjoyable, easy to read, and just interesting enough to keep me going from chapter to chapter. It would be good if you were familiar with A Wrinkle In Time before you read this one. Totally recommend this for an easy, fast, read.

Spoilers after the jump:

Book Report - A Wrinkle in Time

Title: A Wrinkle in Time
Authour: Madeline L'Engle
Length: 203 pages
How long it took me to read: Three weeks

What it's about: Fifty years ago, Madeleine L’Engle introduced the world to A Wrinkle in Time and the wonderful and unforgettable characters Meg and Charles Wallace Murry, and their friend Calvin O’Keefe. When the children learn that Mr. Murry has been captured by the Dark Thing, they time travel to Camazotz, where they must face the leader IT in the ultimate battle between good and evil—a journey that threatens their lives and our universe. A Newbery Award winner, A Wrinkle in Time is an iconic novel that continues to inspire millions of fans around the world.

The ending is the most important part: The ending was the best part, a) because that meant that I was finally finished with this book, and b) there is a good message.

Last word: I didn't like it, but it's a good enough book and I can see why it's a classic. It just wasn't my cup of tea.

Spoilers after the jump:

Book Report - Speak

Title: Speak
Authour: Laurie Halse Anderson
Length: 224 pages
How long it took me to read: Two days

What it's about:

The first ten lies they tell you in high school.

"Speak up for yourself--we want to know what you have to say." From the first moment of her freshman year at Merryweather High, Melinda knows this is a big fat lie, part of the nonsense of high school. She is friendless, outcast, because she busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, so now nobody will talk to her, let alone listen to her. As time passes, she becomes increasingly isolated and practically stops talking altogether. Only her art class offers any solace, and it is through her work on an art project that she is finally able to face what really happened at that terrible party: she was raped by an upperclassman, a guy who still attends Merryweather and is still a threat to her. Her healing process has just begun when she has another violent encounter with him. But this time Melinda fights back, refuses to be silent, and thereby achieves a measure of vindication. In Laurie Halse Anderson's powerful novel, an utterly believable heroine with a bitterly ironic voice delivers a blow to the hypocritical world of high school. She speaks for many a disenfranchised teenager while demonstrating the importance of speaking up for oneself.

Speak was a 1999 National Book Award Finalist for Young People's Literature.

The ending is the most important part: The what it's about tells it all. The ending is great. What you are hoping and cheering for comes to pass. The ending is absolutely satisfying.

Last word: Everyone should read this book. The message of this book is that when something terrible happens to you, you can rise above it and fight back.

Spoilers after the jump:

Book Report Beautiful Chaos

Title: Beautiful Chaos
Authour: Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Length: 516 pages
How long it took me to read: A week and a half

What it's about: Third in the series of the Beautiful Creatures Novels. Ethan Wate thought he was getting used to the strange, impossible events happening in Gatlin, his small Southern town. But now that Ethan and Lena have returned home, strange and impossible have taken on new meanings. Swarms of locusts, record-breaking heat, and devastating storms ravage Gatlin as Ethan and Lena struggle to understand the impact of Lena's Claiming. Even Lena's family of powerful Supernaturals is affected - and their abilities begin to dangerously misfire. As time passes, one question becomes clear: What - or who - will need to be sacrificed to save Gatlin?

For Ethan, the chaos is a frightening but welcome distraction. He's being haunted in his dreams again, but this time it isn't by Lena - and whatever is haunting him is following him out of his dreams and into his everyday life. Even worse, Ethan is gradually losing pieces of himself - forgetting names, phone numbers, even memories. He doesn't know why, and most days he's too afraid to ask.

Sometimes there isn't just one answer or one choice. Sometimes there's no going back. And this time there won't be a happy ending.

The ending is the most important part: Another Cliffhanger? This cliffhanger was worse than Beautiful Creatures! What the HECK Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl? Yeah, the ending is definitley not a happy one.

Last word: I recommend this book just know that the title suits it - it's chaotic and hard to get through because things are kinda dark and you think you know more than the characters and it takes them way too long to figure things out, which is so frustrating, but it turns out you were wrong anyway. Make sure you have Beautiful Redemption on standby so you can immediately go into the next book. I have to wait and I'm pretty mad about it.

Spoilers after the jump:

Book Report - Warm Bodies

Title: Warm Bodies
Authour: Isaac Marion
Length: 256 pages
How long it took me to read: 1 day

What it's about: R is having a no-life crisis—he is a zombie. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse, but he is a little different from his fellow Dead. He may occasionally eat people, but he’d rather be riding abandoned airport escalators, listening to Sinatra in the cozy 747 he calls home, or collecting souvenirs from the ruins of civilization.

And then he meets a girl.   First as his captive, then his reluctant house guest, Julie is a blast of living color in R’s gray landscape, and something inside him begins to bloom. He doesn’t want to eat this girl—although she looks delicious—he wants to protect her. But their unlikely bond will cause ripples they can’t imagine, and their hopeless world won’t change without a fight.

My take: I loved reading this book. It's a little gruesome - you know, zombies, but it's funny and full of hope, but the ending was weird. I totally enjoyed it until the end. I hope the movie's better.
The ending is the most important part: It ended with a fizzle, not a bang.
Last word: I recommend this book with a warning: there is a lot of swearing, and the descriptions of the Dead eating the Living are pretty graphic. This book is not for everyone, but I did enjoy it.

Spoilers after the jump:

Book Report - The Life of Pi

Title: The Life of Pi
Authour: Yann Martel
Length: 319 pages
How long it took me to read: 2.5 days

What it's about: Pi Patel, a God-loving boy and the son of a zookeeper, has a fervent love of stories and practices not only his native Hinduism, but also Chrisianity and Islam. When Pi is sixteen, his family and their zoo animals emigrate from India to North America aboard a japanese cargo ship. Alas, the sip sinks - and Pi finds himself in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, and orangutan, a wounded zebra, and a 450-pound bengal tiger. Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi. Can Pi and the tiger find their way to land? Can Pi's fear, knowledge, and cunning keep him alive until they do?

My take: I'm gonna do my take after the jump because there will be spoilers.

The ending is the most important part: The end has a twist that will Blow. Your. Mind.

Last word: I never ever thought I would say this ever, but the movie is enough. You don't have to read the book. The movie tells the story beautifully and is a visual feast, so I don't recommend the book, but I recommend the film.

Book Report - Beautiful Darkness

Title: Beautiful Darkness
Authour: Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Length: 503 pages
How long it took me to read: 3days!

What it's about: The continuing story of Gatlin, South Carolina and Ethan Wate and Lena Duchannes. Uncle Macon is dead and Lena is depressed and pushes Ethan away, but Ethan can't let Lena go so easily...

My take: Since Beautiful Creatures ended on such a cliff hanger, I was really happy to not have to wait for 95 people to read the sequel before I got to it like I did with the original book. I only had to wait two days for the book to become available at the library. The beginning was slow and answered nothing, but after the first 100 pages, all this new stuff was introduced, and I needed to find out what happens next, and then what happens after that, and then that, and so on. I totally could not put this book down. I was reading one night, looked at the clock and it was 10pm. I thought I would read 'just one more chapter'. The next time I looked at the clock it was 12:15am!! Whoops. I would stay up past midnight reading, dream about the book, then wake up at 6am because I couldn't wait to find out what happens next.
The ending is the most important part: The ending of this one is a little more satisfying than the first book. If I needed to, I could take a break from the series, I'm not going to die if I don't find out what happens next, but I'm loving the series and have the next book on hold at the library.
Last word: Totally read it. I recommend this to everyone. This one is a little darker than the first book, duh, it's TITLE has the word "Darkness" in it! Link is one of my favourite characters, and there's a lot of him in this book. I can't believe that there are not more people hooked on the series like I am: i.e. I was number 95 when I put Beautiful Creatures on hold, but I was number 1 when I put Beautiful Darkness on hold, and I don't have to wait for Beautiful Chaos either.

I'm never going to read again!

I have always been a voracious reader. I love to read. When I was in elementary school, if I wasn't running through sprinklers, eating popsicles, riding bikes, or going to the beach, I was at the library. My dream road trip is taking a historical route and pulling over at every road sign in order to read the historical marker. When we go to museums or anything, my family always gets way ahead of me because I stop and read every sign. I read the liner notes in albums. I always spent my birthday money at Coles Books.

My parents joined a children's book club when we were kids, so every month we would get a couple of Disney or Dr. Seuss books. I read these books over and over. I read them to my parents, and I read them to my siblings. Those books are trashed from all the reading I did.

After Dr. Seuss came Nancy Drew. I babysat for a friend of my mum's early in my babysitting career and she had every book ever written about Nancy Drew. Every time I babysat, I would borrow a couple.

About grade six, I was introduced to young teen romance books like Sweet Valley High. These are the books I would spend my birthday money on. These were the books I checked out from the library. They were easy to read, not boring like the books assigned at school, and so addictive.

Once I got to high school, I quit reading books for pleasure. I had to do so much reading for school that I didn't want to look at one more book. Ridiculously enough, I still had a huge appetite for reading, but this was filled with liner notes from cassettes, newspapers, and magazines. I am full of useless information because of all the magazines I read. Berit used to ask me, "How do you know all these random facts?" The answer? I read. She calls me a media maven. I kinda love it. I'm not book smart, I'm not street smart, I'm media smart.

I was introduced to magazine reading the summer between grade eight and nine. We were staying at a cabin in Birch Bay, WA and it was raining and I was, like, so bored. My mum sent me to the little store to see if I could find something to read. I found a couple of teen magazines like the ones my cousin Cyndi read. I bought them, and I was hooked. My favourites were Teen, Seventeen (had a subscription to that one), Elle, Spin, and Smash hits. Reading magazines caused the detour in my reading career that I regret. I missed out on classics like The Chronicles of Narnia and the works of Roald Dahl because I never went to the library any more; I just bought magazines.

I have since been re-introduced to the wonder that is the library, and my love for reading for which I am joyous, but I've been trying to slow down on all the reading to make room for some writing.

Well, a month or so ago, DH was going to lose his Continental air miles unless he used them. He didn't have enough for a flight anywhere, but he could use them for magazine subscriptions. None of the magazines really appealed to him, but were there any that I would be interested in? I now have a stack of the following on my night table: In Style, Glamour, Elle, GQ, Details and Entertainment Weekly.

As soon as the subscriptions started rolling I thought to myself, "Great, I'm never going to read a book again!" Fortunately, Beautiful Creatures came available at the library and I am hooked on a new series of books. I have also discovered that I don't have to read every single article in the magazine, so it doesn't take me as long to get through magazines like it used to.

Now that I've found balance between reading books and magazines, I'm hoping that I can find some balance between reading and writing.

Book Report - Beautiful Creatures

Title: Beautiful Creatures
Authour: Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Length: about 600 pages
How long it took me to read: Like, 4 days!

What it's about: Gatlin, South Carolina is as boring as it gets for Ethan Wate - until mysterious new girl Lena Duchannes comes to town...

My take: Holy crap! I loved it! I could not put it down. I have always been interested in the Southern Gothic genre, but Interview with the Vampire turned me off so much. I was also wary since the movie didn't do so hot, but I thought I'd give it a try. The story flowed so easily. I could relate to the whole new girl in high school, high school mean girls, boy looking for something outside of his usual realm deal.

The ending is the most important part: So at first I totally hated the ending as it was a total cliff hanger and nothing was resolved. I was so mad because I was in love with the book right up until the end. Then I realized that there are two more books and a short story in the series. Yeah, I have the next book on hold at the library ready for me to pick up!!

Last word: Totally read it. I recommend this to everyone. I'm looking to rent the movie even though it had such bad reviews. The first Twilight movie was terrible too, remember?