Book #10 "Entwined" by Heather Dixon: "She hated feeling helpless. It writhed in her stomach, choking her with thoughts of dancing the rest of her life in the arms of a gentleman who pushed her about and laughed when she stumbled, or worse, didn't even look at her at all" (114-115).
'Entwined' was pretty much your normal fairy tale story in the sense that I had most of it predicted from the 50th page. However, it did give me a bit of a twist with the aspect of there being so much magic involved in it. I guess you could say it reminded me a bit of Beauty and the Beast in that aspect of it.
The story focuses on Princess Azalea and her 11 sisters, from the start of the story their life's are gripped with misfortune with the death of the mother and then the appearance of their father. The girls are left alone in mourning, having to wear black, and not able to go outside or to enjoy their love of dance (something that the story focuses on quite a bit). However some of the old magic that was once in the palaces during the time of the old king still remains so the girls find a passageway that leads them to something and someone they never would have expected to find living below their palace.
The story, tho a bit predictable still had me hooked and kept me turning from page to page to see how Dixon was going to bring it all together in the way that I was just sure that it was going to end. It was also a very easy read, something I probably would have enjoyed even more at the age of 10 or 11. But it alright because let's be honest we all could use a few more fairy tales in our life.
So this was a super short summery (sorry I just don't have much to say about this one). On the upside I finished all my finals for the semester today so I have the whole summer to read as much as I possibly can :) Hopefully this also means I will pick up the reading speed just a bit.
Next book up is book #11 "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen. I haven't see the movie because I CAN.NOT.STAND.ROBERT.PATTINSON. I realize that is not a good reason to watch a movie but I can't help it maybe this book with help change my mind? Who knows! Anyways....
That's all for now,
Michaela Jane
PAGE COUNT:4,295
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Book #9 "Parable of the Sower" ...Finished!!!
Book #9 "Parable of the Sower" By Octavia E. Butler: "This thing (this idea? Philosophy? New religion?) won't let me alone, won't let me forget it, won't let me go. Maybe it's like my sharing: One more weirdness; one more crazy deep-rooted delusion that I'm stuck with I am stuck with it. And in time, I'll have to do something about it. In spite of what my father will say or do to me, in spite of the poisonous rottenness outside the wall where I might be exiled, I'll have to do something about it. That reality scares me to death." (page 28)
I want to start by saying that sometimes my friend Brett, the one who lent me this book, really can mess up sometimes but I got to tell you I was not disappointed when it came to this book.
Octavia Butler published this book in 1993 however it is suppose to be about a futuristic would that, for lack of a better term, has just gone to hell. The book starts in the year 2024; pause here a min and realize that that is only 10 years away. CRAZINESS! However, and I might be wrong (knock on wood), but I truly do not believer that our world in ten years will end up being as bad as in Butler's imagination dreamed it up to be.
In this futuristic world we follow the life of Lauren Olamina. Within the 3ish years the book covers we go through just about everything with her. She's is, and then again at the same time is not, the typical teenager; wanting to get away from home, dealing with boys, trying to figure out how to survive in this crazy world outside of their gated neighborhood. Oh yea, and trying to come up with her own religion type thing called 'Earthseed'.
She ends up getting away from home but not quite how she anticipated she would. She is forced to start living on the road while leaving everything familiar behind. She starts making her way north in hopes of finding better living conditions. As she goes she picks up more and more people along the way. And together they face many challenges; such as other people trying to make their way north, thieves, fires, and the crazies who start them.
Two things to know about deal old Lauren: #1) she is known as a 'sharer' meaning that if she sees anyone in any kind of physical pain she will start hurting right along with them immediately. A bad condition to have while your walking along the highway and people are in physical pain right and left. #2)throughout the whole book she is 'making up', she calls it discovering but lets be honest and call it what it really is, a new religion type thing that she calls 'Earthseed'. I could go into depth about it but to be honest it really isn't that different then pretty much most of the religions there are today; just instead of worshiping God she calls God 'change'. She thinks God is change. Don't know how better to sum it up without going into a ton of detail, sorry.
The one and only thing that really drove me crazy was that halfway through the book Butler all of a sudden tossed in a really old man that Lauren all of a sudden, like extremely out of nowhere, starts having all these sexual feelings for. And he is old enough to be her dad...EW! I really felt like someone said to Butler, 'oh, hey yea your book is like super depressing so you should totally toss in this completely random love story to hopefully distract everyone from all the tragic stuff that is going to happen in the book.' It was just really stupid cause there really wasn't a place for it and it really felt like she just forced in into the story and then made stuff work around it. Oh, and did I mention the book is written Journal style so that made all this even more awkward cause Lauren went into a lot of detail sometimes.
All this being said, and as I said earlier, while I don't think the world will be quite as messed up as it was in the book, I do however believe that if the world were to spiral down I would find the whole 'Parable of the Sower' situation much more likely to come about then say that of 'Hunger Games'. So props on being believable I guess.
I could probably (whoa font change and it won't let me change it back...STRANG) keep going but I will spare you my ramblings. Finally making into the double digits with book #10 "Entwined by Heather Dixon. Never mind the fact that I should be on book #17 by now. :P
That's all for now,
Michaela Jane
PAGE COUNT: 3823
I want to start by saying that sometimes my friend Brett, the one who lent me this book, really can mess up sometimes but I got to tell you I was not disappointed when it came to this book.
Octavia Butler published this book in 1993 however it is suppose to be about a futuristic would that, for lack of a better term, has just gone to hell. The book starts in the year 2024; pause here a min and realize that that is only 10 years away. CRAZINESS! However, and I might be wrong (knock on wood), but I truly do not believer that our world in ten years will end up being as bad as in Butler's imagination dreamed it up to be.
In this futuristic world we follow the life of Lauren Olamina. Within the 3ish years the book covers we go through just about everything with her. She's is, and then again at the same time is not, the typical teenager; wanting to get away from home, dealing with boys, trying to figure out how to survive in this crazy world outside of their gated neighborhood. Oh yea, and trying to come up with her own religion type thing called 'Earthseed'.
She ends up getting away from home but not quite how she anticipated she would. She is forced to start living on the road while leaving everything familiar behind. She starts making her way north in hopes of finding better living conditions. As she goes she picks up more and more people along the way. And together they face many challenges; such as other people trying to make their way north, thieves, fires, and the crazies who start them.
Two things to know about deal old Lauren: #1) she is known as a 'sharer' meaning that if she sees anyone in any kind of physical pain she will start hurting right along with them immediately. A bad condition to have while your walking along the highway and people are in physical pain right and left. #2)throughout the whole book she is 'making up', she calls it discovering but lets be honest and call it what it really is, a new religion type thing that she calls 'Earthseed'. I could go into depth about it but to be honest it really isn't that different then pretty much most of the religions there are today; just instead of worshiping God she calls God 'change'. She thinks God is change. Don't know how better to sum it up without going into a ton of detail, sorry.
The one and only thing that really drove me crazy was that halfway through the book Butler all of a sudden tossed in a really old man that Lauren all of a sudden, like extremely out of nowhere, starts having all these sexual feelings for. And he is old enough to be her dad...EW! I really felt like someone said to Butler, 'oh, hey yea your book is like super depressing so you should totally toss in this completely random love story to hopefully distract everyone from all the tragic stuff that is going to happen in the book.' It was just really stupid cause there really wasn't a place for it and it really felt like she just forced in into the story and then made stuff work around it. Oh, and did I mention the book is written Journal style so that made all this even more awkward cause Lauren went into a lot of detail sometimes.
All this being said, and as I said earlier, while I don't think the world will be quite as messed up as it was in the book, I do however believe that if the world were to spiral down I would find the whole 'Parable of the Sower' situation much more likely to come about then say that of 'Hunger Games'. So props on being believable I guess.
I could probably (whoa font change and it won't let me change it back...STRANG) keep going but I will spare you my ramblings. Finally making into the double digits with book #10 "Entwined by Heather Dixon. Never mind the fact that I should be on book #17 by now. :P
That's all for now,
Michaela Jane
PAGE COUNT: 3823
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Book #8 "The Book Thief"...Finished!!
Book #8 "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak: "He was the crazy one who had painted himself black and defeated the world. She was the book thief without the words. Trust me, though, the words were on their way, and when they arrived, Liesel would hold them in her hands like the clouds, and she would wring them out like the rain" (page 80).
I'm going to be really honest. My thoughts on this one are kind of everywhere and nowhere at the same time (if that makes any sense at all). So bare with me as I try to get my thoughts together for this.
The book takes place in Nazi Germany, so it kinda goes without saying that there was a ton crammed into it. Originally when I first heard about this book I guess I pictured it was just gonna be about a girl running around and saving books from horrible fates the entire time. Let me get everything out in the open right now by saying that that is so not the case. AT ALL!
In the 4 year period that this book covers the seemingly 'main character', Liesel Meminger, only steals something like 8 or 10 books. The book wasn't at all what I thought it was going to be. I could go into a bunch of detail but in most cases doing so would end up ruining the book, which I would never dream of doing considering how highly I recommend you spend the time to read it. So in order to not ruin it I will only talk about two different things that I found unique about this particular book. Here we go:
#1: The book instead of just being told from the view point of the main character it goes back and forth from the story being told from the view point of the main character and also from the view of Death. Yes, you read that right, it says Death. The story was told as if Death was there and then giving us a very detailed play-by-play of what went down. Really was strange in a cool way. I could go on more about that but sadly I can't or at least not without ruining some other things for you.
#2: As stated about the book takes place in Nazi Germany, and generally when we read almost anything about Nazi Germany the Nazis are portrayed as more of the 'bad guys'. However, and don't get me wrong there are plenty of 'bad Nazies' in this book, the main cast of characters consist of Nazis and it's more then fair to say that they would, by almost anyone's standards, not be considered 'bad guys' but heroes instead.
If nothing else then this book did give some amazing insight to how not all the members of the Nazi Party where necessarily on board with or agreed with what was happening as far as the war and the Jews. Even if they didn't know all the tragic things that we know about the camps and such today they still had the good sense to know something wasn't right and to do something about it.
I could probably go on more but I will spare you my rambling. On to book #9 (woo we are almost through the books of Feb., just a bit behind). Book #9 is "Parable of the Sower" by Ovtavia E. Butler. I know nothing about this book but it was recommended and lent to me by my friend Brett. So, in short, if it sucks we can just blame it on him. ;)
That's all for now,
Michaela Jane
PAGE COUNT: 3494
I'm going to be really honest. My thoughts on this one are kind of everywhere and nowhere at the same time (if that makes any sense at all). So bare with me as I try to get my thoughts together for this.
The book takes place in Nazi Germany, so it kinda goes without saying that there was a ton crammed into it. Originally when I first heard about this book I guess I pictured it was just gonna be about a girl running around and saving books from horrible fates the entire time. Let me get everything out in the open right now by saying that that is so not the case. AT ALL!
In the 4 year period that this book covers the seemingly 'main character', Liesel Meminger, only steals something like 8 or 10 books. The book wasn't at all what I thought it was going to be. I could go into a bunch of detail but in most cases doing so would end up ruining the book, which I would never dream of doing considering how highly I recommend you spend the time to read it. So in order to not ruin it I will only talk about two different things that I found unique about this particular book. Here we go:
#1: The book instead of just being told from the view point of the main character it goes back and forth from the story being told from the view point of the main character and also from the view of Death. Yes, you read that right, it says Death. The story was told as if Death was there and then giving us a very detailed play-by-play of what went down. Really was strange in a cool way. I could go on more about that but sadly I can't or at least not without ruining some other things for you.
#2: As stated about the book takes place in Nazi Germany, and generally when we read almost anything about Nazi Germany the Nazis are portrayed as more of the 'bad guys'. However, and don't get me wrong there are plenty of 'bad Nazies' in this book, the main cast of characters consist of Nazis and it's more then fair to say that they would, by almost anyone's standards, not be considered 'bad guys' but heroes instead.
If nothing else then this book did give some amazing insight to how not all the members of the Nazi Party where necessarily on board with or agreed with what was happening as far as the war and the Jews. Even if they didn't know all the tragic things that we know about the camps and such today they still had the good sense to know something wasn't right and to do something about it.
I could probably go on more but I will spare you my rambling. On to book #9 (woo we are almost through the books of Feb., just a bit behind). Book #9 is "Parable of the Sower" by Ovtavia E. Butler. I know nothing about this book but it was recommended and lent to me by my friend Brett. So, in short, if it sucks we can just blame it on him. ;)
That's all for now,
Michaela Jane
PAGE COUNT: 3494
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