Shelf Checkout

Have you ever seen that scene in a show or movie were a person is running from a dark cloud and it gets them then rains on them? That is how I feel right now. I just am not into these books. I know that I said “I would rather, right now, for a book to be okay/good versus making me mad.” No, I would rather a book be amazing or excite me. I do not want to push myself to read or finish a book just to do it.

1. Mr. Parker Pyne Detective
   I am taking this book off my list because it really turned me off in the first part. It is not what I wanted or need right now. I need a mystery not an advice counselor.  I liked And Then There Were None but it seem like the other books by her I try to read I don’t like. I don’t like what I have read of  Poirot partly because he seems like rip off of Sherlock Holmes and he seems very arrogant. Not arrogant in the way that Holmes it is funny and has something to make you be okay with it.  I’m taking it off the list but not dnfing it. I will maybe pick it up whenever I have read every other Agatha Christie story so a very long time from now. I just do not want to finish something that I have feeling I will not like even if the author has had one book I liked in the past.
2. The Three Musketeers- I am almost 200 pages into this book and it still does not have me. Objectively it has all the right stuff action, adventure, and some gore. It has so many other things that should excite me. I just should not have to try so hard to convince myself that a book is interesting.
3. The Winter Queen- I feel that the story is meandering around.
4. All Together Dead- Sookie is annoying me right now. She is not on the level of Scarlett but on a level enough to make me not feel compelled  to want to read it.

So basically this entire library shelf checkout is a fail. Then, my Sims 3 is not working and none of my Asian shows are doing it for me right now. I am basically staring at the walls or on the internet.

I want books to different and interesting. I am starting to feel like

Books That Sound Interesting: I don’t own it but felt like randomly mentioning it.  I’m rooting for it but inside emotionally drained from Gone with the Wind. Everything I touch turns into sand.

I am just happy to see a story that does not just stick Asian characters to: World War II, immigrant fiction, or as a side character. I am frustrated to see these things because I watch Asian shows which shows characters in so many different lights.

 

Shelf Checkout 8/29/13

Since the powers would not let me get anymore library books. I decided to checkout some books I own using the system of the library. So I will check out these books for three weeks. I checked out 6 books which is  way less than what I have been checking out lately. Only getting six books means that I will probably be reading two books a week. I think it will also leave me room to read other books on the side.
My overall mood after pushing myself through Gone With the Wind is to read shorter books. I also Need to get away from historical fiction, chick lit, romance, and young adult books.

Mystery

The genre that I consistently year after year do not read enough even though I enjoy it.

    M  

  

For Review

  H

I won this book from goodreads. It seems different. Hopefully I will like it.

Classics

Reading The Three Musketeers reminds me of how awesome classics can be. Then I saw all these unique sounding classics on my literati reader. I think that overall even in classics I need different. The Three Musketeers has action and adventure so far. The only thing is that I do not feel that I like it as much as I want to. I would rather, right now, for a book to be okay/good versus making me mad.

   I used the random number generator and it picked this book from my list. I have read two of  the three big name classic dystopia books( Fahrenheit 451 and 1984). Now is time to read the last one, Brave New World.  I am definitely loving the covers that artists are putting out for this book. This one was done by Joseph Lovelock. It has one of the most important things you look for in a cover. First, it is eye catching and second it actually pertains to the book. At least what I heard and the little I read in high school.  I’m starting to reminisce about me as a reader back then. I could just go the library every week day. The funny thing is I only got  two books maybe at a time.

I want to tap into that joy and excitement that I felt as a reader.

Library Checkouts Reviews {3}

Gone with the Wind

I had to do a separate review to put all feelings out there that could not fit here. https://themollyweather.wordpress.com/2013/08/24/gone-with-the-wind-checkout-review/

Parasyte vol. 1

+funny, actual horror, dark, gory

-it has a lot of ideas jumping around that need to be organized

Comment: This is the book that I felt like I needed. I needed Japanese horror because their horror does not play games. This is not that faux young adult horror. Before going to the library I wanted something different that made me feel something.

Banya vol. 1

+ interesting concept

-confused two characters a couple of times

comments: It was okay. Is this story good enough to continue though?

Death Note vol. 1

+ lore

-execution, character investment, story investment

Comments: I  just did not enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. I will not be continuing.

Could Not Finishers

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier

-gratuitous sex that take up 90 percent of the book, rest of the little I read of the book is meh and why inducing

To The Moon and back

+easy to read

-really insulting to people who are not young and “pretty”, convenient replacement friend, don’t like main character, sexist

Comments: Has anyone else noticed that if you are not part of the main cast of a book you are described as fat, ugly, or old? So you are telling me that the main character deserves to get the job that you are offering because she is not fat, ugly, or old. She does not deserve the job because she actually qualifies for it.

Grave Mercy

+very good beginning

-faux feminism, action is shrug inducing, main character has no personality, love interest, skips over interesting parts

Comments: The feminism in Grave Mercy bothered me. I feel that the feminism is handled in that way that all men are the enemy. It does not have room for grey areas were women are the enemy too. I would rather there being an equal playing field were it shows that men get the short end of the stick too. That is why this story or any young adult book cannot  be like Game of Thrones. Young adult literature does not know how to deal in grey or layers. Everything is superficial and shallow. I am not even talking about just paranormal romance. I am talking about the majority… you know what this is not the day to be nice, all of ya literature.  People need to stop comparing  books like Game of Thrones to other books because they are most of the time not  even alike. I did not give up on Grave Mercy because I compared it to something. I let this one go because I could not care about anything in the story and knew that it was not going anywhere interesting. I read 100 pages or 12 chapters which is luxury that I do not give other books.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AllAbusersAreMale

Lessons to learn: A time has come, that honestly came a long time ago but I kept going.

It  is time to stop.   (if you know where this gif came from please comment it will be much appreciated)

Young adult and Chick lit/Romance books

1. You promise awesome plots and never deliver.
2. Consistently deliver generic/annoying one-dimensional characters.
3. If there is a romance  present ( in the case of ya…who are you kidding all ya has a romance) it is never built.
4. Sex does not equal love neither does insta-love telling make a romance.
5. You do questionable things that are supposed to be ignored.
6. I cannot pretend anymore that there is one of you that is not stupid and an epic disappointment.
7. Even if there is one of you that is not an epic fail I have wade through hay to find that one needle.

Gone With the Wind Checkout Review

I usually put all my book reviews for library books all in one post. I could not do that for this book because it is 1,037 pages and I have a lot of feelings that need to be put into a long post.

This book had me feeling and saying things that I do not usually say.

Synopsis

Set against the dramatic backdrop of the American Civil War, Margaret Mitchell’s epic love story is an unforgettable tale of love and loss, of a nation mortally divided and its people forever changed. At the heart of all this chaos is the story of beautiful, ruthless Scarlett ‘O’ Hara and the dashing soldier of fortune, Rhett Butler.

The Good

• First of all, I actually found American history interesting. I’m bored with English history right now.  English historical fiction seems like it is the same girl trying to marry the same king. Gone with the Wind is not a generic historical fiction book in the slightest.
• I felt that the world was so expansive and interesting.
• Parts 1-2 were really  when the book shined.
• Scarlet. I actually started off liking her because she was not  the basic, generic historical chick. She was selfish, consisted, and self-absorbed. She would do something that was questionable, meaning I did not exactly agree with. Then she would do something that under normal circumstances I would not agree with but I was okay with. I ate it up and loved it. The author stayed true to her character throughout the book.
•  The characters were three-dimensional. You saw there characters in every action they did.
• Rhett. Whenever Rhett stepped on the scene he brightened the book. He is the only character that did not get a default eye roll  in the late parts of the book.
• The romance was done really well. The relationship actually developed over a period of time were it involved the characters being friends first. A relationship and romance like this  cannot happen again in modern times. ( the romance is not as big in the story as many people think.)

The Bad

I can honestly agree with most people on why they did not like the book. Once the civil war ends the book got really rough.  Everything was perfect  at first there was dancing and parties. Scarlett actually was a unique and interesting character. Honestly, all the characters and their back story was interesting, at first.

The funny thing is the part that I was pushing for to happen  is the part that made me almost dnf the book. I was waiting anxiously for the Civil War to end so I could see all these people deal with the fall out. Once the Civil War ended little flaws started popping up. Then those small things turned into big things that I couldn’t ignore. It was a waste land and perfect ground for Scarlett to let her personality out without holding back.

• Scarlett got infuriating after a while.   I wanted something to connect to but there was nothing else to her.   So I was irritated and annoyed with her for a lot of the book. I had to think If I got sick of her at this point. Frankly, I do not know how people who did not like her initially could do it.

Her:

Me:  at all why people hate you. I do have a dozen theories.

Her:

Me:

Me for the majority of the book:  then what is even more annoying is that everybody (the author and other readers) praised her for it.

• Anything dealing with slaves, freedmen, or African-Americans in general was  hard to bear. First of all I can tell you with my general  basic knowledge that this is historically inaccurate.  Let me round-up the argument for this treatment ( confederates and people from the 1930s, the period author wrote this book, would probably would not match present day society opinions. So people should not expect our present day society’s opinion in this book.)

I had to read through pages upon pages of the author comparing characters to apes and using every word in the thesaurus to get across that Mammy is overweight. No.

• I just wanted to put it down so badly after a while. I wanted to put the book down so many times. I just wanted to stop and come back later. I could not put it down because of my refusal to buy the book and have it lying around.  I refuse check out this book again. If I put the book down I was not going to most likely pick it up again.  Things got so bad that I would find ways not to read.  I would be reading then find myself daydreaming or just thinking for randomly. Then, I started playing apps on my phone. I usually spend the time that people spend playing apps reading. Apps are very fun by the way.   

So I was a caged reader not able to flutter from book to book. I was reading purely to finish it.

• I’m surprised my eyes did not rupture from all the eye rolls I gave. I almost never say this for big books but this needed to be cut. I feel that after a while people were just appearing for no reason. [insert new character] does something that I do not care about. Then it became really insanely repetitive.

After a while I felt like saying to  almost every  character:  

• Then characters started doing all these things that are not accurate to them as a character. In other words the author sloppily tried to show character development. While also, she used characters to promote her ideas. It almost dragged down the only character I did not default eye roll.
• Another thing I thought I would never do is debate on whether to give a book this long a 2-3 star. I was under this assumption that if I finish a book this big it immediately deserved at the least a four star. What  really surprised me is when I looked up when the problems started, part 3 or chapter 17 onwards. That is chapter 17 of 63. I came out the end of this book feeling not mad or happy. My first thought at the ending was: oh, okay. I wanted to characterize this emotion. What is this feeling? I realized that I had the same feeling with Hate List. It is the feeling of disappointment. I got sad because both books held greatness in their hands then let it go. Also, I felt sad because I have been dealing with being disappointed a lot with books lately. So many books have so much potential but squander it.

The Meh

The feminism was nothing new or that exciting.

Final Comments: As much as this book is shrug inducing, I know that it does not need a sequel. It ended the way it needed to.  Gone With the Wind made me angry about a lot of things. One of them being the impression that I am getting that anything dealing with African-Americans does not have to be historically accurate even today (Kathryn Stockett). It really brought out all my feelings about how minorities are not represented in fiction. You know what never mind any issue or controversial topic is going to be handled sloppily by authors. So many things that make me angry resurfacing again. Keep Calm and look at this kitty.

Library Haul 8/8/13

[A Couple]Things That I Did Do Differently

1. I got 6 books, 7, if you include Gone with the Wind
2. I did not get any H&NAS books

I  received the opportunity to go to the library which I could not turn down. The last library haul made me angry and  realize were I keep failing at in my reading. I keep saying that I need to read something different but never do it. I  felt that a reading slump black cloud was hanging over me. It was going to rain as soon as I picked up another  book. Really that whatever the next book was it was going to bad because every book is the same book being put out over and over again.

Since the library trip was unexpected I did not get to plan like I usually do. In a way that is a good thing because I checked out stuff that I usually don’t check out.

Manga/Graphic Novels

 

Mangas/graphic novels I have missed you so much.

Young Adult and Chick Lit 

 Chick lit ,ya , and historical fiction a 3-for-1 not supposed to get list. I do not expect this story to do nun assassin thing justice, as mean as it is going to sound this is ya after all. I have to expect less to not get angry later although, I will anyway. Trying to lower expectations for both books. They passed the sample test, which is really something.

On Grave Mercy Cover: You would think with my I love girls in dresses book theme that I would like this cover. I think the cover is okay and it makes sense because she cannot go assassin in her habit but … her dress could have been way better looking. I can see in my mind her wearing a better looking dress. I’m going to honest, I want her to wear a nuns habit so bad. It would probably cause controversy and it is easier to just put her in a plain old dress than to do all the work that would entail.  Wouldn’t  it have not been more appropriate to wear black for death than red? Okay fine red probably represents blood but there are cooler red dresses. Well at least I like this cover somewhat. I don’t like the second book cover to this series at all.

 

 

 

 

 

Library Checkouts Reviews {2}

  Pros: drawings, footnotes add to the story, like a classic novel, fantasy element, first four chapters

Cons: trying too hard?,  moves to characters I do not care about, satire( I am under the impression that either I do not like it or only experience it poorly done),

Comments: I just stopped being excited after four chapters.

H&NAS: 1 book

 Pros: first part

Cons: after first part it became generic, one dimensional characters, disrespectful to survivors, inadequately portrayal of a school shooting, forgettable

Final Thoughts: It had so much potential but became so much of what every other ya book embodies,  the things that make the category. It had me at a point in the story not wanting to pick up another young adult book again. I believe the only other thing that stops me from just cutting all ties to young adult fiction is the knowledge that there are good ya books out there and some self-destructive sense to keep going.

Pros: three dimensional characters, Scarlet O’Hara is not a generic historical chick, makes American history interesting

Could Not Finishers

  I never could get into it.

 I did not care.

H&NAS: 1 book

I did not care and felt that the story was not going to go anywhere.

H&NAS: 1 book

 I could not get myself to care.

H&NAS: 5 books

 I felt that the story was showing a lot of generic that made me not want to continue.

 =parents are always the problem +characters do things that make no sense+ anticlimactic mystery. Then a big slice of me losing all interest.

  The characters were ehh and I really did not care about anything.

Results:

• I have gotten rid of 7 books off of my to read list.
• I have dumped every book but Gone with the Wind and The Hate List. I did not like The Hate List and feel that I could have just not read it. So Gone with the Wind is shaping up the be the most valuable piece in the lot.

Things That I Think I Should Do Different This Next Haul/Things I need to take from this haul

1. Don’t get so many books or at least get smaller books.
2. Plan, preview before I go. This worked really well even though I did experience most of my books turning out ehh.
3. Get H&NAS books again.
4. Go with my gut.
5. Get some diverse books. I need to cut the strings holding me to  the monotmy of the average default character or story.

Library Bookhaul 7/25/13

I got more books than I probably should have: 10 books, I usually get 8 with maybe 1or 2  500+ page books. I got 4( one of them being 1,037 pages) I did my book picking a little differently this time before I went to the library. I actually sampled majority of these books before getting them. I think that with proper planning and testing I can save myself from wasting my time on bad books from the library. It seems very sad to be able to go to the great place that is the library which is rare when I go, to get bad books when I can get good books. I actually think sampling books does lead to another problem called books that sell good beginnings then proceed to be meandering for the rest of the book.

I inputted my initial feelings when I read the previews before getting the books. Then I inputted my first week of getting these books feelings.

First Week Trimmings:

  + Caught me right away, footnotes are used in a very interesting way, chuckled a bit at moments, some action actually happens in the first couple of chapters, drawings

Comments: someone compared it to a classic novel which it does seem like. Just like a classic novel it cannot be read everyday. I will probably read 4 chapters one day then not read any chapters for the next couple of days.

 -romance novel tall, dark, broad, hansome male character, plays like a romance novel a bit

+/- It is okay so far

Comments: I decided to let this book go because I don’t care about it. Someone on one of the groups that I am apart of said something about the Tea Rose and how to some people it is a feast while for others it is a fanomine. I just realized that you know what that person is right. Having books like The Hate List and such made me realize how much this book is ehh. Like I will probably say a million times in this post why waste my time when I have books that are better.  DNF

  Beginning started off strong. I’m hoping that it being chick lit will not mean this book will be a pile of instalove or sex=love. I realized that this is chick lit not mystery. I read a bit more into the story and no. I am getting annoyed with small things already. DNF

–

 Reading the Tea Rose and thinking about how underwhelming it is. I went on a rant that is old as time, how annoyed I am with England royalty historical fiction. Yeah I know that the Tea Rose is not set in England. After going on the rant I did not know how I was going to read this book. I decided to give it a try I have 5 books in this series so I needed to. I could not get myself to care about Elizabeth. I am so bored with all the people around royalty. I am so bored with most royalty books. You are probably wondering well then why did you get a book with Elizabeth I as the main character? First of all, I have five books that are this series. I needed the first one which is this one. Second of all, you will notice a self-destructive pattern that I employ, not reading the dust jacket.   DNF

Young Adult

  Initial Thoughts: + answers questions righ away

-something in me is not totally in love with the book

Post-Impressions: I really like this book. I was at the point of tears for almost every chapter so far. That is something that not many books can do. Not to mention it is ya who I have a halfway out the way out the door relationship with. Almost every ya I pick up is a disappointment. I got scared when the end of the first chapter almost got this book put on the dnf list. Fortunately, the second chapter killed it, I was about to cry.

Once it gets past the scenes that made me want to cry it fell back on the problems that annoyed and made me want to dnf this book.  If people ever wonder how I can dump a book when I have only read a page or chapter, it is because most of these flaws are apart of the authors writing style. I am going to see these flaws that I saw in chapter one through out the rest of the book. I was so close to dnfing this book because I knew without a shadow of doubt it was not going to get better. Finished

I had a nicely done paragraph about how awesome this book is. I deleted that accidentally so I will keep it simple. This book is the best of the batch. It has Scarlet O’Hara who is not generic. She is self-absorbed, conceited,  and selfish. She does some things that does give me pause. But then she does something that should  make me not like her but I’m okay with it.

 

I had a bunch of rants about these books but I ended up deleting it doing something. So yeah I had more ranty feelings for these books but I will keep it simple. Honestly, I have the same reaction for most of these books. Hopefully I can muster up the enthusiasm in my library checkout review to go more in depth with each book.

I  never could not get into:

I saw generic and ran away/ I saw promise for a chapter that subsequently went away:

 

Reading 7/18-24ish

I am getting bad at doing weekly/monthly updates.

Leftover Books From 30 Day Book Challenge( Highlight to the ones I actually read this week)

1. A Clash of Kings- I am going to end up taking another break.
2. Shanghai Girls Finished – did not like. I have gone on a dumping fiesta because this book made me so mad. I keep putting books to the side because it is not time or whatever excuse I make. These books do not deserve it. If I do not like a book from the get go and cannot find any redeeming qualities to continue I dump it.
3. Louisa May Alcott and the Missing Heiress- mystery, historical fiction
4. The Stand- I am going to take a break. I think Shanghai Girls killed my drive with a lot of books I own.
5. Phoenix Rising – sf,fantasy, mystery, steam punk Dumped
6. The Winter Queen- hf
7. Savages
8.  [J]asmine Nights Dumped
9. Sins of the Flesh
10. [I]vanhoe
11. The Lake
12. The Catcher In  the Rye Dumped
13. Bucking the Sarge

I am finding out it is better to sample books before I waste my time getting them from the library. I sampled some other books but I got them from the library so my preview opinion is combined with my opinion after getting the books.

Daughter Smoke and Bone ( my picture is acting weird about showing)

+ different setting, supernatural creature, and the school seems different

-She feels like a average teen, no character investment, I am simply not feeling interested to continue

Warrior of Alavna ( first book to Warriors of Camlann)

Should I continue this series? No

Why? From the first moment the preview started I did not like it. I cannot see myself getting into this story. It does have a physically non-traditional female character.

Ready Player One  +After the prologue it gets a little better, main character seems a little interesting

-80s name dropping, had to force myself through prologue

Comments: I downloaded the sample for this book  then deleted it. I was asking myself did I want to really want to read this book. I was asking myself did I just want to read certain books just because I saw them so much. I  re-downloaded it to sample it to see if it is something I would want to continue. If I am counting the pages forcing myself in the prologue it is at the point of just no. It just is not the book for me.

Neuromancer– I was turned off by the few minutes of the preview. DNF

The Snow Queen – I don’t care. Forcing myself to read chapter. The entire what I wanted/ thought this book would be is in play here. I read Hans Christian Andersons book and thought that this book had such a rich foundation to create its story from. I thought that it would stick more to base story which meant it would be exclusively fantasy versus science fiction/fantasy. I have been pulling up so many sci-fi duds that I am questioning if I like the genre. I am going to be honest and say that I read up to chapter 3 in the book. I got underwhelmed and bored. I read the synopsis and thought the premise and overall story sounded boring. Basically, I realized what the real story was about and did not garner any spark. Dumped

The Trouble With Magic – main character, snobbish behavior towards stuff, checklist of the down to earth everyday character ( 30 years old, hates job, clutzy, cheap, hates city slickers,etc.), forcing myself to try to get through the preview, skimming then subsequently not  finishing preview. Dumped

My Darling Strumpet -Nothing special going on, main character wants to be mistress to king as a kid, character or story investment was not present. Dumped

Comment: I am going to put it out there I only read one chapter. I am sick of the mistresses or anything to do with the English royal house historicall fiction, I just feel that nothing new is going to on in this book.  Dumped

Rant/Thoughts

• I saw a video were someone talked about how they had trouble getting into classics. They cannot get into the language and common classic book complaints. Basically what caught my ear is when they said they do not like classic books below the 1900s. I have this feeling with classic books except the opposite. I never put it into words in my mind but I find myself thinking most modern classics feel like they are trying too hard to say something.
•   I have been having been really looking at the opinion on what you think a book will be and what it really is. I find it interesting especially for books that I have wanted to read for years thinking it would be … but it was something else. A book being different than my expectations is not bad. I just find this phenomenon interesting especially now that I am reading books that I have had on my shelf for years.

331: The Hunchback of Notre Dame

I was recently found myself talking about The Hunchback of Notre Dame cartoon movie with someone. I started comparing   the book to the movie. I felt so much excitement remembering reading this book. I think it is time now to do a review for this book.

Synopsis

“In the dark world of medieval Paris, the deformed bell-ringer of Notre Dame Cathedral heroically fights to save the life of a beautiful Gypsy girl about to be unjustly executed.”

The Good

• Three dimensional characters
• Lots of characters that have their own motivations
• Funny moments
• Crazy classic people moments
• So much happened. Stuff actually happens. The plot actually moves forward.
• The Ending. I am going to the honest when I first finished the book I was in between on the ending. Now, I feel that the ending fits the entire book.
• setting: Notre Dame Cathedral and France really shines

I feel that I am still under selling the book.  I just really liked it a lot.  There is one thing however that I did not like.

The Bad
There are a couple of long boring chapters that do not move the story forward.

Random:

1. I wanted the gargoyles to move like in the movie.
2. Quasimodo might have been a real person. http://www.wga.hu/art/d/david_j/4/405david.jpg