June: Samples & Freebies, Updating the Queue

Updating the Queue

A Feast For Crows

Thanks a lot Ever After High!

So I got a craving for a teen romance from reading Ever After High, Monster High, and visual medias. It just got into my head to read a ya novel even after all my talk recently. It is best in these situations to just let myself sample a couple until I realize the state of my relationship with ya. So I sampled a bunch of ya novels.

I Need To Be Engaged…

 It had me a bit with the thing on being a quiet girl. It just did not go further to catch me. I want ya so bad to go that extra mile to catch me as a teen. Even if it did not catch me as a teen I want it to engage me. This story started going the average teen territory which is where it lost me.  Discontinue

 I think I sampled a bit of this when I was in high school and found it boring. I need to trust past me more.  I read one chapter from a sample and was done. It was boring as far as I read. discontinue

 I find the family dynamic to be basic. I like the idea of the frog prince fairy tale. I want to like the relationship between the main character and the guy but I feel that I am trying to like it more than I actually like it.  I am not engaged.  discontinue

I picked this book up because it has a romance in it and I have always kept looking at this book then putting it down. I decided to finally read it. This book is so average. Coming from a person who is trying to look for something different (or can be good that it having all these things I don’t usually like not be a problem). I think I was barking up the wrong tree with this one. Popular mean girl- check. cliques that kind of make no sense- check. It was just so average. Discontinue

Please be good…

 I like that it shows the relationship between a brother and sister is important. In trying to pump up romantic relationship other relationships get put to the side. I like also that the story is about a different race teen. continue

 This had some funny moments towards the end of the preview. It seemed to have promise in terms of the character versus a lot of other ya books I have read recently.

I need to step away from ya completely and not come back because I am starting to get into that stage where I am going to say mean things about the category. What gets me about ya is that it has the makings to be great but falls into tropes and stereotypes. I continued still for some reason.

 My biggest complaint that is going to run a theme throughout this review is the lack of nuances in this book. My one of many complaints about ya (and just most other categories/genres) is the lack of distinction going on.

-Of course the main character main guy is stereotypically hot and has a dark secret

-Of course the lead girl is a part of the nerd crowd who is hot  but no one ever approaches her because she is so unattainable and  only a nerd by association to her friend -who turns out to be a jerk who feels entitled to her +yeah, for standing up against friend zoning -minus for how the friend zoning was handled

-the  perpetuation that you are not living your life unless you are partying and doing what all the cool kids is doing, is something I sincerely don’t like

-To sum this up there is not anything really creative or distinct.

I did have a weird interest in this story but I have to ask myself what will I gain from this.

Like: I think that this book is unique in that it has a main character who does not speak for most of the book. Reading this made me  think about how I have not read that many books that deal with disabled or characters who go outside the norm. The main character is not disabled but  it made me think about reading a book with a deaf person.

Didn’t Like: I did not like that this book even though it has a different premise than most books reads like an average ya book. Yeah, it is different in that she does not speak and how that affects her interactions with people. But it still is about focusing mainly on her relationship with the said guy character.

I wanted to see more of how being silent manifested in her as a person. I want to state first that not everyone has the same experience as me and this is just my feeling on the text.  My feelings come from me being a person who does not talk a lot. When I was young I did not start really talking until I was six years old. I am more of an introvert so I spend large amounts of time not talking. My not talking manifested in me daydreaming and thinking a lot. I thought how cool that would be as a reader to see that. I thought it would be interesting to see a person who does not talk and how active their imagination and mind is.   I don’t own the experience of someone who does not talk but I want to see more of her as a person beyond cliché ya stuff. I don’t have to see her be me. I just don’t want to see her in relation to Clay. I want to see her personality. I want to see her as a person.

I talked to my brother and he gave a valid point on my the author may have made the character this way. The point is that the character is made this way to be able for everyone to relate to her. I think that is the problem with a lot of books in genres that even go beyond ya. Authors want to hit every reader instead of forcing readers to go beyond their comfort zone in the type of characters and their experiences that they read. When I say I want distinction or nuance this is what I am talking about. Why does it still feel like I am reading an average ya novel even though the main character has different experiences than the average teen? I really want something that challenges the status quo of how we address high school. I thought about recently after watching Twisted why do they make it seem like if you are not drinking, smoking, or rebelling you are not living your high school life to the fullest. Why is the nerdy teen seen as this person who has no life? These are the things that keep me from being able to get back into ya. These are the things that I think about when people say that ya is talking about important things.

Self-Publishing: My Expectations vs. The Reality

I think that I have this idealistic expectation of self-publishing because it is toted as this space that is away from the chains of mainstream publishing. Many people make self-publishing seem like this place for people who works are too creative to get into mainstream publishing. The reality that I find myself reading in is of books that are just as unique and creative as published works. It is a travesty that a place that could essentially do anything is just plain as vanilla.  I don’t want to say that all self-publishing is not creative but a vast majority that I am seeing is basic.

Respecting Authors: The Line Between My Wants And Authors Accountability, etc.

Do I respect authors? I saw this recently on this video:

The video is about the pressure that George r.r. Martin has to go through to finish his next book.

My opinion on George r.r. Martin with his books has always been for him to take as much time as he needs to write the next book. I came to the series late, when books 1-5 was already out. So I had the luxury of taking my time reading the books, and that I did. The problem now is that the series is currently airing and it is already having things from book 4 and 5 in season 4 ( which annoys me because I am on book 4 and why fast forward to stuff when you know the author is not done with the series/far enough to afford the luxury). He does not have the time ( this is not taking into account if the show will do the same thing it did with the third book) to take as he did with the other books. Now he has to write faster to the pace the show. I am scared personally that the books could possibly not be as good as because of him having to rush. It is so rare to find a book that is at the level that A Song of Ice and Fire is that I am cool with waiting.  I will say that, I do not think I have experienced the amount of people telling authors to hurry up and put out the next book as I have with this series.

I think that I respect authors. It is hard to make that distinction between what is being criticism  and what is being rude. For me it is extra hard when I know that genres and entire categories can do better. I should not be reading books that are operating at the same level as everyone else or fiction in the past. The lack of creativity and distinction to me is one of the hardest thing to have to read through with fiction. I want so many things and know that so many things could happen but won’t for the same old, same old. What stood out to me in this video the most is the idea that artist don’t owe readers anything. I want to endorse that sentiment because there are many things that happen in certain series such as A Song of Ice and Fire that people don’t agree with that made them stop watching/reading the series. I feel as a reader that authors do have power over their creations and there is a certain point that I want to say we should not question. But as a reader there are so MANY  things that are not present in fiction that it bugs me. I can’t let writers and others who put things out into the world off the hook. What bothers me at times is that put my time and energy into these things and people expect me to not comment. Writers and the people who put things out into the world owe me something, not just anything mind you. Writers and the other people who put things out into the world you can take as much time as you want but I still want something. I want you to bring me something that is not basic, generic, or average. I want uniqueness and greatness. I understand that  there are may readers that have a sense of entitlement. Now that the line between authors and other professionals are lessening you are more prone to seeing that. I don’t like this ever smaller growing line that separates authors and readers, honestly. I don’t like that so many readers want to be authors now. Now people are being less subjective in reviewing books they are worried more about hurting authors than actually being honest about books. I am not talking about being a jerk towards authors let me get that out-of-the-way. Then now that more authors are present on social media and there is a connection to authors. I don’t want to break the wall between me and my favorite authors. I just want to read their books and rant or rave about them. I don’t want to rush them to finish x book. If I like an author I trust them enough to sit back and enjoy. I don’t want hand wringing and this is my story so shut up. I put my time and effort into your writing. I want space where I can rant about how much I hated something without having to worry about authors feelings. It really bothers me a bit because it is coming to a certain point where it feels like shut up and accept what I give you. The idea that I am supposed to thumbs up everything writers put out without questions makes me think why am I here if my opinion does not matter. I want to the best possible for writers and readers.

This blog sums up my feelings basically if this is too rambly :

Reader entitlement

 I like the different point of views of the characters. I have been wanting an under the sea fantasy/sci-fi novel for a while. I think that this may be the thing that I need.

East of the Sun and West of the Moon (librivox) I listened to this on librivox. I initially thought that this story was just Beauty and the Beast. It is nice to say that it is only similar in one aspect the man/bear curse. As I was listening to it I thought this would make a great retelling. One of the things that I wanted as I was reading this was for the prince to end up with the ugly girl. I seem to want the exact opposite of the way that normal stories want to go. I want more stories now with the evil, ugly, or etc. character finding love.

July Reading Plans

I am not really into reading right now so I probably will not read anything in July.

 

Taking A Break

I seem to be in a major reading slump like no other. It is not fueled by dissapointment or the other usual reasons I am in slumps. So instead of trying to read through it (which was not working, even reading the books/authors I like was not working. That’s why I think it has nothing to do with what I’m reading so much as me reading period. It is kind of hitting all my other interests too which bothers me. I hope this only has something to do with me going back to school so it can go away soon. ) , I’m going to just take a break. I think that it would be better if I take break from all book related media too. So I will be taking a break from my blogging about books. Hopefully, my interest will comeback soon.

DNF: The XX Factor

I made a plan that I was going to do a 19% first impressions review with this book and another book I was receiving for review. This plan did not happen like most of the plans I make. I make all these grand plans only to dnf the books.

I won this book off of goodreads the latter part of last year. As you can see it took me a long time to review this book. I did not review this book until now because I had a fear that this book would be one of those books that would say women need to get back into the house and blame women for every problem. Recently, I decided to read this in result of my lack of interest in fiction. I felt that I needed to read non-fiction for a bit. Well, things did not go as planned.

The Good
The introduction made me feel that this book would be thought provoking. I was even prepared to not like everything the author said if it made me think. I actually wrote out my first impressions for the introduction for the 19% impressions plan.

Introduction:(My uncorrected proof copy says How The Rise of Working Women Has Created A Far Less Equal World so that is most of where my first reaction is coming from)So far I like it. My opinion so far is that I don’t care is women’s place that they are taking in the workplace is creating an unequal world. I feel that women need a world that has them in the equation. My attitude as of late dealing with all these issues (race, gender, publishing, etc.) is that if society does not have that group(s) in mind why are should they be present. They want to profit off of people but don’t want to give them equal opportunities. Society was never equal in the first place so yeah. Personally, I’m tired of considering these people when those people do not care about me.

I like that the book is addressing that all women are not created equal. Many women are entering the work force out of necessity not exactly to get a leg up. Many women do not have a choice of not working. You cannot grow as a society and expect everyone to stay the same. Society needs to grow to fit the need of its people in general. To get women out of the workforce there has to be many changes that I don’t think that the other half is going to make.

To Sum it Up
1.This world is unequal in the first place.
2.Why should these marginalized groups think about people when they do not think about me in their equation?
3.Many women have no choice in working.
4.Are we going to talk to men about their role in things or are we going to just police women?

I do think some of the ideas such as more part-time jobs for people would be good. I don’t know if it would be good for economy or anything but it would be good for many people.

The Bad

After the introduction this book lost my engagement. I started to force myself to keep going with this book. I think many other reviewers for this book hit the nail on the head for why I lost interest in this book.

One of the main reasons my interest was lost was because it feels so repetitive. How many ways can you say that the more education the less likely a woman is to have kids? This entire point and the reasons why are common knowledge. That is another problem I had, most of the information seems like common knowledge stuff.

Thank you Alison Wolf and goodreads for sending me this book for free in exchange for my review.

Top Ten Classics I Liked/Want To Read

I have so much love for classics.

1. The Hunchback of Notre Dame

This is the classic that I randomly think about how awesome it was. I think about how much adventure happened in this book. Adventure is usually not a word people associate with classics

https://themollyweather.wordpress.com/2013/08/03/331-the-hunchback-of-notre-dame/

2. David Copperfield

3. Anna Karenina

https://themollyweather.wordpress.com/2013/06/12/338-anna-karenina/

4. Jane Eyre

What I Want & Need Among Oldness

I love classic books so much but have grown bored with it. I think my boredom come from seeing the same type of novels and characters in these stories. What I have been thinking about doing for a while now is reading more obscure and just plain different classic books. I did a rant about the lack of new covers for books that probably need it more than the big name classics.

5.

It dawned on me one day that I could read this book and get the a Korean historical fiction novel, I’ve been craving.

6.

Someone said this is supposed to be like Belle the movie in classic book form. I want to read this book and create a cover based off the events in the story. Ourika is one of those books that I feel could do so great if it was marketed and had more variety in its covers. Let it be know that I only know about this book because of tumblr not publishers. This would have been such a great book to promote around the time Belle was coming out.

Not So Obscure Classics

7.

So I was looking up classic novel covers when I stumbled onto this. It made me want to read this book so much. I couldn’t find a good image of what the words on the cover says but it is basically a narration of this story in comic book form.

8.

A Few Classics I Own

I have many classic books left to read. These are two that I have started and like.

9. Ivanhoe

I’m going to finish this book one day. It’s not a bad book in the slightest so don’t think that.

10. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Library Checkout & Bookhaul: That is Mostly Not For Me

I am still in my reading slump so the majority of these books are for my brother. On a sad note my brother is going off to university so this is the last bookhaul that I will be doing with him.

For My Brother

I would have really enjoyed this if I was interested in reading.

My brother is really into comics right now.

I might have to come out of my reading slump to read this. The last volume ended on a MAJOR cliff hanger.

For Me

I started writing a story in my boredom from not reading. I am writing just for fun not to publish anything. All these mythology books are to give me ideas and to help me learn more about different mythologies.

Bookhaul

I got some more books for my cousin and a few for myself.

For Me

None of these are going in my books left to read list. I have a aversion to letting the list get bigger.

I found the English version with the cover I like. I will not be adding this to my books left to read list because I do not want my list to go up. Also, I don’t want to become reliant on this version. What I plan to do is to read the Spanish version all the way through a couple of times then read this version.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

got this image from here http://utpalpublications.blogspot.nl/2010/06/stories-from-rajatarangini-tales-from.html

I got two other books that are in Japanese. One is a picture books too, it is called Kaguya Hime. The other is a bilingual book called Masterpieces For Young People, it actually talks about Kaguya Hime.

For My Cousin

Instead of getting books for myself I have been buying a lot of books for my cousin. I guess my book buying energies have to go somewhere.

I could not find the first one which sucks.

[all images unless stated are via goodreads]

Library Checkout Review {17}

Finished

Pros: Robecca’s potential boyfriend (they need to make him into a doll), Robecca was the only character I could stand, learning about the world of Monster beyond what is on the webisodes, other characters who are not on the show, all the little moments that the main cast from the show appeared

Cons: characters are one note, Rochelle and Venus are annoying, the plot was basic and felt done at the last-minute, I don’t feel the friendship between these characters

Comments: The characters personalities are one-dimensional most of the time. Yes, there are moments when the characters are showed as flawed but those moments are overwhelmed by all the points when the characters are not. To a certain point the lack of personality dimensions could be explained by the characters being side characters in the webseries so the author may not have had that much room to work with. I just feel that characters that are on the same boat as them such as Howleen have a way more interesting and better development as a character (in the journals that came with her doll).

The problem is that  the Venus and Rochelle had one personality characteristic and that is all they came to be. I actually thought of all the cool people (from seeing their personalities in their journals, webseries, and the movies) that have way more interesting personalities that could have gotten a story.

Most Annoying

1. Rochelle- everything is about rules to the point that she can be very rude and condescending

2. Venus- She is one of those aggressively pushy people who cares about the environment

Rochelle

The werecat twins assessment of her is very sound when reading through her point of view for most of the book.

All she cares about is rules. Every word that comes out of her mouth is about rules. She corrects people a lot.

Venus

This is one of the problems I have with Venus: ( I will insert the cartoon post I saw  when I find it. Anyway, it shows how people get angry with even the mention of a person saying they are vegetarian because they expect them to be pushy and annoying. ) In Venus’s case it was her love for the environment which is okay in small doses but when that is ALL she is it is annoying.

She basically perpetuates the stereotype of people who are vegetarian and/or care about the environment.It is what people think all vegetarian/vegan/people who care for environmental rights are like.  People who are not pushy or rude have to deal with the stuff like the article above talks about. I’m a vegetarian but she became annoying as soon as her character was introduced. (I do think that one of the things that came from her environmental pushiness and things was cool though)

I can see why this is important personally to her because she is from nature herself. It would have been cool if that was explored or things were taken more in-depth in terms of her personality trait.  I have a problem that this is the image that young adults/middle grades are going to be fed.

Robecca

She did not really have a strong personality which I liked compared to the other characters. However, I still feel like she did not have that much of a personality other than being late and forgetting things.

Ever After High was so much better. I think it is because Ever After High has an overwhelming purpose and their adventures are not stuck to a school.

-I sampled book 2 and things did not improve. I don’t want to continue this series just so I can see moments with Robecca and her potential man or Weberella as a character ( I mean Wydona Spider, I like calling her Weberella better).

Overall: I was expecting so much from reading the preview for this and after reading Ever After High. The personalities and basicness of the plot killed this story. Ever After High: The Storybook of Legends was so much better. I was so obsessed with Ever After High when it ended that it is weird to have to exact opposite reaction with this one.

I Will Pick These Back Up Later, Seriously

I said all those things last time in my library book haul about supporting authors you like and stuff. Well, I hit a reading slump of sorts so none of that happened. So read none of these books. I will honestly pick these back up later.

Finished

No spoilers.

Pros: There are so many questioned answered and so many questions that come from those answers. I think that this is the perfect place for people who have seen the anime because now things are away from where the anime ended. The pace is so fast in the manga series versus the anime which is usually the case in terms of book to television/movie adaptations. At first the fast pace bothered me in the earlier volumes because the anime gives time for you to breathe and take in situations. I think that I am really okay with how things are moving now because things are being answered. The pace makes me wonder when and how is this series going to end. The way that things are going the reason for the titans and other stuff needs to be strong. I recently read that the series is ending at 20 volumes. I think that is a good number  with the way that series is going the manga needs to have an end game. If you did not know I am obsessed with series now.

Cons: My usual complaints with this series the moral declarations that make me want to choke characters

So 11/20?

Comeback Later?/Finished

I will pick this up later maybe. I am conflicted if I should finish this or not.

I never even started it.

So I had  to go back to get this because it was the other interlibrary loan book I had.

+ addresses things that I never thought about in having your destiny decided, It gets into how silly it is in a way for people to play act through their lives, raven and her mom  relationship, has some creative stuff going on

-second books syndrome, stuff happened but it feels like nothing really happened for a mass majority of the book, the main plot seems to only be around to lead to the third book

Comments: While reading this I was going through a lack of interest in reading. The only reason I finished this is because it was a interlibrary loan book. I can’t tell if I was not into it because of my lack of interest in reading or it just not being as great as the first book. I might comeback later and do a more in-depth review of this book. Finished

I found this too while getting Ever After High. It is a first book in a series that I only have the second book to. Another casualty in my lack of interest in reading. These are my opinions of the book so far.

+Brian Selznick illustrating,

-the story feels kind of average

Comments: I have so much appreciation for the art of Brian Selznick it is not even funny. I was so surprised that the art for this book and the second book that I own tie into each other. I cannot show it because I do not have camera skills to give these books their due but it is really awesome if you ever get a chance to see them side by side. My main issue so far is just feeling that the story is not that unique. Beyond that I don’t know if it is that engaging. I can’t tell if this is from my lack of interest in reading or the book in itself.

 

June Books left to Read Update

yellow=books I do not have the sequel or first in series to

1. I know why the caged bird sings by Maya angelou
2. hard times by Charles dickens
3. prince jack frank spierring
4. Aztec by Gary Jennings
5. Nicholas nickleby by Charles dickens
6. Japanese Americans by harry h.l. kitano
7. Waiting by ha jin
8. samurai by saburo sakai
9. an American in japan, 1945-1948
10. when the elephants dance by Tess uriza holthe
11. Ivanhoe by sir Walter Scott
12. V by a.c. crispin
13. The price of greed & malice
14. A thread of sky by Deanna fei
15. The red tent by Anita diamant
16. A feast for crows by George r.r. martin
17. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
18. Shades of Simon gray by Joyce McDonald
19. Desperation by Stephen king
20. Eli by bill Myers
21. Candles burning by Tabitha king and Michael McDowell
22. The Canterbury tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
23. The complete adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan doyle
24. the book of lies by brad Meltzer
25. the regulars by Richard bachman
26. the girl who loved tom Gordon by Stephen king
27. {east of eden , the wayward bus} by John Steinbeck
28. Martin chuzzlewit by Charles dickens
29. The greatest knight by Elizabeth chadwick
30. False inspector dew by peter lovesey
31. Aladdin and other Arabian Nights
32. Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros
33. Dreamcatcher by Stephen King
34. A Dance with Dragons by George rr. Martin
35. Scandalmonger by William Safire
36. Insomnia by Stephen king
37. Reluctant saint by Donald spoto
38. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
39. O Jerusalem by Dominque Lapierre
40. Cell by Stephen king
41. The Green Mile by Stephen King
42. Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens
43. The Tell-Tale Hart by Edgar Allan Poe
44. The book of negroes by Laurence Hill
45. Bag of Bones by Stephen King
46. The XX Factor by Alison Wolf
47. His Last Bow by Conan Doyle
48. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
49. Brazil-Maru by Karen Tei yamashita
50. It by Stephen King
51. Tono-bungay by H.G. Wells
52. Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
53. The Red Pony by John Steinbeck
54. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
55. Gerald’s Game by Stephen King
56. A Christmas Carol and other stories by Charles Dickens
57. Tommy Knockers by Stephen King
58. The Talisman by Peter Straub & Stephen King
59. Watership Down by Richard Adams
60. A Lesson Before Dying by Gaines
61. Complete Miss Marple Novels  by Agatha Christie

*My books that I don’t have the first in the series to are missing and I am too lazy to input them back. I have about 12 or so of them so the number is around 75.

To go from 523 to 75 is amazing. I wanted to reach less than 40 but the way things are going I might not. I’m overall not into reading right now.