So I'm trying something a little different this time. Instead of updating a blog post each time I finish a book, I took notes in a little notebook and I'm going to try and write all of my reviews based on what I wrote. Hopefully this'll still make sense.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling, finished 4/2. I have a strange relationship with the HP books. Many of the people I know love and followed the books and movies as they came out, but I've avoided them for the most part until recently. And I like the series, but it's not a favorite. I can see why people love it to bits. I've also seen bits and pieces of the movies and understand some of the scenes from what I've caught on tumblr or family watching the movie, so I anticipate what's coming up and it's not as fun for me to read.
--> TL; DR I like Chamber of Secrets but I finished it mainly to have something to do during a long car ride.
Where She Went by Gayle Forman, finished 4/9. WSW is a good continuation of If I Stay. Both are written with more reflection than action, which works better for If I Stay than Where She Went. Adam tended to split up the action, and it made it hard to read in more than one shot (because it's hard to read during class but I do it anyway). It actually gave me a lot of feels, too, because they had so much they wanted to say to each other but neither of them really wanted to take that leap of faith. The ending was perfect, though.
--> TL; DR Lots of mushy romance.
The Blue Girl by Charles de Lint, finished 4/10. I checked it out on a whim from school because it stood out from the books it was near and had a pretty interesting summary. And I liked it. It's not entirely plausible, but it still worked nicely. (And I think it also segued my fall into the Danny Phantom fandom OTL) The character relationships worked really well together, although maybe a little too much? Everything tied up nicely in the end, which is nice, but it's also a pretty definitive end to everything.
--> TL; DR This is the kind of stuff I daydream about.
Princesses of Iowa by M. Molly Backes, finished 4/15. I loved the realistic aspect of Princesses of Iowa. The narration sounded like a teenager, the characters sounded like humans (and were totally frustrating), and the characters were multi-dimensional. The characters didn't have this whole life-changing revelation by the end of the book, but that's not really how life works, right? Most people continue being who they are (even if they suck) and then there are a few people that decide to change their life. I also sympathized with Paige even though I probably wouldn't have for a different book.
--> TL; DR "OH MY GOD ALL THE CHARACTERS ARE SUCH JERKS AT SOME POINT" (why did I even write that in my notebook)
Famous by Todd Strasser, finished 4/16. Famous is a quick read -- I finished it in a day. And didn't really like it. Lots of character archetypes and general stereotypes, the plot wasn't organized at all and the perspective jumped around a lot, and there wasn't even much change in the characters. Also, the ending could be predicted but also made me think "why would you do that."
--> TL; DR I don't think it was written well.
Breathe by Sarah Crossan, finished 4/18. Breathe kind of fell short of what I expected. The plot seemed to build up strangely, and I also had a hard time differentiating between Alina and Bea for at least the first half of the book. Also, a bunch of things randomly tie together and the plot built up a little strangely. It started out really slow at first, and then sped up quicker than I think it should have. The characters in the book seem to have flawed reasoning.
--> TL; DR I liked the premise but I think it could have been written better.
The Butterfly Clues by Kate Ellison, finished 4/23. I had a hard time with The Butterfly Clues because it's out of my normal genres and I didn't understand Lo's compulsive habits. Lo was a pretty interesting character though, being kind of predictable but also really spontaneous at times. Towards the middle I was really wondering where the story was going. The end was surprising for me, though.
--> TL; DR You'd probably like it more if you like thriller / suspense books.
Ask The Passengers by A.S. King, finished 4/25. I'm not sure how to review this. I really liked it, but I also want to talk about my issues with the characters. I liked the narration and how the "sending love to airplanes" worked, but the other characters were pushy and mean and Astrid didn't do anything about it. I wished she stood up for herself more, although I can see why she would be scared to.
--> TL; DR It's cute but the characters tick me off some.
Jars of Glass by Brad Barkley and Heather Hepler, finished 4/29. I have to admit I picked the book because of the title and cover. And I don't regret that. The book is kind of depressing, or at least sad. There are things that aren't explained well or only hinted at until close to the end. It'd be nice to know earlier in the story but it also adds to the plot so I'm not sure what I think about it.
--> TL; DR Not a pick-me-up, but still interesting.
I did it! They probably kind of suck, though. My eloquence needs improvement.
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Cleaning My Room
I have a tendency to let crap in my room build up until it's hard to do anything in my room because you have to step over / search through / avoid piles of stuff everywhere. So the other day I got off early from work and decided to tackle the mess I call mi dormitorio.
Before
I also found a bunch of college letters.
A Pokemon card was the closest thing I had to a ruler. Shhh.
After
My dresser ended up a little more cluttered because I have a bunch of stuff to put there and not much space to use.
But yeah! My room is a lot nicer and more usable now.
Saturday, April 20, 2013
4.20 Shopping
Mom and I went to a community yard sale and a huge book sale today. I got a peacoat, 403 Pokemon cards (assuming the seller counted them correctly), 3 Pokemon books, a Pokemon RBY game guide, a Pokemon VHS, 3 Peter Pan-related books, a Japanese grammar book, a Stravaganza book, The Secret Garden, 2 Sailor Moon movie VHS, and Sky High on DVD.
All of this for under $30.
This was the second time we did this -- the first time was a year ago. I don't remember if both were on the same day or not. Anyway, the yard sale was interesting. I was resigned to not buying anything until Mom pointed out the coat. I wasn't going to get it, but then I found a dollar on the ground. Fate. So I went and bought the coat. And they were also selling the Pokemon cards, so I bought those. I'm really happy about that because I got Lugia, Mewtwo, and Celebi cards (which are rare) for $2. The other 400 cards were $4, which is amazing because I could've gotten a booster pack with 10 cards from Target for about the same price. Most of them were cards I already have or have ones similar to, but there were 31 cards I needed. That doesn't seem like it doesn't recuperate the costs much, but it does considering how much new cards cost.
The book sale was fun. It's really big and it covers three school gyms. One of them was mostly children's books. So I spent most of my time in there. There was a mom and her son who were looking for Pokemon and Magic Tree House books, so I handed them the ones I could find. Both of them seemed really happy about that. The son also misplaced a toy and I was able to give it back to them. So that was nice. I'm really happy that I found the books I did. And that I found Sky High. I've been wanting to re-watch it for a while, since I've only seen it once in theaters, but I don't like "cheating" by watching it on the internet. It's still shrink wrapped too.
As of now I'm going to try and save my money. I'm tempted to buy the Animal Crossing 3DS in a few months, but I also would like a new camera / camcorder and possibly an external hard drive, and also to save up for Otakon. And that's obviously not all possible at the same time. If I save all my money it's more feasible, I think.
Monday, April 15, 2013
Matryoshka Hoodie How-to
For once I remembered to document the steps I took in making a cosplay! Surprise! This is for the face on the hood of my Matryoshka Gumi hoodie. Only one side is painted, but that's enough for a tutorial, right? I used this one from deviantart when painting my yellow Matryoshka hoodie, but for the red one I went from memory.
Materials: white and black paint, a small paintbrush and a wider paintbrush.
--> Note: I used acrylic paint. It works, but the face on my yellow hoodie is starting to crack a little. I don't really like fabric paint but that's probably a better idea.
But anyway, it's fairly easy to make! Just a little tedious because it requires more than one layer of paint and waiting for paint to dry can be agonizing. For me, at least.
Materials: white and black paint, a small paintbrush and a wider paintbrush.
--> Note: I used acrylic paint. It works, but the face on my yellow hoodie is starting to crack a little. I don't really like fabric paint but that's probably a better idea.
First, I painted the white circle for the eye and the black crescent for the mouth. I think I free-handed this one, but it's a good idea to trace the pattern on in pencil.
Then I added another layer of paint to make it darker.
Then I added in the details. This is after one more layer of paint. The eye looks pretty good, but obviously it takes a few layers to make the teeth look nice.
I think this is a couple more layers of paint. Not sure how many.
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Books I've Read -- March
More of the books I've blown through read when there were other things I should have been doing!
Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr, finished 3/1. This book is pretty realistic. It's not like that "one issue at a time" kind of thing. Everything just kinda blew up and Sam had to deal with it, much on her own. Which was more sad stuff than I really like handling in a book. (Ironic, really.) There's not really much else I have to say about it.
--> TL; DR Kinda sad but also somewhat eye-opening?
Hacking Harvard by Robin Wasserman, finished 3/2. I knew about Hacking Harvard for a few years; I avoided it because it was in the hands of a kid I didn't like. Petty, I know. But I wasn't really missing much. Hacking Harvard actually bugged me. It wasn't very believable (although I've overlooked that before, so no huge deal) and then at one point the perspective switched from third to first person and I got mad and wanted to throw the book. It was pretty uncalled for and I dunno, I just had problems with the book.
--> TL;DR I did not like.
Endure by Carrie Jones, finished 3/4. I liked the Need series. It was pretty cool. I have memories reading one of the books (I'm gonna guess Need) during a vacation, so it always had a pretty nice connotation in my head. Zara was also a nice character; she was good to a fault, and I liked that. She put others before herself and even though things screwed up she was willing to go through the effort to fix it. The love triangle is kind of iffy, although interesting. In Endure especially.
--> TL; DR I liked it but I may be a little biased.
The Story of Us by Deb Caletti, finished 3/9. Reading TSoU after a bunch of depressing books was actually a really good idea. It's fluffy but in a very good way. I could talk about how much that made me like it, but there'd be some major spoilers so I'll just leave it at this. The dynamic of Cricket's extended family also reminded me of my own. So there was that aspect of things being faintly familiar. Oh, and I also liked how it only showed Cricket's side of the emails. It bugged me a little bit at first, but then I realized it's actually kind of nice, in the sense that you're allowed to infer things.
--> TL; DR A very nice kind of fluffy.
Fox and Phoenix by Beth Bernobich, finished 3/10. Fox and Phoenix kind of fell flat for me. A lot of things weren't explained (like how did Kai even meet Lian? And anybody care to explain their "street rat" background?) and that really bothered me. Some stories can throw you into the plot and explain later, but Fox and Phoenix didn't even try that much to explain. There is apparently a short story prequel that explains it, but that would've been nice to know before reading...
--> TL; DR If the book is a sequel / continuation of something, tell me, dangit!
City of Swords by Mary Hoffman, finished 3/11. Let me start this off by saying I am completely biased: I love the Stravaganza series and I've been wanting this book since my birthday (when it was published) so to find it six months later in the library made it the best book out of the trip. Anyway, I loved City of Swords. There are a few things that can be irking, like the beginning or some of the details, but the book is also more marketed towards kids, which excuses them in my mind. I like all of the action and the potential "all hell breaking loose" stakes. And yes, as the 6th book in the series it's a little bit repetitive of the other ones, but again: it's a kid's book. Also, there were things related to recent news (but I won't spoil them), as well as my own life. And I liked that at some points there were lines that screamed to me that something was going to happen and then something else did instead.
--> TL;DR I LOVED. Although I am biased.
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins, finished 3/12. AatFK has been sitting on the top of my goodreads to-read list since I made the account. Only on the account that it was one of the books I could've read for summer homework for English class (although I picked The Adoration of Jenna Fox instead). So finally I decided to deprive it of its #1 spot. And it falls along the same line of The Story of Us: very fluffy, but following some depressing books and reader's block it was a very nice way to recover. It was my school book so it took me longer to read than otherwise. The same thing seems to happen a few times, though. Love triangle, friendship problems, school sucking, such things.
--> TL; DR Good for if you need a fluffy romantic book with little plot and lots of romantic mushy stuff.
Princess of Glass by Jessica Day George, no exact finish day. I picked Princess of Glass from the library simply to have something to read. I didn't really like Princess of the Midnight Ball. (On an unrelated note, both books had sand in the library dust jackets. I thought it was glitter as part of the book cover until someone pointed out it was sand.) Glass was better than Midnight Ball for me, although I'm not entirely sure why. I didn't even realize it was supposed to be a retelling of Cinderella until about halfway through the book -- I guess that's just because I'm used to the Disney version. It was a pretty good deviation from what I was expecting. It just kind of... lacked a "wow" factor for me.
--> TL;DR It was ok.
Matched by Ally Condie, finished 3/14. I'd been looking forward to reading Matched for a while, and it sat pretty high up on my to-read list until I was able to find a copy at my school library. And it kind of fell short. I liked it at first; I liked how the background details to the story were set up. However, they're very similar to The Giver. Almost identical. So by establishing that within the first chapter or so, I knew how their society worked. That's not a good thing, though -- why would you want a book that is extremely similar to another, more well-known one? The characters were pretty flat, and while they did grow and get better over the story, they were still kind of boring. And there's that "obligatory love triangle" going on. And there wasn't any action. The entire plot revolved around the love story.
--> TL;DR The Giver with a teenage girl and a love triangle. Did not like.
The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke, finished 3/20. Not really sure what I was looking forward to reading in this book. I checked it out because it was on my to-read list. And even at that point, I thought "this doesn't look like something I'd add," but I needed books to read. Whatever small expectations I did have, they were thrown out the window. TAC to me was very far from the goodreads description. I probably wouldn't have finished it if I wasn't desperate for books to read. It seemed all over the place for me -- maybe because I didn't understand the setting or culture, but also because the action jumped from one thing to another pretty suddenly. A lot of people on goodreads seemed to like the book; I was one of the ones that didn't.
--> TL;DR I was confused through most of the book while reading it.
Shades of Earth by Beth Revis, finished 3/22. My ratings for the Across the Universe series has gotten better as the books progressed -- Shades of Earth being my favorite. The first two books were very depressing for me, because I felt really bad for Amy. And some of the shipborns drove me crazy. The series definitely went out with a bang. I can't go into detail without spoiling, but those plot twists, man. I actually asked my friend to spoil some for me because I needed to know what was going on. I think what made SoE my favorite was that there were all these "lol nope, whatever you were thinking about this situation was WRONG" moments. When I got to the end of the book I really wanted to throw it, but in a good way, if that makes sense. The last few plot twists hit me so hard it solidified itself as my favorite in the series.
--> TL;DR Read the first two books before this one so things make sense, but SoE was awesome.
Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King and E. Aster Bunnymund and the Battle of the Warrior Eggs at the Earth's Core by William Joyce, both finished 3/31. These books are totally out of my reading level, I know. The age range on the cover is 7 - 11 years old. But I loved the movie Rise of the Guardians, so I wanted to read the books that it was based off of. And they were so incredibly cute! The stories are so creative and interesting. They're very different from the RotG movie but it does add some good insight. I haven't had time to sit down and read Toothiana's book yet.
--> TL;DR If you liked Rise of the Guardians, READ THESE.
I really need to post these on time.
Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr, finished 3/1. This book is pretty realistic. It's not like that "one issue at a time" kind of thing. Everything just kinda blew up and Sam had to deal with it, much on her own. Which was more sad stuff than I really like handling in a book. (Ironic, really.) There's not really much else I have to say about it.
--> TL; DR Kinda sad but also somewhat eye-opening?
Hacking Harvard by Robin Wasserman, finished 3/2. I knew about Hacking Harvard for a few years; I avoided it because it was in the hands of a kid I didn't like. Petty, I know. But I wasn't really missing much. Hacking Harvard actually bugged me. It wasn't very believable (although I've overlooked that before, so no huge deal) and then at one point the perspective switched from third to first person and I got mad and wanted to throw the book. It was pretty uncalled for and I dunno, I just had problems with the book.
--> TL;DR I did not like.
Endure by Carrie Jones, finished 3/4. I liked the Need series. It was pretty cool. I have memories reading one of the books (I'm gonna guess Need) during a vacation, so it always had a pretty nice connotation in my head. Zara was also a nice character; she was good to a fault, and I liked that. She put others before herself and even though things screwed up she was willing to go through the effort to fix it. The love triangle is kind of iffy, although interesting. In Endure especially.
--> TL; DR I liked it but I may be a little biased.
The Story of Us by Deb Caletti, finished 3/9. Reading TSoU after a bunch of depressing books was actually a really good idea. It's fluffy but in a very good way. I could talk about how much that made me like it, but there'd be some major spoilers so I'll just leave it at this. The dynamic of Cricket's extended family also reminded me of my own. So there was that aspect of things being faintly familiar. Oh, and I also liked how it only showed Cricket's side of the emails. It bugged me a little bit at first, but then I realized it's actually kind of nice, in the sense that you're allowed to infer things.
--> TL; DR A very nice kind of fluffy.
Fox and Phoenix by Beth Bernobich, finished 3/10. Fox and Phoenix kind of fell flat for me. A lot of things weren't explained (like how did Kai even meet Lian? And anybody care to explain their "street rat" background?) and that really bothered me. Some stories can throw you into the plot and explain later, but Fox and Phoenix didn't even try that much to explain. There is apparently a short story prequel that explains it, but that would've been nice to know before reading...
--> TL; DR If the book is a sequel / continuation of something, tell me, dangit!
City of Swords by Mary Hoffman, finished 3/11. Let me start this off by saying I am completely biased: I love the Stravaganza series and I've been wanting this book since my birthday (when it was published) so to find it six months later in the library made it the best book out of the trip. Anyway, I loved City of Swords. There are a few things that can be irking, like the beginning or some of the details, but the book is also more marketed towards kids, which excuses them in my mind. I like all of the action and the potential "all hell breaking loose" stakes. And yes, as the 6th book in the series it's a little bit repetitive of the other ones, but again: it's a kid's book. Also, there were things related to recent news (but I won't spoil them), as well as my own life. And I liked that at some points there were lines that screamed to me that something was going to happen and then something else did instead.
--> TL;DR I LOVED. Although I am biased.
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins, finished 3/12. AatFK has been sitting on the top of my goodreads to-read list since I made the account. Only on the account that it was one of the books I could've read for summer homework for English class (although I picked The Adoration of Jenna Fox instead). So finally I decided to deprive it of its #1 spot. And it falls along the same line of The Story of Us: very fluffy, but following some depressing books and reader's block it was a very nice way to recover. It was my school book so it took me longer to read than otherwise. The same thing seems to happen a few times, though. Love triangle, friendship problems, school sucking, such things.
--> TL; DR Good for if you need a fluffy romantic book with little plot and lots of romantic mushy stuff.
Princess of Glass by Jessica Day George, no exact finish day. I picked Princess of Glass from the library simply to have something to read. I didn't really like Princess of the Midnight Ball. (On an unrelated note, both books had sand in the library dust jackets. I thought it was glitter as part of the book cover until someone pointed out it was sand.) Glass was better than Midnight Ball for me, although I'm not entirely sure why. I didn't even realize it was supposed to be a retelling of Cinderella until about halfway through the book -- I guess that's just because I'm used to the Disney version. It was a pretty good deviation from what I was expecting. It just kind of... lacked a "wow" factor for me.
--> TL;DR It was ok.
Matched by Ally Condie, finished 3/14. I'd been looking forward to reading Matched for a while, and it sat pretty high up on my to-read list until I was able to find a copy at my school library. And it kind of fell short. I liked it at first; I liked how the background details to the story were set up. However, they're very similar to The Giver. Almost identical. So by establishing that within the first chapter or so, I knew how their society worked. That's not a good thing, though -- why would you want a book that is extremely similar to another, more well-known one? The characters were pretty flat, and while they did grow and get better over the story, they were still kind of boring. And there's that "obligatory love triangle" going on. And there wasn't any action. The entire plot revolved around the love story.
--> TL;DR The Giver with a teenage girl and a love triangle. Did not like.
The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke, finished 3/20. Not really sure what I was looking forward to reading in this book. I checked it out because it was on my to-read list. And even at that point, I thought "this doesn't look like something I'd add," but I needed books to read. Whatever small expectations I did have, they were thrown out the window. TAC to me was very far from the goodreads description. I probably wouldn't have finished it if I wasn't desperate for books to read. It seemed all over the place for me -- maybe because I didn't understand the setting or culture, but also because the action jumped from one thing to another pretty suddenly. A lot of people on goodreads seemed to like the book; I was one of the ones that didn't.
--> TL;DR I was confused through most of the book while reading it.
Shades of Earth by Beth Revis, finished 3/22. My ratings for the Across the Universe series has gotten better as the books progressed -- Shades of Earth being my favorite. The first two books were very depressing for me, because I felt really bad for Amy. And some of the shipborns drove me crazy. The series definitely went out with a bang. I can't go into detail without spoiling, but those plot twists, man. I actually asked my friend to spoil some for me because I needed to know what was going on. I think what made SoE my favorite was that there were all these "lol nope, whatever you were thinking about this situation was WRONG" moments. When I got to the end of the book I really wanted to throw it, but in a good way, if that makes sense. The last few plot twists hit me so hard it solidified itself as my favorite in the series.
--> TL;DR Read the first two books before this one so things make sense, but SoE was awesome.
Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King and E. Aster Bunnymund and the Battle of the Warrior Eggs at the Earth's Core by William Joyce, both finished 3/31. These books are totally out of my reading level, I know. The age range on the cover is 7 - 11 years old. But I loved the movie Rise of the Guardians, so I wanted to read the books that it was based off of. And they were so incredibly cute! The stories are so creative and interesting. They're very different from the RotG movie but it does add some good insight. I haven't had time to sit down and read Toothiana's book yet.
--> TL;DR If you liked Rise of the Guardians, READ THESE.
I really need to post these on time.
4.7 Update
Sorry! It's been a really long time since I posted. I've been pretty busy recently, and never had the time or attention span to sit down and write something. (Remind me to update my tumblr as well.) But I have a few touches to add to my BIR March, as well as at least two posts regarding cosplay. I'll be at the DC Cherry Blossom Parade and Street Festival on Saturday. Hopefully I'll get some good pictures. And if everything goes well I should have more posts up this week.
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