Making My Bookish Habit Mean Something - A Bookish Discussion

Things have been pretty quiet lately on the blog, if you haven't noticed. We all reach the occasional roadblock in our blogging careers when life kind of gets in the way for a while. Thankfully, most of us can usually get right back into the swing of things. That's basically what happened around here. After a string of unfortunate dramatic happenings in my life coupled with a boat load of working hours, I kind of found myself not necessarily unable, but more like unwilling to read or blog.

I was in a slump, I wasn't loving what I was reading, I wasn't loving the fact that I spend so much time and money on books because like many "kids" my age, I'm always broke. So basically, in striving to not be as broke anymore, but also striving for this to all actually have a point and do something good that will make me happy and help others, I've come up with a plan:

Actually found somewhere to donate to for
starters: http://www.firstbook.org/
$10 = 4 books!

I've decided that for every book I buy, I will donate either a book or at least $5.00 in some way (monetarily or otherwise) to someone in need, whether it be an actual person, a charity, a private fundraiser. I'd love to keep it as book-focused as possible, but obviously if I'm about to donate in some way and I see a need that isn't book-related, I'll fill it, right?

I came up with this idea while discussing something I saw at work with a co-worker. Bear with my as I tell my little story. I work at a shoe store and a while back a mother and her young daughter, probably about 5 years old, were shopping. The little girl was asking for everything under the sun, like most kids do. As the mother and her child were checking out, I overheard the mother telling the child something along the lines of, "You know the rule. If you want to buy something special for yourself, you also need to buy something for someone less fortunate." The child didn't have enough money (allowance or something, I'm sure) to buy two little trinkets, one for her and one for someone less fortunate, so she didn't buy anything at all.

Now you'd think the kid would throw a total fit and freak out, demanding that the mother buy her the item, and that the mom would eventually give in like a lot of parents seem to do these days. But nope. At 5(-ish) years old, she did know the rule, and it was clear that the parents didn't just make this up on the spot. The girl nodded solemnly and asked her mom if they could come back next week to buy two little trinkets, and the mother agreed. I don't know for sure if they ever came back, cause you know how kids are. They want a toy one day and forget about it the next, but I honestly couldn't believe what I had just witnessed. I knew for sure that that was a rule I wanted to bring into my household when I have kids one day (hopefully many years from now, eek!).

So, after thinking about this for a while, I started to realize that I couldn't expect my child, who will hardly understand the importance of what I'm asking of them, to do this when I don't live my life that way. Why should I get to buy new clothes or gadgets for myself and tell my kid they can't have a toy unless they are able to buy two.

Don't get me wrong, I understand that there would be some exceptions: birthdays, christmas, etc. Also, if I'm buying, say, a new TV, I'm obviously not going to buy two. But I think that this idea I've formed would definitely give me pause before running out and buying a new TV. I would obviously want to do something bigger than donating a book and would really think about whether I needed something so big before I went and got it.

Because I'm a big brat and buy tons of books and lots of other stuff for myself all the time, I'm going to start small lest I go into withdrawals and completely give up on my cause. I'm going to start with books. I plan on donating in many different ways, I just haven't figured them all out yet.

Actually, that's kind of what I was hoping for from you guys: some ideas on how to donate in bookish ways. Small donations, obviously, because I will be buying one or two books at a time, usually. Do you know any bigger charities that work in reading and literacy? Do you have any friends raising money for something book-related (e.g. a teacher in need of books for their classroom, etc.)? Please share with me if you have any ideas!

I need that and I also need your input. Do you think I'm totally crazy? Do you think this is a horrible idea, horrible to impose on myself and my future kids? Or is it something you think you could do?

I'm really excited to do something in my small way that might help instill a love of reading in someone else one day, and I hope that this maybe makes some of you think about ways to give back, too.

I can't wait to give my reading habit a bit more meaning than just stimulating my mind and sharing my love of books with the world, which is pretty darn important as it is. I also can't wait to hear what you all think! Let's talk!!

A.

Review: Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

ISBN: 9780525951988

Source: Purchased... with Christmas money.. ;)

Series: No, stand-alone

Release Date: April 14, 2011

Goodreads  |  Amazon

See all other Rainbow Rowell reviews on this blog

     SYNOPSIS

"Hi, I'm the guy who reads your e-mail, and also, I love you . . "

Beth Fremont and Jennifer Scribner-Snyder know that somebody is monitoring their work e-mail. (Everybody in the newsroom knows. It's company policy.) But they can't quite bring themselves to take it seriously. They go on sending each other endless and endlessly hilarious e-mails, discussing every aspect of their personal lives.

Meanwhile, Lincoln O'Neill can't believe this is his job now- reading other people's e-mail. When he applied to be "internet security officer," he pictured himself building firewalls and crushing hackers- not writing up a report every time a sports reporter forwards a dirty joke.
When Lincoln comes across Beth's and Jennifer's messages, he knows he should turn them in. But he can't help being entertained-and captivated-by their stories.
By the time Lincoln realizes he's falling for Beth, it's way too late to introduce himself.
What would he say . . . ?

     REVIEW

If I tell you that Attachments was my least favorite Rainbow Rowell book, I don't want you all to run away screaming. It's true, it is my least favorite of her current three, but Rainbow Rowell is amazing. So to say that just means that the book is fantastic as opposed to mind-blowing such as the other two she's written. Attachments was a lot slower that E&P and while Fangirl was pretty slow, the pacing for that book was perfect. Attachments is told in the point of view of Lincoln, one of the main characters, and also in the form of e-mails between the other main character, Beth, and her BFF, Jennifer, and unfortunately, Lincoln's narrative was what kind of dragged it down for me.

The e-mail aspect was quite hysterical. I think the entire thing could've been told in e-mail form and I would've loved it! I definitely enjoyed those parts the most, especially because Beth and Jennifer at times went out of their way to use words that would flag their e-mails... I suppose as an act of rebellion? They were just fantastic!

Lincoln's parts, written in regular narrative rather than in e-mail form, were a lot slower and at times boring. Unless Lincoln was doing something in relation to work/Beth/e-mails, I was slightly bored. Everything about his mother and sister I could've done without. It got to a point where I wondered if anything was ever going to happen with Lincoln and Beth or if Rowell was just going to break my heart yet again! It was a rather close call because I thought the ending was going to ruin a pretty good book, but fear not! Rowell came through, and while the ending was bordering on completely unbelievable, it had me tearing up and grinning and laughing like a fool. It was basically perfect and I don't care if it probably would never happen in real life.

RATING: ★★★★ 1/2

My only gripes about Attachments besides the pacing (at times) was that I wished it had been a bit longer, to make the interactions between the characters toward the end a bit more drawn out and a bit more believable. Or even just to have an opportunity to enjoy it a little longer.

On the contrary, my favorite part of the story besides the hysterical e-mail exchanges was the romance. I loved that Rowell made it okay to be needy sometimes. We see so many "strong heroines" in YA and adult novels lately. Girls and women who don't need a man, just want one. And while that is something we all attempt to embody, not every girl or relationship is like that. I know I'm needy as hell and in this story, Rowell showed us a strong heroine who just needed to be loved sometimes. And I really, really loved and enjoyed that aspect.

Overall, Attachments, being the third Rowell book I've read, served to truly cement my love for her as one of my favorite authors. I will definitely read anything she puts out there and more than likely will re-read everything she already has out there. So basically, if you haven't read this book, you should. And if you haven't read anything by Rainbow Rowell... well, that the heck are you waiting for?

Oh, and in other Rainbow News, her next novel, and adult contemporary novel, Landline is being released in July of this year. Like I said, I will buy anything she puts out there. Have you heard anything about this book yet? I've basically heard it is excellent, as expected.

Also, have you seen this amazing video reenactment of a scene from Fangirl put together by the amazing Yulin Kuang? If you haven't, you need to go see it. You might die of <3 <3 <3. Yup - you read that right.

Also, also! And this is important for fans of E&P and Rowell in general: Dreamworks has bought the movie rights for Eleanor and Park. And Rowell has been hired to write the screenplay. WHATTT!? I almost died. I know many of you don't like adaptations but I love them as long as they are done right! So how excited are you?! Let's talk!

A.

Review: Miss Mabel's School for Girls by Katie Cross and Giveaway!

ISBN: 9780991531905
Source: eARC/Author
Format: e-book
Series: The Network Series #1
Release Date: March 27, 2014
Goodreads  |  Amazon

     SUMMARY:

Never underestimate the power of a determined witch.
Letum Wood is a forest of fog and deadfall, home to the quietly famous Miss Mabel’s School for Girls, a place where young witches learn the art of magic.
Sixteen-year-old Bianca Monroe has inherited a deadly curse. Determined to break free before it kills her, she enrolls in the respected school to confront the cunning witch who cast the curse: Miss Mabel.
Bianca finds herself faced with dark magic she didn’t expect, with lessons more dangerous than she could have ever imagined. Will Bianca have the courage to save herself from the curse, or will Miss Mabel’s sinister plan be too powerful?
Miss Mabel’s School for Girls is the first novel in The Network Series, an exciting new fantasy collection. A gripping tale about the struggle to survive, it will take you to a new place and time, one you’ll never want to leave.

     REVIEW:

It feels like I have been waiting centuries for Katie Cross to publish her book. It hasn't been nearly that long obviously, but that is about how badly I wanted to read MMSFG. I was one of the lucky ones who was able to read it before its release date (today!) and got to participate in the launch day madness (which includes some awesome giveaways thanks to the author so don't forget to check those out before you go!)

Let me start by saying that my favorite part about the entire book was the main character, Bianca. It's not often that you find a strong, confident female character in a YA novel. Let's be totally honest here - on a good day, a YA herione starts out as a sniveling, simpering pain in the ass and eventually develops into the kind of strong character that Cross gives us right from the beginning. Bianca is driven by many things: fear, love, determination. But those things make her who she is and I just loved watching her grow and fight toward her goal so fiercely throughout this book.

I enjoyed the supporting characters too, and Leda was of course my favorite. I was incredibly intrigued by her "gift", but more than that, she cracked me the hell up. At first I didn't know if I'd like her much or not cause she seemed to be snotty, but those straight-faced one-liners did me in every time.

I was so intrigued by the concept of different Networks (kind of like.... districts, I guess) and how they were connected (or weren't) and am dying to find out more about them. As for the story itself, I actually found it to be a bit darker than I was expecting. If you've ever met Katie Cross (which I haven't, but I've talked to her via the world wide web, so I'm imagining here), you would know she is hysterically funny, sweet, all smiles (and by smiles, I mean internet smiles) - in other words, I didn't find her to be a "dark" person. So it was a little surprise, but quite a good one. I don't think this story would have worked if not for the dark and sinister undertones that it had. So really, it worked, and I'm not going to lie, Bianca was brave as hell cause I would not be tromping around Letum Wood like that if I were her!

RATING: ★★★★

Overall, I enjoyed Katie Cross's first novel, Miss Mabel's School for Girls so, so much! her writing is fantastic to top off all of the other reasons that this book is amazing. With a strong main character like Bianca Monroe, I feel like we can't go wrong here. Loved it and cannot wait until Katie finishes and publishes the next book in the Network Series!

Have you gotten to read this one? If not, make sure you are clicking on that Amazon link above and buying it NOW! It's only $2.99 for Kindle right now. So basically, how can you say no?

Don't forget to pay Katie a visit at one of the links below to check out her awesomeness and to enter in the excellent giveaway she's got going on! The giveaway runs from March 27-30th. You can enter by clicking the link below for the Miss Mabel's Website! Being given away are a potions chest, a grimoire, potion bottles, bags of apothecary herbs and spices, and amazon gift cards. Enter now!

Miss Mabel's Website  |  Facebook  |  Pinterest  |  KCross Writing

A.

Review: The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan

ISBN: 9781423101505
Source: Purchased (re-read)
Series: Percy Jackson and the Olympians #5
Release Date: May 5, 2009
Goodreads  |  Amazon
See my reviews for previous books in this series

     SYNOPSIS

All year the half-bloods have been preparing for battle against the Titans, knowing the odds are against them. Kronos is stronger than ever, and with every god and half-blood he recruits, his power only grows.

     REVIEW

The Last Olympian is my favorite book of this entire series. That may not be surprising to you because usually the last books are always the most epic. TLO was definitely epic. But I liked it the most because this is the only book out of all 5 that kicks right off with the action and maintains that throughout the entire book. Even with this being the second time I've read the book, it had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. In the other books in the series (save for the first one cause that obviously had a lot of setting up and introducing to do), I always felt like the book would start of with some action - something happening to Percy or Percy on some minor mission, then it would taper off to spending half the book at the Camp not doing much of anything until things picked up again. Thankfully, book 5 did not follow that mold.

While I don't have much else to say about this book or the series as a whole, I must say that I am so, so glad that there is a spin off series (which I've obviously read already) because the ending of TLO does not provide enough closure for me. I was a mess with some of the things that happened and a few of the very unexpected deaths that occurred, and was pleased overall with the way things turned out, but Riordan must've had the spinoff, Heroes of Olympus, planned already because again, not nearly enough closure. I can't end a series like that on a "and they had a good day." I need a happily EVER AFTER!

But HoO gives that a chance (thank goodness) so I can forgive Riordan for the ending of TLO, though it was still pretty awesome and had me all teary eyed and what not even if it didn't quite give the closure I was looking for.

RATING: ★★★★ 1/2

Overall, The Last Olympian was my favorite of this series because of the non-stop action and plot twists coming out of nowhere! It probably also helped that Percy was a bit older and it's easier for me to relate to YA that to MG. I've already started the spin off series, Heroes of Olympus (I'm on book 2 now!) and am so glad I get to continue being a part of this world and reliving the fun I had when I read them a while ago.

Have any of you completed the Percy Jackson series? Which of the books was your favorite? Did you enjoy them as much as I did? Let's talk books!

A.

Divergent, The Movie: Am I The Only One Who Liked It?

IT'S HERE, people! Divergent, the movie, is HERE! Technically the premiere date was today but of course there were several showings last night, one of which I went to. Duh. Before I get into the movie, can I just talk about how disappointed I was with the lack of people attending the movie?

With the last few movie releases I've been to, the movies are no longer released at midnight, but there are several showings the Thursday before starting at around 8:00 p.m. continuing with at least four more performances up to and including midnight. I don't know if this is the case where you all are, but I don't know how I feel about it. At first I thought it was great cause I hated getting home at 3:00 a.m. after a midnight premiere to have to go to work the next morning. But to be totally honest... it was kind of lame this time.

I don't know if it's because Divergent is not "big" enough, which seems unlikely because I mean, it's Divergent. Even if society could care less about the release, there is still all of us, the blogging/reading community that tends to become obsessed and fangirl and all that. So I wonder if it is due to the lack of midnight showings. I think midnight showings gave more of a sense of urgency - you want to be one of the first to see it so you must be there that day.Well, whatever the case was, I was pretty disappointed. I got there more than an hour early and they were already seating - no lines, no wait. Again, doesn't seem like something to complain about, but half the fun of a midnight premiere is having to wait outside the theater doors for an hour squishing up against people you don't know and stampeding into the theater trying to get a seat that is not those ones in the first two rows where you break your neck. Sigh... I think you get what I'm trying to say.But anyway, besides the fact that the premiere atmosphere itself was pretty lame, I really, really enjoyed the movie. That's not to say it didn't have its issues, but overall I really enjoyed it.

     WHAT I LIKED:

First and foremost, I honestly enjoyed seeing the story come to life. I think that is something that I love about (almost) every book-to-movie adaptation, though. I thought seeing each faction in "real life" was insanely cool. Getting inside the Dauntless compound past the point of in my head was awesome. See Four up close and personal (yum!) was great.

I particularly enjoyed the way the romance was done in the movie. I've read Divergent twice and while I liked Tris and Four because they obviously belonged together, I never felt as though the chemistry between them in book one warranted an "I love you" at the end of it. I never really felt it the way I wanted to. But in the movie, all the chemistry was there. Theo James is delicious for starters, so not only is he easy on the eyes, but he works well with Shailene Woodley in my opinion. But I really enjoyed the way they progressed, learning to respect each other, trust each other then, finally, love each other. It was a hundred times more believable on screen than it was on the page and I was swooning all over the place.

While I didn't love all of the things Hollywood chose to add in (see below), I really did like the action aspect of the movie, especially toward the end. I thought it was wonderfully done and it was so intense, I had a death grip on Sean's hand the entire time. So I was able to (mostly) forgive the unnecessary additions because it made the movie pretty damn exciting.

Let me just talk about the actors/actresses for a minute, because a lot of my love for the movie came from the feelings they caused in me while they were playing these characters:

Theo James/Four: Not only is he sexy beyond belief, he comes off a little more mature in the movie rather than just mean and brooding, which only made him sexier. He seemed more like a man than a boy. I think he did a fantastic job portraying Four and bringing to life the chemistry and love between him and Tris.

Ben Lloyd-Hughes/Will: I just loved Ben playing Will! Though I wish he'd played a bigger part in the movie such as he did in the book, I was happy with the casting and I really enjoyed him.... and then... yeah. That was rough. :'(

Jai Courtney/Eric: OMG. Oh. My. Goodness. I am in love with Eric. I never thought I would say those

Look at that face. And those lips. Sweet
Baby Jesus... I'm in love.

words. I thought he was hot before I saw the movie and before I actually saw him  play the part of Eric, and then I saw him acting and I am in love. Jai Courtney is a delicious specimen of a man, but I also think he did a fantastic job of playing Eric. He came off as cold, calculating, uncaring, and a little bit of a douche, but he did it perfectly while causing me to melt into a puddle every time he came on screen. I had a hard time remembering that he was a bad guy. :/

Shailene Woodley/Tris: I am going to be completely honest - I thought I was going to hate Woodley as Tris. At first, I thought she was too... rough, not skinny and "birdlike" enough (that sounded rude, didn't it?).. I just didn't think she was going to portray the Tris I wanted and had been seeing in my head all this time. I was so pleasantly surprised when I started seeing her evolve from Abnegation Beatrice to Dauntless Tris and I really loved her. Not to mention she showed off her acting chops in a major way toward the end of the movie in a couple of insanely emotional scenes. I was a blubbering mess and Woodley really showed the emotions Tris was feeling that sometimes get lost in translation when imagining it in our own heads. I thought she was fantastic even if she isn't exactly the perfect embodiment of Tris in the books.

     WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:

Really, the only thing I actually did not like in this movie were the things they added in with Jeanine and Tris. I felt like they changed their dynamic entirely and tried to make it seem as if Jeanine wasn't out to get Tris and that she was even being friendly toward her, if not entirely truthful. They actually threw Jeanine into the story (in regard to Tris) a whole lot earlier than in the book. I guess I can see why they did that, so as not to throw Jeanine in as a threat at the last minute (especially for people watching who haven't read the books), but I didn't like the way they tried to portray the relationship between Jeanine and Tris.

There was one character that I hated: Zoe Kravitz/Christina: I was actually really excited to see her play Christina. I am a huge Lenny Kravitz fan and yes, I know, her father's talent doesn't necessarily translate to her, but Christina was one of my favorite characters in the book and I was really counting on Kravitz to play the role well. I thought she was pretty lame for starters. Her acting wasn't horrible but it certainly wasn't anything to write home about. Not to mention that she looked like she was high the entire time. That, or deathly ill. WTF is that about? It was awful and it made it seem like she didn't care about being there or being Christina. Needless to say, I was disappointed by her.

To touch on a topic some non-blogging friends of mine brought up (and one fellow blogger, Nikki, who said the same thing on Twitter), it seems like the movie was put together in a way that could be confusing for people who have never read the books. Even with the movie being almost 2 1/2 hours long, it seemed to move really fast and didn't exactly expand on things that may have needed to be explained a little better. I, myself, didn't necessarily notice this until after the fact because I read it very recently and remembered most details, and I still think I need to see it again to form a solid opinion on this aspect. But I can totally understand this and see how it may have been confusing to some people who haven't read it, or even people who read it quite a while ago and don't remember all of the details.

     BUT, ALL IN ALL

I am one of the few who seem to have really enjoyed this movie. I thought it was action packed, kept pretty well to the original story line, had really awesome acting, and was so cool to see come to life in general. I don't want to get up on my soap box here in debate with people who absolutely did not like it, but I really just want to know why? If those who disliked it actually didn't like it as a movie, I completely respect that. My problem is with the comments about disliking it because of the things they changed. I just feel like.... where have you been? This is the nature of book-to-movie adaptations. They change things, take things out, add things in. When I go see adaptations, though I compare to the book, I really just try to watch the movie and see everything coming to life. There are some exceptions, like if they change major things and even endings or something (Beautiful Creatures, cough cough). I just hate when people hate on an adaptation because things are different. They call it awful, when as a movie, it really wasn't. I just want to know, why are you even bothering to see it if you know that they are going to leave out about half of the book and probably a lot of things you really liked?

Maybe I'm being harsh, but I don't mean to be, I promise. I just think that fans need to go into these things with this in mind: things will be changed. There's usually a reason (not always, so don't stone me, please, but usually).

Well anyways, regardless, I really enjoyed this movie and I'd really love to hear from you, whether you agree with me or not, because I feel like I'm missing something when everyone says how horrible it was. But if you liked/loved it, I would really love to gush together so please, tell me what you liked - or didn't like.

If you haven't seen it, do you think you will? And is your decision based on preconceived notions about adaptations or because of the reviews that are surfacing now that it has been released? Let's talk books... er.. movies!

A.