4
Followers
4
Following
Cynical Reader
Give me a happily-ever-after fairy-tale and I'll fight you every step of the way, but give me a tragic, grief-ridden story and I'll let it consume me.
I wasn't planning on purchasing anymore ebook novellas, because nothing ever seems to happen in them. Besides [a:Lauren Oliver|2936493|Lauren Oliver|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1291156327p2/2936493.jpg]'s Delirium short stories, I've never been happy with a novella purchase...That is, until now. I loathed Alodia almost as much as Ximina, but this story helped me respect her. She's strong and capable, and not as much of a bitch as I had previously thought. Alodia even earned a spot on my "kick-ass-girls" shelf, which is no easy feat.
And stuff actually happened. It seems Carson has put just as much effort into her novellas as she has into her books.
Plus [b:The Shattered Mountain|16148644|The Shattered Mountain (Fire and Thorns, #0.6)|Rae Carson|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1358467156s/16148644.jpg|21983379] being about Mara, and [b:The King's Guard|16148645|The King's Guard (Fire and Thorns, #0.7)|Rae Carson|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1368700639s/16148645.jpg|25037375] being about Hector, there is no way I can not read the next 2 short stories!
Robert Frost: Selected Poems (Fall River Press Edition)
I like poetry, but this book made me realize I'm not a huge fan of Robert Frost.
How excited am I!!!!!Isabel became my favorite character while reading the Shiver trilogy, so I'm pretty stoked about this!
This is probably one of the best "cleaning" books I've read in terms of motivating and giving good emotional reasons behind keeping material things and needing to rid yourself of them. You see objects hold on to the energy that has surrounded them, so that little figurine you still hold on to - that makes you think of that one time your sister told you you were worthless and no one liked you - needs to go in the trash. Also, do you ever keep things simply because, say your grandmother gave it to you on your 13th birthday and you feel like giving/throwing it away will be like saying you no longer value that person? I do. That's actually the main reason I have so. many. things. We have to learn to stop attaching emotional feelings (such as love) to material objects. And anything you save from the shitty times in your life will only mess with the current energy of your present life. You don't want to live in the past do you? Do you want to repeat it? I sure as hell don't.
This seems a little dramatic and a heavy price to pay just for keeping things around yourself but essentially if you really think about it, it makes a lot of sense.
Now there were a few things Kingston suggested should be cleared as well that made me think "no, absolutely not!" such as books! But I assume we all have deal breakers.
So needless to say I will not be completely Feng Shuing my house. Honestly I may even keep that thing that reminds of that shitty time that one shitty thing happened, but I'll probably be wrapping it in paper and putting it in a box in the back of my closet instead of displaying it on my dresser.
This is probably one of the best "cleaning" books I've read in terms of motivating and giving good emotional reasons behind keeping material things and needing to rid yourself of them. You see objects hold on to the energy that has surrounded them, so that little figurine you still hold on to - that makes you think of that one time your sister told you you were worthless and no one liked you - needs to go in the trash. Also, do you ever keep things simply because, say your grandmother gave it to you on your 13th birthday and you feel like giving/throwing it away will be like saying you no longer value that person? I do. That's actually the main reason I have so. many. things. We have to learn to stop attaching emotional feelings (such as love) to material objects. And anything you save from the shitty times in your life will only mess with the current energy of your present life. You don't want to live in the past do you? Do you want to repeat it? I sure as hell don't.
This seems a little dramatic and a heavy price to pay just for keeping things around yourself but essentially if you really think about it, it makes a lot of sense.
Now there were a few things Kingston suggested should be cleared as well that made me think "no, absolutely not!" such as books! But I assume we all have deal breakers.
So needless to say I will not be completely Feng Shuing my house. Honestly I may even keep that thing that reminds of that shitty time that one shitty thing happened, but I'll probably be wrapping it in paper and putting it in a box in the back of my closet instead of displaying it on my dresser.
This is what I was expecting from [b:Pure|9680114|Pure (Pure, #1)|Julianna Baggott|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1302743156s/9680114.jpg|14568028]. Since I read them back to back Pure was more of a book just to get me emotionally invested and set me up for Fuse.I wasn't a big fan of Lyda in book 1, I thought she was going to be weak and whiny but I turned out to love her in Fuse. I'm still not that into Bradwell, he seems a little pushy and hard headed and to be honest the birds on his back gross me out a bit. Pressia and Partridge have been a constant for me, and are what kept me coming back for more.
I can't wait to see what will be in store for them in [b:Burn|9752790|Burn (Pure, #3)|Julianna Baggott|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1375224585s/9752790.jpg|14642045].
This left me pretty conflicted. I liked it, but I didn't really care for the big revelation. Also it didn't have that urgency that makes me not want to put a book down, which led to me taking forever to finish it. I was kind of repulsed by the birds in Bradwell's back, and Bradwell himself wasn't someone I liked too much which made it hard for me to get into the romance.
I've got [b:Fuse|9752754|Fuse (Pure #2)|Julianna Baggott|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1362017479s/9752754.jpg|14642009] at home so I will be reading it soon. Hopefully it pulls me in more that Pure did.
How do you rate a book like this? I kept hovering over the stars trying to decide, but this just isn't a book you "rate". I didn't read this for recreational purposes...I read it for information, insight, curiosity. I didn't love it or hate it. I wasn't appalled by the writings of a 14 year old girl or the matters which she chose to journal about. I will say that you can see Ann maturing and growing in her writing as well as her train of thought throughout the book. I felt I knew the people she wrote about by the end of the book, which made knowing their terrible fates even more heartbreaking.
This just wasn't my cup of tea. It's very girly and shallow.I knew how the book would end only after a few chapters, so there were no surprises. I've read this story before only with different characters and settings, I didn't feel that there was anything new here. One thing that annoyed me was all the brand-dropping (Gucci, Droid, etc...), if it would have only been a few times I wouldn't have even noticed, but there were brand names dropped in damn near every description.
Laney is spoiled, manipulative,and immature. I was expecting her to pay consequence and realize her shallowness but instead, the other characters were constantly apologizing to her. She behaved like a teenage girl through-out the entire book, there was no development.
There were a lot of over-dramatized exclamations used (ex. "as if!") that made the dialog less natural, especially for 2013.
If you are looking for a beach-read, something light to pass the time, this is the book for you. If you are looking for a unique story with substance, this will likely be a disappointment.
If you are interested in this book I would recommend getting the ebook version, because there are a lot of links and it was obviously created for that (not to be in print).This is not an in-depth book about racial violence, just the facts and instances. Contrary to what people say, Colin Flaherty isn't trying to push his beliefs on you, he's simply giving you the facts so you can make up your own mind.
If you are looking for a more structured, deeper look into racial violence and the media's aversion to covering it I'd recommend Ann Coulter's [b:Mugged: Racial Demagoguery from the Seventies to Obama|15808231|Mugged Racial Demagoguery from the Seventies to Obama|Ann Coulter|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1355957497s/15808231.jpg|21532852]. She also goes into the history and origins of everything.
The writing was great, the story amazing. It definitely didn't disappoint or let down the entire series, if anything it just made it stronger. The only complaint on my part was the all-too-perfect way everything seemed to work out. Also (like [b:Finnikin of the Rock|4932435|Finnikin of the Rock (Lumatere Chronicles #1)|Melina Marchetta|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1346007613s/4932435.jpg|4998084]) the romance seemed to be a bit too much at times.
This is what I wanted [b:Finnikin of the Rock|4932435|Finnikin of the Rock (Lumatere Chronicles #1)|Melina Marchetta|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1346007613s/4932435.jpg|4998084] to be. As a matter of fact, I feel like Finnikin was just setting me up for Froi's amazing story.I can usually do with out all the romance, but I wanted Froi and Quintana to work. And that, for me, is always a sign that I'm loving the book.
I'm excited to start [b:Quintana of Charyn|10165761|Quintana of Charyn (Lumatere Chronicles, #3)|Melina Marchetta|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1331187719s/10165761.jpg|15064476] in the days to come. I'm hoping that it will be more like Froi and doesn't go back to the fairy-tale-happily-ever-after like Finnikin.