I Capture the Castle Review

This is just a quick review post. I was going to write more about the book as I enjoyed it very much, but the spring semester started. Which included a lot of the latter and none of the former.

Sometime in the past month I managed to start and finish Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle. I didn't not expect to like it as much as I did. I love those books in which nothing really happens, not in the greater schemes of things. Those are the books that really touch and change your mindset. Books like The Picture of Dorian Grey, Atonement, Azazeel, and Vernon God Little. I Capture the Castle is now on that list.

I believe one of the reasons I liked this book so much is how close its setting is to Atonement, and how the story is so different from it. There is the observant young sister, the glamorous older sister, the young studious side-lined brother, the live-in handsome and brooding young service man, and the big house in the English countryside. Unlike in Atonement, the Mortmains are broke and lead a very antisocial lifestyle.

The story is set into 3 journals written by Cassandra Mortmain. Although Cassandra is the narrator, she doesn't take the role of the protagonist. She mainly observes the castle and its residents and tries to capture them in her journal. She is very much like Briony from Atonement in that regard. Unlike Briony, Cassandra is a very likable character. She is on good terms with her family, takes care of some of the chores, and is a generally good character. She is very relate-able, as her character is very complex, but predictable. I like people who are both complex and predictable, and they are hard to find in a coming-of-age book character.

Another great component in this book is how the characters who are flawed have many redeeming qualities. Perhaps the one that seems the least so is Mortmain, as he only redeems himself by the end of the book. Topaz is an absolutely perfect character. She is smart, beautiful,  weird, sometimes inappropriate,  and very home-ly.

One of the stylistic choices I really liked was Cassandra's dislike of open happy endings in books, and then, in relation, how this book ended. I thought it was awfully clever.

A Review of Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre

First of all, this a post waaaaaay past due in writing. I have finished this book three full weeks ago, according to my shelfari account. After that very subtle account promotion, let me start by saying it out right before beginning the review that I really enjoyed this book. Am I ashamed of that? a bit, but not enough to not write this review, as it seems.

Here is a check list of things in this book that might be a deal breaker for some:

1. fifteen year old kid involved in school shooting
2. fifteen year old kid swearing
3. fifteen year old kid judging people based on imagining how their underwear looks
4. fifteen year old who may or may have not been photographed by his teacher for a gay porn website
5. fifteen year old who may or may have not been pimping out another fifteen year old
6. fifteen year old who may or may have not been abused by an eighteen year old

all those people are indeed very nasty

Not all these fifteen year olds are the same person. Also, I only picked up this book because I needed a V for my A-Z book challenge and I had no idea what it was about. I didn't even read the blurb. I just figured if it was good enough to win The Man Booker prize, it was good enough for me.

The book's self-sabotaging protagonist is called Vernon Gregory Little. His friend Jesus (pronounced Hay-zoos, as in Spanish) shoots his entire class in a homicide/suicide fiasco that left his teacher in a comma.And because Vernon decided to take a trip to the restroom, he is suspected as an accomplice in the whole crime.

The story in itself is very straight forward, and the writing is both simple and witty. However, the book does have a lot of things that can be interpreted in many different ways and contains lots of euphemisms. Personally, I'm not usually one for that style of writing but it somehow works for this story.

Also, I loved how at the end of a major event, Vernon would go through what happened in his head then describe himself in words he thinks befit the situation, i.e. Vernon Gone Little, Vernon Getaway Little, ...etc.

Vernon thinks of himself as a sort of God-like figure, as evident by the title. He believes his actions are directly related to everyone else's lives. He also believe that no one has that effect on his life. He goes into elaborate thoughts, or schemes, to get himself from one situation and into another. It doesn't always work out as planned though, which leaves him in a poor state of mind.

The story is both plot and character driven. One one hand we have a 'series of unfortunate events' that set the story in motion, and on the other, all the plot twists and turns are character driven. The book has a very nice balance to it.

As for the characters, some go through some serious character development, namely Vernon and his mother. Others are shown to be growing to others while from the reader's point of view they are portrayed stuck in a constant state, Lally, Ella, and Pam.

There were some constant elements in the story concerning Vernon's mother and her friends, such as everyone always having junk food as the live in the BBQ capitol of Texas,  everyone always trying to start a diet, and everyone always upgrading to better home appliances.
I quite like the dynamic between Vernon and his mother's friends. It is not very gilmore girls-y, and yet it is friendly and somehow maternal in  Pam's case.

Spoiler alert, Vernon does end up spending some time in jail as he escaped to Mexico in an effort to avoid being questioned for Jesus's crimes. In that time he spends in jail the reader experiences one of the best character developments in any book ever. Not in a cheesy Arrested Development sense, but something more believable ad easier to grasp.

Overall, I quite enjoyed this unusual book and would recommend it to people who aren't very sensitive towards the overtly violent and sexual themes that go inside the mind of a 15 year old weirdo.

final rating: 4/5 (mainly for the writing and not the plot
currently reading: The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde 

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Remember when I reviewed Ready Player One and said I was surprised that such a book could live up to its hype. I'm not going to say that about Divergent. Technically I didn't read Divergent, I listened to the audio-book. I'm still counting it as one of my 50 books this year, though.

The book starts out as any young adult book narrated by a 16 year old does, her describing the way she looks. Okay, you are very ordinary looking. There is nothing special about you. You are a goody two-shoes that doesn't seem to quite fit in. Let me guess, you fall in love with a bad boy that falls in love with you back? Let me hold that thought. Then, as any other dystopian book the narrator begins to describe the world she lives in. The thing about this world is that it is a dystopia disguised as a utopia, so there's that point for creativity, or possibly not because Brave New World.

Anyways, the whole world -or possibly just North America- are divided into five factions:
Abnegation: Selfless. Symbol: holding hand
Dauntless: Brave. Symbol: fire
Erudite: Intellectual. Symbol: eye
Amity: Peaceful. Symbol: tree
Candor: Honest. Symbol: scales

When a person becomes 16 they have a choice to make, to stay in the faction they were born into or transfer to a different faction and unless they choose Erudite they stop studying. Okay, education-hating society. Before the transfer ceremony the kids have to take a simulation test that shows which factions they are most suitable for. Although they don't have to choose that faction, if they choose another faction and fail in the initiation phase they will live forever faction-less; poor, jobless, and on the streets.

The simulation decides which faction suits the16 year old by elimination. So if you choose to take a course of action, say attack a dog, the amity option would be eliminated and so forth until there is only one option left. The people who realize they are in simulation and can control the outcome are those who can't be filed into a certain result of what faction suits them. Those people are known as Divergent. Can you guess who is divergent. Can you guess?
Also, the character ends many chapters with, "I'm dauntless." "I am divergent" "I am a complete idiot." Please let us come to the realization or the revelation ourselves. We do not want to be spoon-fed the


so-called character development.

If you don't mind predictable twists, cheesy bad tough guy/ good fragile girl romances, and dystopia then this is the book for you. If you are still unsure what this book is about it is basically A Beautiful Disaster in a dystopian world. If you are, however, a person who likes better books than that, then first don't read this books, second, welcome to my blog and can we be friends?

I can see how this book has a sequel, although I will not be reading it. The main story of the book other than the romance is a rebellion and a civil war that only started in the last three chapters of Divergent.

There will be a movie in 2014 starring some people I don't know, it does how ever feature KATE WINSLET as a government villain so yes, I will be watching. Zoe Kravitz is in it too, but I don't like her acting, so. I don't know why I thought Aaron Eckhart was in this. He isn't.

If I were you I'd just skip the book and see the movie if you are a Winslet fan, if not just steer clear.

final rating: 1/5

Shit My Dad Says

Couple weeks back, or maybe just one I don't even know, I read Justin Halpern's ultra short book, Shit My Dad Says. It was funny, short, and as the the front cover blurb says: "Ridiculously hilarious."

The book has full anecdotes in a short two-to-three pages chapters and several short snippets (basically tweets form the twitter account that launched everything) titled on the subject between the anecdote chapters. Did that make sense?

see what I'm talking about?

The book is -as said before- very short and will take about an hour or so to read. That being said it is a really great book. It delivers n everything it promises it would. I'd recommend this to anyone who wants to start reading biographies or nonfiction in general. I will also be definitely be looking for I Suck at Girls, the second book by Justin Halpern.

final rating: 5/5

I really don't see how this idea could generate any more money, to be completely honest. Apparently, some tv network thought otherwise, because this happened:

Now, I never say bad things about old people cause that's disrespectful and my mother taught me better, but William Shatner -and Goldie Hawn but that's another story- is the exception to that rule. I hated him in everything he's ever been in. Anyways, although the show is based on -and I'm using that term lightly here- the book, it bares close to no resemblance whatsoever to what the story is actually about. I mean, they made the dad and the mom divorced, something that can never happen in real life, at least not according to the book. That alone took a lot from the character of the father. The second thing was that they made the father an ex-navy which is plain out idiotic.

When I downloaded the first episode of the show I honestly thought it will take place in the author's childhood, this is just sloppy TV work. The brother and his wife are obnoxious. The playback laughter is just too much, the jokes are not even funny. Bottom line is I hated the show and given the choice I'd rather sit through a football game than watch it.

final rating: -5/5

Ready Player One Review

As some of you know, I'm a huge youtube lover. It is the best internet website after google and wikipedia. One of the things I watch on youtube are booktuber videos, which is basically nerds talking about books they do and do not like. starting around last November I've started hearing a ton amount of buzz surrounding a novel, Ready Player One by Earnest Cline. At first I wasn't very intrigued by all the buzz -mainly because of all the hype around Anna & the French Kiss, which I've read the synopsis of but didn't catch my interest-, then I felt like I should at least check what the book was about. After that, I was very much interested, so I got the book on my e-reader and decided that it will be my R for my A-Z book challenge.

The story is in the year 2044, all the fuel and resources are done and dried up. People are suffering from famine, poverty, homelessness, and about every other bad thing you could think of. However, there is one thing that is still thriving and basically holding up the economy and everyone's lives together, and that is the internet. God bless.

love this official motion cover *excited noise*

The protagonist of the story is Wade Watts or as his avatar, Parzival, an 18 year old boy who lives in the stacks (RVs stacked on top of each other and held up by pipes). He goes to school virtually, in the OASIS (Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation), which is the entire world's escape from reality. He has no friends or loved ones in the real world but has a best friend in the OASIS named Aech (pronounced as H). Basically, the guy who created the OASIS, James Halliday, died, and after his death a statement was released on his website that he's hidden an 'easter egg'' in the OASIS. To acquire the egg, the person must first open three gates. No gate can be cleared unless the player has the proper key. There is a copper key, a jade key, and a crystal key. The clues to finding those keys are in James's "manual", which is filled with 80's pop culture.

The book is divided into 4 parts. A sort of prequel, level 1, level 2, and level 3.  The quotes at the beginning of each part are really funny.

Actually, you can pick a page at random from a book and you'll find a sentence worthy to be quoted. The writing style is very elegant. I was not expecting the writing to be so beautiful in a book that essentially a play-by-play of a video game. Boy was I in for a pleasant surprise. This is an author I'll be waiting to read more from.

 The characters are very well written. My favorite character by far is Aech. I loved his dialogue, his development, and his very smart comebacks to whatever Parzival said. I honestly liked all of the High Five. They were very fun to follow, closely relate-able, and watching them understand and discover the mysteries of the game is very engaging.

Aech & Parzival: ULTIMATE BROMANCE

I loved the rivalry between the Gunter (egg hunters) and the Sixers (I can't explain the sixers). I loved how the villain, he was your typical villain who rests on the throne of a corporation which is linked throughout the book with words like: fascism, imperialism, and corporate scum, among other things. I also loved the epic final battle scene. That was awesome.

The credit of this beauty is due to a blog titled Dalton James Rose

To say the truth, there were some parts of the book that were really hard to believe. They are spoilers, so I won't say anything, for once in this blog's history, a post is spoiler-free. Anyways, back to the hard to believe stuff, they really seem like the were written for a rushed screenplay. Maybe I'm just saying that cause I'm a Grinch who doesn't like it when things turn out for the better. Turns out, the author did write it with a movie adaptation in mind, so, I guess I was right. The author also created his own egg hunt on his website, with the prize as a renewed & refurnished DELOREAN. Guys. GUYS. He also traveled for his book tour in a DeLorean.

how cool is this guy?

Warner Brothers bought the movie rights for this book. I'm not excited about that. I think that it is very hard concept to create through that medium. We'll just have to wait and see.

final rating: 4.9/5 (only because of those two parts. urgh.)
now reading: blueeyedboy (don't judge me for still reading this it is very slow)

Just a small request here, a group of friends and I are working on a charity book fair. If you have any new or used books that are in good condition, let the magic live on for anther person. Contact us to see how you can help today.

Avalon High Coronation

When I was about 8 years old my dad tricked me into eating ketchup with eggs. I was -and still am for the most part- a very picky eater. After a glass of water I told him that I didn't like it. He told me that we should only say that about things after we've tried them at least once. With that little anecdote as an introduction, I've read manga for the first time today. I know.

I didn't jump into the deep Japanese stuff, though. I picked up the Avalon High Coronation manga, which is based on the Avalon High book by one of my favorite authors: Meg Cabot.

Seriously, I love Meg Cabot.

Meg Cabot's style of writing is very simple, she uses everyday words that don't require a dictionary to understand, and her stories are short and fluffy. In short, her books are quick, funny, and entertaining reads.

I don't like the anime/manga drawing style that much, to be frank. I don't like how everyone looks the same and how everyone seem to have perfect bodies. However, after reading the Game of Thrones graphic novel this one was not frustrating at all.

No high school student is this fit. Believe me, I was one.

The story follows Elle, a high school girl whose parents are both an Order of the Bear believers, which basically means her parents believe in a King Arthur reincarnation. Not only that, but they believe her boyfriend, Will, to be King Arthur. Of course she and Will don't believe that, because "what the hell?"

Anyways, they go on living their life until Will's brother, Marco, who is some other bad guy reincarnated, tries to kill them both. Actually everyone is just some old person reincarnated: King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Mordred, Merlin, The Lady of the Lake, and Elaine of Astolat. I didn't read King Arthur, but there is a characters' index in the end of the book.

Sandor Clegane reincarnated?

I liked how the idea was executed and the merge between the past and the future. I didn't read the original book but I have an feeling that I wouldn't like it. I think this medium serves the story well. I believe this idea reached its full potential in this execution, and beautifully so. I still don't know how I feel about the lack of colors in manga, but so far I'm not really bothered by it. There is still one final installment to the manga adaptations and I'll be sure to pick that up next time I go to the store, which was weird, cause this was the first time I buy books from the store, as in where we buy groceries.

This is a chapter cover. I love how we see the future in the reflection.

I don't know if this is in all mangas or just this one, but I really really liked the ratings at the back of the books, its really helpful if you don't know what the story is about.

I should mention that I finished both these books in about 45 minutes. As I said, quick reads that serve their purpose, entertainment. As for reading more manga, I don't really know. I'll just have to wait and see.

final rating: 5/5
now reading: A Feast for Crows

Game of Thrones: What to Expect from Season 3 and A Storm of Swords review

 Game of Thrones quickly became my favorite fantasy story ever. The place was previously held by Lord of the Rings, but not anymore. Game of Thrones' characters are very alluring, well developed, and interesting. The setting -in my opinion- is better than any I've seen before. It truly is a marvelous epic story.

What we can expect from the third season is more plot twists. Oh God, much much more plot twists. Characters meeting and having multiple scenes together, including characters you never thought will ever meet. More players star playing the Game of Thrones. More betrayals, love, death, perspectives, failures, success, and a lot more.Characters we haven't seen since the first few episodes reemerge, smaller characters get bigger roles.
Be emotionally prepared, the stuff are more heart breaking than Eddard dying.

Now, I guessed a lot of stuff about the third part before I read it based on the second season. Now, if you know me, I'm pretty much the prediction master when it comes to TV, but Martin continues his mad man fiasco and surprises everyone with more twists and turns and a couple of BAAAM!s and KABOOM!s.

This is as far as I'll go without spoilers from the THIRD book, so if you haven't read that leave now. 

Brace yourselves, spoilers are coming.

What I'm really excited about seeing in the third season is the introduction of characters that were supposed to be introduced in the second season but were left out: Ramsay Bolton, Jojen and Meera Reed, and Ser Kevan.

I'm also excited to watch how the whole Sansa and Dontos situation played out, as they left all their Godswood meetings from the second season. Will Baelish just come out from the beginning and she'd instantly know he was behind it and AGREE to go with him? Sansa is my number one favorite character in both the books and the show, and seeing how she developed and grew throughout the third book is very fascinating. She still put her trust into people sooner than she should, Dontos was bad news, but she clung to a hope she had gained through a children's song. Which, kudos on that George R R Martin, showed the reader that she's just a child. Okay, she did go through a lot and witnessed a lot, but she still lives in her own world, shielding herself from everything bad out there, and when she saw a familiar glimpse of a story she loved when she was back home with her parents and brothers and sister she held on to that.

Will the prologue be filmed or would the murderous plots against Lord Commander Mormont be a complete surprise until the deed is done in a much later episode. Which, okay, let me talk about Mormont for a bit. The guy is built like a freaking bear, he's old, huge, and intimidating. He's one of those people that are probably weaker than they seem but are so badass and frightening they could probably scare an army. Who in their right mind came up with the midevil assassination idea?

Since we are talking about the Mormonts, let us talk about the bear cub. It was no shock that Jorah would come onto Dany sooner or later, I was not surprised by that at all, nor was I surprised by the whole I-will-punish-you-for-betraying-me thing. That whole plot was as predictable as a teen movie. Dany is a kid, she's trying so hard to grow up and prove she isn't but she is, and instead of keeping him as a close, and very wise, counsel she banishes him for betraying her before he even knew her. Back then, he wasn't sworn to her, he didn't know her, he didn't love her. It was a different time. The only thing he did wrong was send Varys a message from Qarth, which shouldn't be punishable by banishment. Sure, Dany did teach her "court"a lesson and they'll think twice before they cross her, but at what cost? Sacking the slavers and freeing the slaves in Astapor, Yunkai, and Meereen was badass, though, I'll give her that.

Brienne and Jaime.

I love how Jaime's a lesser jerk when he's around her or when her safety is in the question. Yelling "SAPPHIRES!" and jumping into the bear pit. I know I'm romanticizing their relationship and then some, but I really don't care. I enjoyed reading Jaime's chapters. I'll risk and say they were my favorites in the book, all the excitement and constant flow of the plot, I loved it. I still don't forgive him for Bran, though.

 Thanks to an idiot who didn't tag their post on tumblr, I found out about The Red Wedding prior to reading the book, so on that front I can't say I was surprised. The only thing I can say is Lame Lothar or whatever he's called is such a snake. I trusted him. I thought he didn't know. Roose Bolton, I was expecting as much of him, after all an apple doesn't fall far from a tree. I still love Roose, though, he's one of my favorite minor characters. He was right in doubting Robb as a king. He's a greenboy, and childish still. He lost the north, and his heirs in the process, while simultaneously managing to lose his biggest ally, cause a spread of doubt amongst his troops, and piss of his mom.

Greatjon and smalljon, I'm not sure if they were killed or taken captives, but I really hope it's the latter. As for Robb and Catelyn, good riddance. Robb is an idiot who can't honor anything, especially his dead father. He tries too hard to do the right thing and then ruins everything by being a stubborn little prick. It was a stupid thing to kill Rickard Karstark, and it was stupid to give Rickard reason to do what he did in the first place. He wasn't fit to be king. I'm curious if that was the theme of his royal plot from the beginning, to show that the Stark was less of a north-man than the Snow. I'm also curious to see how Catelyn 2.0 the Zombie edition works out in the fourth book.

Arya is continuing to kick some serious butt, but she's soon finding out that without Jaqen H'gar she's not a ghost, she's still a little girl who cant be overpowered with a hand of a bigger person. I loved seeing her with Sandor, that was pretty cool, seeing the dynamic between them and her seeing him for what he is. I liked the parts of her "prayers" a lot. I liked how her lists shrinks by the end of the book. I hate how she and Gendry got separated. I want to know how she can get "wolf dreams" like Bran and how she saw that Catelyn was actually dead.

Bran's part were fairly dull and slow until he reached The Gift, and then things started to get interesting. Meeting Sam, however briefly, it was awesome. I like his relationship with Meera and Jojen, and how he "reached out" to Hodor and both of them were terrified by what happened.


I liked The fact that Theon's chapters were gone and replaced by Sam's. Sam's chapters were very interesting, smoothly paced, and overall satisfying. I loved Sam the Slayer, I loved Sam the oathkeeper (to Bran's), and I loved Sam the wife savior. I loved what he did when he came back to the wall.

Everything about The Wall is great. Stannis coming to the aid, I almost died. Davos, you brilliant, faithful, wise man. All hail Davos, the onion lord, hand of the king. Rescuing the wall like he did, so much love for this badass.

And Stannis, offering the north to Jon. I couldn't believe it. It shows how Stannis developed as a character. Earlier in the series, he would have never offered a lordship to a bastard, and a brother of a traitor, but know he sees that in order to win compromises must be made. I loved that plot twist.

Because the book is super huge I'm going to just post a Roose Bolton reaction to some major events I haven't discussed:

a) Ygritte and John

b) Ygritte dying

c) JOFFREY'S DEATH

d) Tyrion & Sansa's marriage

what is WRONG with you people?

e) Pyter pushing Lysa out the moon door

f) Tyrion killing Tywin

g) Peach Brothel's scene with Arya and Gendry

h) we find out Joffrey hired Bran's attacker

I) we find out Littlefinger was responsible for every bad thing that happened

final rating: 5/5
now reading: blueeyedboy

Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451 was not on my to read list. I didn't even know what the book was about, but after hearing so much about it I decided to give it a go. It's a short dystopian fiction about a world where firemen ignite fires instead of putting them out. It's a world where books are banned and distractions are everywhere.

The protagonist of the story is Guy Montag, a fireman, who likes to burn books, and takes some sort of power high out of it.
Early in the book discovers the error on his ways, thanks to a teenager named Clarisse.

 

 

 

fun.

The concept and story are very strong, and it shows. Though Bradbury's writing style is somewhat alluring, he is no Oscar Wilde.  His style is straight forward and to the point, no beating around the bush with symbolic and cryptic sentences with this one. Although the story did have a lot of potential to be filled with beautiful mysterious symbols, he chose not to walk that route. Another thing the the book is lacking; sub plots. The story basically follows one guy's journey, a guy named Guy. There is a joke here somewhere but I'll borrow from Bradbury and FIGHT any imaginative and creative idea that comes to mind.

The book has almost five characters in total: Guy, Mildred, Beatty, Clarisse, and Faber. My favorite character is Captain Beatty, he is a very powerful character, well developed, and most of all intriguing. You just want to read more and more about him. My least favorite character is probably Mildred. Although she's my least favorite, her character was very well written. Now, I hate characters with no dimensions as much as the next person (maybe more) but this one really fit. As her life was consumed by routines of TV shows in the parlor, Bradbury wrote her as a one dimensional character.

Final rating: 3/5
Currently reading: A Storm of Swords

This far in the book nothing particularly happens, the next paragraphs will have spoilers, so read no more if you don't want the book spoiled.

I loved how Beatty played Guy's string like a violin. He accused him of quoting poetry in poetry. Genius. GENIUS. In a way Beatty was portrayed as the villain in the story, but was he? I don't think he was to be honest. So he tormented Guy with poetry quotes and told him to turn in the book he had. Was that wrong? Morally, it is debatable, but it was his job. In the society they lived in, that was wrong and illegal. For example the society we live in bans drugs, if a drug inspector stole drugs wouldn't you want his chief commander to deal with that situation? Wouldn't you feel safer if those in security positions did their job without emotional attachment to others gone 'rogue'. I'm not comparing books to drugs, I'm comparing the situation and nothing else. Although both do take you to a "different world". So, no, Beatty wasn't the bad guy, he was doing what was best for society.

There are somethings that I didn't find very convincing in the book or found hard to imagine.

a) Mildred's attitude upon finding that Guy hides books in the house: Okay, now she was shocked and scared, I do give her that, but I expected her to bundle her things in a suitcase and leave. This is a woman who can't even remember how she met the person she is living with. This is a person who tried to commit suicide and failed and didn't even know it. This person watched TV all day and is afraid of anything and everything her TV family doesn't tell her about. Bradbury can't possibly try to convince us that she actually read some books with Guy. That's just impossible. The action she eventually took was the one I expected her to react with from the start; calling the station and reporting Guy. Now, that is believable.

b) The mechanical hounds: I couldn't visualize them, and couldn't understand them. I did see the idea behind them, though. It was clever. A dog to kill humans because humans didn't want to interact with others in any way. It's the opposite of "The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword." -Eddard Stark. It also symbolized the danger technology has over humanity. Okay, there were few symbols.

c) The time lapse between Guy meeting Clarisse and Clarisse's death: The author stated that they've had months together before Clarisse's accident, but I think that would have been better conveyed than stated. I haven't seen the movie, but they better have that part in a montage with a very sad yet powerful song then what's the use.

I haven't watched the movie, nor do I think I will watch it in the future. Watching a movie based on a book that's about how watching movies instead of reading books ruined humanity is a bit strange in my opinion.

The Fault in Our Satrs, John Green, and some other stuff

A couple of weeks ago I read John Green's latest novel, The Fault in Our Stars.

It was beautiful, emotional, witty, smart, funny, lovely, hopeful, and cute.  All the praise to John Green for writing this awesome piece of contemporary fiction.

The style of the writer has many lyrical and poetic touches to it. The book contains many beautiful lyrical quotes, some of my favorites are:

"Grief does not change you, Hazel. It reveals you." -Peter Van Houten
"I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, then all at once." -Hazel Grace
"My thoughts are stars I can't fathom into constellations." -Augustus Waters
"What a slut time is. She screws everybody." -Hazel Grace
"Writing does not resurrect. It buries." -Peter Van Houten

I wouldn't say that this nook has much food for thought, but it definitely stirs some ideas in the crock pot that is the human brain. The characters in the book are ridiculously well developed. I can't even begin to describe how well written each character's personality is. When you read the first appearance of any of the character's appearance you immediately understand their role in the story, their morals, their background, their attitude, and yet the characters still develop throughout the book.

I loved the small, inside, and sarcastic jokes. They lightened up the atmosphere of gloom that surrounds a story about two cancer patients falling in love, yet it doesn't lessen the magnitude of seriousness of the story.

I do recommend this book for anyone with a heart. It truly is a book that gives more than it appears to be capable of. It's gripping, funny, intellectual, and cute. I can't emphasize how not sickeningly cute this book is.

Final Rating: 4/5

Almost a week before reading The Fault in Our Stars I read An Abundance of Kathrines.

Now, An Abundance of Kathrines is the one John Green book no one ever talks about. I mean never ever. I was always curious about the reason why no one talked about it. Ever. If you read it you'd know. It is NOTHING you'd expect a John Green book to be. Frankly, it was as if Sarah Dessen wrote it, except the lead character is a boy instead of a girl.

I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it, nor did it stick to my memory. I remember the main outline but none of the events. I don't know if it's because it's a  road trip story or if it's just, well, disappointing. The book left me emotionless and unattached to any of the characters. It wasn't that the book itself wasn't well written; it's that I didn't find the concept nor the main idea itself interesting nor gripping.

I don't think this idea had much potential to be a success, and yet it could have been carried out a little more gracefully.

Final rating: 1/5
John, I'm only harsh about this one because I think you're a genius.

Now, the only reason I read those two is that a little over a year ago I read Looking for Alaska and thought it was one of the most beautiful things I've ever read. The story, like Alaska's blue nail varnish, is electric. It's a to-be-finished-in-one-sitting book. It's the book you reread when you're in a reader's rut. It lights up the thinking light bulb inside your heart, and gives the one inside your brain a start up as well.

It's not every day we see deep thoughts presented through young adult fiction, and that's what made this book even more special. The story is original and unique, the setting is suitably perfect, the characters are extremely well written, and the poetic flare in this book is ridiculously amazing. 

The main character, Pudge, is very easy to relate to, just as the story itself. We all had that moody friend who seemed to know everything and was prettier than any superbly intelligent person you've ever met. You loved that person, you wanted to be close to them. Around them you'd act like a sponge, soaking up every thought or subject they elaborate when talking about. Thinking about what they've said later and finding that whatever side they were on, you were too. You were convinced.

What I liked most was the third part, or the days "after". It showed real struggle, hesitance, fear, love, and hope. It also showed great childishness in characters that grew up too much and too quickly.

the book is really great and touches many interesting subjects, but most of all it makes you think, why am I the way I am? Why do I think and act the way I think and act?

Final rating: 4/5

Note: All the books have really beautiful covers, and my kindle doesn't do the cover designs any justice. so here are some pictures from the internet which I don't own but think are very cool and will put them in my blog anyway

As far as the internet informed me, the rights to three John Green books to be turned into movies have been bought by film studios. Those three are Looking for Alaska, The Fault in Our Stars, and Paper Towns, the latter of which I haven't read yet but am looking forward to.

Currently reading: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Footnote: John Green has a very awesome educational youtube channel called Crash Course in which he teaches history. 

The Night Circus

I just finished reading The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, and while the book's idea is very interesting the writer's style fails me in some aspects.

While the story itself is wrapped in a veil of anonymity and mystery, many of the surprises are easily predictable.  I don't know if it's just me or everybody who read it, but you can guess what is going to happen in each chapter by the first page of it. I found that to make the experience of reading this book -which is based on a great idea- a bit dull.

Basically the book is about a magic battle with Le Cirque des Rêves as its venue. The contenders must create magic without interfering with the other's work. Both of the opponents are bound by magic. The writing style of the author is very captivating. She is very lyrical in her choice of words. Her paragraphs are medium in length but are filled with vivid descriptions. The direct speech and conversations are kept to a minimal, something I found very suiting for this book.

Many of the main characters are well developed, such as Celia, Chandresh, Herr Thiessen, Widget, and Ethan Barris. Other characters are very cliched and hastily put together, like Marco, Tsukiko, Bailey, Poppit, Isobel, Alexander, and Hector. Likewise, the relationships of the characters in the book differ from deep and well developed relationships to shallow how-could-this-happen relationships.

The book is divided into five titled parts, each containing several chapters. I thought that there wasn't much reason behind why the book was divided as such, except for the author to print those quotes by actual characters from this exact book. Okay, there was one Oscar Wilde quote.

After the quote comes a tiny "chapter"that is written in the second person pov. I strongly oppose anything written in this form. Do not force include me into stories in ways you see fit, author. I want to be every character, not an insignificant by stander. 

I also just read this in the author's website:

Is there going to be a movie?
Maybe. This will continue to be the answer for a good long time because anything can happen in the strange and mysterious world of film production. The film rights have been optioned by Summit Entertainment, which means they have the option to make The Night Circus into a film. They are indeed working on it but I do not personally know all that much about what’s going on with it at any given point. When there are official updates, I’m sure the internet will know.
PSA: I have very little to do with the movie. Strange but true. I wrote the book, other people will adapt it into a screenplay and handle casting and designing and do all the movie-making things. I cannot tell you how to audition or anything like that, not that it’s even reached that stage yet. Summit is in charge. I’m just along for the ride.

And because of the movie talk here is a very beautifully enchanting fan-made poster:

and here are some internet based casting options and my views on them:

 no

 NO!

err... BEN BARNES! but no.

except shouldn't they cast two guys to play Marco? considering he has two faces and all. Also, it would be great if they made the movie in paper animation. Just putting this idea out there for you, summit.

final rating of the book: 4/5

This footnote is for my dear friend Rehab who got me this book as a gift. THANK YOU so much! You were right in thinking I would love this because I did enjoy it very much.