I really like this story for a variety of reasons. It takes place in the middle ages, for one. It involves magic but odes not entirely center around magic. Alanna herself is interesting and charismatic--I really like her. George is like, my man. And I'm always pretty intrigued by novels centering around a girl in disguise as a guy. I don't quite know why. It's intriguing to me, and the type of thing that doesn't involve anything paranormal but could never be a position I would be put in, both because it's not necessary in this society and because, well, I don't think I would pull it off very well. Despite being called a "guy" or having jokes made about me wherein I am a guy, I think it would be pretty obvious going by body shape alone.
I really want to read the sequel. Unfortunately, when I checked out our local selling-out borders, they had books 1, 3, and 4. Seriously?
But, like I said, I reallyreallyreally like this book, and you can tell because of the shortness of this post. Not one angry rant. Not one! Except I think she could have thrown in a scene where Alanna makes out with George, just for my amusement. Authors should really confer with me before finalizing their novels.
Pierce: So, Mannin, what did you think?
Manon: It's Manon. Muh-non. Ma-nawn. Mispronounce it one more time and you'll be Tamborine Purse for the rest of your life. I can make that happen.
Pierce: ...
Manon: Anyway, I think it was great, except you left out that part where George makes out with Alanna.
Pierce: What part...?
Manon: Exactly. Now, get typing!
Pierce: But, why? That wouldn't bring anything to the story, except make George and Alanna's relationship really awkward. He's several years older than her, and it's been established that Alanna thinks he's lying and is actually older.
Manon: It's the middle ages! People can do stuff like that then! That's why we write in that time period, isn't it?
Pierce: I was more interested in the swordplay, feudal system, roles of men and women, and association with magic...
Manon: Personally, I think the scene would win you fans.
Pierce: Why?!?!?!
Manon: It would appeal to a broader audience. And it would be funny. And more people would talk about it, making more new readers.
Pierce: Somehow that just doesn't seem likely...
Manon: Of course it's likely! If Suzanne Collins had made Katniss make out with Finnick like I said she should, Hunger Games would be Harry Potter but bigger!
Pierce: I just don't understand your logic...
Manon: My logic is the most logical think about me! It worked for Rowling!
Pierce:...?
Manon: RonxHermione, HarryxGinny, HarryxCho, that other dude and that other chick...
Pierce: I think Rowling's success can be more accurately linked to her amazing development of a supernatural world existing alongside our own, her creative magic, her enticing plots, her engaging action, her charismatic characters...
Manon: And her pairings! Don't tell me you don't think HarryxGinny won her some fans.
Pierce: I honestly doubt it.
Manon: That would be me.
Pierce:... oh.
Manon: See? Now, run along and write me that scene, and then I shall approve of your novel.
Pierce:... [mutters] there's something wrong with that girl...
What would make me really happy right now:
-Considering I just wrote that last post on Mockingjay five minutes ago, you can kind of just take a look at that...
Next book: Perks? Who knows?
Monday, February 28, 2011
Mockingjay
I literally just finished this minutes ago. I'm still kind of numb from the ending, but I liked the way it ended--with Peeta. Someday kids will be reading this instead of To Kill A Mockingbird, and I like that, but it also scares me. Katniss, Gale, and Peeta didn't seem quite real to me. But the society--that was reality. It was life. It was humanity. And I don't want it to be real.
I have two very big fears. One is death. I don't want to die. I cannot imagine not existing in this world anymore. Also, I want to leave an impact. I cannot go forgotten--I can't! I need to be smarter than Napoleon, more powerful than the medieval Catholic Church, more inspiring than Gandhi, more interesting than any Hapsburg and even more immortal than any artist or writer or philosopher. Maybe these things are far outside of my grasp, but I have to try! Doesn't everyone want to try? Your life is precious. For God's sake, do something with it! The concept of dying forgotten is terrifying in a new kind of way.
I am also afraid of endings. The last time I enter a room; the last time I see a person; the last chance to take part in something. I am afraid of regret.
I am also afraid of things that are already dead. Bodies of people, creatures, anything. I cannot stand their presence. Will they return, soulless, vengeful, come to take me with them to their realm of hatred and sorrow? I do not like death.
This book unsettles me. It is about death, and it ends. Death makes me feel very alone in the world. Right now, I feel very alone. Please, come, I need your company. Please don't die. Please don't kill me.
Let's live forever, and may our book never end.
I think that's how my mind works.
What would make me really happy right now:
-For someone to buy me the second book in Tamora Pierce's series Song of the Lioness, the individual installment entitled In the Hands of the Goddess.
-Sushi and magic sushi powers, see my last post.
-More books
-A green beret.
Next book: Perks or Alanna.
I have two very big fears. One is death. I don't want to die. I cannot imagine not existing in this world anymore. Also, I want to leave an impact. I cannot go forgotten--I can't! I need to be smarter than Napoleon, more powerful than the medieval Catholic Church, more inspiring than Gandhi, more interesting than any Hapsburg and even more immortal than any artist or writer or philosopher. Maybe these things are far outside of my grasp, but I have to try! Doesn't everyone want to try? Your life is precious. For God's sake, do something with it! The concept of dying forgotten is terrifying in a new kind of way.
I am also afraid of endings. The last time I enter a room; the last time I see a person; the last chance to take part in something. I am afraid of regret.
I am also afraid of things that are already dead. Bodies of people, creatures, anything. I cannot stand their presence. Will they return, soulless, vengeful, come to take me with them to their realm of hatred and sorrow? I do not like death.
This book unsettles me. It is about death, and it ends. Death makes me feel very alone in the world. Right now, I feel very alone. Please, come, I need your company. Please don't die. Please don't kill me.
Let's live forever, and may our book never end.
I think that's how my mind works.
What would make me really happy right now:
-For someone to buy me the second book in Tamora Pierce's series Song of the Lioness, the individual installment entitled In the Hands of the Goddess.
-Sushi and magic sushi powers, see my last post.
-More books
-A green beret.
Next book: Perks or Alanna.
To Kill a Mockingbird
So, I hate this book. And I kind of like it.
It was one of those "curriculum" books, y'know?
The Negative Post (Where I vent my feelings...)
This book is a poorly written, verbose account of an interesting event told in the point of veiw of a Mary-Sue-ish elementary school girl named Scout. Scout has very little personality and I do not connect with her at all. The story is written in a way that rambles on about events or concepts that have absolutely no bearing on the story whatsoever and just made this book that much more painful for me to drag my eyes across these last couple of days. The number of words Harper Lee uses to convey a simple message is completely unnecessary. Her paraphrasis irks me.
However...
The events in the story are significant. I tried writing in the same style used by Lee, and it actually worked quite well in getting me interested in the story I was writing as I was writing it. However, it still sounded rambly and I am convinced another person reading it would feel the same toward my prose as I feel toward Lee's. In short, the story is awesome, but the style truly needs work.
What would make me really happy right now:
-A few more hours in the afternoon to read
-More books
-Some sushi
-The magical ability to make any food taste/smell like sushi
-Including mac and cheese ^
-Bagpipes
Next Book: Mockingjay, unless The Perks of Being a Wallflower doesn't distract me.
It was one of those "curriculum" books, y'know?
The Negative Post (Where I vent my feelings...)
This book is a poorly written, verbose account of an interesting event told in the point of veiw of a Mary-Sue-ish elementary school girl named Scout. Scout has very little personality and I do not connect with her at all. The story is written in a way that rambles on about events or concepts that have absolutely no bearing on the story whatsoever and just made this book that much more painful for me to drag my eyes across these last couple of days. The number of words Harper Lee uses to convey a simple message is completely unnecessary. Her paraphrasis irks me.
However...
The events in the story are significant. I tried writing in the same style used by Lee, and it actually worked quite well in getting me interested in the story I was writing as I was writing it. However, it still sounded rambly and I am convinced another person reading it would feel the same toward my prose as I feel toward Lee's. In short, the story is awesome, but the style truly needs work.
What would make me really happy right now:
-A few more hours in the afternoon to read
-More books
-Some sushi
-The magical ability to make any food taste/smell like sushi
-Including mac and cheese ^
-Bagpipes
Next Book: Mockingjay, unless The Perks of Being a Wallflower doesn't distract me.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Angel
ARGENSHNOGGENHIGGENHOGGENHOOFENBLOGGEN.
ASDFGHJKL.
RAWR.
GRR.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
Manon is not happy.
Manon is very not happy.
Manon is so unhappy that she's going to speak in third person for this whole post. Or at least as long as she remembers because when she's angry it's hard for her to concentrate.
I am team Fang. I think Max belongs with Fang because the book was written so that the reader becomes emotionally attatched to FangxMax. (Hey, look! I already dropped the thir person thing! Wow, my attention span=squirrel on---Hey look! A pencil!) When Fang and Max parted at the end, I wasn't totally into the whole DylanxMax thing, as Max was not either. I truly felt as if the guy I used to love had just left me with a possible new boyfriend while he fights evil with my clone. This is pretty good writing, but That Is Not How You End A Series!!! That's what EPILOGUES are for. You get me all sappy and pissed and THEN Max and Fang go make out in a corner and everyone's happy again. Or you write another book. You do not leave Manon feeling pissed. Not. A. Good. Idea. And now Manon has to read To Kill A Mockingbird, which she REALLY DOES NOT WANT TO DO. (See next post with a detailed description of Why That Book Sucks.) (Hey look! Back to third person!) Manon isn't happy now. Manon wants to go die in a corner while ripping up old photos of Max-Manon and Fang, which is not how miss Neverhadaboyfriend Manon should feel after reading a mediocre novel several grades below her reading level. Why does Manon torture herself so? Because words are addictive. Or something. But Manon thinks ther should be a law against ending a Whole Frickin Series (like, seven books long) by crushing her hopes and dreams AND THEN LEAVING HER TO READ TKAM IN UTTER SADNESS AND DEPRESSION. (Authors need to pay more attention to the fact that some (strange yet existant) teenage girls have a habit of using their novels to cushion the blow of the bad stuff, like having to read books that suck and not having a boyfriend. Why does this keep going back to that?)
MANON VERY ANGRY.
You know Manon very angry when she leaves out the verbs, because Manon a grammar snob.
Manon isn't going to post any more tonight because Manon is very angry.
WHAT WOULD MAKE MANON REALLY HAPPY RIGHT NOW:
-FangxMax
-Angel to have a better ending
-Angel to have a whole sequel that's way better (Called Iggy, duh.)
-Some sushi, beeey-otch.
-Not having to read TKAM (not even going to bother spelling it out. It's not worth the effort.)
-a boyfriend
Next book:TKfrickinAM
ASDFGHJKL.
RAWR.
GRR.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
Manon is not happy.
Manon is very not happy.
Manon is so unhappy that she's going to speak in third person for this whole post. Or at least as long as she remembers because when she's angry it's hard for her to concentrate.
I am team Fang. I think Max belongs with Fang because the book was written so that the reader becomes emotionally attatched to FangxMax. (Hey, look! I already dropped the thir person thing! Wow, my attention span=squirrel on---Hey look! A pencil!) When Fang and Max parted at the end, I wasn't totally into the whole DylanxMax thing, as Max was not either. I truly felt as if the guy I used to love had just left me with a possible new boyfriend while he fights evil with my clone. This is pretty good writing, but That Is Not How You End A Series!!! That's what EPILOGUES are for. You get me all sappy and pissed and THEN Max and Fang go make out in a corner and everyone's happy again. Or you write another book. You do not leave Manon feeling pissed. Not. A. Good. Idea. And now Manon has to read To Kill A Mockingbird, which she REALLY DOES NOT WANT TO DO. (See next post with a detailed description of Why That Book Sucks.) (Hey look! Back to third person!) Manon isn't happy now. Manon wants to go die in a corner while ripping up old photos of Max-Manon and Fang, which is not how miss Neverhadaboyfriend Manon should feel after reading a mediocre novel several grades below her reading level. Why does Manon torture herself so? Because words are addictive. Or something. But Manon thinks ther should be a law against ending a Whole Frickin Series (like, seven books long) by crushing her hopes and dreams AND THEN LEAVING HER TO READ TKAM IN UTTER SADNESS AND DEPRESSION. (Authors need to pay more attention to the fact that some (strange yet existant) teenage girls have a habit of using their novels to cushion the blow of the bad stuff, like having to read books that suck and not having a boyfriend. Why does this keep going back to that?)
MANON VERY ANGRY.
You know Manon very angry when she leaves out the verbs, because Manon a grammar snob.
Manon isn't going to post any more tonight because Manon is very angry.
WHAT WOULD MAKE MANON REALLY HAPPY RIGHT NOW:
-FangxMax
-Angel to have a better ending
-Angel to have a whole sequel that's way better (Called Iggy, duh.)
-Some sushi, beeey-otch.
-Not having to read TKAM (not even going to bother spelling it out. It's not worth the effort.)
-
Next book:TKfrickinAM
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