Happy Hannahkah

This post is going to be better than usual because this post is not about me.

It's about hannah moskowitz, whose twitter and formspring are oh-so stalkable,

Whose love for Sam Winchester is unrivaled and also really cute,

Who wrote a few books, a couple of which I've read and loved to pieces,

Whose first middle grade came out today,

Whose characters will not get out of my head,

Who feeds and cares for and answers the silly questions of her magic gay fish,

And did I mention that ZOMBIE TAG is OUT and everyone everywhere should buy it? That's very important. All the Barnes & Nobles in my (admittedly miniscule) state are out of them already, meaning my life has become signifigantly more tragic (I have to ORDER THINGS? And WAIT?).

I'm going to post some photos of my hannahkah present, because unfortunately you can't scan painting. Instead of just using an image hosting site like I usually do, I decided to write a little something to go with it. 'Cause hannah is awesome.

I heard about hannah on twitter, which is the second-best place to hear about hannah, the first being in the vicinity of someplace where you can buy hannah's books, but that wasn't me. I found her twitter account first. I'd never read anything by her. Usually when I have not read an author's books I wait to follow them until I have, because this is one of the things I decided when I got on twitter so I wouldn't end up following a bajillion people. I did not do this with hannah. I followed her right away, because I thought she was funny. Actually, I very nearly beta-read sparklyfairyprostitutes for her before I'd read one of her published books. I think I started Invincible Summer about a day before sparklyfairyprositutes. Both of which I loved, bits and pieces, you know. But I already loved hannah before I read either, because it stuck in my mind that she was some kind of epitome of awesome. Which is not untrue.

hannah is, like, the highlight of my day. I know when I tweet her exciting things her responses will be in ALLCAPS and possibly include smiles and hearts ( :D <3 :D ). I know if I ask her anonymous questions she will respond honestly (unless the questions are dirty, but I swear I am not the one sending the dirty question) and by God is her honesty refreshing and sometimes a bit squick, in the best way. What I'm saying is, it's an honor to interact with hannah and read her books. Thank God for the internet!

So happy hannahkah, hannah moskowitz. Long live the provider of fish food.



The words are from The Hollow Men by T. S. Eliot. I haven't read the entire poem, but I found the lines "Between the idea/ And the reality/ Between the motion/ And the act/ Falls the Shadow" and for me it represents something which I, and I suppose writers in general, am very afraid of, yet it's beautiful. It makes me think of sparklyfairyprostitutes in a few ways. Also, I apologize for the horrible picture quality.

Top Ten Tuesday - Freebie Week

Top Ten Tuesdays is a blog meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This is a free week, where we're allowed to chose our own topic. Since I, as per usual, was late to this bandwagon, I decided to pick a topic from the Top Ten Tuesday vault, because looking at that list always makes me a bit wistful. I love quotes, so I chose the topic of my top ten favorite book quotes. This is going to be hard. To make it easier on me, these are in no particular order.

1. Calcifer, Howl's Moving Castle: "That's magic I admire, using something that already exists anyway and turning it round into a curse." Howl's Moving Castle makes many interesting points about magic that are about more than magic, but this is one of my favorites.

2. Annabel Lee: "And neither the angels in heaven above, Nor the demons down under the sea, Can ever dissever my soul from the soul Of the beautiful Annabel Lee." It doesn't come up quite enough just how much I love Edgar Allen Poe. Annabel Lee is my favorite poem.

3. The Motorcycle Boy, Rumble Fish: "It would be great, if I could think of somewhere to go." I really love this book. What can I say?

4. Lord Henry, The Picture of Dorian Gray: "The reason we like to think so well of others is that we are all afraid of ourselves. The basis of optimism is sheer terror." Lord Henry's often ridiculous rants were amazing and hilarious. Not to mention amusingly scewed.

5. Finny and Gene, A Separate Peace: "'...when you really love something, then it loves you back, in whatever way it has to love.' I didn't think that was true, my seventeen years of experience had shown this to be much more false than true, but it was like every other thought and belief of Finny's: it should have been true. So I didn't argue."

6. Kerry and Ethan, Companions of the Night: "'In the movies,' she pointed out to him, 'a vampire could have turned into a bat or mist and followed me.' 'In the movies,' Ethan countered, 'Lassie never peed on the rug.'"

7. The Silver Chair: "She felt frightened only for a second. For one thing, the world beneath her was so very far away that it seemed to have nothing to do with her." I probably could've pulled sixteen excellent quotes from Screwtape or Mere Christianity, but I have a soft spot for this quote.

8. Sunshine: "I didn't know you could go on finding out you'd had stuff by losing it. This didn't seem like a very good method to me." There are a few for this book, of course, but I had to pick one.

9. Louis, Interview with the Vampire: "An artist, stealing paint from a store, for example, imagines himself to have made an inevitable but immoral decision, and then he sees himself as fallen from grace; what follows is despair and petty irresponsibility, as if morality were a great glass world which can be utterly shattered by one act." So many underlines... so hard to choose...

10. The Psalms: "You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy." Part of my favorite psalm.

I could go on. I could go on and on and on. I love quote darn it. Probably would've had a Good Omens quote, but I've lent out my copy. That concludes my favorite quotes. According to John Green, they say more about me than they do about the books. Comment with your favorites, or link to your posts! Happy Tuesday.

Top Ten Tuesdays - Underrated

Today's Top Ten Tuesday (a blog meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish)is underrated books... I might have a little trouble deciding what constitutes underrated. But I do honestly love all the books I've chosen and feel like more people should read them. Even if I couldn't come up with a complete ten.


Sunshine - It doesn't seem to get as much attention as Robin McKinley's other books, which is basically a travesty in my mind. I love love love this book to pieces.

Girl, Stolen - It's just good, darn it. I love it when everything goes to hell really quickly. I love heroines who are brave and resourceful. Concept to execution, there's little not to love.

Hawkes Harbor - Same with Sunshine, this book doesn't get much mention, possibly because when people talk S. E. Hinton they're thinking young adult, not adult fantasy. But it's really very good.

Invincible Summer - hannah moskowitz has awesome hair. Also, she can write amazing books.

Almost Perfect - Though it kind of irritated me on a few levels, it is, in the end, a good love story. The bittersweet character and realistic complications of a trans-gender relationship were really interesting and something I don't read every day.

Dark Sons - Just a very good story about a kid with a real-life problem sympathizing, convincingly and heart-warmingly, with a largely ignored figures of my religion. It hit close to home, but in general it's a wonderful example of a verse novel, not to mention a great male YA narrator.

Companions of the Night - Despite its quite odd packaging and title, this book was pretty much everything I ask from a paranormal. Good characters, engaging, and with some interesting twists. It's also short and stands alone, which I always love. It's better than some big vampire series I've read.

The Shadow of the Sun - If you have an interest in the complicated and unique history and culture of Africa, or maybe you sometimes forget that there are actually individual countries in it and they aren't covered with savanna and elephants, this is a great book to read. Granted, it's a little dated, but it really brought a part of the world that I'd always glossed over to life. And it inspired my internet handle.

The Man Who was Poe - Compared to Avi's other work, you could consider this neglected. I loved it, but then, there are few literary figures I find more interesting than Poe.

What are your underrated favorites? Please link to your posts and remember to visit the blog hosters.

Top Ten Tues

For this week's TTT, a blog meme started over at The Broke and the Bookish, here are ten books I've read that deal with a tough issue. Whether you agree may depend upon your definition of 'dealing' and possibly your definition of 'issue.' There were some I wanted to include but, uh, ran out of space.


The Book Thief - War (specifically WWII), the Genocide, Death

Bridge to Terabithia - Childhood death

Living Dead Girl - Sexual Predators/Abuse

Wintergirls - Eating Disorders

Kissing Doorknobs - OCD/Mental Illness

Deerskin - Rape/Incest

Almost Perfect - Transgender Relationships

Dark Sons - Split Families

Will Grayson, Will Grayson - Gay Acceptance

Fahrenheit 451 - Censorship


What are your top ten issue books? Or is there an issue you think isn't given proper treatment in literature? Please link to your posts, and remember to visit the meme hosters!

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Think Should Be Required Reading For Teens

Top Ten Tuesdays is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This weeks it's books that teens should be required to read. I took this literally, as in I think schools should put these books on their lists and make kids read them in a classroom setting. If I were doing books not to be read in school, I think a few things would be different.

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo: While it may not be the easiest read, Les Mis has some important points about morality, judgement, and government, wrapped up in a darn good story. Also, having read this made it a lot easier to learn about the French Revolutions in History.

Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens: This actually was part of my required reading, for sophomore year, I think. For one thing, though I may not seek out Dickens, you cannot deny that he is a powerful writer. I also think that Tale of Two Cities and Les Mis should be read in the same year, for comparison.

Looking for Alaska by John Green: I thought it would be very hard to pick one John Green book. While An Abundance of Katherines is my favorite, I choose Alaska quite easily because it's the 'grown-up' version of a book that I think should be required reading for kids, so it's like two stages of the same story. (I won't say which kids book I'm thinking of, as it gives away an important spoiler.)

The Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley: Outlaws has a pretty wide appeal; it's a classic tale retold in a light that grabs the attention of romantics and the rebellious, and the basic twistedness of the Robin Hood morality would be fun for discussions.

Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare: I like Shakespeare okay, but I feel like more teens would like him if we got to read the fun plays, like Taming of the Shrew and Midsummer Night's, as well as the tragedies and historicals. Also, Midsummer would be wonderfully fun for acting projects - Julius Caesar was okay, but I'd love a chance to play Puck.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak: Beautiful, unique, and compelling, the least of this book's charms is that it'll help you care about history. One of the best things about this one - it can be read in conjecture with another common required reading book, The Diary of Anne Frank. (I'm a firm believer in reading more than one book on a subject, if you haven't noticed.)

A Separate Peace by John Knowles: Another that was actually on my required reading. A few kids in my class really enjoyed this, and the discussions about motive and friendship got pretty lively, so I think it's a good book to get teens talking.

Rumble Fish by S. E. Hinton: To go with the above, another book about betrayal with a bit more of a contemporary setting and attitude. Also, I'm sure you could spend weeks trying to root out all the symbolism and references used in this book. I understand why The Outsiders is the most popular of her books, but for classroom purposes I think Rumble Fish is great for discussion, even though it's harder to grasp. And it's short, which is appreciated in school assignments.

The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton: If I hadn't had to read this book going into seventh grade, I'm not quite sure I would've written my first manuscript that year. It really turned me into a reader and got me interested in the authors behind the words for the first time. Everyone should read the Outsiders.

Only one left? I guess I'll choose The Best-Loved Folktales of the World by Joanna Cole. This compilation of folk and fairy tales has a bunch of great stories, both familiar and obscure. The reason I chose this over other fairytale books is that it has the greatest mix of origins I have ever seen in such a compilation, as far as countries go. The lack of world lit in my English class has always kind of bugged me. And besides, I think teens need to realize that just because Disney strips them down doesn't mean fairy tales don't have things to offer as you grow older (not that I have or ever will outgrow Disney.)

And that's my list! Did you read any books for school that you really loved or hated? Any that you wish you'd read? Comment or leave a link to your own post.

Review: Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George

Amazon Product Description:
“Blessed—or cursed—with an ability to understand animals, the Lass (as she’s known to her family) has always been an oddball. And when an isbjorn (polar bear) seeks her out, and promises that her family will become rich if only the Lass will accompany him to his castle, she doesn’t hesitate. But the bear is not what he seems, nor is his castle, which is made of ice and inhabited by a silent staff of servents. Only a grueling journey on the backs of the four winds will reveal the truth: the bear is really a prince who’s been enchanted by a troll queen, and the Lass must come up with a way to free him before he’s forced to marry a troll princess.”

I was excited to find this retelling of “East of the Sun, West of the Moon” in my library. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but my risk-taking was rewarded: this is a truly masterful retelling.

The lass, who for the better part of the book doesn’t have a name, is a interesting and compelling character. She is tough, curious, and clever, and does things I would not dream of doing. Her relationship with her brother, Hans-Peter, her pet wolf, and the polar bear really bring out the best of her character. If she’s at times a little brash and foolish - well, I love her for it. The emotions and motivations were so well played that I rarely found myself questioning her.

The book follows the plotline of the original tale astoundingly closely (with embellishment, of course). One thing that I find I can rarely say of retellings - it felt like the narrative spent just enough time in each place. The plot moved along pretty quickly. I can’t think of any time at which it became tedious or when I wanted more description. (If the author’s note is to be believed, this is reputably the work of fantastic editing.)

George’s style has an almost lyrical quality well suited to fairytales. The description is rich, but not laborious. She handled both bright and bitter moments with finesse. The dialogue is spot-on, especially the little exchanges between the lass and her wolf. Norwegian and Old Norse words pepper the story in just the right amounts, though if you’re bad with names like me you may start to confuse the lass’ many siblings.

I will definitely be seeking out more books by this author. The fact that she’s done a retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses has a little less than it might to do with that. Sun and Moon won’t be kicking any books off my top five, but it’s definitely worth reading, probably multiple times.

Characters: 5/5
Plot: 4/5
Style: 4.5/5

Overall rating: 4.5

Journals - Living Dead Girl (2)

Thinking about submitting a short story to an e-mag. My level of nervousness is supremely high.

In other news, English Journal #2 for Living Dead Girl. Only a day late.

I usually re-read books I like, but I'm not sure if I could re-read this. I'm not even sure if I like it. Maybe I loved it, but hated what it did to me. Kind of like a person.

Maybe I don't need to re=read it because I'm still thinking about it. It's been a few weeks now, but when something reminds me, all the feelings come back. It kind of bites, because I can't eat yoghurt without my stomach knotting up. Then again, it would be awful to forget.

Maybe I don't want to re-read it. The second go-through is usually where I start picking apart the language, the characters, the pacing. The story then becomes a book, and experience that can be analyzed because someone chose to share it. I'm not sure I want Living Dead Girl to be a book. It feels almost like I'd be holding in contempt all the real girls and real lives the book represents. I've done it before, but I don't want to do it with this one.

Maybe I'm just selfish. Maybe I just don't want to live through that gosh-darned ending all over again. There's only so many times you can walk away disatified Because you're walking away.

The Song of the Story

A lot of writers say this, but I can't help associating stories with music. A song can take one emotion out of the many connected threads which make a novel and make you feel it (my Christian Living teacher refers to this facet of modern music as 'emotional porn'. It's kind of funny, yet kind of disturbing). It's a way of increasing the emotional connection between the character and the writer/reader, because many songs (mostly popular song) are generic and can speak to the experience of the character while also speaking to your experience or your desires. Songs help you understand how and why people can relate to your character, because a large number of people in the general demographic have related to the song, if it's popular.

If the music fits the tone, too, you're on a roll.

There's a reason I've been thinking about this, but I'm not sure I want to go into it just now. Instead, I'm gonna list a few songs that make me think of books I've loved, or vice-versa.

The Reason (Hoobastank) - Girl, Stolen (April Henry)
Once (Caleb Kane) - Ink Exchange (Melissa Marr)
Chasing Cars (Snow Patrol) - The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
I'm Alive (Becca) - Howl's Moving Castle (Dianna Wynne Jones)
Ugly Side (Blue October) - Beastly (Alex Flinn)
I Will Possess Your Heart (Death Cab for Cutie) - Paranormalcy (Kiersten White)

I'm sure there've been more, but I've forgotten them.

Of course I do this with my books, too. Rather obsessively. Perhaps, one day, I'll be able to post some of those here, when people have actually read them. I will say that "I Will Follow You into the Dark" is rather permanently in my head as "the song of the story" for Accidents. There are a few others.

Now that I've prattled, I want to hear your thoughts. Do you agree with my match-ups? What songs do you associate with a book or character? What songs would you chose to represent your own work?

Maybe I'm Crazy...

I've never tried to review a book before. The English journals I've been posting are the closest I come. But I just figured out how to work my dad's camera, and I've been wanting to make a more professional youtube account, and it all just sort of happened. Apparently I do video book reviews now.

There's only one up, for Girl, Stolen by April Henry. Wonderful book. If you want to know why, well, you have to go watch the review.



I hope this works...

I wonder how long I'll keep this up. I have one more video waiting to be edited and a few more books I already know I want to review, and I'm having way more fun than I should with this. So, we'll see where it goes.

Sincerely (deranged),

Day

It's a New Year...

I should get some sort of award. "Latest New Year Post". Isn't there a wall of shame somewhere for people like me?

Anyway.

I'm not gonna do a list of resolutions, because I don't like to be disappointed or disappoint others. However there are a few things I'm planning. Tentatively.

1. I would like to blog twice or thrice a week. Because my current level of suck here is just ridiculous.

2. I want to read all the classics on my TBR list (To Kill a Mockingbird, Catcher in the Rye, some Shakespeare, and finish Huck Finn and Dorian Gray).

3. I want to be more outgoing; comment more, interact, etc.

4. I want to query for Accidents and complete at least two first drafts.

That's all. At least, all the interweb related ones.

In other news, I finally found a beta partner. Her name is Writein and we met on Absolute Write (wonderful forums, an awesome query workshop and lively discussions) on a third party's beta reader request thread. I'll see if I can scrounge up a post about betas and editing after we've finished each others books.

And, with a B&N giftcard graciously given by my aunt, I've read Personal Demons, Ink Exchange, House of Many Ways, and am about a third through with Dorian Gray (I also bought Danger Days, new album of awesome, but I can't start talking about that or I swear I will gush). House of Many Ways was wonderful; even better than Castle in the Air, but not quite as good as Howl's Moving Castle, I thought. Ink Exchange was really neat, and I'll probably be reading more Melissa Marr soon. Personal Demons was great, but dunno if I'm gonna read Original Sin. Got a few funny looks carrying that book around, but it's worth it. Dorian Gray is an example of why I don't need drugs - a future favorite, I think. Probably all of these will show up in the English Journals posts eventually, but my journal is now being graded for the last quarter, which is why I didn't post one tonight. When I get it back, the next two will be for Pegasus by Robin McKinley. (Edit: I lied. They're actually about Living Dead Girl. I'll get to Pegasus eventually.)

Happy New Year. Anyone have any fun resolutions (or tentative plans) for 2011?

Shameless Plug

Okay, so I just found out that they've released a new edition of "Sunshine" (my favorite book ever) for YA instead of adult. I hope this means I can finally suggest it to more people. XDD I have to get my hands on a copy first, to see what - if anything - they've actually changed in the book. If "the infamous not-a-sex-scene sex scene" is gone, then I'm totally forcing the book on my language teacher. My class would be a better set of people if we read this book, as much as the guys would probably hate me for it. XD I'll be kind of sad if they took it out, even so... It's totally TMI for me, but I think it's more important to the relationship of Those Involved than I previously realized. But with it in the book, I know I won't get it past the administration as a reading book. And we really need some that are more current, in my opinion.

Anyway, if you happen to be reading this rambling shame of a blog and haven't read "Sunshine" by Robin McKinley, I highly suggest you remedy either one or the other of those conditions immediately. If you're under sixteen, please go for the one in the YA section with the golden cover. If you're over sixteen, the red cover or the building cover will be just fine.

Uh-hem. So, my creative writing course is coming to an end. The last class is Wednesday, and then the following Tuesday there's an exam. It's really been helpful - I wasn't sure if it would be, but it was. A lot of good practice. Very encouraging. Hopefully I'll get the chance to do it again next year. The moral of this story is: Don't knock it 'til you try it.

P.S. I'm in the last few pages of Anne Rice's "Interview"... That book scared the **** out of me. XDDD But I liked it. I kind of hope that, someday, I can write like her. Just trying to figure out how she came up with some of that stuff.... The mind boggles.