Try the song on the sidebar. I like it. It’s quiet, but the lyrics are really…I don’t know… magical? There is something about them…
Try the song on the sidebar. I like it. It’s quiet, but the lyrics are really…I don’t know… magical? There is something about them…Well, the year is coming to an end. Strangely enough, I’m proud of what I have accomplished this year. It’s not much to speak of, but I’ve got nearly 100 pages of editing done, as well as a full manuscript. That’s pretty darn good, considering it took me five plus years to get here.
Ehm. So I thought maybe on towards the end of the month, I would post a Best Books of the Year special thing. Or whatever. I know that nobody reads this blog, but there are a few lost strangers that get pulled in every now and then, so I might as well.
Here are a few challenges to keep you busy. They’ve been created by people, friends of mine, or myself. Enjoy.
1. Write a letter every day this month (or every other day) to anyone, new people, strangers, friends, family, just write. And mail.
2. Reread all your favorite series starting this week and ending on the 31st.
3. Read a book for each letter of the alphabet. You’ve got enough time if you start now.
4. Send an “around the world post card”. Keep sending it on to someone and add a message, doddle, or object to it the letter. The person who gets it last (on Christmas day) must send it back to the original sender. I’d love to do this if anyone is interested….
5. Finish all your TBR (to be read) books before Christmas.
6. Read a book (that I haven’t read) and do a guest review for me! I’ve always wanted to do this…
Anyways, I look forward to winding down the year here and review as many books as possible. My goal is five. We’ll see.
GALAXIOR OUT!!!
You know, I just realized how cool of a name that was…lightning thief.
Anyways, Percy Jackson scored disgustingly high on my rate-fictional-characters rate-o-meter. He got, like a 32 and was beat out only by a person of my own creation (who of course would be everything I like). So, Percy Jackson is pretty much my favorite fictional character. He’s so funny. He’s the son of Poesidon. He turned down a chance to be immortal. What’s not to like?
I’m a total fan of the books (by Rick Riordan) so when I heard the movie was comming out, I was quite excited. Then, when I saw the trailer, I was even more excited. Now I’ve seen the second trailer and I’m so excited, I honestly don’t know what to do with myself!
Gar. Gotta hold myself back.
Somehow…
(Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeercy….)
Okay.
So to help me, here are the trailers which I think are doing good justice to the book so far. Enjoy!
PS: I’m going to review the books when I read them again. Probably around the end of the month because I have to finish The Return of the King.
Trailer 2 (more background info and quite funny) you must watch here. I love this one.
Trailer 1 (very dramatic) is below.
I ate at Panera Bread last night. I must say, they have quite a nice ambience and the service was friendly. It was like eating in a cafe, small and quaint and cozy. The food was delicious. We all ordered soups and sandwiches and it was wonderful. I highly recommend the French Onion soup if ever you are in a mo
od for a relaxing meal.
After Panera Bread, we saw Fantastic Mr. Fox, which was absolutely wonderful. Very clever and creative. The animation was great. It was a form of claymation, I think and it lent a wonderful quality to the movie. The acting was good and it had good pacing and script. Fantastic Mr. Fox was clever and witty one of the best Rohl Dhal adaptions I’ve ever seen.
It was a family friendly movie that I highly recommend seeing after going to Panera Bread and enjoying some French Onion soup.
In other news:
I rewatched Prince Caspain on Friday and realized how much I love that movie! YAH! For Aslan!
Also, Percy Jackson movie, you are very highly anticipated!
– GALAXIOR OUT!
I think it’s been quite a while since I updated. I can’t blame it on my story since I haven’t done much o’ that. It was Zelda. Zelda took over my life…but I still managed to find time to do a little reading in between :) Enjoy
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
by Sherman Alexie
My mother bought be this book while on vacation. She insisted that I would enjoy it. But I had bigger and better things to read, so I shoved it aside until last week Thursday, I found myself without anything to do. I saw it lying innocently on my shelf and I picked it up and read it. It took me about three hours– I managed to surprise myself there :) Anyways, it was not too bad and after I read it I wrote down a couple of thoughts I had on it because I knew my laziness would hold out long after my memory. This may be the shortest review yet! I’m excited to see whether or not I can keep this bad boy concise. And now, onto the review!
Junior is our fellow, the main man of the book and the story teller. He is a self-proclaimed cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian reservation. Life’s been tough for Junior since the moment he was born– he’s got a bunch of medical problems, his dad has a drinking problem, his best friend has an anger problem, and he’ s got tough-choice problems. But Junior’s a trooper and he’s going to get the best education he can– even if that means going to school in the white, racist town beyond the borders of the rez. This book is the story of Junior’s troubles and the unique solutions he finds to help him get through life.
And now, my thoughts on the book:
It had good pacing and a good plot. Junior was a fresh character with an awful lot of insight and a unique voice. His troubles were interesting and really opened up my eyes. The writing was humorous and easy to read.
The book had a good message. It came to me as strongly as it came to Junior. The negative effects that alcohol can have on a community were shown very well, and had a very real base. However, one must keep in mind that the story was fictional and just because Junior’s rez had a problem doesn’t mean that every Native American you meet will be a drunk.
The book was not at all a diary. It wasn’t even a journal. That title was a lie, I suppose; it was just Junior’s story told like any other novel. Still, I enjoyed it more because I don’t particularly like diary books.
The only downside about this book was that it had these drawings in it which I think were awful just because they seemed like they were trying to be funny and they failed epically at that. They just didn’t appeal to me. However, they weren’t too frequent and don’t distract from the story.
Well, I guess that’s all I have to say (I told you this review would be short!). I liked the book as a whole and would recommend it to anyone who is willing to step out of their comfort zones and join Junior in his struggle to find his place in the world.
PS: due to some subject matter, I would rate this book at a 14+ reading level.
Amazon link
Ri’s Rating:
QQQ.5/ QQQQQ
3.5/ 5
0. Couldn’t get past chapter one for fear of wanting to kill myself. Book induced suicide…
1: Yuck. Ew. Below Average. Probably didn’t even read the middle and skipped to the end.
2. Ok. Would’ve been better if I’d written the ending and everything else.
3. Not bad at all. Very enjoyable. Quite nice. Recommendable.
4. My kind of book. Near ideal, but something was a little off (annoying names, bad ending, that sort of thing).
5. WOW. Makes me wonder why people watch T.V when this is out there. Really liked it. Don’t expect to see this often.
6 and above. What I want my book to be.
Finally, two weeks after I finished the book, the promised Starclimber review
Starclimber by Kenneth Oppel
I am going to try this new thing where I keep my reviews short and to the point. Let’s see how I do.
Starclimber continues the story of Matt Cruse as he embarks on yet another adventure– this time to outterspace! Two years have passed since their last adventure and the race to see who can get into space first has begun. The French are building a huge momument called the Celestial Tower. It’s supposed to reach the heavens and above. It is on the construction site of this behemoth that we find Matt Cruse, helping to build the tower for some extra money. But one day, his little contrsuction ship is attacked by a group of people who will stop at nothing to tear the tower down; they are called the Babbelites. Following the attack, Matt is whisked away to Lionsgate city (along with his Kate DeVries) as an applicant for a secret training regime that will demtermine who will be Canada’s first Astralnuats.
From there, the book takes off, quite litteraly. Matt’s training is rigorous, but Oppel manages to keep the intrest level high by adding in some tough competion and a few surprises witht the selection results. After the Starclimber is launched, a series of problems come up and all the solutions (or lack of solutions) are foreshadowed well. The book ends well, with a satisfying wrap up to the characters lives. But, as in the last two books, the ending isn’t quite final. Meaning Oppel could continue the series if he wanted to. However, I thinkt he closure given in this book was enough and ending things quite well.
One of my favorite things about this series in general is the way Oppel so convincinly manages to pull me into his world. I love that everything is so well researched and well written that it is completely believable. In fact, in the first book, I didn’t realize that the gas they were using to run the airships, hydrium it is called, was fictional until way after I had read the book and someone pointed it out to me! That’s a clear sign of good research and excellant writing in my opinion.
Another thing I like about the book series, and Starclimber in particular is Matt’s voice. He comes off as a very real person, with flaws and hopes and I love the way he deals with Kate (he does get mad at her sometimes) and how when he is with her, he isn’t silly sounding. In some books, they write romance by just saying how wonderful and beautiful the love interest is. In this book, we already know Kate’s wonderful, which allows Matt just to say that he wants to be with her and watch the stars and that alone is enough. I think that comes from the fact that this book (and all the others in the series) are from a boy’s point of view, and thus, the author didn’t feel the need to make it silly sounding. Matt’s love is down-to-earth yet still sweet.
And finally, I want to say that my absolute favorite part of this book was the way outter space was described. It was wonderful and beautiful, especially when Matt was remembering the ethereal Music of Spheres that he heard while in space. Everything about the book is magical and yet it has ringing images of our own world. I throughly enjoyed this book, both the fast-paced action and the slower bits. It has a good plot, good pacing, excellently developed characters and a very inviting setting. It’s a must read for anyone who likes adventure and the unknown. It’s also one of the beter series/ endings that I’ve read; if you enjoyed Airborn, Starclimber does it justice.
My final words are thus: never before have I encountered a series that moved me to gaze at the sky and wish that I had wings simply so that I might soar.
Amazon link! (This was pretty short right? I did good, right?)
Ri’s Rating:
QQQQ/ QQQQQ
4/ 5
0. Couldn’t get past chapter one for fear of wanting to kill myself. Book induced suicide…
1: Yuck. Ew. Below Average. Probably didn’t even read the middle and skipped to the end.
2. Ok. Would’ve been better if I’d written the ending and everything else.
3. Not bad at all. Very enjoyable. Quite nice. Recommendable.
4. My kind of book. Near ideal, but something was a little off (annoying names, bad ending, that sort of thing).
5. WOW. Makes me wonder why people watch T.V when this is out there. Really liked it. Don’t expect to see this often.
6 and above. What I want my book to be.
