not the place for sanity at all, is it?

Re: cancer, and My San Francisco Trip & Its Consequences.

2013-02-06T08:11:55Z

So.... good news and bad news.

My mom's surgery went incredibly well. There were complications---her thyroid gland had so many dead tissues that it grew itself new branches/tissues into her chest cavity... most of which was in pre-cancer stages and might've evolved into more cancerous cells without their ever knowing. They were able to extract it all cleanly and put her on pills to compensate for the main thyroid functions.

Her scar opening still hurts now, two weeks later, but on the new meds she feels GREAT. She is pain-free in her joints and muscles for the first time in decades. She no longer gets sleepy and requires multiple naps throughout the day. Who knew that her thyroid function was inhibiting her in so many different ways?

We have great hope.

The bad news:

I went to San Francisco over the last weekend, Friday through Monday. I went for several reasons... I really needed to get away from all the busy things that are going on at home, for a break away from my understandably stressed and overbearing family... once the dust settled on my mom's surgery and things were going well... I wanted to get away. And also I wanted to spend time with my close friend who moved up. He's one of my very best friends.

I wanted to get away somewhere simpler and quieter and cut myself off from everyone else at home for a few days. I've always found time with this friend to be productive and grounding.

This time, 72 uninterrupted (except for bathroom breaks I guess haha) hours with him rocked my world in ways I don't fully understand.

I don't even know where to begin.

TV show meme.

2013-01-28T10:43:54Z

Pick five of your favorite TV shows before reading the questions.

1. Doctor Who

2. The Good Wife

3. Firefly

4. Gilmore Girls

5. Downton Abbey

1) Who is your favourite character in 5?

Lady Mary. She is so fabulous and snarky. Cousin Violet comes a close second.

2) Who is your least favourite character in 3?

That awful man who tried to claim his favorite prostitute's child as his own in Heart of Gold.

3) What is your favourite episode of number 1?

"The Doctor's Wife" for all the TARDIS feels and Neil Gaiman fabulosity.

4) What is your favourite season of number 4?

Season 2. Because it includes that episode with the swing dance-a-thon and the heartbreak.

5) What is your favourite relationship in 2?

Carey/Alicia. As friends, not sexually.

6) What is your least favourite relationship in 3?

Alicia/anyone sexually.

7) How long have you watched 5?

Since it began, so like 3 years now?

8) How did you become interested in 4?

I kept seeing it on TV as a teen.

9) Who is your favourite actor in number 1?

A tie between David Tennant & Arthur Darvill.

10) Which show do you prefer more : 1, 2, or 5 ?

Doctor Who for suuure.

11) Which show have you seen more episodes of: 1 or 4 ?

Gilmore Girls, because it has way more episodes than nuWho.

12) If you could be anyone from 3, who would it be?

Kaylee. I briefly thought River, but she has a messed up past I don't really need in my head.

13) How would you kill off your favourite character in 5?

They already did it in the show with someone else. Recently, if you're going by the American broadcast. I wouldn't have thought of it but WHAT a ridiculously heart wrenching and epic and memorable way to go!

14) Would a 3/4 crossover work?

Gilmore Girls and Firefly? OMG. Lorelai would snark over everything so beautifully. She would fit in Whedonverse.

15) Pair two characters in 4 that would make an unlikely, but strangely okay couple.

Alicia/Carey, like I said.

16) Give a random quote from 2.

"People aren't mean. They're just polite liars."

Life, unexpected.

2012-12-11T06:45:48Z

Life has been taking unexpected and scary turns lately. I'm facing it. It's been hard and I don't know what to do I am staying calm.

Book meme, because I don't waste enough time.

2011-10-07T00:41:33Z

1. Favourite childhood book? Definitely The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis. And also The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, which is classic.

2. What are you reading right now? I am presently rereading the wonderful Rilla of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery, which is a war novel about the home front more than anything else. It goes well with my current obsession with the TV show Downton Abbey on the same topic. I'm also struggling my way through Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, but it's a long journey.

3. What books do you have on request at the library? I... don't use the library. I'm a bad librarian.

4. Bad book habit? I have trouble reading books that close friends have recommended to me, because I'm afraid of hurting their feelings if I don't like their Most Favorite Ever.

5. What do you currently have checked out at the library? Again, I do not use the library.

6. Do you have an e-reader? I have a lovely Kindle 3 and have preordered the multitouch Kindle in the 3G version.

7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once? A couple at once.

8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog? I don't book blog (much), and I definitely prefer reading more to writing, so I end up reading when I really should be writing.

9. Least favourite book you read this year (so far)?

I think it's probably Wither by Lauren DeStephano. This was a much-hyped debut novel and I bought into the hype.. sadly, it wasn't as good as it was hyped up to be.

10. Favourite book you’ve read this year? Hands down, Fire by Kristin Cashore. I first read this in October of 2010 and can't seem to stop rereading it every month.

11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone? Not as often as I ought to. I have about 3-4 genres I read in and pretty much stick in them.

12. What is your reading comfort zone? Fiction, particularly of the Young Adult variety. Most of the books I read also fall under Fantasy/Sci-fi.

13. Can you read on the bus? Yes I can, but only if less than 20 minutes.

14. Favourite place to read? On a picnic blanket on grass somewhere. Usually in a park.

15. What is your policy on book lending? I only lend to people I love and know well. My physical book library is more for lending than for anything else (I read primarily on my Kindle), but I want people to treat my books well!

16. Do you ever dog-ear books? NO!!!! Why would you do that? *offended*

17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books? In non-fiction books, yes.

18. Not even with text books? I do so in textbooks.

19. What is your favourite language to read in? English, but I'm not bad in Mandarin either. It's just a very different cultural mindset to be reading in Mandarin Chinese.

20. What makes you love a book? A character I can love and relate to, and a tightly written plot. Good pacing is important, and supportive cast is important too.

21. What will inspire you to recommend a book? I have to love it myself. I would never recommend a book I didn't love even if it's "appropriate reading" for the reader.

22. Favourite genre? Young Adult Fantasy. Hands down. I just can't help it. My father started me on The Chronicles of Narnia when I was about 6 and life hasn't been ever the same since.

23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?) I rarely, rarely read romances or human drama, but should do so more. I don't ever read mystery, but I don't feel that this is a huge loss. Neither is horror.

24. Favourite biography? Probably The Life of Elizabeth I, by Alison Weir. I was going through a weird Tudor stage when I read that, among other interesting books on the era.

25. Have you ever read a self-help book? I have. I read those little books of style books all the time but they've been useless to me so far and never tell me anything I didn't already know. Duh. This is just common sense stuff.

26. Favourite cookbook? The Perfect Scoop by the lovely David Lebovitz has yet to steer me wrong. Every ice cream or frozen yogurt recipe I've made from it has been nothing short of perfection.

27. Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or non-fiction)? Fiction: Fire by Kristin Cashore. Non-fiction: Conversational Evangelism by Norman Geisler.

28. Favourite reading snack? It varies. Usually some sort of sweet pastry or cake.

29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience. The aforementioned DeStephano book. The last Golden Compass. Ender's Game, which I liked but rather less than I ought to have considering how good it was. The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl.

30. How often do you agree with critics about a book? I don't often read professioanl reviews, but I can't stand the New York Times review of Fire by Kristin Cashore. It's as if the journalist missed all the finer points of that novel.

31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews? I rarely review books. Just star-rate them on Shelfari. But I'm never afraid to trash talk a book if it really deserves it.

32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you chose? There are some really subtle points in Japanese writing that I wish I could catch, but it's just ont the same when I read it in English or Mandarin. I've been dying to read Tomiko Miyao's Tenshō-in Atsuhime for many years but there isn't a translation in a language I can understand yet. Alas.

33. Most intimidating book you've ever read? One of the Tudor-era biographies, I think. And also The House of Leavesi by Mark Z. Danielewski.

34. Most intimidating book you're too nervous to begin? The Remains of the Day, by Kazuo Ishiguro. And If On a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino, which I've been meaning to read since my 3rd year in university and am still too intimdated to begin.

35. Favourite Poet? Keats or Tennyson. I'm fond of some Robert Frost too.

36. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time? When I did use the library, it would be 4-5 at a time.

37. How often have you returned books to the library unread? Not often.

38. Favourite fictional character? Anne and Gilbert Blythe.

39. Favourite fictional villain? Severus Snape, like everyone else. I also am bizarrely fond of the White Witch.

40. Books I'm most likely to bring on vacation? Beachy chick lit books. Also short fantasy novels.

41. The longest I've gone without reading. In the 2008-2009 school year, I was never able to read because of trying to adjust to the pace of course load at UCLA.

42. Name a book that you could/would not finish. The Odyssey. I struggled through about 150 pages before I gave up.

43. What distracts you easily when you’re reading? Television. I watch a crazy amount of TV and I'd rather be reading.

44. Favourite film adaptation of a novel? Oh gosh. The first 2 Anne of Green Gables miniseries, for sure. Nothing else comes close, but I'm quite fond of the third Potter as well.

45. Most disappointing film adaptation? Anne 3, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

46. The most money I've ever spent in the bookstore at one time? I spent about $150 on some signed first editions once.

47. How often do you skim a book before reading it? Never ever.

48. What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through? If the plot isn't moving along or I can't relate with any of the main protagonists at all.

49. Do you like to keep your books organized? Yes. Fiction and non-fiction, and on my shelf I like them by the binding. On my Kindle it's by genre and target age.

50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you've read them? I'm a huge book hoarder, but I've been known to give away books I don't like to local libraries. I don't really inflict them on people I like, but there must be a middle schooler out there who will enjoy Eragon more than I did.

51. Are there any books you've been avoiding? A lot of the classics. Particularly Jane Austen. I've read Pride and Prejudice and enjoyed it but they're honestly just so prosy and long.

52. Name a book that made you angry. Atonement by Ian McEwan. That book made me so furious, I can't even...

53. A book you didn't expect to like but did? Specimen Days by Michael Cunningham. It was for a class.

54. A book that you expected to like but didn't? Lord of the Rings.

55. Favourite guilt-free, pleasure reading? Emily Giffin's rather delicious chick lit novels, such asSomething Borrowed and Something Blue.

Really sad songs in Chinese.

2011-09-16T00:09:28Z

Because I'm cruel and I like to make Jill cry.

Listed by artist with a bunch of older classics at the end. The requirement: it has to have supersad and beautiful lyrics, as well as a beautiful and devastating melody/arrangement. There are plenty of songs with sad lyrics I didn't list here because the song overall isn't sad enough!

If there are translations in the MVs I linked.. great. If not... sorry. If you want a good translation... ask me. Most of these suck. I don't know why people don't pay more attention to subtext when translating song lyrics when subtext is everything.

These are the saddest Chinese songs on my iPod.

天黑黑 - 孫燕姿 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzQFAvBAgBM)
The Moment - 孫燕姿 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDGaZiB5BZM)
Stephanie Sun is really good at those really sad loss of innocence songs. "天黑黑" has lyrics that speak to me so clearly I wept the first time I heard it.

人質 - 張惠妹 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exDa5q_EcVE)
記得 - 張惠妹 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iALMJWLLFqI)
真實 - 張惠妹 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APCTAjYb9zg)
我恨我愛你 -張惠妹 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1LOBFkFyjA)
Actually that whole album "真實" is freaking heartbreaking. There are a lot of others but if I listed every sad Amei song ever we'd be here for a year.

安靜 - 周杰倫 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zFTNdAJSZg)
晴天 - 周杰倫 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i471y-XSS4)
說好的幸福呢 - 周杰倫 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTZa_NQPkRg)
千里之外 - 周杰倫 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3JSifpGlhg)
Likewise with Jay chou. If I listed every sad song by him ever we'd be here a really really long time.

落葉歸根 - 王力宏 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuvnH20L0u4) (Note that this MV's translation sucks in the linked video. Don't pay it any attention)
星期六的深夜 - 王力宏 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3Zy8_ERpqQ)
Forever Love - 王力宏 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B9niKoErhQ)
You'd think that Wang Leehom would have more sad songs but actually, no, these are pretty much the ones that make me weep. Honorable mention though: 愛錯. Also "Forever Love" has saddest MV of all time kthx.

第九夜 - 李玟 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtnntcDrR6E)
Pretty much the only redeeming factor in her comeback album a while back. I didn't really feel how sad this song really was until I sang it at karaoke one day when really down over a boy...

離歌 - 信樂團 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4kwPKZREKs)
I don't actually have this song on my iPod but I think Freddy would kill me if I didn't list it. It's really sad. Every time he sings it at karaoke I'm like :(

Classics/Older:
紅豆 - 王菲 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0cVTTOq2RY)
Hello, how can you get away with a sad song list without Faye Wong? This is the classic of classics. Also bonus: it was the B-side on the Final Fantasy 8 theme single "Eyes On Me"
意難忘 - 蔡琴 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NQdDFN4aLY)
I learned to sing this song when I was 2. I don't think I realized how sad it was then. Cai Qing is perfection.
我只在乎你 - 鄧麗君 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N72dsXD2GdM)
I still get a little weepy over this song. This song was totally how I said goodbye to Teresa Teng when she died.
吻別 - 張學友 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwRgCUGVpbU)
Classic. Duh. This song needs no introduction.
我期待 - 張雨生 *http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XyEAZJ56ic)
Also another one of those "and this artist died way too early..." songs. Like the Teresa Teng one. Legend.
童話 - 光良 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABenWi0DlIU)
I don't actually like this song unlike every other Chinese-American EVER. But hey.... apparently this song makes everyone else cry their eyes out.

雨下一整晚

2011-09-15T22:15:47Z

Translated this song today for the benefit of jilleh.

街燈下的櫥窗有一種落寞的溫暖
The store shop shown under the street lights have a kind of lonely warmth to them.
圖貼在玻璃上畫著你的模樣
The pictures pasted to the glass have your face on them.
開著車漫無目的地轉彎不知要去哪個地方
Driving without purpose, turning here and there, not knowing where my destination is,
涼卻的電視牆到底有誰在看
Who is watching the now-cold television set?

白楊木影子被拉長像我對你的思念總不完
The shadow of the white willow tree is stretched longer and longer, just like my longing for you does not end.
原來我從未習慣你已不在我身旁
In the end it seems that I never got used to the fact that you are no longer by my side.
街道的鐵門被拉上只剩轉角霓虹燈還在閃
The street's metal gates have been pulled shut and only the neon lights around the corner are still blinking.
這城市的小巷雨下一整晚
Here in this city, this small alley, it rains all night.

你撐把小紙傘她音韻太婉轉
You are holding a small umbrella made of paper, and her rhythms and rhymes move and turn too subtly beautifully.
唉~
*Sigh*
雨落下霧茫茫問天涯在何方喔喔~
The rain falls and the fog blurs everything, and I am asking where the ends of the earth is, ~oh oh~
啊~午夜裡你深藏偷偷偷透過窗
Ah--at midnight, you hide deeply, secretly secretly secretly, through the window...
燭台前我們還在想
Before the candle-holder, we are still wondering.
小扇板畫呀畫
The small paper screen, we still draw on it.
小紙傘遮雨也遮月光
The small paper umbrella, blots out both the rain and the moonlight.

白楊木影子被拉長像我對你的思念總不完
The shadow of the white willow tree is stretched longer and longer, just like my longing for you does not end.
原來我從未習慣你已不在我身旁
In the end it seems that I never got used to the fact that you are no longer by my side.
街道的鐵門被拉上只剩轉角霓虹燈還在閃
The street's metal gates have been pulled shut and only the neon lights around the corner are still blinking.
這城市的小巷雨下一整晚
Here in this city, this small alley, it rains all night.

Angela Aki "Your Love Song" cover

2011-09-10T03:15:35Z

孫燕姿天黑黑

2011-08-13T12:58:45Z

Listening to this song at 6 AM in the morning... I don't think I've ever cried so hard over any song in my entire life. Or related to a song more.

When I was small, when I was stubborn
My grandmother would always sing to me
On summer afternoons, the old song would comfort me
That song would go something like this:

(Taiwanese) "The sky is dark, it's going to rain, the sky is dark, dark... "

Grown up now, had my own life
Fresh songs, fresh ideas
When it's impossible to control my wilfulness and impulsiveness
I forget I still have this song

The sky is dark, it's going to rain, the sky is dark, dark...

I fell in love with someone I could risk my life for
I believed this was the world I pursued
However, I fumbled, was misunderstood, was lied to
Is the adult world really so terrible?

I walk everyday, faced with the road ahead
I miss my past's innocent blissful little happiness
Love always lets people cry, makes people unsatisfied
The sky is very big but can't see clearly - how lonely

When the sky is dark, I remember that song
And expect to see the peaceful rain
In grandma's truth sung to me back then
That even if it rains, we must bravely continue
I believe everything can calm down
I now wish to go home

(Taiwanese) "The sky is dark, it's going to rain, the sky is dark, dark..."

Hearing this song, all I can think about was my life at this time two years ago. And how my grandma used to sing this song to me too.

I'm still not over it.

I cannot handle this.

2011-07-03T03:39:33Z

Guys, it's really ending.

There's never going to be another franchise in the world for which I spend something like 15 years of my life reading on the first day of release, attending midnight premieres, participating in fandoms...

I'm not ready for it to be over.

PAPER IS DONE

2011-06-02T22:47:37Z

OK guys. 23 pages later, I'm finally done with my monster of an Anne of Green Gables paper and now I can rest. In the process, I've reread 3 Anne books, watched both films (that I care to acknowledge), read about 10 scholarly works about L.M. Montgomery and Anne, and watched 6 episodes of Road to Avonlea... though that last part I'm sure was entirely optional to my paper.

Road to Avonlea is strangely addictive though.. it's got that same period piece charming Avonlea feel as the Anne movies.. and so I'm quite enjoying it. It seems a little bizarre that I am watching a children's show from the early 90s but there it is. I like it. So sue me.

I can't help but wish they had done it right the first time... the Anne movies, that is. I adore Megan Follows and Jonathan Crombie to pieces and cannot imagine anyone else as my Anne and Gilbert (and can we talk about what a hottie Gilbert is? yes he is. YUM), but seriously they butchered the story... I still cannot help but love the first two films, however... though the third crosses the line and I pretend to ignore it.

Also, can we talk about last week's Doctor Who? OH MY GOD. I knew it I knew it I knew it. Cannot wait for this week's. Two more days guys.

A draft of a portion of my Anne of Green Gables research paper.

2011-05-26T08:08:18Z

Quick note: this has been incredibly fun to write. I've about 5-6 more of these mini-essays to pump out, but this is my very first draft of one of the first portions of my paper! Fun.

Whimsy/Bildungsroman

“Why must people kneel down to pray? If I really wanted to pray I'll tell you what I'd do. I'd go out into a great big field all alone or into the deep, deep, woods, and I'd look up into the sky—up—up—up—into that lovely blue sky that looks as if there was no end to its blueness. And then I'd just feel a prayer.”

--Anne of Green Gables, Chapter VII

Anne’s sense of romance and insistence on naming everything beautiful were to me, during my very first reading in 5th grade, all at once unforgettable, confusing, vivid, and wonderfully romantic. Her plight is something I truly related to—having had a fantastic imagination (as all children do) and not being very well appreciated for it by the adults around me. As I grew older, and reread the work throughout middle school and high school, Anne became to seem more and more ridiculous to me, and it became the source of much humor and irony in the story that made me laugh quite a lot as a teen. After I’ve gone through a college education for an English degree, I have come to recognize even more humor and irony in these situations, as Anne is a character who lives in the modern era but breathes and loves the Romantic era.

Anne’s constant exclamations of beauty and idle wonderings were something that the people around her could neither comprehend nor appreciate. As Anne grows older, she begins to learn to conform to her community better and to contribute as a responsible adult. This compelling coming of age story is something I looked forward to for my own life as a child, something I related to deeply and painfully as a teen, and something I now look back to with a smile and much laughter, as I too was always in scrapes and never felt quite responsible or adult enough.

The language of Anne is vivid and memorable, beautifying everything around her. Though she is an outlandish girl with a crazy imagination and a penchant for getting into “scrapes,” her view of the world and the things she says about it (in long, sometimes tedious detail) make everything beautiful. Her talent for making the ordinary extraordinary is part of the charm for countless readers as children. This is a quality some critics have called “an enchantment with the beauty surrounding her,” or “a sense of wonder.” In the first chapter she appears in alone, Anne renames two major fixtures of the town she is to move to with fairytale-like names. Barry’s Pond became “the Lake of Shining Waters,” while the Avenue became “the White Way of Delight”. In this very first episode of life at Green Gables, she launches into speeches reflecting Romantic sensibilities all over, and her imagination recreates what might be a very plain and ordinary small town life into the exquisite and charming.

Anne’s sense of wonder holds that particular charm not only to the other characters in the book, but also to readers, because she, as L.M. Montgomery biographer Genevieve Wiggin puts it, “not only responds to beauty but encourages others to share in her delight.” She is described by Elizabeth Waterson (a critic of Canadian children’s literature) as “an imaginative orphan, intense in her response to beauty, eager for love and admiration, and ingenious in her attempts to find this longed-for acceptance.” It’s no wonder that everyone around her finds her utterly irresistible, though sometimes perhaps frustrating in her constant love of everything beautiful around her. Throughout the series, Anne exhibits a sort of fairytale-like princess charm that makes everyone love her and converts her enemies and rivals into “bosom friends.” There aren’t many characters in the series that aren’t kindred spirits to Anne. Her romantic whimsy and endearing personality makes her a compelling heroine to children, even as children grow older into adults, the same way many fairytale princess stories appeal to readers of all ages.

Anne insistence on renaming everything around her into something beautiful and seeing the gorgeous in the ordinary is tinted by the pastoral romantic literature that Anne herself so loves. As Waterson eloquently writes, Anne “confuses literature and life in her fine and funny yearning for adventure and romance.” It’s no accident that the poetry Anne is heard to quote from most are Romantic era poets such as Lord Tennyson and William Cullen Bryant. These poets and their lines of beautiful fancies appeal to Anne’s infinite “imagination” and love of nature completely, and it’s no wonder that Anne constantly quotes them or adapts them shamelessly for what is probably inappropriate daily use. Furthermore, what Anne describes as her imagination is what Romantic writers such as Coleridge would describe as fancy or fantasy.

As one learns more about Anne’s past in the asylums and in foster homes, one will begin to understand that Anne’s desire for the glamorous and the elegant were, at first, a way of escape. As an orphan living in neglected homes, she often imagined having “window friends,” as well as casting herself as heroines of various romantic adventures, precisely because she was neglected and even abused by her caretakers. Therefore, Anne’s flights of fancy, or her imagination, stems from the very common trope of orphans in children’s literature. Though Anne gains permanent and loving adopted parents within only a few chapters of the first novel, the emotional and mental place where she comes from and operates on is very much one of loneliness, of reflectance, and the need to fit in.

Anne, a lover of poetry and fantasy stories, lives in the land of imagination and whimsy, and she immediately begins to have trouble fitting in with the very practical community she soon finds herself living in. Her desire to become part of the community in Avonlea and to learn to conform to its ways is prevalent throughout the first novel particularly, most notably in Marilla’s constantly issuing commands and wise maxims in an effort to transform Anne into a proper Island girl. Anne grows up to not only be a competent home keeper and member of the community, the adults in her household even grow to recognize her as “a great help.” This is clearly also a part of that coming of age story that children and youth alike can recognize and feel a part of. Anne’s many efforts to fix her many “scrapes” and to behave as a responsible, contributing member of society are definitely elements that children can easily recognize and relate to.

The great charm of Anne Shirley is that even after she becomes a responsible adult and is a useful member of society, even a parent, she never loses that sense of fancy and imagination. As a newlywed on honeymoon in her very own house of dreams, Anne once indulges in a crazy spinning dance on the beach. It’s in passages like these that constantly remind readers of what a gem the character of Anne is and how fun and relatable she is to people of all ages. She is forever young at heart and the flights of fancy and true imagination never leaves her, which makes her further stories in every novel of the series compelling to children and adults alike.

She caught up her skirt and pirouetted along the hard strip of sand just out of reach of the waves that almost lapped her feet with their spent foam. Whirling round and round, laughing like a child, she reached the little headland that ran out to the east of the cove.

- Anne’s House of Dreams, Chapter X

Works cited

Montgomery, L M. Anne of Green Gables. Toronto: Bantam Books, 1987. Print, 271.

Wiggins, Genevieve. L.M. Montgomery. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1992. Print, 22.

Carson, Rachel, and Charles Pratt. The Sense of Wonder. New York: Harper & Row, 1965. Print, 43.

Waterston, Elizabeth. Children's Literature in Canada. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1992. Print, 116.

Montgomery, L M. Anne's House of Dreams. Toronto: Bantam Books, 1987. Print, 62.

LA la la.

2011-03-05T05:35:30Z

So lately I am super obsessed with this drama called "Palace." There is some really cute fanart for it.

This kind of makes me want to rewatch it.

Jesus Christ Superstar.

2011-03-04T23:57:06Z

Apparently I am auditioning for Jesus Christ Superstar tomorrow afternoon.

What? I don't know how this happened but.. cool.

Now I have to pick a song. Aiya.

Books for February.

2011-03-02T01:14:00Z

I've been reading so many multi-volume, epic Chinese works lately I think I have to revise my goal to 100 volumes rather than books, because these are so hefty I doubt I'll ever get to 100 in book count alone. This month, there weren't that many new reads, because I swear, Return of the Condor Heroes is so much longer than I remember it being. It truly is an epic tale. Epic epic epic. 2077 pages of epic.

Read	Title	Author	Pages	Series	New
2/2	Return of the Condor Heroes v. 1	Jin Yong	-	Condor Trilogy (2/3)
2/3	Return of the Condor Heroes v. 2	Jin Yong	-	-
2/4	Return of the Condor Heroes v. 3	Jin Yong	-	-
2/5	Return of the Condor Heroes v. 4	Jin Yong	2077	-
2/6	Water Wars, The	Cameron Stratcher	256		New
2/17	Will of the Empress, The	Tamora Pierce	506	Circle Reforged (1/?)
2/20	Lost Gate, The	Orson Scott Card	384	Mithermages (1/?)	New
2/28	Magic Steps	Tamora Pierce	272	Circle Opens (1/4)
	Total Page Count Month	3495		Total Page Count Year:	6524

I'm doing pretty well. I read more this month than last year, even though I don't feel like it because the Jin Yong is one really, really, really long book.

The Return of the Condor Heroes by Jin Yong was as epic as ever. It really is a beautiful, beautiful love song of a book. It's a love song to Song dynasty patriotism, to modern thought and ethics, to true love and monogamy (lol), to mutual respect, and most of all to lots of really cool kung fu. Yeah. There's no losing here. As fantastic as ever (10/10).

The Water Wars by Cameron Stratcher was pretty expected and typical young adult dystopia-centric fare. Stratcher did a really good job of making me feel thirsty the whole book and I had to keep a big jug of water with me at all times, it was that awful. By awful I mean awesome. But the plot was very loose and I think I can compare the writing style to I Am Number Four---not great, but totally readable and pretty fun. (3/5)

The Will of the Empress and Magic Steps, both by Tamora Pierce, are both from the Circle universe and both Sandry-centric. While she is not my favorite of the four (Briar is), she's definitely #2, and I love reading about her, and especially about her sister-brother relationship to Briar. I don't know, I am a sucker for that kind of thing. Magic Steps didn't have any of that in it, but hey it was fun. I don't feel like I have anything new to say about Tamora Pierce so I will leave it at that. (4/5 and 3/5)

The Lost Gate is yet another new adventure series by Orson Scott Card, called the Mithermages. I know this one was like, 30 years in coming or something, but seriously it just reads like Pathfinder to me, and Pathfinder was so much better. However, the world building was as always, superb and fantastic. Card really has that down. The magic system was fascinating but got a bit too technical and got in the way of the narrative sometimes, but I still really enjoyed a read. I stayed up until 7 AM reading it. (4/5)

And OMG, that's it for this month! See, not many books, but lots and lots of volumes.

Last month I said I'd finish the Amanda Hocking trilogy that ends with Ascend, but I haven't been able to get past like the first 15% of it. Maybe I'll get to it in March. I did pretty well with my to-read list this month other than that, finishing The Lost Gate as well as a few Tamora Pierce books I'd been intending to reread just for a light, fun read. I haven't gotten my hands on a copy of Haven by Kristi Cook (a new book released in February) yet, but I'll get to it eventually... when I feel like paying for it. What that means for March:

Coming up for March 2011:

I've already begun a monstrous 4-volume title called The Emperor Kangxi. After watching the Chinese drama, Palace (2011), I really, really was in the mood for early Qing novels, so here we go. The Emperor Kangxi is the first of a trilogy (!!!). I probably (!!!) won't be reading it all at once, but if I do I swear that is all I will read for the month of March. I'm going to try to spread it out though.

I'm going to try to get to Haven by Kristi Cook, and there are also a few new YA releases I am interested in, one called Wither by Lauren DeStefano, and one about the 12 princesses fairytale called Entwined that I am very very excited about.

I have my hands also on a Chinese translation of Norwegian Wood by Murakami whatever-his-first-name-is, and I know lachraine has been telling me to read this basically forever (read: since high school, probably). I have had a dead tree copy of this for ages, but never got around to it. I have a Kindle version of it now though, so perhaps I'll actually get to it. Sigh.

Amazon broke Shelfari.

2011-02-02T22:45:17Z

Broken new feature is broken. I am officially mad. They "imported" all of my book purchases wrong so now I have 2 of everything, and I can't seem to find the new purchase edition in Shelfari so I can't combine the multiple editions of the same work like a good cataloger should. BOO. This is driving me crazy. book OCD much?

Books for January.

2011-01-31T23:32:33Z

I've been totally on my game with my reading. My goal is 100 books of an average of 350 pages each, which means I have to read 8 and 1/3 books a month and about 2917 pages a month. This month I kicked ass and met my goals for both. I am so inspired by kiwiria 's amazing monthly postings of her amazing reading list, so here I am with my own offerings for this month.

Read	Title	Author	Pages	Series	New
1/6	Anne of the Island	L. M. Montgomery	243	Anne of Green Gables (3/9)
1/11	Across the Universe	Beth Revis	416	Across the Universe (1/3)	New
1/14	Anne's House of Dreams	L. M. Montgomery	346	Anne of Green Gables (5/9)
1/15	The Blythes Are Quoted	L. M. Montgomery	544	Anne of Green Gables (9/9)	New
1/17	Stephen Fry in America	Stephen Fry	320		New
1/20	Heart of the Matter	Emily Giffin	384	Something Borrowed (3/3)	New
1/24	I Am Number Four	Pittacus Lore	440	Lorien Legacies (1/?)	New
1/28	The False Princess	Eilis O'Neal	336		New
	Total Page Count		3029

I have to say, I'm pretty glad most of these were new books. I've been trying to reread new books and reread a bit less. Maybe I should set my goal to be 70% new books? So that would be 70 new books this year! Anyway, on to the books themselves:

Anne of the Island and Anne's House of Dreams by L.M. Montgomery

Obviously a reread for me. These are some of my favorite comfort books. When I was in college and high school, "Island" was my favorite of the series, but as I grow a little bit older and more mature, I find "House of Dreams" to be eclipsing "Island" altogether. I think I am growing up with Anne!

The Blythes are Quoted by L.M. Montgomery

Recently published and every bit worth the read. It's a collection of various short stories and poems that Montgomery had previously published that she edited to include mentions of the Blythes. The poems, attributed to Anne and Walter, and Blythe family reactions to them are worth the ticket price alone. It's fantastic to see names like Rilla Ford and Faith Blythe being tossed about. I love the reliability of ships in this series.

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

I really did enjoy this book. It's not the most well written, and I thought it could've used a little more substance and a little less self-absorption on the part of the main character/narrator Amy. All in all though it is a dystopian sci-fi mystery, which is a fun genre very worth reading. I see on the Shelfari page that it is part of a trilogy, and I can say with confidence that I will be picking up the rest. Even though it was not perfect, this was a wonderful debut by Beth Revis. I look forward to more books by her in the future. Hopefully she'll improve and Penguin's editors will step it up and make her cut some of those long rambling passages and include more substance.

I hope the other covers are as fantastic as the first. The cover to this book was one of my favorite book covers in a very very long time.

Stephen Fry in America by Stephen Fry

I enjoyed Fry's sardonic British voice and narration over his little road trip all across America. However, the constraints of a single-volume book meant that he had to kind of skim over all of the states, only giving a brief, cursory look at each state. I am also bitter he skipped Los Angeles because everyone already knows about it or something. Bah! However, it's a book well worth reading for a fresh, foreign look at American travel and tourism.

The Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin

I won't lie. I love Emily Giffin. I loved Something Borrowed and Something Blue, which are among my favorite guilty pleasure fun reads. I was ambivalent about Baby Proof, and I hated Love the One You're With, because it is written in the voice of a wife who wants to cheat. I never even finished it. Surprisingly, for another book about a similar/same subject, I really enjoyed The Heart of the Matter. I am also happy about the cameos of Dex and Rachel in the book, as Dex is the brother of one of the female leads, Tessa. Love it!

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

I totally fell for the mass marketing of this book/movie franchise and gave in to the hype. This book gets a lot of crap for being unoriginal and without substance but I loved it. So sue me. It was fun, it was quick, it was flashy, and had a lot of fun elements in it. I'm a sucker for Superman/X-Men type books and this was both. What can I say? I'm going to a movie screening of this thing tomorrow and I cannot be more excited for a stupid Michael Bay film. Which is to say, I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would, and I know exactly what to expect from the movie, and am unapologetic about it.

The False Princess by Eilis O'Neal

Another YA debut for 2011. Another book enjoyed. Though this book was also not perfect, it featured well-rounded characters, mystery, action, and plenty of magic (but never enough for me!). The mythology of the magic was a little fuzzy and I wish that had been expounded upon, but it's not a super huge deal and I can totally live with it. Again, not a perfect book but definitely on par with some of the less awesome Tamora Pierce books, which makes it completely worth reading.

Coming up for February 2011:

For this coming month I'm planning to finish the terrible Amanda Hocking troll series with the last book in the trilogy, Ascend. I'm not particularly looking forward to it, but hey, when you have a series to finish you have a series to finish. I think there are also a few Tamora Pierce books on the horizon, as well as a new Orson Scott Card fantasy YA novel called The Lost Gate. I wish Card would stop writing all these new series and just get on with it in the Pathfinder series, because damn, I loved that book and really want more.
On the subject of new authors, there's also Haven by Kristi Cook, which should be interesting to say the least.

As for the rest, I'll let my fancy take me where they will.

9 YA novel debuts to look out for, 2011.

2010-12-07T02:03:16Z

Edited on January 23rd to add a book, The Lost Voices, and to give my thoughts on the first book, Across the Universe.

I've compiled a list of debut YA novels I am really looking forward to in the coming year, and I am including it here for your perusal. These are all books from brand new authors and I'm choosing them based on cover and synopsis. The less stupid they sound and the prettier they look, the better. Yes, I'm superficial. Sue me.

These are organized in release date order. I've included publisher blurbs above my comments so you can get an idea of what the books will be about, in addition to rating each by my level of anticipation out of 10. Enjoy!

Across the Universe
by Beth Revis
Published January 11th 2011

A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder.

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone--one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship--tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.
Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

Aimee's comments: Yes, yes, it's yet another YA dystopia science fiction. What can I say, I am looking forward to it. I've been hearing a lot of buzz about this book, similar to the buzz that was going on for Matched (Ally Condie) when it came out. There's a kick-ass first chapter posted by Penguin over at Amazon, found here (right click-save if it doesn't work in-browser for you!). It's really a fantastic, gripping introductory chapter, so I'm really looking forward to this work. 10/10 anticipation.

The results: Turned out pretty good. Definitely readable, gripping plot, all that. Cheesy romance though. 8/10.

The False Princess
by Eilis O'Neal
Published January 25th 2011

Princess and heir to the throne of Thorvaldor, Nalia's led a privileged life at court. But everything changes when it's revealed, just after her sixteenth birthday, that she is a false princess, a stand-in for the real Nalia, who has been hidden away for her protection. Cast out with little more than the clothes on her back, the girl now called Sinda must leave behind the city of Vivaskari, her best friend, Keirnan, and the only life she's ever known.

Sinda is sent to live with her only surviving relative, an aunt who is a dyer in a distant village. She is a cold, scornful woman with little patience for her newfound niece, and Sinda proves inept at even the simplest tasks. But when Sinda discovers that magic runs through her veins - long-suppressed, dangerous magic that she must learn to control - she realizes that she can never learn to be a simple village girl.

Returning to Vivaskari for answers, Sinda finds her purpose as a wizard scribe, rediscovers the boy who saw her all along, and uncovers a secret that could change the course of Thorvaldor's history, forever.

Aimee's comments: OK, look. I'm a sucker for this type of fairytale-ish story with you know, a misunderstood heroine and a self-discovery journey. This seems like a reverse version of the Goose Girl (Shannon Hale), and if it even comes close to that comparison, it'll be a good one. 8/10 anticipation.

Haven
by Kristi Cook
Published February 22nd 2011

One month into her junior year, sixteen-year-old Violet McKenna transfers to the Winterhaven School in New York’s Hudson Valley, inexplicably drawn to the boarding school with high hopes. Leaving Atlanta behind, she’s looking forward to a fresh start--a new school, and new classmates who will not know her deepest, darkest secret, the one she’s tried to hide all her life: strange, foreboding visions of the future.

But Winterhaven has secrets of its own, secrets that run far deeper than Violet’s. Everyone there--every student, every teacher--has psychic abilities, 'gifts and talents,' they like to call them. Once the initial shock of discovery wears off, Violet realizes that the school is a safe haven for people like her. Soon, Violet has a new circle of friends, a new life, and maybe even a boyfriend--Aidan Gray, perhaps the smartest, hottest guy at Winterhaven.

Only there’s more to Aidan than meets the eye--much, much more. And once she learns the horrible truth, there’s no turning back from her destiny. Their destiny. Together, Violet and Aidan must face a common enemy--if only they can do so without destroying each other first.

Aimee's comments: A female Harry Potter? I don't know. I'm just making random comments. I really like the word "haven," and the concept of this sounds interesting enough. The line about the "hottest guy" being someone named Aidan Gray (puh-leaze *eyeroll*) is gag-worthy, but at least it seems like it'll be an interesting read. 6/10 Anticipation.

Wither (Chemical Garden #1)
by Lauren DeStefano
Published March 22nd 2011

What if you knew exactly when you would die?

Thanks to modern science, every human being has become a ticking genetic time bomb—males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out.

When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden's genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape—to find her twin brother and go home.

But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden's eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant Rhine is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limited time she has left.

Aimee's comments: OK, look. Despite the craptastically designed and edited cover, this actually sounds like a fantastic premise. It's a common scientific idea that biology determines social patterns.. so what happens when human lifespan is dropped to 25 years old? It's an idea that was expertly explored in Never Let Me Go (Kazuo Ishiguro), albeit rather heavy-handedly done. I look forward to reading a lighter, YA take on this. 8/10 Anticipation.

Entwined
by Heather Dixon

Published March 29th 2011

Azalea is trapped. Just when she should feel that everything is before her . . . beautiful gowns, dashing suitors, balls filled with dancing . . . it's taken away. All of it.

The Keeper understands. He's trapped, too, held for centuries within the walls of the palace. And so he extends an invitation. Every night, Azalea and her eleven sisters may step through the enchanted passage in their room to dance in his silver forest.

But there is a cost.

The Keeper likes to keep things.

Azalea may not realize how tangled she is in his web until it is too late.

Aimee's comments: Yessss. I am actually fantastically excited for this. The story of the twelve dancing princesses was my favorite fairytale as a child, and I'm always more than willing to read fairytale retellings. I've read a million Cinderella retellings and I'm not yet sick of them. Bring it on! 10/10 anticipation.

Divergent
by Veronica Roth
Published May 3rd 2011

One choice

One choice decides your friends, defines your beliefs, and determines your loyalties . . . forever.

Or, one choice can transform you.

In Veronica Roth's debut novel, Divergent, a perfect society unfolds into a dystopian world of electrifying decisions, stunning consequences, heartbreaking betrayals, and unexpected romance.

Aimee's comments: OK, so the publisher's description is not that descriptive, but it's dystopian fiction and it focuses on personal choice (a favorite motif of mine in literature), it's got intrigue, it's got betrayal.... and it has a cool cover. Sold. 8/10 anticipation.

Lost Voices
by Sarah Porter
Published July 4th, 2011

What happens to the girls nobody sees—the ones who are ignored, mistreated, hidden away? The girls nobody hears when they cry for help?

Fourteen-year-old Luce is one of those lost girls. After her father vanishes in a storm at sea, she is stuck in a grim, gray Alaskan fishing village with her alcoholic uncle. When her uncle crosses an unspeakable line, Luce reaches the depths of despair. Abandoned on the cliffs near her home, she expects to die when she tumbles to the icy, churning waves below. Instead, she undergoes an astonishing transformation and becomes a mermaid.

A tribe of mermaids finds Luce and welcomes her in—all of them, like her, lost girls who surrendered their humanity in the darkest moments of their lives. The mermaids are beautiful, free, and ageless, and Luce is thrilled with her new life until she discovers the catch: they feel an uncontrollable desire to drown seafarers, using their enchanted voices to lure ships into the rocks.

Luce’s own talent at singing captures the attention of the tribe’s queen, the fierce and elegant Catarina, and Luce soon finds herself pressured to join in committing mass murder. Luce’s struggle to retain her inner humanity puts her at odds with her friends; even worse, Catarina seems to regard Luce as a potential rival. But the appearance of a devious new mermaid brings a real threat to Catarina’s leadership and endangers the very existence of the tribe. Can Luce find the courage to challenge the newcomer, even at the risk of becoming rejected and alone once again?

Lost Voices is a captivating and wildly original tale about finding a voice, the healing power of friendship, and the strength it takes to forgive.

Aimee's comments: This sounds either awesome or terrible. Fantastic concept though. 8/10 anticipation.

Luminous
by Dawn Metcalf
Published July 7th 2011

When sixteen-year-old Consuela discovers she can remove her skin, revealing a lustrous mother-of-pearl skeleton, she slips into a parallel world known as the Flow, a place inhabited by archetypal teens with extraordinary abilities.

Crafting skins out of anything – air, water, feathers, fire – she is compelled to save ordinary people from dying before their time.

Yet now someone is murdering them, one by one, and Consuela finds herself the focus of an intricate plot to end the Flow forever when all she really wants is to get back home, alive.

Aimee's comments: Look. It's got a pretty cover. It focuses on interesting image issues. And there's a murder mystery thrown in, as well as Special Magical Powers. I'm going to give this at least a try even though the description is pretty mediocre. 6/10 anticipation.

Starstruck
by Cyn Balog
Published July 12th 2011

When Gwendolyn “Dough” Reilly’s boyfriend and best friend Wish moves away in seventh grade, the only consolation she can find is in her family bakery’s donuts. Now, it’s sophomore year, and Wish is coming back.

But in only three years, they’ve both changed—drastically. She’s seriously overweight, and suddenly Wish is the most popular guy in school, and girls everywhere want him.

Dough has doubts that appearances don’t matter and that Wish can love her as she is, so she launches into a plan designed to keep them together. That is, until she discovers that Wish’s gorgeous looks and charm might not be all they appear to be.

Aimee's comments: I'm not really interested in what some consider "issue books" (ie. books dealing with rape, body weight, etc etc), and nor am I interested in paranormal romance (which this book has also been categorized under by many), but I confess that the combination of the two makes this an interesting one and it's definitely on my radar. 7/10 anticipation.

Wildefire
by Karsten Knight
Published July 26th 2011

Ashline Wilde never received an instruction manual on how to be a 16-year-old Polynesian volcano goddess. If she had, it might have contained helpful warnings such as:

• Dreaming about your (thankfully) mortal boyfriend may cause your bed to spontaneously combust
• Oven mitts should be worn at all times during heavy make-out sessions

Instead, Ash has to learn these life lessons the hard way as her dormant powers erupt at the most awkward times. In the wake of a hometown tragedy, Ash transfers to Blackwood Academy, a boarding school nestled in California’s redwoods, where a group of fellow gods-on-earth have mysteriously convened. As if sophomore year couldn’t get any worse, her storm goddess older sister, the wild and unpredictable Eve, resurfaces to haunt Ashline. With a war between the gods looming over Blackwood, Ash must master the fire smoldering within her before she clashes with her sister one final time, which leads us to life-lesson #3:

• When warm and cold fronts collide, there’s guaranteed to be a storm.

Aimee's comments: Take note, publishers. This is how you write a publisher's blurb. If the book is anything like the blurb, it promises to be a hilarious, refreshing read. I'm definitely looking forward to it very much. This blurb is so fantastic I don't feel like there's anything else to be said about the book! 9/10 anticipation!

OH AND ALSO:

2010-11-14T08:37:57Z

Just because I'm that excited about meeting him, I'm posting the pic again. But now with a video of "Teenage Dream" live! YAYY.

In this song... he said he was going to sing an unspecified Disney song... and when he actually opened his mouth to sing.. an audible swoon/sigh swept across the room. I confess I was one of the sighers. *_*

AHHHH

2010-11-14T06:25:06Z

I SAW DARREN CRISS, BITCHES.

HE SIDE-HUGGED ME AND WE TOOK A PICTURE.

AND HE IS REALLY NICE.

Book talk.

2010-10-28T05:40:38Z

Amazing. Beautiful. Best book I've read since Catching Fire. Possibly better. GO READ IT.

My top 10 YA reads.

2010-09-23T06:37:38Z

I read a ton of YA books. I aspire to be a YA librarian. Thus, I have a list of my top 10 YA reads.

The third book was my favorite when I was in college and younger. As I grew older, Anne's House of Dreams and all its heartbrokenness eventually won me over as my favorite, but when I was Anne's age in Anne of the Island, it echoed my own dreams and hopes so closely that it'll always have a special place in my heart. Gilbert Blythe remains my most ideal man in literature, even over Mr. Darcy.

Clever, short, easy, but ultimately heart-warming, this is the perfect fairy tale adaptation. A wonderful Cinderella story, it has a spunky female lead and a great love story that spawns from true friendship.

The first and best book in a little known series, Secret Sacrament is a serious story about destiny and free will as well as magic. It features a male protagonist, who, unusually, relies on his goodness and doing the right thing to achieve revolution. Instead of destroying, he heals.

One of the most classic coming of age stories, Tuck Everlasting tugs at the heartstrings while asking questions that have everything to do with life and eternity.

Garth Nix's Abhorsen trilogy is arguably one of the most well-written, well thought out epic fantasy series for young adults ever. The plotting is amazing and the premise is also something original and wonderful. It has a great strong female lead, but it's definitely written by a man and enjoyed by both genders. It's one of the few fantasy series that is able to cross gender boundaries and be enjoyed by both genders equally.

The best of the popular Hunger Games trilogy, Catching Fire is far more thought provoking than either of the other books, by asking important questions about life and liberty in the most well-written of ways. Compared to the straight up page-turning thrill of the first book, and the overly verbose and clogged up story of the last, Catching Fire was the perfect balance of politics for YA and gory thrill.

The Goose Girl is one of my other favorites of a retelling of a fairytale. The Goose Girl itself is based on a lesser-known fairytale, since it has never been made into a Disney movie. However, the story is a wonderful, instructive tale about honesty, about love, about friendship and trust. It also features a strong, kind, and good-hearted heroine that is a good female role model.

How can I make a YA reading list without the game-changing Harry Potter? This series shaped mine and many others' reading experiences in school, and because of Harry Potter, a new generation of obsessive readers going to midnight releases was born. Books like the Hunger Games and Twilight owe everything to Harry Potter for rejuvenating the genre. It's not the best literature or story in the world, but it was engaging and draws you in whether you like it or not, and it has some wonderful symbolism and ideas in it. I mulled for a while about which one to choose, but #6 came out the clear winner for me. It was one of my least favorites upon first reading, but after the Deathly Hallows was released, I went back to this book and fell in love with it. Despite my life-long antagonist feelings against Harry/Ginny, I loved this book. It set up all the clues for the next and final book, and hurtles along to a breathtaking conclusion.

This is a recent discovery but no less classic. A classic, epic tale with space ships and violence, ethics and moral choices, and children struggling with it all, this is a book that made me feel deeply, deeply uncomfortable in the most wonderful of ways.

You know, when most people write about Narnia, the favorite book tends to be the first 3 published--The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, or the Voyage of Dawn Treader. My dad's favorite is the Last Battle for the religious imagery, but my favorite is the Horse and His Boy. Ultimately this is an adventure story, with a healthy dose of redemption, of love, of comradeship, and a coming of age story. This, to me, was the most deliberate and obvious coming of age story in the whole series, and it really defines the tone of the last few published books in the series.

Mockingjay--initial thoughts.

2010-08-24T11:38:44Z

SPOILERS AHOY. Mostly of the romantic and who-died and political sort.

First, the ending: So... I'm really not all that upset about the Mockingjay ending. I mean, the way it came about was so cheap and pot-shot that I honestly just stopped caring. She never chose a man. President Coin chose the man for her indirectly, by using the bombs that Gale designed to kill Katniss's sister, Prim. This is such irresponsible writing--taking all responsibility of a choice from the main character and dictating the circumstances. It's just as bad as Twilight's "I must love Edward.. there's nothing else.. I don't know why I love him I just do."

Had she actually chosen one or the other responsibly, I could've lived with the Peeta choice.. even like it (as I did the Harry Potter ending, despite having wanted Harry/Hermione all the way). I could have enjoyed the choice she made. But she never chose. Up to the last word of the book I was still waiting for her to decide which she loves the most.. but she never does.

Katniss is never held responsible for her actions--not in a negative way. Her actions directly causes the death of thousands but it doesn't affect her much. In the end her romantic choices were a non-choice, and she is not held responsible for that. When Peeta and Gale had their buddy buddy discussion on how Katniss will just have to suck it up and choose between them, hope arose in my heart that for once Katniss will step up and choose rather than let circumstances dictate her life and going with the flow. I don't believe you can be really happy with a man you did not choose, when you had no other choice. I don't believe you can just end up with someone like that and never wonder if you could have loved another---if you waited, could you have met another? This is settling for second best, in any regime.

I hate Katniss even more and more... I was never a huge fan of her from the start, but this book really cinched it for me. I hate Katniss.

She wishy washy-ed until someone chose for her, and then she doesn't even question it. Is it really healthy to decide who you're going to marry and love for the rest of your life based on something so nonsensical and unrelated to your actual relationship with that person? It's not like he actually killed her sister. In a way she is just as responsible for Prim's death--she knew this when she chose to rebel against the Capitol in the first place, when she chose not to run away when Gale was whipped... she knew the full consequences of seeking out a rebellion. She knew she risked her family to save families of future generations.

For that matter... once this was all decided, she didn't care of Gale lived or died! In fact, all of these things were circumstantial--if Gale had needed her more, had been hurting more, he said it himself... she only kisses him when he's in pain. If he was the one who was capture by the Capitol and Peeta had gotten away with her to District 13, then Gale would've been the one she loved.

That's no way to start a healthy relationship.

On the other hand Peeta fawns over Katniss unconditionally and self-sacrificially in a disturbingly, alarmingly Bella Swan way, so they pretty much deserve each other. Gale was always the one with vision. Even though I was disturbed at some of his acts of war in this book, at least he had the balls to stand up and do something. Katniss and Peeta are always so damn passive. Gale was the one who did something and made something of his life, whereas Katniss.. what does Katniss do again? Does she even have a job? Or does Peeta's baking support her? Can Peeta even do anything worthwhile other than bake? I don't think so.

Also, I was disturbed at the cavalier way the political plot was treated at the end. The end is all good and well but do you seriously expect me to believe that two people like Peeta and Katniss, who supposedly gave their lives and more to fight for ideology and for a new government would just walk away to la-la-land as long as they had each other, and stop caring about what happens in the Capitol? Does no one other than Gale give a shit what's going on in the new government?! How can Katniss leave her mother in such a cavalier way without so much as inquiring if she'll ever live near her mother again? When her mother is in such a time of need as Prim just passed away?

I understand we have a page count limit here, but Katniss came off as such an unsympathetic character in this book. She didn't seem to give a damn Cinna is dead. Effie was a rebel all along and no one gives a damn. Finnick, arguably the biggest male character other than the main two men, dies & Katniss barely spares a thought for him before she's back to trying to decide between Gale and Peeta. Gale. Peeta. Gale. Peeta. Gale. Peeta. Does anyone actually think like this?

Little shameless hussy doesn't know how good she's got it, having two men who love her as much as they do. She doesn't deserve to be so well loved, but then I hate Peeta too so it all evens out in the end.

In the end, basically the writing was plot-driven rather than character-driven. She had to end up with Peeta so everything was set up so she would. Had Peeta and Gale been switched the results would've been switched. It has nothing to do with who Peeta is or who Gale is... I definitely feel like she doesn't love Peeta for who he is but rather for what they went through and what happened to them. I don't think I like this reason very much.

Other than the way the non-romantic ending was handled (seriously, how unromantic is this?) and the way the political plot screeched to an endingless halt, I liked the book. It was gripping, it kept me thinking, and it asked good questions about right and wrong in a war and what wartime means to the human psyche. However, the writing quality was significantly lower than in Catching Fire, which is now officially my favorite of the trilogy.

Basically I liked it up until the last 30 pages or so. The political plot was so good but the way no one in the story seems to care what actually happens to the government (again, other than Gale it seems, who has a government job) they supposedly worked so hard to create.... it stresses me out. So they had an emergency election and elected a military leader as their president. What now? Are we in a state of martial law? Or does representative democracy kick in right away? For that matter how will representative democracy work? Are there checks and balances? Because God knows their government needs it.

The inquiring reader wants to know. However, we'll probably never find out.

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2010-08-18T11:13:24Z

OK GUYS PLEASE PAY ATTENTION. I NEED YOUR HELP. I've been in a singing competition and I was eliminated BUT I can be, uh, un-eliminated if you help me with your emails!

Copy&paste time:

Voting is now up a ETTVAmerica's website. Please vote for me! You must register, confirm email, and then you have 5 votes a day until 8/22. If you're too lazy to vote 5 times a day, please forward confirmation email to cerisu@gmail.com, as Sherry has kindly offered to do it FOR you. There's NO EXCUSE to be lazy now since Sherry is so proactive to help! Please help me make it to semifinals!

Says Sherry:

Or, if people want to be even lazier, they can just provide me with e-mails, I will REGISTER FOR THEM and they can just forward the confirmation to me. DO IT peoplez. It's, like, 20 seconds for AIMEE. -- and she'll understand if you want to support her, but don't want to suffer all the clicking. Just let me help you help her!

<3<3<3 5 votes a day per email!

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2010-07-16T03:01:45Z

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not the place for sanity at all, is it?

Re: cancer, and My San Francisco Trip & Its Consequences.

TV show meme.

Life, unexpected.

Book meme, because I don't waste enough time.

Really sad songs in Chinese.

雨下一整晚

Angela Aki "Your Love Song" cover

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I cannot handle this.

PAPER IS DONE

A draft of a portion of my Anne of Green Gables research paper.

LA la la.

Jesus Christ Superstar.

Books for February.

Amazon broke Shelfari.

Books for January.

9 YA novel debuts to look out for, 2011.

OH AND ALSO:

AHHHH

Book talk.

My top 10 YA reads.

Mockingjay--initial thoughts.

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