Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Banned Books Week (September 21-27)

BannedBooksWeek.org

Banned Books Week has officially come to close, but I've spent some time reading through the website and seeing which books have made the list in recent years. Why were they challenged? What makes them so terrible that they must be censored?

Here's A Few:

1. The Hunger Games
2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower
3. The Glass Castle
4. The Captain Underpants Series
5. The Catcher in the Rye
6. The Harry Potter Series

.......... I mean the list goes on and on! Now I don't know about you guys but some of the books that make the cut on this list were some of my favorite books from childhood and adulthood! They're banned for reasons citing offensive language, sexuality, violence, unsuited to the age group, religious viewpoint, etc.

Now not every book is for every person, not every genre is suited for every reader and that's okay. But this censorship I have simply never understood. I've seen a number of Banned Books lists that include books such as the Bible, Anne Frank's Diary, and so many others that just blew my mind!

So I proudly read Banned Books!

Because I will not let someone that's sensitive dictate my literary choices, or any choices I make.

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Blue Bloods: Gates of Paradise ... The End

Barnes & Noble
Let me just start out by saying that Melissa De La Cruz's Blue Bloods series I have been following since my early high school years! So now that I've finally finished the series I'm left with that usual feeling of sadness. I'm finally done with characters I've been following for years, the story is complete and it's time to move on to something else.

That being said, the sadness I felt was not as profound as other series I've been following for years. I mean I was following Ally Carter's Gallagher Girls series for almost the same amount of time and yet I felt a deeper sadness over the graduation of Cammie & Co. than I did for the Blue Bloods that finally found salvation. 

Unfortunately I know exactly why my sadness is not as profound ... a typo on the last page.

Put aside for a moment that writing and being published is what I want to do as my career; I'm a bookworm! I love to read and I've been a reader since I knew what books were. So a typo in a book is like a knife in the heart to me, but on the last page ... it makes me want to hurl said novel at the wall and scream. In those last few moments of being in that world that the author has created I'm ripped, rather abruptly, back to reality and have to think and process what the line is supposed to say rather than what the words on the page actually read.

And truly the most unfortunate part is that I wish I could say this was the only typo I'd found in the entire book, sadly that was not the case. There were several bumps along the road and while those were frustrating enough the last page really just killed it for me.

I don't even place the entire blame solely on the author; I understand that when you are close to a project your brain will automatically correct mistakes without actually correcting them. But there are so many people involved in publishing a book, an agent, an editor, a publisher, proofreaders that for the sheer amount of mistakes I found was astounding! How could just so many typos and mistakes fall through the cracks and make it to the final copy? Especially such a glaring on as the one on the last page!

I finished this book days ago but this still makes me annoyed when I think about it! When this is your job these are the kinds of mistakes I, nor any reader, wants to see. Proofread, double check, edit, revise, give it to someone else to read, anything to prevent these types of mistakes that will pull your reader from whatever it is you have written.

**For the record: We'll almost there.
Three paragraphs remained after this line and made the ending completely unsatisfying because there simply was not enough time left to re-immerse myself into the world again.

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

The Hunger Games Official Facebook
Guys I can't express just how excited I am for the next installment of The Hunger Games! Now at first I will admit I was very much against having Effie as an active character in these installments. However new aspect have come to light that I did not consider at first. That having been said I no longer have the same reservations as I did prior to the trailer release, I am just genuinely excited for this movie!






Is it November yet?

Monday, September 1, 2014

My Fellow Bookworms

So I have now been tagged twice in a post like this one! My pledge sister has asked me Julia & my fellow library nerd Janice to name 10 books that have left a lasting impression on me. At first I thought ONLY 10? How could I ever choose a mere 10? I’ve read probably a few hundred books in my lifetime and I’m being asked to choose 10!

I really did think it was an impossibility it would be too difficult for me to narrow down those hundreds to a handful. But let’s think about this for a moment, shall we? A lasting impression implies that when you think of a place, an object, a person, or even an event there’s something in particular that immediately comes to mind.  My father has always told me that a first impression is a lasting impression. You only get once chance at a first impression so make it count!

Good advice for me as a person and the same can be said for a book. You only get one first impression and that first impression is what I used as my criteria to choose my 10. So here it is, my list of 10 Books that Left a Lasting Impression on my Life.

Charlotte’s Web by, E.B. White
This book will always hold a special place in my heart. That spider and that pig made me hooked on reading. I read my copy so many times the binding is being held together by tape. Thanks to E.B. White I entered a world similar to my own, yet very different. I learned not to judge someone just because they may be different. But thanks to Charlotte and Wilbur I also learned that friends may leave, but the good ones are never forgotten.

The Harry Potter Series by, J.K. Rowling
Okay so this is technically encompassing 7 books, but hey Harry Potter isn’t just a book … it’s a generation. I discovered Harry, Ron and Hermione when I was nine years old and between the 7 books and 8 movies stayed with them until well into my 20s! This entire series will forever be special to me because this trio were my friends when very few others would be.

The Glass Castle by, Jeannette Walls
To anyone that has not read this stunning biography I highly recommend it! This is a story about family and about not being family. It taught me to appreciate what I have because not everyone is so lucky. But even in the worst of times there are ways to make the situation bright and find a silver lining.

Define “Normal” by, Julie Anne Peters
I feel like this title should speak for itself. I saw a post earlier that said; normal is a setting only on the washing machine. “Normal” is not a box that a person can be shoved into to fit.

The Fault in Our Stars by, John Green
This is a newcomer having only read the book at the beginning of this summer but I find this book to be beautiful. I loved everything about it; the story was frank and real. The language was nothing fancy or pretentious. The writing made me feel as if I could be speaking with a friend, listening to their story myself. But mostly because this is a story about life when death is a constant theme.

Out of Sight, Out of Time by, Ally Carter
I love all of Ally Carter’s Gallagher Girls series from the very beginning I have loved Cammie & Co. But this one just stuck with me in a way the others did not. After Cammie’s lost summer looking for the Circle and trying to find answers about her missing father she was returned to a life very different from the one she left behind. I loved this one because once Cammie returned to Gallagher Academy she was seeing life through the eyes of a spy, a real spy, while her friends still had the blinders of school on and try as they might her friends just did not understand.

Styxx by, Sherrilyn Kenyon
There are no words to describe Styxx, but merely just that there are two sides to every story. This addition to Kenyon’s Dark Hunter series blew everything I thought I knew out of the water. Just when I thought I had it all figured out the ever-surprising Sherrilyn Kenyon proved me wrong, there is so much more to learn.

Hush, Hush by, Becca Fitzpatrick
Bad guys sometimes make the best good guys, even if those bad guys are fallen angels.

Nancy Drew Mysteries by, Carolyn Keene
Probably my favorite shelf in St. Aidan Elementary School’s library. I read each of those yellow spined books religiously, over and over again. Nancy was always getting the job done and solving mystery after mystery.
Story of a Girl by, Sara Zarr
“School slut” this is a title I’m sure no girl wants to carry. Deanna however was labeled a slut when she was nothing more than a young, confused child. This is a story of a girl that was taken advantage of and how it affects her in her formative years of growing up. How her past shapes her and her ability to move past it.

I now nominate Melissa Alves, Aine O'Rourke, Meghan Collins, Megan Janczewski & Caroline Fallon, which 10 books have left a lasting impression on your lives?