tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65318040814381302212024-02-22T01:26:04.482-08:00Girl Carbonatedthamerysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10418806649396525313noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6531804081438130221.post-88012768676674113282016-06-30T15:14:00.001-07:002016-06-30T15:14:46.504-07:00<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17340050-losing-hope" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Losing Hope (Hopeless, #2)" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1368348507m/17340050.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17340050-losing-hope">Losing Hope</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5430144.Colleen_Hoover">Colleen Hoover</a><br/><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1674633561">1 of 5 stars</a><br /><br /><br />
I hated this book. I only completed reading it because I did not want to DNF anymore books this year. But I was disappointed to finally come across a Colleen Hoover book that fell into all the cliches and tropes I expected from this genre. Of course, I realize this was one of her earlier books, however, I felt it was still terrible. What was worse is that I spent the first half of June slogging through this.<br><br>I don't think I will be picking up any other Hoover books in the future because of this.<br />
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thamerysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10418806649396525313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6531804081438130221.post-85836003271224029282016-06-30T15:08:00.001-07:002016-06-30T15:08:36.192-07:00<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7815.The_Year_of_Magical_Thinking" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="The Year of Magical Thinking" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327878638m/7815.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7815.The_Year_of_Magical_Thinking">The Year of Magical Thinking</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/238.Joan_Didion">Joan Didion</a><br/><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/714811919">2 of 5 stars</a><br /><br /><br />
This book was not what I expected at all. From the title, I expected it to be about something positive and life-changing. It was about something life-changing alright, but not very positive at all. <br><br>I've come across Joan Didion in literature anthologies over the years. I can't remember precisely what short works I've read by her, just that there have been a few and they left a favorable impression. The reason I picked up this book right now was because I own the book--bought it last summer--and wanted to try and finish reading the books I own instead of going to the library to get more books. <br><br>This book was about grief and mourning and the gaping hole that gets blown into a person's life when a loved one dies. This book was about the effect the death of Didion's husband had on her as well as the struggles she faced after that while her daughter was in critical medical condition.<br><br>The writing was great. I did not have any complaints there. I zipped through a third of the book in the first sitting. <br><br>The structure of this book was very different from what I am used to. I don't exactly have a complaint about it, but it was odd for me. Didion kept circling around the events of the particular day her husband died. Then the story would alternate between her present day and flashbacks to her life with her husband, John. There were also these phrases that kept being repeated throughout the book to emphasize points she was making, but a few them started to confuse me after a while.<br><br>I was upset by this book turning out to be about such a dark topic, when that was not what I had expected at all. But once I got past that, I found this book to be a little uncomfortable to read. I felt as if Didion was writing about her husband's death too soon. I think she was writing about it only months after it happened. She was obviously still in immense pain about it. This felt too personal and I felt like I was intruding on something very private. In fact, this makes think of something Didion says in the book: that grief is not something the western world is very comfortable with. That public displays of grief are frowned upon and it is considered to be a private affair altogether. People are commended on hiding their anguish. I guess that shows how honest this memoir was. It was very raw and searching and reminded me of what I write like when I write journal entries about something difficult or emotional I experienced. Reading this felt like looking over Didion's shoulder while she was trying to work through the most difficult thing she had experienced so far. <br><br>I did enjoy the flashbacks about Didion's life with her husband very much. I would love to read a book about her marriage to John, because from this memoir, it seemed they had a very interesting dynamic and a very loving marriage. They were both writers and they both worked from home. There is a part of this memoir where Didion discusses how horrified one of her aunts was that she and John spent so much of their day together. I enjoy the idea of married people who share the same profession and can even work closely together on a daily basis. I'm not sure I would be cut out for that, but it's very interesting to observe, since it seems difficult to accomplish. Didion and her husband seem to have had a very special connection that I would have loved to read more about.<br><br>This quote resonated with me, even though I have not had the experience of losing a loved one, but I could imagine how this might be true. “I could not count the times during the average day when something would come up that I needed to tell him. This impulse did not end with his death. What ended was the possibility of response.” <br><br>I guess I just wasn't in the mood to read about a topic as heavy as grief and this diminished my appreciation of this book. I picked a bad time for reading it. I basically just plucked it out of my closet, thinking, hm, I should read this since I own it, and without reading the summary, just dove into it. Also, I have not lost a loved one except as a very young child, which I don't think counts because at that age, I was not even cognizant of the concept of death. <br><br>I think it is a little funny how I feel that I was not ready to read about death, because death itself never waits until we are ready for it. The quote that gets repeated quite a bit in this, illustrates that very well: "Life changes fast. Life changes in the instant. You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends."<br><br><br />
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thamerysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10418806649396525313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6531804081438130221.post-71164998144718806142016-06-30T13:12:00.001-07:002016-06-30T13:12:25.491-07:00<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/890.Of_Mice_and_Men" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Of Mice and Men" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1437235233m/890.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/890.Of_Mice_and_Men">Of Mice and Men</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/585.John_Steinbeck">John Steinbeck</a><br/><br />
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My favorite thing about this book was how delightfully short it was! Short, but packed with so much, which in my opinion is the mark of a great storyteller. I can't remember the last time I read anything under 200 pages, which is such a shame! Alright, new resolution: read shorter books from now on!<br><br>I never had to read this book for school or anything like that, so going into it, all I knew was that it was a book typically assigned as required reading. I didn't know anything about the plot or themes or any of that. I had heard of the author, obviously, but had never read anything by him. I picked this up because I had been thinking of the phrase, "The best laid plans of mice and men." I had the experience recently of things I carefully planned and hoped for not coming through and I knew this book was about something along those lines.<br><br>In brief, this story is about two migrant ranch workers, Lennie and George, and takes place during the Great Depression. George and Lennie console themselves with their dream of owning their own ranch someday as they start a job at a new ranch. They are tired of always drifting about the country, doing hard work for other people and not getting to set their own schedule, make their own profit, or have their own place to call home. This is summed up nicely in a quote by George: 'Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place." This story is about loneliness and the different ways people deal with it. <br><br>Right off the bat, the relationship between Lennie and George was so sweet and I really enjoyed their dynamic. Lennie is this great giant of a man who suffers from mental retardation. He often gets into embarrassing and dangerous scrapes and George is the one who bails him out. What I found very endearing was that George keeps saying to Lennie how he could live such a swell life if only he wasn't saddled with Lennie's problems all the time, but we see that he would not actually abandon Lennie, no matter how bitterly he complains about it when Lennie does things that upset or endanger them.<br><br>When they arrive at their new job, George and Lennie are treated with suspicion because they are a duo instead of loners like other migrant ranch workers. George says, “Ain’t many guys travel around together...I don’t know why. Maybe ever’body in the whole damn world is scared of each other.” The friendship between the two of them is contrasted with the other characters in the book who are each lonely in different ways.<br><br>Curly's Wife is the only woman on the entire ranch and she is always hanging around the workers, trying to strike up a conversation with them despite their discomfort with this since her husband is a jealous and possessive man. Curly's Wife infuriated me, first off, because she doesn't even have a name other than Curly's Wife. Of course, this was to show how she is considered a possession by the despicable Curly. I hated her and felt sorry for her at the same time.<br><br>There's Candy, who is not only lonely because he has no one to care about him, but also worried about being discarded because of how old he is. One of the saddest scenes in the book involves his dog, a creature almost as ancient as Candy himself, who is the only family he has had for years.<br><br>The loneliest character in this story would have to be Crooks, a black worker on the ranch. This quote by him just broke my heart: "S'pose you didn't have nobody. S'pose you couldn't go into the bunk house and play rummy 'cause you was black. How'd you like that? S'pose you had to sit out here an' read books. Sure you could play horseshoes till it got dark, but then you got to read books. Books ain't no good. A guy needs somebody-to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you. I tell ya, I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick" <br><br>The conclusion to the story was tragic. I can't really go into without spoiling. In fact, because this story is so short, I made sure not to read any kinds of reviews at all before I experienced it. I'm glad I did that. And I'm glad I read this. <br><br>I enjoyed the way the characters complemented the theme of the story. I enjoyed the speculation over friendship and how it is so rare in the world. And of course, loneliness is a topic everyone can relate to. <br><br>In all, this was a 5-star read for me. I always love it when a widely acclaimed classic actually gets me in the feels. I worried I would not find this book accessible or interesting, but that was absolutely not the case. The themes are universal and relatable. The characters are interesting and very well-developed. And best of all was the brevity of this book. I know from experience how difficult it is to write something meaningful AND short.<br><br>So yeah, go read this! <br><br><br><br />
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thamerysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10418806649396525313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6531804081438130221.post-90259094200787984302016-06-14T17:19:00.001-07:002016-06-14T17:19:27.434-07:00<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25111004-november-9" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="November 9" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1447138036m/25111004.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25111004-november-9">November 9</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5430144.Colleen_Hoover">Colleen Hoover</a><br/><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1651643766">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br /><br />
Because I recently watched the film, One Day, I love the structure of this book--one day in the life of our characters each year. I felt like that format helped the story keep to a brisk pace. There simply was no room for repetitiveness or dragging in the story.<br><br>The reason I chose to read this book was that I had a few days off from school related stuff and wanted a light zippy romance read to cleanse my palatte. This worked splendidly for that purpose. But at the same time, I enjoyed this book so much more than I imagined I would. Since this is my second Coolleen Hoover book, I was excited to peruse this author further--and not so much to get out of reading slumps anymore.<br><br>What can I say without spoiling? Honestly, just read this book. It has everything. The characters are well developed and differentiated. Their struggles are relatable and engrossing. And the plot twist near the end just hit me out of nowhere. I never expected that. I remember when I was nearing 50 or 60 percent on my Kindle for this story, I wondered why there was so much left. I felt like the resolution was in sight to our characters' problems, but then that curveball!<br><br>I particularly loved the bookish flirting in this. Being a recent Booktuber, tbr piles and reviewing books and all that jazz, I loved all the bookish banter between Fallon and Ben. <br><br>Just read this. You'll thank yourself for it. It's fun, but not as light as you might think. I personally found Fallon's mother's advice about how girls should wait until they are 23 to get serious about romantic relationships and instead focus on accomplishing goals and dreams to be very insightful and realistic. <br><br><br><br><br><br />
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thamerysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10418806649396525313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6531804081438130221.post-46075697943493657482016-06-14T17:03:00.000-07:002016-06-14T17:03:02.511-07:00<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24445517-maybe-someday" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Maybe Someday (Maybe, #1)" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1421002815m/24445517.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24445517-maybe-someday">Maybe Someday</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5430144.Colleen_Hoover">Colleen Hoover</a><br/><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1629806137">3 of 5 stars</a><br /><br /><br />
I was in a reading slump from being in the middle of too many current reads and thus, after watching a Booktube video about New Adult book recommendations, I decided to give this a go. I think I watched another video talking about how reading a light, breezy romance was just the thing to get one out of a reading slump, so I decided to go ahead with one. I specifically picked New Adult because, being a new adult myself, I knew I'd be kept interested in that aspect of the story even if the book ended up disappointing.<br><br>I was so delighted to find that it most certainly DID NOT disappoint. It truly took me by surprise how sweet and fresh this story was--though, I haven't read a whole lot of New Adult or much romance at all in the past few years. <br><br>Sure, there were a lot of cliches, but going into a romance novel, one is prepared for that. What I enjoyed about this book was the fact that the characters were all so wonderfully three dimensional and very differentiated from each other. The story was not repetitive at all--which, for me, is the fatal flaw of romance novels--and it was only the last third that felt a bit stretched out.<br><br>Deafness is not something I've ever read about in fiction, and especially didn't expect to encounter it in a romance novel. But Ridge's deafness was what made his character stand out and take on so much personality. I personally squeed at their having to text each other to communicate even while in the same room, because of Ridge being deaf. I'm something of a texting addict of late and I just enjoyed that little quirk of this story.<br><br>The other characters were very fun and each had little eccentricities that made them stand out. Warren cracked me up quite a bit. Maggie was the only one of the main characters I didn't really like all that much, but that could be for obvious reasons.<br><br>The music theme was also very lovely for me. Although, I felt the songs themselves weren't that awesome, I knew that wasn't the point.<br><br>The writing was quite decent in this. There were no atrocious romance novelish phrases and descriptions. It didn't wow, but definitely worked for the purpose of the story. Simple, light, fun.<br><br>In all, I don't regret reading this. As for whether it pulled me out of my reading slump--well, it was the first and only book I FINISHED reading in April, so I would say yes, it did. <br><br><br />
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thamerysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10418806649396525313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6531804081438130221.post-22309668593555403892016-03-09T20:48:00.001-08:002016-03-09T20:54:27.378-08:00<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18007564-the-martian" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="The Martian" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1413706054m/18007564.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18007564-the-martian">The Martian</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6540057.Andy_Weir">Andy Weir</a><br/><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1561705472">2 of 5 stars</a><br /><br /><br />
Oh, thank God I finally finished this book! I put this on my tbr, back in October, when a favorite youtuber of mine, clothesencounters, described what it was about and how much she loved this. Then my sister read it and raved about it. Well, I finally got my own hands on it.<br><br> My first reaction to the book was shock at the overly simplistic writing style. And the cussing threw me as well. As the story progressed however, I got used to it and just realized that was Watney's character. The book is written as a log, Watney's journal entries from his incredible experience being the first man stranded on Mars. Thus, I guess it was meant to represent how he would actually write/talk. But right away, this diminished my interest in the book. <br><br>Then came my irritation at how repetitive things got. I mean, the situation of the story is pretty stellar: guy stuck on Mars. Needs to survive. Comes up with cool ways to do so. But I felt that some chapters started off reiterating what was mentioned in previous chapters. <br><br>What I loved about the story was how it was all about problem solving. Watney runs into one problem after another and comes up with creative solutions. Of course, my poor heart didn't like all the suspense! Watney goes through a lot and just can't seem to catch a break! But again the repetitiveness of this grated on my nerves after a while. <br><br>I've heard some people are afraid to dive into this book because it has lots of science. But honestly, all of it is pretty dumbed down so no problems grasping what is going on in the story. I liked all the mad scientist scenes. How he grew those potatoes? I wonder if that's really legit and if it is, that's so cool! I loved telling people about his crazy botany.<br><br>The reason I started this off with a sense of relief at having finished this book is because I really regretted committing to this book because it didn't turn out to be what I'd hoped at all. Everyone I know who's read it said they had moments where they laughed right out loud at how hilarious this book was. Uh, yeah, I didn't experience that. I chuckled at some pretty standard crude jokes and okay, maybe once I laughed at some crazy situation Watney got himself into. My relief is to the fact that I didn't DNF this, because I want this to be the year I finish whatever books I start (haha, I have several in progress books already that are in danger of being DNFed). <br><br>Overall, my experience of this book was that it was the equivalent of an action movie, packed with suspense at certain parts, had lots of redundant scenes, and was just basically a zero calorie ride. Of course, the idea is so cool. Hello, Mars and NASA and big science and stuff. But there was no character depth. There was this cardboard figure called Watney who had a lot of shit happen to him. I don't know what it is with me and reading so much plot-driven stuff this year! All I know is I'm staying away from any more 'popular' books. I also felt a lot of resentment to this book because not finishing it for so long was blocking me from reading other books I really wanted to get to. Yup, this one's out of my hair!<br />
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thamerysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10418806649396525313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6531804081438130221.post-41013092825414449792016-03-05T21:06:00.001-08:002016-06-30T13:32:52.352-07:00<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4780608-the-edge-of-day" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="The Edge of Day (Time reading program special edition)" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1229209892m/4780608.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4780608-the-edge-of-day">The Edge of Day</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/79787.Laurie_Lee">Laurie Lee</a><br />
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My introduction to Laurie Lee was the essay Appetite which I came across a few years ago and which enthralled me utterly within the first paragraph and to this day it stands out in my memory from the countless times I read it just to savor the language. Two days ago, I asked myself the plain and simple question of why I hadn't reached out for more Laurie Lee when I so loved his writing from that tantalizing morsel of an essay I'd sampled, and I when I couldn't find a satisfying answer obtained this book.<br />
It was a random pick for my next Lee, dictated by the fact that its the only thing by this author at my local public library. Luckily my interest was acute enough for me to take a chance on this, even though from briefly perusing the reviews on here I realized it might not be the best introduction to his writing.<br />
I had enormous expectations going into this. For me, Lee is a wordsmith and I wanted to watch his performance of language in this book. I was disappointed because I wasn't as impacted by the writing of this as by the essay Appetite, but that is not at all to say that it wasn't well written. It was still a teeming exultation of words that catapulted me into the summer of Lee's childhood. I just wasn't as blown away as I'd hoped to be. There weren't any passages I clung to with breathless awe and reread with thumping heart. But my faith is so strong in Lee, I just told myself, well its a biography and of novel length, perhaps essay and other short forms are his forte, after all he is a poet. I probably still have a great deal in store for me by this author and mustn't write him off just yet.<br />
However, in comparison to everything else I've been reading lately, this far outstrips them all. I haven't been this engaged in a book since I read Richard Sherman's A Kindred Spirit and E B White's Once More to the Lake. This book was all things I love: dreamy meditation of summer and sunshine, youth's follies and ecstasies, and the bare facts of the mundane through the lens of an innocent child's eyes. It was very sensory, which I expected from Lee and really did transport me to this long gone way of life. <br />
I loved also how this book had no kind of plot. I've found myself reading a lot of plot-driven stuff lately and this was a wonderful relief to experience, all quiet vignettes and observations of slice of life stuff. I like rambly, meandering, nostalgic writing. Not everyone does. This was just up my alley. <br />
My favorite chapter was the one called Mother. I thought the description of Lee's mom was both endearing and infuriating and I just loved her! Here is an excerpt:<br />
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"She was too honest, too natural for this frightened man; too remote from his tidy laws. She was, after all, a country girl; disordered, hysterical, loving. She was muddled and mischievous as a chimney-jackdaw, she made her nest of rags and jewels, was happy in the sunlight, squawked loudly at danger, pried and was insatiably curious, forgot when to eat or ate all day, and sang when sunsets were red.” <br />
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thamerysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10418806649396525313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6531804081438130221.post-31205175277480501712016-02-29T11:22:00.001-08:002016-02-29T11:22:57.464-08:00<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/187065.New_Spring" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="New Spring (Wheel of Time, #0)" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328959234m/187065.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/187065.New_Spring">New Spring</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6252.Robert_Jordan">Robert Jordan</a><br/><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1560909302">3 of 5 stars</a><br /><br /><br />
Compared to the other Wheel of Time books, I loved this because of how straighforward and focused the story was. There weren't a million characters to keep track of. I loved the insight into Moiraine's Aes Sedai training, but didn't really feel as if I'd gotten to know Lan any better. <br><br>Siuan was my favorite character! I loved how gutsy and devilish she was. Her friendship with Moiraine was such fun to read about, since as an Aes Sedai it is so difficult to have friends. <br />
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thamerysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10418806649396525313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6531804081438130221.post-39630582047493104462016-02-27T19:42:00.002-08:002016-02-27T19:47:54.555-08:00<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3236307-graceling" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Graceling (Graceling Realm, #1)" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1331548394m/3236307.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3236307-graceling">Graceling</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1373880.Kristin_Cashore">Kristin Cashore</a><br/><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1562885877">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br /><br />
I'm such a reading spaz. I started this book to get my mind off another book I was reading (Michelle Knight's Finding Me: A Decade of Darkness...) and got about 200 or so pages in. Then other books came along and this one fell off my radar. That isn't to say this wasn't an incredibly engrossing story, because it was. Well, anyway, I finally got back to it yesterday and finished it up early this evening. <br><br>I picked up this book after searching for "fantasy books with strong female characters" and came across this list: <a target="_blank" href="http://bestfantasybooks.com/top25-fantasy-books-for-women.html" rel="nofollow">http://bestfantasybooks.com/top25-fan...</a>. When I saw that the list included the Hero and the Crown, I immediately felt it must be a reliable list. So did it live up to this expectation? Heck yeah! Katsa is so badass, it just warmed my poor heart. And Captain Faun? Loved her!<br><br>My favorite thing was the pacing. Things got going very quickly in this story. It was very well executed. Each chapter ends on a cliff hanger, so it is a very difficult book to put down. I meant to take my time with finishing it, and kept telling myself just one chapter more and until suddenly it was over. <br><br>As for the concept of the graces. That was so incredible. I remember everyone I gave the summary of this story to became very interested in the story. It made me wonder what my grace would be if I lived in this world. Leck's grace truly frightened me. It would be very awful for anyone to have that much influence over others. <br><br>Ah, how I loved Po. And Po and Katsa. Sigh. The romance was absolutely lovely. It wasn't over-the-top or annoying at all. Very natural how the two of them grew close. And I love friends-to-lovers stories so much!<br><br>I would have enjoyed this much much more at a younger age, but that didn't detract from my reading experience at all. Here's a bit of a sample of the prose:<br><br>"It took more than the thinking of one night. They moved through the Sunderan forest, and they talked and rested and made camp as before. But their silences were perhaps a bit less easy than they had been; and Katsa broke off occasionally, to keep her own company and think in solitude. They did not practice fighting, for Katsa was shy of his touch. And he didn't press it upon her. He pressed nothing upon her, even conversation, even his gaze."<br><br>Overall, this was a fun, light YA fantasy read. Very great for me as it served its purpose in cleansing my reading palate between books. I would recommend it to anyone, though teens would probably enjoy it best. Will I be reading the next book in the trilogy? Absolutely! <br />
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/22083974-scheherazade-nudar">View all my reviews</a><br />
thamerysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10418806649396525313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6531804081438130221.post-38582665837922194852016-02-25T22:06:00.001-08:002016-02-25T22:06:40.234-08:00A favorite quote...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<br />
“If you take a book with you on a journey," Mo had said when he put the
first one in her box, "an odd thing happens: The book begins collecting
your memories. And forever after you have only to open that book to be
back where you first read it. It will all come into your mind with the
very first words: the sights you saw in that place, what it smelled
like, the ice cream you ate while you were reading it... yes, books are
like flypaper—memories cling to the printed page better than anything
else.”
<br /> ―
<a class="authorOrTitle" href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15873.Cornelia_Funke">Cornelia Funke</a>,
<span id="quote_book_link_28194">
<a class="authorOrTitle" href="https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/2628323">Inkheart</a>
</span>thamerysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10418806649396525313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6531804081438130221.post-70254451307972254092016-02-25T22:00:00.001-08:002016-02-25T22:02:10.934-08:00So...yeah, I've been reading The Wheel of Time<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/228665.The_Eye_of_the_World" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="The Eye of the World (Wheel of Time, #1)" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1337818095m/228665.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/228665.The_Eye_of_the_World">The Eye of the World</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6252.Robert_Jordan">Robert Jordan</a><br />
<br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1278834254">3 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
<br />
Ermagherd! I have never been so happy to turn the last page of a book! Boy, oh boy, do I have a lot to say about The Eye of the World, so let's go!<br />
<br />
Where do I even start? I guess why I picked this up in the first place is as good a place as any. Well, a good friend of mine recommended it to me AGES ago and I mentally placed it on my tbr. Then, when I used to work at a bookshop, I met a couple who were avid Wheel of Time fans and learning of my interest in the series they offered to give me the entire series! They had reread the books so many times and had just recently been debating what to do with the books. I was so excited and jumped at the chance. Free books, duh! Thus, now owning the books I HAD to read them, of course. Months passed before I actually got around to it, and I did start the Eye of the World multiple times but remembering it was a fifteen book series always made me blanch and throw the book aside. I have commitment issues. <br />
<br />
What finally made me take the plunge to read the books though, ultimately, was because of my friend who loved them and I just wanted to know if they were as good as all that. Also, I love fantasy and really wanted to see how one executes a 15-book series. The fact that most reviews on here of the Wheel of Time are so negative that made me even more curious. This was apparently one of those series where one would either love it or hate it. <br />
<br />
Starting the book was so difficult for me. I must have read the first chapter a dozen times. Months or weeks would pass before I remembered the book and then I would feel the need to reread it again. I hate rereading. I zone out so easily. But once I got past that, I was delighted to discover the story swept me up pretty quickly with it's quick pace of events. I expected, from a series of this magnitude, that the pace would be a lot more leisurely and considerable time would be spent in set up. I worried I'd have to plod through Rand's life in the Two Rivers for a lot longer and get to know more about his routine and the cast of characters in his village. But thankfully, the story got going mighty quick, and I sat up straighter in my chair for it, hungry for the adventure promised to me. <br />
<br />
Also, I knew how intricate the world building in this story was going to be and what an enormous cast of characters I would encounter. Patience is not one of my virtues and I the hardest part of starting a fantasy book for me is giving myself time to get acquainted with the world and its rules. Once upon a time I used to be much more patient and delighted in the slow accumulation of this new knowledge, but now in this hectic age of instant gratification and dramatic distraction, I just wanted to skip to the part where I already understood the world and the magic and knew all the relationships between the characters. On top of that, I was always thinking of the all the other books I wanted to read next as well as wondering when on earth I would start book two in the series. <br />
<br />
I listened to the audio book from about chapter five to chapter ten. I am not a veteran of the audio book experience, but recently have been trying to get into it. I listened to it while I did chores around the house--I have despaired of listening to audio books before bed because I always fall asleep and then forget where I left off. This helped me considerably, to get me through the last of the initial set up of the story. Also, the audio book is really well narrated. I love the voice of the guy who reads it--so deep! He really brought the story to life for me with the way he differentiated the different characters with different voices. I alternated between audio book and physical book for the first third of the book. <br />
<br />
Overall, I found the Eye of the World to be very plot-driven, which I didn't mind. I guess I kind of expected that. A ton of STUFF happens to our three heroes throughout the book. My biggest complaint with plot driven books is that it doesn't allow me to really get as invested in the story, since I can't really connect with the characters as deeply as I would like. However, I felt I could give this series a bit of leeway in that regard. It is a 15-book monument after all. Anytime I came across anything disappointing, I reminded myself this was only the first book in an uber-long series.<br />
<br />
I myself have a penchant for character-driven novels. I felt that I didn't really know Rand or any of the others by the time I finished reading this book. They were simply people I became acquainted with through knowing all this stuff that happened to them. Nevertheless, it was interesting stuff.<br />
<br />
In any book with a lot of characters, it is difficult to get really into the psyche of one character. I felt that the switching between perspectives wasn't too jarring. <br />
<br />
As for my favorite characters, I would have to say Lan and Moiraine. Another reason finishing this book took me so long was that I decided to stop reading it for a long time and read New Spring! I know, I know, New Spring is best read at around book 10 in the series when it originally came out, but I didn't care. When I found out it focused on Moiraine and Lan and their backstories, I jumped for it. Boy did I infinitely prefer New Spring to Eye of the World. First off, it was so much more focused, since it was mostly in Moiraine's point of view. I loved reading about her Aes Sedai training and watching her not be so cool, calm and composed all the time. <br />
<br />
SPOILER ALERT: SKIP THIS PARAGRAPH IF YOU DON'T WANT A SPOILER!!!! I was so blindsided by the revelation, 700 or so pages in, that Nynaeve and Lan had a thing for each other. I had to put the book down and puzzle out how I missed any signs of attraction between them. I immediately talked with my WoT expert friend and found out it wasn't just me. There just was really nothing to indicate this sudden development AT ALL! I was very upset by this because I like to watch the way relationships are formed. Lan is one of my favorite characters, mostly because of how enigmatic he is made out to be, and I would have loved to watch him falling for Nynaeve. Instead, I experienced utter bafflement, wondering whether these two characters ever even talked to each other! Wait a second, I remembered a few scenes where Nynaeve seemed to be competing with Lan, maybe that was meant to be signs of attraction. I always took it to be an indication of her disgruntlement of being around Lan and Moraine. I guess disgruntlement can turn into love?<br />
<br />
The characters of Rand, Matt, and Perrin were differentiated in only the most surface of ways. Rand is the bland main character that anyone can imagine herself into the shoes of. He's this ordinary guy who starts getting involved in lots of extraordinary things. Matt's the idiotic comic relief. Perrin is the quiet, thoughful one. I liked Perrin the best out of the three.<br />
<br />
Now we get to my main contention with this book: the language. I was prepared for less than stellar writing from all the reviews I read, but wasn't entirely aghast at what I found. After reading this book, though, I must say I never want to see the word RICTUS or the phrase RICTUS SNARL ever again. The trollocs--and really anyone meant to be threatening--were all described with this expression on their faces. This next point isn't really a complaint, just a curious observation. I have never heard walking described this way:<br />
<br />
" The land tended upward the way Rand went, but fear lent his legs strength and they ATE GROUND in long strides, tearing his way through flowering bushes and tangles of wildrose, scattering petals, not caring if thorns ripped his clothes or even his flesh."<br />
<br />
I can't really say I've ever heard the phrase "ate ground" before, much less it used to describe walking. I thought it was interesting. <br />
<br />
I think Jordan accomplished what he set out to do. Most people who decide to read this series have a pretty good grasp of what they are getting themselves into. This book really draws you in to the complex world of wonders it encompasses. Getting immersed in the strangeness of a new world is the whole point of reading fantasy, I think. It was definitely an interesting tour for me, this world of Jordan's and I can't wait to return for a closer look in the next book!<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/22083974-scheherazade-nudar">View all my reviews</a><br />
thamerysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10418806649396525313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6531804081438130221.post-71603796735721241352016-02-23T10:31:00.004-08:002016-02-23T10:32:35.848-08:00A Kindred Spirit by Richard ShermanI CAN'T believe I didn't post about this book on here. But thankfully, I did post a review about it on <br />
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Goodreads--well, actually, I had to make an entry for the book itself because apparently this book isn't even listed on Goodreads! What a crying shame! I'm so glad I came across this book!!!! I finished reading it in early November this past year, and all in one sitting, mind you! Here is my Goodreads summary and review!<br />
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<span class="readable reviewText"><span id="freeTextreview1440310783"><span id="freeText13032005051838708145">Successful author Naomi
Lynch created a beloved fictional character who has sustained her
against her own social and physical shortcomings and won her a moderate
but loyal fan base. From a young age, she decided she wasn't the
marrying type and decided to become a writer. After a lifetime of
traveling and writing, she decides to settle down in New York, now aged
45. She is hard at work at the next installment of her detective series,
but finds that without traveling to give her a break from the rigorous
concentration of writing, she must find some other diversion to fill the
time she now suddenly finds she has far too much of. Thus, she ends up
at the Book Nook, a tiny bookshop/rental library with just the sort of
books she likes to read. After several weeks of borrowing books she
finds that another patron of the shop, a W. Brown, seems always to read
the same books she does. After this realization what ensues is Lynch's
escalating preoccupation with the man she imagines is behind the name.
Soon, she finds herself doing more than just thinking about him, and her
search to find this man who echoes her own peculiarities of thought
leads her to a place she never imagined.</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="readable reviewText"><span id="freeTextreview1440310783"><span id="freeText13032005051838708145"></span>I'm not sure what I think
of this book yet. I just read it today, all in one go. I was so engaged
with it until about the last third and then the ending shattered all
the enchantment I felt at the start of the story. Not that I hate the
book. But that ending just infuriates me. <br /><br />I love love love the
main premise of the book. A woman who reads a lot notices that there is a
W. Brown who has checked out almost every book she has. At first it is a
random observation but when she checks out more books and finds that
same name in each of the books she has chosen, her curiosity and wonder
grow. She soon has herself convinced that W. Brown is definitely a man
and her perfect match, as displayed by his excellent taste in books.<br /><br />It
was so exciting waiting for the big reveal. I was anticipating the
moment where they would meet and exclaim with joy at the meeting of
their souls before a word had ever been exchanged between them. I
thought that this was the ultimate meet-cute. <br /><br />However, as I read
the book and realized I was more than halfway through with still no
appearance from Brown, I wondered how they were ever to meet and
exchange ideas and any kind of relationship develop. I resented the
suspense over her meeting and when I saw that was what the author was
accentuating, the potential I saw in the book was not fulfilled for me.
Also, by his emphasizing her frantic search for the mystery man, he
seemed to be making Lynch's 'self-sufficiency' a negative thing. The
events of this book portrayed Lynch as a desparately lonely woman--she
even gives up writing because of her obsession with this name. My dismay
grew with each page I turned.<br /><br />And finally the ending. It was shattering to me and made me close the book feeling confused and angry at the author. <br /><br />But
because this book made me read the whole thing in one sitting, it has
my admiration. I liked the writing. It was very simple, light, and
flowed well.</span></span>thamerysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10418806649396525313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6531804081438130221.post-16475078114887110572016-02-23T10:23:00.001-08:002016-02-23T10:23:08.207-08:00Second Star to the Right by Mary Alice Kruesi<div class="reviewText mediumText description readable" itemprop="reviewBody">
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It was this review I came across in late 2012 that made me seek out this book: <a href="http://mrsgiggles.com/books/kruesi_star.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://mrsgiggles.com/books/kruesi_st...</a>.
I wanted a light, fun, romance read and the description made the story
sound like it would be sweet and charming. The Peter Pan re-imagining
aspect of it was the clincher that decided me. Read it, I would! It was
early 2013 when I finally got my hands on a copy of the book, through my
university's Interlibrary Loan office, and I remember sinking down on
the carpet beside my bed one afternoon after a hectic day of classes,
delighted to whiz through what promised to be a fun read! Alas, I only
ended up reading a chapter or two! It turned out not to be really what
I'd expected. The writing was probably the main reason I couldn't get
myself to commit to it. I was very disappointed because the concept
really had me hooked! How could a book that had Peter Pan, a physics
professor, and a woman struggling to believe in magic be dull? I tossed
it somewhere in my room until remembering it again abruptly when it was
due back at the library. I though I'd never come across it again, or
remember it, until this past year when I noticed it on Overdrive. <br />I
had no idea it was the same book. I just wanted an audiobook to make
tedious chores like dish-washing go by faster. I'm not really very much
of an audiobook listener, so I knew I had to choose a simple book, so it
would be easy to follow. The Peter Pan concept was again what made me
give this a go, and when I read the summary and was already a bit into
listening to it, did my memory of that long ago reading experience float
back to me. It couldn't be the same book, I exclaimed to myself. What
further confused me was, when I finally looked up the Mrs. Giggles
review, that the author's name was different. I eventually realized it
was the same book and was glad I had come across it again and felt the
likelihood of finishing it was greater through audiobook. I do so hate
DNFing, no matter if its justified or not.<br />My favorite thing about
this audiobook experience of the book was that the narrator's voice was
so sweet and soft and fit exactly the description of the main character,
Faye O'Neil. Even the name, Faye, is a very wispy and delicate name,
and combined with the narration voice, it gave the perfect atmosphere. I
was further delighted to discover it was the author, Mary Alice Kruesi,
herself, who was narrator! (Also, I had recently finished a binge watch
of Dexter and my brain supplied the soft-spoken Rita actress, Julie
Benz, for the visual of Faye O'Neil. I was pleased by this because I
really like Julie Benz and thought it was very apt. When I became aware
of my brain doing this, I tried to force a visual for Jack, but I find
its much harder to do, and I chose Tom Cavanagh from the the Flash,
because that was my current celeb crush, and hey Cavanagh was a
physicist in the Flash, so there! It didn't really work, because I Jack
was such a bland character, but I can tell you I tried my darndest to
imagine him into the story!)</div>
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<br />Overall, I thought the concept of
the story was great, just one of the setups I like to read about in
romance books: a sweet, old fashioned love story. However, the execution
of it was very disappointing. I hated anytime Faye's boss or colleagues
or really any other characters but the main ones were being described.
They were all so cardboard and completely unrealistic. I could forgive
this except when work scenes dragged on, which thankfully, they really
didn't for very long. I especially laughed at the "deep voice" Kruesi
tried for Faye's boss. He just sounded so much like a joke. The Peter
Pan weaving in was definitely intriguing just because I LOVE Peter Pan
and love hearing retellings of it--I've experimented with one myself. I
liked the descriptions of their life in Number 14, and how Faye learns
to let someone into her life after being so hurt after an abusive
marriage. I was annoyed by there being more telling than showing, but
knew it was a romance book problem and was able to ignore it. Jack's
work scenes were even worse than Faye's and his whole search for his
missing past made me roll my eyes. Ugh, tropes! There wasn't really any
chemistry between the characters and the description of them kissing was
just so hilarious! I can live with that though. I liked their
friendship and how they got incorporated into each other's routines. It
was believable how they fell for each other. <br />The characterization
for the children was also pretty awful as well, now that I think about
it. They were really just pawns to bring Faye and Jack closer. I didn't
mind this since I made my peace with all these familiar plot devices
going into it. As I had such low expectations to begin with, and was
washing dishes while listening to this, it was not a loss at all, and in
fact, making fun of the story was half the fun. I like to think I gave
it a chance mostly because I wanted to see how the Peter Pan thing would
play out, and yes, I rolled my eyes through most of it. I didn't really
feel any of the 'magic', but I appreciated the effort. Reading this
makes me want to write my own version of this story, which isn't to say
that would be any better, but it's a fun concept, and I wouldn't say
this book was a failure. One just has to be in the mood for a light and
very predictable read. In that mindset, it can actually be pretty
entertaining. <br />I think it's safe to say I could never have had the patience to actually sit down and read this as an actual physical book.
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thamerysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10418806649396525313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6531804081438130221.post-74412784605202370682016-02-14T19:41:00.001-08:002016-02-14T19:41:02.743-08:00Daphne du Maurier: The Secret Life of the Renowned Storyteller by Margaret Forster<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Hello! This is my long overdue book discussion/review of Margaret Forster's biography of one of my favorite authors ever, Daphne du Maurier! Let's dive right in!<br />
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When I first came across this book in the summer of 2014, I absolutely couldn't believe it had never occurred to me to read a book about du Maurier's life even though I'd been obsessed with her for ages. It was only when I came across this same book this past summer in June at a Goodwill for the brilliant price of three bucks that I decided to take the plunge and peer into the life of my writing hero, despite whatever consequences of disillusionment might occur.<br />
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The three areas I will focus on in this discussion are Margaret Forster's depiction of du Maurier's development as a writer and the background she gives to her works, du Maurier's personal life, and finally my experience of reading the book itself.<br />
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I was most excited to learn more about du Maurier's writing life and how she came to be a writer. Forster starts off with a discussion of du Maurier's childhood and shows how her home environment was positively encouraging to "flights of fancy and fantasy." du Maurier's father was a well known actor and her mother was a retired actress and du Maurier spent a lot of time with her father at the theater and movie studios. Thus, it came as no surprise that she played so many make believe games with her sisters and often allowed herself to be swept away with her imagined musings about the various people she met.<br />
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Writing was also a creative outlet for du Maurier and Forster let us in on the conflicting personalities that governed her inner life. du Maurier had her own made up lingo for just about every aspect of her life and she called the two different sides to her personality Daphne number 1 and Daphne number 2. It was Daphne number 2 du Maurier could not give expression to in her daily life (I won't spoil, just read the biography and find out for yourself just what this consisted of!) and writing was her way of channeling this energy into a productive activity.<br />
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Of course du Maurier read voraciously growing up, which is absolutely a requirement for anyone who wishes to be a writer of this caliber. <br />
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Forster showed how all of this came together to make du Maurier into the natural storyteller that she was to become. I marveled at du Maurier's delightful ability to pluck stories out of the very air. She was never long without a story idea and everything she encountered in life was simply grist for the mill. But before she got down to her routine of churning out great stories every few months, the only real challenge du Maurier faced in starting out as a writer was the expected one of finding the discipline in herself to sit down and commit to a consistent regime of writing. Her first story came about only when she isolated herself from her usual routine and family and friends by staying at one of her families' vacation homes by herself and writing for a few weeks.<br />
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I loved how Forster showed that writing was no mere hobby to du Maurier but essentially her life. When du Maurier was in the process of coming up with a story, researching for it, and finally getting down to the writing of it, she truly lived. In between writing projects, du Maurier was simply waiting to live. She experienced complete absorption in her work and relished the entire process. Forster shows us how later on in her life, when du Maurier experienced such things as troubles in her marriage or grief of any kind, or if she just felt put out by some unpleasant circumstance or other, she would launch herself into a writing project because she knew that once she embarked on one she would be lost to the miseries of this world.<br />
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I was surprised to discover the range of du Maurier and how she did not only write fiction but also wrote several biographies, most notably one of her own father only months after his death. She also wrote about her beloved Cornwall, which along with writing, a house called Menabilly (yes, this was part of the inspiration for Manderley!), and long walks with her dogs were honestly her main passions in life.<br />
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My favorite aspect of this biography was the extensive detail Forster provided on the works of du Maurier, and honestly what I feel I will be turning back to in this book for years to come as I delve deeper into reading her books. Forster gives the background for basically everything du Maurier ever wrote and so much more! She tells us what events were going on in du Maurier's life at the time the idea for the book came about, what people might have influenced her, what the writing process was like, what her publishers thought about the book, what the editing process for it was like, what the general public thought of it, and finally du Maurier's opinion of her own writing. This was splendid for me! I can't say that I've read a lot of du Maurier at all and so this biography serves a great guide for me in deciding which of du Maurier's works I will be seeking out next. I thrilled at getting all those great insights into the creation of some of du Maurier's most famous works and feel that will only enrich my reading experience of them further when I finally get around to them. I was definitely surprised and intrigued to find out what inspired the character of Rachel in My Cousin Rachel, which I read this past year.<br />
<br />
My admiration for du Maurier as a writer only increased after reading this biography, however, the insight Forster gave in regards to her personal life made me realize I would not necessarily like du Maurier as a person. du Maurier was a very difficult person. She was also very particular about how she liked things and when things didn't go her way she would go to great lengths to make everyone around her suffer. Or at least, one example of this from the biography was when du Maurier was in her eighties and would torment the nurses who looked after her just because she didn't like them and resented the fact that she had to have nurses in the first place.<br />
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du Maurier was also a very private person and throughout her life hated to give interviews and only did so grudgingly only late into her career and only after being begged and pleaded with. As I mentioned before, writing was du Maurier's life and everything else was secondary. Though this produced great genius in regards to her literary output, it made her personal life not very pleasant at times.<br />
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All of this, however, was not what made me realize I wouldn't like du Maurier. The clincher for me came when I read about how she treated her children. When she had her first child, she handed her off to a nurse and decided to concentrate on her writing because she realized she simply did not have the mothering instinct within her. That's not a crime, I was fine with that. Her second child was born and she felt the same way once again, leaving all the daily care and attention to nannies and nurses. However, her third child was born and she suddenly changed her entire attitude towards children and suddenly 'found' the mothering instinct! What was the difference? Her third child was a BOY! Yes, I couldn't believe it either. How could du Maurier, as a woman herself, do such a thing to her daughters? Reading about how she lavished all the love and attention she'd deprived of her two daughters on her son just made me rage!<br />
<br />
Finally, let's turn to my experience of reading the book itself. My favorite thing about reading Forster's biography was marveling at just how exhaustively researched it was. The very clear picture Forster paints of who du Maurier was is backed up by evidence in every instance. Forster had access to all of du Maurier's correspondence, diaries, journals, and interviewed basically everyone du Maurier knew! Thus, Forster did not rely on speculation at all in writing this and that made me appreciate the biography that much more.<br />
<br />
I'm glad I got to read to this book. The best thing it has done for me is given me a great guide to all of du Maurier's works and insight into how those came about. I will be turning to this biography a lot in the future whenever I want to read something else by du Maurier.<br />
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I've never read anything by Forster before, but if this biography is any indication of her writing abilities, I daresay I shall be checking out her work in the future!<br />
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Thus, to conclude, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recomend it to all and sundry! I give it a solid three stars out of five!thamerysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10418806649396525313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6531804081438130221.post-69841180166370881412016-02-14T18:45:00.008-08:002016-02-14T18:45:55.968-08:00Crazy Library Book Haul<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />thamerysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10418806649396525313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6531804081438130221.post-25171452995927436662016-02-14T18:07:00.005-08:002016-02-14T18:07:34.734-08:00Books I want to start reading soon...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />thamerysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10418806649396525313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6531804081438130221.post-34748491257820226622016-02-14T18:00:00.001-08:002016-02-14T18:00:08.971-08:00What I've been reading lately...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />thamerysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10418806649396525313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6531804081438130221.post-12695383381609608482015-08-04T14:55:00.000-07:002015-08-04T14:55:01.995-07:00Books I've Read lately<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />thamerysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10418806649396525313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6531804081438130221.post-67759498652313029092014-12-08T16:10:00.002-08:002014-12-08T16:30:44.471-08:00Winterbreak--can't wait to have free time to READ!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Hey there, fellow bookworms!<br />
<br />
Well, I'm almost done with finals and of course the most exciting part about that is the realization that I will have some free time to read for leisure and not for a grade in biology. Of course, since the break is only about three weeks that means I have to do some careful research and planning so that I don't waste precious reading time with books that might not be worth it. Contrary to my normal mode of doing the reading gorge--get a huge stack of books and try to cram them all in--I think I will do something that makes me cringe a little. What is that you may well ask? Well, its simply that I want to assign myself to read ONLY THREE books for winter break. *GASP!* Did I just say that? Why on earth should I limit myself to such a paltry number that can hardly begin to quench my thirst for inky adventures?<br />
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Well, the fact of the matter is the upcoming three weeks aren't entirely empty enough for my liking. They aren't going to be a wide open, no commitments, lounging around type of holiday. I have to study for some standardized exams and that's quite a lot of reading there, although of course not exactly the sort I like. But even if that weren't the case, I think I might have made a limit of about five books. Why? Well, I've learned that reading isn't quite like what it was when I was a kid where a stack of thirty books was very easily digestible in about a week or so. I'm not saying the sorts of books I read these days are very complex or meaningful, however, I've learned to become more choosy about the volumes that catch my eye these days. Also, if you've read any of the previous blog posts on here, you'll realize that lately I rarely finish the books I set out to read.<br />
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Besides I like the tension in that challenge. Since I'm only going to be focusing on three books--one for each week of the break, that makes me feel determined to choose three books that are really truly worth it. Think about it. If one of the books turns out to be a waste of time and energy, then that only leaves me with two more chances to be blown away by some earth shattering, soul-stirring tome. God forbid what it means if two of the books on my list become flops.<br />
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Also, since there are going to be only three books, I have to pick books that, as a triangle, encompass all of my needs in a literary or historical or scientific work. I have a feeling that the books I choose will say a lot about where I am in life right now and what I am looking for. There are so many new things I want to learn and things I want to learn how to do better. I want to discover and engage in new vistas of thought and push beyond my immediate situation and surroundings.<br />
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Wow, this is going to be quite a challenge, so stay tuned!<br />
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Oh, I almost forgot: So what's with that book about Isaac Newton then that I posted a picture of at the top of this page? Is that one of the three books? Oh my no! Not to say that it might not be, but here's the full story. I was studying for my Molecular Cell Biology final this morning and after so many consecutive hours of being bent over that great huge red textbook (I hate my cell book! It is way too expansive a discussion on cellular biology--or I guess at least at the level that I'm studying it at. Each chapter has about a thousand pages--okay more like 50, on average.) I decided I needed to stretch and relax my mind even if only for a few minutes. Hence, I trotted down to the first floor of the library and drifted over to the New Books section, my resolution to read as much as possible over the winter break drifting into my mind. Thus it was that I came upon this book. It leapt out at me, not just because I'm a science major and have learned to appreciate Isaac Newton from my hours and hours of relearning Newton's laws of motion and reading about how great he was; no, in fact this summer, I watched a documentary about him called Newton's Dark Secrets. I really liked that documentary. It took me back to his time and made me realize the enormous impact he has had on science and technology. I think I re-watched it about three times. I liked the image of the quiet, introspective, and insatiably curious student Newton who would not rest until he figured out his mathematical puzzles. I think the narrator went on to say how Newton enjoyed working out particularly involved problems just for the heck of it. The more difficult a problem was, the more it engaged him. And finally, I really liked this quote of his: "Truth is the offspring of silence and unbroken meditation." I guess why I found all of this about Newton so appealing was that I was struggling within myself to find a deeper level of engagement with my studies. I wanted to not simply just extract facts from my textbooks but to enjoy the process of deeply pondering over the meaning of them in both my life and the lives and endeavors of others. <br />
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Ahem, I think I've rambled enough today. I'd better go study for my last final! Toodles! thamerysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10418806649396525313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6531804081438130221.post-52193694950530007842014-11-24T09:57:00.000-08:002014-12-08T15:31:29.114-08:00Summer Reads<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />thamerysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10418806649396525313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6531804081438130221.post-66284838421646432402014-11-24T08:54:00.001-08:002014-11-24T08:54:21.225-08:00Hello...its been a while, I haven't been reading all that much lately--I think<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I started reading the play Othello on August 13. I had seen a freelance writing gig job posting asking for essay writers for a writing blog and to apply I had to analyze this play. Since I had never actually read this play I decided to do so, but alas I never did end up writing the analysis. I did read the entire play, which was a pretty swift read and engaging. I avoid saying entertaining because I simply was not entertained by the maliciousness of Iago.</div>
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Ah, this book. What a read! So delightful! I took this book on a recommendation about a year ago, but didn't actually read it till this September. I haven't finished reading it because of school and exams and other pesky things like that, but I did get about halfway through and what a delicious read it is! </div>
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I only read the first chapter of this book one Friday morning in October when I felt fed up with life and the constant busyness of school and the realization that I hadn't read anything in a while. Alas, I have very little to say about this except that it seemed promising.<br />
Also I love these red and black book editions, though I can't recall what company issues them. I remember that the copy of Nicholas Nickleby I attempted to read was also of this lovely shade of burgundy. What an elegant-looking book. <br />
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We have arrived at last to the one book I both completed reading and actually enjoyed (unlike Othello). Well, its not a book really, I suppose. It's more a play. Well it is a play. So is Othello. But the two couldn't be more different. Early in this month, I had just finished a brutal Biochemistry exam and needed something to cleanse the palate of my mind with, something refreshing and humorous. So off I went into the annals of google and asked the question: funny classic books to read. And this came up. To be honest, I saw much more appealing pitches of other books but alas my library has such a pitiful collection of books none of the other books which piqued my interest were available. I could interLibrary Loan them but by the time they arrived my fervor for reading them would have passed. I needed something NOW and this book turned out to be that something.<br />
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Oh my dear Algernon, you impishly clever rogue you, how swiftly you stole my heart! If you don't believe me, just listen to these fine samples of his devilish fun!<br />
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"My duty as a gentleman has never interfered with my pleasures in the smallest degree!"<br />
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"I really don't see anything romantic in proposing. It is very romantic to be in love. But there is nothing romantic about a definite proposal. Why one may be accepted. Then all the excitement is over. The very essence of romance is uncertainty. If I ever get married, I'll certainly try to forget the fact."<br />
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<br />thamerysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10418806649396525313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6531804081438130221.post-8347005830417641792014-02-01T14:06:00.000-08:002014-02-01T14:06:04.808-08:00I Capture the Castle: One Year Anniversary<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It's been exactly a year since I read this book and I just happened across this review of it by one of my favorite Goodreads reviewer. Enjoy!</blockquote>
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<span>My name is Cassandra Mortmain, I know it sounds made up but it’s true. I’m 17 and bright as a button and never been kissed because it’s the 1930s. My family are effortlessly bohemian, we all live in a crumbling castle – oh yes, quite literally! – and we have no money at all and we have only barely heard of the twentieth century. How poor we are since father stopped earning any money. He used to be a genius but now he does crosswords. We eat the occasional potato and scrape plaster off the walls for pudding. We have thought of cooking one of our dogs but that would not do. Also, something you should be aware of, although you will find out pretty soon I believe, is that I suffer from acute logorrhoea, which is a debilitating condition that impels its victim to write a never-ending journal into which is debouched every last possible banal but extremely charming detail of one’s life and that of one’s immediate family, which is, the pulchritudinous Rose, my 21 year old sister, my doughty schoolboy brother, my poor damaged papa who wrote one brilliant book once but has since sunk into a kind of bewilderment, and his nude model youngish wife, the unusual lute-playing nature-communing Topaz whom we love immoderately in spite of her frank farfetchedness, along with various cats and dogs with classically-derived names and a servant boy called Stephen who gauchely is in love with my 17 year old preciousness and whom we do not pay but who contrives to be preternaturally handsome and work for us for free. Anyone might think I have made all this up out of my own coquettish head! <br /><br /> We may live in a literal castle but we haven’t got the price of a loaf of bread. It’s enough to make a cat laugh. Our situation is so wry that fairly broad comedy oozes from its very pores. Rose said only last night that she was quite up to walking the streets to earn a crust if she thought it would do any good, but the quaint rural byways of the Suffolk countryside don’t possess the required type of street. So here I am, as usual, sitting on something odd, it could be a turret, or a tuffet or a large mammal, carefully noting down in my journal everything I hear and see along with the weather at the time and the precise location of the several animals we own, what I am wearing and what my immediate family are wearing, with various passing references to the utter beauty of the crumbling literal castle that we all inhabit over which the moon sheds its downy light and lambent whatnots.<br /><br />Four months later<br /><br /> Something has actually happened! Yes, new owners of the mansion have taken possession – new neighbours! And it’s just like a fairytale, for they are none other than two handsome American bachelors, with whom I and my sister will fall in love, and they with ourselves, naturellement. But not before many pages of microscopic examination of every trifling occurrence so that a single evening in their company will take 30 pages for me to detail and the sisterly debate about it another ten. And certainly not before much gentle yet sharply observed observations on the romantic yearnings of two beautiful yet penniless girls who get the brothers the wrong way round at first. Now, let me explain how I first met the American brothers. I was in the bath and I had been dying clothes that day, so my entire body was coloured a violent sea-green, and they wandered into the crumbling castle thinking no one could possibly live there. Imagine the scene! They took me for some kind of turtle.<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/#">(less)</a></span> <br />
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thamerysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10418806649396525313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6531804081438130221.post-23544596880650325722014-02-01T13:17:00.001-08:002014-02-01T13:59:45.463-08:00Books I want to Read and a few I'm already in the middle of...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So, I was perusing the massive list of Sheikh Hamza Yusuf's book reccomendations just now. At the top of the history section, this title caught my eye and now I am burning to obtain a copy! It would never have occurred to me that such a work existed, I mean a history of knowledge? That's just what I've been meaning to read lately. Instead, I was more literal minded and have sought to fill the desire I had for this topic by locating these two books at my school library. Not that they are entirely off the mark either, but here they are anyway:</div>
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I've read the first three chapters of this book and learned a lot of cool facts about medieval universities, but of course didn't even make a dent in this massive book. </div>
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Well, actually, I can't remember the title of the other book since I did not actually check it out, but I planned to return for it later after polishing off this one. It is a book on the history of Oxford University. Other school-related titles I have recently been perusing include:</div>
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I first heard of this book this past summer when I discovered the book <em>Poor Mr. Chips</em>. It was a booklist for teachers--or as it functioned for me, a list of books for students who really love to read about school and teachers. Anyway, it turned out over the summer that I didn't have enough time to read and obtain this book--and okay, fine, maybe I even forgot about it a little, but hey here I am now, better late than never, right. It is a very good read! I love Calculus already, though the amount of the material I've forgotten by now scares me, but this book makes me want to quickly locate a Calculus text and start working out problems. I recall that during my college Calculus course, I spent most of the time in that classroom marveling at the beauty and delightfully organized view of the world which Calculus presents to us. Anyway, yes, this book makes me want to study some Calculus! If you can't tell, I haven't really read very much of this book at all. I read the first chapter--or two. But it looks and feels like a great read, so we'll see. </div>
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I received this book just yesterday via Interlibrary Loan. The only thing I can remember about it just now is this excerpt from page 27, which made me pause in my reading of it, my eyes skittered back up the page to reread the paragraph, and then my mouth fell open:</div>
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Tamerlane used his captive magnanimously until Bayezit's prickly hauteur proved too much for him, and he was placed in a cage, too small for standing upright, and dragged in the wake of Tamerlane's retinue. His wife Despina was made to serve naked at the victor's table. Nobody offered to ransom the prisoners, and perhaps no one was sorry when Bayezit eventually dashed out his brains on the bars of his cage. </blockquote>
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I was surprised to realize that the author of the blog, Zen Habits, wrote this book. I need to follow his central advice though. Doing less helps hone a person's focus and makes them more productive. I especially enjoyed--and related to personally--the discussion on the importance of setting limits. <br />
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I checked this book out to read as a bedtime story to my sister--or at least that was my excuse anyway. I never did end up reading it to her, but I read it to myself (haha!). I read a significant portion of it but got too sleepy to continue it this past Wednesday night. It's really good! Even though I found the stuff about how Miri likes Peder very annoying. And the whole all these girls have to train so that a prince can come choose one of them as a winner thing reminded me of the Bachelor--which I have no problem with since I'm not a feministy type. I know it's dumb, and yet it makes for a great story. Also, I love the name Miri. I already love Hale from having read this book in 2012:</blockquote>
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I can't really gush about this book just now since I don't even remember the characters' names anymore, but I will say that it was such a joy to read. It's always a joy to read a retelling or reimagining of a familiar fairy tale. Hale does that perfectly. Which reminds me that I still haven't read this book:</blockquote>
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I can't remember if it's at my school library or not. I will have to see. I really want to read this and also get my sister to read them, since she is at just the age to really enjoy this. <br />
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I turned to this book to help me write my first ever newspaper article for my school's Collegian Newspaper. Trying to puzzle out all the little details of newswriting made me hunt down these books:<br />
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I can't wait until I can get some free time to be able to lovingly pore over this tome and absorb it's delightfully brief distillation of grammatical tips. I first heard of this book in an episode of the show <em>The Bedford Diaries, </em>which my sister made me watch, and repeated the title and author several times in my head so that I would be sure to recall it later (which thankfully I did!). It was only a three-day checkout, but I've decided I want to buy this book soon. </blockquote>
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I ordered this book from my school library via Interlibrary Loan, but it turns out my school was already buying the book, so I can't wait until it arrives! I was excited to find that a copyeditor for my school paper was reading this book and of course I excitedly gushed to her that I was also planning to read the book and gosh what a coincidence!</div>
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This was the other book I ordered but which my school is already buying. This review of the book has made me wary of it however: <a href="http://www.vocabula.com/2010/VRJuly10Fiske.asp">http://www.vocabula.com/2010/VRJuly10Fiske.asp</a>. I guess I will just have to see what it's like when I finally get my hands on it.</div>
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Also, I want to read this book:</div>
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I'm not a Stephen King fan, nor have I ever read an entire book of his--I don't think I've ever even attempted to read a book of his--oh, nevermind, <em>Cell--</em>but I still would like to read this. Oh yes, I loved the movie, Rose Red. I saw it when I was fourteen and then proceeded to write a rip off version of it in short story form called the <em>The Mystery of Moonspell. </em>Yup, those were the good old days, when writing fanfiction and call it original. </blockquote>
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Reading the first chapter of this book made me appreciate Kuby's Immunology. This book doesn't do a great job of orienting a beginner in the topic very well and just plunges straight into lots of highly detailed cellular details of the immune system. But I still enjoyed reading it :)</div>
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This is a fun book! Dumbing down the topic of our immune system to a simple and easy to follow narrative is the best part about this book. Also, there are a lot of helpful metaphors and such which are great. For example, when Ruebush speaks of newly created T cells being like recent college graduates--that made me grin. </blockquote>
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These two books came to me out of my recent curiosity of what attending an Ivy League school is really like. I don't know if I've fully found an answer to that question yet, but reading about Douthat's account of being a Harvard student was immensely enjoyable. The story about Damien made me rock with laughter. As for Turrow's One L, I have yet to read more than the first sentence, so I have nothing to say on that topic. I just sort of picked this book up as an afterthought. I doubt I'll have the chance to read it before it's due back at the library. Oh well.</blockquote>
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I don't have much to say about Goldsmith's book. Instead, I'd like to speak of the book Goldsmith directed me toward, which I found to be very intriguing and a surprisingly fun read as well!</blockquote>
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I found this quote great food for personal reflection:</blockquote>
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"Men are much more likely to discover easier and readier methods of attaining any object when the whole attention of their minds is directed towards that single object than when it is dissipated among a great variety of things." </blockquote>
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I read this book until I could obtain a copy of my Histology class' required text by Ross and Pawlina. Kessel's book is very old, but I love the section in the middle of the textbook with all the microscope pictures of all the different kinds of tissues. Since I have my first Histology exam coming up this Tuesday, I'm glad I still have this book at home. Hopefully, it will help me with the lab part of the test.</blockquote>
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As for this book, well, I suppose I'll have a lot to say about it in about four months. Right now I'm too close to it to be able to say very much. Well, okay, there was one thing which happened just this past Thursday. I had just left class, where we had been reviewing the slides which were going to be on our exam this coming Tuesday. The last slide I had looked at was the mesothelium and endothelium. And then on my walk to the library from the Science Complex, I happened to glance at the cover of my textbook, trying to remind myself to study really hard this weekend, when Lo! and Behold!--okay, that's a bit too dramatic--well, right there on the cover was a picture of the mesothelium whole mount slide! I had never noticed it before even though I'd had the book for a few days already. That made me grin and go, "Ah, the power of learning--it truly makes you see and notice things you might not have before."</blockquote>
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Anyway, I need to go study for my test now. I want to make sure I have overwhelmingly good things to say about this textbook come May and the end of finals. The best way to have a relaxing finals week, while everyone around you is freaking out, is to make solid hundreds on the first exams of the semester so that later you can just chill out during finals frenzy.<br />
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<br />thamerysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10418806649396525313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6531804081438130221.post-70985711664634792992013-12-15T12:50:00.002-08:002013-12-15T12:50:11.516-08:00words blog link<a href="http://wordsilove.org/">http://wordsilove.org/</a>thamerysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10418806649396525313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6531804081438130221.post-47925396018982145212013-12-15T12:27:00.000-08:002013-12-15T12:27:17.308-08:00Goodreads Review: The Help<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span id="freeTextreview727622990">I felt like the ending was kind of abrupt, but when I thought about it a little I guessed that maybe the author didn't want to tie things up too neatly. <br /><br /> The characterization was probably the best thing about The Help. Overall, this book didn't really rock my world, but it was a fun read. I can cross it off my list now. Phew!<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/22083974?sort=review&view=reviews#"></a></span>thamerysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10418806649396525313noreply@blogger.com0