ANNOUNCEMENT: Blogging Return & Upcoming Series!

Well, hello everyone! 

It's no secret that I've been gone from this blog for quite some time.  I even need to relink my social media accounts so that I can stop seeing those strange smiley faces!  I wanted to re-evaluate the way I wrote reviews; how much subjectivity do I want to place in a review?  How do I feel about the star system? (Spoiler: I don't like it and therefore do not give star ratings anymore unless it's a 5* because it just resonated with me.)  How do I want my reviews to be formatted?  Who am I trying to reach? 

All of these have been on my mind as I've toyed with the idea of coming back to book blogging and book reviewing.  Literature has, and always will be, my first love.  And I'm so grateful that I've been able to translate that love into others through my profession.

I've been having a great time living life and settling into my role as a teacher.  I've been teaching for 8 years now but I've been a middle school teacher for the past 4.  I'm currently finishing my MA and working part-time as an English and History teacher at an Orthodox Jewish school.  (They have their Judaic studies in the morning and their General studies in the afternoon.)  Teaching middle school has really opened my eyes to what students are reading and how much I want to encourage parents to let their students read and read voraciously.  Trust me, middle schoolers know so much more than you think and being exposed to new concepts is only going to help them become better adjusted adults. 

Thus my new series that I'll be starting on here is going to be called FOR THE  PARENTS.  These are going to be reviews of middle school/YA books where I will tell you what I liked about the book while also being open and honest about the content so that you can decide if your child is ready for it.  I do really recommend that parents think long and hard.  Literature is a good thing.  Reading is a good thing.  I hope that these reviews will help parents encourage their children rather than restricting them.

I've also been doing so much traveling, as you can see from some of the pictures I've been placing in this post. (I do have a travel blog here, by the way, if you're curious!)  Traveling and reading are my true passions, my true hobbies.  I've been lucky enough to travel to over 20 countries and teach in 4 of them.  And soon that will be 5!  I am currently in the midst of accepting a job in Kuwait for the upcoming 2020-2021 school year as an English teacher at an American Academy.

So what does this mean for my reading preferences?  On top of the FOR THE PARENTS series, I'd like to also start a BECOMING CULTURED series, where I read works by people of other cultures and about other cultures, whether it be historical or current.  This can include fiction and nonfiction, too.  I have been adoring traveling to new places, learning about events and seeing things for myself - as well as meeting absolutely lovely people - and now I'd like to take my mind there, too, when I'm unable to travel due to work. 

So, that's basically my long winded way of saying I'm back to book blogging & book reviewing and I hope to connect with the community again.  Let's get reading!

BOOK REVIEW | Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Wither follows the story of Rhine, who is living in a world where a disease has wiped out most of the human race, leaving only North America behind. Because of this disease, no one is able to live past the age of 20, if you're a woman, and 25, if you're a man. Rhine is forced into a marriage with two other girls for the sole purpose to produce babies, but she is finding that what she wants more than anything is freedom. Freedom from the disease. Freedom from her husband. Freedom from that mansion.

I know there are certain aspects of this book that have made people cringe. But, for me, the writing and the overall storyline made it well worth the four stars I gave. Let me start with the things that I noticed or others have pointed out to me.

In order of biggest inconsistency to least:

1. All of this snow that Florida can apparently create. As a resident of Florida, this made me cringe. Even if this were to take place in Northern Florida, it would be ridiculous. Perhaps there was some snowfall in Tallahassee back in 2010. I seem to remember news of it. But this was the type of snow that barely even made it to the ground because it was so cold. The snow that they talked about in Wither was somehow inches or more deep. All I could think of was, "What Florida is this?" My only reasoning was that maybe after the destruction of people (via virus), the state lines were re-done... but it was never explained to be so in the book. That bugged me.

2. Rhine never has sex. This did not make any sense. Now, I'm pretty laid back about sex in YA books. Sometimes it's unnecessary - actually, most of the time it's unnecessary. But in this case? Definitely necessary. You want me to believe that Rhine enters into a marriage which has the sole purpose to procreate and yet never has sex? I can see how DeStefano made Linden a weak man who wouldn't pressure her, but does anyone remember his father? This was not a man who cared enough about Linden, about anyone that he would sacrifice new life forms. If anything, he would have just killed Rhine, used her for scientific study, and then told Linden to move on. I don't care how anyone tries to justify this. Rhine would have been murdered or raped. The end.

3. North America is the SOLE survivor. Now, some readers may have already have read Fever and are shaking their heads at this because maybe this is explained in the second book. I took it as a projection of the character. North America is the only one they know to have survived. But if that is the case, why word it so? Why not simply say that instead of making a firm statement that North America is the only place with a population left.

4. Women dying before men. I suppose this was for plot purposes, but FYI, men die earlier than women. It's scientifically proven. It would have made more sense to have women die at age 25 and men at age 20.

Regardless, I still greatly enjoyed this book. DeStefano's prose was literally breathtaking. I read this in one sitting. She drew me in with her characterization and writing. I loved the character of Jenna and I could feel for the character of Linden. Oftentimes, I think that writing first person can greatly hinder a writer. This is because they are not able to explore any other characters than the one whose eyes the reader is seeing from. However, somehow DeStefano managed to make all of her characters seem so real and so vulnerable, even through Rhine's eyes. Because of this great characterization, I was able to look past more technical errors.

I also, personally, read books for the relationships and characterizations. I am a huge character reader dislike it when other characters are not fully developed. (Or if other characters all follow some kind of stereotype, etc). With DeStefano, the reader is able to understand a variety of personalities and view the story from different angles.

I purposely put the negative aspects first because I want people to understand how I could look past some blatant errors because of the beautiful writing and empathetic characterization. I would honestly recommend this to anyone. The pacing, the prose - it all made it worth it to me.

BOOK REVIEW | The End of the Affair by Graham Greene

4 crazy stars.

First things first: I listened to this narrated by Colin Firth and he has a sexy voice. I feel like it's pertinent to note this.

I described The End of the Affair like this to one of my friends: It's about a crazy man lusting after his crazy ex-lover under the watch of a crazy god in a crazy world.

If I do say so myself, I believe my synopsis nailed it.

The writing was gorgeous, pensive and fluid.  Quite often, it can be hard to appreciate good writing when listening to an audiobook, but this book boasted such gorgeous prose that I believe it doesn't matter what format you devour it in.  The characters were tainted, innocent, corrupt and complicated. This is the kind of book where the synopsis sounds crazy (a man wanting to stalk his ex-lover), but the writing makes it almost philosophical. 

Morris, the narrator, is a jealous man; jealous to such a degree that I don't think I have ever met anyone so jealous. When Morris meets Henry again, the husband of his ex-lover Sarah, he finds that Henry has been suspecting his wife of an affair. Our narrator then hires a private investigator to stalk both Sarah and Henry, becoming inextricably linked into their lives again, falling deeper and deeper into their relationship and his own jealousy.  He wants to know if Sarah is having an affair and he also wants to know more about Henry, the man Sarah chose over them.  And in becoming so utterly involved in their lives, he begins to love them as well.

Throughout the book, there are many references to God and how the characters don't believe in Him. They are so adamant about it, so absolutely certain to the point that it doesn't sound certain at all. Sometimes things happen -- these things that happen everyday can be seen through the lens of rationality or faith; meetings can be coincidence or fate; healings can be psychological or supernatural; love can be a simple mixture of neurons and synapses or magic. What is comes down to is that it is about how much you're willing to see, in both directions. Morris wasn't willing to see anything. Morris, quite frankly, was blind.

Recommended for fans of The Great Gatsby and Their Eyes Were Watching God.

BOOK REVIEW | A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

There's not much I could say about this first installment of A Song of Ice and Fire that hasn't been said. The allegories I noticed don't come into play until later in the series and would be spoiler-y to include here.

That being said, I thought I would give my two cents in terms of recommendations: the types of people who I think might want to steer clear of this saga.

Don't Read A Song of Ice and Fire If:

• You don't like fantasy. This is a fantasy series and will bore you to tears if you don't already like or have any interest in the genre, whether in book form or movie form.

• You are offended by relatively graphic sexual scenes and ample nudity. I would not say the sex scenes in A Song of Ice and Fire are all that graphic, but I've read the works of Kresley Cole and Larissa Ione so my opinion means jack squat in this regard. That being said, I've seen some people be turned off by the book because there is a lot of nudity, sex and allusions to sex. And they're not scenes you can skip either because important plot points come up during these scenes.

• Politics makes you want to jump off a cliff. These books span a literal game of thrones: people are trying to 1) rules all of Westeros (the main continent), 2) break off from the monarchy and rule their own section of Westeros, 3) rebel, 4) stay the hell out of it. Although the politics is fictional, there is still quite a bit of it in certain characters' POVs and could potentially be boring.

• Complicated scenes - particularly complicated sex scenes - freak you out. This is a medieval world. There are thirteen year olds being sold to thirty year olds and they have sex with each other. I saw a reviewer write about how Dany and Khal Drogo's relationship was a glorified version of Stockholm Syndrome and it completely ruined her enjoyment of the book. If these types of things will upset you to the point where you can no longer enjoy the rest of the book, you might want to steer clear.

• You like it when the good guys win. LOL. Sorry. You're not going to find that here.

• Graphic depictions of violence make you squeamish or even mentally ill. Just don't put yourself through that, because there's a lot of it.

• You need to like or relate to characters to enjoy a story. There are a lot of characters in this series and they all have their flaws and their good points... except for the crazy ones who just have flaws. You may love all most of them, but you may not like a single one.

• You've seen the show and you don't like it. You probably won't like the book, either.

I hope that this list of people I think might not enjoy ASOIAF is helpful for those of you who have been toying with read the series. From my 5* review, I am sure you've gathered that I loved this book, but I do realize that the series isn't for everyone.