[FOR THE PARENTS] The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane follows the story of a rabbit who doesn't know how to love. Through a series of unfortunate events, he falls into the possession of multiple people and his hard heart begins to soften...

Kate DiCamillo is strongly establishing herself as a must-read for all children. This story is heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time as Edward finds himself going through various families and learning the ultimate lesson: how to love.

What I loved about this book is that Edward meets all kinds of people: poor people, sick people, young children, grown men, boys who've lost everything. There is such a message of the importance of all humanity underlying this book. It is not simply about little girls with pretty dolls - it's about life. It can be gritty, but it can also be beautiful. And sometimes in the beauty, there's a little sadness.

DiCamillo's writing style is very easy to read and also very alluring. I found myself flying through this little book but also not wanting to put it down. I felt like a child, taking my new flashlight and reading under the covers in the dark, only I knew I had to wake up for work the next morning. It's been a long time since a book enchanted me so.

The reading level is around a high 3rd to 4th grade level and would be perfect for both avid and reluctant readers. I really can't recommend this book enough. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

BOOK REVIEW | The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

There was a lot that was beautiful about The Forest of Hands and Teeth. The narration, for one, had a subtle and simple way of being poetic and pragmatic at the same time. There was a lot of beauty in the narrator's (Mary) thoughts. I often found myself thinking, "That was a gorgeous way of thinking," or "That's a very quotable line." I enjoyed reading about Mary coming into herself in this poetic atmosphere. It was an interesting contrast -- the poetic nature of the narration but the grim reality of the post-apocalyptic world. And I think that, for the most part, this contrast worked.

However, for all of its beauty and contemplation, the prose had one fatal flaw: it was too vague. There is so much ambiguity in the narration that it eventually becomes exhausting. It's difficult to follow a narrator like that, it's hard to get a grasp on her personality, her character, her world. I could never quite see the world that Mary lived in clearly because it felt like there was a haze over my eyes the entire time I was reading this book. It was like reading with gauze wrapped around my head -- I could make out shapes and movements, but never get the full picture.

On the one hand, this hazy narration suited Mary because she is crazy. I can't think of any way to describe her other than that. At first, I thought she was just whiny and selfish, but as time wore on, I realized her selfishness ran deeper than that. It was an insanity. Nothing was good enough for her; she would get what she wanted only to desire more. It was fantastic to read through the eyes of a girl who is so set on what she wants that she will sacrifice anything -- and anyone -- to get it. I loved reading about a character who didn't realize how deep her selfishness ran, who wasn't aware that she was on the very thin line between sanity and insanity and I think that's what saved this novel for me.

Because, as I said before, it is much too vague. There are scenarios that happen and are never explained. I understand that some questions should be left unanswered in novels, but this one simply had too many. There was no wrap-up. When the novel ended, I found myself thinking: "Wait... that's it?" For example, why did the Sisterhood turn Gabrielle into an Unconsecrated? and did the Sisterhood cause the breach?, or did Mary ever have sex with Harry or Travis? (really, this question drove me crazy because I feel like that would be something important in a young girl's life, no matter what era she lives in. It would not be something that would simply be glazed over.) Also, were Harry and Cas ever saved at the end? Actually, maybe that last one could stay unanswered, but in a world where there was way too much left unanswered it just felt like another what-if in a sea of endless questions. The pivotal questions were never answered. The important aspects never discussed and that is where this book failed me.

 I can't stop thinking about this book, about the way society breaks down and the way people themselves break down when faced with a crisis. I can't stop thinking about Mary and her total insanity and how it resonated with me for some reason. Because this book continues to be in my head and won't leave me alone, it deserves a four-star rating. Clearly, the author was able to portray herself well and it has stuck with me.

BOOK REVIEW | Hate List by Jennifer Brown

Brown's "Hate List" immediately drew my attention with it's premise: the concept of a school shooting basing its victims upon a "hate list" started by the shooter and his girlfriend. I knew it was going to be a grim story, but I hadn't braced myself for the beauty it would unveil between its pages.

The reader follows the protagonist, Valerie, as she journey's from what she was before the shooting into a new skin - who she is after. Valerie and Nick, the shooter, had been dating for three years before Nick let loose his inner demons on the school, killing five students and one teacher. In the aftermath, Valerie is forced to deal with the blame that all of the city is laying on her. She is placed in the psych ward, under careful scrutiny from the police and then returns to the very same school her boyfriend wreaked havoc upon.

Brown did this with careful plotting. I felt that Valerie's acceptance back into the school (and her shunning as well) was spot on. My only critique's are the pacing and the late unveiling. At first, the pacing goes as follows: newspaper article, present day (end chapter); newspaper article, past scene (end chapter). If Brown had stuck to that mathematical equation of chaptering, I would have been content. Instead, somewhere in the middle of the book, it becomes a giant flash back and then we're thrown into the present again for the entirety of the book. For me, it felt a bit skewed and I felt like the careful methods she had been using before was just thrown out the window.

My second critique is the fact that quite a bit of the unveiling of characters and plot isn't revealed until close to the end. For example, the graveyard scene with Duce and the hospital scene with Ginny explain a helluva lot of the story that would have been beneficial to learn early. If Brown had kept to the present/past chapter method she was using before, this could have been exceptionally executed. I was a little sad to see this because it was on the verge of doing so much better. It makes the story a bit dry until the end.

Overall, I very much enjoyed "Hate List" and the ending had me in tears. Brown introduces some eccentric characters like Hieler and Bea to balance out the terrible home life that ensues for Valerie, as well as the hate and isolation she experiences from within herself. I was exceptionally glad to see Valerie realize that by creating the hate list with Nick in the first place, she was one of the biggest bullies of all - but this was barely glossed over. I do wish that they had dived deeper into her own part in the entire thing.

I recommend this book. To anyone and everyone. 

BOOK REVIEW | Premeditated by Josin McQuein

I listened to the audiobook version of this. 

This book... is a mess. The reader is told the story by a very unreliable sixteen year old narrator named Dinah who is on a mission: destroy the boy who destroyed her cousin. After her cousin, Claire, committed a botched suicide attempt, Dinah found her diary; a diary which contained very detailed events of what had happened to Claire before her suicide attempt; a diary which contained the name of the same boy over and over: Brooks Walden. So, Dinah loses the black hair, the piercings and the gothic clothes and dons knee socks, bleached hair and a clean face all in the hope of enacting her sweet, cold revenge. 

I was addicted to this book for the five days I listened to it. I normally listen to my audiobook CDs in the car, but I shoved my earphones in and listened to this book on my phone while I drove, cooked dinner, went for walks... basically as I lived out my daily life. And it was so worth it. I feel like listening to this book gave me a different experience than reading it. It was like watching a thriller movie. I was on the edge of my seat (or toes) the entire time, yelling at the main character, rolling my eyes and slapping my hand over my mouth in horror. Some books are meant to be listened to.

Dinah made me uncomfortable with her poorly planned vendetta and single minded determination to ruin a boy's life, but I couldn't help but like her a little. This girl certainly doesn't do anything half-assed. I actually liked all of the characters and felt like they all had many different - and interesting - layers to them. I must admit that I saw the "twist" coming from the moment our narrator met her perp, but I have to wonder if that wasn't the author's intention. There were so many clues throughout that it felt like she wanted the reader to know what would happen... we just had to wait for Dinah to figure it out.

Reading a book that like is interesting because it makes it difficult to not get bored when you know what's ahead, but somehow McQuien kept me interested. I liked hearing how far this girl would go to deal out the justice that she thought was so duly deserved, and I also liked hearing about her reservations with her own convictions. Dinah felt very real.

Recommended to people who enjoy thriller stories, YA Contemporary stories or just want to read a well-written YA once in a while.

BOOK REVIEW | The Double Helix by James Watson

James Watson and Francis Crick made arguably the greatest discovery of the 20th century: proving that DNA is the building block of life and providing a solid structure for it. This short autobiographical account written by Watson provides an in depth - and biased - look into the discovery and also reveals the world of science, where fair play isn't always adhered to. 

I remember my mother talking about Crick and Watson when I was a kid learning about DNA in school and telling me how these two men stole a woman named Rosalind Franklin's idea and research and then got all the credit for it, including a Nobel Prize. Well, my ten year old (or so) self was appalled by this. She did all the work and they got all the credit? The injustice! Reading this was eye-opening for me, because yes, Franklin did not get nearly as much credit as she deserved during the time of their discovery (this was later remedied as best as it could be), but I would not necessarily say that they stole anything from her. Although, I suppose when it comes to her X-Ray of the B Form, that's pretty debatable.

Because this was written by Watson, this is simply his perception of how things went during this time of his life. I think that he didn't aim for objectivity in portraying the people around him, but rather tried to give his opinion and point of view. I do not think his portrait of Maurice Wilkins or Linus Pauling were particularly appealing, but they were his greatest rivals in the world of DNA, so he had to villainize them to make himself the hero. As my professor said, he turned Pauling into Goliath so that he and Crick could become the Davids.

It is extremely readable, but I am not its target audience. I have to admit that had I not read this for class, I may have never picked it up. Although my career is in the science field, it is in the world of computers, not biology and genetics. I greatly appreciate the work that Crick and Watson did, as well as Pauling, Franklin, Bragg, Wilkins, Perutz, Kendrew, etc. but I did not truly understand all of the science in this. On the surface level, it is understandable and I don't think any readers will ever feel lost. That's not what I mean. But on a deeper level, understanding the impact that each scientist had on each other, the impact of each step forward, each failed experiment and each successful experiment: I think someone who has a background in this type of science will really appreciate those aspects.

Overall, I'm quite happy to have read this. It provided a detailed account of one of the most monumental moments of modern history. Recommended.

BOOK REVIEW | If I Stay by Gayle Forman

I think that there's a lot in a reader's life that affects the rating of a book. When they read it, the mood they were in, how their day had been, what they had been reading previously, what they plan on reading next, etc. In this case, the stars aligned for my reading experience of Gayle Forman's "If I Stay," because I found it to be a nearly perfect book.

I did listen to this, rather than read it, so that my have affected my experience of it, but I honestly feel as if this is the perfect book to listen to. The reader was phenomenal, and the narration is just meant to be read aloud. The short, poetic sentences that Ms. Forman has woven together flow into each other beautifully. There were never any awkward wordings or sentence flaws that threw me out of the story.

I loved all of the characters in this story, especially the parents. When you're listening to a book instead of reading it, different things become important for you to enjoy your experience. For me, the things that became important were the character dynamics, their relationships and their dialogue. All three were excellent. Mia is a conservative teenage girl who loves her alternative family, her alternative boyfriend and her cello. Being able to hear the story from her point of view, considering she was "strangest" of them all, was really interesting. What it was like to grow up with such liberal parents and off road ways of thinking, what it is like having become someone so very different from her parents, but then falling in love with someone so very like them.

What it's like losing your parents and younger brother in one moment.

This book got to me. I did okay throughout the most of it, but the ending, where she's choosing to stay or go... I couldn't handle it. The tears were streaming down my face. I wouldn't say I was sobbing but there was a continuous trail of tears. The author wanted a reaction and she got one. Kudos to her for being able to weave a story so heartbreaking and full of hope at the same time.

[FOR THE PARENTS] Where She Fell by Kaitlin Ward

"Where She Fell" by Kaitlin Ward is about a young girl who falls into a sinkhole. As she journeys farther down into the earth via a cave opening that she escaped into, she discovers a group of people who have made this cave their home. And she quickly learns that the cave wants them to stay... This book was at the book fair my school had recently and a student of mine picked out this book and "Lie to Me," by the same author. After finishing the latter, I thought I would try this one out, too. I actually preferred this book, although my student preferred "Lie to Me." I thought there were a lot of creative elements in the cave dwellers and I was fascinated by the concept of the bioluminescents. I actually wished their origin had been explained a bit more. I enjoyed that, with the exception of the main character, no one feels safe -- I mean that it genuinely felt like any of them could have died, which is a bit of a surprise for a middle school book. What I liked: The main character has social anxiety and seeing her work through that was really cool; it was also nice to have a main character with a mental illness that is represented well. All of the cave creatures. The entire cave colony and its desperate form of government.  What I would warn parents about: Pretty steamy romantic scenes, which might be a bit too much for a middle schooler. It should be based on individuals and not something given to everyone. Blood & gore, although nothing I would say that a middle schooler couldn't handle. Who I would recommend this for: Mature middle schoolers. Reluctant high schoolers who are not on reading level.  Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this read.  I found it to be creative, adventurous and fun.  I did feel like the cave part dragged ever-so-slightly, however the author had to set the stage for what was to come, so it's perfectly understandable.  It was a very interesting read that I devoured within an hour.

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 | Lord of the Flies by William Goulding

What a pity that so many adults had a bad experience with this novel in  high school that they never want to pick it up again. 

At first glance, this novel seems innocent enough: a group of English school boys find themselves stranded on a remote island and must learn survival skills to stay alive.  However, the direction that the author took this seemingly harmless premise could make anyone fall into an existential crisis. 

Truly, the mastery that went into "Lord of the Flies" is astounding.  There is so much allegory just leaking off the pages that sometimes I think people can get too caught up in the intellectual aspect of the novel.  And there truly is a lot to be discussed.  The island follows the same fate as the Garden of Eden.  As the boys fall more and more into their darker selves, the island itself becomes a character taking on an evil turn.  

In fact, this book has been banned and challenged relentlessly due to the fact that, in the end, Goulding's message is that all of humanity is evil at its core. 

This novel focuses on the murder of reason, the death of goodness and the dark truth of what it means to be human.  So much is condensed into this roughly 200 paged book that it's hard not to find yourself in a deep conversation about the human condition.   However, even though it is a well of conversation starters, as an adult I found myself more and more affected by the boys' deaths and descent into madness.  When reading this as a high school student, I was encouraged to focus only on the academic aspect of the novel.  But when reading it as an adult, I couldn't help but focus on the emotional side of it, too.

There were times when I read this that my blood ran cold.  Other times I felt myself in such shock that my body went numb.  I didn't have any of these experiences when I was a teenager.   I didn't have a connection like this with the book before.

I can't recommend that adults re-read (or read for the first time!) this novel enough.  And I hope in doing so, they'll find more meaning and more emotion than they experienced before. 

BOOK REVIEW | White Noise by Don DeLillo

I don't know, man. DeLillo might be my new favorite author.

There was something really poignant in "White Noise"; something constantly expressed and yet glossed over at the same time. DeLillo's novel is a commentary on our waves and radiation in life: how we never have true silence, we are constantly bombard with technology, how we have faceless voices speaking to us through screens and cracks and telling us what to do. How our life has become a simulated version of itself that is unprepared for disaster. 

Each character is a caricature. They are all overdone and melodramatic. The kids are super modern (for the '80s), the wife is obsessed with health and vitality and the father, our narrator, has an obsession with Hitler. Their dialogue is hilarious, but under all of it is this Lacanian philosophy that comes up every time someone asks, "Why is death?", "What is dark?", "What is light?", "What is...". It is the question of our reality. If our reality is made up of words and words are subjective, then does that mean our reality is subjective, too?

This book just resonated with me for some reason. Each point that DeLillo makes is hidden under the simplicity of his dialogue, the insanity of the character's actions and the hilarity that ensues, but there are so many points to be made in this book that I began to see everything as allegorical or philosophical. The grocery store is not just a store, the mushroom cloud is not just a cloud, Murray is not just a man... and I can back up every single crazy idea and prediction I had in this book with text because it is that kind of book where your interpretation just can't go wrong.

Read it. Even if you hate it, I think you'll understand it.

BOOK REVIEW | Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

Just a warning: there are some spoilers in this review that I did not tag, so read at your own risk.

(Also, I feel like I need to say that this review does not reflect what I think of the author herself or of other readers who enjoyed this series.  You are free to love what books you love!  I'm just not able to jump on this bandwagon. D:  Stay chill, my friends. :))

One sentence summary: Celaena Sardothien is now the King's Champion, and must keep up a daily charade of pretending to be his ally while simultaneously plotting to tear him apart; meanwhile she keeps discovering more secrets below the castle, secrets so deep that they could destroy the world.

I once mentioned that a book made me so frustrated that I actually threw my Kindle. Well, this is the book in question. And it was more of a toss. Onto my bed. But the fact remains that I was so flustered and even angered by the ending of this book that I was willing to make my beloved Kindle airborne.

I desperately wanted to love this book, just as I wanted to love the first in the series. Normally when a series becomes wildly popular, I either appreciate the hype or I can at least understand it, but with this series, I honestly just can't. I really do not understand why this series is so popular, and I really do not understand why people prefer this book to the first. I found this book to be worse.

Let me start with what I did like:

∙Celaena's breakdown: This actually happened in the fourth novella as well, which was why it turned out to be my favorite. Her breakdown provided a much-needed vulnerability to her character for the reader. It was very human of her, and for once she didn't seem so vomit-inducingly perfect. It also reminded us that she actually is an assassin and will always turn to bloodlust when confronted with such strong emotions.

∙The underground everything: I was glad to see that the underground passageways were still alive and well, considering they were my favorite part of the first book. The mysteries and discoveries and cool traps and doors and hallways, etc. I do have to admit that it's taking a bit of a weird turn, but I still like it.

∙Celaena actually killed people!: Yay. Because she is, you know, an assassin.

Perhaps the biggest issue is that I simply did not like any of the main characters or the overall plotline; considering these two aspects are what basically make a novel what it is, I may have been doomed to dislike this series from the beginning. Celaena is too perfect, Dorian is too boring and Chaol is too predictable. They all are so stuck in these personality traits that it's hard to see them as three dimensional characters. They are flat and, quite often, unlikeable. I honestly think that Mass has a lot of good ideas, but they're buried underneath her inability to create complex characters and her juvenile writing.

It's not that she's incapable of creating an interesting character, it's just that there's one aspect of them that's so heavily focused on that any other intended trait gets pushed to the side, making them seem like caricatures. Even Nehemia, perhaps the most interesting character, fell prey to this. Maas made her so noble that she seemed almost inhuman. And that's the issue with these characters - they don't feel real. If I'm constantly reminded of how two dimensional a character is, how am I supposed to get into the story?

I'm also extremely unimpressed with the reliance on the shock value, which this book had. I have been in Celaena's head, both as a first person narrator and as a third person narrator. There should be no reason for her hiding the fact that she's a Queen (which wasn't much of a shock) and that she's a faery (which was) from the reader. How could Celaena not once thought of those things? How, as a reader, am I expected to just passively accept this as valid instead of as a ploy to cover up a mediocre story? The thing is, had Maas no decided to pull this, I might have actually enjoyed the book. If she could have just revealed this earlier and relied on her writing to further explain it to the reader while hiding from the characters, she might have had the opportunity to create something fanastic. Instead, she went the cheap route which only served to highlight all of the other instances in the book that felt poorly written.

The ending felt so rushed and so disorganized that I felt like I needed to just buckle down and finish it in order to get it over with. After the original reveal, which is Celaena's faery power, I honestly started finding everything to be ridiculous. Maas seemed to have gone to such lengths to destroy the image of Celaena as a Mary Sue, and then she adds the superhero power onto her, putting the character right back where she started.

All in all, I am still a bit baffled as to why this series is as popular as it is, but I know that I'm very much in the minority on this. I cannot look past being emotionally manipulated by the author and I can't shake the "big reveals" as anything other than a cheap trick to cover up insecure writing.

SEVEN DEADLY SINS BOOK TAG

I was tagged by the lovely Morrighan from Elysian Fields to do the Seven Deadly Sins Book Tag.  First off, thank you for the tag and to all of you reading, if you haven't seen her lovely blog, please be sure to do so.  This tag was created by the lovely Booktuber BookishlyMalyza and the gist is that you must answer seven questions about the Biblical seven deadly sins.

1. GREED: What is the most expensive book in your library and what is the most inexpensive?

Most expensive is technically my World Atlas because Atlas' cost an insane amount of money, but mine was a gift. I guess most expensive that I personally purchased might be... The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe, I think.  The least expensive would be all of the books given to me as gifts because they were FREE!

2. WRATH: Which author do you have a love/hate relationship with?

I actually, weirdly enough, can't really think of one!   Maybe John Milton?  I think he wrote some pretty radical and influential stuff, but sometimes I wonder if he was just arguing for more rights and privileges for white males and ignoring anyone else.  I also have an issue with James Joyce because I just love his work, but I don't understand why he had to make himself so inaccessible.

3. GLUTTONY: What book have you deliciously devoured over and over again with no remorse whatsoever?

Oh, easy.  The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley.  I don't know how many times I've read that bad boy. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine is another one I read a lot in my younger years.

4. SLOTH: What book have you neglected reading due to laziness?

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.  Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.  The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.  Although, to be fair, I'm not neglecting them out of laziness, but more because I'm bombarded with reading for university at the moment.

5. PRIDE: What book do you most talk about in order to sound like an intellectual reader?

I don't feel like I ever consciously talk about a book to make me sound like an intellectual reader?  I don't put much stock in that.

6. LUST: What attributes do you find most attractive in male or female characters?

In male characters: kindness, radical thinking, and a critical eye. 
In female characters: logic, passion, and a willingness to act.

7. ENVY: What books would you most like to receive as a gift?

You know those Penguin Clothbound Editions?  I would love to have all of them and I would proudly display them on my shelves and take them with me everywhere I go because perfection.

I think everyone has already done this tag- probably because I'm so crazy behind on tags- but I'm going to tag anyone who has the word "love" or "lover" in their username! (And anyone else who wants to do it, too.)

What #HaleNo and #BloggerBlackout Really Mean

I feel the need to have a space where these two hashtags can be explained in as an accessible way as possible.  I'm not perfect and my explanation of them may not be everyone's explanation of them, but I ask you to please take a moment to read my subjective interpretation.  If you've anything to add, please do so in the comments and I will be happy to include them in this post.  I'd love for this to be a community explanation.

#HaleNo is a hashtag that represents blogger's taking a stance against the recent insanity to do with Kathleen Hale stalking a blogger to her home, and now also has to do with Richard Brittain, an author who stalked a reviewer and committed physical harm against her.  It is a peaceful protest against that sort of behavior in the community.  Also, this needs to be made clear: We also do not support the recent doxxing of Kathleen Hale and many bloggers reported that incident.  I just wanted that to be heard.

#Bloggerblackout is a movement that has been ignited due to the recent events.  In short, it's a movement where bloggers are choosing not to review until October 27th (although I have heard that some are prolonging their blackout) in order to get back in touch with their roots.  The truth is, blogging is for the bloggers and the reviews are for the readers.  I think it's great when bloggers and authors and publishers form beautiful relationships.  I really think that's a wonderful aspect of blogging, but I don't think it's ever been intended to be the main aspect.  Please respect that bloggers are trying to remember why they began blogging in the first place and to rekindle their love for it.

The reason why I didn't participate in the #Bloggerblackout is because I do not do ARC reviews in general.  At least, not yet.  I've been reviewing much older books.  However, I do 100% support the #Bloggerblackout for however long the bloggers want to maintain it.

I hope this explains a few things.

BOOK REVIEW | The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

"The circus arrives without warning..."

It is a place of dreams, all in black and white, with spots of red on certain customers.  In this circus, you can watch a trapeze act that defies gravity, enter into a tent of stories, witness kittens jump through hoops, make wishes on wells, have your fortune read and more.  It is opened from sunset to sunrise and only stays a few weeks before packing and changing location.  Maybe it will come back to your town, but maybe it won't.

The Night Circus is a beautiful book about a whole cast of characters.  We have Celia, the magical protege; Marco, the studious student; Tsukiko, the contortionist; Bailey, the dreamer; Herr, the clockmaker; Poppet and Widget, the eccentric twins; Chandresh, the master; Tara, the one who saw too much; and many more.  They all work in a magical circus doing various activities, from performing to creating tents to handing out food.

What makes this circus so magical is that inside, unbeknownst to anyone except for the players, lies a game.  The rules are vague, the boundaries are flimsy and not even the participants really understand what's going on.

"I have never fully grasped the rules of the game, so I am following my instincts instead."

I would say how the game works is exactly how this book was written.  The language Morgenstern uses is beautiful and poetic, but very often it was hard to imagine exactly what she meant because she constantly keeps her reader in mystery.  This is done on purpose to create an atmosphere that could perfectly mimic the circus.  Although I loved how atmospheric this book was, sometimes not understanding the game and the temporal displacement of the novel were a bit too much.  There desperation of the characters was never properly conveyed to the reader, but we were told often of how one of the players was exhausted/on the brink of a meltdown, etc.  I never saw these meltdowns or complaints.  I never felt them.

As the game progresses and more and more lives are at stake, I could never really feel how on edge everything was.  There were very few moments when the circus would have a ripple that would cause something drastic, and when these drastic things happened I felt the panic in the moment, but never the build up.  Because the rules and stakes of the game were so vague, it was hard to feel any crescendo towards a climax.

The novel is full of beautiful imagery that gives a new name to originality:

"When she opens her eyes, they are standing on the quarterdeck of a ship in the middle of the ocean.  Only the ship is made of books, its sails thousands of overlapping pages, and the sea it floats upon is dark black ink."

"Inside, the train is opulent, gilded, and warm.  Most of the passenger cars are lined with thick patterned carpets, upholstered in velvets in burgundies and violets and creams, as though they have been dipped in a sunset, hovering at twilight and holding on to the colors before they fade to midnight and stars."

 In a way, a lot of the creativity of this story reminded me of The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making.  Beautiful images, exciting prospects, interesting concepts.  The writing is what really propelled the book from being a nice read to being an amazing one.

Overall, I would recommend this book for fans of beautiful writing, for fans of experimental writing and for those that like fairy tales.  If you're the kind of reader who needs proper foreshadowing and likes to have concepts and situations thoroughly explained to them, this might not be a book for you.  For me, however, this book was beautiful and possibly the type of book you could read and re-read, finding more and more hidden secrets within.

THE RANDOM QUESTION TAG

(I'm so terribly behind on tags and what not.  Sorry!  Midterms are insane at the moment.  I'm going to try and catch up with everything this week.)

I was tagged by the lovely Gloria over at GloriaTheViolinist who has also answered these questions here. Be sure to check her out!  Thank you for the tag!  In this tag, I will be answering 18 random questions.

1. Have you ever thrown a book?
Yep.  And not only have I thrown a book, I've thrown my Kindle, too! (Onto my bed, but still.)

2. Do you like lengthy books or short books?
Depends on how engaging a story is, but in general succinct and straight-to-the-point books are great for me in literary fictions and longer, more descriptive books are better in fantasy.

3. If you don't like a book, do you stop reading it or finish it?
In general, I finish it because I'm probably going to deconstruct the heck out of it and have so much fun.  But there have been a few times where I just couldn't finish a book.  Most of the time, if I can't finish it, it's because there's no deeper meaning to be found that I could agree or disagree with.

4. Do you stop reading when you're tired or when a chapter finishes?
I stop reading when I pass out. I don't even close the book, I legit just pass out mid-sentence.
  
5. How do you organize your shelf?
By genre.

6. Paperback or Hardcover?
Paperback.  Cheaper, easier to read and I love writing in the margins.

7. What book can you not wait to read?
Anything for fun.  Uni is sucking out my soul.

8. A book you wish could be turned into a graphic novel?
Not sure I want any of them to be... unless it's done by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.  Maybe Good Omens.  Does that already exist? 

9. A book that disappointed you?
Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas and Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas.  Literally for the exact same reason.

10. What book made you cry recently?
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs.  It's her account of being a slave and there's a part where she teaches another slave to read so that he could read the Bible.  I'm not even a Christian, but his will to learn and devotion to God were so beautiful to read about that I just started tearing up.  To love something so strongly is beautiful.

11. Do you prefer buying books online or going to the bookstore?
Going to the bookstore.  It's like coming home.

12. Do you prefer to listen to music while reading or to read in silence?
Read in silence.  I wish I could listen to music while I read, but I'm too easily distracted.

13. What is the weirdest thing you've ever experienced while reading a book?
Not sure I've ever experienced anything weird... but I did read in the Louvre, right outside the Mona Lisa.  -toots horn-

14. What was your first fandom?
Kingdom Hearts!

15. What fictional character do you relate to the most?
Lizzie Bennett and Lydia Bennett.  Lizzie because I'm bold (maybe too bold), enjoy talking with people and being witty and can handle myself.  Lydia because I can be quite silly and ridiculous, but I have the advantage of having good parents.  Honestly, if Lydia had had parents that actually cared about her and took care of her, she would not have turned out as she did.  I really think Mr. Bennett is one of the worst literary parents of all time.

16. What fictional character do you wish you were more like?
I like myself as I am, to be honest, lol.  I do wish I had Tyrion Lannister's eye for strategy, though.  I bet he's good at math.  I wish I were good at math. *sighs deeply*

17. If you could spend a whole day with five characters, who would you pick?
Tyrion Lannister,  Frederick Douglass (he counts because he wrote a book about himself so he made himself a character), Harriet Jacobs, Keenan and Seth from Wicked Lovely.

18. What is a book that exceeded all of your expectations?
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.  Wow, what a seriously beautiful book!

I'm not sure who has done this tag, so I'm hesitantly tagging:

Morrighan @ Elysian Fields

Ana @ Tara! Let's be happy

Noelia @ A Day in Bookland

Lola @ Hit or Miss Books

Giselle @ Perks of Being Readers

The Misses @ Fangirling Misses

OCTOBER TBR

October is going to be an insane reading month. 

 I have a few books I need to finish this October, and then a few I'll be reading.  Of the books listed, 7 are for fun. but I'm nearly done with 3 of them and another is an audiobook. The rest are entirely for university.    Things are getting real in uni, so a lot of what you see below is actually assigned reading.  I'm not complaining.  I love assigned reading!  It's just... a lot this month.

FOR SCHOOL:

 



Silent Dancing: A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood by Judith Ortiz Colfer.  This is a memoir of Ms. Colfer's life growing up and is only 158 pages.  I'm excited because I haven't read a biography/memoir in a long time.

 
 




The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros.  I really like Cisneros now.  She's poetic, but accessible and I really like that.  A lot of "high nose" writers take a lot of context to understand - which limits their audience - but Cisneros doesn't do this. 


 



Paradise Lost by John Milton.  I'm totally loving this.  My presentation is on Book III of this (there's XII books, I believe).  Milton is still the sassiest.



 
 





A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce.  Nearly done with this one.  Once I figured out what Joyce was trying to say and what he was trying to transcend, I was completely on board.  Although modernism still isn't my favorite.


 





Translations by Brial Friel.  It's 91 pages and a play, thank God.  So this is one of my shorter reads.  This is for my Irish Literature class.  No idea what it's about, but I'm kind of excited.  I've never read a contemporary Irish play.


 





Reading in the Dark by Seamus Deane.  I'm really hoping that this isn't a modernist one, but I know Deane was a huge nationalist in Ireland.  He also wrote an intro into Joyce's "Portrait" trying to find nationalist ties.  Fun fact!


 






Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs.  I am super excited for this one.  The first slave narrative I've ever read about a woman and it also has one of the only homosexual interactions between a slave and master - which is a concept I'm extremely interested in.

12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup.  Really excited for this one, too, although I believe this was actually dictated to a white man and then he wrote it... so I'm sure there will be some embellishment.




 



Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave by William W. Brown.  I know nothing about this one, to be honest.  I didn't even realize we were reading it in my Slave Narratives class until just now.

Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb: An American Slave by Henry Bibb.  Same deal as above.  I only just realized I was reading this.  Both books are only a little over 100 pages, but I have no idea how readable they'll be.

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende.  I don't know much about this, but I'm really excited.  It's also on the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge (which I'll do a post on soon) so two birds and one stone.

Secrets in the Sand: The Young Women of Juarez by Marjorie Agosin. I believe this is a book of poetry about the women who were abducted and murdered in Juarez, Mexico.  There were over 350 women and their remains are still being found.  Tragic.

The Miltonic Movement by J. Martin Evans.  A study of Milton's early works.  This is supplemental reading, but the professor wants us to use outside sources on our Midterm and this is a book he mentions a lot.

Jesus as Mother: Studies in the Spirituality of the High Middle Ages by Carolina Walker Bynum.  Another supplemental reading request and another book he mentions constantly.  Really interested about this one, though.

FOR FUN: 

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.  I will be reading this for a book club.  Reading this for the book club Sassy Reads.  If you join, we'll also be using the hashtag #sassyreads on Twitter, too.  My Halloween-y read!

Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas. I  haven't even looked at this since early September, so I'm still on chapter 3.  I will finish it this month.  (I hope.)

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.  I'm almost done with this one.  It's really great, but this is a book that should be read slowly.  So beautiful, though, and I really recommend it.




 



Stag's Leap: Poems by Sharon Olds.  I this won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 2013. (I'm trying to read more Pulitzers.)  It's just gorgeous.  I've already cried a few times.  A collection of poetry about a marriage that fell apart after 30 years.

Wicked as They Come by Delilah S. Dawson.  This is the Vaginal Fantasy Book Club read.  I didn't get to read last month's, so I'd really like to take part this month.  Also... it's got crazy good reviews for such a cheesy cover.

Commanded to His Bed by Denise Lynn.  My bathroom book!  I still haven't done a post about bathroom books, but I will... I will, lol.  This one is ridiculously corny.

True to the Highlander by Barbara Longley.  My audiobook that I've yet to finish, ha.  The narrator is just... not my style and also, Thomas Bergerson's new album has come out so I've been a little sidetracked because he is my favorite composer ever. 

What are you reading this October?

SEPTEMBER WRAP UP

I cannot believe that October, my favorite month, is finally here!  I had an okay reading month. I think I didn't realize how much time school would suck out of me, haha.  So, my OCTOBER TBR will be a little more modest. ;)

 


Lilus Kikus and Other Stories by Elena Poniatowska.  Loved this so so so so crazy much.  I have a review HERE if you'd like to read more about it.






 

In the End by Demitria Lunetta.  Not as impressed by this one as I was by the first. There were a lot of parts that just didn't really make sense... I didn't post a review here, but I have a mini-review on Goodreads that you can check out HERE.





 


Rumble by Ellen Hopkins.  This book and I did not get along.  This was my only one-star read this month... and for a very long time, actually.  Find out why I didn't like this book HERE.

 


Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass.  Perfect.  A book that absolutely everyone should read.  I'm working on a review of this one and should hopefully have it up by the weekend.







Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel.  A very weird and magical book.  When I finished it I wasn't sure if I loved it or hated it. Turns out, I kind of loved it.  But I'm warning you that things get a little strange.  It's called magical realism for a reason.

 


Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom by William and Ellen Craft.  This was my favorite book I read this month.  Only around 50 pages, full of information about the complexity of using race as a reason for slavery as well as a compelling and amazing story of how to people became free.  Really, really, really recommended. 



 


Woman Hollering Creek by Sandra Cisneros.  This was a collection of short stories written by Cisneros, who has a very declarative, staccato style.  But she also can weave a sentence so beautiful it's like watching someone paint.  Put those two contrasting styles together and you have the very interesting work of Sandra Cisneros.  Her Eyes of Zapata story was my favorite. 

What did you read this month?

If you'd like to follow what I read more closely, check me out on Goodreads.

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