About Me
Sunday, August 24, 2014
And I find myself with a little bit of free time in my hands again.
Not really, I just don't feel like planning right now... So, I'll try to
catch up with the remaining books I haven't posted about :)
I read If I Stay during Easter and I LOVED Gayle Forman. She has that romantic kinda way of dealing with things, I don't know. Secretly, I'm a fool for romantic scenes in books. And this one contained three of the things I enjoy in a book: love, Amsterdam and traveling.
From the beginning, then: part one was amazing. At first, I think Allyson/Lulu is kinda like me. She is careful enough to follow the rules, and the fact that she was expecting her trip to be more than it ended up being really hit home. It was a little weird that she kept going with it after she had so many doubts. But somehow is understandable: a journey that was promised to be amazing turned out to be just a simple trip + a cute boy + so little time = do crazy things because you want to prove something to yourself. Trust me, I know about that.
Willem
is cute. I mean, I imagine him like that. But he's confusing. I guess
that is kinda the idea, because Lulu didn't know him, so the reader is
not supposed to know him either. The thing he had with women...
especially with this French one (cannot remember her name, but she was a
huge bitch!). The point is that at the end of this part, I hated him
with all my guts. But honestly, I knew nothing that had happened was his
fault... Come on, all YA novels need that close-to-perfect male
character (Think about it: Gus? Peeta? Etienne? yup, it is a key
element, the guy cannot be a jerk). Certainly that part of the story was
clear, it was a huge misunderstanding... I just wanted to know what
really happened. I was hooked.
Part two, where she went to university, is super boring! I almost dropped the book by then (but I can't really do that... I've done it twice, no... three times and I feel terrible about it! I'll post about that another day), but I finished it. I think the character of Dee spiced up things and helped me get through. But it was just frustrated to see how she just...couldn't....forget...him. Oh... well, I think I might understand her. In any case, the can't-stop-thinking-about-him should not have turned her into the zombie she was.
I hated to see her distancing herself from Melanie. It was hard and it was worse to know that all of it started because of a boy, but continued over personal issues. I wouldn't like to lose a friend like that.
And part three, well... he was lost and she found him. I liked the fact that she 'grew up' in that time. Learn from your mistakes and right the wrongs. It's difficult, but doable. She started doing things that scared her.
Oh, and the group of tourists that she talked to on her first night at the hostel! They were amazing!
It is in this part that you get to understand (not "know") Willem. Accidents happen, and they can lead to something good.
It was a good book. The cliffhanger wasn't great. Like, at the moment I went "The heck?!" but later I
just forgot about it! So I might read Just One Year later... but I'm
not crazy about it. I have the feeling that it will be more about
Willem, and I know I'll like Allyson's journey better.
Rating: ★★★★
Favorite character: Allyson (except when she was a zombie)
Favorite secondary character: Hmmm... Dee. I feel tempted to say Willem, because he was pretty cool and even though I hated him, it was.not.his.fault... apparently :P But I'll go with Dee because he was real and he helped Allyson a lot!
Favorite part: That part during the dinner with her family in Miami (I think it was Miami) when she told them she was going on a trip to Europe and everybody freaks out! And then when she starts working at that restaurant... and obviously when she goes back to Europe and meets the shy girl in France and sees her again in Amsterdam. Lots of favorite parts, I guess.
Favorite quote: "There is a world of difference, Lulu, between falling in love and being in love."
#2 "And that's when I understand that I have been stained. Whether I'm still in love with him, whether he was ever in love with me, and no matter who he's in love with now, Willem changed my life. He showed me how to get lost, and the I showed myself how to get found."
Least favorite character: I don't know... I guess it would have to be Celine (I think that was the French girl...) But not so much. And for a while it was Willem, but not anymore.
Least favorite part: I think that boring part when she was zombified during her first semester at the university...
Book Info
Name: Just One Day
Author: Gayle Forman
Date of publication: August 20th, 2013
Synopsis: Allyson Healey’s life is exactly like her suitcase—packed, planned, ordered. Then on the last day of her three-week post-graduation European tour, she meets Willem.
A free-spirited, roving actor, Willem is everything she’s not, and
when he invites her to abandon her plans and come to Paris with him,
Allyson says yes. This uncharacteristic decision leads to a day of risk
and romance, liberation and intimacy: 24 hours that will transform
Allyson’s life.Name: Just One Day
Author: Gayle Forman
Date of publication: August 20th, 2013
Synopsis: Allyson Healey’s life is exactly like her suitcase—packed, planned, ordered. Then on the last day of her three-week post-graduation European tour, she meets Willem.
I read If I Stay during Easter and I LOVED Gayle Forman. She has that romantic kinda way of dealing with things, I don't know. Secretly, I'm a fool for romantic scenes in books. And this one contained three of the things I enjoy in a book: love, Amsterdam and traveling.
From the beginning, then: part one was amazing. At first, I think Allyson/Lulu is kinda like me. She is careful enough to follow the rules, and the fact that she was expecting her trip to be more than it ended up being really hit home. It was a little weird that she kept going with it after she had so many doubts. But somehow is understandable: a journey that was promised to be amazing turned out to be just a simple trip + a cute boy + so little time = do crazy things because you want to prove something to yourself. Trust me, I know about that.
Willem
is cute. I mean, I imagine him like that. But he's confusing. I guess
that is kinda the idea, because Lulu didn't know him, so the reader is
not supposed to know him either. The thing he had with women...
especially with this French one (cannot remember her name, but she was a
huge bitch!). The point is that at the end of this part, I hated him
with all my guts. But honestly, I knew nothing that had happened was his
fault... Come on, all YA novels need that close-to-perfect male
character (Think about it: Gus? Peeta? Etienne? yup, it is a key
element, the guy cannot be a jerk). Certainly that part of the story was
clear, it was a huge misunderstanding... I just wanted to know what
really happened. I was hooked. Part two, where she went to university, is super boring! I almost dropped the book by then (but I can't really do that... I've done it twice, no... three times and I feel terrible about it! I'll post about that another day), but I finished it. I think the character of Dee spiced up things and helped me get through. But it was just frustrated to see how she just...couldn't....forget...him. Oh... well, I think I might understand her. In any case, the can't-stop-thinking-about-him should not have turned her into the zombie she was.
I hated to see her distancing herself from Melanie. It was hard and it was worse to know that all of it started because of a boy, but continued over personal issues. I wouldn't like to lose a friend like that.
And part three, well... he was lost and she found him. I liked the fact that she 'grew up' in that time. Learn from your mistakes and right the wrongs. It's difficult, but doable. She started doing things that scared her.
Oh, and the group of tourists that she talked to on her first night at the hostel! They were amazing!
It is in this part that you get to understand (not "know") Willem. Accidents happen, and they can lead to something good.
Rating: ★★★★
Favorite character: Allyson (except when she was a zombie)
Favorite secondary character: Hmmm... Dee. I feel tempted to say Willem, because he was pretty cool and even though I hated him, it was.not.his.fault... apparently :P But I'll go with Dee because he was real and he helped Allyson a lot!
Favorite part: That part during the dinner with her family in Miami (I think it was Miami) when she told them she was going on a trip to Europe and everybody freaks out! And then when she starts working at that restaurant... and obviously when she goes back to Europe and meets the shy girl in France and sees her again in Amsterdam. Lots of favorite parts, I guess.
Favorite quote: "There is a world of difference, Lulu, between falling in love and being in love."
#2 "And that's when I understand that I have been stained. Whether I'm still in love with him, whether he was ever in love with me, and no matter who he's in love with now, Willem changed my life. He showed me how to get lost, and the I showed myself how to get found."
Least favorite character: I don't know... I guess it would have to be Celine (I think that was the French girl...) But not so much. And for a while it was Willem, but not anymore.
Least favorite part: I think that boring part when she was zombified during her first semester at the university...
(Alternate cover... I don't know which I like better...)
Sunday, August 17, 2014
So many books, so much work, so little time... That should be on my gravestone when I die.
Anyway, I'll try to catch up with the reviews of the books I've read, I'll keep it short.
Screw chronological order, I'll do them as I remember them, which means that I'll obviously start with the one I just finished this morning: The Book Thief.
Book Info
Name: The Book Thief
Author: Markus Zusak
Date of publication: March 14th, 2006 (Worldwide)
Now, a book involving Hitler... forget it! Yeah, that's what I thought until my mom read it and told me it was good, and I trust my mom (most of the times). So one day I was in the bookstore, fighting with myself because the crazy part of me wanted to get a new book, and the rational part of me knew that there wasn't any space in my room to put it... So, I got the book (crazy beats rational, you see?).
I had tried to read it in my Kindle before, but I couldn't get past 5% This time it was different, maybe because I had spent 5 months reading The Stand in my Kindle, but once I started reading this narrative by the Death, I couldn't stop.
My copy of TBT has a Q&A with the author at the end, and he says that this is not a typical story about Hitler and Jews and the Holocaust. Don't get me wrong, all those elements are there and are important, but they are not the thing that gets you. It's Liesel and Papa and Rudy and (ohmygod) Max. It's the people, the emotions and the bonds that those people formed in such terrible situations what gets you, stays with you and makes you feel thankful.
Half way through the story, I felt that it wasn't that good. But I loved Zusak's writing style. Is it wrong if I say that I loved Death as a narrator? I posted on my GoodReads account that a good storyteller is better than a good story. While I still believe that, Zusak proved to have an amazing story (as well as an amazing narrator).
Yes, sometimes it got slow. Yes, there are some parts that I wouldn't have kept in the book. Yes, it was freaking awful how it ended. But I still liked it.
Rating: ★★★★
Favorite character: Max (?) ...OK, it was a tie between Max and Liesel.
Favorite secondary character: Hans. He's just so sweet, I loved the way he would stay up all night with Liesel when she got her nightmares.
Favorite part: I think that when she becomes friends with Max is my favorite part. They are very similar and the way they help each other is very nice.
Favorite quote: “I guess humans like to watch a little destruction. Sand castles, houses of cards, that's where they begin. Their great skill is their capacity to escalate.”
Least favorite character: The Führer , obviously.
Least favorite part: After the bombs hit Himmel Street, and Liesel finds Rudy and kisses him. That part was heart-breaking. Also, right after that when she finds Hans and Rosa :'(
Book Info
Name: The Stand
Author: Stephen King
Date of publication: September, 1978
I love Mr. King above all things on Earth, well... maybe I love Simple Plan more, but the case is that since I read Carrie, I loved him!
I'm reading King's books in order of publication (the novels he published under Stephen King, otherwise I would never be able to finish! Ever!). So far I have four books read: Carrie, Salem's Lot, The Shining and The Stand. The first two were creepy, but not really scary. There was a lot of tension, but they didn't give an answer to the question that was bothering me: How can you scare people with words? Movies I get, you have the images, the sounds, everything happening at the same time. But books? How can a book be horror? I had never read a horror book, because I'm a coward. that was what kept me from Stephen King's masterpieces for so long (Do I regret it? Yeah, maybe). But then I got to The Shining... Holy sh*t, that one kept me up for a couple of nights! So now I get how words the scare the crap out of people!
Which leads to my short review of The Stand: this book is insanely long! It took me five months to finish it, but I never gave up because (like I said before) Mr. King is a freaking genius. This story is scary because it is real; I mean not the virus and the demon guy (Flagg), but because that happened because some people wanted to control others, they wanted to be powerful and took every chance they got to harm others so they could be invincible. The story is told from different points of view: there's Frannie's story, Harold's (freaking asshole! I hate you!!), Stu's, Nick's and Larry's (just to mention a few). So the thing is that after a while, even though all characters had their own peculiar voice, the stories started to confuse me a bit. I mixed up Larry and Stu multiple times! And it was so long that I forgot many details from a part of a story when I got the following one.
Aside from that, the tension and suspense and mystery are simply perfect! Like the time Larry had to cross that tunnel... Jesus, I would've died! And when Tom felt something while he and Nick were hiding from the tornado... phew...
There are many things I'd like to talk about, but it's getting late... I'll make a list and write about it in the next post, along with the other books:
-Mother Abigail
-The babies
-Randall Flagg
-The crazy lady that ended up with Harold, but was 'saving' herself for Flagg (I forget her name...)
-And the old guy, the sociologist or something
-And the dog! Kojak (or something like that)
Right, just very quickly... The ending I am not completely happy about it. For once, I was half-expecting zombies (but as usual, when zombies are promised, I'm left waiting...). And then you brought me along this super long (fascinating) story, through the death of some many loved characters, just to "eliminate" Flaggs like that?! I mean, come on! I was expecting something mind-blowing, with blood and severed bodies everywhere and a very heroic action... but no, the desert's heat did it all... How stupid!
But I guess it made sense for what happened next and how Stu went back with Tom and stuff...
Rating: ★★★★
Favorite character: Stuart Redman. Since the beginning he was the one I liked ;)
Favorite secondary character: Nick, he's just so sweet and smart!
Favorite part: At the end, Stu's journey back to Free zone with Tom Cullen (M-O-O-N, that spells Tom Cullen... Laws yes! LOL)
Favorite quote: I have two this time: “That wasn't any act of God. That was an act of pure human fuckery.”
“God doesn't bribe, child. He just makes a sign and lets people take it as they will.”
Least favorite character: Harold. There is no doubt about it. He was nastier than Flaggs, for fuck's sake! Just despicable. I really don't understand how he did what he did. He did deserve to die the way he did!!!
Least favorite part: Well, how about every time one of the good ones died?! Larry, Nick, the Judge... Terrible... all of their deaths. Also, all of the gross parts with dead people (eek :S)
Next time I will (try to) post about:
Just One Day (Gayle Forman)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (J.K. Rowling)
Behind the Beautiful Forevers (Katherine Boo)
Orange is the New Black (Piper Kerman)
Anyway, I'll try to catch up with the reviews of the books I've read, I'll keep it short.
Screw chronological order, I'll do them as I remember them, which means that I'll obviously start with the one I just finished this morning: The Book Thief.
Book Info
Name: The Book Thief
Author: Markus Zusak
Date of publication: March 14th, 2006 (Worldwide)
Now, a book involving Hitler... forget it! Yeah, that's what I thought until my mom read it and told me it was good, and I trust my mom (most of the times). So one day I was in the bookstore, fighting with myself because the crazy part of me wanted to get a new book, and the rational part of me knew that there wasn't any space in my room to put it... So, I got the book (crazy beats rational, you see?).
I had tried to read it in my Kindle before, but I couldn't get past 5% This time it was different, maybe because I had spent 5 months reading The Stand in my Kindle, but once I started reading this narrative by the Death, I couldn't stop.
My copy of TBT has a Q&A with the author at the end, and he says that this is not a typical story about Hitler and Jews and the Holocaust. Don't get me wrong, all those elements are there and are important, but they are not the thing that gets you. It's Liesel and Papa and Rudy and (ohmygod) Max. It's the people, the emotions and the bonds that those people formed in such terrible situations what gets you, stays with you and makes you feel thankful.
Half way through the story, I felt that it wasn't that good. But I loved Zusak's writing style. Is it wrong if I say that I loved Death as a narrator? I posted on my GoodReads account that a good storyteller is better than a good story. While I still believe that, Zusak proved to have an amazing story (as well as an amazing narrator).
Yes, sometimes it got slow. Yes, there are some parts that I wouldn't have kept in the book. Yes, it was freaking awful how it ended. But I still liked it.
Rating: ★★★★
Favorite character: Max (?) ...OK, it was a tie between Max and Liesel.
Favorite secondary character: Hans. He's just so sweet, I loved the way he would stay up all night with Liesel when she got her nightmares.
Favorite part: I think that when she becomes friends with Max is my favorite part. They are very similar and the way they help each other is very nice.
Favorite quote: “I guess humans like to watch a little destruction. Sand castles, houses of cards, that's where they begin. Their great skill is their capacity to escalate.”
Least favorite character: The Führer , obviously.
Least favorite part: After the bombs hit Himmel Street, and Liesel finds Rudy and kisses him. That part was heart-breaking. Also, right after that when she finds Hans and Rosa :'(
Book Info
Name: The Stand
Author: Stephen King
Date of publication: September, 1978
I love Mr. King above all things on Earth, well... maybe I love Simple Plan more, but the case is that since I read Carrie, I loved him!
I'm reading King's books in order of publication (the novels he published under Stephen King, otherwise I would never be able to finish! Ever!). So far I have four books read: Carrie, Salem's Lot, The Shining and The Stand. The first two were creepy, but not really scary. There was a lot of tension, but they didn't give an answer to the question that was bothering me: How can you scare people with words? Movies I get, you have the images, the sounds, everything happening at the same time. But books? How can a book be horror? I had never read a horror book, because I'm a coward. that was what kept me from Stephen King's masterpieces for so long (Do I regret it? Yeah, maybe). But then I got to The Shining... Holy sh*t, that one kept me up for a couple of nights! So now I get how words the scare the crap out of people!
Which leads to my short review of The Stand: this book is insanely long! It took me five months to finish it, but I never gave up because (like I said before) Mr. King is a freaking genius. This story is scary because it is real; I mean not the virus and the demon guy (Flagg), but because that happened because some people wanted to control others, they wanted to be powerful and took every chance they got to harm others so they could be invincible. The story is told from different points of view: there's Frannie's story, Harold's (freaking asshole! I hate you!!), Stu's, Nick's and Larry's (just to mention a few). So the thing is that after a while, even though all characters had their own peculiar voice, the stories started to confuse me a bit. I mixed up Larry and Stu multiple times! And it was so long that I forgot many details from a part of a story when I got the following one.
Aside from that, the tension and suspense and mystery are simply perfect! Like the time Larry had to cross that tunnel... Jesus, I would've died! And when Tom felt something while he and Nick were hiding from the tornado... phew...
-Mother Abigail
-The babies
-Randall Flagg
-The crazy lady that ended up with Harold, but was 'saving' herself for Flagg (I forget her name...)
-And the old guy, the sociologist or something
-And the dog! Kojak (or something like that)
Right, just very quickly... The ending I am not completely happy about it. For once, I was half-expecting zombies (but as usual, when zombies are promised, I'm left waiting...). And then you brought me along this super long (fascinating) story, through the death of some many loved characters, just to "eliminate" Flaggs like that?! I mean, come on! I was expecting something mind-blowing, with blood and severed bodies everywhere and a very heroic action... but no, the desert's heat did it all... How stupid!
But I guess it made sense for what happened next and how Stu went back with Tom and stuff...
Rating: ★★★★
Favorite character: Stuart Redman. Since the beginning he was the one I liked ;)
Favorite secondary character: Nick, he's just so sweet and smart!
Favorite part: At the end, Stu's journey back to Free zone with Tom Cullen (M-O-O-N, that spells Tom Cullen... Laws yes! LOL)
Favorite quote: I have two this time: “That wasn't any act of God. That was an act of pure human fuckery.”
“God doesn't bribe, child. He just makes a sign and lets people take it as they will.”
Least favorite character: Harold. There is no doubt about it. He was nastier than Flaggs, for fuck's sake! Just despicable. I really don't understand how he did what he did. He did deserve to die the way he did!!!
Least favorite part: Well, how about every time one of the good ones died?! Larry, Nick, the Judge... Terrible... all of their deaths. Also, all of the gross parts with dead people (eek :S)
Next time I will (try to) post about:
Just One Day (Gayle Forman)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (J.K. Rowling)
Behind the Beautiful Forevers (Katherine Boo)
Orange is the New Black (Piper Kerman)
Saturday, April 19, 2014
Book InfoName: If I Stay
Author: Gayle Forman
Date of publication: April 2nd, 2009
If I Stay was the only book I read this week that made me cry. I read it in only four hours because the writing was easy and it just flowed. I liked the flashbacks, they were well-placed and I think the author focused on telling what was necessary and didn’t wander into unnecessary details. It was really sad, and incredibly human. Accidents and bad things are just waiting to happen. People die, people get hurt. And it was really interesting to see tragedies from a different point of view. Definitely Teddy’s death was heartbreaking, but it was also a reminder that life is fragile. It reminded me that we have to cherish what we have now. And that, as long as we have the choice, we have to try and stay.
The scene of the accident was unexpected and just horrible, the details and the writing are incredible. I'm glad that Mia was not close to Teddy, neither in the aftermath of the accident nor when he died. Obviously, when she found out it was terrible. Her friend Kim is cool, I liked her and Adam too. Though they seem a little too good to be truth.Her parents are amazing, her family as a whole is freaking cool. I loved the flashback to the Juilliard audition with her grandfather.
There is a sequel, Where She Went, that I'll read as soon as I have time again. However, I'm afraid it will ruin If I Stay for me. Anyway, this is one of my favorite books now. I read it in my Kindle, but I love it so much that I'll try to get it at the bookstore :D
And now there is going to be a movie!! That's AWESOME! You know what is more awesome than a If I Stay movie? That Chloe Grace Moretz is going to be Mia!
Rating: ★★★★★
Favorite character: Mia
Favorite secondary character: Mia's family. Her parents are cool and understanding, and Teddy is adorable :')
Favorite part: I loved the book and have a lot of favorite parts... but I think my most favorite part is when Mia and her family have the barbecue on that holiday that I don't remember right now... At night, they were around the fire and started playing the guitars and then asked her if she could play the cello with them. I love that part.
Favorite quote: “Sleep would be so welcome. A warm blanket of black to erase everything else. Sleep without dreams. I've heard people talk about the sleep of the dead. Is that what death would feel like? The nicest, warmest, heaviest never-ending nap? If that's what it's like, I wouldn't mind. If that's what dying is like, I wouldn't mind that at all.”
Least favorite character:
Least favorite part: The accident was terrible, just awful... the way the author describes the state they are all in is way too real. Also, the part when she realizes Teddy is dead. That part broke my heart.
Name: Reclaiming the Sand
Author: A. Meredith Walters
Date of publication: March 17th, 2014
Reclaiming the Sand is wonderful. I didn’t
think the main character Ellie was annoying or unreal, as I read in some comments. I actually felt that she
is one of the most transparent characters I’ve stumbled upon lately. She is
messed up and confused and she regrets a lot of things. But she is also only a
person. She has the right to be or feel like that. I love how she cares about
her friends, even though they are sucky friends.
Flynn is just adorable. I read
some comments that said that he is the only reason some people like the novel,
or were able to finish reading it. He is likable and interesting and he is the
one that helps Ellie through her problems. But I believe that it is Ellie
herself who pushes through all the mess that is around her.
Flynn reminded me of the movie Adam (with Hugh Dancy *fangirling*) which is about a boy with Asperger who kinda falls in love with a girl (I watched it a long time ago and don't remember very well). I have always been interested in Asperger. I think Autism is fascinating, but in the good way. I find very interesting the fact that the brain can control our lives so much. It is amazing how Ellie can deal with Flynn's characteristics so well. I'm inclined to think that it is because they were friends when they were younger and, even though, she bullied him most of the times, she liked him and enjoyed being around him and didn't care about the weird things he did: like counting the seconds to get to his house or telling the truth with no filter.
I also liked that the author used to be a counselor for kids with problems, just like Julie Waterman! This gives me the peace of mind to know that she actually knows what she's writing about.
Dania is a shitty
friend and I hated her most of the novel. She is just one of those people we
get to know in real life that we just want to shake and fix their lives. But at
the end, she is just human. Human beings are like that, messed up and selfish
and awful. I was surprised and happy at the end of the book when she decided to give
Brandon in adoption. I think that was really big of her.
This has been one of my favorite books this year. And while I didn't really cry while reading it (which for me is a big sign of loving a book!!), I enjoyed it and I have been thinking about it a lot since I finished it.
Rating: ★★★★★
Favorite character: Ellie
Favorite secondary character: Murphy (OMG!! At the moment Flynn told Ellie his dog had died I knew Murphy was going to end up in Flynn's house... I just thought Ellie was going to think about it before he went to he shelter.)
Favorite part: There are a lot of parts I really, REALLY liked, but I think the moment when Ellie goes to Flynn's and finds Murphy there, they play together and then they lie on the grass (yay, Flynn!) and then kiss... that's my fave part :3
Favorite quote: “Some people came into your life and they changed it completely and then they slipped out of it again before you could grab ahold of them. And their presence motivates you and strengthens you and devastates you all at the same time.”
Least favorite character: Dania... and Ellie a little bit. OK, confusing. Let me explain. I hated Dania most of the book, she was poisonous for Ellie. But I also despised Ellie for giving in to Dania's plans every time! It was really annoying.
Least favorite part: Pretty much every chapter that was from Flynn's POV. The bullying was just heartbreaking. It made me hate Dania (even more), Stu and Shane!
Favorite character: Ellie
Favorite secondary character: Murphy (OMG!! At the moment Flynn told Ellie his dog had died I knew Murphy was going to end up in Flynn's house... I just thought Ellie was going to think about it before he went to he shelter.)
Favorite part: There are a lot of parts I really, REALLY liked, but I think the moment when Ellie goes to Flynn's and finds Murphy there, they play together and then they lie on the grass (yay, Flynn!) and then kiss... that's my fave part :3
Favorite quote: “Some people came into your life and they changed it completely and then they slipped out of it again before you could grab ahold of them. And their presence motivates you and strengthens you and devastates you all at the same time.”
Least favorite character: Dania... and Ellie a little bit. OK, confusing. Let me explain. I hated Dania most of the book, she was poisonous for Ellie. But I also despised Ellie for giving in to Dania's plans every time! It was really annoying.
Least favorite part: Pretty much every chapter that was from Flynn's POV. The bullying was just heartbreaking. It made me hate Dania (even more), Stu and Shane!
Book Info
Name: Of Mice and Men
Author: John Steinbeck
Date of publication: 1937
Rating: ★★★★
Favorite character: George Milton (the way he took care of Lennie, but at the same time he was an optimistic and realistic person... I loved that)
Favorite secondary character: Candy
Favorite part: That time when George, Lennie and Candy were all making plans to get the land and build a house and simply be free. That was optimistic!
Favorite quote:
“I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why.”
Least favorite character: Curley's wife...
Least favorite part: Well, obviously the end, when Lennie accidentally kills the puppy and that woman comes and just messes everything else up. Though, by killing the puppy, Lennie knew he was in trouble.
Name: Of Mice and Men
Author: John Steinbeck
Date of publication: 1937
Of Mice and Men has these amazing
characters. But more important than the characters themselves, is their
significance in the historical background. It is a classic, so there is not
much I can actually say about it that hasn’t been said before. I love Lennie
and how he is soft and destroyable. I loved how George tried to protect him
through everything, until the end. And there is something that will stay with
me forever: that is how Candy accepted to have his dog put down, only to avoid
seeing him suffer; just the same way George killed Lennie to avoid the lynch
that was coming his way.
I really enjoyed how Steinbeck used animals throughout the story. Most of them are always fragile: mice, puppies and rabbits. I think they are representing Lennie. He is also fragile, because of his innocence.
I hated Curley and his wife. First of all, she wasn't a great representation of women: she was a troublemaker and kinda slutty. And Curley was just insecure and was also looking for fights all the time.
I had to read this for school and we will analyze it next week...so I might add something else to this post later.
Rating: ★★★★
Favorite character: George Milton (the way he took care of Lennie, but at the same time he was an optimistic and realistic person... I loved that)
Favorite secondary character: Candy
Favorite part: That time when George, Lennie and Candy were all making plans to get the land and build a house and simply be free. That was optimistic!
Favorite quote:
“I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why.”
Least favorite character: Curley's wife...
Least favorite part: Well, obviously the end, when Lennie accidentally kills the puppy and that woman comes and just messes everything else up. Though, by killing the puppy, Lennie knew he was in trouble.
I have read many books since This Star Won't Go Out, but I haven't had a lot of time to post about them. Also, this week was Easter week... which meant no school or job and a lot of free time!!
I read 4 books in six days, which is pretty good because I has four books behind schedule on my Goodreads reading challenge. I'm going to write a little bit about each of them. Hopefully, I'll have time soon to write about It's Kind of a Funny Story and Ask the Passengers.
Book Info
Name: Shatter Me (Shatter Me series #1)
Author: Tahereh Mafi
Date of Publication: November 15th, 2011
Shatter Me has a great story if you are
into dystopian literature. However, the author’s writing style and annoying
metaphors put me off a little bit. I think the characters are likable, but the
author does not give the reader enough to get attached to them. Juliette is a
nice character; she has a lot of conflicting past and an interesting future to
explore. But the way Mafi portrays her or makes her talk is very annoying. Aside from her, I think Warmer was the one who was more well
developed, or at least the most interesting. He is annoying as hell, but he is
confident and mysterious so that is attractive. Adam is kind of plain, so there
is not much to say about him. I loved Kenji. He's mysterious and at the beginning you don't really know what's going on with him. But at the end, he turns out to be the good guy! He also has a cool personality, I think.
The last part, though... when they get to this underground facility and everything is running miraculously well and things are wonderful and safe, that reminded me of Stephanie Meyer's The Host.
This book's part of a trilogy, and the cliffhanger is way too evident... but I don't think I'll read the other two books. At least not now. Though I have to admit that I'm curious to know why some people are shipping Juliette and Warner. So, maybe when I find myself with time to spare, I'll give Destroy Me a chance.
Rating: ★★
Favorite character: Kenji (is that weird? He's not even one of the main characters.)
Least favorite character: Warner (though I'm curious as to why people who have read the trilogy like him... what could've changed?)
(image from a-nudge.blogspot.com)
Favorite part: Hmmm...Least favorite part: Every time Juliette started describing things and making these weird metaphors and just repeating word three times. That was just awful. Also, the her weird fixation with numbers and the author's decision of writing with numbers and not with letters. And finally... whatever happened to punctuation!
Favorite quote: "In the absence of human relationships I formed bonds with paper characters."
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