Tomorrow marks the end of my summer break. I’ll be attending teacher planning days, finally meeting other teachers and student teachers. Ah well, it was a nice vacation while it lasted (and I wish it didn’t have to end!).

Where the heck did July go? And where did my list of books I’ve read go?

No matter, I can totally do this by the seat of my pants. Let’s see…

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11:32 pm | Category: Books | | No Comments

Wow, where did the month go? It seems like just yesterday I was tipping back coffees like tequila shots in order to keep awake for finals and now I’m really close to the half-mark of my summer break. This month was actually really good for me, for a multitude of reasons, and I got a lot accomplished (more on that at another time). But, for the reading front, I didn’t get much done. A lot of the books I read this month were quick-and-easy ones that I read in a day. I blame the first book I tried to tackle, but more on that below the cut.

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10:27 am | Category: Books | | No Comments

I really should do this when the month ends, it’s so much easier to keep track that way. I didn’t read much during these two months, unfortunately, mostly because of finals but also because I just wasn’t finding anything very good and so I have a lot of half-read things I gave up on. There seems to be a particularly huge influx of very bad speculative fiction and I picked up a good fair share of it. Luckily most of it was from the library so I don’t feel like I wasted my book budget too badly. If you’ve read something you’d recommend, tell me! I’ll add it to my list!

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12:09 am | Category: Books, Reviews | | No Comments

I’ve been trying to read more even while school is in session and I’ve also been curious just how fast I go through books (John claims I’m a slow reader, mostly because he has no patience as I browse and flip through books happily in Barnes & Nobles, Bookman’s, and Border’s). I love to read and here’s just what I’ve been reading in the last few months. After this I’ll try to do a monthly summary. My goal is 48 books this year (four books a month — do-able).

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2:59 pm | Category: Books, Journal | | 2 Comments

I finished Obsidian Butterfly — not sure what number that is in the Anita Blake series, they all seem to blend together. I have been borrowing the book from a friend since before the move, but I finally had time to read it. I still can’t decide if I like the Anita series or not (I do know I like the secondary characters much more than the main one). This time, religion seemed to be a big aspect of Anita’s rant in this book — well, religion and her self-chosen celibacy. Anyway, the bad guy may be an Aztec god, so of course every time someone said “bad guy” and “Aztec god” in the same sentence, Anita had to say something along the lines of how she’s monotheistic, and it could be a god with a small G, but not god with the big G. I’m surprised at how gung-ho she is about it all, I’d expect someone whose seen and done everything she’s seen and done to be more open-minded.

When discussing this with the person who let me borrow the book, he pointed out that religion is a conflict. I said, “Sure, but does it always have to be religion? I’ve been reading about people conflicting with their religion in one way or another since middle school. Isn’t there other major conflicts?” His answer was basically “No, not in today’s society.” Maybe I’m just weird because I don’t have religious conflicts about whether my beliefs are the right ones or not. They either are or their not. I think religion is much more a personal choice, but that’s neither here nor there.

I began thinking about my own stories. What are the conflicts my stories contain? I, of course, thought of “Morgan” since I’m working on that one right now. I listed a few: morality, love, and responsibility. You know, the big ones. But religion wasn’t there. While I had debated another story, if I decide to make “Morgan” into a series, that may touch on the subject, it wasn’t something I generally wrote about. My characters have had existential crisis, but that’s about the closest I’ve come.

So, now I’m wondering, am I missing something? Are my books lacking if religion is so important? Is religion that important to build a complex character?

11:36 pm | Category: Books, Writing | | 2 Comments

I loved this book. It’s one of the first books in a long time that I actually read in about a day because I couldn’t put it down (I also got very little sleep because I was up reading). This book is based on a Norwegian myth, however, it bears a striking resemblance to the Greek myth of Eros and Psyche, and similarities with Beauty and the Beast. Only, there’s less Aphrodite and more trolls.

Since Eros and Psyche was my favorite Greek myth, and Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite fairytales, is it surprising that I loved this book? The heroine is extremely strong, determined, and tenacious. She travels hundreds of miles, meeting all kinds of people, and learning different cultures and customs; she’s kind enough to go with the white bear for the benefit of her family; and chooses adventure over the mundane. She’s a girl after my own heart.

The POV is first person, and the writing is clear and concise. The odd thing is that each chapter is named after who is speaking. We learn the story of the girl and her white bear not only through the girl’s, but through the white bear’s, the troll queen’s, and the girl’s brother. While I’m not adversed to POV changes, I’m not a big fan of continuous POV changes. However, Pattou managed to pull it off professionally and in a way so that it didn’t get annoying. I didn’t find myself saying, “Ohmigod, not again! When can I get back to the main character? It’s her story I want to read!” Instead, she used all the POVs to make the story stronger. It was like being around a campfire and listening to a lot of people recount an experience they mutually shared.

My only complaint is that compared to such strong female characters, and even the brother had a strong voice, the white bear’s voice was relatively weak. Even up to the end, I found myself dissatisfied with his account of things, and at the end, I didn’t feel like I knew where he stood. Interestingly, I knew more of the white bear before the entrance of the trolls. After the troll queen captures the white bear, I felt that the story diverges away from him and he becomes a mysterious figure. I unfortunately can’t go more in depth, without giving away major plot points, so I’ll just say that considering I was reading portions from his POV, I would have liked more.

9:04 am | Category: Books | | No Comments