I've Moved!

As of July 3, 2013, I have changed blog location! You can now find me blogging on my new blog, The Giant Pencil. Click the link below to view.

http://thegiantpencil.blogspot.com

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Book Blog: Cinder

American/Canadian Cover
Rating: 4 Stars
Yay! My first book blog! I started reading this book on Monday and found is extremely interesting. You can see the cover of the copy of the book that I have on the right.

So, I'm pretty sure that this is old news (like, totally last year, right?), but I've noticed several different covers for this book. After I got my hands on Cinder, I began doing searches online for background information about this book. While doing this, I happened to stumble upon Marissa Meyer's web page. And let me be the first (or last, I don't know) to say that her website background is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! The whole digital artistic element of it made me get all weepy inside. I love it when I see these super creative images that people make, maybe because I inspire to make something like that some day.


Spanish Cover
Ahem. I'm getting off track.

I began by clicking on the first few tabs, just to see what Meyer's is up to. But I lost interest in the first thirty seconds and just skipped to the one labeled "Extras", because everyone knows that's where all the good stuff is at. 



Catalan Cover
And, that's when I make my discovery. Not one, not two, but three foreign covers! It was amazing how different each one had a different style. I might not be the most worldly person, but I'd like to think that the covers showed off different cultures of each region. The Spanish and Italian covers look VERY different, but the Catalan cover is almost exactly like the United States/Canadian cover. Almost. 
Sure, there were defiantly background differences; the Catalan one has a darker background than the American one. But the biggest difference of all was the shoe color. When I first saw the original cover, I thought, "Oh, how nice! Another version of the Cinderella story. And look! It's that ruby glass slipper that she loses at the ball!" But then, I knew that wasn't right. Cinderella's slippers were glass, of course, but I knew they weren't red in the Disney version. This fact continued to nag me in the back of my head.

I kinda forgot about it, thinking that it was just something to draw the eye to. And then I see this Catalan cover to see a bluish glass slipper in place of the red one. What I want to know is why they made a different cover for them, but not for those in North America.  Or may I have it backwards. I don't know.

Italian Cover

I'm not exactly sure which one that I like more; the one that is "correct" or the one that looks "better". The Catalan one seems to have more artistic elements to it (the light glinting off the shoe was what really stood out to me), but the red contrasts well with the blackish background and grayish-white title. But, that's just me ranting. The Spanish and Italian covers are very beautiful, but I've hardly mentioned them at all! Did you know that the Spanish cover was an image of a doll? When I saw it on Google, it really creeped me out. I think it's eyes are watching me...O_O. But at least it explained the weird looking legs. I know that it's supposed to look somewhat mechanical, but the joints looked really odd to me.

I don't really have that much to say about the Italian cover. The way the girl is dressed is very unique to me. I suspect that it's some sort of style that's common in Italy...?

I'm not really sure which one I like the best out of the four of them. For now, I suppose I like the cover that I have, the American/Canadian cover

Which cover do you like the best?




Now, before I conclude this blog post, I have one last thing I'd like to mention. Some of you Cinder fans might have heard of it.


Scarlet, the sequel of Cinder came out yesterday, February 5, 2013. I really want to read it, but I have to finish Cinder first, of course. Has anyone finished it yet? I've heard that some people have, which I think is really crazy. Even myself, an avid reader, can't read a book in less than a day on a business day.  Maybe on a weekend. 

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Footnotes: Wattpad, Anyone?

I'm just wondering if any of you readers (which is probably none at the moment) have a Wattpad account. I have one, in case you don't know that already. I love reading. That's the simple truth and the reason why I joined Wattpad in the first place. I've also recently joined a site called Goodreads and have been absolutely obsessed with it.

www.wattpad.comFor those of you who don't know what those two websites are, let me explain. Wattpad is a large community for readers and writers (or both, if you like to write and read) to come together. Writers can publish their books on the web and readers can read these books for free. Wattpad is a good site for writers who are looking for some direct feedback on their story. I enjoy the site, though it might not be for everyone. Users are suppose to be thirteen to join and for good reasons. Ninety percent of the books posted are romance and when there's romance...well, I think we all know what'll be inside. There are quiet a few people that try to use it as a social outlet. Sure, I'll go into the forums and talk to people, but I mainly use it for reading. Hopefully, I'll be able to publish a book on Wattpad to see if I'll have a chance at being a writer.

www.goodreads.comAnd then there's Goodreads. I knew of Goodreads way before I joined it. In fact, I still would not have been a member if a friend had not invited me to join. So now I am! I feel that Goodreads has a better connection to the real world. In Wattpad, teens (and adults, of course) can publish their books and become "popular". But these popular authors might be writing off of false feedback. Although there are some good critiques on the site, there are some that give out compliments without thinking about helping improve the author's book. And the truth is, they really aren't that popular, just in that one website.

Of course there are a few exceptions. But Goodreads deals with real, published, best-seller books. It helps you keep track of what books your reading and when you finished them. You can rate books, join book clubs, participate in different challenges, take quizzes, etc. It keeps me reading. I'm not saying that Wattpad isn't as good as Goodreads. They both serve different purposes (although Goodreads also let's you publish your own book on the site. However, this...attraction, for a lack of better words, isn't a popular as it is on Wattpad). But they do have something in common. They attract book lovers. And that's exactly what I need.

I don't understand how people can not like reading. Wait, no. I take that back. I actually do understand, or at least I did. There are so many other ways to spend the day; surfing the 'net, playing sports or video games. I used to spend the whole day watching TV. But then I found books. At first, I thought they were boring and pointless, but I later came to realize that it was like another form of TV.   It's telling a story except through words. And, before I knew it, I almost constantly had my nose in a book, hardly even sparing a glance at the television. One thing I noticed is that people seem to be more impressed with you. They look in your direction and make a comment to their spouse about how it's good to still see younger people reading. Of course, that was a while ago and it only happened once. And they were my grandparents.

...

Anyway. Back to what I originally wanted to talk about.

I had been on Wattpad recently and, as I do on occasion, I looked at my reading list. As of the present, I have five reading lists; Reading, Finished, Read Later, Roleplays and Watching. They're pretty self-explanatory, but I think I'll be removing my Roleplay Reading List. I, sadly, don't have a lot of time to role play, so I have abandoned the role plays that I had joined. Sad, right?

So, I'm not sure when, but I had been viewing my Reading Reading List (haha, it looks like a typo!) a while ago. And then I saw that one of the books I had been reading had been deleted. Now, when this fact finally sunk in, I was shocked. And mad. You have to understand that this book was a really popular book. It had over a million reads which, in Wattpad, means that the writer is practically equal to J.K. Rowling. Maybe a bit less. Or a lot less. But that's beside the point. What's important is that you know that the book's popular.

But the sad thing about writers that are popular is that, despite their enormous amount of fans that support them, they tend to become really lazy. At first, they might promise to update at least once a day. The promise might hold for a while until their reads start racking up. Then it becomes two weeks. And then a month. Now, I know that these writers are busy, like the rest of us. But their "busyness" tends to get out of hand. It had been almost half a year since one of the so-called famous writers updated their book.

You might think I'm crazy right now. That I'm just a selfish, whiney little reader. But my whole point is that writers shouldn't make promises that they won't be able to keep. And if they're going to delete their book for whatever reason, they could at least offer an explanation. As a reader, I'd appreciate it, even if it's hard to believe.

This author (who's name I won't mention) deleted her book without reason. And it made me really mad. Anyone else get really mad when author's do unjustified stuff? Or do you completely disagree with me? Let me know by leaving me a comment!