Book Blog: The Book Thief

Rating:5 Stars

Oh dear. What a scary cover.

That's what my friend thought, at least. And I think I'm going to have to agree with her. The letters in the title ARE pretty weird. And small. Why must the title be so small?!

I hate historical fiction, or even anything historical in fact. I find it very bland and by the time I found out this was placed in World War 2, it was too late.

The beginning was a little hard for me to understand at first (and very discouraging). I had to look up the narrator because I thought that he was the colors (I misread the first page), but then realized it was death. Lame, I know, but I get it now!

But, holy crap. This has to be the best historical fiction I have ever read. It read well and had plenty of wit and even humor in it (which is surprising because all of the World War 2 books I've read in my life were very depressing. I guess it's because this book was about the Germans and not so much about the Jewish). Another part of the book that I liked was the bits of German that was slipped into the story. I learned some German without even knowing it! And the little illustrations that showed up every once in a while we're cute too. Don't worry for those of you who haven't read the book yet; it's not like the "little kids" books. It's part of the story.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Now, prior to reading, I had read a different review that said that the book didn't have a happy ending. And it didn't. But I was kind of expecting an ending that made me cry puddles on the floor, which I guess I would have if it was for one thing.

The author spoiled the ending.

Or perhaps it's death that spoiled it? Either way, the creator of the story spoils the ending of the book through the story to supposedly lessen the pain/shock when you read about the bombing and the deaths of Papa, Mamma, and Rudy (not to mention the numerous other characters). That's great and all, but I would have liked it a lot more if those parts were taken out. It's been a long time since I've cried over a book and I was really hoping for a real tear-jerker from this one.

But the epilogue...wasn't all that great. I usually consider the epilogue to be the true ending of the book because its (usually) the last thing the reader reads before the book is tossed aside for another to take its place. I'm glad for the bit explaining about what happens to Max and everyone else, but the last sentence was weak. Looking back on it, I wish that the author just left the whole epilogue out to leave the read wondering. Sometimes those are the best kind of books. Like in The Fault in Our Stars's Imperial Affliction and its incomplete ending. It left the characters hanging which led to the whole trip to.....I can't even remember which country they traveled to. But it's not important. What's important is that books like THAT are great because of the love/hate relationship the reader feels with the book. If a book can make you feel that way, then it must be a fantastic book.

But I guess we can't have it all, can we?

---

I'd read it again. AND EVERYONE SHOULD READ IT AT LEAST ONCE!!!

Booked Days: St. Patrick's Day

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

In honor of this highly respected and well-known holiday, I will write in this blog in green instead of black. 

Just kidding. I mean, not about the green font part. I'm still going to type the whole thing in green which I find REALLY annoying. I hate reading stuff in different colored fonts, but I don't want any of you guys pinching my blog. If that's possible.

The real reason why I'm writing a blog post about this particular day is because I felt like I cheated you readers (anyone out there?) with my short book blog about Fire by Kristin Cashore. But I was going nuts and that's how it came out. Plus, today is a "holiday". Has anyone out there ever wondered why St. Patrick's Day is celebrated? It's been an annual tradition my whole life, and I just went along with it, never questioning the reason why I had to wear a color that I looked absolutely HORRIBLE in just to stop people from grabbing at me with their fingers. When I actually sat down to think about it (well, alright. I didn't sit down to think about it. I was standing at the time), here's what I came up with.

---

There's this guy called Saint Patrick. He's from Ireland. And he lived on a clover patch. Everyday, since Patrick didn't have any friends, he sat in the clover patch counting how many leaves the clovers had. He sat in that clover patch for such a long time that his skin and clothes turned permanently green. But Patrick was okay with that because then no one would bother him in his clover patch. 

Now, of course Patrick had a family. His dad happened to be some rich guy in Ireland and, seeing that his son was green, pulled some strings and proclaimed that Patrick's birthday (March 17) would be St. Patrick's Day. On this day, everyone had to wear something green, like his son, so that Patrick wouldn't feel so lonely being green. But people didn't care about this new holiday and refused to wear green. Patrick's father became angry and began thinking of a way to punish them. He wasn't a very strong man and didn't want to confront a man (or woman) in a fist fight. Which is why he decided to pinch people. Thus the holiday.

---

Or so I thought! St. Patrick's Day is actually a religious holiday. Patrick was born in Roman Britain, not even Ireland! But he was kidnapped by the Irish and made into a slave. He eventually escaped captivity, but went back to Ireland as a bishop. The shamrock was used Christian doctrine of the Trinity to the Irish people. And I was wrong about his father being some wealthy Irish man; his father was a deacon.

But get this; the original color associated with Saint Patrick was blue. BLUE! I look perfectly good in blue. But for some reason or another, they decided to change it to green, probably because of the shamrock. Oh well.

Here's something that I found really interesting when I was researching the real history of St. Patrick's Day.

This is a picture of the Chicago River dyed green. I found this absolutely hilarious! A whole river dyed green....wow. I wonder if they still do that. You'd think that it would cause some kind of problem, like it would pollute the water or dye the sides of the river green. 

Book Blog: Fire by Kristin Cashore

Rating: 5 Stars

My life is over. I can't go on. 

FEAST YOUR EYES ON THE COVER OF THIS GIFT FROM THE HEAVENS!!!

LIke most beginnings, this book had a bit of a rough start, but by the time I finished it...

HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN TO ME??!?!?!?!?!

I thought I was going to hate this book. It seemed too similar to Cashore's Graceling, and I couldn't stop ranting about it to every person that I saw. But I didn't pay attention to detail and kept getting slapped in the face with each surpise in the plot. And at first I really didn't like Brigan because his thoughts towards Fire changed too quickly, but the chemistry between the two of them felt so REAL....I forgive the author. Fire is perfection (because she's so beautiful), but is still like a real person. She isn't invincible (because she lost two of her fingers from frost bite and she still can get scars from being attacked) which makes me love her even more. I completely forgot my disappointment of Fire not being a boy.

Just read the frickin' book. Or I'll force you to.

Edit: 3/30/13

Alright, I've calmed down. Now I'll actually tell you the true review EXCLUSIVELY ON THIS BLOG! The book wasnt that great, especially in the beginning. Cashore pretty much wrote The Graceling with different characters in a different setting. And, truthfully, I hated the book in the beginning. I hate it when authors try to pass off a sequel when it's actually a bunch of crap. And she's pretty persistent with the same author's message as her first book.

But Cashore must have a Grace herself, perhaps one like Leck's. By the time I reached the end, no of the crappy stuff seemed to matter anymore because I THOUGHT THE ENDING WAS REALLY GOOD!!! But I've woken up from the daze her words had me in to tell you that the book should actually have been rated with 3 1/2 stars instead of 5. I'm not saying this to discourage you from reading the book because I still honestly think that the ending was pretty good, but the book wasn't as fantastic as I described it.

Book Blog: The Girl of Fire and Thorns

Rating: 1 Star
Whenever I start a review, I like to draw attention to the front and back cover. From a distance, I thought the cover was absolutely gorgeous. The title was nice and big for me to read easily, and there was some kind of sparkly thing underneath it. But looking closer, I realized that the sparkly thing was a jewel with a face on it. And then the cover didn't looks to beautiful.

Then, I looked at the quotes. There was one by Tamora Pierce, Veronica Roth, and Cinda Williams Chima, all authors that I respect very much. Because of this I thought, "Why not? They liked the book, so it must be good."

Boy, was I wrong.

The book begins with a girl named Elisa and her throwing a fit about how fat she is and how her sister hates her, boo hoo hoo.

"'I am a sausage,' I gasp."

But, alright. Elisa's fat. So what? It's not like she's overeating right?

"When he sees me, the kitchen master grins beneath a flour-dusted mustache and shoves a plate at me. The pastry on it is flaky and golden, dusted with ground pistachios and glazed with honey. My mouth waters. I tell him I need two."

...I guess I'm wrong again. She's grief eating. Even the kitchen master knows it! How else would he know to give her food every time she goes into the kitchen? You'd think that if she's going to have such a cow about being fat, she'd at least stop stuffing herself when she gets mopey. Elisa is  defiantly NOT an admirable person and not relatable AT ALL. It would have been different if she was trying to drop some of the weight, but I guess she's not that kind of person.

But I guess the author wanted her to be skinny, so she had her walk through the desert and TA DA! she's skinny. And it isn't until she looses the fat when people start thinking she's attractive. Like Alejandro!

 "His eyes travel the length of my body from my feet to my head, lingering on my chest."

What's the message that I get there? You're not attractive until your skinny? He never looked at her like that before!

Stupidity is a huge part of this book. Elisa can't suck it up and pee in her pants, so she leaves her hiding spot only to be caught by the enemy! And when she escapes she has no idea where she's going and stupidly soaks her clothes. The only way she survived was because of a stone in her belly button that tickled her tummy when she was going the right way. So much for being heroic.

Speaking of being heroic, the author tries to convince the reader that Elisa is a hero by having other characters telling her so.

"'It will be a great boon to the people of Joya to know that their queen is not only the bearer, but a legendary hero in her own right.'"

I'm not buying it. Sorry. The fight scenes are way to short and way too convenient for the characters. I find it very hard to believe that Elisa is swift enough to grab the knife out of the conde's boots and threaten him with it. I also can't believe that the conde was stupid enough to let her get that close. And it's very, very convenient that Lord Hecotr just so happens to walk in right in time to help Elisa.

Whenever I conclude a book review, I usually tell you to try out the book if you want. But not this time. I think this book was awful. DO NOT READ IT!!!

Book Blog: Beautiful Creatures/Beautiful Darkness

Rating: 4 Stars/2 Stars
Yeah, this is a little awkward. I started writing this post a while ago, but never finished it. And then, when I remembered to come back, I had already finished reading Beautiful Creatures, some other books unrelated to the series, and have started Beautiful Darkness.

So here I am with an unfinished blog post and a book that just happens to be the sequal to it. What do I do? I decide to do a combined book blog post for the two books! Lets start out with Beautiful Creatures, shall we?

2/15/13

That's right! I'm reading Beautiful Creatures, the book that had a movie made out of it. The cover on the right it the one that I have, unfortunately. I would have liked the original cover better, but this was all that was available. But that's not important.

I just started reading this yesterday, the day that the movie came out. What I have problems with is when I watch movies that are made out of books that I've read. The movies are always at least slightly different from the book. But it always irritates me a little because the book (or even the movie) is always better than the other.

I know that some changes are necessary. Otherwise, the movie might be five hours long! But when the whole plot is twisted and turned until it is unrecognizable, that's when I really dislike the movie. But, more often than not, that is not the case. And I'm really hoping that Beautiful Creatures isn't going to be like that. But if I were to watch the movie right at this moment, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Y'know, since I haven't even read the first one-hundred pages. That's the thing about the book; the first, I don't know, forty-five pages are all development. There really isn't anything going on.

2/16/13

Disregard what I previously said about the book. There's quiet a bit going on now. If you haven't read up to the first 150 pages, stop reading now.

I'm so proud of Ethan! I love how he doesn't care about what other people think, and he asks Lena out to the movies!!!!!!! Ethan keeps saying that they're not dating, but I think they will. I really hope so...because that would be super cute! But Ethan should get his own car first. The whole borrowing-Link's-car isn't going to work out if Ethan has to keep driving places, especially with Lena. Because, let's face it, although Link might be supportive for Ethan and his decisions, his other "friends" (aka, the people that make him "popular") probably won't.

What I really want to know is what's up with the locket. Ethan and Lena keep on having this vision things, but I really don't see the point in it. Yeah, they're getting a very interesting history lesson, but how is that going to impact them? I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

3/5/13

So, obviously I've finished Beautiful Creatures AND watched the movie at this point. Let me just say that the movie was COMPLETELY different from the book's storyline. Not that that's bad or anything; I watched the movie when I was halfway done with the book, so I still enjoyed the movie ending.

But now I'd like to talk a little bit about Beautiful Darkness. Right now, I'm at about page  200, and let me be one of the first to say that.....it's not all that great. DON'T HURT ME!!! The beginning seemed to be very similar to the first book, not so much what is happening in the story, but what ISN'T happening. Half of the time, I'm reading and I'm asking myself, "What's the point in all this? Why does Ethan keep chasing Lena? Why is Lena hanging out with SPOILER ALERT! Riley when she knows that Riley is bad? WHY DOESN'T ETHAN JUST BREAK UP WITH LENA SO HE CAN LIVE A NORMAL LIFE AND NOT DEAL WITH LENA'S MESS-UPS?!" I blame love. If there wasn't love, then these characters would be making better decisions. I get that Lena's super depressed about Macon's death, but that doesn't mean that she's got to go all crazy and treat her boyfriend like crap.
I guess Lena feels that Macon's death was her fault. But let's face it; Lena should become a Light Caster. I'm sure that's what she wanted (originally at least. Now I don't even know what she wants to be). And if she "claimed herself" as a light caster, then all the dark relatives would die, right? So that means Macon would have died anyway! And she would have "killed" him anyway!!! SO SHE SHOULD JUST GET OVER HERSELF!!!
...I'm not finished with the book (or this blog post) yet, but I'm going to publish it anyway and edit it later. What do you guys think about Beautiful Creatures/Darkness?
3/6/13
I just don't think that I can feel anything from Lena and Ethan's relationship anymore. Ethan is chasing a girl that doesn't want to be chased or found. I can feel the bond between John and Ethan to be stronger, so maybe it would be best if Ethan and Lena broke it off and Lena gets together with John. And then Ethan can get together with Liv! I want to hurry up an finish this. I think the books stupid (sorry Beautiful Creatures lovers!) But that might just be because I tend not to like sequels.

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. 

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.

For 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.

And 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!