OO9. Rant

WARNING: I don't mean to offend anyone, I just

So, I go onto goodreads today. I have a bunch of recommendations, a bunch of event invitations, etc. etc. Of course, I love this! Until I see, that yet again, every recommendation, every event, everything on my newsfeed, everything in all of the young adult groups was some form of paranormal lit.

Okay, so I have nothing wrong with people loving paranormal lit or whatever, but I do have an issue with it becoming the entire topic of a group dedicated to ALL forms young adult literature. Or, the lists that are titled 'Best Young Adult' or something like that and then literally everything is paranormal or fantasy or whatever. Surely not every 'best' ya book is paranormal or fantasy. I don't know why this even bothers me so much, but it does.

OO8. Summer!!

So, I'm finally done with high school!! Woo!! And we all know what that means...I get to start churning out books like it's nobody's business!! Or like it's my job. Whichever expression you prefer, haha. All that matters is that now I'm freeto sit by the pool, on the dock, or on the beach (depending on where I am) with a book all day!!

In the spirit of things (namely summer), I thought I'd list the next yen books on my to-read list for the summer, and I'll add the books I'm currently reading to the top.
Next on my to-do list:

1/2. Demise of the Soccer Moms- Cathryn Grant
1/2x2. Five Things I Can't Live Without- Holly Shumas
1. Following Polly- Karen Bergreen
2. While My Pretty One Sleeps- Mary Higgins Clark
3. Splendor- Anna Godbersen
4. The Space Between Us- Thrity Umrigar
5. Shoe Addicts Anonymous- Beth Harbison
6. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire- JK Rowling
7. The Inheritance of Loss- Kiran Desai
8. Lock and Key- Sarah Dessen
9. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan- Lisa See
10. Love on the Line (trying again)- Laura Castoro

Jules

OO7. A Brief Update

1) I got my ARC of The Demise of the Soccer Moms by Cathryn Grant!! And it's signed too, which is pretty cool :)

2) I started reading Five Things I Can't Live Without by Holly Shumas in my study hall on Friday. Seeing as I have four days left of high school, I really have nothing better to do with my time than to read (which makes me happy!!) So far (and I'm on page 65 I do believe) it's pretty good!! It's about a woman who thinks she has a dreadfully average life. She quits her job as an animal biographer, and starts writing peoples bio sections on romance finder website things (I forget what the real name for them is). And it kind of tells her story with her boyfriend-like character, her friends, and all of her other dramas. Basically, it's pretty light.

3) So I still really like A Courtesan's Guide to Getting Your Man. It's starting to get a little unrealistic though. Like now, the main character (the modern one) makes a huge transformation and BAM! her entire life is changed...I don't really know about that. But it's starting to switch between modern and old a lot more frequently now, and I'm really enjoying that transformation.

Hmm...I think that's just about it!

Jules

OO6. Catch Up, I'm Now Caught Up

I know I haven’t written in a while, so this post is going to be all over the place, so I apologize for that.

1) I think that the last time I posted I was just starting Summer in the City by Robyn Sisman, so that seems like a good place to start. The book was pretty good for a light chick-lit thing, and on that level I have no complaints, it’s a solid three stars for that (which is about all I’ll give a light read like that, unless I love it). On the other hand, from a more technical standpoint, I’d drop the rating down to a two star.  I love multiple narrators, as I think I’ve made clear before, so I loved that aspect of it.  The one thing that frustrated me was that there really wasn’t much character development.  I mean, I think she tried to make it look like there was, through actions, but all-in-all, psychologically there really were no changes, and there should have been with the plotline.

I would definitely recommend reading it though if you’re on an airplane, by a pool, exhausted at night, or on the beach.  Other than that, it really isn’t worth your time.

2) Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, was interesting. I didn’t love it, I don’t know why. I really wanted to like it, so badly actually, but I just didn’t.  I felt absolutely no sympathy for Victor throughout the entire book, which I don’t think was the point, but my entire English class did, so that just really turned me off of the book a little. It was definitely well written though, and I actually liked the writing style.  The plot was different, and wasn’t the typical plot you’d get from a woman around that time period, so that won points from me. Overall, I’d say it was a two and a half star book.  I’ll probably end up rereading it later on, and maybe I’ll feel differently.

3) So, A Brave New World, by Adolus Huxley…I was just genuinely disturbed by that book. I can’t even really talk about it because I have no clue what even went on because I was so creeped out by most of the book. One star—if that. Maybe if I read it again, and got past the disturbances, I’d appreciate it more.

4) About a week ago, I started a book I received as an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of The Courtesan’s Guide to Getting Your Man, by Susan Donovan and Celeste Bradley.  So far, I’m really enjoying it.  It’s definitely a little more…explicit, than I anticipated, but I kind of moved past that. Me being me, I love the two narrators—Ophelia Harrington, the courtesan/heroine from the past, and Piper Chase-Pierpont, the drab museum curator.  I especially love that because the two narrators are completely different. I’m only about 130ish pages into it, so I don’t really have much to say on that level, but I’m really looking forward to reading more tonight!!

5) I’ve still made zero progress on Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States…

I think that’s all I really had to mention…except…I started a personal blog!! Check it out J Become a follower J I’ll love you forever!!

http://mylifeisjules.blogspot.com/

Jules