Quote of the Week #14

Here’s this week’s quote –

This book “Kafka on the shore” (full review here) is really quotable, on top of just being amazing magical realism and so surreal and beautifully written. It truly both made me understand and more confused at the same time about what magical realism can be. This quote in particular really rings true to me. Most likely whatever you need won’t turn out the way you imagined, whatever you’re searching for won’t fit the expectation you built for it. Don’t limit yourself in your search and you might find it sooner. At least I hope so. 

I Was Born for This by Alice Oseman | Review

Pages: 400

Genre: contemporary young adult, lgbt characters

 

Synopsis

Angel Rahimi does not know what she wants to do with her life, but she knows she loves The Ark, a famous pop-rock trio boyband. She’s very involved with the fandom, which is seen to have its positive and negative sides as we also experience Jimmy Kaga-Ricci’s opinions about it. He’s one of the members of the trio boyband, playing with his childhood friends. The music is what makes him like it, being on stage and performing. But he can’t go out on the street alone without being assaulted by fangirls, he barely have any free-time with their busy schedule and his anxities are getting worse as he feels his privacy is invaded. When they started to get popular he was accidentally outed as trans, so he knows a couple things about privacy concerns. His dream has turned into the beginning of a nightmare, caging him in. Angel and Jimmy is forced to figure out the balance together, as one helps the other.

 

The Audiobook

There’s two narrators for the two different main characters, Angel and Jimmy. I really liked both of them, the accents were lovely, but sometimes they got on my nerves as well which was strange. Jimmy’s narrator voices all the guys though, and the voice he gave Mac (a minor character) is the most douchy and annoying voice, which made me laugh and grin my teeth together at the same time. Didn’t surprise me when he was starting to act a bit douchy as well, it fit well.

 

My thoughts

Rating out of five: four

“Most adults see teenagers as confused kids who don’t understand much, while they’re the pillars of knowledge and experience and know exactly what is right at all times.
I think the truth is that everyone in the entire world is confused and nobody understands much of anything at all.”

Writing books about internet and fan-culture seem to be a difficult thing based on the books I’ve read that has gotten it wrong. There’s many reasons for that, most of all how fast it’s changing, making it difficult to capture even one particular moment in time. Alice Oseman does it so well, describing it as well as dvelving deeper into the pros and cons of idolizing groups and celebrities and how much space and influence to give them in our own personal lives. And she does all this in anentertaining way! Alice has some really on-point thoughts on it, with different sides conveyed through Jimmy and his other bandmates Rowan and Lister, along with their “biggest” fans Angel and Juliet.

idolization

I’ve always had a difficult time idolizing people, like I’ve always known that on some general level all those people have flaws as well. Also I’m very scared about meeting people I look up to, in case I have to experience those flaws first-hand. I’ve not been a big fan of artists, even though I wished I was at times. The community I saw friends building, bonding over their favourites, going out and promoting their records, waiting in line for their concert. All this is things Angel would do, and during this book she goes out of her way to help the guys of her favourite band. To an almost comical degree, because she finds herself in weird situations with them. But it wasn’t unrealistic enough to break the fun it was to see these characters interact and the questions, prejudices and reactions they all had to each other. Angel and Jimmy especially had some hilarious and cringy scenarios together, where the characters goes a bit meta and describes how much it’s seeming to turn into a fanfic, but it’s always done cleverly and tastefully.

characters & plot

Through this light and fun story Alice serves, there’s also greater themes pointing to internet and fandom culture, as well as indentity and how we might use things we enjoy both to escape and to connect with others. There’s always lines between interests being healthy and unhealthy, losing yourself in it. Still, I did not appreciate Jimmy’s grandpa telling Alice how things were and that she needed to focus more on herself and stop thinking she was in love with the guys from the band. Okay, some of it made sense, but when he started his speech I realized how much Alice grew on me through the book. I didn’t like Jimmy very much, I thought he should’ve reached more out to his friends, but I also wanted to defend his anxiety and the need of a good support system, which none of them had. So there’s proof that he had his place in this story as well. They all did. I thought I knew where this book was headed for a while, but the ending was a (kind of) pleasant surprise.

Feelings I had reading this book: enjoyed it, clapping my hands at the well-written characters and their personal struggles coming to terms with their popularity or identity, want to read more Alice Oseman books right away

 

Books By Fav Authors That I Still Haven’t Read | Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl to bring bookish friends together. A new topic is posted each week.

I’m so excited to go through everyone’s posts this week, reading about everyone’s fav authors! Let me know if you have a top ten tuesday post too.

Brandon Sanderson:

Elantris: I’ve read many of the series belonging in the over-hanging Cosmere universe in the past two years, but not this one, which also seem to be very essisential to understanding the logic of the different worlds, or at least not be spoiled reading the short stories.

Arcanum Unbounded with short stories from the Cosmere universe. I’ve read edgedancer, the novella, but as I haven’t read Elantris yet I’ve been careful about what else I’ve looked into. Even reading descriptions of these short stories might spoil me, honestly.

Kristin Cashore: Jane, Unlimited

I loved Graceling series by Cashore, I really like how especially the main character Katsa was a female fighter and not nice. Sometimes I like characters on the border of unlikable, when they’re well written like that one. This book however, seem more “regular” and I’m nervous as I haven’t heard much about it.

Shaun David Hutchinson:

The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley and At the Edge of the Universe: I’ve just started reading the last one. I really liked “we are the ants” and the author on twitter in general, so I want to get to more of the book. More gay characters are welcome into my TBR as well, especially when they’re going through existential crisis, because you know- relatable af.

Haruki Murakami:

1Q84, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage: I adore what I’ve read of Murakami’s writing, and there’s so many books of his to delve into.

Mary Oliver:

A Poetry Handbook, Why I Wake Up Early and Felicity: Mary Olive is my favourite poet, and yet I haven’t read all of her works. In her eightytwo-years she’s produced a lot of writing and I can’t wait to enjoy it all. Her poems are often about nature and erasing the line between nature and the self.

The start of autumn | Bi-Weekly Update #3

New book posts:

• Review: Radio silence
• Review: The rest of us just live here
• Two sentences reviews: poetry
• Top ten tuesday: Hidden gems of books
• Top ten tuesday: Autumn TBR 2018
• Quote of the week #12
• Quote of the week #13

Other books I’ve been reading:

Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: it’s so good advice on how to raise a girl, short review for this short book coming soon. How do you like the two/three sentence reviews format?

Betrayed by Amalie Skram

At the edge of the universe by Shaun David Hutchinson (currently reading, well listening to the audiobook)

The golden compass by Philip Pullman (currently rereading)

Added to my TBR:

The wicked deep by Shea Ernshaw: seemingly good book for autumn mood with witches

The hearts we sold by Emily Lloyd-Jones: more paranormal ya, with demons

What if it’s us by Becky Albertalli: lgbt story by author of “simon vs the homo sapiens agenda”

The poet x by Elizabeth Acevedo: girl finding her voice through slam poetry, extremely high average rating

Getting things done by David Allen: this productivity book was discussed/recommended on the podcast “do by friday” and i guess i need it

The checklist manifesto by Atul Gawande: this productivity book was discussed/recommended on the podcast “do by friday” and i guess i need it

When women ruled the world by Kara Cooney: talking about podcast, i also listened to Kara Cooney of the Egyptology episode of one of my fav podcast Ologies by Alie Ward. I was one of those kids who fell in love reading about Ancient Egypt, and Kara’s knowledge didn’t disappoint.

The seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid: Merline included it as one of her top 5 summer reads and I was intrigued.

Recently bought these books:

I don’t think I did?! Congrats to me as I’m trying to save money.

Update: forgot I bought “An absolutely remarkable thing” by Hank Green! It’s not supposed to be released before next week, but I quickly checked my local bookstore to be sure, and there the was the paperback!!

Three things on my mind:

• I need to drink more coffee. I’m a tea lover, who drank espresso friday, because I was seriously about to fall asleep in a cafe. There’s one place in the small city that has good latte, otherwise espresso is effective. It was a fun day, with (for once) a chill school project with friends and another friend’s bday party. Now our whole friend group can go to clubs, which is great.
• I think balance is the key to most things in your daily life. But choices to gain that balance is so difficult, when they have to be made quickly it’s nearly better, so you can’t waste time. I’m just struggling with this, I guess, as someone who’s got a lot of tests the next week, on antibiotics for a lung infection and wanting to have fun with friends as well.
• I’ve barely read anything this week and won’t be able to next week, so that’s always a good sign I’m going a bit mental and don’t have time to relax.

Quote of the Week #13

It’s time for the quote of the week, where I ramble about things.

I like this quote, even though it might not be correct in all cases always. It’s something to consider deeply though. Along the same lines of do not judge others harshly if you make the same mistake. Without going into what is true, I think it’s important to admit your own faults, fears and good sides. Or you’ll always project insecurities onto others, without truly realizing.

A friend had some drama today. I do not know the complete truth about myself, but I do know more than the people who enlarge other’s flaws to look better themselves. People, just don’t be assholes, even if you don’t match personality-wise with someone. If you leave out psychopaths, there’s few people who are good or bad, like black and white. Sometimes I just truly hoped empathy would be more encouraged, instead of having one’s own ego and pride at the center.

The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness | Review

Pages: 320

Genre: contemporary young adult, lgbt characters

Synopsis

What if you aren’t the Chosen One? The one who’s supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever the heck this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death?

What if you’re like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom and maybe finally work up the courage to ask Henna out before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again.

Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this week’s end of the world, and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life.

Even if your best friend is worshipped by mountain lions.

The Audiobook

Narrated by James Fouhey, which had a good and fitting voice. It was just good in general.

My thoughts

Rating out of five: four 

“Not everyone has to be the Chosen One. Not everyone has to be the guy who saves the world. Most people just have to live their lives the best they can, doing things that are great for them, having great friends, trying to make their lives better, loving people properly. All the while knowing that the world makes no sense but trying to find a way to be happy anyway.”

It’s a good read if you don’t go into it expecting a fantasy story. You get a “normal” coming of age story, of a teenage boy Mikey who are worried about what to do after high school, but mostly just trying to survive the year. Aren’t we all? (Like seriously, I have nine long months left). It’s definitely a surreal experience reading Mikey’s description of the special “indie” kids (aka with powers) disappearing and dying in the fight against monsters and green lights. It’s explained by a clear separation between who is a indie kid, one of the heroes of a regular fantasy novel, and who is the cilivians. His town is definitely a warzone. And as a reader you just have to go with it, to not ask too many questions or it will fall apart.

I don’t know what I think about a book where asking to many questions about their situation will dig enough plot holes until it’s mostly holes and not much left to enjoy. I feel like Patrick Ness often seem to keep to the line of “is this real or the main character’s imagination” until about half the book has passed, when action start to set in. Still, I couldn’t stop myself asking questions. Like why don’t they move out of town, if it’s overrun by monsters? Why haven’t they found weapons that work? Lots of these questions aren’t even asked in the book, the reason I suppose is that Mikey isn’t a part of that world. But he is, constantly seeing and choosing to ignore or investigate it. They all are, which makes it interesting.

The balance between having a normal highschool life – being with friends, parties, schoolwork, drama, relationships – and the monsters wrecking shit in town and endagering humans is a really funny and heartwrenching one. It’s a bit too relatable, as while I was reading it dealing with major health concerns that come in like one of those monsters. A lot of this book is about contrast and responsibility. While the basic plot of the friendgroup was enjoyable, with camping and relationship and friend drama, everything else brought added dimension, perspective and funny satire of the stereotypical fantasy hero novel. For example, the “indie” kids have apparantly chosen, maybe just been born for, fighting against the monsters alone. They insist that it’s their job, and the civilians are happy to comply.

Last thing worth mentioning is the vivid descriptions of Mikey’s anxieties and OCD, I haven’t read many books about it, but he describes being trapped in thoughts and actions and it seems very real. It does not help having anxiety that feels like something bad is going to happen soon, when monsters are roaming, but that seems to be the point.

Feelings I had reading this book: trying to survive the schoolyear is relatable af, i also want to go camping with friends (it’s never supposed to go well is it?) … also sometimes monsters has to be talked about and dealt with i guess?

Books On My Autumn 2018 TBR| Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl to bring bookish friends together. A new topic is posted each week.

So I wrote a spring TBR and read four out of eight books on that list. Wrote a summer TBR and read five out of ten books on that list. I think I can see a trend here. Do others have problems following a TBR list?

This list seem to have a couple themes: of books I wanted to read a long time ago, horror and mysterious reads as the light disappears outside and some more random books.

I wanted to read all these three books last autumn, so crossing my fingers I’ll get to them now. Hopefully they’ll give me some halloween mood.

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Blood. Young adult horror. Witches travelling around ghost hunting. Girl haunting a victorian house. It all sounds like some cozy halloween-autumn vibes.

Slasher Girls & Monster Boys

Featuring authors like Leigh Bardugo and A. G. Howard, it’s young adult horror or paranormal short stories and I’m very excited.

These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly

More young adult mystery, I don’t know much about this one except it’s about a girl trying to uncover her fathers murder or suicide. That title though.

Palace of the Damned by Darren Shan

I absolutely loved Darren Shan’s books as a kid and want to finish the Larten Crepsley saga, along with the Demonata series. It’s horror and I haven’t found books as unsettling as the Demonata series, the imagined smell and vision of rat guts still so vivid in my memory years later.

Valkyrie Rising by Ingrid Paulson

I love norse mythology, I really hope this book is a good one. This fantasy is set in Norway, my country, so please don’t let me down.

At the Edge of the Universe by Shaun David Hutchinson

I really liked “we are the ants” and am excited to read other books by the author.

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

I’ve seen so mixed opinions of this book, the sequel to Uprooted, which I adored. What is autumn without fairytales though?

The F- It List by Julie Halpern

Time to finally pick up this book? It’s been on every tbr list for so so long, like years. I don’t know why I haven’t dropped it.

The Concept of Anxiety by Søren Kierkegaard

I’m starting a new project – reading authors trying to express pain. I don’t know if this book is what I’m looking for, but as I just started psychology classes hopefully there’ll be something useful here. It’s one of those books I’ve seen recommended by someone, but cannot remember who.

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

Aahh, school projects.

Poetry: Two Sentences Reviews

I’ve been wishing to do shorter forms reviews as I’m reading books. I’m starting out with poetry collections as I’ve read a few recently and struggle to review in full because I read poetry for fun basically, and I don’t have the same experience reading and disecting them as I have with novels.

 

 

 

 

Counting Descent by Clint Smith

Powerful, brilliant debut poetry collection about being black in America, growing up and connections between history and present day. So many fantastic poems that really dug deep into me (you can also tell this guy is a teacher with the info he brings). 5/5 stars.

 

She Used to Be on a Milk Carton by Kailey Tedesco. 

Confusing poetry collection about going from girl to a woman, birth, death and everything in between with a lot of references to vampires and blood and bodies. Do not read it if you’re not really into poetry and want something unique. 1/5 stars. Thanks to the publisher for receiving this copy through NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.

 

 

 

Whiskey Words & a Shovel by r h Sin

Very minimal in style (milk & honey – like), but not the worst I’ve read as it has more passion and rawness to it, before the author becoems preachy and repetitive. The poem above is one of the better, but still bullshit a “deep” 5th grader could’ve written. 2/5 stars. 

Quote of the Week #12

It’s time for the quote of the week, which I’ll keep short and simple this week. I also haven’t read any books this week because I said to myself I wouldn’t before getting schoolwork done and then I became sick again. Fun. 

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman | Review

Pages: 400

Genre: young adult contemporary, lgbt

The norwegian cover.

Synopsis

What if everything you set yourself up to be was wrong?

Frances has always been a study machine with one goal, elite university. Nothing will stand in her way; not friends, not a guilty secret – not even the person she is on the inside.

But when Frances meets Aled, the shy genius behind her favourite podcast, she discovers a new freedom. He unlocks the door to Real Frances and for the first time she experiences true friendship, unafraid to be herself. Then the podcast goes viral and the fragile trust between them is broken.

Caught between who she was and who she longs to be, Frances’ dreams come crashing down. Suffocating with guilt, she knows that she has to confront her past…

She has to confess why Carys disappeared…

Meanwhile at uni, Aled is alone, fighting even darker secrets.

It’s only by facing up to your fears that you can overcome them. And it’s only by being your true self that you can find happiness.

Frances is going to need every bit of courage she has.

My thoughts

Rating out of five: five

I loved this book, it’s going to be one of this year favourites and be reread many times. It made a bold choice, like Oseman seem to do, in placing the book in this decade and referencing movies and popculture. It also brings out very time-defining characteristics like questioning sexuality through research, celebrities, rise of podcasts, internet and fandoms. Most of all this book is about wanting to be heard, to be seen for who you are. Which is easier with the help and support of friends.

the characters & writing

None of the characters are always in the right, which is always interesting. The main character Frances tries her best, I would say, but at one point she realizes she hasn’t been paying enough attention to the people around her and their struggles. The writing seems very honest, it’s very straight forward as well. Carys, the bestfriend, is going through shit and Frances tells that story in between the right-now action of Frances and Carys’ brother Aled starting to get along and find shared interests (like the podcast). Frances believes that she made a mistake, which partly led to Carys disapperance, and trying to not make a smiliar mistake again  colors the rest of the book. The friendship between Frances and Cary is strange and reletable, Frances admits that she hated Cary for having it all figured out, but loved her for being so perfect.

the podcast universe city

I wasn’t so sure about the podcast part of this book before reading it. I love podcasts, but in general at some point writers could’ve just made the podcast in real life and not have us read it every awkward break or info dump. This book is centered around the podcast in that Frances and Aled finds each other through the making and fandom of it, both things done really well. There’s a chapter where they are having fun outside camping and makes what Aled considers the worst episode ever, but it was all so visually told and really brought out a certain feeling in the book.

 

Feelings reading this book: interest in where the podcast was going, glee over Frances becoming more comfortable, relatable af moments and strong hate for Aled and Cary’s mother.

 

SPOILERS BELOW

my fav moments

• Frances discussing being bi and relationships of the Universe City podcast and Aled saying the world might be a bit tired of boy-girl relationships anyway. Them geeking out in general and allowing themselves to be “weird” aka being very passionate about things and fandom.
• Going to save Aled from university. Also his mom was truly awful in one of the probably worst ways physiologically, because so many outside the house thought she was great. Reading Aled scream after going over to his mother to figure things out made my skin crawl.

Finally, I hated Cary when they all met her. I was certain she didn’t want to be found, but the way she reacted … She had worked out a pretty okay life for herself considering she escaped to the city with barely anything, though. She’d tried to leave her past behind, which I can understand. My immediate hate came from having a little brother though, but she didn’t have a perspective to mind to predict how her brother would be treated when she left. There’s a lot taken up in this book and I appreciated it.