Blog Party! :)

Hey guys,

I just started following Abigail Kraft's blog Rear Window and right now she's hosting an "Authentic People" blog party (click here if you would like to participate too) and it sounded kinda fun so here we are.

Intro:

My name is Emily. I am a writer. Of stories. Not poetry. I love Owl City, Doctor Who, Scrabble, and Jane Austen(and Harry Potter!!! and chocolate!! and--oh dear, this could go on forever. :P). I like to think about things. Life, and love, and people, and pretty much everything under the sun. I sometimes run out of things to say to someone when I find out they don't like reading.

1)What's the nerdiest/geekiest/weirdest thing about you?

Um...well I think that top part pretty much summed it up.

Scrabble, Doctor Who, umm...and I browse the dictionary for fun.

2)If you could live in a fictional universe from any book, movie, or television show, what would it be?

Narnia

Or Hogwarts/The Wizarding World. :)

3)Little or big, practical or frivolous, what is one of your favorite items in your house?

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4) Do you like animated movies? If so, what is your favorite?

YES! Ahh! Can't pick!! I really love Tangled, Meet the Robinsons, Despicable Me, Jungle Book, The Aristocats, and Mulan. But really almost all Disney movies are amazing. :)

5) What is your favorite household chore?

I guess I like vacuuming. Kind of satisfying. Dusting can be fun too.

6) What's your favorite thing to get at Starbucks (or your favorite coffee shop)?

I don't drink coffee, so I don't really have a favorite shop but I LOVE hot chocolate.

7) What is your favorite pizza topping?

Pepperoni & jalapeños!

8) Waffles or pancakes?

Waffles, definitely. I don't like the texture of pancakes.

9) Do you like to play games? If so, what is your favorite?

Scrabble, Scattergories, Uno, Quiddler, etc.

10) Have you ever let anyone win a game?

In special/rare instances. I let a little kid catch my sister's wedding bouquet. I had my hands on it too, but she was six. What was I supposed to do?

11) Have you ever dyed your hair?

Nope.

12) Do you make your bed every morning?

Ha, no.

13) Picasso or Norman Rockwell?

Love this picture!

14) Do you like carpet, tile, or hardwood floors?

I love cushy carpet because it's warm and soft, but hardwood's nice too.

15) If you could put one thing in a safe under your bed, what would it be?

Probably my Halloween candy.

16) What's your favorite condiment?

Mustard/Barbecue Sauce.

17) Have you ever thrown up on someone (excluding when you were a child)?

Nope.

18) What was the last thing that made you laugh?

Look at Harry's face!

19) Think fast...what's the first song that pops into your head?

Umm...well kinda cheated with this one, it was already playing. My Time With You by Kina Grannis & David Choi

Haha, there was way more Harry Potter in that then there was supposed to be. Oh well.

Top 10 Tuesday (on Wednesday)

So, I am going to apologize right now for the major awful absence for the past three weeks. NaNo and school have taken over my life, and I feel like I am in a vicious circle of enough words>not enough sleep>too much sleep>not enough words/homework. And though I can't promise any more posts in the very near future, I did want to do this one.

Top 10 Tuesday!

Hosted by the Broke and the Bookish

Soo....this week's topic is:

The Top 10 Books I've Been Meaning to Read for Forever, but haven't yet.

1. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

I am ashamed that I have not read this series yet. Everyone I've talked to says they're amazing and that I would really identify with her, but it just hasn't happened yet. Soon, though.

2. The Fellowship of the Ring(and the rest of the LotR trilogy)by J.R.R. Tolkien

Totally am like halfway through this one, but I have no clue where that halfway mark is. I started reading it like a bazillion years ago and don't remember a lot of what happened.

3. Almost ALL of Jane Austen's books. (Except for Pride and Prejudice! I DID read that one!)

Currently working my way through Northanger Abbey (and loving it!)

4. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Another one that everyone's supposed to have read, right? Well... I read A Little Princess, does that count for anything?

5. Calling on Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede

I LOVED the first two books in this series (The Enchanted Forest Chronicles) but ended up stopping somewhere in this one. I'll get back to it. Someday.

6. Spindle's End by Robin McKinley

I have had this book forever and it looked so good and I started it, but I think at the time it was kind of long and I just lost interest, but it looks amazing so I'm gonna go back and read it sometime.

7. The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Ahhh! I LOVE mysteries. Nancy Drew? I probably read more than half of her books(of which there are like 60 something...). And have read like five other mystery series since, but Sherlock Holmes? The all-time classic? The KING of mystery? Not yet.

8. Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce

I have friends who love Tamora Pierce. I don't think I've ever finished a single book by her. SAd, I know.

9. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

So....I found this book, and there was a quote on the front from J.K. Rowling about how charismatic the narrator was, and stuff. And that got my attention, for sure.

10. The Neverending Story by Michael Ende

My brother LOVED this book, and it sounded totally awesome to me. I think our library had run out of copies by the time I was interested in reading it though. I recently picked up a copy, but there it has remained. :P

What books have you never read, but feel obligated to or would like to, but just haven't had the time yet?

Hope y'all are having a fabulous week! :)

News!

1) Head over here and take a look Shannon Messenger's awesome blog contest in celebration of her book deal! She's giving away a bunch of really awesome stuff so you should check it out! Shannon's a super cool person and I can't WAIT to read her book!

2) For those of you who don't know... November is "National Novel Writing" month so if you haven't yet, you should check out the website at nanowrimo.org - the object is to write 50,000 words of a novel in 30 days. I'm going to take a swing at it this year!

3) And, if you're looking for some comic relief--http://inkygirl.com/wwfc/

4) Last, but not least... a question: What do you do to get motivated to write?

Hey guys!

I'm not really feeling inspired today, but I found this at The Mirror in my Mind and it looked kinda fun so here we are!

a) Choose 10 of your all-time favorite books.

b) Take the first sentence of the first chapter(NOT the prologue) and make a list in your journal blog.

c) Don't reveal the author or title of the book.

d) Now everyone try and guess!

Note: I should probably warn you--most of these books are not best-sellers or even well known at all. This was done semi-intentionally, as I'm pretty sure 99.9% of you have the first sentence of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone memorized word for word. So, if you can by some unlikely chance guess them ALL, you deserve a medal. Or a box of fudge. ;)

1. On a warm October night in Chicago, three deliveries were made in the same neighborhood.

2. "Gramma, is that man following us?"

3. That fool of a fairy Lucinda did not intend to lay a curse on me.

4. Almost choked with excitement and joy, Betsy Ray leaned against the railing as the S.S. Richmond sailed serenely into New York City's inner harbor.

5. I've heard it said that girls can't keep secrets.

6. The train began to move at last.

7. It happened just the other day, to a boy named Roger.

8. Once on a dark winter's day, when the yellow fog hung so thick and heavy in the streets of London that the lamps were lighted and the shop windows blazed with gas as they do at night, an odd-looking little girl sat in a cab with her father and was driven slowly through the big thoroughfares.

9. I still remember the day we celebrated Krishna Jayanthi, the festival of Lord Krishna's birth, at our home in Bombay.

10. Miri woke to the sleepy bleating of a goat.

Bonus: From the highest point of Watchtop Hill, Urchin could see the whole island.

Top 10 Tuesday #2

Top 10 Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by

The Broke and the Bookish

This week's topic is:

Top Ten Book Endings That Left Me With My Mouth Hanging Open

1. Possession by Elana Johnson

2. Matched by Ally Condie

So glad these two have sequels coming out! If they didn't, I would cry!

3. I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You (Gallagher Girls #1) by Ally Carter

4. Scorpia (Alex Rider #5) by Anthony Horowitz

5. Several of the Sisters Grimm books by Michael Buckley

These three are all part of their own series, so there's not much to be said about them...

6. Bright Shadow by Avi - GRRR!!! Least favorite heroine EVER!

7. A Drowned Maiden's Hair: A Melodrama by Laura Amy Schlitz - With a name like that, you can guess the nature of the ending at least...

8. Who Are You? By Joan Lowery Nixon - Um...could you explain the point of this book to me?

9. The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks - :') So gorgeous!!

10. Okay, I'm going to cheat on this last one and use the movie because I haven't read the book. Tuck Everlasting --What??? Why?? Gaaaah!!! So freaking painful it's not even funny!

Top 10 Tuesday #1

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

This week's topic is "Books I Want to Re-read"

My Top 10:

1. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

I cannot even begin to tell you how much I love this book. I love fairy tales and this has got to be the best retelling of Cinderella I have ever read. And if there are any of you out there who haven't seen the movie yet, you NEED to read this first. It's so much better!!

2. The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

Just finished reading the Chamber of Secrets to my younger brother last week. Now he's reading The Prisoner of Azkaban on his own and I wish I had time to read it and all the later books now, too.

3. Cybele's Secret by Juliet Marillier

One of those few books that is actually as good as it's predecessor. I would say it's almost better than Wildwood Dancing(which is saying something) One of those books that is so drop-dead gorgeous you'll be smiling about it every time you think about it afterwards.

4. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell

I don't read non-fiction much, but this one was amazing! One of those books that I think I can honestly say changed my life. Or at least, my mind. It's psychology (I know, right? Of all the things for me to read a non-fiction book on, I pick psychology!) and absolutely fascinating! And the really cool thing about it is that it's applicable to real life! So yeah, definitely gotta get a copy of that one.

5. The Treekeepers by Susan Britton

I read this book a long, long time ago. I remember really liking it at the time, so I want to read it again and see if I still think the same.

6. The Witch Family by Eleanor Estes

When I was little, I was majorly obsessed with witches. Just the ones in fairy tales and stuff. I checked out like every good book I could find at the library with stories about them and their potions and stuff. Which inspired me to make "potions" with my best friend in my backyard out of mud and seeds and stuff. We actually poured a few--okay, maybe more like 10--into some mason jars of my mom's or grandma's. I actually ran across some of them a while ago. All dried up and sealed/rusted shut. Anyway.... the point is - this book is about witches. Which is(haha) one of the reasons I loved it so much.

7. Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

Harriet was totally my hero for a while. I carried around a bag with the book, my notebook, pencils, a mirror, etc. and spied on my neighbors and siblings and everyone(shh!! don't tell!). She was right up there with Nancy Drew in my opinion. Best. Ever.

8. Meg's Mysterious Island by Elizabeth Ladd

So adorable! The year I read it, I told my mom that I wanted to dress up as her(in dungarees and an orange jacket with my black cat) for Halloween. And then didn't because I came to the realization that no one would know who I was.

9. The Sue Barton series by Helen Dore Boylston

Sue made me question my desire to be a writer a little bit. I thought she was so cool, and these books made being a nurse sound awesome - however, I grew out of that and went back to the author goal. :)

10. The Betsy~Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace

So sweet and beautiful! For a while I was reading them with my sister(because she hadn't read them yet!), but we only got about halfway through them and the last books are my favorite!

Banned Books Week!

Today as I walked into my school library I saw a bunch of little packages wrapped in brown paper with the word "censored" in red across the front on a bunch of the tables and counters and everywhere and was really confused for a second. Then I saw the sign that said "Banned Books Week" and got really excited. I headed over to the table to read about it. There were a whole bunch of banned books standing on the table (including Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings!) among others which I've heard of, and some I haven't. There were also little buttons very similar to this one:

They had bits from news articles about different book bannings(and burnings), and this list: "the top 10 ludicrous reasons for banning a book", and a poster that had pictures of the authors whose books had been banned or challenged most. And those little brown packages? Each one talked about a banned book and the reason it had been banned.

It was really strange reading all the stuff on display. My opinion kept on changing with each thing I read. But after thinking about it for a while, I think I have come to the conclusion that I am against book banning. Let me explain my reasons for this:

Reading is one of my great loves in life and I have always tried to read books that were clean and wholesome(judging by my own standards and those of my family).

However, one thing I have been grateful for as I've been growing up, is that my parents have always left that choice up to me. And not just the choice of what I read, but also how much I read. My family has been visiting the library weekly since before I can remember, and during those visits my mother would tell me and my siblings that we could check out as many books as we could carry. Which for a five or six year old like myself, was usually pretty close to the library's limit of 25. And I took advantage of that. Oh boy, did I take advantage of that. I would walk up to the check-out counter with my library card between my teeth because my hands were so full, barely able to lift my stack up to the librarians. And that hasn't changed much through the years, though I don't still check out 25 books each time (and I swear I don't still carry my library card in my teeth). But I think if it hadn't been for my mom fueling my love of books by reading to me SO much, putting up with the semi-frequent over-due fines, and not ever disillusioning me by pointing out that I might not have time to read ALL of those books, or telling me what I could or couldn't read, I wouldn't love it so much.

Many of the books that have been banned/challenged are classics, and while I'm not saying that the classics are examples of great literature with perfect role models (because they totally aren't), there are a lot of lessons to be learned from the classics, even if only from the mistakes of the characters. Isn't that the way we learn? Through our mistakes, and those of others?

And really, outside of our own families we don't (and shouldn't) have any control over what is read.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

--1st Amendment to the Constitution--

This is one of the freedoms that was fought for us hundreds of years ago when this country was founded and unfortunately, we must continue fighting for each day.

So this week, celebrate your right to read what you want! Click here, browse the lists of challenged/banned books, and pick either your favorite that you have read, or one that you haven't, but would like to. And, if you're really ambitious you can challenge yourself to pick a book AND finish it this week!

Now, I actually haven't read a whole lot on that list but my favorite hands-down is #1 for the last decade! The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. :) I also enjoyed Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor. One that I am going to read this week: Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson.

Your turn!

100 YA Book Chain

Snatched this from Chantele Sedgwick's blog: My Writing Bug

Bold = I've Read It
Italics = I Own It
Underline = Started, didn't finish (not counting the ones on here I've only read a couple pages of.)

1. Alex Finn – Beastly
2. Alice Sebold – The Lovely Bones
3. Ally Carter – Gallagher Girls (1, 2, 3, 4)
4. Ally Condie – Matched
5. Alyson Noel – The Immortals (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
6. Anastasia Hopcus – Shadow Hills
7. Angie Sage – Septimus Heap (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
8. Ann Brashares – The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (1, 2, 3, 4)
9. Anna Godbersen – Luxe (1, 2, 3, 4)
10. Anthony Horowitz – Alex Rider (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
11. Aprilynne Pike – Wings (1, 2, 3)
12. Becca Fitzpatrick – Hush, Hush (1, 2)
13. Brandon Mull – Fablehaven (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
14. Brian Selznick – The Invention of Hugo Cabret
15. Cassandra Clare – The Mortal Instruments (1, 2, 3, 4)
16. Carrie Jones – Need (1, 2, 3)
17. Carrie Ryan – The Forest of Hands and Teeth (1, 2, 3)
18. Christopher Paolini - Inheritance (1, 2, 3, 4)
19. Cinda Williams Chima – The Heir Chronicles (1, 2, 3)
20. Colleen Houck – Tigers Saga (1, 2)
21. Cornelia Funke – Inkheart (1, 2, 3)
22. Ellen Hopkins – Impulse
23. Eoin Colfer – Artemis Fowl (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
24. Faraaz Kazi – Truly, Madly, Deeply
25. Frank Beddor – The Looking Glass Wars (1, 2, 3)
26. Gabrielle Zevin – Elsewhere
27. Gail Carson Levine – Fairest
28. Holly Black – Tithe (1, 2, 3)
29. J.K. Rowling – Harry Potter (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
30. James Dashner – The Maze Runner (1, 2)
31. James Patterson – Maximum Ride (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
32. Jay Asher – Thirteen Reasons Why
33. Jeanne DuPrau – Books of Ember (1, 2, 3, 4)
34. Jeff Kinney – Diary of a Wimpy Kid (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
35. John Boyne – The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
36. John Green – An Abundance of Katherines
37. John Green – Looking for Alaska
38. John Green – Paper Towns
39. Jonathan Stroud – Bartimaeus (1, 2, 3, 4)
40. Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl – Caster Chronicles (1, 2)
41. Kelley Armstrong – Darkest Powers (1, 2, 3)
42. Kristin Cashore – The Seven Kingdoms (1, 2)
43. Lauren Kate – Fallen (1, 2, 3)
44. Lemony Snicket - Series of Unfortunate Events (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
45. Libba Bray – Gemma Doyle (1, 2, 3)
46. Lisa McMann – Dream Catcher (1, 2, 3)
47. Louise Rennison – Confessions of Georgia Nicolson (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
48. M.T. Anderson – Feed
49. Maggie Stiefvater – The Wolves of Mercy Falls (1, 2, 3)
50. Margaret Peterson Haddix – Shadow Children (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
51. Maria V. Snyder – Study (1, 2, 3)
52. Markus Zusak - The Book Thief
53. Markus Zusak – I am the Messenger
54. Mark Haddon – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
55. Mary Ting – Crossroads
56. Maureen Johnson – Little Blue Envelope (1, 2)
57. Meg Cabot – All-American Girl (1, 2)
58. Meg Cabot – The Mediator (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
59. Meg Cabot – The Princess Diaries (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
60. Meg Rosoff – How I live now
61. Megan McCafferty – Jessica Darling (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
62. Megan Whalen Turner – The Queen’s Thief (1, 2, 3, 4)
63. Melina Marchetta – On the Jellicoe Road
64. Melissa de la Cruz – Blue Bloods (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
65. Melissa Marr – Wicked Lovely (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
66. Michael Grant – Gone (1, 2, 3, 4)
67. Nancy Farmer – The House of the Scorpion
68. Neal Shusterman – Unwind
69. Neil Gaiman – Coraline
70. Neil Gaiman – Stardust
71. Neil Gaiman – The Graveyard Book
72. P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast – House of Night (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 )
73. Philip Pullman – His Dark Materials (1, 2, 3)
74. Rachel Caine – The Morganville Vampires (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
75. Rachel Cohn & David Levithan – Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist
76. Richelle Mead – Vampire Academy (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
77. Rick Riordan – Percy Jackson and the Olympians (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
78. Rom LcO’Feer – Somewhere carnal over 40 winks
79. S.L. Naeole – Grace (1, 2, 3, 4)
80. Sabrina Bryan & Julia DeVillers – Princess of Gossip
81. Sarah Dessen – Along for the Ride
82. Sarah Dessen – Lock and Key
83. Sarah Dessen – The Truth about Forever
84. Sara Shepard – Pretty Little Liars (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
85. Scott Westerfeld - Leviathan (1, 2)
86. Scott Westerfeld - Uglies (1, 2, 3,4)
87. Shannon Hale – Books of a Thousand Days
88. Shannon Hale – Princess Academy
89. Shannon Hale – The Books of Bayern (1, 2, 3, 4)
90. Sherman Alexie & Ellen Forney – The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
91. Simone Elkeles – Perfect Chemistry (1, 2, 3)
92. Stephanie Meyer – The Host
93. Stephanie Meyer – Twilight Saga (1, 2, 3, 4)
94. Sue Monk Kidd – The Secret Life of Bees
95. Susan Beth Pfeffer – Last Survivors (1, 2, 3)
96. Suzanne Collins – Hunger Games (1, 2, 3)
97. Suzanne Collins – Underland Chronicles (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
98. Terry Pratchett – Tiffany Aching (1, 2, 3, 4)
99. Tonya Hurley – Ghost Girl (1, 2, 3)
100. Wendelin Van Draanen – Flipped

Now, a question for all of you: What are your favorites on this list? (Because I'm guessing that if you read at ALL, you've read Harry Potter or Twilight at the very least!)

Hope you are having a fabulous week! Read on! :)

Spread the Love!

Today I would like to share my love for a very special person.

Yup! That would be Adam Young. As in the Owl City guy. (aka like, my favorite artist in the whole wide world!!) :D

And if you don't know what Owl City is (chances are-you've at least heard "Fireflies"), you need to go spend a couple hours here listening. Because it's amazing. He's amazing. And if you do know what it is and don't like it--well, I don't know if we can be friends...(haha jk!)

Actually I have to admit that I didn't fall in love with it during my first encounter, but I am a genuine convert now!

His music is unlike(and 10x more awesome than) pretty much anything else I've ever heard. And I actually have the privilege of being able to say that I was the first one in my group of friends to like him and so was telling everyone how cool he was and they were like "yeah, yeah...whatever." And THEN they started listening and I was like "I told you so..."

For my birthday this year, one of my friends actually got me his new CD "All Things Bright and Beautiful" and I now have it on my MP3 player. Which is truly fabulous. If I'm having a bad day at school, I just turn that on and wham! Insta-bad-day-be-gone! :D

People I've met who don't like Owl City give me the excuse: "All of his music sounds the same" to which I must say "Not true!" Maybe similar, but each song has its own unique sound AND they're all about different things and insanely creative which is more than can be said for some music. And while I must admit that there is a curiously frequent use of the word "textbook", that's a pretty small thing to complain about when you're getting great music that is clean and fun.

And it makes me happy. So happy. Hot Air Balloon in particular, makes me want to frolic around the house wearing fuzzy socks.

That's it for today, I think. But you can spread the love too! Either for Adam Young or another artist. Who is your favorite artist/song? Why?

P.S. Just on a side note from the fuzzy socks... check this out!!

fuzzy TOE socks!!! I get a pair of these and my life will be complete. ;) lol.

I was going to make myself write tonight...

...but my flash drive is missing.

And I know there's probably people out there who would just pull out their hard copy and start working from that. However, I'm lazy. Meaning, unless my flash drive magically appears in the next little while I will most likely not be writing. Because I actually have been attempting to work from my hard copy for the last few months -- on the few nights where I have actually set out to do something of that sort--and so now, I'm just ready to work from the computer again. But I can't! Unless I start on something totally new... which I really don't want to do right now.

So what are your plans for the weekend? Or do you not have any because all your best friends have gone off to do crazy things without you(like me)?

If that is the case, let me provide you with a few things to do which are at least amusing even if they're not terribly productive:

1) Ever wondered if you would survive the Zombie Apocalypse? Find out here: http://hatsproductions.com/organtrail.html

2) http://cleverbot.com/ --for those of us who really have no one else to talk to...

3)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7t29dNoTxs does that not look adorable?? And yeah, I'll probably cry my eyes out when I go see it, but I've learned that I don't actually mind movies that make me cry that much--especially if it's because it's sad but beautiful.

Any ideas for other fun stuff I could do with my weekend?

Review: Possession by Elana Johnson

Format: Hardback

Number of Pages: 416

Genre: YA Dystopian

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Publication Date: June 7, 2011

ISBN: 1442417617

Received from: Borrowed from a friend

Description: Vi knows the Rule: Girls don't walk with boys, and they never even thinkabout kissing them. But no one makes Vi want to break the Rules more than Zenn...and since the Thinkers have chosen him as Vi's future match, how much trouble can one kiss cause? The Thinkers may have brainwashed the rest of the population, but Vi is determined to think for herself.

But the Thinkers are unusually persuasive, and they're set on convincing Vi to become one of them...starting by brainwashing Zenn. Vi can't leave Zenn in the Thinkers' hands, but she's wary of joining the rebellion, especially since that means teaming up with Jag. Jag is egotistical, charismatic, and dangerous--everything Zenn's not. Vi can't quite trust Jag and can't quite resist him, but she also can't give up on Zenn.

This is a game of control or be controlled. And Vi has no choice but to play.

My Thoughts:

I was so looking forward to reading this book. I entered every giveaway that I could, I changed my profile picture on facebook to the little "tagged" icon, having NO idea what it was about, I started following several blogs of people I had never even heard of before, all in hopes that I might be the lucky one. Well... I wasn't. And my library didn't have it yet (and to the best of my knowledge, still doesn't!) and I kind of have a policy concerning buying books. I don't generally buy a book, unless I have already read it and loved it, or am 105% sure that I will love it. And while I was pretty sure, I wasn't 105% sure...so that was that. Fortunately, one of my book buddies had bought it, and loaned it to me. :)

So I started reading it some afternoon and got through almost half of it before I finally put it down and told myself to go to bed. However the following days were kinda busy what with school starting and stuff with friends, so it was a little while before I got to finish it. But I finally did, and it was insane!

I think this book could get a 5 star rating just because of Vi. She should win like, Best Character of the Year award or something. She was amazing. And, unlike a lot of female protagonists in love stories, she wasn't totally swoony. And when Jag or Zenn messes up, she doesn't instantly forgive them for it.

One of my favorite lines from Vi:

"The sun is supposed to drain a person of life, allow for more sicknesses, yet Jag appeared perfectly healthy. He radiated life like no one I'd ever met. "

I spent most of the book chuckling over the witty dialogue(and interior monologue) and gasping in shock(or in awe @teleportation!!) at the twists and turns of the plot, especially the end! I totally was NOT expecting that. I couldn't help disliking Elana just a little at that point, because how could she leave it like that?!?

Because there's going to be another book, silly. Book 2: Surrender comes out summer 2012. That's a long time!! But the good news is, that in the meantime there are like, fifty billion other books we can read. That makes the waiting a little more bearable, right?

Thanks for an awesome read Elana! I look forward to Surrender!

And, now to my dedicated followers: Have you read Possession? What did you think of it? And for the sake of cheesy teenybopperness: Are you Team Jag or Team Zenn? (Honestly, I don't think there's even a question here. If you have all your brains intact then you'll say--never mind, I guess that's mean...but seriously?)

Liebster Award!

First off, I would like to thank Lacie Myers for giving me this award. I'd seen it going around in some of the other blogs that I follow (and some that I don't) and thought it would be really fun to get it. Not even because it would mean someone loves my blog (I mean, sure that's always a plus) but because I was looking forward to selecting the five fellow bloggers that I could give it to.

Basically the point of this award is to get the word out about blogs with less than 100 followers so that all of us small-time bloggers can be noticed for our brilliancy and at the same time link up with more people who have similar interests.

And so, I give you my picks:


1.Amaranthine @ Amaranthine Forever-- I'm pretty sure this was the post that made me want to follow her blog because I, as you know (or if you don't, you should) am a major bookworm. And she is too. But even if you don't like reading , check out her blog because it's fun and I told you to.


2. Margaret @ Hello, World -- Margaret is a writer and photographer(and a good one, at that) and I love reading her posts, whether they're about her favorite book covers, or a conversation she had with one of her characters, or tips for getting rid of writer's block.


3. Suzy @ Suzy Krause and the Skyscrapers-- Click here for some great pearls of wisdom. Aaand...you should surf the rest of her blog too for awesomeness like paper rants, and cool music and stuff like that.


4. Kayla @ You Rebel Scum -- Just go there. You know you want to...with a name like that it has to be interesting. ;)


5. Cassidy @ Learning to Dance in the Rain -- Cassidy is a dear friend of mine, and one of the few on this list that I have actually spoken to in person. Cassidy's blog is more like a journal - in which she tells of her adventures in acting, and church, and sisterhood, and all that fun stuff. :)

Many thanks to you all for being my friends and giving me delightful things to read.


For those of you who received the award and care to pass it on. Do the following:
1. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to his or her blog.
2. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Post the award on your blog.
4. Bask in the love from the most supportive people on the Internet—other writers.
5. And best of all – have fun and spread the karma!

Wednesday...

Today I will just blog about a bunch of random things I have been thinking about.

So here we go.

1) YA books. I walked into Barnes & Noble yesterday, went over to the YA section, and proceeded to become gradually more and more disgusted. The subject matter for many of these books included: cheating boyfriends, drugs, cutting, abusive relationships, and of course paranormal romance. Yuck. Herein lies the reason why I read more middle grade fiction than YA.

2) I finished reading Possession by Elana Johnson today! :D

3) Shout-out to Suzy @ Suzy Krause and the Skyscrapers: You should do a paper rant about getting the absolute last half seat on the bus during the first week of school. Just saying...

4) Guess what?!? I got a new bookshelf! Which was SO needed. Between my sister and me we have like three big bookshelves and then two little ones and waaaay more books than can rest comfortably within.

5) Over at Shannon Whitney Messenger's blog there is an AWESOME giveaway! Like, one of the best giveaways I have seen during my time in the blogosphere. And do you want to know WHY it's so awesome?? I'll tell you. Because one of the books that is part of the giveaway is an ARC of.....CROSSED by Ally Condie (#2 in the Matched Trilogy)!! And there's some other pretty legit stuff too. Check it out! http://ramblingsofawannabescribe.blogspot.com/2011/08/spread-love-arc-giveaway.html

6) FACT: Listening to Owl City makes just about anything better. <3

Have a fantabulous week!

Phantom of the Opera!

So for forever and a half my friends have been telling me how good Phantom of the Opera is, and how I should see it and all that. And, well I had heard some of the music and thought it was amazing but pretty creepy. So I didn't really have any objections. But I still didn't watch it. I would go to watch it at a friend's house and they realized they didn't know where their copy of it was, and so we would end up watching other epic things like Doctor Who and Harry Potter. ;) Anyway.... last night I went to a friend's house to watch a DIFFERENT movie (Lost in Space) which by the way, was pretty good too... so the friend found out that my sister and I both hadn't seen Phantom of the Opera and so we decided to watch that too. And it was really good. I kind of wanted a better ending. But it's kinda hard to say what I mean without making the movie sound really horrible...which it wasn't! It's like it was becoming really beautiful and amazing and then they just killed it! But anyway... moving on. It was kind of funny though because as I was watching it, I was thinking "Oh my gosh!" it's Twilight all over again! (Except of course, Edward didn't strangle people and he was actually the right one) But it just made me think of it because well, Raoul was super amazing and wonderful (except for the fact that he didn't believe her about the Phantom at first. That kinda ticked me off, not gonna lie) and so I was afraid that he was going to die and she was going to go with the Phantom or something... and her relationship with the Phantom was so unhealthy. And of course, both of them are fighting over her. But the other really weird similarity between it and Twilight was the way it made me feel afterwards. I remember when I went to see Twilight (and possibly New Moon) I came home and felt so depressed. And it was like I didn't want to even think about it, but at the same time that was the only thing that I wanted to do. Read them, watch them, listen to music off the soundtrack, etc. And with Phantom, it was pretty much the same. I came home and was somewhat depressed. But what do I do? I listen to the music (which is so breathtakingly gorgeous! Andrew Lloyd Weber--you're like, my favorite!). Which is really NOT a good way to get rid of movie-induced depression. But oh well...I think that's it for now. I've seen it, and I'm really glad that I did. I'm off to rejoin the real world and listen to happy music! :)

Review: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

First Published: 1847

Publisher(of the edition I read): Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Number of Pages: 466

ISBN: 156619024X

I felt a myriad of different things about this book. First, I should probably let you know that I saw the new movie (which is now available on DVD! YAY! :D) before reading the book *gasp!* Shocking, I know. I really wanted to read it first, because that's kind of a big thing with me. And well, I did read the first 30-50 pages before seeing it, so that counts for something, right?

Anyway... I finally read it! It took forever. But it was totally worth it. It was definitely one of the best love stories I've ever read! But I think one of the disadvantages to having seen the movie first was that I would get to a certain part and think that it was the part where everything gets better (y'know before it gets worse) and then it wasn't! But on the other hand, I think being able to read it with the knowledge that it WAS going to get better was part of what made me want to keep reading.

Is it a light read? No, not really. And there are several reasons:

1) The characters speak in french not infrequently and most of the time with little or no explanation. So unless you know french, that could be a little frustrating. A few times I was able to guess a couple words here and there because of my knowledge of spanish, but not much.

2) Charlotte Bronte's diction is INTENSE. That's all there is to it. I'd like to think that I have a pretty good vocabulary and thus do not require the aid of a dictionary in most of my literary adventures. And I really don't mind(and even sometimes enjoy) looking up a word here and there. But I can't even tell you how many times I had to pull out a pocket dictionary and then a bigger one because it didn't have the word in it, and then finally just give up because I couldn't find the word anywhere. After a while I just abandoned the whole process and had to be content with not knowing.

3) For most of the book Jane is unhappy. Like, excruciatingly unhappy. And of course you feel a certain amount of that because she is the main character and you are in her head. And this is really a good thing because we don't read books to be passive, right? We read because we want to be there and to feel what the characters are feeling. It's an essential element of good storytelling because if it's not there, your reader is--more likely than not--going to get bored and put your book down, because they simply do not care whether your character gets eaten by a great white shark or is thrown over a cliff by his/her best friend. So that's definitely one of the book's strong points.

So if you are majorly depressed or insanely happy, I'd wait a little while to read it. But you should read it. Really. Because it's amazing! And I guess if you're like me, the fact that it's a classic might be part of what motivates you to read it, too.

Review: Fifteen by Beverly Cleary

My first official book review!! Yay!!

And the book that I have chosen to review is:

Fifteen by Beverly Cleary

First published: 1956

Publisher(of this edition): Avon Books, Inc.

Number of pages:203

ISBN: 0380728044

So, first off--I'm a big fan of old stuff. Old movies(and by old I mean like 1930-1950), Old-ish music, but particularly old books. The way they smell, the way there's usually no junk in them, etc. And I'm a huge fan of the 50's in particular. Like, soda fountains, poodle skirts, and swing-dancing. I think it's just adorable! And this book is set in that era. So smiley face #1 :)

Now, second--I love, love, LOVE cute love stories. And this is one of those. Smiley face #2 :)

Jane Purdy is a pretty average girl. She's 15. She babysits. She's kind of insecure. And, she wishes she had a boyfriend. Well, on the way to a babysitting appointment one day, she's thinking to herself "Today I'm going to meet a boy." Guess what? While she's babysitting, a boy comes into the house to deliver horse meat for the dog. He helps her out of a tricky situation with the kid she's babysitting(involving a bottle of permanent blue ink and a beige-y white carpet). That night she's eating dinner with her parents and the phone rings. And it's the delivery boy! And he wants to go out with her! Right about this point, I'm thinking: No way! That NEVER happens.

So she goes out with him. And it's amazing. Both Jane and Stan are such sweet, lovable characters. This book is adorable, but it also has a realistic amount of awkwardness in it combined with the stupid things we do to impress people, and then the freedom that comes from being yourself.

But if you want to know the rest, you've got to read the book. ;)

Random Tidbits of Coolness and Teaser Tuesday!

I'm back!

Today I'm going to share a bunch of random stuff with you that makes me happy, but are too small for individual posts to be entirely devoted to each one.

1) I'm going to see the LAST Harry Potter movie TONIGHT!!! You don't even know how excited I am!! When I found out that the midnight release was going to be one of the nights I would be at Youth Conference and that there was no possible way I would be allowed to see it that night, I was so MAD! I ranted and raved for at LEAST a half hour (it's true! ask my family...) about how unfair it was. But we're not going to think about how this isn't the midnight showing now, are we? Of course not...the only important thing is that I'm gonna get to see it! Tonight!! And it's going to be amazing...even though nobody wants to dress up with me.. :(

2) A couple weeks ago I found a special rock...

Now isn't that the cutest thing? It's got a smiley face!

3) This is an awesome story/parable that you should read: The Tragedy at Rayad

It's not very long, don't worry.

4) Over at Reading Angel it is Teaser Tuesday. Follow the link, and you'll see what I'm talking about.

So here's mine:

"'Jane will you have a flower?'

He gathered a half-blown rose, the first on the bush, and offered it to me."

(from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte)

P.S. I'd love to hear what you're happy about today, or if you have cool rocks that smile too, or anything really, if you'd like to share. :)

The End of the Read-A-Thon

"Half an hour 'til midnight!! Can I do it??"

Those were my thoughts as I hurried to finish book #3. I was pretty sure I could do it, but I was getting tired and having trouble staying awake by about 11:00. (Pathetic, I know) And, if you're like me, reading late at night is about ten times harder than most other things you would do late at night(i.e. it's a little easier to stay awake at the computer because you are actively doing something with your hands and stuff...but I must admit about 2:00-3:00 a.m. is pretty tricky even for that) and thus is kind of a "gateway" to sleep.

Anyway, you may be thinking: "Three books in three days? Psssh...that's easy. I could do twice that in half the time!" (Actually, I really hope that's not what you're thinking because I would be semi-convinced that you have no life...either that or you can read at the speed of light, which is simply not fair!) Although, I consider myself pretty good at reading and enjoy it immensely, I don't usually isolate myself for 6-8 hours a day doing just that. So to be perfectly honest, I know I could have fit in at least one more book (probably more) if I had not been so busy the first two days of the Read-A-Thon and completely shut myself up for the whole time, never talking to anyone. But, this was my first time doing a Read-A-Thon (Or rather, my first "official" one) so I feel like considering the circumstances and my amateur-ness I did pretty well.

So here's what I read:

Fifteen by Beverly Cleary (203 pages)

Calico Captive by Elizabeth George Speare (274 pages)

and

The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews Edwards (277 pages)

Books: 3

Page Count: 754

(Oh, and by the way? The last two were both read almost entirely in the same day. Minus about twenty pages. But that's still like 530 pages in a day! So, I'm still rather proud of myself. )

Yeah, I deviated a little from my originial plan. My Antonia was a little slow going, so I gave up. And I assumed Betty Wales would take too long as well. (FYI: I do plan on finishing these two, just later when I have more time)

But the three that I did read were all excellent! Can't wait for the next one! (And, wow! I should win the "Over-usage of Parenthetical Statements" award, yeah?)

Now last mini-challenge:

*Books from Bleh to Basically Amazing*

Here's the challenge:

"Because I'm such a fan of book recommendations, I want you to recommend books to me. I want you to recommend 2 books to me.

The first is any book of your choice. Pick any book you want and tell me and the world why it should be read and loved.

The second is what you would pick as your favorite of the read-a-thon. You can chose to answer this question now, during the third day, or I'll give you one extra day to give that book just waiting to be picked up a chance. :) "

My recommendations:

1) Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier

Okay, so a lot of my friends are probably sick of me gushing about this book. But it is absolutely amazing! This book and its sequel/companion are on my top 5 list. I don't think I have ever read a book that was as well-written and beautiful as these. Wildwood Dancing is a combination of several fairy tales--The Twelve Dancing Princesses being the most obvious from the beginning--all rolled into one story. There are perfectly gorgeous metaphors (or maybe they're similes. Whatever...) and the ending is the type that leaves you with that ecstatic uncontainable feeling of joy. Just read it! Everyone I know who has read it (all the way through) loved it almost as much as I did.

2) The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews Edwards

This book was just....wow! It's like The Wizard of Oz meets The Chronicles of Narnia meets Alice in Wonderland meets The Phantom Tollbooth with slight hints of Doctor Dolittle and Charlie and The Chocolate Factory here and there. Julie Andrews has created Whangdoodleland and a multitude of fascinating creatures to go along with it including The Whangdoodle (of course!), Flummoxes, Jiffies, Oincks, Sidewinders, Tree Squeaks, and let's not forget the "oily" Prock. There's berries that make you hiccup and the flowers and trees smell like all kinds of delicious things. Now, can you honestly tell me that that doesn't pique your curiosity just a little?

As for the rest of you.... I'll not be posting for a few days as I'm going on a sort of vacation for a few days (instead of going to the midnight showing of Harry Potter... *pouting* so don't say a word, or else!!). So have a marvelous weekend!

Read-a-thon: Update #1 and Mini-Challenge!

Day 2:

I've finished one book(Fifteen by Beverly Cleary) which I absolutely loved!!

Abandoned My Antonia

and

started Betty Wales

Unfortunately today I have even more obligations than yesterday so I can only hope I will still have a sufficient amount of reading time.

Anyway... On to the mini-challenge!

*YA Bliss*

3 GOOD love triangles

1. Josh vs. Zach in Ally Carter's Gallagher Girl series. A classic nice guy vs. bad boy scenario. Josh is probably the sweetest guy ever, but Zach is pretty dang hot!

2. Laurie(aka Teddy) vs. Professor Bhaer from Little Women. I so wanted Jo to marry Laurie and was absolutely disgusted at first when she met Professor Bhaer. (I mean he's like 20 years older than her!!) But it resolved beautifully and I loved it!

3. Xander vs. Ky from Matched by Allie Condie. (Or Peeta vs. Gale from the Hunger Games...it's about the same thing...)

Well, that's it for now!

Read-a-thon!!

Hey Guys!
So today is Day 1 of the July Read-A-Thon(which you can learn more about how to enter--it's not too late!!--here)
Go on...you know you want to! So basically for the next couple days I'm going to read...a LOT! Or at least...that's the plan. Sadly, I will not be able to be completely holed up for that time as I have other obligations which must be attended to, but hopefully I'll still be able to finish at least a couple books in that time.
Some of the books that I am hoping to start/finish during this event are:

The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews Edwards

My Antonia by Willa Cather

Fifteen by Beverly Cleary

Betty Wales-Freshman by Margaret Warde

And... if I get through all of those--not likely but possible, right?

The Neverending Story by Michael Ende

Until next time!

P.S. If you still don't want to do it, you should be aware: there's prizes!!

How I LOVE Northern California!

Hi there!

Sorry it's been a while! I keep meaning to post, and then get distracted or forget or something. Anyway...this last weekend I spent in Nevada visiting family, and though I must admit that Nevada has its own sort of beauty I missed my dear California. I had a wonderful time but it is so hot there! Well, actually I don't think it's any hotter than it is here degree-wise, but it's all dry heat AND there are almost no trees! (Which equals almost no shade. :P)

Some of the things that I did while in Nevada:

1) I learned how to dance a Virginia Reel--super fun by the way.

2) I went horseback riding for the first time in like 5 years.

3) And...got a major sunburn from #2.

You can imagine I was hurting just a little by the time we got back to California. Not just from the sunburn but also from horseback riding for almost two hours after having not done it in years. But was it one of the best weekends of my life? Yeah, probably. :)

I think it was a little while after we had passed Penn Valley when I started to get really excited. (Of course, I had been excited ever since we had passed the California border and started seeing multitudes of trees again.) I could smell the lovely green fields and was actually happy to feel the muggy air.

We passed lovely green fields....

...with trees in the background!!

And then--The walnut orchards!

You would not believe what joy these sights gave to my little heart.

As we were driving by all of this, the last two lines of the poem "I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud" by William Wordsworth came to me.

"And then my heart with pleasure fills,

and I dance with the daffodils."

Now, obviously I have not been talking about daffodils. But I thought of it more because of the feeling conveyed. Which is more or less how I felt at the time--that I would have danced with the daffodils, had there been any. I don't think there is anything quite so nice as returning home after a vacation (no matter how wonderful the vacation was) and smelling all the familiar smells and seeing all the familiar sights.

And there you have a few of the reasons why I think Northern California is superior to any other place I have yet had the privilege of visiting/residing in.

Now a question for you: What place do you love best?

Until next time!

This is me!

Hello! And welcome to my blog!
I don't really like introductions much, so I'm just going to tell you a few things about myself.

1) My middle name is Margaux(pronounced Mar-go) and it's a combination of my grandmother's first and maiden names. The spelling is french and I think it's pretty cool.

2) I am a writer. One of my greatest dreams is that someday I will be able to publish my stories.

3) I have a little trouble with picking favorites. I don't have one best friend, favorite food, book, movie, pretty much anything.

4) I love flowers. Even the ones on weeds.

5) I think it should be mandatory for parks to be equipped with a swing-set.

6) As long as the sun is shining and the sky is blue, I will always have something I can be happy about.

Anyway, guess that's about it for now! Please comment!