Things I liked in September

September is all of the assignments but also I managed a few other things.

I finally finished listening to John Krakauer's book Missoula. He is an investigative journalist and wrote the book about his research into the sexual assaults that happened at the University of Montana. Hard going but important. I think listening to the audiobook made it more intense, especially the parts that were statements made by the victims. But given this is a serious and ongoing issue around the world it's worth reading. What really struck me was the way law enforcement acted. That was very hard to hear.

This video by Hank Green about outrage was very interesting. I'm not sure I completely agree on everything but it was very thought provoking. He raises some important points.

My sister sent me this comic. It's great.

I am completely in love with Halsey's album Badlands 

As always Australian politics are awful and the world is upsetting. One organisation I think is important to support is RISE, which is run by refugees and ex-detainees so is really I think the best placed to determined how the conversation should go and what action should be taken.

Things I Liked in August

August has been kind of intense. Uni started up last week of July which turned everything into a rollercoaster of crazy. Readings for uni have meant not a lot of fiction reading, and the stress has meant not a lot of liking things and also a lot of strongly identifying with tumblr art. My 'me' tag is kind of full of cartoons about procrastination.

In particular I have been hardcore relating to Beth Evans' drawings. Plus they're super cute.

I have managed to read most of Every Day is For the Theif by Teju Cole, which is fantastic. It was suggested for my english class, and I am enjoying it a lot. 

I've been listening to this song a lot. Dodie is a really great musician, I love her songs.

First Dog on the Moon is always my favourite. Here is his cartoon on the Border Farce debacle. This government though. Really needs to go in the bin.

Finally I really liked this video from one of my favourite youtubers, Rosianna, about youtube becoming mainstream. It sparked some super interesting discussion. Might even write a post about it if I have time. Youtube culture is something I find endlessly fascinating to think about.

Review and Thoughts on: All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

I had heard only good things about All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, so when I picked it up from the library I was excited to read it. It is a large book, and something of a slow read. I would categorise it as historical literary fiction, it is set in World War Two, and is exquisitely written. The chapters are short, sometimes only a page, but each are intimately detailed, depicting the stories of of two children who grow up during the war. The narrative moves between the end of the war, and the events that lead the characters to that point, starting from the first rumblings of Nazi Germany. It also switches perspectives, primarily telling the stories of Marie-Laure, a blind French girl, and Werner, a German orphan.

I found Marie-Laure a captivating character, and the chapters about her deeply engaging. However, switching to Werner was a jarring feeling. I didn't feel I empathised with him as much, it seemed more of an observational experience while Marie-Laure's story was immersive. Marie-Laure provides an unusual perspective of occupied France, the people in the town's acts of resistance as well as her experiences of the losses that war brought, and I connected with her. While Werner provides a perspective of the poverty and propaganda that provided a foundation for Hitler, as well as the experiences within the Nazi army and the cost of their power and then defeat.

The supportive characters, such as Marie-Laure's father, her great-uncle and Madame Manec were well-characterised and their relationships provided a wonderful depth to the story. Similarly, I appreciated characters such as Fredrick, Jutta and Volkheimer in Werner's story, but often felt I cared more for them than Werner.

Though perhaps most of the worst aspects of what occurred in the story were in Werner's experiences of the war, and I certainly felt sad that these experiences happened, I was most emotional in Marie-Laure's early chapters, her innocence, confusion and reliance on her father who can only make false promises of security to her, and the change that brings in her in heart-breaking.

All The Light We Cannot See is a very well crafted story, and can be enjoyed simply as a wonderful use of language and expression. It is also deeply thought provoking, a story that must be absorbed and cannot be read quickly. Through detailed, beautiful imagery and characterisation the story examines themes such as innocence, suffering, courage, and the choices people must make. It is worth reading for the writing alone, but I also appreciated the thoughts it sparked.

A small incoherent ramble: 
I spent sometime in the evening after finishing the novel thinking about the narrative of war, and in particular the kinds of stories about war we read. It occurred to me that most of the fictionalised accounts of World War Two that I have read mention of the atrocities committed in concentration camps, but are rarely from that perspective (example, The Book Thief, it certainly contains information about the persecution of Jewish people, but it is focused on the challenge of German citizens). And often challenge the idea of glorifying war, by talking of the suffering of soldiers, and even of civilians. They will challenge the propaganda idea of the all-good allies and all evil Nazis. Is it easier to remember the humanity of the German people (something I think is deeply important) without that perspective of their very worst actions? Is it because if we humanise those who stood by, or those who fought on the loosing side it reminds us that we are also capably of great atrocities. Is the Holocaust too horrific? Is it easier to talk of the horrors of war than of the state-sanctioned systematic genocide? Is it because we don't want to acknowledge we still Other Jewish people, or any of the other groups persecuted by Nazi Germany?
I am not saying there are not stories that do this, and I have read some stories written by Jewish survivors. However, it does seem to me the talked about books, the celebrated books, are more like The Book Thief or All The Light We Cannot See and I think this is dangerous, particularly given the obvious continuation of anti-Semitism throughout the western world (there also broader implications such as the extremely worrying trend towards indefinite detention for refugees - lead by Australia - which I think has similarities but don't want to take away from the specificity of the Holocaust).
I don't have answers, but this is something I want to think more about, and so I am glad I read this book, which challenged this thought process.

Crush Your TBR

I have a TBR pile that never seems to get any smaller. So I decided to participate in the #crushyourtbr readathon this weekend.

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart.

This was really good. I'd heard so much hype, and then so much talk saying it didn't live up to the hype, that I went in without high expectations and was pleasantly surprised. Perhaps pleasant is the wrong word. I cried. I couldn't put it down. It was a good reading experience.

Landline by Rainbow Rowell

I'm still not sure how I feel about this book. I am glad I read it. It was a little painful though, like I was hesitantly reading for most of the book and only in the last third or so I really started wanting to finish it. I was tempted to stop reading, but wanted to know what would happen and couldn't bring myself to just read the ending. I'm glad I persevered but I'm not sure if I'd recommend it. I guess it depends on what you want from a book. It made me think. And it made me work hard to like the main character.

The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson

So fun. I really enjoyed the concept, the world was interesting and I especially liked trying to figure out the mystery element. It was a strong, well crafted story.

Family Life by Akil Sharma
So this is literary fiction, which I have a particular kind of love for. For me, if literary fiction is well written, it generally doesn't matter so much what it is about. As well as being well written, Family Life tells an interesting story of an Indian family's immigrant experience, with very specific difficulties. I really liked reading it.

I also finished listening to Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling and almost finished My True Love Gave to Me edited by Stephanie Perkins.

I managed to finish the books I meant to read by Saturday and was going to read more but got caught up watching Arrow on Netflix.

October Wrap Up

Read in October

Pookie Aleera is Not My Boyfriend - Steven Herrick

I highly recommend this children's book for everyone. Steven Herrick is an incredible Australian storyteller. He writes novels in verse, and this one follows the events of a sixth grade class using various characters perspectives. It is a warm, adorable story that manages to be exciting and intriguing by simply depicting every day life.

Ignite Me - Tahereh Mafi

This is the final book in the Juliette Chronicles, a dystopian triology that is beautifully written and has a fantastic female protagonist. Love it but the Australian cover really bothers me. Get the American one, it is incredible.

Bought in October

The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
Blue Lily, Lily Blue - Maggie Stiefvater
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Last Gleamings (8.8) 

September Wrap Up

 Book Haul:

We Were Liars - E. Lockhart, Feeling Sorry For Celia - Jaclyn Moriarty, Behold, Here's Poison - Georgette Heyer, The Listmaker - Robin Klein, Fic: Why Fanfiction Is Taking Over The World - Anne Jamison, Isla and the Happily Ever After - Stephanie Perkins, The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender - Leslye Walton

Read this month:

A Blunt Instrument - Georgette Heyer, Behold, Here's Poison - Georgette Heyer, Isla and the Happily Ever After - Stephanie Perkins, Sinner - Maggie Stiefvater

Belated August Wrap-Up

Read:

Eleanor & Park - Rainbow Rowell, Sleeping Dogs - Sonya Hartnett, Lonesome Howl - Steven Herrick, Middlemarch - George Elliot, Batgirl: Death of the Family, Saga v.1, 2 & 3 - Brian Vaughan & Fiona Staples.

Spirit Bound, Last Sacrifice, Bloodlines, The Golden Lily, The Indigo Spell, The Fiery Heart and Silver Shadows - Richelle Mead

Haul:

My best friend is doing a clean out so I got these :)

No Wind of Blame - Georgette Heyer, Sinner - Maggie Stievater, Bloodlines, Fiery Heart and Silver Shadow - Richelle Mead and Batgirl: Death of the Family.

July Wrap-Up

July was my second month of holidays. I participated in the BookTube-A-Thon readathon, watched more football, had many strong feelings about how stupidly messed up the world is and planned to write lots of blogposts that got stuck in draft form. 

Links:

"Underage Sex and Consent" (tw)

"But what about the men?" - Is feminism sexist? (tw)
"As Israel's assault on Gaza intensifies, it is not anti-Semitic to say: not in my name" (tw)
The importance of Indigenous languages
Mockingjay: Part 1 teaser trailers one, two and three (can.not.wait!)

Book Haul:

Landline by Rainbow Rowell, Mind Games by Kiersten White, The Storybook of Legends by Shannon Hale, Reboot and Rebel by Amy Tintera and Spellbound by Rachel Hawkins

Read (10):

The books I read for BookTube-A-Thon including ebooks: North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell (reread), Turn Here by Jackson Pearce, Reboot and Rebel by Amy Tintera

Hex Hall, Demonglass and Spellbound by Rachel Hawkins and Stripes of the Sidestep Wolf by Sonya Hartnett

Watched:

My best friend and I finally finished watching The Originals with my best friend, super excited for season two to come out.

Being on holidays I've been home alone a fair bit, so I've been watching Hart of Dixie - I've almost finished season two - and also catching up on Emma Approved, which I really love.

 

Husband and I watched Veronica Mars season three, and then the movie (I'll be posting a review of sorts at some point - I have thoughts). We also watched season four of Friday Night Lights, season one of Being Human (the BBC one), season five of Psych and started Brooklyn Nine Nine, which is on SBS at the moment.



 

BookTube-A-Thon: Day Seven and Wrap Up

Day Seven:
So today was day seven, the last day of BookTube-a-thon and read 394 pages making my BookTube-A-Thon total 3,109. Reading Rebel completed the challenge of starting and finishing a series.

Rebel - Amy Tintera
Finished. I loved this even more than Reboot. The premise of this series, and the execution is superb.
(394 pages).

Wrap Up:
So I successfully completed Book-Tube-a-thon and its reading challenges. I read seven books, and a short story. It was really great to just focus so much on reading, and really helped me read some books I've been meaning to read for a while, and to remind myself how much I love reading. I'll definitely be writing a few reviews, especially for Fangirl and the Reboot series.

BookTube-A-Thon: Day Five

Day Five was a very slow reading day for me, but I got some done in the evening. I've read 174 pages making my current BookTube-A-Thon total 2,233.

The Folded Earth - Anuradha Roy
This is will complete the challenge of reading a book in a genre I've read least this year. It's reminding me I really enjoy literary fiction.

(174 pages).

BookTube-A-Thon: Day Four

For Day Four I've read 744 pages. That makes my current BookTube-A-Thon total 2,059. And watched 2 hours of BBC glory.

By finishing Fangirl I completed the challenge of reading a book with red on the cover and by finishing Hollow City I completed the read a book with pictures challenge. I've also now done the read a book and watch the movie challenge with North and South.

Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell
Finished. I had very high expectations, and not all of them were met. I really felt the community aspect of fandom just wasn't really represented. But I enjoyed the book, it made me feel all warm and mushy and nostalgic.
(348 pages)

Hollow City - Ransom Riggs

Finished. I am in awe of how much effort has gone into the series. 

(396 pages)

North and South BBC adaptation (disk 2)

Finished. I just so much love. Such a great adaptation.

BookTube-A-Thon: Day Three

So for Day Three I read 946 pages. So all up I've read 1,315 for BookTube-A-Thon.

We were going to finish watching North and South tonight as well but ended up babysitting for some friends and now will have to do that tomorrow. So no challenges completed yet, but am well on track for my 300 pages a day :)

North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell
Finished. I actually read the last chapter twice because I love it so much, but I haven't counted that in my pages. I really think this is my favourite classic.
(663 pages)

The Devil Latch - Sonya Hartnett
Finished. Sonya Hartnett is a national treasure. Seriously, her writing is just so incredible. I would read about anything if she wrote it.
(171 pages)

Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell

I want this book to be amazing. But so for it's not quite managed to encapsulate my fangirl feelings. I'm still enjoying it though.

(112 pages)

BookTube-A-Thon: Day Two

For Day Two I have managed 1, 203 pages (they're both ebooks but I couldn't be bothered working out the page differences) and 2 hours of BBC period drama. 

I completed the challenge to read something that someone else picks out by reading Turn Here, which my sister chose for me.

Turn Here - Jackson Pearce
Finished. This short story was super cute and random, a great quick read.

(691 pages)

North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell

I've read about 23 chapters, it's fun rereading as I here the characters speaking with the voices of the actors from the BBC adaptation.

(512 pages)

North and South BBC adaptation (disk 1)

So much fun watching as I'm reading it is such a great adaptation because it changes a lot to fit the medium while keeping the exact right feel of the story. And of course because Richard Armitage is incredible.

BookTube-A-Thon: Day One

So this morning I decided to participate in BookTube-A-Thon. For those who don't know, BookTube-A-Thon is a read-a-thon for BookTube (the youtube book community) that happens every northern hemisphere summer, but luckily I'm still on uni winter break. It runs from midnight Monday 14th July to midnight Monday 21st July. I'm not going to be making videos or anything but I normally watch a lot of peoples so I thought this year I'd give the reading challenges a go.

Because I decided on the spur of the moment, I spent my booktube-a-thon time for day one selecting which books I'll be reading. The overall challenges (there are extra challenges for different days) are: 

Challenges:

• a book with pictures
• start and finish a series
• a book with red on the cover
• a book someone else picks out for you
• a book from the genre you've read least this year
• a book to movie adaptation (read and watch)
• read seven books (aiming for 300 pages a day)

My Choices:

Hollow City - Ransom Riggs

For my book with pictures I chose Hollow City, which I've been meaning to read since it came out. I loved Miss Peregrine so am very excited to read the sequel 

Reboot by Amy Tintera

Rebel  by Amy Tintera

The series I'm going to start and finish is a duology I've been wanting to read for a while now, perfect for this challenge because there is only two books and they were pretty cheap on iBooks. 

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

In the picture it looks more pink than red, but on my actual cover it looks very red. I've wanted to read this for ages as well, despite mixed reviews. I desperately want it to perfectly encapsulate my own fangirl feelings so we will see how it goes.

Turn Here by Jackson Pearce

My sister picked this out for me. I like the other books I've read by Jackson Pearce, and it is a short story so it shouldn't take too long to read. 

The Folded Earth by Anuradha Roy

I had a look at the books I've read this year and (probably because I'm no longer studying English lit) but the genre I've read list was literary fiction. This is a book I picked up on impulse at the library today, and it fits in with my attempts to read more broadly.

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

BBC miniseries

I've been wanting to reread North and South for ages now, and I always love watching
North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell (and the BBC) (a book to movie adaptation)

....and all up that equals seven books but one is a short story so I'm adding in The Devil Latch, which I picked up at the library today because it is a book I loved as a teenager and I felt like rereading it.

The Devil Latch by Sonya Hartnett

June Round-Up

June was a pretty big month for me. I went to Melbourne the first weekend to hunt for a bridesmaids dress (and see family and drink fancy hot chocolates), I had my 24th birthday and 2nd wedding anniversary. It was the first month of my 2 month uni break, and I injured my back so I had plenty of time for relaxing. Also, very importantly, the World Cup started, and while I have complicated hatred towards FIFA and its ridiculously corrupt and discriminatory practices, my love for football is immense and it was so awesome to watch Australia play so credibly against such massive teams. 

Treats:

Book Haul:

Books I acquired this month

Read:

False Colours by Georgette Heyer (reread), Cress by Marissa Meyer, Dangerous by Shannon Hale, Battle Magic by Tamora Pierce, Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Lani Taylor, Buffy the Vampire Slayer 8.7, Batgirl: Knightfall Descends, Home by Larissa Behredt, Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas and City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare. 

Watched:

Finished watching The Vampire Diaries with my best friend.
Husband and I watched Call the Midwife (on abc) and then bought Veronica Mars which we've been marathoning. I've also been getting up at all hours of the morning for my one true love: football.

 

Review: The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White

So pretty

The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White is a YA novel that ties together contemporary romance with Egyptian mythology. White's usual engaging writing style means it's a quick and easy read. I read it in two hours, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Overall, the first word that came to mind when I finished reading was delightful. The fun and ease of the read is the reasons I gave it 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads.

Physically, the book is beautiful. It is nice having it sitting on my bookshelf. Without the lovely cover and pages, the easy, readable layout, and the pleasant experience of holding the book in my hands, I probably would have just stuck to the library.

The Chaos of Stars is a cute and entertaining story that doesn't over-reach itself. It sets out to tell a contained story, in which a girl whose parents are Egyptian gods must come to terms with her own mortality and, in typical come-of-age style, learn to deal with relationships. The plot was interesting, and followed through well, with nice set up and hints. I particularly enjoyed figuring out about Ry.

The protagonist, Isadora, has some frustrating moments, but this felt realistic given her age. She didn't feel completely relatable but this didn't seem to impact on my enjoyment of the story. She did have endearing moments and is fabulously sarcastic.

Some Thoughts:

• It was nice to have a more diverse range character ethnicities, which felt natural
• The characters who were regular people were beautifully normal and their engagement in the story was refreshing, and helped ease the irritation of the 'impossibly beautiful' trope of YA main characters. In this case it seemed to fit with the mythology interplay.
• I enjoyed the glimpses into what Isadora sees when she is picturing a room (for her interior design hobby), without going overboard on the descriptors. It felt natural.
• The juxtaposition between her dreams, recounting the myths and the narrative worked really well, it was easy to follow what was happening, without totally giving away all plot twists.
• I found Ry somewhat irritating, his persistence bordered on being disrespectful of Isadora's decisions which is not romantic, but it wasn't as bad as a lot of other examples and Isadora held her own reasonable well.
• Well worth reading at some point, if only for Kiersten White's loveable writing style.