Shifty, Meaty Madness

So the other day my two friends and I went to a bookstore. We browsed for about 3 hours (yes. stop judging.), and it soon became apparent that despite our differing tastes, we were all looking for the same things in our books. We came up with adjectives to describe this.

Shifty. And Meaty.
A shifty book is the type of book that changes the reader's mind on something, or makes them reflect on an issue that they may have never thought about before. A book may be shifty for some people but not shifty for others. For example, reading Scott Westerfeld's book Extras made me, a compulsive liar, turn into a compulsive truther. His book revolutionized my brain and my communication style. My life changed because of that book. And yet, Elise read Westerfeld's Uglies series and never thought once about the importance of honesty. We both read Full Frontal Feminism by Jessica Valenti, and it summoned a feminist conscience in us. So a shifty book is a thought-provoking, mind-rewiring, possibly life-changing book. But what's a meaty book?

A meaty book is usually, but doesn't have to be, a thick book. It's the type of book that has a story you truly feel a part of. The depth of the author's world burns so deep into you that, in a way, the book is interactive. Harry Potter and Fruits Basket are both popular for their blatant meatiness. A meaty book is a wonderful book. A meaty book is the type of book you stay up until 3 AM reading. A meaty book is the reason why you might spend a Friday night locked up in your bedroom, not bothering to socialize or eat or shower. Yeah. That's a meaty book.


Now, do not misunderstand. A book can certainly be good without being meaty or shifty. Justine Larbalestier and John Green are two of my favorite authors, but their books fall in neither category for me. However, Kristin Cashore's book Graceling is both meaty and shifty to me. I've read it in twice in a single month.

So there you have it. :D If I ever mention 'meaty' or 'shifty' when describing a book, you know what I mean. And assuming anyone will ever actually read this...how would you describe your books? Do you relate to the thought of books being meaty and/or shifty? Until next time,

-Anabelle

So.... Thoughts.

I don't like writing book reviews. First of all, I'm not particularly good at it. And to add to that, there are plenty of book reviewers already blogging and they're much better than me. Secondly, I never intended to write book reviews. I just did that because it felt like the "right" thing to do.

I started this blog just to kind of...rant about books. Or think about them. It began when I reread To Kill a Mockingbird and I couldn't get certain lines out of my head. I kept pondering them, and eventually I had an extremely nerdy discussion about it while at a pizzeria with two friends. That's when I decided that maybe I should blog my thoughts.

Thinking about books is pretty healthy---it expands your mind and, by questioning a character's actions and underlying themes of a story, you sort of get to know yourself as well as the book.

However, blogging my strange thoughts has proven to be difficult. I go to write them down and suddenly draw a blank. That blank turns into a crappy review. :-/ Eventually, though, I do want to blog about books. In some way. I'm just not sure what way that is. I'll figure it out though. :D

Also, I know no one reads this blog (I feel like the words I type are echoing from the loneliness. "Helllloooo! Hellloooo! Anyone out there?"), but I feel the need to explain why I haven't been blogging that much. It's spring break, and I...I dunno. I just haven't been reading too many books. Sorry about that. >.<

So until I get a Big Idea about what I should blog about, I'm out. :-) Hopefully I'll be back blogging in just a few days.

-Anabelle

Fruits Basket vol. 1---Best manga EVER?!

Title: Fruits Basket vol. 1
Author: Natsuki Takaya
Summary (from amazon.com): Tohru Honda was an orphan when one day fate kicked her out of the house and on to land belonging to the mysterious Sohma family. After stumbling upon the teenage squatter, the Sohmas invite Tohru to stay in their house in exchange for cooking and cleaning. Everything goes well until she discovers the Sohma family's secret, when hugged by members of the opposite sex, they turn into their Chinese Zodiac animal!

Just to make this clear, I’ve already read the entire Fruits Basket series. I’ve also watched the anime. However, it’s such a good manga that I’ll be rereading it and writing reviews here. :)

Fruits Basket is one of the best manga series of all time. That may seem like an exaggeration, but I’ve never read a graphic novel that even comes close to having the amount of character depth Fruits Basket has. Natsuki Takaya is a genius.

The first volume is absolutely adorable and very uplifting, but not in the excessive way. The dark Sohma family curse is only hinted at, but the reader still gets the feeling that more serious drama is on it's way. However, Tohru Honda makes for an optimistic protagonist even in the worst of times.

The artwork is drawn in typical manga style: the characters have inhumanly large eyes, sometimes chibi caricatures replace the usual drawings, etc. It's certainly not bad, but it's not mind-blowing. But the plot and characters make up for that!

It's recommended, 100%. Check it out. Seriously. :D

YA Giveaway

A YA book giveaway from Juiciliciousss Reviews! Includes White Cat by Holly Black, which I'm really looking forward to reading. :)

Go to giveaway: Here

Book giveaway! ^-^

The deadline is April 25th.

YA book giveaway: is here

Twilight: The Graphic Novel

Title: Twilight (graphic novel)
Author and artist: Stephenie Meyer and Young Kim

Summary (provided by amazon.com): When Isabella Swan moves to the gloomy town of Forks and meets the mysterious, alluring Edward Cullen, her life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. With his porcelain skin, golden eyes, mesmerizing voice, and supernatural gifts, Edward is both irresistible and impenetrable. Up until now, he has managed to keep his true identity hidden, but Bella is determined to uncover his dark secret… Beautifully rendered, this first installment of Twilight: The Graphic Novel is a must-have for any collector’s library.

So first let me make something clear: I hate Twilight. I don’t like the general fandom, the books, the movies, the characters, or anything else. I do not like 100 year-old ex-murderers who watch teenage girls sleep. I do not like shirtless boys who force-kiss their “loves” using wolfish brute strength. I do not like Twilight.

And yet, somehow, I adored the graphic novel. Adored. It.

The art is phenomenal. It’s unfortunate to me that such a great artist had to be hired to work with such a crappy plot, but there’s no denying the spellbinding touches she put into the story. Bella is a bit too pretty for my liking-she fits right in with the Cullen’s-but every other character seemed spot on. Even the minor ones, such as Jessica and Mike.

The artwork definitely deserves the most attention. While the graphic novel is more fast-paced than the original 500-page book, the important or pinnacle scenes are emphasized with dramatic colors and shading.

The plot was still ‘eh.’ Yet somehow, the pictures alone were enough to tempt me to reread Twilight. I might just have to try.

Altogether, if you’re a fan of Twilight…check it out! It’s a winner, for sure.

Wild Ones vol. 1 and vol. 2 (manga)

Title: Wild Ones

Author: Kiyo Fujiwara

Summary (from back of the book): Sachie Wakamura just lost her mother, and her estranged grandfather has shown up to take care of her. The only problem is that Grandpa is the head of a yakuza gang! Sachie tries to continue living her normal life, but she can’t run far since Rakuto, one of the most popular guys in school, is part of her grandfather’s gang and her new protector.

Caution: Will contain spoilers

I just finished volume 2, but I’ll review volume 1 briefly as well for anyone not familiar with the series.

The manga is the summary. Like, that’s exactly what it is. There aren’t any subplots and there’s very little character development in the first volume. The plot is namely cliché after cliché: The lonely girl meets handsome boy, handsome boy saves her from creepy guy on street, handsome boy is elusive and dogmatic in (what seems to be) the typical Japanese fashion, etc. And that’s really all there is.
 
Volume 2 was even more of a disappointment. This one dragged more than the last, and I felt like Rakuto’s character changed a lot. And not in a good way. More like in the bossy, stalker-ish Edward Cullen way (I apologize to any Twilight fans out there!).

Example: Sachie and Rakuto are at the beach together, and during her time there Sachie does something sort of bold (Oh no! How dare a woman act bold!). In response to this, Rakuto puts her in timeout. Like, uh…ew.

Soon after that Sachie finds Rakuto sleeping peacefully (sexily?) near a window. She thinks to herself, “He seems to sparkle in the sunlight.” That just chilled me. Obviously it was an ominous warning: His Edward Cullen-ness was just starting.

Basically, Wild Ones is about a dull girl being bossed around by a sexist pig the entire manga. But we’re supposed to adore this “hero,” you see. (There’s another boy too, who seems quite a bit nicer but equally possessive of Sachie. Don’t let me even start on him, although he is a great deal better then Rakuto.)

Perhaps in Japanese society it’s acceptable to glamorize possessiveness and excessive domination, but I didn’t find the “romance” in this manga very romantic at all.

Third Giveaway! :)

ARC Giveaway Form Here!

Click the above link for a chance to win an ARC giveaway of Holly Black's new book White Cat. ^-^

Oh gosh! The joy!

Book Giveaway!

ANOTHER awesome YA book giveaway. :) The person having this giveaway seems really cool, too. She's only 16 but her debut novel will be published soon! (I'm trying so hard not to die of awe and jealousy. And I'm trying even harder to get better at writing. Or perhaps maybe sort of publish something before I graduate high school. This is so besides the point of this blog.)

She's giving away books such as...

•Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher


•Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

•An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

•Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

•Dreaming of Amelia by Jaclyn Moriarty

•Blue Plate Special by Michelle Kwansey

•The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey

•The Pact by Jodi Picoult

•World Shaker by Richard Harland

•Exposure by Mal Peet

•Sprout by Dale Peck

•Panama by Shelby Hiatt
 
Join if you're interested! ^-^

Real Quick: YA Book Giveaway

YA Book Giveaway!


Click the link above to enter a big YA book giveaway! 8-9 random books are being selected, and some of them haven't been released yet. :)

Enjoy. ^-^

Half the Sky (nonfiction)

Title: Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity For Women Worldwide

Authors: Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

Don’t laugh, but I heard about this book through my mom. Who heard about it through Oprah’s Book Club. Yeah.

I ended up watching the Oprah episode that featured Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, and their story stuck with me. However, that wasn’t enough to motivate me to buy the book. Then, rather ironically, the book ended up on www.feministing.com’s website under their series of blog posts usually accurately entitled ‘Not Oprah’s Book Club.’ I think this title is supposed to make their books sound kind of hardcore, feministic, and in-your-face. Oprah’s actual book club, on the other hand, is for the bored housewives of suburbia.

I’m telling you all of this because it sums up the book pretty well: It’s for hardcore, in-your-face feminists and bored suburban people alike.

While there were parts that---so bluntly descriptive and upsetting---I had to skip, I forced myself to finish such a great read. It brought the massive problem of worldwide, systematic female oppression and flashed it in the eyes of the public, simplifying such a major issue until it was stripped down to it’s bare, saddening core.

Despite this, it was such an uplifting book. The last chapter, just to add, let’s the reader know what they can do to help end worldwide oppression.

If you’re interested in contemporary world issues, helping people, or feminism, check it out. And if you’re not, then you ought to look into it anyway. Before this I never truly realized---despite seeing it on the news on a regular basis---how dreadful parts of the world still are. Half the Sky is Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s excellent approach to fixing a problem everyone needs to know about.


EDIT: Just found this and felt the need to add it. It doesn't have to do with Half the Sky, but it's about sex slavery in the US: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfb1NbCT8Ik&feature=sub

To Kill a Mockingbird

Title: To Kill a Mockingbird
Author: Harper Lee
Summary (provided by amazon.com): Set in the small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Depression, To Kill a Mockingbird follows three years in the life of 8-year-old Scout Finch, her brother, Jem, and their father, Atticus--three years punctuated by the arrest and eventual trial of a young black man accused of raping a white woman. Though her story explores big themes, Harper Lee chooses to tell it through the eyes of a child. The result is a tough and tender novel of race, class, justice, and the pain of growing up.

Oh. Wow.

That was really all I could say once setting this book down. A few minutes after that, I picked up the book once again and reread the ending until I had memorized the words by heart.

It’s pretty obvious why To Kill a Mockingbird is a classic (despite the terribly slow beginning that always makes me want to throw the book at a wall). This novel has a collection of life lessons jam-packed into the contents between it’s cover, all written beautifully, simply, and through the eyes of a child.

I think choosing a child to narrate such a serious story was intriguing, and I kept pondering it as I was reading. What’s impressive is how skillfully Harper Lee pulls it off. And when one thinks about it, the choice makes sense: Scout Finch is too young to be tainted by the racism of her town, but old enough to begin empathizing with the people she meets. While Scout Finch doesn’t always understand the situations she witnesses, Harper Lee writes the book in such a way that the reader is never lost. Maybe I’m just a weirdo, but sometimes it felt like I was almost keeping secrets from Scout, who was blinded by the naivety of youth.

This is one of those “must read” books. Sewn into short paragraphs were such moving passages that I’ve already perused the novel several times, always going back to my favorite parts and thinking about the depth of Harper Lee’s messages. Sometimes I feel like I’ve interpreted too much from this novel, but there’s almost never a “wrong” interpretation of a tale.

This book should be mandatory reading for all people. Out of the hundreds--if not thousands--of books that I’ve read, this one remains on my top 10 list.

My favorite passage:

“Naw, Jem, I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks.”

Jem turned around and punched his pillow. When he settled back his face was cloudy. He was going into one of his declines, and I grew wary. His brows came together; his mouth became a thick line. He was silent for a while.

“If there's just one kind of folks, why can't they get along with each other? If they're all alike, why do they go out of their way to despise each other? Scout, I think I'm beginning to understand something. I think I'm beginning to understand why Boo Radley's stayed shut up in the house all this time. It's because he wants to stay inside.” (Ch 23)

Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon

Title: Silver Phoenix
Author: Cindy Pon
Summary: At 17, Ai Ling is past the age when most girls in the kingdom of Xia have married and borne children. The gods, it would seem, have a different destiny in store for her, one that begins to reveal itself when her father travels to the Emperor's Palace and fails to return. Ai Ling is determined to find him and destroy his captor, a corrupt advisor who has unnaturally extended his life by feeding on the souls of others. On her journey, which is rich in action but a little slight on character development, Ai Ling meets Chen Yong, a young man of mixed race who seeks the truth of his birth and faces a variety of predators, both demonic and sexual. Fans of Tamora Pierce's and Robin McKinley's work will enjoy the adventure and strong female protagonist; the Chinese-influenced society and bestiary may also tempt aficionados of Asian culture and media.—Christi Esterle, Parker Library, CO

Caution: Mild spoilers

This book was really wonderful. I give it an A+ for being different from most YA tales, but not so different that it seemed completely foreign. The novel involves lots of interesting odd bits, from villages where everyone is born with one arm and monsters made out of human corpses, to the more uplifting scenes involving lighthearted dialogue, epic journeys, and companionship.


The romance is a could-have-been, should-have-been one. It goes unresolved at the end, which I at first felt disappointed by. Later I realized that was just the last nonconformist subplot that the author twisted into her tale. Also, the Asian background made it a great read, particularly for an Asian enthusiast such as myself.


While I was reading I almost felt like I was being sucked completely into Ai Ling’s vivid fantasy world, which is difficult to say for most books. The plot progression seemed to be formed a bit shakily at times, but everything else made up for that. By the end, I was just hungry to know What happens next? and, in regards to Ai Ling’s past lives, What happened before?

Anyway… I’m certainly hoping for a prequel and a sequel to add to this literary treasure!

P.S -Oh, I should also note that there are some darker undertones to this story, including forced marriage and an attempted rape scene (not necessarily in that order…). So while it is YA, I wouldn't recommend it for anyone below the 9th grade.

Thoughts on: Lost It (YA fiction)

Title: Lost It
Author: Kristen Tracy
Summary (provided by amazon.com): Idaho teen Tess Whistle is having one weird junior year–she, her family, and her friends are all losing it. Her parents, born again following a serious grease fire in the kitchen, take off unexpectedly to a survival camp in the Utah desert, leaving Tess with her grandmother. Tess's best friend, Zena, reacts to her parents' marital troubles by making elaborate plans to blow up a poodle. And Tess herself, who used to be 100 percent certain that she'd wait until she was married before she had sex and is deathly afraid of the wilderness, loses her virginity out of doors with her boyfriennd.

Caution: Will contain spoilers

I felt so iffy about this book. On one hand, it’s pretty funny and you have to appreciate (most) of the characters. On the other hand, the writing was mediocre, and a number of things made the story feel unrealistic. It had an unnatural flow that tainted this otherwise comical book.


The main plot is Tess’s relationship with her boyfriend, Benjamin. Their entire relationship was a disappointment. Firstly, they act way too close the very first day they meet. This pattern doesn’t stop, and throughout the entire novel it felt like their physical relationship progressed too fast to be…real. Especially for Tess, who’s originally described as being chaste and moral. During her most intimate scenes with Benjamin, she rarely describes ever feeling hesitant, self-conscious, or regretful. I felt like it directly contradicted her character development.


Another thing is that Benjamin was a bland, unlikable character. Even after reading the book, I feel like the only things I know about him are: 1. He liked an old game show called Password, and 2. He once had cancer.


Big spoiler alert. The main thing that bothered me was the climax. In the end, after losing her virginity to him, Benjamin cuts off his relationship with Tess. Why? Because Tess lied to him about something. It just felt like a lame lesson… They were supposed to be in love, but in the end they couldn’t communicate enough to move past Tess’s mistakes. It was a downer, although perhaps that was the author’s intention.


Altogether, it wasn’t a terrible book. But it felt like the author was trying to give her readers some serious advice regarding virginity, sex, and relationships, and I just don’t feel like she succeeded with getting her message across. However, I wouldn’t say I’m not recommending the book. In fact, I’d be interested in hearing about how other people feel! (Although…I don’t think anyone reads this blog anyway. Haha.) ^-^

Word for this book: Trite

Cactu's Secret vol. 1

Book: Cactus’s Secret, vol. 1
Author: Nana Haruta
Summary (provided by Amazon.com): Falling in love with a clueless boy would turn any girl into a cactus! Miku decides to try telling Kyohei her feelings by giving him chocolates for Valentine's Day. But Kyohei, unaware that he's the object of her affection, offers himself up as a practice partner for her love confession. Can Miku get through to him that he's the one she loves?

Cactus’s Secret is a super cute, highly typical Shojo Beat manga. Even though I prefer to stay clear of cliché manga romances, this one made for an enjoyable read.


Miku’s life basically revolves around her love for air-headed Kyohei, so if you’re looking for a Shojo-like manga with more substance and development this might not be for you. However, I thought this manga was simple, uplifting, and at times it had me cracking up with laughter. There’s not much more to say! ^-^ If you're into Shojo Beat, definitely pick up a copy.