In Less Than Ten Hours I Will Be In a Classroom Again (+Audiobooks and Nail Polish)

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audiobooks, books, breaking dawn, chris colfer, college, flipping tables, john green, nail polish, school, twilight, university, white-out

Here’s John Green to make this blog post that really isn’t about books into a blog post that looks like it’s about books! If you didn’t know (seriously, have you been living under a rock?), John Green wrote The Fault In Our Stars, which is probably the YA bible of 2012. I would probably also say it’s a wonderful book…if I had actually read it. But since I didn’t, let’s just pretend I did. Hey! In my defense, I do own a copy…[insert brilliant, convincing excuse here]

As much as I don’t want to break my book review streak with this blog post, I must…because I am going back to school in less than nine hours. With school back in session, I’m afraid I won’t have nearly as much time to read and blog. Instead of long sleepless nights spent cuddling with a novel, I anticipate long sleepless nights of studying, thesis writing, project making (the toils of being an art major), and coffee drinking. For the first time in months I will actually know what date it is, and precisely how far away I am from the weekend!

And because of John Green‘s An Open Letter to Students Returning to School (I embedded the video above), I will work hard to ace ALL THE TESTS (or as least as much as I can, let’s be practical here). Not because I’m Asian and it’s in my blood, nor is it because I’ll be entitled to bragging rights (though that is pretty spiffy), but because I attend a public university that is partially subsidized with tax money. So because you invested in my education, tax-payers, I will try not to become a poorly educated, stupid person and ruin your lives. You’re welcome. Unless you happen to be running from the IRS, then I suppose all bets are off and I am free to ruin your life.

Unfortunately, I will have to go back to enduring three hour bus rides, which would actually be a great reading opportunity–if I didn’t have the tendency of falling asleep on buses. Since I can’t read 90% of the time without dozing off on buses, I decided to try something else. I have my IPod armed with Chris Colfer’s The Wishing Spell (The Land of Stories, #1) and my earphones plugged in, determined to give audiobooks a try again. My first foray into audiobooks a few years ago with Stephanie Meyer’s Breaking Dawn didn’t fare so well. I thought the reader was way too slow, and I fell asleep around the part where Bella panicked about being pregnant–to this day I still don’t know how Breaking Dawn ended, but whatever.

On a random note, I painted my nails for the first time in a long time today. But I found this hot pink nail polish I received as a Christmas gift two years ago and couldn’t resist. My dad saw my painted nails and told me “Cut your nails, only people who have nothing better to do have long nails.” I won’t listen to him, because dads know nothing about sparkly nails. I’ve refrained from painting my nails because I gave the last of my nail polish remover to my sister.

I learned the hard way not to paint nails without nail polish remover from that one time I thought it was cool to paint my nails white. Not a good idea. My nails ended up looking like white-out–chunky, disgusting white-out that made me want to flip a table. Then I proceeded to desperately scratch out the ugly polish off my poor nails the rest of the day. I still don’t have nail polish remover, but I Googled, and apparently body spray works. Finally, I can use that old-lady smelling body spray my aunt gave me!

Fudge, now I only have seven hours left! ZZZZZzzzzzzz

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[review] This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers (2012)

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book, book review, dystopia, school, survival, teenager, teens, young adult, zombie apocalypse, zombies

This is Not a Test (2012)
by Courtney Summers
Paperback Edition
Publication Date: June 19th, 2012
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Buy a copy via Amazon.
Synopsis from Goodreads.

It’s the end of the world. Six students have taken cover in Cortege High but shelter is little comfort when the dead outside won’t stop pounding on the doors. One bite is all it takes to kill a person and bring them back as a monstrous version of their former self. To Sloane Price, that doesn’t sound so bad. Six months ago, her world collapsed and since then, she’s failed to find a reason to keep going. Now seems like the perfect time to give up. As Sloane eagerly waits for the barricades to fall, she’s forced to witness the apocalypse through the eyes of five people who actually want to live.

My Thoughts:
I was hesitant to read Courtney Summer’s This is Not a Test because I’m not a fan of zombies. However, This is Not a Test keeps zombies to a minimum, with them mainly appearing in flashbacks and in the denouement. I can see how zombie fans would be disappointed with the lack of action and epic fight scenes, but I was fine with it because the all of characters were rendered with such complexity, from their inner motivations to their flaws. I was skeptical how Summers could make being stuck in a school last 300 pages, but she did–and beautifully too. This is Not a Test is a wonderful, poignant character-driven story and what happens when you are stuck in a school with five less-than-perfect people in a hopeless situation, which may be more evil than the rancid zombies looming outside.

[review] The Vindico by Wesley King (2012)

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action, adventure, book, book review, conspiracy, fighting, school, super powers, super villains, superhero, young adult

The Vindico (2012)
by Wesley King
Hardcover Edition
Publication Date: June 14th, 2012
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
buy a copy via Amazon.
synopsis via Goodreads.

Book Promo:

The Vindico are a group of supervillains who have been fighting the League of Heroes for as long as anyone can remember. Realizing they’re not as young as they used to be, they devise a plan to kidnap a group of teenagers to take over for them when they retire—after all, how hard can it be to teach a bunch of angsty teens to be evil?Held captive in a remote mansion, five teens train with their mentors and receive superpowers beyond their wildest dreams. Struggling to uncover the motives of the Vindico, the teens have to trust each other to plot their escape. But they quickly learn that the differences between good and evil are not as black and white as they seem, and they are left wondering whose side they should be fighting on after all . . .

My Thoughts:
X-men meets the Breakfast Club? Doesn’t that sound exciting or what? I was interested when I heard about The Vindico in the beginning of the year, and I was excited to finally read it when I saw it on the shelves. Unfortunately, The Vindico just didn’t work for me on so many levels. The concept was fresh, but the execution was just disappointing. Perhaps it would have been better suited as a lower-middle grade novel rather than young adult with it’s simple writing style; the plot was fun but also unbelievably unrealistic along with the poorly fleshed out characters. The more the story progresses, the messier it becomes with the countless introduction of new minor, forgettable characters left and right, and messy fight scenes.

I am surprised Putnam picked this one up; The Vindico was like a graphic novel that didn’t translate very well into novel format. I’m disappointed that an interesting concept was turned into a very corny (borderline lame) superhero story. However, it is a fun and often humorous book–and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to a younger audience (especially Marvel/DC fans.)

[review] Wonder by R.J. Palacio (2012)

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book, book review, bullying, face, face deformities, humor, school, sickness, treacher-collins

Wonder (2012)
by R.J. Palacio
Hardcover Edition
Publication Date: February 14th, 2012
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
buy a copy via Amazon.
synopsis via Goodreads.

Book Trailer:

I won’t describe what I look like. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s probably worse.

August (Auggie) Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to a mainstream school—until now. He’s about to start 5th grade at Beecher Prep, and if you’ve ever been the new kid then you know how hard that can be. The thing is Auggie’s just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face. But can he convince his new classmates that he’s just like them, despite appearances?

My Thoughts:
I’m usually not a middle-grade reader, but the cover caught my attention since the beginning of the year. I’ve seen a couple glowing reviews for it, but I didn’t think much about it until I saw it in the library last week, and I was like “why not?” I read the first few pages to test the book out, and I somehow ended reading thirty pages…and I still wasn’t sure what’s up with the main character, Auggie: from the first few pages, I knew he had something that set in apart, but I didn’t know what exactly–so I borrowed the book to sate my curiosity. And boy am I glad I did.

Wonder is the fascinating, inspiring story of Auggie who is born with a severe Treacher-Collin’s syndrome, making his face almost hideous to strangers. He attends school for the first time in fifth grade, and he struggles to fit into the school environment. But he is not the only one with problems as his friends and family also struggle to adapt to him. The story, theme may be predictable, but it’s the execution that makes Wonder special. Each character has their own engaging, heartfelt story to tell. Wonder is definitely one of my favorite, thought-provoking reads this year. It opens itself to many discussions, and I wish I read it when I was in fifth grade.

[My Life] The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway (1926), My Writing Process

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baby, book, classic, classic literature, college, cry, crying, fiction, literature, novel, school, writing, writing process

This is what college does to me...the crying part, not the magically turning into a cute kid part.

Instead of reading my lovely stack TBR stack today, I spent five (though it felt like ten) hours reading Ernest Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises” for English. I will not be reviewing The Sun Also Rises because it was read for English class, and everyone knows  professors “require” you to read to read stuff because there’s no way you would do it if you had a choice.

Here’s a brief summary: a bunch of writers turn emo after the war and start drinking…a lot. Half of the men in the novel fall for this woman who prefers to jump from one partner to another. Basically all they do is talk about boring stuff and drink. They don’t even need to work. Oh yes, they also go fishing and bull-fight watching in Spain: the highlight of the novel.

I would hurl this book out a window if it wasn't required reading.

I find Hemingway to be one unique writer (despite wanting to hurl the novel out the window): he is verbose…in the most terse way. His sentences are implicit, there’s no fancy flowery language but there’s a lot of boring prose about the most trivial things. He writes like this:

I could not find the bathroom. After a while I found it.

-The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, page 199

I received a B+ on my last English essay (I am used to getting A’s); surprisingly, I was ecstatic. For an essay that I wrote the night before in the midst of a serious fever…not bad, not bad at all. Basically my writing process is goes like this:

1. Brainstorming: watch cats playing the piano on YouTube until the night before. Tell myself that it’s inspiring and will stimulate brain power. Rationalize that if I procrastinate, I will be older, therefore smarter…which equals better essay!
2. Desperate mode: Sudden realization that it’s the night before the due date, bang head on desk hoping for something brilliant to say. Not sure if headache is from thinking too much or banging head too hard. Make a lot of tea and coffee…but no energy drinks, I need as many brain cells intact as possible.
3. Panic mode: Brilliant, enlightenment never comes. It’s okay, you aren’t Buddha. Resort to emergency measures…SparkNotes, Cliff Notes, speed-reading…
4. Spill out an essay: argue my way out of anything and everything I want to prove. If I am writing about the decline of a moral values, all butterflies, flowers, white doves turn from beautiful things to a symbol of superficial values, therefore the corruption of society. This step is also known as: BS-ing your way out. Add a pile of pretentiously sesquipedalian (definition: characterized by the use of long words) sentences to appear smart. Caution: use dictionary to double check meanings and connotations to avoid the plan backfiring. It is easy to go from intelligent guy with a great vocabulary to stupid guy who wanted to showoff his non-existent great vocabulary.
5. Proofreading: Useless step. At this point, it’s 4AM and I am in a sleep-deprived delirium that I start thinking four times eight is twenty-eight. Use PaperRater. This is also my most feared step, because I have to read the stupidity I spieled out in desperation. I KNOW I don’t proofread well enough, but I also seem to be blind to all my mistakes (even blatantly obvious ones)

I have a feeling I wouldn’t made a good English tutor. Next up on my required reading list for American Literature: William Faulkner’s “As I Lay Dying.” Wish me luck!

Lilian