Tag Archives: Books

A Discovery of Witches – Brief Update

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Hi blog friends! Well, it’s been about five days now and I’ve finally started to get into Deborah Harkness’ A Discovery of Witches. Formal warning: it is going to take me a while to read it. As I’ve mentioned before the font size is so tiny and takes up so much of the page that my poor eyes can’t read more than about 20 or so pages per night without getting a headache. I’ve JUST exceeded the 100 page mark… Today. I’m ashamed with my slow reading; I take so much pride in being a quick reader!

Also, in less than two weeks my boyfriend and I are moving into a new apartment! Which means a lot of packing. Which means this book will take me even longer to finish. It’s about 600 pages, and if my packing escapades of today are any indication, I will be far too exhausted to read for a long amount of time each night. However, The good news is as follows:

I have found a ton of books that I’ve completely forgotten about, both books I’ve read and books I haven’t read but always wanted to read. So that post will be coming up soon! Some of these are books that made me truly love reading, and want to be a writer, so I can’t wait to tell you about them! (Exclusive insight into the next post: Some Girls: My Life in a Harem by Jillian Lauren. One of the most exciting books I’ve ever read!)

Back to A Discovery of Witches: the first couple of chapters are slow. It’s just this woman telling you her backstory of why she doesn’t use magic even though she comes from a long line of experienced and powerful witches, and how she decides, against her better judgement, to use magic on a certain manuscript in the library and is suddenly overcome with creatures following her. The excitement doesn’t settle in until chapter four or so, when she begins to interact with a very old, possibly very dangerous vampire. Not the sparkly vampires either – the rip your throat out vampires!

It took me about three nights before I started to actually get in to the book. A lot of the time with a new book I’m just waiting for it to be nighttime so I can snuggle up in bed and read. But I didn’t really care to do that the first few nights, which was really surprising for me. I’m currently reading chapter ten, and now I’m just itching to read more during the day!

So on that note, I’m going to go get some reading done!! Until next time,

Also, I want to wish my dad a very happy birthday! Thank you for reading me bedtime stories and sparking my love of books (Goodnight, Gorilla) at an early age. My old man.

Rachel

An Open Letter to John Green

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Before I begin, I’d like to express that I’ll be back to do normal posts very soon. This is a fluke….or is it? You decide. Until next time, friends.

Dear John Green,

I hope you had a pleasant and chocolate filled Easter! I’m currently looking at my Easter basket and am eyeing the chocolate duck. I’ve eaten it’s head so far (sorry duck) but all I’m thinking is, “damn, I want to eat the rest.” And honestly, I’m so torn apart right now that I just might.

Why am I so unhappy, you may ask? Because I just finished reading your critically acclaimed The Fault In Our Stars about thirty minutes ago. Normally I would turn this post into a Book vs Movie post, but I genuinely think it might deserve two posts – one letter to you and one book vs movie – just simply based on the fact that my little aching heart can’t watch the movie yet. I need time to process. To heal.

But I will give you my book review. So I’ll go ahead and give you my rating: 5 stars. No, 15 stars. This was the fault in our stars you were speaking of, Green: the fault in our star rating system because there’s no star high enough to accurately assess this novel. Wonderful.

I’ve been wanting to read this book for a long time, but based simply on the fact that everyone was reading the book, and everyone was loving the movie, I didn’t read it or see the movie. I didn’t want to be peer pressured into reading a book by some dude I didn’t know when I could be reading a book by Amy Tan. That was until I read Let It Snow by Maureen Johnson, Lauren Myracle and yourself. I loved it. I loved it so much, and I loved your part of the story so much, that TFIOS quickly moved up my “to-read” list.

Having promised myself that I wouldn’t keep reading science fiction and fantasy novels exclusively, I decided it was time to read the book. You start the novel with a bang – cancer. You have this writing style that is so conversational, but at the same time you feel like you’re getting smarter just reading it. It’s so intelligent, and you use that intelligence to perfectly express exactly what the character is feeling in a way that a real person would feel. I can’t get over the magic of this novel.

Side note to my blog family: In case you don’t know what the premise of the novel is about, here’s a brief back cover summary: A cancer ridden Hazel is depressed and stays at her house all day watching reality TV shows. Her mom then sends her to make some friends at a cancer support group in their local church. She meets a cancer survivor named Augustus, and she starts thinking differently.

As a sarcastic and introverted person who absolutely loves reality TV (don’t judge me) I absolutely loved Hazel. I thought she was a brilliant character with a beautiful heart, and realistic expectations – and maybe a defeatist attitude. Augustus, the everlasting love interest, was portrayed as this funny, optimistic, romantic teenage boy who just wanted the girl to love him, but was really so much more than that.

And that is why I’m writing this open letter to you. As a habitual reader – clean and sober 30 minutes – I usually get way too invested in my books. They’re the great love of my life (along with my boyfriend – Hi, Anthony!) so I often put my whole mind and soul into a book – I become defenseless to these characters and allow the author to toy with my emotions for several hundred pages. There is usually an expectation, though. That, yes, I allow the author to invade my psyche with the understanding that at the end of the book I may be sad, but I won’t feel devastated.

You have crossed that boundary, sir. It has happened before, but I’m putting this on the top five list. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not necessarily that the ending was an all consuming devastation of a single event, but rather that the entire novel was devastating. It was one thing after another, and even with a fairly happy ending, you still know that more goes on when the book is finished. Much like Hazel and her obsession with Peter van Houten’s novel in the book, I just want to know what happens when the book is over. It’s only now that I realize how much of a written genius you are to have the presence of mind to create a book so devastating but so familiar and friendly, only to have it end the way you ended it, much like van Houten’s book.

Well, I feel as though I’ve berated you enough, good sir. I would like to say some kind words before we part: I absolutely LOVED this book. I truly felt connected to it in a way that I haven’t felt with another book in a while. So I want to congratulate you on creating a masterpiece, and for possibly becoming my next favorite author.

I almost wrote “I love you, Bye” before I realized that’s not how you end a letter. So until next time, okay? I love you, bye.

Rachel

Book vs Movie: Gone Girl

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It’s time for another Book vs Movie. Psycho murder conspiracy edition. I just finished Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl after weeks of only being able to read a little bit at a time. I have a confession though: I watched the movie first. I’ve mentioned before that I actually don’t find it horrible to watch the movie before reading the book. There are some cases when reading the book first is better (and that’s most of the time) but there are some books (like The Maze Runner) where you need that little bit of extra assistance to really get into the book. This book and movie combo is the former.

When I watched the movie Gone Girl it was because I really wanted to see it, and didn’t want to wait until I had read the book. I was too antsy. So I made the executive decision to go ahead and watch it… Holy crap. That movie is one plot twist after another. I won’t say anything to ruin the movie (or book) for anyone because honestly it just has to be seen to be believed. But I watched the movie and thought it was one of the craziest movies I’ve ever seen — so I had to read the book.

I borrowed the book from my sister and started reading right away. For me, the story was kind of slow in the beginning simply because it was almost exactly like the beginning of the movie. It was like reading a screenplay rather than a novel. My issue here was that when I was watching the movie, I was completely enthralled within five minutes. And because the first part of the book (it’s written in three parts) was exactly like the movie, I felt like I was just watching the movie. No extra juicy details they had left out, no different plot twists – just a blow-by-blow of the movie (or rather the movie was a blow-by-blow of the book…hmm…) But nonetheless, the story was great to start out with, I just already knew what to expect.

I was starting to really wish I hadn’t seen the movie first only because the writing was so amazing. Flynn is one of those authors that can make even the most unlikable characters likable, but can also take away any shred of decency in that character in an instant. In Flynn’s case it’s really more of liking the character, unliking the character, liking the character, hating both characters, etc. So, because of all this, I was really starting to get down about it. I thought I had ruined the whole book by seeing the movie. Why did I ruin such a good thing?? But then I hit the last few chapters before Part Two, and oh my god was it amazing! I got to a point where I just refused to go to bed. I was like, “Nope. I know it’s 11:30pm and I know I have to get up early tomorrow, but nope. I’m just gonna keep reading. Que sera sera.”

And thus began my absolute love for this novel. I refuse to tell you anything about the actual story of the book, but I will summarize to you what the back cover/back of the dvd allows its audience to know: On the morning of their fifth anniversary, Nick Dunne reports his wife, Amy, missing. He acts very strangely, and even lies to the police, which causes everyone in their small town, including the police, to wonder if he had anything to with her disappearance.

Sounds like a simple whodunnit, right? Nope. Just…no.

This is one of the most interesting and edge-of-your-seat movies I have seen in a really long time. But this is one of those cases where I just wish I had read the book first. The book had so much more detail, and so many more plot twists. And even the characters were slightly different after the first part! Reading the second half of the book was like someone telling you ahead of time, “Dumbledore dies!” But then reading Harry Potter and finding out *SPOILERS* Snape killed him. It’s knowing one thing and reading another.

This book was excellently written, and wonderfully executed. It was a really great book. But don’t get me wrong! The movie was spectacular!! They chose all of the actors perfectly, and they truly did a better job turning a book into a movie than a LOT of other movies based off of books I’ve seen. I would say the movie was 90% accurate to the book, and that’s a big amount of correctness.

So yes, the movie was great. But hands down the book was better. Book: 3 Movie:2.

My sister argued, however, “The book didn’t have Ben Affleck’s penis in it, so the movie automatically wins.”

Valid point.

Until next time!

Rachel

Judging A Book By Its Cover

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Hi, my name is Rachel and I’m a bookaholic. I’ve recently bought a ton of new books: Storm Front by Jim Butcher, Zodiac by Robert Graysmith, The Maze Runner series, and a ton more. Don’t get me wrong! I’m actually pretty proud of my book addiction — at least it’s not meth. But because I’ve bought so many books lately I can tell you without a doubt that I am absolutely a bookaholic… And that I 100% judge a book by its cover.

With all these trips to bookstores, and finding books online, I see a lot of different and beautiful book covers. I’ve always had a real affinity for buying books that I know will look beautiful on my bookshelf. I like to come home and put the books with its other book friends and see them be pretty together on my wall. Is that so wrong?

For as long as I can remember, even going back when I was younger and would go to the bookstore with my family, I would always find the prettiest book on the shelf and say, “I WANT THIS” without even reading what it was about. To my parent’s credit, they had a way of weeding out the books I genuinely wanted and which ones I just thought were pretty so I never ended up getting a thousand beautiful books in one Barnes & Noble trip. Good job, Mom and Dad. Good job. But as I got older I would go to bookstores and be perusing the fiction section when I’d see the spine of a book out of the corner of my eye and be instantly drawn to it. It’s like a magnetism that I just can’t stop. So beautiful. I must have it. Lemme have it!!! It’s so hard to pass up a beautiful book! It’s what people are naturally drawn to with people: attractiveness. That’s our first instinct, isn’t it? To say, “wow that person is really attractive.” without knowing if they are attractive on the inside. It’s the same with books. The only difference for me is that with books, I’ll still buy an attractive book without it having a good story inside. I won’t stick around with people who are not good people on the inside.

That is not to say that I don’t buy books with crappier looking covers, because I do. For example, I have a few books that were repurposed for movies, so they have the movie poster as it’s cover instead of the regular alluring cover. Like The Fault In Our Stars. That cover is awesome – it’s so simple – just light blue with a couple of clouds and the title of the book. It looks great in anyone’s bookshelf. But the movie copy of the book has the two main characters lying on the grass together and not the nice cloudy cover. Who wants that? Give me the pretty artwork! But that said, if there were no pretty copies of a book, or if the book hasn’t been turned into a movie and it has a bland cover but the story itself looks awesome, I’d be more than happy to get it.

I actually have a really tough time with that when it comes to hardcover books. I love paperbacks. I think they fit better in my hands, they fit better in my bookshelf, they feel better when you’re reading it, and there’s no annoying paper dust jacket getting in the way of reading. But sometimes I have to buy hardcovers. That’s the hard truth.  Get it? No? I should just stop trying to be punny. Haha! No one can stop me! I’m a pun machine!

Anyway, I have to buy hardcovers. If there’s a new book, it doesn’t come straight out in paperback, and it usually takes a year or so for it to come out in paperback. I don’t want to wait that long! I want to read now! And obviously when it comes out in paperback there is only one possible cover this book can have… Or is there?

Nope! Because I don’t like the dust jacket, I actually read without them on. I just put them out of the way, and then when I’m done with the book I put it back on and put the book back in my shelf. But sometimes the naked hardcover is amazing. So for a few books I have in my shelf, I just got rid of the dust jacket (from my shelf – I still have the dust jacket in my night table because I can never bring myself to throw them out) and keep the pretty part of the book showing!

So, no, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with judging a book by its cover. Sometimes it’s just nice to own a really beautiful book.

Until next time! Happy reading!

Rachel (AKA Bookaholic #1)

Book vs Kindle

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My obvious love of books has kept me from accepting the fact that people don’t read physical books anymore: they use e-readers like Kindles or Nooks. Like most book lovers I regard them as something to dismiss, something that takes away from the fun of reading. But here’s the thing: I had never actually used one before. So I decided to conduct an experiment and read my boyfriend’s kindle for a week to give it a try.

But as chance would have it, I only made it through 48 hours before giving up on the thing. I did genuinely try to give it a shot, and I have to say that it exceeded my expectations. I was expecting something more like an iPad – with bright lights that make your eyes go weird after looking at it for more than 20 minutes, and the on-screen-scrolling like an endless news article. Instead, it has a dulled screen that looks more like a page in a book than an actual screen; It has that “used page” look. And to my surprise, you don’t scroll, it has these big buttons on both sides that go forward or backward from page to page.

Other than that, though, I had a really hard time getting into it. My theory was that I would choose a book that I had already read in paperback and read it for exactly one week (unless I finished it sooner) and then write the comparison between a Kindle book and a physical copy of a book. Seems simple enough. So, I found a book that was already on the Kindle and tried to read it like I normally would a hardcopy (for me normal reading is a lot of pages in a short span of time, and almost too much concentration — someone could nearly hit me with a football and I probably wouldn’t even notice.) That first night I read four chapters of the great classic Pride and Prejudice. They’re not long chapters, but it took me a pretty decent chunk of time just trying to focus.

There were a few annoyances. Those big buttons on the side of the Kindle that I mentioned before? Well they take up the majority of each side of the Kindle, making it nearly impossible for me to hold the e-reader like a normal person without going a few pages ahead of where I was and ruining any surprises. I also had such a hard time concentrating on the story. Because it’s a Kindle and quite small, I didn’t need to use both hands to hold it and ended up having an extreme case of restless arm syndrome. I kept checking my phone, grabbing some water, constantly stretching my arms and just basically doing everything but keeping my eyes on the page. I took that as a lesson learned, and the next night I put my phone out of reach, and just tried to sit and focus on the story. I never made it past chapter 5.

About a page into the fifth chapter I managed to figure out the “lazy person’s guide to reading a Kindle” which was basically me laying on my side in bed with the Kindle propped up so I could lay down and read without having to hold it. I fell asleep. I tried one more time the following day to make the Kindle work for me. I sat down in a chair and was all set to read. But when I sat down, I held the Kindle a little too hard on the side and went six pages ahead. That was when I just put it down and said, “nope. This isn’t working. I’m frustrated, I’m bored, and I already want to look at my phone.” And thus concluded my Kindle experiment.

I know a lot of people really like e-readers, and I can completely understand that position. It’s convenient — especially if you’re going on a trip. You can have hundreds of books at your disposal at all times, with a little square that weighs probably less than a pound. It also gives you all the comforts of a real book with a screen that looks like the yellowed, paper pages in a hardcopy. It’s also easy on the eyes, which makes things much better if you were at the beach, or if you even just have bad eyesight (guilty.)

However, I really don’t like it. I tried to find some common ground, and I tried to make it work as best as possible for me, but I just couldn’t get into it. I missed the feeling of turning a page. You know that feeling you get when you’re on the last paragraph and you get ready to turn the page with your one finger on the following page? I missed that. I missed being able to slide a bookmark in and close the book to see how far I’ve gotten, and how much I have left. And as convenient as it is, I’d rather load up my suitcase with books and have to check my bag, than have to read off of a Kindle on a plane. I just get too restless and frustrated. I can’t concentrate.

So for me at least, a hardcopy of a book will always win in a battle of book versus e-reader. If you guys like Kindles or Nooks, let me know in the comments and tell me why you like it. I’d love to hear your thoughts and see if maybe there was something I was missing in the experiment!

Until next time! Happy reading!

Rachel