I won at ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) recently from Goodreads (if you're not a member you should be!) that I am working my way through.
Though not typically my genre, I have to say, I am intrigued to see where this goes. I'll let you know!
Oh, and if we're not friends on Goodreads - change that! I love seeing what other people are reading so I can get more great books to add to my (monumental) to-read shelf.
Just, right off the bat -- what a catchy title, huh?! How could I not read a book as boldly titled as "How To Be A Person"?
I absolutely ADORE Lindy West's writings on Jezebel and Dan Savage has been a favorite for several years now. They both have this delightful, wry wit that somehow manages to cut to the quick while still being hilarious. Yes, there are other writers in this compilation, but truthfully, these two are the stand-outs.
So, does the book live up to it's lofty title? Not really - but it's fun anyway. It's a very light, fast read (under two hours straight) and if you're looking for something fun - definitely check it out. There are absolutely wonderful moments where you will split your sides laughing. Take this excerpt* for instance:
*highlighted/scanned by me and not mean to violate copyright in any way
You're laughing right now, aren't you? I know I was. This book is funny and fun, but I'm not sure it's the definitive guide to being a person.
Though, perhaps that's Lindy and Dan's humor shining through again. Of course this is the definitive book on how to be a person. Of course, it is.
There are many films made every year. Hundreds, likely thousands across the world.
Many of those films are good, but not many of them are excellent.
Once in a blue moon (no pun intended), a truly excellent film is made - a film where everything coalesces perfectly. Emotions resonate, solid plot, characters have depth and likability, a stunning score, etc etc etc.
Moonrise Kingdom is that film.
If you aren't reading this on your iPhone in a theater waiting for this film to start, you're in the wrong place. Go now. I'm serious. You're missing out.
In 1965, a pair of twelve-year-old misfits, one AWOL Khaki Scout - Sam Shakusky - and one very sad, unique girl - Suzy Bishop - flee from their lives and "families" to be together on an idyllic New England island. This prompts a local search party led by a local police captain, a Khaki Scout Master and Suzy's parents Walt and Laura.
What follows is pure magic.
I've read numerous reviews and I'm not sure that I can say more eloquent things than I have read critics so, so allow me to list a few here.
"Briskly paced and jam-packed with visual gags, "Moonrise Kingdom" is a family-movie heartwarmer like no other. Watching it is like shuffling through a shoebox of fading photos and silly mementos. It's shot on 16-millimeter stock that gives the images a warm, buttery Kodachrome nostalgia perfectly in key with the film's anachronistic humor." -- Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune
"A sweetly kooky ode to the intensity of young love. The movie balances broad comedy with occasionally surreal quirk, while still holding the emotional center. Although they don't know each other particularly well, Sam and Suzy find an escape in their union. They willfully lose themselves in a fantasy of being grown up in a world without grownups." -- Mike McGranaghan, The Aisle Seat
"Moonrise Kingdom represents a sort of non-magical Neverland -- that momentous instant when the world can seem so small and a naive crush can feel all-consuming." -- Peter Debruge, Variety
Monday, June 25, 2012
I have a guest post up today at Nerdy Girl Notes about the Legend of Korra and feminism, entitled The Legend of Korra: Anti-Feminism or Bad Writing?
You should go check it out! While you're there, read some of the other interesting (and nerdy!) posts by owner Katie and other contributors.
There are few things better than a catchy, danceable pop song. Especially during summer!
Hot on the heels of the infectious Call Me Maybe, Carly Rae Jepsen teams up with danceable pop king Adam Young of Owl City. As the title suggests, it is indeed a good time.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
You are slowly slipping from my grasp,
but linger just a little
I dare not look up to you,
for I know my eyes would become waterfalls.
I do not want to let go - ever - but you say we must.
The reluctance of your body speaks louder than your words.
But you do not hear it and still you say, we must.
Attention! Buy this album right now! People aren't buying this album and there's NO good reason for it!
Thank You Camellia is the sophomore offering from American Idol Winner (but seriously, let's ignore that for the duration of this review) Kris Allen.
In contrast to his debut album, Kris's lyrical voice sounds authentic this go around. You can tell that he chose these songs - not the record label. Hell, he wrote most of them. From start to finish, this record is a delight. I don't skip a single song.
Re-read that last sentence. That is an amazing accomplishment. The only other album I have ever been able to say that about was Five for Fighting's Chances. Maybe I'm just a picky bitch with weird taste, but that doesn't diminish the strength of the record.
Though good - if a little schmaltzy - the lead single "The Vision of Love" is far and away not the most radio-friendly track on the album, so I'm a little perplexed as to why it was chosen when fun, poppy, summer songs like "Better with You" or even "My Weakness" could have been selected to get some airplay and hype for the new record.
Then again, he's never really tried to be a radio sensation.
Call him a throwback or an idiot if you want, but even though his tunes aren't spinning on every station in every city at every second, he doesn't seem to mind. He's making a living writing and playing music. He knows it's quality work. He has wonderful, supportive fans who believe in what he's doing. For Allen, that seems to be enough.
So, maybe he'll never reach Katy Perry or Adele status, but if there's one thing that can be taken away from Thank You Camellia, it's that he cares about what he's doing. He cares about sharing a story with every song. Evoking an emotion. Transporting you back to a time in your life where you can relate.
Thank You Camellia is genuine and in my book, that's worth more than topping the charts.
"You are so busy being you that you have no idea how utterly unprecedented you are." - Augustus to Hazel
How does one even begin a review of a John Green novel? There is absolutely nothing that can be said about the beauty of a John Green novel that could compare in depth or breadth to the beauty of the John Green novel itself. Particularly this one.
For me, reading The Fault In Our Stars was a religious experience. From beginning to end, this book was a flawless masterpiece. I am seriously not exaggerating when I say that.
Though The Fault In Our Stars is not really a new story - love tainted by the painful inevitability of terminal illness - I can honestly say that what Mr. Green has created here is one of the most beautiful, poignant, true and heartbreaking novels I've ever read.
Green's prose is perfectly executed and his characters so realistic and lovably 'real'. Every word, every thought, every second of interaction with the story, speeds you along to the next on a rollercoaster of emotion that leaves you gasping for breath.
You will cry, and you will laugh. You will wonder how it is already 1am.
Seriously. I read this in one sitting, in one evening. After being particularly engrossed, for what I would later find was several hours, I found that it was very early morning. It didn't matter. I could not even consider putting it down. That is truly all that needs to be said. Read this book. Your life will be better for it.
This past weekend, I stumbled onto a goldmine of amazingness. Beth Revis's Across the Universe series. Of which, two books have been released (the second one only just). I believe a third is planned and I absolutely cannot wait.
The plot: A teenage girl named Amy joins her parents as part of a cryogenics experiment on a cargo ship bound for a new planet. She awakens expecting to be on a new planet three hundred years from when she was placed in stasis. What she doesn't expect is that she has been awoken too soon and that in the two hundred-fifty years she has been asleep, the ships inhabitants have become very different than the people she knew in her time. She meets - and is immediately fascinated by - Elder, who was bred to be the future leader of the ship and what unfolds is an adventure and a love she could never have imagined.
The Verdict: Excellent. Obviously. I ingested these books (some 900 pages) back-to-back in one weekend. They are absolutely fantastic. The plot has a million twists and turns, the suspense is high throughout the entire book and Amy is a wonderfully accessible, normal teenage girl who takes on extraordinary circumstances. I particularly love this series (as it is told from her POV) because she is not the typical, weak-willed teen girl archetype. Yes, there's a romance element to this series, but it is about far, far more than that - and Amy struggles constantly with being her own woman in a world completely alien to her.
Sci-Fi setting, mystery/suspense, romance AND a strong female POV voice. This series has it all. As I said, I absolutely cannot wait for the third and I recommend these books to teens and adults alike.
