2015 Book Awards

I did these last year and I thought they were pretty fun.

Best Female--Vin from Mistborn: The Final Empire. I have very few complaints on her character development. She's such a strong female lead, and it was really interesting seeing her make her journey through the writing of Brandon Sanderson, who is a middle aged man. Sometimes, male authors create female characters that fall flat, but Sanderson is definitely an exception.

Best Male--Lucian, Kelsier, Rowan, Mark Watney, Baz: all wonderful candidates. I'm not sure If I could pick a favorite. Rowan from Queen of Shadows is my favorite, but that's predictable and redundant. As for new characters, probably Kelsier (Mistborn: The Final Empire) or Baz (Carry On) because they were so funny (and I'm a slut for fantasies), but Mark Watney (The Martian) is a close third.

Best Plot Twist/Twist Ending--Though Carry On by Rainbow Rowell gave me a lot of feels, I'm gonna have to award the best twist ending to it. Rowell did a really good job wrapping things up (sort of) with a really emotionally charged last few scenes. I don't wanna spoil too much, you know...

Best Book the Movie Adaptation--There are only a couple options for this category, but I chose The Martian by Andy Weir. So good. SO GOOD. I watched this with my brother just a few days after reading the book. SO GOOD.

Best Antagonist--The interloper aliens from Eve: The Awakening by Jenna Moreci take the cake. I've never felt so repulsed by a "villain". They are disgusting, and I love them.

Best Supporting Character(s)--I love the whole cast of The Lunar Chronicles so much, so Winter by Marissa Meyer definitely has the best supporting characters. An exception: Jacin Clay. I hated that little shit. But I liked loved Winter, Cress, Scarlet, Thorne, Torin, and Iko.

Best Friendship--I read The Chosen by Chaim Potok in school last spring. The "friendship" between Danny and Reuben just warms my heart, if you know what I mean.

Best Couple--Rowan and Aelin from Queen of Shadows! No one is surprised. They are my babies. My literal favorites. I've been rooting for them since their existence. I just. I love them. A lot.

Best Setting--A strange choice, but the Siberian tundra in Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys intrigued me. Lina's journey through the labor camps following her deportation broke my heart, but the world Sepetys builds around her is rich with characters, description, and emotion.

Best Ending--Winter by Marissa Meyer really wrapped things up well for the whole series. We all knew Cinder didn't want to be queen, too. But Queen of Shadows was also incredible. And I loved The Martian--it made me feel warm inside. I don't know, I'm stumped.

Book I Threw Across the Room the Hardest--Close tie between The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger and Fanart by Sarah Tregay. I had so many issues with both these books. I also hated The 100 by Kass Morgan (disappointing because I love the TV show) and The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. Agh. So many issues.

I look forward to my Book Awards next year! These are a nice way to reflect on the books from the year.

2015 Wrap

This was a great year of reading for me. I'm separating my list into a few different categories since I like a lot of stuff. Books, music, movies, YouTubers, all that jazz. Without further ado, my favorites from this year in no real order:

Books
Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas--I think this book actually was my favorite. It was everything I wanted. My heart swells with joy when I remember all the anxiety it put me through. Where will this series go next year? I cannot wait to find out!

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell--This book was just really really cute. I think the only issue I have with it is that there won't be more. If I could get an entire book about Simon and Baz, I'd jump out the window from pure excitement. But year, except for that, everything is good.

Winter by Marissa Meyer--I made a whole review on things I liked about this book, and things I didn't like. I complained in the review a lot more than how I actually feel about it. It truly was a magnificent conclusion to the series.

Eve: The Awakening by Jenna Moreci--aye, I talk about her just a little bit later in this wrap up under the YouTubers section. She's great, her book is great, it's the best new-adult-science-fiction you'll ever read. Eagerly awaiting the sequel.

The Martian by Andy Weir--I was skeptical at first, since there was so much hype built around it. I wasn't disappointed though, it was the most humorous science fiction I've read. I grew to love the science-y aspects as well as Watney's charismatic personality. The movie was grand, too.

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins--I read this forever ago, it was one of the first books I read this year so I don't really remember it. But I really enjoyed it. This whole series in general just blew me away with cuteness. Wow, I'll probably regret that sentence.

The Chosen by Chaim Potok--This book was really important to me, I learned so much about people from it. I enjoyed the characters, the story, it made me feel a lot of different emotions, which I think is good.

Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson--Holy crap is Sanderson good at world building. And I really tried to get into the second book, but I'm finding it hard without *spoilers* my favorite character. That ending just drained me.

Some honorable mentions! I liked these books a lot, but I didn't entirely think they were my favorites.
Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson
1984 by George Orwell (I also just reread Animal Farm, which was great)
A Court of Thrones and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

*I did alright in terms of my 2015 reading goals. I read 7.5 of the books on my list. It's not as great as I'd have liked, but I'm honestly proud of even doing that much. In my goals for next year, I'll address the issue of my growing TBR...

Music
Hamilton: The Musical (It's genius, really. I can't. It's show-tune rap about ALEXANDER HAMILTON.)
No Mythologies to Follow by MO (I've listened to it countless times. Best thing ever.
Oh Wonder's album is up there, it was another good summer jam
Blurryface (Twenty One Pilots--so good. Excited to see these two beans in concert)
Misterwive's Our Own House was spectacular and great to listen to in the summer
I listened to the HTTYD scores more than I should have probably.
The new Star War's "March of the Resistance" is definitely a jam, oops.
My love for Bleacher's Strange Desire exceeds all limits
BORNS is amazing. They were on the Old Navy playlist so much it hurts. I also love the acoustic versions.
Dotan, my man
Elvis Presley, my king
Halsey makes this list, of course. Her album Badlands is mind blowing.
Honorable mention songs: Howl's Moving Castle theme, Make Up Sex by G-Easy, and Virtual Insanity by Jamiroquai


Movies

Saw, Mockingjay Part II, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Jurassic World, Paper Towns, Kingdom of Heaven. I don't want to explain each one and why I liked it and why it made the list. Saw II was also good, but nothing beats the original. These aren't in any order. Don't overthink it. They're just books I liked.

*An honorable mention to the TV show The 100. I didn't watch a lot of TV shows this year, so I didn't want to make a whole section for shows (because it would be about 1 or 2 long, oops). The 100 was a fantastically enjoyable show with a great plot and cast of characters. I look forward to the new season next month.

YouTubers
Jenna Moreci is just a fantastic human being cyborg! Her vlogs on writing are hilarious and I read her debut book Eve: The Awakening which was absolutely gripping.

Doddleoddle was someone I discovered only a few days ago. Dodie has the sweetest voice, and I really enjoy the videos of her singing to her ukulele (especially her duets!). I will definitely be watching her videos well into the new year.

Savannah Brown has some really beautiful slam poetry and some nice views on stuff. Her channel feels nice and fresh. Throwing much love her way.

For Booktube this year, I really enjoyed watching Ariel Bissett's videos (once she finally came back from her study abroad!) and Peruse Project (I've grown to respect her opinions and recommendations as if she were someone I know, maybe that's weird).

Sorry if I'm forgetting anyone I really love!

To recap, I read 34 books, 13000 pages, with an average book length of 390 pages. Of course, my AP US history textbook really skewed these numbers, but that's APUSH for ya, messing everything up.

I'll have a 2016 Reading Goals post up in a few days. I'm not quite sure what it'll talk about, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

I'm rambling. I'm tired.

2015 out *peace sign emoji*

Winter by Marissa Meyer

The only way I can review this mammoth book is to pick it apart and put it back together again. Here we go. 

In six days, I flew through the last installment of the Lunar Chronicles series. I started reading these books in 9th grade, and I'm now on 11th. Time has flown--I still love these books, but my issues with them are the same as before. 

Marissa Meyer's writing is just SO BLAND. I mean no offense to her, though obviously it sounds like I do, but it's true. Her writing bears little embellishment, her chapters are all structured similarly, she reiterates things a thousand times until they seem true, as if saying them more will make me believe them. She is a strong proponent of telling instead of showing, which isn't necessarily bad, it's just not what I prefer. 

Because of this, Meyer writes in incredible detail to compensate. 

About halfway through the book, I realized the same things kept happening over and over again. A portion of the crew would devise a plan, something would go wrong, and someone would get taken. Along the same time frame, a missing member would be rescued, brought back to the main focus of the Rampion's crew, and they'd devise another strategy to get said person back. It started to feel very repetitive after couples kept getting split up over and over again. 

The book could have been renamed how-many-combinations-of-the-main-cast-can-we-have-together-at-once, or how-many-of-the-four-couples-are-actually-together-at-this-point-in-the-plot.

The entire story was this huge build up to a showdown between Levana and Cinder. But I felt like parts of the buildup were much more exciting than the climax--which was still very exciting on its own accord. I just think Meyer could have done more between that last exchange. 

But it must have been good throughout because it kept me glued till the end (which exhibited a very nice wrap up, showing the plans of all the different characters). I enjoyed the world building, I liked the terror (which was super disturbing) of being controlled by the Lunars and used as a weapon against people you love and even yourself. 

All in all, it was an incredible finale. My main problems were problems I had with the entire series. At times, the plot seemed a little implausible, and I had a few yeah, right moments. 

But not many authors manage to create such an action packed last book to what I would call a gripping series. 

Movies I Grew Up On

There are certain films I watched more than others as a child. I distinctly remember viewing them over and over again on long car rides with my siblings and parents in the back seat, entertaining me for hours even though I'd seen them hundreds of times before. In my opinion, these films are a crucial piece of who I am today, as they're partially responsible for my psychological development. Some of these movies stand out more than others:

The Princess Bride is among my favorite movies today. From when my parents first showed it to me and my siblings, to watching it years later with friends at sleepovers, I feel that I can quote nearly the entire movie. One particular year, my family went through a phase where we all read the book (by William Golding, which was really well written). Last month as my friends got together to watch Saw, Cary Elwes's character was not named for his name (which I obviously can't remember) but he was called Westley, or the Dread Pirate Roberts, by all. 

Hairspray: The reboot with Zac Efron was about the only musical I watched for two years. Because of this, I have its music committed to memory permanently. I don't think I'll ever forget the words to "Without Love" or "You Can't Stop The Beat" for as long as I live. 

Christmas with the Kranks was on tonight, and I realized I had to add it to this list. I feel like it was tradition, watching this movie every year with my family in our basement. We don't even own it, but we'd always find a way to rent it. And tonight, with Kendra finally home and Brad not locked away on his gaming websites, it was nice to finally relive this old memory. 

Perhaps my favorite Disney movie of my childhood was Mulan. I feel that it holds some very important pearls of wisdom regarding life, as it deals with important and relevant topics. I'll never stop loving this movie, and I'll never stop singing "I'll Make a Man Out of You."

The Parent Trap with Lindsey Lohan is a strange guilty pleasure. Something about the time the twins spend at camp, plotting their parent's reunion never ceases to amuse me. I've watched it more times than I'd like to count, usually on sick days when I'm stuck on the couch with only the movies saved on our DVR. 

Pirates of the Caribbean is probably the most significant of the movies I grew up on. A short while ago, I learned some of my friends had never seen it, and I was appalled. I'd assumed my whole life that kids of my age were being exposed to the same wonders of the world, one of them being Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom in pirate get-up. And the fact that not every little girl looked up to Kiera Knightly as I did just confused me. If only everyone had watched this movie as religiously as I did. But then, perhaps, it probably wouldn't have been as special to me. 

These movies are ones I never got sick of. I'd watch them again in a heartbeat. I'd marathon them with friends, I'd watch them alone, I'd watch them with family. I can't be the only one who finds these kinds of movies important? 

A Brief Update

I really love the idea of a blog. For different people, it can be different things. An outlet to talk about life, express opinions, a space devoted to a particular subject, a place to share creative works.

I want this blog to be all of that for me, and more.

While I want to the focus of Fetching Books to be on books and writing, I know that in order to populate this blog with posts, I need to write about things that inspire me.

School rarely inspires me, yet as a student, it's about all I get to think about. This post is a New Year's Resolution for me. Yes, those dreaded words are making their way into my post. Really, I just want to become better this year. Better at doing the things I like, better at writing, better at reading. How can one become better at reading? I don't know. But I hope to find out this year. I hope to be better at blogging. Better to my friends, better at making music, better at pursuing things that inspire me. Better at being myself.

I'm sure I'll get distracted, but I'm also sure I won't get worse. If anything, I'll be trying.

Tidbit

I don't write on here a lot, but in this moment in time I want to capture the things I love. While I'm at a point of high stress in my life regarding grades and extracurriculars, while all I want to do is sit down and sleep or read, I've got to remember these things. 

1. How happy the Throne of Glass books make me. It's possible that with them, I've finally found my favorite series. 

2. Tea is really great, sometimes just as good as coffee. I can always drink coffee, but for tea, I need to be in the right mood. Lately, I've been in the mood. Note to self: embrace it. 

3. There's nothing more inspiring than people who dig into/run to body smack into life. There are two great examples of these people in my life right now. One, a girl from my robotics team who inspires me to jump into things at every opportunity. The other, a wonderful friend who enjoys every type of involvement from car jam sessions to sappy snapchats to festive painting. To both of them- thank you. 

4. How much I love quiet music. It's really just my jam right now. Orchestral pieces, piano concertos, movie scores, simple beats, A n D r E w  B i R d. 

5. Books about people. There's nothing greater than the relationships between people. People interacting with people is the best type of book. 

6. My friends who put up with me always being busy. They always give me a lot and I can't give them much sometimes. But that is a-ok and we always make it work. 

7. My job, which has been fabulous. I love it so much. I love than I can go there and fold clothes or run shirts or help customers for 5 hours at a time and never have to worry about stuff that's going on in my life. It's an amazing reprieve from my chaotic schedule, a strange oxy-moron. 

8. Thanksgiving and Christmas. Yeah, I'm excited for the former, but I'm even more excited for the latter because my present s idea IS FREAKING AWESOME. 

9.  Concerts tickets to finally see Fall Out Boy and Twenty One Pilots. Gobless. 

This Afternoon I Learned Something Valuable

As November creeps closer and NaNoWriMo starts to enter my mind, I shift my focus to analyze my writing process as a whole. And I realized my mentality toward it as a whole is crappy. 

Last Monday, I wrote in my planner: consider NaNoWriMo. It was a note to myself to decide if I would participate this year, since of course, I had already considered it before. And for some reason, it took me a long time to reach my conclusion. But upon writing in my handy writing journal this afternoon, I discovered I would never get anything done if I always let my fear of not passing or succeeding get in the way. Which it has been, for years. 

Why am I not out writing, busting my tail and trying my hardest? Two reasons. I'm lazy, that's one. But two, I focus so much on the upkeep of having a perfect track record that I never stop to think about the limits this places on me. 

So of course I will try NaNoWriMo this year. If I only get to plotting a little or even just write 50 words, it would be 50 words more than I would have written otherwise. 

Why did it take me so long to get this through my head? Ah, the clouded mind of a perfectionist. 

Summer Favorites

More than anything this summer, I felt that I was finally becoming my own person. I was able to hang out with friends, get a job, break the rules, eat a lot of food, and all of it contributed to this awesome experience that I can't bear to see end.

So here are some of my favorites from this summer. Favorite moments, favorite places, favorite people, favorite books, favorite movies, favorite music, all of it in one post.

Let's start somewhere easy.

Favorite Places
This one is easy because I have always been so enamored with nature's beauty. My cottage, Seidman Park, my own backyard, my trip to Sleeping Bear Dunes. But there are others, too, ones that give me comfort and ease. Such places include Central Michigan University for band camp and most of all, my friends' basements, which I've spent countless hours in (gouging my face with food and playing board games).

Favorite Movies
And I only saw a few. The Sisterhood of Night, The House at the End of the Street, The Babadook. I watched How to Train Your Dragon and its sequel numerable times, and those are my favorites too.

Favorite People
My friends certainly stand out. They really made my experiences possible. But I also babysat these sweet kids two doors down, and I think they deserve to be on this list. My sister and my brother, whom I said goodbye to very recently. I will miss them a lot, but I look forward to my newfound alone-ness.

Favorite Music
I listened to so many different things. Such a variety. Stand-outs include: the Blurryface album, MØ's No Mythologies to Follow album. I listened to a whole lot of Smallpools and Bleachers, a fair amount of Snakadaktal, and went through a faze of Sylvan Esso. Quite recently I'm jumping back into Neon Trees. The 1975, Wild Child, and Walk the Moon are always present. Oh Wonder was like the jam of August. And Misterwives. Oh how I love thee. Your concert was godsent, and your music is from the heavens. Never stop making more. Florence's How Big album melted my heart. And I spent a good/weird few weeks only listening to the HTTYD score. Nice.

Favorite Books
For this, I have to consult my Goodreads. And I should do a summer wrap-up to get them all in there. I loved all of the Morgan Matson books I read. They just made me really happy inside (especially Amy and Roger's Epic Detour and how Since You've Been Gone focused on friendship !!!! so much). Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson was like a hidden gem I wouldn't have found without Booktube and a trip to my favorite used book store, but I'm glad it made its way into my life. Not sure how I feel about The Well of Ascension yet, as I still have yet to finish it. Lastly, I read Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac and Paper Towns back to back. Memoirs was good, but not nearly as good as Paper Towns. It remains as my favorite contemporary. I know it's really angsty, but I can't find a book I relate to more. HUGE SHOUT OUT to Eve: The Awakening by Jenna Moreci. I haven't finished it yet, but I'm 75% through the book AND IT'S SO GOOD. 10/10 would recommend. It literally has a 4.62 rating on Goodreads right now. Check it out.
P.S. I didn't receive Queen of Shadows until I was half way through Eve, so I'm waiting to start. But I know that if I read it in the summer, it would be on this list, without a doubt.

Favorite Moments
Having bonfires with my friends. Working at six in the morning with my sister. Speed reading books. Reading books together with my friends. Cashing my first paycheck. Watching The Lion King with my brother, helping him move in. Teaching my sister how to play SimCity on her last night in the country. Pool parties, and jumping in pools with clothes on. Trying to letter-box, and it not working. All of our sleepovers. Paint twister. Slip 'n sliding. Walking down train tracks. Skinny dipping. Every single time at Jam 'n Bean. Band camp (all of it, but especially the mini pool and Piano Man). The first football game (homecoming getting lined up). The playground was great (you know the one). My newfound love for Taco bell. Hostage was a dream (a really hot dream). We cooked our own meal, which was great. Every single time we listened to MUS in the car. And danced along. Swimming in Lake Michigan with and without friends. Taking ratchet pictures on the pier. Random put-put golfing with the fam. Eating s'more dip in the morning. The countless board games. Salvation Army (wow....finally!). My Misterwives concert.

It wouldn't have been this much fun without all my friends. I have high hopes for next summer (I know we can top it). I'm feeling sorta nostalgic so I might as well stop listing the good times. I honestly can't say whether or not the school year will be this cool. Probably not, to be honest. We did a lot of great things this summer.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children Book Review

I don't normally write reviews, but I also don't normally have such confusing feelings about a book.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs took me two days to complete. So I must have enjoyed it. I must have been entertained. Indeed, I feel that I was. But each time I picked it up, my head hurt a little bit. 

The story starts off normal enough with plenty of room to grow. Since it's the beginning of the book, and every book is different, I expect the plot to pick up as I got further in. In my opinion, I don't believe it did much. The middle was faster and more exciting, but I felt the beginning and even the end really dragged. 

*Spoiler,* but I didn't know this was going to be a time travel book. Which I didn't have an issue with, it just surprised me. I also didn't know this would be a book with magical birds, named an unpronounceable name. AGH. 

There were times where I waited for more information to be shared or revealed. I found this quite confusing, like pieces of important information were being left out of the story. Confusing things would happen, and Miss Peregrine would go on to explain something else entirely to Jacob, so I had trouble keeping up with the story. 

I didn't find many of the characters to be particularly likable. We didn't get the chance to know many of the peculiar uses very well. I don't like Miss Peregrine at all. Emma annoys me, Jacob's father's an ass, and Jacob is boring and sort of one dimensional. 

I enjoyed the book, though it was more plot driven than I tend to read, so hopefully there's character growth to be seen in Hollow City and Library of Souls. I like the premise a lot, but unfortunately the plot is kind of boring to me. 

I'm struggling to understand how I gave this a four star rating. Why did I read it so fast? Did I actually enjoy it? Am I just talking about the bad things right now?, leaving out all I liked about the book? 

I'd definitely give this book more of a three-and-a-half star rating. Again, I'm confused why it amused me so. 

Summer's End TBR

There are so many books I would like to get at before the end of my summer vacation. I know I will not be able to read them all, but hopefully I can read some. 

If I could get to even half of these, I would be ecstatic. Here they are:

-Brave New World

-EVE: The Awakening

-Sea of Monsters

-Dear Aurora

-Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

-Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

-Queen of Shadows

I know that seven is a lofty goal, but when broken down, it's not quite so bad. I have to read Brave New World for school, so that's one. And I plan on listening to Harry Potter on audiobook, which hardly counts as reading. Queen of Shadows is a new release (and it's Sarah J. Maas so I'll devour that shit). That's almost half already. 

I have no doubt that I can read three or four books before my summer ends. 

What were your reading goals for this  summer? Did you reach them? We're you far off? Were you close?

Camps for Band and Writing

NaNoWriMo update, as promised. I won, and it was a terrible win. Or maybe epic. 

I won in the last half hour, which is pretty on edge for me. But I was out ALL MONTH having fun and serving the community and spending time reading and being around friends and family. 

Not focusing on writing. 

I never adjusted my word goal. I guess things worked out okay in the end. I'm not sure how to handle August. I'll be busy, but I'd love to have a draft of my project by September 30. Far fetched? Maybe. Can I do it? If I work hard. 

Camp number two--marching band camp. I'm pumped. I don't have enough energy to type how pumped I am. I've been cooked like a lobster from pre-band practices. 

Which is alright. I'll tan/peel if off. Until next time (when I'm probably even more tired than now--which is exhausted). 

I'm ready, let's go, RMB. 

NaNoWriMo Struggles

I shouldn't be complaining that my summer has been fun and busy, but I for real need to buckle down and write about 5000 words now.

Last week I was at a service camp through my church. It was an incredible experience, and I got to serve the elderly and disabled in my community by singing in different nursing/retirement homes. But I'm glad to be in my own bed again.

I went a solid two weeks without working on my story, which I'm ashamed to admit. My July goal of writing every day lasted about ten days, and I'm back to scrambling to get words in (like always).

How did I ever like participating in NaNoWriMo? But I guess at the end of it all, this isn't about NaNoWriMo, but rather about me having discipline and getting down to writing. If I want to have my first draft done by September 30, I will need to pick up the pace. In the past few weeks, I'm completely lost focus and sight of my writing goals. By blogging and documenting, I hope to change that.

Goal: I'll check in with a successful writing update before the end of the month. Either I'll have won NaNoWriMo or not.

Carrot: I can feel good about myself and go to band camp stress free!

Stick: There will be an even bigger writing goal for August.

Truth: There will probably be an even bigger writing goal for August anyway because this story won't write itself.

Apologies for rambling. It's tired, I'm late.

Summer TBR (or Rather, a Lack Thereof)

Summer is a time of spontaneity. It is a time of not planning. It is a time perfect for deciding on the spot. 

That is why I am officially not giving myself a firm summer TBR. 

Of course there are books I would love to read this summer. Things I've had for awhile or things I want to purchase but don't have money for yet. But it's important I make my decision of what to read next only after I finish a book. 

This past week, I plowed through Mistborn: The Final Empire. Spontaneity lead me to drive to Barnes & Nobles, pick up a copy of The Well of Ascension, and start reading the sequel early the next day. All school year, I loved for the freedom to make choices like these; I was sick of the meticulous planning of what I'd do and when. Now, I don't need to worry anymore. Now I just read. 

I think that's the way I need things to be for now. Because as long as I'm reading, I'm happy. It doesn't really matter what I'm reading so much as I'm making the most of my summer. 

Writing Journals

I have started a writing journal.

I owe it to Susan Dennard, writing and blogging extraordinaire, and her posts here and here. To Ms. Dennard, I am eternally grateful.

I have no idea if it'll last, but for the past two weeks, I've been pushing myself everyday to work on my novel. (This novel, Untitled, is something I wrote during NaNoWriMo of April 2014. It was not very good, so now I'm trying to make it better.) Usually before bed every night, I plan something, create a few more characters and map them out, or write a scene. Then, I catalog what I did to move forward, how I felt about it, and what I need to accomplish next.

This surprisingly easy way of listing out what I do and what I need to do has been extremely successful.

Not only has writing in a journal kept me on task, but it's also psychologically pushed me to write or work on my story even when I don't want to. I look forward to getting the chance to brag about my success or complain about my lack of motivation. I find it attaches me to my work more and more as well as loosens my creativity.

Last night, I wrote something I was really proud of. To anyone increasing their productivity, I highly recommended this method of documenting your process.

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current music: the spirit of adventure : michael giachinno : up

May Wrap-Up

I read three books this month! I also finished my AP US history text book (all 921 pages of it) and started another book.

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas was spectacular, but I already wrote about it here so I'm not going to go into depth. 

Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson was amazing. Amazing doesn't do it justice, but I don't know how else to describe it. The writing was so easy to read, and I read it so quickly. I fell in love with a lot of the characters, and though it wasn't a perfect book (at times, I wasn't a fan of Taylor and Henry's romance) I liked it enough to grant it 4 starts on Goodreads.

Lastly, I read The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Sallinger. I really didn't like it. Holden was too unlikable, and his narrating seemed too unreliable. The ending was good-ish but it ended too soon. No wrap-up, no explanation, no Jane Gallagher. Overall, pretty disappointing.

In addition, I started Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson and I'm eternally grateful to BookTube for suggesting this to me. I'm blown away by the plot and world building. I haven't been reading it for a few days, but I've been busy with homework. Hopefully I can get to it tonight for awhile.

Next, I plan on reading An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir. Maybe I'll tune into the Booksplosion discussion taking place next weekend.

On a similar note, it's Book Expo America this weekend, and I'm sad because there's no place I'd rather be. Alas, I am stuck in the cool and rainy Midwest. Perhaps someday.

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current music : lose it : oh wonder : oh wonder

I Need A Break

I need a break. 

I have been working hard for school nonstop since spring break ended. Exams are coming up, and things are only going to get harder before teachers pass out exam reviews. I'm still learning in most of my classes, an alarming but true fact. In just a few short weeks, my knowledge on this new and old information will be tested. 

My brother's graduation party is up north at our cottage this weekend. I'm excited for the party, but I'm mostly looking forward to relaxing. It's been better now that APUSH is over, but I still can't claim that I'm totally relaxed. Soon, though. It'll be summer before I know it, and I can spend warm days at the cottage and put with friends and reading in my back yard. 

In conclusion to this very short post, life is hard and stressful, and I need a break from it. I hope this weekend is every bit as cathartic as I need it to be before I dive head first into final exams. 

A Court of Thorns and Roses

Last night, I finished A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, My Queen. I adore her Throne of Glass series, so my expectations for the long anticipated ACOTAR were set high.

I was not disappointed with the world building and new set of characters! I noticed a lot of similarities and differences between Feyre and Celaena, which impressed me. Feyre was genuine and likable, even when she made dumb choices. Tamlin is also a beautifully constructed character, but he was quite absent from the second half of the book, so I lost a lot of my emotion for him. Lucien is my favorite (Oh, how I love the tragic back stories!). His life was cruel before we met him, and it just goes downhill from there.

The villains in this book are powerful and scary from the beginning. While Throne of Glass takes some time to build up terror towards the King, ACOTAR jumped right into making them real. Amarantha was horrifying, but I'm curious where SJM will go from there, since it was already so intense. Rhysand is more complicated, and I still haven't sorted out my thoughts for him. I like his character, but I'm not sure that I like him/admire him since he makes such poor decisions? I don't know--it's just something a lot of fans have been talking about. (This is me trying/failing to avoid spoiling.)

All in all, I really did enjoy the book. The plot was so interesting, and the build up to the climax was probably my favorite part (especially the second trial). I gave the book a 5-star rating on Goodreads, but my opinion might change in a week or two, as it usually does.

A disclaimer: I hate writing book reviews. My hope will always be to briefly share my thoughts while not spoiling and not boring myself.

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current music: stoick's ship : jim powell : how to train your dragon 2

Inspiration at World Championships

This past week, I had the amazing opportunity to attend FIRST Robotics Competition's World Championships with my robotics team. For some, this was a chance to observe the best high school-made robots in the world. For all, it was a time to learn and experience all that FIRST had to offer. For me, it was the experience I had been dreaming of to bond with my fellow robotics team.

The things we do at robotics are not simple. In 6 weeks, we are expected to build a fully functional robot for a specific task. But in addition to the mechanical aspect of the team, we have to maintain a group that takes a lot of planning to run. My closest friends on the team are probably those I've worked with the most: the marketing team. Together, we help manage--keeping us hyped and ready for competitions while making us look like a cohesive team.

Like any other sport or extracurricular, friendships are forged through the experiences with each other. The more time you spend with these people, the more you come to enjoy their presence. I realized this early in competition season last year. While at a regional competition my freshman year, I felt a bit of what the seniors felt in their four years together--utter adoration for each other and the program.

Being at worlds gave me a similar, but more powerful, feeling. The juniors and seniors above me and freshman below me have always been amazing friends. But until our time together this past week, I had not truly observed the familial bond that's been keeping me a part of FIRST robotics.

I am not a technical person. I've learned many things in my time on the robotics team, and I hope to learn many more throughout the rest of high school. But being on the team is an opportunity for me to work in business type relations with people to manage the team. I can respect how everyone has found his or her niche on the team while never excluding others. Hopefully, as my class gets older, the bonds between the students grow deeper and even more loving and compassionate. Hopefully by senior year, we can inspire incoming freshmen the way that the seniors inspired me.

I think it's really important to get involved with something and find your niche. I never would have envisioned myself on the robotics team if it weren't for the passion of the upperclassmen who looked like they were having the time of their lives building and making things. But here I am now, and here is my passion. Even if my passion is just the love within the team, the passion exists, and it will hold me to them until senior year.

The 5-Star System

There are so many reasons rating books is hard.

The comparison exists to make some books stand apart from the rest. I love the idea of having some favorites, some least favorites, and some in between books that leave no significant impression on you.

But what, exactly, are we comparing these books to?

In some ways, the 5-star system is rating books among genres. But because same system is used to rate books in historical fiction and fantasy, the historical fiction that I read would always have less stars. I find this frustrating because I like fantasy infinitely more than historical fiction, but I don't want to grade a good historical fiction down on the fact that it was historical fiction.

The star system is also used to compare books by a singular author. But if there's an author I love who has written books I love, I start running out of stars to differentiate the ways in which I liked the books. Perhaps one's plot was on par, and another had good characters, and yet another had a good message. Nothing is done to contrast the meaning behind the 5 stars I've given each.

Or perhaps the book is just being compared to itself. When rating books, this is the only way I can stand to do it. Does it have a good plot? Writing style? Likable characters? All of these things contribute to whether or not I like something.

But until I can explain my rating in words, the star system seems insufficient in doing what I'm trying to accomplish.

I use the 5-star system because it's universal. Goodreads uses it, and everyone understands the scale of "terrible" to "amazing." And I'm lazy, so I rarely write out my own reviews.

Despite my lack of motivation to write reviews, I still get angry whenever I think of the 5-star system. Maybe I should start rating books based on multiple categories. Maybe I'll come up with my own system sometime.

My Excuses for Pathetic Reading Habits

Life has been crazy, I haven't been reading, and here's why!

New semester means new classes, also: everything gets harder. My writing for publication class is a little more than I thought it'd be. I enjoy it a lot, but there's added homework that I'm not used to. Also, my classes are all kicking into high gear because it's third quarter, naturally my busiest time of year. 

I'm also in the school musical this year: Once Upon A Mattress. I have a small part in the chorus, but I've still had rehearsals 1-6 times a week since the beginning of January. The show is the weekend of March 19-21, so stress regarding it will be over soon. However, I'll be more busy in these coming weeks than any time ever. 

I'm also on my school's robotics team. We had a competition this past weekend (made it to the semi-finals!) and have another one the week of the musical. Meetings for the team have been about 10-15 hours a week for me, which is a lot on top of musical rehearsals. 

If that's not enough, I also need to prepare for State Solo & Ensemble. 

All of this has made me push off reading a little, not for lack of interest, but out of necessity. A few weeks ago, I was also having a reading slump but another book got me going last week (thanks Lola and the Boy Next Door!). 

Right now, I'm just trying to fit everything in (homework, robotics, rehearsals). March will be even busier than January and February!

This is just for the sake of documentation. Thanks for bearing with me. 

2015 TBR Reading Goals

I've got some, and here they are!

The Precious Stones trilogy by Kerstin Gier
I've heard nothing but good things about this series. I finished Ruby Red yesterday, and it's taking everything I have not to go out and buy Sapphire Blue.

The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare
I read Clockwork Angel in June of last year, and I really want to finish the series. My friend says they get better, and I'm holding her to her word on it (since I didn't think Clockwork Angel was all that great).

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
I'll be reading the book for school in a few months, so this book doesn't really need to be on this list. Still, it's been in my TBR for years.

The Maze Runner series by James Dashner
I didn't even really like the first book, I just want to finish them out of principle. I'm like that.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy by Laini Taylor
Kat from Katytastic on YouTube has raved about these books so many times, I just have to read them.
 

Queen of Shadows and A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas
The Throne of Glass books get better with each one, and Sarah J. Maas says this new one is her favorite. I have high hopes! I'm also hyped for her new series (in which people praise the chapter sampler that's been released).

Attachments and Landline by Rainbow Rowell
Haven't read them yet! Might as well reread Eleanor & Park and Fangirl while I'm at it.

Lord of the Rings trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien
Not just the books. No, man. The audiobooks.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
My class read it in 5th or 6th grade but I don't remember it. I've gotta try it again!

Lola & the Boy Next Door and Isla & the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins
I NEED THESE BOOKS IN MY LIFE.

Edgar Allan Poe poems and short stories
I love his stuff so much.

1984 by George Orwell
Not only is my APUSH teacher encouraging it, but Ariel Bissett from YouTube practically worships him. I value her opinions, so I'm gonna try it out.

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

Received it for my birthday, and I really want to start diversifying my reading selections. Some historical fiction will be a good twist to add, since I hardly ever read historical fiction.