fangirl. rainbow rowell. (275)

i remembering judging fangirl, which i first read as fanggirl, by it's cover. the color and the cute illustration made me think i should read. however, the fan in fangirl reminded me of fan fiction (and it suppose to do just that!), and i was like i'm not going to read fan fiction book.

what changed my mind is that rainbow rowell will be at bookcon and discussing fangirl, so i decided to read it.

i was surprised by how much i actually enjoyed this, even though it was cheesy at times!

cather is the fangirl at the center of this story, and all of the ups and downs of her first year of college.  the first challenge for cather was finding her own identity sans her twin sister, wren.  (yes, their mom took catherine and made it into two names, i have to admit i like cather like willa).  wren was the hotter and more assertive twin and due to this became the party animal.  there was some alcohol issues that arose and the sisters grew apart but wren gets her shit together and they make up in the end.  i have to add that reading about cather's first year and how she judged her sister made me realize what a mess i was my college years but hey i got good grasses and always made it to class.  i found a good balance between my partying and studying!

cather also had to deal with family stuff.  their dad was crazy, i mean i read about his idea for a firemen's pole and was like what the heck is wrong with him.  and of course there was an issue.  but that got resolved.  also the girls' mother left when they were young and had to work through all that.  i understood cather's hatred of her mother, i never hated my dad but i did want nothing to do with him when he started to reach out to me.

of course, there are boys!! i for once knew that nick was going to be a cheat! i mean there was foreshadowing but i still want to feel smart about it.

cather's boyfriend, levi, was so sweet but i mean do college boys like him exist?!?! maybe i just went after the wrong type of guy. lol. i will say the whole roommate's ex things was weird and i would have never done that in college.  it was also funny to read about cather dealing with her sexual desires and just wanting to touch him.  i was not that innocent in college and moved at a way quicker pace then her. god! i was such a floozy in comparison. lol. also their whole getting off on the fan fiction was even too nerdy for me!  but i mean 50 shades of grey is prove that people get off on it!

so the fan fiction!  cather wrote fan fiction based on a wizard named simon snow which is of course based on harry potter.  harry potter is named dropped as to kind of make it seem like it's not based on him but ya know.  simon's archenemy is a vampire, baz, and in her fan fiction, cather makes them gay! cather has a huge fan base, but her fan fiction affects her writing in college, but she gets all of that sort out in the end as well.  people's judgey-ness about fan fiction was addressed, but i still don't see it as a legit form of writing.  i mean people love it, but its not for me.

and before i close loved the idea of emergency kanye dance party!

oh and one last thing!  i had no idea that kansas had such a big mexican population.  i was surprised to read all about cather's hs boyfriend being mexican and his mom making delicious tres leche cake.  also wren's college boyfriend was Mexican, though i have never heard of an alejadrano, going by jandro.  and i was even more surprised by all the taco trucks, cather and her dad ate at! 

okay this is the last thing.  i really need to read outsiders, cather and levi made out after she read it to him.

all in all, a sweet story.  a great book for first years! reminded how roommate meals were a great bonding experience.  a bit cheesy but a good read for young adults!

the calder game. blue balliett. brett heloquist. (228)

while at the albany park library, when subbing, the book spine for the calder game caught my eye.  was it about the artist, alexander calder? i amazoned it and was, so i put in a request at the library.

the lacma had a calder exhibit a while back and i remember being in awe of the mobiles.  just like the characters in the novel, i was impressed by their balance and the movement.  there was not too much movement with all the pieces though in its little own little pocket, a slight flow of air moved the mobile, "snow flurry" which i thought was magical and my favorite!!  so i was excited to see what the novel had to offer.

i have to say that right off the back the bat, the epigraphs were a quote from alexander calder and banksy!!!

the calder game is actually the third in a series that center around a preteen boy named calder and his bests friends petra and tommy.  they are like a mini mystery solving team and a little reminiscent of harry potter and his gang down to petra and hermione both having hair issues.  calder is name for alexander calder, (which i thought i was adorable and i might steal if i ever have a boy) his parents loved alexander calder's work around chicago, where they live.  i have been to chicago but was unaware of the massive calders that are there.  i would like a trip back to see them especially universe in the sears tower.  i think i went to the sears tower but i do not recall universe. oh well.  i have been to the mca which is where the calder exhibit takes place in the novel.

the calder game opens with the calder and his friends on a class trip to visit the exhibit.  they are with a strict teacher and so are unable to fully enjoy it.  i have to add that these kids were also some serious deep things for their age.  however, i hope that their love and insight about the art would inspire kids that read this work to visiti museums.  calder discovered a room in which guest were invited to create their own mobiles as part of the calder game.  sadly, their strict teacher does not allow them.

then, calder received exciting news that he is going to england with his father.  his father is going for work and calder to gets to tag-a-long.  they are both in shocked when they arrive because in the square of the small english village they are staying in is a calder sculpture, the minatour (which the author made up).  calder explored the village on his own,  which i found shocking because he was only twelve but it was a small town.  in his defense, he is very bright for his age though he can not spell for the life of him which i found out of character.  but i guess the author wanted him to seem his age.  as calder explored he began to learn that the village is not friendly toward americans and hate the calder sculpture which was donated by an anonymous donor.

then one day, calder and the minatour go missing.  they are two events seem unrelated.  it should be added that there is suspension banksy might be behind the missing sculpture. sadly calder's mother became injured on while packing for her trip over there so unable to come.  due to this, mrs. sharpe, a friend from previous adventures (aka books) decided to go to england and bring tommy and petra.  due to this mrs. sharpe reminded me of mrs. basil e. frankweiler.  however, mrs. sharpe is a bit uptight which is odd because she suggested taking the kids.

once in england, they all set on their ways to find calder.  i assumed that with the name game in it there would be sort of game that kids solved but there wasn't.  what caused the sculpture and calder to go missing was simply a series of random events.  in the end, calder is saved and the sculpture recovered.  i won't ruined the surprise.  but if you are anticipating something like the westing game look elsewhere.

i have to add the illustrations in the novel have calder code (a code the kids made up) hidden in it but i couldn't find them so gave up, so there is that for kids.

all in all, i think this is great book to hopefully get kids excited about art! i think it's great that it is filled with so much information on calder.  it is also filled with the history of that area of england.  i hope the other novels are like this and plan on reading those soon.

the casual vacancy. j.k. rowling (96)

i should have wrote that letter to j.k. rowling suggesting her next book be the story of harry potter but from the prospective of professor snape! it would give snape a chance to be the hero in his own words instead of via flashbacks. give him a chance to tell his side! but alas i never wrote that letter and even if i did and j.k. somehow read it, it would have never convinced her, because she was determined to write the anti-potter.

if you are a potterhead and looking to get a fix, look elsewhere. if you are a heroin addict, looking to get a fix, you should actually read this book because it will show you how heroin will ruin your life.

at first, i was hesitant to read "the casual vacancy" because i am not interested in politics. i am ignorant of what goes on in washington and the world because let's face it even if you are informed on the political affairs of the world, you are still ignorant. i believe the government only lets us know what it wants us to know. also i am one of those skeptics that believe that the masses can vote but it doesn't really count for anything. i vote for the sticker. so when i read the premise, i was certain that 500 pages of small town politics would bore me to death.

but guess what, it didn't. but also because it wasn't a political novel. well it was but in the sense that it is a novel about the class divide which is ultimately political. this novel actually reminded me of zadie smith's "nw" (amazon should consider doing a deal where you get both books for at a discount prices), both focus on the slums of england. oddly enough, i didn't like any of rowling's characters just like i didn't care for anyone in "nw". interestingly enough it was for the same reason, they were all horrible people who were selfish and only out for themselves. the only character i cared about was krystal weedon because she was dealt a bum hand by life. and yes there were some life choices she made that i didn't agree with but she dealt with her problems the only way she knew how.

quick digression. so the book is about the town of pagford and the divide within their middle due to the slums aka "the fields". interesting those those affected by the issue aka the lower class did not strive to keep their homes. this could a) be an analogy about how in politics the upper classes rule the lives of the lower without their knowing or b) the lower classes do not care about their own well being (which makes me question, why do the upper classes care than?)

this divide actually kept me interested in the book. my personal opinion on government assistance and welfare programs are that they have gone to shit. people abuse them. (see me on unemployment for 3 years). and there's no checks and balances on any of these programs. most people on assistance to not use the money properly. they buy iphones or ipads instead of what that money is allotted. plus a lot of time and energy is spent on people who would never spend the same amount of time and energy on themselves because let's be honest their lack of motivation in life is the reason why they need the assistance in the first place.

however, once i saw the story of krystal and how she could have a better life if she had the resources, i realized that life and assistance isn't so black and white. these welfare programs were put in place to help those in need. but sadly instead of doing that it has created a culture of dependence in which people abuse the aid. i have no real solution to this problem other than bitch about it. but i if i ruled the world, i would reform the programs to give assistance to those who truly needed it instead of junkies and teens that use their bastard children (sounds harsh but i am a bastard so it is kosher) as their meal ticket (krystal weedon planned on doing this).

at first glance, krystal seemed like the anti-potter. she was a girl born to a junkie mother who grew up in the slums. she skipped school, smoked, cussed, and had unprotected sex. but though rowling was trying to get away from her wholesome teen heros from hogsworth, krystal and harry both share a heart of gold. well krystal's was probably tainted a little, but she did try to sacrifice herself (via the attempt at pregnancy) to keep her family together. kinda like harry sacrificed himself for the world. also they are both searching for love due to lack of a home; krystal's single mom is a junkie and we all know what happened to harry's parents. both are also outsiders whose reputations proceed them, krystal is known as a hoodlum but she is actually a good kid. and well harry was a super star than a liar in the press about the return of he-would-at-that-time-couldn't-be-named and he really was the savior (not like blasphemous savior but he did save the world from evil.) so those rowling may have wanted her characters to be edgier, she still created a character you could care about.

however, her supporting characters were the opposite of the b-list characters in potter. whereas i loved ron, hermione, sirius black, remus, snape, and dobbie, i could have lived without all the other characters in "the casual vacancy". i absolutely hated simon and kept on wishing someone called the police about his abuse. he was such an asshole, i would have been okay with him dying. fats was another character i could not stand with his smugness and abuse of sukhvinder. (oh i forgot , i did like sukhvinder, she was a hero and had a heart of gold too.). i also couldn't handle gavin the coward. but everyone else were just sad.

also there were so many characters, it was overwhelming. like it was cool to see how they were all interconnected because that is how life is. but after a while, there were too many people. i could have done without knowing every detail of everyone's life.

overall, it was a good book but it wasn't great. i will not walk around singing its praise like i did once i gave harry potter a chance. i definitely would not recommend it to kids that read the series. this book talks about sex, drugs, affairs, and abuse, just to name a few. there is no denying that rowling is a good storyteller, she kept me interested with her plot twists. i was also shocked by her endings but without a person to truly care about or a cause to support, i did not get completely lost in the book. if you miss harry and the gang and looking for something to fill the void, just reread the series.

breaking down part 2. movie version.

WARNING: THIS BLOG CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!! (you have been warned so save your bitching.)

(yes, hell did freeze over and i saw a twilight movie at a movie theater!)

i debated about blogging about this movie but figured:

a) it is based on a book and i did blog about "the perks of being a wallflower"
b) with the movie versions of "life of pi", "les miserables", "anna karenina" and "on the road" coming out, i should start the trend of blogging about movies based on books
c) it was a PDC dance moms book club event (though we didn't read the book)

i have never been interested in the "twilight" series, books or movies. my grandma said it was a bunch of teenage fluff and no offense but not interested in reading about a love triangle consisting of a girl, a vampire and a werewolf and their teen angst and sexual frustration. so never read the books. i did see part of the first movie, but had no desire to watch the movies. the movie franchise got too out of control for me to get on the bandwagon. i can admit that robert pattinson is hot, pasty and tall, swoon. i think taylor looks prepubescent so feel like a pervert when i look at him. yes, abs are hot but not on a 12 year old. and seriously kristen stewart???! ever since i saw her first vmas appearance, i can not stomach her. she is not an actress, girl is not acting. she is that weird and awkward in real life and luckily finds roles in which she has to be the weird and awkward girl. (for the record, yes i am sad that she is "on the road".)

however, i decided to break my no-twilight-rule when the PDC dance moms book club decided to see "breaking drawn part 2". i could be a team player plus i owed robert pattinson one for drunkenly harassing him at an adele concert, for this photo:

as much as it pains me to admit this, it wasn't that bad. it was actually entertaining. i enjoyed how they gathered up the different vampires from all over the world. i found it interesting how some of the vampires had special powers, even the evil ones. and that british vampire was dreamy and eye candy always makes everything better.

but here is my laundry list of what i did not enjoy:

-the "war" being a premonition. what a cop out! i got caught up in the battle, i was sad when carlisle died, and cheered when the bad guys died (btw, loved dakota fanning as a villain). and instead of rejoicing when it turned out that it didn't happen, i was disappointed. it was like meyer didn't have the balls to have a real battle. in harry potter, we (yes, we, i loved this series) lost so many amazing people in the battle against evil: sirius, remus, tonks, dumbledore, dobby!!! because guess what, life is unpredictable and unfair and sometimes we lose the ones we love so that good can prevails over evil. furthermore, the kid seemed to be okay with dying. they should have given her up. i mean harry potter sacrificed himself and that aspect is what made that story so powerful. i think the just-kidding-it-was-all-a-dream-ending prevented "breaking dawn" from being great. it lost its heart. instead it was a lame hollywood ending where everyone lives happily ever after.

-in regards to this happily ever after ending, everything cleaned up waaaaay too nicely. seriously jacob and their kid ending up together?!?!? that was gross and the story should not have gone there. in what universe would this be okay?!?! what about an ending showing jacob okay with being single the rest of his life and hooking up with chicks for all of eternity? wouldn't that be more realistic for a werewolf in a vampire movie? lol

-the sex scene 30 minutes into he movie?!?!? i could have lived without watching them christian their house. and the talk about, "wow you were holding back" and "how will we stop ourselves from going at it all the time". seriously, spoken like someone who has been sexually repressed their entire life. (see: meyer is mormon. this sounds harsh but i was raised mormon, i know). people having sex when they want and for as long as they want?!?! these concepts are neither ground-breaking or revolutionary, in real life or the vampire genre. i think twilight's original message of abstinence is important for teens but it does send the wrong message that once married, the lead character turns into a sex fiend. bella was first the virgin temptress and then the horny sex addict. women should not be restricted to only two sexualities the virgin or the whore. we can have healthy sexual appetities without feigning innocent or craziness. we should try to break the virgin/slut whore versus reinforce it!

-instead of abstinence, safe sex needed to be discussed. if half-breeds could potentially pose danger to the world, shouldn't they have been more careful in terms of birth control?!?! edward should have wrapped it up or bella should have been on the pill. just because you are married doesn't mean you are ready to have kids or that you should have them, so you should still take precautions. again another indication of their sexual immaturity.

-lastly, how did the writers let that loch ness monster line remain in the movie?!?!??

so those are my complaints and oddly enough i might read the series but that is just so i can have proof for my avoidance of this series instead of just my snobbiness.

the magicians. lev grossman. (65)

like i mentioned before, i also check out books for grandma bea. grandma bea was running low on books by her favorite authors so i googled "if you liked harry potter, you should check out" to find books for her. (grandma bea is a huge potter fan, she got me into the series) i came across "the magicians" and decided to check it out. my friend saba had read it before and said it was supposed to be harry potter for grown ups. in fact that is what is says on the back cover.

i gave to grandma bea but she didn't like it. i think she read the first 50 pages or so and stopped because she couldn't get into it. even though it lacked her endorsement i decided to give it a chance.

unsurprisingly, i couldn't get into it as well. after 100 pages i wanted to give up. i didn't like quentin, he was too negative and an unlikely hero but not in charming endearing way but in a wow-this-kid-is-a-real-asshole way. he was and is no harry potter. i didn't want to read because i didn't care about him. but i couldn't give up for the following reasons: a) the junto diaz endorsement on the back, i loved "oscar wao" so i respected his opinion and thought that maybe i should wait it out, b) this blog, if i didn't finish it would i be able to blog about it (i decided i could, because occasionally i'll check out a stinker), c) i don't like giving up on books, even if i don't like it, i figure i should finish it so my hatred is at least founded. so i texted my friend juliana (who i saw had read it on good reads) for her opinion on my quitting. she said she loved it. but i should stop. since she loved it, i decided to continue. plus quentin was entering his fourth year and what occurred was cool so i thought it was on the up and up.

i was wrong. due to my already judgy-ness about this book, reading it was like pulling teeth. i wasn't interest in the plot, especially with their post-brakebills lives. don't get me wrong, i would have love to live their bohemian lives but as a magicians they could do so much more. (this was a huge subplot so maybe my restlessness with their lives was what grossman was trying to create?) i absolutely loved the story plot that penny introduced and was excited for what was to come but even that was a letdown. what it boiled down to is that i thought all of the characters were assholes, in addition to being useless. the only character i liked was alice and would have preferred the story from her perspective because she was the only one with integrity. and i get it. grossman was trying to be realistic. the teens and twentysomethings of this generation (and i guess any generation) are jaded, selfish, unmoral, and cowardly. it was hard to become invested in them when i thought they were all pieces of shit. i wish he had characters of better substance, like harry potter, i mean grown up harry potter probably had heart, these kids had nothing. in addition to having bad personalities they were also bad magicians. i admit that if i had to encounter all that they did in their adventure, i would have be unable to utilize my magic skills but these kids sucked. they couldn't do anything, which made their schooling seem pointless. and who wants to read a book about bad magicians? or bad teens? this book is a fantasy, but i still want heroes i can believe it.

but i guess the real problem was that grossman is a bad storyteller. i didn't get lost in his book like i did in the harry potter series. and i know that the first two potters were not all that and since this was the first of the magicians books there was a lot of set up, so i can't have too high of expectations. but those excuses aside it was still bad writing. i felt like i was just reading words on a paper instead of being transported to a different world. even the fighting scenes were a snoozefest. it was kinda like when someone tells a funny story but then they and you realize in order for it to be funny you had to be there. i felt like that while reading "the magicians", i had to be there cos grossman was not a strong enough writer for me get it via his words. i mean chatwin stories in the book seemed a lot more interesting and i kept wish i was reading those instead.

also i hated that this wasn't a book within a book. it would have been better if it was.

i mean with the right director this could be a great movie. the premise was good it was just the writing that was bad and a screenplay adapter can fix that right up. if they do make a movie, i would go see it but read the second book? probably not.

ps though i am an alcoholic, i thought their drinking was excessive. i mean i did my fair share of drinking in college but it was always fun and adventurous. their drinking was boring and sad.