Oh, phooey July 30, 2009
Posted by Jess in books, rant.8 comments
So I’m really, really thankful that I already own Book of a Thousand Days in hardcover. Otherwise, I’d end up with this. Look, it’s not like it’s bad or anything. Just… I don’t know. I’m not a huge fan. Maybe it’s because for the last two years I’ve been staring at the other cover. Or maybe it’s because I’ve never been a fan of covers that have the character’s faces on them. The thing I loathe most about the cover is the fact that Stephenie Meyer has a blurb on there. Again? I mean, seriously. She’s already all over the Books of Bayern. Does she honestly need to be on this cover too? I’m the sort of person who would not read a book if Stephenie Meyer had blurbed it, so I suppose I’m lucky that I discovered Shannon Hale before then. Thank you, Stephenie Meyer. Thanks for showing up nearly everywhere in life. Sadly, it’s gotten to the point where I hardly notice all the Twilight-y stuff out there simply because I’m used to it and I expect it to be there. Oh, society… Where did you go wrong? Well, society was already going the wrong way before Twilight, but when Edward and Bella barbies start showing up, you start thinking that you’d like to exist in an alternate universe from most of humanity.
Thoughts on the new Harry Potter film July 28, 2009
Posted by Jess in movies.5 comments
It was good.
Really good.
Dark.
Funny.
Cute in places. (I’m a sucker for romance.)
Oh my goodness, I adore Snape. Just because, ya know, he’s Snape. And he’s awesome.
But…
Bellatrix was…eghad, she was amazing. Just wow.
I’ll admit that I nearly had a heart attack during the movie. Anyone who’s seen this movie will know what I’m talking about when I say “the hand.” When the scene with “the hand” happened, my sister grabbed my elbow and I emitted a very strange, very low garbled sort of noise. Believe me, we weren’t the only people in the theater who had some sort of reaction. * shudders at memory *
And Draco… Hehe. I never could take him seriously for some reason, and I still don’t.
So I’d like to talk about books… July 26, 2009
Posted by Jess in books.7 comments
Really I would. It occurred to me this afternoon that I haven’t really talked to anyone about books lately. Lemme tell ya–the thought is entirely tragic. I suppose it’s kind of my fault because I haven’t really been around to talk to people really. But even that isn’t my fault. This has been a busy and dramatic summer so far. So I blame summer. Anyhoo, I want to throw a few recommendations and non-recommendations here.
The Juliet Club by Suzanne Harper
Highly recommended.
I liked it muchly. I read it while I was up north last week in my spare time. It was exactly what I wanted to read; good, clean chicklit with a splash of Shakespeare and a classic hate-at-first-sight, comedy of errors romance. I loved the characters. Loved them.
Airhead by Meg Cabot
Sorta recommended.
I don’t know… It was a Meg Cabot book. That’s all I can really say. I definitely liked this one more than some of her other books (i.e. How to Be Popular and Teen Idol.) I did put the sequel, Being Nikki, on hold at the library. That tells me that I enjoyed to Airhead to some extent. (By the way, I have never liked one of Meg Cabot’s heroines.)
Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston
Recommended.
Well, it was a wondrous strange book. Yet, in some odd way, I enjoyed it. I’m rather enjoying my jump into urban fantasy. A few months ago I realized I hadn’t read much and decided I really ought to give it a try. It’s not my favorite genre, but I have read a few winners. Lament comes to mind.
Distant Waves: A Novel of the Titanicby Suzanne Weyn
Not recommended.
Eghad. This book just…wow. It’s…different. But not in a good way. If I told you, I would totally be giving away the ending. Let’s just say that I felt like throwing this book in a vat of burning oil.
Fly Girl by Sherri L. Smith
Highly recommended.
This is one of the few book in the past few months that I have truly enjoyed. And that’s saying something, because I have not really been enjoying anything.
The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
Highly recommended.
It took me forever to read this. I swear everyone else has read this one already. I found it to be rather predictable, and the story fell apart a little for me toward the end, but I really enjoyed this one.
Trouble by Gary D. Schmidt
Very, very highly recommended.
Amazing, lovely, incredible book. The writing, the characters, the story. Everything.
Well, I’d like to hear something from the rest of ya’ll. Which of these have you read? How much would you recommend them? Thoughts or opinion on what you did or didn’t like? I’m highly curious.
On reading… July 18, 2009
Posted by Jess in Uncategorized.2 comments
I’ve noticed that in the past my reading tastes were one particular thing at one particular time. I would go through a phase in which I’d only want historical or only want fantasy or only want something comtemporary. Well, today I realized that I don’t do that anymore. My reading tastes can’t be defined as any one thing. (Except for that fact that I definitely prefer young adult, but I do read some adult or middle grade if it looks good.) I’ve been in something of a reading slump lately. Everything fails to impress me. Even if it was by all technicality a good book, it didn’t make an impression on me. That’s how I rate books. I rate them based on how they made me feel. Maybe the writing wasn’t amazing, but their was a character that I loved more than I’d usually love a character. Or maybe the writing was entirely lovely but the plot was lacking. Either way, there was something in the book that made me feel happy or something, so it got a higher rating. I take the rating system on GoodReads as it is. Five stars: It was amazing. Four stars: Really liked it. Three stars: Liked it. Two stars: It was okay. One star: Didn’t like it. I rate books exactly as that says. Sometimes people take three stars to mean a bad rating. Well, I’m not sure why. Three stars means I liked it. No, it wasn’t the best thing I ever read, but obviously it was far from the worst. If I didn’t like a book, I will not hesitate to give it one star. I have no problem with giving a book one star. I will give a book one star the same way I’ll give a book five stars. If the writing is lovely but I hated the story and the characters, I’ll give it one star. Seriously. I rate on how I feel. A book doesn’t need to have lovely writing and good characterization and a good plot for me to find it amazing. Guess what? I don’t The Goose Girlby Shannon Hale is the best book ever written. Far from it. But Ani is so much like me. And I love Geric. And the writing is pretty, if not flowery at times. Something about Ani has resonated with me from the very first time I read that book over two years ago, and it has since been a favorite. It’s amazing to me despite its imperfections.
But.
The technical things like writing and plot obviously do matter to me. I mean, all I have to do is think of how I’ve ranted on those particular things before. Okay, so I do think Eragonis poorly written, but even if it had lovely writing and a more original plot, I still wouldn’t like it much. A boy and a dragon and the end of the world just isn’t my thing. Besides, I rather like Eragon the way he is. If it were any different, I wouldn’t get to make fun of it. What? Eragon does kind of set himself up to be made fun of…
Anyhoo, so I really kinda meant to put another video up, but I’m having some uploading troubles. I’ve also been very busy today. I’m going to be very busy tomorrow. I’ve g0t church in the morning, shopping and packing in the afternoon, and then youth group, etc. I’m leaving Monday to go up north. I’ll be back Friday. In that span of five days I shall be in Maryland, New Jersey, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. That means a lot of driving. I shall be taking several books. I’m not sure which ones yet. Methinks Airhead, The Juliet Club, Wondrous Strange, and goodness knows what else. So this will be the last blog post until I get back. Hopefully I can post the other two videos when I’m home again. By the way, my vlog is password protected, but if you want the password, just email me. I’ll give it to you unless you’re some random person I’ve never heard from in my life.
Ta-ta for now.
Off to contemplate packing,
Jess
Protected: Vlog Part One July 16, 2009
Posted by Jess in Uncategorized.Enter your password to view comments
Flip-flop sizes…They’re all wrong July 16, 2009
Posted by Jess in randomness.5 comments
You’d think buying flip flops would be easy. By all that’s reasonable, it should be easy. I mean, let’s say you wanted to find a cute-ish, comfortable pair that would go with everything. Oh, but life isn’t easy, even when it comes to shoe shopping. It wasn’t so bad finding a cute-ish, comfortable pair that would go with everything. I did that within five minutes. So there I am with a darling pair of flip flops when I realized they weren’t in my size. Maybe I was attempting to flatter my size eight and a half feet by holding up a size six pair. There were a million pairs of these flip flops that I liked. There should have been at least one eight and half. But no. Not one to be seen. Then I realized something interesting about the sizes. There was small which was for sizes 5-6. There was medium for sizes 7-8. And there was large for sizes 9-10. Excuse me? What about us half sized people? Don’t we count for anything? I ended up with a medium. The large was way too big. The medium does well enough, I suppose. But seriously, who decided to ignore the half-sizes? There are a lot of us out there with half sizes.
So….
How many of ya’ll are a size and a half?
Sigh July 15, 2009
Posted by Jess in randomness.10 comments
In the break I took from blogging, I forgot a very important lesson. Sometimes people leave really ridiculous comments on your blog. Sometimes they are very vulgar. Almost always from people you don’t know. And, well, they require deletion. Do you know how many extremely offensive and vulgar comments I have deleted since my last two posts? Gah. Well, if people want to overreact, that’s their problem. It doesn’t bother me that people likeAdam Lambert. It shouldn’t bother them if I don’t like him. I mean, I am my own person. I am welcome to my likes and dislikes. This isn’t really a hard thing to learn… Ah, well. I’m just loving this warm welcome back to blogging by all those random people who have nothing better to do than leave nasty comments.
On that which rather frightens me… July 14, 2009
Posted by Jess in Music.4 comments
So I mentioned yesterday that I’m not exactly wild about “Ring of Fire.” I don’t care who’s singing it. Whether it’s Johnny Cash, Adam Lambert, or some random punk down the street I really don’t like the song. I scares me. Methinks I shall explain why. Let’s start with the very beginning of the song…
“Love is a burning thing, And it makes a fiery ring, Bound by the wild desire, I fell into a ring of fire.”
The first time I heard that, it inspired an interesting reaction. “WHO THE HECK WOULD WANT TO FEEL LIKE THAT?!” Just sayin’. I have my own conception of what real and true love is. It certainly has nothing to do with fire or burning. I just find this song royally unromantic. Fire is put out by a third party called water, ya know. How romantic. And, if I didn’t already have my own conception of love, this song would make me afraid to fall in love. That’s another thing… “Fall in love.” Sure, I use that expression, but I actually find it really stupid. What comes at the end of a fall? A very painful crash. Again, just sayin’. Just my personal opinion here, but comparing love to burning or falling is just weird to me. Anyhoo, next part of the song…
“I fell into a burning ring of fire, I went down down down, And the flames went up higher, And it burns burns burns, The ring of fire, the ring of fire.”
Um…that’s romantic? I mean, I was under the impression that burning is a rather painful process. Now I’m not saying that love is all daffodils and giggles and happiness. Because it’s not. And, yes, sometimes love can be very painful. But I think this song is supposed to be romantic, and talking about burning just isn’t. (Same goes for you too, Jonas Brothers, with your own “Burnin’ Up.”)
And, gah, lastly what scares me about the song is the way Adam Lambert sings it. Eghad. I just…wanted to run away and hide.
So yeah. That’s pretty much why I don’t like that song. Sorry about some of the heavy sarcasm. I’m not out to offend; I just wanted to express a personal opinion.
While on the topic of music….
One of my favorite of favoritest songs in the world is “Hey There Delilah.” Now the song is rather bittersweet, but it always makes me happy. It’s the first song I listen to when I’m sad. If Delilah is loved when she’s so far away and there’s still hope of a future for the lovebirds, then something in the world is happy. And that knowledge makes me happy.
Ya know, I didn’t plan on posting today. I don’t plan on posting tomorrow, but if something brilliant comes to mind, I will.
Off to read,
Jess
Um…hi? July 14, 2009
Posted by Jess in lists.17 comments
So I really have no idea if any of my readers before are going to read this, but it’s worth a shot. I might kind of possibly miss blogging. I mean, it is fun, really. Albeit, I am glad for the break I took. Like really glad. Sometimes one just needs a break, ya know. Well, I had told a couple people that I’d like to take blogging back up in August when school starts, but I was thinking that maybe it wouldn’t hurt to take it back up now. I can’t promise to post often. I honestly don’t know how much I’ll be posting.
Now that I’ve got all that said, I ought to say something interesting…
Well….
Have you guys seen the New Moon trailer. It’s good for the lolz. My goodness, what is it with Bella? She’s all, “Kiss me” with this uber-freaky quirk of her eyebrow. That sure as anything did not look like a romantic moment. What it looked like was Bella seducing Edward. And, hehe, the facial expressions Eddie-Baby makes in that trailer. I can’t even pick one. He makes so many. Gotta love RPattz for his facial expressions. Big mood lifters they are.
Eh, I just realized that the New Moon trailer is fairly old news. I need to think of something else interesting.
Well, it’s 11:15 PM over here in sunny Florida. Kellie Pickler is singing “Red High Heels.” I’ve been thinking about things that somehow manage to be scarier than I am. (I’d like to think that I have a semblance of freakiness about me. I’m a writer. I should be able to give off that aura of general freakiness and oddness.) So…that which is freakier than me…
1. Adam Lambert
2. Adam Lambert singing “Ring of Fire.” (I would link it, but it’s just so frightening.It’s only my first day back blogging, and I’d really rather not be responsible for any emotional scarring of my readers. Oh…I already mentioned Eddie-Baby. Yes, I can see how he is emoti0nally scarring.)
3. Barney (He’s a purple dinosaur. So help me–When I have kids, they are not watching that show.)
4. People who attempt (and utterly fail) at doing their own versions of Josh Groban’s songs. (People need to understand that there are some notes that they should not attempt.)
5. The fact that there are people who eat haggis. (Don’t know what that is? Eh, you’re better off in your ignorance.)
So did you notice that Eddie-Baby was not on that list? Haha. That’s because he’s not freakier than me. He wishes he were. I mean, besides the fact that Edward displays some stalkerish qualities, he’s really not that scary. He sparkles. Sparkles are not scary and prevent me from taking him seriously in any way.
Sleepily yours and glad to have posted,
Jess
Okay, well… May 18, 2009
Posted by Jess in Uncategorized.7 comments
Well, you see, I have a lot going on right now in my life. Yes, I know I’m done with school until August, but I really do have a lot going on this summer. Blogging just isn’t a priority right now though. It hasn’t been a priority for quite some time. I’m slacking on all things blogging. That includes writing blog posts, reading other people’s blogs, and leaving comments. So instead of stressing over the fact that I write blog posts about once a week now when I used to write a few a week, I think it’s time to say goodbye to blogging for a while. Just…no time to think about it. No time to deal with the stress that can come with writing blog posts. I’d like to get back into blogging sometime. I’m just not sure when. I might throw in a couple random posts this summer, but I might not. So along with this quitting blogging for the time, I’m not sure how much I’ll be reading other blogs. I’d like to check back at some particular favorites from time to time. We’ll see. It all depends on how the rest of this summer goes.
I’d like to thank all my readers. Your comments are, admittedly, my favorite thing about blogging. I love comments. I like hearing what other people think. I’ve been at this blog for about 21 months, I think. Some of my readers have been reading since I started. I think that’s pretty cool. And I’m thankful for all the readers that I picked up on the way. 
So thanks for being awesome people.
Ciao.
