lol I'm so awkward about actually commenting on people's journals. It feels like "sdfljsds what if I'm annoying them, we don't know each other well enough, what if my comment weirds them out, I probably just shouldn't bother it won't end well." The only exceptions to this are like. Ginny, Reili, my brothers. Saki, too, and Tania and Tealbot and to a lesser extent Sammiface and maybe someone else idk? I JUST GET SO AWKWARD, why am I so retarded at any sort of interaction. MY SOCIAL LINKS ARE CRAP, GUYS.


Although some of them are maxed beyond maxed.


Hey, you. If you ever actually find the time to check your friendslist.


Stop making me go all stupid over you. Everyone thinks I'm a freak.


My kouhai are going to be so obnoxious about this tomorrow.


I'm sorry I kept elbowing you. Maybe we'll suck less at this whole snuggling thing next time, yeah?


I love you.


(But you knew that.)

X-post to bookish, books, booksarelove, readplease, 50books_poc, and thereadingroom

Two really remarkable books, both in the coming of age category and one in the historical fiction genre by Hawaiian authors.

Title: Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers
Author: Lois Ann Yamanaka
Genre: Coming-of-age, Literary Fiction, Hawaiiana
My Rating: 10 out of 10 stars

Summary (from Good Reads): In her exuberant first novel, Lois-Ann Yamanaka tells the story of young Lovey Nariyoshi, who lives in bleak, impoverished Hilo, Hawaii, a place where Japanese- Americans like Lovey find no facsimile of themselves in pop culture, and no trace of their lives reflected in the media. Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers crackles with the language of pidginHawaiian Creoledistinguishing for a new generation of readers one of the most vibrant voices in contemporary culture.

My Review: ( Read more... )


TItle: All I Asking For is My Body
Author: Milton Murayama
Genre: Historical fiction, coming of age, literary fiction, Hawaiiana
My Rating: 10 out of 10 stars

My Review: ( Read more... )

I'm also on GoodReads if anyone wants to find me there.

Title: Labyrinth
Author: Kate Mosse
Year: 2005
# of pages: 694
Date read: 10/13/2009
Rating: 3*/5 = good


Description:

"July 1209: in Carcassonne a seventeen-year-old girl is given a mysterious book by her father which he claims contains the secret of the true Grail. Although Alais cannot understand the strange words and symbols hidden within, she knows that her destiny lies in keeping the secret of the labyrinth safe. . .

July 2005: Alice Tanner discovers two skeletons in a forgotten cave in the French Pyrenees. Puzzled by the labyrinth symbol carved into the rock, she realises she's disturbed something that was meant to remain hidden. Somehow a link to a horrific past - her past - has been disturbed." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was a good fictional account of the 13th century Albigensian Crusade (also known as the Cathar Crusade) in which the French Catholics in the northern part of France attacked the Cathars, a Christian sect, in the Languedoc in the south. I liked how these events were portrayed in the lives of Alais, her sister Orianne, her husband Guilhelm, and her father, Bertrand.

The 21st century scenes were not as good as the 13th century ones. I wanted to know more about how various characters were counterparts to the 13th century ones and many characters had similar names which added to the confusion. Still, I liked how Alice discovers the truth about her ancestor, Alais.

No, I'm not actually moving journals or anything. Or at least not my personal journal. I rather like this one.

However, after last night's sleep-induced spam (I should totally follow rhap_chan 's rule to never post after 3AM, fff) , I realized I don't do writing-related ramblings nearly as often as I'd like And that's mostly because I don't want to bother my f-list even more so than I already do, haha. Really, I think only a few of my LJ friends are interested in writing (as a hobby in general, that is) and would actually understand/relate to/care about my rants. That and, well, put up with my merciless spam and my shameless egocentricity.

And then I suddenly thought of a perfect journal name, too, and so it was decided: afictionada will be my writing ramblings journal! ♥

Seriously, perfect, perfect username and I was surprised it wasn't taken already. It's a pun with the Spanish word aficionado (a person who likes, knows about, and appreciates a usually fervently pursued interest or activity) inflected as a female noun and, well, fiction, of course. I love my brain sometimes. ♥

So, if you're curious about what goes through my mind as I write my stuff, my random plotbunnies or the things I'm actually planning to work on in the near future - and given you can handle the spam, of course |DD - feel free to add it! It will probably be semi-locked, for the sake of keeping my original ideas known only to my trusty people. Not that I think they're actually worth stealing but, hey, it never hurts to take safety measures.

ALSO. I'm going to need some writing-related icons. Oh wise f-list of mine, can you point me to a few~? ♥

The Blurb On The Back:

There is no descriptive Blurb on the Back, instead we get the following quotes:

”... entertaining, wildly informative, splendidly written ... we are elegantly cajoled, cleverly harangued into shedding ourselves of this superstitious nonsense that has bedevilled us since our first visit to Sunday school.”
- Rod Liddle, Sunday Times

”A spirited and exhilarating read ... Dawkins comes roaring forth in the full vigous of his powerful arguments.”
- Joan Bakewell, Guardian

”Passionate, clever, funny, uplifting and above all, desperately needed.”
- Daily Express

”A wonderful book ... joyous, elegant, fair, engaging, and often very funny ... informed throughout by an exhilarating breadth of reference and clarity of thought.”
- Michael Frayn

”Richard Dawkins’s The God Delusion should be read by everyone from atheist to monk. If its merciless rationalism doesn’t enrage you at some point, you probably aren’t alive.”
- Julian Barnes

”There is not a dull page in Richard Dawkins’s The God Delusion, a book that makes me want to cheer its clarity, intelligence and truth-telling.”
- Claire Tomalin

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

A challenging, uncompromising polemic, this is easily one of the most important books of the 21st century, regardless of whether you agree or disagree with Dawkins and his arguments.

Cross-posted to bookworming.

Paolo Bacigalupi’s The Windup Girl is intelligent and frightening. Agricultural companies rule the world, distributing sterilized versions of crops long ruined with diseases like blister rust, cibiscosis, and scabis mold. The Earth of the future is one gone to waste; politics, climate, and resources like food and energy (i.e. oil) have deteriorated. In Thailand, the government has set up factions to control their most precious material: a genebank containing original crop DNA free from existing disease and genetic enhancement, the epitome of all that is natural and good to the Thai people.

With plagues ravaging crops and making people sick (and Agricultural companies barely staying on top of the latest strain), the Thai government is determined to police imports and keep their country thriving amidst a global crisis that threatens to metaphorically tear down the pumps that keep the capital from drowning in seawater. The Environment Ministry monitors the borders under the guidance of Captain Jaidee--one of five narrative viewpoints--the ‘Tiger of Bangkok’. He ruthlessly enforces the law, going so far as burning incoming material under even the faintest trace of suspicion. Jaidee’s earned himself a reputation that grates against the Trade Ministry’s ability to import and export items and profit from more lucrative, albeit shady, deals.

( Read the rest! )

ffffffff 31_days . why do you make it clow/yuuko month and inspire me to write just when everyone is doing nanowrimo and they neglect yoooooouuuuuu?

i mean. the top two posts in the comm are mine. same pairing. same lameness. i feel like a dirty spammer, eeeeeeee.

and now i'm spamming the flist, eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~~ /spams like a dirty spammer

also, i'm not capitalizing words. you know what this means? i'm up and blogging too late in the night again. but i had to fiiiiiinish this because eeeeeeeeee it's clow/yuuko moooooonth~~~~~~~~ ♥

/goes to sleep now, promise

Marked
P.C. Cast, Kristin Cast
YA fiction; fantasy; series
306 pages

Enter the dark, magical world of The House of Night, a world very much like our own, except here vampyres have always existed. Sixteen-year-old Zoey Redbird has just been Marked as a fledgling vampyre and joins the House of Night, a school where she will train to become an adult vampire. That is, if she makes it through the Change--and not all of those who are Marked do. It sucks to begin a new life, especially away from her friends, and on top of that, Zoey is no average fledgling. She has been chosen as special by the vampyre Goddess Nyx. Zoey discovers she has amazing powers, but along with her powers come bloodlust and an unfortunate ability to Imprint her human ex-boyfriend. To add to her stress, she is not the only fledgling at the House of Night with special powers: When she discovers that the leader of the Dark Daughters, the school's most elite group, is misusing her Goddess-given gifts, Zoey must look deep within herself for the courage to embrace her destiny--with a little help from her new vampyre friends.

I was pleasantly surprised that I was so engrossed in the first book in the House of Night series. I really enjoyed the storyline and I really like the unique take on "vampyres" in this series. It does remind me a bit of Hogwarts, but to me, that is a positive thing. The only thing I did not care for is some of the immature language spouted off by some of the characters, but then again, this is written for a younger audtience than myself. However, I feel like as this series progresses, it will get even more darker and more interesting. I cannot wait to read the rest of the books.

Books read this year: 46/50.

Hey, guys, hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

My boyfriend loves Greek gods and enjoys everything about Greek mythology. Since the movie for The Lightning Thief by Percy Jackson is coming out, he decided to read the book first, and he loves it (he's going to get the whole series). I was wondering if anyone knows any other really good modern fiction books based on Greek gods or similar to The Lightning Thief but minus the classics? I want to get him a nice gift!

I'm also curious to know if anyone has any suggestions on books with a great compilation of Greek Mythology with lots of beautiful pictures.

Thanks a lot; any help is very appreciated!

[ 42 ] Kingdom Hearts (9 Fanart, 33 In-game)
[ 53 ] World Ends With You (13 Fanart, 11 Manga, 29 In-game) |SPOILERS|
[ 3 ] Miscellaneous (2 Resident Evil, 1 Final Fantasy XIII)

Teasers:

here @ luminaryicons

THE FAMILY TREE MEME

lol

We're up and running again!!!

http://neku-x-shiki.deviantart.com/
http://neku-x-joshua.deviantart.com/

In September 2009, Seanan McGuire published her first novel Rosemary and Rue. This urban fantasy debut quickly received attention as one of the best debuts of 2009. Now the multi-talented author has three new books scheduled for publication in 2010. Two are continuations of her Toby Daye series: A Local Habitation and An Artificial Night. The third will be published under the pseudonym 'Mira Grant' and will be titled Feed. As McGuire says: "Who needs sleep?"

Today author Seanan McGuire is answering questions at Book Love Affair. Go leave a comment to ask this wonderful author what you'd like to know! (Also, participating in the interview earns extra entries in the BLA Leviathan giveaway!)

( Check out the interview at Book Love Affair? )

POKEMON REQUEST THREAD

( INFO UNDER HERE )

GO GO GO~~

Sry gaiz have been super busy w holiday. Am posting from phone. Having fun tho. Will see you all soon.

Book Title: The Dive from Clausen's Pier

Author: Ann Packer

Category: Fiction

# of pages: 370

My rating of the book, F- [worst] to A [best].: B-

Short description/summary of the book: From the inside front cover: A riveting novel about loyalty and self-knowledge, and the conflict between who we want to be to others and who we must be for ourselves.

Carrie Bell has lived in Wisconsin all her life. She's had the same best friend, the same good relationship with her mother, the same boyfriend, Mike, now her fiance, for as long as anyone can remember. It's with real surprise she finds that, at age 23, her life has begun to feel suffocating. She longs for a change, an upheaval, for a chance to begin again.

That chance is granted to her, terribly, when Mike is inured in an accident. Now Carrie has to question everything she thought shew knew about herself and the meaning of home. She must ask: How much do we owe the people we love? Is it a sign of strength or of weakness to walk away from someone in need?

My Thoughts: When I read the inside of this book, I instantly saw myself in Carrie. Like her, I'm questioning what is best for myself versus what is best for the people I love and care about. The story was so well written and was so realistic that I felt whatever was going to happen for Carrie was going to happen in my life.

Because of the similarities between Carrie's struggles and mine, I had high hopes for this book and for the most part they were met. As fun, interesting and personally insightful as this book was, I felt Carrie never learned enough about herself in order to justify the end of this book. Maybe I think that because I was hoping to find a definitive answer in Carries life that could be transferred to mine.

I think the book would have been a lot more interesting and would have made the characters more than one dimensional if each chapter rotated from one main character to the next instead of just from Carrie's point of view.

Despite the flaws, this book is a keeper. This is a great book for a diving off point (no pun intended) for self analysis to figure out what is right for each of us.

Books read this year: 46\50

Next read: Genie: A Scientific Tragedy by Russ Rymer
-----------------------------------------------------------
Book Title: Genie: A Scientific Tragedy

Author: Russ Rymer

Category: Science, sociology, child abuse, mental health

# of pages: 221

My rating of the book, F- [worst] to A [best].: C+

Short description/summary of the book: There is just quotes of praise for a summary on the back of the book and I couldn't find any non spoiler descriptions so I'm going to use some quotes from the back cover.

"Russ Rymer, in the process of telling the poignant story of one desperately unfortunate little girl, raises profound questions about both the origins of language and the ultimate source of what we call 'human nature.' At once a scientific detective story and an examination of professional ethics, Genie is disturbing, enlightening, and impossible to forget." - Michael Dorris, author of The Broken Cord

"I am dazzled by Rymer's literary skills and his expertise in delineating the debate - or rather, the feeding frenzy - that Genie's 'case' stirred among scientists, academics, and caretakers. It is a tragic tale of obsession, exploitation, and lost souls. And the questions Rymer poses about human experience and experiments on humans make the story both intellectually absorbing and emotionally disturbing. Genie is a wondrous feat of storytelling and investigative journalism, compulsively readable while forcing us to think hard about our won humanity." - Any Tan, author of The Joy Luck Club

My Thoughts: When I read the back of the book, I wasn't sure what to expect since there wasn't really an appropriate description. Even so, what I did read, what I shared here, got me interested.

The story of Genie is absolutely haunting.

Genie was potentially mildly mentally challenged. Her father believed she was severely mentally challenged and that being so deemed reason enough to be locked away naked in her bedroom for the first 13 years of her life, arms and legs to a potty chair in that room all day every day. "At night, when Genie was not forgotten, she was removed from her harness only to be placed into another restraining garment - a sleeping bag which her father had fashioned to hold Genie's arms stationary. ... Genie was put into an infant's crib with wire mesh sides and wire mesh cover overhead." (pgs. 17-18)

In her bedroom, there was very little stimulation and her father did not allow her to socialize with anyone. She only had a vocabulary of about 20 words.

This book explains the process of Genie's life from the time she was rescued, at age 13, to the end of the research team (lack of funds), at age 17.

I'm giving the book itself a C+ because I felt the book should have been focused more on Genie as a person rather than as a scientific research project. I would have much rather read about her as a person, to hear the details of her life from a personal point of view. Instead what the book mainly covers is her struggles to try to overcome the near non existent skills that make it possible to successfully function as a human being scientifically. It seems like she was kept around more for linguistic knowledge than to be rescued and no matter what, that isn't right.

Books read this year: 47\50

Next read: My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picouli

thank you for curtains and stages and spotlights.

thank you for letters and words and sentences and pages.

thank you for storms and backflips and rollerskates.

thank you for raspberry chocolates. (and for raspberries, ohohoho.)

thank you for cheetos and mountain dew.

thank you for all the things I didn't say.




and thank you for friends. ♥