End: City of Bones

This book was an ok book in my opinion. I'm not crazy over it like some people are but I don't hate it like others. It could've been a little more original and slightly less predictable.That would've made the book more exciting. I honestly prefer books that have one of the good characters or even the protagonist die or something. I feel like that is what makes a book really good. But I can see that since this book is the first of a long series, it would've be a good idea to kill off the heroine at this stage... in fact lets disregard my comment on wishing the heroine would die. I just think the originality of the main character is slightly dull.

Character relations: City of Bones

Being in the middle of the book, I think that Clary has kind of an unoriginal characteristic. She doesn't seem any different to the other characters with genres that are similar to this book. Take this book as an example; The Iron King. I read this book a while ago and the main character, Meghan is very similar to that of Clary. They both started out oblivious to what was actually going on in their environment. They also have this duty they are to fulfill in whatever fantasy world they were "sent" to. The City of Bones is a good book so far. Just slightly unoriginal when it comes to the heroine of the story.
But I do think the way the author portrays the other characters is good. They don't seem like your typical kids around the block. It kinda puts a new perspective on how other kids act, not just what I can see within my real-world life.

About the Author: Cassandra Clare

Cassandra Clare. The author of The Mortal Instruments series. She was born July 27, 1973 in Teheran, Iran to American parents. Cassandra's real name is Judith Rumelt. Throughout her childhood she traveled around many places including Switzerland, England, and France. Her parents were a business school professor, and author. After college, she lived in Los Angeles and New York where she worked for many magazines and tabloids and then in 2004, began working on The Mortal Instruments series, inspired by the urban landscape of Manhattan.

Cassandra doesn't enjoy working alone at home because "she always gets distracted by reality TV and the antics of her two cats" so usually she works at restaurants and coffee shops nearby.

The sixth book of The Mortal Instruments is coming out May 27, 2014 called City of Heavenly Fire. Her books have more than 30 million copies in print worldwide and have been translated into more than thirty-five languages.

New Book: City of Bones

Yeah, so I decided to not finish the series. I was reading like the first few pages of it and it was literally as boring as the rhetoric video that our English class had to watch. So after a few minutes, hours, DAYS, I stumbled upon a popular series called the City of Bones. I had heard of it before but never got into actually reading it. I am a pretty big fan of fantasy fiction so I decided to give this book a shot.

My iPod doesn't give me page numbers but after reading the first few pages (maybe?), this book sounded very interesting and exciting. There were many deep descriptions at the beginning , which made the setting very easily imaginable. It takes place at a high school bar like place with very... strangely dressed people. The place is called Pandemonium. Clary, a fifteen year old girl is with her best friend Simon. not much has happened yet besides the fact that she sees a super hot dude. I think that the author, Cassandra Clare, is writing about two events happening simultaneously. One is just about Clary and her views on Pandemonium, and one about a boy "feeding" on people there. It's a little confusing so far, but it sounds really interesting.

One of the line says, "She was beautiful, for a human-long hair nearly the precise color of black ink, char-coaled eyes. Floor-length white gown, the kind women used to wear when this world was was younger."  I have to admit, that was a really detailed line for just one girl. When I read this, I felt this sort of hatred towards her. Don't ask me why. Maybe it's just cause it's impossible for someone to be so beautiful and perfect in this world. Well. This IS a book. So I guess it's okay. But still, I didn't feel a good aura. It then goes on and on for like 2 paragraphs just describing her.

This book also uses some high elevated diction. Words like "insouciant" and "sauntered." Now I knew what the word "sauntered" meant (thank you Mrs. Bross) but I didn't know "insouciant" which means showing a casual lack of concern or indifferent. So this was also a boost in encouraging me to read on and even the book that follow that. So, so far, it sounds great. Thanks to whoever first introduced me to the book and look forward to the next post!

End of The Chronicles of Vladimer Todd

This book.. man... I don't even know... Well it's a simple book. There aren't any hard words in there.

Look forward to my next post!

Just kidding.
It was defiantly a predictable ending. I could almost guess every single one of those events. Vampires fight each other. Vampires find something creepy. Vampires fall in love. Vampires discover something "unforeseen." I'm not going to spoil anything in case any of you plan on ignoring everything I have said and read it anyway, but it was just too predictable. It's probably hard to create a unique vampire book while still making it a good read, but that's why you don't see many new vampire book anymore... or maybe not. Maybe I'm totally wrong in thinking this. But there are I think 4 books following this. I'll probably read the rest just because they're easy and I just want to know if my prediction at the very end is actually right (since so far, I am ;)). I don't expect them to be any better considering how the first book turned out. Usually the first book is always the best, or at least that's what I have experienced.This line is kind of a spoiler but I just have to put it out there, "Valdimir, I''m Tomas's half brother. Your uncle." (Brewer, 140) Luke, I am your father. Woopie! Some weird person is actually related to you! I have never seen this before in my whole life in reading books and watching movies.
So I don't know if I'm going to post stuff about the second book, but if or when I do, it's not going to be pretty.

Character Prompt: Chronicles of Vladimer Todd

So while I was reading this... amazing book about vampires and vampire hunters and all that, I was thinking about how the story was like a less dramatic version of Twilight. Now I know that I was some-what criticizing the plot of this book, but I really don't have anything against the Twilight series unlike most people. But instead of comparing the main character, Vladimer to a character from Twilight, Vladimer reminded me a little of Greg from Diary of a Wimpy Kid. To be completely honest, Vladimer sounds a lot like a very boring and depressing kid will little to no life. He doesn't ahve very good luck with girls, nor does he have the luck of avoiding... persay... things that would like to be avoided. Greg has one of the most depressing lives I have seen (not including those book or movies which talk about homelessnes or other stuff) for someone of his standing. I could say the same things for Vladimer. His parents died, his best friend is super popular and always gets the girls, he can't seem to get a girlfriend, he gets bullied around, and he's kind of an introverted person. I can relate this introvered Vladimer to one of my best friends, whom I will keep her name hidden. No, she does not get bullied at school (or I at least hope not) and no she is not having trouble finding a significant other (not that she is trying). She's just the quiet type in a room full of strangers or with people she's not that close with. She also doens't hate being alone, unlike me and a lot of my other friends who seem to have a fear of being alone while going to the bathroom or getting food in the lunch line. Vladimer walks outside when it's dark a lot and actualyl prefers being alone with his thoughts rather than in a large group (just saying my friend does not walk outside alone in the dark street like a creeper. But other than that, so far, Vladimer is the only character with any sort of personality so far...

New Book: The Chornicles of Vladimer Todd

So I started reading this book mentioned in my title which I'm too lazy to type out and it looks like it's going to be another one of those vampire love stories with so much drama and "unforeseen" predicaments. Let me clear things up. I'm not the type of person to read vampire books. Nor am I the type to read typical love, drama, boyfriend girlfriend books. The only reason I started reading this book was because my vampire-obsessed friend kept nagging me to read it. If she read one of my favorite books I would have to read one of hers yadyadayada. So to keep this promise, I started reading this book. Don't get me wrong, easy books are well... easy to read and all, but this story has no depth or deeper meaning to it whatsoever. I mean the font is huge for my standards and I haven't come across a difficult word yet (me being the kind that needs to find new words every now and then). So this book could be a "I'll read it in 2 days" kind of book.

It's basically about this boy named Vladimer Todd (duh it's in the title) and he's part human, part vampire. So far, the book describes his life as... oh what's the word... sucky. He gets bullied at school, his teachers and principals suck, and all the girls prefer his friend over him. To top that off, his parents died in a house fire, so you can just tell that this book is going to be bright and happy, just like vampires typically are. Oh and did I forget to mention that there are vampire hunters trying to kill him? Dang, what a turn of events. (I hope you guys have caught on to my many verbal ironic references back there).

Now the author of this series is Heather Brewer. There wasn't much I could really research on her. All I found out was that her birthday was September 21, 1973 and that she was a pretty dark person her whole life. She wears mostly black, like to wander cemeteries, and "devours" books. She has written two other series called The Slayer Chronicles, and The Legacy of Tril. 

 

Breaking Night: Text-Text, Text-Self, Text-World

This is my like third post on this book, so you can probably kinda tell that I really like this book. I'm not usually the type that can easily make relations from books to other books, but this book is vaguely related to the widely known book Hunger Games in which someone who lives in a very poor and impoverish society manages to climb their way to being one of the top in whatever place they are living in. Though Hunger Games is a fiction book, Breaking Night is a true story. But both brought a whole new perspective onto me. It got me thinking that (prepare, this will get cheesy) no matter what kind of environment your are living, only you can decide how you are going to live it. Sure, Liz had her ups and downs. Some times she felt like the world hated her, but she always managed to bring herself up and go even further than before, which brings me to my next topic of Text to self. I'm pretty sure that everyone aspires to be like someone whether it's in athletics like football star Ray Lewis (creds to Josh Stew) or becoming the next Pablo Picasso. In my case, I believe Liz Murray is someone to aspire to. Not letting her environment or situation get in the way of her success, is a huge feat, and now, is trying to spread her story to the world. So my text to world reference would have to be just her huge influence on other people who may be in a similar situation she was in at their age. There's no big, world event that I can really relate this text to that much, but I can say that she made a huge impact on me and many others around the nation.



So I think I've said enough about this book. Look forward to the next update with a different book!

The Smaller Side of Things

Look at yourself now. Now imagine taking all of that and switching it with this kind of scenario. Both your beautiful, smart, hard-working parents, now drug addicts and dealers. Your comfortable, warm, filled-with-your-treasures home, now a practically garbage dump apartment room in the Bronx, New York. Now imagine you, maybe being the oldest, or youngest, or the middle child, or even an only child; wearing clothes you picked from your favorite store, going to school and talking to friends, playing on your phones and electronics while hanging around. Change that to you being the youngest, not going to school because the kids make fun of you for being dirty, wearing any kinds of clothes that, well, can be considered clothes. All of this is placed onto the shoulders of Elizabeth (Liz) Murray. She didn't have the privileges we do now. She didn't have dedicated parents who worked to pay rent and put food on the table. She didn't have much at all. Me, myself, have a hard time imagining how I would survive in these conditions, let alone going to Harvard. But, of course we don't think of us being in these kinds of situations that often. Instead, we think of ourselves having more, wanting more, getting more, BEING MORE.

But anyway, back to the main topic. I'm not here to talk about Liz. You can read about her yourself. I'm here to talk about her older sister, Lisa.
Now Lisa is a little closer to our modern day type of girls than Liz. Lisa went to school. As she grew older, one of the lines states, "Her walls were covered with posters from teenybopper magazines, airbrushed boy pop stars, and feathery-haired female teen idols. Lisa took a small broken piece of mirror and walked back to her bed, puckered her lips at the glass, and batted her eyes." (Murray, 97). She cared about what she wore and how she looked and what others thought of her and what to do with her hair every morning. In a sense, she kinda ignored the situation back at home. Not saying she wasn't affected by her parents wrongdoings, which she was. She actually complained the most. Always complaining about the food, living conditions, and even her little sister Liz. At one point in the book during the winter when the weather was cold and the family didn't have enough money for heating, Lisa says, "'I'm your older sister,' she'd scream. 'You have to listen to me. I'll dump cold water on your head of you don't move your ass!'"(Murray, 57). Boy, this line sure got to me. You would think the oldest person in the family has this sort of responsibility to take care of the rest of the siblings and/or the whole family, but she didn't do anything! Like, sure, being a child and a girl makes it hard to make that big of a difference, but she didn't even bother to comfort her little sister, who by the way, stays at home and takes care of herself. By herself. I just think it's completely insane for someone of older age to not even attempt stopping her parents, or just being an older sister. But that's just me. Some people may think that was her way of trying to cope with the situation, others may think she did help by not making the situation worse between the family. Of course, you have your opinion too. Oh wait. You probably haven't read this book before. Okay. 'Nuff said. Go read it and tell me what you think.

P.S. This is an image of their mother when she was 17. Liz kept this picture with her all the time because she loved seeing how beautiful her mother was and it just made her feel safe keeping it with her.


Favorite Book: Divergent

Throughout last trimester, I read many books. The book I enjoyed reading the most was Divergent By Veronica Roth. The book had action, drama, and romance. The suspense was always building and the relationship between the two protagonists was one that could make any girl happy. Many plot twists were also developed through the book. In fact, it was such a good book, I was reading it while changing before hockey practice. What I loved most was that I loved the main character, Tris. She didn't feel right living in her own family, and decides to leave and join a different faction. She's the type that stands out and wants to show others that even if she was known to be quiet, selfless, and kind, she still has the ability to join the faction called Dauntless; known for being brave, fearless, and conquering. She always showed others how strong she could be and how she never gave up, and the only person to know her weakness is her lover, Four. The bond that they share is really precious and touches my heart.

There are 2 more books that come after Divergent. I finished reading Insurgent, the second book, and have begun reading the last book, Alliegant. There is a movie also coming out for the first book, and I REALLY look foward to watching it. I believed the second book was not as good as the first book because of a confusing plot and character mix ups. Hopefully, the third book will be able to wrap up the entire series and bring it to a very good end.

Divergent By Veronica Roth; All Beginning Prompts

I have just started reading the book Divergent and I am already half way through. The book is just so magnificent so far. A girl named Beatrice(Tris) is born into the faction called Abnegation, where people are known to be selfless and, as the word defines, refuse or deny oneself for the sake of another. There are 5 factions; Dauntless, Abnegation, Candor, Amity, and Erudite. At the choosing ceremony, where people will be told what faction they belong to, Tris' aptitude test is a bit different than that of a typical person. Tori, the overseer says that the results were inconclusive and that she is a Divergent. Under no circumstances was she to tell anyone this. When she arrives at the choosing ceremony, Tris selects the faction Dauntless, which is known for people who are brave and fearless. In choosing this, Tris is followed up by a series of tasks that would've seemed impossible for a person from Abnegation, which include jumping off a high building, fist to fist combat, capture-the-flag but more serious, and fear tests. All which test the ability of Tris. I predict that her being Dauntless will lead to and world wide battle in which each faction is fighting against each other. In future books, I believe that the plot and conflict will escalate to bringing a lot more difficulties and deaths within each faction. I really look forward to finishing reading the first book, and the final two books.

I chose this book because many of my friends have recommended it to me. They said it was an amazing book and that the movie was coming out in March.

About the Author

Veronica Roth was born August 19, 1988 in New York, but lived most of her life in Barrington, Illinois. She is the recipient of the Goodreads Favorite Book of 2011 and the 2012 winner for Best Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction. After writing her first book Divergent, her career took off rapidly, with the movie rights sold before she graduated college.

Breaking Night

I began reading the book called Breaking Night. I started reading this book because I heard it was one of those kinds of life story, heart-touching, kind of books. After reading the synopsis, I was really pulled in. It starts out with a girl name Elizabeth Murray, or Liz. She lives in a worn down apartment in the Bronx on University Avenue. Both her parents deal and do drugs for a living. Liz doens't know that drugs were bad. It made her parents happy, so she was indifferent. In the synopsis, Liz goes through many difficulties growing up ranging from family problems to mental challenges herself. After facing each hurdle, she climbs her way up and goes to Harvard. A famous term being, "rags to riches." The beginning so far has a very depressing mood and really causes the reader to fell pity for Liz. She doens't like going to school so she skips, they live in a horrible environment, and the people around her are a bad influence. You wouldn't imagine a girl living like to to ever think of going to college let alone Harvard, which makes the book all the more eye-catching.

The author, Liz Murray wrote this memoir about herself. She is currently a psycologist and an inspirational speaker. The book Breaking Night reflects on her life and how she managed to survive homelessness starting at the age 15, earn the New York Times Scholorship for needy students, and attend Harvard University, graduating high school in 2 years.

Symbol for Character: Fault in Our Stars

The main character Hazel can be compared to many things. One object in particular mentioned in the book is a grenade. Hazel calles herself a grenade because she says that at any moment, she can just blow up and hurt others around her. Thats why for a certain amount of time, she wanted to stay at home and not go anywhere to avoid any connections she could make with others. But her closest friend, Augustus Waters, manages to talk to her and prevent her from thinking that way. He did this by talking to her about the book she loved, An Imperial Affliction. After a few emails and mails sent between Hazel, Gus, and the author, Hazel and Gus decide that they want to visit Amsterdam and ask the author personally, the questions that have been on Hazels mind since forever. I compare Hazel to an eagle. Eagles are very independent animals and are widely looked up to. They are fierce and do not let others sway them easily, and yet, when it comes to something they love, they love it with all they can offer. I believe Hazel is very much like that. She's very particualr about the people around her and she does not like being around many people. Yet, when she meets Augustus, her perspective changes and she begins to open up. Eagles will open up to those they trust and love.
Overall, Hazel has many different characteristics about her that make her a special and unique character for the story.

The Fault in Our Stars continued

I am now at page 105 of this book. So far, I feel the story to be a little dull. Not much is happening. Currently, Hazel is trying to get to Amsterdam in order to meet the author of her favorite book as ask him questions that have been boggling her mind for so long. With her friend Augustus Waters, they are trying to use his "wish", which is anything the child with cancer wants will be granted to them from the cancer group, to send both of them to Amsterdam. The relationship between Augustus and Hazel deepens as they become closer. Hazel starts acting like a typical teenage girl talking about boy problems with her friend. She also begins looking him up and finding information about his life years before, an example being finding his ex-girlfriend who died of brain cancer. She begins to rethink about the actions she is taking and how they are affecting the people around her. Hazel compares herself to a grenade, that will explode and hurt others. She talks about just sitting in her room and reading so she doesn't get involved with others. I believe a really important line is, "I'm a grenade... I just want to stay awar from people and read books and think and be with you guys (parents) because there's nothing I can do about hurting you; you're too invested, so just please let me do that, okay? I'm not depressed. I don't need to get out more. An i can't be a regular teenager, because I'm a grenade." This line develops the story because Hazel realizes all the trouble she has caused her parents and her friends. This changed her perspective and I predict in the near future, will change her mind about very important decisions.