Ranting.

So. Now that we can clearly see how much I fail at staying active, I think we can continue.

I’ve been reading a lot of Sookie Stackhouse lately, the series that inspired True Blood. I’m so far up to book seven, which I plan to begin reading shortly.

I’ve already watched all the episodes of the TV show. It’s pretty good, and it has Alexander Skasgard who is well. He’s fairly good looking.

I also read Inheritance, the last offering to the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini. It’s incredibly satisfying when predictions come true, but also a bit disappointing. Thankfully not all my predictions actually came true, hooray! There were still a few things I was annoyed at, however.
Like The Menoa Tree.
It was a tad anti-climactic.
I don’t know, I found the novel as a whole not great. It just seemed… unfinished to me, not the ending, I was expecting that, but there are so many loose ends that were given a quick fix, if that at all.

After reading Inheritance, I decided belatedly to read the other books in the series, but as I was busy studying for exams at the time, I got Eragon on audiobook. It took an incredibly long time to get through it, and I couldn’t help but think of how I would have finished the entire series four times over while I was listening to it. I honestly can’t be bothered getting the rest of the series on audiobook however, it takes too long. It did manage to put me to sleep each night, however, so that was soothing.

I am also procrastinating re reading Isobelle Carmody’s Obernewtyn series so I can read the newest release. Have you seen the length? It’s daunting, even for me.

But, with school holidays comes books that I’ll be studying next year that I need to read, these being A View from the Bridge, by Arthur Miller, Home by Larissa Behrendt and The Road, of which I need to find out who the author is so I can actually buy it…
Anyway, I’ve bored myself enough. Farewell!

~T

Withering and thieving.

Wow. I have not posted in a fairly long time.

During this lengthy hiatus, well… I don’t know what happened. I sort of lost interest for a bit in maintaining a blog. But I shall try again!

Well, a stand out book that I’ve read in the past week was Wither by Lauren DeStefano. Set in a dystopian future, where a medical miracle went horribly wrong, causing the healthy generation’s children to have a life expectancy of 25 for males and 20 for females. To keep the human race active, brides are recruited by force for young wealthy males for the sake of reproduction, which is how Rhine Ellery comes into the story, being drugged and allowed to survive out of the selection of young girls because of her eyes. Those not chosen are taken around the corner and shot. Rhine isn’t one of the girls who looks forward to her new fate, so naturally attempts to escape. Her sidekick-love interest takes form in one of the servants within the household, while her friends and general support system are her brother, who she was taken away from, and her “sister wives”. (I found that term to weird. I couldn’t get past my initial impression that there was some serious incest relation going on… :/ )

Overall, the book was enjoyable. Predictable. Fairly graphic in its descriptions of violence. But I am a sucker for doomsday-the-end-is-nigh stories (No, I don’t believe that the world will end in 2012.) so as a dystopian future novel, I enjoyed it. The genre always makes me feel freaked out about society today, all the advancements in technology and whether it’s actually getting us anywhere. They kind of leave me with a lump in my throat at how the future could end up. (No, I don’t take the novels as factual. I just like reading them for the same reason people like watching horror movies – cheap thrills and scares)

I really do love dystopian fiction. Speaking of more ending-of-the-world, I also read Matthew Reilly’s newest: Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves. For those of you unfamiliar with Reilly’s work, well. All his novels are very much large ridiculous action, extremely fast paced, but still manages to maintain a plot. Apparently a few of his books (Jack West Jnr Series, Scarecrow) have deals with movie/TV companies, so that will be pretty awesome to see how the large-oh-so-overly-large action sequences are adapted.

Now not related at all to books, but on the subject of movies, I cannot wait for the adaption of Girl With A Dragon Tattoo to come out in December. It’s not a remake, just another adaption, with David Fincher directing, Daniel Craig starring and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross composing. That means the soundtrack is already guaranteed to be amazing. Anything Reznor does is amazing.

Okay. I think I should stop.

 

~T

Heart Still Won’t Settle

Ah, it’s been so long.

So, recently I’ve read The Dark Devine by Bree Despain. This book was on the infamous List Of Books I Wanted For Christmas But Never Received.
I’m happy that I didn’t get it. It wasn’t great, nor does it belong in my burn-it shelf on Goodreads. I’ll read the sequel when I have nothing else to read and time to spare.

Time to spare. Sigh. I remember when I had that luxury. Right now, I’m a week away from mid-semester exams. After spending my Careers class (which is a joke, it is just a name for our free period, so that parents can be under the impression that we are always working) making several lists of my subject study priority order, and cross-referencing it with my Order of Give a Fuck, I came up with my final top 3; Italian, Maths and Health & Physical Education. Though I don’t really care about maths, but I suck so much at algebra (the unit for the term) that I need to be able to understand enough to pass the exam. I’ll be dropping maths next year, so all shall be well. I don’t know why I was forced ot purchase a $200 calculator though. Italian I’m pretty good at, though my grammar sucks. Non parlo italiano molte bene. Studio is my Studio Art, and I’m in the advanced class. So I am definitely not wanting to stuff up.

Okay, with that out of my system, back to books.
I read the first three books of Strange Angels, which when I picked them up from the library, I thought it was just a trilogy. No. It’s not. It’s a five book series. I liked the first book a lot, but the third one annoyed me. The second was average. I reserved the 4th and 5th (which is yet to be released) so I’ll read them when they come.

I also picked up Thirst #1 by Christopher Pike, which is the first three books starting The Last Vampire to Red Dice. I’m a bit into Black Blood now, though I’ve put it down for a few days because of the whole exam shenanigans.

Also, with this other library I’m now joined with, I have come to the conclusion that the librarians are rude. Back at my local library, my image of a librarian was created with smiles, new recommendations and pretty darn amazing service, no matter how much I complain. At this other library, I’m pretty much ignored. Even when they’re scanning my books. Possibly because I am always there in my school uniform as I go after school. And end up getting home after 17:00 because the silly bus is always late.

Hey, speaking of late, it’s 2:02 am. That sucks. I’m getting up in five hours.
I probably won’t get to sleep for another half hour. Grr.

 

~T

To skip, or not to skip?

I’ve pretty much devoured reading the rest of the Vampire Academy series. Here’s the annoying thing, though: I’m missing the fifth book.

I have the sixth book. To skip, or not to skip?

I have Spirit Bound reserved at the library. I’m considering throwing my ‘I hate buying books in the middle of a series’ mindset out the window.

Sigh. Such a stressful life, right?

The annoying thing is that I don’t have anything else to read at the moment. I’ve been meaning to raid the school library, but I’ve been avoiding it because all bar one of those librarians are scary. Possibly stalkers. They’re the only people in the entire school that actually sit in front of their computer and watch people on the cameras. Eeeeek.

Also, Goodreads says I’m 8% ahead of my goal of reading 150 books this year. That’s a nifty tool.

Grrr. it’s only 23:00, and I have no book to read. This is a dire situation. I don’t feel like watching a movie. I could go for a healthy GTA session. Run down innocent bystanders, drive motorcycle passengers off a cliff… that sort of thing.

(Hey, am I in the mood to play GTA because Niko Bellic is Russian? So is Dimitri in Vampy Academy? How’s that for psycho analysis?)

 

~T

Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah, Stayin Alive…

I really feel like reading some sort of ridiculous action novel. Or assassins. Possibly both.

At the moment, I can’t think of a ridiculous action novel with assassins. I can think of ridiculous action books, though.

I define ridiculous action as a book where the character has fully sick martial art skillz that killz, some sort of ex-military background, has a team of still fully sick people, but not as fully sick as that protagonist. Then there’ll have to be the personal vendettas that were formed from back in the military days. “So and So left me to die. Now they die. BANGBANG!”

So kind of Kill Bill, Indiana Jones, Lara Croft ish.

Or, Matthew Reilly.

Whenever I go to op shops, there are always Matthew Reilly novels. Or always the big hardcover crime/mystery/action books.

Anyway, I’m going through this handy Goodreads list of Heros/Heroines who are assassins.

And I also have Posthuman – Marilyn Manson stuck in my head. I don’t really know why.

In more unrelated news, I’m knitting myself a jumper. What’s that? I’ve only ever finished one scarf? And started countless other projects that have ben discarded after the first day?
HAVE FAITH, YOUNG GRASSHOPPER!!
But my jumper is going to have cables, and sleeves, and a back, and a front, and a v-neckline. And it’s going to be cream.

And I wish that I was cold, just so I could make myself hot chocolate.
And my formal is next week. (Formal, prom, whatever you want to call it. Whichever one, it sounds better than “ENTIRE YEAR LEVEL PARTY TIME”).

Okay. I am quite hyper. Hence the need for some action books. Alternatively, I’m going to watch Saturday Night Fever. Or Grease. Looking at knitting patterns from the 80s gets me in a John Travolta mood. (HEY, I COULD WATCH PULP FICTION!! John Travolta, action, violence, mob connections… it’s all there!! (and mostly because I don’t actually have Kill Bill on DVD. Darrrn)

Okay, enough of the mindless ranting.

 

~T

Vampire Academy. Wow.

Why have I not read Vampire Academy before?
Because of my high expectations created by hype from a series being shattered, maybe?

I just finished Vampire Academy. I definitely want to buy it. I already own the last book, so really. Though that means that I have the temptation to skip books 2,3,4 and go straight to Last Sacrifice.

I really want the next book. Now.

When I first began reading it, I thought the POV would switch from Rose to Lissa. It’s just kind of expected, for the one with the talent to be the main character. (It reminds me of Sea Glass by Maria V. Snyder. Not with the story, just with how the side character is the protagonist. Then again, I still haven’t read the Poison Study trilogy, so that’s just how it came across to me. )

So, the next time I’m out, I am definitely buying the rest of the Vampire Academy series.

It’s possibly because of the Russian Dimitri, or how Rose is such a smart arse, so akin to my own personality. It could be how Rose didn’t always do the right thing. I also liked how vampires aren’t a huge thing, and the kind of sub-species of vampire.

I really do love this series. It’s going to be hard not to skip to the last book.

 

In other news, during my shopping expedition, I saw Angel – James Patterson out. I didn’t get it. I think the series has gone on a bit too long. There is a limit of how far the story can stretch. I might borrow it from the library. Only if it’s already there – I’m not going to reserve it.

I also bought City of Fallen Angels. Just to fast track the library queue. I’m still 6th in that, so now that I own the book, it better be worth me buying it. The cover really annoys me – the model for Clary, her eyes piss me off because they look so fake.

Also, I don’t understand why for my birthday, christmas, any gift exchanging holiday, people buy me books. Most of them I don’t like. I’m really not one for classics, so owning the entire Jane Austen works doesn’t really do anything for me.
I would much prefer if their intent is to get me books, to give me a voucher. Just saying.

Okay, there’s my ranting for the day.
And darn, it’s only 2200, how am I going to spend the rest of my night?
Watching Beauty and the Beast is the answer.
Wow, I am in a really lovey-dovey mood.

 

~T

Completely unrelated to books. Just ranting.

I can’t vent on tumblr. Or twitter. Or facebook. So, my dear wordpress, in your obscure way, I can safely say I can rant my face off here.
WARNING: filled with angsty petty problems that have no real effect on life.

This is pretty much all about Black Veil Brides. And one friend in particular that is really REALLY annoying me.
The tale begins last October, when this friend (let her be known as A) and I went out to the movies to watch Paranormal Activity 2. Another friend bought a poster magazine that had BVB in it, so she gave the poster to me cos she knew I liked them. Particularly the lead. Andy. Omnomnom sex on legs.
Now, A said that they all looked like girls. I didn’t say anything. I mean, it didn’t really bother me, if she didn’t like the band, well, I didn’t care. I did, so it was fine with me if she didn’t.
Later on, around Halloween ish, A had a Halloween Party. Which was pretty much a night where we stayed up and watched horror movies. During one of the more innocent type movies (Corpse Bride. We decided on a break from the in your face gore.) I was showing my Very Best Friend (many times mentioned before here) a BVB video. She liked them.
Then we can skip forward to this year, when BVB were on the cover of Kerrang! Magazine. Whilst out and about with A, I bought the magazine, where she again made a comment about how he looked like a girl.
Also this year, my Very Best Friend has never been to an actual concert where moshing is available. Both A and I wanted to rectify that, because really, she has to experience it. I told Very Best Friend whilst A was there about how BVB were touring in Australia later this year. I asked A if she wanted to come. She said “Why would I want to go see a band I don’t even like”. Very Best Friend and I decided that we could go with each other.
Now, enter a few days ago, when BVB were confirmed to Soundwave Revolution. I was pretty much hyperventilating. So were a few other friends that liked them.
One friend, who shall be referred to as C came up to me whilst I was with A and we were discussing BVB indepth.
A suddenly says that she agrees, Andy is sexy. She joins in the conversation. I point out that on countless occasions, she has said he looks like a woman. But no, it seems in order to impress C, A is all of a sudden a major fan.
Today, she came to school with their entire album on her iPod. She took mine so she could watch the music videos and look at the pictures of Andy I have saved on there. To talk to others about how great he is.

I. Really. Strongly. Dislike. Hypocrites.

Okay, I can understand if she changed her mind. That’s fine. But to act as if she has loved and adored them all along, no.
ARGHHHH that makes me extremely angry.

Books, Glorious Books…

My mother believes that I only read books on vampires. Only vampires, no other odd creatures in the mix. It is this belief that made her go out and buy 5 books for me.

These being:

• Bite – Kevin Jackson
• Last Sacrifice – Richelle Mead (book number #6)
• The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner – Stephenie Meyer
• Undead and Uneasy – Mary Janice Davidson (book number #6)
• The Mists of Avalon – Marion Zimmer Bradley

Admittedly, the latter is not a vamp book.  I have already read the Meyer novella, when it was free on the internet. I am yet to even begin on the Vampire Academy books, but I now own the last one.

I don’t like not having the entire series. I might be okay with it if I have the first few books, but otherwise no siree. Really, having the last book sucks. Now I need to track down the five other books before Last Sacrifice so I can read it.

My mother also can’t differentiate between young adult books and adult books. Hence the Undead and Uneasy.

Anyway, my plan is to leave school early tomorrow to return to the shop she bought the books from, because the reason she got them in the first place was not only in an effort to try to show me that she doesn’t mind my head being filled with dead things, but because the books were super cheap.

Also, as mentioned in my last post, I joined the other library. Hooray! I also bought The Named by Marianne Curley, Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, Juno of Taris by Fleur Beale and Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey. So I’ve been pretty much cashing in on books lately. Which is quite odd. Mostly due to the fact that my entire stock f books comes from the library the majority of the time. Another thing; I HAVE LOST MY LIBRARY CARD! No idea where it is, which is a bummer because there are books waiting for me. So I want to kind of coerce the librarians into giving me a new card.

Okay, I’ve ranted the socks off you enough. Back to snoozing whilst watching Daria. Hooray!

 

~T

Apologies and Fluff

Oops.

Okay, so I haven’t been all that attentive to my blog lately. I could list things that caused my mutterings on books to take the back seat, but some other time perhaps.

Now, I need to share my grand plan of bringing more books to me!

I join another library!! There’s one right on my bus route, with more books than my local library! This is groundbreaking stuff!

The thing is, I need to convince a parent to come along with me, because I’m under 18. Why the library needs a parental signature and everything is unclear. I don’t really care though.

So I plan to tempt my mother to go op shopping, because the library is down the road from the op shop. Mother likes op shops. I like libraries. Win, win win!

In other news, I need to get to a Borders before all their stock is gone, since they’ve gone bankrupt or something, I didn’t really follow what happened specifically. But it means cheap books.

I’m also quite sick at the moment, and have a really annoying cough. But I’m on school holidays. And I have holiday homework. Mostly for my art subjects. Meaning that for one subject I have to draw apples and pears, and in another I  need to research Christian Dior. Woo! Fun homework at last!

And last night, I could not sleep. At all. So I finished reading all the books in my pile, including Entice by Carrie Jones. I really liked it, and will put the series on my wishlist. The book made me feel like travelling.

Now to go spend my internet time downloading Daria. #fangirlingovertrentlane

 

~T

Socially Acceptable Behaviours.

/is laughing maniacally

So, Firefox decided to throw a hissy fit for a while, and Goodreads loaded in extremely funky ways. I finally got fed up enough to switch to Safari, and Cassandra Clare replied to my comment.

Oh happy days!

I asked whether an Australian leg of the CoFA tour was on the horizon, and yes, yes it is. Everyone shall be looking forward to May.

I do plan to go, so hopefully the location will be nice and local. I’m not sure how to go about attending one of these though. I get that you bring (the author’s) books for signing… it would be a bit weird if you bought along totally unrelated books.

But what do you say? Do you just generally release your fangirl worries about the characters, plot etc? Wouldn’t the author be so bored of hearing all variations of “ZOMG, I LURRVE (insert main male character’s name here) HE IZ SA SA HAWWT!!!1!!11!!ONE!!!1!!” Perhaps with more hyperventilation?

Are you allowed to raise the annoying points of the over all storyline? To abuse and hate on specific characters? Pretty much the reverse of the fangirling action seen above?

Now I need to see if I can drag along a few friend’s that read. I guess it’s customary for the friend that is bought along to have read the books.

I now bid you all farewell, as I go off to ponder the socially acceptable behaviour at a book signing.

 

~T