Last Spurt

Ooh, it's the last post of the semester. How exciting.

I must say, I haven't read as many novels as I would've liked to. However, I did read The Lover's Dictionary, and Forged, and am currently reading It's Kind of a Funny Story. I didn't exactly have a specific reason to pick these books, it sort of just happened. I was supposed to read The Lover's Dictionary for my summer reading project, but it came late in the mail so I was forced to switch books. Forged was only because it was the sequel to Chains, and I'm only currently reading It's Kind of a Funny Story because the book I had my eyes on for the book swap was claimed right before my very eyes, leaving me with no choice but to pick a random book. No regrets though, haha.
I've also read a plethora of random things. Packets about composers from Orchestra, chapter after chapter in my boring history textbook, as well as (not sure if this would count) multiple folktales from my mandarin class. I've liked all the things I've read, (except for the history stuff) and even though some things didn't work out the way they were supposed to, I'm very glad I got to read the amazing things that I did.

My blogging in the beginning was pretty stiff. I really just spat out information, keeping it formal and totally defeating the purpose of a blog post. Now, I'd like to think I have a lot more voice and I'm more friendly. I mean, I'm not naturally a funny type of person, so bringing humor and showing my personality through my writing was hard, but I did my best, and hopefully you will be able to see it threaded through my posts. Up until around 4 blog posts ago, all I would ever do is write book summaries. Now, I've learned to branch out and write about different topics, which definitely will make my posts more interesting and less repetitive. That's nice.

Okayy, continuing on... I have literally been late when writing all my blog posts and comments. I put them off, thinking I can easily do them later. What a fool I am. For me, blogging is soo tedious, I literally sit in the chair for an hour typing, deleting, retyping, flipping through pages, rushing to get a post done. I'm disappointed in my time management, and baffled by how badly I procrastinated. Can I just say that it's like, the night before this post is due and I'm writing it now? I. Regret. Everything. It's only the first semester, and as a lowly freshmen in a busy high school environment, I should have lots of time. So one thing I plan on improving is definitely turning these posts in on time. (Because it's gonna seriously effect my grade). Also, I hope to be able to write about different topics. In the beginning of the school year, we were given a list with a large number of prompts, so I have plenty of ammo. One last thing is to read more. Just kidding. I hope to read books that I wouldn't normally pick up. Because the books that are totally out of my reading level, I do hope to read them someday. So I will start slowly, but surely I will build onto my vocabulary (as you can tell, my vocab is quite limited...) while reading, and become a stronger and more independent reader! I know I still have so much more to learn, and I hope to share that with everyone in the second semester.

And on that note, ugh yes, I am finally done with the last post. (Of the first semester).

The Best and Worst thing about It's Kind of a Funny Story

Haha fun fun.

Craig describing how he feels

The best thing about this book is the straight forward comments that Craig makes.

It's so real, his depression. 

It's like you're in his head, listening to his thoughts, understanding what he's going through. 

Craig's character development is phenomenal as well. When he acts, you can almost predict what he will do because it feels like you know him. I really hope to see how he grows throughout the book.

Hm... Now, I'd have to say the worst thing about this book is the dialogue. It's sort of...cliche? Like at one point Craig is with his group of friends and they keep going, "Son!" or "Pass it, son." I don't think that people say "son" anymore. Or at least not a lot. I find the conversations awkward, and hard to follow, sometimes I need to stop and reread to figure out who is talking. It might be the personalities of these people, maybe it's just me, I don't know. I like the book nonetheless. 

The Raven Boys

I know the title sounds weird, but askdfasdflk;asdf please read it.

The Raven Boys book cover

There are multiple main characters in this book- Blue, the female heroine, and her Raven boys, Gansey, Adam, Ronan, and Noah.

In this post I plan on focusing more on Gansey. More specifically, Richard "Dick" Campbell Gansey III.  He's my favorite character.

Gansey's a polite, headstrong young man who goes to Aglionby Academy. His appearance is more clean and polished, he's smart, cool, and kind. He's like the real life Barbie Ken. When Blue first saw him, she called him Mr. President because of his professional dressing style. One of Blue's relatives even referred to him as "the Pretty One".
I hope you get the idea.

Anyhow, Gansey isn't just a beautiful person on the outside. Nope. Personally, I think that his personality is something way more intriguing and pleasant. He's is witty and often times has a clever remark ready, yet he is also kind and thoughtful, treating everyone (unless they're evil) politely. Gansey is also very mature and business like, making it easy for him to communicate with grown ups, and deal with Ronan.

"When Gansey was polite, it made him powerful. When Adam was polite, he was giving power away."" (Stiefvater 131).

A drawing of Gansey

However, Blue (Gansey calls her Jane because he thinks Blue is a weird name) thinks he's annoying because he's somewhat ignorant with his words even though he means well. (This is when he is dealing with money... to him it is no big deal, however Blue's family is not exactly doing well in terms of wealth). I think that is one of his faults.

Hm, as a personal connection, unfortunately, I don't think that I am very great with my words. I have a lot of run on sentences, sometimes my mouth runs faster than my brain, and when I'm nervous I stutter. Sucks. Although I do think that I am relatively nice to people I meet, (hopefully!) and I do my best to treat them kindly.

Haha, The Raven Boys is an amazing book, as well as a series! Blue Lily, Lily Blue has finally come out and I'm soo excited to read it.

Starting It's Kind of a Funny Story

You know, I thought it would actually be a funny story. It's actually really depressing and makes me feel really sad.

Well, I'm only on page 49 out of 444, ha.

It's Kind of A Funny Story

The book starts out with this: "It's so hard to talk when you want to kill yourself." (Vizzini 3).

Wow. Talk about a funny story.
Anyways, this is about a teenage guy named Craig.

He's depressed.
A quiet kid with an active mind, Craig over thinks a lot. His thought process is deep, but his actual conversations are simple and he often gives short sentence replies, likely because he likes simple things, and also because he stutters.

His lingo in general is kinda weird, he uses certain terms that would relate to certain things. For example, he uses the word Tentacles which are the evil tasks that invade his life. I find this very interesting, and well, amusing. I can definitely see how they are tentacles too.

So far so many things are going on, I don't believe that he has stated the reason for his depression. Some of his symptoms are him not eating, not smoking pot and smoking too much pot, being anti-social. Maybe it's just him, but I really hope that he gets mentally healthier.

I mainly chose this book because of the cover... so lame, but worry not because I am actually enjoying it quite a bit.
Definitely excited to read what's gonna happen to Craig.