What Have I Been Up To?

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I’ve been reading a lot, as evidenced by all the book reviews I’ve been posting, and I’m fairly certain there will be one or two next week. 

I’ve been baking, and I have to say that I really like the Dorie Greenspan cookbook, Baking: From My Home to Yours.  I wish I had time to make everything I have bookmarked but I don’t think that’ll happen in the next couple weeks. 

And of course, I’ve been doing Camp NaNo, which is going okay.  We’re definitely in week 2, and I’ve been playing catch up.  I’m almost completely caught up now, with a total wordcount of 19,974.  I’ve also been working on my other projects, which are going okay.  I think I’m going to hold off on any planning until next month, when I’m not writing 6 million different things, but if I end up doing some planning, that’s okay too. 

I’m still waiting for that Pottermore welcome email…but I did get a congratulations email, which told me to wait for my welcome email.  I can’t wait to get it, because the few pictures I’ve seen are amazing!

Jinx

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Book: Jinx by Meg Cabot

Pages: 262 (Hardcover)

What I Thought: Jinx is about Jean Honeychurch, a preacher’s daughter who moves to New York City (from Iowa) in order to escape a stalker.  Jean has the nickname of Jinx, because she has a lot of bad luck.  Her cousin Tory has a lot more issues than the last time Jean saw her, a lot of which are revealed in the book. 

It was a fast read, but I found Jean slightly annoying- she was really naive, and for someone who was being stalked, she seemed to relatively fine.  I don’t know what it’s like being stalked, but I imagine it’s something that would have some sort of effect, no matter how much distance is between the two.

Tory was an interesting character- she called Dylan, the guy who was stalking Jean, and asked him to be her date to the spring formal.  It was all to get back at Jean, who she had a vendetta against for most of the book.  Tory had this whole plan to tie up Jean, drink a few drops of her blood, and then force Jean to drink a poisonous potion so that Tory could get Jean’s magical powers.  Jean is a witch, and Tory pretended she was one. 

Honestly, I did like it, but Jean was just too innocent for me, and I didn’t feel like there was a lot of depth to her.  She seemed sweet, but really insecure, and not willing to go to her aunt and uncle even though she knew Tory was taking prescription drugs and even after Tory put a dead rat in her locker.  It was definitely predictable (as Meg Cabot’s books tend to be), but still enjoyable.

My Rating: 3 out of 5.  I liked it, but something was missing.  It was still pretty fun to read though.

Witch Child

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Book: Witch Child by Celia Rees

Pages: 260 (Hardcover)

What Did I Think? Witch Child is the diary of Mary Newbury, who set sail for America after her grandma was killed for being a witch. 

I loved how it was set up as a diary found in a quilt from the 1600’s that was later published.  It was really intriguing to see Mary’s thoughts on her grandmother’s death, and her escape to America in order to avoid suspicion that Mary herself was a witch.  Just as she settles into her life in America, she once again faces suspicion that she is a witch, and it ends rather abruptly.  I’m fine with the abrupt ending as it’s clear Mary can’t stay in the town she escaped to.  There are a few pages after that which gives a brief account of what happens after Mary left. 

I picked up, thinking that that it looked and sounded really interesting, and after I started reading it, I realized I had already read it!  But I decided to keep reading it, and I loved it as much as I did the first time I read it. 

The diary format worked really well, as did the abrupt ending.  It was definitely set up for the sequel, but it really made you wonder what happened to Mary and if she was okay.

There is a sequel, which is next on my reading list, and I really want to see how Mary’s story continues. 

Rating: 4 out of 5.  Overall, it was really interesting, and gave a good look at what life might have been like for someone accused of being a witch.

Airhead

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Book: Airhead by Meg Cabot

Pages: 340/Hardcover

My Thoughts: I love Meg Cabot, and I thought I’d read Airhead.  The title (and cover) intrigued me.  It’s about Emerson Watts, who dies after a tv falls on her.  Her brain gets transplanted into Nikki Howard, a teen supermodel.  Nikki just happened to have an aneurysm burst or whatever around the same time that the t.v. fell on Emerson, hence the brain transplant.  Emerson is a nerdy tomboy, and especially loves video games, which she always played with her best friend Christopher. 

It took Emerson a while to realize that her brain was transplanted in Nikki, since we see Emerson in the hospital right after the accident, and then the next thing we know, she’s awake, and everyone’s acting really vague.  It isn’t until Lulu (Nikki’s best friend) comes by and gets her out of the hospital that we discover Emerson’s brain is in Nikki’s body. 

Yeah, that part was a little strange, but I swear it’s not as convoluted as it sounds.  We don’t know exactly what’s going on, and then we go on this weird journey where Emerson clearly doesn’t want to be in Nikki’s body, but in order for her parents to not pay the $2 million in bills that are the result of the transplant, she has to keep up with Nikki’s contracts and endorsements. 

“Nikki’s” forgetfulness is explained as amnesia from hitting her head, and it was slightly entertaining to see Emerson in a supermodel’s body.  It was a pretty fast read, and I certainly liked Emerson.  But…while I like Meg Cabot, this definitely is my least favorite book I’ve read.  Mostly because of the whole brain transplant thing- it was definitely weird, especially with the huge contrast between Emerson and Nikki.

My Rating: 2.5 out of 5.  Like I said, the brain transplant thing was weird, but I really did like Emerson.  And the ending is rather abrupt too, which made me wonder what was going to happen.

Cybele’s Secret

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Book: Cybele’s Secret by Juliet Marillier

Pages: 432/Hardcover

What Did I Think? Cybele’s Secret is the 2nd book in the Wildwood Series.  In this book, we follow Paula and her father in Istanbul, as they try to buy an ancient pagan artifact, Cybele’s Gift.  Paula ends up going back to the Other Kingdom, with her bodyguard, Stoyan, and Duarte Aguilar, a pirate, and another who bid on Cybele’s Gift. 

I loved the detail, which really made the book come to life.  But it took me most of the book to actually get interested in it, the Other Kingdom making it’s grand appearance towards the end.  It was only hinted at for most of the book. 

I didn’t like it as much as Wildwood Dancing- it was missing some of the charm that Wildwood Dancing had.  Plus, Stoyan and Duarte were clearly set up as romantic interests for Paula, though it was fairly obvious that it was Stoyan that Paula would end up with. 

Paula’s sister Tati, who went to the Other Kingdom in Wildwood Dancing, made a few appearances in Cybele’s Secret.  Tati had her own quest to fulfill, which would allow her to see her sisters.  She only sees Paula, so if Tati does visit her sisters, it’s likely to be in any sequels.

Rating: 2 out of 5.  I didn’t like it as much as Wildwood Dancing, but I did like the detail Marillier put into it.

Staring At A Blank Page

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I’ve been staring at this post for a while, and I have no clue what to write.  I thought about not doing a post, but I wanted to write about something.  I still have no clue what that is. 

I didn’t do any writing yesterday…I still don’t want to think about yesterday, and I can’t get it out of mind.  A good chunk of the day…I just want to forget about it, and unfortunately, I can’t forget about it.  And I don’t think I will for some time.  I’m trying to take the high road, but it’s something I’m really struggling with right now. 

Hopefully, my writing will be a good distraction for me today, because that’s something I really need right now.  I think that wraps up today’s post, so have a great week.

Unsettled

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Yesterday, I had this really unsettling dream.  It started off with me in backyard, and I was a very young child.  There was also a young boy, and then we were magically at a church, and we were in this small room watching tv.  There was this report of this girl who had gone missing a couple years earlier, and what she might look like now.  Then the reporters were talking about a girl who died because she went missing and they couldn’t find her in time.  It turned out they checked some area, and she was in on of the crates, which were conveniently not checked.  The guy who checked that particular area felt guilty because if he looked in the crates, she would have been alive.  I distinctly remember picking out a couple books and some jelly beans being knocked over.

The most unsettling part was when I woke up feeling like I was both of the girls who had gone missing.  I definitely got the impression that the case of the 2 different girls going missing were not related.  I’m not sure what it all means, because sometimes a dream is just dream.  Still, it was really unsettling, and I couldn’t get it out of my mind.

So: for something that’s not weird, Camp is going pretty well, and I’m not behind, but I’m not ridiculously ahead or anthing either.  Still doing some non-Camp writing, but no planning for November stuff.  I’m debating whether I should do it this month or next month.  We’ll see, though.  I really have been saying that a lot lately, haven’t I?  I’m just not really in the mood to do any planning, even though I know I should.

My current wordcount is 10,009.  Week 2 is upon us, and I’m not a big fan of week 2.  Still, I always manage to get through it, which is always amazing.  I’m also anxiously awaiting my pottermore welcome email, and I’m kind of-sort of checking my email obsessively to see if it’s there, even though I know it won’t be here this early.  I suppose it could be, but it would be a big surprise if it were.  They weren’t kidding when they said the clues would get easier over the course of a week.

I think that’s it, so have an amazing day everyone!

The Joy Of Cooking (The 75th Anniversary One)

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Book And Author: The Joy Of Cooking by Irma Rombauer, Marion rombauer Becker and Ethan Becker

Pages/Format: 1132/Hardcover

What I Thought: There were things I liked and didn’t like about this cookbook.

What didn’t I like?  For one, the length.  I get it’s meant to be the guide to cooking, but goodness!  It’s a long book, complete with a nutrition guide, a section for entertaining, a section of different menus, plus a bunch more at the end.  Examples of those include  keeping and storing food, canning, freezing, and knowing your ingredients.  Scattered throughout the book are little sections about stuff, like a section about tea, different kinds of pie, and different kinds of cakes.

The format of the recipes was odd, but something I could get used to.  Here’s the general idea of the format: ingredients, recipe, ingredients, recipe.  That’s how I tend to cook, so that’s why I could get used to it.  But at the same time, I’m slightly worried about skipping over something.  Another annoying (and very distracting) aspect of the format is the references to other pages.  Example: Pie.  The pie crusts have their own section, so you refer to that, and then proceed as normal for the rest of the recipe.  The cakes are a good example too, because the glazes and icings are in a different chapter.  Also, some recipes direct you to read different guides.  Example: some of the pie recipes direct you to read about fruit pies and rolling pastry dough.

Again, I get it’s supposed to be the ultimate guide to cooking or whatever, but found that going back and forth between two different pages distracting.  As for directing people to different things to read before making whatever recipe, it’s probably good for beginners, but for me, I found it distracting.  Had I moved away from the dessert section, and gone to make, say, pasta or soup, my opinion might be different.

So what did I actually like then?  There really are a lot of recipes- according to the front cover, 4500 of them!  This accounts for a good chunk of the length, and I do like that they’re thorough, and try to be somewhat definitive.  The few recipes I tried were really good, and I really did like how the recipes themselves were formatted.  Generally speaking, I liked how it was organized, but I felt like it could’ve been slightly better.  With multiple recipes on a page, I felt like they could have found a better way to make each recipe stand out.

Rating: 3 out of 5.  The recipes were good, but I found certain things to be really distracting, which downgraded the rating.

Some Things I Love

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Today, I’m sharing some of my favorite things!

  • History For Music Lovers: There are these 2 history teachers, and they post music videos, adapting the lyrics of well-known songs to teach history!
  • The library: It’s amazing!  It’s quiet, there’s free internet, and I can stay as long as I want and no one cares!  Plus, if I need to go look something up, books are close by!
  • OneRepublic: I’ve been listening to them a lot lately, and I can’t get them out of my head!
  • Twitter: I’ve been hanging out a lot on Twitter lately, and one of my favorite tweets was earlier this week.  It’s in reference to the first day of Pottermore registration: Harry Potter and the time the entire fandom had a nervous breakdown.  It made me giggle.
  • So you think you can dance: I’ve been watching it for the last few weeks, and I always wish I could dance like that!
  • Writing!  I’ve been writing everyday (pretty much anyway) and I like it.  It is frustrating sometimes, but otherwise my head would explode from all these ideas I have floating around.

That’s all I can think of right now, so I’ll be back with another post…about an undecided (as of now) topic!

Yesterday Was A Smashing Day

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In terms of writing, yesterday was a really good day.  I’m currently at 7,759 words, well ahead of where I should be.  Yesterday was just one of those days where I couldn’t stop writing, and I figured I might as well take advantage of it.  I’m definitely going to keep up the pace, if I can, because you never know when you’ll need those extra words.  Maybe I can use the time to work on my other stuff…

There’s all kinds of things in store for this novel and I’ve even added a few new characters.  I’m hoping I can remember them all.  If not, I’ll pretend like I remember their names. 

According to the stats page, I wrote 3,871 words today!  So if I keep up the same pace (or at least somthing very similar), then I’m set to finish on August 19. 

Like that would actually happen…not in a million years would I finish *that* early.  It’s likely, but…I tend to be a procrastinator, and if I do finish early, it’s likely to be a day or two early, not close to 2 weeks early. 

On to…baking!  It’s been way too hot to bake, although I could default to the middle of the night, which isn’t too warm.  And honestly, I prefer baking in the middle of the night anyway.  But lately, I’ve been feeling…weird.  And I haven’t really felt like it anyway, but I want to, since I’ll have to return the cookbooks I have soon.  Unless I can renew them, of course, which I’ll try to do. 

I think that’s it for today, so have a good one!