Tag Archives: fascinated

Uglies

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Book: Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Publishing Info: Published by Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing; 425 pages in paperback

Goodreads Summary:

Everybody gets to be supermodel gorgeous. What could be wrong with that? Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can’t wait. Not for her license — for turning pretty. In Tally’s world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there.

But Tally’s new friend Shay isn’t sure she wants to be pretty. She’d rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world and it isn’t very pretty. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever.

This is such an interesting book, and I love the premise.  A society where people get surgery at 16 so that they can look pretty?  It’s somewhat scary, but also interesting.

I loved the world that Westerfeld built.  The places were interesting, as were the people.  I definitely could imagine the events of Uglies happening in the near future.

I found Tally very easy to relate to.  Her horror at Shay wanting to be ugly, and wanting to be pretty.  It got me thinking about conformity and beauty standards.  Staying an ugly is a bad thing, and it seems pretty unimaginable to Tally that anyone would choose to be ugly.  And it’s not just one surgery, but several over the course of their lives.  As they hit certain stages in life, they go through another surgery.  It turns out that having the 1st surgery causes legions, and those legions change people.  And only a handful of jobs make them go away.

It says a lot about the society, that a lot of importance is placed on beauty.  And that Maddie and Az, who discovered the surgeries caused legions, had to flee or pretend that they don’t exist.  The outside world is bad, and undergoing surgery solved world peace and anorexia, among other things.

It makes you think beauty, and what it means to be pretty.  It’s interesting to see how beauty standards do (or do not) change over time.  In the book, there’s a Pretty Committee that decides what is considered beautiful for the next generation.  It’s very readable, and beauty isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.

I also like that the book seems to stand on its own fairly well.  It’s the first of 3, and while there are some loose ends that weren’t tied up, things were resolved enough so that you don’t need to continue the series.

I give it a 4 out of 5.  It really does make you think, and his world-building is pretty good.

Mockingjay

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Book: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Pages: 390 (Hardcover)

Mockingjay is the final book in the Hunger Games trilogy.  I wasn’t sure what to expect, since a few reviews I saw for The Hunger Games and Catching Fire said that Mockingjay was a big letdown.

I didn’t find that at all.  It is a lot different than the other 2 books, especially since Katniss and several other characters from the 1st two books are now living in District 13.  Katniss is very different than she was in the first 2 books.  She definitely seemed to be more reflective, and things seemed to weigh more heavily on her, at least a little, and mostly towards the end.  It’s much more emotional, because we see the things that have been set in motion come to fruition.

I knew there wasn’t going to be a traditional happy ending.  How could there be, when the trilogy has been about the government knowing how fragile they really are, and sending kids to fight each other to the death to keep the entire country in line?  There is definitely a lot to think about, not just with this book, but with the entire series.  I think Mockingjay, more than either of the previous books, has a lot of questions to be answered.  Where do you draw the line in war?  It’s can be an awfully thin line between justice and vengeance.  Do you give back what you received?  Do you show mercy to people who you know wouldn’t return the favor?  Do you kill innocent people on the other side because those leaders killed innocent people on your side?

It is a heavy book, but I thought it was a fitting end to the trilogy.  The death of certain characters, like Prim and Finnick, were sad.  Katniss didn’t dwell on those 2 particular deaths, but maybe she shouldn’t at the time.  Death is hard, especially when you feel like it was your fault that they died.  There was a little happiness at the very end, but then again, this series isn’t meant to be a happy one.

In the end, I’m glad Peeta and Katniss ended up together.  I’m certainly glad there were only hints of romance in the series, and in the end, I think it was always supposed to be Katniss and Peeta.  Who else could understand what the other went through since the start of The Hunger Games?

All in all, it gets a 5 out of 5.  The Hunger Games is a great trilogy, and Mockingjay was a great ending to a great series.

Book #100: Catching Fire

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Book: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Pages: 391 Pages (Hardcover)

What Did I Think? Catching Fire is the 2nd book in the Hunger Games trilogy, and I was as impressed with this one as I was with The Hunger Games.  In Catching Fire, Katniss and Peeta go on the Victory Tour that all previous Hunger Games winners go on, and they are forced to participate in the Quell Games.  The Quell Games are a special version of the Hunger Games that are done every 25 years.  There are hints of a rebellion until the end, when we learn District 12 (the district Katniss hails from) is completely destroyed- but her mom and sister manage to escape, as does her friend Gale. 

It wasn’t as striking as the first book, but I still found myself wanting to see what happens next.  Much like The Hunger Games, there were issues with the global economy, and how District 12 teaches it’s trade of coal mining in comparison to the other districts.  I still found myself slightly disturbed by the idea of the Hunger Games, but there was hope that things would get better and that the districts would band together and overthrow the Capitol. 

President Snow was creepy, with breath that smells like blood and roses.  And the arena for the Quell Games was interesting, with a clock and the same things happening at specific times.  And the symbol for the rebellion being the Mockingjay, and Katniss being the face of the rebellion- as long as she’s alive, the rebellion lives on. 

The pacing was great, I loved the characters, and there’s something about this book that fascinated me.  The cliffhanger…I have no idea what to say, but I want to know more about District 12 being destroyed, and how Prim and Kat’s mom managed to get out.  Are they in District 13, which we now know exists?  Are they on their way to District 13?  Will Peeta be okay and be able to get away from the Capitol?  This was a hard book to put down, and I can’t wait to read the 3rd book!

Rating: 5 out of 5.  I loved it and it definitely made me think.

Wildflower Hill

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Book: Wildflower Hill by Kimberley Freeman

Pages: 544 Pages (Paperback)

A Review: This review is based on a copy of Wildflower Hill that was won through a goodreads giveaway.

Wildflower Hill is about the intertwined stories of Beattie and her granddaughter Emma.  Upon Emma’s forced retirement from her career as a ballerina, she returns to Australia, and learns that Beattie left her a farm in Australia.  We learn more about Beattie, and her story unfolds.

I loved it!  There was something compelling about Beattie, and I found myself wanting to skim over Emma’s story just to get to Beattie’s story.  Emma does learn about her grandmother and the life she led before settling down and getting married. 

I don’t want to discount Emma, but she seemed a little cold and her story was a little boring.  This is in comparison to Beattie, whose life had so many hardships and yet she managed to be very successful and happy.

The narrative itself was very strong, and the 2 stories went together so well.  The 2 “voices” were very distinct, and you had no problem knowing who was narrating.  Plus, the weaving of the 2 stories was really well done.  There were several parallels between Beattie and Emma, and there were definitely some issues scattered throughout the book, like being a single parent and racism in Australia in the 1950’s. 

I loved the detail that Freeman put into Wildflower Hill and it was a very vivid and rich book.  The characters were very vivid as well, and I could picture everything so clearly. 

Review: 5 out of 5.  I loved it!

Research

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As November approaches, I’ve actually been working on my plots.  I’ve only been working on one, the one about the 2 friends who make a pact.  I’ve narrowed things down to either fairies or mermaids, but even more questions have popped up.  There are definitely a lot of things I need to work out between now and November.  Like, how is it going to kill her?  Is it something she’s allergic to?  Why can’t her body handle the fairy or the mermaid part of her?  Are there other people who are having the same problems as Poppy?  Does the fairy blood/mermaid whatever show up as something foreign or does everything appear normal because people think fairies and mermaids don’t exist?  Or is it a combination of both where there’s something weird but no one realizes it’s because she’s a fairie and so they think it’s some new disease or something?  How did she become part-fairie or part-mermaid?  Is one of her parents a fairie or a mermaid or is it some totally bizarre genetic mutation that turns people into mythological creatures?  Or maybe everyone has the ability to be a fairie or mermaid but only a certain segment of the population becomes a fairie because of a random mutation?

So, you can see my problem in actually working out some of the details, but I’m determined to make it work.  I think it’ll be easier to work out some of these questions once I actually pick something.  This is why I prefer to (mostly) wing it.  It’s just easier to make stuff up as I go along, but unfortunately, this isn’t something I can really make up as I go along.  I can, but I think I’m going to have to put in a lot of work ahead of time.  I’m thinking about shifting between her journal entries and the present but I’m not sure yet.  If I can think up of some more characters, and *maybe* plan some of the journal entries, then I’ll do that.  Otherwise, I’m not sure how I’m going to do this.  I definitely need to go back and forth between past and present…somehow.

I generally avoid research, but I have it to, I try to do just enough to get me through NaNo.  It’s interesting that after several years, I’m shifting more towards things that require me to do research.  I usually avoid research because I’ll focus too much on research and not enough on everything else.  I still have trouble finding the right balance, but maybe I’ll get better at it as I keep coming up with ideas where I actually need to research stuff before writing it.  I suppose I could always just ignore any research and write things that are potentially inaccurate, but where’s the fun in that?  I think I’m going to let the novel dictate how much I research because different things require different amounts of planning.  You wouldn’t plan historical fiction and fanfiction the same way, and you wouldn’t approach fantasy and romance the same way, so I really should try to let the novel dictate the amount of effort I put into planning and researching it.

Hopefully the research I do turns out okay, and it’s definitely going to be fun!

So Many Shows…So Little Time!

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What a week for t.v.!  On America’s Next Top Model, the girls got makeovers, which is always one of my favorite episodes.  There was a meltdown, which always seems to happen, and one girl was so happy she cried.  Not much else to report, though, but I’m really glad Kayla didn’t get eliminated.

We also have CSI and Revenge on Wednesday nights.  I was really torn about which one to watch.  A DVR would really come in handy, and I’m not sure if I can convince my grandma to get one.  If I had a way to pay for it myself, I totally give her the money every month for it.  I wasn’t up to going back and forth, so I figured I would watch one and watch the other online.  CSI won out, mostly because it’s the first time I could actually watch it…the only problem is that I have no clue what’s going on, since I’ve only seen the first season in it’s entirety, and random episodes from the subsequent seasons.  On the plus side, though, it’s one of those shows where you can randomly pick up and generally get the gist of what’s going on.

I watched Revenge online, and so far, it’s really good!  It’s definitely something I’m going to keep watching.  I like how it flashed back to her childhood and the present.  You get little bits and pieces of why Emily returned to the Hamptons and what happened, but you don’t get the full story right away.  It’s all very mysterious, and I can’t help but want to know what happened.

And NCIS!  That fanfic I wrote back in July for Camp NaNo?  There was a lot that I unknowingly got right!  It wasn’t E.J., just like I thought, but the microchip she took out of Levin’s arm was definitely connected.  It turned out that it was Cade…but not really.  There’s some guy named Stratton, who said he worked for the FBI, but the FBI has never heard of him, and he’s not showing up in any kind of database.  Another person had the microchip, which I had written back in July, and Tony does disappear for a while, like I had written.  And the FBI is kind of but not really involved in the pilot, while they were featured a lot more in the fanfic.  I definitely need to rewatch it, since it goes back and forth between past and present, which reminded me of the episode where they go looking for Ziva in Somalia.  I feel like I missed a few details, but I can tell you right now that this micro-chip thing is going to be a season-long arc.  It all comes down to something called Phantom 8, which the new SECNAV, Director Vance and this Stratton guy are connected to somehow.  Good lord, everyone being involved in Operation Frankenstein at the end of the last season was enough, do we really need more secret projects that people are involved in?  I don’t trust the new SECNAV at all- he’s definitely up to something.  I really wish they’d go back to the stand-alone episodes- the whole “grab-your-gear, there’s a dead marine” thing.

I’m waiting for House and Once Upon A Time to start.  The season premiere for House is in October as is Once Upon A Time.  I think House is October 3rd, but I’m not sure about the date for Once Upon A Time.  I think it’ll premiere at the end of October.  And Terra Nova starts on Monday, so that’s another one I’ll be recapping.

I watched Grey’s Anatomy yesterday, but I haven’t had a chance to watch Person Of Interest, which was on at the same time, so I’ll give a recap for both tomorrow.

Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets

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Book: Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

Pages: 341 (Paperback)

What Did I Think? In Chamber of Secrets (CoS), the Chamber of Secrets is opened.  Harry gets a visit from Dobby, a house-elf who works for the Malfoy family.  He warns Harry that something terrible will happen if he returns to Hogwarts.  Harry makes his way to the Weasley house after Fred, George and Ron come to get him.  He finally makes his way to Hogwarts, with Harry and Ron taking Mr. Weasley’s flying Ford Anglia since they can’t get to the Hogwarts Express.

Several students, plus Mrs. Norris get petrified by the monster in the Chamber of Secrets.  Hermione, Ron and Harry brew the Polyjuice potion to figure out who the Heir of Slytherin is.  People thought it was Harry after the school learned he was a Parselmouth (one who can speak to snakes) after an incident at the dueling club.  Moaning Myrtle is a girl who haunts the school after being killed the first time the Chamber opened, most notable the bathroom where she died.  Let’s see…we also meet Aragog, who is a spider that Hagrid found.  Everyone thought that Hagrid was the one who opened the Chamber of Secrets and so he was expelled.  Aragog isn’t the creature who was in the Chamber.  In fact, Aragog is scared of the monster in the Chamber.  We find out that the monster is a basilisk, who travels the pipes…and those must be some pretty big pipes.

Ginny, Ron’s younger sister, is taken into the chamber, and Ron and Harry go to rescue her, along with Professor Lockhart.  However, Ron and Lockhart get left behind after Lockhart’s attempt to obliviate Ron and Harry backfires.  Harry saves Ginny, destroys a diary that belonged to Tom Riddle, kills the basilisk with the sword of Gryffindor, and Ginny realizes that she was possessed by Voldemort and was the one behind the attacks.

There’s a lot of adventure, and some mystery.  It’s amazing how many clues are in the book, and how a lot of the places and creatures seen in this book are important to later plot points.  There is a lot going on, and I wish could throw in every little detail, but I can’t.  Especially I want to try to practice condensing HP to a few paragraphs…this will be especially important for books 4 through 7.

Back to CoS, though, Lockhart is hilarious, and completely useless as a Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher.  Another favorite moment in CoS is when Hermione transforms into a cat (on accident, of course) after drinking the Polyjuice Potion.  While I like CoS, I think I would place it behind Sorcerer’s Stone.  A lot of the things and places and people do make another appearance somewhere in the series, and I love the details.  I love how things that don’t seem important and are insignifcant in this book show up to be more important.  One of my favorite things about CoS is that there’s still a sense of innocence.  There are some very bad, evil things in the wizarding world, but it’s far off in the distance…at least to a certail extent.  There’s no Voldemort, not really, anyway, and things are solved easily.  Things are still pretty black and white, with no real shades of grey.

Rating: 4 out of 5.  While not one of my favorites, it’s still really good, and sets up some stuff that’ll be revealed in later books.  And there’s a little bit of everything in the series, as well as this book.

The Hunger Games

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Book: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Pages: 374 (Paperback)

What Did I Think? I loved it!  I’ve heard of The Hunger Games, and a few weeks ago, request it from the library.

In The Hunger Games, the Capitol is very harsh to the country of Panem, which occupies the area that used to be North America.  The Capitol is surrounded by 12 districts, which are kept in line by forcing all 12 districts to send one boy and one girl to fight in the annual Hunger Games.  The Hunger Games takes a total of 24 tributes, all between the ages of 12 and 18, in a fight-to-the-death event televised on live T.V.

We follow Katniss, one of the tributes from District 12, which is the poorest district.  She volunteers to be her district’s female tribute when her 12 year-old sister is picked to be one of the tributes.  The book is divided into 3 sections- the first is about the tributes, the second is about the actual hunger games, and the third is a mix of the hunger games and the post-games stuff.  There is violence, since everyone’s fighting to the death, but I wasn’t bothered by it.  And I thought it was secondary to the rest of the story, which is more about the government keeping the districts in line and squashing any sort of rebellion.

I was utterly fascinated with the idea of The Hunger Games, and how bad things can get.  I especially loved the way it was written- I felt like I was experiencing what Katniss was experiencing, and how chaotic the Hunger Games really are.  I don’t know how to describe what I felt when I was reading the book.  I guess it’s a mix of horror, amazement, and a general feeling of wanting Katniss to make it through.  The idea of a bunch of kids fighting to the death on live tv is morbid…but it’s a fascinating morbid.  Or maybe I’m just really weird and disturbed.  Moving on…I can definitely see why it’s so popular!

You can see the difference between the districts: some are more wealthy than others, as evidenced by the fact the a few of the districts have people who train for the Hunger Games.  It’s those districts that tend to win the Hunger Games.  And even in District 12, we can see the socioeconomic differences between the Seam (the poor section of an already poorer district) and the other part of town.  There’s just so much going on that we don’t see, and I’d like to re-read through a sociological perspective.  Look at me trying to be all smart!  But really, my degree is in sociology, and so it was kinda hard for me to miss.  Actually, it’d be hard for a lot of people to miss, I think, but there was all kinds of issues and stuff in there that I’d like to take a look at.

I wanted to know more about the districts, since not much information was given about each district or about the rebellion.  I wanted to know how and why North America was destroyed and why the Treaty of Treason was necessary.  I’m not sure how this would work out in the book, and for all I know, it could be revealed in the other 2 books.  But then again, the book was more about survival and what’s it’s like to go through the Hunger Games than about the history and how they got there.  There weren’t really any reasons given for why things were the way they were, but I’m (oddly) okay with that.  It does make you wonder what happened in order for something like The Hunger Games to come about.

Rating: 5 out of 5.  I thought it was amazing, and I was only a few chapters in when I requested the 2nd book.  It’ll be a while before I get it- I’m currently at 165 out of 182…which is better than the wait list for Game Of Thrones, where I’m at 223 (out of 226 people).