Books In Real Life

copywrites on this one go to me -
but who would want to steal this
lovely blurryness anyways?

Do you recognize this?  Probably not.  It's a sculpture in Yorkdale Mall - somewhere that is busy, but not known world-wide.  I walked through it on my way to the subway, which took me to the ROM.

Yet, I had to stop like a tourist and take a picture.  I bet lots of people thought I was crazy.  Why did I take this picture?  It's a book come to life.


I don't know how many people have read Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan (if you haven't you need to, because it's great) but I have, and I absolutely love the book.  Scott Westerfeld is reaching the top of my favourite author list fast.  His books are a lot like Mortal Engines, if you've read that one, and a better version of Keys to the Kingdom.. maybe even a bit like Inkspell or a more sci-fi Shiver.

Book Review: Num8ers

Num8ers by Rachel Ward                7/10

I picked up this book because of the cover.  It's intriguing and beautiful, but dangerous.  It sort of scared me at first, but I couldn't put it down...

Actually, it's a lot like the book.

Num8ers by Rachel Ward is fairly good.  I liked the characters, the style, and the plot.  I didn't like how unfair their lives were, and the sad ending.  Overall, I think this book grows on you.  I read it a while ago, and the longer I think about it, the more I like it.

Individual Study Unit

I've been working nonstop on my ISU (Individual Study Unit) which is on a multicultural novel called "Mountain Girl River Girl" by Ting Xing-Ye.

It's an interesting book, where 2 girls from different places in China travel to big cities, meet halfway and work in a factory for a little bit.  There's a lot of misfortune that happens along the way... and in case you don't like reading about scary (rape) stuff, (who does? :/ it shocked me) there is that....

The Mockingjay Book Review

Cover via Amazon

The Mockingjay.  How long have I waited for this book to be released?  I read it, like the other two books in the series (The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, all by Suzanne Collins) in about 8 hours, spread out over a late night and early morning.  By the end of the book, my eyes were glazing over and I was tired, making the ending a bit too hazy in my memory, but it was still good.


I'm pretty sure it isn't just me when I say I wish the book had a more in-depth portion describing the fall of Panem (that isn't a spoiler, you knew it was coming, right?) because in the book, Katniss passes out.  Also, she doesn't seem as strong as she did in the first book, but I understand her character more, so I'm fine if she isn't superwoman.

What else can I say?  A lot of characters die, as is the norm for the last of the series.  I survived without tears through the deaths, and luckily, my favourite character was left (although moved away, but alive).  If you're a Peeta fan, be prepared to have your heart broken, glued back together, re-broken, and then sealed whole again by a cute, Harry Potter-esque ending.  I can't say anything about this book without spoiling it!

I rate this a 7.5/10.  But after a good re-read, I may bump that up to an 8 :]

S a r a h

Heist Society Book Review

Image via Wikipedia

Heist Society, by Ally Carter, is a book about Katarina Bishop, the daughter of a thief, the granddaughter of the greatest crook ever, and a girl smack in the middle of an entire family of "crooked business".  The cover of this book is beautiful (I'm a bangs girl, I love her bangs!) and the look of the pages and setup (it counts down until the deadline on clock-backgrounded pages) makes the book nice too :)

In the first chapter, it almost seems like Heist Society is part of a series, not a stand-alone story.

Short Review: I Heart You, You Haunt Me

Sorry this post got screwed up awesome followers! I have no idea what happened... but I re-wrote it now :)

I Heart You, You Haunt Me

A book
Written in verse.
Short lines
Lots of meaning.

A girl dares
her boy to jump

He dies.

But then he comes back?

This book is really cool.  It's not long - it took me about 45 minutes to read.. but it's really cute :)

Post One Hundred

This is my hundredth post!

ONE
HUNDRED
POSTS


I think that is a pretty special number.  It means I've filled up a lot of space with my words, and you must know a lot about me.  It means I've changed my blog layout at least 5 times, and that I've spent over 100 hours on this lovely Blogger interface.  It means I've been here for a year, averaging 2 posts a week.

To Kill A Mockingbird

As far as school books go, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is not that bad.  Sure, it's about racism, laws and rape, but it's interesting too.  The main character, Scout, is 9 when the story begins and about 12 when it ends, but that doesn't stop the story from being interesting to older people too.  I don't really know why Scout HAD to be 9 in Harper Lee's mind, but she acts a lot older anyways, so I can't really complain.

It's about the Finch's family and how their life goes on.  There's a guy in their next-door-neighbours house who has never been outside for 15 years (Arthur "Boo" Radley takes up the Part One section of the book) and a trail for a nice black man accused of rape in the second part.  Although those are two different things and it makes the book sorta split down the middle, they do tie together at the end and give a few meaningful lessons.

All school books have lessons.  This one tells you about Mockingbirds -

I'm Back! (Miss Me?)

So, I'm back.  My new-ish computer now has internet (thanks to my sister and a computer-geek friend) and I can officially post from JaceSterling!

Amazing moment.

But moving on, I figured out my classes for grade 9 at high school!  Here they are:

Term 1
Period 1: Gym
Period 2: Buisness Technoligy
Period 3: LUNCH!
Period 4: Geography (In French)
Period 5: Art

Term 2
Period 1: Extended French
Period 2: Math
Period 3: LUNCH!
Period 4: English <3
Period 5: Science



Notice that I have all the easy subjects in my first term, and the harder ones in second?  Fun, fun, fun... I think I'll either become a super nerd second term or help my friends with their homework so I know the material first term, lol.

A sad note is that I don't have that many classes with my best friends, which is understandable.. but I still wish it was better.

InVincible and Empyrean are going slowly, but at least they aren't moving backwards, right?  I hope I'll get some new stuff to talk about soon.. an excerpt or something is kind of needed right now.  (Oh, and in Empyrean my teacher agrees that killing Quint was a good idea :D haha).

I read Catching Fire.

It's the sequel to The Hunger Games, which is also amazing.  Both are by Suzanne Collins, an amazing author.  She doesn't have many books out, but her other (somewhat younger) series is about 5 books, so The Hunger Games has hope of getting a third, maybe fourth book.  Definitely a third - these books leave major cliffhanger endings.  It's amazing.  Plus, all though the book, there's not really anything I would change.  It's very, very well written.  And twisty.  And amazing.  In short, I love these books.

I'll update later - maybe about my first day of school...

S a r a h

A Great And Terrible Beauty - BOOK REVIEW

A few days ago I started to read A Great And Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray. From all the great reviews and the really well-done synopsis, I thought this book was going to be good - really good.

But it wasn't.

The story takes place in the turn-of-the-century 18/19 hundreds. It seems to me that the book should have taken place in a different time, maybe around the middle of the 18 hundreds instead because they didn't seem to act at all what I think my great-great grandparents would - but hey, I hardly know anything about those times, so I may be wrong). But in this time, in England, the world is filled with icky pompous (and yes, they are pompous) men and humble, dainty, faint-hearted women, all of which, seem to be speaking a wierd mixture of modern-day English with some olden stuff you can find on Wikipedia.  Their thoughts, however, are totally modern.)

This book does not sound like the type of book girls would like, right? (Well, at least not me). I thought it was going to be about how Gemma, the wierdly-named main character, overcomes all this and leads the world into a better state of mind about women (and ends up killing all those disgusting men).

But that didn't happen. Instead, A Great And Terrible Beauty was exactly that, except without the great. A Terrible Beauty. Filled with vain, dimwitted girls and arrogant, deserves-to-die men. The girls can't stop talking about how pretty they look (along with the whole gossiping thing... they are Queens of gossip) and how they wish to find Prince Charming (who, most likely, they dream to be the type of guy who orders them around like slaves) and how their favourite dress has a stain in it.

Oh no! Those girls make me sick. They are a disgrace to the female race.

But who would've thought the book would be that bad? I mean, the back cover is amazingly interesting and good... the beginning starts out the same (ish) but then... then you meet Pippy and Felicity and Ann, all obsessed about their 50-year-old husbands and how beautiful they are (Insert scream here).

And as for the magic? Ooohh.. how delightful! The magic, which was supposed to seem dark and dangerous comes out as a perfect little paradise which, of course, the girls get into trouble for trying to take back.

Yes, they try to take the magic from Paradise and make their lives perfect. Perfect looks, perfect French... for a disgusting moment in the book, they are perfect. Eww. No one wants to read a book about perfect people, especially not me. And I mean, seriously, did Libba Bray (the author) actually think she could get away with a simple Adam and Eve story? Oh, don't steal from the perfect world - you'll have to stay!

Wow. Nearing the end of the book, I found myself skipping pages until I found the only character I liked (who now, was so impressive that I forget his name). Suprisingly, my favourite character was the only one she based off a real person.

I'm sorry if you love this book or I came off a little harsh, but I needed to vent my frusteration. I read this entire book, two days wasted, and now I'm left with a disgusting feeling (oh, did I mention her extremely mature dreams? (Which luckily I was able to skip with only minor scarring) but now I feel.. well... betrayed. All those kind words and good reviews and suggestions to read this book from friends.. and now I'm left with no amazingly good story of rebellation against the vile system of the somewhere-around 1800's, but a tale of 4 vain girls in their very vain lives, complaining how none of them are beautiful enough.

I feel like I've been tricked, and it's not a good feeling.

But hey, if a story of vain girls and pretty, non-dark magic makes you smile, go out and get A Great And Terrible Beauty. Maybe it'll be just what your looking for.

But it wasn't at all what I was looking for. No, now I'm going to get out a nice book with girls who aren't afraid to show their wrists and don't care about how their facial expression is when they stab their enemy (which, in A Great And Terrible Beauty, never happens because there doesnt seems to be much in the way of enemies - besides a few "friends" who gossip rude things. Oh my!) Maybe I'll read The Hunger Games - that's a nice, dark book with plenty of killing. Definately my type de livre.

All-in-all, I, Sarah, dislike this book MORE than Twilight.

And that's saying something.