“I spent my life folded between the pages of books.In the absence of human relationships I formed bonds with paper characters. I lived love and loss through stories threaded in history; I experienced adolescence by association. My world is one interwoven web of words, stringing limb to limb, bone to sinew, thoughts and images all together. I am a being comprised of letters, a character created by sentences, a figment of imagination formed through fiction.”

― Tahereh Mafi, Shatter Me

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Booking Through Thursday: Being a Reader (capitol R)

It's Booking through Thursday!

here is this weeks question/back story:

I was talking to a co-worker the other day about a book I’d read recently, and realized how very, very few people I can do that with. In my daily life, it seems like almost no-one reads anything more than a newspaper or a fashion magazine. I only have one person I can truly chat about books with … and yet, being a Capital-R-Reader, I simply can’t imagine going through life without a book constantly at hand, or shelves of them proudly displayed downstairs. I’m proud of being a person who not only reads, but who reads a lot–not just in volume but in variety. I like having an inquiring mind. I like exploring new ideas. I love following an intricately plotted story (the more layers the better). I love BEING a reader and simply can’t imagine what it’s like to go through life without being one.
Am I the only one who feels this way? That wonders at how other people can simply NOT do something that should be so essential? Who feels almost sad that so many people seem content to go through their lives without stretching their mental wings at all?
Can you imagine NOT being a Reader? How does it shape your life? Your perception of it?
How does being a Reader affect your relationship with all those folks who are looking at it from the other side and simply can’t understand how you can sit and READ all the time?
Yep, it’s a long-winded, philosophical springboard to a ephemeral conversation … go, see what you can make of it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I think about this almost every second of my day. How can one not read? How can people look at your face and the book in your hand and say "Who reads anymore?" I just can't comprehend how one person could not find joy in escaping to different worlds!

I think it may have something to do with their exposure to books.

One thing being they don't find their genre. The one that makes them wait in lines at four in the morning just to get the next book. If not that extreme they haven't found the book that captivates them in such a way that the open the book and close it a moment later (having finished it of course)

Another could be the way books are introduced at school. I know that most kids do not find interest in assigned readings. Most of the time they are un-entertaining and give a person a books worst impression, therefore scarring them for life.

Book love can be obtained in good introduction but there is also another factor:

It is a natural love.

I know that I was not introduced into it saying "Oh books are such wonderful thing! Read and become a reader!" I was simply handed a book and I could not put it down until books became part of who I am. My love of books wasn't something that was taught to me, it was simply there. Natural and it could not be stopped. So even when someone asks, their noses high in the air, "Eww. Who reads books?" It will not stop me from being who I am and that is: Being a Reader. (capitol R. ;) )

While that veered off topic slightly, I will wrap up the other questions here:

Can you imagine NOT being a Reader? No! Not at all! It's part of who I am, being a Reader, it's what I love to do and what I spend my time on. If I didn't have reading, what would I do with my time??! What do 'normal' people do? Seriously. I am at a loss.

How does it shape your life? It is indescribable. It helps me a great deal in writing skills as well as fuel my imagination.... There are really just no words for it. One must experience it for themselves.

Your perception of it? Same as above. Everything is magical and special in the worlds you can travel too in books. (no matter how terrible those worlds may be...)

How does being a Reader affect your relationship with all those folks who are looking at it from the other side and simply can’t understand how you can sit and READ all the time? Well it gives me the image of a nerd, which I've embraced whole heartily and, I hope, makes them re-think how reading can be... I haven't died from some 'reading desease' now have I? Reading won't kill you! It will do the very opposite.

~Kait.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Review?

Sorry to report I don't actually have any reviews for you. It is taking me much longer than I expected to finish Mark of Athena (because of Nano) but once I finish I promise I will put a review up, and start reading books WAY faster again :)

Have a great day/night!!!

~Kait

Monday, November 26, 2012

Random Question Monday: Cover

 
 
Hey! We are bringing RQM back for one Monday only (this winter) because I got a special request from a friend.

Here is her question:

Sheridan said,

Do you ever really wish you could change the cover of one book you've read? Because its boring or maybe you just hate it? Which book?
PLEASE CHOOSE MY QUESTION!!!!!!!!!!


~~~~


Well....I don't really know about that. Like I have said many times before: I judge books by their covers. So I tend not to gravitate toward a book that is displeasing to look at. There is one though that was changed that I did not like.

     

I didn't like these covers and i am so relieved they changed them to:

     

~~~

There are also a few that I loved but then they changed them... for example Uglies by Scott Westerfeld:

 (original version)

 (version in another country?)

 (new version)

it looks very cool and all....but....not a fan.

Thanks for the question Sheridan!

Happy reading,

Sunday, November 25, 2012

NaNoWriMo, Cool Blogs, TV shows, and Possibly IMM posts

Hello fellow readers and fangirls/boys,

NaNoWrimo is almost over! Can you believe it? I only have to write 3,000 more words and I'm all done! That means I'll be posting WAY more and I have bucket loads of reviews...(well, not really...but I have several.)

~

I found this amazing blog:

http://the-plight-of-a-teenage-fangirl.blogspot.com.au/

The blogger is just a really funny girl who is a completely into books and things of bookish variety. Go follow her and read her posts. They are brilliant!

~

TV shows. I know that lots of bloggers post their favorite TV shows and ones they are excited for at the BEGINNING of seasons....but...we all know that I didn't do that, so I want to tell you what shows I am enjoying currently.

#1. Once Upon A Time

  I am quite in love with this show. I watched all 22? (some number in the 20's) episodes of the first season in a week than I caught up on season 2 until I could watch it on TV. They air every Sunday night a 8:00 PM EST.

I love the spin the put on the fairytales and the characters are simply AMAZING. I highly recommend it. You can see all of season 1 on Netflix and I'm sure season 2 will be put on soon.

#2 Revolution
 I love this show as well. The season wraps up its final episode tomorrow (Monday) at 10:00 PM EST. This show is crazy good and the story of what would happen if the power went out. It's brilliantly done and overall VERY intense and exciting.

~

As for possible IMM (In My Mailbox) I just entered a ton of Goodreads giveaways and hope to be winning some...

I won two giveaways this past month and I am just waiting for those to arrive (I will announce them in an official IMM when I do get them.) I might only be getting one though because I did not hear back from the second person.

Hope you guys had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. (or if you don't celebrate thanksgiving, a happy weekend.)

Happy reading!

-Kait

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Writers Block? Admit it?


The first step to help is admitting you have a problem….

Ok well that’s not true for writers block (the small kind anyway…the plot writers block? Ok yeah, admit that. But the little events…)

I find that when I have writers block, and I admit that to myself than it becomes more of a “OH MY GOSH I HAVE THE UN-CURABLE WRITERS BLOCK!!!!” Crazy frenzy of panic, rather than sorting through the problem and re-doing it I can only focus on how bad my writers block is. In fact, the vary words “writers block” set me off on this crazy mental game of hide and seek. I’m so afraid of it. I think its best for me to stay far far away from even admitting (or realizing) that I have writers block because that doesn’t bring me to help…it takes me farther away from it and into a deeper level of block. Anyone else feel the same?

Monday, November 12, 2012

Questions~ Grammar Free Hour!

These questions were provided by Should Be Reading
 
If you had to choose only 3 books to read forever, which ones would you choose?
 
At the moment (it ALWAYS CHANGES!!!)
I would choose Divergent, Holly's Heart, and The Host

• Is there a character that you absolutely love but that you cannot get a good mental picture of?
 
Well basically I can never nail down a mental picture of anyone...my brain doesn't let me. Like there hair always changes in my mid when I try to think about it...or something like that. Or their weight. Or their facial shape..(Well there are exceptions. I do have ones that i know exactly what they look like....) some of the undefined ones would be: Tobias Eaton (of course their are fancasts and my brain has an outline of him and knows who he is but when I try to really picture him, all his features switch back and forth in my mind) there are more too....like Edward Cullen. Yep. And Shay from Nightshade. (Esp shay)

• Make a plea for your favorite book. Make others wanna read it!
 
Divergent~ hmm. Read this book. It will change your life. (insert something about how fabulous it is and finish off with how I'm way to lazy to do this.) Maybe if you have heard enough about this book this little thing will be the straw that broke the cammels back and you give in and read the book already! ;)

• If you could create a soundtrack for a book you’ve read recently, which songs would you use and why?
 
Idk. Most songs I associate are usually by listening to them when I read....the sound of the song (the actual notes) connect my brain to the book. Sometimes a specific scene. And that's how I connect songs to books (lyrics too:....but that's not always easy.) I let the authors make the playlists. Bc I don't have a use for them, the authors use them when writing. And I like to listen to the ones they come up with if I really love the book because the songs take me to that place.

• Do you read outside your preferred genre? Has your preferred genre changed?
 
No..,,not really. I stay within my: fantasy, paranormal, dystopian, sci-fi, mythology world. And I steer clear of contemporary altogether. The only outsides I've read are the Gallagher girls....but those rnt really contemporary nor any of my genres.....they are just...them. (I've read each book 23 times so...yeah. I love them. Nuff said)

• Do you have a favorite book/movie combination?
 
THG...so far I've only watched Percy Jackson as a book to movie and I hate the translation so. Yeah THG was best for me.

• Name a book that you thought you wouldn’t like much, but you ended up loving.
 
This is what I'm HOPING will happen with violet midnight...but we will see. List:
 
1. Percy Jackson- put it off for years.
2. Holly's heart- the book that made me a reader
3. ILYKY- umm. Yeah. My cousin gave me this book to borrow an I didn't want to take it....finally did...well. IVE READ THE BOOK 23 times! enough said!!!!
Wow. Lot more than I thought.

• If you were Book Czar of the world, is there one book you would like to require every kid to read?
 
The Host? No. The Hunger Games? No. Uglies? No. IDK! All my favorite books.

I seriously have a decision making problem.
 
 
~~~~
 
and for my GREATEST act of the day: I will not spell check/proof this post. So enjoy my gramatical errors as entertainment. (look. i even spelt grammatical wrong! Hurray for grammar free hour!~~note that after this i will go back to being the person who snaps at people that it's "'Her and I.' Her and I people! i!" and other such things....but for now: I'm throwing grammar to the wind!)
 
-Kait

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Outlining: The Writers Keep Secrets

Hello lovely followers and those stopping by,

Today I have put together for you a small "rant" as you might call it.... its called:

Outlining: The Writers Keep Secrets

I find that when I go searching on any authors writing advice, they always mention “there are two types of writers. Those who fly by the seat of their pants, and those who outline.” They always say something in follow up along the lines of this “now either way is fine, whatever works for you. There are many different ways to outline and everyone does it differently, it’s a very controversial topic for writers, so I won’t tell you how I do it here.”—

Well no. No. Just no. I get that they give you the two writer types and that’s all great but say I have found out that I am in fact writer type two. I need to outline. This is what I’m saying: Would someone PLEASE TELL ME HOW I GO ABOUT DOING THAT. That was something I said for years, if all writers skirted the subject while writing advice, how on earth was I ever going to actually learn what an outline was, let alone how to write one? Once I had collected enough information to confirm that in outline was in fact a planning of the novel I truly couldn’t find a single author who would tell me straight up (or even tell me…) how to do one. They always said “oh well there are many different ways—“Well that’s all fine and dandy but would you please just explain it to me, because I really would like to know at least ONE WAY how to do it, rather than keep it some author secret that only they know…I feel that everyone got this huge handout on everything writer except me. Everyone knows how to outline, they know the vocab, they know how the editing process works exactly…where can I buy this handbook?

I did find out a way of outlining that I liked, after googling for three hours someone eventually explained various methods and I am satisfied, but for the longest time…no one would go into detail except for the vague: “there are so many different ways”


Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Teaser Tuesday: Raised by Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

woah! Can you believe it's almost our one year anniversary? woah.

It's Teaser Tuesday!


Teaser Tuesday's is a weekly meme hosted by Miz B of Should Be Reading and asks you to :

1. Grab your current read

2. Open to a random page

3 . Share 2 "teaser" sentences also citing the title of the book and the author and in that way people can have great recommendations if they like the "teaser".

4. Please avoid spoilers!

Todays teaser comes from Raised by Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (because this is the book that Rach  is currently reading)

"Katie nosed at the carpet and then gave it a good chew. When it proved recalcitrant enough that she couldn't pull it up, she growled.

"Who's a fierce little girl?" I asked her. "Who's going to kick butt and take names and help her big sister get into all kinds of trouble someday?"

Devon snorted. "Sometimes, I think the term bad influence was invented specifically with you in mind."              


~~~~

"Lake, could you please stop sweet-talking the weapons? It's kind of freaking me out."              

~~~~

"Not going to walk me to the door?" I asked, pretending to be shocked at his lack of gallantry.
"Of course I am. many would think that a bonny lass such as yerself wouldst be able to stay out of trouble for a distance of fifteen feet, but I know better."
"Did you just use the words yerself and wouldst in the same sentence? You can't be a pirate and a courtier at the same time, Dev. It just isn't done."


~~~~     

Jen is the queen of funny sarcastic wittiness.

Before you leave, please enjoy this speculation of the keyboard:

I love how my brain knows the keyboard so well…its like my instrument. My fingers already have what I want typed out before even I know what it is I want…. And I can think in sentences like I'm talking and I will have it out on the page in record time…a pen takes much longer and is not up to speed with you brain. Who ever created the keyboard….well I love that person. Now I cant stop staring at my keyboard in awe…

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Nanowrimo

Hey guys Mari here, Sorry that we haven't been blogging in a while because as you might know it's NANOWRIMO! Nanowhatsy? National Novel Writing Month! My word goal is 30,000. Same with Kait. I know some people are like, why do weeee care? BUT, you might care because that is the reason there have been no posts lately. Thank you for your consideration!
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Saturday, November 3, 2012

Hello!

BlogA blog is a 'snippet' of information. In the Internet world, many webmasters (and regular folks too) do a lot of blogging, meaning they keep a little diary of information. Normally a blog will list a date, and what someone did, saw, or noticed on that date. Also known as a "weB LOG"

I seriously did not know that "blog" comes from "weB LOG" that is so cool!

Sorry. I just found this and decided to share it with all of you! It seems (awkwardly) that it has been a week since our last post. WELL.....as some of you may know November is NaNoWriMo! So I have been last minute prepping, in fact, I am supposed to be writing now but I took a small break just for you guys. You know how life gets really crazy. And on top of that I lost power for the week because of Sandy! (for those of you who don't know, Sandy was a huge tropical storm that hit) so I finally got power back (don't worry my house is ok, thankfully we are not that close to the shore)

So because it is Saturday I will do Hunger Games Discussion Saturday today:

The question this week:

How did The Hunger Games change your life?

Hmmm. I know The Hunger Games changed my life because it was my first fandom. I loved the books SOOO much, I wrote so many essays on why it was a good lesson to teach the world and I just really loved the story. The love...the sacrifice. I know I am truly excited for Catching Fire.

Leave a comment with your response!

-Kait
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