Summer, Swimming, Sickness and Other News

Tada. Behold. I have created a post for y'all.

Oh, LO freakin' L

Those of you hanging on the fringe and seeing this post pop up, I appreciate your loyalty. I have been buried in the silence for six months. Yep. Six months, people. I looked at my last post, idly curious as to the amount of time I'd let pass since my last post, and had a little sad all to myself.

Six months is a long time to quit the cybersphere. Sorries all 'round.

Anyhoozle, I've done many, many reviews at Compass Book Ratings since last I posted. Check it out:

             

 

I don't know why blogger can't freakin' format, but it apparently cannot, which is why all the books are wonky up there. But look at all the books I've reviewed! (Actually, I did review a fifteenth book, but since I threw up my hands about three chapters in, thinking, "Watch, I bet you anything the next character introduced is ALSO going to be exploring gender identity," I'm not posting that review here. I wouldn't recommend it anyway. To paraphrase Buzz Lightyear: "Gays. Gays everywhere.")

But see. I have been busy, contrary to what my visible life on this blog might say.

In other news, HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SUMMER!

I love Google's doodles. They're always so adorable. Did y'all see the one where you could play cricket? That was fun! I really like the interactive ones. I literally waste so much time.

Fun news: I got pink eye over the last week. That crap sucks, man! It started developing Friday evening, and it wasn't toooo too bad until later that evening, when my eyes got pretty weepy and freakin' itched and burned.

I went to the doctor promptly the next morning, because it hurt, and am now on medication and doing much better, thanks for asking. I had originally thought it was just allergies, because our pollen is coming down with vengeance (thank you, pine trees), and my throat has been a little sore anyway, and I've been congested and watery-eyed. But when the itch turned into horrific burning and go-away-give-me-a-cold-towel-take-away-the-lights, I figured it was no longer allergies.

We had breakthrough hot weather end of May/beginning of June, which degenerated into really foul weather over the weekend that my sister (whom I haven't seen for...hmmm... four years?) came up for a visit. Once she and her family left, the weather popped back up into the upper 70s/low 80s, with a bold foray into the 90s. So, it is about swimming weather, which we will likely attempt tonight. I will swim, but I may not dunk. Protecting my precious eyes, see?

A few of us are going to a civil war reenactment this weekend. I'm not 100% sure where it is, but I do know the weather is going to be very HOT, and we are camping near a beach. So you can be sure I'm packing my swimsuit. But the reenactment itself should be fun. I'm looking forward to it.

I have been reading bucketloads of manga. Bucket. Loads. Manga is actually rather lovely. I mean, yeah, you get the shapeless wonders once in awhile, but can you imagine drawing an entire story in pictures? That's crazy talented.

 

 

I currently own all of Fullmental Alchemist, all that is available of D.Gray-Man, and I have about half of Pandora Hearts. The wrong kind of half, though. Like, Barnes and Nobles has a bad habit of chronically having the first seven books in that series, and the last five, but totally ignoring books 8-19. Apparently, those twelve are only purchasable online and never in-store. Lame-oh. (Also, I would like to point out that there is a serious lack of Xerxes Break collectibles. What's up with that, manga world? I bet you can't take a walk in freakin' Japan without stumbling over some action figure or another!) I did get my sticky mitts on some pretty cool Fullmetal Alchemist figures, which are proudly on display with my manga collection. I have also come to the conclusion that I think I like the Noragami manga slightly better than the anime. So I can see myself eventually collecting the manga of that. Perhaps not the anime, but the manga has beautiful art and a great main character.

But that is currently all for now. So, without further eloquence...

God bless!

Cat

Tralala! Tralala! Tralala! Tralala! Rum Tum Tum Tiddle-um

Hello, friends! I've got three more reviews posted up at Compass Book Ratings.

The first is RIP VAN WINKLE AND THE PUMPKIN LANTERN.

While I wasn't 100% in love with this story, there were some elements I appreciated:  Namely, the heavily Christian undertone that you really don't find in a lot of books these days, and the really clever correlations the author made fairy tales and symbolism. It's a very simple read with some unexpectedly dark undertones, but overall engaging, and I quite liked Rip. He was a sweetheart of a character. I also liked the "plug" advocating big families. Since I come from one, I really liked that.

Next up, FEAR THE DROWNING DEEP.

I really wanted to love this one. Come on, that's a pretty sick cover! It's evocative, compelling, and plus, it deals with sea myths! What's not to love?!?... (Well, to be honest, the romance.) I'm not hugely into teen romance, especially what's being written these days. It's so very, very dramatic and touchy-feely. I like my romance to be the slow blooming kind, not the "girl-sees-boy-wow-hotness-must-have-yessssssssss!" This was, unfortunately, more of the latter. I don't really need to be reminded how attractive someone looks in this type of lighting, or with that kind of smile, or with this touch. Less is more, guys. Less is more. BUT, the last third of the book was pretty tight, and the ending had a fairly good climax (we got more plot and action, here, rather than thoughts of kissing, being kissed, wanting to be kissed, and so on and so forth). The last few chapters, I was flipping pages pretty quickly to make sure people survived. And the sea monsters used in this story were well done. There's a particularly gruesome sea serpent that was simply ugh, if you know what I mean. Simply UGH! :) If you are someone who is not turned off by teen romance, you might really, really like this book. I just personally have a prudish side that found the romantic content a bit overwhelming, and I likely wouldn't recommend it to my family, who are also not hugely into current teen romance. But, the writing is rather lovely, and the description of the island is excellent. If you've ever been to the ocean, you'll taste the salt and smell the wind and feel the sand.

Last, I've got THE QUEEN OF ATTOLIA reviewed.

If you guys don't know how much I love Megan Whalen Turner's Attolia books (The Queen's Thief, The Queen of Attolia, The King of Attolia, A Conspiracy of Kings) then I haven't gushed about them enough!!! Some of my sisters love The Queen of Attolia best. Me, my favourite is The King of Attolia, with The Queen a close second. I simply ADORE the main character, Eugenides. You do get more of him in The Queen's Thief (book one), since it's told entirely from his perspective, and he sort of slips into the background over the course of the books, with him barely making an appearance in A Conspiracy of Kings (which is probably why it's not my favourite book in the series). But in the King of Attolia, you get him from someone else's perspective, and he just gets incredibly more awesome. What I really admire about these books, other than their beautiful worldbuilding, is the fact that it's primarily about the three countries of Eddis, Attolia, and Sounis, and their struggles to remain independent. That's clever. I've never seen a book where the countries themselves are almost characters. And I also am hugely amazed at the way Megan Whalen Turner can take a character that you rather despise and make you somehow fall in love with them (I'm referring to The Queen of Attolia here). It makes me desperately anxious to become a better writer when I read her books. (Oh and HOLLA! She is writing a fifth book called Thick As Thieves! The only drawback I can see to it is that it, like A Conspiracy of Kings, doesn't deal with Eugenides at ALL. That is a great sorrow, guys.) But here, in The Queen of Attolia, we get a perfect example of the slow blooming romances that I go for. Subtle romance, simple romance, that's so keenly beautiful and heart-stopping you sit back, marveling how much those perfectly phrased sentences can make you feel. So yeah. If you haven't read the Attolia books, what are waiting for? 

Go! Find them!

Buy them! Read them! :)

So, yep. There you go. Three new books for you to read. You're welcome.

What all did you do for Halloween? I had been idly contemplating an Edward Elric-esque costume...

...but since I am not the only person obsessed with Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, another sister dressed up as him, so I went as my default old-fashioned witch. Maybe next year...? We shall see. :)

Also, I went to Front Sight directly after Halloween - me and three other sisters drove down to Pahrump November 3rd, participated in a four-day handgun class and a CCW class the day after, and came back home (albeit reluctantly) November 9th.  

You wouldn't BELIEVE how attached you can get to a shooting range, guys!

I want to do a more in-depth blog post about Front Sight, so I'm not going to say too much about it here. But omigosh, FUN! It is very satisfying to know how to handle a handgun. For reals.

Oh, and I saw Doctor Strange on Friday. Wow magic! Such sorcery.

And that's it for me. It's almost Thanksgiving, guys! If I don't manage to blog before then, hope it's a good one.

God bless!

Cat

Tralala! Tralala! Tralala! Tralala! Rum Tum Tum Tiddle-um

Hello, friends! I've got three more reviews posted up at Compass Book Ratings.

The first is RIP VAN WINKLE AND THE PUMPKIN LANTERN.

While I wasn't 100% in love with this story, there were some elements I appreciated:  Namely, the heavily Christian undertone that you really don't find in a lot of books these days, and the really clever correlations the author made fairy tales and symbolism. It's a very simple read with some unexpectedly dark undertones, but overall engaging, and I quite liked Rip. He was a sweetheart of a character. I also liked the "plug" advocating big families. Since I come from one, I really liked that.

Next up, FEAR THE DROWNING DEEP.

I really wanted to love this one. Come on, that's a pretty sick cover! It's evocative, compelling, and plus, it deals with sea myths! What's not to love?!?... (Well, to be honest, the romance.) I'm not hugely into teen romance, especially what's being written these days. It's so very, very dramatic and touchy-feely. I like my romance to be the slow blooming kind, not the "girl-sees-boy-wow-hotness-must-have-yessssssssss!" This was, unfortunately, more of the latter. I don't really need to be reminded how attractive someone looks in this type of lighting, or with that kind of smile, or with this touch. Less is more, guys. Less is more. BUT, the last third of the book was pretty tight, and the ending had a fairly good climax (we got more plot and action, here, rather than thoughts of kissing, being kissed, wanting to be kissed, and so on and so forth). The last few chapters, I was flipping pages pretty quickly to make sure people survived. And the sea monsters used in this story were well done. There's a particularly gruesome sea serpent that was simply ugh, if you know what I mean. Simply UGH! :) If you are into teen romance, you might really, really like this book! Go for it! The writing is rather lovely, and the description of the island is excellent. If you've ever been to the ocean, you'll taste the salt and smell the wind and feel the sand.

Last, I've got THE QUEEN OF ATTOLIA reviewed.

If you guys don't know how much I love Megan Whalen Turner's Attolia books (The Queen's Thief, The Queen of Attolia, The King of Attolia, A Conspiracy of Kings) then I haven't gushed about them enough!!! Some of my sisters love The Queen of Attolia best. Me, my favourite is The King of Attolia, with The Queen a close second. I simply ADORE the main character, Eugenides. You do get more of him in The Queen's Thief (book one), since it's told entirely from his perspective, and he sort of slips into the background over the course of the books, with him barely making an appearance in A Conspiracy of Kings (which is probably why it's not my favourite book in the series). But in the King of Attolia, you get him from someone else's perspective, and he just gets incredibly more awesome. What I really admire about these books, other than their beautiful worldbuilding, is the fact that it's primarily about the three countries of Eddis, Attolia, and Sounis, and their struggles to remain independent. That's clever. I've never seen a book where the countries themselves are almost characters. And I also am hugely amazed at the way Megan Whalen Turner can take a character that you rather despise and make you somehow fall in love with them (I'm referring to The Queen of Attolia here). It makes me desperately anxious to become a better writer when I read her books. (Oh and HOLLA! She is writing a fifth book called Thick As Thieves! The only drawback I can see to it is that it, like A Conspiracy of Kings, doesn't deal with Eugenides at ALL. That is a great sorrow, guys.) But here, in The Queen of Attolia, we get a perfect example of the slow blooming romances that I go for. Subtle romance, simple romance, that's so keenly beautiful and heart-stopping you sit back, marveling how much those perfectly phrased sentences can make you feel. So yeah. If you haven't read the Attolia books, what are waiting for? 

Go! Find them!

Buy them! Read them! :)

So, yep. There you go. Three new books for you to read. You're welcome.

What all did you do for Halloween? I had been idly contemplating an Edward Elric-esque costume...

...but since I am not the only person obsessed with Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, another sister dressed up as him, so I went as my default old-fashioned witch. Maybe next year...? We shall see. :)

Also, I went to Front Sight directly after Halloween - me and three other sisters drove down to Pahrump November 3rd, participated in a four-day handgun class and a CCW class the day after, and came back home (albeit reluctantly) November 9th.  

You wouldn't BELIEVE how attached you can get to a shooting range, guys!

I want to do a more in-depth blog post about Front Sight, so I'm not going to say too much about it here. But omigosh, FUN! It is very satisfying to know how to handle a handgun. For reals.

Oh, and I saw Doctor Strange on Friday. Wow magic! Such sorcery.

And that's it for me. It's almost Thanksgiving, guys! If I don't manage to blog before then, hope it's a good one.

God bless!

Cat

Cute Li'l Life Update

HELLOOOOOOOO!!! *Epic drum roll*

 I haven't done a book review in ages, but hollah! Now I'm doing book reviews over at Compass Book Ratings! (Go on, click the link. You know you want to.)

It's pretty cool, sort of an IMDB for books. So, IBDB, I guess. I'm one of the new young adult fantasy reviewers, with a possible and occasional science fiction novel thrown in. These books are rated for readability, age recommendations, and scored on violence, sex, and language. I've never seen a website like this before, so I'm pretty stoked to have joined them. Not only do you get more of a literary review on the book, but you can also see at a glance the sort of "violence" or "sex" that it might contain, which is pretty handy if you really don't feel like reading something chalkful of blood and gore. Right? Riiiiight?

Pretty cool, doncha think? So I'll be posting updates whenever I do a new review and it's up at Compass Books Ratings.

I currently have three new reviews up, that you can check out if you want. (Go on, click the links. You KNOW you want to!)
The Winner's Curse
Dragonsong
Enchanted Glass

That's all for now. I hope you all have a wonderful evening!

God bless!

Cat