https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdYbIgwXFlwj_DAuTuUZ4wsSj87IytErCVYSFVd9yBeoD7h79_tAo_5yA8WEZ_flnGLgjLQY_rpftKWvkwinnjxAxwT38M4MPrY8kzVmk1CGAMPA-vL27EUHzv74t4EzsWO37Lpadt6CpG/s1600/Square+Background.jpg
- I kinda, maybe, sorta signed up for Realm Makers and am freaking out with nerves and excitement!! Are any of you going?
- I started learning how to play the guitar. I'm excited, but my fingers aren't. xD
- Along with the fact above, my last piano recital is today! It's rather odd, actually. I've been playing for nine years, and now it's just going to end. I'm playing a really epic piece, though, which makes happy. :D
- I went to the dentist and didn't have any cavities. (I've actually never had any cavities, but I couldn't think of anything else to put down for my highlights and that's what my mom came up with. :p)
- I got sick, but then I got better. (That's a highlight, right? Not the getting sick part, but getting better?)
(... I'll stop with the odd highlights.)
- And I'll end it with this picture from Pinterest, because it is both equally funny and true.
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Books I Read This Month:
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Mindwar - [3.5/5] I liked it, but didn't love it. There was one page where I counted ten exclamation marks in a matter of eleven sentences. A little too excessive, I think.
The Forgotten Sisters - [4/5] This was a good end to the trilogy. I remember loving the first one, Princess Academy, but the second just dragged. It seemed more like a MG story than YA, (maybe it was, though?) but it was good.
Steelheart - [5/5] I usually don't read action/superhero story type stories, but this one was awesome. Especially the main character, David. He was just hilarious.
Gathering Blue - [4/5] This is the next book in The Giver quartet, and apparently it does not follow Jonas's story. Oops. I probably should've read the back of the book. Regardless of that disappointment, I enjoyed it, and have the next two books on hold at the library!
Bridge to Terabithia - [5/5] Let's see if I can write this without breaking down -- *sobs* Yeah. This was a heartbreaking book. Despite the fact that this was a reread, I was crying really hard by the end of this. And then in the evening we watched the movie. (Which was very good.) It turned into a rather tearful day.
Buuut, it was a good book! :p
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Book Things on the Internet:
- Jaye's newest novella, Half Blood, is NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER! (Mhmm. It was needed to be said in all caps. Because you must read it. xD)
- The next five something something fairytale will be revealed TOMORROW (!) on Anne Elisabeth Stengl's blog! (And a bunch of others.) I am flipping out with excitement. :D
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((Picture leads to link))
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![Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000040_00026]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6OSMjSnZ2W9-07txAzCQa2oPx3ESbjjld5kMaiZmkrss4BFjCS11b7HhL3cV24mCc8OZEhwRXb5y-ncvsz00jbnsjGWIlPmOMtGdKmt1tV4HnFsppGgxjnVh9NYRTIzymWbPCQYGjAqCD/?imgmax=800)
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Yeah. It was an empty month posting-wise. So, to make up for it, I'm going to share a snippet from my WIP, Song of the Desert. (Originally titled The Music Master, but I changed my mind. :p)
It might turn up pretty small, so click on the image to enlarge it.
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Aimee @ To the Barricade! posted about killing allll the characters.
Emily @ For the Bookish asked if you "really read books cover to cover?"
Chloe @ Curious Ramblings has this genius idea about giving someone an "un-birthday" gift. I'm in love.
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- Katie Grace
What were your highlights of this month? How many books did you read? Favorite and least favorite book?
Ooh, you read some lovely books this month! (Everyone seems shocked that Gathering Blue isn't about Jonas. I never made it past grade-school-mandated Giver, though.) Terabithia is beautiful and heartbreaking even though my inner cynic tells me it shouldn't be but it's just. So. Compelling. WHYYYYY.
ReplyDelete(I realise this could qualify as the "I know. I know." portion of the fangirl conversation. Or the keyboard smash, there's not much difference.)
Ooh, that's a nicely intriguing title and I do so love diverse books (okay, I'm basically guessing, but since the Sahara Desert is basically where 99% of desert stories are set, I'll take the risk) -- hope to see more of it around!
I KNOW. I KNOW.
Delete(There. I helped is complete the conversation.)
Eh. You're close enough. It's actually a fantasy country, so it's a made up country. :)
Apparently the last book of the quartet answers all questions, but I, like you, haven't read the last two books yet. Oh, and didn't you catch the reference to [MINOR SPOILERS] the blue-eyed boy at the end? I'm thinking maybe that's Jonas. I hope it is. [END MINOR SPOILERS]
ReplyDeleteBy the way, the Realm Makers event looks simply awesome. o_o My mom was looking over my shoulder and said that if it weren't too far away we could go, but oh well, America is too big of a country. xD
Let's see . . . this month I read The Rose Rent, reread Mossflower, read The Invention of Hugo Cabret, and started Mistborn (which, by the way, is amazing. o.o).
Also, I love that snippet from your novel! On a random note, are you doing Camp NaNo in July? Maybe we could be in the same cabin. =)
Huh. I didn't catch that. *wishes the book wasn't already back at the library so she could reference it*
DeleteIt totally does. *sigh* I realllyyy wish you could come, but it's understandable. I don't know anyone my age who's going, so I'm really hoping that I'm not the only teen. :p
Mistborn! I'm planning to read thag this summer -- I've heard tons of things about it. (All good things. xD)
Thank you! And I am! :D We should be in the same cabin. I know a bunch of my cabin mates from the April session are doing it together again, so hopefully we can fit you in! I'll keep you posted. :)
At first I didn't want to read Gathering Blue because it's not about Jonas, but I like it. He's in Messenger, they just mostly call him Leader. That one's about Matty (I think he was just called Matt in Gathering Blue, but it's been over a year since I read it). Son is pretty cool. Part one is the events of The Giver from the perspective of Gabriel's birth mother. A few minor inconsistencies, but still awesome. Part two is still about her, and part three is about Gabe. And there's Jonas. And Kira. :) Bridge to Terebithia. It remains the only book to ever actually make me cry. It's so good, but so sad. I haven't read those other books, though. Have you seen the movie of The Giver? They change a good bit of things, but it all works and it's so awesome. (And I am generally quite the book purist, so me saying that is big.)
ReplyDeleteI liked it too. *nods* Yay for more Jonas and Kira!
DeleteOhhh. I know, I know. xP Have you watched the movie? I actually really enjoyed it.
YES. I have seen The Giver. It's basically my favorite movie ever. :p I think the things they changed really helped make it better, actually. I really want to see it again. :D
:) I actually named a character after Kira. She's the main girl and the main guy is "cast" as Brenton Thwaites who I named Joel because he's Jonas to me and I wanted a J name. It's a little odd that I did that, as you'll see when you get to Son, especially since it wasn't on purpose, but I'm not changing it because I like it that way anyway.
DeleteI have seen the Bridge to Terebithia movie. I actually got it for my 13th birthday a few days early since I had just had my wisdom teeth out and was super bored. I really like it.
I think The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe still holds the title as my favorite movie, but The Giver was SOOO good. I didn't want to see it at first, but some church friends kept telling me it was good and another friend who likes the book wanted to go see it, so I went with her and my sisters. It made it better for a movie. I don't think a perfectly accurate adaptation would work well onscreen, even though I wouldn't change a thing in the book. I got it for Christmas, so I've seen it three times. :D
Ooh -- is this in Creighton Hill?
Delete*nods* Whoah. You got your wisdom teeth out early. I haven't heard of anyone getting them out below the age of sixteen or so...
Ah, yes. That's a really good movie, too. It's been fun seeing the actors progress into the later movies. :D I think the main thing that was disappointing to me in The Giver movie was the fact that Asher was portrayed as a more "serious" man. Um, no, please. In the books he is so outgoing and fun, and in the movies it almost seemed like he and Jonas clashed a bit.
o.O Three times? I've only seen it once in the theater. I've been really wanting to see it again, but my family protests that they've seen it too recently. :p
Nope. This is a new one inspired by Pinterest and Disney XD's Lab Rats. (Despite being inspired by Lab Rats, it's rather serious and will be quite sad.) I'm not sure how long it will take to write, since I have yet to figure out what will happen in the second half.
DeleteI had to get them out that early, since my wisdom teeth were keeping my twelve-year molars from coming in on the top and I couldn't finish my braces until that all got fixed. It really wasn't much of an ordeal. My mouth was sore, but the worst part was the boredom. It's supposedly easier to take them out younger, since the teeth are still really small and they don't have to cut as big of holes as they would later.
Of course LWW is a good movie. :) I'm quite the Narnian. Yeah, I didn't really like how Asher was serious, and I wish he was more fun, but it did work. They made reference to how he was fun and got his words mixed up, but they were telling, not showing.
Well, I saw it in theaters, and then I got the DVD for Christmas and we watched it (my parents hadn't seen it yet), but I was sick over Christmas so it wasn't as fun and I wanted a do-over, so we watched it again the week before my birthday in April.
Ooh okay. I can't wait to read it someday. :)
DeleteAh. *nods*
Yeah. xD In a way it's amusing at how some movies don't follow the very basic writing advice. "Show don't tell, people!" Though I suppose they run into some problems with length, and can't make it into a four hour movie. But still. :p
Fun. :) Happy (very) belated birthday
Realm Makers sounds like an amazing event, and it's kind of cool that it's in St. Louis because I was just there for a robotics competition about a month ago. It's way too far for me to go, but I hope you have fun!
ReplyDeleteI'm reading Princess Academy right now, and it's such a wonderful book! I love Miri's personality so much, and it really surprised me because I definitely didn't expect her to be so defiant and confident. I'm glad to hear the third book is a great book as well. Gosh, I love Bridge to Terabithia. It's so short, but despite the brevity, the story really packs a punch, and it made me SO sad. I need a reread soon!
I love your excerpt so much, Katie. It is beautifully written, and the details are so vivid. I can't wait for Camp NaNo to start so we can go through another frenzied month of writing again.
Doesn't it? Hopefully you can go another year. It would be crazy awesome if we could meet each other. (!)
DeleteI didn't like the second Princess Academy nearly as much. You'll have to tell me if it disappoints you or not.
I sometimes wonder why I enjoy sad books like that. :p I keep rereading it despite the heartbreak.
Thank you! :D I'm thrilled that the cabins opened up a lot earlier this year so we can still have the fun with chatting and Word Wars and such before the craziness starts.
Oh, I loved Gathering Blue! I read it recently myself. Congratulations on not having any cavities, and I agree—Cait's blogoversary was great! Have an awesome June!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness! I'm going to Realm Makers too! :D Yay! I may actually know someone who's not faculty there lol. I read only two books this month. I'm a slow reader. ^ ^' My favorite was a superhero novel called Failstate: Legends. It's the second in a trilogy. I'm reading the third now. Happy June!
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