Top Ten Tuesday: The Very Best Bookish Things I'm Thankful For This Year

"Top Ten Tuesday" is a weekly countdown meme, hosted by the Broke and the Bookish! 

Bear with me, and pardon the emotions, as I get as mushy and gross as the canned cranberry mess oozing across Thanksgiving plates this upcoming holiday, because I'm about to expostulate on some of my favorite book-y things that have significantly brightened up my life within the past year. 

1. S.J. Maas

Maybe I've just got her stuck in my mind because I finished Crown of Midnight all of a day and a half ago, but I'm still filled with awe at the guts this lovely lady has, to flawlessly dominate everything we knew to be true about Young Adult books, and turn them completely on their head. And if you follow her Twitter, you can tell that she clearly loves her fans. Homegirl is doin' this whole author thing right. 

2. Reconnecting With My Kindle 

Hello, I am a despicable human being. My Kindle has not only gotten a lot of use this past year, but it has superseded actual print in my reading practices, in helping me get my favorite new releases even faster, and at cheaper prices, too. I mean, I don't have easy access to a bookstore... can you imagine how long I'd have had to wait for Crown of Midnight otherwise??? Damn you, convenient technology! 

3. YA Book Bloggers on Twitter

@mizgillianberry, @Lili_Reflects, @Reader_Fictions, @EllaBeeReads, etc. make my day with their constant updates about all book-related goodness. Like, constant. And then they're so funny and relatable that I try to bring them up in conversation, and the moment passes because I'm so preoccupied with figuring out the least creepy iteration of what to call them: "That totally reminds me of something my friend - I mean, acquain - this... person... I follow... online... Nevermind." 

4. Goodreads

THANK THE LORD ABOVE for the goodness that is Goodreads, something I never knew I needed until I had it. How else am I supposed to do things like connect with authors and other bookworms, stalk the novels that my friends are reading without invading personal boundaries, and make endless, endless lists about everything I know and love in BookWorld? 

5. College Dorm Room Bookshelves

I know I just confessed to the cardinal sin of  mentioned how much play my Kindle has been recently, but that doesn't mean it isn't nice to have some of your best and newest paper-bound friends up at school with you. Besides, do you know how impressive it comes off as, when you have a fully-stocked bookshelf in the small space you have in your dorm room? 

6. English Major Friends

In English 111, Freshman Fall Quarter, it was Lisa and Cady. In English 297 and 301 Winter Quarter, it was Susan, Joanna, Hannah, and Ally. Susan, Joanna, and Hannah and I all followed each other into English 302 in the Spring, and now, in English 333, back to Fall, I've found Megan and Hallie. 

In every single English class I've taken at UW, a bunch of random people in a classroom, turned into people you sit next to in lecture, turned into study buddies, and at some point, spontaneously erupted into full-blown, real-world friendships, involving debates over Heathcliff, dedication to sub-genres (like "The Cult of Austen," as Prof. Lockwood calls it), and fangirling over Lizzie B. and Emma Approved like nobody's business. I LOVE my English friends, many of whom still take the time to read my blog (D'aww). 

7. The Art of Fangirling

Speaking of fangirling, I've never really experienced the cathartic release of book-related feelings in a public forum before this year, and let me tell you, it feels great. From Darcy to Dickens, recent releases and English class classics, freaking out over fiction has never been so socially acceptable, and I love it! 

8. ARCs 

Oh my GOODNESS I love ARCs. You mean people - a lot of them, actually - are more than willing to send me books for free, providing simply that I'm willing to read them? Are you kidding me? 

9. College Fashion 

I know that I might have a slight tendency to complain about my position as contributing editor when a deadline's looming over my head, but I am actually extremely grateful for the ability to write for this website for the past year. Not only is it, honestly, great for my resume, and great at making me sound incredibly important when I bring it up in party conversation, but it's given me a great vehicle for exercising one of my oldest passions: fashion styling and history. Books and pretty clothes are always going to be two of my greatest loves, and College Fashion has given me ample room to talk about it. 

10. Everyone Who Actually Reads My Blog

Yeah, you guys. I hope you never think that I take you for granted. Whether you're a dedicated follower through Facebook and Goodreads, or if this is even the first time you've popped over for a "Top Ten Tuesday" post, thank you so much for your patronage and support. I'm not going to say that you guys give my blog meaning or anything, because, honestly, I'd still be writing, reading, and reviewing even without it... but you all definitely make me feel less crazy for doing so. Thanks for making me feel like the things I say are worth a listen. 

So, in conclusion, I am a very, very fortunate person, with a lot in my life for which to be thankful, but especially those that have to do with all of the books and the industry I care about so much. 

Thank you everyone, and have a great holiday! :) 

There's No Write Way

We're edging out on the end of the month of November, and yet, those brave souls who have surrendered their free time to the beast that is NaNoWriMO are still soldiering on. However, from a few of them, I've heard of the development of some strange habits - carefully-constructed time schedules and nocturnal practices abound - and inspired by these strange compulsions, I decided to take a peek into the practices of other authors, with this recent release!

Fresh off of the success of her documenting the strange origins of some of the world's most fabulous stories in Dancing with Mrs. Dalloway, Celia Blue Johnson is at it again with Odd Type Writers: From Joyce and Dickens to Wharton and Welty, the Obsessive Habits and Quirky Techniques of Great Authors. As the extended title would make easily apparent, the novel creeps back into the bedrooms, studies, libraries, and cabins of even the most reclusive of authors, to figure out how, exactly, they did what they did. From self-mandated house arrest (Victor Hugo), to storing rotten apples in his desk drawer (Friedrich Schiller), to what surprising companionship both Charles Dickens and Edgar Allen Poe had in common in their practices, this book investigates that integral step in the writing process: what actually helped these classic names to sit down, and write!

I've already been a fan of Celia Blue Johnson's, and her work continues on in this book as well. She does an excellent job with scholastically gathering citation-worthy facts about the private lives of many different authors, and stringing them together to form glimpses through the windows of time and place, to see how these writers lived, in a way that's interesting, exciting, and easily approachable, even if you haven't read the works by all (or any) of these writers before.

If anything, sometimes the writing style is done with such a clinical baseness that it completely overshoots the bounds of scholarly accessibility, and lands somewhere near the lower rungs of the reading comprehension ladder. For a work that extols the virtues of some heavy lifters of the literary world, Johnson's writing is decidedly  vanilla, non elaborate, and un-distracting from the information presented within the context of the work itself, rather than crowding fact with ornate prose and interest. This depending on your own reading preference, can be a godsend, or, if you're anything like me, almost distracting in itself.

However, the information-gathering is, after all, the highlight of the book. From Charles Dickens playing with kittens to Agatha Christie eating apples and solving mysteries from the comfort of her bathtub, from pen color choices to pencil sharpening methods, standing up, sitting down, or lying straight on their stomach, this is compelling stuff. And then, you can judge for yourself how the method of these greats compare to your own chosen method of getting the words out.

Unfortunately, the book itself is rather short, and was barely the work of one afternoon for this reader. However the topic presented was imagination-sparking enough, that I'm sure I'll be imagining my favorite authors at their means of occupation as they were described in this book, every time I take a trip back into their best works.

Take to the Sky

We're almost at the halfway point through NaNoWriMo - yeah, yeah, and the month of November - and like I may have mentioned before, a couple of my specifically industrious friends have decided to take part. (One of them has even finished already!) While my school and sorority lives kept me from getting involved this year, I still wanted to take the month to improve my writing skills regardless, so instead of choking out almost 2,000 words a day to tackle my own book, I decided to read one instead. One about writing, of course.

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, by Anne Lamott, is a popular work detailing an author's experience with writing, and a particularly adept one at that. The title was inspired by her father's advice to a younger brother, attempting to finish a report on birds for school in only one day ("Just take it bird by bird), and her own method for writing takes a similar approach. Spelling out the steps of the development process for burgeoning writers - from "Shitty First Drafts" to "How to You Know When You're Done?" - with honesty and heart, Lamott teaches how to keep your eyes open, and see the possibilities of where your words can take you, whether that's to a publisher or simply to a greater feeling of fulfillment for yourself and your abilities as a writer.

The book, as a tool for writing, had some pretty great advice. The options Lamott gave for stimulating writing practice was sound, and even in reading it, I was ready to leap off of my copy and get to scribbling. However, while the book was exceptional in its inspiration for writing, it got there not from the motivation of the advice, per say, but from the author's personal anecdotes and background.

Lamott's personal voice was exceptionally strong, and its force was a little close to off-putting in the beginning, simply because I'm pretty used to the idea of a book on writing being a little more objective... or have I just been spending too much time with dry, old textbooks? Lamott's book, however, was entirely her own, with every word on the paper. 

In some ways, this was unhelpful, particularly as she warns against taking on the voice of another author. However, what else is the reader going to do after she waxes poetic for several pages on the benefits of digging to the romantic truth of a "one inch frame," or examining the periphery of your developing "Polaroid" of a plot for overlooked elements? Her own voice is strong, but in some cases, a little more of an encouragement and advice towards developing one's own style and delivery might have been welcome, especially because the author's own is so particularly evident.

Still, the fact that you can tell it is Lamott herself that is speaking lends much credence and authenticity to her advice. She conducts the novel as if teaching on of her creative writing classes, and the overall effect is that of an easy approach and comfortable instruction.

Lamott's work is a match of sound advice and conversational delivery, peppered with many of her own personal stories, and founded on her own ample experience as an author. While her own sense of story can sometimes impede the instruction, the advice is bestowed by a seasoned veteran, and it shows. In the end, if you're going braindead on your arduous way towards your NaNoWriMo goal, I would definitely recommend picking up a copy, and expanding your word counts and world-building by way of a little of Lamott's helpful advice. 

Coming Attractions: November

{My sister, the Cheerleader, and I on the night she was crowned 2014 Stadium High School Daffodil Princess (I know!); celebrating my birthday with friends (my cupcake has a tiara on it!); and picking pumpkins out at our family's favorite patch}

I'm caught in the middle of a whirlwind - an ever-moving mix of schoolwork, blogging duties, sorority events, and planning for the future's own set of checklists - and am barely capable of stringing together the series of sentences necessary for successfully wrapping up the month of October. It was a pretty solid set of blog posts, but with the rise of the sun this morning, as all of the Halloween goblins and ghoulies took to the shadows for another year, we're now officially in the land of working hard and giving thanks, three day weekends, cold mornings that can only be warmed up properly with a cup of warm black tea. 

That's right, it's officially November, and while I'm primarily celebrating the fact that it is once again socially acceptable to have an active Christmas board on Pinterest, and that Starbucks cups are now prepped and ready for as many Peppermint Hot Chocolates as my stomach can handle, it also means that now is the season for National Novel Writing Month, aka, NaNoWriMo! While I, myself, will not be partaking this year, I thoroughly applaud all of those brave souls who have already attached themselves to such a daunting task. Bravo! While you're all busy coming up with new content this month, so, too, am I:

• I know the tab in the top menu has been sitting empty for a while now, but that's just because I had to come up with a system of review that I liked. So, this month, I'm building my Past Reviews Library! 
• Two great College Fashion link ups, the first of which applies to a certain sci-fi epic that hit theaters at midnight last night! 
• A discussion about making it all more modern, with literary adaptations set in a contemporary time period! 
• Not to mention more Top Ten Tuesdays, and specially-themed new reviews to fit in with my NaNoWriMo readers! 

While I re-burrow myself into my gaping pit of a social life, and recommit myself to finishing this College Fashion article before Sunday afternoon, I'll leave you with this: 

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Unusual Character Names

"Top Ten Tuesday" is a weekly countdown meme, hosted by the Broke and the Bookish! 

If "that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet," would Juliet Capulet still be one of the most irritating thirteen-year-olds in literature? Such questions are asked, as we ponder today's Top Ten Tuesday topic... that of Unusual Character Names.

I couldn't even manage a full list of my favorites with a worthwhile explanation for all of them, so instead, I'm counting down my top five Favorites and top five Fails. Enjoy!

FAVORITES

1. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee - Atticus Finch
I've seen this on a lot of lists for today, and I think I know why: the name is simply associated in our memory with the honor, integrity, and work ethic exemplified by the iconic character. And, for Tacomans, with the friendly black cat that resides in King's Books on St. Helens Ave, downtown.

2. Holes, Louis Sachar - Stanley Yelnats
Excuse me for being an oblivious ten-year-old, but the revelation that Yelnats is simply Stanley spelled backwards, was completely mind-blowing.

3. Throne of Glass, S.J. Maas - Celaena Sardothien
There's definitely a wrong way to do fantasy names: eventually, it just seems like authors start randomly smacking their keyboard with a copy of Tolkien to string together an incomprehensible mix of consonants in order to name their protagonists. However, Maas does it right with a name that's a mix of flinty strength and elaborate beauty, just like her heroine.

4. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens - Ebeneezer Scrooge
This is just a fun one, kind of silly and whimsical, but one that you will always remember. In our family, this story is equivalent to a Biblical parable, thanks to three years of performances with a local community theater: celebrate Christmas with all of your heart, because that's better than any gift you can find under the tree. Bless you, Ebeneezer. (On a completely unrelated note, how many days until December? I've been ready to deck the halls since Costco started carrying human-sized nutcrackers back in September.)

5. The Westing Game, Ellen Raskin - Sam Westing/ Sandy McSouthers/ Barney Northrup/ Julian Eastman/ Samuel Windkloppel
To completely and irrevocably spoil the incredibly surprising ending for those who haven't already read the classic children's novel, the five characters listed above, in a shocking turn of events, all turn out to be the same person. Any more information than that would be too much, so you should really go read this Newberry Award winner, and figure out the mystery for yourself.

FAILS

1. The Selection, Keira Cass - America Singer
So. Terrible. So. Obvious. So. Annoying. (Eventually, I'm just going to have to read a book that somehow manages to be worse than this one, or I'm going to get incredibly bored.)

2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling - Albus Severus Potter
Name him Remus. Name him Sirius. By Merlin's beard, name him Hagrid! Name him after any of the father-figure-stand-ins you've had over the course of your life, Harry, with whom you've had much better functioning relationships than the man who refused to tell you the truth for seven years, or the man who protected you because you had the same eyes as your dead mum, and save him the years of embarrassment!

3. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte - Heathcliff
Is it a first name? Is it a last name? Is it a nickname? Is it a geological formation? On his tombstone, is it inscribed, "Here lies the surly jerkwad and professional life-ruiner, formerly known as Heathcliff"? Regardless, it's a stupid name. For a stupid person. I hate you, Heathcliff.

4. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy - Anna Karenina
Honestly only on this list because no one I've talked to about it pronounces it the same way, and that is positively aggravation-inducing. Which syllable do you place the emphasis on? There's so many!

5. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte - St. John Rivers
Proper pronunciation, once again, ruins everything, as was pointed out to me in comments made by two new friends from English class: it's pronounced SIN-JIN, not Saint John, no joking. Probably put in place just to confuse the heck out of high school literates everywhere.

What are some of your favorite unusual names? 

Just Starting Up

Dystopian, to me, is getting a little old hat. Maybe it's the cynical, "everything sucks and will continue to suck so bad that everything is really going to suck one day" nature that today's teen readers have seemingly adopted, or maybe it's the utopian idea of a spring-like renewal that has always pushed youth towards revolution, that made this genre a YA windfall for early adopters... but I'm getting kind of fed up with fiery femmes fighting against Big Brother in hollowed-out shells of former America (see: Divergent, The Hunger Games).

However, while there are some good adapters of this familiar set of tropes, the majority are nothing but cheap and flimsy shells of the genre (Here's looking at you, terribly constructed dystopian world of The Selection). My question is, are there any talented popular-wave-riding writers out there anymore? Where are my pro-status pop-genre-surfers?

Amy Tintera, it seems, is one of them, because Reboot is one significantly bad-ass dystopian extravaganza.

The novel follows Wren Connolly - dubbed 178, due to the number of minutes it took for her body to regenerate after her death, at the ripe age of twelve years old - who is a stoic, efficient robot of a Reboot, now at the age of seventeen, well considered a veteran, being that Reboots don't usually survive nearly as long. But other Reboots aren't Wren, someone who was dead for so long, it's almost as if she lost all threads of humanity along the way. So when Callum, with 22 minutes dead before Rebooting, shows up in the new batch of recruits, no one expects him to last very long, including Wren. But, for whatever reason, she soon finds that she wants him to; in fact, she'd do anything to make sure he isn't eliminated, because he makes her feel so... alive.

Whne it comes to giving the people what they want, Tintera scores a home run with not only a vibrant and dynamic heroine, dystopian future, and typical young-underdog story typical to YA, but with zombies, rigid class systems, super-cool tech, and a swoony guy to fight for (yeah, that's right: she's the one kicking butt here). It's like a smoothie made of all your favorite fruits, but ten times as sweet, because now you're dealing with bounty hunters, mysterious government-controlling corporations, and actual threats of death, instead of gross things, like blueberries.

The pacing is enough to give you whiplash, too, clipping along at a positively breakneck speed, and filling each second with some thing new, exciting, and awesome.  That isn't to say that it doesn't develop, however, with actions and dialogue standing in for artistry and development. In fact, the frenetic inner-workings of the novel highlight an equally dynamic shift: Wren's gradual reversion to a vaguely human state, all thanks to the return of one of the most essential things to human life, to her life... Love.

The biggest problem I had with the novel was one I've heard repeated by more bloggers than just me: when the time came to fight some battles, there was a general predilection to kiss instead. I mean, I get romance, but when there's people charging at you with guns, it's time to hustle, kids, not make out. Keep sitting there sucking face, and you might as well kiss your butt goodbye, because I think you're in trouble.

Still, improperly-timed romancing aside, Reboot is a successful and well-constructed dystopian world, unique to it's genre, with perfect pacing and solid build, as well as a very sweet romance nestled in the middle.

College Fashion Post Link Up: Wuthering Heights (Plus, a new feature: "Plot Playlists"!)

I'm fully expecting people to groan on sight of the book cover in the corner to my left: for a novel I've always professed to be my least favorite book in the entire world, I sure talk about it a lot, don't I? 

I mean, even over the summer, I was talking about how much I loved April Lindner's killer modern adaptation of the classic work, and just some of what I said about Emily Bronte's 19th century masterpiece in my introduction included that its two main characters were "two of the most despicable fictional characters of all time, who do nothing but mess up life for other people, and are wholly undeserving of true love." (And no, I still don't think that's too harsh. They still suck.) 

However, what I didn't expect was for my sister, The Cheerleader, to completely fall in love with the novel, during a summer reading assignment. And I didn't expect to have to read it for my new favorite class - English 333, The Nineteenth Century English Novel - this fall quarter, either. So, I'm now finding that, I'm gradually becoming an expert in what is still my least favorite book... or at least, I think it's still my least favorite.

Who knows. What I do know; however, is that I'm good enough at discussing its contents, that I decided to base my latest College Fashion "Looks from Books" post around it. So, hop on over to it, and judge for yourself, as to whether I let my bias impact some of those looks! Here's a sneak peek, of an outfit based around the questionable societal status of the "gentry" during the mid 1800s:

But enough about me. Since my sister enjoyed the novel so much, I asked her if she'd like to help me develop a new feature for Playing in the Pages, called "Plot Playlists": Utilizing themes, events, and overall tone of various novels, she - one of my favorite people to follow on 8Tracks, due to her seriously choice taste in music - would assist in putting together a playlist of ten songs that we felt fit perfectly to the work. And what she came up with for Wuthering Heights completely blew my mind! Let's have her tell her thoughts... 

***

When it comes to reading, everyone has their different habits. If you’re anything like me you like to accompany a book with the faint chirp of music in the background. But what music you chose to listen to can make a big difference.

Before I started making playlists I would put whatever music came to mind on when I would read. When I read the entire Hunger Games trilogy in one week, I listened to Passion Pit non-stop, not because they went well together, but because I had just purchased the CD a week earlier. This choice led me to create a connection between the two. Whenever I hear Passion Pit I think of the Hunger Games trilogy and whenever I watch the movie or re-read the books, I can’t help but wonder why I’m not hearing Passion Pit in the background.

This moment in my life has led me to the conclusion that every book, classic or modern, deserves a soundtrack to listen to while reading the book, or to bring back the emotions and story that occur in between the pages.

To start off the new "Plot Playlist" feature on Playing in the Pages, I made one for the classic novel by Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights, called "Among the Heath and Hare-bells." While not all the songs are from the same genre of music, they all are similar in sound, with each being more dark and mellow with the theme of romance and struggle.

The playlist also includes specific songs that I believe tie in well with certain characters or scenes from the book. Here are some of my favorites: 

1)      “Hurt” by Jonny Cash, represents Hindley Earnshaw, and his struggle with alcoholism. Pushing his way through life, Hindley only appeared to have a sliver of happiness, in his wife. However, their love was short lived and with her life went his will to live, leading him to drink and hurt himself and those around him.

2)      “Blow (Deconstructed)” by Ke$ha, plays to go along with Catherine Earnshaw’s mental breakdown when she can’t find Heathcliff. With a storm raging in the background, Catherine panics, unaware that Heathcliff is safe inside, hidden. The raw, un-autotuned remix of Ke$ha’s song mimic’s the raw fear Catherine feels having lost her friend and the love she feels for Heathcliff.

3)      “Do I Wanna Know?” by Arctic Monkeys, was added to fit with the scene where Catherine is dying and Heathcliff breaks into Thrushcross Grange to see her. Their passionate embrace and heated words towards each other match the passionate, yet sinister vibe of this mellow rock song.

4)      “Bella’s Lullaby” from the Twilight soundtrack is not in there because it fits with a specific event or character of the novel per say; however, I felt the need to give a little shout-out to Twilight’s movie soundtrack, since Wuthering Heights was Bella’s favorite book, and I feel like it appropriately captures the Gothic tone of the novel. 

While these are just a few examples of the connections I made between the book and songs, the other songs have their meanings to me as well, but instead of me sharing mine with you, why don’t you take a listen andmake your own connections and comparisons? Enjoy!

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So, what do you think of my College Fashion post on Wuthering Heights? And what do you think of my sister's amazing "Among the Heath and Hare-bells" playlist? Do you think my feelings for this novel will ever change? Let us know!