Top Ten Tuesday: Tough Topics

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by book blogger (and evident alliteration fanatic) The Broke and the Bookish.

This week's theme deals with books that do their part to give some kind of broader form to some of the most difficult issues to understand. Through these peeks into the world of those falling victim to mental illness, those suffering under oppressive societal conventions like racism, and those trapped in terrifying situations, like war.

These are some of my favorite books dealing with harsh issues and tough topics.

1. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky. 
This is a wide favorite among many, simply because of its tender tackling of many different social and personal issues that affect many teens, including mental illness, bullying, understanding homosexuality, and feeling alone. It's a great novel, and the movie is pretty good as well.

2. Just Listen, by Sarah Dessen. 
I've seen lots of Sarah Dessen novels making it onto people's lists for today, and I understand why: she is able to deal with a wide range of true-to-teenage-life topics with understanding and subtlety. This book deals with the effects of bullying and sexual assault in the main character, as well as eating disorders in a background character,and is one of the first books I found that I could read, and cry about every single time.

3. Looking for Alaska, by John Green. 
I've also seen loads of John Green today, for similar reasons as to Sarah Dessen: these two just really get how to talk to and about teenagers. I wasn't sure what I was expecting going into this book, but the big tough topics really came like a slap in the face. It's a spoiler, so I won't give reasons.

4. The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath. 
I've already discussed this to be one of my favorite books on the whole planet. This is one of my favorite books, not only for the relatable nature of the heroine, but because of Plath's amazing talent, in mirroring the character, Esther's, thoughts and feelings perfectly in the mind of the reader. Dealing with depression, mental illness, and suicide, this is one of the greatest books ever written, in my opinion.

5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain. 
I'm immensely biased to be on Mark Twain's side in any given situation, due to the fact that he wrote my favorite novel of all time. This book is one of my favorites as well. While widely contested and popularly censored across the United States, this is one of the best examples of Twain's work, and is a vital description of slavery in the South.

6. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. 
Also one of my favorite books, this is yet another moving portrayal of civil rights abuses and injustices against African Americans in the South, set against one young girl's story of simply growing up. (Bonus points to the good folks at King's Books in Downtown Tacoma, who house a friendly cat named Atticus.)

7. The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien. 
This book sucks for many, many reasons, very particular to me, but it is a truly horrifying depiction of the war in Vietnam. It was a polarizing book in my senior year English class, because people either loved it for the war, or hated it; either way, it got us talking on another very important issue, especially when it seems like the wars in the Middle East have been going on forever.

8. Escape from Warsaw/ The Silver Sword, by Ian Serraillier. 
Okay, this is a bit of a random choice, it would seem, but actually, this moving portrayal of the flight of a group of siblings from Warsaw after German invasion in WWII, has stuck with me since I first read it in the seventh grade. (Even all of these years later, I still want to name a chicken Jimpy, after a pet rooster in the book.)

9. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, Sherman Alexie. 
This one was read as a summer assignment for junior year, and it ended up introducing me to one of the most unique voices I've ever read. Sherman Alexie is very good at what he does, which is depict the life of Native Americans in a very gritty and  real way, from varying viewpoints and through roundabout descriptions, so you really have to work to actively understand exactly what people are going through. Truly powerful stuff.

10. Animal Farm, George Orwell. 
I had a really difficult time picking out what my last book would be, simply because there were a lot of contenders for the position, but in the end, I had to go with yet another summer read for school - I think it was sophomore year - depicting the evils of governmental oppression and communism, as palatable for popular consumption. This is a quick read, but a powerful one.

So, those are some of my favorite books dealing with Tough Topics. What are yours? 

Inundated by ARCs

So, despite the fact that we're approximately 3/5ths of the way done with this quarter, and I'm studying like a maniac, and reading every chance I get, I'm still struggling to balance everything going on in my life!

(Also, the fact that it's also Greek Week here at UW throws a bit of a monkey wrench into things as well. But a good kind of monkey wrench!)

So, while I'm not really able to give you a solid post today, here's a nice glimpse at what's going on on my desk! Currently in the middle of The Lovebird, a soon-coming release from Natalie Brown and the good folks at Doubleday; soon to be starting The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. by Adelle Waldman. The Mermaid of Brooklyn by Amy Shearman and Dear Lucy by Julie Sarkissian coming forthwith as well, as soon as I can extricate myself from all of this work.

See you soon, blue skies!

Life in a Castle

So, confession time: I kind of have a thing for castles. Growing up, I was enamored with every fairy tale you could throw at me. In high school, let's just say I went to America's Hogwarts (and it was awesome). And now, my sorority house is shaped like a castle, too. So, let me just preface this all by saying I really, really love castles.

This novel was recommended for a review in the comments section of one of my very first College Fashion articles, and since I already had the book (thanks to last Spring's trip to Powell's City of Books in Portland, OR), I figured, why not? I mean, it's pretty clearly emblazoned on the cover that J.K. Rowling loves this book, so chances were that I'd love it, too. However, to tell you the truth, I wasn't entirely sure of how it was going to impress me.

And it certainly didn't help that I read the entire book within the space of four hours, confined to a stiff-backed chair in an absolutely silent Business Library, while my Big calmly did her Accounting homework in the seat next to me. That kind of self-imposed torture does affect the way you read... and it certainly helped me identify with a certain later event in the plot line involving Mr. Mortmain and the Tower (read it and you'll know what I mean!).

Alright, before I get too ahead of myself, let me just illuminate the story a little bit:

I Capture the Castle is a classic coming-of-age novel in England, set in the 1930s in between the wars, in the countryside a short distance outside of London. There lies the Castle, old and crumbling under mismanagement, within which resides the Mortmain family, living in genteel poverty, on the royalties their father collects from a best-selling novel he wrote over a decade ago. However, because of Mr. Mortmain's inability to publish anything else noteworthy, Cassandra - our seventeen year old writer-novice narrator - and her sister Rose - beautiful, ambitious, and discontented - as well as their brother Thomas, nude-model stepmother Topaz, and their resident farmhand, Stephen, are all forced to come to terms with... well, not much. Until the wealthy, handsome, American Cotton brothers come to claim their late father's estate, of course. It doesn't take long for the Bronte-and-Austen-obsessed sisters to make a plan for wooing the elder brother, Simon, and pretty soon, hilarity, embarrassment, misunderstandings, betrayals, forgiveness, family, and love are detailed across the pages of Cassandra's many journal pages.

All in all, this emotional journey of self-discovery, acceptance, and inspiration left me thinking long after Sara and I left the Library. It invoked a lot of important questions, like, what does it really mean to be beautiful? The differences between the sisters, Rose and Cassandra, were really what impressed me the most, simply because it reminded me a lot of the dynamic between me and my sister, The Cheerleader. The family depicted in the novel is wholly remarkable for their ability to stand by each other, even when everyone is doing different things and all caught up in their own individual problems, like Rose's relationship, and Mr. Mortmain's inability to write. Other members, like Thomas, factored in as a moral and objective viewpoint, while Topaz figured, for the majority as a form of comic relief... but even so, their personalities were formed by more than mere narrative tropes. Multi-faceted and perfectly flawed, the Mortmain family will probably stand as one of my literary favorites for a long time.

The fact that you could see Cassandra's narrative voice changing over time and journals, was pretty amazing, too, and a narrative form that I haven't really seen before. In terms of simply the structure of the writing, the journal format was interesting, in the way that I too have kept a journal for a long time, and I don't think that my hand would ever stand up to the workouts she impressed upon hers in writing so extensively. Still, it factored in both stream-of-consciousness and narrative stylings in a way that proved very engaging and interesting, and I really enjoyed Cassandra's voice.

And the castle in the story is pretty cool, too. :)

Wonderful World Web

There have been a couple of things I've found online recently that have really caught my attention, and I just have to take the time to share them with you all! (Mainly because I was planning on having a post for today before my newest College Fashion post comes out tomorrow afternoon).

First off, the incredible convenience and efficiency of Bloglovin!

Bet you couldn't even tell I made this on Paint. Yeah, I can art. 

I came across Bloglovin by chance, when checking out some of the layouts of some of the favorites among the many book blogs I follow (the latter half of that sentence felt kind of creepy... "checking out" your "layout" sounds like some kind of blogger's pickup line). I first noticed the boxes conveniently placed with follower counts underneath, and then I started noticing the Bloglovin fashion icons alongside through random scrolling as well. It finally clicked with me, when my stats displayed numerous people causing site sources to appear from Bloglovin itself, and wouldn't you know it: there are people there!

After a few more minutes checking out the site and exploring its various features, I decided to sign up for an account. It has now been a week, and I love it! It's a glorious thing: instead of constantly having to remember not only the blogs themselves (and to check their updates daily), but to remember which posts from those very sites I've already read, it allows for a scrolling list of most recently published posts from all of my favorite blogs, and alerts me to which posts I've read and not! And the best part is, the interface isn't simply the kind for which you rely on a computer for easy viewing: my ENGL 302 class is a little more bearable when I can use break time to update myself with the Bloglovin app, as well.

So, ladies and gents, I am officially on Bloglovin, and it's a grand thing! Check out my profile HERE and see what blogs I follow, and make sure to take the time to follow my blog, as well!

The second thing that has me raving online recently, was the masterful recently-conducted "gender-flipping" cover art that Maureen Johnson and some of her fans were able to come up with, calling attention to the god-awful gender-stereotyping that goes on in cover development, and challenging publishers to do better.

Documented on HuffPost Books here - best read when prefaced by a post by the mastermind herself on the same site, found here - the project, called "Coverflip" simply proposed the question, "What would popular book covers look like, should the novel have been written by a person of the opposite gender?" For instance, Maureen Johnson... to Maurice Johnson. What would happen?

Well, if you followed the above link, things really would get different. And while it is incredibly difficult for me to even consider what Game of Thrones would be like if written by a woman (well, first off, boobs would garner descriptions probably six times less frequently than in original print), I can't deny that the "flipped" cover is an exquisite portrait of the kind of crap that would have been hastily thrust into my backpack before school, back when I was thirteen.

These covers supposedly tell the same story, but really? Couldn't be more different. 

Another favorite included the "flipped" version of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie - a respected novel, on the part of both my roommate and I - which left us gasping in indignation (the disrespect!) as well as laughing outright, because I could have sworn I'd already seen that very cover on a YA shelf back at home.

On the whole, the project - at least, to me - bore a lot of strong similarities to The Hawkeye Initiative (which seeks to highlight the hyper-sexualization of female characters in the world of comic books... by placing Clint "Hawkeye" Barton into the same ridiculous positions and costumes). Gender-flipping fun, as well. Both organized efforts emphasize the great yawing canyons of inequalities existing in the realms of popular literary consumption, and do so in an incredibly cheeky manner (and if you know T.H.I., you know I mean "cheeky" in an entirely different way than you might think).

Anyways, those are some things I found interesting around the Web recently. I'll be back in a few days with an all-new review, and my newest College Fashion post comes up tomorrow, so be sure to check that out as well!

Falling Into Fantasy, Part Two

Recently, I was of the good fortune enough to pick up Bridget Zinn's Poison... and it was amazing! (Read more of my review, to that effect, here.) After completely devouring such a great example of modern YA fantasy, I decided to try on yet another of that genre, which has been generating rave reviews all across the internet all on it's own,  and, much to my amazement, I was definitely not disappointed. Yet again.

Does this mean I need to raise my standards in regards to YA lit, or are these books really just as great as I think they are? We'll go with the latter.

Throne of Glass, like I've said before, is a YA fantasy, gritty and real where others in this genre may fail to raise the stakes. But really, are the stakes high:

Celaena Sardothien (try saying that name three times fast) is a trained assassin, skilled at what she does, and unwilling to take any one's disbelief or disapproval. She is one kick-ass eighteen-year-old, and fresh out of serving a full year's hard labor in the mines of Endovier - of which the expected survival time is about four months - when the Crown Prince, Dorian, offers her freedom, on the condition that she enters the competition to find the new royal assassin as his champion. Not only much Celaena work up her endurance and stamina again, but now, she must contend with the royal family themselves. Most frightening of all is the King - the man responsible for driving magic out of their world - and the fact that she must not only tolerate him... but to earn her freedom, serve him, as well.

So, there's the genteel battles of polite warfare among the court - of whom Celaena is now unwillingly a member - and the harsher battles on the competition field, as thieves, assassins, soldiers, and a poisoner, all vie against one another to be at the position of the King's right hand. High stakes, high intrigue, and that's all without even throwing in the magic, warring countries, terrifying mystical creatures, and mysterious dead royalty coming back from the crypt to give Celaena yet more mysteries to solve.

But can we just talk about the love triangle, please?

So, there's the cocky and intelligent Crown Prince, Dorian, and then there's the strict and level-headed Captain Westfall. And NEVER HAVE I EVER approved of stupid love triangles, being that they are in almost all attempts, lazy plot-hole-fillers designed to create tension where none exists and to generate more interest in what are mostly half-baked, one-dimensional characters... but boy, did this one pan out well! The genesis of such a relationship configuration was totally organic, and while I have my own favorite, the fact that there wasn't a clear-cut decision - being that the existence of an obvious choice is also a red flag of the poorly-designed romance drama - made it all the better! The masterful construction of such a well-worn plot device into something that worked not only really well, but actually did just as much to strengthen the story as the mysterious symbols and dead bodies popping up everywhere, was the cherry on top of a tension-filled suspense-fest.

Really, I think I have to learn to expect more from this genre, because both this novel and Poison really captured my attention, though for totally different reasons! Throne of Glass was intense and dramatic, and the world within which it existed was masterfully built and filled with incredibly real characters! You can tell how excited I am about it, because of all of the exclamation points.

And bonus points for having the sequel coming out this August! Now, I just have to get my two younger sisters to read it before then. Because honestly, if I had to give this book a rating, I would give it four out of five fangirls. And I'd throw in a fairy or two, too... just because. :)

Top Ten Tuesday: Words/ Topics That Instantly Make Me Buy/ Pick Up a Book

"Top Ten Tuesdays" is a weekly countdown meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish!

This week, the theme revolves around what words or topics make us instantly want to reach out and grab a book (not necessarily BUY, but definitely make you want to read the first chapter). So, without further ado, here are ten literary topics that are sure to ensnare my attention!

1. The Great Depression / The Roaring 20s / Turn of the Century / WWII
I am nothing if not a history buff, and historical fiction is thus one of my favorite genres, with most of my favorite time periods falling between the 1890s and 1945. Except for, of course, when they feature...
(I'd recommend: Jillian Larkin's The Flappers series.)

2. Historical Royalty
Yes, I like princesses. Who doesn't? If a work - either of fiction or nonfiction - features someone like Catherine the Great or Marie Antoinette, the Romanovs or the Tudors, you can be sure I'll give it a cursory glance.
(I'd recommend: Caroline Weber's Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution.)

3. Fairy tale Royalty
Let's just continue down the princess path while we're here, okay? I like fairy tales, too. Fractured, modern, re-telling, re-imagining... I don't care, sign me up!
(I'd recommend: Bridget Zinn's Poison! (Literally can't say enough about this book...))

4. Hollywood Royalty
Alright, now I'm just being obvious, but I'm still crazy about those books from my middle school, formative years, that featured young Beverly Hills starlets doing crazy things, whether it was try to blend in and go to school like a normal person, or juggle love interests on far-off movie sets. (I'll forever blame The Clique series as the gateway drug to this kind of fiction). Now, similarly in the vein of the young and wealthy...
(I'd recommend: Zoey Dean's The A List series.)

5. Boarding Schools
From Harry Potter to I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You, going to live in a far-away school and learn about the coolest stuff from the coolest people still sounds like the greatest idea, even though I'm now basically doing that in college. :)
(I'd recommend: E. Lockhart's The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks.)

6. Tortall (by Tamora Pierce)
I'm qualifying this as an acceptable topic, because as soon as I see that a new Tamora Pierce Tortall-centric novel is headed towards the shelves, I buy it.
(I'd recommend: all of the Tortall books!!!)

7. Dragons
Shut up! I developed a serious addiction to Anne McCaffrey's Dragons of Pern at a young age... now it's just transferred to the likes of Dany in Game of Thrones.
(I'd recommend: but really, if you haven't read Game of Thrones yet...)

8. Sci Fi "Masterpieces" 
A couple of years ago, my Dad - after hearing about how much I enjoyed Ender's Game in my freshman English class, handed me what he called "the Trifecta" of science fiction: Nueromancer, Dune, and Foundation. Out of the three, I only fell in love with one, but I still have a solid appreciation for any sci fi epic.
(I'd recommend: any of the books listed above, which are all prolific in the genre for GOOD REASON.)

9. Books about Books 
Or Librarians. Or Bookstores. Or Literature. I mean, I'd say something cute about how I just can't get enough of books, but I feel I'd be being obvious.
(I'd recommend: Cornelia Funke's Inkheart, because I obviously still belong in the 5th grade.)

10. Comedy Autobiographies
Not autobiographies marketed as funny (though it's okay if they are). I want the growing-up stories of the likes of Steve Martin, Chelsea Handler, and Mindy Kaling, which are often times humorous, yes, but more usually triumphant tales of overcoming obstacles. Nothing better than someone who can find comedy in adversity, especially when the adversity is their own life.
(I'd recommend: Steve Martin's Born Standing Up.)

Well, that's it for me! What are your Top Ten?

A Questionable Choice

I am a person who gets obsessed easily. Therefore, despite the fact that I am in the throes of my Spring Quarter right now, I have recently managed to stumble upon one of the most addicting aspects of the popular book review site Goodreads (of which I am a member, found here): the First Reads Giveaway section, in which publishers/authors/associated underlings of the publishing universe/ etc. may post free copies and galleys of books up for grabs for those who express interest.

In the month or so that I have been involved with this section of the site, I have been deemed worthy of six galleys, of which, A Lady's Choice, by Sandra Robbins, was the first.

One of many titles in Sunnyside Publishing's "An American Tapestry" series - a franchise revolving around love stories set in pivotal moments in American history, including the Alamo, the sinking of the Titanic, and the American Revolution - A Lady's Choice follows the story of twenty-year-old Sarah Whittaker, as she accompanies her ailing mother back to her home town of Richland Creek, Tennessee, a place Sarah has been only a handful of times. While she pines for her own home city of Memphis, she finds interest in the town in the form of Alex Taylor, a handsome, strong-willed young man, with a focus on his family, talent in the baseball diamond, and a job waiting for him back in Memphis at a celebrated law firm. They quickly strike up an attachment... however, Sarah's own stubborn decisions keep getting in their way of ever being together: Sarah is a suffragette, and Alex's unwillingness to accept her opinions, to further promote his chance of succeeding in his firm, condemn the relationship from the outset. However, as tensions heat in Richland Creek, so they are as well in Memphis and Washington, D.C. The world is ready for change, but will Alex have a change of heart, and can Sarah ever recover from a broken one?

I will not mince words, when I state that this was probably one of the most questionably written novels I've already read. It was a struggle to get past the first 50 pages... which were riddled with both continuity problems (for instance, Sarah is written, within the book, to be 20 years old, but the back cover explicitly stated she was 18), as well as straight up issues with reality (Tell me, would you ever "gasp aloud" at the "kindness" reflected in someone's eyes, or "grope" a chair and stutter because someone made eye contact with you? Please tell me we women are made of stronger stuff than that). Other issues included insta-love, which is almost always a problem, and over-predictability (if I can spot a murderer the second he's introduced, you need to re-evaluate, or at least expand the character list).

However, after a certain point, the composition of the novel shifts from predominant description, to dialogue, and the conversations were a lot easier to believe than the majority of what was running through Sarah's head. And as you neared ever closer to the climax of the novel, you began to realize exactly what this book was all about: the relationships between the characters, not only with themselves and their peers, but with God.

Okay, I was wondering why the book focused so much on religion, until I finally reached the point where I looked up the publishing company, and realized the reason that the only truly successful elements in this book were the ones that described and built on Christianity, was because this was a Christian book series and publishing house. The most well-written and interesting parts of the book are those in which Sarah and Alex's faiths are put into question, contested, and discussed, and the emotional payoff from the book came, for me, not from Sarah and Alex's (spoiler alert, but not really, due to the ultimate predictability of the novel) finally accepting each other and becoming a couple, but from Sarah's journey back into faith and Alex's adoption of Jesus' teachings of acceptance for everyone.

I'm not going to go around recommending religious material for my friends to read (particularly because I'm in college right now, and in a realm as emotionally and intellectually volatile as this, it would probably be a good way to get verbally assaulted), but I'm born and baptized and confirmed, loving Roman Catholic, and I thought this book, no matter how questionably written, really spoke beautifully about Christ, and it kind of made me miss my old church, the one I essentially grew up in, back in Federal Way. Anyone looking to get a new take on faith, or just explore some light, frivolous love stories, should really check out this series.

Meanwhile, I'm going to go find more Goodreads giveaways to enter, in the hopes that some other decent material comes my way. And when I say "decent," I mean "homework-avoiding" and "procrastination-inducing".