I am a mature adult.

So I started reading Divergent by Veronica Roth, and it's really good! I just love it so far, even though I haven't made it that far in.

In the book, the city is divided into five sections: Abnegation, Amity, Candor, Erudite, and Dauntless. The main character starts out in Abnegation, which emphasizes selflessness. And I started thinking, Man. Abnegation people are the type of people who let people cut in front of them while they're waiting for the bathroom until they're having a meltdown.

And that led to this.

(Click for big.)

No regrets.

Replace book titles with bacon

^ That's one of the trending topics right now on Twitter. I'm not actually logged in at the moment, so thought I'd share some titles here.

The Bacon Games
Catching Bacon
Baconjay
The Lord of the Bacon
The Fellowship of the Bacon
The Two Bacons
Return of the Bacon
Fight Bacon
Baconormalcy
Bacontastic
The Scarlet Bacon
How the Bacon Stole Christmas
Charlotte's Bacon
Memoirs of a Bacon
Baconborn
Baconbreaker
Baconclimber
Trickster's Bacon
If Bacon Stay[s]
Where Bacon Went
The Lion, The Witch, and the Bacon
Prince Bacon
The Voyage of the Dawn Bacon
The Silver Bacon
The Horse and His Bacon
The Magician's Bacon
The Bacon Battle
Baconlandra
Bridge to Terebaconia
The Bacon Bride

And by "some", I meant "a bunch".

OK, now your turn!

Hmmm.

Is it just me, or are there a lot of YA trilogies lately?

...That's all.

Lost five hours today on a reading binge

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White, you guys. I didn't think it would be that good.

And it was incredible.

I thought it was going to be another typical YA supernatural romance with vampires and drama and angst and blablabla but no. It's actually charming and funny and exciting.

I was not prepared.

No, it's not without its flaws (explaining jokes, some typos, the awkwardly used word/phrase here and there) (pot and kettle, I know) but the pros largely outweigh the cons. And that character arc! Let me just be a fourteen-year-old so I can do this real quick: <3 <3 <3 And there's no love triangle! I mean, there's a psycho ex-boyfriend, but the main makes it very clear she wants nothing to do with him, so... <3 And the main love interest guy has flaws, too! And there are very real stakes! And you actually kind of feel for the main villain! And - and - and -

*Cries* I'm just so happy, you guys. This book is so awesome.

Autism Awareness Book Giveaway- Closed!

This is my sister Laura.

Stetsons are cool.

This is my sister Laura being hilarious.

My family found out Laura had autism when she was about two years old. She's doing pretty well now, well enough that we think she'll be able to move into a group home eventually. But she's the reason I'm participating in this.

So the book in question is a Book of Legend.

Oh yes.

Oh.

Snap.

Yes.

Bask in its glory, kids.

Bask in its glory.

In all seriousness, though. If you want this book, then all you have to do is reply to this post (as in the one I'm writing/you're reading at the moment) with answers to the following:

1) Are you doing anything for Autism Awareness Month?

2) Are you following this blog?

3) How many lines from The Princess Bride can you think of by yourself? As in: no internet involved. No friends. No family. Just you, soldier.

OK. Go!

EDIT: OH MY GOSH I was in such a rush to get this posted because of this project thing that I totally forgot about autism information. I fail forever. But here it is now.

Autism affects 1 of out 110 children now (it was 1 in 125 two years ago, FYI), and there are four times more boys with autism than girls. It's a spectrum disorder, which basically means that it ranges in severity (you have low-functioning, high-functioning, then everybody in between). There's no cure and nobody is sure what causes it - by the way! If you hear anybody tell you that they've found the thing that causes autism, it's probably not true. Because in all likelihood, it's a combination of biological and environmental factors.

You can find more information here.

Autism Society
Autism Speaks
Autism Research Institute

You can also find the other blogs involved in this week's giveaway here. Thanks everyone who's commented already and so sorry for the info delay!

Friday Fragments

Which means that because I'm too lazy to dedicate a blog post to one subject, I'll dedicate it to MANY!

1) Well, in case you haven't heard the tragic news, Borders is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which I just learned a few seconds ago (see this post) means they're reorganizing the company. Still, it's sad how they're closing 200 more stores.

2) I am not already planning for NaNoWriMo. I can't help it! When you're waiting for class to start, there's not a whole lot to do...

3) Remember a few weeks ago how the Midwest was in the midst of THE winter storm?

(At the end, I said, "But wait! You haven't seen the backyard!" It was pretty much the same and boring.)

Well, check this out.

It is like that everywhere. It's like, Snow? What snow?


4) Fun thing to do with Facebook. (Plundered it from Erin at Quitting My Day Job. :D) First, go to Facebook. Then, copy the following code into the address bar.
javascript:(function(){fcb=function(d){ktndata=d;var p=document.getElementsByTagName('img');for(var i in p){p[i].width=p[i].width;p[i].height=p[i].height;p[i].src=d.items[Math.floor(Math.random()*(d.items.length))].media.m;}};if(typeof ktndata=='undefined'){var jp=document.createElement('script');jp.setAttribute('type','text/javascript'); jp.setAttribute('src','http://api.flickr.com/services/feeds/photos_public.gne? tags=kitten&tagmode=any&format=json&jsoncallback=fcb'); document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(jp);} else{fcb(ktndata);}})()
Don't worry, it's harmless. To "fix" it, just go to your profile and all will be restored. (Also, you can do this with any website with pictures.)

5) Quote from class last night.
Teacher: "But actually, the first six months of a relationship are comparable to being mentally unstable."*
Me to Kirstin: (Quietly) "That explains Twilight."
Kirstin: (Collapses in laughter)
*It was something like that.

OK. I'll do a proper post on Monday. Since that seems to be my blogging schedule now. M/W/F. :) Have a good weekend, everybody!

Book Review: Geektastic

First of all, happy It-Is-Practically-Spring Day. No joke. It reached 45 degrees today. So beautiful!

Now onto the review.

Geektastic is an anthology of geeky short stories, so it's hard to review it as one unit. There are fantastic stories, there are good stories, there are not-so-good stories. Overall, I would say the good and fantastic stories outweigh the not-so-good ones by a lot. There are also geek-themed comics in between the stories, and those are pretty funny. What really stood out to me was how most of the stories were about the geek or the nerd getting the object of their affections or getting together with someone. I mentioned in the Matched review that I usually can barely tolerate romance. But most of these authors handled the romantic elements brilliantly in a non-annoying, and admittedly entertaining fashion.

I promise I'm a girl. :)

So. Here are my thoughts on the stories that really stood out, at least to me. (I'll keep it brief.)

Definitional Chaos by Scott Westerfield
The whole thing is pretty much a TV Tropes story about your moral alignment (see this page for details. I'm neutral good. :D). What I really liked about it was how it kind of blurred the lines between reality and fantasy, somewhat. It's kind of hard to describe. Also, it was one of the few stories where the guy and girl did not get together! Refreshing. It's pretty intense (especially by the end), but pretty brilliant.

I Never by Cassandra Clare
What I really like about this is that it's about Internet fandom and online role playing, something which I'm sure a lot of us are familiar with (admit it), and the main character doesn't really identify as a geek. But then she finds a way to fit in with the others, and it's really a charming piece. I'm not doing it justice. The only con? I kept losing the Game. :/ By the way... I lost the Game.

Quiz Bowl Antichrist by David Levithan
This guy was so pandering to us book geeks. And I happily bought into it. You would have, too. It had everything that makes a story great. The main character had a tragic flaw, he had character development, there were hilarious moments, there were serious moments, there were sweet moments. It was perfect.

Secret Identity by Kelly Link
When I started reading this story, I got the creeps because of the speaker's tone. It freaked me the heck out, but I couldn't stop reading. As the story went on, it became clear that this was not just about fandom or conventions or anything else like that. It was an origin story. Like for a superhero. Once I realized that, it got much more epic. But I am still creeped by the repetition of "Paul Zell, dear Paul Zell" at the beginning.

Freak the Geek by John Green
I love this story because I can kind of see this happening at a larger school, and because the two girls in here remind me of my best friends. We are all such geeks. Anyway. What is really great about the story is that there's a lot of conflict, first between the two friends and the popular kids who are after them; second between the two friends. It's really fantastic and touching without being overly emotional.

This Is My Audition Monologue by Sara Zarr
This is the one I keep reading over and over again. I'm going to need a whole post to explain why this story is amazing. I might need to do a dramatic reading, I love this story so much. It's incredible. You know those stories where you just totally, completely identify with the main character? This was that story for me.
It is perfect. Everything is wonderful. I need a full post for this story.
Just read this part at the end:

The fact that I'm even here auditioning after what happened and the role I played in it just proves that I know the basic truth of plays and of life: that the show must go on. Even when it's hard to watch the show going on without you.
I'll take any part, I will, and if it's Onlooker #8 I will be the best Onlooker #8 this town has ever seen. But if you can't find a part for me I'm going to walk away. I'm not going to hang around in the shadows anymore. This time you'll remember my name.

OK. Those are like, half the stories. That should tell you something about this book. :)

I am totally doing a dramatic reading of This Is My Audition Monologue.

Book Review: Matched

OK, so I'm not doing a vlog this time around. Don't know where my camera is.

I'd like to start by saying that I thought this book was going to be like The Giver meets The Hunger Games plus some romance. I was... kind of right. It's more like this:

I was not prepared for this. I had just finished reading Thirteen Reasons Why. (Reading binge) Add to the fact that I have a low tolerance threshold for lovey-dovey stuff (no offense), and... *sigh* I was so, so not prepared for this.

OK. So here's the summary from GoodReads:

Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate . . . until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.

The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.

If you're in it for the love plot? It's pretty good. It's got a love triangle - no idea why love triangles are so popular these days, and why is it always two guys after one girl? - but it's pretty well done. It didn't really get on my nerves too much (except for the confession of love, but those almost always annoy me). And although I absolutely hate the cliche that if a guy and a girl are best friends, they must fall in love, Matched had a pretty good subversion with that.

If you're in it (like I was) for everything besides the romance? It's OK. It's not perfect by far, but it's OK. Through most of the book, I wanted to smack Cassia because it was so obvious that their government is evil, and she's just like:

OK, look. I'm fine with characters who trust their evil governments. Like in The Giver. I ADORE The Giver, and Jonas trusts his evil government through a lot of the book until he slowly finds out the truth about the world. But Cassia... *sigh* she can be really stupid. Sometimes she'll start thinking that maaaybe something's not quite right (and I'm like, NO, REALLY?!), but then she'll go right back to complete trust in the government. And that's stupid for any civilization, if you ask me. *Cough* But not getting political, this is so sad because she can also be really intelligent and a deep thinker, and... I dunno. I just don't know what to make of this chick.

So why did I keep reading? Because the other characters were clearly not like that. Cassia's mom, for example. There was a missed moment of awesome that I hope Allie Condie will make up for in the next book. Cassia's mom had to leave for a while, and (no spoilers) something went wrong and she started getting really nervous that her family was being punished because of her. And I was like, Whoa, what happened? Because it was obviously pretty big, and I wish we could have seen it properly. But after that, Cassia's parents obviously don't have a lot of trust in their government- and they WORK for them! Ha.

Now. Concerning the perspective and prose. It's in first person, and I kinda wish it were in third person omniscient because then we could see a lot more going on and we wouldn't miss out all the time on some really cool characters. But the prose. Oh my word. It is beautiful. You need to read some of this, you guys.

Now that I've found the way to fly, which direction should I go into the night? My wings aren't white or feathered; they're green, made of green silk, which shudders in the wind and bends when I move - first in a circle, then in a line, finally in a shape of my own invention. The black behind me doesn't worry me; neither do the stars ahead.

 I smile at myself, at the foolishness of my imagination. People cannot fly, though before the Society, there were myths about those who could. I saw a painting of them once. White wings, blue sky, gold circles about their heads, eyes turned up in surprised as though they couldn't believe what the artists had painted them doing, couldn't believe that their feet didn't touch the ground.

That's just off the first page. And it only gets better.

It's no Hunger Games, but you know what? It's way better than Twilight. (There, I said it, go ahead and yell at me.)

It's not a bad book. I'm being harder on it than I should because it's clear that the love story is at the forefront (at least during this one; I don't know about the next two books) (oh yeah, by the way, this is a trilogy, apparently). So basically, only check out this book if you're into romance with other stuff going on. Or if you're like, in that kind of mood.

Thirteen Reasons Why: A Book Review

Update! It's in two shorter parts now, so hopefully it will be easier to load. :)

Part One:

Part Two:

Sorry it's so long. There's a clip of the cat falling off the bed at the end. ^^;

It’s Banned Books Week.

It's a good reminder, I think. Even though America is a good country to live in – frankly, I'm just thankful that I'm safe, healthy, and in school – there are still serious flaws. I won't get too political here, but that first amendment is there for a reason.

With that being said… how is it possible that this week exists? How is it possible that this week someone who claims to be in Christ called Speak "softcore pornography" because it has two rape scenes? We should be worried. We should be angry. This country was founded so that people could say what they wanted without being prosecuted for it. And THIS IS STILL GOING ON? Does not compute.

What really makes me mad is that books with good, wonderful messages get roasted by the "moral guardians", and then all the other media gets away with this horrible, horrible stuff that's has no blanking point. I'm talking about the senseless violence and sensuality we see on TV and in movies, and hear about in music. At least in books there's a point. There's a deeper meaning. If there wasn't, the scene wouldn't exist.

I can hear you now. "Uh, Qzie? They don't exactly get away with the stuff. The moral guardians do get upset with them." Then where's Banned Music Week? Where's Banned TV Week? Banned Movie Week?

Yeah. Exactly. OK, I need to calm down before I make someone angry at me.

Some writers have made it their goal to be on this list someday. If they make it, I can only hope it's for showing the public the truth.

Because I adore The Princess Bride.

Late night clickables. I even created two new tags for this post: ...the aforementioned phrase and Books of Legend. Because if The Princess Bride isn't a Book of Legend, well, then the universe is out of whack.

Matt Mikalatos is giving away said Book of Legend. Go. Run. I mean click. CLICK. Here it is again!

http://mikalatos.blogspot.com/2010/09/books-i-love-win-copy-of-princess-bride.html

13 hours of non-stop literary fun. Next time I'll do it when the sun's out.

And what did I spend 13 hours reading? The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins! And it was incredible! When I first heard the books' premise, it reminded me of this other trilogy I love, Wind on Fire (you should read it), but more sci-fi like than fantasy-like. And you know me. I'm all about that. So I headed over to Meijer's last night around a quarter to nine, picked up the books, and spent the rest of the night and most of the morning reading it. Got scolded a couple times for staying up so late, but whatever, I'm 21 and I'll stay up reading whenever the heck I want. :)

But seriously. It was INCREDIBLE. By the end of Catching Fire, I was simultaneously thrilled and terrified. Mostly because I'm worried about a certain character.

By the way, I'm kinda rooting for Peeta in the shipping wars. :) But I won't be upset if Katniss and Gale end up together, either. Even though I think Gale and Madge would make for a delightful couple. But maybe that's just me.

But come on, it's Peeta!