Catching Fire & Mockingjay

{We can pretty much assume that I will not be able to get three posts up each day until October 31, so we will assume that I won't be finishing Blogtober. This is why I fail at things like NaNoWriMon.}

In the past week I completed the Hunger Games trilogy. I had read the first book before the movie had been released, but had not picked up the second book until this past week. Then I borrowed the third book from a friend after reading Catching Fire and finished it last night. It. Was. Terrible.

Be prepared for a spoiler-ly rant ahead. I don't promise that the first half will be about Catching Fire and the second half about Mockingjay either. When I rant, I am all over the place. Don't say I didn't warn you.

First off, the writing is horrendous. The first person present-tense narrative is my least favorite narrative, but just about every single book published today will be written in it. I dislike it because you can't help becoming attached, or 'one', with the protagonist, even if you really hate them *cough*Katniss*cough*. I think the only characters I really cared for in the end (mostly because Suzanne Collins rarely used them/killed them off before she could screw them up with the rest of them) were Finnick, Annie, and their baby.

And when Finnick was killed.... My heart stopped and I had to close the book for about five minutes. (I knew it would happen, since it had been spoiled for me before, but still.... It was terrible.)

Catching Fire wasn't as horrible as Mockingjay, but Hunger Games is the best of the three. I almost think Suzanne Collins shouldn't have even written the last two books, because it seemed like over the course of the two books she was quickly deteriorating over her desire to write the books well. Katniss had no character development until the last chapter of Mockingjay. She was insane throughout the two books. It was just...just...terrible. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible.

And the way she concluded the series was sloppy at best. And it wasn't at best, so it was a complete disaster. Especially the epilogue. You really get a sense of just how cold hearted Katniss is, how 'damaged' she is, how mentally unstable. (I can't exactly blame her for being that way, but it's almost pitiful.) She didn't mention her children's names, just that the boy and girl will learn, or have learned, what had happened. She never wanted children, and she said she only had those two after fifteen years of Peeta begging because he wanted them so bad. I feel so sorry for those kids. The ending was cold, and did nothing to redeem the series.

All in all, I hate the books. The only characters I still liked by the end were Finnick, Annie, their son, and Paylor, probably because Suzanne didn't screw them up like she did everyone else. And Peeta. Still like Peeta. But other than those five, I am either on the line or hating the rest of them.

Snow was brilliant. And I will standby my earlier belief that I hate Coin more than Snow, because I do. The relationship between Snow and Katniss was one of the better parts of the story, and even by the time he died Snow was still had that 'bad guy' about him that was all 'I am the bad guy, and I'm not afraid to mess with you up until the very second I die'. And I don't like Coin because she was a career politician and her only goal with the entire rebellion was to get Snow's seat. I was a little surprised when Katniss killed her, because I thought that Katniss was siding with Coin at that time, but I think that could have been done a lot better still.

So, yes, I hate these books. At best they were okay. Really if you just have someone tell you want happens, you will be fine, because they aren't worth the read unless you really want to go through that mental trauma of hatred at the end.




   One of the goals for this blog is to provide information for parents and readers alike to find 'clean' reads suitable for their children or themselves. In all my reviews I will mention general themes from the book, language, sexual/romantic interaction, and violence.

     Themes:
  dystopian, rebellion, war, survival

        Language:
   Very little to none if I am remembering correctly.

        Sexual/Romantic Interaction
   A love triangle  between  Peeta, Gale, and Katniss. Kissing, some references to sex. 'Survival of the population' via repopulation is talked about a lot in book three.

        Violence
  Very heavy, especially in book three.

       I would give Catching Fire & Mockingjay both a rating of mild-heavey PG-13

      On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 = horrible, 2 = OK, 3 = I liked it, 4 = I really liked it, 5 = I loved it), I would give Catching Fire &Mockingjay both a 2

Blogtober #15 - Light & Dark, Good & Evil: A Thought's Post

"Darkness does not always equate to evil, just as light does not always bring good."

I have mentioned this quote from the book Marked a couple of times and how I wasn't quite sure that I agreed with what it said. Well, I finally sat down and organized my thoughts and this is what I have come up with.

In regards to books, I think this quote sums up excellently the change in modern culture's opinion on good and evil in books. Things that are evil and dark, like vampires, or dragons, werewolves, and so on, are not evil and dark. Things that are good and light, like elves, and fairies, and angels, (probably most importantly GOD), are not good and light. Modern fairytales leave you with a sense of confusion. You grew up reading stories where the dragon was evil and had to be slain, yet now they are a fad, everyone wants a dragon. Vampires were once heartless, soulless creatures who would suck your blood out because they needed it to survive, now you are presented with 'vegetarian' vampires, and vampires with morals. Then you get Christians mixed in, like the People of Faith in Marked, and you loose that boundary of morals even more. People with Christian morals are the oppressor, the bad guys (in Marked the People of Faith are clearly that, because that is the great misconception society has about Christians today).

Moving deeper into it, however, you are presented with even more complexity. You have stories (Fantasy) and humans (reality) and those are jumbled together and mixed up to where there is no fantasy and no reality. Modern society gives mythological creatures souls and morals, makes them good, and goes and makes humans (mostly Christians) the evil thing to be gotten rid of.

"The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon. Exactly what the fairy tale does is this: it accustoms him for a series of clear pictures to the idea that these limitless terrors had a limit, that these shapeless enemies have enemies in the knights of God, that there is something in the universe more mystical than darkness, and stronger than strong fear.”  - G.K. Chesterton

We grew up believe that dragons could be conquered. Now our children are growing up believing that humans should be conquered with dragons.  People with authority should be ignored and defeated. You wonder why teens today are so depressed? It's because the morals they grew up on, that humans can defeat the giant, undefeatable monsters like dragons has been twisted. No longer can you look towards yourself to defeat the dragon, because maybe the dragon (no matter how 'good' it is) cannot be defeated. Humans are being characterized as the evil to be defeated. Seriously think on it, humans are evil, they have to be killed using vampires, or werewolves, or dragons, they don't allow for the complexity of human nature to come through. In Marked Zoey is no longer a human, she is a vampire. Every human that she knows (her grandmother being the one exception) is the bad guy (or at least so weak that she can easily rule over them), and don't get her started on the oppressive People of Faith. It clamors for teens to start to worship the goddess Nyx, because she is the almighty, beautiful, and good goddess, whereas the People of Faith's god, (AKA the Christian God) is the degrading, ugly, and evil god. Wonder why there are shootings in school? Look at what they read. It tells them that things that do exist (humans, God, Christianity) are evil, and the things that are evil (vampires, gods and goddesses) are good. Wouldn't you be utterly depressed if there was only evil in this world? They don't realize that there is good out there, because all they read about is that the good in our world is actually evil.

Taking the words of Neil Gaimen, who is paraphrasing the earlier quote from G.K. Chesterton:

“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”

And remember to 'read the right books' (C.S. Lewis Narnia, Voyage of the Dawn Treader reference there.) Because...

"Since it is so likely that children will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage." - C.S. Lewis

Blogtober #14 - Fairytales, Tristram & Iseult

     Many of my friends know that I am a die hard for fairytales. From Disney, to Brother's Grimm, to fantasy stories, those are my favorites. I love reading Shakespeare (when I have time because it takes some effort to read his work), and (of course) love stories are my favorites. A friend recently shared the following song with me and the story it is based on. It reminded me that I had heard of the story and knew of the basic plot line, but had never finished it or fully learned the story. And it is the story of Tristram and Iseult (also called Tristan and Isolt, sometimes Tristan and Isolde, depends on translation)

The song and story are beautiful. My friend said this is her new favorite love story, whereas it was Romeo and Juliet (honestly I was never found of Romeo and Juliet, but Tristram and Iseult I am). Granted the following quote is from Wikipedia, it gives a good background to the story:

Tristan and Iseult is a legend made popular during the 12th century through French medieval poetry, and inspired from archetypal Celtic legends. It has become an influential romance and tragedy, retold in numerous sources with as many variations. The tragic story is of the adulterous love between the Cornish knight Tristan (Tristram) and the Irish princess Iseult (Isolde, Yseult, etc.). The narrative predates and most likely influenced the Arthurian romance of Lancelot and Guinevere, and has had a substantial impact on Western art, the idea of romantic love and literature since it first appeared in the 12th century. While the details of the story differ from one author to another, the overall plot structure remains much the same.

There are many different renditions of the story (one of the popular ones is by Matthew Arnold). But the one my friend referred me to is from Cornwall's Wonderland by Mabel Quiller Couch. You can find her version of Tristram and Iseult here along with some other stories from her book.

There are also some beautiful paintings of Tristram and Iseult.

like this one painting by Hugues Merle

Tristram and Iseult has been written into songs, poems, movies, and plays. Although I am not familiar with any other versions besides Mabel Couch's, I really prefer this love story to Romeo and Juliet. First, Tristram is a noble knight (at first he was stuck up, but despite the short length of Mabel's version, you can see his character growth fantastically in it), and he tries to do well to all. If he and Iseult hadn't been under the effects of a powerful love potion, I think they could have moved on to other people (since Iseult married Tristram's uncle, because his Uncle knew they had a thing for each other and wanted to hurt Tristram out of envy). I think that is way I find this story more appealing than Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, because this is tragic because no matter how hard they tried to move on from each other, they couldn't through no fault of their own.

This is a beautiful story, and well worth reading more of.
(And as for a rating, I would give it a light PG, it is considered by many as an adulterous relationship, and there is blood, fights, killing, and poison, so I would be comfortable (in regards to Mabel Couch's version) to let 12 + read it)

Blogtober #13 - House of Night, book one - Marked

     Browsing my Facebook a couple of weeks ago, I spotted a post from one of the many book pages I like. The post contained a quote from Marked, book one of the House of Night series. This is the quote:

"Darkness does not always equate to evil, just as light does not always bring good."

     I found the idea interesting and worth pondering (I still don't know what I make of it), and posted it on my page. From there my lovely bibliophile friends said I should read this series (granted I did not know about it until then).
     So my friend loaned me the book and I just finished reading it. It was an okay read. Some parts were confusing, sometimes contradictory. The writing wasn't anything to rave over. It's not terrible to where I would be against reading the other books in the series, it just...I think it would rate a point higher  than Twilight.

     First off, at the beginning I was thoroughly confused (It actually took me the entire first chapter to realize vampyres = vampires. major brain fail there.). 'Vampyres' are not some mythological, unknown, thought to not be real idea, but actual 'creatures'. There is a school/coven and many of the famous actors, actresses, singers, writers, and so on are vampyres. There are certain types of vampyres called Trackers, and they track down humans to turn into vampyres. Those humans are then 'marked' (hence the title of the book, since this covers what happens immediately after Zoey, the protagonist, is marked) and go to the House of Night, a boarding school/coven for vampyres. The Cast ladies did not go right out and say that this is the case, it took some figuring out from the information given.

     There were also some parts that seemed to contradict earlier statements/actualities in the story. But in order to double check on those I would need my own copy and a pencil to mark them out with, so don't hold me to this statement.

     There was also much cursing (quite a few f-bombs were dropped), scenes that were hinting at sex/sexual activities, and to put bluntly, and explicit scene of attempted oral sex (ewwwwwww).

     Soooo....yeah.....Maybe I should retracted my earlier statements about being willing to read the other books. Not only did many of these 'romance' scenes make me a little uncomfortable, I wish I could read a teen book like this (which has a fantastic plot concept, a bit poorly executed) were the romance wasn't physically based, or where the two involved had a 'spiritual' attraction after two interactions. Give me some relationships like those from Harry Potter, or The Rangers Apprentice, and that would be fantastic.

     On a slightly lighter note, what's with all the blondes in the book? It's like the population in House of Night is 95% blonde, 5% other. Wow. That and there were some clichés/Mary sue descriptions. And I couldn't connect with any of the characters from the story, and I think that says a lot. If you can't connect with a character, then what kind of story is it?




    One of the goals for this blog is to provide information for parents and readers alike to find 'clean' reads suitable for their children or themselves. In all my reviews I will mention general themes from the book, language, sexual/romantic interaction, and violence.

     Themes:
 Vampyres (Vampires), Greek mythology, coming of age, survival, monsters, death, magic

       Language:
  Language throughout, F-bomb dropped by the second chapter, around ten (maybe more) f-bombs total, along with other cursing.

       Sexual/Romantic Interaction
  Heavy on sexual talk/images. Blood is used as a sexual play toy, oral sex, touching inappropriate areas.

       Violence
 Heavy on blood. One scene were a boy dies coughing up blood is descriptive. Knives, rituals, murderous ghosts.

      I would give Marked a rating of heavy PG-13

      On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 = horrible, 2 = OK, 3 = I liked it, 4 = I really liked it, 5 = I loved it), I would give Marked a 2

Blogtober #12 - Another trip to the bookstore...

     Yesterday after I bought the deluxe edition of The Little Prince, well, of course I had to browse. There had been one section I hadn't looked through last time I was there, and I wanted to see what they had there. Well, I found two more books to add to my 'to buy' list.

 

 First is the Hans Christian Anderson Fairy tales collection. I love the cover and the illustrations. I bought one similar to this for the complete Grimm's Fairy Tales at the beginning of summer, and love the cover and illustrations for it also. This one is only 17 dollars.

Although I must admit, I love this annotated Peter Pan. It is gorgeous inside and out. When I first saw it I believed it was a legitimate leather bound book with gold inlay cover. Man was I surprised when I picked it up and it was just a paper dustcover. Still beautiful. Forty dollars, but I'm sure it is so worth it. And like I said in my previous post, books aren't a hobby, they are an investment. And this is a book that would last a long time :)

Blogtober #11 - The Little Prince

     Remember #9 from Blogtober? I mentioned the deluxe package of The Little Prince, but how I passed on purchasing it. Well, today I bought it :) I had a five dollar coupon, and saved two dollars with my Books-A-Million members card, so what was originally twenty-five dollars, I got for nineteen! (A dollar and eight cents tax? Why are books so expensive ): ) That and I had my paycheck and I budgeted buying the deluxe package with it :D

     I am so happy I got it! Having Viggo Mortensen read to me is so amazing. I read the book last year and loved it, and have been wanting to purchase it ever since (but for some reason BAM only had this freak-ish graphic novel adaptation...). But when I saw this, I knew I had to get it as soon as possible. When I read it I only had tears when I finished the book. But driving home and listening to it, I had tears. It's such a beautiful, depressing but magical story, and if you haven't read it, you really really really really really really need to.

     And with my excitement comes photo taking! Without further ado, here is my deluxe edition of The Little Prince!

 

 

     Not only do I have a beautiful hard bound copy of The Little Prince,  I also have an audio tape of the story read my Viggo Mortensen, and both will be treasured for a very long time <3

 

 

 

 

 

     This is why I purchase books, because they will be treasured by me for my entire life, and hopefully will be treasured by my children and their children. Books are a legacy, and I wish more young people would realize that. Books are an investment, not a hobby.

 



Blogtober #10 - Harbor (Writing from a picture)

, 

{I did a random image search and came up with this gorgeous painting from this person which is the inspiration for this short story, which stars a character from my last writing post, Wyatt Hood}

     "General Hood, we're approximately an hours march from Lodelle Harbor."
     Wyatt Hood nodded in reply. It was midday, they were ahead of schedule, which was always a good thing in Wyatt's opinion. His gaze turned back to his officer, Yoder, who had stayed next to him.
     "If I may sir," Yoder began, "why would the Chii'ten's choose Lodelle for their landing site? It's not even large enough to be a village."
     Wyatt looked over at the officer. "I think that is exactly why they picked it, Yoder. If we were looking for the Chii'ten's landing site, would we have even thought of Lodelle?"
     Yoder shook his head from side to side. "No sir."
     "Exactly, if it hadn't been from the intelligence the fisherman sent us, Chii'ten would have landed here with little to no resistance. Unfortunately for them, they are terrible scouts."
     "But what if they meant for us to find out? Like it's a trap, and they wanted us to be here?"
     Wyatt thought for only a moment "I've thought of that, but I suppose that's the case with war, you just have to take the risk. Obviously the higher ups don't think we will met with much resistance, since they are only sending us."
     Yoder looked at the group of soldiers surrounding them. It was true, they only numbered a hundred and fifty men. If they fishermen in Lodelle helped, they would barely reach two hundred. Wyatt chuckled.
     "Don't look so scared, Yoder. We're better than a thousand Chii'ten warriors."
     "Maybe a thousand, but what if it's more?"
     "Really, Yoder," Wyatt slapped him on the back "Stop being a pessimist. War is already depressing enough."

     It was just past midday when Wyatt's troops made it to Lodelle Harbor. As they marched down the path that lead straight through the shambles of shacks, fishermen and their families peered at them through doors and windows. Here and there an elderly lady would lift up from tending the garden, or pull back a sheet they were hanging to dry to watch the soldiers pass. It didn't take Wyatt long to locate the head fisherman of the harbor, who was also the same man to warn them of the coming Chiiten warriors.
     "I'm Dan." Wyatt clasped hands with the heavily aged fisherman.
     "General Wyatt Hood."
     Dan nodded, and motioned for Wyatt to follow him. The old man was incredibly fast for his age, Wyatt thought. Or maybe years under the sun has caused him to look much older than he actually is. Dan lead the general a couple hundred feet to the docks. Multiple fishing boats were moored there, and there seemed to be a constant flow of boats coming and going. For such a small Harbor, there was much activity.
     "We 'eard 'em plan ta come at midnight, tonight. Most o' the ships are out at that time, leavin' the harbor empty. Cooler weather makes fo' happier fishers."
     Wyatt nodded "Do any of your man plan to go out tonight?"
     Dan nodded "All o' them. Hav' ta make a livin', even when those Cheeteen mongrels attack."
     Wyatt thought for a moment. "I'd like to speak with some of your best fishers."
     Dan nodded once again. "This way."

     Yoder looked to his left at Whitlock. "Sometimes I wonder if General Hood is a genius or just dumb lucky."
     Wyatt had positioned his men in a single file line along the docks. Behind them were poles that held lanterns, helmets, and upright javelins. In the dark of the night it looked like they had the entire army of {Don't have a name kingdom} with them. Before the troops, in the harbor, the fishing boats were in a line, blocking the docks from any incoming vessels. General Wyatt Hood stood on one of the ships, waiting for the approach of the Chii'ten ships.
     It was coming near one in the morning with the ships came in sight, by two they had arrived at the harbor. For a moment it looked as if the Chii'ten ships would ram their way through the Lodelle fishermen, but they dropped anchor and stopped. Yoder could hear distant shouting from the ships, but he couldn't make out what was being said. Nor can any of the other men.
     "You just need to be ready to fight at any time." was all Wyatt had told them to do.

     It seemed like ages before there was movement in the ships. Yoder watched as a ball of fire was thrown into the air and landed into the harbor waters. That was a signal Wyatt had arranged.
     "Archers! Ready!" Every third man in the line drew a bow and aimed.
     Another ball, this time the flames were colored green.
     "Archers, fire!" Yoder ordered and the woosh of rushing arrows broke through the night. Seconds passed, and then the resounding 'thud' of arrows hitting the wood of ships met their ears.
      "Ready!" The archers took position once again.
     "Fire!"
     This process was repeated five more times before a ball of blue flames leaped into the air.
     "Hold!"
     The archers lowered their bows. Just minutes later the Chii'ten ships were seen retreating from the harbor.
     "Well, that was simple." Whitlock mused. Yoder couldn't agree more.

     By the time the sun was rising, the Chii'ten ships had disapeared over the horizon. As the rising sun stained the water oranges and reds, the Lodelle fishing ships moved out of the harbor one after the other. They might have faced invasion only hours ago, but the sun was rising, and life continued.
     Wyatt watched the scene as his men packed to leave. He doubted that was the last attempt the Chii'ten had to try and invade by sea. And a little voice nagged him from the back of his head. They had given up to easily. He didn't want to leave the harbor just yet, he had the strange feeling last night had been a ruse. But with no way to prove it, and with orders to leave for the capital after securing Lodelle Harbor, Wyatt had to choice.
     What he knew for sure, however, was this wouldn't be the last time he came to Lodelle.

Blogtober #9 - Bookstores

I love browsing in a bookstore. You never really know what you will find, or what you will come out with. I love the smell when you walk into a used book store. Those are adventures. New books stores are fun to explore too, but you almost always know what to expect to see in those.

Last night I spent almost two hours browsing in Books-A-Million. My favorite places to browse in the store is, of course, the clearance/bargain bookshelves. Especially when they have $2-$3 classics (what can I say, I have a growing love for classics). I have to force myself not to buy every single classic they have on clearance when I go in.

While also looking through the clearance section I found this beautiful family tree book, where you could insert the information for your family. It was ten dollars, and I was highly tempted to purchase it, but I had gone in with the goal of not buying anything for myself. I had to get a gift for a friend :)

After looking at every single book on clearance I made my way down the rows. I found this deluxe edition of the Little Prince, with an audio version read my Viggo Mortensen! I was super tempted to buy that, but it was $25 dollars (hint hint for someone to get it for me! I would love to listen to Viggo Mortensen read The Little Prince to me!). When I finished pouting over not being able to buy the deluxe edition of The Little Prince, I moved on. I love the covers they have for the new editions of the Harry Potter series (Although the original will always be my favorite. Have seen you seen them? Order of the Phoenix is my favorite from the 15th anniversary editions!)

I continued making my way down the rows (Man, the release of House of Hades by Rick Riorden wiped out all the Percy Jackson books! It was just a big empty shelf!). I finally made my way to the manga section and began browsing those books. I wish our library had a better selection of manga, I would like to expand my 'Have Read' area in the manga genre after reading four volumes of Bakuman. :)

Hope you enjoyed hearing my newest book adventure! I am still yearning after that deluxe edition of The Little Prince. Gaaaah, I need to budget that into my budget for next month.

Blogtober #8 - Dance

{This is a short story written from the prompt, Dance. This story is 1,083 words long. I appreciate comments on it!}

                Cheers, laughter, and excited speech filled the air as the caravan of men on horseback made their way down the road. The villages celebrated just as loudly as the men made their way through. The entire kingdom was rejoicing; the news was spreading like lightning. The men, bone weary from battle, made their way home.     The war was over, the peace treaty was signed. They were at peace. “Can you believe it, General Hood? Two years of fighting, and we’re now on our way home for good.” one of the men asked gleefully after dismounting as they took a rest from traveling.

                “Just as much as the last eighty times you asked me.” He chuckled. The man laughed and walked off to join some other men. General Wyatt Hood leaned against a tree and looked down the path they still had to travel. He would be home by nightfall. He couldn’t wait to see his mother and father again, and his daughter, Lanora, was sure to have grown three feet since he last saw her two years ago. Two years ago he had gone off to battle. She had only been three. In just three days she would be turning five. How much had she changed since he saw her last? How long were her golden locks now? Had her face become freckled from playing in the sun? Did she look even more like him than before? Or had she grown to look like her mother, Eleanor?

He turned his gaze down. Young Eleanor wouldn’t be waiting for Wyatt when he arrived home. She had been eighteen when they married, twenty one when he had gone off to war. He had been twenty-nine when they had wed, thirty-two when he had gone off to battle. He still carried the letter his mother had written him exactly nine months ago, telling him Eleanor had run off with the blacksmith’s apprentice, leaving Lanora behind for him to take care of. Maybe it had been unfair for him to marry her when he was eleven years her senior. Eleanor was the beauty of the town, and it made sense that her father would want her to marry into a strong family, which the Hood family was. But that hadn’t been what Eleanor wanted, and now she had what she wanted. And Wyatt was about to receive what he wanted; to be home with his daughter.

“On your horses, men! I want to be home by sundown!”

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was dusk when the men entered the town. The whole town was waiting for them, and in front of the crowd was Wyatt Hood’s family. As the crowd cheered and enveloped the soldiers, Wyatt swung off his horse and embraced his mother, greeted his father, and then bent down to one knee. Hiding behind her Grandfather’s legs was a little girl with blond curls. Wyatt smiled. “Hello Lanora, do you remember me?”

The little girl stayed silent for a moment, before slowly nodding.

“You are my daddy.”

He smiled and nodded.  “Yes I am.”

Lanora stepped out from behind her grandfather and approached Wyatt. She had the same blonde curls as her father, his dimpled cheeks, and his bright blue eyes. Thank goodness she had her mother’se nose. As she stood in front of her father, she meekly asked “Can I give you a hug, daddy?”

Wyatt grinned and nodded. He embraced his daughter for the first time in two years. His mother was crying with joy, and his father stood by looking proud of his only child. Wyatt lifted his daughter up and turned to face his troops. “Men, at ease, tonight you stay in my town!”

Everyone cheered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was going on midnight and most of the town’s people were still awake, celebrating with the troops who were staying over for the night. They were all in the square, the local band playing, the young girls dancing, the young boys watching from afar, too embarrassed to ask a girl to dance, but obviously wanting to. Lanora had gone home earlier with her grandparents; Wyatt had decided to stay with his troops. He sat on a bench, beer in hand as he watched the revelry before him. Many couples were leaving, and the dance floor was clearing, although many single men and women were still enjoying the festivities. Wyatt looked around. Why wouldn’t they dance together? To his knowledge no new laws had been passed to outlaw dancing between singles. Something had to be done.

“Whitlock! Yoder! Grab a girl and get dancing!”

The two men snapped to attention at the sound of their commanding officers voice. Wyatt laughed and stood in order to join his men in finding a partner to dance with. Many eyes followed their movement as they searched the crowd. Whitlock and Yoder were quick to find a dance partner, Wyatt not so much. The girls seemed to shy away from him as if he was a forbidden object. Maybe he was, after what happened with Eleanor. He was sure it hadn’t happened quietly.  Out of all the ladies in the crowd, only one didn’t seem nervous when he approached her, in fact she smiled at him as she stood in greeting.

Wyatt bowed. “General Wyatt Hood.” He introduced himself. The young lady curtsied and returned the introduction.

“Anna Margaret Coomes. Pleased to make your acquaintance, General Hood.”

Wyatt held out a hand and gestured to where the couples were gathering for dancing. “Would you give me the great honor of a dance, Miss. Coomes?”

Her smiled widened as she took his hand. “It is I who would be honored to dance with you, General Hood.”

Wyatt gracefully led her to the dance floor and with ease they joined in on the dance. By the end of the night, Wyatt had danced five dances with young Anna Margaret. He escorted her home, and then made his way to his own house, to his own bed. As Wyatt walked down the road, he reflected over how different life was now. He still wore the ring on his finger, although he wouldn’t consider himself a married man anymore. He had a young daughter to raise with no mother, and he was sure his father would have him take his place as leader of the town now that he was home for good.  But Wyatt didn’t find the tasks daunting, in fact, he found himself looking forward to this grand adventure he was about to go on.

Blogtober #7 - If I could travel the world

If I could travel the world, where would I go?

                          To Rouen, France? Once destroyed by Nazis? (The Monuments Men)

      Or would I venture to San Fransisco? (Percy Jackson)

Maybe I would visit Mont Saint Michel in France... (Tangled)

                                     
                                                 Maybe New York City? (City of Bones)

Or Chicago? (Divergent)

                           
                                     I could go to England... (Harry Potter)

Or would I venture into Auschwitz? (The Boy in the Striped Pajamas)

     Sometimes it's hard to remember that I have been to these places...seen the horrors, the happiness, the stories they can tell. And you can visit these places too.

 

Just pick up a book...

And you can travel the world.

Blogtober #6 - Falling Behind? Never!

     Let's just say these past couple of days have been an experience. From a nervous breakdown, to recalibrating my head, to getting accepted to college, it's been a roller coaster ride. But now I feel a lot better and happier and ready to face life head on. (Which I might regret saying later, you never know)

     But for now I just want to try and catch up on my Blogtober posts. I am behind about three days, so I figured I would do two posts tomorrow, two Friday and two Saturday, and that would get me caught up. I have plans for some thoughts posts, and some short writing challenges I would like to do to practice my creative writing. Tonight, however, I'm just going to give a recap on a conversation I had today in class. (I have been really enjoying the conversations in class. They are so much fun, and thought provoking!). This conversation was during physics and dealt with not liking your curricula (textbook), teacher, tutor, and so on.

     As homeschoolers I feel like we do have a tendency to take for granted our blessing of being able to choose our text book. It comes with 'owning your own education' (my class motto). You think on the information, reflect on how it is given, and many times decide if it is interesting enough for you to continue on doing (guilty as charged). Sometimes we have a tendency to forget that it isn't how the information is present, but how we respond to it (how do we use it? Do we even use it? Or do we just throw it out because we don't like it? It's kind of a relativistic thought, deciding how you would use the information given to you even if you don't like the way it is given. I think it's a great skill to learn, being able to ignore our feelings on how the information is presented, and instead focus on what we can gain from our textbook, or teacher; even if it is just learning that what it is saying is worthless or not true.).

     There are people out there who are starving for education. I was reminded of a book I read just a couple of months ago, God Grew Tired of Us by John Bul Dau. He touched on education as he was growing up. He had to work hard at it, and he and his fellow classmates would suck in anything they could. They didn't have a choice on what they would and wouldn't read, and were hungry for more than they had. They would read any book then could, and would diligently practice all the skills and concepts they would learn in class. The tests they would have to take in order to move on to high school or college were difficult and were not in their favor to pass due to government prejudice against the refugees. Still they worked hard and diligently, and although many did not pass the tests (and in some cases would not be able to retake them), they ended up more educated than many college students with bachelor degrees here in America. And these are kids whose village was raided in the middle of the night, faced starvation, gunfire, and death, and struggled to survive. If more of our students in our modern education system had the amount of dedication these Lost Boys did when it comes to education, think how different this country would be!

     We all take for granted our rights to pick and choose, to speak our mind, to decide what we want to believe. We are extraordinarily blessed, and are therefore expected to do extraordinary things. Many times we stay hidden in our bubble believing that we will always get to choose what we get to do, but as we grow older learn is not the case. We have to make an ethical decision. And that decision is what we do, how we respond, to the information we are given. We have to realize that the problem isn't in the curricula or the teacher. Usually, it is you making the ethical decision to dismiss the information you are given based on how you feel about the curricula or the teacher rather on the information you are given.

     It is sometimes difficult to distill the information for what it is without getting caught up in all the details of how it is presented. But at the same time, the most difficult things are usually the most rewarding. I don't have a doubt that by practicing that skill of distilling the information for the sake of the information, rather than how you fill about how the information is presented, is one of the most valuable things you can do for your education.

     To finish this post I want to share a quote that I believe can apply to this topic.

      Remember to learn with the intent to understand, rather than learn with the intent to dismiss it for what your 'relativistic truth' is.

Blogtober #5 - Valuing Yourself - A Thought's Post

     I watch a channel called 'Fun for Louis' (Lou-E) on YouTube. His videos are unique, enjoyable, and many times inspiring. I enjoy hearing what he has to say, and he recently posted a video titled Valuing Yourself.

     It is near the end when he gives his little heart-to-heart moment. He talks about the recent publicity stunts Miley Cyrus, former star of Disney's Hannah Montana, has preformed. From her raunchy VMA's performance, to a sexualized photo shoot. I really enjoyed what Louis had to say about these actions and how they are used by the media. Being an influence in the media now (with his YouTube videos), Louis felt grateful for the opportunity to have a different influence on these matters now. He makes me smile :)

     So now that we have the topic in place, let me share my thoughts. I find it very disheartening to see young (mostly female) celebrities sexualizing themselves and de-moralizing themselves in order to get attention. I can see how it works, you pull a stunt, people wonder what it is, they look it up, and then they are on the trail to see the rest of your work and get you money. But isn't there a better way to do it? Yes, I believe so. And so does Louis it seems.

     You don't have to make yourself an object or sexual toy. You don't have to cover your face in makeup or show off every bit of your skin without being naked in order to have people notice you. Working in retail I see the way women dress and the ones who act the happiest are the ones who dress the most modest. I think the greatest thing a women can wear in order to get noticed, is a smile. I have been complimented many times while working that I am always smiling, and it brightens the persons day (and them saying it brightens mine). It's not how you look that gets you noticed. It's how you behave and how you use your body to get you noticed. Use it like Miley Cyrus, and unfortunately your name comes with a bad connotation. Use your body modestly, and let your smile and actions speak louder than your appearances, and you will find yourself being happier.

     So what if the media says that using your body in a sexual way will get you more attention than using it in a modest way? Which will ultimately make you happier? Being the joke that people see as an object for fun? Or being the example that you don't have to do what the media says in order to be happy? Everyday I go against what the media says will make you happy. I dress modestly, I act respectful, I let my faith in God guide my actions. And I am truly happy.

     So value yourself! Challenge yourself! Dress modestly and smile all the time and see how different you feel about yourself. Think about what truly makes you happy. People viewing you as an object, or people viewing you has truly happy?

Blogtober #4 - Bakuman, Epic, and NaNoWrMo

Today has been a long day. I had work and then ended up running many different errands. But it wasn't a bad day, so that is good.

I ended up reading a manga by the title Bakuman (actually, the second book in the series). I am really enjoying it so far, and recommend it. From the men who brought you Death Note, check out Bakuman :)

I also watched the movie Epic today, and really enjoyed it! It's one I would like to own for myself. I love the relationship Ronin and Tara ha(ve)d. I felt like Nod and MK's relationship needed a lot more developing, but it was full of potential. I really enjoyed the plot line, and it reminded me a lot of an old childhood favorite, Fern Gully. Not to mention the soundtrack for Epic is epic ;)

I decided to end my night by looking through old story ideas and see if I could find one I would like to work on for NaNoWrMo...well, I didn't realize how many notebooks I had filled with short stories or snippets of story ideas...Many of them are really silly now...but I've seen a couple with potential to work on. For the rest of the month I want to flesh out the ones I pick and decide which one I would like to use for my NaNoWrMo topic. I mostly wish to participate in NaNoWrMo because I want to get back into my creative writing and writing in general :) That and I have always wanted to say I have written a novel (or maybe just be able to say I at least made it a week into NaNoWrMo. xD)...we'll see how this goes. It takes a lot of dedication, so it is not a task for the undetermined (Which I might be... dunno, like I said, we will see how this goes.)

Hopefully we will begin to have some better posts in the coming week :)

Blogtober #3 - A Bibliophile's Music

     I love listening to music almost as much as I love reading books. Many times I get lost in music just as I get lost in books. And it is not surprising, since music can take you to another world like a book can. (Although you have to be careful, just like all books cannot be good, not all songs can be good either.)
     So today I am sharing one song each from some of my favorite artists currently on my ipod (and that will be staying on my ipod, because I rarely get tired of my favorite artists).

"Before I Start Dreaming" by Anchor and Braille

 

"Home" by Gabrielle Aplin

 

"The Sun will Rise" by Brendan James

 

"Shelter" by Birdy

 

"Savior" by Andrew Ripp

 

"Cosmic Love" by Florence + the Machine

 

"Soft Skeletons" by Anberlin

 



I hope you enjoy listening to some of my favorite songs, and why not share some of your favorites with me? I love finding new artists to listen too!

Blogtober #2 Bookish Pins

It's been a pretty long day, and I can't seem to fully formulate any coherent thoughts right now. So instead of writing some sort of philosophical, mind-blowing post that we bloggers seem to be required to write, I decided I would just share some of my favorite book related pins from pinterest!

According to the pin: "Moravian Book Shop in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania - founded in 1745 - it is the oldest bookstore in the US"

 

 

According to the pin: "A boy sits reading in a bombed bookstore, London, October 8 1940"

 

According to the pin: "A reading list Ernest Hemingway created for a young writer in 1934."

I love the story behind this one: "Rick Moody has one of the coolest tattoos possible (in our opinion), because it’s part of Shelley Jackson’s Skin project, a 2095-word story published exclusively in tattoos, one word each on as many willing volunteers, so it can never be read in its proper order, but just exists, pulsing, out in the world at all times."

Blogtober #1 - The Iliad - A Thought's Post

(Wondering what 'Blogtober is? Take a look at my friends blog to find out! Click Me! )


     I am currently reading the ancient Homeric epic poem, The Iliad (Bit of a mouthful, isn't it?), for school. It is actually a fun read (Ancient poetry? Fun? Egasp!). I am only through book eight of the twenty-four book long poem, but decided to share some of my thoughts on it so far anyways.

 



This is my momma's book, see all her notes? They make me smile :)

Please note: These aren't thoroughly thought out thoughts that are highly philosophical. Most of them are written in modern day teen language.

Thought #1: Achillies is a big baby. He sits by his boat pouting after his fight with Agamemnon, because Agamemnon took his girl. Where is this 'brave, strong, god-like' Achillies the Achaians keep talking about? Pouting.

Thought #2: Hektor is a pretty cool dude. He cares a lot about his family and city, and seemed fairly humble up until book eight. In book eight it seems like he begins to get all 'mighty-er than thou' on us.

Thought #3: I feel sorry for Helen. She felt terrible for this war she has caused, and many times she wished she hadn't been born. She tried to convince Paris to go back to battle, to right his wrong of stealing her from her husband. It's sad that Helen was used as a prize in a contest between the goddesses.

Thought #4: Speaking of the goddesses, Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite seem to have a tendency to meddle with the lives of humans. Scratch that, all gods have a tendency to meddle with the lives of humans.

Thought #5: And Zeus can never make up his mind. First he lets the gods and goddesses have free reign in meddling with the war, then he forbids them to even think about meddling. And in book eight he makes Hera and Athena hate him. Tsk tsk, Zeus, you should know better than that.

So there are my thoughts so far. Be looking forward to a post everyday in the month of October! Then in November I hope to catalogue my journey in (finally) participating in NaNoWrMo (hopefully, maybe. I've been trying for two years to do this and have yet to even make it past week one). But that is why I have you guys, to keep me on track!