About Time.

Posted by Cassandra

I'm still very, very lazy, but not so much that I'm putting this off another night. Again, this post will be all about books, well, not all about books, so if you are bored by that, feel free to come back another day and see if I've updated further.
I finished the Alanna books, and I loved that quartet, but not as much as I loved "The Immortals" quartet. (I'm too lazy to put any pictures up...)
Now, I'm starting another series. A very, very LONG series. By Brian Jacques. The "Redwall" series. There are 21 books in this series, so if I read really fast I'll be able to finish it for once. I started it in 7th grade, but didn't get very far, because I was made fun of for reading them... I finished "Redwall", and I started on "Mossflower" and am about halfway through. I don't know if I'll ever be able to explain them any further than just saying "they're good". I should have read "Mossflower" first though. If you end up reading these, read "Mossflower" first. "Redwall" will make much more sense.

Now, onto other things.

Knitting: Kyle wants me to make another hat for him, because the one I made before was too small; so I'm currently planning to cast-on for another Boyfriend Hat. I get really, unexplainably happy when I say that :)

I got a small surgery on my shoulder/back to have a cyst removed, and the stitches (12; 2 inside, 10 outside) are supposed to come out tomorrow. (But the school nurse says they aren't healing like they should, so it may be postponed) I'm very excited. They are itchy, and a pain in the butt to take care of because I can't reach them, and I have to depend on my brother to clean them for me. Not good.

In a few weeks, prom rolls around, (and buying plane tickets...have you seen the price of those lately?) and Kyle is coming for it, so I'm also excited to get my dress and get all pretty. And with prom, I'm getting a lip piercing. I would love to have it before prom, so I have a shiny little thing in my lip like this, only not with a ring, with a stud. I think it's pretty.

I would say that I'll update more in a couple of days, but I seem to be saying that a lot, to myself, and to the blog, but for some reason, I feel no need to document my life at this point, and all that I end up writing is a sorry excuse for an entry.

So, I apologize for abandonment, and major boring-ness.

I'll be back when I have something worthwhile to write (and to read, of course). Would it be terrible if the next thing I posted was a book review? (By book review, I mean in depth, like this one.)

Buona notte :)

Updates are...

Posted by Cassandra

Coming soon...
Maybe tomorrow.

Sorry.

Song of the Lioness

Posted by Cassandra

I started a new series, by one of my favorite authors: Tamora Pierce. I read her other series, "The Immortals", which has magic and whatnot in it. I would like to read that series again as well, because Tamora Pierce is a great writer. When I was in 7th grade, I believe, she came and talked to us, and I was obsessed for years with her. :)

I'm going to read the entire series before I start seriously talking about them. I will say they are about a girl, who switches roles with her twin brother to become a knight, because she loathes magic, and that's what the next few years would hold for her if she was sent to a convent. Knighthood holds so much fascination for her, but she needs to convince everyone that she is indeed a boy, or else there would be a lot of trouble for her. "Alanna: The First Adventure" is the first book in Tamora Pierce's "Song of the Lioness" series.

I've taken a very keen interest in dogs lately, and I really want a Great Dane. They're big, and loyal, and easy to train, and besides that, seriously, how could you say no to this face?
And don't you want this guy curled up on your couch?But then again, how could you say no to THIS face?And doesn't this guy look protective?But if I ever took up running, in a different country, let's say Africa, I would definitely want this guy to train with me.
And even if it took a few months to grow into a fierce lion fighter, I would be okay cuddling this little thing for awhile :)The first two pictures are Great Danes, the next two are Bullmastiffs, and the last two are Rhodesian Ridgebacks. They're all gorgeous dogs, each perfect in their own right, and its hard to choose which perfect I would want. I guess it kinda depends on what Kyle wants too...

Fairest of All

Posted by Cassandra

I finished "Nectar in a Sieve" (pronounced SIV as Merriam-Webster informed me yesterday; turns out I can learn something on the internet!), and highly recommend it to everyone. It really is worth reading, not because it's a classic novel, but because it's a universal struggle about a woman who can't change anything that happens to her...It is equally sad and happy, and at the end, I was happy to be a female in America in today's society.

On another note, I started, and finished, another book today. Just a fast little read, very fun. "Fairest of All" by Serena Valentino. It's all about the story of Snow White, but it is told from the Queen's point of view, and you can finally start to understand why she would demand one of her men to go and kill Snow White, and bring back her heart so she can see it. It's such a twist on the classic story that it keeps you hooked until the last page. The reading level is pretty low (Ages 9-12, pretty PG, just kissing), so it's a fast, quick read. The cover art is originally what caught my eye, especially because of the double covers. On page one, you meet the Queen, and yes, I assure you, do not be fooled, it is she, albeit nice, very nice. You meet Snow White as a tiny, adorably shy girl, and you meet the King, the dashing, handsome, caring King. Further in, you meet his absurd family, i.e. strange triplets who paint themselves to look like dolls. They make you shudder, and the things they say make you want to take their skinny necks in your hands and squeeze until their painted faces turn purple...

I'll stop before I give too much away, but "Fairest of All" was a pleasure to read, and it makes me look at all of Disney's villains in a new, and very different, way; what if they all had a valid reason to be the way they were? I might even like most of them, instead of instantly hating them because they aren't filled with a glow-y light like all of the heroines are. I did really like the Queen, and I dare you to not like her, and not pity her at least just a little bit.

By the way, I added a new blog to my favorites, and just thought I would draw a little more attention to it, because it inspired me to blog a little bit about books.
I give you:
Paperback Fool.

Nectar in a Sieve

Posted by Cassandra

Today, I was finally able to start on my list of books I've wanted to read for awhile.

First up was "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya. When I first picked it up off the shelf, I was intruiged, but I noticed it was published years ago, and was a bit nervous, because I have a hard time following older books like that. I'm so glad I decided to follow through a read it. So far, I absolutely love it, and I open it up everytime I have a spare second. The story is reminiscent of Pearl Buck's "The Good Earth", the struggles of a farmer, but while Buck's novel is from Wang Lung's (the farmer) point of view, in a poor Chinese village, "Nectar in a Sieve" is from the view of Rukmani, the poor farmer's wife, in rural India.

I'm excited to be reading both novels at the same time, I'm reading "The Good Earth" for Literature, and "Nectar in a Sieve" for pleasure, so I can compare and contrast the main points of both storylines. So far, I've noticed several parallels in how the wives were treated, and how they were expected to bear as many children as possible, emphasis on boy children, even if it kills them. I've learned that wives were easily replaced, but children were hard to come by. Wang Lung (The Good Earth) isn't exactly nice to O-Lan, but isn't mean either. Nathan, (Nectar in a Sieve) on the oth
er hand, is sweet, and shows it to Rukmani, and I instantly took a liking to him.

I'm not very far, about eight chapters, but I look forward to finishing this classic, and walking away more knowledgable about the struggles of a poor tenant farmer in India.

Another book, not on my list, but it caught my eye, "Bloodrights" by N. Lee Woods. I was looking for a romantic novel set in the times of kings and queens, and the first few sentences

"The lizard was restive, tiny nails prickling as it nestled in her shirt for warmth. She grimaced, her hand pressing its bony shape into the hollow between her breasts. "Settle down," she mumurmed. It protested, but stopped struggling. Its sticky tongue licked at the salt on her skin in forlorn hunger."
caught me, and kept me, until I closed the book after the final page. Although Amazon doesn't have a very high rating for it, I absolutely devoured it! It made me cry, it made me laugh, and it made me want to throw the book at the wall because things weren't working out the way I thought they should. The ending was very satisfying, and the character descriptions brought the characters to life, so much that I could see them prowling around my eyelids when I went to sleep. I had dreams about the characters, and I cringed when I woke up. There is so much going on in the story, if Antonya, the main character, doesn't keep your attention, other characters are sure to. And unlike other books, this discusses other characters, even though they aren't the main characters, and gives you a sense of how they interact with others.
I'm not Amazon, but personally, I think its recomended reading for any fantasy/history/romance buff, like myself.