Anna Begins Posted May 17, 2015 Author Share Posted May 17, 2015 Ya unfortunately, most of the California stereotypes are correct (even about the weather) lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted May 17, 2015 Share Posted May 17, 2015 Are you in the drought zone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted May 17, 2015 Share Posted May 17, 2015 I just meant it seems more stable than Amsterdam. But Hawaii is like that too, only humid. It rains on and off through the day, is cloudy and sunny all the time. Here? lol I never post in the weather thread because it'd all the be same, sunny, 24C/ 75F Ah wow , well there are people who'd love that (not me)! I do hope you enjoy your stay in Amsterdam . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted May 17, 2015 Author Share Posted May 17, 2015 Are you in the drought zone? I live about an hour from San Francisco, so not really, but the Central Valley is close and it is really bad there. Here we feel it because there are a lot of fines on how much water you use, everyone has a brown lawn and it's in the news constantly. I assume almond prices will be through the roof this year Honestly though, I know it's bad, but we have always had a water problem in this state with So CA taking so much water from No CA. And we get a lot of water from Lake Mead/ Hoover Dam. Which I guess is costly too. Kind of strange, getting water from a desert. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted May 26, 2015 Author Share Posted May 26, 2015 In a few hours, I will be on the way to the airport, Netherlands bound!! In the car, I will begin Only Ever Yours Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 Eeee exciting! Have a safe trip! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 Very exciting !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 Have a safe trip! Hope you enjoy Only Ever Yours (as well as the other books you will be reading). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexi Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 Have an amazing time! Amsterdam is on my (very, very long) bucket list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 Hope you have a lovely holiday, Anna. I'm still not sure Only Ever Yours is holiday reading, but I hope you enjoy it, nonetheless! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted May 27, 2015 Author Share Posted May 27, 2015 Have an amazing time! Amsterdam is on my (very, very long) bucket list. You should totally come, it's beautiful!And not too crowded right now is nice. Where are you getting off to next? Hope you have a lovely holiday, Anna. I'm still not sure Only Ever Yours is holiday reading, but I hope you enjoy it, nonetheless! Ya but I should have a lot to say about it! I already do! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Have an amazing time! Amsterdam is on my (very, very long) bucket list. If you ever do visit and want to meet me, feel free to contact me . It's a bit of a journey from here (the south east of the country) but not as much as it is from your house to Amsterdam . But I also totally understand if you'd rather not meet me . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted June 6, 2015 Author Share Posted June 6, 2015 Title: Legend (A Legend Novel 1) Author: Marie Lu Genre: YA, Dystopian Pages: 352 pages Dates: 5/4-5/8 Part one of the dystopian Legend trilogy starts off really good and the rest holds interest as well, moving quickly in only 350 pages. Immediately you are drawn to Day, a Matrix moving, teenage Robin Hood type. The story is told through two perspectives, Day’s and the teenage girl genius sent to find him. It takes hardly any time to drop into the world of the warring Republic and Colonists and Day and June are instantly likeable characters. I’d say this is one of my favorite YA dystopias. I really liked it. Even though it is part of a trilogy, it stands alone. I do hope to get to the next two, it was that good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted June 6, 2015 Author Share Posted June 6, 2015 Title: Prodigy (A Legend Novel Book 2) Author: Marie Lu Genre: YA, Dystopian Pages: 354 Dates: 5/15- 5/23 Gaia and I are reading this series in order to discuss it when we meet up. But I have to say, this book was pure torture. In the second in Marie Lu’s Legend series, Prodigy starts off just after the Legend, and deals with the same characters, Day and June. Entirely predictable throughout, the story continues at a snail’s pace, as the war between the Republic and the Colonies continue, sparking rise to the rebel group the Patriots. Told from charismatic Day and June’s point of view (in separate fonts), finally it comes to a crescendo, but the pay- off is lackluster. The end drops a bombshell I didn’t see coming, but then again, I don’t try and figure out that kind of stuff, I am just along for the journey. Next up in the trilogy is Champion and I am scoping that out now, except I am not keen on continuing this trilogy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted June 6, 2015 Author Share Posted June 6, 2015 Title: Champion (A Legend Novel, Book 3) Author: Marie Lu Genre: YA, Dystopia Pages: 385 Dates: 5/23- 5/25 The familiar storytelling of viewpoints continues in the telling of the Champion, alternating chapters between June and Day in the third book of Marie Lu’s Legend trilogy. This is done so much better than an “other” YA Dystopia that I can hardly believe its ease. Despite a horrible review of the second book in the Legend trilogy (above), the book reads at a fast speed and after the end of the second book, you kind of have to read this one. As our dynamic duo fight in the ongoing war between the Republic and the Colonies, Champion gets its title and the ending is very good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted June 6, 2015 Author Share Posted June 6, 2015 Title: Only Ever Yours Author: Louise O’Neill Genre: Dystopian Pages: 400 Dates: 5/26, 6/4- 6/6 Well, I’ll just come right out and say I struggled with an eating disorder for over 15 years. This book was extremely triggering. I would say, it could be almost as irresponsible as Matt Haig’s Reasons to Stay Alive. I can’t tell if it was irritating or brilliant, trying to figure out freida’s name and the point of view the story was being told by. But the world created by O’Neill is completely absorbing. Women are disposable and created solely for men. They attend a “school” that is rigorous in its demands and training of the girls, who begin right out of a nursery. At the school they learn how to become a “Companion” a “Concubine” or a “Chasity”, who work as a teacher of sorts at the school. The girls attempt to be as perfect as possible, especially with their goal weight, obsessive calorie counts and whatever they can to “make those bones pop”…. everything that goes into being anorexic. They all live a bulimic lifestyle or a “starving for perfection” one. The goal for the girls is to become a Companion and are selected by teen boys when the girls reach their 16th year of school. Only Ever Yours reminded me a lot of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, where women are in a lower caste of society and their main purpose is to birth sons. While haunting, I found the book predictable and the end disappointing. I would recommend it, just for the amazing world created in the book and the society created. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 I can't believe we hardly discussed the Legend trilogy when we met up ! It's great to read your reviews, though . I'm happy you liked the first and the third book a lot . I fully agree with your review of Champion, it's indeed much better done and I liked the ending as well. Only Ever Yours's world sounds interesting, it's a shame it was so triggering though . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted June 7, 2015 Author Share Posted June 7, 2015 Thanks for reading all those! I will PM you about Legend. I just realized yesterday that we had forgotten. Too many other things, I guess Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted June 8, 2015 Author Share Posted June 8, 2015 My next 3 planned reads are: A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore (400 pages) Can not wait for this one. 12 by Sean Platt and David Wright (430 pages) *Just out May 12th The Box by Hugh Howey (15 pages) *Just out May 22nd/ How can I resist a short Howey?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted June 8, 2015 Author Share Posted June 8, 2015 Went to a library sale yesterday and no, I didn't buy anything for me, but I did pay $1.50 for about 7-10 books for my daughter's summer reading. I plan on teaching her how to review books I found some great hardbacks in the literature category, which I might have to go back and get. Leaves of Grass, Grapes of Wrath... I just don't have space!! I also found THREE book clubs in my area. Here's what they are reading: The one by my mom's house sounds the most promising- ie, more youngish people because its run late, 1830-1930 every third Thursday. For June 18th, they are reading Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Coast Trail, by Cheryl Strayed July 16th. The 100 Year Old Man... August 20th, All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr The one by my house, is a lot older, I think, because the club meets from 1300- 1400, the second Thursday of the month. They are reading: June 11th: The Underground Girls of Kabul: In Search of a Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan by Jenny Nordberg July 9th: Family Furnishings Select Stories 1995- 2014 by Alice Munro Which, all of those books sound cool and like something I would read anyway. Then there is the one 10 minutes or so from my house that meets the first Friday of every month and you just talk about what book you are reading. That's at 10:00 and I'd love to go to that one. I guess I will know when school starts, how much time I will have. I'd like to "drop in" for The 100 Year Old Man... discussion to try it out, as I've already read it. Or I could just jump right in and start with Wild Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 My next 3 planned reads are: A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore (400 pages) Can not wait for this one. 12 by Sean Platt and David Wright (430 pages) *Just out May 12th The Box by Hugh Howey (15 pages) *Just out May 22nd/ How can I resist a short Howey?? I hope you enjoy all of these ! I'd be especially interested to know what you think of the short story by Howey (because I really liked The Glitch). Very exciting about those book clubs ! I hope you'll be able to go to some of their meetings ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 Aww I'm sorry you didn't enjoy Only Ever Yours as much as some of us did. I'm not sure about 'irresponsible', the author wrote it off the back of her experience with eating disorders and working the fashion industry. I don't think anyone is going to read it and come away with the belief that aesthetics, inequality, extreme appearance-control measures or objectification of women are good things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted June 9, 2015 Author Share Posted June 9, 2015 Aww I'm sorry you didn't enjoy Only Ever Yours as much as some of us did. I'm not sure about 'irresponsible', the author wrote it off the back of her experience with eating disorders and working the fashion industry. I read your interview after I had posted my review and did see that O'Neill had struggled with an eating disorder- and when I read that, and think about the book I have just read, it doesn't surprise me. Once an Ana, always an Ana. You know, I really am the very last person that would tell anyone what to say, write, censor, etc. so that is NOT my intent with my review at all. But I will still stand by my calling the book irresponsible. That doesn't mean she shouldn't have written it, or it shouldn't have been published. You as well as anyone know the stuff I read, I don't believe in that. My issue is with how ingrained an eating disorder gets into you, its nearly impossible to get out of it. There are pro anorexia websites where girls will LOVE this book. It could end up being someone's bible. But if its not one thing, it'd just be something else. Anorexics almost look for acceptance in society, they find it in small ways, the lyrics from Radiohead stick in my head to this day... "I don't care if it hurts, I wanna have control, I want a perfect body, I wanna perfect soul...". Finding out Victoria Beckham eats only frozen grapes can make someone's week. If she is "recovered", then yes, I think I would call this book irresponsible, as she knows very well the impact and worming its way into a psyche it can have. I don't know if anyone can truly be "recovered" from an eating disorder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Hmm, that's an interesting viewpoint and certainly not invalid, but at the same time, if people with experience don't starkly speak out in forms of media and entertainment where being beautiful and thin and having unattainable or unrealistic or damaging ideals are often celebrated, then people won't ever know those things are out there. I mean, book or no book, people with disorders are always going to find justifications, because they are unwell. I'm not sure I think that's a good enough reason not to put books like that out there, with the goal of shocking unaffected people into realization of the issues in the world around them. If that makes sense. I do think there's two sides, at the very least. [snip] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muggle not Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 'Friends", I may be out-of-line but I believe a discussion on Eating Disorders, alcoholism, and smoking belongs in the "Debating Forum", not in the book reading topic. If a moderator thinks I am wrong, ok, I will accept that. It is simply my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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