tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47443787457729555752024-02-20T09:58:17.151-06:00Lose Your CredIn which there is pop culture. A lot of it. Two mid-twenties women review books, movies, music, and facts of life.julieannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13661110505780143886noreply@blogger.comBlogger65125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4744378745772955575.post-13853449827514426222012-09-04T13:00:00.000-05:002012-09-04T13:00:00.523-05:00Suzanne Collins - MockingjayI enjoyed this book, but man, did it make me mad.<br />
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I threw a book once. I had never read a Jodi Picoult book before and haven’t since, but I threw My Sister’s Keeper across the room and threatened to drop it off a balcony. I didn’t, though. I wanted someone else to read it and share in my rage, because I guess I’m awful. That’s only a fraction of what I felt after finishing Mockingjay, but I did slam the book shut with a “fucking seriously?” once I was done. Thankfully, I was in the room with someone else who’d already read it and could commiserate.<br />
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MILD SPOILERS AHEAD<br />
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Katniss, by the time of this book, is a shell-shocked, more traumatized version of herself. She is violent and broken by the things she’s seen and done. It makes complete sense for her to be that way but there were times when I just wanted her to buck up, get over it and go fight something. She’s become a symbol of the revolution going on in the districts and Mockingjay centers heavily on her ability to deal with that. The book starts in the middle of what’s going on, travels back to show how things got the way they are, then moves into the present as the action finally begins. I remember feeling like it took forever to get to a place where I cared about what was going on. It wasn’t as much of a page-turner as the previous books were and because of that, I think it was easier to be annoyed by the parts I disliked. Even though I read it in a day, it felt like a slog.<br />
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Mockingjay was heavier on politics and the media than in either of the previous books, and that just wasn’t my cup of tea either. In the end, I found it to be a bit unsatisfying, but not totally unrewarding to read. I’d heard about how this book was so bad and the ending was awful, but I didn’t find that to be true. It wasn’t a book-throwing moment for me, but I wouldn’t blame anyone that disagreed.laniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08932508579857242700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4744378745772955575.post-603418465157635082012-09-04T12:10:00.001-05:002012-09-04T12:10:15.865-05:00Suzanne Collins - Catching FireSecond verse, same as the first!<br />
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Catching Fire takes you into Katniss’ life, a few months after the hunger games have ended. The consequences of her actions have had a ripple effect and Katniss can’t relax into her victor’s lifestyle. Unrest is brewing in the districts and it comes to a head on her “victory tour” that she’s forced to go on.<br />
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This book starts out a little slower than the last, but once the action begins again, it’s another fun and quick read. I felt like Catching Fire was less “about” anything than The Hunger Games was. It’s mostly action, adventure and even a bit of mystery. Katniss has to figure out who to trust and how to survive the precarious situations she finds herself in.<br />
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I liked Catching Fire just as much, or maybe even a little bit more as I did The Hunger Games. Since it is such a quick read, I feel like I can’t even talk about the quality of the writing. I was just trying to get through it, anxious to see what would happen next. It’s not so disposable that I wouldn’t want to read it again, though. In fact, I plan to read the whole series again once I’m done with this year’s book goal, just to see how well it holds up. laniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08932508579857242700noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4744378745772955575.post-85820251525264902752012-03-29T22:08:00.000-05:002012-03-29T22:08:50.136-05:00Suzanne Collins - The Hunger GamesWhat is it possible to say about The Hunger Games that hasn't already been said? Everyone knows the gist of what it's about, so I'm not going to get into that, I'm just going to tell you why you should read it.<br />
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From the beginning, it's a fast-paced, exciting read. A lot of the exposition is interspersed with the action, which keeps it moving quickly. So even if you think you're going to hate it, just read it already, so the rest of us can talk to you about it! Can you believe how crazy such-and-such death was? Don't you think that so-and-so is going to turn out to secretly be a jerk? Is (narrator) Katniss secretly a jerk? Are we going to talk about how disgusting reality TV is, or could be, or are we going to rush to the theater to watch kids battle it out to the death and thank some deity that at least it's not real? (I've heard the movie doesn't glorify the actual games, but I guess we'll see.) Is society already as gross as it is in the book?<br />
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There are deeper questions to be asked when you read The Hunger Games, for sure. What happens when the government has too much power? How do people deal with that when they benefit from those inequities versus when they're held hostage by them. These questions aren't posed directly, nor are they really answered. I also think that if you're frustrated by politics but they're on your radar, (hi, that's me!), you'll probably be more apt to start drawing parallels and getting cranky. But The Hunger Games is self contained in a way that doesn't make it seem like it's trying to tackle such big issues, it saves them for later. I definitely think that's important for a YA book, to not get too serious about the issues in a way that bashes the reader over the head. (I think Collins saved that all for Mockingjay, or else just lost all her restraint there.) It's just about a girl fighting for her life and her family's future in a really fucked up system.<br />
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Also, maybe I'm overly sentimental, but isn't it a bit of a tear-jerker?laniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08932508579857242700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4744378745772955575.post-3100852075230627782012-03-17T18:55:00.000-05:002012-03-17T18:55:20.618-05:00Nicole Baart - After the Leaves FallThere is a nasty betrayal a reader feels when discovering that a work they once enjoyed is not fact but fiction. Reading “After the Leaves Fall,” I was afflicted with such a feeling and that was my own fault. Whether I read a misleading blurb somewhere or I confused a description for this book with that of another, I can’t say. I can only remember that I thought I would be reading a heartbreaking memoir with lush descriptions, which did turn out to be half true, at least. There really were amazing descriptions of surroundings and awful feelings of grief and regret, but it did start to get old. Too much of a unique thing turned weird and gimmicky by the end.<br />
<br />
I suppose this is where I need to add the disclaimer that this is a faith-based book (aka something I would never knowingly pick up), a work of complete fiction and that my feelings of betrayal when discovering both when about three quarters of the way through the book probably did taint my opinion, but I did try to get over my instant knee-jerk reaction as I continued reading. As a Catholic-raised agnostic, it was easy to identify with the main character, Julia DeSmit’s loss of faith, but the way the book concluded was quite unbelievable. Where faith might have provided some explanation for a reader who had any, I lack that completely and found the ending quite sappy and too easily won.<br />
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Back to the actual content of the book, the first half reads like a bunch of heartbreaking but distinctly separate short stories about the loss of both of her parents (not a spoiler, I promise). Julia looks back on her life with a clear perspective that the benefit of hindsight can provide. The sort-of-omniscience made sense at the time. When that started to carry over to the second half of the book, which switched perspectives to a more-recent-past tense, telling the story as it happened, as she enrolled in college and experienced things there, it didn’t make sense. This girl was learning who she was, faltering and fumbling along, but could describe things with such clarity that it felt like the author had stepped too far into Julia’s shoes, speaking for her instead of letting her tell the story, as she had been.<br />
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In one of the final chapters, when Julia was still telling the story, yet was also able to describe the thoughts and feelings of another character, that was the last straw for me. Even if I hadn’t been frustrated by finding out I was reading a book about faith, and a fictional one at that, the inconsistency would have irked me. I don’t mind strange narrators or even all-knowing asshole characters if the story is good, it’s the inconsistency that bothered me. I want to believe that I would have kept on enjoying the book if the writing hadn’t changed, even with the annoyance of finding out that it was fictional and was about faith and religion, but you can go ahead and take that with a grain of salt.<br />
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And it turned out that this is the beginning of a series. As much as I would like to complete the series for closure’s sake, because I am a crazy closure-needing freak, I definitely won’t. In the end, I wasn’t interested in Julia or the story she began telling halfway through the book. If you are religious and find faith-centered stories fulfilling, the story might overcome the flaws in the writing for you, but I was irritated by both and I would definitely avoid this author in the future. But the beginning was so good! Gah. It just wasn't for me.<br />laniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08932508579857242700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4744378745772955575.post-66624046242046997592011-04-10T02:25:00.003-05:002011-04-10T02:30:28.573-05:00Read-A-Thon: I Think We're Done HereI am bundling up my loaf of cat (seriously, all four paws tucked and sleeping on the living room floor) and my book and heading for the bed. I know there's only four hours left, but I'm not a person who likes to be awake for a lot of hours at a time, frankly.<br /><br />Anyway, I did finish Holly Black's <span style="font-style: italic;">Red Glove</span>, bringing me to a total of 749 pages for those two books combined. I have been reading Naomi Novik's <span style="font-style: italic;">Throne of Jade</span>, but as I'd already started it, I have no idea how many pages of it I've read so far tonight, nor how many I'll read before I finally go to sleep.<br /><br />I'd imagine I'll call it quits somewhere around 800 pages.<br /><br />But the important thing is this: I have read, oh, about twice as many pages as Lanie. :D<br /><br />Goodnight, and good luck to those who are finishing out the last four hours!<br /><br />- Julieannjulieannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13661110505780143886noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4744378745772955575.post-73082276001418788402011-04-10T02:09:00.001-05:002011-04-10T02:09:30.413-05:00Read-a-thon: The End?Finished:<br />
The White Queen by Philippa Gregory: 33 pages<br />
Emma by Jane Austen: 245 pages<br />
<br />
In Progress:<br />
Allison Hewitt is Trapped: Madeleine Roux (starting at page 87): 87 today<br />
<br />
Total pages read: 365<br />
<br />
Status: Tired. Going to read in bed and will post the final count in the morning. Good luck to everyone who's still reading!<br />
<br />
-lanielaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08932508579857242700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4744378745772955575.post-38728883997784256582011-04-10T01:57:00.001-05:002011-04-10T01:57:23.084-05:00Read-a-Thon: Ongoing<div><p>I am actually in the middle of the second book, Throne of Jade, already.</p>
<br/><img src='http://lh6.ggpht.com/_szFqN1deOkE/TaFU0BYAgFI/AAAAAAAAACQ/ovP_5BqVcSc/shot_1302418524966.png' /></div>julieannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13661110505780143886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4744378745772955575.post-41065288453848956022011-04-10T00:15:00.002-05:002011-04-10T00:21:20.371-05:00Read-A-Thon UpdateTotal number of pages read: 596<br />(424 pages to finish <span style="font-style: italic;">City of Fallen Angels</span> and 172 pages so far of <span style="font-style: italic;">Red Glove</span>.)<br /><br />Currently not reading anything except the posts in my Google reader because I probably have OCD. I have had 32 oz of Wawa coffee, a large Coke from Burger King, and a dance party to My Chemical Romance with Lanie and the cat.<br /><br />Send help, there's no sanity left here.<br /><br />- Julieannjulieannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13661110505780143886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4744378745772955575.post-62933982949090966652011-04-09T23:58:00.000-05:002011-04-09T23:58:58.885-05:00Read-a-thon: Emma Complete!Finished:<br />
The White Queen by Philippa Gregory: 33 pages<br />
Emma by Jane Austen: 245 pages<br />
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In Progress:<br />
Allison Hewitt is Trapped: Madeleine Roux (starting at page 87): 43 today<br />
<br />
Total pages read: 321<br />
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Status: Very glad I am no longer reading anything from my phone/kindle app on my computer. My eyes are very tired of all that. Also doubtful that I will begin book four or even finish book three but I'm pushing through!laniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08932508579857242700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4744378745772955575.post-33965295489093432952011-04-09T20:08:00.001-05:002011-04-09T20:10:15.593-05:00Read-a-Thon: Book Two<div><p>-Julieann</p>
<br/><img src='http://lh5.ggpht.com/_szFqN1deOkE/TaEDEnVhxFI/AAAAAAAAACM/MrgwTctbX_w/shot_1302397627897.png' /></div>julieannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13661110505780143886noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4744378745772955575.post-3873550446414902222011-04-09T18:51:00.002-05:002011-04-09T18:56:50.130-05:00Read-A-Thon: Halfway-ish markWHAT UP. We have just returned from a foray for food! We have Wawa! We have Burger King! We are having a break from reading!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">1. What are you reading right now?</span> I am still reading <span style="font-style: italic;">City of Fallen Angels</span>, by Cassandra Clare<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"> 2. How many books have you read so far?</span> This is the only book I've been reading today. To be fair, I started it from the very first page.<br /><br />3. <span style="font-weight: bold;">What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?</span> Holly Black's <span style="font-style: italic;">Red Glove.<br /><br /></span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day? </span>My Saturdays are usually free anyway.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"> 5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?</span> The cat puked on the bathroom rug immediately following me awaking from a nap. I am not amused.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?</span> I didn't know there were mini-challenges! I like those.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?</span> Nope!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year?</span> I wish I were not so addicted to sleeping.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">9. Are you getting tired yet?</span> I have already had a nap. I was getting a headache.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered? </span>Despite what I said about not laying on the bed, I actually did about 350 pages of reading there earlier today. I guess the key is having a book where you're like, just one more chapter! Over and over and over again.<br /><br />-Julieannjulieannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13661110505780143886noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4744378745772955575.post-44391129230093680752011-04-09T14:00:00.001-05:002011-04-09T14:00:28.814-05:00Read-A-Thon: Progress<div><p>Page 197.<br>
(Fun fact: my cat is named after Isabelle Lightwood, a character in this book.)<br>
-Julieann</p>
<br/><img src='http://lh3.ggpht.com/_szFqN1deOkE/TaCsshvcX_I/AAAAAAAAACI/JAuAyCoOgCg/shot_1302375425630.png' /></div>julieannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13661110505780143886noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4744378745772955575.post-71456925688422091932011-04-09T11:59:00.000-05:002011-04-09T11:59:01.417-05:00Read-a-thonPHILIPPA GREGORY. I HAVE CONQUERED YOU.<br />
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Okay, I only had 33 pages left to read of The White Queen, but still. It's done!<br />
<br />
Finished:<br />
The White Queen by Philippa Gregory: 33 pages<br />
<br />
In Progress:<br />
Emma by Jane Austen: I don't know but I will figure out how to track this<br />
Allison Hewitt is Trapped: Madeleine Roux (starting at page 87): 0 today<br />
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Total pages read: 33<br />
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Status: DISTRACTED by this whole Emma page tracking thing. Blah.<br />
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-Lanielaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08932508579857242700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4744378745772955575.post-5728371327276608202011-04-09T11:13:00.001-05:002011-04-09T11:13:53.172-05:00Read-a-thon: Book One<div><p>- Julieann</p>
<br/><img src='http://lh5.ggpht.com/_szFqN1deOkE/TaCFYERcDII/AAAAAAAAACE/k1F9OHPl2pc/shot_1302365053450.png' /></div>julieannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13661110505780143886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4744378745772955575.post-48262147834301789692011-04-09T10:27:00.003-05:002011-04-09T10:38:32.088-05:00Read-a-Thon: I'M AWAKESilly me, I didn't go to bed until 2 last night and am just now rolling out of bed. Oh well!<br /><br />Now that I'm awake and have eaten a bite and am relatively lucid (maybe I should look into some Mountain Dew before I say I'm actually awake), here are my goals for today:<br /><br />1. to read Cassandra Clare's <span style="font-style: italic;">City of Fallen Angels</span><br />2. after which I will read Holly Black's <span style="font-style: italic;">Red Glove</span><br />3. followed by finishing Naomi Novik's <span style="font-style: italic;">The Jade Throne</span>, which I am currently in the middle of.<br /><br />If I manage all of that,<br /><br />4. I will start Naomi Novik's <span style="font-style: italic;">Black Powder War</span>.<br /><br />If I still need more once those are done,<br /><br />5. I have Johann Wyss's <span style="font-style: italic;">The Swiss Family Robinson</span> on my Kindle app on my phone, which I am halfway through and<br />6. I am re-reading Holly Black's <span style="font-style: italic;">Valiant</span>, which I am also halfway through.<br />7. Or I can start Carrie Ryan's <span style="font-style: italic;">The Dead Tossed Waves.</span><br /><br />A series of plans! I has them!<br /><br />Now, for the little survey thingie from hour 1!<br /><br /><b>1)Where are you reading from today?</b><br />The hipster colony! I will find somewhere to read where I won't fall asleep. AKA not my bed! Maybe I will have a bath!<br /><b><br />2)Three random facts about me…</b><br />1. I will be splitting my time read-a-thon-ing with a roleplay scene I am currently involved in. I can't leave four and potentially five other people hanging while I read a book! That's just uncouth!<br />2. My cat stared at me until I got out of bed this morning. It was super creepy and I hope this is not something she makes a habit of. Izzy! What do you want from me? You have kibbles!<br />3. I don't love Incubus. I love Taking Back Sunday. Lanie and I are going to have a fight! :D<br /><br /><b>3)How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours?</b><br />There are approximately 5 million books in my general to be read pile, because I mostly only read on the train now, but currently four complete books off the top of my head, and half of one I've been reading on my way to work.<br /><b><br />4)Do you have any goals for the read-a-thon (i.e. number of books, number of pages, number of hours, or number of comments on blogs)?</b><br />Two and a half, with an extension for a third complete book.<br /><b><br />5)If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, any advice for people doing this for the first time?</b><br />When we did this a while back, I learned DO NOT READ IN BED, YOU WILL END UP TAKING A NAP INSTEAD.<br /><br />- Julieannjulieannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13661110505780143886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4744378745772955575.post-18893661212826276032011-04-09T09:53:00.000-05:002011-04-09T09:53:01.345-05:00Dewey's Read-a-thon<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://24hourreadathon.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/lg-new-readathonbutton-border.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="300" width="225" src="http://24hourreadathon.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/lg-new-readathonbutton-border.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Read-a-thon is on, bitches. <br />
<br />
So I'm kind of three hours late in getting a start but that's fine because Julieann is not even awake yet!<br />
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Goals: Finish The White Queen by Phillippa Gregory (only 33 pages left) and Emma by Jane Austen (reading on my kindle on my phone so I have no earthly idea how much I have left, other than "less than half"). I don't know which other books on the book pile I'll knock off today but let's say the goal is...at least two, bringing it to a total of four finished books today.<br />
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Shall I go back and do the mini challenge of hour one? Sure!<br />
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<b>1)Where are you reading from today?</b> The suburban DC hipster colony where I reside. More specifically, probably on the worn-out couch<br />
<b>2)Three random facts about me…</b> My dog is going to interrupt my reading at least 47 times today. I am currently trying to figure out how to shower but not waste valuable reading time. I love Incubus. Love, love, love.<br />
<b>3)How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours?</b> My to-be-read pile in general is out of control, not counting library books. I would like to read 8 just to catch up to the 50 books per year goal, but that seems a little ridiculous. <br />
<b>4)Do you have any goals for the read-a-thon (i.e. number of books, number of pages, number of hours, or number of comments on blogs)?</b> At least four books. <br />
<b>5)If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, any advice for people doing this for the first time?</b> I am not a veteran by any means. I could use advice, especially about that shower thing.<br />
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-Lanielaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08932508579857242700noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4744378745772955575.post-46237214921893049042010-08-25T17:32:00.001-05:002010-08-25T17:32:00.509-05:00Crystal Renn - HungryI loved <i>Hungry,</i> until I didn't. Co-written by Marjorie Ingall, a magazine contributor (at Self and the the late Sassy), the fact that some parts dragged on like the longest article ever...made sense. But let's start up with the good stuff.<br />
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As no stranger to the eating disorder memoir, I dove right in, excited for fresh details cataloging the experiences and situations that ultimately led Renn down the rabbit hole to disorder. She uses clear logic to explain how she ended up unhealthy and makes every effort to reiterate that her disordered actions were just that. The early part of the book, about her childhood and how nature and nurture both added up to ultimate destruction of her self-esteem and body as a result was told really well. You really get a sense that Renn was a girl you could have known growing up, by the way she tells her story. It's relatable and really interesting.<br />
<br />
Where the book falters is the recovery portion. It seems as if one day, after enough frustration, she simply decided not to be sick anymore. Her weight fluctuated and she was unhappy for a while, she eventually found her "normal" weight and everything was fine. As she tells her story, after choosing plus size rather than "straight" modeling, she'll interject that she was still screwed up about weight and food, but I would've liked to hear more about that, what work she put into herself mentally and physically to get better. I want to know what battles she had to fight to get taken seriously in an industry prone to tokenism and flightiness, instead of switching between statistics about eating disorders and the awesome people she's been able to work with. <br />
<br />
I get that Renn doesn't want to burn any bridges, should she continue to bust down the barriers to work in high fashion and work for those who had previously shunned her. I was disappointed that she wasn't able to get any more specific about her struggles, and the second half of her book was the poorer for it, but it wasn't a bad book by any means.<br />
<br />
Renn and Ingall use a casual style, but sometimes the magazine style takes over a little too much. I could have done without the clothes-porn descriptions of Renn's wardrobe and the awesome things she's worn in photo-shoots. Ditto for the overt praise toward designers and photographers. If you're more into fashion than I am, maybe it'll be a plus, but I hardly expected to hear what any photographer is <i>really</i> like from a still-working model. <br />
<br />
It's not as serious a memoir as others I've read, it's not the most dramatic book about a disorder that I've ever read either. It is, however, an interesting look at the messages that women are sent, explicitly and implicitly by the world of fashion and the attitudes of those around them, for better and for worse.laniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08932508579857242700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4744378745772955575.post-2781097309009511992010-08-22T13:44:00.006-05:002010-08-22T21:17:58.348-05:00Sara Shepard - Pretty Little LiarsNow I can see why this series got picked up for a television show after Gossip Girl was so successful.<br />
<br />
<i>Pretty Little Liars</i> was the perfect vacation read; scandalous, mysterious and funny. It's basically Gossip Girl with slightly less abhorrent male characters. <br />
<br />
Much of this book alludes to past events when five girls, Alison, Spencer, Aria, Emily and Hanna were best friends, in between 7th and 8th grade. After the bossy ringleader Alison disappears, the group fractures and their secrets stay kept. When Aria returns to town and the girls are entering their junior year of high school, strange texts and emails, all signed by "A," start to plague the girls.<br />
<br />
I really enjoy that <i>Pretty Little Liars</i> has a bit of mystery to it and things take a darker turn than the Gossip Girl series did. If you liked those books, there's no reason why <i>Pretty Little Liars</i> won't go down just as easily. If you weren't into the Gossip Girl series, but you enjoy frothy scandals, give this series a try. It's definitely a quick and fun read.laniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08932508579857242700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4744378745772955575.post-46940895900057639282010-08-18T23:00:00.002-05:002010-08-20T20:18:19.824-05:00Cherie Bennett - Life in the Fat Lane<blockquote>Lara Ardeche, a voice in my head said to me, you are not a quitter. You can change this. And you don't need anyone's help. All you have to do is stop eating. Totally. No matter how hungry you get, or how bad that is, it can't be as bad as this is.<br />
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Yes. That was what I would do. I'd just stop eating.<br />
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One of two things would happen.<br />
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I would get thin again. Or I would die.<br />
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Either way I would win. - <em>Life in the Fat Lane</em> description from back of book, 1998 edition. </blockquote><br />
I love a good eating disorder (ED from here on out) story. Let's get that fact out of the way first. I find the psychology of them endlessly fascinating and one day, I hope to work with and help those that suffer from EDs.<br />
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Perhaps my more-than-casual interest in EDs colored my perception of this novel too strongly. Maybe author, Cherie Bennett, did not intend to address EDs at all, though much of the story centers around typical disordered thoughts and some characters are governed by what is usually looked at as disordered behavior, though Bennett refrains from using any specific terms (purging, binging, etc.) to refer to Lara's behavior. This story is not strictly about an ED, but it is firmly entrenched in that world. What Bennett did intend to do is a mystery to me. <br />
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Beauty queen and conveniently-named (for a completely unimaginative fat joke in the novel's latter half), Lara Ardeche (pronounced Ard-ash, can you see it coming?!?), is the straight-A, perfectionist, popular girl with parents who have no problems obsessing about her weight and eating habits over the dinner table. That's about 3 precursors for an ED right there. I'm willing to give Bennett one point for correct information, but I'm about to take away a million points for negligence.<br />
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Chapter numbers are, instead of chronological, beginning from one, Lara's weight measurements as they change through the book. Convenient for the reader, sure, so you don't have to do math or flip back chapters to add up Lara's weight and the plot points are all centered around weight, so the subject matter changes with each weight change. On the other hand, how gross and patronizing, to completely reduce this character to her weight and size, offering minimal plot with plateaus.<br />
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Also, when Lara is deemed to be at her perfect weight in the beginning of the novel, it gives someone who might tend toward disorder a goal weight to attain. Numbers are known to be triggering for those who are suffering with an ED. Although anyone with an ED picking up a book with this title is probably looking for trouble, a good bit of fear-based "thinspiration" and Bennett provides plenty of it.<br />
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Lara is under an insane amount of pressure from almost every source. Her parents have a rocky, seemingly loveless marriage, her friends are superficial and make derogatory comments about Lara's less popular plus-sized best friend to her face, her boyfriend is deemed unsatisfactory though she does love him, she has beauty pageant demands and she has self-imposed high academic standards. When she gains a little bit of weight, the pressure mounts and her barely-existent self-confidence falters until everything threatens to give way. Then does, when she continues gaining weight. Her grades take a dive, her parents relationship fractures, her friends turn on her, she can't even diet "right" (she abstains from eating during the day and sneaks food at night), and continues to gain weight to the point of hospitalization. <br />
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Being the person I am, I analyzed the clues given: Lara diets and "cheats" when failing to succeed at adhering to impossible restrictions, she works out to extremes. This has ED written all over it. Even when her weight gain was minimal, her mother provided immediate scrutiny. God. Her mother. What a piece of work. She set a terrible example, smoking and restricting her own eating for fear of weight gain and in the interest of keeping her man. All this set up to tell a pretty good story of what can happen when a perfect storm of pressure breaks down the spirit and body of a seemingly perfect girl. <br />
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But no.<br />
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I was debating revealing the next detail, but the following fact can be found on the back of another 1998 edition, so it's technically not a spoiler: it turns out that Lara develops a FICTIONAL metabolic disorder that causes her to gain weight, regardless of calorie intake.<br />
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I read the acknowledgments, where Bennett thanked someone for medical references, so I assume the disorder is based on something real. That's fine. The fact is that the doctors tell her that she's retaining insane amounts of water, her body is highly efficient, the less you feed it, the more "efficient" her body could get, leading to more weight gain. <br />
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Seriously? I mean, wouldn't she at least have some kidney problems or something?<br />
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Whatever. She gets "fat" (I won't reveal her weight at either end of the scale but she and everyone else calls her this), word spreads in her hometown that it is out of her control and she gets some pity, even though her old superficial asshole friends turn against her. <br />
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I understand the appeal of using an outside force as the controlling factor - completely governing the weight she will be. Most bodies have a set-point at which they will return with <a href="http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2009/08/26/what-is-normal-eating/">normal eating habits</a>, which is out of anyone's control.<br />
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Why, then, was that not enough to be a compelling story? Looking at how a "perfect" girl dealt with weight gain -- flying in the face of what everyone around her seemed to judge about her -- would have made for an empowering story, had Lara ever for one second stopped hating her new body.<br />
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No. <i>Life in the Fat Lane</i> supplied the perfect bogeyman, an unstoppable force onto which Lara could place the blame for her weight and could safely hate her body without hating herself...though she kind of did that too.<br />
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After Lara's family moves, she loses all her social capital as well as the pity she'd gained at her old school. Lara's new school was a horror show of fat-hating stigma (which, to be fair, a lot of high schools probably are for most people that fail to fall into a narrow ideal) and everyone else's disdain for her was only compounded by her own self-loathing. <br />
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Even as she allowed herself to start a new life in a new town, deigned to make friends with the other outcasts (she was horrified that they gravitated toward her, as if she was one of them) and found a way to enjoy a talent that didn't rely on her beauty -- she never seemed to stop hating herself. What she went through didn't make her change her opinion of anyone of size who were surely to blame for their own weight problems, except, OMG, some of them can apparently dress themselves and still have style! And sometimes they can find guys that like them, if they're blind or probably still want them to lose weight.<br />
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For fucking real?<br />
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The unnecessary disease, on top of the incessant weight bashing made for an unbelievable, yet still entirely depressing read. I cannot recommend this book for anyone and can only view it as a strong example of what not to do. Don't pull explanations out of thin air. Don't supply hate directed at a character (and a large segment of the population) that never gets resolved unless you want your characters irredeemable. And definitely, do not feed on the fears of those with actual diseases and/or endorse those behaviors, giving them perfect justification for disordered reasoning without attempting to frame any of that as such.<br />
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Sensationalistic, irresponsible bullshit.laniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08932508579857242700noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4744378745772955575.post-50963097286935970582010-07-30T09:29:00.003-05:002010-07-30T09:48:00.671-05:00John Nolan - "Height"Oh John Nolan. I want to like you so badly. I'm super glad that you're back in Taking Back Sunday, because that's badass, but wow. Honey. Um.<br /><br />I've had <em>Height</em> in my car for a while now, and I've only listened to part of it. But since I was stuck in traffic for a solid hour yesterday, I decided "why the hell not give this a listen, since I'm just sitting here!" So I did.<br /><br />It's... strange. Nolan doesn't seem to have the ability to keep his voice from going super gratingly nasal on occasion, which is a blower because otherwise he's got a pretty nice voice. But his solo album is like the bastard love child of Straylight Run's <em>The Needles, The Space</em> and Brand New's <em>The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me</em>. The bastard love child that nobody wants to claim.<br /><br />The first track, "'Til It's Done To Death" is weirdly electronic, and sets the tone for the rest of the album. It's all pretty weird, and it's strange to say that his cover of Primitive Radio Gods's "Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand" is hands down the best track on the album.<br /><br />Instead of getting this, you should pick up <em>Live At Looney Tunes CDs</em>, which is a live acoustic album (which you can get <a href="http://digital.thinkindie.com/search/release.php?x=release_info&release_id=134624&ref=18">here at ThinkIndie</a> for five bucks) to hear the good songs without the electronica weirdness, the cover, and a bunch of in-between song banter that involves the other dudes in Taking Back Sunday heckling him.<br /><br />-julieannjulieannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13661110505780143886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4744378745772955575.post-75462676139618489682010-07-30T09:13:00.005-05:002010-07-30T09:28:02.867-05:00Robin Stevenson - Inferno<blockquote>Dante thinks high school is an earthly version of hell. She hates her new home in the suburbs, her best friend has moved away, her homeroom teacher mocks her and her mother is making her attend a social skills group for teenage girls. When a stranger shows up at school and hands Dante a flyer that reads: Woof, woof. You are not a dog. Why are you going to obedience school?, Dante thinks she’s found a soul mate. Someone who understands. Someone else who wants to make real changes in the world. But there are all kinds of ways of bringing about change…and some are more dangerous than others. - <em>Inferno</em> jacket copy from Robin Stevenson's website. </blockquote><br />So this book came up when I was on a search for LGBT YA literature on Amazon to round out an order so I could get free shipping (I'm thrifty and it's <em>books</em>). So I bought it and it arrived and I read it.<br /><br />It's kind of like a sub-par lesbian version of Stephen Chbosky's <em>The Perks of Being A Wallflower</em>. Only instead of music, Dante is into running.<br /><br />So Dante is this sixteen-year-old girl, and a huge part of the plot is that she's just changed her name from Emily to Dante, because she's super obsessed with Dante Alighieri's <em>The Divine Comedy</em>. I mean, so of course her parents let her change her name to something totally ridiculous that she's only gotten into the year before!<br /><br />I'm sure you can see where I have a problem with this premise, yes?<br /><br />Anyway, there's all this fuss about how her name was Emily last school year and now it's Dante and nobody wants to call her Dante and seriously, this book would have been SO much better if she'd been a transman. I am not even kidding you, because the whole book sort of feels like maybe Dante as a character wants to transition, but the author didn't go there with it because she was too chicken to follow through with what she started.<br /><br />Seriously. But maybe that's just me.<br /><br />So she meets this chick Parker, she falls <em>omg head over heels</em> in love with her. Because that's what you do in high school, gay or straight. But see there's no actual conflict in the book unless Dante falls for Parker, because everything Dante does after that point is to make Parker like her. Even though Parker is straight.<br /><br />As a sidenote, I recently read Julie Anne Peters's <em>Far From Xanadu</em> which had basically the same premise. And the same fucking fruitless ending.<br /><br />SPOILER: Dante doesn't get the girl. Because Parker is <em>straight</em>. Also she has battered spouse syndrome. /SPOILER<br /><br />Anyway, so there's some pathetic high school prankage anarchy and blah blah wow, this book really did not go anywhere.<br /><br />It's not badly written, to tell the truth. But I found myself rooting for Dante to realize she was just bisexual and hook up with Leo because unlike with Parker, they actually had chemistry/made sense. But oh no, they're both in love with Parker.<br /><br />Yeah, uh. If you're really bored and borrowing it from a friend or the library, you might read this book. Don't spend your money on it, though, 'cause it's not worth it. Pick up Peters's <em>Xanadu</em> instead, because it's got a better plot.<br /><br />- Julieannjulieannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13661110505780143886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4744378745772955575.post-81906774189439438332010-07-21T19:25:00.002-05:002010-07-21T19:32:53.175-05:00When in RomeAfter an unnecessarily awkward beginning, When in Rome started sucking a lot less! I guess that's not exactly high praise, but when you have read reviews that set your expectations so low, they're in the basement, you often end up pleasantly surprised. <br />
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That's really what this blog is all about, I guess: enjoyment via managed expectations. That and embracing the pleasurable part of guilty pleasures.<br />
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Enough of that. I'm pretty sure no one even reads this blog but I probably don't need to incorporate our raison d'être into every post.<br />
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When in Rome is supposed to be about the dumped single girl, Beth, disrupting a magical, love-enchanted fountain and a bunch of guys fall in love with her as a result while she also finds herself falling for someone after being closed off and broken-hearted. What it was actually about was Kristen Bell being dressed up and adorable while she navigated being stalked and nearly groped by said entranced men. Creepy! <br />
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Danny Devito was the standout love-stalker because he was so unexpected and awesome, but he was also the creepiest, and not because of the age factor either. Anjelica Huston stuck out for being Anjelica Fucking Huston and she's awesome, obviously. What the hell was she even doing in a movie with Fergie's husband? Yes, Josh Duhamel was the love interest. Bell's real life beau, Dax Shepard, was a self-obsessed model, stunned with his ability to suddenly be in love with anyone (almost) as much as he loved himself. Jon Heder played the same character he always does (Efren Ramirez even had a small part, just in case you could ever forget his and Heder's association) and Will Arnett had a bad fake accent which...seems to be par for the course for him. <br />
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Every other character could have been played by a cardboard cutout for how much they were utilized, which was especially sad in the case of Alexis Dziena who can <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0770752/">ditz</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0385278/">crazy</a> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0412019/">around</a> like no one's business. Dziena's role as Beth's younger sister Joan was justifiably not that prominent, but I was happily surprised by her presence.<br />
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Anyway, the love story was cute but not sickeningly so. The ending was completely predictable if you are at all familiar with how movies work, but the rest of the movie leading up to the inevitable ending was pleasantly diverting without being nearly so obvious.<br />
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I was watching this with friends, which automatically made this a better time, but I wouldn't have been mad if I spent the half an hour watching it by myself. I wouldn't seek it out to watch again, but it's good for a single-serving time killer.<br />
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The verdict: don't pay to see it, probably don't even bother to dvr it, but if you come across it and there's no better Jennifer Lopez or Kate Hudson romantic comedy on right then...go for it!<br />
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- Lanielaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08932508579857242700noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4744378745772955575.post-31388068284954949692010-05-09T22:45:00.003-05:002010-05-09T23:01:46.694-05:00First Listen: Beyoncé "Why Don't You Love Me" + VideoI'm not a huge Beyoncé fan, but I cannot talk shit about her videos. Whatever craziness they're about, she goes 110% into it and delivers. Her latest, <a href="http://vimeo.com/11465235">Why Don't You Love Me</a>? is no different. <br /><br />It's weird to have a first listen also be the first time you see the video because I'm pretty sure the dedication to the theme actually made me like the somewhat lackluster song better. I wouldn't even take a free download of this song (okay, who am I kidding? I would, if itunes was giving it away) but I enjoyed the video so much, I am tempted to take a second listen. That's what every video wants to do, right? <br /><br />I agree with Trent at <a href="http://www.pinkisthenewblog.com/2010/05/watch-beyonce-why-dont-you-love-me/">Pink is the New Blog</a> that the video and the song don't seem thematically linked in any way but, like Lady Gaga and Beyoncé's "Telephone," sometimes videos just spawn from some random idea and are definitely visually interesting...but not related to the song whatsoever. When the concept is fun and weird and interesting, you tend not to care so much. <br /><br />- Lanielaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08932508579857242700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4744378745772955575.post-5285287068526097742010-04-07T18:10:00.001-05:002010-04-07T18:13:08.866-05:00David Levithan - Boy Meets BoyIn the acknowledgments, Levithan said that this book began as a Valentine's day gift, a story for his friends. It read as a love letter to them, their inside jokes and their lives. Given that premise, I totally fell in love with this book and the fantasy town in which it takes place. In the real world, I could see where people would have problems with the easy lives and outlandish characters in the novel. Taken as a gift, I suspended any disbelief and just enjoyed the sweet story.<br /><br />Valentine's day is hard for a lot of people and it's hard to shake if it gets you so down. It was so syrupy sweet and sentimental, but in spite of all that or maybe even because of it, I loved it. If someone told me about the book before I read it, revealed the utopian/gay-friendly fantasy world that housed the absolutely ridiculous characters, I think I would have rolled my eyes and hated it. Because it came with a sweet disclaimer, I was completely taken under the story's spell. Maybe it's because I know what it's like to write, knowing that someone else will see the words I've put down. A wink to real life, maybe a nickname or a joke that someone's made, it's fun for you and for them. It can be nice for an outsider to look in on that too, to escape to that world.<br /><br />Boy Meets Boy is the story of Paul, his relationship with his best friend, a bitter ex and a blossoming new relationship. Not everything is sunshine and rainbows, (I promise, despite the utopia I described above) but no matter the stumbling blocks that the characters come across, you get the sense that everything is going to be just fine in the end.<br /><br />Recommended for people who have had a hard day, who want to wrap up in a blanket, curl up and read a story from beginning to end.laniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08932508579857242700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4744378745772955575.post-80221158844790574392010-04-01T17:03:00.001-05:002010-04-01T17:05:25.733-05:00First Listen: 30 Seconds to Mars - "Bad Romance" coverI was hoping that this would be hilarious. It wasn't, really. It was moody, scary, and it's safe to say that they put their usual 30STM spin on it. As a lover of profanity in my music, I love this cover, but I'm not sure it was good. - Lanie<br /><br />I'm confused by the alt-country vibe Jared Leto is working on his vocals in this track. The vocalizations have this bizarre twang to them that I'm really not feeling. Every time I start getting into it, that twang throws me back out. The instrumentation, however, is fabulous. I'd love to get my hands on an instrumental track for this, because it was just that good. I'm used to Live Lounge stuff being acoustic (Panic! At The Disco's version of "Maneater," Fightstar's "Battlefield," Paramore's "Use Somebody"), so this is a nice change. The lyrical changes are interesting, to say the least, but I have to say that they lost points with me for removing the Hitchcock references. One thing about the song, other than the instrumentation that I wholeheartedly approved of was the near-scream going from the bridge into the last chorus - I just wish he'd carried it all the way through to the chorus instead of backing down. On the whole, not my favorite cover of "Bad Romance" (I really like A Smile From The Trenches's cover from the <i>Classic Vs. Modern</i> compilation), but it's not terrible. If it shuffled up I'd probably listen to it, but I'm not going to be putting it on repeat. Interesting, on the whole. - Julieannlaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08932508579857242700noreply@blogger.com0