my real impressions of mockinjay (MAJOR SPOILERS!)

Okay, so I've posted before on what I thought of Mockingjay, but here's the very real, funnier version of my thoughts (because this is how my brain works)

Katniss: "AH there's a possibility that Gale helped make the bomb that killed Prim so I don't like him anymore, even if he didn't plan for her destruction at all!"

Katniss: "AH Gale's snogged other girls before he got to know me, so he's disloyal and I don't like him anymore!"


Katniss: "Huh.  Can't have Gale because of aforesaid reasons..." *Peeta walks by* Katniss: "AH!  PEETA I CHOOSE YOU!"  (said along the lines of "Pikachu I choose you!")


Katniss: "Peeta are I are good together, and we don't foresee any problems in our relationship because we're both mentally unstable, and that's a similarity that will make us get along, especially since Peeta has tried to kill me on multiple occasions and doesn't know truth from fantasy."

Gale to Peeta: "Have you noticed that she basically snogs us whenever she feels sorry for us or thinks we need a ego boost?"  Peeta: "Yeah, it's getting really annoying.  Apparently, snogging us just has nothing to do with her romantically liking us anymore.  She's kinda scaring me."

Katniss: "I'm super-smart and can understand most anything Gale or Peeta says UNTIL Gale wants me to shoot him when he's caught by the Capitol and then I don't understand his obvious signals at all."

Peeta: "Katniss I love you!  Katniss I hate you!  Katniss I love you!  Katniss I hate you!"

Tigris: "I'm just here to illustrate the horrific versions of plastic surgery and tattooing that the Capitol's people inflict on themselves.  And dude, fur leggings.  They're epic."

Haymitch: "So anyone wanna inform me if I'm good or evil?"

Finnick: *dead*

Katniss: "For taking no interest in clothes, I sure describe them a lot."


Epilogue: "Dude, I sound soooooooooo Harry Potter."

 Gale: "So much for my happy ending.  I'm off with a undetermined fancy job and am snogging fictional girls of Katniss' imagination off in District 2."

-----

so yeah, you probably figured out that I wrote this right after Mockingjay came out.  I'll maintain that these are still my views on the the book, and that this rather sarcastic and slightly rude post is only being posted because I'm simply scrambling to keep a coherent mind as the first quarter of school ended.  Ah!

Thoughts on Twelfth Grade Kills

Okay, I don't even think it's necessary to post a spoiler warning, because c'mon, you KNOW there will be spoilers!  But...

*MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD*

First and most obviously, the "Is Vlad going to choose Snow or Meredith?" argument.

Well, it was Snow.  Oh, big surprise.  I WAS a Team Meredith, but in book five, Meredith sort of got...whatever a girl version of a jerk would be.  She was always mysterious, but there was no mystery at all---she was just shallow.  I don't see what Joss saw in her, but hey, they like eachother?  Yays for them. 

When Snow entered the story, she seemed to be too perfect, and just a tool for the makings of the 'love triangle' that all cool books are flaunting this season.  But in book five---she became a real person.  Especially since she and Vlad's frosting fight---seriously, one of my favorite literary scenes ever.  ("If Nelly finds out, you are dead.")

So while Meredith proved herself shallow, Snow proved herself to really have something to her. 


Second, the deaths.  I understand that D'Ablo needed to leave the story quickly, and that was an excellent opener for several reasons: 

• First, that he just needed to leave the story.
• Second, that a opener that was shocking was needed.
• Thirdly and most importantly, it provided a opening for the book that wasn't Vlad confronting his dad---that would have been very awkward, for the reasons that new readers might not get what was happening, and it would be pretty anticlimactic to open the book with an explanation of what was happening.

With the other deaths.... Nelly.  I never would have imagined that she would be one to die---she seemed so firmly a part of the series that it was wowing.  Very sad for Otis, though.

Like Dumbledore, Nelly will live on in our hearts.

Also, Snow's "death."  It didn't convince me.  Realistically, knowing Vlad, he should have been ON THE FLOOR next to her body bawling, and not being able to get up, maybe even going into shock.  He was far to composed.  But I am glad she isn't dead.

Tomas.  This isn't exactly his death, but his whole part in the book was awkward and it didn't totally agree with the earlier books.  And who got burned up with Mellina?  Maybe I just didn't read well enough?

Also, is Vlad going to age and eventually die when Snow doesn't?  That would seriously break Snow's heart.  Or is it that his Pravus powers make it that he doesn't age?  I wish I knew...

One more thing:

HenryxOctober=cutest thing ever!  Awwww! 

thoughts on mockingjay

SPOILERS.

and if you didn't get that the first time, SPOILERS again.

Okay, in case you haven't read it, we'll start with something general in case you're still reading even after there were two spoiler warnings:

I sort of noticed that the story deteriorated as it went along.  Not as in this book, but the series.  The Hunger Games was incredibly strong, but Catching Fire was weaker, as well as Mockingjay.  I personally think that's because the author could not have all the time she needed to write three novels of the caliber of The Hunger Games, and she did amazingly well for having only a year between books. 

Like with Catching Fire, Mockingjay was confusing at times.  I guess what we all wanted to happen happened---no more Capitol, and no more Hunger Games. 

This was the first book when I realized just how dangerous Katniss was---from wanting a Capitol-children Hunger Games to shooting President Coin, she was frightening.  In some ways, she was much, much madder than Peeta, who was hallucinating for half the book.

While we're on the topic of Peeta, he plays damsel in distress far too often, I thought, wouldn't Katniss get bored of him? 

Uh, I was slightly 'Team Gale' as I read this, and am a little bitter, not that he didn't end up with Katniss, but because his story had no conclusion beyond Katniss supposing that he's off snogging someone else in District Two.  Really, Katniss?

I'm also confused about Gale setting off some bomb somewhere or something? 

Anyway, Katniss, Gale, and Peeta, but especially Katniss and Peeta, sort of lost personality during this final installment.  It was mostly because they both went unpredictable and mad, which is completely understandable in their horrific conditions, but it made things a little annoying for the reader.  We saw a lot more of Gale in this book than in the two previous, but he's become generic too---he's lost some of his cocky attitude, and has become slightly "Peeta---book 1" in personality. 

My only frustration with this is that I wanted to know the characters so much better, and after three books, I'm still not sure what exactly they are like, despite the strong ideas presented.  It's very confusing.

I'm not trying to totally slam the book, of course, I'm just confused!   

list of fictional crushes

...cuz my brother asked me to.

1. Ronald Weasley. 

'Nuff said.

2. Draco Malfoy

But only after book 6; before that he was a total jerk.

3. Peter Godfrey

Well, this was before the advent of ANOTHER character...

4. Edward Elric

Yup, totally pwns the more famous Edward Cullen

5. Fang

Okay, if you're a teenage girl and you've read maximum ride, you are LYING to yourself if you haven't had a fictional crush on Fang.

Yup.  I'm a FANGirl.

6. HL

Okay, so this was who pwned Peter. 

Poor Peter.

Shocked yet, Neddy?

To be continued. 

vampires non-sparkly style

I've been reading, okay, have read many times, the Chronicles of Vladimir Tod: Eighth Grade Bites.  I believe my fourteen-year-old brother views it as far too gross and far too girly, all at the same time.  Aparently, I am dead to gross descriptions of the blood-drinking of teenage vampires.  But whatever.  For all we know, I am one. 

So there.

Additionally, isn't the cover awesome?  How the title's on the back?  And the black/white art of Vlad?

My only real complaint is that the plotline/writing style aren't the best.  But that doesn't mean I don't love it... 

less annoying than bella

I wish Bree wouldn't have died.  She was my favorite character even back when I read Eclipse, way before The Short Second Life came out.  Okay, I liked Alice and Jasper too, but still.  

Reading the introduction, I think Meyer wished Bree's story would have ended differently, too.

And Diego...oh, Diego. 

dazed

I just read books one and two of the Hunger Games triology, and I must say that they are really something.  For one, Collins has an excellent writing style and original ideas. 

At first, I wasn't huge on the first books, but I just kept thinking, and thinking, and thinking about it... and then my mum got me the second one, so of course I had to read it, and what did I learn but *SPOILERS*  there IS a fullfledged rebellion taking place by the end of the second book, and since that's what I wanted to hear from the first book, I nearly punched the air and screamed.  (I didn't.)

Also---Gale or Peeta?  I dunno.  Gale is probably the cockier of the two, but they're rather similar, and somehow all the characters seem sort of flat to me; I'm not sure why.  Except for Katniss, of course; she is the strongest female protaganist that anyone has seen for a long, long time.  Actually Haymitch has probably more personality than Gale or Peeta, IMO, but maybe I'm just not digging deep enough.

Also, the rebellion?  They oh-so-totally need that rebellion, but I have no idea how Collins is going to conclude everything in just one more book!  How is she going to show the aftermath of the rebellion?  An epilogue?

And one more thing.

DISTRICT 13.
 

fanart, really?

 

If you follow the blog, you may know from earlier posts that I'm a rather large fan of the Mother-Daughter Book Club series by Heather Vogel-Frederick.   

But fan art?  You're probably going "really, casey?"

  But then, Cassidy IS my favorite character, and she's in my favorite scene of the series, and it was totally hilarious...

. 

can't you just already tell that this scene is bound to be laugh-out-loud funny?

   

...besides, now I have a new bookmark.

 

there!  Now go read the series and giggle yourself silly on page 330! 

in case you were wondering...

...this is Beetle.  Not my artwork, though.

midnight sun

...Okay, so maybe Midnight Sun changed my idea on Twilight.  Sorta kinda, I still do get a headache because I can feel my brain cells dying when I read Breaking Dawn, but that's besides the point... Edward isn't so inhuman!  He keeps bottlecaps, tells himself to keep calm, and everything totally rude in the original novel has a meaning.  He isn't really being outright rude, he's being careful.  And well, he's only human, if you get the expression... 

As far as I can tell there's no official cover, but I'd rather think it was the first than the second...

fiction, specified

I hinted at this before, didn't I?  This is a list of purely fictional works I wanted to comment on, no true stories, just full fiction.  Of course I needed a long, probably strange post on my favorite books of all time, the books I've read recently, and the books I simply didn't like... These are not reviews, just my thoughts.  enjoy.  =)

The Penderwicks, by Jeanne Birdsall.  Genius book.  It seems so simple, four sisters go on vacation with their father and dog, make a new friend, have a few adventures.  But they way it is written is amazing.  The style is so sweet, but different enough from each girls' perspective that you can feel each of the sisters individually, and really get into their world.  The sequel, The Penderwicks on Gardam Street, is just as good. 

Eragon, by Christopher Paolini.  This book, for me, was encouraging because the author was so young when he wrote it, yet it turned out so good; you'd never know a fifteen-year-old wrote it.  Very impressive, though I'll admit it's a bit Star Wars meets Lord of the Rings with dragons.  But then, basically nothing is new anymore.  Brisngrr-the third book-was a bloodbath, however; way too much unnecessary details.  Human muscle called "meat?"  Really, Mr. Paolini?  And the weird cult in the first bit of the book wasn't justified, as it served no purpose, not even a fair bit of reflective thought for the main character.  But the first two books were brilliant--- especially the title of "Eldest"--- I was so curious to know why the book was called that I read it through.  And wasn't disappointed with the answer, either.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians, by Rick Riordan.  Another impressive series---Percy, Annabeth, and Grover may be a bit of another Harry, Hermione and Ron, but the series is very new, a take on the Greek myths like I've never seen before.  And besides, the writing is incredibly engaging---something that's happening less and less in today's books.  There are a lot of brilliant ideas, but the presentation of these ideas is done so poorly you can't be taken in.  But Percy Jackson--- it had an ending that was so unexpected!  Very impressive.

The Gallacher Girls series, by Ally Carter.  Brilliant idea by the author, but the writing wasn't terrific.  I really, really, really hate saying that about any book, but it just wasn't up there.  The idea was amazing, though, and I have to give the author a lot of credit for that.Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte.  It's a classic.  I started with the abridged version, then when I was in junior high I moved onto the Real Thing.  I must say, Rochester really, really annoys me.  But it just adds to the book, in some crazy way!  Charlotte really had something amazing in her, here.

 The Mother-Daughter Book Club, by Heather Vogel Frederick.  I have all the published series to date, and am waiting on needles for the next one.  They ARE cheesy, I will admit it, but amazing in that.  I do wish Ms. Fredrick would drop the 'adventure' at the end of each book, but other than that, my only complaint is that all four girls' first-person voices sound the same.  But I love them all: when I read the first one, I was a definite "Emma," with Megan's sewing thing going, but as the series has gone on I'm definitely a Cassidy, which is surprising since Cassidy really annoyed me when the series started!  Now that she's just a midge more girly, she's me exactly.

 A Series of Unfortunate Events, by Lemony Snicket (or at least, that's the name he published them under...)  These books weren't exactly depressing, as the kids always won out, but the presentation of their situations had this dry humor which didn't appeal to me.  I usually love humor, but it was a very morbid humor.  I did read quite a few of the books.  I wanted a resolution.  Uh, should have known there wasn't gonna be one of those...

 Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli.  I cried and cried and cried while reading this book.  Stargirl is me---I may not wear full-length prairie skirts, sing the birthday song in the cafeteria, or carry around a pet rat, I'm full of weird quirks which my peers quite frankly don't understand.  I cried probably just as hard for Leo as I did for Stargirl---the way his thoughts went, as the book's first-person narrator, showed how truly crushing he and Stargirl's breakup was to him, too.  He was so sweet.

The sequel to Stargirl: Love, Stargirl was probably just as much a tear-wrencher as Stargirl was.  She was so sad.  Her pebble wheelbarrow made me cry the most---it was up to twenty, then down to none.  All over Leo.  Sad, sad, sad.  But beautiful in its sadness.Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen.  Another classic, Pride and Prejudice seems horrifyingly long and boring during the first read through, and then humorous and short the second time round.  Or at least that's how it worked for me.  Also, I think I have a characterization-problem-complex: I can't stand Mr Darcy, Edward Cullen, or Mr. Rochester.  They all drive me nuts.  And they're all better in the movies.  Weird, huh?

 Aretmis Fowl, by Eoin Colfer.  Evil boy genius meets fairy world.  Loved it.  Okay, it's for young boys, not 15-year-old girls, but still!  I've only read the first two books, being that I really am a 15-year-old girl, but I can just sense the goodness coming out of Artemis by book two---he's got a good side, no matter what anyone says.  I was ridiculously amused during the second one, when he and Captain Holly Short had to work together...!  Admittedly, it's got a bit of that subject that little boys apparently love---bathroom humor--- that bugs me because I live with a lot of that as it is, as I have two brothers from ages 10-14.  But brilliant concept in this book, very new.  The bad good guy.Heist Society, by Ally Carter.  Whatever Ms. Carter lost in writing style in the Gallacher Girls series, she made it up in Heist Society.  Loved the writing.  My only major complaint was that I wanted more of all the guys, I wanted to know their characters so much better!   This was another good bad guys story.  Kat, Hale, Gabrielle and the rest were technically thieves, but in the story they were stealing things back from false owners---to save Kat's father.  I had my doubts before reading it through, but I ended up loving it.

 Warrior , by Erin Hunter.  I loved this in junior high.  Fantastic idea for a series, feral cats with a defined system of government.  With catfights.  And cat romance.  Who would have thought of that?  This was probably the book which introduced me into the fantasy genre. My siblings, the neighbor kids, and I even, uh, made a Star-clan meeting place.  Nothing says book-obsession like giving eachother warrior names, putting our hands on an ice-cold pole in December, and running around throwing gallium at eachother.  Good times.  

  Fablehaven, by Brandon Mull.  Adventure of two kids, plus trolls, witches, and fairies.  Very standard fantasy, the kind of things you see after Potter.  Mr. Mull had a lot of good ideas, actually, I think I was just a bit too old for his book.  I might possibly go onto read the later ones, though, which is saying something, don't you think?

 Hope was Here, by Joan Bauer.  When my mum first gave me this book, I was possibly in the sixth grade, a voracious reader, and generally thought teenagers were the junk of the human race, who vandalized buildings and caused car accidents.  "It's about teenagers, but they're nice teenagers," she told me, and slightly doubtful, I gave it a try.  I loved it.  I've read it over, and over, and over.  Not the best writing in the world, but just one of those books that wanted to be read and read and read.  (For some reason, I did this with "Homesick" by Jean Fritz too.  I still don't get why I did it with that one.)

Magyk, by Angie Sage.  Very young, it's called 3-5th grade level, but, uh, I read it anyway.  And all four sequels, and waiting for the next one, if only for Jenna and Beetle.  The first and fourth books are especially brilliant.

 1984, by George Orwell.  This is the creepiest, most horrible, scariest book I have ever read in my life, and I only skimmed.  It was terrifying.  Absolutely terrifying.  Every aspect of it was bizarre, freaky, horrible.  Every moment, every detail, and then Big Brother won.  Absolutely horrifying.

 Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare.  Okay, I haven't read it through, but I know the story, and I've actually used it for a project (myself, not school), so I think I'd better throw it in, even if it isn't a 'book,' but a play.  A few things---I think they were, uh, too young to commit suicide over eachother, but they really did present 13-year-old behavior.  I sincerely hope Romeo was between the ages of 13 and 16, because any older, it would have been stalkerish and just plain creepy.  Favorite lines:

 "Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?"

 "I do bite my thumb, sir."

"Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?"

..."No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at you, sir, but I

bite my thumb, sir."

For some reason, the above was lost on my family, when I realated it with hysterical laughter.

"It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief"

Maybe it's just because it's classic, but still beautiful.

...and the below is really the only reason why you read this whole post, huh?

  Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer.  First, I think she had a brilliant idea, or dream, or whatever it was, it was somewhat unheard of.  No dragons, no wizards, just a girl and her vampire.  However, I'm going to have to say, the series need a bit more of a plotline past the romance to make it a classic, and less descriptions of Edward.  And less making out.  But great subject idea, in theory.  The first book was probably the best, as Bella was somewhat less dependent on her vampire and werewolf, and it sort of had the plotline of "I'm falling in love with a vampire!" which the later books obviously didn't have.  I suppose the vampire romance is what the audience wants to read, but it consetrated too much on boyfriend-dependency.  It was scary that way.  Oh, and I'm scared to open my window at night now, even if vampires don't exist.

 Harry Potter, by J. K. Rowling.  The Harry Potter series is the single most amazing fictional series I have ever read.  I resisted for years---I wasn't going to become one of those Potter people, it was overrated!  It must be stupid!  But I caved, with the constant nudging of peers.  And I wasn't sorry.  I think Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was the first book I unconsciously stayed up to two reading, and didn't look at the clock until I was done with.  The story is amazing, but the underlying social content is what really gets me: Narissa and  Lucius spoil Draco and tell him that killing people and being a general mean bully is okay, Draco is a mean bully.  The Ministry of Magic says Harry is good, everyone loves Harry.  Voldemort overturns the Ministry, suddenly everyone believes Harry is bad.  Draco gets what he thinks he wants most, then when it comes with real pain, realizes that maybe, just maybe, killing and hurting isn't all it's cracked up to be, when he's threatened too.  The story is good, the storytelling is spellbinding, the detail is pefect, but the underlying content is the nudge up from 'good' to ridiculously amazing.'  Again, the single best fictional series ever written.  

Okay, so this post is for book geeks like me

BOOKS.  They're amazing things, admit it, who doesn't want to enter some alternate reality every once in a while?  DISCLAIMER: I know the pics are horrible.  Maybe sometime in the future I'll get around to taking shots during the day, but hey, I got hit by precis fever.  Also note conglomeration of random broken dragons on top of shelf.  I'll have to post on them.  Someday.  No promises.  Description of shelf below picture of shelf.  =)Okay, let's get on with it, shall we?  This is the wizarding shelf.  Wait no, this is the HARRY POTTER shelf.  In its entirety, with the exception of my third copy of Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone, which isn't here right now, but hey, I can read one of the other two copies, right? This, uh, is the supernatural fantasy shelf.  In case you couldn't tell, it goes Fablehaven, Twilight series, Septimus Heap (1, 4, 5.  2 and 3 I have on ebook), Percy Jackson (1-4, five is on ebook), The Fire Within, Eragon and Brisingr (Eldest is on ebook), Dragonology Handbook Companion.  Uh, yeah, I'm a bit old for a lot of this stuff, but whatever, I can never get enough supernatural fantasy.  Sometime, I'll have to go into detail on these serieses... now THAT would be a fun post.Classics: Charlotte and Emily Bronte, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Louisa May Alcott, Baroness Orczy, L. M. Montgomery, James Herriot.  All that stuff. Random!  Y'know, the stuff everyone should have, like Alice in Wonderland, Daddy Long-Legs, baby-name books (crucial to writers, trust me, tacky as it may seem... baby name sites work as well, but there's nothing like a book), My Side of the Mountain, the dictionary... Warriors shelf (plus Redwall).  This was the staple of junior high reading for me--- I, my brother, and a friend of ours were seriously obsessed with the series!  Then their writing got bad (and I, uh, became a teenager) and I stopped.  It's still around, for when the cats-fighting-in-the-forest phase hits the youngest siblings.  Also, ancedote, my friend and I marked all the cat-romance sections (cat-romance?  Now it's like EWWW!), while we said we liked this (we did, at the time) I think it was possibly to irk my brother, who hated this gunk.Torrey Academy books (plus that beautiful thing called the Bible).  I do have more TA books, but they are currently nearer to my desk. Animal guides.  I read these to ridiculous amounts in and before junior high.  I could identify pretty much any breed of dog, and guess at mixes.  I still get the "what dog breed is that?" question, but the most common answer is now "Uh, I dunno."Craft books, poetry, summarized classics.  Also a junior high staple.  Don't do much with them now; I've refined a lot of my art style (though I'll never finish adding to that!).  I hated the first book when I was young.  It creeped me out.  Also, note Shel Silverstien, "Where the Sidewalk Ends."  Also one of the books that creeped me out.  I've never been a poetry person, but this was one of the thing that freaked me out majorly.  The summarized Shakespeare---I almost told my mum not to buy it for me, but she did, and I ended up loving it.  I actually do use some Shakespeare now, for um, classified reasons.  101 Dalmatians---another favorite as a child.  I've still got a few kiddie books, see?

Realistic Fiction and library books (all realistic fiction, funnily enough, with the exception of Artemis Fowl.  Which is hilarious and definitely for boys, but hey, there goes my tomboy side again).

Bored yet?  Yeah, I thought so.