So, I've been thinking about this subject a lot, and I think that banning books should stop. It boils down to one thing: it creates a cookie cutter mold for people who don't fit the mold.
Let me explain. Imagine we are all cookie dough. Delicious right? Well, imagine we're all rolled out into various people shapes. But we have different sizes and little differences in shape. This is who we are as a person. It is based on our personality, age, maturity level, friends, etc... and changes as time goes on.
When a book is banned, it is by one group, with one view about what one age group should read. This is a cookie cutter. But because school has different age groups, and kids have different levels of maturity within those age groups, some may be more fit to read a book than others. But when a book is taken out of a library, it is like taking the cookie cutter to everyone, and cutting off the potential that book holds for every kid, whether they fit the mold or not.
Parents think they know their kid's book tastes and maturity levels for reading books best, but it tends to be the teachers and librarians instead. Think about it: they spend 8ish hours every day with the same group of kids. They're going to know what the kid's interests are and what is or isn't appropriate for them to read. I spoke to my old high school's librarian about book banning and she told me that if she thought the book isn't appropriate for the school she just doesn't buy it. Simple as that.
Certain books are made for certain groups. I'd never suggest A Clockwork Orange for anyone below a sophomore reading level (not age level). Once you figure out the main character's slang, you realize that there are a lot of subjects in the book (rape, theft, violence, murder, etc...) that wouldn't be appropriate in most learning settings. But for the older audience, though they know these actions are wrong, they can look at the actions of everyone in the futuristic society the book takes place in, and see that the harm done to Alex (main character) to prevent him from committing these crimes is just as bad, if not worse than the crimes he committed. The author took an extreme way to get his message about free will across, and for the right person it would come across well. But for the wrong person, they'll see it as supporting the criminal activities in the book.
Another example: The Book Thief and Night. Both are Holocaust novels. Both are good. With The Book Thief, which I'm reading right now, I'd recommend for 7th grade and up. All the 7th graders go through a Holocaust unit, and the book would fit in well with it. It doesn't mask the realities of the Holocaust, but we see some joys the main character, Liesel, gets to experience during this time as well. Then again, she's not persecuted yet, and I haven't finished the book yet, so my opinion might change later on.
On the other hand, Night is a memoir by Elie Weisel. He was in the concentration camps, witnessed death and despair, and doesn't hold back on putting those moments down in pen. I had to read this Sophomore year for English, and I almost couldn't handle it then. Even though I love reading and being challenged with hard-to-swallow concepts, the book was unbearable for me to read. I think with that book, I might even refrain from suggesting to some adults, not because it should be censored, but because the truth was terrifying to read. But it still needs to be read. If only to remind us of what we could become.
When books are banned, it is because one group is forcing their opinions on another. Not only is this restricting the author's freedom of speech in writing the book, it limits the kid's viewpoint of the world. They begin to see from one perspective, and reject all others. It leads to the loss of respect for other people and their differing views.
I just needed to air out my thoughts. So here it is.
Sunday, July 6, 2014
Saturday, June 21, 2014
A Murder of Crows by Anne Bishop
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| A Murder of Crows by Anne Bishop |
A Murder of Crows answers the questions the first book did not, mainly about the cassandra sangue (blood prophets for those new to the series) and the prostitution-like institution they've been forced into.
Meg and other blood prophets across the country have been having the same horrific visions involving burning cities and the terra indigine (shape-shifters) of Lakeside Courtyard become the only beings able to find out why and stop it from happening.
I am still in love with the series. With this second book, it delves so much deeper into the world outside of Lakeside, and the politics. With this second book comes the introduction of the Humans First and Last movement, which I am beginning to think will become more terrorist like by the third book. We finally see how radical the Lakeside Courtyard is by cooperating with the human police. Anne Bishop does some amazing world building here and it is one of my favorite reasons for loving the series.
She also does a good job adding depths to character's relationships specifically, Meg and Simon, and Simon with the other humans working at the courtyard. Meg and Simon, though not together have the awkward situation of friend-zoning each other. It makes for a funny sub-plot and delves a little bit deeper into their personalities. Whereas with Simon and the other humans, the work relationship between them seems to grow as Simon learns how to be more human and the girls that work in the Courtyard learn to toughen up and actually begin to get accepted into the Courtyard as a 'human pack'.
Overall I am very impressed and cannot what for a third book.
The Marbury Lens by Andrew Smith
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| The Marbury Lens by Andrew Smith |
I had tried to read this last year, but since me and my sister were talking about it recently I thought I'd write and review (or rather warning).
In short:
Steph says no.
To elaborate: the book was a crazy cluster**** before the main character even got to see this other world!
It starts out with him at a party. With booze. You say ok, yeah whatever. But he walks in on his best friend having sex with his girlfriend (the best friend's girlfriend) and the best friend offers to let him have some too. Just, what?
When the best friend eaves the party, still a virgin mind you, he not only gets kidnapped and sexually assaulted, but after telling his best friend, they find the guy get into a rage and BEAT HIM TO DEATH. This is all before he goes to London and finds the Marbury Lens, the entire point for why I read this book.
If I wanted such mind scarring material, I'd be searching for it. I went tried to read this book because it was supposed to be this super cool fantasy/steampunk series, and who knows? Maybe if I continued reading I would have liked it. But the beginning was way too much way too soon, and I had not prepared for the slightly erotic, violent things it did show me. Maybe I'm overreacting, but I'd at least like a warning on the label before reading, because it does influence how I liked the book (which I didn't).
I do not plan on picking it up again. If you do, tell me what you think about it. But don't say I didn't warn you.
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Hey! This has nothing to do with published books and more to do with me. so keep reading!
If you love to write yet haven't checked out the NaNoWriMo, do it! Right now they are starting a Camp NaNoWriMo thingy. Basically it's to provide writing inspiration that isn't during the month of November.
It starts April first, I've already signed up, you can chat with other people and keep track of your project.
Here's the link: https://campnanowrimo.org/sign_in
Hope to see you there!
If you love to write yet haven't checked out the NaNoWriMo, do it! Right now they are starting a Camp NaNoWriMo thingy. Basically it's to provide writing inspiration that isn't during the month of November.
It starts April first, I've already signed up, you can chat with other people and keep track of your project.
Here's the link: https://campnanowrimo.org/sign_in
Hope to see you there!
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Written in Red by Anne Bishop
Hi all. Sorry for not writing anything in a while, I had school work and regular work and books to read and all that. But now it's winter break so I decided to do something productive and write a review today!
The book this time is Written in Read by Anne Bishop
Overall, though it is a slightly slow read, it is by no means boring and I can't wait to continue reading the series.
Written in Red is set in an alternate universe in America I think. The premise is that other supernatural creatures (vampires, werewolves, etc...) called terra indigene were the natives of America, not Native Americans like here (this is what I got out of this, so I'm not positive on this). These terra indigene (I'll just call them ti's) believe that humans are nothing more than slightly smart prey, so when humans from Europe landed in America, they were almost wiped out. The reason they weren't is because humans knew how to make things that the ti's liked. Fast forward to present day and there is an uneasy agreement between the two species. Humans got to settle in America and trade with the ti's. The ti's still had the most control however, and in major human cities, they set up courtyards where they ran business between the two species and basically send a reminder about who's really in charge.
The book opens up with the main character Meg Corbyn, running. She is a cassandra sangue, or a blood prophet, and when her skin is cut she sees the future (much more complicated than this, but that's the gist of it). She is running from the Controller, who has custody of a bunch of blood prophets and uses them in a lucrative and obviously illegal business. When she reaches the city of Lakeside's Courtyard, she applies for a job as a human liaison (helps to ease communication between human and ti, because most humans don't like being around ti's) because she knows that human law doesn't apply in courtyards and she'll be safe from the Controller there. Simon Wolfgard, leader of the courtyard, though highly suspicious of her, gives her the job.
And this is how the story opens up. Basically a lot of people want access to either Meg or the courtyard (and sometimes both) and as time passes Meg comes to actually like being in the courtyard, the ti's actually come to *gasp* like her even though she's a human, and come to accept her as one of their own.
Lets start with the bad bits (which aren't necessarily bad, but just stuff that needs improvement). First of, this book is over 400 pages long. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it's also feels long to read. It's not one of those "action around every corner" books, it has all these little seemingly non-essential subplots that slowly but surely come together into one big action filled scene. That's not bad either, but I almost gave up on the book because I thought I might not finish in time. Yet at the same time I was so intrigued by the plots that I would read for hours and I did finish the book.
Another issue with the book is that it doesn't explain everything right away, and was a little bit contradictory. I didn't understand the concept of this alternate world (and I might still not understand quite yet). The terra indigene are also confusing creatures overall. Their supposed to be terrifying and uncontrollable in the eyes of humans. And they can be. The parts where they have to hunt people, or when some of their bestial side shows through their human skin (all ti's can shape-shift between human and animal forms, and their last names show what animal they really are like "wolfgard" "crowgard" or you've got the "sanguinati" blood=sanguine=vampire). But then there are times when they act, very... domesticated. The corwgards love shiny things, and Meg while working, has to barter with them to get her stuff back sometimes. Meg befriends the ponies by giving them food (though I later learned that their not actually ti's but belong to some elementals). And though the wolfgard are supposed to be really feral, and they try not to show this, but they love playing games, and they just seem more... dog-like to me than wolves at times. Especially when I read through encounters between Meg and Simon.
In other news, I have another OTP now.
I also wanted more backstories of specific characters, like Jester the coyote person, or the elementals. The pov's of the people Bishop did show were good, but I would rather hear more about some of the ti's than someone like *shudder* Asia Crane (stupid human who thinks that spying for a living will get her into their version of Hollywood called "Sparkletown").
Bad stuff aside, I loved the book.
Meg was especially a cool character to hear her side of the story. Being owned by the Controller possibly since birth, all that she knows of life and society is from the brief and inadequate clips and pictures that she and other blood prophets were shown to help them decipher the prophecies. Because of this she has a different perspective of the world than ordinary humans, and is seen as having a more childlike mindset. She also defies the ti's stereotypes of humans, and starts to change them and make them more accepting of other humans without even trying. Her mindset makes me like her more as a character.
Also, because of the slow pace of the book, it allowed more pages to be dedicated to seeing the daily life inside the courtyards. It made me fall in love with the world and the characters, and made the change in the mindset of the ti's more evident, especially in Simon.
Simon's character is... different. He has to be a leader not just for the ti's, but for people too, so when he has official stuff going on, whether he's with the police or the business association of the courtyard, he has this... almost disguise as knowing exactly what to do, and being extremely tough. But in personal relationships and conversations I really got to see his personality. He starts to show the wear and tear of leadership show, and the pressure he feels caring for his orphaned nephew Sam (who was traumatized after witnessing his mom's unsolved murder). So when Meg enters his life and starts to change it, I saw his fears over the change, and his elations. And it became really obvious that he was slowly getting attracted to her. He literally thought that he was attracted to her, then immediately denies it to himself. He is also very nit-picky. His first complaint about Meg was because her "hair smelled bad" (she had died it to disguise herself from the Controller while still on the run).
And then there's Sam. He was perhaps the cutest character ever. He couldn't grow up (both physically and emotionally) for 2 years because of his mom's death, and it wasn't until Meg had met him that he showed any sign of recovery. Both characters were restricted, confined by the events that terrorized them and, though it is much more obvious for Sam, their relationship is very much a codependent one. They relied on each other and helped each other recover from their past; and through each other were able to trust other people again. This also results in Meg's acceptance in the courtyard.
So overall I loved the book. You should read the book and love it too, so I can have someone to love it with.
The book this time is Written in Read by Anne Bishop
Overall, though it is a slightly slow read, it is by no means boring and I can't wait to continue reading the series.
Written in Red is set in an alternate universe in America I think. The premise is that other supernatural creatures (vampires, werewolves, etc...) called terra indigene were the natives of America, not Native Americans like here (this is what I got out of this, so I'm not positive on this). These terra indigene (I'll just call them ti's) believe that humans are nothing more than slightly smart prey, so when humans from Europe landed in America, they were almost wiped out. The reason they weren't is because humans knew how to make things that the ti's liked. Fast forward to present day and there is an uneasy agreement between the two species. Humans got to settle in America and trade with the ti's. The ti's still had the most control however, and in major human cities, they set up courtyards where they ran business between the two species and basically send a reminder about who's really in charge.
The book opens up with the main character Meg Corbyn, running. She is a cassandra sangue, or a blood prophet, and when her skin is cut she sees the future (much more complicated than this, but that's the gist of it). She is running from the Controller, who has custody of a bunch of blood prophets and uses them in a lucrative and obviously illegal business. When she reaches the city of Lakeside's Courtyard, she applies for a job as a human liaison (helps to ease communication between human and ti, because most humans don't like being around ti's) because she knows that human law doesn't apply in courtyards and she'll be safe from the Controller there. Simon Wolfgard, leader of the courtyard, though highly suspicious of her, gives her the job.
And this is how the story opens up. Basically a lot of people want access to either Meg or the courtyard (and sometimes both) and as time passes Meg comes to actually like being in the courtyard, the ti's actually come to *gasp* like her even though she's a human, and come to accept her as one of their own.
Lets start with the bad bits (which aren't necessarily bad, but just stuff that needs improvement). First of, this book is over 400 pages long. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it's also feels long to read. It's not one of those "action around every corner" books, it has all these little seemingly non-essential subplots that slowly but surely come together into one big action filled scene. That's not bad either, but I almost gave up on the book because I thought I might not finish in time. Yet at the same time I was so intrigued by the plots that I would read for hours and I did finish the book.
Another issue with the book is that it doesn't explain everything right away, and was a little bit contradictory. I didn't understand the concept of this alternate world (and I might still not understand quite yet). The terra indigene are also confusing creatures overall. Their supposed to be terrifying and uncontrollable in the eyes of humans. And they can be. The parts where they have to hunt people, or when some of their bestial side shows through their human skin (all ti's can shape-shift between human and animal forms, and their last names show what animal they really are like "wolfgard" "crowgard" or you've got the "sanguinati" blood=sanguine=vampire). But then there are times when they act, very... domesticated. The corwgards love shiny things, and Meg while working, has to barter with them to get her stuff back sometimes. Meg befriends the ponies by giving them food (though I later learned that their not actually ti's but belong to some elementals). And though the wolfgard are supposed to be really feral, and they try not to show this, but they love playing games, and they just seem more... dog-like to me than wolves at times. Especially when I read through encounters between Meg and Simon.
In other news, I have another OTP now.
I also wanted more backstories of specific characters, like Jester the coyote person, or the elementals. The pov's of the people Bishop did show were good, but I would rather hear more about some of the ti's than someone like *shudder* Asia Crane (stupid human who thinks that spying for a living will get her into their version of Hollywood called "Sparkletown").
Bad stuff aside, I loved the book.
Meg was especially a cool character to hear her side of the story. Being owned by the Controller possibly since birth, all that she knows of life and society is from the brief and inadequate clips and pictures that she and other blood prophets were shown to help them decipher the prophecies. Because of this she has a different perspective of the world than ordinary humans, and is seen as having a more childlike mindset. She also defies the ti's stereotypes of humans, and starts to change them and make them more accepting of other humans without even trying. Her mindset makes me like her more as a character.
Also, because of the slow pace of the book, it allowed more pages to be dedicated to seeing the daily life inside the courtyards. It made me fall in love with the world and the characters, and made the change in the mindset of the ti's more evident, especially in Simon.
Simon's character is... different. He has to be a leader not just for the ti's, but for people too, so when he has official stuff going on, whether he's with the police or the business association of the courtyard, he has this... almost disguise as knowing exactly what to do, and being extremely tough. But in personal relationships and conversations I really got to see his personality. He starts to show the wear and tear of leadership show, and the pressure he feels caring for his orphaned nephew Sam (who was traumatized after witnessing his mom's unsolved murder). So when Meg enters his life and starts to change it, I saw his fears over the change, and his elations. And it became really obvious that he was slowly getting attracted to her. He literally thought that he was attracted to her, then immediately denies it to himself. He is also very nit-picky. His first complaint about Meg was because her "hair smelled bad" (she had died it to disguise herself from the Controller while still on the run).
And then there's Sam. He was perhaps the cutest character ever. He couldn't grow up (both physically and emotionally) for 2 years because of his mom's death, and it wasn't until Meg had met him that he showed any sign of recovery. Both characters were restricted, confined by the events that terrorized them and, though it is much more obvious for Sam, their relationship is very much a codependent one. They relied on each other and helped each other recover from their past; and through each other were able to trust other people again. This also results in Meg's acceptance in the courtyard.
So overall I loved the book. You should read the book and love it too, so I can have someone to love it with.
Friday, October 11, 2013
The Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
The summary (from goodreads): Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.
In a dark and dusty shop, a devil’s supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.
And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.
Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real, she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands", she speaks many languages - not all of them human - and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out.
When beautiful, haunted Akiva fixes fiery eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?
I didn't like it. But since that's hardly a review, lets go further:
The Positives:
I loved how descriptive Laini Taylor was, especially when it came to describing Prague and Eretz. I want to desparately visit Prague now and see that beauty for myself. If anything I applaude Taylor for a good choice in scenery. I also love the concept of The Chimaera and Madrigals and their separate worlds fighting for so long they couoldn't even tell you why anymore. The improtance of teeth to the Chimaera was fascinating, and I truly feel that the book had a lot of potential based on the set-up of the book.
The Negatives:
Throughout the entire novel, I experienced no emotion whatsoever towards the characters, I just didn't really care what happened. I got hooked slightly at the beginning when Karou gets revenge on her ex, but that didn't even tie into the plot. My only reaction was when Taylor finally reveals Karou's past, where my reaction was "What the F***? How does [spoiler]= Karou? Where does this make sense?"
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And though it does get explained, I still find no reason to continue reading the series. Maybe it's because half of the book is about how much Karou and Akiva are falling for each other (Trust me, not a spoiler with the direction the book was going in).
It took 2 tries to finish the book, and the 2nd time around was brutal. I wanted to put the book away so badly, but I finished it only because I promised my best friend I would.
And this is why it is only a one star book
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In a dark and dusty shop, a devil’s supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.
And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.
Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real, she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands", she speaks many languages - not all of them human - and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out.
When beautiful, haunted Akiva fixes fiery eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?
I didn't like it. But since that's hardly a review, lets go further:
The Positives:
I loved how descriptive Laini Taylor was, especially when it came to describing Prague and Eretz. I want to desparately visit Prague now and see that beauty for myself. If anything I applaude Taylor for a good choice in scenery. I also love the concept of The Chimaera and Madrigals and their separate worlds fighting for so long they couoldn't even tell you why anymore. The improtance of teeth to the Chimaera was fascinating, and I truly feel that the book had a lot of potential based on the set-up of the book.
The Negatives:
Throughout the entire novel, I experienced no emotion whatsoever towards the characters, I just didn't really care what happened. I got hooked slightly at the beginning when Karou gets revenge on her ex, but that didn't even tie into the plot. My only reaction was when Taylor finally reveals Karou's past, where my reaction was "What the F***? How does [spoiler]= Karou? Where does this make sense?"
And though it does get explained, I still find no reason to continue reading the series. Maybe it's because half of the book is about how much Karou and Akiva are falling for each other (Trust me, not a spoiler with the direction the book was going in).
It took 2 tries to finish the book, and the 2nd time around was brutal. I wanted to put the book away so badly, but I finished it only because I promised my best friend I would.
And this is why it is only a one star book
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
Surprisingly aided by Carmel, the popular girl at school (nicer than you would assume), and Thomas, whose grandfather(?) dabbles in the occult, as he investigates in Anna's past and has to dig up his own dark past in order to stop a horrifying evil.
I loved this book. First of all, i liked how Blake characterized everyone. Cas was this loner who suddenly needs friends if he wants to live through this experience. Anna was such a strong character, tied down by an inexplicable evil, forced into becoming a monster, I felt for her.
While overall the plot was predictable, the ending completely threw me off and left me wanting more (she just could not leave Cas' feels torn in two like that. My own feels were crushed then!)
I did end up reading the second book, which, though not as good as the first, it had a satisfying ending and I actually want there to be more books.
Also note: Stephanie Meyer (of Twilight fame) bought the rights to the screenplay for this. she's gonna make it into a movie! Though I'm not a fan of her writing (yes I read most of the Twilight series, I was a former Twihard fan I know what I'm talking about) I'm excited that the book will be brought to the silver screen.
If you are a bit queasy towards guts and gore, you might not want to read this. But if you like a good strong Gothic/Romance/ghost story this books for you. If you like the tv series series Supernatural, this also might be a good fit for you.
Lets give this one 4 and 1/2 stars for awesomeness!
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