Review: "I'll Give You the Sun"

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
5 out of 5 stars

I love when I start off the new year with an amazing read. It just gives hope for the rest of the year, don't you think? Jandy Nelson's first book, The Sky is Everywhere, moved me in a way that a book hadn't in a very long time and her second did the exact same thing. I don't know what it is about her writing, but she ignites that spark of creativity like no other author I've ever read. 

How I went around from painting to painting asking each to eat me and each did. How my skin fit the whole time, didn't once bunch up at my ankles or squeeze my head into a pin.

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once one grows up. -Picasso

(Kandinsky: "Composition 8")

The sky's gone blue: azure, the ocean bluer: cerulean, the trees are swirls of every hella freaking green on earth and bright thick eggy yellow is spilling over everything. Awesome. Doomsday's most definitely been cancelled.

This story weaves the past and the present of twins Jude & Noah into a heartbreaking story of creativity, family, and love. I don’t deserve a love story. Not anymore. Love stories aren't written for girls who could do what I just did to my brother, for girls with black hearts. 13 year old Noah tells his story of trying to survive as a creative soul in a normal world. He grows up in a family full of artists but still must conceal the most secret parts of himself. 16 year old Jude tells how she has broken apart from her twin in the 2 1/2 years since and has become a shadow of herself. The chapters are told in these alternating viewpoints and several times, I had to stop myself from skipping ahead to the next part of their tale.

All the characters, both main and minor, are woven into this past & present story as well and it is really interesting to see how the relationships have come about. They are father and son, just not by blood. I didn't know that family members could just find each other, choose each other like they have. I love the idea. Sculptor Guillermo is one of my favorite characters. His passion and pain just shoot straight into your heart every time he enters the room. And then there's Oscar...Oscar the British, bike-riding, model with the broken down face.
(stone angel sculpture in Milan)

I'm filled with something I can only describe as recognition. Not because he looks familiar on the outside this time, but because he feels familiar on the inside.

It's hard to say a lot about this book without spoiling the main points, but I hope I've brought out the heart and soul for you here. Jandy Nelson's books speak to my soul, in a deep and profound way.

(Chagall: "Carmen")

Top Ten Tuesday: 10 Books I Didn't Get to in 2014

Today's The Broke & The Bookish Top Ten Tuesday topic (say that sentence 5 times fast!) got me thinking. I still haven't done any kind of year in review post or really even looked at my stats yet. Maybe I'll get to that this weekend. Until then, let's talk about the books I didn't get to in 2014! Take a look at my list and tell me what needs to be pushed to the top and what needs to be added. :)

1. Silver Shadows (Bloodlines #5) by Richelle Mead -I have this one but have been waiting for it to be a little closer to the release of #6 (the last one!) because I know I will want to binge read them.

2. The King (Black Dagger Brotherhood #12) by JR Ward -I'm actually 2 books behind in this series boo!

3. The Darkest Touch (Lords of the Underworld #11) by Gena Showalter -arg, I'm 2 books behind in this series too! I need to catch up on my bad boy supernatural books!

4. Rooms by Lauren Oliver -I wanted to read this around Halloween but it was too new for my library to have yet.

5. Undivided (Unwind #4) by Neal Shusterman -I actually forgot this one was coming out. Adding to my list right now! :)

6. We Were Liars by E Lockhart -I have heard so much about this (and yet, really nothing at all lol) and really want to read it!

7. What I Thought Was True by Huntley Fitzpatrick -I really loved My Life Next Door, so I'm ready to try anything by this author!

8. Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira -I don't remember where I heard of this one, but it looks so interesting! And exactly like something Teenage Jenn would do. :)

9. This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki -I just purchased this one with my Christmas gc, but I think I might wait until actual summer to read it.

10.Alpha & Omega (Locke & Key #6) by Joe Hill -I had to wait until the final arc came out in paperback, so it would match the rest. Please tell me I'm not the only one who does that!?

(pic by me, book is "The Academy" by CL Stone: highly recommend!!)

TILT: Books in TV

It has been sooooo long since I've done a Things I Love Thursday! :( I am really trying to get back into the swing of things, blogging-wise, with the new year and this is one of my favorite features. If you're new here, welcome and be sure to check out the TILT tag below, there's some great stuff there! I'm going simple today...I love when I catch a book/reading reference in a TV show I'm watching and I've got some of my favorites here today. What's your favorite book/TV reference?

You can actually buy this My Little Pony meme on a TShirt at RedBubble! So cute! I just finished watching MLP on Netflix last weekend. It was a good Saturday/Sunday morning show to watch. :) Twilight Sparkle is my favorite, naturally.

Daria & Arthur

(click to make bigger)

The Middle & Simpsons (of course!)

Bookshelf Organization: 5 Hours of Work in 2.07 Minutes!

Hi all! I know I've been saying for a long time now that I wanted to start vlogging and never had the courage. Well, I got some courage for Christmas. ;) I've been needing to redo my bookshelves for ages and my 2 weeks of vacation around Christmas was the perfect time. I decided to film the whole thing in warp speed and show it here. I hope you find it interesting. Maybe this will give me even more courage to speak on the next video! (I mean, if I can show y'all my butt, I can speak to you right??) Oh, and huge thanks to my sister @DashOfDazzle for editing the video for me and taking out the parts where I'm getting up off the floor awkwardly lol.

(I made the video as big as I could get it here, but you can click for full screen too)

Book Haul: Fall-Christmas 2014

This fall, I had extra money and credits on Amazon, so I may have gone a little book crazy. And then I had a great Christmas, with books + book things + gift card, so I may have gone even more book crazy. :) I haven't done a haul in forever (again), so I thought now would be a good time for one. Let's start with the Amazon stack.

I really wanted to finish up several series that have ended in the last year, so I got the last few in the House of Night, Morganville Vampires, Gossip Girl, and the newest Bloodlines book. I finished off the HON and Morganville already actually and hopefully will get those reviewed soon. I'm saving the Bloodlines til the last one comes out (this month?) because I really love that series and I know I will want to binge read it. And the Gossip Girl is the only one I was unable to find at Half Price Books and it was really getting on my nerves that I was missing one in this not-great series, so I went ahead and bought it.

Then I picked up a couple of books for my great winter/Christmas book-a-thon. Snowed In and The Ex Games were both cute, quick, fluffy reads. My True Love Gave To Me was wonderful and destined to be a yearly tradition. And finally...I'll Give You The Sun, Jandy Nelson's newest. Her first book moved me to tears and gave me passion to create again and I can't wait to see what this book brings out.

And then, for Christmas I got the Saga series from my dad and stepmom, including the newest one, which I haven't read yet. I adore this series and am so glad to have my own copies now. There is a reason this story is on everyone's top lists and if you haven't read it yet, you are missing out. No lying! (and you would get that reference if you read the book lol.)

They also gave me a gift card and my brother talked me into taking him up to the comic book store and somehow I spent almost all my money there haha! I don't buy graphic novels very often and never at a local store, but I just felt like it and didn't have any regrets. I got the final Locke & Key (another wonderful series), X-Men: Days of Future Past (because I have been wanting to venture into super hero comics), This One Summer (has been on my to-buy list since, um, summer), and a single comic of My Little Pony, just to try. (I liked it, don't know if I'll buy more.)

I spent the last of my money at Half Price Books (of course) and picked up a couple of classics from the clearance section and Bridget Jones, because my sister and I just watched the first movie and forgot how much we loved it. I read the books a long time ago, so I thought it'd be fun to pick up again.

And in non-bookish gifts, my sister got me Harry Potter "Mischief Managed" temporary tattoos! How cool is that? That is what I eventually want to get tattooed on my wrist, so this will be a fun way to try it out first. My mom got me the awesome "I Like Big Books" and "Their" stickers and a necklace that I have been wanting for at least 2 years. "I Still Believe in 398.2" is a reference to the fairy tale section in the Dewey Decimal library system. It's like the nerdiest thing ever, right? :) I love it!

So that's my haul. How was your Christmas/holiday season? Tell me all about it or link up your pictures if you have them!

Review: "The Snow Queen" Classic a Month #12.2014

The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson
2 out of 5 stars

I am obsessed with the movie Frozen. I've watched the movie at least half a dozen times, I have the soundtrack on my phone, I got the Funko Pop figures for Christmas, when anyone says "do you want to...", I finish it with "...build a snowman?" So when I heard that it was based on Hans Christian Anderson's fairy tale, The Snow Queen, I was super excited to read it for my December classic.

And after reading it...well, let me just save you the trouble. Frozen is very loosely based on this story. An inkling of an idea exists, but that's about it. I was pretty disappointed, to be honest. The story kind of went all over the place and didn't make a lot of sense. The few parts that I actually enjoyed were super short and it moved on to something else.

Now then, let us begin. When we are at the end of the story, we shall know more than we know now; but to begin.

This is a story of magic, as most fairy tales are. We begin with a sprite, or fairy, who creates a mirror that shows evil and ugliness in its reflection. The mirror is broken into thousands of pieces all around the world and wherever it lands, the evil is multiplied. The worst is when a sliver lands in a person's eye or their heart. (Small reference to Frozen.) Then, they are forever frozen against love and goodness.

A little boy and girl (Kay & Gerda) are the best of friends, until Kay gets one of those slivers in his heart. He runs off and meets the Snow Queen, who takes him as her own. Gerda is devastated and decides to go looking for him. The rest of the story tells of her adventures, first with talking flowers who tell long, convoluted tales of their own. "I don't understand that at all," said little Gerda. (and me) Then she meets a prince and princess with the help of a Raven and a robber maiden who first wants to kill her and then decides to help her, a reindeer (Sven?) who takes her to Finland and finally the Queen's castle made of ice. Even though she is just a girl, she gets no help from anyone beyond that.

"I can give her no more power than what she has already. She must not hear of her power from us; that power lies in her heart, because she is a sweet and innocent child!"

Gerda arrives at the castle barefoot and freezing but she says the Lord's Prayer and is saved by a legion of angels. She finds Kay, who is nearly black with cold, and wraps him in a warm hug. "Then little Gerda shed burning tears; and they fell on his bosom, they penetrated to his heart, they thawed the lumps of ice, and consumed the splinters of the looking-glass." The children make the long trip back home, nearly grown-ups now, and the journey is really just a dream to them.

Review: "The Little Prince" Classic a Month #11.2014

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery
3 out of 5 stars

Okay, I'll just say it flat out...I didn't really "get" this book. Maybe I'm reading too much into it or maybe not enough, I don't know. I know there's probably some big lesson I should be getting out of it, but I didn't. It was a sweet, sad little story yes, but I know I missed the big picture. Those of you who have read it, help me out here? And if you haven't read it, go try and let me know what you think! (Spoilers here, of course.)

So, this is the story of a little prince from a far off star planet who arrives on Earth. He befriends a pilot whose plane has gone down in the middle of the desert and as the man is trying to fix it, the prince keeps him occupied with stories of his travels. First, he tells of his own little planet, with its beautifully unique flower, three volcanoes (one extinct), and forty-four sunsets a day. Then he begins to tell of the people and beings he has met on the other planets: a king who rules only over himself, a conceited man who demands admiration, a drunk who drinks because he is ashamed of his drinking. Each person he meets imparts a lesson or bit of wisdom on the boy.

"One must require from each one the duty which each one can perform."

"Then you shall judge yourself. That is the most difficult thing of all. It is much more difficult to judge oneself than to judge others. If you succeed in judging yourself rightly, then you are indeed a man of true wisdom."

Then there is the businessman who collects the stars in a bank of numbers, the lamplighter, and the geographer who does not explore.

"Little golden objects that set lazy men to idle dreaming."
"Ah! You mean the stars?"

And finally, he arrives on Earth, where he meets a snake who promises to help send him back to his star when he is ready. He meets a garden full of roses, exactly like the flower he left behind. "I thought that I was rich, with a flower that was unique in all the world; and all I had was a common rose. That doesn't make me a very great prince." He tames a fox and learns a valuable lesson about his flower and himself.

"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." 

And then he meets the pilot. He asks the man to draw him a sheep to take home with him and a box to keep him in. The man listens, sometimes impatiently, to the prince's stories and on the eighth day, they must go in search of water or die. They magically find a well and drink the golden water and there, the prince tells the man that the anniversary of his trip is coming up and it is time for him to return home. The man does not understand at first and then tries to talk the boy out of it, but it is no use. He cannot take his body back to his star with him and so must leave it there. The snake is back to help him on his journey and the prince gives one last gift to the man.

"And at night you will look up at the stars. My star will just be one of the stars, for you. And so you will love to watch all the stars in the heavens...they will all be your friends."