The Fault In Our Stars

DISCLAIMER: I am discussing the book, The Fault In Our Stars, so if you haven't read it yet, it's probably not a good idea to read this post. The story itself was decent, but it was too "story book romantic" where every date was perfect and of course they fell in love. And I mean Amsterdam, really? (Anyone else noticed they did the dance of life the same night they had their first kiss?) After they got back from Amsterdam however, I felt like how the story was told got weird. It seemed more like Hazel was kinda narrating what was going on instead of you actually reading the story as it happened, except a few times like when they were playing video games and his nephews were running around and stuff. I felt this narrative-like description up until Augustus's prefuneral and after that. I kind of knew something was going to happen like one of them died and they were in love and all that sad stuff though, but I wasn't sure how it would happen. I think Augustus's personality made it harder though (I mean he planned his own funeral for goodness sake). The ending really tied up lose ends though, and it was almost a "happy" ending that Hazel got to read the ending Gus wrote for her and that she decided she was happy with her decisions. There wasn't really anything that made it spectacular for me though, although I really enjoyed all the philosophical insight about how the universe wants to be noticed and all that, and I also enjoyed the sassiness of the characters. Overall a good book, but not something I would reread.  

Don't forget to watch

You can tell a lot about a person by how they eat their food.

If they like it piping hot and right out of the oven, they probably have a hot temper and like to fight.

They eat really slowly, then they are probably mellow and take their time to analyze the situation.

They don't like their food to touch, then they like to plan things out and enjoy order.

You wouldn't think it, but peoples' subconscious actions can tell a lot about who they are. It's kind of strange how that happens though; how can someone express their personality by doing something as primitive as eating food? On a side note, how is it that other people can be so ignorant as to ignore someone exhibit their personality through the small actions they do? People can pretend to be as secretive about their personalities as they want to be, but their subconscious will always show the truth. So maybe if people were more observant and not so obsessive about their own lives, they would create better friendships and make more friends. It's the observant that always win.

Prepared or not?

Today my mom and I started to put together my graduation announcements. Putting my name card in each slot thing, adding in each picture, throwing in a graduation party invite, and hand addressing each and every one of them (it's a good thing I do that at work mostly every day or I may have suffered more than I did). I asked my mom if she was going to cry and she snapped at me because she almost did. While sitting there though, I realized how anticlimactic this all seemed to me. AP tests in two weeks, eh. Graduation in a month and a half, that's kinda cool. College orientation the next week, yeah that sounds fun. Basically my entire life before this has been leading up to graduating high schoo. It's almost here, within spitting distance (if you're good), and it doesn't seem more than just a big party. Even college doesn't seem so scary anymore to me, but that's probably a good thing. A momentary thing too. Maybe it's because AACT has made me so completely prepared for the next step, or maybe it's because of another reason that is beyond by control, but I'm glad it has come down to this. I would rather be completely prepared and confident about my future than hiding in the corner, playing solitaire in the darkness.

Heart of Darkness

The other day in English class, our teacher was discussing Heart of Darkness. He said that basically the entire point of the book is to understand the ambiguity (ironic) and all the juxtapositions. Basically HOW the book was written, and not what it is about. Right when he said that I knew I was in deep mud because I barely understood what it was about, and barely had any idea about how it was written (besides super difficultly and complicated enough so I don't know what's going on). I don't notice the majority of what he talks about the next day in class, and just confuse myself even more when I try to look for them when I read the next couple pages. I really hope Heart of Darkness isn't a pivotal book in my life, because I would be in trouble if it was. I'm really relying on the other books I've read for the AP test, because I don't understand what is happening.

Hunger Games trilogy

I'm not sick I swear. 2,761 pages in 35 hours is not crazy. Six books over spring break is completely normal, I'm sure of it.

DISCLAIMER: I will be discussing the Hunger Games so if you haven't read them yet, then I advise against reading this post. Aside from reading the Divergent series, I also started and finished the Hunger Games series, and let me be the first to say, I was rather disappointed. I really did enjoy the first book, but it all went downhill from there. It may have been because I just finished the Divergent series though, and I completely fell in love with that one. The first book doesn't hesitate to get right into the thick of things, and I really enjoyed the author's creativity with the torture and styles, but the descriptions left nothing to imagination, and I could basically predict the entire book, and no, I haven't seen either of the movies. The second book, however, I couldn't predict at all, although I'm not really sure I could describe what happened to someone if they asked, spare the ending. The third book was kinda the same thing, but the epilogue really had a lot of meaning, which helped. Peeta really threw me off guard, and I think he, along with Katniss, was one of my favorite characters. I never really knew what he was going to say, and enjoyed everything he said. Although Katniss was extremely stubborn, I really liked her sass and passion. I liked Gale too, but I think that's because I felt bad for him for loving Katniss when she couldn't decide who she liked. I enjoyed how the author played the tragic love triangle throughout the whole series though. Overall, I wasn't as impressed as I expected, considering everyone's reactions. I felt like I was completely in the story and running with the characters while reading Divergent, but like I was barely skipping the surface while reading the Hunger Games. Even when they referenced the Games Katniss and Peeta participated in later in the series, I barely remembered what happened or felt the emotion. I feel almost cruel comparing The Hunger Games to Divergent, but that's just where my mind always wandered when I wasn't paying attention to what I was reading.

Divergent trilogy

DISCLAIMER: there may be some spoilers in this post. The Saturday that we went on spring break I went to the movies and watched Divergent (the new IMAX theater in sparks is MAGESTIC by the way). After I saw it, I was hooked. I bough the books and read the entire trilogy in a weekend. The first movie didn't completely follow the book, but it was still a great movie and I was still very pleased with the way they made it. The second book is super crazy intense and I think it's my favorite book in the trilogy. Not only does it have LOADS of action, but it makes it seem realistic because of the romance and relationship drama. Some of the fights pain me internally because I fell in love with the characters, though. But the book subtlety focuses on feminism and how strong women are. The third book however, made me want to scream and throw the book at the wall and cry my eyes out (most of which I did). It completely unearths the idea of the first two books, it is super harsh, and the new characters are horribly mean people without realizing it. I was dying the entire time I was reading it, especially at the end. (SPOILER ALERT I felt like the death was super sudden and rather anticlimactic, even if I totally knew it was coming. I died and cried until the end of the book. Tobias broke my heart because I loved them so much). Honestly, life would be completely content if you didn't even bother to read the last one. It was a good book, yes, but I have completely mixed emotions about it. I hate that basically everyone died and that the people that lived had to live their lives without them. It broke my heart, but I guess that's how you know it was a good book; because I was so emotionally invested in it. The epilogue is really touching and really meaningful, but I still hate the ending. I am very excited for the next couple movies to come out so I can see how the directors do it. Overall a very good series and I highly recommend it. (I tried to be as vauge as possible so people don't necessarily know who my spoilers are about)

Handmaid's Tale

For English class, we had to read a book and choose between either The Handmaid's Tale, 1984, or another one I don't remember, and I chose The Handmaid's Tale. I was surprised about how interesting it actually was to me, and even more surprised how much I felt I related to it, considering what it's about. On the surface you probably think I'm crazy, but if you strip away their situation and look at what they are actually dealing with, you realize how relatable it is. It has a lot about women suppression and the human desire to feel loved. I also think the way the author writes it speaks to me; I believe she writes super similarly to how I would (although I'm no where near as good as expressing my intricate thoughts as she is), especially how she addresses the reader as a real person in chapter 41 (or maybe it was 40, I read both today). Off my high horse, I also relate because I am a woman, the gender which most of the story revolve around. I once read somewhere that the way to be a good writer is to write a story that everyone can relate to, and I feel as if The Handmaid's Tale really exemplifies this thought. Heck, I even tweet about enjoying it, and that's saying quite a bit.