Calling All High School Bloggers!

Since Jenn from Books at Midnight put this all in a great post that I cannot upstage I'm just going to leave THIS HERE LINK.

If you're a high school blogger, please go check out her post!

Two posts in two days? WHAT?

I said I wouldn't be back for a while. But, alas, procrastination is my close companion and so here I am. Today the ever lovely Amna posted about how she is experiencing YA- deja vu in which her life is starting to resemble her YA novel. You can read it here. And then come back. I'll wait.

*elevator music plays*

Okay, okay. ANYWAY. I got to thinking after I read the blog post and thought to myself, "How friggin' awesome would it be if your life turned into your favorite YA novel?" After some more thinking I've decided there are a few ways it could go.

1. Awesomely awesome in every way

You meet the significant other of your dreams and ride of into the sunset after a few bumps in the road. Kick ass supernatural powers optional. Everything is peachy keen and you've survived the experience with all of your sanity intact. (Ex: Dash & Lily's Book of Dares)

2. A horrible disaster of epic proportions

You find yourself torn from your cushy life and thrown into a world of battle and near starvation. You have to go through numerous grueling tasks and come out of the experience barely able to spell your name. (Ex. Hunger Games)

3. You have no idea what just happened

Literally. The story barely made sense when you read it and now that you're living it you have no idea what the hell is going on anymore. (Ex. Going Bovine)

4. You pass on
Choose your favorite YA novel carefully, but being even more cautious with your favorite character choice. If you like Harry Potter and the time comes when the Agency that Puts People in their Favorite YA Books (ATPPITFYAB for short) asks who you want to be like DO NOT SAY SIRIUS BLACK. Okay? You will die and then that would really suck for you.

So there you have it. The only possible ways I can see the idea of being in your favorite YA novel ending. Now you all know what happens when I don't want to do my work. I hope you have something better to do than read this pointless post (yay for alliteration!), but if not, I hope this provided some sort of entertainment.

Can any of you much more creative people think of other situations?

Mini Reviews!

I'm always trying to keep up with school and a social life while continuing to keep up this blog-which I'm not doing a very good job of as of late. Because of time not being unlimited, I've decided to try doing the occasional group of mini reviews. Anyone who's followed my blog for a while knows my reviews are uh....long. So, let's see how this goes!


Rot & Ruin by Jonathon Maberry-


Summary:

In the zombie-infested, post-apocalyptic America where Benny Imura lives, every teenager must find a job by the time they turn fifteen or get their rations cut in half. Benny doesn't want to apprentice as a zombie hunter with his boring older brother Tom, but he has no choice. He expects a tedious job whacking zoms for cash, but what he gets is a vocation that will teach him what it means to be human.

My thoughts:

I absolutely adored this book. Shouting from rooftops, dancing the chacha, singing show tunes adoration. The characters are expertly crafted and the plot was paced to perfection. Maberry gives readers a world full of contradictions and looks into the nature of human beings. Rot & Ruin is a story about zombies, yes, but it is full of interesting lines and history and I love it.

I'd recommend it for:

Any reader who can deal with a little bit of gore.

Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John-

Summary:

The Challenge: Piper has one month to get the rock band Dumb a paying gig.

The Deal: If she does it, Piper will become the band's manager and get her share of the profits.

The Catch: How can Piper possibly manage one egomaniacal pretty boy, one talentless piece of eye candy, one crush, one silent rocker, and one angry girl? And how can she do it when she's deaf?

Piper can't hear Dumb's music, but with growing self-confidence, a budding romance, and a new understanding of the decision her family made to buy a cochlear implant for her deaf baby sister, she discovers her own inner rock star and what it truly means to be a flavor of Dumb.

My Thoughts:

I was very excited to start this book after reading the summary. I wasn't disappointed. The characters and plot come together to create a coming of age story that blends a love of music with the inability to hear it. It's unique and I truly loved stepping into Piper's world!

I'd recommend it for:

Anyone who enjoys YA.

That's all I've got for now, but within the next week or so I'll be posting a full review of the first two Zan-Gah books, so look out for that. :)

Have a great weekend!

I don't like you, Bitch Media. I don't like you at all right now.

So as many of you probably already know, Bitch Magazine posted a List of 100 YA Books for the Feminist Reader late last week. A ton of wonderful books made the list and most people were ecstatic about their favorite authors making the cut. It was a time of rainbows and unicorns and sunshine. That all lasted about a day until the trolls came to do their usually duties (i.e. ruining everything, bitching about issues that don't exist, being generally annoying in all aspects of their existence).

These trolls stomped in and left comments (and apparently sent emails as well) stating 'reasons' why  Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan, Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott, and Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce should be taken off the list. Let me begin my rant by saying that out of the three I've only read Sisters Red. (After the way I've seen people defend Tender Morsels and Living Dead Girl, I will definitely be reading both of them.)

ANYWAY....

Bitch Media caved in a not very feminist manner and took the books off the list. They stated that they read the books (how they read 960 pages in approximately three days while still doing their jobs I will never know) and agreed that some topics in them were triggering for rape survivors and they didn't want to expose their readers to that. (Fun fact: There is not one instance of rape in Sisters Red.) My reaction was something like this:

Like I said, I have only read one of the three books removed from the list, so I won't preach at you about the values of the books being removed. I'm going to instead try to understand where Bitch Media is coming from. They say, 'TRIGGERING BE BAD. NO RAPE ALLOWED HURR.' This makes me cringe. Rape is a very real part of some people's lives and hiding from it won't stop it from happening. They are censoring what rape victims are exposed to. Who are these people to decide what rape survivors are strong enough to read?

Another issue I have with this is that books about rape are taken off the list but books about cutting (Uglies), killers (Hunger Games), eating disorders (Wintergirls), and many other topics that can fall under the category of 'triggering' remained on the list. I am in no way saying these books should be taken off as well, but rather that Bitch seems to be picking and choosing which audiences to conform their list too. Sure, the only topic complained about was rape, but if they really are that intent on avoiding triggering, why not rethink every book on the list? That, my friends, is the question.

Bitch Media left a final statement saying once again that they were not changing the list because of the comments, but because after rereading (and in some cases reading for the first time) the books mentioned they realized these books were not meant for the list. I find that laughable and am now quite upset over this whole business! Have an opinion on this? Leave a comment, let's talk about it.

You can view the altered list and comments here. Also, check out these fantastic posts about the list: one two three.

*In non-Bitch related news:

Anyone else waiting anxiously to find out if Alex Pettyfer will be cast as Jace? I've been checking Cassie Clare's twitter obsessively waiting for news.