Friday, July 25, 2014

Peeps (Book Review)

Title: Peeps
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Publisher: Penguin
Source: Library

Goodreads Summary:
 Last year as college freshman, narrator Cal was infected by exotic goth Morgan with a parasite that caused following girlfriends to become vampire-like ghouls he calls parasite-positives "Peeps". A carrier without symptoms, he hunts his progeny for the centuries old bureaucratic Night Watch. But victims are showing more sanity, pretty human Lacey is pushing his buttons, and her apartment building basement houses fierce hordes of ravening rats, red-eyed cats, and monstrous worms that threaten all. Morgan has the secret to a centuries-old conspiracy and upcoming battle to save the human race.

Thoughts:
I have loved everything I have read by Scott Westerfeld and this is no exception. I am usually so sick of the vampire/werewolf/zombie genre that if I had known that that's what this book is about, I'm not sure I would have picked it up, but I'm glad I did. It is such a refreshing twist on the vampire idea that I loved it.

I really enjoyed the science facts about parasites spread out through the book and how these were used to explain the disease. A bit of science always makes fantasy more interesting in my opinion and there were a lot of interesting facts in the books as well as a great story.

It was a quick read as I didn't want to put it down after I picked it up and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a good twist on the young-adult vampire tale.

Rating: 4.5/5 
 

Book Beginnings and 56: Crank

Hosted by Rose City Reader

"Life was good
before I
met                    
                        the monster.

After,
life
                       was great.

At
least
                      for a little while."

Hosted by Freda's Voice

And it occurred to me                 for one uneasy moment
that every move I had            made lately might have
started a landslide.

What if I couldn't go back?                  What if I died in the crash?

Almost immediately,                   the monster soothed
       me, confused me          with a deeper question.
What if the ride was worth it?

I mean, who wants to                  trudge through life, doing
everything just right?        Taking no chances means
wasting your dreams.

How can I explain the                  pure chilling rush of
waiting to do something        so basically not right?
No fear. No guilt.

How can I explain                  purposely setting foot on
a path so blatantly         treacherous? Was the
fun in the fall?"

(56% or page 300-301 of Crank. I tried to make the editing look the same, I'm sorry if its not perfect.)

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Chasing Shackleton (Movie Review)

Title: Chasing Shackleton
Studio: PBS
Source: Library
Book Review: Here

PBS Summary:

The series follows a crew of five intrepid explorers led by renowned adventurer, scientist and author Tim Jarvis as they re-create Shackleton’s epic sea-and-land voyage in a replica of the original explorers’ boat, using only the tools and supplies his team used.
Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Trans-Antarctic Expedition, which launched in 1914, met with disaster when his ship The Endurance was crushed by arctic ice and sank. His heroic leadership in the face of almost certain death saved the lives of 27 men stranded in the Antarctic for more than 500 days, and has inspired explorers and leaders across every continent over many generations.
Jarvis’ team’s recreation included crossing the treacherous Southern Ocean from Elephant Island to South Georgia (800 nautical miles) in a small wooden boat while battling gales, rough seas and stomach-churning swells. Once on land, the crew faced weather conditions they described as “Scotland on steroids” — simultaneous high winds, torrential rain, snow, hail and ice. When the weather eased, Jarvis and two teammates (Barry Gray and Paul Larsen) trekked inland to reach an old whaling station at Stromness on South Georgia, traversing an icy, crevasse-riddled mountain range in unmapped territory, the route Shackleton and his men took as their only hope for rescue almost a century ago.
The expedition, which occurred over three weeks in early 2013, had been in development since 2008 when Shackleton’s granddaughter Alexandra approached Jarvis with the idea to honor her grandfather and his heroic achievements. After agreeing to the challenge, Jarvis selected a team of British and Australian adventurers based on their determination, passion for adventure and their sailing and climbing skills.
Jarvis’s vessel, named Alexandra Shackleton, was an exact replica of the James Caird, from its hand-stitched sails made from 1914 sailcloth down to the brass screws that held its wooden planks together. To complete the authentic experience the team used 100-year-old equipment, navigational tools and period clothing that, perhaps, helped them unlock Shackleton’s survival secrets, and gain insight into the original crew’s courage. State-of-the-art cameras were built into the boat and expedition cameraman and director Ed Wardle joined the crew to capture the action as it happened.

Thoughts:
  I'm not going to lie, I fell asleep about half way through watching this so take this review with a grain of salt. It was a good documentary and explained the history and the trials that Shackleton had gone through very well. It explained the current expedition well too.

My favorite part, though, was seeing Sir Ranulph Fiennes, as he is my favorite Antarctic explorer (and if you're looking for a good read about Antarctic adventure, I would highly recommend his book Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know: The Autobiography). This documentary just lacked adventure and character for me, which is unfortunate because it is obvious that the expedition did not.

There is nothing really wrong with this documentary, but it should say a lot that I fell asleep during a show on one of my favorite topics and didn't think twice about returning it without rewatching the second half.

Rating: 2.5/5

Harry Potter Moment of the Week: Ron Weasley

Hosted by Uncorked Thoughts

Best 'Ron' Moment


Harry kicked out wildly, trying to push himself back to the surface, but merely propelled himself into the rocky side of the pool. Thrashing, suffocating, he scrabbled at the strangling chain, his frozen fingers unable to loosen it, and now little lights were popping inside his head, and he was going to drown, there was nothing left, nothing he could do, and the arms that closed around his chest were surely Death’s…
Chocking and retching, soaking and colder than he had ever been in his life, he came to facedown in the snow. Somewhere, close by, another person was panting and coughing and staggering around. Hermione had come again, as she had come when the snake attacked…Yet it did not sound like her, not with those deep coughs, nor judging by the weight of the footsteps…
Harry had no strength to lift his head and see his savior’s identity. All he could do was raise a shaking hand to his throat and feel the place where the locket had cut tightly into his flesh. It was gone. Someone had cut him free. Then a panting voice spoke from over his head.
“Are – you – 
mental?”
Nothing but the shock of hearing that voice could have given Harry the strength to get up. Shivering violently, he staggered to his feet. There before him stood Ron, fully dressed but drenched to the skin, his hair plastered to his face, the sword of Gryffindor  in one hand and the Horcrux dangling from its broken chain in the other.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows






Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Chasing Shackleton (Book Review)

Title: Chasing Shackleton: Re-creating the World's Greatest Journey of Survival
Author: Tim Jarvis
Publisher: William Morrow
Source: Library

Goodreads Summary:
In this extraordinary adventure memoir and tie-in to the PBS documentary, Tim Jarvis, one of the world's leading explorers, describes his modern-day journey to retrace, for the first time ever—and in period clothing and gear—the legendary 1914 expedition of Sir Ernest Shackleton.
In early 1914, British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton and his team sailed for Antarctica, attempting to be the first to reach the South Pole. Instead of glory, Shackleton and his crew found themselves in an epic struggle for survival: a three-year odyssey on the ice and oceans of the Antarctic that endures as one of the world’s most famous tales of adventure, endurance, and leadership ever recorded.
In the winter of 2013, celebrated explorer Tim Jarvis, a veteran of multiple polar expeditions, set out to recreate Sir Ernest Shackleton’s treacherous voyage over sea and mountain, outfitted solely with authentic equipment—clothing, boots, food, and tools—from Shackleton’s time, a feat that has never been successfully accomplished.
Shackleton's Epic is the remarkable record of Jarvis and his team’s epic journey. Beautifully designed and illustrated with dozens of photographs from the original voyage and its modern reenactment, it is a visual feast for readers and historians alike, and an essential new chapter in the story that has inspired adventurers across every continent for a century.
Thoughts:
I hadn't heard a thing about this book when I picked it up. The title and cover drew me in because I love Antarctica ever since my study abroad there in 2008. I used to know quite a lot about Shackleton although I had forgotten most of it, fortunately this book does a great job of telling his adventure story as well so I wasn't behind.

Actually I found that the parts about Shackleton and the quotes by him and his crew to be the most interesting part of the book, making me think that I would have actually enjoyed a biography of Shackleton more. This book has beautiful pictures and a great story of adventure although I get the feeling that the documentary would be a lot better than the book as it is lacking a little in the writing department.

Would I recommend this book? Yes, but only if you are into this sort of thing. If you are new to the subject of Antarctic adventure, I have certainly read better and would start with something else.

Rating: 3/5

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Top Ten Characters I Would Want with Me on a Deserted Island




  1. Hermione Granger from Harry Potter
  2. Roland from The Dark Tower
  3. Jon Snow from A Game of Thrones
  4. Tris Prior from Divergent
  5. Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games
  6. Samwise Gamgee from The Lord of the Rings
  7. Jessica Day from The Midnighters
  8. Daenerys Targaryen from A Game of Thrones
  9. Tally Youngblood from Uglies
  10. Peeta Mellark from The Hunger Games


Friday, July 18, 2014

Book Beginnings and 56: Chasing Shackleton


Hosted by Rose City Reader

"I thought I knew Antarctica by now. I had been to its frozen alien shores, a world with no native human population, three times. I had become, to the extent one can, "used" to the highest, coldest windiest continent in the world with its extreme weather and the staggering, kilometers-thick mantle of ice that covers it."

Hosted by Freda's Voice

"More and more modern equipment now went into the boat, but none of it would give us an advantage over Shackleton - it would merely allow us to record the experience for Discovery Channel and the American PBS network. In fact, if anything, the equipment could be seen as a disadvantage, significantly reducing the space on board while increasing electrical hazards and fire risk."


Thursday, July 17, 2014

Life of a Blogger: Tattoos

Hosted by Novel Heartbeat
I currently have three tattoos:

 Deathlty Hallows tattoo that I got done the day the final movie was released to celebrate by lifelong obsession with all things Harry Potter:
The Number 13 that my fiancee and both have on our chests, sort of an inside-joke that reminds us of our love each other and how our lives have changed since we met each other"
The corset on my back which I am now realizing I have no good finished picture of. It is now pinkish-purple but here is the outline. I laid there for five and half hours in one session to get it done:



Wednesday, July 16, 2014

A Thousand Splendid Suns (Book Review)

Title: A Thousand Splendid Suns
Author: Khaled Hosseini
Publisher: Riverhead Trade
Source: Library

Goodreads:
A moving story about two women set in Afghanistan. The book's story illustrates both the second class, serf-like treatment of two women and their subjection to physical and emotional brutality that was allowed, enabled and endorsed. We also get to see the bravery, kindness and self-resilience of these same two women. Despite the harsh reality of the story, the humanness and compassion shown by both women while trying to survive in such a brutal and oppressive environment is very uplifting.

Thoughts:
I knew very little of the modern history of Afghanistan going into this book so history lessons that this novel provides was very eye-opening and interesting. Khaled Hosseini does a wonderful job of painting a picture of what it must have been like to live in Afghanistan over the last generations.

On top of this setting is a compelling story of Mariam and Laila that really touchest the heart. The layout of the story, going from to the other with little connection, in the beginning made the book hard to get into at first for me. I did struggle through the first quarter or so of the book.

However the struggle was well worth it because the book gets better and better as it goes on and the ending is both powerful and emotional. It is a story of the history of women and war and rulers in Afghanistan as well as a heart-breaking tale of love and family and well worth the read.

Rating: 4/5

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Top Ten TV Shows

  1. Friends
  2. Dexter
  3. Game of Thrones
  4. Doctor Who
  5. Top Gear
  6. LOST
  7. How I Met Your Mother
  8. Master Chef
  9. Sons of Anarchy
  10. Breaking Bad