I've never been much of an outdoorsy person, and to be truthful, I really do not like getting dirty. Camping=dirty. I mean, who'd want to sleep on the ground outside when you could have a nice soft mattress any day? Maybe it's just me... I mean, it probably is. But it doesn't mean I have to like it.
Why am I going? Of course, Labor Day Weekend is coming up and what better way to spend the week than sleeping in? No I'm joking, in case you don't understand my sense of humor, and so camping it is! Any tips on how to stay neat during my trek in the wild? Please let me know, I'll be stressing over my hair every minute of the day.
However, take it from a worldly person, here are my tips:
1) Dress comfortable and extremely neat.
2) Tie your hair up.
3) Don't sweat.
Okay, so I really need tips if anything right? I'll be absent (no wifi T-T) but I'll clue you in on my beloved "camping" trip. It's going to be so much fun! XD
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Monday, August 26, 2013
Eragon: Why It's The Best Book Ever
Okay, so I figured I needed to do a tribute to Eragon, my one and beloved. Eragon, nothing holds any contest to you! I must admit though, I've definitely considered different books to be second to Eragon, but never first. Nope, none are up-to-par with my dearest novel. I could mention quite a few that really came close but just fell short:
The Harry Potter Series, oh yes, I had a major addiction to this series that I've read maybe ten times over, but I felt it just wasn't as... how do you say it... practical as Eragon. I'm not saying that dragons and Gallbatorix (BTW, that's the evil antagonist in case you couldn't already tell by his devilishly hot name) are practical, if anything, they're the opposite. But what I am saying is, the plots that lie under the main story are so epic, they build into the book very nicely and comfortably. Whereas in Harry Potter, most of the book is told from Harry's point of view, Eragon likes to also mash a few different scenes and perspectives up (from Roran, to Saphira, to even Nasuada)*.
The Lord of the Rings Series: To be truthful, this series probably shouldn't even be listed here but since there are so many Frodo fans out there, I figured I had to say something. Take it from someone who's done a Lord of the Rings marathon (the EXTENDED version okay?!) and tried reading the books. Maybe it's just me, but I was seriously falling asleep halfway through. There is just SO much dialogue and elvish songs that I don't even bother to sing... much less read. To be fair to all the staunch Hobbit supporters out there, Eragon has plenty of dialogue too... and the first time I read it, it struck me as a little draggy too. Fair enough? Good.
The Percy Jackson Series: could very well be second place if not for one thing. The reading level is just so....... elementary. I'm sorry, it's true. Other than that, everything is packed up very nicely: the humor, the serious parts. Oh my gosh, I just want to die when Annabeth and Percy share their first kiss!!! But seriously, too elementary, if anything.
Hope I wasn't too harsh to any fanatic fans of the books I mentioned. However, remember, this is coming from an Eragon bias! More on Eragon soon... but I think my next review might be about something nice, gory, and so suspenseful!
The Harry Potter Series, oh yes, I had a major addiction to this series that I've read maybe ten times over, but I felt it just wasn't as... how do you say it... practical as Eragon. I'm not saying that dragons and Gallbatorix (BTW, that's the evil antagonist in case you couldn't already tell by his devilishly hot name) are practical, if anything, they're the opposite. But what I am saying is, the plots that lie under the main story are so epic, they build into the book very nicely and comfortably. Whereas in Harry Potter, most of the book is told from Harry's point of view, Eragon likes to also mash a few different scenes and perspectives up (from Roran, to Saphira, to even Nasuada)*.
The Lord of the Rings Series: To be truthful, this series probably shouldn't even be listed here but since there are so many Frodo fans out there, I figured I had to say something. Take it from someone who's done a Lord of the Rings marathon (the EXTENDED version okay?!) and tried reading the books. Maybe it's just me, but I was seriously falling asleep halfway through. There is just SO much dialogue and elvish songs that I don't even bother to sing... much less read. To be fair to all the staunch Hobbit supporters out there, Eragon has plenty of dialogue too... and the first time I read it, it struck me as a little draggy too. Fair enough? Good.
The Percy Jackson Series: could very well be second place if not for one thing. The reading level is just so....... elementary. I'm sorry, it's true. Other than that, everything is packed up very nicely: the humor, the serious parts. Oh my gosh, I just want to die when Annabeth and Percy share their first kiss!!! But seriously, too elementary, if anything.
Hope I wasn't too harsh to any fanatic fans of the books I mentioned. However, remember, this is coming from an Eragon bias! More on Eragon soon... but I think my next review might be about something nice, gory, and so suspenseful!
Monday, August 19, 2013
The Secret Series: Book 1 (The Name of This Book Is Secret)
And just like the title of this blog post, yes it is.... well not really. Seriously, the Secret Series aren't a series that supposed to be kept secret because 1) It's a published book by a published author. 2) I'm blogging about it. I think that's a fair enough explanation, right? Onward, to the review! (forgive my Eragon speech, it rubs off on you after reading the book too many times to count)
The Characters (who, by the way, the author claims are not their real names, as its is "SECRET"):
Cassandra: the main heroine, who I'm not going to go into because she's much too complicated
Max-Ernest: one of Cass's sidekicks, who I'm also not going into because he's very much too complicated
Yo-Yoji: another one of Cass's friends, who...
WELL... you can kind of get where I'm going. So scratch that... or as I would say "pony-scratch" that and lets look at the basics. What kind of boring blog would this be if I just listed the characters and gave the book a grade?!? Not a good review at all... I mean, talk about boorrinnggg. So lets redo this and I'll break it down step by step...
Why You Should Care
I know, I know, another book that no one's ever heard of. Well, actually that's not true but regardless. For those avid readers who like a bit of fun and exciting, mixed with humor so funny that you don't laugh out loud but instead, smile at inside, then this is the right book for you. Ok, so I'm sure you've heard of let's say, A Series of Unfortunate Events (which, believe me, I liked at the beginning but felt it got so boring at the end). Okay, so that's a pretty popular series, and if you liked those books, then you just have to like the Secret Series. Just take a look at the author's name: Pseudonymous Bosch. Oh what a name! (Believe it or not, I actually thought that was his real name until I did some Googling). And then I realized, of course, it's a pseudonym... I mean, serious brain fart right?
The Plot: So Dangerous It's a SECRET
Oh sure, I'm going to do a review on a book that's secret. Silly me. Well, enter the world of... well... yourself. In the beginning of the book, Mr. Bosch downright tells you that he can't say anything that might indicate/imply the characters, in fact, he can't even tell you what their real names are, where they live, what friends they have, etc etc. And so, you pretend they live in your neighborhood. Yippee, you get to be not-really part of a book! And then Mr. Bosch decides to create a Chapter One-And-A-Half, full of x's that make it impossible to know what the real writing says. Oh great, now you've got an entire book full of pony scratch. But believe me, it gets better. I can't say more without completely ruining the story (which is good since it's "a secret") but full of snark, wit, and sarcasm, it's perfect for a bored-out-of-your-mind tween!
Characters: This Time, For Real
Very sorry for that previous hold-back on the characters, but I simply had to make a point. That characters don't just deserve to be listed, they deserve to be described to the fullest, with a plaque for their names, and.... who am I kidding! Absolutely not, that would be a waste of time so I'm about to do the exact same thing I just said I wasn't going to do... list the characters.
Cassandra (Cass): a survivalist who's convinced some kind of disaster is going to happen every second, typical crazy heroine, but level-headed enough to keep a secret (which is of utmost importance in this book... I mean, duh, it's called the Secret Series)
Max-Ernest (nickname: none): Parents couldn't decide which name to give him, so they settled on the who-knows-what name of Max-Ernest and got divorced (lovely family, no?)
The Midnight Sun: is nothing you need to know about... it's not important at all!
The Terces Society: Oh please, forget this name, erase it, scratch it out. Nope, not of the UTMOST IMPORTANCE!
Rating:
4.5 out of 5 sparkles... I admit, I was rather hopelessly attracted to reading this book (while I ate breakfast, painted my nails, etc etc.) There really is nothing else for me to say about this first book except that... it's good. And I hope you get that because if you don't, please stop reading this blog... Got it? Good! Hope you enjoyed that, if you didn't, sucks for you! Keep on SPARKLING!
The Characters (who, by the way, the author claims are not their real names, as its is "SECRET"):
Cassandra: the main heroine, who I'm not going to go into because she's much too complicated
Max-Ernest: one of Cass's sidekicks, who I'm also not going into because he's very much too complicated
Yo-Yoji: another one of Cass's friends, who...
WELL... you can kind of get where I'm going. So scratch that... or as I would say "pony-scratch" that and lets look at the basics. What kind of boring blog would this be if I just listed the characters and gave the book a grade?!? Not a good review at all... I mean, talk about boorrinnggg. So lets redo this and I'll break it down step by step...
Why You Should Care
I know, I know, another book that no one's ever heard of. Well, actually that's not true but regardless. For those avid readers who like a bit of fun and exciting, mixed with humor so funny that you don't laugh out loud but instead, smile at inside, then this is the right book for you. Ok, so I'm sure you've heard of let's say, A Series of Unfortunate Events (which, believe me, I liked at the beginning but felt it got so boring at the end). Okay, so that's a pretty popular series, and if you liked those books, then you just have to like the Secret Series. Just take a look at the author's name: Pseudonymous Bosch. Oh what a name! (Believe it or not, I actually thought that was his real name until I did some Googling). And then I realized, of course, it's a pseudonym... I mean, serious brain fart right?
The Plot: So Dangerous It's a SECRET
Oh sure, I'm going to do a review on a book that's secret. Silly me. Well, enter the world of... well... yourself. In the beginning of the book, Mr. Bosch downright tells you that he can't say anything that might indicate/imply the characters, in fact, he can't even tell you what their real names are, where they live, what friends they have, etc etc. And so, you pretend they live in your neighborhood. Yippee, you get to be not-really part of a book! And then Mr. Bosch decides to create a Chapter One-And-A-Half, full of x's that make it impossible to know what the real writing says. Oh great, now you've got an entire book full of pony scratch. But believe me, it gets better. I can't say more without completely ruining the story (which is good since it's "a secret") but full of snark, wit, and sarcasm, it's perfect for a bored-out-of-your-mind tween!
Characters: This Time, For Real
Very sorry for that previous hold-back on the characters, but I simply had to make a point. That characters don't just deserve to be listed, they deserve to be described to the fullest, with a plaque for their names, and.... who am I kidding! Absolutely not, that would be a waste of time so I'm about to do the exact same thing I just said I wasn't going to do... list the characters.
Cassandra (Cass): a survivalist who's convinced some kind of disaster is going to happen every second, typical crazy heroine, but level-headed enough to keep a secret (which is of utmost importance in this book... I mean, duh, it's called the Secret Series)
Max-Ernest (nickname: none): Parents couldn't decide which name to give him, so they settled on the who-knows-what name of Max-Ernest and got divorced (lovely family, no?)
The Midnight Sun: is nothing you need to know about... it's not important at all!
The Terces Society: Oh please, forget this name, erase it, scratch it out. Nope, not of the UTMOST IMPORTANCE!
Rating:
4.5 out of 5 sparkles... I admit, I was rather hopelessly attracted to reading this book (while I ate breakfast, painted my nails, etc etc.) There really is nothing else for me to say about this first book except that... it's good. And I hope you get that because if you don't, please stop reading this blog... Got it? Good! Hope you enjoyed that, if you didn't, sucks for you! Keep on SPARKLING!
First Project: Operation Pony Scratch
Okay, so this is my first post, since my last blog about my trip to Taiwan about 3 months ago. After the joy of summer gradually faded away, I realized I really missed blogging, and so in an attempt to add some variety to my typical student life, I've decided to start Operation Pony Scratch, that is, a book review blog. For all my fellow bookponies out there (ERomo, certainly you!), perhaps this will be a nice little blog to recommend books of my choosing to you (and for you to recommend books to me also!). Operation Pony Scratch was born from the depths of my tired, slightly busy/bored mind, when I was looking over my past blogs about Taiwan (oh the fun I had!) and I decided I missed the life of poking fun at whatever it was that I poked fun at. So in an attempt to make this introductory post short (I'm known for being very verbose), welcome, to Operation Pony Scratch. Any comments, concerns, questions, will be answered hopefully, and I think the time is ripe for me to head onward onto the life of reviewing books. I don't particularly know when this blog will end (knowing me, maybe very soon or maybe for quite some time) but I hope you're all willing to take the journey of reading books with me (maybe there'll be like 5 of you but who cares!) Get ready for the first book and keep on sparkling!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)