Damnable Words, Neverending Consequences: A Book Review on Mister Death's Blue-Eyed Girls

Nora Cunningham is your average teenager living in the year 1956. She's looking forward to summer after having just finished her junior year of high school. She has a best friend, listens to the latest music hits, and daydreams about finally becoming the kind of beauty that gets guys to notice her. The night before the last day of school she attends a party with her best friend, Ellie, and together they join their mutual friends Cheryl and Bobbi Jo for some fun as they spend time hanging out with the boys from their school and try beer for the first time.

But things aren't that simple.

It's the Journey that Matters: A Book Review on Finnikin of the Rock

The first time I read Melina Marchetta's Finnikin of the Rock it went by too fast for me to fully appreciate the writing, the characters and the whole of the story. I blame the fact that I originally bought the book as an early graduation gift. Of course, I was still in the process of completing my thesis which would then lead to my guaranteed graduation so I wasn't actually in the frame of mind to read anything EXCEPT thesis research materials.

But I was going a bit stir crazy by that point so when this lovely hardcover arrived in the mail I spent around 5 hours blazing through the book. When I returned to reading the research for my thesis, my opinion of Finnikin of the Rock was simply that it was a great book and Marchetta was an author I would continue to read. Anything more specific than that was more than I could possibly offer without admitting the whole truth of my sneaky reading experience of the novel.

A Reflection of My Reading List

It appears that I have got a lot of books on my "Currently Reading" list.

........

Okay, so that's definitely an understatement. Either way, I'm looking forward to finishing as many of these books as I possibly can in the next few weeks.

So looking at my list I see The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer up first. This one took some convincing, I'll admit. I'd read some great reviews and I'd read some really horrible ones. I've picked it up and carried it around several times, ready to buy it, only to end up putting it back. Finally, I bought it. I sat down to try reading two chapters before moving on to the next on the list (I figured forcing myself to do this would make it easier to finish all the books in a sufficient amount of time). I found myself almost 50 pages in before I realized I'd gone way past my goal of 2 chapters. Really happy I finally picked it up.

Working Out My Obsessions

It took some time to figure out what my current obsession is. Well, to be more accurate, it’s been a longstanding obsession. It’s one of those things that just stares me in the face but I don’t acknowledge it as an obsession because it would mean admitting I have a problem. And I’m happy with my obsession. After all, there are worse things than being obsessed with books, right?

Personal Stakes

As a recent addition to the MFA program at my university, I've been slowly building up my credits by taking courses that could only be deemed somewhat less of a risk in my mind.

I admit, I'm a coward, and I avoided a writing workshop for as long as possible.

Editing Errors

My first post in a long time and I've decided to post something small about an issue that has been concerning me for some time now.

Editing mistakes.

Now I know I've made quite a few mistakes of my own with my work. I tend to throw in a comma when you least expect it which I've been told throws off the meaning of my sentence. Go figure, right? But they are very pushy about commas when it comes to thesis work so I've since learned my lesson. Or I hope I have, anyway, so it's the thought that counts.

However, the mistakes I'm speaking of involve grammar. I tend to read and re-read, and on and on, etc. for months on end making sure I have the right words in my work. Unfortunately, this just doesn't seem to be the case with the latest books I've been snatching up each release day for the last month or so.

New Year, New Hopes

It's been so long since I've written anything, but as a New Year's Resolution I promise to make more time to write just like I wanted to last summer.

There are so many new things to look forward to this year. I have a book list that extends over the better part of the following year. I have school starting next week, and the time to finish all the reading I've always meant to do for my thesis. And then there's what feels like weddings galore this year. Or maybe I'm exaggerating that.

For now I'm content to read. I have so many books for fun and then just as many books for work, I'm swimming in words. Lucky for me I get new glasses next week. Might make the images just that much sharper and easier on my poor feeble mind.

Here's to a New Year filled with enough new hopes to last a lifetime.