To hold you over until finals week is over . . .

Hey guys!

I was so excited to see all the page views from the last post! It really means a lot to me to know that people are reading my blog. If you like my blog, be sure to leave comments recommending a specific book or an author for me. Also, follow my page if you would like to be the first to know when I leave a new post. Okay, now for one of my favorite books ever.

The first time I've read this book was during my senior year of high school for a literary criticisms research paper. We got to pick our own books, so I read The Color Purple by Alice Walker. I actually had to read it twice, if you can believe it. I read it once over because I had to read it, and I enjoyed it so much that I finished it really quick. I had to reread it though because it never crossed my mind the first time around that this is a book that I have to write a paper on and that it would probably be a good idea to use sticky notes. It took me a little longer to read it the second time. There were so many sticky notes that the book basically doubled in size from all the paper. It was worth reading twice for that paper, though, since I usually don't pick up on symbolism and metaphor and all that good stuff until the second time around. Plus, I got an A on the paper, so that helps.

I actually had to read the book again last semester for my women's studies class, Feminisms and the Arts. Did you think that I would be tired reading the same book three times? Well, guess what? I wasn't.

This is really a book that everyone should read, and I'm talking teens, young adults, not-so-young adults. Everyone. I would even recommend reading this book more than once because it is such an important work of literature because it takes almost every social injustice in the book and brings it to light.

The story is about a young black woman named Celie who has endured abuse her whole life, has had her children and her younger sister taken from her, and is denied nearly every happiness that comes her way. So she writes letters to God and to her sister, Nettie, about her life and what has happened to her, simply because there is no one else who loves her and who will listen to her. Her abusive husband is another of her tormentors, and she can only find comfort in Shug, a Blues singer and her husband's old girlfriend.

Alice Walker's novel is a champion for women, African Americans, victims of abuse, members of the LGBTQ community, and for everyone and anyone who has ever known what it is like to be voiceless. Even if you do not consider yourself one of the above, I still highly recommend this book.

Hope you guys enjoyed! Just one more week before finals, and then you can look forward to many more posts at a much (hopefully) higher frequency. As a preview, I will be soon be reading Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr, and The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater. While I read those, I may post reviews for books I have already read, by authors such as Libba Bray, Maggie Stiefvater, and Stephen King. Be sure to keep checking my blog for new posts.

Happy reading!

Detective novels . . .

Hey guys!

The semester is almost over, so you can look forward to more posts. But for right now, how about a bit of a double blog?

Okay, so for my popular literature class, we've been reading detective novels all semester. Most recently, we just finished reading A Grave Talent by Laurie R. King and, before that, Post-Mortem by Patricia Cornwell. Before I say any more, let me point out the fact that both of these books were written in the nineties, so they're a little out of date.

There are a couple of similarities between the two books, which is why I'm putting them both in one post. For one thing, they both raise feminist issues, as they are both told from the perspective of a woman "detective." The only other similarity is that they both have male working partners to kind of emphasize the fact that they are working in a man's world. Other than those two similarities, these books are vastly different, so I'll talk about Post-Mortem and A Grave Talent, respectively, separately.

Post-Mortem's main character is Kay Scarpetta, a medical examiner. If you've ever seen the TV show Bones before, then you'll understand the general plot for this book. It's actually part of a series, but I've only read this particular installment (which is the first book). Basically, Kay is working alongside a tough-guy cop named Marino on a case that involves a serial killer. The novel opens on Kay visiting the crime scene of the fourth murder victim. The serial killer's MO is that he sneaks into a woman's house (usually a woman who lives alone or with someone who's out a lot) when she's in bed, then rapes and kills her. Since this is a serial killer, there is always the race to catch the murderer before he strikes again, and this builds the tension until you just can't stand it.

It's an interesting read, for sure, and it's relatively easy to read. But if I were you, I wouldn't read it right before bed. I know it's stupid, but I finished the book a little after midnight, and when I got up, I kept watching my back every time I turned off the lights. When I went to bed, I was so creeped out that I wanted to check underneath my bed for any psychos. Other than that, my only problem with the book was the main character, Kay. If it's one thing I hate, it's a whiny protagonist, and all Kay did throughout the novel was complain that her boss was antagonizing her just because she's a woman. He was, but the reader could tell as much without her griping. Ugh.

Now for King's novel, A Grave Talent. I have to admit that I liked this book a lot better than Cornwell's. This book is told from the perspective of Kate Martinelli, a female police officer who's promoted to inspector because she's a woman, most likely to keep feminists from criticizing the department. In this book, Kate works side-by-side with a male cop, Hawkin, to solve the murder of a six-year-old girl with brown hair (yes, another serial killer). Their prime suspect: a woman artist named Vaun who was previously arrested for the murder of a little girl.

Kate is a much more likable protagonist than Kay. Her best quality? She only complains about the lack of sleep she gets while working on the case, and I can totally sympathize with her there (I was staying up late trying to finish the book on time . . . it didn't work). And if the idea of child victims bothers you at all, I'll say that the details devoted to the victims are very minimal. Believe me, I would've had trouble reading this is had there been a bunch of gory details, but I really enjoyed the book.

Overall, I recommend A Grave Talent over Post-Mortem, but I would still recommend the latter for a leisurely read. My professor did say that King's novel is most popular among academics, and if you like art, I would highly recommend it.

As always, leave a comment if there is a book that you would like me to read and write a review on, and I promise I will try my best to get to it this summer. Also coming this summer: writing exercises. I plan on tagging a short writing exercise at the end of each post. I will try out the writing exercise and post what I came up with within the following days. Everyone is welcome to try out the writing exercises for themselves and post their results in the comments. Don't be shy and please be respectful of each other's posts and of my blog in general. Until next time.

Happy reading!

One of my favorite books . . .

Hey, guys!

Sorry, I haven't been posting a lot lately. I promise I'll try to post more frequently. And this time, I have an actual book in mind.

I was first introduced to this book during my senior year of high school when I took a best-sellers English class. The second semester really focused on the "best-seller books" aspect of the course. At the beginning of the second semester, we had a vote on which of the books available to us we would read that semester. One of these books was The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. I read the first chapter (it was really short) and I was instantly hooked, so of course I listed it as my first choice. Unfortunately, it didn't make the cut and, being the stubborn person that I am, I bought the book on my Kindle as soon as I got home from school that day. Apparently, not many of my classmates were too keen on reading a book that is narrated by a dog.

I'm going to say that if this is the only reservation you would have about reading this book, just keep an open mind about it and you might be surprised by what you read because I would recommend this book for anyone and everyone. For one thing, it's definitely not what you would expect. Enzo is not a hyper dog who gets distracted by every squirrel that walks by. Enzo is telling the story as an old dog, so the narration is mature and "sophisticated" as my English teacher put it. Stein definitely keeps Enzo's voice unique and believable.

Enzo's owner is a race car driver named Denny who dreams of being a professional. The novel is a story of Denny's life as told by Enzo, everything from his marriage to his career and everything that happens in between. And when everything goes wrong, Enzo is the one keeping Denny from going over the edge and from succumbing to all the pressure and stress.

There is a lot that happens in this book and as much as I'd like to talk about it all, I promise not to put any spoilers. I hate spoilers.

As always, if it seems like a book you might enjoy, definitely check it out, it is absolutely one of my favorites. Feel free to leave a comment about this review or about future reviews you'd like to see me publish.

Happy reading!

I know, it's been forever.

Hey, guys!

So sorry that I haven't been able to post in a while. School is just . . . yeah, school. Right now I have to write a paper for one of my English classes (which I really ought to be working on right now), but I promise that I'll start writing more reviews once the workload lightens up a bit.

Once I get some free time (people are always talking about "free time" . . . it sure sounds nice) I will be posting at least once a week, if not more. I haven't really read many new books except for English class, so I'll probably be drawing on some books I read in the past. I'd like to write reviews for The Art of Racing in the Rain and The Color Purple. Once I finish reading the book for my Popular Literature class, I'd like to do a review on Postmortem . . . the theme for the class this semester is detective fiction.

As always, leave a comment if there's a review that any of you would like me to write . . . please? I'd really like to read some comments. Please don't make me beg.

Happy reading!

Library date!

Hey, guys!
So, about a week ago, my boyfriend and I were trying to figure out what to do the next day since we were still getting cold weather and neither of us had money to burn, so we knew that anything out-doorsy or expensive was out. Since we both like to read, I suggested going to the library. Guess what we did the next day.
Since I have a card for my local library, we walked out of there with five books each. My boyfriend, of course, insisted on carrying my books to the car and I insisted on carrying at least one of my books. Try picturing him walking through a downtown area carrying a stack of nine books. You had to be there.
So anyway, one of the books I checked out was a book that my boyfriend was fond of when he was in middle school and he suggested it to me. That's putting it lightly. Once he found the book, he thrust it at me and said, "You have to read this!" So of course I had to promise to read that one first.
Having just finished The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch by Joseph Delaney, I figured I'd write a review for it. First of all, this is a book that is definitely geared towards a middle school audience, but I still found it enjoyable. Anybody who likes fantasy or reading about witches and ghosts and other creatures of the night, I highly recommend this book.
This is about Tom, the seventh son of a seventh son, who becomes apprentice to the Spook, the man who protects everybody from things that go bump in the night. And according to his mother, Tom will be the last apprentice (hence the title) because he is destined to become the new Spook.
So if you think that this book is just about Tom learning the ropes, think again. As it turns out, Tom has to learn at a pretty fast pace because, of the three witches that the Spook has defeated, one - Mother Malkin - is still alive and kept prisoner on the Spook's property. Just a little too close for comfort for Tom. Not only that, but Tom has to keep his guard up around a girl named Alice. Beware the pointy shoes! If you want to know what I mean by that, why not read the book? It's not Stephen King scary, but there were a few parts that gave me the creeps.
If there's a book that you'd like me to write a review about, feel free to leave a comment with the title and author and I'll check it out when I get the chance. If there's someone you know who might enjoy my blog, why not let them know? I'd really appreciate it :) Check back in sometime this week for a new post!
Happy reading!

A promise is a promise, so here's a little James Dashner

Hey, guys!
Okay, so the last book I read for fun was (I am ashamed to say) back during Winter Break. I know it's sad, but school. So, that book just happens to be The Eye of Minds by James Dashner.
Let me just say that I adore James Dashner. He's a great writer but also a great story-teller since the point of each chapter is to build suspense. All of his books force me to stay up late reading just one more chapter . . . and then another . . . and another . . . just one more. Not only are Dashner's plots compelling but there are cliffhangers and plot twists like you wouldn't believe. If you haven't read any of Dashner, I highly recommend it, especially if you're into sci-fi stories.
Now, for this book in particular, I would definitely recommend it for anybody who is tech savvy, anyone who likes sci-fi, and especially for all you gamers out there. This book takes place later in the century and is all about online gaming. Seriously, the most common past-time in this story is for everybody to climb into coffin-like machines and spend nearly all day in a virtual reality online gaming world.
The main character, Michael, is enlisted by an online security organization to go after the Internet terrorist who calls himself Kane. The problem is that nobody except his victims have ever seen Kane and hardly anybody knows where to find him. Along with some help from his hacker friends, Michael must hunt down Kane and put a stop to him. And if any of you have ever read James Dashner before, you know that there is going to be an ending that will totally blow your mind. But no spoilers. Read it for yourself :)
This book is going to be part of a series, so when the next book comes out, I will definitely be reading it and I will most likely post a review here.
James Dashner is also the author of the Maze Runner series and the 13th Reality series. I've read all of the Maze Runner books, so if you'd like to read a review on any of those books or on the series in general, leave a comment and I'd be happy to write one. I haven't read the 13th Reality series, but if you'd like me to write a review for those, leave a comment and I'll be happy to read them when I get some free time.
If there's anything you'd like me to write a review for, leave a comment and I'll see what I can do.
Happy reading!

Welcome to my blog!

Hi, everybody!
My name's Sarah, and this is my blog and, as the title implies, it's going to be all about writing and books. Since I'm a very passionate reader, I will be posting a lot of book reviews. The books I read will probably be very diverse, so if there's a book you'd like to hear my opinion about, just post the title and author in the comments and I'll give it a shot. Since I'm still going to school right now, I might start off by writing reviews for the books I have to read for school. Otherwise, once summer starts, I'll be reading whatever interests me for the most part. I would also be open to suggestions for movies if you guys would like me to write a review for a movie.
I'm also a very passionate writer, so I might post some of my own short stories or narratives of what's going on in my life if it seems interesting. I'd also like to post some writing exercises. Every time I post one of these, I will actually do the exercise and add the writing to a later post. If you guys are interested in doing these writing exercises with me, I would love it if you posted your writings in the comments for me (and everyone else) to read!
For the rest of the school year, I will try to post something at least every week - come summer I will be posting a lot more frequently.
Either tonight or tomorrow, I will write a review for the last book I read for fun.
For right now, welcome to my blog! Enjoy!