New Excitingness!

Less than a week and a half since school let out for me and already so many exciting things have been going on!

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1) I graduated today from high school! It was over 90°F , and we were all smooshed together in our polyester robes, but it was amazing! Everything turned out so perfect, and I got an iPhone as a grad gift (a huge upgrade from my TracFone.)  Her name is Hero, like the character from Much Ado About Nothing.

2) Divergent Fans has announced that Lionsgate and Summit have plans to begin the filming of a Divergent movie later this year! I'm hoping for nothing less than a pre-Hunger Games-esque blowout with everyone on the edge of their chairs to find out who plays Tris. I will accept nothing less! They are also the new owners of Insugent's rights as well, so presuming all goes well (and I just know that it well) we should be expecting that a few years down the road as well. You can read the story here.

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So, the major questions here are, who do you want to play Tris? Ever since I watched True Grit my go-to girl for book role hopefuls has been Hailee Steinfeld. She has definitely proven herself to have a calm and mature acting style, and can (hopefully will!) bring nothing but greatness to Divergent, whatever role may she take.

Do you have any actresses you'd love to see as Tris? Actors as Four?

Armchair BEA Day 1: Personal Interview

I couldn't even do Armchair BEA last year, much less go to the actual BEA, so I'm excited to be a part of the party this year! If you're visiting for the first time, welcome! All comments are appreciated, and I'm so excited to get to know some of my fellow book bloggers.

Here we go!

1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? How long have you been blogging? Why did you get into blogging? 

My name is Emily :) I'd say that I'm a high school senior but I finished all of my AP tests and will be graduating June 21st, so calling myself that doesn't feel accurate anymore. I've been blogging since March 2011, and what got me started was that I had been invited to write reviews for the teen writing website Figment, and I thought that book blogging would be a great way to keep them organized!

2. What are you currently reading, or what is your favorite book you have read so far in 2012?

I am currently reading Stardust by Neil Gaiman for a final AP English project, Hold Me Closer Necromancer by Lish McBride for fun, and Book 1 of the Seven Soldiers of Victory series by Grant Morrison because I want to get more comics into my life this year. 

My favorite books so far have been either I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga or Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.

3. If you could eat dinner with any author or character, who would it be and why?

Probably Aziraphale from Good Omens, because he's really cool and owns a bookshop, which is always excellent in my book.He's been around for a while too, so he probably has some great stories.

4. What literary location would you most like to visit? Why?

Ireland, ever since I read the first Artemis Fowl book. From the pictures that I've seen it's a beautiful place, and I've got to get to Europe eventually! So, why not start there?

5. Have your reading tastes changed since you started blogging? How?

They haven't been changed so much as realized. I realized that I like books that deal with complex issues, male main characters, good sarcasm and wit, comics and graphic novels, dystopians with a base in real life (as opposed to just slapping the label on a crappy society). I've found it's okay that I don't like paranormal romance like a lot of other people, including bloggers I look up to, do.

No matter what, there are always books being published, or have been published, that I can read and enjoy, and that the love of the majority doesn't have to be my love. I don't have to read a book that doesn't sound interesting to me just because Book Blogger A, who I love, gave it five stars. 

So, I hope that I'm a halfway interesting person and that you liked reading my responses to the questions. I love and respond to all comments, so feel free to leave a few!

Ta-ta!

Camp NaNoWriMo Approacheth!

The first place that I heard about NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month for those out of the loop*, was on another blog. So, I figured that there was no better place to spread the love than here!

National Novel Writing Month is a month-long (really?) event spanning November where participants write, or at least strive to, 50,000 words of an original story. No previously written content allowed, just you and your imagination for thirty days straight. At approximately 1,666 words a day, nobody said that this was easy.

For one reason or another, some people can't do it in November, and that's totally cool. So cool in fact, The Office of Letters and Light, the brains behind NaNoWriMo, put their smarty-pants heads together and came up with Camp NaNoWriMo with one session in June, another in August. You can do one, the other, both, or save your ideas for November instead. It's all the fun of NaNoWriMo with more bug bites!

I really cannot stress enough how much fun this is. Even if writing isn't your thing, that's no excuse, because I hadn't written a script before I wrote a 100 pages of one with Script Frenzy in April. Even if you don't finish you'll at least walk away with something, even if it's just a few thousand (or hundred) words that, hey!, you may even want to pick up later.

The only question left is, why not? But if that's not the only question left feel free to leave it in the comments or check out the FAQ. Hope to see you there!

*We're the best kind of exclusive club, the kind anyone can join

I (finally) saw The Hunger Games!

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So tonight, at seven PM, on May 7th, I saw the Hunger Games. In theaters. For the first time. Wearing my mockingjay necklace. Literally all by myself. No joke.

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I thought it was a beautifully made movie (the sounds, the setting, and the off-kilter camera work were all stunning), but not my favorite adaption. I felt like people who hadn't read the books would lost (feel free to say something if you weren't, though). It was really nice to be able to recognize things from the book, and I thought some of the book was enhanced by the film.

One of my favorite things was just how beautiful the arena was. You didn't need 3D glasses to appreciate just how green and lively the forest is. I could hear crickets, and doves, and all kinds of forest life, and that made for a better experience than just sticking in some random animal noises. It helped to balance out the tension with some peace.

Hunger Games Wikia

The only two things that I would have changed were Rue's screen time and the showing of the propaganda video. Of course I though Rue's death was sad (though the real sobbing came during the riot scene), but I felt like people who hadn't been touched by their relationship through reading the books may have been confused. Luckily Lawrence's great acting backed it up a little.

Hunger Games Wikia

As for the propaganda, the movie shown during the reaping, I would have put that at the very beginning of the film rather than stuck it in the middle of a scene already established to be tense. The text at the beginning was fine, but I thought that it would have been a nice(?) throwback to when news and propaganda films would be shown in American movie theaters before the show at around the time of World War II. Then, after that, cut to Katniss talking with Prim before she heads out to the woods.

And so there goes the tale of someone who is probably the last person to see the movie in theaters for the first time, a whole 46 days after the premiere!

P.S. More Haymitch next time, please!

Well, It's True

My review from Figment on Death Watch by Ari Berk has been quoted on his website, here. I can honestly say that I meant every word, and if my review has convinced one person to read his book I would consider my work a success!

What I've Been Up To

These posts will probably become the norm until summer when I can start reading more again (and preparing for college! Yay!) So, without further ado, here's what I have been reading since I last posted:

Finished:
Skulduggery Pleasant: Death Bringer by Derek Landy
Naked Economics by Charles Wheelan
Looking for Alaska by John Green (audiobook)
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green (audiobook)
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters (audiobook)

And I still have't finished that Eragon audiobook...

(Re) Introduction post

Wow, it has been WAY too long since I last posted! I got a part-time job and have had a lot of school work, so a lot of what I've read these past three months have gone unreviewed. Hopefully I'll be able to straighten myself out and get started again!

What I've read since last posting includes:
The Heist Society by Allie Carter (audiobook)
Skulduggery Pleasant: Scepter of the Ancients by Derek Landy (audiobook)
How the Hangman Lost His Heart by K. M. Grant
Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan (audiobook)
Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing with Fire by Derek Landy
Skulduggery Pleasant: The Faceless Ones by Derek Landy
Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex by Eoin Colfer (audiobook)
Skulduggery Pleasant: Dark Days by Derek Landy
Death Watch by Ari Berk
Eragon by Christopher Paolini (almost done with audiobook)
Honey and Clover by Chica Umino (graphic novel)
Skulduggery Pleasant: Mortal Coil by Derek Landy
Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell (audiobook)

I'm in the middle of a few more.

So yeah, I've been busy! Unfortunately, not all of these will be reviewed simply because it's been so long since I've read them, giving a proper review would be difficult. Heck, all of the Skulduggery Pleasant books will probably be done in one post due to their sheer number.

I will be participating in an In My Mailbox soon, seeing as I've acquired so many books over these past months and I feel compelled to share them.

So, I just wanted a more formal announcement to show that I am indeed still up and reading, albeit busy with with senior year of high school. This blog likely won't pick up again until late January, and even then will proceed at a snails pace due to my multiple AP classes, but thank you for hanging in there if you have!

Peace out!