Anything But Books Tag

This tag started on BookTube. The goal of it is to talk about anything but books. No mentioning books. That will be difficult because my life is 78% fictional, but I’ll give it my best shot.

Anything But Books

1. Cartoon(s) you love?

As a kid, my favorite was Rocko’s Modern Life. I guess I’ve always been amused by absurdity and vague sexual innuendos. Nowadays, my favorites are The Simpsons, Bob’s Burgers, Family Guy, and South Park. They don’t bother being vague about their sexual innuendos.

2. Your favorite song right now?

“White Flag” by Joseph. It’s basically my theme song. It should start playing every time I walk into a room.

3. What could you do for hours (that isn’t reading)?

Hiking, watching Game of Thrones, getting lost down Internet rabbit holes, blogging, napping.

4. Something you love that your followers would be surprised by?

I hate the term “followers.” Can’t we just be friends? You make me sound like a cult leader. I’m flattered, but I can’t accept that responsibility.

I’ve had this blog for 4 years. There’s very little you don’t know about me. I tend to overshare. Um . . . . Have I told you that I like watching people play The Sims 4 on YouTube? I was obsessed with The Sims as a teen, but I haven’t owned a good computer since I was 17, so I can’t play it myself. When I’m bored, I watch other people play. If I ever get a good computer and The Sims, you’ll never see me again. Just assume I’ve been sucked into a fantasy world and go on without me.

5. Your favorite things to learn about?

Creepy history, corpses, plagues, cults, serial killers, capital punishment. All that normal stuff. On the less-morbid end of the spectrum: nature, living off the grid, wilderness survival, writing, dogs, food.

6. Something unusual you know how to do?

Mush. The human in white is 16-year-old me.

7. Something you’ve made in the last year?

Does food count? It probably shouldn’t because I don’t “make” food. I put premade food in the toaster oven and hope it doesn’t catch on fire. Do blog posts count? I’ve made lots of those.

8. Your most recent personal project?

Learning how to run. I’ve always been the world’s worst runner. Just ask my former gym teachers. If you saw me flailing down a path, you’d still say I’m a terrible runner, but I’m making progress. Slow, painful, humiliating progress.

9. Something you think about often?

Refer back to question #5 and then ask yourself, “Do I really want to know what’s inside Aj’s head?” Things I think about often: politics, catastrophic failure, my overflowing inbox, money, my weight, nachos, what to put on this blog, my dogs being old, my parents being old, nachos again.

10. Your oddly specific favorites?

Hugging my dogs first thing every morning. Finding a perfectly hilarious meme. When my photos aren’t blurry. S’mores on a campfire. Getting packages in the mail.

11. The first thing that pops into your head?

Shortbread cookies with fudge stripes on them.

Do you want to do this tag? Consider yourself tagged.

Review: Shadow And Bone – Leigh Bardugo

Shadow And Bone – Leigh Bardugo

Alina Starkov doesn't expect much from life. Orphaned by the Border Wars, she is sure of only one thing: her best friend, Mal—and her inconvenient crush on him. Until the day their army regiment enters the Fold, a swath of unnatural darkness crawling with monsters. When their convoy is attacked and Mal is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power not even she knew existed. 

Ripped from everything she knows, Alina is taken to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling. With Alina's extraordinary power in his arsenal, he believes they can finally destroy the Fold. Now Alina must find a way to master her untamed gift and somehow fit into her new life without Mal by her side. But nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. As the threat to the kingdom mounts and her dangerous attraction to the Darkling grows, Alina will uncover a secret that could tear her heart—and her country—in two.

Review: I don’t understand hype, especially the hype around fantasy books. What makes one fantasy book better than the others? Most of them—including this one—seem very generic to me. Why have people been raving about this series for years? I think I missed something important.

I guess this means it’s unpopular opinion time. Brace yourself.

Shadow and Bone has a similar plot to other fantasy books I’ve read. The narrator, Alina Starkov, is an orphan who discovers that she’s a powerful magician called a Grisha. She might be the most powerful Grisha in the history of her kingdom. When her powers are discovered, she is sent to magic school, but she quickly learns that she is being manipulated. The Darkling—another powerful magician—may be plotting to use her to widen the Fold, a dangerous patch of darkness in the middle of the kingdom. Alina runs away from school, but the Darkling goes after her. He’s a dangerous enemy.

This book is fast-paced and easy to read. It’s one of those escapist novels that you can get lost in for a few hours. The world is different enough from ours to be intriguing, but not so different that it’s confusing. Alina is a badass, but she struggles with her self-confidence, which makes her relatable.

One of my favorite parts of the story is Alina’s relationship with her friend, Mal. They’re loyal to each other, even though they’re separated early in the book. They have a strong friendship that has the potential to develop into something more.

“‘I'm not like you, Mal. I never really fit in the way you did. I never really belonged anywhere.’ 

‘You belonged with me.’” – Shadow and Bone

The Darkling is also a curious character. He’s my favorite. The author keeps us guessing about his real motives. He comes across as an evil, controlling, wannabe dictator, but I get the sense that there’s something more going on with him. Maybe, deep down, he has good reasons to increase the size of the Fold. Or, maybe he’s just really talented at being a controlling dictator. Either way, he’s interesting.

This is a fun book. I had fun reading it. However, I want more than fun from my books.

For me, Shadow and Bone is too simple and generic. How many magic-orphan-saves-the-world-while-navagating-a-love-triangle stories do we need? Since I’ve read books like this before, I didn’t feel the suspense. I knew that Mal and Alina would ultimately succeed in thwarting the Darkling. There wasn’t enough real danger. Maybe that’s because I had a hard time picturing the Fold. Is it just a black spot full of screaming human-birds? I know that this book is part of a series, and the characters and world will become more developed in the next books, but I wanted to feel the characters’ fear. The Fold doesn’t scare me. The characters aren’t developed enough for me to really care about them.

Judging by the Goodreads reviews, people like the Russian aspects of this book. My family is from Russia, so I know it’s a fascinating, complicated place. For me, there isn’t enough Russia in the book. The setting seems like a typical fantasy setting sprinkled with awkward Russian-sounding words. It’s all very surface-level. I would have liked to see more of the culture. Alina grew up in this world. What was her childhood like? Why did she join the military? What’s up with these border wars? What makes this country unique? Maybe these things are shown later, but I wanted them now. I’m impatient like that.

Shadow and Bone was kinda disappointing. I’m still on the hunt for a unique fantasy book.

“They are orphans again, with no true home but each other and whatever life they can make together on the other side of the sea.”  - Shadow and Bone

Review: Cold Summer – Gwen Cole

Cold Summer – Gwen Cole

Today, he’s a high school dropout with no future.

Tomorrow, he’s a soldier in World War II. 

Kale Jackson has spent years trying to control his time-traveling ability but hasn’t had much luck. One day he lives in 1945, fighting in the war as a sharpshooter and helplessly watching soldiers—friends—die. Then the next day, he’s back in the present, where WWII has bled into his modern life in the form of PTSD, straining his relationship with his father and the few friends he has left. Every day it becomes harder to hide his battle wounds, both physical and mental, from the past. 

When the ex-girl-next-door, Harper, moves back to town, thoughts of what could be if only he had a normal life begin to haunt him. Harper reminds him of the person he was before the PTSD, which helps anchor him to the present. With practice, maybe Kale could remain in the present permanently and never step foot on a battlefield again. Maybe he can have the normal life he craves. 

But then Harper finds Kale’s name in a historical article—and he’s listed as a casualty of the war. Kale knows now that he must learn to control his time-traveling ability to save himself and his chance at a life with Harper. Otherwise, he’ll be killed in a time where he doesn’t belong by a bullet that was never meant for him.

Review: I wasn’t sure if I wanted to read this book because the main character’s name is Kale. Kale. Like that icky faux lettuce your mom tells you to eat.

But, this Kale can time-travel, and I can’t pass up a time-travel story. So, here we are. Reading about Kale.

Harper and Kale were best friends before they lost touch. They reconnect after Harper’s mom moves overseas, and Harper decides to move in with her uncle. Kale isn’t like Harper remembers. He’s quiet, distant, and sometimes disappears for days. Harper eventually discovers that Kale is a time-traveler. When he disappears from the present, he becomes a sniper in WWII. Curious, Harper Googles Kale’s name and learns that he dies during the war. Can Kale figure out how to thwart his own death?

“Sometimes when you go through things, you bottle them up inside and try to act like everything is fine. Because you want to forget they ever happened. But you have to trust me when I say that doesn't work. In order for you to move on, you have to let them out.” – Cold Summer

First, let’s take a moment to appreciate the cover. That’s one of the prettiest book covers I’ve seen in a long time. The inside of the book is beautifully designed, too. (Too bad about the typos. There are quite a few typos.) Still, it’s a stunning book.

The story alternates points-of-view with Kale narrating some chapters and Harper narrating others. This keeps the pace moving quickly and builds suspense. Kale is trying to hide his time-traveling secret; Harper is trying to uncover it. They’re both romantically interested in each other, but they’re rarely on the same page with their relationship. I think this is realistic for a teenage romance. They care about each other. They’re just not the best at communicating their feelings.

I like both narrators, which is unusual for me. They’re sweet kids who’ve had difficult lives. I didn’t even mind their romance (which is also unusual for me). I was hoping that they’d get past their problems so they could be together. I was thrilled when they finally (FINALLY!) started communicating. Kale has mental health problems, but Harper is understanding and does her best to help him when he struggles.

“Some people fight through it, and some people choose not to by ignoring it. It's up to them to get through it, and we can only support and love them.” – Cold Summer

I think I’m predisposed to love time-travel stories. I love contemporary fiction, and I love historical fiction, so time-travel gives me the best of both worlds. The WWII parts of the book are intense, but I wish they had been better developed. I wanted to know more about how time travel works. I wanted to know more about Kale’s soldier friends. I wanted to know more about everything. There just isn’t enough time travel in the book for me.

There is plenty of angst, though. Most of it is pointless angst that could have been solved with a few conversations. Honestly, it got on my nerves. All this avoiding each other, and being silent, and running away, and characters feeling sorry for themselves. It probably takes a ton of mental energy for the characters to keep this up. Why couldn’t they just talk about their problems? Talking would be so much easier than angsting. (Angsting is totally a word. Not something I made up. I swear.)

Neither of the kids gets along with their families (mostly because they refuse to talk to their families). It was too much family angst for me. I especially got annoyed at Kale’s relationship with his father. Kale’s father doesn’t believe that Kale is a time-traveler. He thinks Kale is a lazy kid who likes to run away. Kale can solve this argument by disappearing in front of his father, but he refuses to do it because he’s stubborn. Just . . . why? This argument causes nonstop drama, and it’s such an easy argument to solve. Why don’t you want to solve your problems, Kale?

Overall, I enjoyed Cold Summer, but I would have liked it more if it had been longer and less angsty. There is a lot of stuff happening in this story. More pages would have given the author the space necessary to flesh out all the characters, events, and world-building. But, if you like time-travel stories, this is a pretty good one. I recommend it.

The Sunday Post #110

The Sunday Post is hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to recap the past week, talk about next week, and share news. It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? is hosted by Book Date. I get to tell you what I’ve read recently.

Public Service Announcement

I’m hosting a giveaway! Enter here to win a book of your choice from Book Depository.

On The Blog Last Week

• On Monday I reviewed The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas.
• On Tuesday we talked about kings, queens, death, sex, and scandals. You know, all the interesting stuff.
• On Wednesday it was my fourth blogiversary, and I’m giving you gifts.

On The Blog This Week

• On Monday I review Cold Summer by Gwen Cole.
• On Wednesday I review Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo.
• On Thursday I do the Anything But Books Tag.

In My Reading Life

Last week, I finished Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. Then I read Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores by Jen Campbell and Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. Right now, I’m reading Good Bones and Simple Murders by Margaret Atwood and My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry by Fredrik Backman.

In The Rest Of My Life

Five things that made me happy last week:

1. Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores is funny. I read it in one night when my dog was sick and I couldn’t sleep.
2. My dog is okay! She ate garbage and required a trip to the emergency vet, but after some ridiculous vet bills, she’s back to normal. For a few days, she was really miserable.
3. Hanging out at the dog park.
4. I’m pretty excited for the solar eclipse. According to the internet, I should be able to see 91% of it from my house. As long as it’s not raining.
5. Lots of people have been entering my giveaway! I was worried that no one would enter. That would have been devastating.

Take care of yourselves and be kind to each other! See you around the blogosphere!