Years later, a movie came out based on the book, and I knew who two of the four stars were, Alexis Bledel and Amber Tamblyn. I’d seen bits of America Ferrera in the Disney Channel movie but didn’t know about her until I started watching Ugly Betty. I didn’t know who Blake Lively was until after I saw the movie, when she started Gossip Girl. So I definitely had to see the movie, I loved Alexis and Amber, and after Ugly Betty I especially wanted to see America in a different role.

I thought the movie was a fun watch, but not much else. Then the second movie came out, which of course I had to see as well. After I saw that movie, I felt I had to read the series since I didn’t know how much the movies were channging the story. I just thought it was a disservice to see only the movies and not read any of the books.

So I bought the book used from Amazon, which ended up costing about the same if I’d bought the book new from a local bookstore. Bah!

It being an easy read, I finished the book in just a few days. My thoughts? A fun story, if you’re expecting a young adult book geared for girls, which I was.

The movie was pretty faithful to the book. As faithful as can be, going from a medium that works in the head to a visual medium. Lena’s story was changed the most, but honestly, you can’t fit underage nudity into a PG-rated film. Besides, I think the film version of Lena’s story is cute. It’s very teen movie/chick-flick/rom-com, whatever you want to call it.

The problem now is that I want to read the rest of the series, considering the second movie skipped the two next books and went straight for the fourth storyline! But I don’t want to spend $8 on books I’ll read only once. Maybe I should look into the power of the County of L.A. public library system and get the book from another libary lent to my local library…

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In the beginning I got lost with all the characters being introduced. The first time I tried reading, I quite about 50 pages in. This time, I sat down with what I thought was an excess of index cards for use to keep track of all the characters, any descriptions, major plot points. I ended up using all but a couple cards by the end of the book.

Related to the mass number of characters, I don’t even know what the point was for their being in the story. The book jumped around to different plots, different characters, different settings. For the most part it made sense, here’s a section about war, here’s a section concerning the civilians. But other than that, I really don’t know why I needed to know so much about, for example, the guy who was Natalia’s cousin/crush-at-first and Nikolai’s best friend-at-first. Or Natalia and Nikolai’s older sister.

I didn’t care for the war parts either. They just seemed to drag on, and that so much more could have been accomplished with much fewer words. But maybe the war parts were meant to be a big part of the story. Like how some characters chickened out in battle (and then what? nothing happens because of it? the character doesn’t learn much from it?), some lost body parts, some were heroic. Woop de do.

I did read an abridged version, though. (Over 650 pages is abridged? hah!) Maybe some important stuff was cut out? Or was it even more pointless goings-on of characters that weren’t really important?

I don’t know. It might have helped my understanding if I’d had someone tell me what I was supposed to get out of it. That probably helps for a lot of important classic literature.

At the end of the book, I just thought, so that’s it? What was the book about? What was I supposed to have gained from it? Was it the characters that Leo Tolstoy wanted to focus on? I couldn’t stand the characters! I thought they were stupid, blathering idiots, and I didn’t care one whit for any of them at the end of the book. Pierre might have been the most likeable character for me. I don’t know.

This entry is exactly like War and Peace. I cut out expanding on some points (partly for time, mostly because I don’t care), the reader doesn’t really care about anything in this, and what exactly have you learned from reading it? Not much, except that maybe War (and Peace, to a lesser extent) didn’t tickle my fancy.

I think it was once a month; get the list at the beginning of the month, turn it in at the end. The reward was that the kids who’d read the most got prizes. The kid in first place got two books, second place got one book, and third place got something that is not sticking in my memory because it obviously wasn’t a good prize. I think other kids also got a cheap bookmark for participating, can’t really remember.

I easily, easily got in the top three every time this event occurred. If I really put my mind to it, I would get first place. Most of the time I went my own pace though.

I felt guilty about getting rewarded for something I’d be doing whether this event happened or not. Sometimes I even wondered why I should enter at all, or why I should be truthful and list every single book I read. I mean, wasn’t this event more about encouraging kids to read? I didn’t need encouragement! In fact, my mom confiscated my bedside lamp once because I stayed up too late reading.

I did turn in the lists though, every time. Sometimes I would skip listing the “baby” books (as I deemed them), but I always turned in my lists. My teachers would have thought it was odd if I didn’t. >_> It seemed to make my teachers and the librarian happy, too, to see a kid reading so voraciously.

And yes, I did regularly get free books that I read and usually wrote down on the next month’s reading list. I remember a few of them, but that’s for another entry, if I ever get around to writing it up.

Back to the Borders challenge. It’s for kids who are 12 years old or younger. The reading list needs to be signed by a parent or guardian and turned in to a Borders store by August 26. (What, no page count requirement? *grin*)

I think it’s great that Borders is doing this, it eases up a bit on my being sore at them. (Messed up coupons, botched up return, closing my local Borders Express, all that fun stuff.) Still won’t go into their store any time soon. (Money woes, no funds for books. *cries*)

That led me to a sudden revelation. Had I been reading wrong all this time? My style of reading is exactly opposite his. I read at the dining table while I’m eating, I read during commercial breaks while watching tv, at school I would get to class and read for a few minutes until the teacher started lecturing, snatches of precious time in between other tasks. Have I not been getting as much out of books as I could have?

So I decided to try it. I would read a book for a long stretch. Ella Enchanted was a great book, I thought. I’d wanted to reread it for a while, and it was short enough that I could read it in a couple nights, because I couldn’t guarantee enough nights with time to read several chapters in one go for a longer book.

I read Ella Enchanted last month, most of it in one night. (I cheated myself and read a few pages before I’d finished the books I was reading at the time.) (I also stayed up way too late that night, but that’s another story.)

The result—I was pretty disappointed. I didn’t feel the story was any more real, or that I was further into the story. It was the same as always, a wonderful, beautiful story, but this time it was over so quickly. I didn’t get a chance to relish it and live in the world in my daydreams. It felt a lot more like I’d just watched a movie than read a book I loved.

My test may have been flawed though. Ella Enchanted is just one of those books I hate to rush through. My favorite books I always read piecemeal, to stretch out the goodness of the story. Except for The Count of Monte Cristo, that’s a whole different animal.

But in writing this I laughably realized that I have spent times reading many chapters of a book in one sitting. I just didn’t recognize those times as such because they usually start with me telling myself, “I’ll just read a few pages before bed.” Then the story gets me hooked so I spend a number of hours saying, “Only a few pages more, then I’ll go to bed.” Those are what I termed my “midnight rendezvous.” Heck, that was how I read a few Harry Potter books!

Comparing my two experiences, reading books in short little spurts versus reading nonstop for a long stretch of time, I’d have to say that I don’t notice much of a difference. Reading in bits and pieces is probably more work because I have to block out noise around me and focus on reading, but after a a sentence or two I’m fine and lost in another world.

I have to say I feel sorry for that guy though, if it takes him that long to get into his reading, he must miss out on a lot every time he has to start up again.

Background: I first read Ender’s Shadow (for an English class) then read Ender’s Game. So yes, I have Ender completely backwards in my mind. Or as a reviewer on Amazon said, “Bean is smart, clever and clearheaded ‘always’ whereas Ender looks hesitant and overwrought…”

I don’t remember my original thoughts when I went from Shadow to Game and am too lazy to search through my journal archives, but generally I think I would have agreed with that reviewer’s sentiments. I was probably confused as to why people liked Ender so much.

Reading Orson Scott Card’s introduction to Game though, I picked up on this: “These readers found that Ender’s Game was not merely a ‘mythic’ story, dealing with general truths, but something much more personal…. They didn’t love Ender, or pity Ender (a frequent adult response); they were Ender, all of them.”

That explained a lot to me. I read Ender’s Game first when I was about 18, past the stage of outcast child. I pitied Ender. It explained why my feelings about Ender were different from my friends’. I was reading it from an adult’s perspective.

I was also reading from a perspective of someone who never felt like an outcast because of my intelligence. (No, I felt different because I’m a little weird. :P) There were lots of classmates smarter than I was. In fact, I felt stupid in elementary school and middle school … and high school … because those classmates excelled much more than I did. Sure, I didn’t struggle too much in school (except with writing), but that didn’t set me apart.

Knowing that, and not remembering Bean’s side of things, I can read the story with a clean slate. :3

One thing I’d like to comment on in that review; “Where does Bean get the experience to become Enders [sic] ‘supervisor?’ I don’t know but he is deemed fit enough with a couple months as a team leader to be fleet commander.”

Again, I don’t remember the specifics (and I’ve got horrible dizzying headache pressure and can’t think straight), but Bean was really smart, a super brain. He knew and understood a lot of things, practically everything. But he doesn’t have the “human” side to him that Ender does, which Bean knew. Wasn’t that also the reason why Bean knew Ender had to lead? Bean was more of a backup to Ender; if Ender failed, Bean would be there as one last chance to beat the Buggers.

But that thought doesn’t lead anywhere in this entry.

(Also, funny additional comment by the reviewer about Inda. XD)

notes to self: Ender does watch people a lot, and probably understands human emotion more than Bean. I don’t really remember though, so … I don’t know where I’m going with this.
It seemed to me, from Shadow, that Ender floated along and got lucky sometimes.

Apparently the Library of Congress started an ad campaign to get kids reading, called Lifelong Literacy.

The commercials start out at a train station crowded full of kids. (Harry Potter!) They’re looking at arrival/departure boards for places like Atlantis, Wonderland, and Narnia. They’re all holding books XD and some other shots, and other stuff happens.

The one I saw was the Oz version. You can view it on Youtube here.

I don’t know, I guess it’s just the mixture of childhood and reading and getting away that appeals to me so much. I just love it!

Whenever I read Little Women now (which is often, because I’ve reread it every few years since 7th or 8th grade), I can’t help but think of Friends where Joey gets Rachel to read The Shining and Rachel has Joey read Little Women. Especially the part of the book that causes Joey to put the book in the freezer. (Note for those who haven’t seen the episode: Joey would put The Shining in the freezer when it got too scary for him.)

I just got through that part recently. Why is it so hard?! ;_; Especially as I get older, and gain more life experience…

I bought it, read it, and was not impressed. The ending was disappointing. I was expecting more of a resolution I suppose, I don’t really remember. (Read it when, summer of last year?) Found out recently that it’s one of the author’s less stellar works, and that I should read some other title that I’m not really interested in looking into.

Also found out that quite a few people didn’t like the comics part of the book. I thought that was the best part! That, and the father character was the most interesting. I didn’t care about the mom or the daughter much. Blah.

After I finished reading it I decided to do what I always do with books I didn’t get much out of: stick it on the shelf and try reading it again sometime later. But now, I don’t think I can read it again. x_x So I’m just giving it away and writing this post about it.

(I really like the comics! :P)

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Next up … I can’t remember the order. ._. I’ll just go with Burt’s Bees Beeswax lip balm.

I saw this ad in a Vanity Fair issue (I bought it for a class, but I can’t recall which one) decrying lip balms for using petroleum-based ingredients, and to make sure what you put on your lips is all-natural and not refined rotted dinosaur remains. I don’t remember what product the ad was for. But it definitely hit a mark.

I decided, since I needed more lip balm, to try a natural one, i.e. Burt’s Bees Beeswax. I saw it at Target, right next to Chapstick. The Burt’s was about a quarter more than the Chapstick, so I was questioning the au naturale ideas in my head, especially since there were three Chapsticks in one package, and only one of the Burt’s — pay less for triple the product? Very tempting. But I decided to not be cheap and try the Burt’s at least once.

I have to say I’m disappointed. The Burt’s gives my lips this cold tingly feeling , which I do not want. (Apparently other customers like it though…)

Hmm … it appears that it was a good thing I waited to write this up, because the info on the Skin Deep: Cosmetics Safety Database changed since I last looked at it. Chapstick lip balm now looks more harmful than Burt’s Bees Beeswax lip balm. Huh. (And oh hay look, white petrolatum in the Chapstick!!1)

Well, natural lip balms at places like Lush cost too much for me (and I never like having to touch lip balm to apply it — don’t they advise not touching your face because of the bacteria on your hands?), and Chapstick seems out (unless I can find this Chapstick all natural version), so I don’t know what to go for next. But that won’t be for a while. I can count all the lip balms I’ve had in my life on one hand; most of them were freebies.

Next item, 3Musketeers Mint. I saw commercials for this starting Christmas of last year? 3Musketeers is probably my favorite candy bar. It doesn’t mean I absolutely love it, but most of the time I’d accept eating one, which is better than what I can say about other bars. So when I saw the mint, I wanted to try it.

I found it in the checkout line at Albertson’s here, so of course I grabbed it. When I got home, I realized it’s smaller than the normal 3Musketeers bar, and it’s packaged with two bars, half the size of a regular one. Slight disappointment there, but maybe mint costs more or something, I’d forgive them for that.

When I bit into it though, it wasn’t that great. Maybe my expectations were too high. I think I expected something like a York Peppermint Patty. But the 3Musketeers Mint isn’t as sweet. It’s okay. I probably won’t buy it again. But I’d accept it if someone offered it to me. *grin*

The really rad thing about it though, the main reason why I’m talking about it at all, is the packaging. XD First, 3Musketeers Mint wrapping in normal lighting. It’s got that normal metallic look that the 3Musketeers bar has, right? Then, 3Musketeers Mint wrapping while backlit. Whoa! Transparent wrapper! XD It’s not a good quality photo, because in real life the nutrition facts can be read while backlit. mreh.

Now, I read Wil Wheaton’s post about Scarlett Johansson’s album a while ago … whenever it was first posted. I had no idea what type of music she’d done, but I know generally I don’t share Wil’s taste in music. (I’m more pop and mainstream, although I enjoy rock and a bit of indie music.)

Her album really surprised me though. I thought she’d be doing the normal pop album. I never expected the music that I heard. (I’m no music guru, so I have no idea what style or genre it is or anything.) There are a few songs on there I don’t enjoy, but for the most part, I would buy the album if it cost me $10 or so. (Hm, maybe I should buy the mp3s on Amazon.)

It’s got a nice atmosphere to the music. Not something I’d want to listen to every day like The Cardigans, but in the right mood it would be the best music. Like Lily Chou-Chou! *grins*

So I finished reading Garth Nix’s Across the Wall … a long while ago. I loved it! I read someone’s comment that it’s not as good as the Old Kingdom Trilogy. Well of course. The Old Kingdom spans over three books, you really get to get into the world and into the characters and into the stories.

Across the Wall is a collection of short stories. Short stories are, well short. There’s no time for development and evolution. It’s just a quick event that introduces a new idea and makes you (well, me at least) think about the world differently. I thought Garth Nix was incredibly imaginative with these stories. (I love short stories, by the way. Got introduced to them properly by Neil Gaiman. Read some of Roald Dahl’s adult short stories. I need to own them!)

Garth Nix was so good that I want to read The Once and Future King. I never thought I’d pick that up. Daddy owns a copy (an ooold copy). I never was interested in King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. But Garth Nix has piqued my interest … as any good author should do.

Those are my reviews. The first two were written June 6th; I’m finishing this June 17th.

The remark I made earlier about gas … well the Monday before I saw gas was $4.33. I thought of filling up, but meh I was lazy and as I always do when I’m lazy, I thought I’d wait to see if the price would go down. The next day, Tuesday, I drove by the station again and the price was $4.44. I was so gobsmacked that I didn’t even consider buying gas.

I guess I should have though. I ended up buying four gallons on the 13th to make it home to L.A. where gas is guaranteed to be at least five cents cheaper (oh big whoop, five cents…) and had to pay $4.69 per gallon. Augh.

That ends my collection of little reviews and thoughts.

Instead my mind keeps wandering to Amazon’s Kindle. (I’m reading 39 pages in PDF format on an LCD laptop screen, is that such a surprise?)

*insert vinyl record scratching sound here*

Okay so this draft has been sitting here since April 27. Figured I should either do something with it or trash it, since it’s not going to improve with age or anything. April 27th … that was one hot weekend, very uncomfortable (85° in the shade, anyone?), otherwise I probably would have finished this. Or not started it at all. Oh well.

When I first heard of this Kindle thing (from Neil Gaiman’s blog) I was not interested at all. I’m not into reading books on screen. (Lately I’m having trouble reading lots of things on screen, and it’s not just poorly styled text on sites … I’m getting old. Or I need new glasses. Going way off topic here.)

My teacher mentioned in class (talking while we were working — common thing — I love random knowledge my teachers add) that the Kindle wasn’t a backlit screen, that it acted more like paper does, reflecting light. That piqued my interest, so I looked more into this Kindle thing. Watched Neil’s interview thing on Amazon. Recall isn’t that great, and I’m too lazy to rewatch it, so the only comment I have now is that I really love reading books, those bound things of paper and ink.

I love holding the books (or laying them out in my lap/on the table/on the bed if they’re big enough), I love turning the pages, I love using my pinky to hold the next page so I can quickly turn the page and not break into the action too much.

I pay entirely too much attention to where I am on a screen, how far from the top or bottom the line I’m reading is, how much farther until I scroll down. That’s a part of my personality though, I think. A bit too Monk-ish. (From the tv show…) I know fairly accurately how far the screen will scroll down if I hit the page down button, if I use the down arrow button, or if I click the scrollbar down a page. I know where the line I’m currently reading will end up (hidden or right at the top of the screen). I’m aware of where the paragraph breaks are, how to manipulate the two buttons and the scrollbar to make the paragraph break end up at the very bottom of the page.

I’m aware of where my arrow cursor is in relation to the paragraphs and the breaks. I will scroll up or down so that the arrow is at the same level as a paragraph. (Draw horizontal lines out from the top and bottom of paragraphs, and my arrow will fit within them.)

So I think Neil is wrong there. I will always be aware that I’m reading a book on a screen. (Yes, all that weirdness had a point. I didn’t just go off into gonzo space.) I don’t know if I could be comfortable holding the Kindle for long periods of time.

Despite all that, I’d like a Kindle to play with. Just because it’s new technology and I want to try it out. :3 I’m such a brat.

But then later I heard of another e-reader thing, made by iRex Technologies. This one has 16 levels of grey (versus Kindle’s 4), Wacom technology, and can read PDFs (although Neil surmises that the Kindle was having problems dealing with PDF during testing and they took the capability out until it could be fixed…). Ooh, I want, I want!

But Amazon’s wireless ebook store is tempting … I’m not quite sure how other e-readers get the books. Go dumbing down of technology!