Well, I Forgot to Post a Notice About Hiatus....

So, here it is, I suppose.... About a month too late, actually.... But the reason I'm put the blog on a temporary HIATUS is because I did have to go to my college orientation (which was probably the BIGGEST waste of time and two days, since all they did was repeat all the same things over and over again). Then I had to get all of my stuff in my house, along with my brother's since I pretty much packed all of his stuff as well, into boxes so my parents could get it all moved to Texas (since that's where they're moving to after I head off to college) while Chase (my brother) and I went to Florida to visit my family. We're still here and I just now finally got an internet connection in my aunt's barn apartment (which, since my brother and I are older, we get to stay in. =D). Exciting and super busy, yes?

But let my say that I have no idea what I was thinking, bringing as many books with me as I did, plus finding two more books at this awesome book store that sold $20 books for $3, and then my Aunt Kelly gave me TWO MORE books. So my count right now of the amount of books I actually have is 9, but one of those books has every single Jane Austen novel, so technically I have 16.

And here's the list I have. I haven't decided if I'll do reviews of any of them, yet, or if the blog's hiatus is even over, but just so I can put it out there with a few of my thoughts on those that I have read:


The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Sherman Alexie)- I have this book because my school gave it to me and told me to read it over the summer. I read it in about 4 hours at my grandparents' house the other day. It's not my favorite book ever, but it certainly wasn't the worst one, either. It was funny, and I also enjoyed the pictures, though.

The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)- One of the books my Aunt Kelly gave me. I loved it, even though it was really sad.

Kiss Me, Kill Me (Lauren Henderson)- I got this at the $3 store, but I haven't gotten to it just yet.

Someday My Prince Will Come (Jerramy Fine)- Another $3 store find, but I haven't gotten to this one either.

Dear John (Nicholas Sparks)- I haven't read it yet.

Versailles: A Biography of a Palace (Tony Spawforth)- This is what I started last night at midnight. I've only read the preface and looked at the map, so far, though. I think it looks good so far, though. =D

Picture Perfect (Jodi Picoult)- Got it from my Aunt Kelly, and I haven't read it yet.

Emma (Jane Austen)- Emma has a book all to itself, because carrying my huge Jane Austen book is a hastle on the airplane. I loved it though. But Pride and Prejudice is still my favorite.

Seven Novels of Jane Austen- I'll get to it eventually. =D

Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette (Sena Jeter Naslund)- I had to bring it and reread it, but my Aunt Nique is currently borrowing it. =D


So, there we go. If I decide to review a book, then I'll get it up, if not, then I'm not doing anything. =D Make sense?

Thanks for reading!

Love,

Kristi

My Bookshelf

Above, you see a picture of my bookcase. Unfortunately, the vast majority of my books and DVDs are packed away and in storage. That was a very sad day. =C However, I did take this picture a few months ago and since then I've added significantly to my library, and maybe 2 or so DVDs (I just love the $5 movies at Walmart!). Currently I've only got 6 books on my shelf, so I pretty much bought 4 books in the past week or so. 

Anyways, I'm very OCD when it comes to this bookshelf. It is ALWAYS clean, unlike the rest of my bedroom. It's always organized and I swear I can tell if anyone moves my books from their place (like my brother tends to do quite often). There is a very specific way that it's organized. It goes alphabetically by the author's last name, then first name, if two authors have the same last name. All of the books by one author then go alphabetically by title. (Example: For Sarah Dessen's books go Along For the Ride, Dreamland, Just Listen, etc.). 

Then after all my books are my seasons of Gilmore Girls, because that show is just awesome. =D Then my DVDs start and they are also alphabetized. I try to get as many to fit on the darn bookcase as possible because all the ones that don't fit go on this awesome thing my parents got me a few years ago from Sharper Image. It looks like this (click it because my computer is dumb and is only letting me put one picture on this post). But it the spaces for the DVDs don't fit my weird shaped ones, so I try to just use it as overflow since most of the weird shaped ones just happen to start with letters at the beginning of the alphabet. That way, all the DVDs stay in order, like they should be.

So, now you know a little bit about my OCDness. Do you have any weird OCD moments? You should tell me in the comments! =D I'd love you forever! Anyways, currently I'm reading Thr3e by Ted Dekker because my friend asked me to. I'll review it, I think, and then I'm going to move on to Austen's Emma.

So, thanks for reading!

Love,

Kristi

Lies

Author: Michael Grant

It's been seven months since all the adults disappeared.

Gone.

It happens in one night. A girl who died now walks among the living: Zil and the Human Crew set fire to Perdido Beach; and amid the flames and smoke, Sam sees the figure of the boy he fears the most: Drake. But Drake is dead. Sam and Caine defeated him along with the Darkness-or so they thought.

As Perdido Beach burns, battles rage: Astrid against the Town Council; the Human Crew versus the mutants; and Sam against Drake, who is back from the dead and ready to finish where he and Sam left off. And all the while deadly rumors are raging like the fire itself, spread by the prophetess Orsay and her companion, Nerezza. They say that death is a way to escape the FAYZ. Conditions are worse than ever and kids are desperate to get out. But are they desperate enough to believe that death will set them free?

447 pages. 12 hours. Minus the times that I left to go to lunch with my family. Minus the time I spent searching for the keys to my dad's truck (which my mom seems to have accidentally forgotten to take them out of her purse when she went down to Texas this morning). And minus the times that I spent inspecting the gorgeous handwriting that my best friend put ALL over my car for my birthday. So 8-9 hours, possibly? That's how long I spent reading this book today. 

If you've read any of my Twitter things lately, you already know I have been looking forward to the newest novel in the Gone series (and if you haven't been paying attention, first of all, now you know, and second of all, you should definitely follow me. =D). And let me tell you, I was not disappointed. 

I was hooked from the very first sentence, all the way to the last one. When I was forced to put the book down, I was a VERY unhappy camper. It was just so exciting throughout the whole thing.

What was really great about it was the unpredictability of the novel. Usually, I'm pretty good at guessing what's going to happen, just because I read so much in general, and so many authors seem to be incapable of writing anything that doesn't sound like something else that's already been written. However, this is most definitely NOT the case with Michael Grant. I only had ONE correct prediction, and it doesn't really even count, because I was half wrong at the same time. That is majorly impressive.

And as with the other two books in the series, I loved how realistic the characters were, even the ones that had crazy powers. All of them were complex enough to be real people. They had their good qualities and bad qualities. Astrid, for example, while she does remain Astrid the Genius, proves that while she's theoretically the best person to lead the FAYZ, she doesn't manage to pull it off due to her failure to work with the team to accomplish what needs to be done. Diana also shows that even though she's on the side of bad boy Caine, she actually is a good person.

I love the writing style. The dialog is mostly perfect and completely appropriate for each individual character. A lot of authors have problems with that, in my opinion, and all the dialog sounds like the same person could be saying each thing. Also, I love the little humor that's added into it. When the book gets really intense, sure enough, a joke will come up in the perfect spot. Grant performs an amazing balancing act!

I must admit, however, that I was very confused at some points in the book, especially with the whole Drake/Brittney thing, but that's how Grant set it up, I think. Everything that was supposed to make sense at the end, did. However, there were of course, the new mysteries that were brought out. Like what's behind the FAYZ wall, for example. Were Orsay and Little Pete right that the parents lay just outside, watching and waiting for the children? And what exactly happened to Mother Mary? I have a feeling that her story isn't over yet. But I believe there's going to be six or seven total books in this series, and this is only number three, so there's plenty of time to learn all the answers. 

The only bad thing I thought was that Michael Grant definitely needs to get a better proofreader. I swear, punctuation and spelling mistakes are my pet peeves when I'm reading. However, that still didn't detract from the general awesomeness of the book. =D

So, as you can tell, I LOVED IT. End of story. I mean, if you knew me and what I normally read, you would NEVER think that I would like this book at all. These books are the only sci-fi ones that I like. I just generally don't enjoy sci-fi books, so I give major kudos to Michael Grant. And I must say that I don't hate looking at the cover. Sam is a very, very nice looking man. =D

Anyways, the plan was to finish reading Dear John since I ditched it to reread the Gone series. However, I was supposed to move today, but that didn't happen, so all of my books are currently in storage. =C But I bought Jane Austen's Emma yesterday, so I'm going to read that. And while it is going to be my first time reading it, I'm not sure if I want to take on reviewing a classic.... So I probably won't do a review for it. Therefore, I have no idea what book I'll be writing about next, but I'll update my Twitter account and you can see my latest 3 (?) Twitter posts on the right hand side of the page, so you can keep updated there. =D Or you could just follow me. =D And, as always, please feel free to comment about anything! I love comments!

Anyways, thanks for reading!

Love,

Kristi

Little Bits of Wisdom- April 2010

Ok, so I know that it is not the last day of April yet. BUT I'm leaving for Disneyland trip with school tomorrow, so I have to post this today. So, here we go:

"Tribulation makes one realize what one is." -Marie Antoinette

"I see you are a wit."

"Oh, no," I say sincerely. "That is something I have never wished to be, for wit is cruel, and my first wish is always to be kind." -Sena Jeter Naslund, Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette

"Good deeds echo after us, long after we have forgotten their enactment." -Sena Jeter Naslund, Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette

"Where there is a lack of other connections, of meaningful moments, in our lives, music can often fill the gap." -Sena Jeter Naslund, Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette

"But of what merit is firmness if it represents a wrong choice?" -Sena Jeter Naslund, Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette

"Madame, be yourself and you will always be perfect." -Chauveau-Lagarde (lawyer to Marie Antoinette)

"Without my books, I truly believe I would shrivel up and die." -Catherine Anderson, Summer Breeze

"Sometimes you have to dig deep for courage, girl. Start digging." -Catherine Anderson, Summer Breeze

So there we go! Now I kind of feel like I didn't read much this week.... But oh, well. Anyways, originally I started reading Dear John by Nicholas Sparks, but then I realized that Lies by Michael Grant come out on TUESDAY, so I had to ditch that to reread Gone and Hunger so that I could remember what happened before. So, I'll make sure to review Lies and THEN I'll restart Dear John and review that. Ok? Good. Well, as always, please feel free (in fact, you are encouraged) to leave me a comment. About anything, really. Books, movies, life, etc. =D

Well, thanks for reading!

Love,

Kristi

Summer Breeze

Author: Catherine Anderson

The year is 1889, and Rachel Hollister hasn't set foot outside her house in five years. Ever since a savage attack left her family dead, she's cordoned herself off from the outside world, afraid to let anyone into her home-or into her heart. But now trouble has appeared on her doorstep-and suddenly she has no choice but to let a handsome rancher invade her well-guarded existence....

Confirmed bachelor Joseph Paxton grudgingly offers to take up temporary residence at the Hollister ranch-even though it's obvious Rachel doesn't want his protection. But once he catches a glimpse of his beautiful young ward and her remarkable spirit, he'll do anything to break through the dark spell that's walled off her heart. It may take a miracle, but he's determined to make her see the refuge he's offering in his embrace-and the splendor that exists beyond her front door. Otherwise he'll just have to build a safe haven big enough for the both of them....

Ok, I lied. I am doing a review for this, because I just realized that I am in a HUGE predicament. I have no unread books left on my bookshelf anymore! So, I have no idea when I'll actually have another book to review, unless I decide to do one on a book that I've already read (which I don't like doing, because I think the first reading is what will always tell you if you actually love or hate a book). But, for reference, it definitely won't be a long review. Mostly because I don't really have a lot to say about it.....

However, even if I don't have a lot to talk about, I still liked the book. It was definitely a romance, which I was expecting. It was really cute and it was touching at a lot of parts, like the letter in the very last chapter. I also loved the humor that was added into it. Especially in the very beginning when they were talking about how the first time Rachel and Joseph saw each other, Rachel tried to shoot him. The book really takes you on an emotional rollercoaster. You go from laughing to being sad and then moving on to being completely surprised.

My biggest problem with the book was its similarities to Anderson's Early Dawn. That's the only other book I've read by her, but I definitely thought that they both were following the same basic plot. One of the characters suffers from a huge family tragedy five years before the book starts and so they shut themselves off emotionally (or in this case, physically). Then something happens to threaten the girl's life, so the man comes to the rescue, then they try not to fall in love with each other, but do anyway. Then all hell breaks loose, and they get confronted by the people trying to kill the girl, the good guys win, then they end happily ever after. Sorry for ruining the ending, everyone, but it's kind of obvious once you actually start reading it. So, while the books had different details to make it different, I would have appreciated a little more varied plot. However, I did think that the details were creative enough to make it seem like a completely new story.

One of my favorite things about the book was the unpredictable "Whodunit" ending. I was literally like, "What just happened?" It's really intense and so surprising! I am still in awe of it!

But, I think that's all I have to say. So, I recommend that if you feel like a cute, romantic book, you should definitely read this one! Next I'm reading one of my favorite books, Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why. I guess I might do a review on it, unless I'm super lucky and manage to get a new book soon. I can only hope! =D Anyways, as always please feel free to leave a comment of sort! Tell me if you like my review, or hate it, or agree/disagree, or pretty much anything else. =D I like to talk, in case you haven't noticed, so chances are, if you leave a comment, I'll most likely respond! 

So, thanks for reading!!

Love,

Kristi

Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette

Author: Sena Jeter Naslund

Marie Antoinette was a child of fourteen when her mother, the Empress of Austria, arranged for her to leave her family and her country to become the wife of the fifteen-year-old Dauphin, the future King of France. Coming of age in the most public of arenas-eager to be a good wife and strong queen-she warmly embraces her adopted nation and its citizens. She shows her new husband nothing but love and encouragement, though he repeatedly fails to consummate their marriage and in so doing is unable to give what she and the people of France desire most: a child and an heir to the throne. Deeply disappointed and isolated in her own intimate circle, and apart from the social life of the court, she allows herself to remain ignorant of the country's growing economic and political crises, even as poor harvests, bitter winters, war debts, and poverty precipitate rebellion and revenge. The young queen, once beloved by the common folk, becomes a target of scorn, cruelty, and hatred as she, the court's nobles, and the rest of the royal family are caught up in the nightmarish violence of a murderous time called "the Terror."

With penetrating insight and with wondrous narrative skill, Sena Jeter Naslund offers an intimate, fresh, heartbreaking, and dramatic reimagining of this truly compelling woman that goes far beyond popular myth-and she makes a bygone time of tumultuous change as real to us as the one we are living in now.

Oh my goodness. I think I just found my new favorite book. 

I swear, this book was absolutely fantastic! It's definitely my most favorite one out of anything I've reviewed on here so far. And it is by far the BEST historical fiction novel about Marie Antoinette that I've ever read. Easily.

My favorite part about this book was the historical correctness. Very few historical novels stay as true to the real events as this one did. I mean, why do authors always want to add in outrageous twists into Marie Antoinette's life? Ms. Naslund definitely understood that Marie Antoinette's story didn't need any major embellishments. Sure, she added very minor things in here and there, but they didn't change the main plot at all. They were mostly just little points that just enhanced the story and made it better. She didn't feel the need to add in completely fictitious events, like a trip to Sweden (like in Carolly Erickson's The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette). Like the saying goes, why fix what isn't broken? (Or why change what isn't boring? is probably a better phrase).

So, obviously, Sena Jeter Naslund did absolutely fantastic research. Almost every anecdote that I've read about in biographies was at least mentioned, but many of them were actually talked about in detail. Also, the author used REAL letters and quotes in her novel (but please note that not ALL the quotes are real!). This absolutely added more to the authenticity of it! I thought it was a really nice touch that not a lot of authors do, which really is a shame. Why not use the resources you already have? I loved those parts, because I really felt like I was learning so much more about Marie Antoinette.

And, of course, I HAVE to mention Axel Fersen. However, for the first time on this blog, it's not something bad I have to say. While Naslund did say include the love affair between Marie Antoinette and Count Fersen, I think that she did it in a way that actually made it more believable than a lot of biographies present it (not that it convinced me that they DID actually have an affair. See Tea at Trianon!). Naslund actually wrote it how I imagined it. I always thought that they were just innocently in love, not a passionate, physical affair. That's just the impression that I always got for some reason. I really felt like Naslund and I were on the same wavelength.

I thought that she was particularly good at portraying Marie Antoinette's relationships. She effectively showed the innocent love and friendship between the King Louis XVI and the queen; the true friendship that Marie Antoinette and the Princesse de Lamballe shared; the true, motherly affection that she had for her children, and her relationships with everyone else. I felt like each character had a unique bond with Marie Antoinette, and there were always different characteristics of each person that attracted them to each other. It really added depth to the characters and made them seem like actual people instead of just imaginary, 2-D people.

So I had something else to say, but I definitely forgot what it was (oops!), so that's the end of the review! As you can tell, I absolutely, 100% loved it! The only thing I didn't like was the cover design and art. I thought it looked much too busy, but it doesn't matter. I highly recommend this one over other Marie Antoinette novels, because this one actual teaches you what really happened, but in the form of a not-biography (since biographies seem to turn people off). It's more personal and emotional, so read it!!! 

Anyways, I think I'm reading a romance with a sparkly cover called Summer Breeze by Catherine Anderson next. I'm excited to read it because I read another book by Anderson a few months ago and I absolutely loved it. It was just so cute. So, I'll try to get the review up, if I do one (and yes, I know, every time that I say I might not do a review, I do it anyway), as soon as possible! My goal is at least one blog post a week starting now, since I didn't post anything last week. Sorry! But I do have a life that I have to balance out with reading, unfortunately. =D Anyways, as always, please leave comments if you want to talk about anything, or give suggestions! I'm always looking for new books to read, so I really appreciate suggestions! So leave a comment! 

Thanks for reading!

Love,

Kristi

Marie Antoinette: The Last Queen of France

Author: Evelyne Lever

Married for political reasons at the age of fourteen, Marie Antoinette was naive, impetuous, and ill equipped for the role in which history cast her. From her birth in Vienna in 1755 through her turbulent, unhappy marriage, the bloody turmoil of the French Revolution, her trial for high treason (during which she was accused of incest), and her final beheading, Marie Antoinette's life was the tragic tale of disastrous circumstances colliding.

Drawing upon diaries, letters, court records, and memoirs, Evelyne Lever paints vivid portraits of Marie Antoinette, her inner circle, and the lavish court life at Versailles. Marie Antoinette dispels the myth of the callous queen whose supposed response to her starving subjects was the comment, "Let them eat cake." What emerges instead is a surprisingly average woman thrust into a position for which she was wholly unprepared, a combination that proved disastrous both for her and for France. This is the revealing story of how Marie Antoinette kept her dignity and courage when Fate turned its back and she lost everything: throne, children, husband, and - in a very public and cruel execution- her life.

Well, originally, I wasn't planning on actually reviewing this biography, but as I was reading I definitely had a few opinions that I wanted to share. And I'm going to be completely honest right now, I'm not a fan of it at all. 

So, as you might be able to tell, Marie Antoinette is my favorite historical figure, and I've read quite a few biographies related to her. And I must say, I've never heard anyone else be so harsh about her personality. I mean, most people that haven't learned much about Marie Antoinette believe she was just an extravagant, selfish person, but if you've done extra research, you find that she was actually a pretty good person. Yes, she was extravagant and naive, but it's okay to have faults. Having a balance of good and bad qualities is what it means to be human. However, Evelyne Lever completely forgot to acknowledge ANY good qualities about her. I thought that made the book one-sided and that it just went along with what people think now. 

Also, I had a REALLY big problem with the whole Axel Fersen plot. Yes, I understand that the relationship between Marie Antoinette and Fersen is commonly accepted as fact, and I'm really used to reading about it. However, I have been convinced that they were not lovers (due mostly to the fact that the 3-part blog about Marie Antoinette and Count Fersen at  Tea at Trianon makes much more sense than any argument I've ever read) and this biography did nothing to convince me that they were. My biggest reason for this was that a lot of her reasoning didn't make sense to me and also seemed contradictory with other things she was saying. I actually put Post-Its in my book (which I HATE doing) so that I could quote an example for everyone. Lever said, on page 165, "Unfortunately, the passages of interest were so effectively crossed out that they are illegible. An ultraviolet lamp is of no use in deciphering them, nor are nay of the other procedures used by the curators at the Archives de France. There can be no doubt, given where they were placed and their context, that these were crossed-out love messages." That made absolutely NO sense whatsoever to me. If you can't decipher what the BLANK SPACES in the letters are, how can you effectively say that there's no doubt as to their content? 

Also, I thought that there was WAY too much emphasis on Axel Fersen. I mean, he was mentioned at least once in almost every chapter after he had met Marie Antoinette. But, according to everything else that I've read, her children were the most important things to her in the entire world. Surprisingly, they were very rarely mentioned. When her daughter, Sophie, and her oldest son, Louis-Joseph, died, I believe Sophie got a one sentence mention, and Louis-Joseph got at most a page. That is completely ridiculous in my opinion. Also, she failed to mention that Louis-Charles, who was the son who accused her of incest in her trial, only made the accusation in order to please his jailers (and Marie Antoinette herself said that her son would say anything that would please those around him). Madame Royale (aka Marie-Therese) was probably the least mentioned of all of them except Sophie, who only lived nine months. Considering that she was the only one to survive the French Revolution, I think that she should have been given much more attention. However, I do admit, that she is generally mostly ignored in most biographies. I just wish that Lever would have set different priorities for her book. It seemed almost as if the point was to try to prove that Marie Antoinette did have an affair with Axel Fersen, instead of trying to tell the most important parts of her life.

However, I must say that I did like the way the Lever wrote the book. I personally think that the biography read more like a story than a biography. But on the other hand, that was also one of the reasons I didn't like it as well. I thought that it seemed romanticized  a lot of the time. So, based on what I observed above, I wasn't sure if I should believe those sections. However, I did still appreciate those minor facts that she included in the book. I hadn't ever read about a few of them, so I thought it was interesting. 

So, overall, I didn't like it very much. I must say that I prefer Antonia Fraser's Marie Antoinette: The Journey. It talks about all of her life, with the emphasis on Marie Antoinette's life, and not just her affair with Count Fersen. It shows you both the good and bad aspects of her personality and I think that you just get a better idea of who she actually was and how she lived her life. It's also more current, so it has information that wasn't available when Evelyne Lever wrote this, such as being able to say, definitely that Marie Antoinette's son, Louis-Charles, did actually die in the Temple Prison. So, if you're interested in learning more about Marie Antoinette, I highly recommend Fraser's biography. 

Well, here's the deal, I ordered two books from Barnes & Noble that won't be here until Wednesday! They're both about Marie Antoinette (I'm sorry, but once I read one book about her, I just want to go on to another one!). They are Marie-France Boyer's The Private Realm of Marie Antoinette and Sena Jeter Naslund's Abundance, A Novel of Marie Antoinette. And because I have to go TWO days without my new books, I think I'll probably read a few small books until then. So, I have no idea what book I'll review next on here or when it will be, since I haven't decided if I'm going to review Abundance, but I definitely won't be reviewing Private Realm. So, I'll post something else if it takes too long. As always, feel free to comment with opinions, question, or anything really. =D I'm not too picky. 

So, thanks for reading!

Love,

Kristi