Rant #1: Mockingjay Trailer

I've decided something. This is my blog so I think it is my right to rant about things on occasion, but since this blog does have a theme (since quill's in the title and all my posts have been about writing and books I think you can probably figure out what that theme is) I am only going to rant about things to do with books and writing. So I'm thinking that movies based on said books should be allowed. Let's just go with that, okay?

One of my friends, one who went with me to see Catching Fire back in November, knew I'd been waiting for the release of the trailer for Mockingjay so she posted it on my Facebook wall. I watched the teaser trailer several times yesterday and, of course, had to look at the comments about it because I thought it was amazing. I was surprised to see so many people complaining! So surprised that I even created a Facebook status about it. That status read as follows:

Personally I think the new Mockingjay teaser trailer is perfect even though it doesn't give much insight into the movie like people expect a teaser trailer to do (I saw complaints around the interwebs). That's kind of the point of the promo and is a major point in the books/movies themselves. In Panem the Capitol controls the media...at least until Beetee gets involved.

(That was a pretty insightful post for a late night Facebook status, don't you think?)

Because it's so true. I actually like that they chose to promote it like that. If you've read the books or even just watched the movies you should understand that the power of the Capitol to influence the media is so very prevalent that that is how the rebellion is really fought for the first half of the book. The Districts in Panem really only get their news from the Capitol so that's why Thirteen keeps fighting to interrupt the broadcasts with some of their own, with symbols of the Mockingjay, because they want the Districts to know their side of the story. 

So bravo to the makers of that teaser trailer. Instead of catering to the expectations of the masses you created something that perfectly reflects the spirit of the books your movie is based on.  

Book Challenge Entry Four: Favorite Book of a Series

Entry Four Prompt: Favorite Book of Your Favorite Series

My Answer: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling

It may seem a little odd that my favorite book of a series is neither the first book nor the last book but it's true.

Let me set you a scene. It was the year I was in sixth grade so it would have been around 1999/2000. I don't remember if it was the beginning of the school year or the end, all I know is that was when I started hearing whispers, whispers of a fantasy book series that was amazing. And boy did I love reading, especially fantasy books so of course I was interested.

But then I looked through my homeroom teacher's classroom library as well as the school library and guess what? The first book in the series I had been hearing about, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone", was checked out! So what to do, wait for the first book to return or read the second book which was sitting on the shelves just begging for me to pick it up?

Oddly enough for me, a girl who likes organization and order I chose to read the second book first. And even though I didn't read the initial set up with Harry and the Dursleys and Harry's rough start to school and the wizarding world, I was hooked. I'm not certain but I think I may have read the second book, then the first and then I read the second one again so that I knew them in the correct order.

Either way, that started the obsession. An obsession that led to pre-ordered purchases of books four through seven. An obsession that lead to movie showings and purchased VHS's, DVD's, jewelry, and clothing related to the franchise. And, even fourteen years after I first started the series, I am seriously considering a Harry Potter related tattoo and I am also regretting the fact that I didn't buy a pair of Deathly Hallows earrings when I was out shopping last weekend because I would rock those things.

Because, as many other fans of the series have said before me, the magic of Harry Potter is very real. And I have a feeling that, if I'm eighty years old and someone asks me if I still love the fandom, I'll be saying "always."

Book Challenge Entry Three: Favorite Poem

Entry Three Prompt: Favorite Poem

My Answer: The River-Merchant's Wife by Ezra Pound

This poem is my favorite for probably a silly, prideful reason. Let me set you up with a little story. In my senior year of high school I was in AP English with a teacher that quite a few students hated because she was pretty tough. I liked her though because she loved literature and so did I!

I have some very fond memories of that class. Except for the assignment where we were asked to pick a poem and dissect it for the class. I chose "The River-Merchant's Wife" (I think I just randomly found it in our anthology and I liked the flow and the imagery) and I really sunk myself into it, examining each line very thoroughly. I reached the conclusion that the narrator in the poem was forced into an arranged marriage but by the end of it she truly did love her spouse.

But my teacher disagreed even when I explained why I had reached that conclusion. I was so disappointed! (Though I did feel a little better when most of my classmates admitted they had read into it the same way I had.)

So when I got a chance to complete the same type of assignment in a college course I chose the same poem with the same conclusion that I had reached in high school. And guess what? My professor told me he thought I was spot on!

That's why this poem has always had a soft spot in my heart (though every time I think of it I have to spend forever trying to find it because I can never remember the title). It's the poem that proved to myself that, even though I'm not really a fan of poetry, I can still critically look at and understand poetry. Plus, I think it also goes to show that meanings in poetry can be subjective.

Here's the poem for your perusal: "The River-Merchant's Wife" by Ezra Pound

While my hair was still cut straight across my forehead

I played about the front gate, pulling flowers.

You came by on bamboo stilts, playing horse,

You walked about my seat, playing with blue plums.   

And we went on living in the village of Chōkan:

Two small people, without dislike or suspicion.   

At fourteen I married My Lord you.

I never laughed, being bashful.

Lowering my head, I looked at the wall.

Called to, a thousand times, I never looked back.

At fifteen I stopped scowling,

I desired my dust to be mingled with yours

Forever and forever, and forever.

Why should I climb the look out?

At sixteen you departed

You went into far Ku-tō-en, by the river of swirling eddies,

And you have been gone five months.

The monkeys make sorrowful noise overhead.

You dragged your feet when you went out.

By the gate now, the moss is grown, the different mosses,

Too deep to clear them away!

The leaves fall early this autumn, in wind.

The paired butterflies are already yellow with August

Over the grass in the West garden;

They hurt me.

I grow older.

If you are coming down through the narrows of the river Kiang,

Please let me know beforehand,

And I will come out to meet you

                        As far as Chō-fū-Sa.

Book Challenge Entry Two: Book Series That Needs to End

Entry Two Prompt: A book series you wish had gone on longer OR a book series you wish would just freaking end already!

My Answer: Pretty Little Liars series by Sara Shepard and the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich

I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to rant a little bit about both of these book series because oh my goodness have they went on far too long! (And series like these are part of the reason why I'd be afraid to wish that a book series I love would go on for longer. Just like with TV shows, what starts off as a fresh new idea can very easily lose its steam).

First of all, the Pretty Little Liars series. Yes I am far from the target audience for the series but what can I say? The ABC Family show got me hooked into the teenage drama concerning four friends and the manipulative friend that had supposedly went missing and then wound up supposedly dead. (No direct spoilers here, not this time!)

And the books were a quick and easy read with just enough unbelievable suspense to keep me interested. Then what was an interesting premise turned so convoluted and what do you know? The "my book series is now a TV show so I have to milk it for all I can" bug hit and then what could have been a decent four book series added in another mildly entertaining four book arc. At that point I was hopeful that it would just end already because it was already starting to get too crazy, too ridiculous but it did not. Now, in the late spring of 2014 (nearly eight years after the first book was published) there are still two books in the sixteen book series left! It's too much and I'm half tempted not to even bother with them but I'm sure I will (though they will be borrowed from the library and not bought).

Now onwards to poor poor Stephanie Plum. Within months of working at a library I knew how very popular Janet Evanovich's books were what with the amount of people that wanted to be placed on hold for her books pretty much as soon as they were released. So, having decided to branch out from my normal repertoire, I thought I'd give them a shot. I immediately loved them! Stephanie was flawed, kind of hopeless and wandering, with a love of baked goods and hot men. The bounty hunter world was interesting. The books were quick reads and sometimes very funny. And then after a few books I realized something. Every single book is the same.

I was hoping that after awhile Stephanie would show some growth but even in the most recent book I read (I think it was the fifteenth which means I still have more than six books to read that are currently published and who knows how many expected to be released) that hasn't happened yet. What one can expect from the books are the following: Stephanie will chase after a skip and end up getting shot at/covered in some disgusting substance/fall on her face or ass, anywhere between one and six cars will be destroyed, Stephanie will have sex or make out with either Ranger or Morelli or both, her grandmother and friend Lula will shoot at somebody. And even though all the above things happen Stephanie still hasn't bothered to really learn how to defend herself which would be smart since by this point I think she's been targeted by no less than four murderers.

It just makes me wonder why authors think they need to overkill things and how authors manage to sell books even though they literally tell the exact same story over and over again. I mean come on, I have new ideas! I have fresh ideas! Can I be published maybe?

Book Challenge Entry One: Best Book of the Year

Personally I think that reading and writing go hand in hand. One cannot be a good writer if they do not read. So when I randomly stumbled across a Book Challenge issued specifically for blog writers I decided that I would give that a try. But I know myself well enough to know that I have too many things going on to post something on this blog everyday for a month so instead of doing that I am just going to post sporadically, once a week or more. Each post will be the answer to a prompt of sorts about book dislikes, likes, etc. And I've picked the prompts from a variety of different lists I found online so here goes.

Entry Two Prompt: The best book you've read in the last 12 months.

My answer: Alienated by Melissa Landers

Alienated was one of the first books that I received via NetGalley, a website that will allow you to request advanced copies of certain books in exchange for an honest review. And although it was really nice to get a free copy, that in no way affected why it's the best book I've read in the past year. Not only did I absolutely LOVE the storyline and characters but it's also really cool because Alienated started out as a National Novel Writing Month entry and because Melissa Landers is from Ohio (and in case you did not know that intrigues me because I have written several entries for National Novel Writing Month and I'm also from Ohio).

Now, since I already have one written up, I'll add my lovely review of the story right here even though you can also find it on my book review blog because I add it right here you won't have to follow silly links or anything. And just as a note, I wrote the review in such a hurry (I was just that happy with the book) that I'm not entirely sure I spelled some things right because some of the names were tricky. I apologize.

Alienated is the story of Cara, a human teenage girl, and Aeylx, an alien, and their involvement in the first every exchange program between the humans and the genetically similar L’ehirs. This novel had it all! Lively characters that jumped out of the pages/Kindle screen, conflict, and romance!

When Alienated starts Cara is being offered an incredible chance to be one of the first ever humans to host a L’ehir exchange student, and then to travel to L’ehir to be an exchange student and then at the end she’d get a scholarship for any college or university who’ll accept her. Sounds like an awesome opportunity, right? But Cara has more to worry about then how much she might miss her friends and family if she goes to another planet for a year of school. She has to worry that she might lose her friends when she’s still on Earth since there are so many people that are against any contact with the L’ehir’s. A brief look into Aeylx’s life shows that he and his fellow foreign exchange students want even less to do with the humans than the humans want with them.

But then, after spending months practically glued to each other’s sides (one of the rules they were given) and prosecution from Cara’s schoolmates, Cara and Aelyx’s relationship changes. That changes everything and even when the humans start treating the L’ehir’s horribly (a move that very well might bite them in the butt later on) they stick together in the cutest way. For the rest you’ll have to read for yourself (a move that I will very much encourage!)

I very much loved the characterization of all the characters, even the secondary ones were fleshed out and so lively that I was surprised to see that Alienated was the first novel by Melissa Landers. Although we humans haven’t made contact with life from other planets (at least not as far as I’m aware) I thought the depictions of how the two species interacted were very believable. How some characters were willing right off the bat to keep an open mind while others learned, like Cara and Aelyx learned how compatible they really were, how some were fanatically pro-L’ehir while others behaved as though the very idea of peace between the two planets would be a death sentence for everyone.

And because of all of the above I am very much looking forward to the second installment in this series and I’m sad that it won’t be coming out for another year!