The Under-appreciated Parts of Books (#1)

I thought I’d do a small series of posts on different parts of books that nobody really pays attention to. I don’t know how many of these I will do or if they are even interesting to you, but I think they’re pretty cool. I’m going to start with the colophon, which is that page of technical and legal stuff about the book found near the beginning.

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This one is from the Barnes and Nobles collectors’ edition of The Arabian Nights. This one doesn’t have a ton of information on it, but I thought I’d show it anyway to prove that even super fancy nice books have colophons too.

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This is from a Cassandra Clare book. This one is more interesting, as I noticed that her name is spelled differently on the colophon than on the front cover and on the internet. Also, it has a summary of the book on it, perfectly concise and accurate. Also, it has a list of the genres it belongs to on the bottom, which I also thought was cool.

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This actually came from my AP World History textbook. It contains a dedication, which I thought was kind of weird, as that’s usually a separate page. I included this to show that almost every type of book contains one.

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This is from the Song of Ice and Fire series by George RR Martin. I have the mass-market paperback editions, and I thought it was cool how much info they fit onto one tiny page. Also, the legal warnings on here are pretty interesting to read. The colophon even references itself, citing its designer.

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Here is the colophon of a non-fiction book about the periodic table of elements. It’s concise and contains most of the same info as the others.

Those were just a few examples of colophons from a range of books. I really hope that my interest in them isn’t offputting. I really feel like they say a lot about a book, even if I don’t understand a lot of the legal jargon on them. Tell me what you think of them, and make sure to let me know of your favorite (and unappreciated) aspects of books.

Versatile Blogger Award

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Thank you to Gwen & Kate’s Library for nominating me!

The Rules:

1.) Thank the person who nominated you and link to their blog

2.) Write seven facts about yourself (Since I’ve already shared most of the interesting things about me, these will be random updates)

3.) Link to 15 (or as many as you can) other blogs and let them know you nominated them!

Facts:

1. I have one of the cutest dogs in the world. Here is a picture of her on my bookshelf:

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2. I’m way too addicted to Netflix. I’ve been watching Friends, as I’m super behind on pop culture since I wasn’t allowed to watch TV until I was basically in middle school.

3. I think it’s really annoying how the internet gores crazy around Valentine’s Day. Some people are obsessed with romance, and others love to call it Single Awareness Day. I personally don’t see what the big deal is.

4. I am currently reading I am Malala , and there are so many emotions!!

5. I’m currently in the process of trying to lengthen my attention span and improve my study habits. I used to be super efficient, but I had almost no schoolwork and super bad teachers last year, and I’m not handling the greater amount of work well. That’s also why I haven’t been posting too often.

6. I am an INFJ on the Myers-Briggs scale thing. This is the rarest personality type (because I’m so special)

7. I’m really thankful for all the support everyone who has read my blog and commented and interacted with me.

I Nominate:

Literate Girl in an Illiterate World

Brooke @ Brooke’s Bibliophilic Babblings

Confessions of a Bookaholic

On Lending Books

Generally, I do like lending my books to people, as I really want others to share the joy of my books. However, I hate the fact that books I lent out almost a year ago are still sitting in some dark corners of my friends’ houses. Also, I often get books back in a much worse condition than they were in originally, and it just really annoys me. I will keep lending books out to some people, but I know that there are some friends and family members that I cannot trust with my books, no matter how much I want them to read.

That’s basically all I have to say for now on the matter. Sorry for the ranting/rambling, but I’m sure some of you can relate. Do you have the same problems with lending? Let me know.

My Thoughts on Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Hello and happy February! I just finished this book, and I can definitely see why there is a ton of hype around it. I got this when it was free on iBooks and the Kindle Store, which was really great, because I was too skeptical of this book to spend actual money on. I do intend to continue on with the series at some point, but it’s definitely not an immediate priority.

While some people compare this book to Twilight, I disagree completely. Twilight has vampire and werewolves in a love triangle with a spineless and one-dimensional female protagonist, which was why I was so reluctant to start this series. However, I felt that the author did an admirable job defying these tropes by using an intelligent and mostly sensible protagonist and (so far) excluding a cheesy love triangle. Katy (the main character) is a book blogger who posts reviews and freaks out over new releases, which was a really fun thing to read about, since I can totally relate. I also really enjoyed the dialogue in this book, particularly the snarkiness and sass between Katy and Daemon.

My only main problem was with the male members of the alien group, especially Daemon. They were super controlling and stubborn to the point where it was annoying and unproductive. I disliked how they were always the ones to fight, because they felt it was their duty to protect the delicate females. I thought Dee was a super strong and awesome character, and I really wish she would have had more of a role in the fighting.

I really hate the cover, though. Look at it. The bind-up edition on the left is slightly more appealing to me due to the sparkles and the fact that it’s two boos in one, but I still dislike both covers. The one on the right, which is the original cover, is just the cheesiest thing; it looks like a trashy romance.

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This book, as I said, was overall a fun and quick read. I give it 3.5 stars.

Afterworlds Review Part 2- GIFs

To see GIFs in the next section without getting spoiled, scroll quickly without reading the text
Spoiler discussion

First of all, here are some GIFs that describe my reactions to various scenes.

The airport shooting: scared37

 

The kiss between Imogen and Darcy (which I thought was forced and kinda insta-lovey:

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The part where Lizzie kills that bad man (or is it the old man? I mix them up):

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The moment when Imogen makes up with Darcy and sneaks her friends into BEA:

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Quick Thoughts:

I was pretty mad that Imogen and Darcy got together at first, but as I became more accustomed to it, I came to accept it. I never fully fangirl shipped it or anything, but they were pretty nice together. I really liked the falling out they had, as I think it added more emotion to the story.

I’m still not sure how that underworld river thing worked out.

That’s basically it!! What did you think of the book? Also, feel free to give me answers on any of the above confusions.

Afterworlds Review

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Title: Afterworlds

Author: Scott Westerfeld

Goodreads Average Rating: 3.75

Pages: 599

Hello! I haven’t reviewed a book in a while, and it’s been way too long. Remember that I have a weird rating system which you can find here.

Non-Spoiler Thoughts

Plot: A

I really thought that this was a creative idea and I have never seen anything like it, but I was somewhat confused by certain logistical aspects. Maybe I just have reading comprehension problems, but I just wasn’t 100% sure how the transition between the real world and the Afterworld worked out. I was very happy to get a sort of behind-the-scenes view of the publishing industry, no matter how inaccurate it might have been. They referenced book bloggers, ARCs, and BEA, and I thought it was pretty awesome.

Characters: B+

Most of the characters were pretty well-developed, but I did feel like some of them were kind of one-dimensional. For example, I wasn’t a huge fan of Yamaraj or his sister, but I did like Darcy and Imogen.

Writing Style: B

There was nothing terribly unique about it, but I did enjoy reading it. The different tones for different parts of the book was good. There were some dark moments, some contemplative and some happy. The writing style in Darcy’s book and the writing style about Darcy were similar, but different enough that it was believable that they were two different authors. Does that make sense? I hope so, because I don’t really know how else to phrase that. Also, I found one or two typos.

Engagement: A-

I found myself engrossed more at the beginning and end of the book, which I think is totally normal. I still found the middle interesting, but not enough to read through it in one sitting. I still had some self control to put the book down.

Dialogue: B

Some of it was really great, like the deep conversations that Darcy and Imogen had together, but some of it was just kind of blah. Also, the scenes with all the authors complaining about writing certain scenes and stuff was a lot of fun to read. I have seen much worse dialogue.

Wordbuilding: B

As I already mentioned, I had some trouble understanding exactly how the Afterworld and the Underworld worked. It was a pretty cool concept, though, and I could still basically understand the story without a complete understanding of the world.

Romance: B

It seemed a little forced at first. I will go into more detail in the spoiler discussion section, which is coming up soon.

Overall: A-/B+

I really enjoyed this book and found it a creative and interesting read. Also, I love the cover so much. The actual cover in person is even cooler, as it has a sort of pearly glimmer.

I will be uploading a spoiler discussion section soon as well. There will be GIFs, and you can look at them without reading the text if you do not wish to be spoiled. See you soon and thank you for reading my review!

Books for School

Hi! This is the last book haul for a while, I promise. Anyway, as you may know, I am currently enrolled in high school. This year I have the strictest and most stressful English teacher of all time, and these are the books he has assigned in no particular order.
Also, we have not read any novels yet for the entire year, so we are getting assigned a bunch for this semester.

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I’ve read part of this book and enjoyed it. This book is written in vignettes about a Chinese-American family, and that’s basically all I know. Since I’ve been raised using Asian methods (I’m half Japanese), I feel like I might relate to some of it. We shall see.

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This is the first book in a trilogy. It follows two intertwining narratives: the tale of a strong man in an African village as he falls from grace (I’m not sure what that means, I paraphrased Goodreads) and the destruction of the village as European forces invade.

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I think everyone knows these books. 1984 is one of the world’s first and most famous dystopian novels, and Animal Farm is an allegory that provides commentary on war. I believe that my teacher intends to connect both of these stories to modern world and follow cause and effect.

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Homer’s two epic poems. I’m excited but a little tentative to read these.

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I’ve already read this and saw the movie remake with Leonardo DiCaprio. I really enjoyed both, and I look forward to analyzing it in more depth than I did in eight grade when I read it for fun.

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I read this a while ago and never watched the movie. It’s about a guy/boy/person who gets stranded on a raft with a tiger, hyena, and orangutan. I really wish I had the original cover.

Also, I was apparently supposed to buy Lord of the Flies, but I forgot.

Those are the books I will read for the semester!! That’s a lot for a high schooler, right? I’m praying for survival. Tell me which of these you have read and/or enjoyed, and I will try to post again soon.
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