Back to First Grade

Last year, I was reading some of my classmates' work, and I was disappointed. Not disappointed solely by poor vocabulary and terrible sentence structure, but by their failure to conform to the possibly simplest grammar rule ever: Capitalize the beginnings of your sentences, as well as proper nouns.

Incorrect: we went to the store.
Correct: We went to the store.

Incorrect: After they went to the store, i made cookies.
Correct: After they went to the store, I made cookies.

Proper nouns: The word "I" and names (of people, specific places, countries, days, months, etc.).
Proper nouns are capitalized, as well as the beginning of a sentence.

Just to be clear, a noun is a person, place, or thing.

Couldn't even find a cute comic to put here, because only small children are still learning this rule, and small children don't understand grammar humor.

Leave a comment.

Chanukah 2014

Being the book nerd that I am, the majority of the presents I wanted for Chanukah were books. This is just a list of the ones I got.

1. Volumes 1-5 of the Oz books (includes all of the books by L. Frank Baum — like fourteen, I think)
2. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
3. The Arabian Nights

Sherlock Holmes and the Arabian Nights are really nice quality, with gold edges and all that. I am by far too excited by good quality books. I need help.

Leave a comment.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Four best friends. Lena, the shy beauty, Tibby, the cynic, Bridget, the athlete, and Carmen, the angry but lovable Puerto Rican.

The day before their first summer apart, they find a pair of pants that Carmen was planning on throwing away. The Pants fit all of them perfectly, even with all of their different body types. They decide to send the Pants back and forth between them, so they have their friends with them during their travels.

The first three books are the summers of high school. Lena goes to the Rhode Island School of Design, Tibby goes to NYU for film school, Bridget is at Brown (I think), and Carmen goes somewhere.

The fourth book is the summer after their first year in college. I have to say that Carmen has the hardest time of the four, as she really lost her way during freshman year at college. But by the end of the summer, a fragile conclusion is reached.

The last book is set ten years later. The Sisterhood has fallen out of touch, with Bridget living in California, Carmen busy being an actress, Lena a poor artist, and Tibby in Australia.

They plan to go to a Greek island where Lena is from to spend time together, but when they get there, they receive some unfortunate news.

They are lost.

By the end of the book, a real conclusion is reached. Bittersweet, but real.

These books are so sad, especially the last three. But the first two have their heart wrenching moments. I love these books so much. Definitely read them.

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The Grisha Trilogy

I have seen this book many times before, but only recently have I read it. I have literally checked it out of a library and returned it without reading it. The cover always catches my eye, but then I read the description and think, Eh. But this book is definitely not "Eh."

Alina Starkov, plain cartographer in the Ravkan first army. Mal Oretsev, best friend of Alina since they were orphans together. Yes, Alina is in love with Mal. No, Mal doesn't know. Sounds cliché, but it's bearable.

Alina and Mal are traveling across the Fold, a dark, terrible place where monsters attack anything that comes near them, along with other members of their regiment. Alina is scared, and rightfully so. The volcra are dangerous, and could kill her without a thought.

When she and Mal are crossing on a sand skiff, the volcra do attack. In all the chaos, Alina throws herself on Mal to save him, and sees a bright light as she feels the volcra attack her.

Then she's out of the Fold, having not crossed due to the volcra, and people are asking her about what happened. What was that light? Apparently it came from her. Apparently, she's not so normal. Apparently, Alina is the Sun Summoner, only one of her kind. And she can help close the Fold for good.

In Ravka there are Grisha who practice the Small Science, which is essentially magic. All children are tested at a young age to see whether they are Grisha or not. Alina was not found to be a Grisha, but now she is thought to be. And not just any Grisha, but the Sun Summoner. There is only one Sun Summoner. Since the volcra live in the dark, they can't come near light, and so when Alina accidentally used her power in the Fold, she saved the skiff from the volcra.

The Grisha make up the Second Army, commanded by the Darkling, who, opposite of Alina, can summon darkness. He is also the only one of his kind.

Alina is taken to the smaller of two grand palaces, where the Grisha are trained. She meets Genya, a Grisha servant, whose job it is to make the queen beautiful. She becomes friends with Genya, but is out of place with the rest of the Grisha, who are so used to excess and a rich lifestyle.

The Darkling tells her about a special amplifier that Alina can use to enhance her power, and destroy the Fold. Alina rests all of her hope on finding this amplifier.

The rest of this is a spoiler alert, but it doesn't give away that much. Later in the series, Alina finds out that there isn't just one amplifier, there are three. Usually Grisha can only have one amplifier, but these three are meant to be combined. Alina finds two of the amplifiers, but in order to obtain the last one, she will have to do something terrible.

This book was amazing, the perfect amount of romance, fantasy, and adventure. Loved the whole thing.

Read it. Read it now.

And leave a comment.

Harry Potter Review

There was a boy who lived in number 4, Privet Drive. He was a common boy by his appearance, except for an unusual lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead. He got this scar from when his parents died in a car crash, or at least that's what his aunt and uncle told him.

But one day everything changes. Harry receives a letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It upsets his aunt and uncle, and they don't let him read it. After continually receiving these letters, Harry's uncle takes his family to a shack in the stormy sea, and that night, Harry reads his letter. A giant man, named Hagrid, introduces himself as the groundkeeper of Hogwarts, and tells Harry he's a wizard.

Harry's not just any wizard, though. His parents weren't killed in a car crash, but by the most evil wizard known: Voldemort. Voldemort tried to kill Harry too, but failed. Harry is known as the Boy Who Lived, famous throughout the wizarding world.

Harry goes to Hogwarts, where everyone knows his name. He meets Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, who become friends after an incident with a mountain troll on Halloween. Harry loves his new world, even with the mean potions teacher and strange defense against the dark arts professor.

But it turns out that Lord  Voldemort isn't dead and gone; in fact, he's still alive, and he's looking for Harry.

Events transpire. Harry ends up face to face with Voldemort, and defeats him for the time being. But Voldemort is still out there, waiting.

Throughout his years at Hogwarts, Harry defeats Voldemort many times, but Voldemort doesn't die easily. Everything comes down to Harry and Voldemort.

Harry Potter has a special place in my heart. It was one of the first books my parents read to me. I recommend this book to anyone.

I know that some people don't like this series, but really, just give it a chance. It can be a little slow at the beginning, but it is well worth it.

Not to be cliché, but I give this series 6 out of 5 stars.

If you happen to be reading this, tell me what house you would be in. I'm a Ravenclaw.

Brownies, Books, and More

So exited for winter break.

Story time.

In my drama class, we did Secret Santa. My secret Santa gave me a box of brownies. They were a little undercooked, so it was more like a brownie lump or a brownie cake than brownies. So I couldn't really tell where one brownie ended and another one began. There were quite a few brownies in the box. So I get home from school, and eat like half the box with a fork. Finished it the next day. I made myself sick a few times, but the brownies were so good.

Had brownies for breakfast this morning.

So healthy, right?

This is a list for me of books I'm planning on reviewing in the near future.

1. The Harry Potter Series
2. The Grisha Trilogy
3. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Series

If by some force of nature or magic, you happen upon this, comment. Say hi, let me know what your favorite book is, any books you'd like a review of before you read them.

Harry Potter

Thought I cannot pick a favorite book (I really think it would be detrimental to my physical and mental well-being), I simply can't think of a series I like better than Harry Potter. So be prepared for a series of posts in the future of Harry Potter reviews, because I just started reading Harry Potter again!

By the way, if you are a potterhead you need to know about this website: pottermore.com

If you are reading this, leave me a comment. Thanks!

Grammar Thursday is Back!

I haven't posted a Grammar Thursday in a long time, but I have one today. The topic is punctuation and quotes.

The rule is simple: Punctuation always goes inside of quotes. No matter what.

If you need to know whether punctuation goes inside or outside of quotes, just remember this. PUNCTUATION ALWAYS GOES INSIDE OF QUOTES! You will never find a situation where punctuation doesn't go inside of quotes. If you do, please let me know, but I sincerely doubt you will.

Here's an example:

"I can't believe she said that," Martha said

Either way, punctuation goes inside of quotes. Sorry for being repetitive, but an astounding number of history and english teachers seemed to not know this simple rule, which is very disappointing, considering their professions.

Also, please comment if you happen upon this blog, whether it was a fortunate accident or if you actually read this because you like it.

Looking for Alaska

John Green, John Green, John Green. Ah. John Green, I have to tell you something. I know it might sound mean, but I don't really intend it to. You need to stop having main characters die in your books. You need to be able to explore character development through a different medium than death. I think that main characters dying makes things really interesting, and I usually like it, but I feel like the only real big conflicts and character change (the two points of a book) happen when Alaska dies. I know that it is much easier to write about character change when the characters are forced to go through the grieving process, but Johnny (do you like being called Johnny? Maybe Greeny is better), Johnny, sometimes the easy road isn't the best road. Here's a Dumbledore quote for you to take with you: "We must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy.” I looked that up just for you, Greeny. Time for you to go now.

Okay. To the actual book.

This book was about a boy. He went to high school, and was forced from the sidelines onto the field, right in the middle of the main event. And the main event was Alaska Young.

Before Miles (fondly known as Pudge — for obvious reasons — by his friends at school) met Alaska, he spent his days memorizing the last words of famous people. His life was dull and without meaning. He decided to go to a boarding school in search of a Great Perhaps — his words, not mine. But instead of finding a Great Perhaps, he finds Alaska. Alaska and her maze of suffering, her beautiful but destructive life.

Immediately — and I mean in the first day — Pudge changes from a caged-in nobody to a smoking, drinking member of a high school "gang." I use gang lightly. There is a rivalry between his group of friends and the rich kids at their boarding school. They play pranks on each other. Lots and lots of pranks. That's pretty much all they do. Well, that, smoking, and almost making out with Alaska.

Though this group almost gets into trouble many times, pulls many pranks, and pretty much spends every moment of every day with each other, their group bond doesn't grow at all. Pudge's status in the group never changed from when he first met them, to when he was setting off fireworks with them.

Finally, after slugging through about half of this book, you get to the section called "After." Personally, I think calling this section "after" is kind of a misnomer, because, though it is after Alaska dies, everything else is still pretty much the same. On the back of the book, there is a long description for what happens "before," and one line to say what happens "after." Apparently, after, nothing was ever the same.

I would strongly disagree with that, as Pudge changes the most as soon as he meets Alaska, and starts drinking and smoking. After Alaska dies, almost nothing changes.

Well, not nothing. Basically, all of the characters show an amount of emotion that doesn't correlate with their character's personality. If you started reading after Alaska's death, you would assume that they weren't playing pranks on each other, but sitting around talking about feelings.

I did like the second half of the book better than the first half, though. In the second half, Pudge and co. try to discover if Alaska committed suicide, or was just in a drunken accident. That part was written fairly well. I have to admit to you, John Green, that you actually wrote a few chapters that didn't make me want to vomit.

All in all, I wouldn't suggest this book to anyone, unless they were into reading most of a book to get to the good part. This book didn't explore any character development, but used death to pretend that it did. If you want to read a book about suicidal people and philosophy, I'm sure there's something better out there than Looking for Alaska by John Green.

P.S. I know people don't really read this blog, but if you do (whether it is accidental or on purpose) please leave a comment, so I know if anyone is seeing this. Thanks.

The Fault in Our Stars

Time for another book review!

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.

(pause for effect)

Well.

Well.

We-ell.

As I'm sure you've probably noticed, TFIOS happens to be one of the most popular books right now. Though I can totally relate to being obsessed with books, I just cannot relate to being obsessed with this one. It is actually quite horrifying the images I saw when I googled "the fault in our stars." This is a cross-stitch pattern of "Okay? Okay."

Ahem. No comment.

I looked up "divergent" just to see what happened. Here are the results: pictures of the book covers, pictures of the actors in the movie, some fan art/jewelry/etc., but NOT A SINGLE CROSS-STITCH! Outrage!

I mention this just to make the point that though other books have become immensely popular (i.e. Divergent), TFIOS is still more popular than most new YA fiction.

Personally, I was disappointed by it. From what other people told me, this book would be practically life-changing: romantic and sad, a book that teaches you so many things about life and death and loss. While I was reading it, I kept waiting for some profound sentence or two that would make the whole thing worth my time. I never found anything too profound in it.

My absolute least favorite part of the book was the whole Hazel thinking her favorite author is going to be amazing and tell her everything that happens after the book ends. I think it makes her seem kind of self-centered and naive. First of all, she pretty much assumes that the author: a. knows everything that happens after the book ends, and b. is going to share that information with her. She always says how she doesn't like all the cancer perks and wishes she was treated normal, but without cancer perks, she wouldn't even be able to meet the author.

Just to be fair, here's my favorite part: Oh wait, I don't have one.

Though this wasn't my favorite book, I do recommend that sometime in your life you read it. Even just so you can watch the movie while keeping your integrity intact. (Rule of Life #1: You can't watch the movie before you read the book.) By the way, whenever I see the trailer for TFIOS movie, I fangirl a little. The movie looks really good. Maybe better than the book. (Even though Rule of Life #2: The movie is never better than the book — except for Lord of the Rings.)

Essays

I'll get back to John Green tomorrow, but today I need to talk about something that absolutely infuriates me. Essays. I am currently writing one for school and it is killing me. Even though I try to be creative and put my own spin on it, it is almost impossible to write an entertaining, fun essay that not only shows how much you've learned, but also your voice and writing style.

Essays are terrible creatures sent from Hell to destroy our creativity until we are all mindless typing drones, click-clacking day and night at meaningless questions.

No I'm not being melodramatic!

Everyone who is in the field of education: GET A CLUE! Essays do not help ANYTHING! Teachers assign essays for a few reasons, but their reasons are NOT legitimate!!!!!

First of all, to find out someone's writing style, maybe you should let them BE CREATIVE! Write poetry, or prose, or ANYTHING BUT AN ESSAY! I know when I write essays, I don't actually need to know the subject. All you do is paraphrase and regurgitate the information. It doesn't show knowledge.

ESSAYS ARE STUPID!!!!!!!!!!!!!

John Green

I haven't posted anything in a really long time. The summer just flew by. School starts on Wednesday, which means all the things like buying school supplies and summer homework that I procrastinated have to be finished in just a couple days.

I've been planning to post this for a very long time but I haven't gotten around to it. I recently read two books by John Green: The Fault in Our Stars and Looking For Alaska.

I got halfway through Looking For Alaska when I impulsively bought The Fault in Our Stars at Target. I read it, then finished reading Looking For Alaska.

Considering all of the good reviews for TFIOS, I had high hopes for the book, and pretty much thought that everything written by John Green was magic or something.

I was severely disappointed.

I'll go into more detail on the specific things I didn't like in the next few days.

Personally, I feel almost bad for not liking these books, because I think John Green seems like a nice guy. I think I could be his friend if I ever met him. I just don't think he writes exceptional books. They're really not bad, but I just don't see how everyone who reads his books love them so much.

It just made me kind of mad. I had been waiting to read TFIOS for soooo long, and it wasn't even that good! It was ten whole dollars at Target! Ten whole dollars wasted! Not acceptable!

Hanged vs. Hung

It's Grammar Thursday! Today I'll be explaining the difference between "hanged" and "hung." A lot of people know this rule, but a surprising amount don't. Including my history teacher. U.S. history. Generally that involves a lot of people being hanged. Um . . . Salem Witch Trials?

So, the rule is:

Hanged is the killing one.
Example: "Martha, did you hear? Mark was hanged yesterday for murdering his baby koala!"

Hung is used for everything else.
Example: Yesterday after work, Isabelle dejectedly hung her jacket on the hook. She had been fired.

Image from: taaroko.deviantart.com

Vacation Time!

Going to New Jersey to visit relatives! I might not be able to post anything for a few days, sorry!

Lynx kitten:

Image from: www.zooborns.com

And again:

Image from: www.treehugger.com

The Literary Double-Edged Sword

I'm reading The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (yes, I know, everyone has already read it) and I've been thinking about some literary double-edged swords.

In The Fault in Our Stars, Hazel has cancer. She is dying. Dying. DYING. As in, going to die, about to kick the bucket, preparing to retire from being a human. Now, as an author, you have two choices: Hazel lives, or Hazel dies.

Personally, when a character who should die ends up living, it seems too happily-ever-after. The girl who was on her deathbed at the beginning of the book is miraculously cured by the end, even though in real life it would never happen that way. I feel like when authors do this they are taking the easy way out and not taking any chances by having someone die in their book.

But if the character who should die does die, there is still a problem. If the person dies, I just think, "Oh well, of course she was going to die. That's so obvious. I can't believe the author just let the character die like that. Maybe they could have been more creative and had some sort of plot twist to save the character."

See the double-edged sword?

Here are some examples of a plot twist:

1. Character lives, best friend dies.

2. Character lives, parents die in fatal car crash.

3. Character lives, but is confined to a wheelchair, loses a sense, gets brain damage, etc.

4. Character dies, comes back as a ghost, and haunts her family and friends.

5. Character dies, cavorts around this afterlife being a ghost . . . la la la . . .

Feel free to share some of your favorite plot twists! Leave them in the comments below.

Croak by Gina Damico

I know that in most book reviews the book is given a rating between 1 and 5, but I'm not going to do that because it seems like a very black-and-white way to describe writing that is not in the least black-and-white.

I just finished reading this book a few days ago. Here's a link to the summary: http://www.amazon.com/Croak-Gina-Damico/dp/0547608322/ref=la_B005HJ023Y_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1405099475&sr=1-1

From the summary, I assumed this book would be pretty predictable: Juvenile delinquent girl (Lex) stays with uncle for the summer; uncle is a grim reaper; uncle tells Lex that she's a grim reaper; she has adventures being a grim reaper; her family doesn't want her to live in the grim reaper town; she has to convince them; Lex ends up living happily ever after in GrimReapersVille.

I was so so wrong.

This book was really about the juvenile delinquent girl who uses her powers of destruction (in a figurative sense) for good instead of evil when she finds out she's a grim reaper. Lex learns quickly and finds new friends and a new sense of place in Croak, the grim reaper town. Of course, when she enters the town, many conflicts occur. There is a series of unknown deaths that even the Grims can't explain. One thing leads to another and the thing she loves most is hurt in an attempt to stop the killer.

It's not all sad, though. When Lex isn't reaping souls, she's out having fun with her new friends and watching dead presidents fight in the afterlife. (Grims can visit the afterlife whenever they want, as a perk of the job.)

This book was fun to read, but the fun didn't take away from the plot. I almost cried at the end. I really enjoyed reading this, and I'm pretty sure there's a second and third book in this series. If there's not, I might just die.

Grammar Thursday: Nauseous vs. Nauseated

Hi there! I've decided that Thursday sounds the most grammar-like of all the days of the week and therefore deserves to be the day for my short grammar lessons. This Thursday I'm going over one of the simplest (but most easily confused) things: nauseous vs. nauseated.

Nauseous means "causing nausea."
Nauseated means "affected with nausea."

So when you say, "I'm nauseous," you are really saying, "I make other people nauseated," or "I make other people sick."

If you're feeling sick, say "I'm nauseated."

Image from: mightymarkup.com

If you have any questions, put them in the comments. I'd also love to hear if you have suggestions for books I should review, or other grammar concepts you have questions about.

Hi!

Hi everyone! I'm Sydney. I love to read and write, so I wanted to have a blog dedicated to book reviews and helpful grammar tips that all writers should know. I happen to also love chocolate and all things sugary and baked and delicious. I'm going to post any recipes I try, and the results of my experiments in the kitchen. I'm not a great baker, so this will be interesting. See you soon.