For the prompt today (Favorite Quotes) I did not go on a theme, but instead just copied and pasted my favorite quotes on my Goodreads profile. LOL! I put these up YEARS ago, but most of them still apply to my feelings today. Go figure! Some of them are bookish, some of them not.
Book: Lemon Drop Falls by Heather Clark
Genre: MG contemporary
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
After, our girl is stressed out trying to make things run as smoothly as her mom did so her dad won't feel the need to move and change everything about their lives. Her friends have seemed to abandoned her and she is very worried about everything. Her dad decides they need to go on a camping trip, though she feels like how can they do that without her mom.
While on the trip, she decides to do something a little bit crazy and during that moment, she realizes so many things about how she can continue to deal with life without her mom.
The lemon drops refer to a tradition they have in their family to encourage talking out your feelings. Deal with the sour and then you'll get to the sweet.
So, it's the story of the struggle of our girl dealing with her mom's death and the stress and anxiety that it causes with her and their family. It's sad. But also very beautiful. And so perfectly done. I really loved it.
Book: The Iron Flower by Laurie Forest
Genre: YA Fantasy
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
This is the second in this series wherein we continue the story from book one The Black Witch. Our girl Elloren is still at school and still hanging out with the "misfits." But now she is determined to save them. Because her people who rule the land currently, have decided to start rounding up certain races and banning them, or killing them, or otherwise persecuting them.
So, in other words, she is going against everything she's been taught and totally turning on her people. While at the same time her people think she is next in line to be the Black Witch, or ruler of them all.
She has a made alliances with several of her friends, and found others who are against what's going on, and together they make up the Resistance. Their first task is to save some of the people... the Fae and the Selkies for starters. Meanwhile, her aunt is determined to have her "wandfasted" (engaged with no going back) to a dude who is NOT part of the Resistance. But if she does agree to marry him, than maybe she can get him to turn and be of help because he is high up in a power position. But that's a big maybe.
Oh my word. There's so much. I can't even summarize properly!
Anyway, it's all very crazy and detailed and there are a ton of characters as is expected in a high fantasy of this sort. And so many types of people and the prejudices everyone has against each other is rampant. I don't know how Elloren is going to fix any of it! But it's a great ride trying to hang on with her while she tries. I'm going to have to finish this series with the next book, aren't I?
We talk a lot about PCD regarding concerts, but I think it can totally apply to conferences too. Coming back down from a high is always rough, no matter what the thing was that caused it, right? LOL!
Anyway, I think it's about time for another monthly CURRENTLY check in post!
Listening:
Maybe my favorite song of the week? Not your typical kpop I must say:
But also this one. TXT is just killing it for me lately:
Watching:
Enjoying yet another season of Survivor! And it's almost over again already!
Halfway through a kdrama called Tomorrow about grim reapers who save people from suicide. Lots and lots of tears with this one.
Reading:
Finished Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth for book club this next week. I loved it! Review to come soon...
I can't figure out what to start next. I am overwhelmed with possibilities.
Writing:
I went to an awesome writers conference this past week (thus the bit of PCD) and learned so much amazing stuff! I hope to ride the wave and get going with things! Before the conference, I spent a lot of time this past week going through edits from beta readers for my high school 80s story. But I really really need to finish the space story. I also need to start a tiktok for writerly things. LOL! That cracks me up.
Blogging:
Still here!
YouTubing:
I put every single BTS song into one 8 minute video. Seriously. For reals. Also, I'm going to start a regular series of vlogging type videos. Just me talking. Awesome, right? Ha. That also cracks me up.
I have plans to do another non-kpopper series. I have a victim in mind. Stay tuned... WAH! So excited!
Health Watch:
I started keeping track of food again. I've had a couple of days of eating better. And lots of days of not. Why is this so hard? I can't even tell you how bad I hate this.
Misc:
* I went to Las Vegas to see BTS at the huge new Allegiant Stadium on their last day in concert there. It was awesome. Here's our vlog and concert footage of that experience.
* In two weeks I'm driving back to LA to see another group in concert. They are called The Boyz and they are awesome. Here they are being unbearably cute, click if you dare.
* I sent daughter Toto off to Korea to spend the summer with her aunt there. She will have a blast I hope and I will be fine without her here. Right?
* I need to plan another Oregon escape.
* Our fridge broke so we got a new one.
* Our fence fell down, but we didn't get a new one. Yet.
Drama: Snowdrop (on Disney+)
Genre: Historical (1987)
Starring: Jung Haein, Jisoo, Yoo InNa,
Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤
This is another drama I went into knowing absolutely nothing and I left totally blown away.
It takes place at a women's college dorm in 1987. Our girl and guy randomly meet at a group blind date event that one of the girl roommates set up. A few days later, our guy is being chased and ends up shot. He climbs the wall and hides in the dorm... in our girl's bedroom. They don't know what's really going on, but they (the girls) end up hiding him, taking care of him and helping him to escape.
Turns out he's a spy from North Korea.
And he ends up BACK at the dorm with a couple of his fellow spies, and they take them all (the whole building full of girls) hostage. And it just gets more and and MORE intense from there! Oh my word!
In the meantime, our girl and guy are falling in love. He the captor, and she the hostage.
We get the stories of all the awful politicians involved in the craziness.. .the ones who are supposed to help figure out this situation, but are actually part of the problem. Most of the problem. We see story form the perspective of the agency that deals with spies and other political criminals.
Soon it's apparent that it's very very hard to determine who are the good guys and who are the bad. Every single episode ends on a massive cliff hanger. It's so much of an edge of your seat drama, and much finger nail biting involved. I seriously held my breath through most of the episodes. And sometimes you think everything is figured out, and BAM more twists and turns. What a ride!
It's very intense, very violent and very tragic.
And also, very good. Amazing acting, storytelling, music, characters. All of it.
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| From one extreme.... |
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| ....to the other. |
Interesting side note: I know that when this came out, the people in Korea weren't happy and protested it. I think because it's based loosely on some very controversial events. I'm still not sure what was "true" and what wasn't. But lots of people weren't happy.
It's very interesting too that Disney is jumping on the kdrama bandwagon. However, most of their dramas aren't available for us to watch here in the states. I have no idea what's going on with that, but hopefully they will learn a lesson and fix that eventually.. But this one is an exception.
But anyway, yeah. I loved it.
Here's a trailer:
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| Jisoo second from the right |
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Today's prompt for Top Ten Tuesday is to list some favorite Bookish Characters. Man, my book list is filled with such characters. Here's ten I thought of:
My most recent favorite bookish character is A.J. Fikry in The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry. He is a sad, lonely, no-nonsense book store owner. He knows what's good and what's not (in his very not so humble opinion of course!) He is an awesome character and I loved him from the get go.
The Giver of Stars features a character, Alice Wright, who gets a job riding a horse to deliver books to the mountain folk of Kentucky. It's a powerful story about the importance of having books in your life.
The Starless Sea features an ancient underground library and most intriguing dude who runs it. I forgot his name though. But believe me, he's intriguing.
In the book What I Like About You we have Halle Levitt who writes a YA book blog that matches book covers with cupcakes. I mean it's pretty much the best thing ever.
In the story about Thistle Tate, in The Undoing of Thistle Tate, we have a best selling 17 year old author. Or do we?
Another favorite bookish character is Eliza in Eliza and Her Monsters. She writes a webtoon that is hugely popular but she keeps her identity hidden.
One of my favorite characters, Kvothe, from The Name of the Wind is VERY bookish and spends a lot of his time in the library.
A very cute and fun bookish book is 84, Charring Cross Road which is a collection of letters between a bookseller and his customer.
A book I haven't though about in a while is The Thirteenth Tale... about a biographer who has been commissioned to write the true story of a reclusive author.
And finally there's Liesel from The Book Thief. I can't leave her off this list!
Happy Top Ten Tuesday!
Book: Dread Nation by Justina Ireland
Genre: YA horror
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
We read this book for last month's book club and I went into it pretty much knowing nothing. It took me a minute to get into it, but then it was quick and fast reading after that. I started it late and literally finished the last paragraph as the first book club member was arriving at my house! WAH!
So this is a zombie story that takes place a few years after the Civil War. So it's an alternate reality story that basically answers the question "what if when Gettysburg happened, all the guys dying in that battle rose up as zombies?"
Our heroine girl is a former slave, now "freed", but training to be a companion.. .meaning the one who escorts the rich white girls and fights the zombies off should the need arise. (Gah sorry I already forgot what the zombies are called in this world.) She seems happy to be learning to fight, but not so happy that this is the only choice she really has.
She and a bunch of other girls live and train in a sort of boarding house. One day when she fights a zombie off of the mayor (in a situation he himself created,) she suddenly gets some attention and he decides he wants her for special project. And THAT'S about when this book became very riveting and crazy!
It reminded me a lot of The Walking Dead, mostly in that people are trying all kinds of ways to survive, and this ends up turning the survivors into the bad guys. People are so awful when they are trying to take charge of survivors and lead them through an apocalypse! Seriously, if something like this every happens in real life, I hope we've all learned something from all the stories we've watched and read!
And then the book just ended when things were getting very intense which of course means I will be needing to find book two.
Anyway, I really quite enjoyed it. It not only deals with zombies, but with all the hot button topic race issues of our day, but in a clever way. Very creative book all around.
The prompt today is to review the last ten books we've read using just one word! SWEET! Here we go!
Lemon Drop Falls by Heather Clark: TOUCHING
The Iron Flower by Laurie Forest: INTENSE
Dread Nation by Justina Ireland: CREATIVE
The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon: ROMANTIC
Summer Rain by Trish Milburn: CUTE
Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty: ENGAGING
To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han: QUIRKY
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry: FANTASTIC
XOXO by Axie Oh: FUN
Keep Moving by Maggie Smith: THOUGHTFUL
I do realize my adjectives are boring, but I seriously just went with what I thought of first, with the exception of a couple that made me think way too much.
We had a great time reading and hanging out yesterday! I think I maybe managed about 6 or 7 hours total. I finished one book and got halfway through a second. I found that to be quite acceptable!
Here's a few pictures from the day:
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| The friends came over to read together. Don't we look comfy? |
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| The kitty wondered why I'd taken over her chair, but the window was a great distraction. |
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| This was in response to the weather prompt. It was a fabulous day! |
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| And my "pile." I managed to finish The Iron Flower and get half of Lemon Drop Falls read. |