The Fire Has Caught

My thoughts are incoherent now.

I just spent two and a half hours in the theatre absolutely glued to that massive screen literally watching the contents of the second Hunger Games book play out. Yes, I have just finished watching Catching Fire.

There was so little deviation from the actual thing, I couldn't believe it. I must admit, I haven't read the book in a couple years and went into that cinema not really remembering the actual plot line at all. BUT I remembered as the movie progressed and man was it accurate. There may have been some things that were missed or changed and someone somewhere on the internet has probably pointed them out but they were not stupifyingly obvious so I'd cut the movie some slack.

So since it was exactly the book in movie picture format, we don't have to worry about the plot. Plot was amazing, and it still ended with a crazy cliffhanger so all the people who hadn't read the book in the theatre were all in shock about that. Guess what book's sales are going to suddenly skyrocket??

Finally, I really fell in love with the characters, all over again with the repeats and for the first time with the newcomers. Peeta and Gale man, both so selfless. And the character development that happened with Effie was phenomenal! She's beginning to realize how screwed up the system actually is. And I felt so much for all the victors that were reaped for the second time. They did not deserve that to happen to them. Johanna and Beetee were my favourites. They were just so cool to get to know, y'know?

I really needed to get all this out of my head and into words so that I could go back to enjoying regular life. It almost seems unfair that the world is still going and there isn't a mandatory recuperation time where there are no responsibilities to worry about after watching Catching Fire. That should definitely be a thing. 

Hey! A song from the Hunger Games soundtrack just started playing on my laptop! That's fitting.

Let me know if you already have or are planning on seeing Catching Fire and say what you think in the comments!

Sneak Peek

I have zero time to write but I'm still bursting with ideas aka the worst state of being to be in.

SO I have decided to give you a look into what's to come. Not saying that they'll be like in the coming week or even the coming month but that they're there and when I have some spare time that I don't use towards watching How I Met Your Mother, I'll be working on them! They're pretty great ideas, if I do say so myself.

Here you go.

Poll Results: Fandoms

This poll was courtesy of spending the majority of my life on Tumblr. Fandoms run rampant over there and this was a way to see which type of people peruse my blog.

6 people voted which is not too shabby for my restart up of this blog! But obviously no one is part of only one fandom thus the option to pick as many options as you needed.

No surprise to me that Harry Potter won. It kind of reinforces the fact that everyone is in the Harry Potter fandom, whether you've only watched the movies or have your very own time turner. Harry Potter will always be around.

That got pretty philosophical.

As for the rest, I picked fandoms that were pretty popular so I think it's more interesting to look at the ones that didn't get votes. Hannibal is a fairly new fandom so that's understandable, Avengers seem less obsessive than most so maybe its fans don't spend their time on some nobody's blog to vote on a poll. Supernatural is kind of surprising since it usually goes hand in hand with Sherlock and Doctor Who which both have three votes each. Oh well, maybe they were crying somewhere.

Oh, you want to know my fandoms? Okay! I'm a fan of all the books listed here, Hunger Games, Harry Potter and John Green are all amazing reads. And then there's Sherlock which I became addicted to as soon as I first watched it. Smart move on my part because I totally love waiting and waiting and waiting for any news or new episodes.

Polls are bimonthly now, if y'all didn't notice so November and December's topic is: what's your favourite fruit? Why do I want to pry into your soul with this very revealing question? I am eating grapes at the moment.

Go forth and vote! Tell your friends! Tell your grandma! (But seriously, if you do that, tell me and I will give you infinite respect)

Book Juggling

Imagine that literally?

In this case, I'm talking about being in the middle of reading multiple books at a time. This is a thing that I do. My average is 3 books at a time.

Why exactly I do this is because I have different moods for what I'm reading. Sometimes I just really want to breeze through a mindless chick lit novel while other times I am so down for complicated subplots and dragons. There are even times when the main character of a book will just be annoying me too much and I will set that book down and pick up another because there is never a shortage of books in my house.

Another reason that just popped into my head is convenience. I am the kind of person that will just start a new book if the one I was reading at the time was in my room and I was on the couch. This way, I can just leave a book in all my reading locations and not have to wonder where I set it down last. You could come into my house and find a book on the kitchen table, beside my bed, on the floor near the couch, in my backpack and even sometimes in the bathroom.

It almost feels weird to only have one book on the go but that rarely happens anyway. There's nothing worse than not knowing what to do with yourself once you've finished a book so being in the middle of two other stories makes the brain shift that much easier. Just as long as no characters have the same name, it's quite simple to keep everything straight in my head.

Question: what are your book reading habits? Are you a big book juggler? Do you have any weird reading locations? Please share in the comments!

Books I'm Annoyed At Myself For Not Reading The Second They Came Out

This list is bigger than it should be. What usually happens is I'm super pumped for the book but the release date is in like 6 months and since I don't want to go through the emotional trauma of actually thinking about the book and its non-releasedness, I just shove it to the back of my mind and forget about it.

Of course, me being me, I go ahead and forget about the very existence of the book (unless it is constantly shoved in my face and reminders pop up everywhere AHEM John Green books) and it enters the world without me noticing. Suddenly reviews and people raving about it pop up and I'm late to the party. I have to order it at the library and then wait for it to come and then add it to my To Be Read pile and then I can finally join the club of "I have read this book and can now form an opinion about it".

Currently on this list:
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Like why did I not just sit inside a bookstore with this book until I finished it on its release day not caring about the looks the workers give me?? Tumblr is obsessed with it and I am obsessed with Rainbow's books so it would make sense but not I'm just sitting here in confusion while the internet goes on about a Cath and a Simon Snow?

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare
This I'll admit I have just been lazy. I'm not too obsessed with The Infernal Devices books but still, it's the last book in the trilogy. Is it that hard to pick it up, power through the 500 pages and finally get an ending? And then I can make a judgement on whether the ending was too vague and non-conclusionary or completely perfect and two thumbs up. (I'm a major critic of endings. They must be just right or I will be grouchy. Maybe I should delve into that in a later post.)


Inheritance by Christopher Paolini
Again with the endings thing. This is the last book in an intense series so why don't I just read it? It's literally been out for years so the library line can't be that long but I still cannot manage to make myself do it. This one has a common sense reason: it's too long. Yes, I am funny capable of reading something of that length but do I want to expend the effort it will take to read it? Do I want to get stuck in the rut where I've read more than 300 pages yet I'm still not halfway done the book? Or worse, do I want to get sucked into the book and disregard the rest of my life just so I can devour it? The answer is no. My brain is rationalizing all these thoughts and it really doesn't want to go through all the effort and I don't blame. What I'm thinking is that when I have zero responsibilities aka once this semester is over, I will jump into this book. For sure.

I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga
I literally know nothing about this book except that it's semi popular and it sounds like it would be Dexterish which is a thing that I like. But even though it really intrigues me, I haven't picked it up mainly because I don't know what do expect. Most books I read have been read by many other people that I know and there is usually a general consensus of what to expect from the book. Maybe I haven't done enough research but this book really isn't popping up on my radar enough for me to get the gist of what is going to go down in it. I will read it some day because I would be so upset with myself if I didn't discover a major good book in my own without just sheeping it out and reading the latest bestsellers only. (Example of this happening was Graceling by Kristin Cashore which was one of the best decisions I ever made so doing it again with this book would not make me sad at all.)

If you want to know more about me and my relationship with books, check me out on Goodreads and Booklikes!

Reasons It's Good To Have A Messy Room

Instead of cleaning my room, like I should be doing, I have decided to use my time to make a post about why it's actually a good thing to have a messy* room. Makes sense. Maybe this is my teenage rebellion. Never really had one of those so I guess I'm due.

*Now, by "messy" I mean clothes a little all over the place and an unmade bed and random paper everywhere. I don't mean anything gross like food and garbage everywhere and all that extreme stuff.

1. It's a time saver. If you have to put every single thing away, all the time, it takes up your time to do that. To make sure your floor is completely spotless, your bed is made and everything in its place is a lot of effort that you can spend doing other things. (Yes, I know there are arguments on the other side of this one but we're just going to ignore them because that is not the point I am trying to make.)

2. Natural parkour course. You may laugh but it's true! Coming home and trying to get into your bed but having to avoid piles of papers and a random box you have out is no easy feat. There is a lot of jumping and balance required. This is not only fun but also improves agility and foot-eye coordination.

3. It's more "you". Seriously, you don't want your room to look like it just came out of an IKEA magazine. By having your collection of paint samples or all the make up you use on a regular basis out in the open, you give your room personality and make it your own.

4. Improves memory. It's like having all your contacts saved on your phone. Do you actually know your best friend's number or do you just know what button to press on your cellular device? That's the same with having a spot for certain things in your room. You won't even think, you don't even have to turn on your brain to find whatever you're looking for. Now if it's just ~somewhere~ you'll have to recall where you last saw it or what you were doing while you had it to discover its location. A great workout for the mind!

Once your read all these arguments, there is no way you could go back to having a regular ol' cleaned up living space, it's inconceivable!

(EDITOR'S NOTE: You don't even know how much I died laughing alone in my room while writing this. If I could have a job that involved thinking up plausible reasons for dumb things, I would die happy and so pleased with myself.)

The Chapters Gig

Perhaps some of you care about the goings on in my life so I thought I might share a bit about how work is going. To recap, I got a job at Chapters which is a big Canadian book store (I never realized that people might not know what it is since it's huge in Canada but not anywhere else.) for the seasonal time and got kept on to work part time. It's pretty much my dream job since I love reading so I just get to be surrounded by books.

Welcome to Introverts Anonymous

I go through ups and downs in my opinion towards having a job there. I am SO NOT a people person so having to interact with that many people tires me out and approaching them to ask if I can help them even though most of the time they don't want any still scares me. It feels like I'm putting myself out there and then am getting rejected even though it's not me they don't want to talk to, they just want to shop alone. It sucks cause being introverted means you need to be alone to recharge so I need lots of recharging time after spending a couple hours surrounded by people and talking to people and being all bright and cheery even when people don't deserve a bright and cheery me.


But when I start thinking these thoughts, I rationalize that if I had any other job, I would have the same deal with all the people but I wouldn't care about the product. The fact that I am surrounded by books and get to recommend awesome books to people more than compensates for anything. I imagine working at a drugstore or something where there's monotone everyday items and know that I would hate it the whole time since I would feel no connection. There is no better feeling than finding a voracious reader that has read all the mainstream books like The Hunger Games, Divergent, The Fault in Our Stars and Warriors and giving them a bunch of equally amazing books like The True Meaning of Smekday, Graceling, Enclave or Heist Society.

Also, the type of people that shop there are the best kind. I get so many teachers that are selflessly using the Chapters gift cards they got for Christmas to buy more books for the classroom. Once you get past the book convos and learn about people's lives, it really is fun talking to them. I met this one girl that was only 10 but training really hard to be a professional figure skater. Who knows, maybe she'll be in the Olympics one day. One little girl bought a doll and whispered to her mother that she was going to name it after me. Proudest moment of my life right there. (I work in the kids section which is why I have so many anecdotes about children.)

Most of my co-workers are older than me so I'm mostly a fly on the wall to the conversations in the staff room since I know nothing about taxes or cleaning up after my children. However, they are all very nice to me and ask about school all the time. All the managers are so nice and the atmosphere of all the employees is amazing. Especially when I hear the horror stories my friend tells me of her manager who calls her ugly "jokingly" sometimes.

About that "everyone who works there is way older" thing, it makes me super proud of myself to have landed the job because it's a really rare thing for someone my age to do it.

In conclusion, I'm glad this is the job I have to pay my way through university but I am SO GLAD it's not permanent and that I can go get a research job where I can wear jeans and not talk to people for hours. It's perfect for my current situation so I hate to complain just because it's tough sometimes.

2012 End Of Year Book Survey

1. Best Book You Read In 2012? (You can break it down by genre if you want)

NOT GOING TO CHEAT. I have to say The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. Seriously, this book made me laugh, cry, and want to throw it across the room. That's pretty talented for an inanimate object.

(Shameless self advertisement: Read my review! http://thecontentsofmy-brain.blogspot.ca/2012/10/how-to-cry-for-half-hour.html)

2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?

HANDS DOWN Rebel Heart by Moira Young. I adored Blood Red Road and recommended it to everyone I knew whether they wanted a recommendation or not and even the people who weren't asking who ended up reading it loved it. It was just that good. So obviously I was PUMPED for the sequel. But it did disappoint me a little. I didn't hate it in the slightest, it was just not as good as I hoped.

3. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2012? 

I was most pleasantly surprised by Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake. The only reason I read it was because it kept appearing on people's favourites lists so even though the blurb didn't really draw me in, I decided to go for it. And I'm glad I did.

4. Book you recommended to people most in 2012?

Probably Blood Red Road. It's a known book, but it's not a "thing" the way Hunger Games or Divergent is. So while everyone knew about those two, I could recommend this book and they wouldn't have already heard of it! 

I think these things through.

 5. Best series you discovered in 2012?

This is a hard questions to answer because it's been a year of sequels for me. Lots of the books I read in 2011 came out with sequels and that's what I've been keeping up with so I've gotta think hard for a series I discovered this year...

I GOT IT! It's a tie between Cinder by Marissa Meyer and Legend by Marie Lu. They're both so inventive and they draw you in and make you want to find out what happens next. But, alas, these are the first books so I've got some time before the next installments come out to sate me.

 

6. Favorite new authors you discovered in 2012?

I have to give this one to Kody Keplinger. Her books are not of the dystopian genre, which is mostly what I read. They are just stories of life and boys and normal things but they are SO WELL WRITTEN. I don't know how she does it at such a young age but she is amazing at capturing exactly the right feelings for everything. I mean, she was my age when she wrote her first book. 

7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you?

I'm going with outside of my genre being non-fiction. So I read Ellen DeGeneres' biography called Seriously...I'm Kidding and laughed my butt off the whole way and also How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming by Mike Brown which was perfect for me. It told a story, was funny and had science!

 

8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2012?

Enclave, by Ann Aguirre, was such a great book! It was one of those where everything just kept happening and just as you found out something, another thing popped up that you needed to find the answer to and couldn't possibly put it down to go to school or some other trivial thing.
Luckily, it is relatively short compared to the kind of books that I read normally so it was finished in an afternoon and I didn't have to go through drastic measures to keep reading it.

 

9. Book You Read In 2012 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year:

I will most likely reread The Hobbit by the great JRR Tolkein. I read it over the summer to prepare myself for the one week we had that was Hobbit themed at my camp but since the movie has come out, I'll probably watch it and then end up rereading it sometime in January to compare the movie version and book version.

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2012?

Cinder and A Million Suns by Marissa Meyer and Beth Revis, respectively, take the cake in this category. Cinder was especially creative when combining the slipper from the Cinderella story along with the cyborg twist. And then I love outer space and A Million Suns' cover was so gorgeous!

11. Most memorable character in 2012? 

I'd say I remember Deuce from Enclave by Ann Aguirre the most. She was capable, fought for what she believed in and never let someone else do something for her that she could do herself.

 12. Most beautifully written book read in 2012?

I'm sorry. But beautifully written prose doesn't get to me unless you include confusing me. I need my books given to me straight up, no implying and dancing around the point. And if it doesn't confuse me, then I don't notice if it's nicely written because I am too engrossed in the story. Shout out to all the books that fall under this category that I didn't notice. You guys were great.
But I need a book here so why not Mo Willems Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs. Props if you've read it and double props if you found the Easter egg from Willem's previous books. (Hint: PIGEON)

13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2012? 

Took me a while to go through my mental list (slash Goodreads list) of books but when I happened upon Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay I knew it was definitely the one. The first half made you so hopefully and then reality struck and it just made you realize that life probably won't have a storybook ending.

 

14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2012 to finally read? 

If I Stay by Gayle Forman. This book came out in 2009 and I only read it last year? What was wrong with me. It was a very intricate story with flashbacks from her life before and you never actually knew what her choice would be until it happened. Tres good. And I liked the sequel even better.

 

15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2012?

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer had so many amazing quotes that were very true but also were funny in an understated way. Such as:

"Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad books."

"Isola doesn't approve of small talk and believes in breaking the ice by stomping on it." 

"I don't want to be married just to be married. I can't think of anything lonelier than spending my life with someone I can't talk to, or worse, someone I can't be silent with."

 

16.Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2012? 

SHORTEST: Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs by Mo Willems. I still read picture books. How can you just stop reading something you totally grew up with?

LONGEST: Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore. Fun fact, this book came out super near my birthday yet I had to wait for it at the library. I dropped major hints about wanting it as a present but the friends and family did not take heed.

 17. Book That Had A Scene In It That Had You Reeling And Dying To Talk To Somebody About It? (a WTF moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss, etc. etc.) Be careful of spoilers!

I'm just going to give this to The Fault in Our Stars by John Green because can you really beat the plot twist of all plot twists? The one that you could NEVER imagine coming and makes you want to read more but also want to make a pyre and burn the book for playing with your emotions? I don't know how my friend (who read it before) me held it in because that is pretty much impossible. You just NEED to tell someone about the injustice of it all.

18. Favorite Relationship From A Book You Read In 2012 (be it romantic, friendship, etc).

Liesel and Rudy's relationship in The Book Thief by Mark Zusak was beyond adorable. Even though they spent most of it as a friendship and only started liking each other near the end, it was just perfect. All their adventures and them being there for each other. I want that.

19. Favorite Book You Read in 2012 From An Author You Read Previously.

Actually, most of the books I read in 2012 were sequels so that's going to be a toughie. Let's just go with Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore because her books are among the tippy top of my favourites list. I had read Graceling and Fire and just fell in love with that world so when it comes to another installment the only answer is YES PLEASE.

20. Best Book You Read That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else:

I am pretty independent in my book-choosing methods so pretty much none of them were recommendations.  I'm the one that gives the recommendations out to other people. I'm like their Jedi Master teaching them the way of the good books. But my friend lent me the book called The History of the World According to Facebook by Wylie Overstreet which she told me was really good and I think that counts even though I knew about it before. PS it is hilarious and really good.

Looking Ahead

1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2012 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2013?

So many books literally everything is something I want to read and there is never enough time. There's Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green because I NEED to have read every single book of his and also Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor since everyone's been raving about that one and Incarnate by Jodi Meadows because I actually started that but never got a chance to finish it and now I feel bad. 

And those are just some.

2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2013?

- Shades of Earth by Beth Revis

- Prodigy by Marie Lu

- Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

- Mind Games by Kiersten White

- Just One Day by Gayle Forman

...to name a few.

3. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging In 2013?

For sure I need to read a minimum of 100 books, that is always a goal I achieve every year and I'm not about to stop now. Also I want to read more non-fiction, especially brain books because they interest me soooo much!

As for the blog I'd like to have a wider audience, maybe 15 followers by the end of the year (I know, aiming high.), and also be able to connect with readers and other bloggers alike, get in on the community of blogging since I am just a noob now.

These are ALL the books I read last year, you can just paste this into the URL thingy at the top of your internet to see them! I'm sad I couldn't mention every one in this End of Year Book Survey so here's their chance to shine.

http://www.goodreads.com/user_challenges/216833

Also, sorry for the slightly late post. Technically I'm still in January so 2012 is recent enough!

Brainstorm

I just made a brainstorm on future topics for this blog.

Here's the list:
Socks: matching or unmatching?
Reasons it's good to be *blank* (insert short, blond, quiet, etc.)
Useless skills I have
Embarrassing story
Where I'll be at seventy-three
Useless skills I want to learn

I know, real deep and thought-provoking.

While we're on the topic actually, what do you want me to ramble about? Book reviews? My life? My thoughts and opinions?

Resolutions

Before we get down to the nitty gritty of me baring my fixable flaws before, can I say that I have never seen any jokes concerning picture resolution about New Year's resolutions. None. Whatsoever. It's weird cause they can't have all been invented this year. So here I am, laughing my head off at their sheer wit while all y'all are probably giving me hipster looks and telling me they've been around for ages. I must have figured out a way to avoid them until now because I am seriously not new to this whole internet deal.

This is the first time I've actually written something down for my New Year's resolutions, normally I just vaguely think something up. Here goes.

- Stay fit. Most people want to get fit but I am fit. I love sports and have high metabolism which both work to my advantage. But I won't have gym class anymore in university and I am not down to gain the freshman 15, thank you very much. So this is thinking long term to develop habits that'll help me come September.

- Learn a song on the bass each month. The bass is such a cool instrument to be able to play. I don't practice things very much so this might help me grow my repertoire.

- Do homework every night. Even if nothing is assigned. I am the queen of procrastination so this one is going to be a Herculean effort. That I will eventually fail at.

- Keep my room presentable. I am the worst at cleaning my own stuff. Other people's things I love to organize but my own things just get neglected. I've started keeping my bed made which actually makes a difference in how clean my room looks but I hope to get further along.


- Smile at one person I don't know a day. Because spreading happiness is fun. Because you never know how the person's day has been and what your actions do to contribute to it. Because what's the worst that could happen?

- Learn something new. I don't know what exactly but I want it to be a skill that takes time to acquire. Learn to write with my left hand? Take up handwriting analysis? Who knows! (You can tell I wrote the first draft of this by hand since both examples have to do with writing.)


- Be creative. My focus education-wise is all sciency and facts. I love that stuff to death but I really need to keep my brain entertained by creative things as well. So it may be making wall decorations or knitting something. Anything that lets me just release my creativity. (First on the list is find myself a synonym for "creative". I used it far too much in that paragraph.)


- Read 100 books. Easily accomplished seeing as I've done that for the past few years. But it's good to keep it as a goal.

I'm thinking at the end of the year we shall revisit this list and see how much progress I made on it!

ALSO: What do you think of my resolutions? Too ambitious? Too stereotypical? What are some resolutions you've made and do you think you'll be able to keep them?

Job Update

I have amazing news! Remember a week ago when I talked about how I got my second interview at Chapters? Well, I got a call yesterday and it's official! I am now an employee at Chapters!

I literally could not stop smiling for the remainder of the day.

Right now I am filling out paperwork which should be boring but I don't even care because I am so happy that I can finally stop job hunting and that I work somewhere that I love.

NaNoWriMovember

Has your bookish friend suddenly gone into hibernation and whenever you see them there is a crazed glint in their eyes? Have some of your guy friends randomly decided they want to look similar to pedophiles regarding facial hair?

Well, if this is true and you have no idea why, then have I got an explanation for you.

Regarding your scraggly mustachioed fellow, he's probably participating in Movember! It's when people of the male gender do not shave their mustaches to raise money and awareness for prostate cancer.
I think it's a great idea because men are always happy to show off how much hair they can sprout from their face and it's a funny way to bring attention to something serious.

As for your bookish friend, they are probably participating in NaNoWriMo. It stands for National Novel Writing Month. This is when you begin writing a full-sized, 50 000+ word novel on the first of November and must complete it within the month. Then, with this hastily and sleep depriving novel finished, you can enter it into the official website and you just may win the contest!
It something that writers really enjoy because it really makes you focus on putting your thoughts onto paper and is a great way to be "discovered" as a new author since everyone is judged equally. (I hope.)


And that is what is up and popular this month.

Chapters, why must you play with my heart?

A little background info:
3 weeks ago today, I went in for an interview at Chapters. Working there is basically my dream job because books so I was super excited and had all my hopes up and everything. I felt that the interview went really well, I knew my stuff and didn't seem nervous on the outside. (Although on the inside it's a completely different story.) I figured I'd wait a week before actually expecting a callback since I went on the first day of a week full of interviews, according the the manager who spoke to me.
But, nothing. Eventually I accepted that I wouldn't get a callback and why did I get my hopes up so high since I'm not even an English major or anything so why would they pick me. (My thoughts are always run-on sentences. This is the most accurate I could make it.)

BUT THEN

THE MOST TWISTY PLOT TWIST OF ALL

it's a plot twist, ok?

I got a telephone call this afternoon. I thought nothing of it until I heard the voice of that very manager asking me to come back for my second interview in two days.

My reaction (after I had calmly answered in a calm and completely not uncalm fashion) was to start hyperventilating and smiling and just lay down on the floor for a while. Then I told everyone who would actually care and then I sent a quick thank you prayer up to God cause, seriously, those were some major strings he pulled.

I am literally so happy right now because I am one step closer to actually being employed and to boot it would hardly feel like work when it's basically helping people find awesome books and just shelving stuff. (Which I kind of enjoy.)

Me right now

The interview is on Wednesday so I shall keep you in the loop!

Why I Love the Library

Ok, seriously. About half my posts are book-related. THIS ISN'T ALL I DO. I swear there are other things that I enjoy and that are going on my life. For realz.

But I want to enumerate some reason why I love the library.

1. Free books. Have you ever heard a better pair of words? (Probably. Like, "no cancer" or "bellybutton lint") If I were to buy every single book I've ever read, I would either not read very often due to brokeness or not care that I was broke and buy them anyways and be in debt to a loan shark and they'd steal my house and I'd cry. Either situation is unpleasant so YAY for libraries. There's no limit to how many books I can take out, there's no continuous or start-up fee, it's amazing! The sole purpose of a library is to give everyone a chance to readas much as possible. It's sweet.
2. Pretty layouts. If you think about it, libraries are pretty much art-holding-buildings. They are where carefully crafted volumes of words are kept so it makes sense that the actual place is artsy too. Every library I've been to has had it's own unique flair that makes it just gorgeous to be standing in. I don't mean old-fashioned, beautiful stone structures or whatever, although those are great, I mean lots of colours, cozy nooks, tons of posters and just an openness to having people being there. It's pretty awesome.
3. Nice people. This is a stereotype, but it's a nice one so shh. It seems to me that libraries are only filled with nice people. Moms with their little kids zigzagging through the shelves, scholarly men who are looking for something to relax to, teenagers that aren't partying and upsetting the balance of the universe with their reckless and atrocious behaviour. Cause reading is for everyone but those that really enjoy it are the quiet nicer type, in my opinion, and the library is where we all flock. The only place you can find a nicer group of people is at a blood bank.

These are the biggies that come together to create all the small perks of libraries like studying with your friend or finding your next favourite book because it was recommended by the person browsing beside you. It's just so nice to have libraries.

The Casual Vacancy

Yeah, not for a while.

So I finally go around to putting JK Rowling's new book, The Casual Vacancy, on hold at the library but it doesn't look like I'll be reading it any time soon. I am number 1341 in the waiting list.

The strange thing is that the library apparently only has 75 copies. Like, this is JK Rowling, who wrote the Harry Potter books, who is pretty much a legend and you didn't expect the next thing she publishes to be in extremely high demand? If the Percy Jackson series needs over 100 copies, then JK Rowling's grocery list will need over 100 copies, nevermind and actual new book written by her. This just confuses me. (ALSO: No offense Percy Jackson fans & Rick Riordan, I love the series but the fanbase is not even comparable to HP's.)


Back to the actual book, I'm not dying from not being able to read it right-now-at-this-very-second-and-no-sooner-or-else-bad-things-that-I-can't-bring-to-mind-will-happen because it's written for adults so I don't know what that will entail and the subject, to be honest, doesn't really draw me in. I am a teenager, therefore I read teen books. Adult books have never really been a thing for me unless you count the random neuroscience books on synesthesia and left-handedness and other interesting mind things that I read from time to time. (It's really interesting, ok? I can feel you judging me...) So I'm not sure whether the style of writing will appeal to me or whatever the difference is between adult and teen novels.

I will end up reading The Casual Vacancy and I'll see if I like it but I don't have mega high hopes and I can wait however long that is necessary until I get my hands on it. The end.               

How To Cry for Half an Hour

So I finished The Fault in Our Stars last night. I figured it would only take a day since John Green is such a good writer (if I swore, I would've used some extra words to describe his ability to write) and then me and my friend obviously need to rehash the entire book together at school today. Obviously.

TFiOS hat!

This is a good of a time to mention it: since I already used the picture of the cover of the book in a post and I am in no way, shape or form a picture repeater, I have decided to fill this post with all the TFiOS swag I've seen while roaming the internet.

So I loved it. Augustus Waters is the most perfect boy known to humankind and it's really a shame that he's fictional. But then again, every girl in the world would absolutely hate each other since we're all going for the same guy.
And their conversations were hilarious and also deep which, congrats John Green, I don't normally enjoy but these were pretty enjoyable. But I don't know if I want to be on the side that says "Normal teenagers don't talk or think like that. We're all awkward and just not anything close to that." or on the one that's all like "That's cause they weren't normal teenagers. They'd never had normal lives and had lots of time to develop all these thoughts about life."
The plot was perfect, there was so much fit into it, like Augustus and Hazel met, they went on adventures, some heart-wrenching things happen and that was the best I could do to tell you stuff without spoiling anything at all. At least I didn't just start a sentence and then stop.
And, of course, with about 80 pages of the book left to read, I started bawling. It really was that sad. And I knew it was going to be sad so I didn't promise to myself that I wouldn't cry. So I literally cried from then until the end of the book. It was just so sad and I didn't want it to happen but it had to.
What surprised me was that the ending was really good. Like once we got passed the horribleness, the tying up the loose ends went very well. Normally, authors just leave you a little too soon before you're ready to be let go and there are a lot of unanswered questions (Except Eva Ibbotson. Love that woman. Her loose ends and triple-knotted and covered in bubble wrap.) but this book managed to answer those questions and also make me happy and have hope and smile.

So yeah. Anything I read in the next while is just going to SUCK in comparison.

Annnd, since I am a Quotations Girl, here are my favourites:

cutest thing of life

“I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, then all at once.”

“Oh, I wouldn't mind, Hazel Grace. It would be a privilege to have my heart broken by you.” 

“Books so special and rare and yours that advertising your affection feels like a betrayal.” 

"...the existence of broccoli does not, in any way, affect the taste of chocolate.” 

"Tomorrow?" he asked.
"Patience, grasshopper," I counseled. "You don't want to seem overeager. 
"Right, that's why I said tomorrow," he said. "I want to see you again tonight. But I'm willing to wait all night and much of tomorrow." I rolled my eyes. "I'm serious," he said. 


“And I wondered if hurdlers ever thought, you know, 'This would go faster if we just got rid of the hurdles.” 

Gus's father: "Our children are weird."
My dad: "Nicely phrased.” 

My Emotion is I-Want-To-Punch-You-In-The-Face

Not you specifically, I barely know you. Although that could be remedied if anyone COMMENTED.

Anyway. Completely off topic there.

My friend just lent me her copy that I gave to her for her birthday of The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. (No, I totally did not premeditate that by buying her a copy I could forgo the massive line waiting for me if I ordered it from the library.) And I have been reading it whenever I could all of today. Secretly during chem class, all of my spare and while my sister was hogging the computer.

Now let's zone in on when I was reading it during my spare. I was sitting with the very same friend who will be known in this post as The Owner of the Book and a friend from Data class who will be known as The Spoiler. The Owner is raving about the book as I'm reading it, starting and stopping in the middle of her sentences as she tries to convey the awesomeness of the book while not actually telling me any details. The Spoiler knows nothing of the book but steals it from me and reads the blurb in the front jacket flap. (Side note, isn't it cute how they're called jackets? Like the book is getting all dressed up? Or is it just me? Thought so.) He then proceeds to GUESS THE PLOT TWIST and say it out loud. Now, let's just say that my dear, dear Owner of the Book friend would be terrible at poker as she just does not own a poker face. Maybe it got lost in the mail. Maybe she was given faulty information of when and where we were to obtain them. Who knows. But she completely gives it away that that indeed is the plot twist that left her bawling alone on her couch.
That's when I declared my emotion to be I-Want-To-Punch-You-In-The-Face.

I have tried to push what he said to the back of my mind and carry on enjoying the book play by play but it was incredibly annoying to have it spoiled like that.

Sorry for any vagueness about what the actual plot twist is but I felt like this is the kind of thing you should not pay forward so for anyone who hasn't read the book, I won't spoil what it is for you.

I might possibly do a book review for it (without spoilers, calm your muffins) when I'm finished but I'll have you know I kind of suck at reviewing books. But then again, not being able to sing doesn't stop people who can't sing from singing.

Shout out to John Green for being awesome and writing The Fault in Our Stars.

DFTBA

Tangent Count: 2