My Guilty Book Habits

There's a lot to unpack with both the written version of The School for Good and Evil , as well as the Netflix adaptation. If you watched it on Netflix, but haven't yet read the book I strongly encourage you to get the book as soon as humanly possible.  I'll be transparent about the fact that I may write multiple posts about this, just because there's so much worth discussing. It's not so much that I could just talk about the book forever--though I'm quickly learning that is a possibility--but rather that the book is full of fun concepts, interesting characters and messages worth contemplating.  One of the things that is interesting in the book, is that the author uses common tropes or stereotypes and weaves them into the characters. For instance, as humans we are drawn to aesthetically-pleasing things. Beauty has inspired music, poems, art, and action. It is a part of the universe, but the author of The School for Good and Evil takes this blind love of beauty

 I bet each of us has a favorite story, whether it was a fairy tale, or one that was told to us. We tell each other stories of our personal history, the moments we remember for certain reasons and want to pass on to others.  Good storytelling makes us feel. We laugh, cry, sometimes even grieve through the stories we experience. The magic of storytelling helps us learn, grow, process life, and helps us see life through a different set of lenses than we usually do.  There's nothing quite as cool as stories that help us see our surroundings in whole new ways. A flower isn't just a flower, it's a possible source of life for someone like Thumbelina. There could be giants living in the mountains, and a fallen-over hollow log could be a portal to another dimension for small things to scurry through.  It's difficult to hold onto imagination as we grow older. The world grates it right off us, just scraping away the bits of childhood that got us where we are today. When we lose t

  I love fiction, obviously, which is why I started this blog. I have to say, it pains me when I see attitudes practically condemning fiction as "entertainment", as if entertainment itself is a thing to scoff at and ridicule. It's even more telling that the same people who scoff at the mention of entertainment are also often people who themselves partake in entertainment. Everyone does. Some people read, watch TV, ride horses, have pets, or work on hobbies. What they're really saying is that only certain types of entertainment are acceptable: Non-fiction reading, golf, or other similar hobbies.  This kind of attitude is detrimental. There are plenty of people who don't really enjoy fiction that much, which is fine. To each their own, but judging an entire genre as inconsequential drivel is a little much. In my opinion, we all have things we can learn and gain from reading fiction, so I'm going to share a few reasons why I believe fiction is important.  1.  Fi

There's nothing quite like taking an extended break from a hobby you like, and then going back to it later. It's a sort of homecoming, and it makes you really appreciate the hobby all over again. My break from reading was necessary, my brain had other things to work through, but coming back to the world of reading and jumping right back into it has been amazing!  I'll assemble another post about my newest books that I've read, but for this post I just wanted to talk about some upcoming books that I'm excited about. I'm not sure if/when I'll get to read them anytime soon, but I definitely will try to read them at some point in the future.  So, without further ado, here are the books I'm looking forward to reading:  1. Amari and the Great Game   by B. B. Alston - This is the second installment in the Amari series. If you haven't read Amari and the Night Brothers yet, you should get on it. It's such a wonderful book, and I'm really looking forw

 I've managed to finish another couple of new books (and re-read a few others), so I'll give a generic opinion about the two I finished reading recently. I'm sleep-deprived at the moment, so I'm just going to jump right into the post. What was the last book you read, and what did you think of it?  The Color of Magic , by Terry Pratchett     If you have read Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy , and enjoyed it, then this book may be perfect for you. The tone is satirical and overly-dramatic in appropriate space opera fashion. This book was originally published in the 80's apparently, so there are some sexist attitudes about women, but it seems as if it's meant to poke fun of people who don't think women are capable. It's not prevalent in the book, just a few bold over-the-top statements that I believe are meant to point out how stupid those stereotypes sound.  Overall, it's a very interesting book. It's a playful tone, whic

 For a very long time I didn't want to look at books. I didn't want to think about them, and I couldn't even stand to think about doing any of my own writing. My brain had too much going on to let much of anything else in.  Now, it's been a few years and I finally felt the urge to pick up a book, and I've been working on my own writing as well. I feel like it's better not to read other people's work when you're writing your own, so part of that non-reading time was due to my own creation. It's in the editing stage, working on the 6th revision, but I can see where it can potentially get so I'm excited to see if I can figure out how to get it to that golden spot of potential.  In the meantime, it's been nice to be able to pick up some books. I'm going to need to provide some comparisons for my work, and while I know it's not great to pick the most popular books (nor could I, since my work is quite different), I honestly am not sure what