Hiya!
- Alexa Mintah
- Alexandria, better known as Alex or Alexa, is a strange Christian-fangirl-YA-writer medley tucked away in an undisclosed location in Virginia. She loves creating worlds out of keystrokes, discovering adorable ships (platonic or romantic), and becoming besties with clever characters who wow her with love and brilliance. When only half spellbound by her many worlds of words, she can be found working amongst the stacks in her local library.
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Blog Archive
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2015
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December
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- Tag: A Writer’s Thoughts
- Melodic Mondays: This is Christmas by Kutless
- Posts of the Week: 12.20.15-12.26.15
- Not Tag Week: The ABBA Book Tag
- Melodic Mondays: Be Born In Me and You’re Here by ...
- Beautiful Books: Editing Edition: The Wizard Apoca...
- Melodic Mondays: Joseph’s Lullaby by MercyMe
- Dissonance by Mariella Hunt: Cover Reveal: The Second
- Posts of the Week: The You Choose Edition
- Interdimensional Travels: Log Three
- Melodic Mondays: Strange Way To Save The World by ...
- Tag Week: D.A.Y. A.N.D. N.I.G.H.T Book Tag
- Tag Week: Bedtime Book Tag
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December
(13)
I haven't read ANY of the books you mentioned! Yes, my read-everything-I-possibly-can-in-2016-even-if-it-kills-me-goal is definitely necessary.
ReplyDeleteYess, I have read a book recommended by a blogger, at least a couple actually. I read Steelheart because Aimee at To The Barricade was always talking about it and it did seem pretty cool and I was lucky enough to find it at my library. And it WAS pretty cool. :D I also read Cinder because I had seen several bloggers talking about it, and as was the case with Steelheart, I was looking for new stuff to read. I still haven't read the rest of the series... I need to check my library again, lol.
And as for books that make me happy, I'd have to say the fairy retellings by Melanie Dickerson. I'm reading the newest book in the series right now and they're all so lovely and cute and I love them. <3 Basically, they're based on fairytales, plus they're medieval, plus there's romance (I do like a good romance sometimes) but not a ton of cheesy mushiness, plus there's some action and all that put together makes me immensely happy. :D
LOL, that sounds like a great goal! ;)
DeleteI need to read that one too! But it's not at my library, so I don't know when I'll get the chance.
And YES. The Lunar Chronicles are AMAZING; you should totally try to find the rest of them.
Ooh, those do sound good! I've heard of them, but again, not at my library, so I'll have to wait until I have a book money. :/ They're definitely on the list though!
This reminded me that I need to do this tag! I agree with some of your answers--Safe Lands, Lunar Chronicles? Yes! And I loooved Howl's Moving Castle. I also can't fault you for HP and, although they are some of my favorite books in the universe, I DO recognize their faults and how they might not be QUITE as appealing to others. :) Fun tag!
ReplyDeleteAlly @ The Scribbling Sprite
Yeah, haha, guess everyone just has different tastes. :) Thanks for commenting, and ooh, yay, can't wait to see your answers! :D
DeleteBut you NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED TO READ WINTER. YOU NEEEEEEEEED TO. It is long but it is worth it. I feel like I have over-talked Twilight and Harry Potter for the year, but let's see... I have not read most of these. I have read Outcasts, but I do not think of them so favorably because I am still bitter about the sexism in that series. BUT I am glad you liked Howl's Moving Castle! It was really cute, I think, and the movie is not bad (but not nearly as good, believe me). And I do get book recommendations from bloggers, all the time! That was actually case in my most recent read, More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera, and I was not disappointed. Turns out we're good resources for each other. Who'da thunk?
ReplyDeleteI KNOW. I'VE FINALLY GOTTEN TO IT ON MY TO-READ LIST AND I GET TO START TOMORROW!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP
DeleteSexism, huh? Care to elaborate? I think I noticed that a little bit too, even though I still enjoyed the series.
Do they change a lot of stuff in the movie? If not, I might check it out sometime. :)
Haha, we definitely are. :)
AWESOME. I LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT IT.
DeleteMeh, it's been a long time so I don't even have all the details anymore. But I know that I was kind of annoyed that Levi was being subjected to "reverse sexism" in that he wasn't allowed to do what he wanted as a doctor when he was expected to be a hunter. Because I guarantee women would likewise be in a position where they could not be anything other than wives and mothers and doctors or whatever, but all of the women in the story seemed to be pleased with their place under men. Between the antiquated ways of the village and even the women's place as Levi saw it in society, I felt like the general point of women was their ability to bear children. In fact, the only woman I ended up liking by the time I finished the series... I don't even remember her name. But she was the reporter lady who was on TV all the time. In the end, I only really liked her because she had a professional career where she made something of herself independently of bearing children and still managed to be awesome anyway; she never had to be rescued for her life to work out. And, what really killed it for me, of the five babies born in the series, four were boys, and all four boys were firstborn. And I KNOW it can happen that all four firstborn boys are born in a row, but for me, it was kind of going back to Biblical values. "Blessed are those who have first born sons because who the heck even cares about girls." Because no matter what it's like in the real world or the possibilities or the statistics, as a reader I know that the author made a very specific choice when she chose how the children would be born. I have to believe that if she saw some value in another girl being born, or a first born girl, she would have done it. But she didn't. It sort of was just about reinforcing a lot of gender roles and I didn't like it.
Also, it was like everyone was a white person. The Native American people were like, blonde, if I remember correctly. I was just like... Smh, a whole lot. It was disappointing, because I think it is a very good story and that Jill Williamson is a very good writer, but also, I have a hard time getting excited about books I can't support morally.
And yeah, they do change a lot of stuff in the movie, but I still think it was an interesting thing to watch. Studio Ghibli, and all that. Plus, Christian Bale voices Howl. XD And, the general plot is the same, but the fates of a few of the characters get switched, as do a few of the other things... I don't know. It was interesting.
I'M ABOUT TWO HUNDRED PAGES IN AND I LOVE EVERYTHING!!! OH MY GOSH THIS BOOK IS TOO FANTASTIC!!!!
DeleteWow. Okay, I have to say that I did not notice the baby thing.
To a certain extent, I do agree with you about the way women were portrayed in those societies (there were also times when it seemed like they were just there to sit at home and pray, which you know is good and all, but they can do so much more than that :p), but I feel like even within that setup, Shaylinn and Naomi were still shown as strong female characters, despite the way their society worked.
Oh yeah, I do remember that. But I didn't think that those people were actually supposed to be Native American. Just like their culture was modeled after the Native Americans?
Regardless, though, you definitely have a point. The book had some great opportunities to add some racial diversity and they weren't really taken.
YES. I KNOW. MY HEART DIED TWICE.
DeleteI think it is because I was really hoping that there would be girl babies and then only one was and I was like... "..."
I do think that Shaylinn and Naomi were still strong characters, but you don't have to be a kick-butt lady to be strong, you know? My real problem is the societies they were in because I felt like the one we were supposed to like did give women a place specifically in the home, staying and praying, and more often than not the way writers describe societies as a whole says a lot more about how they feel about female representation... and so while I don't really have problems with the individual characters and can enjoy them, it's more like the general vibe, you know?
Well... like, sure, you can model it after the Native Americans but is there a particular reason that non-white people didn't survive the apocalypse? But yeah. I just found that disappointing since Native Americans don't get enough good press anyway.
TWICE? WHY TWICE? OH WAIT NOPE, I DON'T WANT SPOILERS.
DeleteOh, I TOTALLY agree on that, not having to be a kickbutt lady to be strong, I mean
And yeah, I can get that. I guess the difference is as long as I liked the characters and saw them being strong in spite of the limitations their society put on them, I could ignore the general society. But for you, the society and the general vibe has to represent females better. Or am I wrong about that?
Yeah, fair point. And ike I said, there were definitely opportunities for racial diversity that were not really taken.