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Showing posts from October, 2014

Top Ten Characters I Would Want to Be for Halloween

Happy Top Ten Tuesday! True story: I have dressed up as most of these characters at one point or another. 1. Hermione Granger from Harry Potter I never actually dressed up as Hermione, but I always thought I looked way more like her than Emma Watson did. For one thing, I have DARK brown hair, and for another, my hair is/was actually messy most of the time. 2. Jo March from Little Women I have dressed up as Jo. With a patch on the back of my dress. Nobody got it. 3. Eponine from Les Miserables I did this in middle school. Suffice it to say, NOBODY got it. 4. Arwen from Lord of the Rings I've been told I look kinda like Liv Tyler? 5. Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation So, not a book character, but I acquired a Data mask at a Star Trek exhibit at a young age, and my sister and I went trick-or-treating as Worf and Data respectively. The best, most appropriate costumes for elementary-schoolers. 6. Captain Janeway from Star Trek: Voyager Also not a book ch

A South Asian Feminist Sci-Fi Utopia: You're Welcome

Today I saw an article from Tor.com that had me nearly jumping out of my skin with anticipation. The Tor newsletter described it as Utopian. Sci-Fi. From the Subcontinent. Three of my favorite things! In one! And as you can see above, it's actually FOUR of my favorite things in one. So, go read this rad introduction at Tor, and then immediately read "Sultana's Dream" by Rokheya Shekhawat Hossein. My only disappointment is that it's so brief; as a book, it could be the South Asian Female Man (except better, because science. And South Asian.).

Top Ten New Series I Want to Start

Happy Top Ten Tuesday over at the Broke and the Bookish. Not to mention series that I want to finish... 1. The Inheritance Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin 2. The Uplift Trilogy by David Brin 3. The Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde 4. A Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell 5. The Promethean Age series by Elizabeth Bear 6. A Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson 7. River of Souls by Beth Bernobich 8. The Dreamblood Duo by N.K. Jemisin 9. Glamourist Histories by Mary Robinette Kowal 10. Dies the Fire series by S.M. Stirling

A Fragrant Message

34. Messenger by Lois Lowry "It was a quick and fragrant touch to his lips that gave him courage." - Messenger , Lowry, p. 113 Lois Lowry's prose is stark. As opposed to the pyrotechnical language of Catherynne Valente, Norton Juster, or even Suzanne Collins, Lowry's stories feel almost naked. And yet, it is their barrenness that highlights what is truly important. When I read The Giver many, many moons ago, I long recalled the definition of "apprehension" that Jonas mentions in the first few pages. It is that particular word that captures Jonas' state of mind, and the reader's state of mind for most of the book. Likewise, in Messenger , the word "fragrant" is distinguished among its more simple compatriots. It is important that the lips are fragrant, because they stand in contrast to the growing corruption in Matty's town. (Matty, a character first seen in Gathering Blue , is the protagonist in Messenger ). Messenger is