Gretchen C. Hohmeyer's Blog, page 42

Thesis Thursday: I DID IT!

Thesis Thursdays is a weekly(ish) feature where I rant, love and talk about young adult books I’m reading because I’m conning my college into thinking this is all for academia! Find out more here!

If this were a movie, I think this is the point where I’d give some great speech about how I always knew I could do it. But, here’s the thing: considering that I had three panic attacks on Monday before it was even noon, I did not think that I could do this.BUT HERE WE ARE.

The chapter was due Wednesday. I finished it Tuesday. GO ME.

I finally, finally got all my reading done in time to spend all last Saturday writing the beginning of this paper. I spent (rounding) 5 straight hours, left for dinner with friends, and then 3 more straight hours just pounding away. That first night, I got up to 14 pages–which honestly wasn’t that great. I thought that I only had one more section to write and then my conclusion, and the paper at that point felt really lacking to me.

Enter Sunday. I just had to take that day to myself, meaning that I needed it to do all the homework I had for Monday and that left me no time for thesis writing. I let it go and pretended that that didn’t bother me. (It did.) However, in thinking about it all day, I realized that I needed to add a section, so I really needed to write TWO more sections and my conclusion and also rewrite my intro.

Which is why I had all those panic attacks on Monday. My Mondays have a really long schedule, and I wasn’t sure I’d even sleep that night. But I hunkered down and finished the paper and I even slept that night. VICTORY IS MINE.

In the end, it ended up being 24 pages. Between that and the 29 page first chapter, I’ve already hit the minimum page requirement for this thing. And there’s one more chapter to go. I must really hate myself.

I realized something, though, that is trending between my first two chapters. It’s not intentional. My first paper, “Taming of the Tropes: How the Female Assassin in YA Literature Showcases the Biggest Issues and Best Possible Subversions of YA’s Most Popular Tropes” (working title), is all about the content of YA books, and how they claim to include these strong female characters but the publishers are LYING. This second chapter, tentatively titled “Masking the Issues: The Commodification of Young Adult Book Covers” talks about how publishers are putting more and more effort into producing covers of quality but not texts of quality.

Basically, I’m calling out big conglomerate book publishers for being liars.

Whoops?

Alright, yeah, there’s a lot more to it, and I still love YA A LOT. Just consider it part of my continued effort to get all readers of young adult a genre that actually speaks to them like humans rather than formulaic tropes that are packaged in shiny covers.

Worth It Wednesday: The Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare

Worth It Wednesdays is a weekly post where I feature my favorite YA titles. Find out more about it here!

Title (of first book): City of Bones

Author: Cassandra Clare

Goodreads Description (of first book): When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder― much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It’s hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing―not even a smear of blood―to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary’s first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It’s also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace’s world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know…

Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly gripping, Cassandra Clare’s ferociously entertaining fantasy takes readers on a wild ride that they will never want to end.

Why it’s worth it: IN HONOR OF THE LADY MIDNIGHT RELEASE, HERE’S THE SERIES THAT STARTED IT ALL. Ahem. Anyways.

I have a Cassandra Clare obsession. It’s bad. I once made my dad drive four hours to see her in person. I can’t help it if I just … love these books.

The original trilogy is fantastic. It’s great. I wrote in my joint review that you had to read them because they are the funniest, funnest things ever. I hold to that to this day. I love re-reading the books because I laugh every time. Clary is the kind of female protagonist who actually isn’t special (to begin with) but grows into her powers. Yes, some of it just kind of happens but other things do GROW. They are fun and fast adventures, and me and my brother both loved them. Everything about it was great.

The fourth book of the series–which was not always meant to exist–is probably my least favorite book that she’s ever written. It was this weird stop and start kind of thing that was forcibly kick starting the plot that had petered out at the end of the original trilogy. I got so upset.

When I reviewed book five, however, I learned to love the series again. The original trilogy had been focused on Clary and Jace, but in book five and six the world really expanded. We spent more time with more characters, and there was even more growth. I especially loved the romances that were given more time in the later books, because each one of them was so human in so many different ways. The plot, as well, once it got done clearing it’s throat, was really wonderful and well done. I was actually more interested in it than the original Big Bad.

All in all, The Mortal Instruments wasn’t the most cohesive thing. It has it’s issues, and it has it’s cliches. However, if you stick it out, you are in for one of the funniest, action-packed, human rides of your life. Even though this is a paranormal book, I return to the series again and again for the characters above all else. That’s a really high mark in a genre book for me.

Read it if you’re looking for: Paranormal, romance, strong female characters, large casts of good characters, humor, magic, action, adventure, series that aren’t trilogies, swoon-worthy male characters, strong world building

From the Notebook: Giveaway Winner and Hiatus Annoucements

Hey there guys! This is my shortest video to date, and brings with it good and bad news. The good news is that we’ve chosen our giveaway winner! CONGRATS SHELLY HAMMOND! The bad news (well, sort of), is that after this week I’m taking a short hiatus. SO. Enjoy me looking so goddamn flustered and disheveled as I try to film this in between everything else happening in my life!

Weekly Wrap Up + What We Read 3/6/16

HA! I out-read Michaela this week! …but it was mostly for my thesis, so that was sad. Anyways. There’s also a bunch of great content this week, including some great ARC reviews, hilarious videos and more! Do I need say anything else? Let’s go!

Monday:

Gretchen’s February Wrap Up
Michaela’s February Wrap Up

Tuesday:

30 Seconds to Disagree: A Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson
30 Seconds to Disagree: Get in Trouble by Kelly Link

Wednesday:

Gretchen’s Worth It Wednesday for Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
Michaela’s ARC Review of When We Were Alive by CJ Fisher

Thursday:

Gretchen’s Thesis Thursday: HERE WE GO

Friday: 

Gretchen’s Review of Monique and the Mango Rains by Kris Holloway
Michaela’s ARC Review of Slow Boat to China and Other Stories by Ng Kim Chew

Review: “Monique and the Mango Rains” by Kris Holloway

Look at me with these video reviews! It’s a small miracle I’ve been keeping up with any reading at all. I almost didn’t do a review of this book at all, but then something happened while I was reading it that made it necessary. Hint: smells like white privilege. Watch me talk about why it’s so important to think after you read!

Thesis Thursday: AND WE’RE OFF

Thesis Thursdays is a weekly(ish) feature where I rant, love and talk about young adult books I’m reading because I’m conning my college into thinking this is all for academia! Find out more here!

Can’t say that I have too much to say today because GUESS WHO IS WRITING THIS SECOND CHAPTER THIS WEEKEND? Me. The answer is me. If it is also you, then I am confused.

After last week’s Sources Book Haul, I only have one more resource to add to the pile (in book for, anyways). This book was given to me by another one of my professors when I tried to explain my jumble of ideas, and it sounds like exactly what I needed: canonical and important. The book is The Culture Industry by Theodor Adorno, and it’s all about mass market culture and art.

Guess how that applies to young adult book covers. Guess. I’m sure it’s really hard.

I’ve also complied a shitton of data from the YALSA top ten lists since 2010 about cover art, and read articles and theses up the whazoo. Once I get this book done, I have no more excuses. I need a draft before spring break.

In lieu of anything else, I’m going to share my initial whiteboard thoughts with you guys, to see if y’all agree. What am I missing? Am I off base? SOUND OFF!

Worth It Wednesday: “Seraphina” by Rachel Hartman

Worth It Wednesdays is a weekly post where I feature my favorite YA titles. Find out more about it here!

Title: Seraphina

Author: Rachel Hartman

Goodreads Description: In her New York Times bestselling and Morris Award-winning debut, Rachel Hartman introduces mathematical dragons in an alternative-medieval world to fantasy and science-fiction readers of all ages. Eragon-author Christopher Paolini calls them, “Some of the most interesting dragons I’ve read in fantasy.”

Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend court as ambassadors, and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty’s anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high.

Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear both sides. An unusually gifted musician, she joins the court just as a member of the royal family is murdered—in suspiciously draconian fashion. Seraphina is drawn into the investigation, partnering with the captain of the Queen’s Guard, the dangerously perceptive Prince Lucian Kiggs. While they begin to uncover hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace, Seraphina struggles to protect her own secret, the secret behind her musical gift, one so terrible that its discovery could mean her very life.

Why it’s worth it: This is not another basic dragon story–and trust me, I read EVERY dragon book I could get my hands on as a kid. When Seraphina came out, people upon people (including Tamora Pierce!) said I should read this book … and I didn’t. The blurb on the front from Christopher Paolini didn’t inspire me, since I’d long outgrown his books, and I was so … tired of dragons. I really thought there was nothing new in that trope for me.

BOY WAS I WRONG.

Again, I repeat, I’ve read A LOT of dragon stories. Most of them, really. This one, however, takes the lore and turns it on its head. These dragons can take human(ish) form, and are extremely mathematical and pragmatic. They’re kind of like the wise dragons we so often see, except for the fact that they can’t “human” very well and therefore their wisdom often comes across cold and alien. The set up of humans and dragons at tentative peace is also not new, but Hartman brings it into a whole new political and economic context that makes it interesting again.

Seraphina herself is a fun character. I loved getting to know her and watching her grow. The cast of characters around her is also pretty great, and I didn’t even hate the romance aspect. Actually, after reading Shadow Scale (the second book in the duology), I’m AMAZED at how Hartman has yet again taken something that I thought I’d seen before and turned in into something COMPLETELY unexpected. And I don’t say that often.

(Yes, I know that Shadow Scale also made my list of Top 5 Disappointing Books of 2015. IT WASN’T A BAD BOOK. It just wasn’t as good as Seraphina. Don’t let that stop you from reading this series.)

…I literally derailed myself WHILE WRITING THIS POST looking for information on when her next book is coming out. That’s how bad I want it. She’s writing another duology set in Seraphina’s world, and I NEED IT because I am so not over Seraphina’s story. So Shadow Scale wasn’t as good. It’s still a great book. READ THESE.

Read it if you’re looking for: dragons, a love story that won’t make you gag, interesting characters, fantasy, not another fantasy trilogy, excellent worldbuilding, strong female friendships

Betwixt the Books 30 Seconds to Disagree: “The Girl of Fire and Thorns” by Rae Carson

Welcome to another segment of 30 Seconds to Disagree! In this feature, I have 1 minute to recommend a book to Michaela–this week’s pick is The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson–and then she has 30 second to disagree with why she wouldn’t want to read it. I get 30 more seconds to address those fears, and then it’s done! As always, we release two of these when we do them, one on my blog and one on Michaela’s blog. The one she’s released is absolutely hilarious and probably my favorite, so make sure you watch that one too!

From the Notebook: February Wrap Up

Happy last day of February everybody! Today I am bringing you my monthly reading wrap up, since this just happened to fall so nicely. I read a lot more than I thought in February, though a lot of it was for school. Okay, 11 isn’t usually a huge number for me but considering what I’ve been working through, it feels like a lot. And, yes, some of the books for school I didn’t read in full, but … I’m counting them. Fight me. Hopefully in March I’ll have some more entertaining books to read. Please, for the love of all that’s chocolate.

Monthly PopSugar update: I only ticked off two new categories this month, sadly – book with a blue cover and book about a culture you’re unfamiliar with. 8/40 complete!

Links mentioned in post:

Bibliomancy for Beginners: The Falconer by Elizabeth May
Re-Review: The Falconer by Elizabeth May
Review: After: 19 Stories of Apocalypse and Dystopia edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling
Bibliomancy for Beginners – Imbibliomancy: Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen
Review: Choosing My Religion by Stephen J. Dubner
Back to School Book Haul
Betwixt the Books Review: Gracekeepers by Kirsty Logan

Weekly Wrap Up + What We Read 2/28/16

Welcome to another weekly wrap up! While our blog content was, of course, impressive our reads this week … were not so much. Michaela is working hard at Barnes and Noble now, and I’ve got school, so she’s down to my reading level. Ha! As long as it doesn’t impact blog content, right? Without further ado, here we go!

Monday:

Gretchen’s From the Notebook Discussion: Where is the YA for Boys?
Michaela’s Monday Musing on Unhauling

Tuesday:

Betwixt the Books Review: Gracekeepers by Kirsty Logan

Wednesday:

Gretchen’s Worth It Wednesday: Insignia by SJ Kincaid
Michaela’s Movie Review of Deadpool

Thursday: 

Gretchen’s Thesis Thursday: Sources Book Haul

Friday:

Gretchen’s Review of Choosing My Religion by Stephen J. Dubner
Michaela’s Ridiculous Book Haul