Thalia’s Comments (group member since Jan 08, 2012)

Thalia’s comments from the The Dusty Bookshelf group.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. 4/5

It’s generally a toss up whether I will like a “classic” book or not, especially when I read them for school. At first, Gatsby didn’t really catch my interest, for the first fifty or so pages, because mostly there were introductions and scenes that jumped around quite a bit. Nick, the main character and narrator, felt a little detached from the rest of the plot and, while now that it’s over I appreciate the story being told from an outside perspective, didn’t make much sense with the role he played in the story. However, once it really got down to Gatsby and Daisy’s story, I felt hooked in and I wanted to know more. It ended up being so beautiful and lovely (if a little confusing and jumpy) and is definitely a good read for anybody looking for something light and classic!

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Spell Bound by Rachel Hawkins.

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The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff. 3/5

Hm. I’m not sure how I feel about this book. I can’t say that I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I didn’t feel like I disliked it. It was just kind of odd and unlike most things I’ve read; it had some good things, and some bad things, and that’s about all there is! Maybe by the time I finish writing this review, I’ll know my complete feelings on that contents of this book, but in all honesty, you’d have to read it yourself to know if you liked it or not–and even then, you might still not know!

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The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

For my Honors American Literature class! I actually like it so far. (:

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. 2/5

I know what you’re thinking. I’m thinking it, too. How did I end up not loving this book? I hadn’t heard a single bad thing about it–in fact, nothing but lovely reviews and fans everywhere I looked! But, while Stiefvater can write perfectly well and gracefully, it was the elements of the book itself that ended up turning me off. There were too many inconsistencies and confusing elements to these particular werewolves; Sam and Grace were together and in a relationship within the first eighty or so pages of the book; and the pace was too fast for me to want to keep up. It had quite a few redeeming qualities, but unfortunately not enough for me to put this on a list of books I really enjoyed.

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Speaking of Tolkein, I got my new box set in the mail! Of LotR, that is! Mine was soooo old, and totally falling apart, and Fellowship had the last three pages and the back cover separate to the rest of the book. They lasted twenty years, going through both my brothers and then almost me--but too bad they really can't see the light of day anymore!

So now I have a new one and they're perfect! <3

I feel like I'll fall behind this month...Poe set me back a little, and Shiver took me like, six days to read. Nine days into March and I've only got one. Ok under my belt! My yearly goal is eighty books, originally one hundred until I decided to tone it down a bit.

I just finished the Hans Pffall story! It was so good and had so many facts and details related to travel and ballooning! It was a real change of pace from the dark stuff Poe is known for! I'd never read it before and I really liked how light it was in comparison!

I don't find it much in 'real' books. Mostly found in fanfiction that wants to darken the original premise of whatever fandom it was. So now when I see something like, I'm immediately like, "Blargggg, whyyyyyy." I think that was a huuuuge part of why I didn't like the book as a whole as much as you guys seemed to.

Actually, Amazon has a TON of Arthurian books for free, if you just keep clicking the related books, hahah. (:

Yeah, she didn't really seem to change very often. And then when she finally did change, it wasn't painful or anything like how it was described. And she never changed back and forth like everybody else. Whaaaa, the questions!

If anybody is still hunting for an Arthurian book, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is one of the free ebooks on Amazon. (:

The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff.

This one is a book club read for school. My friend Tristan already read it and said it was "odd", but wouldn't tell me anything else, hahah. We'll see. (:

And on the other hand, I'm also starting POE!

For the yearly challenge, I feel like every time I get "on track", the VERY next day I fall behind a book again! Ughghgh, so frustrating!

But I've been doing pretty well on my dusty books, so after I do my Shiver review, I'll be two ahead! (;

Cassie, sdk tjrucvnsevrhjkwenhylkjenhyh4eugh. Me and TMI. Ruined my soul/heart/ability to breath/etc.

Really? (view spoiler)[That was actually one of the reasons I didn't like it as much. Maybe because when I was in middle school, when we wrote stories or had characters it was the "cool" thing to give them scars on their wrists or put them through some trauma related to their parents being awful. So because I had immature writing experiences with other people centered around that, I felt like it was an amatuer thing to put in. I wish I didn't have that aversion to something like that, because I'm sure it probably is powerful, but now it's lost all its meaning for me because I knew so many writers who abused things like that. >< (hide spoiler)]

I did like the ending! (view spoiler)[Though I'm sad about Jack. Some part of me was rooting for him and Olivia, hahaha. (hide spoiler)]

I finished it just yesterday! I wasn't a HUGE fan of it, because I thought there were a couple inconsistencies that I couldn't quite figure out (the whole temperature thing confused me to noooo end, hahaha)--and then things like Sam and Grace "sleeping together" the entire book. Just a couple pet peeves Stiefvater hit with me, although she's a fairly good writer! I'll definitely read the rest of the series, and I so wish I had enjoyed it more than I did!

Dalynn, don't thank me. Thank my compulsiveness to be organized. OTL.

(;

Yes, once I finish it, I'll look up what you said! (: Bahhh, well, I'm co-president of my book club at school, and there are two groups, so there's two books for this month right there, and I'm only doing ONE reading challenge--but one of my books is The Nine Lives of Chloe King, which is really three books in one. x) March is busy!

I'm hoping to finish up tomorrow, probably either during school or right after. (: