Shannon > Recent Status Updates

"When you give someone a book, it's like saying: 'I'm trusting you with something that means a lot to me.' It doesn't matter whether you like it or not, though it helps if you do. What matters is that you understand why she likes it. Why she gave it to you."

This book is wonderfully written and includes some great themes. I especially liked the one where the bully ended up being bullied himself, so he learned that what he did when he was younger was wrong. It's also solidified his relationship with the main character as well. This would be an awesome book to give to boys who don't like reading too: lots of sword-fighting, tracking, learning how to be an assassin, etc.

"My father died in that battle," Will added in a quieter voice, and Halt cast a curious look at him.
"Is that so?" he said.
"He was a hero. A mighty knight," Will continued. The Ranger paused, almost as if he were deciding whether to say something or not. Then he simply replied:
"I wasn't aware of that."

Oh! Oh! I bet Halt is his father!

Oh my god, FREEBIRD's profile is gone! Anyone know what happened to her?!?

Alright, alright ... you got me. I AM reading this one and forgot to shelve it. I suppose that's what I get for catching up on everyone else's stuff before updating mine. (Feel free to rub it in my face, Jim.)

Kind of bored with this and it has to go back to the library now, but I figured I'd save my page anyway.

Ha. I figured that's who he was right around the time Gene found the journal.

Even if the boat is there, just swim across to the other bank! Or did you forget that vampires drown?

Well, that escalated quickly.

My advice? Find some way to burn the library down.

Another read-along with Lucy!

I hope that Deza can serve as a voice for the estimated fifteen million American children who are poor, who go to bed hungry and whose parents struggle to make a dignified living to feed and care for them.
The fact that in late 2011 I can write that there are fifteen million poor children in this country is, to quote the Mighty Miss Malone, "A tragedy, a true tragedy."

I just wanted to read tonight -__-

So, I just thought of something. The vampires don't drink water, they don't shower because they don't sweat (what about their hair?), they don't wash their hands (only use sanitizer), they don't flush their toilets. What about washing clothes, dishes, or ANYTHING, huh? Do they just throw stuff away after one use? This whole "no water" thing is driving me nuts, especially since the school had a freakin' swimming pool.

URINAL SCENE. WE HAVE CONFIRMATION THAT THE VAMPIRES DO, IN FACT, URINATE.

I know this is a novel but I'm sure plenty of people went through something similar to what this family has been dealing with. It's heart-breaking. And also to think they WANTED to go to Detroit and Flint because there was work there, and well, we all know how things ended up. So sad.

"Did you know I find myself turning my face or breathing out of my mouth the minute I'm close to her?"
I stopped breathing.
Father said, "It's true, Peg, you don't want to hear it, I don't want to say it, but it's the truth. I've found I can't breathe out of my nose when I'm near Deza because of the smell of her teeth. How sick is that? How pathetic am I that I can't even breathe normally around my own child?"

"...I'll go out in the streets and do something horrible. Something to get food or coal or clothes, something that would allow me to feed my family, something that would allow me to feel like a human being and not some animal in a zoo waiting for a handout."
"What kind of a world is it when even when I can find work and even when you work forty hours we still can't afford to have our babies looked after proper?"

"Some of the time life boils down to some pretty ridiculous things, Deza. This is one of them. I agree, it's silly to put so much importance on one fight, but you have to keep in mind that this fight is the one chance we have to show the Nazis, and some of our white brethren here in America as well, that we are people too. It's ironic, but Joe will show we're human by savagely beating the stuffing out of someone."

Aha! I knew it!

I can't believe he's lying to them like this. And what's the point? Why give them false hope? He's such a little shit.

I look at her blankly. "What's a 'name'?" I ask.

What? You've been calling the vamp girl "Ashley June" for the whole book and you claim you don't know what a name is? This doesn't even make sense.

Wow, this girl is desperate. It's kind of unattractive. Also, now I'm REALLY wondering about vampire physiology again. Do they get boners? Because I'm suspecting the main character is about to get a boner.

So you're all being tied up with leather straps and you notice someone has a knife hidden under their shirt and you think it's a good idea to not say anything? This isn't going to go well, methinks.

She picks up a long ruler and uses it to indicate a circular trapdoor on the ground that looks very much like a manhole.

There has to be a sewer system and toilets. How else would the main character go to the bathroom? They would smell his urine and poop if he just did it wherever. The vamps eat meat (and ice cream apparently) so they must poop. This is important. I need to know if the vampires poop!

Why doesn't he just rub dirt on himself to get rid of his odor? Also, the chick always comes to his rescue just when they start to suspect him again. Funny, that.

So the bathrooms only have hand sanitizer? No toilets or sinks? How do they wash the blood off their faces? Is the water just not potable? And even if you don't drink liquids (he IS drinking animal blood though) you still get water from food. There's no reason for him to be freaking out this much from not having water to drink.

Ooh, I just thought of something. If the chick IS a human, she'd get her period, right? And of course they'd smell it. So maybe I'm wrong? Also, now I'm wondering how the vampires reproduce.

Ha. So, since he was running he started sweating and everyone says it smells more like humans near their village than normal. He walks away from them after it seems they're starting to realize the smell is coming from him, comes back a few minutes later and one of the vamps says "smell's gone." Um ... lol. I guess it didn't dawn on them that the smell dissipated because the source walked away? -__-

So, the main character is always watching the chick I think is also a human. He spent a bunch of pages noticing that she was acting odd. Everyone started running and he just explained that he can't run as fast as the vamps and I find it odd that it's not mentioned whether the girl runs as fast as them or not. Another detail left out? On purpose this time? Hmm.

Lookers, too, with crystalline skin, high-bridged noses, and doorknobs for cheekbones. Both Phys Ed and Abs have a natural bounce to their step that speaks of effortless strength and agility. But dumb as doorknobs.

Um. Would it have been that difficult to use a different descriptor than the one you used just two sentences ago? And, doorknobs for cheekbones. Wtf? That's not desirable! So weird.