Discussion || Graphic Novels as Literature

Are graphic novels considered literature?

I just finished watching last weeks episode of Girl Meets World and felt like discussing this topic. First, let me say that I love the Boy Meets World reboot, it is amazing and I especially love all of the nods to us 90's kids who grew up with the original show. 

Let me recap this episode for you. 

In this episode the students get a new English teacher. In walks this young woman who wears a leather jacket, has a helmet, and carries herself in an extremely positive way. (Reminding you of anyone yet?) Her name is Harper, yes after Harper Lee, and she has an unconventional way of wanting to teach her students. Her first book is a graphic novel, The Dark Night Returns. 

The school principal walks by and is outraged that the students all have comics on their desks because it is not part of school policy. Nonetheless, she tells them to go home and read it anyway. 

Back at the Matthew's home Riley, Cory and Topanga's daughter, and Mya, her best friend, are rushing through dinner so they can go do their homework. Topanga questions them and they start to tell her all about their new teacher. This is when Topanga mentions to Cory that the teachers sounds like a teacher they had once. (Have you figured it out?) 

The next day in the classroom Harper is having the students say what they have learned about good vs evil from reading this graphic novel. The principal comes in and ultimately fires her. When Cory comes to her aid, he also gets fired. However, Topanga mentions that he isn't legally allowed to fire them without talking to the superintendent of the school. It took me a while to figure out who Harper was supposed to remind you of. She is supposed to be this generations Mr. Turner. Yes, that Mr. Turner. :) 

The following day Cory and Harper are in a classroom with the principal who is gloating that he's pretty close to the superintendent when Cory mentions that he and Mr. Turner go way back. The reunion is heart warming and brilliant. We also find out that Mr. Turner is still involved in the Matthew's lives and Riley even calls him Uncle. By the end of the episode both Cory and Harper have kept jobs because the children will learn from them, even with Harper's unconventional teaching methods. You learn that she was using Batman as a way to get the children to realize good and evil before giving them To Kill a Mockingbird and she asked them to call her Harper so they could make the connection to Harper Lee. 

I love that they used this episode the week that the sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird was released. Being a book lover I felt a strong connection to this episode. 

Now to the question I asked at the beginning of this post. I truly do believe that graphic novels should be considered literature. As this episode of Girl Meets World shows, graphic novels can teach you about good and evil in a way that other pieces of literature may not be able to. I think that graphic novels can help people who consider themselves non readers be able to use a different form of literature that they can connect to. 

Just because a piece of literature isn't a 300+ page novel and has the best writing in it doesn't make it any less valuable. Personally I have been getting more into graphic novels and plan to read more in the future. Graphic novels not only give you dialogue, but they give you pictures to help with the placement and descriptions that other literature may not be able to. In a single page of a graphic novel we can see the location, judge the feel of the scene, and meet multiple characters with barely any words. In other forms of literature it may take ten to twenty pages to achieve all that information and it still may not be enough to help some people connect to the story. 

Overall I do feel that graphic novels can be considered literature and I love the idea of added some into a school curriculum, assuming they were thought out and a teacher could build a good lesson plan on it. I'm thankful for this episode of Girl Meets World because it may get children interesting in reading who may not have been before. Seeing that they can read something other than the required reading, may open their mind to more amazing stories. 

Thanks for reading :) 

Until next time, 

G 

 

Some Updates!!

Hey guys!

Gina here. As you may have noticed there have been some changes within this blog/BookTube channel lately. This is now a solo channel that I will be running. Denny did make a farewell video explaining why he has stepped away from In Cold Lit, you can watch it here.

With this change comes some changes that I plan on bringing to In Cold Lit. One of those changes is that I want to focus more on this blog than I have been. Since starting with BookTube this blog hasn't had many posts but I hope to change that.

I would like to make a review for every book I read, but I'm not sure that will be doable. I am going to try however! I plan on starting this very soon, within the next few weeks. I would also like to start making more discussion posts on the blog as well. For me I seem to be able to express my feelings more in writing than I can in video, so while I work on being more comfortable in front of the camera to be able to make more discussion videos I will be posting discussion based posts on here.

That's all for tonight, but I plan to be back soon!

Until next time,

Gina

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas || Book Review and Disscussion

Hello everyone!

Today’s post is going to be over “A Court of Thorns and Roses” by Sarah J. Maas. The first part of this post will be spoiler free but I will have a spoiler filled section toward the bottom. I will give warning and tab down a ways to help you avoid spoilers.

“A Court of Thorns and Roses” (ACOTAR) takes place in the world of Prythian which has been separated into mortal lands and faerie lands. We learn that there was a war that ended in a truce between fae and humans that put in place this separation. The two parts are separated by a wall that the humans believe there is no way to get through it, but we learn that there is a way through the wall. The humans have been told stories of the faerie lands that are meant to scare them into not being curious enough to venture through this wall.

The book opens up with our main character, a 19 year old girl Feyre, hunting for her family in the woods in the dead of winter. Though she is the youngest of the family she had promised her mother that she would take care of them. While hunting she comes across a wolf that is after the doe she was about shoot. She ends up killing both the oversized wolf and the doe, taking what she can to sell.  That night a beast shows up at their house demanding to know who killed the wolf. This is when we learn that the oversized wolf was in fact fae. The beast, Tamlin, informs the family that it is in the treaty that was made hundreds of years ago that humans must pay for killing a faerie. He ends up giving Feyre the choice of being killed on the spot or going to live in the faerie lands, with him, for the remainder of his life. Feyre chooses to go with him and our story truly begins.

This is a Beauty and the Beast retelling so we do see aspects of Beauty and the Beast (BATB). I enjoy fairy tale retellings because it gives us a different aspect of the fairy tales we have all grown to love. BATB is one of my favorites and Sarah J. Maas did it justice. While reading there were little hints for fans of BATB, such as Feyre drinking out of a chipped tea cup, a giant library in Tamlin’s home, and even Feyre putting on a golden gown. There were also more dramatic changes to fit the story and the world. These changes were so well done and I loved every moment of it. I will get into these changes more in depth in the spoiler section of this post.

The characters in this book are fantastic and I pretty much loved every single one of them. There were a few exceptions for very obvious reasons but even those characters I really enjoyed their contribution to the story. Obviously we have Feyre and Tamlin who we would classify as Belle and the Beast but we also get to see a bit of Feyres family, her dad and two older sisters. These characters were interesting to say the least. I enjoyed seeing into Feyre’s past and getting an idea of why her family acts like they do. While they aren’t the most likeable characters their story is intriguing. Her sister, Nesta, did have some redeeming elements and I am thrilled that we are going to be seeing more of her in the future.

We also have the wide variety of fae. One of my favorite characters was Lucien, who is Tamlin’s right hand man and possibly even his best friend. I really loved his sarcasm and his sas. He started off a bit rude and unrelatable but as you get to know him you start seeing his charm and how great of a character he is. I greatly enjoyed his and Feyre’s. Lucien’s back story is also interesting and I can’t wait to see more of him. Then we have Alis, who is put in charge of helping Feyre throughout her stay. I love Alis and hopefully we will be able to see more of her and her story.

The last character I want to discuss is Rhysand, or Rhys. At first Rhys was creepy and I didn’t really know what to think of him. As the story goes on his character is shown to be rude and villainous but once we know more of his background and get insight into why he is acting the way he is he becomes quite likable.  

Over all Sarah has done a fantastic job of building up this world and her characters. Though we mainly stayed within the Spring Court of the faerie lands we got a glimpse at the Night Court and I can’t wait to see what the other courts will bring to the story. Sarah does such a great job of writing in this world that the words disappear from the page and you are left with a movie. The visualization was crystal clear for me and I didn't want to put this book down.

I’m now going to go into spoilers, so please if you have not read ACOTAR and do not wish to be spoiled please stop reading. Thank you.

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WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

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I really enjoyed the aspect of the curse in this book. Instead of turning the fae into inanimate objects they are cursed with their magic being weakened and masks of animals stuck to their faces. Having masks being their ‘beast’ was a fantastic element that I quite enjoyed. We still got that element of not being able to see the true form of our beast without it being inappropriate and strange. I also loved the fact that Tamlin knew who he was and tried to make Feyre fall in love with him for who he is instead of her having to change him for the better.

Another switch I liked from the original fairy tale and this book was the fact that Feyre was illiterate and Tamlin wanted to help her learn to read. At first I didn’t like that Fayre was illiterate because Belle being a reader is a huge part of why I love BATB, but it worked and I can’t wait to see where Sarah goes with that element of the story. Instead of using books as her outlet, Feyre used painting. I loved that she was able to paint the things she was feeling and the beautiful things she saw throughout the fae lands.

Now let’s talk about Rhysand. Oh my lanta. I don’t know how I feel about him completely yet. It’s pretty clear that there may be a love triangle later into the series and idk how I like it. I really enjoy Tamlin and Feyre together but I can see maybe likeing Rys and Feyre in the future, but for now I’m on ship Feylin!

I didn’t really like Rys at first, he was a jerk and very villainous but once we learned that he was doing everything he could to help Feyre I started to like him more. Yeah maybe he was helping her just so he, himself, could be free, but he was helping her nonetheless. I wasn’t anticipating to like him as much as I do and it will be very interesting to learn more about the Night Court and what he is going to have Feyre do each week she is with him.

I also really enjoyed the trials; it was such a unique and unexpected way for Feyre to break the curse since she missed the deadline of falling in love with Tamlin. I could not stop reading through the trials and I’m pretty sure my face showed pure disgust while reading about the giant worm and the mud. That was horrible! And the visuals were so well done that I could clearly see the disgusting giant worm coming after her as she tried to find a way out of the pit.

I also loved the fact that all of the High Fae came together to help Tamlin keep Feyre alive by putting their powers through her, ultimately turning her fae. I am so thrilled that this happened in the first book rather than making us wait the entire series for the inevitable to happen (I’m looking at you Twilight.)  It is going to be such a long wait for the second book to see what happens in this magical world that Sarah has given us but I’m looking forward to the next book already.

That is all I have for you at the moment. Thanks for taking the time to read this and if you have finished this book let me know in the comments. One thing I’m most interested in knowing, are you shipping Feyre with Tamlin, or Ryhs? J

Until next time,

G 

 

Favorite Genre and Why? || Tuesday Talks April 21, 2015

Hello everyone!

Today I'd like to take a moment to talk about favorite genres. I thought about making this a video post, but ultimately decided it would be better to just jot my thoughts down in writing instead (and my camera needs to be charged.)

Today's Tuesday Talks is about what your favorite genre is and why. I've mentioned in a few videos that I don't like that question because I feel like I don't have a favorite genre, I like a wide range of genres. Instead of narrowing down to one genre I thought I'd talk about a few of the genres I find myself reading most often and why.

Dystopian: I've noticed that I've been reading a lot of Dystopian novels as of late. I enjoy dystopian because you can do so much with the genre and it gives you a new outlook on life. Although I've read a number of dystopian lately I'm actually starting to get tried of the genre, to be honest. I feel like there is so much that could be done with the genre, instead it feels like the same story is being recycled. Would I consider dystopian a favorite? Yes and no. Yes, mainly because it seems to be the bulk of what I've been reading and no, because I don't actively search for dystopian novels to read.

Contemporary/Chick-Lit: I don't read contemporary often, but I would consider it one of my favorite genres. I enjoy a good 'chick-lit' novel every now and then, sometimes you are just in the mood for a good light happy book. I like to read contemporary novels when I'm in the mood for something that isn't extremely intense or if I'm looking for something that is realistic. Everyone has those moods, right? As far as strictly 'chick-lit' books, I read those even less often than other contemporary books. I typically pick up a chick lit book when I'm looking for something bubbly, fun, light, and has an overall happy feel to it.

Horror/Mystery/Thriller: If I did have to choose just one specific genre it would have to be psychological thrillers. I love a good thriller, especially the psychological ones. I haven't read too many of these types of books lately, but I do love them. I enjoy these genres because they make you think, they give you an excuse to channel your inner detective to try and figure out the story before the end.

Biography/Memoir: I enjoy reading books by my favorite celebrities. I know a lot of people criticize famous people for writing books, but I thoroughly enjoy reading them (with the exception of a few). That being said, I haven't yet read that many non celebrity memoirs. The ones I have read I have enjoyed because the stories they tell are eye opening and moving. I find the ones I pick up most, whether it be to read or put on my wishlist, are those that deal with some type of underlying psychological issue. I find the human mind fascinating and it is part of the reason I went into psychology.

I also tend to enjoy humor novels, everyone loves a good laugh every now and then! I wouldn't consider humor on of my favorite genres though, because I typically only ever pick up a humor book if it is on the bargain shelf or it just happens to catch my eye. That being said, I do enjoy humor mixed within other genres as well.

Genres I don't read, but I am trying to get more into: Science Fiction, Fantasy, and classics. I enjoy the idea of fantasy and have found quite a few books that spark my interest, I just need to take the jump and start reading that genre. As for classics, I have noticed as I get older the more I am interested in picking up some of the classics I missed out on in high school, and some others that just look interesting.

That's all I have on the subject at this time. I hope you all enjoyed this, thanks for taking the time to read it!! :)

Let me know some of your favorite genres!! :D Let's chat!

Until next time,

G





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Reading Slump??

Hello Everyone and Happy Friday!!

Let me just jump right in and say it, I think I'm in a reading slump.

Now before you go checking goodreads and seeing that I just started 2 new books and finished another earlier this week let me tell you why I think I'm in a slump.

My slumps tend to be more focused on the fact that there are far too many choices on which book to pick up next. On one hand I need to finish the Divergent Trilogy but on the other I'm not enjoying it so I keep looking to my TBR to see what book stands out and yells "READ ME!"

The answer: none of them.

Okay that's a lie, in reality a TON of my TBR books are yelling at me right now, I just don't know what mood I'm in, therefore I'm having issues committing to a book. The last 2 weeks of March I didn't read a single thing, and here we are 10 days into April and I've completed one book....which I started in March. I would definitely consider this a slump. So what should I do??

I'm currently listening to the third installment of the Divergent Trilogy, Allegiant, which I'm glad I have it on audio book because, honestly, I would probably quit it and not pick it up again until the movie was about to come out. I'm not enjoying it as much as I enjoyed Divergent, and that saddens me.

Other than Alligent I have recently picked up and set down a handful of different books just waiting for something to spark my interest and help boost me out of this slump. There is no doubt that I have quite a few books I want to get to in the near future, but figuring out what I'm in the mood for is no easy task.

My solution? Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. The trailer for the movie adaptation of this book just came out and looks AMAZING! I've been on the fence about wanting to read it but after seeing the trailer I can't wait to dive into the book! I went out and bought it and plan on starting it this evening. I have hope that this book will help get me back into the swing of reading, but I'm not entirely sure it will.

All that being said, I've been thinking about the question that comes up in tags a lot, you know the one that is always some form of 'How do you get out of a reading slump?' I've answered this questions in various ways but I think my answer to this question is that I just keep picking up books until something can hold my attention for more than 5 pages. Although those 5 pages of those many books may be interesting and I have interest in reading it, I am a complete mood reading and I have to be feeling it to continue.

So here's to Me and Earl and the Dying Girl! :)

Hope you all have an amazing weekend!

Until next time,

G

Mental Illness Awareness Read-A-Long #Mentalong

Hello everyone,

I wanted to make this a video post, but every time I turned the camera on to record I just got lost in my words and couldn't express what I wanted to say properly, so I decided to make this a blog post instead.

This post is going to be about mental health and what the Mental Illness Awareness Read-A-Long (#Mentalong) means to me.

Mental Illness is classified as any mental health disorder that manipulates a person’s thoughts, behavior, and/or mood. There are many types of mental disorders; to name a few there is depression, panic disorders, anxiety disorders, sleep disorders, eating disorders, OCD, Schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s and many many more. This readalong is about raising awareness of mental illness.

Unlike physical illness that can be seen, mental illness is all within the brain and isn't easy to point out. If you were to see someone with a cast or on crutches you would know immediately that they had been/are hurt/sick and in recovery. Whereas if you see someone who looks sad we tend to brush them off and think “oh they’re just having a bad day, they’ll get over it.” Sometimes it isn't as simple as having a singular bad day. As a society, we are quick to judge and not take the time to understand someone before writing them off. Mental illnesses are a result of chemical imbalances in the brain. Yes, there are medications to help with a lot of psychological disorders, but there is also various types of therapy to help with the mental illness as well.  

As many of you know, I have my BA in psychology. Psychology has always interested me, even if I didn't know it until my late teens. I’ve always been interested in science and the brain but it wasn’t until I took a psychology class my senior year of high school that I really started to think about psychology. It wasn’t until my second semester of college that I changed my major to Psychology. I had started out as photography major but quickly changed my mind to something I was more interested in. Being invested in the subject I was ecstatic when I saw Lieke’s post about wanting to do a read-a-long surrounding mental illness awareness.

I think it is great that there are so many books out there that deal with mental illness in a real way. What I mean by this is that they don’t romanticize mental illness but show a different light to what it means to be living with a psychological problem. The fact that ‘Psychological Thriller’ is a genre of movie and book shows just how far we need to progress with mental illness in books, movies, and TV shows. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good psychological thriller (and may be reading one for this readalong), but most of the time the antagonist has a mental health problem and is looked at in the wrong light. Yes, there are people with mental illness that do fit the types of people that are being portrayed, but they are a very small percentage of people living with a mental illness.  There needs to be more novels and movies that show what it is like for the other people living with a mental illness. Thankfully, these types of entertainment are becoming more prominent in society.

Along the lines of entertainment shedding a bad light on mental illness, the news also sheds a poor light. There are often stories where someone did something wrong or hurt someone where they speculate or later discover that the person responsible has a mental illness. Again, it happens, but these types of stories shouldn’t be able to label everyone with a mental illness as a bad person. Most of the time when someone with a mental illness does something wrong it could have been prevented. With proper treatment, both through therapies and potentially medication, people can live with their mental illness. As a society we should be more aware of these issues and not be so quick to label someone as ‘crazy’ when we don’t know what they may be going through.

I’m very excited to be involved with this read-a-long because I truly believe that there needs to be more awareness about mental illness. Again, this subject fascinates me and I am grateful to be a part of this read-a-long.

Thank you for reading.

-Gina  

P.S. 

If you are interested in joining this Read-a-Long please check out THIS VIDEO for all the information. 

You can also join the GOODREADS GROUP and follow the TWITTER PAGE. 

There will be scheduled reading sprints going on throughout each day on the Twitter page to help you achieve any reading goals you have for yourself this week! 

P.P.S 

Below are just a few of my favorite books that involve mental illness. Now I have not read too many, and thanks to this readalong I am finding so many good books I want to check out, but the ones I have read I have loved!! (Note: I'm not putting authors because some of these I don't remember the author off the top of my head, if you'd like to know leave a comment and I'll look it up!) 

Silver Linings Playbook (currently reading)

It's Kind of a Funny Story

Perks of Being a Wallflower

Looking for Alaska

The Burn Journals

Just Listen

Still Alice

You Don't Know Me

A Child Called "IT"  Trilogy 

I'm sure I'm forgetting some of the ones I've read, but these are the ones that have stuck with me. Again, I'm excited to find more books to read!! :D There are also a TON of great movies out there about mental illness, but I'll save those for another time. 

Still Alice | Movie Review *WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR BOTH BOOK AND MOVIE*

*There will be a spoiler warning within this review. The first part is spoiler free. Enjoy!*

So I finally got to see Still Alice tonight. I was very excited to see the movie, especially since I loved the book so much. However, I was slightly disappointed.

If I had to give the movie a star rating it would be a 3.5 out of 5. That is a pretty significant decline from the perfect 5 out of 5 stars I gave the novel.

Overall I think they did a good job at keeping the overall story and characters correct. It's more than I can say for some movie adaptations. *cough* My Sisters Keeper *cough* That being said, I think they could have done a much better job with the overall plot and story line.

Like any movie adaptation there were plenty of missing pieces, but some in Still Alice I feel like some of the changed and missing things were uncalled for. I can understand certain changes, but there were things they left out and changed that should have been kept, I'll get into specifics in the spoiler section.

While watching it I was glad that I had read the book first. While there isn't anything drastic missing from the movie, I feel like it was very under developed. Had I not already been attached to these characters, I don't believe I would have gotten attached.

Let's talk about the acting. Julianne Moore is brilliant! The way she portrays Alice is spot on and she deserves the all of the award buzz she is getting. Kristen Stewart portrays Alice's youngest child Lydia who has moved to LA and is a struggling actress...it's almost as if they wanted the actress to be Lydia's mirror. Personally I am not a huge fan of Stewart, there are only a handful of films that I have enjoyed her in. In this film she wasn't horrible, but I wouldn't put this in my top films she's been in either. Alec Baldwin would have been a PERFECT fit for John, Alice's husband, had they written the character more true to the book. The other actors and actresses in this novel were insignificant and didn't really stand out. That being said they weren't a disappointment either. Some characters weren't written correctly and it showed. Had I not read the book though I wouldn't have even noticed.

Overall this wasn't a horrible movie and I would recommend it, however, I recommend the book even more. If you plan on seeing this movie it will be wise to read the book, if not for the story then at least to get a better understanding of the characters. I think the movie makers bit off more than they could chew with this novel. It has the potential to be a fantastic novel, it just needed to be developed more.

Now onto the spoiler section of this review.

WARNING: THE REST OF THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS.

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Hopefully I have spaced this out enough to not ruin anything for anyone who might just happen to glance down. If I have, I apologize. It is a little more difficult to conceal spoilers within a written review than it is in a video review.   

I'd first like to go through some of the changes that were made. Not all of these bothered me but there were a few that I have my issues with. 

First, Alice and John work at Harvard University in the book, in the movie however, they work at Columbia. Now I'm not sure if there were legal reasons for them changing the college or why the change happened but it did. This isn't that big of a deal for me. It was a bit surprising but at least her career was still Cognitive Psychology Professor with focus in Linguistics. 

What did bother me about this was the lack of career Alice had in the movie. In the book we see Alice at work a lot. We see her go to classes, lectures, staff meetings, grad student presentations, work related parties, and even traveling out of state for conferences on multiple occasions. She fights to stay on at the school when her boss finds out about her disease whereas in the movie she just kind of accepts that she's done teaching and we never see her return. This bothered me because her career is a huge part of who she is, making it a huge part in the book. 

I also didn't like how they left out a lot of the psychological aspects. In the book we see many different tests she has to take when she is meeting with her neurologist. In the film we only see one test. We don't see he have to count backwards from 100 by 6, we don't see her having to draw a clock then feeling bad because she made the clock too large, we also don't get to see the conversation play out in depth between the neurologist, Alice, and John. By cutting out these tests we also don't get to see the struggle John is having with accepting Alice's diagnosis and the neurologist suggesting he join a support group. In the movie it seems that John just accepts the diagnosis and although we see a little bit of a struggle, he isn't as much of a jerk as he is in the book.

They also cut out Alice starting her own support group of people in their late 40's early 50's who have EOAD. This was a huge part in the book and I'm really upset they didn't keep it in the movie. It was an outlet for Alice to be able to talk with people who understand exactly how she is feeling and what she is experiencing. The movie also didn't incorporate her grad student, Dan. I understand the decision to cut out the parts with Dan, it was still disappointing to not see her continued work with him throughout the movie.

Those were the main complaints I had with the movie. As of finishing this post it has been about a week since I have seen the movie and everything else isn't as fresh. There were other changes that bugged me, such as: Anna being rude to her mother, Lydia not taking acting classes, John not buying movies for Alice when she can no longer hold onto the plot of a book, the kids making home videos of memories they had with their mother, and other minor details that really had no significant effect on the movie one way or another but were noticeable for someone who had JUST finished reading the book.

All that being said, there were a few changes I enjoyed. I liked the fact that they had Alice use a highlighter while reading her speech, it made that scene more realistic then just her having a good day and being able to concentrate well enough to get through the speech. I also liked that Alice recorded herself for her "Butterfly" folder instead of just writing it out, that scene in the movie was powerful and really well done. I also enjoyed that Alice was constantly Skyping with her daughter Lydia. The book having taken place in the early 2000's Skype wasn't involved in her keeping contact with Lydia so I enjoyed that they were able to include that.

Again, I didn't hate this movie, I just feel they could have done a better job with the script and overall direction.

Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed this post.

Until next time,

G

Gina's Book Review | Still Alice by Lisa Genova

Amazing.

This novel is truly an amazing work of fiction. Although fiction, the subject matter within this novel is real and effects many people.

Still Alice is about a Cognitive Psychology professor at Harvard who has a focused study in Linguistics. Linguistics is the study of language; the structure of language, how our brains perceive language, the application of language. Alice Howland teaches at Harvard as well as does her own research where she gets to travel and give speeches all over the world.

One day Alice starts to realize she is forgetting simple things that she should not be forgetting. This goes on for about a month or so until she finds herself lost in the Harvard Square, just blocks from her home. She puts off these symptoms as being part of menopause, having just turned 50 it is a likely cause. After visiting with her Doctor and a neurologist, Alice is diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer's Disease  (EOAD). The novel then follows Alice through the next two years of her life including all of the ups and downs of EOAD.

With her husband, John, they have three children all in their twenties. The oldest, Anna, who is a practicing lawyer, is married and trying to get pregnant with husband, Charlie. The middle child, Tom, is studying to be a surgeon. And the youngest, Lydia, while intelligent like her siblings and parents has moved to LA to become an actress.

With the help of doctors and her family Alice is able to continue to live a relatively normal life. Changes begin to happen when her condition worsens and she is unable to remember things she feels she should remember. Her to-do lists become more detailed and she relies on her Blackberry for nearly everything. You also get a sense of how her memory is deteriorating by the "Butterfly" questions.

          What month is it?

          Where do you live?

          Where is your office?

          When is Anna's birthday?

          How many children do you have?

At first Alice answers these questions fully. She gives full dates and addresses. She slowly starts just giving the month and city location. Eventually she starts recalling the wrong details. 

The characters in this book all had to adjust to Alice's condition and had to learn how to be there for her, without making her feel even worse for having the disease. The character that seemed to have to hardest time adjusting was John. he doesn't get as much stage time as you would expect him to get. There are points where he is down right rude but also makes valid points. What he doesn't seem to realize is that, whether he wants it to or not, his life has changed and he needs to make the proper adjustments. 

Having my Bachelors degree in psychology I had an interest in this novel from the moment I read what it was about. I feel like having my degree in psychology I was able to understand some of the terminology better than I would had this been a book about her son, Tom, and his becoming a surgeon. Though I can't speak for someone who is not familiar with the psychological jargon, I feel like when the jargon was used it was done in a way that made it understandable and not at all confusing. Having taken a cognition course, a memory course, and an applied learning theory course in college I am very familiar with the types of tests that Alice has to go through when she is seeing her Neurologist. In fact, I have taken some of those tests and had to write lab reviews over them for class as well.

The fact that Lisa Genova has her Ph.D. in neuroscience makes this book that much more remarkable. It gives the book, and Genova, more credibility with the truth of what is happening within the story. Yes, it is a work of fiction, but other than the trial drug that Alice is taking everything is based off of true details, symptoms, and medications that someone with EOAD might encounter. Even the fictional drug was based off a real life trial drug that was in the works.

Genova's writing style is truly phenomenal. This novel is written in third person,with the exception of some of Alice's thoughts, but reads as if it were first person. As Alice's memory declines the writing shows how it is declining. For example, in the beginning of the novel she knows everyone's name and the face the name belongs to, by the end of the novel Genova starts writing sentences with "said the actress" or "asked the mother" instead of using specific names. This gives you insight as to how Alice is interpreting information without having the novel be completely in first person. Genova also does a remarkable job showing the repetitiveness that Alice tends to go through by writing the same paragraph only a few pages later. An example of this would be when Alice is up at three A.M. looking for something, she starts off wondering about why she can't sleep then ultimately gets out of bed to search her home. John finds her and gets her back in bed only to have the cycle repeat itself.

I also enjoyed the "journal" style writing. Instead of having chapters the book is sectioned into months. Since the novel is in third person these aren't personal journal entries, but rather an account of what has been happening throughout each month.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It is informative and gives you insight into how a person with EOAD is feeling and what they and their families are going though. This novel doesn't glorify the disease but it also doesn't diminish the fact that there is a person attached to that disease. It helps make you aware of you're own thoughts and actions.

I gave this a 5/5 stars on Goodreads.

Thanks for reading.

-G

 

Gina's 2015 Bookish Resolutions!!! :D

Hey Guys!!

I know this is a little late, but better late than never! I have a few videos up about my bookish goals for 2015, but I wanted to make a blog post about it as well.

The first of these goals is my Goodreads goal. In 2014 my goal 20 books and I surpassed that by reading 31 books! This was a great accomplishment for me considering the past few years I've only been able to read ten or less books because of school. So for 2015 I decided to make my goal 35 books! However, I do plan on bumping this up if need be. It's January 15th and I've already read 6 books and am in the middle of 3 others. Overall I gave myself a 20,000 page goal. I am keeping track of this goal via a Google doc spreadsheet.

The next of my goals is to work on my owned TBR. I'm going to be participating in Project TBR and #0by16.

Project TBR is a year long project that Benjamin, from benjaminoftomes, started. The basic idea of this year long project is to have your TBR be smaller at the end of the year than it is at the beginning. Overall I'd like to have my TBR be about half of what it is now, and that includes reading books I am to buy throughout the year. Another goal of this project is to not buy as many books.... cause we all know us book people like buying books.

#0by16 is also a year long project. This idea came from a group of BookTubers, I originally saw it from Max on WellDoneBooks. The idea for this project, or challenge rather, is to get your TBR down to 0 by 2016. I'm going to TRY my hardest to accomplish this but I don't know if it is possible because I would have to read a LOT more than I normally do. But I am going to try! Another way I am manipulating #0by16 is by making my 'Currently Reading' shelf 0 by 2016. I currently have 6 books on this shelf and I want to be able to clear it off and only have one or two at a time.

All that being said, I have about 84 books on my TBR shelves. I have manipulated my TBR by taking some books, the ones I know I won't be getting to this year, and moving them to my bookshelf upstairs. So I am mainly focusing on my main bookshelf (and dresser) in my room. I'd like to get my TBR number down to 40, to do that I will be upping my Goodreads goal quite a bit! :3

The last of my 2015 goals all have to do with specific books and start on specific series.

These are the books I want to read in 2015:

Under the Dome by Stephen King
Stiff: The Curious Lives of the Human Cadaver by Mary Roach

And these are the series I want to read (or at least start on) in 2015:

The Land of Stories by Chris Colfer (complete)
Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (complete)
Divergent by Veronica Roth (complete)
The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clair (start)
In the Woods by Tana French (start)
Dexter by Jeff Lindsey (start)
Alex Cross by James Patterson (start)

You can find a full video of these goals HERE and a full video of my Project TBR and #0by16 HERE.

Thanks for reading! Let me know in the comments what some of your bookish resolutions are! :)

-G

Let it Snow by John Green, Lauren Myracle, and Maureen Johnson

Hey guys!

This post is going to be over the book Let it Snow.

First let me say that I LOVED this book! It was very uplifting and a definite change of pace from the dark plot of the last 3 Harry Potter books and Scorch Trials (2nd book in the Maze Runner series) which I have been reading this month.

The plot of this book is based around this town that gets a very bad snow storm on Christmas Eve. The three short stories are all connected, which I find to be amazing, so we see characters connect throughout the night and following day(s).

The first story follows Jubilee, Julie she likes to be called, and her trip to visit her grandparents in FL via the train. The train gets stuck in the snow storm and she finds her way to the Waffle House where she meets a boy, Stuart I believe his name is. This story is probably my favorite of the three, it was so sweet and fun and cheesy romantic. Yes, it was a bit predictable but that is part of its charm. I was disappointed when the story ended because I wanted more of their story!! Luckily, we see them again, very briefly, in the third story.

The second story revolved around three friends journey to get to the Waffle House (connection!) because there were 14 cheerleaders there. Again this story was predictable but still adorable. Out of the three friends there was your typical guy/girl best friend where the one friend is oblivious to the feelings of the other. This was my second favorite, I didn't like it as much as the first story but I did enjoy it and liked the ending as well.

The third story in this book was my least favorite. I didn't really care for the main character in this story. It was interesting to see her connection to the other two stories and how a side, relatively unimportant, character was the focus point of this main character (I don't remember her name). This story was about how she is a self-centered person and needs to learn to not only think about herself. She was just annoying to me and not the kind of person I could connect with nor could I envision myself being friends with this person. I did however LOVE that everyone of importance in the first two stories ended up at the Starbucks letting us see just a little bit more of the others stories.

Overall I gave this a 4/5 star rating on Goodreads. I really enjoyed this book and I think it was a wonderful light, winter read. :)

Thanks for reading, as always links to everything at the bottom of the blog page

Until next time,

G

                                                    

Audio books

Lately I've been changing my thinking towards audio books.

I use to think that audio books weren't for me because I am more than capable of reading the book on my own and I prefer to have my own voices and settings when reading. Another thing that always deterred me from picking up an audio book is the pace at which some are read in; I like going at my own pace, being able to read faster at certain points when the story picks up or slowing down and really digesting the story I'm reading.

More so lately however, I have been intrigued by the thought of audio books. I found the audio book for Orange is the New Black while I was reading that book and ended up listening to a good chunk of it to finish out the book. I used it for a few reasons: I needed to get the book done to return it to the library, I needed to get it done to participate in a book club discussion, and I just wasn't feeling it at the time. The audio book was a good outlet to get the book done but also allowed me to multitask.

I'm coming to the realization that audio books are great....to a point. There are some stories that I doubt I'll pick up the audio book unless I've already read the book but others I don't think I'd mind em. Audio books give you the opportunity to multitask, as long as the other task you are doing isn't thought provoking.

For example: The other day I put on the audio book of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets while I was shopping and then while I was wrapping Christmas gifts. It was wonderful. I was able to 'read' the entire book while also getting all of my wrapping complete.

I can see myself getting more audio books from the library in the future to listen to while on the road, or maybe even at work. I'm finding that I can mindfully do things while listening to an audio book instead of constantly having Netflix on in the background. (Now I'm not hating on Netflix but it's nice to break the addiction a little)

What are your thoughts on audio books? yay or nay? I'd love to chat about it.

Don't forget to FOLLOW, LIKE, and SUBSCRIBE !! :D Thanks for being awesome! <3

Until next time,

G 

Book Review: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz *Contains Spoilers*

We're off to see the wizard! The wonderful wizard of Oz!


That's right, this is my review for L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.


Now some of you might be wondering why I am reviewing such a classic tale. Well, to be honest, this is my first time reading the original novel. I grew up watching the 1939 Judy Garland film and it is still one of my favorite movies, but now that I have read the original story, it amazed me how different the book is compared to the movie. Perhaps this will also give me an insight look as to what to  expect from Gregory Maguire's Wicked series. By reading other reviews, Maguire actually respected the book and the film adaption's twists. We all know that Hollywood usually exaggerates stories and adds in a couple of different changes, but wow, there are quite a bit. Like did you know that the Wicked Witch of the West was not the main villain and is only in about two chapters? In addition, she was a Cyclops! Did you know that Glinda isn't even mentioned until close to the end? The Wizard can take on many forms, the Winkies have their own land and are enslaved by the Wicked Witch of the West, the flying monkeys are not the Wicked Witch of the West's henchmen, there is a golden cap that summons the flying monkeys, there is apparently a good witch of the North and many, many more. New beasts are introduced and new journeys lie ahead just for Dorothy to return home to Kansas.


I would definitely recommend this book to children and adults because The Wizard of Oz is a timeless sensation that will forever be a part of our lives. If you haven't read the novel or seen the movie, come out from under that rock and follow the yellow brick road to the Emerald City!


Until next time!


- D

Book Review: The Paris Wife

*high pitched voice* Hello!!!


This post is my review on The Paris Wife by Paula Mclain.


Set in the 1920s, The Paris wife tells the story of Hadley Richardson, first wife of Ernest Hemingway. Hadley is a 28-year-old who mostly given up on love and happiness until she meets Ernest in Chicago. After a whirlwind of courtship and falling madly in love, the two marry then set sail for Paris where Ernest is set to make it big. As Ernest struggles to find his voice, Hadley realizes that she is not ready for the hard-drinking, fast-living and free-loving life of Jazz Age Paris. Add in a baby and a love affair, and all chaos ensues. The Paris Wife is a heartbreaking portrayal of love and torn loyalty.


Even though this book is considered to be historical fiction, Paula mentioned in her note on sources that it was important for her to render the particulars of their lives as accurately as possible, and to follow the very well documented historical record. So basically, we are actually reading a live action account of what went down between Hadley and Ernest with some minor revisions. I have always been a fan of historical fiction, and it was interesting to read about one of America's most influential writers. There are some slow spots within the story, but it picks back up fairly quickly, especially within the moments where Hadley is finding out that Ernest is cheating on her. I'm all about the drama :P However, I felt like Hadley really didn't fight for Ernest, at least not as much as she could have. Yes she was definitely better off without him in the end, but if you are really in love with someone, I would have thought she would have fought a lot harder.  Some reviewers have even considered her to be a pushover and her character made the book uninteresting. All in all, it was interesting to learn about the history of Ernest and Hadley.


Well that's all I really have to say about The Paris Wife. I will be posting a video review on our YouTube channel tomorrow.


Until next time!

- D

Book Review: Maus 1&2

Hey guys!

This post is going to be over Maus 1&2 by Art Spiegelman.

These books are graphic novels told from an interview that Art had with his father, Valadek. Art wanted to know more about his fathers time in the war and what it was like being a Jew and surviving. The stories are illustrated by using animals instead of people. The Jews are portrayed by Mice, Nazi's are portrayed by cats and everyone else are portrayed by pigs. Why pigs, I have no idea. The story goes back and forth from Valadek telling the story to 'present day' where Art is interviewing his father. This story isn't just about the war and a survivors tale, it is also about the importance of family.

Overall I thought this was a decent book. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. Personally, I'm not a big history buff. I don't really enjoy reading about history but I thought I'd give these a chance since they are portrayed in such an unique way an they are graphic novels. Had they not been in graphic novel format I probably would not have continued reading them.

That being said I feel like anyone that has any interest in history and war and reading about survivors and what their life was like during that time would love these books. As I said I liked them well enough and I'm glad I have read them but I am also glad I got them from the library instead of buying them.

That's really all I have to say about these books. As always you can find us on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and now Facebook, links at the bottom of the blog home page, come chat with us!! :)

Until next time,

-G

Book Review: Gone Girl *Contains Spoilers*

Hey guys!

So this is my more in-depth review of Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl. I didn't want to spill too many spoilers in the video.

So as I said in the video, I have this bad habit of seeing a movie before reading the book. I had every intention to read Gone Girl before the film came to theatres, but that sooooo didn't happen. However, I do not let movies persuade my opinion. I still wanted to read the book and I was determined to get through it. And let me tell you, I was hooked from the first page!

Gone Girl is the story of a married couple, Nick and Amy, who live in a small Missouri town. It's their fifth wedding anniversary and upon returning home, Nick discovers that Amy is missing. After an intense police investigation, all clues determine that Amy was murdered and all eyes are looking at Nick which turns his world upside down. Did Nick really murder his wife? Yes, they have an unhealthy marriage, but would Nick go that far? I was told that there was going to be a huge plot twist that we wouldn't see coming, and surprise, surprise! Amy is actually alive. She had this whole plan to frame Nick for her murder. Gone Girl is read from the point of view of both Nick and Amy, and the first half of Amy's story are all diary entries. Turns out the diary was all part of diabolical and sinister plan. In the end, she returns home and basically has full control over Nick as to where he cannot leave her. You'll have to read the book to understand.

Now, if I was Nick, I would have killed Amy right then and there. Prison seems like paradise compared to what he goes through. Amy is a twisted and vengeful character which makes this book the perfect psychological thriller. I love that the story is broken up between Nick and Amy where we really receive and inside glimpse of what's going through their minds.

Gone Girl was published in 2012 and is Gillian Flynn's third book. However, it is the most popular due to high critical praise and the film starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike. I never heard of this book until Gina told me about it. I thought it sounded good, so why not? I did not know that it would be an emotional roller coaster. You're all like "Wow, Nick is a real jerk!" to "OMG are you kidding me?!"  The plot was really thought out and we definitely see how every characters evolves.

My only problem is I wish the ending was different. There are so many unanswered questions - although again, you'll have the read the book to find out what those are ;)

So, if you have nothing going on in your life at the moment and wish to pick up a gripping and enthralling book, I definitely recommend Gone Girl. You will not be disappointed.

In the meantime, don't forget to follow us on Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, etc.

Ciao for now!

D

Gotta Love Used Book Stores

Okay guys!! Some exciting stuff just happened!!

So we have this little independent used book store here in town that I like to visit on occasion, see what they have. Lately I've been trying to find the first five books in the Anita Blake series since I lent them out and never got them back. I didn't want to pay full price for them again so I've been patiently waiting to find them for cheap. 

Throughout the years I have found 3 of the 5 needed. Today, not only did I find the last two I found the last two along with two others in the series in ORIGINAL FIRST EDITION covers!!!! I was so excited I HAD to buy all four! 

Now that alone wasn't worthy of an entire blog post. When I got home I decided to look in the book to try and figure out if they were original US covers or if maybe they were England covers (they are US covers btw). To my surprise when I was flipping through the first few pages was that ALL four of them were SIGNED copies!!! :D They are personalized, but I don't mind. The fact that they are signed by Laurell K. Hamilton and dated for 11/22/97 and that they ARE original covers is freaking amazing!! (Note I almost used the term amazeballs here....) 

That's all I have for now! Time to go put my new books on my Anita shelf! ^.^ 

Until next time,

G 

P.S. After putting them on my shelf I notice that I now have the firs EIGHT (with the exception of the third book, Circus of the Damned) in Original US covers!! I'm now on a mission to find Circus of the Damned in it's original cover.

P.P.S Went back to the book store to see if I by chance looked over Circus of the Damned, I did!!! I now have all original US covers on my Anita books! And Circus of the damned is signed, also found a signed Blue Moon! :)

The four I got today ^.^                                       

 The three I already had (Bloody Bones I got from a friend a few years ago the other two I've found at various used book stores)

 And the 7 I have Original covers for (not including all of the newer books that I are for sure original covers since I bought them when they first came out. :P )

Book Review: Yes Please by Amy Poehler

Hey Guys!!

This review is going to be over Amy Poehler's book Yes Please. First thing I want to mention about this book is the cover. Its shiny and bright and very appealing to the eyes. (Picture will be posted at the end of this review) The back of the cover is a note from Amy about if you buy this book you have these duties, it goes on about how you will read the book and where you can and should read it and how you should talk about it. The writing goes all the way to the bottom and the font keeps getting smaller and smaller. If took me a while to read the last few lines but I eventually made them out. 

The back is probably the main reason I bought this book on site, I didn’t even open the cover to read the synopsis. Another cool thing about the cover is when you open it up you see all these thumbnails of various different shots from the cover shoot. It’s pretty  cool and I suggest you guys check it out. 

The last bit about the cover is the actual cover of the book. I like taking the dust jacket off books and seeing how the book actually looks. This book is very sleek and white and simply has Yes Please engraved in bright blue lettering, but the cool thing about it is the back. It says Thank you. I thought that was really cute and clever and it goes well with the title of the book. (Maybe I'll go take a picture for Instagram ;).)

As for the book itself I loved it! I am very interested in reading biography style books by celebrities that I admire and whose careers I follow. While I don’t follow all of Amy’s work I know who  she is and I appreciate her comedy.

In the book she is very open about the fact that writing a book is hard and she almost quit on multiple occasions. Overall in her book she talks about her experiences and all the events that led her to where she is now. She goes into stories about her childhood and college. A big part of this book is centered around her improv career in Boston, Chicago, and New York. The book is sections off into three sections and has a lot of pictures to help the reader have a sense of who she is as a person. I loved the pictures and thought they really added to the book.

The one down side I had about this book is that some of the stories didn't seem to have enough info in them. Granted she has a lot of stories so just doing a few sentences per person she wanted to talk about was beneficial for her. 

Overall I really enjoyed reading this and would definitely recommend it to anyone that likes learning more about celebrities from their POV, especially people who are a fan of Amy Poehler.

That's it for now, 

Until next time you can find us on Twitter, Instagram (linked above) and Goodreads (Gina) / Goodreads (Denny)

If you've read Yes Please, I'd love to hear your input! Comment and let me know what you thought!

-- G 

YOUTUBE!!!

Today is the day!! :D

We JUST launched our YouTube (BookTube) channel! I'm so exited for this and can't wait to see what happens! Be sure to check it out and subscribe!

CLICK IT!!! :D


Have a great night guys!

G

Perfect Book Weather

Today is the kind of day to just curl up in bed and read. It's a cloudy, snowy Sunday - perfect book weather. Also perfect cuddle weather ;) Unfortunately my cat is no where in sight.

Right now I am in the process of finishing up Gone Girl. I know, I should have finished it way before the movie came out, but I kind of have this bad habit of seeing the movie first before reading the book. It's a habit I would like to break. It's just that life sometimes prevents me from reading.

So what kind of books do you like to read on a cold winter day? Would love to see some comments!

As Gina has mentioned in previous posts, our Twitter and Instagram accounts are in full effect. Make sure to follow, subscribe and show us some love. We plan to launch our BookTube channel tomorrow, so keep an eye out for that. We are both really excited about starting this project and can't wait to see where it takes us. Yes we're newbies, so don't be hatin.

Until next time, happy reading!

D

Small Book Haul

Hey guys!!

Today we went on a little trip to Books-A-Million, which we tend to do quite often, and low and behold it was a one day only sale! Members today got 20% off their entire purchase!!

We both picked up a few books that have been on our TBR list. I (Gina) also bought a really pretty copy of Frankenstein....seriously, the cover of this book is beautiful.

While this wasn't one of our biggest hauls, it was fun looking around and splurging a little on a few full priced books for once.

We also want to mention that our instagram account is up and running! You can follow us HERE!! :) Don't forget to also follow our Twitter Account as well! We're hoping to be up and running on YouTube soon, so stay tuned for that update!!

I'm really excited to see where this little project of ours goes!

Until next time,

G