Some 2018 Intentions (reading and otherwise)

Last year, I didn't really set any year-long reading goals for myself. I was so overwhelmed with finishing my degree and the uncertainty that comes along with that, that I couldn't even picture a month into the future, much less a whole year. Over the past week or so, I've been thinking about whether or not to set 2018 goals, reading and otherwise. I started out by saying no I wasn't going to, yet here I am writing this post. My Type-A personality is once again victorious.

Instead of big, lofty goals, I'm going to throw out a few intentions for this year. I have no idea where I will be for most of the year, as this summer I will be interviewing for actual teaching jobs and then tackling my first year of teaching, which is notoriously difficult, but that's okay. These are just some things that I intend to do, or devote some time attempting to do this year.

In 2018 I want to...

• Read the books I already own. This one is on every year's list, but I never really feel like I make any progress. I buy more books in a year than I read from my existing TBR, and that's fine really. I'm not going to attempt to directly change the number of books I buy in a year, I just want to try and read from my own shelves more. 

• Read more authors from my Women's Writers List. I made this list a very long time ago, and I would love to revamp it and continue completing it. I've really taken a step back from reading classics this year, as I have been finished with my college literature courses, but I want to get back into them, and classics by women is my area of interest. I'll be revamping this list and posting about it in the near future.  

• Keep posting. It seems like every time I have been in a good blogging flow in the past two years, some major life thing (usually school) disrupts it and then I loose the flow. It's frustrating to see something you spend a lot of time working on gain in views and reads, only to loose that momentum because of outside forces. Blogging has never been about the views for me, I just love having a place to write about what I read, and I appreciate it even more now that I am out of school and have lost that avenue for discussing literature. I want to keep writing about what I read regardless of how busy I get this year or the numbers. I really love having this record of my relationship with literature. 

• Continue to declutter my life. Ever since moving out, and then back in my parents, my life has been overflowing with stuff. I moved an apartment's worth of stuff back in my childhood room, which was already filled with stuff, and I don't even know what I own anymore. I have been donating like crazy this year, and I want to keep doing that. I need to be honest with myself about what I need and proactive about getting rid of what I don't. 

I am thinking I will make smaller goals throughout the year as well, but for now, these are the things I want to focus my time and energy on this year. I would love to hear what your intentions for the new year are or your thoughts on New Year in general! Happy Reading! 

Happy Banned Books Week!

Artwork courtesy of the ALA

As per tradition, I'm here to share a quick post in support of Banned Books Weeks sponsored by the American Library Association. I have always been a reader of banned and challenged books, but as of this year, I am also a teacher of banned and challenged books. In our current political climate, which seems to be made up of extremes, discussing censorship and information withholding is more important than ever. 

Looking at the list of the most frequently challenged books of the past year from the ALA website, makes it clear that book challenging is not about protecting children as it is so often sited as, but about restricting reader's abilities to see themselves and others that differ from themselves in literature. Of the top ten, half were challenged because of their honest portrayal of gender and sexual orientation diversity. While this is not surprising, it is disheartening. 

As always, I encourage you to check out the American Library Association's website (linked above under the picture) and I will leave the link to report the removal or ban of a book or piece of work in your area.

Have a happy week (and life) of reading banned books! 

Banned Books Week Posts:

2016 Here and Here

2015

2014

2013

1: A.M. Post: Do You Feel Library Guilt? Reading My Books vs. Library Books

I'm home for the summer, which means I am six minutes away from my local library again and I have more time to read. This is great and also stressful. Let me explain; I love my library and I especially love to get graphic novels from my library as they are so expensive to own, but I also own a stack of unread books that is at least twice as tall as I am. Therefore, when I go to the library and check out a book or get an ebook from my library's catalog and read it, I am not reading one of the books belonging to the aforementioned stack.

Because of this, I can feel guilty and stressed while reading books from the library, particularly if I take a while to read them, because that means I'm not reducing my TBR pile of books that I paid for. Now, I buy a lot of my books used or discounted, but I still spent money on them and they still take up physical space in my room and are a physical reminder that I'm not reading them every time I look at them (which is quite often.)

I love my library and really like to take advantage of being so close to it while I'm staying at my parents house, but I also really want to reduce the number of unread books I own. I think part of the problem is that as a college student, summer is the only time I can really read material of my own choosing, so I try to cram in as much reading as I can which also causes stress and probably causes me to read less.

Basically, my overthinking brain is making something fun and recreational into a chore and a stressful event, which is not what I want. This summer, I'm going to just read freely from my own shelves and my libraries shelves. A good book is a blessing no matter where it came from, and I love supporting my local library.

Me reading everything and not caring where it came from

Do you guys feel this way about borrowing from the library? Do you ever feel guilty about not reading books you already own? Help me out here and tell me I'm not alone.

Reflections on Comic Con, Loot, and Reflections on Women in Comics

This past Saturday, I went to my third Comic Con which is always a lot of fun. If you aren't familiar with comic con, it's basically an event to celebrate all things fandom and comic. People dress up in amazing quality costumes, actors from T.V. shows and movies (usually minor actors and actresses at my state's comic con) sign autographs and take pictures with fans, people are selling comics and tshirts every where, and artists sell all kinds of art. The comic con in my state is much smaller than say the San Diego Comic Con, but it's still a lot of fun.

I thought I would show you what I picked up this year for art and comics because I'm pretty excited about my finds.

I got two small art pieces this year, both by the same artist. I was really excited to see this Ms. Marvel art, as this was the only time I had come across her on any art at the convention. Oddly enough, right before I saw this art, I saw an actual girl dressed up as Ms. Marvel and I was so happy to see that because I love this new series and the way women are represented in the comic. I was on the hunt for Wonder Woman art that day, but everything I saw was pretty generic and was just copies of original artwork, so I decided to go with this smaller piece until I found a larger one I really like in the future. I also picked up this metal Rey bookmark with a print of someone's original art, and I am soooo excited to use it in my next read!

These are the Wonder Woman comics I picked up (featuring my sleeping cat.) I used to read and buy comics all the time as a kid because my dad was (and still is to some extent) a huge comic collector, but it's been years since I have read one or picked one out. I just picked these up pretty randomly, I have no idea of their place in a bigger series or timeline, but I'm not really too worried about that as I'm just picking them up for fun. I would have loved to spend more time at the comic booths and get a ton more, and I think next year I will! These comics have quite a range of dates, and I would love to display the covers of a few of them because I love the art. I will be displaying the top right and bottom left corner covers for sure.

I also picked up this Robin collection in hardback for five dollars (the original price on the back is fifty dollars) with original comics from the late 40's. These should be a lot of fun to read, as the premise of some of them are so cheesy (for instance, the atom bomb gets stolen and must be recovered by Robin in one issue.)

Being at a comic convention made me do a lot of thinking about women in comics, particularly as I was skimming the cover of hundreds of Wonder Woman comics. Obviously male superheros dominated the comic selection, white, male superheros that is, and they also dominated the art work at the vendor booths, but many of the Wonder Woman comic covers were quite interesting to me. Even though Wonder Woman is the main hero of her comic series and kicks some major behind, many of the covers portrayed her at moments of weakness while fighting an opponent, I found that quite interesting when placed side-by-side with say Batman and Superman covers where they almost always appear to be concurring evil with minimal effort. I think comics have come a long way, and the New 52 does a great job with the woman characters, the ones I have read anyways, and that's really great to see. Here's a couple example covers that I saw at comic con and thought were quite interesting.

1968 Text bubble on both: "Next to these Wonder Men-- I'm not a Wonder Woman"

1975 bubble: "Take a look at your beautiful face Wonder Woman. In a moment, I'll have it."

I would LOVE to hear your thoughts on women in comics, comics in general, (where do you buy them, do you read them in order, etc,) and Comic Con! I really want to start building a collection of recent comics in graphic novel form and older comics in single issues.

1 A.M. Post-- What's in a Name?

So, a long time ago (as in a couple of months) I read Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman which I loved, and a particular quote from that novel really got me thinking, Here's the quote:

" "To name her is to sink her" he told me. "That which we name takes greater weight than the sea it displaces. Ask any Shipwreck" "

Now, if you don't know, this book is about mental illness and the main character Caden has created a sort of alternate world/extended metaphor that he is the passenger on a ship in the middle of the ocean and here he is speaking to the Captain about the ship they are on. But, what this quote really got me thinking about the idea it introduces separate from the novel.

The Captain is telling us that words have power but particularly when they are used as names. We, the human race, name things that we have a strong reaction to, either positive or negative. Think of the things we name, and I don't mean saying an apple is an apple, I mean the things that we ourselves assign a separate name other than their label.
We name:
children,
pets,
paintings,
songs,
books,
hurricanes.
groups we fear,
our first car or other prized possession,
etc.

All of these things generally create some kind of reaction from us and so we give them a tittle. I have always found it interesting that we give hurricanes and other natural storms human names. We spend hours laboring over a piece of art, of any kind, and then we name it, just as we would a child or pet.

Another interesting connection I made with this quote and something that immediately came to my mind was, "He-who-must-not-be-named." People fear Voldemort so much, they cannot say his name, because to say his name is to acknowledge his power. Harry and co. begin to say his name in the series when they begin to fear him less-and-less, and therefore, some of his power is taken away because the saying of his name, his real name and not his second name that fear has given him, lessens the fear.

Just a quick little post on some thoughts that have been rolling around in my head recently! Let me know your thoughts on names, and please check out Challenger Deep it was really great. 
  

Are Book Boys Dangerous?

So, I was reading A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas  (which I loved by the way) the other day, and it got me thinking about book boys. Then, I started reading some not so positive reviews about the relationship in the novel and then I was really thinking.

Why do readers tend to be drawn to book boys

that they would never date in real life?

Now, Tamlin, the love interest in ACOTAR has all of the qualities of a sexy and intriguing book boy; he's attractive, mysterious, physically strong, powerful, protective, and he makes that "low growl in the back of his throat" when he kisses the heroine. Now I'm a fan of that growl just as much as the next girl, but there is no way I would enjoy dating someone who is as protective and overbearing as some of the most popular book boyfriends out there. So, why are they appealing in book form? What does that say about readers and women as a whole that we are drawn to characters like this? 

Here's a list of book boys (and men) who fit this description, I would be interested to know if you were drawn to any of them (because I know I was)

• Tamlin from A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas- He's actually the least over-bearing and protective on this list in my opinion. 

• Edward Cullen from Twlight (duh!) 

• Matthew from A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness- This is THE most over-bearing and protective book boyfriend I have come across so far, but I still enjoyed this novel.

• Jace from The Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare- I'm not a fan of Jace.

• Damion Black from The Lux Series by Jenifer L. Armentrout- So much time spent protecting Katy from every possible element the world could throw at her.  

These bad book boyfriends are even present in classics! The moody, brooding, over-protective love interest has been around (and popular) for many years. 

• Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte- Nothing about Heathcliff makes me think he would be a good real-life boyfriend

• Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte- So many left-handed compliments and he doubts Jane quite a bit. 

• Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen- While he isn't over-protective, he is rather unpleasant for a good majority of the novel. 

I think it's a case of fiction vs. reality. While I would never enjoy dating a man who lives to protect me and always throws himself in danger to save me, it is Fun to read about them. I really don't think that these boys are making any real statement about what women subconsciously look for in men, or what culture has done to us blah blah. As long as you can separate fictional romance from real-life romance, your preference in fictional men doesn't reveal the type of romance you will look for in real life.

There's also a lot of book boys that would make great real-life boyfriends! Here are a few of my favorites.

• Peeta from The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzane Collins- He is sweet, soft-spoken and more emotional and vocal about his emotions than the more "manly and tough" Gale.

• Mal from The Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo- Mal understands Alina's power and allows her to use her power and endanger herself for her cause. I had such a sweet spot for Mal while reading the series! He works with her, instead of always trying to stand in front of her and shelter her. 

• Ron Weasley from Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling- Ron is my ultimate book boyfriend! He is funny, sweet, has so much respect for Hermonie, and most importantly,he is a red head. 

• Mr. Knightly from Emma by Jane Austen- I loved Mr. Knightly as he is so different from the typical brooding love interest of classic novels. He's sweet, considerate, shy, and calls Emma out when she is being unreasonable.   

Now I would love to hear your thoughts on book boys (in any genre) who do you love? Who do you hate? Do you fall for the bad boys in fiction? Let me know!