Sunday, 10 November 2013

Epic Recs: November 2013

Today I am here with a post that I am super excited about. I'm sure that you have all heard of Amber from Books of Amber. Well, she does this thing called epic recs (you can visit her blog to find out more). And now, I am taking part in it along with Danika from Books to Dream.

Each month we will recommend a book to the other person that we are required to read. Also, we will each have a secret back-up book that we will share with you if we can't get the top choice recommendation in our hands.

For the month of November, I have recommended Partials by Dan Wells to Danika, and Danika has recommended Shadow and Bone to me. I am super excited to start this book and this series, and watch out for more posts like this one in the months to come. Happy reading!!

Tuesday, 5 November 2013

New Consumerism Tumblr

Hello lovely viewers! Today I come to you with an announcement about a new assignment that I have started. In this assignment I will be creating a tumblr that expresses my consumer identity. If you are interested check it out in the sidebar!

Happy reading, and have a great day!

Link: http://briannnac.tumblr.com

Tuesday, 29 October 2013

GINS: Roundtable Discussion (1)

Today I had the opportunity to talk to a few of my peers about the various novels that we are reading.

Brianna: Tree Girl by Ben Mickaelsen
Will @ my awesome book blog: Lunch With Lenin by Deborah Ellis
Haniya @ Book It!: Lunch With Lenon by Deborah Ellis
Jenn @ Jenn's Book Review Blog: Little Princes by Conor Grennan

Discussion Questions:
  • What global issues does your novel explore?
  • Why did you choose this novel? Are you still happy with your choice?
  • Think about your talking to the text notes: what questions have you asked?
  • Think about your talking to the text notes: what connections have you made?
  • Can you make any connections to our guiding ideas: worldview, identity, values?
Click here to listen to our discussion.

Comment below if you have anything to say about any of our novel choices. I hope you are having a great day, and happy reading!

https://soundcloud.com/user68152905/gins-round-table-1

Thursday, 24 October 2013

Global Issues Novel Study (GINS): Introduction/First 20%

Hello everyone! Let's cut right to the chase, I'm participating in a novel study. In this study, each individual got to choose a book to dig into and explore it's deeper meaning. The book that I chose was Tree Girl by Ben Mikalesen. This book is about a child who loves to climb trees, so when soldiers come to her home, she pulls herself up into a tree. It sounded super interesting and I really wanted to learn more about what the tree girl did after getting down from the tree.

The main issue being addressed in my book, as far as I am right now, is war, and the effects that it has on children and others in the society. In this book, Gabi's "tribe" or culture is being attacked by soldiers from the United States. Other issues on rape have also been somewhat covered.

I am ashamed to say that I actually don't have much background information about my topic. It has always interested me, but I've never looked into it unless it has been assigned as an assignment. Who knows, I may look more into it after this project!

There are, in fact, a few questions that came to mind as I begin to read. Especially at the end of each chapter, when there was a cliffhanger. At the end of the first it was, "What war? What's happening? What even led to this?" At the end of the second was, "Oh no! What will Gabi do?" Finally, at the end of chapter 3, I felt myself asking, "Jorge? Are you dead?" I'm also really interested in when Gabi will climb the tree and when the story will really grow from it's roots. Another on-going thing from the novel was the language. There were a whole bunch of words in a different language, and I was always wondering what each of them meant. Boj, for example, is an alcoholic drink.

Many characters have been introduced so far. Chapter one was focused on introducing the main character, Gabi, and her brave personality. In chapter two we got to know her family; Antonio, Lester, Papi, Mami, Jorge, Lidia, Alicia, and Julia. There was also an introduction to Gabi's friend named Manuel, who is actually a full grown man. Then, in the third chapter, Gabi had her quinceniera, and we saw a whole bunch more characters without names. At times, I found it a bit hard to follow with all of the people, but it turned out alright.

That is all I have for you today! Keep watch for more posts on the GINS, and I would love to know if you have read my book so we can talk about it! And happy reading.

Photo Credits: https://www.goodreads.com/book/photo/331211.Tree_Girl

Wednesday, 23 October 2013

Dress Up: Becky from Variant


I was looking through my books and their covers and this same thought kept on passing through my mind – I could and should recreate one of these outfits. So, that is what you see here! All of the items that I used to create this outfit are super cheap and vague, so hopefully this outfit will be easy enough for you to get into your wardrobe.
This outfit was inspired from Becky, a character from Variant by Robison Wells. Becky is a pretty “special” but put-together character, and this outfit shows that. Becky was wearing a pinky-red long-sleeved top. I got mine from Superstore for super cheap. It was maybe 5 dollars, and it fits the description perfectly. The skirt that I am wearing comes from Gap, and I actually received it as a gift a while back and have no idea how much it costs and whether or not it’s still in stock.

The leggings that I have on are just plain black, so any pair of these will work, but the ones that I got are from Costco – super cozy and nice! Finally, Becky chose to wear a necklace in the book, but I didn’t have one to put on. Any necklace will work for this though, so go wild!
Now I’m sure you are wondering, what about the shoes!? Well, this book did actually not describe what the shoes were, and the cover didn’t give a clue either. This gave me the chance to choose whatever I wanted to. In the end I went with some black flats with a strap coming across the top of the foot. I could so easily picture Becky rocking these shoes, especially with the flower detailing on the side. Also, the strap makes for better running shoes! With the shoes I just put on some black socks, which are actually toe socks (may I add).
            That’s about all there is to this outfit. Short, simple, sweet, pretty, and put-together, just like Becky was in the book! You could possibly even wear this out to Halloween, although I’m not sure anyone would be able to distinguish who you are. Except, you know, the crazy geek over here.
            The main thing that really stood out to me about the description of this outfit in the text was how much skin was (or actually... wasn't) showing. She wore a long sleeve shirt, a pair of leggings with a shirt. Our society now is so showy when they don't need to be. I myself even wear my leggings without a skirt/shorts – and I am not considered someone to show off like that.
Another thing that stood out to me was the bracelet. In Variant, students are given the choice between a necklace, a watch and a bracelet. In the book, Becky chose a necklace. I think that the author did this to make her a more sophisticated character. I always imagine people like Becky wearing something around her neck, whether it be a scarf or a necklace. It really added to her identity. I’m sure there is some further reasoning into why she chose a necklace in the later books as well.
I hoped you enjoyed this little post about Becky and her outfit! Let me know if you would like me to “dress up” as anyone else. I was thinking Throne of Glass or Unraveling. What do you think? And happy reading!

Monday, 21 October 2013

Relate! (2)


Bookish Halloween Tag

Here's my story: I wanted to do a tag. I wanted to do something halloween related. I decided to do this post.

In my search for halloween book tags, I came across this one which was posted on the 14th of October on TheLibraryOfSarah's channel. I thought it would be fun, so I've decided to do it. No I was not tagged, but who follows those rules anymore... Right?

What is your favourite horror book?
Um... Well, I'm kind of sorry to say that I haven't read, like, any horror. Probably the scariest book that I've read that I've really enjoyed was Between by Jessica Warman. It's not really that scary, really. It's just a murder mystery that is actually super good.

What is the scariest moment in a book you've read?
I'm going to choose an instance from the book that I am almost done reading, The Darkest Minds. Hopefully most of you have read the book so you can read on without getting spoiled. Yeah, SPOILER ALERT. .......... Okay, you know that cliffhanger on page 392 when Liam scared the tofu (yes, I just swore with the word tofu... it's bad enough to swear with, okay?) out of everyone? That part where he is like, "Hello, my name is Liam. Don't think we've met." All that was going through my head was *beep* *beeping* Clancy I am going to slit your *beeping* throat!!!!!! You ruined him! But, yeah... No. As much as I like you Liam, just, not cool. Not cool.

Would you or have you ever dressed up as a book character for Halloween?
I haven't yet! I really want to, and I actually have a Halloween costume video/blog post coming up by this Wednesday for Becky from Variant. Yes... A costume and a video. Get excited! Whoot whoot!

What do you think your favourite character would dress up as for Halloween?
Favourite character, hey? I'm going to go with June from Legend for this one. And I'm going to be quite literal, as far as dressing up goes. I think she would go out as a spy, wearing all black and possibly an eye patch (wait... that's a pirate. *derp*).

What is your favourite kind of horror? (gore, psychological thriller, spooky)
I can't really handle anything too scary (not that I've branched out or anything), so I prefer to go for spooky. A bit of gore and fighting scenes are pretty great though.


If books were as cheap as candy, which one would you give out to trick-or-treaters?
Good question! Um, well I would probably give out Variant by Robison Wells because that book is just so good and it has some pretty alarming parts in it... Beware. *evil laugh*

Halloween to-read list?
I made a seperate post for this! Check out my October TBR (#1 and #2).

Do you have any recommendations for some Halloween reads?
As I said, I don't really read scary (not until this year), so the only books that I can really recommend are the ones that I mentioned in this post as well as The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken. Not really scary; not really too spooky either. But honestly – kids have powers that can kill people, and that ends up creating crazy turns and an awesome story. Read it now!



I Tag...
Danika @ Books to Dream
Julia @ Books as Wings
Kirsten @ K's BooK's to Read