The Disney Book Tag

This tag was created by Katytastic over on YouTube to celebrate the release of The Isle of the Lost by Melissa de la Cruz. I was tagged by Aria at Book Monster and Maren at The Worn Bookmark! Thanks so much for the tags, Aria and Maren!

1. The Little Mermaid – a character who is out of their element, a “fish out of water”

Rachel from Jennifer Mathieu’s latest novel, Devoted, leaves the home and family she’s known her whole life to start fresh in the “real” world. She doesn’t really understand how the real world works and must navigate first jobs, first roommates, and figuring out what she truly believes.

2. Cinderella – a character who goes through a major transformation

Kristin from I.W. Gregorio’s debut None of the Above finds out that she is actually intersex. Her life, identity, and world are completely turned upside down and she must figure out who she really is while everyone else does too.

3. Snow White – a book with an eclectic cast of characters

I’m going to go with a children’s book for this one: The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers is filled to the brim with eclectic characters…er, crayons. Overworked Blue and Mediator Green and WHO IS THE TRUE COLOR OF THE SUN? Yellow or Orange?! Love it.

4. Sleeping Beauty – a book that put you to sleep

Hands down: If I Stay by Gayle Forman. Ugh.

5. The Lion King – a character who had something traumatic happen to them in childhood

Harry Potter. Duh. He had like a million traumatic things happen to him while he was a child. Actually, all of those kids who went to Hogwarts during those years had pretty traumatic things happen to them.

6. Beauty and the Beast – A beast of a book (a big book) that you were intimidated by, but found the story to be beautiful

The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber is 500 pages long and absolutely intimidating. I’m so glad I read it though. Not only is it physical beautiful (the pages are gilded – they are gold-edged) but the story is incredibly fascinating and strange and…definitely beautiful.

7. Aladdin – a character who gets their wish granted, for better or worse

I’m going to have to go with Maren on this one: Simon from Becky Albertalli’s debut Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda wishes with everything he has to meet Blue, the boy he’s been emailing back and forth for months, and is it for better or worse? You’ll just have to read it and find out. 🙂

8. Mulan – a character who pretends to be someone or something they are not

Lila Bard in V.E. Schwab’s A Darker Shade of Magic dresses up like a man in order to be accepted socially, or at least so she doesn’t draw attention to herself. I chose her because even though she’s pretending to be someone she isn’t, she’s an incredibly badass character.

9. Toy Story – a book with characters you wish would come to life

Hands down, I would want the characters from Maggie Stiefvater’s The Raven Cycle books to come to life. I just want to be best friends with all of them: Blue, RONAN, Gansey, Noah, Adam, and definitely Chainsaw. I want to hang out at 300 Fox Way and fly around in helicopters looking for Glendower.

10. Disney Descendants – your favourite villain or morally ambiguous character

I’m a big fan of morally ambiguous characters in books. They are often more complex, more interesting, and more terrifying than the protagonists. My favorite is probably Kevin from We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver. He may not be so morally ambiguous. I mean, it’s pretty obvious that he is absolutely evil, but why is he that way? Nature? Nurture? It’s just absolutely fascinating to read about him. Plus, Ezra Miller does a pretty amazing job at portraying him on screen.

I’m tagging: 

Rachel at Confessions of a Book Geek

Alison at Hardcovers and Heroines

Shaina at Shaina Reads

Kay at It’s a Book Life

Joey at Thoughts and Afterthoughts

Book Review: The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber

Author: Michel Faber
Genre: Literary fiction, sci-fi, religion
Publisher: Hogarth
Publication Date: October 28, 2014
500 pages, hardcover

Peter is a pastor, happily married to his wife Bea, when he is called to a mission by a mysterious corporation known as USIC. He is sent galaxies away to a completely new environment, where is to teach the strange natives from his “book of strange new things.” While he’s gone, Bea’s faith begins to falter as the world as Peter knew it begins to crumble (typhoons and earthquakes and failing governments). The distance between Peter and Bea has never felt so far. He struggles to fulfill the needs of his congregation and also the needs of his wife.

It’d been a long time since I’d read an “adult” novel and an even longer time since I’d read something I’d classify as literary fiction, so it took me a little bit to get into The Book of Strange New Things. To really, really get into it, I’d estimate it took me about 100 pages, but I am so glad I kept going. This novel is incredible, you guys. I was glued to the book for the last 250 pages, at least, flipping through the pages at lightning speed. I was fascinated by Oasis, what this new planet was dubbed, by its natives, by USIC’s secrets, by Peter’s relationship to both Bea and the Oasans, and by Peter’s seemingly unnoticed (by him but not by others) deterioration in body and sanity.

It’s safe to say that The Book of Strange New Things is not at all what I was expecting. Honestly, I’m not sure what I was expecting. The only book I’d read by Michel Faber previously was Under the Skin, and to me, this was vastly different. It’s also completely unlike pretty much any sci-fi book I’ve ever read. Instead of focusing on the science aspects (the new world, the technology, the natives, etc.) it focuses on the relationships between Peter, our main character, and the people around him. The book is emotionally complex, leaving both the characters and the reader feeling almost raw. It’s bleak and sad and beautiful and hopeful.

I like this book for several of the same reasons that I love Matt Haig’s The Humans (though the books are dissimilar in many ways too). Much like in The Humans, you appreciate what it means to be human even more by comparing yourself to the “aliens” – their lack of emotion (though don’t be fooled by this), their simplicity, their lack of differences (again, don’t be fooled).

Faber handles the topic of religion deftly. The tests of faith feel appropriate and true. Faber neither endorses nor condemns religion throughout the book, instead the development of the themes unfold naturally, making the story feel genuine and honest. The characters’ beliefs are plausible even in a fantastic setting.

I don’t just mean this with the humans. The natives of Oasis feel realistic too. They are appropriately alien, different physically, emotionally, and mentally (especially physically – weirdest descriptions ever). Despite this, they are still easily relatable with their struggle to communicate effectively, learn, and grow. Plus, the creative way that their language is depicted is seriously cool.

My only complaint is that it ended. Yes, I wished that a 500 page novel would have been longer. SPOILER: it’s open-ended, which leaves a lot of things left unanswered. I both love and despise this. I want to know what happened!

The bottom line: If it wasn’t apparently obvious, I loved this book. It was captivating and profound and beautiful. I’ll be buying my own copy (I checked it out from the library) – the hardback has gold gilded pages and it’s gorgeous.

Rating: 9 – practically perfect

WWW Wednesday [9] – A Thousand Pieces of You, The Book of Strange New Things, & Comics

WWW Wednesdays are hosted by Should Be Reading. To play along, just answer the following three questions: (As always, all titles are linked to their corresponding Goodreads pages)

• What are you currently reading?

A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray. I’ll be starting this one today so I don’t have too much to say about it yet. I’ve heard mixed things but several people I trust have said they loved it. I’m looking forward to starting it.

• What did you recently finish reading?

I finished Michel Faber’s The Book of Strange New Things yesterday. It wasn’t at all what I expected, but I really, really enjoyed it. More literary than I usually read, but it was refreshing and a nice change from my norm. I’ll be reviewing it next week.

• What do you think you’ll read next?

I haven’t decided yet. I’ve just started my current read, so I don’t know what I’ll feel like after, but I have a big stack of new comics that I’ll probably dive into after my current book. I’ve got the latest issues of Gotham Academy, Memetic, Thor, Superior Iron Man, Batman and Robin, Fiction Squad, Arkham Manor, and a few others I can’t think of right now. So I’ll be reading all of those next.

What are you reading?

SUNDAY FUNDAY – Comics, Cities of Literature, and Strange Things

The lovely Cristina over at Girl in the Pages started Sunday Funday as a way to recap the bookish (and not-so-bookish) things that have happened that week.

December 1 – 7, 2014

Last weekend I was pretty busy, so I wasn’t able to post on Sunday. After Thanksgiving, I met my friend at her home in Alabama and we drove up to Chattanooga, TN, where we saw The 1975 live. Then we went to the Tennessee Aquarium, drove down to Birmingham, and saw Augustana live. It was a lot of fun!

This week, FOUR new UNESCO Cities of Literature were announced. I did my Master’s dissertation on the Cities of Literature, so this was really cool for me. New cities: Dunedin, Granada, Heidelberg, and Prague.

What you might’ve missed on the blog this week: My review of the audiobook for Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling and my excited post about Jared Leto being cast as The Joker in Suicide Squad

Coming up on the blog this week: My review of Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick; Top Ten Tuesday and Teaser Tuesday; Waiting on Wednesday and WWW Wednesday; my review of Evangeline Lilly’s The Squickerwonkers; another post or two thrown in that I haven’t decided on yet. Make sure you come by and check these out! Please?

Books read: I’ve been making my way through The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber. It’s taking me a while but I’m enjoying it. It’s my first adult book in a while, which has taken some time to adjust to. It’s not necessarily action packed or anything, but it’s really interesting and full of soul. Expect a review in the next couple weeks.

TBR: I had a great comic book haul yesterday, and I also bought two of The Walking Dead Governor novels at Books-A-Million for $4 each! Check out my comic book haul below. I also received the package from Paige at The Paige-Turner – I won her giveaway! The second picture is the awesome books and swag I got from her!

Non-bookish things I’m excited about:

Well, it’s by a bookish person. So does that make it bookish? I don’t know. Anyway, Maggie Stiefvater just opened a Society6 shop where she’s selling prints of some of her artwork. Yeah, you know I’m excited. I need some. I really want this one. There are several I really love, like The Raven Cycle Character Sketches. They’re not too expensive, so maybe I’ll buy one if I get any Christmas money. 🙂 Isn’t it beautiful? Sharing the link so others can check out her awesome artwork.

So I had a pretty good week and my weekend has been full of making stuff for my Belle’s Enchanted Gift Exchange partner and my Bookish Christmas partner. I’ve read some, watched some Arrow, got paint all over my hands, and drank a lot of coffee. How’s your week been?

WWW Wednesday [8] – Strange Things and Lingering Legends

WWW Wednesdays are hosted by Should Be Reading. To play along, just answer the following three questions: (As always, all titles are linked to their corresponding Goodreads pages

• What are you currently reading?

I’m currently reading Michel Faber’s new book The Book of Strange New Things. It is indeed strange so far, but in a seriously good way. I am really enjoying it. It’s sci-fi, fantasy, literary fiction, and it discusses religion, which I’m sometimes iffy about but I think it’s going to be done in a tasteful and really interesting way. So, we’ll see. 🙂

• What did you recently finish reading?

In the past week, I finished reading/listening to the audiobook for Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling, which I reviewed HERE, and Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick, which I’ll be reviewing on Friday. I somewhat enjoyed both of them but I didn’t love them. That’s okay though. I liked several parts of them.

• What do you think you’ll read next?

Well, I posted my December TBR yesterday. I’m not really sure what I want to read next. I think I’ll probably reread Linger next, but I might do Legend next or… I don’t know. What do you think I should read next??

What about you? What are you reading and what will you read next? Tell me about your booooooks.

Teaser Tuesday: The Book of Strange New Things

Teaser Tuesday is a meme hosted by Should Be Reading. It’s super easy: open your current read to a random page and share two sentences from that page – but make sure you don’t spoil the book!

My current read is The Book of Strange New Things.  I opened it to a random page – 261 – and this is the quote I want to tease you with.

When, at last, the body of Jesus Lover One’s mother had yielded all the bounty it was going to yield, she lay exhausted on the ground, in the shade of a couple of gently swaying garments that hung on the washing line nearby. Since she was the only Oasan Peter had seen completely naked, he had no way of telling how much of the grotesquery he saw before him was due to decay and how much of it was what he would have found under the clothing of any healthy, living Oasan.

Well then. That’s…interesting. I’m currently 50 pages into this one and I’m a little freaked out by my own teaser. I’m enjoying the book so far though, so I am looking forward to finding out who the heck “Jesus Lover One” is and why that is his (her?) name. This one is strange, indeed, but I like a good, strange book.

If you participate in Teaser Tuesday, link me up! Or if you don’t, tease me with your current read in the comments!

 

December TBR

Yesterday was the start of December. There are 30 days left in 2014. How is this possible? So crazy. Anyway, I decided to try this challenge on Instagram (one of those you post a themed picture every day of the month). I’m really, really bad at them, but I figured I’d try. I always have fun for the 5-10 days I actually post, so why not? 🙂

The post for the 1st of December was your TBR for the month. I thought it’d be fun to see what everyone else was planning to read this month. So here’s mine. Tell me what you plan to read in December in the comments! ALSO, I completely forgot to include My True Love Gave to Me in the picture, and I plan on reading one essay from that a day for the days leading up to Christmas. 🙂 I will probably read more than what’s in this picture, but I don’t want to feel obligated.

View this post on Instagram

Chatty's hanging out with my #DecemberTBR. 🙂 Probably not everything I'll read this month. Also, #Linger is a reread. #halfbloodsnowflakes #decbookchallenge14 #books #legend #marielu #everyday #DavidLevithan #maggiestiefvater #AThousandPiecesofYou #ClaudiaGray #thebookofstrangenewthings #michelfaber #tbr

A post shared by Stefani (@stefanisloma) on Dec 1, 2014 at 5:05pm PST

Legend by Marie Lu / Linger by Maggie Stiefvater (this is a reread) / Every Day by David Levithan / A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray / The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber (which I’ve already started and really like so far)