amandaink | Entries tagged with books

So! Good news first! I decided to make a blog for book recs over on Tumblr since I like the accessibility of it and I think it's a good way to meet fellow book nerds. If you're interested:

http://amandaslibrary.tumblr.com/

There are only two recs up so far and they're two that are already on this journal. But there will be more to come. I will likely only be adding a select few here.

If I stay here, that is. That's the bad part. Like many other users, I hate LJ's recent changes and I heard a few minutes ago that even more changes are in the beta process. I reserved an account over at dreamwidth (no invite codes, this week only if you want to do the same!) because this website is going down the shitter. LJ hasn't responded to the backlog of complaints but apparently dreamwidth is working on updates for members who are jumping ship, or so I've heard. course, I'll stick around long enough to see if it sinks or gets back on its feet but I'm not expecting much. I'll tell you if I move for good, of course.

Either way I'll be trolling around the internet somewhere. And I hope all of you are well.

Saw this over at

book_memes and decided to fill it out and post it here before I have to rush out.

1) What was the first Stephen King book you ever read?
Carrie. I was twelve and I didn’t actually know much about Stephen King beyond the fact that he wrote horror and that my parents had a hardcover copy of Gerald’s Game that they told me I wasn’t allowed to read. I just picked up his shortest work to test whether I liked his style or not. Lo and behold.

2) Does he actually scare you? Or just entertain you?
Not gonna lie, a few of his stories and scenes have gotten under my skin. I don’t easily get outright frozen-under-the-covers, batten-down-the-hatches scared but a few of his works have left me going WHAT IF. WHAT. IF.

3) Scariest King scene (from a book)
When I was eleven and just starting middle school we had to go through this process called “Wheel” where we spent a week experiencing each elective course before making our choices for the second semester. I got to chorus a week around Halloween and the chorus instructor was a really awesome guy who, instead of teaching us about the class or singing or any of that, played us the “Halloween” theme on the piano and then told us scary stories. One was called “The Boogeyman” and it TERRIFIED me. That story stuck with me for five years before I learned that it was, in fact, a Stephen King story from the collection Night Shift.

So yes, that’s my answer right there. The Stephen King story that frightened me before I was even reading Stephen King.

4) Scariest King scene (from a film)
The scene from It where Pennywise lures Georgie over to kill him. That was in the movie, right? It’s been a while. Either way, it was creepy as hell in the book, too.

5) Would you rather face Pennywise or Randy Flagg?
I haven’t read any of the books featuring Randall Flagg but I sure as hell don’t want to go up against Pennywise. Is the devil I know better? whatdoido whatdoido

6) Are you a Dark Tower fan?
I haven’t read them yet.

7) Favourite Stephen King novel?
Again, Carrie. I’ve reread it like ten times since I was twelve.

8) Favourite Stephen King short story?
Again, “The Boogeyman”.

9) Favourite Stephen King short story collection?
I don’t know if it counts as a short story collection since they were all technically novellas but Four Past Midnight. Between that, Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, and a general fear of falling miles out of the sky, fuck you if you think you’re ever getting me on a plane.

10) Favourite SK quote?
“I am the literary equivalent of a Big Mac and fries.” It’s from On Writing and I giggled a lot after reading it for the first time.

11) Your five favourite/most memorable King characters…
1. Carrie White.
2. Pennywise.
3. Jack Torrance.
4. Annie Wilkes.
5. The entire town of Salem’s Lot.

12) Would you rather live in Castle Rock or Derry?
Derry. Just cuz.

13) Favourite King film adaptation?
I don’t want to say Carrie again (even though the original adaptation with Sissy Spacek was fantastic) so I’ll go with The Shining.

14) Worst King film adaptation?
They’re not really adaptations but any of the TV sequels. Especially Carrie 2: The Rage.

15) Least favourite book?
Dreamcatcher. I couldn’t finish it.

16) Stephen King has a habit or bringing up previous works in his novels. What random other-book character would it most tickle you to see in Dr. Sleep (other than surviving characters from The Shining)?
Any of the characters from It. Which might not be that far-fetched since one of the characters from The Shining was in It.

17) Are you looking forward to 11/22/63 or Dr. Sleep more?
Dr. Sleep. I’m sure both will be great but really now—a sequel to The Shining.

18) M O O N … that spells… ?
Amanda.

Current Mood: rushed
Current Music: Goodnight and Thank You - Evita

Just a quick reminder that Banned Books Week starts tomorrow. What are you planning on reading? I'm going to be starting this:

Originally posted by

darkspirited1 at SIGNAL BOOST: SAY YES TO GAY YA

This comes from an article by

rachelmanija entitled, Say Yes to Gay YA.
(click the link for the full article)

Our novel Stranger has five viewpoint characters; one, Yuki Nakamura, is
gay and has a boyfriend. Yuki's romance, like the heterosexual ones in
the novel, involves nothing more explicit than kissing.

An agent from a major agency, one which represents a bestselling YA novel in the same genre as ours, called us.

The agent offered to sign us on the condition that we make the gay
character straight, or else remove his viewpoint and all references to
his sexual orientation.

This isn't about that specific agent; we'd gotten other rewrite requests before this one. Previous agents had also offered to take a second look if we did rewrites… including cutting the viewpoint of Yuki, the gay character.

It's time to stand up and demand change. Spread the word everywhere if you are just as angry and outraged by this.

Current Mood: gay
Current Music: No. 6 theme

A while ago, back before this account existed, I took stock of the female-male equity in my high school reading courses. Here were the final results:

Total number of books: 26
Number of books written by women: 2
Number of books with female protagonists: 3

However, one of the books in the last category was Romeo and Juliet, which also features a male protagonist so count it or discount it as you like.

There’s this pervasive idea in our society that most things can be separated into “boy” things and “girl” things and “boy” things are by definition superior. Books written by men about men are literature. They have Important Things to say. Books written by women about women, however, are chick-lit. The very term “chick-lit” comes with this dismissive connotation that a piece of work produced by a woman which explores the life, conflicts, friendships, relationships, and growth of a female protagonist is inherently inferior to a similar such work from the opposite sex.

Men are the default in our society. That’s why “chick-lit” isn’t taken seriously and that’s why most of my high school reading list was a fucking sausage fest. The idea is that something from a male point of view is easily accessible to every demographic but something feminine is automatically polarizing to men. Estrogen levels are just too high, I guess. They might even—gasp!—have to be confronted with the reality of menstruation.

As much as women are expected to identify with men, it’s treated like a big deal when a man can venture out enough to enjoy something targeted at a female demographic.

And this is why I hate bronies. The ~edgy male fans of predominantly female media—like My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic—feel the need to call attention to how subversive they’re being just because they like a girl’s show. This also leads to some “fans” bleating, “But what about male representation? Because, let’s face it, I’m expected to sit down and enjoy the “boy” stuff not only because men are expected to be universally relatable but because most of the shit out there is male-centric and I don’t have much other choice.

In short: I’m mad. I want women-centric media to be taken seriously. Fuck obnoxious men.

To make this entry a little less ragey, let’s talk by-women-about-women books that deserve to be taught in schools. I’ll start.

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood.
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson.
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.

Additionally, how did your high school reading compare to mine?

I just finished an enthralling re-read of one of the most divisive classics in the English language. The Catcher in the Rye is one of the most hated and most frequently banned books due to its foul language, its misanthropic narrator, its depressing storyline, and its otherwise “inappropriate” subject matter. It’s also one of the most widely assigned books on high school curriculums.

Now, I love The Catcher in the Rye. If I got my shit together long enough to create a List of Top Five Books of All Time, it would probably be on there. Hell, it’d be on my Top Three even. The reason I’m here rambling at you is because every time I see someone say in a book discussion, “I hate Catcher because of [insert your own myriad of criticisms here]” I feel motivated—no, obligated--to justify my love for this novel with a long-winded and emotional and scatterbrained response about Why This Book Is Awesome.

And so this post is just extrapolating on my love for this book so I can have it coherent and in writing. It’s in no way meant to change your negative opinions but it might help you gain some insight into why this book is as well-loved as it is. Let me say quickly that this entry does consist of a short discussion of possible sexual abuse (nothing graphic). So if this is a trigger for you, click back or proceed with caution. Also, all of my quotes are from the 1991 Little, Brown mass market paperback edition.

( If a body catch a body comin' through the rye. )

I'm re-reading The Great Gatsby because John told me to. I read it in junior year and was rather lukewarm toward it because I found Gatsby incredibly pathetic. I still find him pathetic but I'm actually enjoying it a lot more this time around.

And I've already seen HP 7 and I want to post my thoughts on it but I'm being lazy with writing them down. They'll be here soon if you're interested. If you want to discuss it, I'm here for you.

So I'm reading Blue Moon, the eighth book in the Anita Blake series.

( Cut for matters concerning rape. You don't have to be familiar with Anita Blake to understand my outrage. )

ON A HAPPIER NOTE. I already have a nice spark of an idea for NaNoWriMo. Yes, I'm excited already. I reread my story from last year and, honestly, it's not as bad as I expected. Of course, it's still pretty cringe-worthy but there were parts I genuinely enjoyed. Specifically, the dialogue. I always hate my dialogue when I write it but end up liking it once I reread it a few months later.

If I choose to stick with the idea I have now then come November I'll be writing a fun, creepy story involving lesbians, cupcakes, and the supernatural. A winning combination if I've ever heard one. ♥

1) I got Beauty Queens by Libba Bray on it's release day and I finished it by the following afternoon. Verdict? Amazing. It's a feminist Lord of the Flies that takes on a plethora of serious subject matter all while maintaining Libba Bray's custom humor.

1a) While we're on the subject of Libba Bray: I'm going to go see her this summer! She is coming down to Miama with Meg Cabot and Maggie Stiefvater and so for that reason alone I've convinced my family to take a vacation downstate with me. (No way am I driving down to Miama by myself. Fuck that noise.) What should I wear? Which books should I bring? And how do I make myself not seem like a neurotic creeper who's just going to stand there like a moron and say, "Ohmigod, you're Libba Bray"?

(I've actually never met an author I admire IRL. Can you tell?)

2) Librarything is sending me an ARC of the newest book by another of my favorite authors.

The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson! Just let me illustrate my excitment by saying that Maureen Johnson is one of three YA authors I count amongst my favorites. (Obviously Libba Bray is the second. INTERNETS FOR WHOEVER CAN GUESS THE THIRD.) (I also stalk her twitter loyally.) Anyway, The Name of the Star was one of the big releases I was looking forward to this year. It's official release date isn't until September. And I am getting it this month. For free.

So how excited am I? Pretty damn excited, let me tell you.

I'm going to keep this simple with no rambling pre-amble. Bold means a completed goal.

♥ 15 Classics
1. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
2. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
3. Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
4. Candide by Voltaire
5. Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
6. The Complete Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde
7. A Woman of No Importance by Oscar Wilde
8. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
9. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
10. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
11. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
12.
13.
14.
15.

♥ 15 Social Science
★ 5 Feminism
1. Bitchfest: Ten Years of Cultural Criticism by Lisa Jervis and Andi Zeisler
2. Cunt: A Declaration of Independence by Inga Muscio
3. The Purity Myth: How America’s Obsession With Virginity is Hurting Young Women by Jessica Valenti
4.
5.
★ 5 Food
1. The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
2. In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
3.
4.
5.
★ 5 Other
1. Black Cats and Four Leaf Clovers: The Origins of Old Wives’ Tales and Superstitions in Our Every Day Lives by Harry Oliver
2. Animal Liberation: The Definitive Classic of the Animal Movement by Peter Singer
3. Vampire Forensics: Uncovering the Origins of an Eduring Legend by Mark Collins Jenkins
4.
5.

♥ 10 Horror Novels
1. Burnt Offerings by Laurel K. Hamilton
2. John Dies At the End by David Wong
3. It by Stephen King
4. Slice of Cherry by Dia Reeves
5. Skeleton Crew by Stephen King
6. Blue Moon by Laurel K. Hamilton
7. Sunshine by Robin McKinely
8. The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin
9. Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves
10. Night Shift by Stephen King

♥ 5 LGBT Books
1. Plastic Jesus by Poppy Z. Brite
2. Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown
3. Scars by Cheryl Rainfield
4. Wildthorn by Jane Eagland
5. Love Drugged by James Klise

♥ 5 Young Adult
1. Slice of Cherry by Dia Reeves
2. Miles From Ordinary by Carol Lynch Williams
3. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
4. The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan
5. Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

♥ 3 Psychology
1. Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kayson
2.
3.

♥ 3 Paranormal Studies
1. The Sallie House Haunting by Debra Lyn Pickman
2. The Men Who Stare At Goats by Jon Ronson
3. Vampire Forensics: Uncovering the Origins of an Eduring Legend by Mark Collins Jenkins

♥ 3 History
1. Auschwitz: A New History by Laurence Reese
2. The Theory and Practice of Hell: The German Concentration Camps and the System Behind Them by Eugen Kogon
3. Vampire Forensics: Uncovering the Origins of an Eduring Legend by Mark Collins Jenkins

♥ 3 Sci-Fi
1.
2.
3.

A few months ago a friend and I were discussing who we would want to be cast in a movie version of Good Omens and it spiraled into one of those conversations that might cause anyone observing to edge away a bit. We were laughing but it was srs business sort of laughing.

Now that it’s being made into a TV show I thought I would document the opinions that I put forth right here. If you happen to be reading this, o saintly television personnel, then don’t be afraid to take these suggestions to heart. I, as an eighteen year old fangirl who has seen some TV in my lifetime, know what I am doing.

( Now onto the dream cast. )

I didn't do as good as last year in terms of quantity or quality but I wouldn't deem it an unsuccessful year by any means.

( The List )

104 books total

Best of the Year: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer, Columbine by Dave Cullen, Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin.

Worst of the Year: Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick, Shockproof Sydney Skate by Marijane Meaker, Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, Hunted by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.

Since I doubt I'll be finishing the novel I'm currently reading by the end of the night I've decided to go ahead and post my 2009 reads. Books and ratings under the cut.

( The List )

127 books total.

Best of the Year: Wasted by Marya Hornbacher, American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, Looking For Alaska by John Green, The Gemma Doyle Trilogy by Libba Bray, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, and Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.

Worst of the Year:: Night World by L.J. Smith, Magic’s Pawn by Mercedes Lackey, Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk, Weaveworld by Clive Barker, House of Night, books 1-4 by P.C. and Kristin Cast, Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates, My Loose Thread and Wrong by Dennis Cooper, The Best Little Girl in the World by Stephen Levenkron, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Rant by Chuck Palahniuk, Dare Truth or Promise and by Paula Boock.

Not a bad year at all.

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June 2020

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Page Summary

In Which I Don't Handle Change Well
Stephen King Meme
Banned Books Week: September 24 - October 1
SIGNAL BOOST: SAY YES TO GAY YA
Male-Centrism in Literature (And, Let's Face It, Everywhere Else)
In Defense of the Catcher in the Rye
"...not so much for its greatness or its novelness but because of its Americanness..."
Get Yerr Rape Culture Here
Book Time
2011 [Belated] Book Goals
My Good Omens Dream Cast
2010 Book List
2009 Book List

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