boring book blog

16 year old teenage girl, lackadaisical and terribly materialistic. This is a catalogue for every book (click covers for awkwardly phrased thoughts) I read in 2012.
Para-para-paradise. (by Vinicius Lorato)
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Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton Description: The most famous and important novel in South Africa’s history, and an immediate worldwide bestseller when it was published in 1948, Alan Paton’s impassioned novel about a black man’s country under white man’s law is a work of searing beauty. The eminent literary critic Lewis Gannett wrote, “We have had many novels from statesmen and reformers, almost all bad; many novels from poets, almost all thin. In Alan Paton’s “Cry, the Beloved Country” the statesman, the poet and the novelist meet in a unique harmony.” “Cry, the Beloved Country” is the deeply moving story of the Zulu pastor Stephen Kumalo and his son, Absalom, set against the background of a land and a people riven by racial injustice. Remarkable for its lyricism, unforgettable for character and incident, “Cry, the Beloved Country” is a classic work of love and hope, courage and endurance, born of the dignity of man. Thoughts:  Read this for lit, so we had to analyze very deeply I liked this book quite a bit, though I was bored in a number of chapters It had some really interesting ideas about fear What bothered me was the novel’s inherent belief that religion = moral goodness, and atheism = morally corrupt But I thought it was well written and interesting, and one of the better books we read for lit
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Froi of The Exiles by Melina Marchetta Description: Three years after the curse on Lumatere was lifted, Froi has found his home… Or so he believes… Fiercely loyal to the Queen and Finnikin, Froi has been trained roughly and lovingly by the Guard sworn to protect the royal family, and has learned to control his quick temper. But when he is sent on a secretive mission to the kingdom of Charyn, nothing could have prepared him for what he finds. Here he encounters a damaged people who are not who they seem, and must unravel both the dark bonds of kinship and the mysteries of a half-mad Princess.And in this barren and mysterious place, he will discover that there is a song sleeping in his blood, and though Froi would rather not, the time has come to listen. Thoughts:  OH DEAR GOD THIS IS GOING TO BE THE BEST BOOK I’VE EVER READ It’s no secret that I adore Melina Marchetta, and she’s pretty much my favourite author. The characterization was stunning and perfect and I just have so many feelings about all the characters ugh ugh ugh  I cried and I laughed and I wept tears of blood The dialogue is so perfect FROI and QUINTANA and every single character was beyond fantastic This was a lot darker than Finnikin It ended on a ridiculous cliffhanger like wtf But yeah, I have a lot of feelings about this book and I absolutely cannot wait for Quintana of Charyn
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The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson Description: The day Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London, it’s the start of a new life at a boarding school. But for many, this will be remembered as the day a series of brutal murders broke out across the city, gruesome crimes mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper events of more than a century ago. Thoughts: thank god the ghost is not romantically appealing in any way, I was finding it vaguely twilight-ish rory was fun, the setting was fun, the boarding school descriptions were fun I don’t know why I disliked Jerome, but I did this was a fun book occasionally chilling with all the ghost/murder stuff definitely reading the rest of the series, this was pretty good.  (I read this on the iPad, not a fun reading experience tbh)
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Description: In L.A. CANDY, nineteen-year-old Jane Roberts moves to L.A. and unexpectedly becomes the star of a reality T.V. show. With fame comes wealth, hot clothes and even hotter love interests — and Jane′s lapping it all up with her eclectic entourage of pals who are always up for a wild night out and the chance to get a piece of her spotlight. But soon Jane realizes everyone wants something from her, and nothing is what it seems to be. L.A. CANDY is a fast-paced, honest and entertaining fictional account of what it′s like to come of age in Hollywood while starring in a reality TV show, written by a girl who has experienced it all firsthand: Lauren Conrad. Thoughts: Oh wow, this was awful It was also kind of stupid and boring I could barely get through it I don’t know why I even bothered
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The Fault in Our Stars by John Green Description: Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs… for now. Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault. Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind. Thoughts: oh god oh god oh god oh god I cried and laughed and showed emotions throughout the book, which is so unusual for me  “My thoughts are stars I can’t fathom into constellations.” also this line: I can’t talk about our love story, so I will talk about math. I am not a mathematician, but I know this: There are infinite numbers between 0 and 1. There’s .1 and .12 and .112 and an infinite collection of others. Of course, there is a bigger infinite set of numbers between 0 and 2, or between 0 and a million. Some infinities are bigger than other infinities. A writer we used to like taught us that. There are days, many of them, when I resent the size of my unbounded set. I want more numbers than I’m likely to get, and God, I want more numbers for Augustus Waters than he got. But, Gus, my love, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I’m grateful. I cried and cried and cried. Augustus Waters is one of my favourite characters in the world; I was in love with him. When I think about this book, what comes to mind is this quote from Catcher in the Rye, that goes like: “What really knocks me out is a book that, when you’re all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it” I just really loved this book
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A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin Description: Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom’s protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens.  Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; and a determined woman undertakes the most treacherous of journeys. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: thegame of thrones. Thoughts:  so very entertaining - I read this on the flight from NZ to California, and went through a rollercoaster of emotions, not very well received by the person next to me. it was so epic in it’s scope, and I loved that.  characterization was excellent too, except I definitely wanted to skip through chapters word of warning: don’t. also, don’t get attached to anyone.  I’d watched a couple of episodes of the TV show earlier, and I think it was a good idea because the plot is really very complicated, and the show has a good overview loved, loved, looooooved this. I know there are millions of complaints against the plot, and I agree, but it was excellent and I was hooked. 
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