20th Century Lizzie

Bridget Jones's Diary

Author:
Helen Fielding
Publisher:
Penguin Books (1996)
Number of Pages:
307
Review: “It is a truth universally acknowledged that when one part of your life starts going okay, another falls spectacularly to pieces.” Women in their thirties are expected to be well read in subjects such as history and literature, should be married and have produced at least one offspring, be well versed in poetry and play at least one instrument but most of all they should have a firm grasp of handling the housework. Fortunately we no longer live in the 18^th century but that doesn’t mean women still aren’t pressured to follow these rules of proper womanhood. And when Bridget Jones’s tries to fall for the kind of man that would render her the epitome of a Jane Austen heroine, hilarity ensues.

Bridget Jones finds herself starting the new year thirty, unmarried and with no prospects for a husband. Thus she decides to start a diary in an attempt to change her life. When her mother insists on her meeting the mysterious Mark Darcy, Bridget’s excitement slowly dwindles as she realizes that he isn’t the man of her dreams. Thus more determined than ever to change her life, she starts a fling with notorious flirt Daniel, learns (or attempts) to cook, tries to patch her parents broken marriage, embark upon a new job and finds herself in situations that only a young woman in the 20^th century could discover.

Bridget Jones is one of those novels that can pretty much sum up every working single girl living in the western world today. “I am a child of Cosmopolitan culture, have been traumatized by supermodels and too many quizzes and know that neither my personality nor my body is up to it if left to its own devices. I can't take the pressure.” Society has put such high standards upon us and sometimes it just gets overwhelming. I really liked Bridget Jones, and being a young lady who is also single I can often empathize with her. She’s snarky, and witty, slightly shallow, but deeply caring, but most of all, she’s realistic, to the point that she could have been my best friend, heck I think she is my best friend, and my mother, and me for that matter. Helen was able to invent characters so realistic that if you give this novel to any female today, they will find at least one person they know in this novel.

Her mother is fantastically clueless. Always meddling in her affairs and quite frankly treating her like a 12 year old instead of the 30 year old she really is: “Don't say 'what,' say 'pardon,' darling.” I felt every cringe she felt towards her mother. Her friends are wonderfully pathetic and supportive. From the fiercely independent feminist to the melodramatic homosexual, they embody the characteristics of a 21^st century human being. And Daniel being the first main love interest is every guy I’ve ever dated, completely shallow, oversexed, obnoxious, arrogant, and yet gets away with it all because of his pretty face. Sure Bridget may have rushed into the relationship but can you blame her, she’s thirty with no prospects, if it was me I’d jump on that roller coaster too. And her constant dieting shows the exact pressures our society on women and body image.

As for plot, I have to say there were a few times I was confused with what exactly was going on. I had to reread entries and try to decipher what she was talking about especially when she was drunk. I think this had a lot to do with the actual writing style. Fielding writes in broken sentences, almost like jot notes, but it works well because of the format, some people write diary entries with abbreviations and unformatted sentences, Bridget Jones definitely did. While the writing style takes some getting used too, once you got into the groove of things the writing flows pretty well and the read becomes quite a quick one.

The light airy tone, combined with a universal plotline of love and loss, adding a bit of parental drama and a whole lot of hilarious and embarrassing moments, makes Bridget Jones’s Diary one of the most charming and accurate tales of a women in her thirties struggling to find a perfect life in a not so perfect world. I highly recommend this read to any girl (and boy for that matter) struggling to do the same. And please stay away from the Daniels of the world ladies; I’m sure even in this century there is a Darcy out there for us somewhere.

Happy Reading!

The Fellowship of the Mothership

Mothership

Author:
Martin Leicht and Isla Neal
Publisher:
Simon & Schuster (2012)
Number of Pages:
308
Review: “Really, for all the poetry in the world on the subject, when you get right down to it, it's mostly just boom! penis vagina.” What’s so funny about a school for pregnant teenagers? Well when you place the school in outer space and have a main character that is as sarcastic and witty as Elvie Nara… simply put: everything!!

Elvie Nara was just your typical teenager until she made the mistake of doing the horizontal limbo with the new hottie in school Cole Archer. To her surprise she found herself pregnant and when she told the dumb as a brick Cole he was going to be a father he skipped town, presumably never to be heard from again.  Her father decides that the best option for her is to attend the Hanover School For Expecting Teen Mothers, the only thing is, it’s in outer space. As if that isn’t bad enough, once she boards the ship she finds herself in the company of Britta (who didn’t need hormones to be bitchy) Coles girlfriend, and a slew of other weird characters. When the ship is invaded by this weirdo army commando, the girls find out their teachers as well as their boyfriends are not quite who they thought them to be.

I cannot write how much I loved this novel. Nothing I say could ever bring it justice but I shall attempt to do it justice. First let me say that it was the single most hilarious piece of literature I read in 2012 and probably my most recommended book. I haven’t laughed out loud (no really I let go of some unhealthy guffaws during this novel) as much as I did during this book than any I’ve read recently.  Elvie was such a dry, sarcastic and witty character I immediately fell in love with her. She reminded me of Juno and I think that’s why I loved her so much.

Elvie is different from your typical YA heroine. She starts off the novel pregnant. Yes people, she is not a virgin (insert gasp here). YA tends to villainize its non-virginal female characters, the male leads are almost always “experienced” but the females for some reason haven’t even had a proper kiss, which is why I found it so refreshing and unique to have the heroine be a non-virgin right off the bat. But aside from Elvie being Hymanally absent it was her personality that got me, and kept me reading. She is hilarious, more than hilarious! She’s mean, conniving, sarcastic, cynical, but there’s this vulnerability and loving side of her that makes her so human and real. Reading her story was like reading a person’s journal, you know if they were in space or whatever. If Jane Austin was a pregnant teenager living on a space ship in 2079 she would be Elvie Nara.

I loved the rivalry between Elvie and Britta; I also loved the fact that they both shared the same baby daddy. I mean we all know that Cole is hot but what are the chances he’d knock up two chicks at once? Well a very good chance considering Cole isn’t really a normal human boy.  Thus the disappearing act in the beginning of the novel. Cole’s love for Elvie and his affection for his children almost make you forgive him for neglecting them (and deceiving them). I also loved the fact that the authors didn’t dumb down their female characters. These girls were strong, fierce and ready for anything that came their way.

But my favourite character of all has got to be Elvie’s dad who has a solution for everything I mean how can you not love a man who is so prepared for anything he has a folder entitled "Folder three, scenario four: going into labor during a high-speed chase with extra-terrestrials.” Talk about a man who plans!

The plot is so much fun. There are not a lot of novels out there where you can say you had legitimate fun reading, but this novel it’s fair to say fun is in every atom of ink on the page. The commando takeover of the ship, the alien invasion, the sheer love between Elvie and her father, the love Cole shows his baby mamas, and every single strange, weird and hilarious scenario Elvie and the crew find themselves in makes this book my favourite read of 2012.

So if you haven’t done so yet I suggest you check out Mothership as soon as possible. It doesn’t seem to be as popular as the other books in the YA genre but search it out online from sites like Book Depository or Chapters Online. I really recommend this book and think that if you enjoy weird and sarcastic humour you will most definitely appreciate this jem of a novel.

Happy reading!

We Are All Ugly

Uglies

Author:
Scott Westerfeld
Publisher:
Simon Pulse 2005
Number of Pages: 
425
Review: “What you do, the way you think, makes you beautiful.” What negates beauty? Is it our perceptions that we imply upon others? Is it ingrained upon us from childhood? Is it socially instilled within ourselves or something that is essentially one’s own and no one else’s? But more importantly can we use beauty to control the emotions and actions of other peoples, or on a greater scale, a whole country? These are the questions that Scott Westerfeld asks in his novel called Uglies.

Uglies takes place in a futuristic earth where humans are grouped into five categories: Littlies, Uglies, New Pretties, Middle Pretties and Cumblies. Uglies pretty much look like humans from the 21^st century. Flawed, different, unique; and taught at a young age that everyone deserves to be pretty, every ugly at the age of 16 will go through a series of surgeries to make them pretty. Tally is just a few months away from becoming a New Pretty when she meets Shay, the rebellious and adventurous new friend who’s also waiting to become a Pretty but unlike Tally, she is not looking forward to the surgery. On the day before her scheduled surgery, Shay decides to run away begging Tally to go with her. When Tally refuses and goes in for her surgery she’s given an ultimatum: Find Shay and expose the Ugly Society called The Smoke or remain Ugly forever. Tally must make a decision, one that will alter her future forever.

I must admit I didn’t like the first half of Uglies. In fact I hated it.  It wasn’t the concept that I hated but Tally. Talk about your typical shallow female. She complained all the time about her flaws, other people’s flaws and then I realized, of course she was complaining, she lives in a society that calls normal people UGLY! When I got over the fact that she’s supposed to be shallow I started to warm up to the story, by the time Tally got to the Smoke, I loved it.

Tally is smart. She knows wrong from right, yet she lives in this society that makes decisions for her. When Shay comes along and shows her a life that is beyond the ugly/pretty boundaries she begins to open her mind to the fact that perfection isn’t always perfect. She’s a strong female character. Once she’s out of the ugly mindset she’s not afraid to be herself, and she’s not afraid to embrace the beauty of the people around her and of her own beauty. I loved how she developed from a little girl to a strong independent young lady.

In terms of the other characters, Shay was a great ally and sometimes enemy of Tally. The rivalry between the two as well as the friendship and love they have for one another makes the characters realistic. Yes they are best friends but even best friends fight. As for the main love interest, I like the fact that it wasn’t instalove. This relationship was a slow development. I felt that David was a good match for Tally, he challenged her, and fought with her beliefs, and let her make her own decisions. He was never pushy with his beliefs and she was respectful of his opinions as well. Where Shay gushed over David, Tally actually listened to what he had to say. I liked that contrast between the two friends.

The plot was interesting. To be able to control a whole population by telling them they’re ugly and they have to look a certain way in order to feel accepted is not too far off from where our society is heading now. Everywhere we go we are constantly bombarded with advertisements, movies, even books that say we have to look a certain way in order to have fun, get a mate and live a full wealthy life. More and more people are opting for Plastic Surgery these days, if we could somehow get that kind of extreme surgery for free I’m pretty sure the number of plastic surgeries performed per year would sky rocket. This false sense of happiness can be used against us into making us do things we really don’t want to do after all.

Scott Westerfeld really put a lot of great plot twists and ideas in this novel.  The Uglies society is something we should pay close attention too because the way society is shaped upon looks these days this may very well be our future if we’re not careful and don’t show people that everyone is beautiful in their own way.  I highly recommend you checking out the first book in this series and I plan on continuing with it in my future reads.

Happy Reading!

Marissa Meyer visits Toronto

Waking up at 6:30 in the morning on a Saturday might seem like a step towards borderline insanity but when someone as incredibly cool and funny like Marissa Meyer comes to town, 6:30 doesn't seems soon enough. Which is what happened to me today.

I set my alarm for 6:30 and found myself awake at 6:15am bursting with energy and excitement for today was the day I'll get to meet Marissa Meyer.

By the time I got to Yorkdale it was 8:30 am which meant that I was finally early enough to get a seating at the actual signing and not just any seat: Front row seats!!!

Since she was scheduled to arrive at 12 pm I had plenty of time to mingle with my fellow eager reading buddy and a few people we met in line. Needless to say by the time we were being seated our legs were begging for the rest (three and a half hours is a long time to stand people).

Finally the wait was over and the beautiful Marissa Meyer came out to a very vocal welcome from her Toronto fans.

Discussing with the crowd on how she started writing

She entertained us with her love of writing and what got her started as a writer (Sailor Moon fanfiction!! Who knew?) and a bit of a back story about her life before writing, how she conquered NiNoWiMo but not Star Trek but more importantly her love of fairy tales.

She then proceeded to tell us a few fairy tales. A rendition of Rapunzel, wherein the evil witch sends Rapunzel out into the world forsaken and proceeds to gorge out the eyeballs of the Prince (don't worry Rapunzel weeps into his sockets and he miraculously grows a pair - of eyeballs that is). A rendition of Cinderella, which makes me think that the Prince is either really cross-eyed, or the most gullible fool in the kingdom. And finally Red Riding Hood, which in the end, little red was able to actually save herself! Shocking, I know.

Then there was the Q and A section which I will now try to emulate in writing to the best of my ability:

Diligently answering questions

Q: Why is the third book called Cress?
A. Cress is a type of lettuce as is Rapunzel thus calling the main character Cress eludes to Rapunzel but also makes her a character all on her own much like Scarlet and Cinder.

Q: Is Cress going to take place in Africa?
A: Yes, In Africa, New Beijing and Space.

Q: Do you write consciously for shipping?
A: Kind of. While writing the characters the heroines and the heroes can sometimes fall for each other, find themselves in other books and play a minor or major part in the other characters' lives. 

Q: Do you write with women's issues in mind?
A: I don't write with it in mind per se, but I like my heroines to be strong and independent female characters. It's more about being strong and less about liking the guy.

Q: When did you start writing?
A: I always wrote but didn't get serious about it until 14 years old when I started my Sailor Moon Fanfiction.

Q: What advice would you give new writers?
A: Write because you love to write. Don't think that you have to write from a deep dark place in order to be taken seriously as a writer. Don't become a cliche instead write from your heart, the story will be more genuine that way. 

Q: What do you love most about reading?
A: I love the fact that I can become a different person. This is with writing too, I get to experience what it's like to be someone else and explore other worlds I would probably not and in some cases never ever get to experience otherwise. 

Q: What is your writing process?
A: I'm an outliner. I like to outline my books, with characters and subplots but I don't do it too extensively. I like to leave a little bit of mystery and the writing won't become boring or too structured.

Q: Are you a Nerdfighter?
A: [Does NerdFighter Sign] (Lol) What counts for a Nerdfighter? I mean I love John Green (and Hank too) but I don't really watch too many vlogbrothers videos. I do love what they stand for and support their causes. 

Q: Do you choose your covers?
A: I don't unfortunately. The publishers have their own design team that chooses the covers for the authors. They usually show it to us and basically tell us "Yes yes you do like these covers." For the most part, I've been pretty lucky with my covers. I love them tremendously.

And Finally:

Q: Who is your favourite Sailor Moon Character?
A: Sailor Jupiter. I mean, she's super strong and badass and always sticks up and defends her friends but there's this soft, gushy, vulnerable side to her too. She's tough but she also just wants to be loved.

Signing some books backstage

After that we got our books signed and grabbed some swag and left the beautiful Marissa Meyer in the midst of Yorkdale with 100+ more books to sign. Envious I was not, but grateful that she took her time to come and meet us. I cannot wait until Cress comes out and I'm hoping that she'll be back to do another signing and entertain us fans once again.

Happy Reading!!

I'm Back!!

There comes a time in everyone's life when they revert back to things they love and know. I loved blogging and I find that for the past year and a half I've missed it tremendously. And so I've made a conscious decision to come back to what I love to do.

My excuse for leaving? To put it bluntly I was in a pretty bad car accident. Recovering from the accident left little time to read and even less time to review books. On top of that my job no longer received the funding it needed to keep on going so everyone in my department was let go. With the stresses of finding a new job, overcoming pain and trying to keep myself from being bankrupt I had little to no time to do anything I loved doing.

But now I'm back and determined to do what I want to do. This past year has really opened my eyes that no matter how down life can get it's never an excuse to stop doing what you love. I let my life, my job, my inability to make anything flow right, take over every other aspect of my life. As soon as I started doing things that I loved to do again (hanging out with friends, reading, writing, walking outdoors) I found my depression to subside and a love for living life reemerge.

With that being said, I'm going to start my reviews again. I can't wait to get started and I hope you stay with me in this journey.

Happy Reading!!