New Trimester, New Books, New Post!

Good morning readers! (That's going to be different to get used to- I have a morning english class now!) I hope your transitions have gone as decently as mine into the new trimester, and that you are settling back in well enough. I have gotten the second book in a trilogy I am reading, it (the book, not the trilogy) called The Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor. The first book was amazing, and I'm excited to see how Kaoru, our main character, deals with what happened in the last book. I can't really tell you too too much about what upset her or why she's struggling as it would give things away but I must say it is cool how the author wrote her- strong, but also very delicate, much like a large glass sculpture. It's strong in theory and in action-if you punched it it would probably really hurt and would give you a mean bruse but it can also break at the slightest chink in the glass, smallest fracture, tiniest scratch could be the beginning of it's destruction.

I can only predict that Kaoru and her love will meet again, but this time on very oppisite sides of the battlefield in heart and mind. How will this effect them I'm left to wonder- will it break their souls? The betrayal, the secrets, the memories that span lifetimes- all that poison and negativity that surrounds their conflicting actions due to misinformation and regret- could it drive one mad? I can ony hope it does not do one thing- turn them into a steriotypical teen novel couple dynamic with quick to forgive characteristics. That's just the worst, don't you agree? I don't think this will happen though- they seem to real for that, as strange as that is for me to say about characters in a COMPLETELY fantasy novel.

           You can find the first book in this series right here on goodreads- as well as the second! I do suggest them to anyone who wants a strong and interesting cast of characters that are not without fault or flaw but are also so realistic against the fantasy! I hope you have a good day readers, and don't forget to keep on reading!

The Blogging Experience: From Stumbles to Steps

I have greatly enjoyed blogging about my reading over the course of this trimester, and I feel it has really helped me to think about my reading material and writing skills personally all at the same time. The writing has definitely helped me improve at talking to an audience via text, thus making my more recent posts less robotic and more connectable. There was definitely an improvement in spelling along the way, along with a wider use of vocabulary used. The writing has allowed me to dig deeper into the books for sure and since I can only get better at it with time, improved my digging as I went on to more books. The later posts show this, as there are more in depth analysis of characters, scenery, and meaning behind things found in the text. Overall, the connection skills, the in depth analysis of things, and grammar are some of the biggest points of improvements I made as a writer using this blogging experience, and I can only hope to make more!

One of the things I can remember about blogging that was challenging for me was summarizing the books I burned through so quickly in a way that didn’t spoil them for future readers, but still pulled them into possibly get them to read the book. I know it got easier as I realized what was truly important to the plot in more and more books, as well as figuring out what details were better left unsaid by the other readers by not only writing more summaries, but by reading back through my posts using the mind of another (kind of, more like acting like I was another) and thinking, would this plot twist be better left unsaid? It really did help me improve over time. I was very good, I felt, at looking into characters when I wrote analytical posts about them.

I did not reach my reading goal, not yet anyway. I think this is mostly due to me pushing it back time and time again, until I reached a happy 27 books. I lie currently at 20 books out of 27 read, and I feel I could probably still make it if I tried. I used goodreads to connect to my friends to see not only what they were reading, but to allow their reviews on other books pull me in directions towards books i didn’t think I would read otherwise. The suggestions feature helped me out a bunch too! I feel I have improved as a reader over the trimester too, as I have broadened my spectrum of books to read, increased the speed of my reading yet again, and been able to spot importances in tiny details much easier now, making books not only more fulfilling, but also more interesting in general. Overall, in total this blogging experience has been a positive one I cannot wait to continue in the second trimester! (If we do that is!)