“Travis, everybody you touch falls in love! Can’t you see that?! The only one who’s coming out of this whole deal empty-handed is you! It’s just not fair.†Continue reading “[Day 143] Good Guess!”
Tag: Books
[Day 106] Get out!
In the throes of my final high school year, it’s become increasingly difficult to concentrate on reading for pleasure. Between the rapid-fire AP lit reading syllabus to all my other commitments, losing myself in a book is out of the question.
Was out of the question. At the moment I’m reading a series of books, the first of which being The Secret History of the Pink Carnation. The books are a mix of espionage, historical fiction, and romance. They are wonderfully distracting.
Speaking of which, The Seduction of the Crimson Rose is beckoning to me and I only have a half hour until lights-out.
…I really missed reading.
[Day 40] No Such Thing
Dear NYU Admissions Team,
I’m not actually going to send this letter to you, for fear of your rejecting my application as it comes in. But I wanted to thank you, in spirit, for making your supplement for the Common App so much fun to put together. Continue reading “[Day 40] No Such Thing”
[Day 19] Join the ranks of the Komai!
Dear Tamora Pierce,
*insert project details here*
I remember picking up Alanna: The First Adventure while on vacation when I was in 7th grade. I’d never read fantasy before, so it was a new experience. The back of the book looked promising, and the idea of a girl masquerading as a boy appealed to my tomboy attitude. When I finished the first read, I put it down on my bed, thought about it for a moment, and picked it up again. I read it at least five more times in the period of a week. Continue reading “[Day 19] Join the ranks of the Komai!”
[Day 2] Old friends
Today was the day I had to give something away. Originally, I intended this to mean a physical thing, but then I realized the broadness of the phrase. Was it possible, then, that I could give something like a secret or a personal story away? I thought so.
Continue reading “[Day 2] Old friends”
What is Love?
Baby, don’t hurt me. [too late] Fun fact: my high school’s graduating class of ’09 used that song for their graduation song. Thoughts? I think it’s dumb.
Continue reading “What is Love?”
Traits of an Excellent Writer
So I was gonna do a YouTube video instead of a blog today, but now I can’t, because I’m sobbing my eyes out and sniffling.
Steve Kluger really got me this time. His book, My Most Excellent Year, was, to put it simply, excellent. Even the tenth time reading it I laugh. For my birthday, I got an Amazon gift card, so I bought Larry and the Meaning of Life by Janet Tashjian, and The Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger. I finished Larry and loved it, and then I finished Kluger’s book today.
Set in post-Depression WW2 era, the book is written in a series of news articles, telegraphs, and letters. I’m terrible at book reviews, but I’ll give you a list of things you’ll find in this story: young love, baseball, war, friendship, absent fathers, Jewish culture, and witty, clever writing. I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest this book to everyone. I think anyone can enjoy this book, because it’s so well written.
When I went to tell my mom I finished the book, since we swap books a lot, she was surprised to find me crying. I’d been reading it around the house for the past two days and laughing almost the entire time. Steve Kluger is truly an author I’m glad to have found.
Important News
So I’m bored. I’m signing up for next year’s classes and I finished before everyone. But I don’t want to go back to Spanish so I’m staying here, pretending not to be done.
I have some important news, though, and I didn’t want to forget to mention it.
We at Bri’s Own World have the pleasure of welcoming our first guest blogger soon.
And it is…..
BRIAN MANDABACH. He is a published author who wrote the incredible Or Not?
And he AGREED TO WRITE ONE FOR ME!!!!!!!!!!!
RETICENCE UPDATE!!!
The manuscript of my new novel, Reticence, just hit 100 pages! I’m just passed 31,000 words (31753 to be exact), which is really exciting! Addicted is 36,000, roughly, and the minimum for a novel is 40,000!!
I’M GETTING SO CLOSE!
And it’s not total crap! It’s a lot of crap, yes, and it needs a TON of editing, but I refuse to edit until I completely finish the first draft. Otherwise, I will never finish it. Write first, edit later. Write that down.
I’m very excited. Things are coming together nicely. I’ve got a rough outline for the rest of the book, so I know where I’m going, finally. But this poor character. I’ve basically lumped all the awful things that I’ve gone through, plus some fictional things, into a three month period. She’s going to need some serious therapy. Hee. I love being mean to my characters.
I depress myself sometimes.
Goodnight!
I could have gone home
I finished a book yesterday called Escape by Carolyn Jessop. It’s a true story about a woman who escapes from a polygamy cult with her eight children. When she was eighteen, she was married off to a man of 50, and became his fourth wife.
This book is incredible and disturbing at the same time. It’s an interesting look into the lives of the FLDS (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saits), who are a more radical version of the more common Mormon church. For the record, everyone at my school can stop being so bigoted; Mormons do NOT believe in polygamy, that’s just the FLDS. Even I find it offensive when people automatically assume that.
The story starts out with Jessop’s escape, but then goes back and outlines her early childhood living in Salt Lake City before moving on into her being brought up further in the FLDS. She struggles to get an education, all the time silently dreading that she might possibly have to marry an old man. The most amazing part of this book is Jessop’s determination to succeed and to make a better life for her and her children; she managed to go to college and get her degree, she managed a hotel, she started a web design business from home, she taught second grade for seven years, and she stood up for herself to her very powerful husband. All of this while she was raising and protecting eight children.
I would reccomend this book to anyone. The writing is somewhat simple in it’s style, but the story is captivating and keeps you interested.