A lovely analogy

Exams, Reading, and Summer!

Hello guys,
apologies for not posting anything in such a long long time. I recently finished my IGCSE's and I needed to study really hard for those. So I didn't have time (or rather I didn't make time) to blog. Anyway I'm back now and it's my summer so I will be reading loads and loads and I will also be watching loads of movies! I'll definitely be posting lots of book reviews so I'm really excited about that.

Now, as you can see from the title of this post there are three things I really want to talk about. First let's get the boring exam stuff over with. Honestly I am feeling exam fatigue. My first exam was the Edexel Art exam that started wayyy back in  march the coursework took 6 weeks and the exam was on the 14th of April  (it's really sad that I have to go check my calendar to see when this was because I forgot) and my last exam was economics which was last week! That is a long time to study for and write the exams for. Understandably I am all worn out. I really don't want to do anything now as all my energy went into writing for so long. Typing used to seem like second nature to me now it feels really strange and I keep making silly mistakes.

 Regardless I am really tired of exams and I am so so happy that they are over. I calculated how many hours of exams I had and it rounded up to around 56 (inclusive of the time spent for Art coursework.) That is a lot of time; most of which maths, science, ICT and english took up. ICT required 7 hours of exams, English needs 8 (my school makes us do both Literature and First language english,) Maths requires 5 hours and Science needs 3. Oh and I forgot about Art (10 + approximately 12 for coursework.) My friends think I'm really weird for calculating all of this but I feel like I need to know how much work I put into this. Anyway advice for other people taking their exams sometime soon:

1. Manage your time well and stick to the limits you set (otherwise you will not finish writing and will have a huge issue)
2. keep writing no matter what. Just never stop. 
3. to help with the proficiency of #2 make a plan before you start so that you know what you are talking about
4. Do practice papers because often the questions (or at least the type of questions) are repeated
5. Try not to drink too much water because:

• you will need to pee
• you might spill it all over your work

Topic #2: Reading!

Now this is something fun that we can talk about! It's summer and what's better than to sit by the beach or pool with a good book? well to the dismay of some, it's now compulsory in my school to read during the summer. Some people (like myself) think that it's absurd that others would not read during the summer. Uh hello when else will I get time to do nothing and roll around like a cat yet still look like I'm doing something smart? My school has found some very interesting information about how reading in the summer helps your intellectual development and how it helps people to diversify their interests and what not. In light of this they decided to force us students to read 4 books, one of the school's choice and three of our own choices. They also expect us to answer questions on these novels and want to see evidence that we have read them. Personally I don't mind because it is not extra work for me, I read loads during the summer and I wanted to post reviews of them anyway. But I don't think that forcing students to spend their free time after several exhausting exams reading a novel they might not like (the school set one.) And maybe the do not like to read or really don't have time for it? 

If you are trying to get people to enjoy and sustain reading then you should let them find their own book at their own pace. I believe that everybody is a reader, and if you currently don't think you are, that just means that you haven't found the right book. There is always one book that will change the way you think or that will interest you so much that you will pick up another book. Finding this book is difficult, I am really lucky I was always interested in fantasy stories that made me start reading (mainly because they were so wonderful and magical and more interesting than my life.)  Everyone has the capability to love reading, they just need time. 

Last topic! SUMMER! 

IM SO HAPPY THIS DAY HAS COME! YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE HOW HAPPY I AM. There are so many things I want to do this summer that I don't think there will be enough time to do everything! If you are bored or don't have anything to do during summer here is a list of things to do. This is from Rookie Magazine (thanks to my friend for showing this to me it sounds really fun.) Seriously do these guys it looks amazing! Things to do halfway through summer. If that doesn't work out I have a reading list to check out for this summer on Goodreads (become my friends guys!) Summer 2014 reading list. There are also so many movies coming out this summer:

And there is my Summer 2014 playlist to jam to : Summer 2014 playlist online version <- for people who don't have spotify on their computers. Then there is the browser version below:

  

That's it guys, thank you so much for reading my super long post that probably did not affect you in many ways, but yeah. Its summer so lets enjoy it!

Yo guys I'm back, Also NEW BOOK REVIEW!

Hihi :)
I'm back (for a little while at least!)
So recently I read the famous "Thirteen reasons why" by Jay Asher and I really wanted to review it :) So here goes

Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers thirteen cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker, his classmate and crush who committed suicide two weeks earlier.

On tape, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out how he made the list.

Through Hannah and Clay's dual narratives, debut author Jay Asher weaves an intricate and heartrending story of confusion and desperation that will deeply affect teen readers. 

Now this review is going to be hard to write because I don't know how much to give away without giving away too much. One thing I will tell you is that this book can be quite despair and it's meant to be this way. It isn't one of your usual teen or Young Adult books that have a deep romance or a happy ending at all. I for one am relieved to know that people are still willing to read serious and heart-moving books. Anyway back to the book.

The main idea of the book is the aftereffects or the events that succeed a suicide and how it affects the people who were either involved/were the cause of a person's death or their family and friends. Often we do not know why a person commits suicide, and it's hard to find out. Think about it, there was something or someone who caused another person so much pain and angst that one day they decided that living just wasn't worth it anymore.

And I get it, life's tough, sometimes you feel like there is no one for you. No one to love you, no one to care for you, no one to take care of you, no one for you the relax with, no one to share your woes with. Believe me, I feel like that sometimes too but thats not true. There is always somebody out there in the large vast world of seven billion people who will gravely benefit by your presence in their lives. It might not have been somebody you met in the past, and it might not be anybody who you know but I'm sure that someone in your future will love you so much that it scares them. But you might not have known it then, you might not know it now but there will always be someone.

The book was set in a small town somewhere in America (Asher probably mentioned it but I have never been to/have much knowledge of the states of america or where they are located) and the great thing about this book is that the readers gets to see the same setting in two POVs, Hannah's and Clay's. I really think that this is one of the best thing about the book. I think that the setting is really crucial to the plot because it shows how rumours spread in a small town and how it can have a huge effect on somebody's life.

I really don't want to give too much of the book away (because it's worth reading) so basically what happens is Hannah (the main character) made a series of 13 cassette tapes (hence the name 13 reasons why) and she had someone (I'm not telling because its a pretty major part in the plot lets call them person X) sent them to the first person on Hannah's mailing list after she died. P.S. the mailing list is just people who are mentioned in the tapes Now you might think, why bother listening to them? well the tapes contain a lot of dirt on the people she talked about, if they didn't listen to the tapes then person X publishes the tapes for all the world to  hear. This story is about the emotions and events that occur after hannah dies and how people react when they find out that what they did caused another person to die.

Not lets talk about the characters! Personally I really liked Hannah, she seems like an amazing person from Clay's POV but when you listen to the tapes you realise that she sees herself as a completely different person. This is another thing that I really loved about the book, a person's views on you will differ greatly from how you see yourself. Clay's character development was amazing, at first I thought he was just this guy that liked her a lot but as the main story is told from his POV and reading about how each story (in Hannah's cassettes) affects him was shocking. Similarly person X's character development was a pleasant and welcome surprise :D (still not going to give away too much)

Last paragraph I promise! One of the reasons I picked up this book is because the idea of the after-effects of suicide aren't mentioned at all in our society and this book is an eye opener. It really makes you think about a lot of things to do with our society and it is a must read in this lifetime.

Also if you read thirteen reasons why and liked it another book similar to this is Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson :)

So that's it I hope you guys enjoyed this and I'll be posting soon!
P.S.S. Happy Chinese new year!  

Book review: Destroy Me (Shatter me series #1.5, novella) by Tahereh Mafi

New review *yay!* this one is without spoilers :D it will be mostly on Destroy me (#2 in the series) and Unravel me (#3) because I loved those two books the best. Last weekend I spent all of both nights staying up reading the Shatter me series because well, it's just that good! I could not put the book (or more like my computer because I was reading an epub of the book) down, I just needed to kow what happens to Juliette! Yeah in this series the main character's name is spelt Juliette and not Juliet, personally I like it better this way  and I think it's a nice subtle way to show the heroin's individuality. Lets get to this shall we? 

Back at the base and recovering from his near-fatal wound, Warner must do everything in his power to keep his soldiers in check and suppress any mention of a rebellion in the sector. Still as obsessed with Juliette as ever, his first priority is to find her, bring her back, and dispose of Adam and Kenji, the two traitors who helped her escape. But when Warner’s father, The Supreme Commander of The Reestablishment, arrives to correct his son’s mistakes, it’s clear that he has much different plans for Juliette. Plans Warner simply cannot allow.

This novella was simply fabulous! It's a wonderful insight to a misunderstood protagonist's life. At first when I read Shatter me, I really hated Warner. I thought he was a psychopathic being with no humanity or empathy at all! I understand the he was helping Juliette understand her powers and gain control of them but we, the readers are constantly bombarded with this negative diction of his past and he is constantly depicted as cruel and insufferable. I understood it then because of his actions, but in destroy me the impression he created is literally destroyed. <-- see what I did there *wink, wink* We learn so much about warner and his past, so much that it almost clarifies why he is so 'psychologically different' (I dont want to say that he is messed up but he kind of is so I'll just put in these words, no offence intended to Tahereh Mafi or the character it's just my opinion) A lot is revealed about Juliette as well in the novella, remember the little notebook she always carried around? Extracts from it are included! There are some really philosophical thoughts included, thing like if Juliette is going insane or not. Warner's father (The Supreme Commander of The Reestablishment, what an insane name...) is introduced and he is possibly even darker and twisted than Warner. Also in Shatter me, Mafi introduced this character called Seamus Fletcher who was mercilessly killed along side his family by Warner. He was constantly used as a reminder of just how merciless he is but in Destroy me there is a plot twist *dun dun DUN!* They weren't killed because he was a traitor as previously told! (I won't say anymore otherwise I might ruin it for you)

There are so many surprises in this little tiny book that I looked like this the entire time I was reading it. In all honesty I think I forgot to breath for a lot of it... 

There is one really heartbreaking moment when Warner goes to his "Mind palace" of sorts, it's kind of a simulation room, thing .... I'm not really sure but that scene is permanently marked in my mind, it completely changed my perspective of Warner and who he is. This book is a novella so it's quite short, I don't think I can write much more without including a whole bunch of spoilers but I can understand now how Warner feels this inclination towards Juliette because the both experienced/feel the same (okay maybe more like similar) emotions in their past, Warner feels like he can relate to her and GAHHH! Just go read it, this might possibly be one of the best novellas as a sequel ever! It might also be the best character changing moment/scene/novel/book ever as well. I won't say anymore because I feel like I'll be giving away far too much information then but I honestly suggest you read this book, the first one might not seem that enticing at the beginning but just stick with it because as you can see from my writing style, it get's really juicy soon.

Last but not lest I did make a playlist to go along with specific parts of the book so i'll put a link to that here. Now the song list:

1. Saturday by Ed Sheeran, this should be read at around chapter 10, Warner should be reading Juliette's notebook for the second time... 
2. Lovesick Fool by The Cab, chapter 11. I really really really think that this song is just perfect for this scene but then agin I really love the cab and do not understand why people haven't heard of them yet
3. Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men for chapter 16 THIS IS THE CHARACTER CHANGING CHAPTER OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG! 
4. Jesus Christ by Brand New, because the book just ended and this is how I feel... 

Now I shall leave you with some wonderful quotes as I usually do

"Love is a heartless bastard"- Warner

"I've come to believe that the most dangerous man in the world is the one who feels no remorse. "- Warner

"I imagine this is what it’s like to fall apart"- Warner

1,000+ views!

I just got a little over 1,000 pageviews :D Thank  you guys so much! this means so much to me <3 Don't worry, a new review will be up soon (hint hint* around sunday night ish SGT) It's be either on Of Triton By Anna banks THE SEQUAL TO OF POSEIDON THAT WAS JUST RELEASED TWO DAYS AGO GAAAAHHH!!!!!!! or of the Shatter me series (mainly of Unravel me and just a tidbit from Destroy me) So cheek it out later :) 

kthanksbai ;)

But seriously thank you so much guys <3

Book review: Apollyon, The covenant #4 by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Fate isn’t something to mess with… and now, neither is Alex.

Alex has always feared two things: losing herself in the Awakening and being placed on the Elixir. But love has always been stronger than Fate, and Aiden St. Delphi is willing to make war on the gods—and Alex herself—to bring her back.

The gods have killed thousands and could destroy entire cities in their quest to stop Seth from taking Alex’s power and becoming the all-powerful God Killer. But breaking Alex’s connection to Seth isn’t the only problem. There are a few pesky little loopholes in the whole “an Apollyon can’t be killed” theory, and the only person who might know how to stop the destruction has been dead for centuries.

Finding their way past the barriers that guard the Underworld, searching for one soul among countless millions, and then somehow returning will be hard enough. Alex might be able to keep Seth from becoming the God Killer… or she might become the God Killer herself.

All right lets get started, where do I begin. Firstly I need to thank and curse my friend Christine who got me interested in the covenant series, WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!?! She knows how I get when characters that I really like (such as Alex) are put through things that they should not. Back to the book, my brain is not functioning anymore, I just finished this book like, maybe 10 minutes ago and I just needed some time to collate myself and understand what I had just read (in the good shocking way not the bad one).

Once again Jennifer L. Armentrout has my emotion spun tight around her little pinky. This book is just full of surprises, its like eating salted popcorn and you randomly get a sweet one instead, but much more frequently. I was so happy when Aiden decided to take Alex of the Elixer, but I was really shocked at how Alex's personality changed. Jennifer used great diction to enhance the realisation that Alex really had changed. [SPOILER ALERT] When Alex ran out of the house and nearly killed Aiden I almost thought that she would actually do it because, well ... she changed so much, maybe she would. [End of the spoiler alert :)] The book went at a pretty quick pace though, I think it helped keep me interested because sometimes when you read books that have super long fight scenes you get bored a little (well at least I do) 

One thing I really do admire about Alex is that she is so strong willed, she has the tenacity to do what need to be done. Another thing I love about Apollyon is that Alex has a closer relationship with her uncle Marcus, it was really sweet the way he cares for her. On to the thing that I was just ecstatic about the entire time I was reading this...  SUPERNATURAL IS MENTIONED <3 clearly as you can tell I watch the american T.V show Supernatural and I think it's amazing. Now, the fact that Armentrout mentions fantastic shows like supernatural and has quite a few references to the phenomenal Harry Potter series just makes me like Covenant even more! By having references to these things I found it easer to see the plot actually taking place in our world. Sometimes there are these books that have amazing sci-fi stories and you're just like "Damn I wish that was real"? Well you don't need to worry about it with this book ;) Occasionally when an author refers to another mega hit series (like Harry Potter) they just degrade their own work because once you start comparing your book to another then expectations come in and people start to compare the two.

Something that really hooked me onto the series is the way that the Greek Gods are depicted, I never really gave Apollo any thought because he was sort of a menial god in my eyes before I started reading the series. I really like the way Hades was described when he came to steal Alex (even though there isn't really a full description). It made me realise that the Disney version of Hades with his weird copper blue skin and bald head with flames fuming of of it was just one persons view of him, Armentrout redefined my ideas of how all the gods looked and I think she really improved it :)

The ending of Apollyon was just bleeh, or maybe not. So many books end with cliffhangers nowadays that I just expect it, I guess if you really think about it Apollyon was also ended in a sort of half cliffhanger because we dont really know what happened to Aiden and Marcus or what's gonna happen when [SPOILER ALERT] Alex will have to kill Seth, [End of the Spoiler] but I prefer this ending because that way I don't fell as irritated when I have to wait like half a year (sometimes more) for the next book. Regardless I'm just really happy that  the next book will be out in like half a year :D

If you really like YA books and Greek Mythology mixed in with a little bit of zombies and loads of Adventure then I really think you should read this, even if you aren't one of those type of readers Apollyon is still a good book to read.

And now I shall leave you with this (for those of you who have read the book you will just love it):

' As my lids became too heavy to keep open, I heard her say, “I’m so proud of you, Lexie. Always remember that I’m proud of you and that I love you.” There was a pause and then her sweet voice said, seconds before I slipped away, “Don’t give up hope, baby. Paradise is waiting for you in the end.”'

The Luxe (Luxe #1) by Anna Godberson

Pretty girls in pretty dresses, partying until dawn.Irresistible boys with mischievous smiles and dangerous intentions.White lies, dark secrets, and scandalous hookups.This is Manhattan, 1899. Beautiful sisters Elizabeth and Diana Holland rule Manhattan's social scene. Or so it appears. When the girls discover their status among New York City's elite is far from secure, suddenly everyone--from the backstabbing socialite Penelope Hayes, to the debonair bachelor Henry Schoonmaker, to the spiteful maid Lina Broud--threatens Elizabeth's and Diana's golden future.With the fate of the Hollands resting on her shoulders, Elizabeth must choose between family duty and true love. But when her carriage overturns near the East River, the girl whose glittering life lit up the city's gossip pages is swallowed by the rough current. As all of New York grieves, some begin to wonder whether life at the top proved too much for this ethereal beauty, or if, perhaps, someone wanted to see Manhattan's most celebrated daughter disappear...In a world of luxury and deception, where appearance matters above everything and breaking the social code means running the risk of being ostracized forever, five teenagers lead dangerously scandalous lives. This thrilling trip to the age of innocence is anything but innocent.

Okay, let's get started. Luxe is a book for all you romantics, it's got love, passion, gossip, treachery, vengeance, and acceptance.  This book is truly whole rounded, and what even better is that even though Luxe is set way back when the characters are people we (in this day and age) can still relate to. A forbidden love between the hierarchy, a enemy disguised as a friend, a child relentlessly defying the stereotype of her family. These thing sill happen now to everybody.
 I love Diana and how she is insistent on being who she is, but I really dislike that the her persona is shaped out of the hatred for perfection and her mother. Her fling with Henry is just like a red velvet cupcake, delicious! Even though the age difference is, shall we say considerable? Elizabeth really irritated me, don't get me wrong but honestly she didn't make up her mind. She was far too finicky and if she truly was Penelope's friend she would have told penelope about her engagement to Henry. 
On tho the setting! Anna Goldberson lifted my soul out of my body and transported it back to 1899. The description and language is just exquisite! Definitely a good read for new vocabulary! I have always loved the post victorian/renesancè era but now I love it even more. The houses, the people, the roads, everything appears fabulous and glorious. I seriously dislike the fact that nobody cares about you knowledge or your personality but the finesse of it all <3 
Not one of the books I would usually read and yeah, I guess that there isn't really a memorable plot, (the ending is quite disappointing) but the diction, oh the diction. It's really rare that an author can describe scenes so beautifully as Anna but what is a story without a plot? There was a sense of mystery when the reader was unsure if it was Penelope [SPOILER ALLERT!] who had Elizabeth killed or Lina's mystery man "dealt with it". Another thing that was a little confusing was how are we reading/getting to know about Elizabeth's thoughts if she died??? The ending did clarify that though. 
If I was picking The Luxe up for the first time, I might not have read it, but after reading it I am really glad I changed my mind. Once again, if you are into the whole Glitz and Glamour with scandalous secrets whilst waltzing around in a gorgeous dress then READ THIS BOOK :)

I'm super sorry if the post doesn't fit my theme it's just that blogger is being irritating -.-

Stuff about this blog

Hello :) whats up? well yeah as you can tell this is a new blog, I just started it like yesterday... Im new to this whole blog thing, and I actually started to blog because I had to for one of my assignments. And it seems pretty nice. Kind of like a journal but online and other people can read it. If I owned a journal I would probably write some really deep personal stuff. But I don't use journals because, well to put it simply: I'm not bothered... so YAY for being lazy! anyway this blog will probably be about what I have read and what I'm reading now and I might give you some reviews. I say some because I dont generally write reviews, well good ones at least. So I will just write about my opinion. And forgive my grammar. If I am writing something really formal (e.g. a story) then I will actually bother with punctuation and grammar and other stuff but now.. well im not really typing anything important so screw it :) im not going to do all of that now. so on to my next point.... i do like to write stories because it allows my imagination to grow and i have a really large imagination as you will soon learn. so that will be the journal part of it.... Ill explain why I called this blog "the crumpled purple journal" in the next post. but now ill just tell you about me. I was born in singapore. lived there most of my life. hmmm I like music, like listening to it. I dont mind playing it, i play the violin and just started learning the guitar, so you be the judge of that. I love to draw and paint. I prefer to draw because i feel that i can make pretty cool pieces with a pencil compared to colour and strokes. Thats just my opinion. So thats me! in like 3 sentences, Ugh reading back on this i noticed that there are no paragraphs and just a bunch of text. thats horrible to look at. so ill put in paragraphs next time :) sorry :( i know i hate looking at just a bunch of text. it make me really bored and then  i stop reading. kk ill shut up now sorry ;) just that i have a lot to say so yeah. Until the next post dear readers :) thanks for actually reading all of this. ill be surprised if anybody does :P

ok good by
:P