Extra-Large Blog Watch Wednesday & Planned Reads for April

Reviews Posted:

Two Crafty Criminals: And How They Were Captured By the Daring Detectives of the New Cut Gang by Philip Pullman - middle grade, mystery, historical fiction - 4/5 stars

Struck by Jennifer Bosworth - young-adult, post-apocalyptic, dystopia - 3.5/5

Wonder Show by Hannah Barnaby - young-adult, historical fiction - 4/5 stars

Long Lankin by Lindsey Barraclough - mythic fiction and retellings, young-adult, creeeeepy - 4/5 stars

The Cranes Dance by Meg Howrey - general fiction, dance, contemporary - 3.75/5 stars

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews - young-adult, contemporary - 4/5 stars

Fun Stuff:

I have a lot of Game of Thrones and Hunger Games stuff, so I'm going to have those in marked sections for those who would like to skip either to, or over.

The Power of Young Adult Fiction. This is a lovely article.

This is FANTASTIC. A great visualization/demonstration of the distance between the Earth and the Sun.

35 Historical Doppelgangers. I love stuff like this.

'Sweatbox' the movie Disney doesn't want you to see.

From Bookriot:

• What Would [insert YA Heroine] Do? I loved Katniss's flowchart the most. And,
• 16 Things Calvin and Hobbes said better than anybody else.
• New Jack Kerouac book 'found' and published

This is interesting: pie charts/spread sheets showing how often the phrase "[xxx]'s Daughter" is used for novel titles.

Fashion site Go Fug Yourself just concluded their Fug Madness championship for the sartorially disabled and the winner is...

This artist is absolutely incredible. He camouflages himself within a real-life place. It's crazy.

The Top 10 Most Misunderstood Lines In Literary History

This will be a book to watch and love - check out the book trailer for Shadow and Bone.

 Jared Padalecki, of Supernatural fame, and his wife, recently had a baby boy. In lieu of gifts they promised to match the donation from their fans to St. Jude's Research Hospital. $20,000 was the overall goal ($10,000 fans and $10,000 from the couple) - but the total stands at over $80,000. Wow - that's 403% of the goal.

From Cracked:

• 6 Common Movie Arguments That Are Always Wrong
• 7 Ridiculously Outdated Assumptions Every Movie Makes
• 7 Outrageous Hoaxes That Actually Worked
• The 5 Most Clearly Cursed Expeditions of All Time
• 5 Priceless Works of Art Destroyed By Unintentional Hilarity

GAME OF THRONES LINKS:

Hey did you hear? HBO's Game of Thrones is back - in a big, big way. 

This is an excellent recap/review/rehash from EwaSr about S2E1 - "The North Remembers."

Also from Ewa - In Defense of Sansa Stark.

Tons More Hints To Get You Ready for Season 2.

George R. R. Martin reads 8 minutes from The Winds of Winter.

Check out HBO promotional department's House-specific videos - to which noble family do you belong? I'm a Targaryen Stark.

 The Best of Tyrion Lannister (so far). The 'cheekbones' comment is worthy of a mention now/addition.

Apparently, this is going to be a yearly thing. The NYT talks out it's ass about Game of Thrones. DUDES. Get a new reviewer - someone who actually enjoys tv, maybe?

One of the TUMBLRS of the WEEK: Arrested Westeros - quotes from Arrested Development applied to scenes from Game of Thrones. It both works and is hilarrrious, provided you enjoy both shows.

TOR's April Fool's Day joke amused me: "Entire season 2 of Game of Thrones leaked"

The best pop culture mashups featuring Game of Thrones.

 The 15 Best Bitchfaces of Prince Joffrey, Tv's Most Loathsome Little Shit

HUNGER GAMES LINKS

The other TUMBLR OF THE WEEK: They volunteer. Amusing situations using Katniss's "I volunteer" as a GIF.

This movie also had the third biggest opening of all-time - notably the only one not a sequel or franchise.

Clever 'Hunger Games' propoganda posters.

Hunger Games + 'Sexy and I Know It' = amusement.

Re: the Hunger Games casting racism.

Haha! The Hunger Games as directed by other, famous directors. I think the Peter Jackson version is my favorite.

This was a thoughtful read. The power of young female readers, as shown by The Hunger Games success.

Planned Reads (so far):

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

In a future world, vampires reign. Humans are blood cattle. And one girl will search for the key to save humanity.

Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a vampire city. By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten.

Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred of them. The vampires who keep humans as blood cattle. Until the night Allie herself is attacked—and given the ultimate choice. Die… or become one of the monsters.

Faced with her own mortality, Allie becomes what she despises most. To survive, she must learn the rules of being immortal, including the most important: go long enough without human blood, and you will go mad.

Then Allie is forced to flee into the unknown, outside her city walls. There she joins a ragged band of humans who are seeking a legend—a possible cure to the disease that killed off most of humankind and created the rabids, the mindless creatures who threaten humans and vampires alike.

But it isn't easy to pass for human. Especially not around Zeke, who might see past the monster inside her. And Allie soon must decide what—and who—is worth dying for.

Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross

True love’s kiss just may prove deadly….

Mirabelle’s past is shrouded in secrecy, from her parents’ tragic deaths to her guardians’ half-truths about why she can’t return to her birthplace, Beau Rivage. Desperate to see the town, Mira runs away a week before her sixteenth birthday—and discovers a world she never could have imagined.

In Beau Rivage, nothing is what it seems—the strangely pale girl with a morbid interest in apples, the obnoxious playboy who’s a beast to everyone he meets, and the chivalrous guy who has a thing for damsels in distress. Here, fairy tales come to life, curses are awakened, and ancient stories are played out again and again.

But fairy tales aren’t pretty things, and they don’t always end in happily ever after. Mira has a role to play, a fairy-tale destiny to embrace or resist. As she struggles to take control of her fate, Mira is drawn into the lives of two brothers with fairy-tale curses of their own … brothers who share a dark secret. And she’ll find that love, just like fairy tales, can have sharp edges and hidden thorns.

Dead Reckoning by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill

Jett is a girl disguised as a boy, living as a gambler in the old West as she searches for her long-lost brother. Honoria Gibbons is a smart, self-sufficient young woman who also happens to be a fabulous inventor. Both young women travel the prairie alone – until they are brought together by a zombie invasion! As Jett and Honoria investigate, they soon learn that these zombies aren’t rising from the dead of their own accord … but who would want an undead army? And why? This gunslinging, hair-raising, zombie western mashup is perfect for fans of Cowboys vs. Aliens and Pride & Prejudice & Zombies.

 

Innocent Darkness by Suzanne Lazear

A steampunk faerie tale with romance, danger, and a strong-willed heroine.


When spirited sixteen-year-old Noli Braddock and her best friend Steven "V" Darrow take a flying car out for a joyride, neither expects Noli to be sent to reform school to mend her hoyden ways. While at the dreadful school, Noli's innocent mid-summer's eve wish summons Kevighn, a mysterious man who takes Noli with him to the Realm of Faerie. At first Noli believes she has been rescued. But the sinister reason behind the handsome huntsman's appearance quickly become clear--he wants to use Noli as a blood sacrifice to restore his dying world. V, who has secrets of his own, shows up to help Noli escape and return to the mortal realm--but first, they must navigate the dangerous intrigues of the Otherworld.
If they are successful, Noli will live.

But if Noli lives, the entire Otherworld civilization will die.

Bridge of Scarlet Leaves by Kristina McMorris (also known as  Every Time We Say Goodbye)

From the award-winning author of Letters from Home comes a poignant novel of love and courage, set against one of the most controversial episodes in American history: the aftermath of the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

 
Los Angeles, 1941. Violinist Maddie Kern's life seemed destined to unfold with the predictable elegance of a Bach concerto. Then she fell in love with Lane Moritomo. Her brother's best friend, Lane is the handsome, ambitious son of Japanese immigrants. Maddie was prepared for disapproval from their families, but when Pearl Harbor is bombed the day after she and Lane elope, the full force of their decision becomes apparent. In the eyes of a fearful nation, Lane is no longer just an outsider, but an enemy.
When her husband is interned at a war relocation camp, Maddie follows, sacrificing her Juilliard ambitions. Behind barbed wire, tension simmers and the line between patriot and traitor blurs. As Maddie strives for the hard-won acceptance of her new family, Lane risks everything to prove his allegiance to America, at tremendous cost.

Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton

 

There is a fire and they are in there. They are in there...

Black smoke stains a summer blue sky. A school is on fire. And one mother, Grace, sees the smoke and rush. She knows her teenage daughter Jenny is inside. She runs into the burning building to rescue her.

Afterwards Grace must find the identity of the arsonist and protect her children from the person who's still intent on destroying them. Afterwards, she must fight the limits of her physical strength and discover the limitlessness of love.

The Maid and the Queen: The Secret History of Joan of Arc by Nancy Goldstone

The untold story of the extraordinary queen who championed Joan of Arc.

Politically astute, ambitious, and beautiful, Yolande of Aragon, queen of Sicily, was one of the most powerful women of the Middle Ages. Caught in the complex dynastic battle of the Hundred Years War, Yolande championed the dauphin's cause against the forces of England and Burgundy, drawing on her savvy, her statecraft, and her intimate network of spies. But the enemy seemed invincible. Just as French hopes dimmed, an astonishingly courageous young woman named Joan of Arc arrived from the farthest recesses of the kingdom, claiming she carried a divine message-a message that would change the course of history and ultimately lead to the coronation of Charles VII and the triumph of France.

Now, on the six hundredth anniversary of the birth of Joan of Arc, this fascinating book explores the relationship between these two remarkable women, and deepens our understanding of this dramatic period in history. How did an illiterate peasant girl gain access to the future king of France, earn his trust, and ultimately lead his forces into battle? Was it only the hand of God that moved Joan of Arc-or was it also Yolande of Aragon?