Skip to main content

What's Up Wednesday: May Term

Well, it's been a while since one of these. I thought I'd ease back into blogging with a What's Up Wednesday, a weekly blog hop hosted by Jaime Morrow.

What I'm Reading

I'm nearing the end of The Year of Shadows by Claire Legrand. I really love this one, and I also loved Ms. Cavendish's Home for Boys and Girls. The Year of Shadows is an MG ghost story, while Ms. Cavendish is MG horror. I have a feeling that Claire Legrand will become a favorite author of mine. Both these books are so good, and so different. What with this and the new Nick and Tesla, I've been reading mostly MG. However, I still have a big TBR pile to get to, which includes a mix of genres and age ranges.


What I'm Writing

Reviews and blog posts! I just reviewed the ARC of Nick and Tesla's Secret Agent Gadget Battle, an MG mystery. I'm also getting ready to jump back into writing Contracted. I was really overwhelmed with spring semester stuff, but now that it's the short May Term, I should have more time on my hands. Well, we'll see... 

What else I'm up to right now

I'm still watching Hemlock Grove. It hasn't gotten better...It's getting worse. Which means that each episode is even more corny, terrible, and so-bad-it's-entertaining. 

I turned 22 (did I mention that?).

I will also be able to work on things for my CP's. At least, this is the theory. In between all this, I am trying to find a job to work during the summer and graduate school. I have a house with two roommates and I've been accepted into the program that I wanted, but I am worried about being able to pay rent, bills, house upkeep, and tuition. Ugh. Things are hard.

In the meantime, I just have to finish my last graduation requirements and do my senior recital for the cello. I have my recital hearing tomorrow. I can't tell you how much I am not looking forward to this. I am a good player, but I am not the strongest performer. I like the music that I have programmed; I just wish I could get an A for learning it without having to actually play it for people and stuff. Ugh again. Things are hard.

What inspires me right now

It's not freezing anymore. That's always good.

Comments

  1. Good to hear what you're up to! Sounds about the same for me - jobs, writing, reading, school. (Although I am DONE now). And it is so nice that spring is actually coming. It RAINED today. I couldn't believe it. Happy belated birthday! Oh, and I like the new look!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow, you're done early! I'm jealous! I have a community service and a research methods class, both of which are turning out to be WAY too much work for what I thought they were going to be. :P

      Thanks! I figured it was time for a blog retouch.

      Delete
  2. Sounds like things are hectic and stressful right now, but Happy Birthday and congratulations on getting your placement! I hope things level out soon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! I hope so, too. I will feel better once I have graduated and locked down a job.

      Delete
  3. Lots on your plate right now from the sounds of it. I hope everything goes smoothly with your final grad requirements and your cello recital. (I have the hardest time playing solo for people.) I hope you're able to squeeze in time to do the things you'd like to over May term. Have a great week, Laura!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. After I had the recital, I felt better about my ability to actually play it. It's just difficult to have the stamina to perform so many pieces in a row without a break. Have a great week!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Comments make me happy, so leave lots! :) I will usually reply to each one, so click Notify Me to read my replies.

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Hemlock Grove, ep. 1 and 2

Hello! I'm back from my blogging hiatus. I've been on a horror kick lately, and most recently, I watched the first two episodes of Netflix's Hemlock Grove. I'm a bit late to this series, but for what it's worth, here's my review. I have some...issues.  Pacing It's based on a novel, and you can tell. Once the show introduces something that might be interesting or lead to tension and conflict, it snatches it away like a precious plot-gem that it doesn't want you to see. There is way too much exposition and filler. The plot hangs together pretty well, but not much really happens. Case in point, it should not have taken two whole episodes to find out Main Character is a werewolf. Especially since everyone seems clued into this fact and accepts it as truth -- except the viewers. Then suddenly Rich Boy is asking if he can watch the transformation like it's understood that Poor Kid Main Character is a werewolf. No warning, no lead-up, nothing.

Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow by Faïza Guène, a YA Book By A Young Author

Review time! Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow is a young adult novel by a young adult, so I was very interested to read it. There's also a #MuslimShelfSpace tag going around, and this review is a nod to that. The idea is that there's been a lot of stereotypes and anti-Muslim sentiment spread around, so buying and boosting books about and by Muslims can help educate people and break down harmful stereotypes.  The author is French with an Algerian background, and  Guène  wrote Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow when she was in her late teens. Although the novel is not autobiographical, she shares many things with its main character. Doria, like her creator, is the child of immigrants and lives in poor suburban housing projects.   Guène   wrote that she realized girls like herself weren't really represented in books, and felt that Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow was a way to tell the stories of people in the suburbs who are ignored by the elites of French literature. Plot: Life Sucks, Until It Doesn

King Arthur Sucks.

I wrote a review of The Greenstone Grail by Amanda Hemingway , in which I applauded the book for being the first Arthurian adaptation I had read that I didn't despise. I mean, how could I? Despite the book's other problems, it had aliens riding motherfucking dragons!!! Aliens! Dragons! Parallel universes!  After reading my review, one of my friends asked me why I hate Arthurian legend so much.  Well.  Perhaps one of the reasons I liked The Greenstone Grail 's take on the Holy Grail myth was because it was so different.  Most Arthurian adaptations fall along the same lines. It's the same damn story told almost the same damn way all the time. But  The Greenstone Grail took place in modern times, borrowing from the Holy Grail and Arthurian myths without making it so central to the plot that there was no room for other stuff like imagination.  Say whatever else you want about this book ( and believe me, I did ), it had imagination. Its main character can dimension-