Blogtober Day 19: Books I Regret Reading

There aren't many books that I regret reading, but they do exist. For the most part, I've been pretty lucky in the sense that most books I've read, I was able to find something about them that I enjoyed. Even if they weren't my favorite book ever, I was able to connect with or find interesting something about them.

Yet, every once in a while, I find a book that I just can't stand. I don't like it. I regret reading it. If someone recommends it, I get a little annoyed at the person for suggesting it in the first place. Here are five books that I regret reading.

1) Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

My issue with this book isn't that it's bad, it's that it's boring. Boring and predictable. Something interesting could've been done with the story, but nothing was. None of my expectations were subverted and I was annoyed at the friend who suggested it.

2) The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I don't know why this is considered one of the great American novels. It's boring. There's almost no real plot. I hate every character. I was forced to read this for school at least twice and I hate it so much. If I have to hear another person discuss the symbolism behind the billboard of the eye doctor one more time, I will scream.

3) Extras by Scott Westerfeld

This is the fourth book in the Uglies series (Uglies, Pretties, and Specials). I thought the first three books were okay. They weren't groundbreaking, they weren't terrible. They were based on an interesting idea. The problem is, the series was supposed to be a trilogy. Since Specials was supposed to mark the end of the trilogy, this feels tacked on. Tacked on, a little derivative and something I wish I'd skipped.

4) The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot

This pick is different from the others. It was the only book where I started reading with specific expectations. I thought this series was going to be similar to the movie with Anne Hathway. Boy, was I wrong. Mia's grandmother is nothing like the character Julie Andrews plays and several aspects are completely different from the film. I guess I regret reading this book only because it seemed like a letdown from the Disney film.

5) Go Ask Alice

This one just depressed me, so its on this list. I don't like books that completely bum me out.

(I know, I know. Most of the time, these lists will either have Twilight or the Fifty Shades series on it. Here's the thing: Twilight isn't terrible. It isn't good, but if we take it for what it is, it's not "the worst thing ever" like some people claim. As for Fifty Shades, I never read those books. I never wanted to read them. I knew I wasn't going to like them. Therefore, I didn't read them, and I can live regret-free on that count. I regret having to see 5,000 trailers for the movies though.)

Those are the five books I most regret reading. What are yours?

Blogtober Day 18: Witches

I feel like witches are one of the few characters that can be thrown into almost any story and it works. I don't mean that in a bad way, but I'm noticing they seem to pop-up in a lot of different stories and time periods, and serving different purposes, and it still works, depending on how talented the writer is.

You're writing a historical thriller? Perhaps a murder victim was really killed by a witch. You're writing a contemporary story? Maybe the protagonist's family was once accused of witchcraft. Maybe she learns she's a witch. For a story being told in the far-off future, humanity could believe they found answers to everything and witches are fictional, only to learn that the aliens they've been fighting have abilities that can only be explained by yelling "Witchcraft!" as dramatically as possible. Not to mention how witches are seemingly everywhere in fantasy.

My point is, witches are prevalent in fiction. The characters being described as witches don't necessarily have to be witches, they just are accused of it. They could simply be suspected, or the narrative could imply that the only way an event could happen is through witchcraft. Yet, for such a seemingly ubiquitous stock character, witches aren't defined to one role in fiction.

Witches sometimes are evil. The first example that comes to mind is the witch in Hansel and Gretel. She murders and eats children. Another example is the Sanderson Sisters from Hocus Pocus. The Wicked Witch of the West. The Grand High Witch from The Witches. I could go on. Ursula in The Little Mermaid. There are plenty of witch characters that are completely evil and serve as the villain of the story. Maybe they want to take over or end the world. Or maybe, they just want revenge on a specific person or people.

Witches are also protagonists or at the very least "good guys" in stories. For an example, see Hermione Granger. Diana Bishop from A Discovery of Witches is another good example, as is Sabrina Spellman. The list goes on. Sometimes, the story is about a girl, or woman, finding out she's a witch and learning to control her powers. Other times, the witch is called upon to defeat some greater threat. In few, but some cases, magic is being repressed and the witch character is meant to end the magic-hating regime and free the other witches and repressed magical creatures. Sometimes, the witch isn't a main character, but fulfills the role of a mentor or motherly figure to another.

The third category of witches seems to be "witches as plot-devices". This is more of an urban-fantasy thing than anything else, but it does pop-up elsewhere. The "good guy" characters are in trouble. Maybe they were captured by the villain, maybe they come across some unpassable obstacle. Perhaps one's been cursed. It's awfully convenient then, that a member of their party, or another prisoner, or some random person walking by, happens to be a witch and knows a spell that will help. I won't lie, this one annoys me a lot. Because these characters either show up as a deus ex machina, or if they are part of the core character, they fade into the background until they're needed again.

One fairly popular show that did this often was The Vampire Diaries. Bonnie Bennett, the only main witch character for most of the series, somehow found a spell that stopped the Big Bad every time. In fact, it seemed like the only reason her character existed and remained on the show was to find a magical solution at the last minute to save the day.  She saved everyone from the bad guy, and then had a crappy storyline that only existed so that she'd be around the next time they needed magic to solve their problems. I don't like this trope because it cheapens the character and shows that her only purpose is to do one specific thing and then go away.

Witches show up a lot in fiction. They serve many different roles depending on the story. I love witch characters. The good, the bad and the plot-devices. I know some people claim they're sick of witches, but I actually think we need more witches. Ones with different stories, different rules, and different backgrounds.

What's your view on witches, and magic in general, in fiction?

Blogtober Day 17: My Autumn Feelings

Autumn is an interesting time of year. It's finally not super hot, or unbelievably humid. At the same time, it's also not unbearably cold and I don't need to put on three layers just to walk from my house to my car. I know some of you may be reading this thinking "oh, so autumn is in between summer and winter weather-wise? Who would've known?" sarcastically. I know how dumb that sounds, but I feel like the weather is a good analogy to discuss autumn as a whole and how weirdly fluid it feels. Being in between summer and winter, it kind of fluctuates wildly.

Parts of autumn, specific days even, are beautiful and have more of a spring feeling than an autumnal one. Other days are rainy and remind us that winter is coming. This variability also comes into play given the different holidays in autumn. Halloween is pretty much its own season at this point, whereas Thanksgiving doesn't, but most people view as being Christmas-adjacent, an honorary winter holiday, even though November is, in fact, a fall month.

Now that I've gone into more depth than needed about why I say fall is a weird time of year, let me explain why its my favorite season. First of all, autumn is a beautiful season. The leaves change colors. The skies aren't always clear and blue, but they also aren't always that grey tone they seem to be in winter. The weather is perfect, since it's cool without being too cold. Fall is also when some of my favorite seasonal goodies are released. Caramel apples, pumpkin pie, apple strudel, and salted caramel everything. Fall is a great time of the year for food.

Fall is the time of year where I feel happiest. Some of that is due to happy memories I have of trick or treating and pumpkin carving. The rest is just that I really like the season as a whole. It's where I feel the most at home, if that makes sense.

So, I love fall. What's your opinion on the season?

Blogtober Day 16: October TBR Check-in

Hello everyone, since today is October 16th, AKA the exact middle of October, I decided it was time to do a Blogtober check-in. This isn't going to be a long post, but it felt right to do a check-in and see where I stood halfway through the month.

First up, how has Blogtober been going? 
Well, I've posted every day so far, which I'm proud of. (Blogtober posts can be found here). When I said I was going to do Blogtober, I was a little worried I'd be unable to continue/lose interest after the first few days, but I haven't. Yay me!

Second, what's the status of my TBR list?
I had four books on my TBR list for the month:
The Scarred God by Neil Beynon- complete, my review can be found here
Nightmare Escpade by Waylon Piercy- finished, review will be up soon
A Secret History of Witches by Louisa Morgan- currently reading
The Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror (2018 Edition)- currently reading

Since it's halfway through the month and I'm halfway through the books on my list, I see that as a good sign.

Third, anything else you want to share?
Nothing I can think of at the moment. I do hope everyone has enjoyed my posts so far.

Blogtober Day 15: This Time, Last Year

So, the prompt/idea/question this post was supposed to be about is the following:

What were you reading this time last year?

Initially, I was going to write a short-ish post describing the books I was reading, as the title says, this time last year. There's just one problem: this time last year, I wasn't reading anything. I wasn't doing much of anything. So, rather than talk about books, this post is about how far I've come in a year.

(If you're here for me to talk about books, and not my mental health, today's post isn't for you. Sorry)

This time last year, I was in a bit of a funk. It had been over a year since I graduated college and despite having my degree, I hadn't managed to land a full-time job. I was working part-time at a coffee shop and part-time at a math tutoring center. They both paid fine, for what they were, and I didn't hate them, but they weren't what I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing. As a result of my unhappiness with my work situation, I fell into somewhat of a depression. Things I used to find enjoyable weren't fun anymore. Days when I didn't have work, as few as they were, I didn't really do anything.

At the end of November, I got an interview with a staffing office who learned of an open position at a nearby company. The day after I interviewed with the staffing company, I had an interview at the company with the open position.  One week, and another interview later, I received a job offer. My first full-time job. A job where'd I'd actually use my degree.

So, I started my first "real" job. And as I got more comfortable in my role, and familiar with the industry, a strange thing happened. I started picking up some of the old hobbies I'd abandoned. I started reading again. I started writing again. I joined a book club. I did things other than sit around, stressing about my future. And, I'm a lot happier now than I was a year ago.

So, that's where I was this time last year. What were you doing last year?