Top Ten Tuesdays: Books I Think Would Make Great Book Club Picks

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by the Broke and Bookish. 

Top Ten Eight Books I Think Would Make Great Book Club Picks: 

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

If you haven't read the trilogy by now, you've obviously been living under a rock. :P But that's okay! That's why it would be a great book for a book club! Not only does it have a great plot, but there's so much to discuss about it! Like how it could be a possible future for us and how media big media has become in society. Not to mention the moral questions, too.

My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger

This is one of those books that's written entirely in letters, fliers, instant messages, and the likes, and it is one of the sweetest, hilarious, and most touching books out there. If the characters themselves don't spark discussions, then the family aspect of the book will. (A little spoiler: these are the type of parents all kids wish to have)

A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines

Not a YA book, but it definitely should be read! Taken place in a small town where racism is still strong, this book raises many questions about the characters' reactions and why people act the way that they do. Plus, the last part of the book is really good and emotional.

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

It's a YA satire that pokes fun of many problems in today's society. Also, it calls to attention many misconceptions and subliminal messages that teens do not even realize they are being brainwashed to what they think is normal and healthy. I'm pretty sure there will be many discussions about everything in this book, even the hilarious little footnotes at the bottom of the pages.

Ballads of Surburbia by Stephanie Kuehnert

There's always that one drug abuse book that you've read that had left a significant impact on you. If you've never had that experience, Ballads of Surburbia will most likely become that book. If this book doesn't have you talking about the evocative emotions the book brings out in you, then I don't know what will. 

Freaks and Revelations by Davida Willis Hurwin

This book also talks about drugs, but it's not the main subject. It focuses more on the two very different main characters and their lifestyle. One is a young gay boy and the other a violent punk. It's pretty shocking at times, and I think that's one of the main reasons why it would be a good book club books, since you're going to want to talk to someone about what you just read in the book.

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkins

There are quite a bit of twists in this book that I think would generate plenty of discussion on why something happened or if it was proof that Mara was really going insane. Plus, the ending of the book completely threw everything you knew thought you knew out of the window. Also, I'm pretty sure there will be a debate on why the main characters in YA books usually fall for a bad boy/manslut. 

The Marbury Lens by Andrew Smith

This is another book that will have readers wondering if everything is real or just a type of delusion that the protagonist is having as a way to cope with a traumatic event. And the open-ended ending will also have your jaw dropping and speculating what happens next. 

Manga Review: I Hate You More Than Anyone! vol. 1 by Banri Hidaka

Title: I Hate You More Than Anyone! vol. 1
Author: Banri Hidaka
Pages: 192
Publication: July 11, 2007
Publisher: CMX
Summary taken from goodreads:

Kazuha Akiyoshi -- a responsible girl whose time is always taken up with helping her parents take care of her younger siblings -- finds herself dealing with romantic relationships for the first time in her life. 

Is Kazuha seriously thinking about becoming a hairdresser, or is she only considering it because it's Sugimoto's career and represents a way to get closer to him? Meanwhile, there's trouble at home when her brother, Chizura, starts hanging out with the wrong crowd. Unknown to Kazuha, Sugimoto steps in to try and help the troubled Chizura, but his advice might just lead to a serious rift between Kazuha and Sugimoto.

3 STARS - I LIKED IT

MY REVIEW:

I won this and a few other manga in a contest a year or two ago and completely forgot about them (and I'm still not really sure why I didn't read them back then). I found two of the manga underneath a thick literature textbook. -__-"

Anyway, this series was better than I expected. I thought that it would be your typical shojo manga with an idiot, oblivious lead, but Kazuha isn't stupid. She's just a little naive since she's never really fallen in love before, and she's completely sincere and cares about her family, which makes her very likable, even when she's being stubborn.

Her friends and family are also interesting and adds to the comedic relief in the story, and the love interest is weird but funny, especially when he becomes all clingy, lol. The cast of characters really do make up the plot of this manga series.

The art took a while to get used to; you can definitely tell that the series is not recent from just the clothes alone. But once you look past the art style, the story sucks you in and you kind of don't pay attention to it, only noticing the characters' reactions and emotions conveyed through the images instead.

Although the first volume was entertaining enough, I don't think I'll continue the series unless I can borrow it from someone or find it somewhere else. We'll see.

HAPPY BELATED 4TH ANNIVERSARY!

I totally forgot that serious insanity's fourth anniversary was on January 3rd. Actually, I went through all of my posts and found out that I never even celebrated my blog's third anniversary last year. -__-" 

I am no good with dates...

But anyway, it's never too late to celebrate, right? ;)

Lol, I'm always surprised to realize that I've been blogging for so long. Then I notice all of the changes that have occurred on here over the years, and I'm surprised all over again. 

But should I even be surprised? The world is constantly changing, you're constantly changing, ideas are constantly changing... We live in a fast-paced life that's continuously changing and evolving. What you say you'll never do today will be exactly what you end up doing sometime in the future.

I have no idea where I'm going with this. .).

This post clearly was supposed to be happy and celebrational with only a hint of nostalgia, lol. 

This is what happens when you devote the majority of your weekend trying to read as much of Crime and Punishment as you can since you have a test on it next week along with a presentation due two days afterwards. D:

So, I have to go read. I'll see ya later!

Hopefully, I'll remember my blogoversary next year! :D

pointy.star

In My Mailbox (50) :D

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.

Bought:

Hallowed by Cynthia Hand

Everneath by Brodi Ashton

The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Bakuman vol. 1 by Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata

Dengeki Daisy vol. 1 by Kyousuke Motomi

Zombie Loan vol. 2 by Peach-Pit

Zombie Loan vol. 3 by Peach-Pit

Pandora Hearts vol. 6 by Jun Mochizuki

Kindle:

Daughter of the Sea by Mira Zamin

Linger by Kodilynn Calhoun

Sophie's Secret by Tara West

Birthrights by Christine Butler

The Arrival by Nicole MacDonald

Minder by Kate Kaynak

Demons at Deadnight by A. & E. Kirk

The Assassin and the Pirate Lord by Sarah J. Maas

Netgalley:

This Is Not a Test by Courtney Summers

Alienation by Jon S. Lewis

Invasion by Jon S. Lewis

Pure by Julianna Baggot

Jersey Angel by Beth Ann Bauman

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Spirit's Princess by Esther M. Friesner

The Master of Misrule by Laura Powell

I can't believe that this is my fiftieth IMM post! :c

2012 Best Fiction for Young Adults

So YALSA posted its Best Fiction for Young Adults 2012 list, and I thought I'd show you how many of the books that I'd actually read out of all of them. I have already quickly glanced at the list, and wow, I hardly read any of the books on there! :c What's so sad is that I own more of the books on the list than the actual number of books I had read on there. -__-" 

You can go to the site and see a short summary of the book and other information. 

(!) means that I own it but haven't read it.

1. Abel-Fattah, Randa. Where the Streets had a Name. 
2. Aguirre, Ann. Enclave.  (Read!)
3. Almond, David. My Name is Mina. 
4. Altebrando, Tara. Dreamland Social Club. 
5. Bauer, Joan. Close to Famous.
6. Beam, Chris. I am J.  (!)
7. Billingsley, Franny. Chime.  (!)
8. Black, Holly. Red Glove.
9. Blake, Kendare. Anna Dressed in Blood.  (!)
10. Blundell, Judy. Strings Attached. 
11. Bondoux, Anne-Laure. A Time of Miracles. 
12. Booth, Coe. Bronxwood. 
13. Bray, Libba. Beauty Queens.  (Read!)
14. Brezenoff, Steve. Brooklyn, Burning. 
15. Brooks, Martha. Queen of Hearts. 
16. Brown, Jennifer. Bitter End.
17. Bunce, Elizabeth C.  Liar’s Moon. 
18. Caletti, Deb. Stay. 
19. Carson, Rae. The Girl of Fire and Thorns.  (!)
20. Castle, Jennifer. The Beginning of After. 
21. Chayil, Eishes. Hush. 
22. Chow, Cara. Bitter Melon.
23. Clement-Moore, Rosemary. Texas Gothic.  (!)
24. Cohen, Joshua C. Leverage. 
25. Cooper, Michelle. The FitzOsbornes in Exile. 
26. Cross, Gillian. Where I Belong. 
27. de la Pena, Matt. I Will Save You. 
28. Dessen, Sarah. What Happened to Goodbye.  (!)
29. DeStafano, Lauren. Wither.  (Read!)
30. Deuker, Carl. Payback Time. 
31. Dixon, Heather. Entwined. 
32. Dowell, Frances O'Roark. Ten Miles Past Normal. 
33. Downham, Jenny. You Against Me.
34. Edwardson, Debby Dahl. My Name is Not Easy. 
35. Fisher, Catherine. The Dark City.
36. Forman, Gayle. Where She Went.  (Read!)
37. Freitas, Donna. The Survival Kit. 
38. Friesner, Esther. Threads and Flames.
39. Gantos, Jack. Dead End in Norvelt.
40. Gier, Kerstin. Ruby Red.  (!)
41. Goldberg Sloan, Holly. I’ll Be There.  (Read!)
42. Goodman, Shawn. Something Like Hope.
43. Handler, Daniel; Why We Broke Up. 
44. Hautman, Pete. The Big Crunch.
45. Herback, Geoff. Stupid Fast. 
46. Johnson, Maureen. The Last Little Blue Envelope. 
47. Johnson, Maureen. The Name of the Star. 
48. King, A.S.  Everybody Sees the Ants. 
49. Kirby, Matthew J. Icefall.
50. Kittredge, Caitlin.  The Iron Thorn.  (Read!)
51. Knowles, Jo.  Pearl.  
52. Leavitt, Lindsey. Sean Griswold’s Head.
53. Lo, Malinda. Huntress.  (!)
54. Lu, Marie. Legend.  (!)
55. Marchetta, Melina. The Piper’s Son.
56. Marcus, Kimberly. Exposed. 
57. Martinez, Jessica. Virtuosity. 
58. McCall, Guadalupe Garcia. Under the Mesquite.
59. McMann, Lisa. Cryer's Cross.  (!)
60. Meloy, Maile. The Apothecary. 
61. Mullin, Mike. Ashfall.  (Read!)
62. Myracle, Lauren. Shine. 
63. Nelson, Blake.  Recovery Road. 
64. Ness, Patrick.  A Monster Calls. 
65. Neumeier, Rachel. The Floating Islands. 
66. O’Brien, Caragh. Prized. 
67. O’Neal, Eilis. The False Princess. 
68. Ockler, Sarah. Fixing Delilah.  (!)
69. Okorafor, Nnedi.  Akata Witch. 
70. Oliver, Lauren. Delirium.  (!)
71. Oppel, Kenneth.  This Dark Endeavor: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein.
72. Ostlere, Cathy.  Karma, A Novel in Verse. 
73. Perera, Anna. Guantanamo Boy.
74. Pérez, Ashley Hope. What Can(t) Wait. 
75. Perkins, Stephanie. Anna and the French Kiss.  (Read!)
76. Perkins, Stephanie. Lola and the Boy Next Door.  (!)
77. Porter, Tracey. Lark.
78. Powers, J. L. The Thing Called the Future. 
79. Price, Charlie. Desert Angel. 
80. Riggs, Ransom. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. 
81. Reedy, Trent. Words in the Dust. 
82. Reeve, Philip.  A Web of Air. 
83. Resau, Laura & Maria Virginia Farinango.  Queen of Water. 
84. Riordan, Rick. The Lost Hero. 
85. Roth, Veronica. Divergent.  (!)
86. Sales, Leila. Past Perfect. 
87. Schmidt, Gary. Okay for Now. 
88. Sedgwick, Marcus. White Crow.  (!)
89. Selznick, Brian. Wonderstruck. 
90. Sepetys, Ruta. Between Shades of Gray. 
91. Sharenow, Robert. The Berlin Boxing Club.  (Read!)
92. Silvey, Craig. Jasper Jones. 
93. Smith, Andrew. Stick.
94. Stiefvater, Maggie. The Scorpio Races.  (Read!)
95. Taylor, Laini. Daughter of Smoke and Bone.  (Read!)
96. Thompson, Holly. Orchards. 
97. Valente, Catherynne M. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making. 
98. Van Allsberg, Chris, ed. The Chronicles of Harris Burdick: Fourteen Amazing Authors Tell the Tales. 
99. Van Draanen, Wendelin. The Running Dream. 
100. Venkatraman, Padma. Island’s End. 
101. Vernick, Shirley Reva. The Blood Lie. 
102. Wallace, Jason. Out of Shadows.
103. Warman, Jessica. Between. 
104. Whaley, John Corey. Where Things Come Back. 
105. Williams Carol Lynch. Miles from Ordinary. 
106. Williams, Michael. Now is the Time for Running. 
107. Wolf, Allan. The Watch that Ends the Night: Voices from the Titanic. 
108. Wynne-Jones, Tim. Blink and Caution. 
109. Yee, Lisa. Warp Speed. 
110. Young, Moira. Blood Red Road.  (Read!)
111. Yovanoff, Brenna. The Space Between.
112. Zarr, Sara. How to Save a Life.

So, I've only read 12 books and own 15 books that I have yet to read... and I haven't even heard a fourth of the titles on the list... Some bookworm I am. :P

Graphic Novel Review: Courtney Crumrin and The Night Things (Courtney Crumrin #1) by Ted Naifeh

Title: Courtney Crumrin and The Night Things (Courtney Crumrin #1)
Author: Ted Naifeh
Pages: 128
Publication: May 28, 2003
Publisher: Oni Press
Summary taken from goodreads:

Presenting the initial Courtney Crumrin miniseries in a new digest-sized format. Courtney's parents have dragged her out to a high-to-do suburb to live with her creepy Great Uncle Aloysius in his spooky old house. She's not only the new kid in school, but she also discovers strange things lurking under her bed.

2 STARS - IT WAS OKAY

MY REVIEW:

Eh.

The plot was meh (pretty predictable). The characters were meh (although I actually liked the parents since they were so self-absorbed in trying to fit in with the rest of gentry that it was both amusing and pathetic to read about).

The art was decent. However, I had a big issue with Courtney's face. While everyone else's faces were relatively normal looking with chins and whatnot, Courtney's face was basically a rounded blob that sometimes was more square-ish with rounded edges, and what really bothered me was that she had NO NOSE.

All of the characters had noses; even the the monsters had noses. Why can't Courtney have a nose? (I can't believe I even have to ask a question like that.) Is this suppose to be an obvious sign that she's abnormal? Because she behaves like a pretty normal teenager considering her upbringing and situation.

Yeah... this is probably best to read only if you're younger and more easily amused by a "spunky kid" living in an odd house.

Dusty Reads: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks

Dusty Reads is a weekly post featuring a book that has been sitting unread on my home shelf for some time.

Title: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
Author: Max Brooks
Pages: 342
Publication: September 12, 2006
Publisher: Crown
Summary taken from goodreads:

Soon to be a major motion picture! 

The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time.World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years. 

Ranging from the now infamous village of New Dachang in the United Federation of China, where the epidemiological trail began with the twelve-year-old Patient Zero, to the unnamed northern forests where untold numbers sought a terrible and temporary refuge in the cold, to the United States of Southern Africa, where the Redeker Plan provided hope for humanity at an unspeakable price, to the west-of-the-Rockies redoubt where the North American tide finally started to turn, this invaluable chronicle reflects the full scope and duration of the Zombie War.

Most of all, the book captures with haunting immediacy the human dimension of this epochal event. Facing the often raw and vivid nature of these personal accounts requires a degree of courage on the part of the reader, but the effort is invaluable because, as Mr. Brooks says in his introduction, “By excluding the human factor, aren't we risking the kind of personal detachment from history that may, heaven forbid, lead us one day to repeat it? And in the end, isn’t the human factor the only true difference between us and the enemy we now refer to as ‘the living dead’?” 

Note: Some of the numerical and factual material contained in this edition was previously published under the auspices of the United Nations Postwar Commission.

Another book soon turning into a movie that I would like to read before its release. :)

Also, I bought this book during a time when I was really interested in reading zombie books, and I only ended up reading one or two books about zombies. -__-" Either way, I heard only great things about this book, so I still would like to find some time to read it.

Monomaniac

I learned a new word from reading Crime and Punishment the other day: monomaniac. It basically means an obsessive interest in a single thing, idea, subject, etc.

After reading the definition on my kindle, I immediately thought about my book buying obsession, lol. It's not that bad, but I'm still buying a lot more books than I ever have, which, admittedly isn't that much since I only started getting really into books the past few years. But still, my bank account is constantly dropping because of my obsession. -__-"

Nevertheless, I don't think I'm a monomaniac just yet, lol. I'm not obsessed with buying all of the books that I want to read or else I'd probably end up in debt; I just buy multitudes of books when they're on sale or there's a good deal going on. :P

Anyway, I'm still sticking to my rule of reading a stack of books before buying anymore, so definitely don't think that my book buying habit is that bad, but I might have slightly broken the rule since I bought a few ebooks on my kindle. But they were all free, so I can justify my buys! ...right? Lol, I'm not going to count that as against my book buying ban since I didn't spend any money on them. 

What sucks is that I'm not allowing myself to read anything but Crime and Punishment until I either finish reading the book or until I'm near the end of it since I have a test in two weeks and I can't seem to find any time to read the book at all. Plus, I have other stuff that I have to do with the book by that time, too. 

So, I need to go finish my Calc homework and then start reading the book. I'm still only on chapter three. ;__;

Later...

pointy.star

In My Mailbox (49)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren. 

Bought:

Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally

Fracture by Megan Miranda

Netgalley:

Emerald City by Alicia K. Leppert

Croak by Gina Damico

The Girl Who Owned a City by O. T. Nelson

Erebos by Ursula Poznanski

Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown

The Stuttering Tattoo by Greg Logsted

Book Review: Across the Universe (Across the Universe #1) by Beth Revis

Title: Across the Universe (Across the Universe #1)
Author: Beth Revis
Pages: 398
Publication: January 11, 2011
Pubisher: Razorbill
Summary taken from goodreads:

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules. 

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone - one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship - tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next. 

Now, Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

3 STARS - I LIKED IT ENOUGH

MY REVIEW:

I can see why people raved about this book so much when it first came out. The constant twists and turns were almost as fun as a rollercoaster and the writing was very well done. While the pacing was pretty slow in the beginning, the writing itself was engaging, which helped amp up the suspense once the murders started.

However, even with the unraveling of the mysteries and lies, I still couldn't bring myself to care about the story much. My initial suspicions and guesses turned out to be true; they were pretty obvious, really. Although there were some unexpected secrets revealed, it do much of a difference to my opinion and sympathy towards the characters.

I didn't really connect with the characters much. Amy irritated me half of the time since she only looked at the past and only thought of her dad. I understand that I wouldn't want to be in her situation where everyone thought that she was liar, but I wouldn't spend most of my time wallowing in angst and constantly saying that I have to protect my parents and never actually doing anything about it.

Elder was pretty okay. He was always trying to figure out how he would be a great leader when it would be his turn in the future. That is, when he was so preoccupied with his with Amy and his "love" for her. I don't like how he had the whole "love at first sight" cliche. It didn't really seem all that believable.

While the book raises some interesting moral questions, I'm still not sure if I want to buy the sequel when it comes out.

PIPA & SOPA & How It'll Affect You

I'm not going to try to paraphrase everything that I learned just yesterday; that's just too much work when there are plenty of videos and articles out there that can explain it for me instead. Besides, they're what I went to when I wanted to understand what's been happening.

Basically, PIPA stands for Protection IP Act, which was first introduced to the Senate on May 12, 2011, and SOPA stands for Stop Online Piracy Act, which was first introduced to the House of Representatives on October 26, 2011. And it all boils down to government censorship.

Here's 1stwebdesigner's descriptions of what the acts do:

PIPA, if passed, will give  U.S. corporations and the government the right to seek affirmative legal action with any website that they see as enabling copyright infringement whether of U.S. origin or not. Here is a breakdown of all that they will have the power to do.

• Force U.S. internet providers to block access to websites deemed as enablers of copyright infringement

• Seek legal action by suing search engines, blog sites, directories, or any site in general to have the black listed sites removed from their website

• Will be able to force advertising services on infringing websites, and those supporting of them, to remove them from their advertising accounts

• Companies will also have the power to sue any new websites that get started after this bill is passed, if they believe that they are not doing a good job of preventing infringement on your website

SOPA, if passed, will work in conjunction with PIPA. As described by such entities as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, SOPA is nothing more so than the U.S. government and private corporations black list. Here is a breakdown of the power given to the government and private corporations.

• The U.S. Attorney General can now seek a court order that would force search engines, advertisers, DNS providers, servers, and payment processors from having any contact with allegedly infringing websites

• It will allow private corporations to create their own personal hit lists composed of websites they feel are breaking their copyright policies, ironically this doesn’t have any odd feelings of a legal mafia at all. These companies will be able to directly contact a website’s payment processors a notice to cut all off payment involvement with the targeted website. This payment processors and website of question will then have five days to act before it is simply taken down.

• Payment processors will have the power to cut off any website they work with, as long as they can provide a strong reason of why they believe this site is violating copyrights

As this article explains:

The gist of these two acts is this: the government is seeking the ability to shut down access to foreign sites that it determines are "facilitating the commission" of copyright infringement.

Before I go on any further about this, I think this video sums up everything that you basically need to know about SOPA and PIPA and what they'll do and why we must not let it happen. Plus, it's by a British guy, so those 22 minutes listening to him sound amazing. XD

This is the megaupload music video that he's talking about. For an advertisement song, it's actually not that bad. :P

EDIT: Apparently, Megaupload was shut down today. Some say that it was the Department of Justice's response to Wikipedia's shutdown yesterday, and I think I'm agreeing with them...


So here's the music video from youtube instead. 

And here is another, much shorter video that also explains what the acts are about for those of you who don't want to spend so much time listening to an awesome accent. :P Or for those who, you know, like getting facts from more than one person.

And here's a great video with awesome graphics to help explain everything!

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

If you couldn't tell, I'd rather have people explain stuff to me instead of just reading articles and pages of information. It gets quite boring after a while. :P

But, really, what does SOPA do? Well, this article pretty much explains it, and quite thoroughly. If you wanted my explanation, I'd just quote the whole thing, lol.

And there are a lot of protesters. Google and Wikipedia are two of the most famous protesters. Just yesterday, they participated in a blackout with some other well-known websites to show users just what would happen if the bills are passed.

While Google just changed their homepage image to this, linking to a site with a graphic about what was going on, which also included an online petition, Wikipedia, like the many other websites closed everything off except for a page to explain why they were having a blackout.

Over at The Washington Times, Amy Philip's article also provides many reasons why the internet community has banded together to "protest legislation that is bad for the internet, bad for free speech, and will do nothing to stop piracy."

She also brings up an important fact that I would like everyone to know: the people wanting to pass the bills, the Senate and House of Representatives, are old and (although it is not stated in this article, it was stated in the first video in this post, WTF is SOPA ? aka The American Government trying to ruin the internet) have admitted to having no idea what they're talking about.

The second problem is the age of legislators. The average age of a senator is 60 (this is the oldest average age ever) and the average age of a member of the House is 55 (the oldest average age in more than a century. [source]) We are faced with the very real possibility that the age group who uses and understands the internet the least are the people who will be creating laws for the space. Each congressman has earned the right to their seat by a fair election, their ability to be a congressman is not in doubt. Their ability to understand what will happen to the internet if these laws pass is less sure.

Yeah. Exactly. WTF are they doing trying to pass bills when they're not even entirely competent about the subject matter at hand?

And here's one last video that's even shorter and more to the point about SOPA and the unanimous and anonymous opinion of the interwebz. Enjoy.

And that's basically it. I really hope that they won't pass either bills because I'm pretty sure my blog will be taken down within 24 hours after it's passing, along with other huge websites like Google, Facebook, YouTube, etc. 

So, if you agree, help support by calling your senator or signing petitions and spread the word! A lot of people still don't even know what's going on, which is quite sad considering how many people will be affected because of these bills. 

So yeah. Do your part. Educate yourself. Spread the word. 

Help. 

STOP CHANGING COVERS!

You might not know this, but my mom is a neat freak. Actually, it'd be more correct to label her as a clean freak. But they both go hand-in-hand since she likes to have the house spotless and basically look like the house is unlived in. This is excluding my and Shelle's rooms since we actually live in our rooms like normal people. Plus, it's not like I can hide my piles of books anywhere. :P

Nonetheless, about half of the time that she comes into my room, she's always nagging me to clean my room, and you know, my friends tell me that it's actually pretty neat. My mom just has a problem with me have piles of stuff lying around everywhere.

So yeah, I grew up cleaning up after myself so that my mom wouldn't ever get mad and have so many angry rants about what slobs her children are. And because of that, some of her neat/cleanliness has rubbed off on me to a very mild form of OCD, so there are times when I have to have certain things neat and organized. And when I am unable to have them the right way I want them to be, I become a little irked.

For example, I like having the covers of all of the series of books that I own to match with their series. It looks infinitely nicer for all of the covers to match within the series compared to owning mismatched covers for a series. And because of that, I'm really getting irritated with publishers' decisions to change the covers of books midway through the series. Just make up your mind before you publish the books! Why must you change the covers when the series is halfway over already?!

Take the Shade series by Jeri Smith-Ready. Two books have already been released and the third one is going to be out in May this year. And they decide to completely revamp the covers for the series with the publication of Shine, the third book. WHY?! I like the old covers well enough. I don't want to own another series with a girl's face in the covers!

old version/new version

Blood Red Road is the first book of the Dust Land series by Moira Young, which I really enjoyed reading last year. I couldn't wait for it's sequel, but now I'm a little dismayed to find out that the covers for this series was also changing with the release of Rebel Heart, the sequel. I mean, I do like the new covers, but I also liked the old cover! It was a lot different from all of the other YA books being released, and I think it represented the setting of the book more accurately. 

old version/new version

Then there's Lauren Oliver's Delirium series (or is it a trilogy?) which had a cover change after Delirium was made into paperback and with the cover reveal of its sequel, Pandemonium. They were nice enough to sell a special edition hardback version Delirium with its new cover, though. And I have to admit, the new covers do look very pretty... :P

old version/new version

Let's not forget to mention Andrea Cremer's Nightshade series's new covers. Even though I didn't enjoy the first book that much, I really liked the old version's cover, especially compared to the new version's. But I've now grown used to the new covers, so they aren't that bad looking anymore, lol. I think I like Bloodrose's cover the best out of the whole series. 

old version/new version

In addition, there's Nancy Holder and Debbie Vigiue's Crusade series that also had a face-lift with the release of their sequel, Damned. I liked the old version better since it looked more mysterious and intriguing. Plus, the old cover has more appeal to both genders compared to the new one, which (I think) would make boys embarrassed to carry around if they did read it. 

old version/new version

Argh! Why must they always change the covers once they make a sequel?! I don't even know if I want to buy the first book in a series anymore if they're just gonna keep on changing them. I might as well wait until the sequel comes out and buy them both then. But then I wouldn't know if I'd even like the series, so I might have wasted money on the sequel if I didn't like the first book... :\

And, you know, I'm still not through giving examples. There are a couple other series that I can easily think of that have had their covers changed. A more recent series was Cate Tiernan's Immortal Beloved series. I actually like both the old and new covers, although I prefer Darkness Fall's cover to Immortal Beloved's new cover. 

old version/new version

Then there's Daisy Whitney's The Mockingbirds series that recently got a new look with the upcoming release of its sequel, The Rivals, which is coming out next month. I like the new covers, but I think I prefer the old version because I like the color scheme and design better. 

old version/new version

Also, there's Inara Scott's Delacroix Academy series that not only had a cover change, but the first book was also renamed from The Candidates to The Talents. I'm still not sure which title I like better, but I definitely prefer it's original cover compared to it's new cover. 

old version/new version

And last but not least, there's Amy Kathleen Ryan's Sky Chaser series who's first book, Glow, will be getting a new look for its paperback release later this year, which will match Spark, it's sequel's new look. I liked Glow's old cover, but I think I like the new covers better since they look more different. The light colors give it more of a refreshing look that definitely appeals to me even though the summary makes it seem pretty dark and mysterious, lol. 

old version/new version

I realized something while typing this post, the companies changed the old, more abstract/not-showing-faces covers for covers that do show at least a person's face. Why do that? There are so many books that have faces on them that they're starting to blur together. At least the abstract covers will stand out better. Plus, I don't know about you, but I don't particularly want to go out into public reading a book with an embarrassing face on the front like Shine. :P 

There's just something about a cover with a girl's face on it that somehow makes it look extremely girly and not serious, which usually detracts people from finding out the awesomeness lying within its pages. 

Whew! Super long rant is over. 

You may resume your regular programs now. :P

pointy.star