What I'm Reading

NEWS FLASH, just in! I don't just read books *gasp*.  You can probably guess that like a lot of people I read a combination of my different forms and mediums. Let me run you through an example, like this week.

Books- I do read them
This week I finished The Queen of Tearling by Erika Johansen after a lady at the bookstore recommended it. I couldn't resist a classic YA, but it had some abrasive edges about it that were ehh. I've got the sequel The Invasion of the Tearling on my TBR, but first I'm reading NeuroTribes. It's a medical case history and cultural analysis of learning disabilities especially autism and how that plays into diversity theories in evolution. I've got a pretty varied reading list and like to jump around a lot most of the time. The one thing that is in the way a lot is required reading in English class. Thankfully, it's been mostly short stories lately, so simply easy breezy items. I find that there are some weeks I can't let go of my books, while there are other I could do without them. I do most of my reading during the day waiting for other people or on my commute to school.

Newsletters
In the morning I like to get a low down on what is happening in the world, which the New York Times Morning Briefing does a pretty good job on. The news is basic and written in easy, couple sentence bullet points. The Skimm is my other morning newsletter, but this one has a more conversational tone and more culture news than the New York Times. It helps create a good balance between the two. Ann Friedman Newsletter is perhaps my favorite one. It's a roundup of what one of my most respected journalist/podcast host is reading this week and it's a good feminist weekly update. Usually on Fridays I open a bunch of tabs from the newsletter and spend the weekend going through it. The Phillipian Newsletter is a set of articles from one of the most prolific student newspapers in the US. It's only a few articles, but they are fresh and add a dose of real-life-teen to my reading.

Magazines
I adore the sciences, so when I can I try to read Nature-- one of the most respected science journals. I either read online or a magazine. The articles are nice and clean, but the studies are a little dry and do require a level of concentration. Perhaps the publication that fascinates me the most is The New Yorker. I don't have a subscription, yet try to read the parts I love the most at my school library. The pages long articles are so well researched, selected, and eloquent, especially with all their grammatical quirks.

Bookish Places

I've done some traveling and I always try to find a connection to books sometimes. Maybe it's as little as a bookshop or small museum. These are some of my two favorite places I've found.

The Rosenbach Museum

The Rosenbach Museum is a house full of antiques and books-- in other words a place full of history. The organization was set up by two brothers in their will, they were both dealers of antiques and rare books. Their house was cultivated by them during their lifetime as they served the rich families of America. The museum has a beautiful library pungent with the smell of books. It houses the handwritten manuscript of Ulysses by James Joyce and letters from the Founding Fathers of the USA.

The antiques breathe of the stories of two men who found old ta;es the most intriguing. I try to comprehend the luxury they enjoyed with delicate leaves of books and wood from Orient. Seeing miles of books waiting to be conversed with breaks my heart, they are from the first century of printing to first editions to some of the great pieces of literature. The Rosenbach is the spirit of my inner historical object lover.

The New York Public Library Main Branch

This is the library branch of DREAMS. When I envision a classical library filled with study tables and lines and stacks of books of knowledge this is it. I lived in New York when I was younger and would sometimes drag my parents there just soak up the ambiance of the place, even if I couldn't understand any of the books. The intimidating building makes it have an old world feel of how the building speaks, an old grandfather passing down wisdom.

Even then looking through the building there are small references I would notice. Sometimes the statues are standing in reference in front of a room. These rooms sometimes house special collections likes maps. I would want anybody who stops by in New York to just take a walk through the halls to experience the majesty of how a library once was supposed to be.

What are some of your favorite bookish places?

Poetry//The Hours

More poetry from me! Perhaps it is the stillness of the night that is inspiring me. Well, anyways, this is a follow-up to this post. The theme of the poem is more to do with time, hence the photo of a clock. I'm undecided as whether or not this will be a long running theme, but who knows (maybe you should leave a comment helping me decide).

Time is gone
Like another cycle of an endless circle
Less time for stacks of pages
More time for senseless media
What a waste?
At least that is what they yell
Just seclusion
Sounds pleasant
Me and me alone
In a quiet, quiet place
Tonight
Leave alone
More duties to uphold
A senseless media to run
Ink to be gobbled
And typed about
What happened to those typewriters?
With stress reducing clicks
Not anxiety producing taps
Which monitor words per minute
All alone in a quiet room

Traveling//Paris

A view from a friend's hotel room

Recently I went to Paris (the one in France not Ontario). It was fun a little trip though I must say the time I spent reading on the trip was pitiful except on the plane. Here are some of the pictures and experiences I had.

In each city there is a designated center for all map quest/direction finders. The center is what automatically is pinpointed when one types "City Name" in the search bar. This is the point in Paris right outside of Notre Dame. There is also a cool sun in the middle-- so why not?

Catacombs

 There are miles upon miles of bones underneath the city of Paris. These bones were excavated from the Cemetery of the Innocents back in the 1700s because of the overflowing number of bones. The Catacombs were the solution and have been a tourist attraction for hundreds of years. It was not as creepy as I thought it would be, but leaves a somber mood. I also first heard of the Catacombs from the series The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott.

Owl from Louvre

Of course I went to the Louvre, since it would be a sin not to, but I found the Mona Lisa way too overcrowded and not cut up for what it is. This is a simple owl that I found cool representing Athena the Greek god of wisdom. The owl reminds me of Jonathan Adler animal sculptures with the simple lines. 

Paris Airshow

I went to the Paris Airshow to see what all the hubbub was about during a public day and it was quite cool. I don't understand all the technicalities, but the design portion was intriguing because it is easily understood also I've been on many planes and some are more comfortable than others. The plane here is a Rafale-- a new French fighter which is a beautiful plane for how it can't slow down and turn with ease. I loved the many uses of the Rafale which is an all purpose military plane.

Versailles Gardens

The gardens of Versailles are pruned to perfection. The amount of work that has been put into it is astonishing, just showing the extravagance of the French Court. I accidentally walked out of the gardens and found myself stuck outside since I didn't have my ticket and ended up having to walk along the street outside the park back to the main palace where I met my parents. Make sure when going to the garden you realize people 6-18 have to pay for the gardens but not for the palace (they accidentally let me through by accident). The small space open to the public in the palace is astonishing for the opulence just as the gardens feel like a rich woman's dream.

Nicholas Flamel's house

This is another place from the The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel books. Nicholas Flamel's old house is now a restaurant, built upon the ruins of his old house. Ther is a warm glow from inside the restaurant though we didn't get to eat there. There is also a street called Rue de Nicholas Flamel not far away. Even if you don't eat at the restaurant it's a fun little walk.

Overall a wonderful, fun trip that makes me want to learn French all the much more and fall in love with the richness of the French way of life and history.

Why I Love My Library

The greatest treasure of public institutions is the library. The library is a multi-faceted place for private public congregation. My first introduction to the public library system, I remember, is probably the time in pre-k when my class took a trip to the local branch. There we picked up our first library cards and got to explore the little, dreary branch. It was there I got to see the pitfalls of public funding first hand while still fill my craving for books. Later on we moved and I wasn't allowed to go the local library due to issues with safety; during that time almost every weekend my father and I would go to a bookstore and sit there for hours to read. Each time we left I was pained with the experience of not being able buy each book I was reading. Since then at least every week I've gone to my local  branch and fell head over heels for everything about my local library.

 Location, Location, Location

The library I frequent is right on a small lake which it faces. Often times I get to see sailboats pass by and nice houses on the other side which makes the atmosphere quite tranquil. It is also right in town making the library centrally located and convenient if there are other errands I need to run. The library building is also eco-friendly being accredited by LEED and is quite new giving it a clean, modern feel.

Programs

Despite there being a current trend of library defunding in the United States my current library has quite the breadth of things to offer. Recently a maker lab was opened up with access to objects like podcast equipment, sewing machines, and Minecraft specific computer (yes, there are people who come with their friends to solely play Minecraft). For younger kids there are also literacy programs and cute play sets to entertain them.  However for teens-- an often neglected group of children there is a specific section of the library dedicated to YA, teen club, and special volunteer program for teens. They even manage to have age targeted summer reading programs.

Books
There are FREE books! What is not to love about it? Book stores are hard to get to from where I live right now while the library is within walking distance. My library is also great at buying books that they don't have and have a huge shared collection in their district. The library is what funds my book addiction since I also have this habit of not reading books I buy right away because I figure I'll keep them forever while library books have a due date

It's also great to meet fellow booklovers and librarians who are so passionate about public service and books. Thank you to all the people who support libraries around the world.

Books//Poetry

I'm a poet (that sounds odd rolling off my tongue). I felt inspired to blog for the first time in a long time, so here is something different.

Leaves of pages

Ink done

Type set

A smell only when aged

Death by water

Ancient knowledge conceded by internet

Still holding

By the jacket sleeves

Reserved for us

A select many

The literate

Once an elite

Now a commoner

Still waning

But not conceding

This love will be mine

No matter how far-fetched

Thou shall not depart from me

If done

Crumbling ash shall be my name

For once hold still

As I hold on

To world not real

A life not my own

But a dream and wish

Rendered never

But who shall

Leave me and you in the raven night

With a light

And a comforter

To spill secrets

From an editor’s computer

To my small hands

What are Feels?

I hear the term “all the feels” around the internet, slang, and text message.  If we follow Urban Dictionary, then feels is short for feelings— to evoke an emotional response. Yet almost always we hear feels refer to the pop culture phenomena.  Are they the shivers when you feel the income of a romantic relationship in books? The danger of dragons prowling around in The Hobbit movies? Or, maybe, the face palm when I know the character will do something stupid?

In context, I must come up with the definition of emotion, but hold on a minute don’t emotions equal feelings. I’ll concede to the Oxford Online Dictionary’s definition of emotion meaning “natural instinctive state of mind deriving from one’s circumstances, mood, or relationships with others”, but the dictionary gets even more exact by saying “instinctive or intuitive feeling as distinguished from reasoning or knowledge.”  I would even hesitate that emotions are completely different from reasoning or logic and that we don’t need justification from our situation. The emotions we feel towards pop culture are simply the state our body automatically wants to put us.

So, does our body enjoy these shivering and nailbiting sessions we are forced into? I ponder this question about whether or not what I feel while reading a book is legitimate, after all they are caused by an inanimate objects that are portraying an animate people. These “emotions” are being caused by objects that have no business being a part of my cornered little part of the world. Yet still I like having these complicated parts of my life even further stretched by the fact of imaginary worlds causing turmoil in my stomach. I must point out however that the physical symptoms of these feelings are not imaginary— the butterflies are real.

In a culture dominated by teenage girls, myself included, the book blogging world even has some blogs that have spate ratings based upon feels. I look at those ratings as knee jerk reactions to the book— probably the best reactions to base a popular book rating on. Most of my reviews are based upon the book and what my initial reaction to book is. I don’t like the overdone synthesis of worldbuilding, plot, and character development that is often done in reviews. My own emotions, the portrayal of the problem in a complex way, and how the character becomes more mature is how I define a book.

In the end feels are not only the great buildup of pent up sighing and crying at the end of a book intensified by adolescent hormones, but rather also a process connecting with a book. With all the turmoil of teenagedhood I connect because of the feel. When I’m not necessarily good with people I can have real relationships with characters. The characters demand things of me— happiness, sadness, anger, nervousness, all part of a human experience that catch me from being emotionless.

Meet the Book Blogger//Check-in

Instead of doing a specialized post for this tag I decided that I would do a simple check in. This is just to give a glimpse into my non-bookish life (I'm surprised I have one).

Listening to: Crazy by Kat Dahlia [Itunes]

Crazy just has these amazing vocals of making it seem like a diary entry rather than a scripted song written by a person at a desk. There's also this easy undertone without Crazy getting too harsh; it's just these simple guitar chords and varied percussion . It's not only the instruments, but Kat Dahlia seems to be made for this song with her voice that has been smoothed by a stream, but still has the roughness of  passion. 

Podcasting to: Call Your Girlfriend [Podcast Website]

Call Your Girlfriend fits its description well with being the home of my new best friends. Hearing Anne Friedman plus Aminatou Sow seems to give me a gift all wrapped up every other week. As a person who severely lacks female friends, this podcast makes my day. It's random, it's life, it's all the stuff I don't get elsewhere.

Watching: The Imitation Game [Movie Website]

Benedict Cumberbatch... brilliant mathematician.... sad endings... spies where has this movie been all my life?!? I simply adore this British biopics. Sure the movie probably wasn't entirely historically accurate, but it was beautifully put together in how it showed the social difficulties for Alan Turing and the exasperation of the Enigma-cracking team.

Reading: Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin [Goodreads]

I'm going to clear this up first-- this book is for extra-credit for history, not pleasure reading.  I'm ashamed to say that it has taken me forever to get through this book because of the sheer info dump and soul-crushing length of this book. Hopefully, I'll finish it before the world ends.

Tag//Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award

Rules:

1. Thank the book blogger who nominated you and link back to their site.

2. Post the award logo on your blog.

3. Answer the 10 questions you've been asked.

4. Nominate bloggers.

5. Set 10 new questions for you nominees.

Thanks Anne for nominating me. 

My questions:

1)    When and why did you start your blog?

I started my blog in October 2013 (you can read my blogoversary post here). It was started because I had always wanted a book blog and I was depressed because I had no social life over Halloween.

2)    How often do you write posts?

I write posts whenever I can really. Usually in the afternoon or weekends, I really don’t have a schedule— in summary very unorthodox.

3)    How many books do you own in total?

Don’t want to count because the number would be embarrsingly low for a book blogger. I often feel guilty but I go to the library a lot. Also the closest book stores that carry current YA books are mile out and you need a car to get to them and my family can’t afford my reading habit (oh dear it sounds like I’m on drugs).

4)    Have you ever been in a reading slump? And how do you got out of it?

The past four months I’ve been in a terrible reading slump in terms of published books. I got out of it, scratch that, I’m still getting out of it. Right now I’m just focusing on the greatness of books and YA community to get myself out of it.

5)    If you could only own 10 books which were these?

How about the book called The Books of the Entire Universe? Yeah, I’ll own ten volumes of that.

6)    What do you do if you don't know how to explain your feelings about a book?

I don’t review it or just gush out my uncontrollable/uncomprehendable feels about the books to my friends who know to ignore me.

7)    Is there any possibility you would stop blogging and why?

I probably won’t stop blogging (you can stop holding your breath) but I could see myself stop blogging if other things in my life really need my attention like if I became a world class athlete or an aggravating family situation.

8)    Did you become friends with people over blogging?

Yep, some great people including the people who I’m nominating, the person who nominated me, and some other people.

9)    Which books do you really want to read in 2015?

BOOOKS. I don’t have a lot of specifics that I’m looking forward to in 2015 since I didn’t read a lot of first-starters-of-a-series in 2014 and a lot of series ended in 2014. I plan on winging all of it. But The Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard looks fun and deadly.

10) Any reading goals this year?

            To read for pleasure versus reading because I feel pressured to read “that” book.

My Questions:

1.    Which author would you want to be stuck on an abandoned island with?

2.    Who was your first blogging friend and how did you become friends?

3.    Book that you are currently reading.

4.    Opinions on Goodreads (if you use it).

5.    When do you read the most?

6.    How do you write your posts?

7.    Write a random statement that pops into your mind.

8.    Any really big reading goals you have passed recently?

9.    Favorite place to read.

10.  Library, bookshop, or other and why?

I Tag:

Jack @ A Note from theMargin

Summer @ Miss Fictional

Holly @ Lost in a Library

Hawwa @ It Was Lovely Reading You

Charli @ To Another World

& Anyone Who Wants to Join In

Book Club//December: A Christmas Carol

Another really cool week passed with book club where we read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Basically the story centers around Ebeneezer Scrooge haunted by his old business partner and ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. Some of the off topic things we discussed [WARNING SPOILERS]:

• A character change as dramatic as Scrooge's is often for the worse, and is often not something that keeps for the rest of their life. However, life changing models like this sometimes have profound impacts.
• The ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future are a lot more creepy than we would actually think. The lockboxes on Marley were nice touch of symbolism.
• Tiny Tim isn't as central a figure as we thought he was going to be (thank you to the Disney movie).

Book club was really fund because we also got to watch the movie of it later at a friend's house. There was pizza, blankets, and cinnamon rolls. Overall just a fun atmosphere.

//Amelia

Resolutions//Goals

Resolutions are tricky business because they are always some unfulfilled goals; that is why I tend to shy away from them. They seem to be things only adults do at some cliche party. I prefer to call them goals, things that I might actually try to go for knowing that I want accomplish them. These goals are going to be for myself instead of trying to make myself a more popular blogger.

1. Just read more for myself. I should read books that make myself fall back in love with reading YA. I was enchanted by YA and I have to go back to being enchanted. 

2. Understand that blogging is an individual pursuit and not something to be ashamed about. That my blog can be anything for which I want it. It's my project and hobby not somebody else's.

3. Try to get some ARCs. I know that I will not get every ARC I request for, but I have to stop being shy when I know I want share my views on some books I'm really excited for.

4. Read and immerse myself in the book blogging culture because there are just so many nice people here like Ruby, Amber, Jack, Anne, Summer, Kelly, Holly, and Charli. 

See you guys a little later in the year with a midyear check up. 

//Amelia

Morals

This is simply a post about morals. Nothing exciting or earthshattering, but I wanted to make my blog a little more diverse than just books. Maybe I’ll do a couple more posts like this, maybe I won’t. Let’s wait and see. (Inspiration of this book came from a response about Dear Killer by Katherine Ewell)

Morals are tricky… they aren’t universally agreed upon. We can see that from the many different people, religions, countries, and institutions who all don’t agree. It seems that we live in a world where you are expected to know right from wrong without a universally agreed upon right or wrong.

Sure, there are the standard laws that must people agree on— don’t kill, don’t steal, be nice, don’t physically hurt someone… but what about those tricky/controversial issues? The separation of church/religion and state, gay marriage, abortion, immigration, these all seem so inherent that we can’t talk about it.

The world seems divided now, there are political parties that refute everything, there are religious organizations that refute two or three but somewhere along the line contradict themselves. It seems to me that everyone is trying to put everything into a white or black box of right or wrong. Recently in class our teacher asked us if we thought there was a gray area. I immediately think “Well, of course there is.” Our teacher goes on to say that rather than there being a gray area most of the time it us deceiving ourselves with thinking we are doing something gray rather than doing something wrong.

But I think otherwise. Picking up your own trash rather than picking up both yours and your friends isn’t wrong because you are pulling your own weight. My teacher comes back with the point that don’t we all live in the same world. You have to come to the conclusion then that you have a different sense of right and wrong. The gooey, icky stuff is morality— a long debated tradition of war and head turning.

Morals are defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “A person’s standards of behavior or beliefs concerning what is and is not acceptable for them to do.” Notes how it says “a person’s” not teacher, religion, nation, or school— morals are self-determined yet we are always so scared to say otherwise, something against our environmentally imposed morals.

So in the end, this was just an editorial about morals. A little exploration into my brain about how I think right and wrong is often characterized by the world around us, at least me anyways. I know my “morals” are somewhat different than my parents’, teachers’, and school’s. I know some of my friends would question me if I expressed my morals. I know I have morals for how I think other people’s morals should be structured, but what in the end does any of this mean? Morals, are simply there, not to be regarded for public critique, but rather a private issue, one shunned in polite conversation. 

Meet the Blogger//Things That Bother My Inner Reader

A continuation of my feature "Meet the Blogger" where my readers get to meet me. This is a list of things that annoy me when other people commit book-related crimes. These crimes are things that would be outlawed if us, bibliophiles, ruled the world... just wait till we do. We will become a reckoning (haha Ruin and Rising parapphrase).

Creatures of the Night Tag

I wanted to do a sci-fi/fantasy tag for Sci-fi November and then Anne @ Anne Books tagged me to do the Creatures of the Night tag, originally created by Katytastic  on Youtube.

Vampire

Confession Time: I’ve read a bunch of vamp books when I was younger (11-12). I honestly don’t know why I read them, rereading most of them I find that the plot and writing are not to be desired. I usually try to keep those books away from reviews on my blog in case of judgment. The most notable series with vampires would be the Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer and Vampire Dairies by Richelle Meade.

Werewolf

I’ve never really read a book focused solely on werewolves. Most likely the most memorable one is once again the Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer or Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare.

Zombie

Nope… zombies bring back too many memories of the Plants vs Zombie app. That game just ruined my perception of zombies.

Ghost

Ghosts… off the top of my mind the one that comes to me is the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. I simply adored Headless Nick and Rowena Ravenclaw. Ghosts are dead, so I’m not particularly drawn to them.

Witch/Warlock/Spellcaster

Here is the essence of fantasy the witches, warlocks, wizards, and spellcasters. My favorite is Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling. The classic portrayal is still what comes to mind first when I think of witches and wizards.

Fairy/Fae

————————————————————————————————————— ——————————— (blanking out)

Demon

My only books with demons in it are The Infernal Devices and The Mortal Instruments, both by Cassandra Clare. (same I have to agree with Anne)

Angel

The books I remember that feature angels most prominently is Hush, Hush by Becca Fritzpatrick, Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor, Embrace by Jessica Shirvington, and Hidden by Marianne Curley (my favorite one based in Australia).

Alien

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout (review here)! Great, amazing, phenomenal book series with aliens *-* (again have to revert to Anne’s original idea here)

Superpowered Human

Tahereh Mafi’s Shatter Me is the favorite superpowered human is the first sci-fi one I could think of. It is about Juliette who has superstrength and other gifts. After a little more pondering I can think of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs that is featuring Jacob and a slew of other children that are born with gifts like seeing monsters or a fire starting gift.

I tag:

Holly at Lost in a Library

Jack at A Note from the Margin

Hawwa at It Was Lovely Reading You

The Book Club: Graceling

The big news: my school has an 8^th grade book club. How cool is this?! I was dead excited that we get to talk about books over lunch once Friday a month with some great muffins. The past month we read Graceling. The book choice disappointed me a bit since I had previously read the book and detested it.

One of the downsides of blogging is that you hardly ever, if ever, get to have a live discussion about a book. What I love about our book discussion is that we got to talk with my friends over a YA book in a facilitated discussion.

SPOILER ALERT for Graceling

Some points we came up for after all reading Graceling

•          The characters are pretty shallow, but may be developed better throughout the series. You can tell because it is very simple to predict Katsa and Po’s reactions. There was also the classic romance formula of “boy loves; girl has resistance or anger, but gives in at the end.”

•          Romance didn’t exactly help the book, but without there would be no plot otherwise. The romance was also a bit rushed for the fact they had sex the first they kissed.

•          The idea and setting were very original in terms of high fantasy.  Yet, we almost always see jealous kings and several kingdoms.

•          We all wanted to be graced though. I was, of course, the only person grace with killing, though according to the quiz in the book you could be grace with relationship, intellect, fighting, and calming.

•          Bitterblue would’ve been a complex character to know with her trauma and recent events. Without the influence of Katsa and Po we could’ve seen a little more of the girl, and what it was like to save her. (There is a companion book called Bitterblue)

Blogoversary Panel

I'm officially one! Happy blogoversary to myself! I had a live panel (on Google Docs) about eight days ago with Summer and Anne about blogging. To celebrate my blogversary read on:

Amelia: Hey! Would everybody like to introduce themselves? I’m Amelia a 13 year old from YA Bookologists who lives in the US.

Anne: Hey (: I’m Anne from Anne Books, I’m 14 and from Germany.

Summer: Hi! I’m Summer from MissFictional’s World of YA Books, and I’m from the US and 16 years old.

Am: So… I mean how cool is it to be able to a have live panel about book blogging in three different time zones?

An: It’s really amazing! And you two are even from another continent!

S: That is SO cool. Plus, Anne, I love Germany, just wanted to put that out there XD.

An: Haha :D Well. And I would love to visit the US at some point.

Am: I think everyone loves Germany. So how did everyone get into book blogging? I started because I was bored before Halloween.

S: You know when you search up a book, and the Goodreads page comes up? Eventually I made an account on Goodreads, and I noticed that a LOT of people had book blogs, so I was curious and during winter break I created my blog. :)

An: For me it was because I just started watching booktube at the beginning of the year and then through this discovered some book blogs like The Mile Long Bookshelf or Feed Me Books Now. And then I wanted to start myself (: So I did in June. (I think it was June)

Am: I have to say that TMLB and Feed Me Books Now were probably the first book blogs I found.

  

S: Oh! I love their blogs! Especially because they’re teen bloggers

An: Me too! So much inspiration for a newish blogger like me

Am: Out of curiosity how old (blog) is everyone? I’m turning one. It’s a blogoversary celebration.

S: Almost 2 years old in December!

An: About half a year now. Well. I know. Really new.

S: Also, happy blogoversary Amelia!

An: From me as well!

Am:Thanks guys. So Summer, you’re the oldest one here. How do you balance life and book blogging?

S: I feel like in the past month, I’ve been a really crappy blogger in terms of that, but it took me a while to get a hang of the whole balancing reading, blogging, and life. I’ve started to set times for blogging, (on the weekend) and try to read whenever I can (yes, in-school reading is hard but super beneficial). It took time, at least for me, to learn how to balance all three, but it just comes with practice.

An: For me it was hard as well at the beginning because of school but now I just do my routine: Manly pre-writing the post through the app because I can do that wherever I am, then finishing it on the computer and then mostly scheduling it.

S: I do that too (even though the app kind of sucks sometimes)! Just doing a few paragraphs on a car ride or whenever you’re free really adds up.

An: Yes. Or when I’m waiting for my friend before school :D e.g. I just wrote 4 reviews on Thursday and scheduled them all like the Star-crossed one which was published today.

S: Oooh, the scheduling feature is every blogger’s best friend.

An: Yup. You can SO say that.

S: But sometimes, if I’m feeling a blogging/reading slump, it’s kind of hard to muster up the motivation to write a post. I don’t know if you’ve felt it yet, but it’s a bit difficult to overcome. That’s why I downloaded the app-- so it doesn’t feel like a chore if I want to jot a few sentences down instead of stressing about writing an entire post all at once.

An: Yes I knew that once in my summer holidays. I read so many books but because why ever wasn’t able to just turn on the computer and write a review… So there went the app!

Am: Don’t get me started on slumps. But I prefer to write a couple of words when reading the books then expanding later in a post.

An: That’s great when you’re able to write while you’re reading but I’m so unable of doing this. Don’t know why… Probably because I would be forced to put the book down :D

Am: I do it just before reading or when I’m taking notes or checking twitter and just a write a word or two. Summer what do you do? Why do you all like book blogging?

S: I usually open up a word document and basically rant (especially if the book was extremely bad or amazing.)

Am: Word for the win!

An: To be honest? I don’t have an answer to this.. But I think it’s because of like everyone else’s answer: To share my love for books to the world and to get to know people who are fascinated by books like I am and share my opinions on books and bookish stuff to the community.

Am: I do it for the fact that I always wanted to be able to make my “mark” on the internet. I liked books and it was a way to convey my passion.

S: I think it’s because whenever I would want to discuss a book with one of my friends, they wouldn’t really be interested, even if they liked reading. You know that feeling when you just have to let your opinion out on something? Yeah, that’s what drove me to create a personal blog.

Am: I’ve found that everyone in the blogging world is very opinionated and that we all respect those opinions. Many of us are people sitting behinds books and laptops that come from normal households/families. Most of my friends don’t read a lot or much YA.

An: Summer I so know that. Most of my friends read books I recommended to them but when I finished them: Nobody even knew about that book because of Germany -.- And even I dragged my friends to read in English!

Am: Anne, you are phenomenal at English to be able to read and write at the level of blogging and reading YA. Do most of us hide our blogging? I know I do because only a few close friends know that I run a blog.

S: Yes, Anne, your English is perfect! Amelia, I think my family and some friends know about my blog now, but at first, it was a complete secret (only my mom knew). But one day I was at my cousins’ house and they Googled my name, and my blog came up. So that was an embarrassing day for me. XD honestly have no idea how my friends found out, they even found my blog’s Twitter account somehow. >.> <.<

An: Really? Thanks :* I know my family and friends say that I’m good at it but they are Germans.. So yeah :D And to the hiding thing: Yes. I think now after half a year of blogging only about one close friend knows it because I send her some time a link to one review because she was at the time reading this book (: And to be honest I don’t know how I should say them I have Anne Books…

Am: I mentioned it off hand to my friends and they just took in stride with what I did in my free time (though no free time exists).

S: My mom is bit annoyed that I have an online presence, but according to her it’s good on college apps so ;)

An: Well that’s great Summer! I don’t know if it’s something good for in Germany ._. (how much I hate it sometimes..)

S: Youshould come to America for college!

Am:College application- blogging is good experience in terms of responsibility,deadlines, and figuring weirder stuff out (coughs- html).

S: I agree. Just the fact that you’re so dedicated and that you write so much (which colleges love) makes you unique from other high schoolers.

An: That would probably great but I think the UK would be better because it’s nearer to my family.

Am:I was also thinking about maybe the UK for college. In  conservative parts of the US though there is still prejudice for World War II because of some strange reason (people in some the US don’t understand the concept of 70 years). The WWII historical fiction is also way over done in the US.

An: I now! In France it’s terrible! I heard you just need to mention you are from Germany and you get a face ._. But for the html part: I have computer science (just needed to look up that word) in school and we need to do a homepage  as our long term project.. Do you guys do your layout by yourself or how?

S: What ven?? It’s been years, people, get over it.

An: They hould. But France and Germany were enemies for so many years until the end of WWII I think so I don’t even know..

Am: I learned html from some websites that have a basic template that you can modify. The best way is to look at a blog’s page source.  I copy and paste it and then screw around with it to get what I want. I use basic Blogger templates though.

S: For html, I suck at it. Google is my friend whenever there’s something weird with my blog or if I want a new design, because I can’t for the life of me figure it out myself. Amelia, I also use the basic templates! I would much rather have my own design and be more in control of how my blog looks.

Am: It was really fun talking with you guys and I  think we should wrap up soon. SO to close everything up what is everyone reading right now? I’m reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum.

An: It was an amazing panel Amelia and you’re right that we should do this again! I’m currently reading two books: First Goddess (a re-read) by Josephine Angelini and second Trial by Fire by Josephine Angelini as well.

S: Thank you, Amelia, for holding such an awesome panel, and Anne, for being such a cool panelist! Being a person with a very short attention span I’m actually reading 3 books at the moment: Crushed, by Eliza Crewe, Exquisite Captive, by Heather Demitrios, and I Am the Messenger, by Markus Zusak (a re-read!).