Dance with Dragons and Season 3

I finished reading A Dance with Dragons last month and was very sorry that I did. (Is everyone feeling betrayed and vengeful? good... good) It is NOT because it was bad, but because now I have nothing to look forward to this summer. (ah, I tricked you all!) There is, of course, season three of the HBO Game of Thrones series premiering at the end of the month, but that won't get me through another year!

     This book's plot is happening concurrently with the previous book, but from different character's perspectives. This book focuses on what is happening outside or at the fringes of Westeros. Some notable characters are Jon Snow, Daenerys, and Bran. There are a few Cersei chapters at the end, but predominantly it's non-central Westeros.  It's unfair that I mention these characters, since all of the characters' stories are awesome, but everyone has a right to their favorites and these are mine.
     As in all of George R. R. Martin's Song of Fire and Ice books, characters are introduced and other killed off. I don't know why, but death always comes as a surprise. Without ruining anything, (well not intentionally) I want to tell you the most surprising (but not really) death... very complex emotions here. There was a character that I was really rooting for; he was kind and honorable (a deadly combination in the world of George R. R. Martin) and wounded. As his chapter ended and I read another's chapter, I was hoping against hope that it "was only a scratch" so to speak, but alas... he died.... and I cried. (Don't judge me! I get very attached to characters!) Now I know that I shouldn't get too emotionally involved with honorable characters, but I know I will do it again.
     As always, Martin has an enticing book for all the right reasons. Highly captivating with suspenseful cliff-hangers in addition to a rich, immersible plot. If you have read any of my blog, then you know how much I recommend this series. If you haven't i am very curious why you are even reading this...
     I would urge Martin to hurry up with the sixth book, but after writing my review for Mockingjay, I think I can wait awhile.

Now just a quick mention about season 3... I am SUPER excited to start watching and have been watching everything their youtube channel as been spitting out. I think this may be the best one yet (fingers crossed). 

Mockingjay review

     I recently finished Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins and came away more satisfied than when reading Catching Fire, but still very disappointing in comparison the first in the series.
     After the 75th Hunger Games, Katniss and Peeta are seperated as Peeta goes to the Capital and Katniss is delivered to the 13th District to be used as a pawn in the uprising. As you begin to read, you notice right away that Katniss is not psychologically there and the book can get very confusing at times. It could be that Collins intentionally did this to give us an idea of Katniss's state of mind, but even if this is the case, it only becomes a little easier to digest. Another thought I had was Collins recreating herself in Katniss as they are both trying to figure out life's great mysteries: such as "What has my life become?" In Collins's case, I think we can safely say that she has no idea.
     Overall, this book had a great plot, but was poorly written. It seems as though Collins was in a huge rush to finish the last two in the series after her first book became so popular. I was reading some reviews after I finished it and noticed that the final scene in the capital was meant to be like a 76th Hunger Games. Looking back, I could kinda see how it fit, but again, it was written terribly.
     I may have have been able to swallow all of the other trash that Collins decided to spit out, but what really made me grind my teeth was Katniss herself. She... I don't know what she is, but I don't think she was a good main character. She isn't emotionally strong and definitely doesn't seem intelligent. I think my main problem with her is that she never changes. Throughout the three books, she is always a dumb, self-minded girl. I can't even write this without anger causing me to clench my jaw into a very uncomfortable position. I can't believe it... an emotionless, fictional character causes this much emotion from me. Maybe Collins isn't as bad of a writer as I said. 
     I have a hope the she will rewrite these last two books, because I know she can write a coherent, captivating story from The Hunger Games. I don't think this will happen, so my next hope is that next three movies will be better than the last two books. (oh, I don't know how many of you know, but Mockingjay is being split into two movies... a rather ridiculous trend I think.)

Comparing Terrarium Books

My fascination with terrariums began with Pintrest, which is the mother of all DIY-projects-that-YWD (you won't do) sites (... you won't find this definition in urban dictionary, kids). So in a flurry of interest, I gathered all of the terrarium books I could get my hands on. In all, there were 7 that have been published between 1970 and 2011 which I read and compared. Let's start with telling everyone how to build a terrarium, and then I will review each book.

     The first thing to do when creating a terrarium masterpiece is find a glass container and clean it. Then lay some pebbles one the bottom and sprinkle some charcoal bits on top to reduce the earthy smell later. Then place a filter layer. the easiest thing to use is peat moss, but there are synthetic materials that you can use as well. The next step is the soil. It is suggested to use a very light soil without fertilizers. Finally put your plants in, spray some water in there, and top the container. That's it!

     Maintenance is very simple: if there is a lot of condensation, leave the lid open for a few hours; if no condensation is present, spray some water inside. Typically, you need to water it like this once a month or so, but keep an eye on it since it will vary. 

Now on to the reviews! At the end of this section, I will have a chart comparing my ratings.

Tiny World Terrarium: A Step-by-Step Guide to Easily Contained Life

      by Michelle Inciarrano and Katy Maslow

This was a very comprehensive book on how to form and manage a terrarium while also giving some neat examples. It was very easy to follow and had cool pictures. The only con I found was that it heavily focused on the mosses and said little about other plants suitable for terrariums. I would have preferred a balanced book, but the gorgeous photos make it hard to turn away.


Terrarium Craft: Create 50 Magical, Miniature Worlds
      by Amy Aiello and Kate Bryant
Overall, this book had some valuable information, but their primary goal was to show how to design a terrarium. They have 50 such design examples (I guess  you could get that from the title of the book). A redeeming aspect of the book were the novel (to me) ideas like moss balls and air plants. I feel that this would only be a good supplementary book after you have a better grasp on terrariums, but is not a good beginner's book.

The Complete Book of Terrarium Gardening
     by Jack Kramer
The name says it all. This is one of the more comprehensive books that I looked through. It has great information on types of plants to use, detailed information on how to create a terrarium, and most importantly, what to do when your terrarium fails from death, disease, or insects. Overall, a great book to have. It is a shame that it is out of print, though.

The Terrarium Book
     by Charles Evans
Similar to Kramer's nook, this is comprehensive in many facets. This book makes plant selection pretty easy by listing common plants for each light intensity and temperature range. It dedicates a lot of pages to plant selection, which is nice because you want the plants to stay alive for a long time. The maintenance chapter was also very useful and had a bit more detail on how to fix problems (i.e. bugs and disease) than other books that I read. This was an awesome find and is on par with Kramer's book above. Although an out of print book, it is an excellent book to have. 

The World of Terriums
     by Charles Wilson
This book contains a lot of valuable beginner information. I really liked the index of plants in the back of the book. It had things like growth habit (flowering, grass-like, etc.), temperature, and light requirements that were all neatly arranged in a grid. They were all in their scientific names so it was difficult to recognize them, but after finding one that fits your desired profile, just give it a quick Google search and you should be set. There was also a neat propagation chapter. I already knew how to propagate plants, but if you are a real beginner in the gardening arts, it is very handy to have everything in one book. Overall, it's very awesome. It is beginning to be a pattern that the books I really like are out of print, as this one is.

The New Terrarium
     by Tovah Martin and Kindra Clineff

The book started out wonderfully by describing some other types of containers to use such as cold frames (like a shadowbox). The book continues to exceed my expectations (since most of the modern terrarium books were more or less decorating books). The authors have a deep respect and love for terrariums and the plants they put in them. They do have a decorating section, but it is very brief and by no means the focus of the book. What is nice is that there are a few step by step projects in the back of the book to get you started. If you don't want to go through the hassle of getting older books, then I suggest getting this one. It is not as comprehensive as Wilson's or Kramer's, but it's darn close.

Gardens in Glass Containers
     by Robert Baur
Unlike the earlier books I talked about, this is the only one that isn't strictly about terrariums.
The bulk of the book is still about terrariums, but it also includes aquatic plants and dried arrangements. Baur is unique in that he discusses how to prepare any type of terrarium (i.e. bottles, tanks, brandy glasses, etc.) which may not be necessary, but it you were wondering, there is a section devoted to it.Most of the information regarding terrariums is similar to the other old books, so it's a pretty good choice, but just isn't my top choice.

Now on to the ratings! There are 7 aspects I thought were important (quality of the information on containers, plants, type of soil, drainage techniques, and plant maintenance as well as the quality of the pictures and how easy it is to read). Each rating is out of 5.

I hope this will help some people decide on what book to get. Especially considering the time I put into this. Let me know in the comments if you want me to review any other books and don't forget to send me some pictures of your finished terrariums!

Fear Nothing review

     Fear Nothing by Dean Koontz is a thriller about Chris Snow, a young man with XP. This disease prevents him from going outside during the day and being around bright lights. The reader often overlooks his restrictions because Chris is a strong character that gets caught up in a huge mess in his small town. Taking place over a couple of days, many horrific things continue to happen to Chris and he finds out things that he later wished to have left alone (very vague, yeah?).
     This book was very suspenseful, as are most of Koontz's works, and had a really engrossing plot. I had kind of ruined a bit of the story for myself by reading the sequel first, Seize the Night, but in my defense, it was not clearly labelled. It had been a few years since I read the second one, so not much was ruined, but I remembered things as I read the book. Overall, I don't think it mattered much so if you did the same, go ahead and read the first one second.
     Although in this book it fit, one thing that irritates me about Koontz's more recent novels is his incessant inclusion of dogs. I know he loves his retrievers and all, but good gravy(!) I'm sick of him preaching about how awesome dogs are. To be clear, the dog in this book was well placed and had some purpose. If this is your first Dean Koontz book, you will not be bothered by the dogs at all (or if you have a similar passion for dogs), but trust me when I say the more books you read, the more you will shake the book in frustration and wish it were Koontz's shoulders when you read how soulful a dumb dog's eyes appear.
     Enough of that rant...
     This novel also has some sci-fi lurking in it, and a touch of mystery, but it is mainly a thriller or suspense. I would definitely read this book again and urge you to read it too. If not this one, another of Koontz's earlier, dog-less books like Strangers or Odd Thomas.

Brothers by Yu Hua

     Brothers is the first book I read that has been translated from Mandarin. It seems like the book was translated very well, but I thought that the story line was different from many of the Western books I read. In general, it was similar to other books, but I detected a strong importance of family image that are absent from Western literature. There were also subtle differences that I just couldn't pinpoint.
     As the title suggests, Brothers tells of the lives of two brother (...well, half-brothers), Baldy Li and Song Gang, starting from their traumatic childhood to their vastly different adulthood. The book is both both funny and serious with deeply emotional moments. I honestly have no concept of the historical accuracy of the book, but the Cultural Revolution scenes seem at least plausible. This book piqued my interest in Chinese modern history, since I knew virtually nothing, so the book encouraged me to gain a little new information.
     I really enjoyed reading the book, even though it took me until my winter break to finish it. It really broadened my horizon as to the types of books I am willing to read. I was pretty open to new genres, time periods, and language before reading the book, but that didn't mean I wasn't hesitant. Even for this book, I was skeptical to pick it up, but I am glad I did.
     I understand that a 700ish page Chinese book does not sound appealing to many of you, but I ask that you give it a shot and you may find that it just the refresher you need.

Summer Reading Catch-up

Unfortunatly, I forgot to post reviews on my summer books sooner and now have only a vague sense of my enjoyment while reading. However, it will not deter me from telling everyone my opinions because, dagummit, it's a blogger's right!

Ahem... So the first book I forgot to post a review for was The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larson. I am sure there are many critical reviews out there, so I will be brief. If you a) liked the first book, b) like crime/mystery/suspense or a combination of the three, or c) trust my judgement, then you will like this book. I definitely did. I enjoyed it so much that it is probably only one of a very short list of books I would read again.

The second book is Battle Royale by Koushun Takami. Again, there are many reviews out there, so I will just say that it is graphic and violent, but awesome. If you loved the idea of the Hunger Games, but hated it's execution, this is the book for you. In a quick summary, it is about a class of Japanese middle-schoolers that are chosen to kill off each other on a vacated island. The movie was good, but did not meet my high expectations. If you only plan to watch the movie or read the book, read the book.

Then there is Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, the second book in the Hunger Games trilogy. It was very interesting, maybe a little more so than the first one. I did notice that her writing style is pretty simplistic and was probably never meant for an adult audience. My suggestion is that if you thought The Hunger Games was mediocre, then skip this one. If you loved it, you will really like the second one. I have heard that the third one is the worst in the trilogy, so I am hesitant to read it, but I already purchased it, so I will eventually read and write about it.

I think that's it! I am currently reading Brothers by Yu Hua so look for that review in the next year or so (I kid, I kid). Also, I have checked out a bunch of terrarium books so you can look for that review soon as well. 

Feast for Crows and Space Odyssies

     The time is ripe again for the posting of more book reviews. I have been very busy this summer - more so than last summer - so my reading has suffered, but I have still have many reviews that I need to write.






     The first is the easiest: A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin. It is easy, because there is no more I can say than what's in my previous reviews regarding the Song of Fire and Ice series. The series is great. This book had not a single weakness that I could see. The characters were superbly crafted and continuously honed and the plot is immersible and outstandingly realistic. I, again, urge anyone reading this blog to READ THIS SERIES! That's it for my Game of Thrones rant.

     I interestingly decided to read some real sci-fi this summer, and the book series I chose was 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clark. Although I was expecting an unrealistic portrayal of space travel, I was fortunately wrong. I was amazed (no... I mean literally stunned) by the realism that Clark used in this novel. The storyline had some slow points, but most books do so I can't hold that against it, but it was overall quite well done. I would not recommend this series to those that are entirely uninterested in sci-fi, but I strongly encourage those that have looked mouth-agape at the star-lit sky. (sometimes, I think I should be a poet. What!? I could totally be a good poet.)

   2010: Odyssey Two was slightly worse, in my opinion (but then again, whose opinion would I really be telling you?). The plot moved even more slowly, and things were changed around to be a sequel to the movie rather than the book (because there were differences apparently). This still had the same realism and made me very interested in Europa (did you it is covered by an ocean?! crazy...). My suggestion is that if you already read the first one, you might as well read the second, but I wouldn't go out of your way to get it. I hope the next two in the series are as good as the first one.