Overdue Book Reviews: Part One

I've read a lot of books lately and I have yet to review them, and that needs to be rectified. And so, it shall be rectified in this post.

In this post series, I'm going to review the following, and the ones in purple are the ones I will review in this post:

What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell
Feed by M. T. Anderson
1984 by George Orwell
Night by Elie Wiesel
Death By Bikini by Linda Gerber
Death By Latte by Linda Gerber
Death by Denim by Linda Gerber
Dead Is The New Black by Marlene Perez
Dead Is A State of Mind by Marlene Perez
Dead Is So Last Year by Marlene Perez
Stolen Voices by Ellen Dee Davidson

What I Saw And How I Lied
Synopsis: When Evie's father returned home from World War II, the family fell back into its normal life pretty quickly. But Joe Spooner brought more back with him than just good war stories. When movie-star handsome Peter Coleridge, a young ex-GI who served in Joe's company in postwar Austria, shows up, Evie is suddenly caught in a complicated web of lies that she only slowly recognizes. She finds herself falling for Peter, ignoring the secrets that surround him . . . until a tragedy occurs that shatters her family and breaks her life in two. As she begins to realize that almost everything she believed to be a truth was really a lie, Evie must get to the heart of the deceptions and choose between her loyalty to her parents and her feelings for the man she loves. Someone will have to be betrayed. The question is . . . who?

This book is probably one of the best books I've ever read. Evie is a good and believable character and [MINI SPOILER AHEAD] she only does one dumb thing, and in the end it all makes sense and there was actually purpose behind Evie doing that dumb thing [MINI SPOILER OVER].

The entire thing is extremely believable and well-written and there's some awesome character development, and everything Ms. Blundell writes feels real. You really do feel with the character. Not only that, but this is no standard chick-lit novel. It has very deep meaning, and I highly recommend this book. There's a reason it got a National Book Award.

9.8 Stars Out of 10.

Feed
Synopsis: Identity crises, consumerism, and star-crossed teenage love in a futuristic society where people connect to the Internet via feeds implanted in their brains. For Titus and his friends, it started out like any ordinary trip to the moon - a chance to party during spring break and play with some stupid low-grav at the Ricochet Lounge. But that was before the crazy hacker caused all their feeds to malfunction, sending them to the hospital to lie around with nothing inside their heads for days. And it was before Titus met Violet, a beautiful, brainy teenage girl who has decided to fight the feed and its omnipresent ability to categorize human thoughts and desires. Following in the footsteps of George Orwell, Anthony Burgess, and Kurt Vonnegut Jr., M. T. Anderson has created a not-so-brave new world — and a smart, savage satire that has captivated readers with its view of an imagined future that veers unnervingly close to the here and now.

The end of that synopsis pretty much sums up my thoughts on the book. It's pretty realistic. Don't read this book, though, if you're a word-prude. The F-word and Sh-word comes up at least one time for every page.

However, it really does make you think. It's well-written, but not in the same way most books are well-written, and it works for this book, because it's placed in a time of intellectual decline.

8 stars out of ten.

1984
Synopsis: Orwell's final novel, 1984, is the story of one man's struggle against the ubiquitous, menacing state power (“Big Brother”) that tries to dictate nearly every aspect of human life. The novel is a classic in anti-utopian fiction, and a trenchant political satire that remains as relevant today as when it was first published.

It's a futuristic novel, but has none of that crazy technology that's in other futuristic novels. It's really interesting, and believable.

Warning: Do not read this book if you are not a patient reader. It spends a little while describing settings and people, and spends no time explaining what exactly is going on, at least not in a straightforward manner.

This may be described as a psychological thriller, or perhaps even a romance.

I was completely intriuged by it, and I loved the ending, though most people wouldn't.

8.9 Stars Out of 10.

Yours Quite Untruly,
Nadia

Awards, Music, and Concert Pt. 1

Awards

Dahlia passed on some awards to me, and first I just want to say thanks, second, I'm going to pass them to you guys.


Blogs that receive the Let’s Be Friends Award are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers.




This award is to honor certain bloggers that are kindhearted individuals. They regularly take part in my blog and always leave the sweetest comments. If it wasn't for them, my site would just be an ordinary book review blog. Their blogs are also amazing and are tastefully done on a daily basis. I thank them and look forward to our growing friendship through the blog world.
Rules:
-Nominate 10 bloggers you feel deserve the Humane Award

Rules: Link back to the person who gave you the award. Nominate up to 10 bloggers who are deserving of the award. Display the award on you blog.





Humane Award Goes To:

-Missy
-Holly
-Orchid
-SimplyShy01
-Lanna

The Lemonade AND Friend Awards Go To:

-Missy
-Holly
-Orchid
-SimplyShy01
-Lanna
-Maria
-Princess
-Chrissy

Music

I know I'm a little late, but I've finally discovered Death Cab For Cutie's album, Narrow Stairs, which is awesome. Bixby Canyon Bridge is really good and deeply meaningful.

Also, you should still listen to I've Got Nothing by ChartJackers.

Concert

Here's a video of Paper Route, Paramore's opening act.



Here's one of Taylor Swift, of whom I am a big fan, walking in between acts.


I'll download Paramore playing soon.

Your Blogger Person Chick,
Nadia

ChartJackers

I don't know if you've heard of the ChartJackers, but it's a band consisting of YouTubers. YouTubers made the band, song, and music video collaboratively. It's really cool. Their song is called "I've Got Nothing." It's a cheesy pop song, but it's catchy, and here's why you need to buy their song:
-They want to see how far in the charts in can get. On UK iTunes, it's #16. On BBC radio's chart, they're #36. It's only been out for a bit over a week, so that's awesome.
-ALL of the money they make off of this song goes to charity, so that's pretty cool.

This is a great use of YouTube, so I suggest you go on over to iTunes and buy it, get other people to buy it, request it on the radio, all that supportive stuff.

Here's the music video URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYDRWXjJlB4

Mini-Blog: Wallflower

Am I the only sit-on-the-sidelines, watch and listen, blend in with the background type of girl here?

Please respond in some way.

Paramore Concert

Ok, so yesterday I went to the Paramore concert in Nashville, and it was AMAZING! The opening act, Paper Route, they were great. I really liked their music.

And Paramore... They are amazing performers. And you know how sometimes people sound worse live than recorded? Yeah, it definitely wasn't the case here. Hayley sang even better, if anything. It was so exciting! No one ever sat down, and I can't think of one song where the audience was quiet.

And we got to hear a bunch of songs not on the album and a song they did with Paper Route, Here In Tennessee (that's their hometown), which has been stuck in my head all day.

Not only that, but guess who was in the audience. Taylor Swift! I was really cool. She was a couple rows ahead of me and to the right. By the way, she is REALLY tall. Like, 5'10''. (I don't know if we all have the same standard of 'tall.')

It was just an awesome concert, and I will post videos and pictures once I find the adapter.

It was SO worth the 5 and a half hours of driving.

-Nadia