Tiny (Text)Books for School

Okay, so....yes, I confess...that title is slightly misleading because although some of these books may be tiny (compared to...say, the world, perhaps), they aren't the tiny you're thinking about. By tiny, I mean....my reviews for them are tiny and lackluster, and....who am I kidding...it feels like the blurb is longer than my review! Aaah! That's...just....depressing. Maybe I've grown out of writing reviews....I'm running out of things to say...and....maybe...maybe...maybe it's time for me to just give up on writing reviews altogether?! Anyways....this post isn't about that....so....I don't know....here ya go...some TINY REVIEWS....

Dear English AP Teacher.....

Hi.

I'm kind of torn between wanting you to never read this.....and.....hoping you read this so that you'll understand my....situation better.

So you know how....on November 9th, 2016, I was performing for the Remembrance day assembly, and I made the wise decision to come back to your class after the show ended, even though I had the freedom to take the rest of the block off?

Remember that?

Yeah?  Good.

So.

I've Procrastinated, I know....

Hello peoples.

Yes, yes, I know....I've been extremely inactive (no, not the physical kind, because I've got that covered with nine dance classes a week), and I've been procrastinating and procrastinating and pocrastinating.

I'm tempted to make excuses like, I have homework, I have extracurricular, I have....Gilf. BUT. If I really wanted to, I definitely could have spent some time typing out stuff....

Anyways!

So. Starting TODAY, I will make more of an effort to post stuff....really! You see, I have a free block in school now! And I've finished everything I can do, and Gilf is too busy to talk to me....so! Time to type stuff.
*ugh, these keys are so uncomfortable to type out, and they're making my finglets sore! 

Now, even though I have a bunch of posts I still owe you, I want to get a particular one out of the way first.  I had this idea one day while I was sitting on the toilet. Yes. Don't think about it too long.

Review: Macbeth 1989 by William Shakespeare

Read: May 9-June 6, 2016

Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Pages: 258

Genres: classics, Shakespeare

Shakespeare! FUN.

My English class is just finishing up the unit on Macbeth, and I have to say....Macbeth.....very well done!

Ah, Macbeth....

The bloody play....

When my teacher told me it'd be bloody...I wasn't expecting this! So much...bloodiness...and...unnecessary killing....

For those of you who don't know what Macbeth is about, Macbeth is a soldier to the king, Duncan.  One day, he comes upon three witches who call him three different things, one of them being king.  

Macbeth foolishly decides to believe the witches and does everything in his power to get on the throne.  Lots of stabbing!  Lots of blood!  Lots of...blood.

MACBETH

HI.

PEOPLES.

I.

AM.

UPSET.

...but at the same time...also, somewhat happy.

So, the other day...in my English class, the teacher was handing out Macbeth books...because we were starting Macbeth.

Now, you see how I've stated the obvious?  Let me do it some more.  I have a point to this, okay?  Be patient...

• I like reading
• I like books
• I like new books
• I like smelling books
• I am shy
• I am super shy 

Now that I've pointed out more obvious stuff...let's begin.
Or...continue.

Review: Disappearing Moon Cafe: A Novel by Sky Lee

Read: March 8-19, 2016
Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Pages: 288
Genres: Canada, historical fiction

Blurb from Goodreads:

"Sometimes funny, sometimes scandalous, always compelling, this extraordinary first novel chronicles the women of the Wong family from frontier railroad camps to modern-day Vancouver. As past sins and inborn strengths are passed on from mother to daughter to granddaughter, each generation confronts, in its own way, the same problems — isolation, racism, and the clash of cultures. Moving effortlessly between past and present, between North America and China, Sky Lee weaves fiction and historical fact into a memorable and moving picture of a people’s struggle for identity."

Ah.  English novels.  What fun.

This was an interesting kind of book.  Although...I can't say for sure if it was the good kind or the bad.  Anyhoo.

This book was set in Vancouver* and written in chunks...or, unchronologically.  And this just made reading the book plain weird.  Or, confusing.

*yes, my English teacher has this strange obsession with Canadian literature...

Review: Ru by Kim Thúy

Read: Feb 12-15, 2016
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Pages: 141
Genres: Canada, historical fiction

Blurb from Goodreads:

"Ru. In Vietnamese it means lullaby; in French it is a small stream, but also signifies a flow--of tears, blood, money. Kim Thúy's Ru is literature at its most crystalline: the flow of a life on the tides of unrest and on to more peaceful waters. In vignettes of exquisite clarity, sharp observation and sly wit, we are carried along on an unforgettable journey from a palatial residence in Saigon to a crowded and muddy Malaysian refugee camp, and onward to a new life in Quebec. There, the young girl feels the embrace of a new community, and revels in the chance to be part of the American Dream. As an adult, the waters become rough again: now a mother of two sons, she must learn to shape her love around the younger boy's autism. Moving seamlessly from past to present, from history to memory and back again, Ru is a book that celebrates life in all its wonder: its moments of beauty and sensuality, brutality and sorrow, comfort and comedy."

Another book I had to read for English...this being one of the shorter ones...but...frankly...not the most interesting.
 

Grammar, and My Intense Hatred of It.

Hello people! 

Do you know what I'm horrible at?

Person:
Hmm...let's see...playing the piano?  Talking?  Dancing?  Or how about using technology?  Listening and paying attention to people?  Breathing and blinking in even intervals.  Oh, and how could I forget?!  You're horrible at pretty much anything you attempt at achieving.  Did I get them all right?  I did, didn't I?  Of course I did, because I'm not a failure, like you.

Me:
Yes, yes...and yes.  Oh, that too...and that, and that...that, and yes, that as well...unfortunately.

*sigh* someone, throw me a pity party because I'll probably suck at doing that too...why bother trying... *another sigh*

Aaaaanyways...something else I'm horrible at?  Grammar.  My English class started our unit on grammar the other day...and based on the title of this post you can probably tell how it turned out for me, right?

Review: Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese

Read: Dec. 7-17, 2015
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Pages: 221
Genres: historical, Canada

Synopsis from Goodreads:

"Saul Indian Horse has hit bottom. His last binge almost killed him, and now he’s a reluctant resident in a treatment centre for alcoholics, surrounded by people he’s sure will never understand him. But Saul wants peace, and he grudgingly comes to see that he’ll find it only through telling his story. With him, readers embark on a journey back through the life he’s led as a northern Ojibway, with all its joys and sorrows.

With compassion and insight, author Richard Wagamese traces through his fictional characters the decline of a culture and a cultural way. For Saul, taken forcibly from the land and his family when he’s sent to residential school, salvation comes for a while through his incredible gifts as a hockey player. But in the harsh realities of 1960s Canada, he battles obdurate racism and the spirit-destroying effects of cultural alienation and displacement.

Indian Horse unfolds against the bleak loveliness of northern Ontario, all rock, marsh, bog and cedar. Wagamese writes with a spare beauty, penetrating the heart of a remarkable Ojibway man. Drawing on his great-grandfather’s mystical gift of vision, Saul Indian Horse comes to recognize the influence of everyday magic on his own life. In this wise and moving novel, Richard Wagamese shares that gift of magic with readers as well."

Aaarrrgh!

Hello people.  In case the title didn't already give it away, I am angry.  Or, rather, very extremely stressed out. 

Homework.  I'd like to believe homework is where the very root of my stress comes from.  Sure, other things stress me out too, like...stuff, and life in general, but homework takes home the prize of most stressful thing in my life.  Bottom line:  I don't like it.

Review: Books I Read For School

Hi people, here are some short reviews for books that I had to read for school.  Not sure why I bothered reviewing them but...

Title: Crossroads: A Meeting of Nations
Author: Michael Cranny
Read: September 14-June 13, 2014
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Ehhh, what can I say? It's my social studies textbook...but I definitely leaned a lot of things...that I'll probably forget in about a few months

Stuff That Happened Today

Today started out as any other normal school day did, BUT, starting in second period, stuff happened...amazing , wonderful stuff...