Where Have I Been?

Hi guys...

It's been some time hasn't it? I'm really sorry. We're getting into the last month of school and I'm hanging on with the edges of my fingertips.

I've only got two A's and one of them is because of weighted grades. I'm hoping I can take at least two other grades up to A's by finals week. I really do not want to deal with school and we have 24 days or something like that left. It's crazy.

My next week is going to be fairly hectic, and I doubt I'll get to post much of anything until the end of school. Monday I have an AP World History test and a Spanish makeup test. Tuesday is the Young Filmmakers Festival at the AMC down the street. I'll hopefully get a chance to go to the bookstore while I'm over there because I'm going with Sam, Hannah, Rayne and George. On Wednesday I have a reading check test and socratic seminar on the last quarter of The Book Thief. I just finished it today and I literally sobbed. I'm going to try to post a review on Wednesday but I may not. Thursday is the Percussion and Jazz concert as well as a going away party for our Assistant Band teacher. There's no school on Friday and I have a chiropractor's appointment. Saturday I have a mock AP Exam at the school at 9 in the freaking morning, and then I'm going to see North Georgia's orchestra put on Holst's The Planets. EXCITED! Sunday will be spent doing whatever homework is assigned as well as celebrating my mom's birthday.

All in all, I'm really busy. I've finished two books in two weeks but I'm still like 5 books behind in my 50 books challenge. I'm going to attempt to finish 3 books this week before starting anything new, but that will be extremely difficult with how busy this week is.

I finished Hero by Perry Moore about two weeks ago. I'll have that review up as soon as possible, but it probably won't be for a while. I'm currently reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Bumped and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. All great books, all I'm about a quarter done with. I just haven't had the time.

All right, enough with my whining. I'm off to do my AP World Study Guide.

See you later,
Abbie.

Review of Chopsticks by Jessica Anthony and Rodrigo Corral

The beauty of this book takes my breath away every time I open it up.

Chopsticks is a perfect example or visual storytelling and I cannot do anything except sit in awe at the pure fact that this book is amazing.

Chopsticks is about a girl named Gloria, a piano prodigy whose mother died a while ago, and Francisco a.k.a Frankie, who just moved to New York from Argentina. Glory's father is strict and doesn't want his daughter to grow up, driving her into a place where she can only play Chopsticks, over and over and over again, because it reminds her of Frankie. She winds up in a rehabilitation center for musicians and runs away from it. That's where the story starts. And then we go back to the beginning.

This is the first YA book told almost entirely through pictures that I've truly enjoyed for what it is completely worth.

The story of Glory and Frankie isn't unique but it is at the same time... It's beautiful and tragic and full of heartbreak and love. I can't do anything but love it every time I read it.

Chopsticks is unique. It is difficult to love if your mind works in words and not pictures. But it's still worth reading for the beauty of it.

5/5 stars for Chopsticks. 

Why My Blog is Lacking in IMMs

Hi everyone. It's Sunday and I'm in Pennsylvania.

I wanted to explain why I don't have any new books as of late. It's actually because I've hit a standstill at school and Mom won't let me buy anything until I get an A on a Chemistry test.

I'd love to have new books every week, and have people sending me new things to read and being able to buy new books to read. I don't have that user base yet though, and I'm under 18 so no money off any blogs for me. I'm still only fifteen, no job and the 'rents are cracking down on grades so I can get an academic scholarship for college.

This has been a tough year for me... I need to rethink a lot of things that I'm doing right now and one of those things is what I'm focusing on. That focus is turning next year, towards the Arts and my love and future in music.

I'm slowly but surely organizing myself  for next year. It's no really big deal but I'm excited to have my life on some sort of track now.

I promise I'll have an IMM of some sort up soon. I go to Washington D.C next weekend with the band so it'll probably be a while, but I'll still have something soon.

Thanks for all your patience,
Abbie

Review of Lost At Sea by Bryan Lee O'Malley

I've read this book twice and I still can't completely comprehend what's going on in it.

I liked this book. A lot. Raleigh is very complex while still being completely simple, and her thoughts are so scattered and beautifully messy that I can't help but sympathize.

Lost At Sea is about a girl named Raleigh who doesn't have a soul. She's pretty sure it was stolen by a cat. Oh, and she's driving halfway across the country with three kids from her school that she barely knows.

Throughout the graphic novel I was entranced by both the drawing style and the story line. I mean, it's the guy who wrote freaking SCOTT PILGRIM for Christ's sake. The subject matter is so very different though.

I don't want to give much away but I do have this to say: O'Malley brought so much emotion into this story. I didn't actually read Scott Pilgrim, so I'm not totally sure as to how differently it was done compared to Lost At Sea. Raleigh's story was harsh and sometimes it felt cruel the way she'd been living. She lives with her mother, a comfortable life, but it just seems like her parents' divorce was messy and left her emotionally scarred. I absolutely love her as a character and how she grows so much in under 200 pages.

My only complaint is that there's no more to this book... I wish there were more explanations, more answers.

Overall a great book! Recommended to fans of John Green and other coming-of-age YA writers.

4.5/5 stars.

Hi...

I've been really jumpy lately haven't I?

Sorry for all the sporadic disappearances and inability to post on a regular basis. For the next week or so, I've got posts set up about every two days, maybe more, maybe less.

I'm going out of town Friday afternoon for half of spring break. I'll get back Wednesday night and hopefully get the chance to go to the bookstore over the break. I've got a lot of posts scheduled and queued, two of them being my reviews that I owe you from like the middle of February.

While I'm on my trip, I'm going to attempt to finish the following books:

• Hero by Perry Moore
• Bumped by Megan McCafferty
• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

and

• The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney

I'm going to be in Bedford, Pennsylvania for my great-aunt's 90th birthday. Whoopdie-Doo. I'll also not be bringing my computer so I can focus on reading and writing (for Script Frenzy) while I'm away. While I'm away, I'll be going to Gettysburg and Blacksburg and possibly Hershey. Lots of picture taking and touristy crap will go on. 

As I stated, I'm going to attempt Script Frenzy with my friend Alex. We both attempted NaNoWriMo and failed epically, so we're hoping that writing something together won't be too difficult, especially since we're writing a musical. YAY -flailing-.

Okay, off to finish up scheduling things for all my social networking sites. 

Bye lovelies!

-- Abbie

Itsy Bitsy Update

Hey guys. I bet y'all are tapping your feet, waiting for a new post, be it review or IMM. I have nothing to show for this week... Except for that review I posted Monday. That's it.

I've spent the majority of the last two weeks sick or at the theater. The school's production is in the paper, and opening night is this coming Thursday. I'm playing my clarinet in the orchestra, so we've been rehearsing every free night. I'm excited for the performance, it's just that on top of this debilitating cold I have has taken a lot out of me lately.

I posted a video last weekend of my February wrap up, and before that my IMM from the little shopping excursion with Sam.

That's about it... I've got some homework to do this weekend. Here's what I have to show for my absence. Not a lot, I know...

Thanks for sticking with me guys.
-Abbie

Review of The Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Johnson

The Bermudez Triangle is an intense read, and not one I would take lightly. The story deals with friendship, love, loss and finding your place in the world around you. It follows Mel, Nina and Avery as they struggle through senior year of high school, counting the days until they graduate.

Nina goes to Stanford during the summer before Senior year for a leadership camp and basically falls in love with this hippie boy from down the hall. The problem is he lives in Oregon.

Mel is left behind with Avery as she slowly comes to term with being herself. She's a lesbian, and she doesn't truly realize it until getting fairly hammered one night and coming on to Avery.

Avery isn't really sure what she's doing. She sort of likes Mel, she sort of likes her guy friend. She wants to go to college to be a pianist but she's not sure she'd be able to afford it.

The above is my basic summary of the life these girls go through in the book. It was followable but still complex.

When I first started the book I wasn't sure if I was going to like it or not. I know what Avery was going through and I didn't necessarily want to read it. As I continued to read, I began to enjoy it, especially seeing Nina's part of the situation. Nina and Avery were my two highlight characters, mainly because they grow so much. Mel grew as well, but I feel like she did not completely grow out of her naivety and childishness.

Avery's character had the most progression throughout the book. She goes from party girl who doesn't really care to the wisest girl who seriously cares. I could see a lot of myself in Avery and therefore she was the most relatable and the most realistic. Mel seemed far too airy and Nina was very uptight and serious.

Overall, a very good book. The book circles around so many naturally high school issues that I could find nothing more than great things in the plot. It made me smile, it made me laugh, it made me cry and it made me scream in frustration. It was completely worth it in the end.

4.75/5 stars for The Bermudez Triangle by (the wonderful) Maureen Johnson