Tag: blogging
Stacking it up
Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga’s Reviews where bloggers discuss the books that they have borrowed from the library or bought to add to their shelves. I personally think it’s a fabulous idea as you are able to learn about books that may not even have been of interest to you!
I have added a few books to my shelf this week, mostly from the library, but nonetheless I plan on reading these books very soon! The following three books are the ones I’ll be reading.
Please leave your ‘Stacking the Shelves’ post link below. ⬇️
High School Semester In Review
It’s been a while, but I’m back! I’ve been busying myself with school. Specifically, my finals and final tasks (summatives).
I’ve officially finished my first semester of grade 11. My courses were physics, data management, French, and accounting. I live in Canada, so my school is semestered. One semester I have four courses everyday and four different courses the next semester. At first, I thought I may be overwhelmed with the heavy focus on math-oriented subjects, but it was manageable.
I’ll go through each of my courses and explain the good and bad parts of each one.
Physics was pretty rough, not going to lie. Some units were fairly easy, and some were challenging. It was mostly lab experiments and tests. We had one project where we had to fashion an instrument to play “Mary Had a Little Lamb”. That was the only fun part of the class. My performance in the class overall was SO much better than I expected, but still not as good as I wanted it to be before I started the semester: 91%. I definitely will not be taking physics again because I know this is not for me. It’s far too logical.
Data management wasn’t the best either. The topics covered were sometimes confusing, like permutations. I had to do a lot of problem-solving questions involving them, and boy are they weird but fun at the same time. Many of the topics were straight-forward too, like analyzing graphs and finding the relationship between two variables. Unfortunately, my bad tests outweighed the good ones. Before my exam, I had a 91%. The exam was brutal and I just barely scraped up a 79%. My mark dropped one percent as a result, so I finished with a 90%. Again, it exceeded my expectations (as they’d been drastically lowered as I made my way through the course).
I love French. This year, it was different. No more memorizing and regurgitating. “Plug and chug”, that’s what my physics teacher calls it. Now, I had to analyze books and movies but in French. It was new, but I liked it. I was actually using my brain for once. This all came at a cost of course. My mark dropped this year to a 90% from a 94%. But I will definitely take French again for Grade 12, because if I’ve taken it for seven years so far, I think I can do one last hurrah.
Accounting turned out to be barely math-related at all, mostly just understanding. Once you get the primary concepts, you can pretty much teach yourself the rest of the course. I put in minimal effort, as did many of my classmates, and they too were successful. I passed this course with flying colours, a 97% to be exact. I will be taking accounting again next year because I now know it’s something I’m good at.
This semester, I have anthro/psych/socio, law, international business, and English. A very heavy focus on humanities this semester, so we’ll see how this goes. I’ll be sure to keep you updated.
Thank you for reading 🙂
Stay Up-to-Date with Current Events
Keeping up with current events is an unwritten part of our role as global citizens. Current events shape what goes on around us, and how we function in society. These events shape our decisions as well as inform our perceptions of the world. An easy way to stay up to date with current events is through reading or watching the news.
Now how do you access the news / stay updated on the happenings around the globe?
We have a plethora of accessible resources right at our fingertips, yet we rely on the most unreliable sources for our news. This is not to say that platforms such as Facebook and Snapchat are inherently bad for staying updated, but rather that these sources do not always provide the full, accurate context or story of events. Use Facebook and Snapchat as a starting point for your information, and be curious. Turn to other platforms such as Twitter, news websites or even your TV news to find out more.
Personally, I like to read the news on Flipboard (this post is not sponsored by Flipboard, I just felt the need to inform others of its’ usefulness). Flipboard is an incredible app that compiles news from various news outlets into a board-style layout, similar to the pinboards that you find on Pinterest (see the three screenshots below). Flipboard allows you to choose the news topics (i.e. Politics, Business & Tech, World News, etc.) that you’re most interested in reading about. This app allows me to read the latest news wherever and whenever I feel like doing so. It has never given me any problems, crash / bug-wise, and is the most convenient app to use.
I also like how Flipboard compiles articles from various news outlets as it tries to mitigate the bias that is so prevalent in news broadcasting. You need to read stories about the same event from a variety of articles to get a better sense of what occurred. Many news agencies have political ties, so evidently their articles will be skewed in favour of a certain ideology or political party. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read an article that was clearly so biased that I just stopped reading it because I knew I wasn’t getting the factual picture of what actually occurred.
That’s about it! There is a part two for this post, which will be uploaded soon. I hope you enjoyed this post, and let me know how you stay updated with current affairs.
A Stranger in the House by Shari Lapena
★★★☆☆
This was an absurd book. In an okay way. Let me give you a summary taken directly from Goodreads before I get into my thoughts:
Karen and Tom Krupp are happy—they’ve got a lovely home in upstate New York, they’re practically newlyweds, and they have no kids to interrupt their comfortable life together. But one day, Tom returns home to find Karen has vanished—her car’s gone and it seems she left in a rush. She even left her purse—complete with phone and ID—behind.
There’s a knock on the door—the police are there to take Tom to the hospital where his wife has been admitted. She had a car accident, and lost control as she sped through the worst part of town.
The accident has left Karen with a concussion and a few scrapes. Still, she’s mostly okay—except that she can’t remember what she was doing or where she was when she crashed. The cops think her memory loss is highly convenient, and they suspect she was up to no good.
Karen returns home with Tom, determined to heal and move on with her life. Then she realizes something’s been moved. Something’s not quite right. Someone’s been in her house. And the police won’t stop asking questions.
Because in this house, everyone’s a stranger. Everyone has something they’d rather keep hidden. Something they might even kill to keep quiet.
Home intrusion-related things always terrify me. There’s something so hair-raising about the idea of someone being in your house without you knowing. They’re right under your nose, but you’d never know they’re there. That’s the scary part. It’s kind of like a ghost. You don’t know it’s there, but it is. That spooks me out so much. So that’s why I picked up this book. I was looking for a nail-biter, something where I’m on the edge of my seat, ripping through the pages to find out what comes next.
Honestly, I was disappointed in that respect. That part of the book, that I thought would be touched on throughout because of the title, was like trying to see stars in the city at night. It was barely there. I feel like I’m justified in wanting something more from the home-intrusion aspect of the book. It was lacking.
I haven’t read any other books from Shari Lapena as of yet, but I going to assume her writing style is similar through all her books. In that case, all her books could be read by a 10 year-old. I don’t mean the content itself, but the way in which she writes is so simple. When I read, I want a challenge. Something to test my vocabulary. I don’t want to read, what I think, is next to a children’s novel. Maybe her plan is to focus on the plot and not the wording. I think that writing style is important and it’s definitely something I look for.
Onto the story itself. I enjoyed it. There are many twists and turns that I didn’t see coming. That’s about it though. It wasn’t the most amazing thing I’ve ever read, that’s for certain. One thing I loved about this book is the tiny amount of characters. Usually, the amount of trouble I have remembering characters and their names is astounding. It was so easy to remember everyone. More books need to be like that. You really don’t need hundreds of characters to make a good book.
Overall, this book was very average. I’m not obsessed and I don’t completely hate it. It’s alright. This isn’t a recommendation of mine, though.
Thanks for reading!
My All-Time Favourite Movies
Before I get started, let me make it clear that I’m no movie buff. But I have watched my fair share of movies.
I’m not going to give away the movies, in case you want to watch it. I’m really into action, suspense, and mystery movies. Also, you’ll notice a trend in these movies….because Christopher Nolan is just too good.
1. The Dark Knight (2008)
This movie became a classic the moment it was released. I don’t think anyone can deny that this movie is amazing. I’ve watched it countless times and yet I still find things that I didn’t notice before. You can watch this movie over and over again and not get bored of it. You’ve got to love Heath Ledger’s Joker in this. He’s pretty much what makes this movie good, other than Christopher Nolan’s directing. Ledger’s role is iconic.
2. Dunkirk (2017)
In 2016, I found out Chris Nolan was making a new movie (finally) and I was very excited. He hadn’t made a new movie in a few years then and I felt deprived. I discovered that the movie would on the the Miracle of Dunkirk. I’ve always been really interested war movies and war in general.
The film has minimal dialogue, but it works. The actors tell the story so well through their expressions alone. It’s a chilling recount of how Dunkirk really happened. It’s very different than how I learned it to be. This movie shows how it really was.
3. Captain Phillips (2013)
This movie was absolutely crazy. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. It’s a true story, based on the 2009 hijacking by Somali pirates of a U.S. cargo ship. Barkhad Abdi’s acting as a Somali pirate, was amazing. The story in general is very interesting, and the film is created in such a suspenseful way. If you’re looking for a film that constantly has you biting your nails, this is for you!
4. Inception (2010)
I still don’t understand this movie. And that’s why I’ll never get sick of it. I watch it over and over and get a different understanding of it each time. It boggles your mind and makes you think. It’s about stealing secrets through dreams and that’s about all I get from it.
It’s quite long, about two and a half hours in length. But trust me, it’s worth every minute of your time. If you are looking for a movie that really makes you think, watch Inception!
(All of the images in this post are from various sources found through Google Images)
The Amateurs by Sara Shepard
★★★★★
(spoiler-free)
Sara Shepard; the queen of teen fiction. I have a theory that she single-handedly encouraged the world’s population of teens to read again. It’s pretty understandable, I think. I mean, ever since the Internet was born, teenagers claim they’ve never opened a book or smelled the musty pages of a novel. It’s completely true actually. Students at my school never read for pleasure. Ever. I hear it all the time. If they do read, the only books they read are Sara Shepard’s. So yeah. She must have some pretty good books to make brain-dead teenagers actually want to trudge on over to the library rather than surf through Instagram mindlessly.
When I saw that Sara Shepard had a new book, I put it on hold in a heartbeat. For some reason, those stories about teenagers and their “struggles” never fail to entertain me. To get some insight into the book if you haven’t already read it, here’s a little summary taken directly from Goodreads:
Five years ago, high school senior Helena Kelly disappeared from her backyard in Dexby, Connecticut, never to be heard from again. Her family was left without any answers—without any idea who killed Helena, or why.
So when eighteen-year-old Seneca Frazier sees a desperate post on the Case Not Closed message board, she knows it’s time to change that. Helena’s high-profile disappearance is the one that originally got Seneca addicted to true crime. It’s the reason she’s a member of the site in the first place.
Determined to get to the bottom of the mystery, she agrees to spend spring break in Connecticut working on the case with Maddy Wright, her best friend from Case Not Closed. However, the moment she steps off the train, things start to go wrong. Maddy’s nothing like she expected, and Helena’s sister, Aerin, doesn’t seem to want any help after all. Plus, Seneca has a secret of her own, one that could derail the investigation if she’s not careful.
Alongside Brett, another super-user from the site, they slowly begin to unravel the secrets Helena kept in the weeks before her disappearance. But the killer is watching…and determined to make sure the case stays cold.
Mystery in a teen-y book was all I needed. I had been reading some pretty heavy books and needed a little break from that because I’m fragile. Maybe this is just me, but I thought that this would be a lousy mystery book. I mean, a group of teenagers solving a crime together just sounds boring. Well…I can’t even begin to explain how wrong I was. This book was GREAT.
The mystery keeps you intrigued throughout the book. It’s constantly being developed, even in the light-hearted situations. The characters were super dynamic. The personalities of everyone in their clique meshed together so well. The mystery was never quite solved until the very end. You think it’s over but then: IT’S NOT! Who doesn’t love that in a book? It’s no wonder there’s a second book coming out in November, titled “Follow Me”. Ominous. And I’m HYPED.
I’m NOT going to give this book away because I reaaally think you should read it. Even if you’re an old hag. I loved it! It’s not overly long or short. Thanks for reading!
The Versatile Blogger Award
Hi! I’m SK, co-author at Exclusory. I’ve been nominated for an award. Specifically, the Versatile Blogger Award. Thank you Pae for the nomination. It truly means a lot. Please check out her blog whenever you have the time!
When you are nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award, you must obviously thank the blogger who nominated you with a link to their blog, nominate fifteen other bloggers to partake in this post and share seven facts about yourself. So, let’s get started.
Some facts about SK:
- I’m in grade 11 right now.
- I started to dislike school this year because it’s gotten so hard.
- I would LOVE to live in Switzerland at some point in my life.
- I enjoy movies more than TV shows because I don’t like stories being stretched out. That’s not to say I don’t like TV shows at all, though.thin
- I’m a really boring texter.
- I love fries in all forms.
- I love gloomy weather so much. I wish it was always cloudy.
Now, I will nominate fifteen of my favourite bloggers. I nominate:
- Rafia
- Judanna
- Mary
- Hebah
- Carly
- Kirsty
- Kayla
- Dominique
- Katie
- Faye
- Caitlin
- Fiona
- Erica
- Shaiz
- Kris Marie
I cannot wait to read all your posts! Be sure to check out their blogs too. Until next time!
City of Bones by Michael Connelly
★★★★☆
I’ve been trying to find the genres of books that most interest me recently. Growing up, I understandably wasn’t into crime novels and thrillers, rather I was into those typical children and teen novels; Harry Potter (still love with all my heart), Percy Jackson, Hunger Games, Divergent, Inkheart, etc. I was never into the classics or the comics (still not into comics, just not my thing) either. These past few years, I fooled around with different types of books. I started reading crime novels and quickly found myself enjoying them. This book just so happens to be the centre of my scrutiny today.
Before I get into the contents itself, can I just say that I bought this perfectly intact second-hand paperback book for a dollar?! A STEAL.
As a brief, brief summary for you to get an idea of the book, it starts off when a dog fetches a bone, a human bone, while out with his owner. Detective Harry Bosch must get to the bottom of the case. One thing puts a wrench in his gut; it’s a bone from a child. He uncovers a case almost twenty years old and struggles to find the evidence he needs to put the monster who did it behind bars.
Harry Bosch is part of a series of books Connelly has written. Harry Bosch’s endeavours are a TV show, which I just recently found out can be found on Amazon Prime. I will have to check that out.
This would be the first book I’ve read from Connelly and I liked it. It’s a very different writing style in comparison to previous books I’ve read. The writing and storytelling is very succinct, no fluff. I love that. Unnecessary writing is one of my pet peeves, and I’m sure I’m not alone on that. Since the writing was so easy to read and comprehend, I devoured this book faster than most. I’m not entirely familiar with Connelly’s work and style, but I think he puts more care into the plot and characters themselves than the manner in which the plot and characters are presented in. If that makes sense. I think that’s probably why there’s no unnecessary writing.
The plot itself is typical of a crime novel. It leads you to believe one person did it but then something else pops up that changes everything. There are many suspects that come up in the story and Bosch tries to figure out who the true suspect is. He’s led to believe one suspect did it, and the case seems to have come to a close, but then he realizes that something isn’t right. Bosch’s detective skills are spot-on, and he covers his mistakes.
Overall, this book was an enjoyable read. The story line is intriguing and I never found myself wanting to put the book down. I’m sure to read more books from Bosch. I bought “The Brass Verdict” and I plan on reading that sometime soon also.
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
★★★★★
It’s about time I got my hands on this book. I’m really late, I know.
Though the library’s hardcover copy was gnarled and stained, I still had patience and flew through this book. My reaction: WOW!
I’m sure you’ve already read “Gone Girl” but here is a little summary: Nick and Amy Dunne seem to have the perfect life. They’re (seemingly) happily married, but when Amy goes missing, their small town turns to Nick for answers, who seems to be in the same boat as everyone else. Lies and deceit make this harrowing story by Gillian Flynn hair-raising.
The story seemed to be typical at first; spouse goes missing, blame other spouse, turns out he/she killed the other spouse they’re arrested. But as the story progresses, the lies told by both Amy and Nick complicate the plot.
It is written from the alternating perspectives of Amy and Nick. Amy’s perspective is shown through her personal diary, which later becomes a part of the plot. Through these first-person perspectives, you can see the similarities and differences in their thoughts. Since this story is about a relationship gone haywire, you can see through their thoughts why they thought they were good for each other at first but not later. It’s a very personal telling of their inner feelings. Especially for Amy, as she writes down everything she is feeling. Nick’s perspective is told on the present. He is in the time when Amy first goes missing and it carries from there. Sometimes the things Amy and Nick think are downright psycho. And that’s what makes this book so intriguing.
Amy and Nick’s characters are extremely well-developed, due to this first-person perspective. It is truly unbelievable how the thoughts of psychopaths can seem so real, almost relatable (not saying I’m a psycho, OK). Flynn creates characters that actually contribute to the story and plot in their own way. It’s remarkable how each and every character is so important to the story.
This book was just the right length. I wasn’t left missing information nor was the book stretched out. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it!
Exclusory Style 