'Searching for something new, Isle of Gold in flowers bloom'
Wow, was it really the fourth that I last posted? O.o Dude, summer is moving fast.
Well *ahem* I live! Yay! *confetti*
Anyway, it's been a busy, busy summer. *Lots* of time out in the sun and then hibernating in the air conditioning with best friend or boyfriend.
So let's see...
Harry Potter
Not going under a cut because, well, I'm not even sure what'd I'd say about DH. It was good, definately a relief after the snore fest that was HBP. And while I'm upset about some of the... events (as in NOOOOOO) I was actually really satisfied with the ending. So, all in all, good book and yes, I cried.
Now HP 5 movie? OH MY LORD. Sooooooooooooooo awesome. I have found my HP director. Screw the other guys if David doesn't end up making DH (he's already signed on for HBP) I'm gonna be super pissed. He just made everything so freaking cool, espcially the flying and the wizard battles and the scenery/background and the way the camera interacted with the entire movie and- *cuts self off* Okay shuting up now before I start babbling more. Suffice to say it's just... wow, brilliant in my opinion.
More specifically? Financial Aid. I'm very pissed about this. Since I'm a dependent student that means that my parent's income gets examined as well as my own for how much I can pay independently.
So, my parent's income went up slightly this year so I got bumped up into a different bracket and I lose most of my grant (from about 2000+ to 200+). And there's no way my parent's can help me pay because my mother, who's also in school mind you, is switching to a part time job so she can finish school faster.
And you know what that means? Loans. Yes, the dreaded L word. I'm having to take out two to cover both the fall and spring semester and it's frustrating. I don't want to owe this much at the end of it all but it's seems unavoidable at the moment.
It's summer so therefore it's historical fiction and fantasy for me, with some auto-biographies thrown in there for spice.
The Dark Is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper
Bloody good series. Probably my favorite fantasy series ever, yes even topping Tolkien and Eddings. She just knowns how to write *well*. There's apparently going to be a 'Dark is Rising' movie, which, while it looks interesting and Eeeeeeee Chris Eccleston's in it, it's going to be *very* different from the book. Seriously the way she writes is very... difficult to translate into a movie, especially if you're going out of order (Over Sea and Under Stone was the first book, The Dark is Rising is the second). Anyway, I recommand this to *everyone* it's just amazing and while the most decorated books of the series (DiR and The Grey King) are my favorites I still love each and every one.
The Praise Singer by Mary Renault
Renault writes historical fiction, historical Greek fiction so we're talking about the culture I studied during my Myth class, not the god's themselves but the people who worshiped them. The Praise Singer, in my opinion, is an infinately fascinating book. She's got a style that's not going to be everyone's cup of tea but she's still an excellent story teller and her character's are brilliant. While her most famous books are her Alexander trilogy (which is on my to read list) I started with the Praise Singer and I loved it. It's one of those books where you read obsessively for awhile, stop and let it sink in and then repeat.
West with the Night by Beryl Markham
An auto-biography and an utterly brilliant one at that. Each time I read it I want to sink into the language and the world she creates. She was a pilot, the first person to fly solo from London to North America. I'm not going to say much about it, in fact, I think I'll let it speak for itself.
"How is it possible to bring order out of memory? I should like to begin at the beginning, patiently, like a weaver at his loom. I should like to say, 'This is the place to start; there can be no other.'
But there are a hundred places to start for there are a hundred names - Mwanza, Serengetti, Nungwe, Molo, Nakuru. There are easily a hundred names, and I can begin best by choosing one of them - not because it is first nor of any importance in a wildy adventurous sense, but because here it happens to be, turned upmost in my logbook. After all I am no weaver. Weavers create. This is remembrance - revisitation; and names are keys that open corridors no longer fresh in the mind, but nonetheless familiar in the heart."
(You'll notice I say brilliant a lot during this, I refuse to take them out. Each of these books deserves every single bit of praise I can give them :))
What else can I say? I've just been enjoying summer. It's a bit like being a kid again when you work at a daycare during the summer (or at least when you're me working at a daycare during the summer). Why just this morning I was having a water gun fight. I haven't played with water guns since I was... seven? maybe eight? Anyway, really the best part about summer is pretending you get to be a kid again and getting paid for it.
:)*hugs all*
Well *ahem* I live! Yay! *confetti*
Anyway, it's been a busy, busy summer. *Lots* of time out in the sun and then hibernating in the air conditioning with best friend or boyfriend.
So let's see...
Harry Potter
Not going under a cut because, well, I'm not even sure what'd I'd say about DH. It was good, definately a relief after the snore fest that was HBP. And while I'm upset about some of the... events (as in NOOOOOO) I was actually really satisfied with the ending. So, all in all, good book and yes, I cried.
Now HP 5 movie? OH MY LORD. Sooooooooooooooo awesome. I have found my HP director. Screw the other guys if David doesn't end up making DH (he's already signed on for HBP) I'm gonna be super pissed. He just made everything so freaking cool, espcially the flying and the wizard battles and the scenery/background and the way the camera interacted with the entire movie and- *cuts self off* Okay shuting up now before I start babbling more. Suffice to say it's just... wow, brilliant in my opinion.
More specifically? Financial Aid. I'm very pissed about this. Since I'm a dependent student that means that my parent's income gets examined as well as my own for how much I can pay independently.
So, my parent's income went up slightly this year so I got bumped up into a different bracket and I lose most of my grant (from about 2000+ to 200+). And there's no way my parent's can help me pay because my mother, who's also in school mind you, is switching to a part time job so she can finish school faster.
And you know what that means? Loans. Yes, the dreaded L word. I'm having to take out two to cover both the fall and spring semester and it's frustrating. I don't want to owe this much at the end of it all but it's seems unavoidable at the moment.
It's summer so therefore it's historical fiction and fantasy for me, with some auto-biographies thrown in there for spice.
The Dark Is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper
Bloody good series. Probably my favorite fantasy series ever, yes even topping Tolkien and Eddings. She just knowns how to write *well*. There's apparently going to be a 'Dark is Rising' movie, which, while it looks interesting and Eeeeeeee Chris Eccleston's in it, it's going to be *very* different from the book. Seriously the way she writes is very... difficult to translate into a movie, especially if you're going out of order (Over Sea and Under Stone was the first book, The Dark is Rising is the second). Anyway, I recommand this to *everyone* it's just amazing and while the most decorated books of the series (DiR and The Grey King) are my favorites I still love each and every one.
The Praise Singer by Mary Renault
Renault writes historical fiction, historical Greek fiction so we're talking about the culture I studied during my Myth class, not the god's themselves but the people who worshiped them. The Praise Singer, in my opinion, is an infinately fascinating book. She's got a style that's not going to be everyone's cup of tea but she's still an excellent story teller and her character's are brilliant. While her most famous books are her Alexander trilogy (which is on my to read list) I started with the Praise Singer and I loved it. It's one of those books where you read obsessively for awhile, stop and let it sink in and then repeat.
West with the Night by Beryl Markham
An auto-biography and an utterly brilliant one at that. Each time I read it I want to sink into the language and the world she creates. She was a pilot, the first person to fly solo from London to North America. I'm not going to say much about it, in fact, I think I'll let it speak for itself.
"How is it possible to bring order out of memory? I should like to begin at the beginning, patiently, like a weaver at his loom. I should like to say, 'This is the place to start; there can be no other.'
But there are a hundred places to start for there are a hundred names - Mwanza, Serengetti, Nungwe, Molo, Nakuru. There are easily a hundred names, and I can begin best by choosing one of them - not because it is first nor of any importance in a wildy adventurous sense, but because here it happens to be, turned upmost in my logbook. After all I am no weaver. Weavers create. This is remembrance - revisitation; and names are keys that open corridors no longer fresh in the mind, but nonetheless familiar in the heart."
(You'll notice I say brilliant a lot during this, I refuse to take them out. Each of these books deserves every single bit of praise I can give them :))
What else can I say? I've just been enjoying summer. It's a bit like being a kid again when you work at a daycare during the summer (or at least when you're me working at a daycare during the summer). Why just this morning I was having a water gun fight. I haven't played with water guns since I was... seven? maybe eight? Anyway, really the best part about summer is pretending you get to be a kid again and getting paid for it.
:)*hugs all*