my thoughts on: Beauty by Robin McKinley [review]

Beauty by Robin McKinley

published 1983

click here for synopsis

Perfect heroine.

Even more perfect hero. 

Amazing minor characters to surround and enhance the awesomeness of Beauty and the Beast.

A wonderful tale to read aloud to children.

A magical retelling that tugged at my heart strings. I already had a thing for Beauty and the Beast (favourite Disney film of all time), and I have always adored delving into the unreachable fantasy of magical places, enchantments, and fairytale characters to amplify and promote pure love. 

There were lines in this book where I had to re-read them over and over just for the pure joy of re-experiencing the awesome intensity of feelings that were evoked. (e.g. the end of the quote below)

I cried a fair bit. I'm lame like that, and I will be the first to admit it. 

Roses are my favourite flower. 

Beauty is a pure, true, classic and magically wonderful retelling of Beauty and the Beast. 

It is beauty in the living body of literature.

I'll read this to my children and children's children...

And what better compliment could an author receive than that?

Snippet:

At the edge of sleep it seemed that the breeze returned, and something cool was put on my hands so that the pain slipped away like a thief in shadow. The gentle whistling and sighing of the breeze resolved itself at last into words, but I was too near sleep to hear much of what was said, or to be certain that I was not listening to a dream. There were two voices. The first said: 'Poor child, poor child. I feel for her sadly. If only there were some way we could help her.'

The second voice said, 'But there isn't, dear. You know that. We do our best, but she must find her own way.'

'I know. But it seems so hard.'

'It does, and it is; but cheer up. She is a good girl, and he loves her already. It will be alright in time...'

Bookshelf Tour - The Forgotten Shelf

Like my recent post entitled "Woops!" explained, I completely forgot to show you an entire shelf from my Bookshelf Tour the other day! So I filmed the last shelf yesterday, and here is the video! I was clearly out of my mind to have forgotten this shelf... I spent so long organising and ordering these books from top to bottom.

Woops!!!

I totally just realised only a minute ago that I had COMPLETELY forgotten to show an entire shelf from my Bookshelf Tour. It has a heap of classics on it. Can't believe I entirely forgot about that shelf... 

Anyway, I'll film that little P.S. / Part 2 of the Bookshelf Tour tomorrow if I can remember. 

WOOPS!!!!!

My Bookshelf Tour Video!!!

Brace yourselves... this is a long one.

My sister and I switched bedrooms the other day so I spent most of the day moving books to and from our rooms and organising my main bookcase. This is a video tour showing you guys my finished set up! Well, not completely finished yet because I don't want to use my smaller old bookcase anymore, which means I still need to find a place for the strayers... by 'strayers' I mean the 4 piles of other books that are currently homeless. 

Hope you don't find the bookshelf tour too boring! 

Lastly I just wanna apologise for not posting more throughout May. I did warn you though! 

But I hope this video post makes up for my absence in some way. :/ 

Let me know if you'd like to see more videos in the future!

Much love,

Arielle

Reading According to Me: my bookish preferences & pet peeves

These are some of my preferences and pet peeves when it comes to reading books. Let me know if you share any of these! Or if you disagree with any. Or if there are others I may have missed out on! 

I'm just hoping by the end of this post you don't think I'm completely crazy. 

1. A reading preference of mine is reading print copies. As long as I don't have to peer into a screen and further destroy my eyesight in the process of reading something, it is a win! I already watch enough TV and read enough blogs on my laptop so if I can avoid further damage I shall. That doesn't mean I would never own a Kindle or some sort of e-reader. Those devices can be pretty useful for travelling. :)
2. I dislike glossy book covers. Whether it is the jacket of a hardcover or a normal glossy paperback, if it's slippery in my hands I won't like it. Yes, of course I'll read it because most of the time I have no other choice, but the point is that I get clammy hands sometimes so fabric covers (or just normal paper/cardboard covers) are far more hand-friendly than the sleek, glossy kind. 
3. I have no qualms about dog-earing pages from my books. Especially if I know I will keep the book permanently, not re-sell it or give it away or swap it. I dog-ear probably for the only reason people ever do it - because I don't have a bookmark handy. I do try to always use bookmarks, but there will always be times where I misplace them or I need one right away and there are none around. Obviously, I would never dog-ear someone else's book if I was lent it. That's utter disrespect right there.
4. I secretly hate it when I lend a book to someone and they return it to me with stains splattered on the pages inside. Like, seriously... you can eat and read, but BE CAREFUL! I totally don't mind if the book is returned to me with creases down the spine and the corners slightly tattered, because that's at least natural book behaviour, but stains can be easily avoided. Or should be more easily avoided it seems.
5. Bending the book back against itself. I'm sure there is a better way of describing this deplorable action, but every time I see someone doing this to a paperback book or novel I cringe. Like, just rip the whole thing in half why don't you!!? 
6. I like stories written with short sentences. Divergent by Veronica Roth for example. If that can't happen, then I like stories written HILARIOUSLY. Like Sophie Kinsella, or Louise Rennison, or Jaclyn and Liane Moriarty. Be funny, and we'll have no problems on my end. This is because I'm a very lazy reader. If you can't captivate me by one means or another, I will probably give up before the end. 
7. When reading on public transport I get extremely defensive about people seeing the title of the book I'm reading. Or just the cover in general. Rarely would I ever wish to flaunt the title of the book I'm currently reading. But thank goodness I no longer need to take the train/bus to get to uni because I have a parking permit now! (By the way.. I'm also this way about music. Really really defensive about  telling people who my favourite bands and artists are. Like I want to keep it all a secret. Forever.)

some bookish visual inspiration

I'm just letting y'all know I'm gonna be AWOL for the next couple of weeks while I figure out what I'm going to write for my major essays and while I study for other major tests coming up. 

On other news, I'm really tempted to hold another giveaway soon! But I don't want to attract people to follow this blog unless it's on their own volition. I might wait 'til I have over 100 followers before I do another giveaway. Unless it's author/publisher provided. 

Anyway, I need to back to work. I'm really tempted to start reading Howl's Moving Castle but I need to read Troilus and Cressida by Shakespeare. I also need to read Beloved by Toni Morrisson ASAP. And study Greek! Eeeeeeep. D:

So here are some pretty pictures, provided by the wonderful website called Tumblr, to hopefully motivate us all at least a tad. 

Have a nice evening, everyone!

x Arielle

what's at the top of my skyscraper-high reading pile?

Here is a little insider's peak into what I need to read/want to read in the next couple of weeks! 

Let me know if you've read any of these, you might be able to help me in my assignments/exams, hahaha. :) 

academic reading:

Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Mythologies by Roland Barthes

Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe

Essays on Defoe by Virginia Woolf

Shakespeare's Sonnets

Goblin Market by Rossetti

reading for leisure: 

The Lying Game by Sara Shepard

Rhubarb by Craig Silvey

As you can tell, this is what I have been doing this past study week:

Yup. Sitting on my bum.

Happy Middle of April!

new on my bookshelf: all american edition

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Another AMAZING dystopian YA that has been on my wishlist for SO LONG! Despite the extensive height of my TBR pile sitting on various shelves in my bedroom, I decided I had waited too long to get this. 

Go check out the synopsis on Goodreads!

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

I'm not sure what exactly made me order this one. It's not like a need a bigger reading pile. But there's a movie coming out for this and I think it's got a good rep around town. Hmmm. It's a bit of an oldie, but if you haven't heard of it, click here for the blurbity blurb!

Lonesome Traveler by Jack Kerouac

I thought I'd expand the scope of my reading a little bit and order a couple Kerouacs online. There are songs about him and he started the Beat Generation, if there is such a thing. Lonesome Traveller is, I think, like Jack Kerouac's own travel journal. I'll get around to reading it some time soon I hope. He is rather relevant to my American Lit unit.