My Ramblings on Dragonswood by Janet Lee Carey

Dragonswood
By: Janet Lee Carey
Release Date: January 5, 2012
Author Website

Summary:

Wilde Island is not at peace. The kingdom mourns the dead Pendragon king and awaits the return of his heir; the uneasy pact between dragons, fairies, and humans is strained; and the regent is funding a bloodthirsty witch hunt, hoping to rid the island of half-fey maidens.

Tess, daughter of a blacksmith, has visions of the future, but she still doesn't expect to be accused of witchcraft, forced to flee with her two best friends, or offered shelter by the handsome and enigmatic Garth Huntsman, a warden for Dragonswood. But Garth is the younger prince in disguise and Tess soon learns that her true father was fey, making them the center of an exciting, romantic adventure, and an ancient prophecy that will bring about peace between all three races - dragon, human, and fairy. (from goodreads.com)

My Ramblings:

Let's just start by saying that this is a really fun read.  The book started with a few really short scenes, just a paragraph or two each, that highlighted a few key moments in Tess's life. From those passages you knew everything you needed to about Tess, who she is, why she acts the way she does and it allows you to understand all the decisions she makes as we get into the meat of the story. It was a simple but really effective way to start the story. From there the book is broken into three section that break up the major parts of the journey Tess takes throughout the story. 

I love fantasy stories and this was a great one. It has all of the things I really loved about fantasy stories as a kid, witches, dragons, faeries, magic and royalty vying for power. It all fit together seamlessly in this story- it was explained early how the world was set up and from there every interaction made sense. You never thought to yourself "Wait, there's fairy here? How'd that happen" or "Why would Dragons be talking to them?" etc, because it was all laid out from the word go. It made it a very easy read, which is sometimes a problem with made up worlds, and that ease made the book infinitely more enjoyable! 

Tess is an awesome main character. She has everything I like in a girl. She's strong and independent and doesn't need anyone to help her (most of the time). She's also extremely loyal to her friends and it's that loyalty that initially gets them all in trouble, but in the end helps them all make it through. Garth is also a great character, he's not always what he seems but you can still tell that he's a stand up guy, even if he is keeping secrets. I do wish the summary hadn't given his true identity away, because I think I would have enjoyed the slow reveal off who he truly was more then reading the book with his real identity already in my mind. It didn't completely ruin their relationship, but it certainly dampened it quite a bit. That said, they do have a great relationship and I enjoyed their constant back and forth as they both struggled with whether or not to trust the other. I also like that this book was not all about the love story. I like a good love story as much as the next guy, but I really appreciate when a book is driven by the story and conflict and the love builds as a reaction to those events. 

This was a quick, fun read that anyone who likes fantasy would enjoy. This is the second book in a series of stories, the first being Dragon's Keep, but I don't think that you have to necessarily read them in order. I didn't realize there was an earlier book in the series and I didn't feel like I missed out on anything. Carey does a great job setting the story up, so I was able to understand who everyone was and their relationships really easily. That said, I've already put a hold on Dragon's Keep at my library- I can't wait to read more about Wilde Island and all the people who live there!

 Check out this great book trailer!

 

My Ramblings on the Adam and Anthony concert

Last Thursday I had the chance to go see Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp in concert up on campus. When I saw they were coming way back in September I jumped on it. For those of you who don't know who they are, they played Roger and Mark in the original Broadway cast of Rent. 

Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal as Mark and Roger in the
Original Broadway cast of Rent

This has been, and will probably always be, my favorite show. I saw it for the first time in Toronto from way up in the nosebleeds and it instantly found away into my heart. I've now seen the show probably 7 or 8 times, on Broadway on tour, in regional theaters... if it's playing I'm going. On a personal note, back in high school when I did local theater we shared a backstage area with the touring company. They came to our show, they hung out with us a bit and it was basically the coolest experience I ever had. 

This concert was excellent. The set up was simple. Adam plays for an hour, Anthony plays for an hour, they get onstage together and sing a few songs from Rent. The set list was eclectic. Both sang a few original songs, some standards and a few showtunes. Adam really likes to take a known song and flip it on it's head. Anthony loves his 90's music. Both put on an awesome show. 

Adam and Anthony singing Rent

One thing that really struck me was how many of the little idiosyncrasies that I  thought were part of the character Roger and Mark are really more a part of Adam and Anthony. Adam sings with his eye's closed and leans way the heck back when he sings. Anthony fidgets the entire time, his fingers constantly moving and he tugs on his shirt sleeves like they might disappear on him. These are all things I remember from seeing Rent, and it was kind of cool to be reminded how much of the actors went into that show and to creating the characters that I love so much. 

I took a ton of pictures. About 100 in 2 hours, and my camera was being incredibly wonky and only worked about half of the time. I can't even imagine the number of pictures I would have got if it was cooperating. At any rate, here is a slide show of all the pictures. Enjoy! 

My Ramblings on Let's Pretend this Never Happened by Jenny Lawson

Let's Pretend this Never Happened

By: Jenny Lawson

Release Date: April 17, 2012

Author Website

Summary:

When Jenny Lawson was little, all she ever wanted was to fit in. That dream was cut short by her fantastically unbalanced father (a professional taxidermist who created dead-animal hand puppets) and a childhood of wearing winter shoes made out of used bread sacks. It did, however, open up an opportunity for Lawson to find the humor in the strange shame spiral that is her life, and we are all the better for it.

Lawson's long-suffering husband and sweet daughter are the perfect comedic foils to her absurdities, and help her to uncover the surprising discovery that the most terribly human moments-the ones we want to pretend never happened-are the very same moments that make us the people we are today.

Let's Pretend This Never Happened is a poignantly disturbing, yet darkly hysterical tome for every intellectual misfit who thought they were the only ones to think the things that Lawson dares to say out loud. Like laughing at a funeral, this book is both irreverent and impossible to hold back once you get started. (from goodreads.com)

My Ramblings:

First of all, you all follow The Bloggess right? If you don't, take a minute and go follow her blog. I take that back. Read this post first then go check out The Bloggess. If you go there first then you'll never be back. I recommend starting with a post about a Giant Metal Chicken named Beyonce and going from there. Now, onto the book. 

This book is about as perfect as you can get. I'm not a huge fan of memoirs because I find that they either come off too weepy (I don't want to read an entire book about peoples rough lives) or too contrived, but Lawson managed to find just the right balance. For every story about a time in her life when she struggled there is a chapter that made me laugh so hard I had to bury my face in a pillow lest I wake up the sleeping toddler. Most importantly the book, despite being only mostly true, felt honest. The struggles she had are struggles I could relate too and to see her come through it is inspiring. 

For me the hardest chapter to read was the one in which she talked about her pregnancies and miscarriages. To be honest I almost skipped the chapter. She even tells you at the start that there will be dead babies on the next few pages and I knew what was coming, because I've totally been there. Then I remembered that the way I got through it was by talking about it and not trying to hide it, so I forged ahead. In this chapter Lawson essentially summed up 2 years of my life... the first found me dealing with 4 miscarriages, the second found me pregnant and completely batshit crazy (but I think hiding it well). Lawson was crushed by that ultrasound that didn't show a heartbeat. So was I. She tried again and again. So did I. She finally got pregnant and had to experience the joy of spending 9 months completely petrified that it would happen again. So did I. She had to tell herself and the cats that it would be okay. I told my dog and my horses and myself a million times every day that we'd get through it, that this time it would work, that it would all be okay. It was hard and heartbreaking and I wouldn't change it for the world, but I also don't ever want to go through it again. I'm so glad she put this chapter in, even though it's hard to think about and hard to read about, there are so many of us that go through it that it's nice to share it, even if it's just through a book. 

There are other sad moments, but by and large everything is handles with a sense of humor and absurdity that makes the whole thing feel a bit like a party. A strange, epically f'ed up party that you really aren't sure you should be enjoying, but by god is it fun. Basically it's exactly what it feels like to read Lawson's blog and follow her on twitter, only on twitter you can attend imaginary parties with Wil Wheaton and unicorns and in the book you get to here more about how her father woke her up with a dead squirrel puppet one time. 

I want to recap every funny story, but instead I'll just say that you should really go get the book. You really won't regret it.