Ha! I'm going to interpret this as a song for each season because I can't pick just one season!
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I know that this is one of those "beloved classic" books. They force you to read it in school and the teacher marvels at the use of symbolism, imagery, and all that stuff, but when I read The Giver by Lowis Lowry in the eighth grade, I despised it. If you are not familiar, it is about a young boy, Jonas, living in a dystopian society where everything and everyone is controlled and equal. No one gets choice or preference; medicine is taken to control emotions and colour vision is eliminated. However, this is changed when he chosen to become the next Giver, and he receives special knowledge and memories that begins to change his perspective. I think that if I had read this book outside of school or when I was older, I might have appreciated it a bit more. I felt like we completely over-analysed this book, held too many forced discussions about the plot and the characters, and it completely ruined the book for me. However, I think it was the vague ending that was the worst part. We, as a class, speculated on what we think happened, but the open-endedness really bothered me. I hate ambiguous endings; I absolutely love it when books/movies end with all the questions answered and the loose strings tied up. Don't ever leave me hanging, books. I hate that so much. Runners-Up:
Venus- Sleeping at LastThe night sky once ruled my imagination. Now I turn the dials with careful calculation. After a while, I thought I’d never find you. I convinced myself that I would never find you, When suddenly I saw you. At first I thought you were a constellation. I made a map of your stars, then I had a revelation: You’re as beautiful as endless, You’re the universe I’m helpless in. An astronomer at my best When I throw away the measurements. I love poems and songs that use references to astronomy; I find the comparisons to be beautiful, that something that is so scientific and exact can be compared to the immeasurable human experiences of love and discovery. Sleeping at Last has a whole series of songs dedicated to the planets in our solar system, all available on Youtube.
Shut Up and Dance- Walk the MoonJust as the title suggests, it's fun to dance to! This one has gotten on the radio and I always turn it up whenever it comes on. I've also noticed this band getting some recognition; I discovered them a couple years ago when they came out with "Anna Sun" and they've been getting more and more attention.
Best Song Ever- One DirectionI almost picked Taylor Swift, but then, I decided that I love Taylor Swift and I absolutely do not feel guilty that I like her. So, I went with One Direction because they are catchy and fun, and yeah, I do have a favourite band member picked out, but I'm not going to say who it is (it's not Harry). Also, I really enjoy the music video for this one (but Vevo won't let me repost on here).
To tell you the truth, in general, I am not a huge fan of classic literature. ([Insert huge gasp!] But you studied English literature at university!) Yes, true, I love literature, but I don't have to like all of it. I've read some classic books, but mostly because I had to, for school. That's not to say that I haven't enjoyed some of them, especially when they were taught well by the professor. But, when I sat down to write this post, I realized I wasn't quite sure what a "classic book" really was. Did it have to be written in a certain time period? Follow a certain writing style or a genre? I was stumped, but according to Wikipedia, it is "a book that is accepted as exemplary or noteworthy." So, I went and looked through a few lists of classic books and found that while I had heard of all these books in my life, I had actually read very few of them. I guess, in the end, I'm going with Lord of the Flies by William Golding. I quite enjoyed this when I read it in school, but some of that enjoyment was dulled by the stack of worksheets that we had fill out. There was very little discussion of the book; my English teacher that year was actually a Science teacher.
Two years ago, I taught the book to my Grade 10 class and it was quite a different perspective being the one teaching it now; there are a lot of tie-ins and great ways to relate this book. I've also read a bit of the literary analysis on how the story would be different if a different group had landed on the island, especially a group from a different socio-economic level. I find the arguments and the discussion on it to be quite interesting! Classic- MKTOThis song is fun is so much fun and upbeat! I have been playing it constantly for almost a year now and I still haven't gotten tired of it yet! It's a great cheer-up song for those sunny days when I just want to dance!
So, I've been having so much fun doing my 30-Day Book Challenge that I decided to do a music challenge as well. Hopefully, this will introduce whoever's reading to some new and fantastic music!
Rules: 1) Only one song for each category. No ties! 2) Artists/bands can't be repeated. 3) Have fun! Click on the links on this list for a youtube video. I don't usually like to watch the music videos for them, so I'll probably be posting the lyric videos instead. I'll be updating as I go along. 01. Song that makes you happy 02. Guilty pleasure song 03. Song that makes you want to dance 04. Song with great lyrics 05. Song that reminds you of summer/fall/winter/spring 06. People don't expect you to like this song 07. Song that was introduced to you by a friend 08. A mashup/remix song 09. Song that would play in the "soundtrack" of your life 10. Cover song 11. Acoustic song 12. Song you used to like (but not so much any more) 13. Song from the 60s/70s/80s/90s 14. Song that gets you pumped up or motivated 15. Song that gives you the chills 16. Song in a foreign language (or, song where you have no idea what they're saying) 17. Instrumental/classical song 18. Song you know all the lyrics to 19. Song that's overrated/overplayed 20. Song you can't help but sing-along to 21. Song that has been featured in a film/show 22. Song you discovered before it/band got really popular 23. Song that you've seen performed live 24. Song you have loved for a long time 25. Song you listen to when you're sad 26. The only song you like from an artist/album 27. Song you had to listen to more than once to like 28. Song from a musical (stage or film) 29. Song that you like to play in the morning 30. Song you listen to when you're relaxing 31. Song you listen to when you're angry 32. Favourite song with a duet 33. Song with a great title 34. Song from an artist/band that you think has sold out 35. Song with vocalist who has a beautiful voice 36. Song you recently discovered you like 37. Song that if someone said they liked, you would like him/her a little bit more 38. Favourite Disney song 39. Song with a great music video 40. Song that reminds you of endings and goodbyes If we were to start listing all books that have disappointed me, we would be here for a long time. Rarely do I finish a book and feel like I completely wasted my time. If I disliked the book, then I disliked it; I move on to the next one. However, every now and then, a book will come along and make me so angry that I feel like I've completely wasted my valuable time. I usually try to forget these awful books because they do not deserve to be remembered in any capacity. Road Ends by Mary Lawson is not a book I feel like I completely wasted my time on, but I certainly wanted to hurl it across the room when I was finished with it (but I didn't because I had wisely borrowed it from the library rather than buying my own copy). I am a very big fan of Mary Lawson; she writes prose in a stunning and haunted way that captured my attention, even when her books were the usual fantasy books that I loved as a teenager. When I had heard that she was writing a new book, I waited in absolute eager anticipation. Little did I know that it would be absolute disappointment. This story is about a dysfunctional family in the fictional small town of Struan in northern Ontario. The father, Edward, dreams of travelling the world, but is stuck here with his family. He ignores all of them and locks himself in his office all the time. His wife, Emily, is obsessed with having more children, but is incapable of taking care of them once they're past the baby stage. Their eldest son, Tom, is 25, working an aimless job, struggles with getting over the death of a friend, and also ignores all the problems in his family. Meg, the next oldest child, is stuck taking care of her 8 brothers, but then in a moment of impulse, leaves and moves to England to start a new life. The beginning and middle of the story was very promising as the story introduced our cast of dysfunctional characters. However, these selfish and self-centered characters didn't change or come to terms with anything by the end of the book. The story feels unfinished, like it's only been half told, and my very satisfying ending got cut out of it. To quote my GoodReads review, while Lawson portrays the flaws of human nature not every story has a happy ending, this one lacked a cohesive closure for everyone. I was really, really let down by this book. Runner-Up:
The great thing about literature is that it is meant to provoke thought, to educate, or offer an escape. There are so many life-changing and perspective altering books out there, but I think that one of the biggest and favourites for me is Vas: An Opera in Flatland by Steve Tomasula. I read it in my third year of university for my Postmodern Literature class, and I was absolutely riveted by this book and the discussions by the professor.
I will introduce this book by saying that it is not your typical, linear plot novel. It defies traditional storytelling. It is experimental fiction. It is also full of non-fictional moments as well. It is just weird. It is mind-boggling, but it is also awesome. The story focuses on our protagonist, Square, who is pressured by his wife, Circle, to get a vasectomy. Throughout the book, many different facts, quotes, pictures, diagrams, etc. are shown and they all come together to question the idea of eugenics, humanity, history, and the idea of free will. How far would people go to chase the idea of perfection? When does the "good of society" outweigh the needs and rights of individuals? How does history portray this? How do we practice "free will" in our society and is it really "free"? This isn't really a book I would recommend to everyone. Like I said earlier, it is really weird. At one point, the gene sequence for chromosome 12 is listed for over 25 pages. However, despite its strange format, the messages that it conveys is extremely eye-opening and powerful. It changed my perspective and made me realize that we always need to question history, science, and society, because information can be misleading. In the middle, it depicts two quotes, each from Winston Churchill and Adolf Hitler that essentially say the same thing about eugenics, and yet, history depicts these two men as having completely opposite ideologies; perhaps, not so opposite after all. It certainly makes one rethink what else we been led to believe. |
About“We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one dimension, and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another. The past, present, and future mingle and pull us backward, forward, or fix us in the present. We are made up of layers, cells, constellations.”
-Anais Nin Categories
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