Idea Fodder

A small selection off my Pinterest board, Idea Fodder. It's a random collection of pictures that give me ideas, spark my imagination.
I put them in a specific order. Try to make a story out of it. Tell me what you end up with.

I've got my story. It's one of forbidden magic and fear. What's yours?

Peace,

Riv

Books In Your Pants

Hey Blogger Buds,
I've been watching some old Brotherhood 2.0 vlogs lately, and there were a couple on the infamous phrase "In Your Pants." Both Hank and John pulled out some books that would sound great in your pants (see what I did there? eh?) so I figured, as part of my eternal fangirling, I would give it a shot. I didn't go hunting on Goodreads, I just pulled some titles off my bookshelf and narrowed the list down to 16.
(I probably don't need to say this, but the post might be a little NSFW for those of you who have superbly talented four-year-olds who know how to read my blog.)

Behold:

YA in Your Pants.

(Wow, that sounds bad...)

A Need So Beautiful

Delirium

Forgotten

Beautiful Creatures

Clarity

Forever

Trance

Virals

Too Far

Happy Families

Shatter Me

Lola and the Boy Next Door

Possession

The Scorch Trials

Crescendo

I'm going to leave it up to you to fill in the "In Your Pants" in your mind.
I just chose Trance because it rhymes. :)

I hope I was able to brighten your day a bit!

What do you think is the perfect book in your pants?

DFTBA,
Riv

Summer Classics

Hey Blogger Buds,

This summer I'm tackling a few classics, so I figured that today I'd share with you the pre-2000 books I'm reading. I don't usually read classics, so I'm also going to mention my reason for picking these books.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

I'm reading this one for the Nerdfighter book club. John and Hank Green chose it because E. L. James sold more copies of Fifty Shades of Grey in a month than Ray Bradbury sold of F451 in his entire lifetime.

Right now, I'm 70 pages in, and it's amazing. Mr. Bradbury has an astounding command of the English language, and a way of just weaving words together to paint these astonishing pictures for you. The only author I've recently read who I could say the same thing about is Markus Zusak.

I'm not finished yet, but I still highly recommend.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

To be honest, I don't really know what this is about. It seems that when a book reaches a certain status as a classic, it doesn't need a summary anymore, just stuff about how it's "compassionate, dramatic, and deeply moving" and "takes readers to the roots of human behavior - to innocence and experience, kindness and cruelty, love and hatred, humor and pathos." (nabbed from Goodreads) I don't even know what "pathos" means*.

But it's a book that everyone just must read, supposedly. Also, it was one of my summer reading choices for school, so let's kill two birds with one stone, eh? (Pun intended.)

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes

This is my other school book. I read it a few years back, for a different school summer assignment, so hopefully I'll remember some of it, and just have to give it a quick skim. I don't know how to explain it, so I'll leave it up to Goodreads to provide a semi-ambiguous summary:

"Johnny Tremain, a young apprentice silversmith, is caught up in the danger and excitement of 1775 Boston, just before the Revolutionary War. But even more gripping than living through the drama of Revolutionary Boston is the important discovery Johnny makes in his own life."

Fire and Hemlock by Dianna Wynne Jones

Probably at least one or two of you are loading your guns and/or wands and preparing to come after me for including this book on a list of classics. But I said that I would be including pre-2000 books, and this one was published in 1985.

I'm reading it because my knowledge of DWJ's works is embarrassingly limited to Howl's Moving Castle and some other half-hearted attempts, so when I saw Fire and Hemlock on the library shelf I scooped it up without even reading the summary. For this reason, I don't really know what it's about, and I refuse to find out, because then I might change my mind. If I'm going read it anyway, is there even a point to knowing what it's about? No.

That's the plan for my summer classics! Wish me luck!

What kind of classics are you planning on reading this summer?

DFTBA,
Riv

*pathos: "a quality that evokes pity or sadness" -Thanks, Google!

Character Dolls: Edward Elric

Hey Blogger Buds,

It's weird, I haven't done a Character Doll in a while. Today's was kind of a cheat. But I'll mention why in a minute.

"Character Dolls" is a weekly feature here at Riv Reads every Thursday. Doll-making websites, like elouai, are my guilty pleasure, and I figured that while I'm on them, I might as well fan-girl a bit! And while I'm doing that, why not share some of my creations on the blog?
Please don't use this feature without express permission from myself first.
Unless otherwise stated, all dolls are made with elouai.
And, of course, I ask that you don't alter my dolls, or claim them as your own. If you like one of the dolls, and want to spread the love, please don't post the picture on your own blog, but instead link back here! And you're welcome to give it a go, of course, and create your own dolls. If you do, let me know so I can check it out!
My character comes from a manga today. I don't usually talk about the Japanese style on my blog much, and I'm not such a manga fanatic, but sometimes I'll find one and fall in love with it. And I'm definitely in love with this one.

This week's character is Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa

Check out the series on Goodreads!

(Drumroll please)

*drumroll*

My favorite part is probably the pants. Other than that, he ended up way too girly.

1) Ed's hair is always in his signature braid, but I couldn't find one, so I figured I'd mimic what it looks like loose. I originally had a different style picked, much longer and girly-er. I'm quite glad I went back and found this one instead. I was scared he'd look like a girl. (He still does, but not as much.)

2) I did the pants before the shirt, and picked out about five hundred black pairs. I'm happy with this one because Ed, as a state alchemist, has a pocket watch. The chain hangs down (though not nearly this far).

3) The shirt was a lot more complicated, seeing as one of Ed's arms is fake, so I had to give him long sleeves and put his hands in pockets or gloves. This was the most normal one I could find.

4) The boots and face were pretty. He's kind of got a poker-face thing, which I like. And Ed's got these beautiful yellow eyes. (Who? Me? Crush on a fictional character? Psh. Never.)

Overall: I like the outfit for the most part, not so much the hair.

What do you think? If you've read FMA, are there any distinct changes you would make? If you haven't, WHY NOT?

Peace,

Riv

PS: In case you're wondering my stance on Mr. Cullen:

source

The Fault in Our Stars Review

Hey Blogger Buds,
After an extended [extended] hiatus, I'm back! I just finished The Fault in Our Stars by John Green this weekend, so I have a review (if, you know, you couldn't tell from the title of this blog post). I haven't posted a review in...2 months. Wow. For a book blogger, that's pretty sad. I'm also working on my reviewing layout, because I have a tendency to ramble, and I like to keep things clear. I try to get down everything I feel ,but I can talk a lot.
Let's get on with it, shall we?


(Just a disclaimer: My blog is usually completely clean, language-wise, but there is an instance or two of me not being my entirely angelic self.)

Blurby: (Goodreads)

Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 13, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumors in her lungs... for now. 

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumors tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault. 

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.

Review:

Right off the bat, I did not cry. Everyone cried, and I'm probably cold and heartless, but I did not. Maybe it's because I was stupid enough to read some Youtube comments, and one of the three comments I read just said the ending. Straight out. I hate those people.

But anyway.

If I were to describe this book in one word, discounting the completely true words like "emotional" and "beautiful," I would call tFiOS "existential." Because it is. And its existentialism is both its strongest and its weakest points. Hazel and Augustus are all about how everything will fade into oblivion and humans will not last forever.

CHARACTERS

Hazel Lancaster: Hazel was an amazing character. She's brilliant, and a bit existential without going overboard. She's thoughtful. She's strong and she's weak. She refuses to accept and she accepts. Hazel is real.

Augustus Waters: He was definitely swoon-worthy, even with "1.4" legs. He calls Hazel her full name--Hazel Grace. He owns a pack of cigarettes so he can put the killing thing between his lips and not give it the power to kill. But. His existentialism was too much. Sure, all of his quotes about needing to be remembered and the universe just wanting to be noticed made me think, but in the end, it all turned meta. (My thought process: "Oh, the pain! Wait. Why am I being existential? Darn it, I'm so meta...) And the way Augustus went looking for metaphors were there weren't any just bothered me. A lot. Yet still, he's just such a spirited character, so full of life.

Peter Van Houten: I want to avoid spoilers, so I'll say that I reacted to him exactly how I was expected to. And I was satisfied with his character, for the most part.

Side Characters: There was Isaac, who I absolutely adored from page one. (Or two. Or where ever he showed up.) And Kaitlyn managed to be fabulous, even with her tiny part. My issue was with Hazel's parents. Sure, her dad was the emo crier, but they were still a major cliche. Hazel's mother was a helicopter mom, always there. She surprised me in the end, but I didn't like either of them throughout.

OTHER

An Imperial Affliction: AIA is the imaginary book that Hazel is obsessed with. And John Green presented it as existential, which could have been a major flop. If I had said, "this 'book' is garbage, what is Hazel's deal?" at all the quotes, tFiOS would have been terrible. But An Imperial Affliction was a well-written "book." John Green gambled, and he won.

Source

Prose: The Fault in Our Stars was absolutely beautiful. I could probably pluck at least one quotable quote from each page. I just opened up to a random page. Here's one from page 116: "Most of the time I could forget about it, but the inexorable truth is this: They might be glad to have me around, but I was the alpha and the omega of my parents' suffering."

Cancer: I can't very well talk about tFiOS without discussing cancer. I don't have such a connection to cancer, or even know much about it. But John Green helped me feel all the things anyway. I understood what was going on. And, although I didn't like how the grief was written, Mr. Green cut away all of the crap of having cancer, of how "strong" the survivors are. This book is many things. It's existential, yes, but it's also emotional, it's also beautiful, and, when you put those all together, you get what it truly is: real.

RATING: 8 stars (out of 5)

RELATED SONG: There are a million fan songs I just listened to, my favorite being the eponymous (always wanted to use that word) song by SuperCoolFunnyVideos. (Seriously. The only real instrument is a guitar that two of them play at once. Other than that, they use copies of tFiOS!)

DFTBA,

Riv

Little Reapers

Hey Blogger Buds,

I missed you! So much! BUT, I can't be back just yet. I'm going into Crazy Rivvy Mode as of late, working on a second draft. I have about 40,000 words to write in the next five days, so...yeah. That's a lot. And then there's other stuff going on...

Meanwhile, I want to share so epicness with y'all. Momo from Books Over Boys is somehow even more obsessed with the Angelfire Trilogy by Courtney Allison Moulton than I am, and she's trying to prove it to you all. The Little Reapers is in no way connected to The Hunger Games (sorry, no Effie Trinket here) but it's still so epic. And, if you need a little extra push, there's an epic giveaway! (Yes, I just said "epic" three times. I'm aware.)

Enjoy, and wish me luck with my writing endeavors!

Mischief Managed,
Riv