sometimes quiet is violent

I think it's in Easy A, where the main character Olive talks about how it's funny that in movies the material you're studying in school always seems to have some relationship or meaning in the struggles you're currently going through. I guess I could say something similar to my own life, though it isn't material in school, rather just a book I'm reading on my own. The last month or so has been really tough on me, mentally speaking. I'm not going to go into the gory details as that would be over sharing and would possibly lead to me never being able to look anyone in the eye ever again. But, this tough time has made me feel a whole bunch of feelings, mostly in the negatives. Now, however, after the biggest storm has passed, I'm left feeling very apathetic. You know the kind of apathy that permeates your whole life, where things you were previously interested in just don't seem that great anymore, and you don't feel like putting in effort to se...

Most of you probably remember when Harry Potter was just starting as a phenomenon for our generation. People were lining up to buy the new book, the movies were still being made and Harry Potter was just absolutely everywhere. I was a part of the group of kids that loved all of it. I inhaled the books and had to painfully wait for the last two, went to see all the films as soon as they came out and made myself a cape, riding around on the broom we used to clean leaves out of our yard. Me and my neighbors came up with a game called Voldemort-tag, but it wasn't a very lasting game as it was easy to just point to someone and say "Avada Kedavra". Anyway, all of this is just to show that I was really very into Harry Potter.  As with my other books, I brought my Harry Potter books to school. I soon realised I might have just been the only child reading this series. I went to a Christian school for 8 of my 9 years in basic education. This meant a lot of things, but ...

Maybe the books in our life wait for the right time for us to read them. This thought came to me as I sat on my floor having just finished writing in my diary for the day. I've spent the last three evenings reading a few chapters of The Fellowship of the Ring to help me get to sleep, and the ease at which I read this book has surprised me. I remember taking up the same book six or seven years ago and having to stop reading it before I even got a hundred pages in, because the language was too difficult and too boring for me to be entertained. I'd seen the movies many times by then, so I assumed I wasn't really missing much anyway (I was wrong). Over on Christmas holiday I saw the book on my parents' bookshelf and decided to take it with me, "for the flight" I told myself. I'd been avoiding the book for a while, thinking it was just too difficult for me to read, but as I opened it again a few days ago, just trying to find something I could read before be...

Since this is my blog, and my way of expressing my thoughts, I thought I’d give myself the freedom to write about what I actually want to write about. Today that something is books. I’ve chosen my favourite books that are written by women who are accomplished in the fields that I feel I’d like to work in e.g. journalism and the entertainment industry. I’ve already written a piece on literary canon vs. young adult literature and I’m not going to re-iterate my point any further than just saying that these books are ones that I have discovered within the past few years, and ones that I currently hold close to my heart, my “classics”. There’ll be no Harry Potter or Eragon on this list, as this is my attempt at introducing some of my favourites that are not totally guessable. I’m pretty sure me hyping the Harry Potter books on this blog would be like going around telling people the sky is blue. We are all aware they are good books, just like the sky is blue and grass is green. Now enjo...

I don't know if you know this, but I read a lot. I read a lot (past tense). Fantasy, young adult, classic. All kinds of literature. And I don't really see how something can be more valuable that the other. People go around speaking of classic literature. J.D. Salinger, Charles Dickens, some other smart white dude. I know that these authors are respected and that their works are considered classics because they are good. They are well written and have gained merits over the years that allow for them to be inserted into the educations of people all around the world. If I'm reading a classic book I feel like holding it out for everyone to see. That I'm smart, educated. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed 1984 by George Orwell. But I didn't have to explain myself to anyone while reading it. But when I'm reading a piece of so called "young adult literature" (mostly aimed at girls of 13-17), I feel the need to constantly explain myself . I found my...