artsy musings of a bibliophile

Sana

Playlist: Operating on Electric

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Image Source: Tea Palm
Sometimes I just want to listen to music that gets my blood pumping with electric energy. And because everything is bibliophilic with me, some of the lyrics remind me of characters that I love.
I. WORLD, HOLD ON (FEAT. STEVE EDWARDS) || BOB SINCLAR
I discovered this song when I was sixteen and I recently started listening to it again. Still as amazing.
II. ALIVE (FEAT. JACOB BANKS) || CHASE & STATUS
This song just works.

III. SPECTRUM (SAY MY NAME) [CALVIN HARRIS REMIX] || FLORENCE + THE MACHINE
So hauntingly electric. Spectrum oozes energy.

IV. KICKSTARTS || EXAMPLE
Love the electro house beat of the song.

V. RADIOACTIVE || MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS
Radioactive is a classic.

VI. BLIND FAITH (FEAT. LIAM BAILEY) || CHASE & STATUS
This song gives me goosebumps because it’s so good.

VII. DAMAGED (RADIO EDIT) || ADRIAN LUX
Songs like these fuels my energy like nothing else does. Also, Damaged is such a Ronan Lynch *cough* and Kavinsky *cough* song.
VIII. D.O.A. || SLEIGH BELLS
It’s slightly creepy but that’s why I love it.
IX. DLZ || TV ON THE RADIO
DLZ was featured on Damon Salvatore in The Vampire Diaries so I always relate it to him.
X. TURN OFF THE LIGHTS || PANIC! AT THE DISCO
The chorus, me loves.

XI. IF SO || ATLAS GENIUS
Pretty much the song that gave me the final nudge to make this playlist.
XII. MONSTER || IMAGINE DRAGONS
This song gives me the chills. I also like to think that Monster will remind me of the main character from A Monster Calls (do you see my dedication, sigh).
XIII. BREATHING UNDERWATER || METRIC
Beautiful. Breathing Underwater is such a Mara Dyer/Noah Shaw song.
XIV. OPERATING || HUNTER HUNTED
Infectious.

XV. I TOOK A LITTLE SOMETHING || FLORRIE
An unconventional disco tune that I just can’t get enough of.

Operating on Electric by Sana on Grooveshark

Like my playlisting skills? Any of the songs?

Monthly Recap: February

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February turned out to be a…complicated month for me.

LIST OF NEWSWORTHY


The Neverland of Thesis
Population: 1.
Why can’t I be done and over with it? Ugh.

Rollercoaster Ride
I procrastinated at the beginning of February by listening to tons of music, reading books and bing-watching Orphan Black. The middle of February was filled with love-a-thon-ness. But the end of February took a complete one-eighty on me. I wallopped in a state of distress, was unable to finish RDR’s Virtual Book Club pick and failed my comment-on-at-least-one-blog-every-day goal. Sigh. I’m much better now, though.

TV WATCH

TV in February turned out to be pretty sporadic.

I finished the first season of Orphan Black. Watch it if you haven’t, you’ll not be disappointed.
The pilot episode of Veronica Mars was too good.
New Girl and Brooklyn Nine-Nine still making Tuesdays worth it.
I just want for How I Met Your Mother to be over.

The pilot of The Mindy Project was just…okay. Or maybe I’m not in the mood for it.
I continued Teen Wolf this month and got to the middle of the second season. I’m pretty much just watching it for Stiles.

MOVIE WATCH

I haven’t been watching as many movies as I used to. I want to but then I don’t want to. Err.

Frozen (8/10) – I liked it a lot. I still do but I also feel like there’s room for improvement.
The Kids Are All Right (7/10) – Annette Bening is such a good actress. The movie gets points for spontaneity.

LIST OF READS

Still ahead on my Goodreads challenge this month. I feel weird about it. Then I think that it’s probably because of the few novellas I read in between the eight books.

Proxy by Mindee Arnett
Avalon by Mindee Arnett
Neverfall by Brodi Ashton
Everbound by Brodi Ashton
Evertrue by Brodi Ashton
Scarlet by A. C. Gaughen
I Am Pusheen the Cat by Claire Belton
All That Glows by Ryan Graudin
Split Second by Kasie West
The Last Best Kiss by Claire LeZebnik

LIST OF BLOGPOSTS

I started a new feature and posted about absent mothers and female bildungsroman in YA.
I started another new feature and talked about serial distress.
I took part in Love-a-Thon.
I posted my review of All That Glows by Ryan Graudin.

LIST OF BOOK BUYS

I’ve a lot of ARCs to get to and series to finish so I didn’t buy much books this month.

Split Second by Kasie West
Lady Thief by A. C. Gaughen

PLAYLIST

I listened to a lot of music this month and came to certain conclusions:

CHVRCHES is my new favorite band and all because of Cee.
I’m in love with Jessie Ware‘s Wildest Moments.
Best discovery of this month goes to of Verona.


How was your February?

Review: All That Glows by Ryan Graudin

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ABOUT THE BOOK

young adult fantasy published by HarperTeen on 11 February 2014 

Emrys—a fiery, red-headed Fae—always embraced her life in the Highlands, far from the city’s draining technology, until she’s sent to London to rejoin the Faery Guard. But this isn’t any normal assignment—she’s sent to guard Prince Richard: Britain’s notorious, partying bad boy and soon-to-be King. The prince’s careless ways and royal blood make him the irresistible for the dark spirits that feed on mortals. Sweet, disheveled, and alive with adventure—Richard is one charge who will put Emrys’ magic and heart to the test.
When an ancient force begins preying on the monarchy, Emrys must hunt through the London’s magical underworld, facing down Banshees, Black Dogs and Green Women to find the one who threatens Richard’s life. In this chaos of dark magic, palace murders and paparazzi, Emrys finds herself facing an impossible choice. For despite all her powers, Emrys has discovered a force that burns brighter than magic: love.

THE RATING


THE REVIEW

The one thing that comes to mind after reading All That Glows is that while it isn’t bad, it isn’t good either. There are many things that could have been improvised to make it all a little more of an engaging read but, alas, All That Glows fell short.
On the one hand, Emrys is very skilled at making use of her magic despite being young in terms of Fae age. On the other hand, she feels a connection to Richard only because he senses her presence, which later turns out to be because Emrys desired it. Having lived through centuries of history, you’d think that Emrys would have an amazing personality and a badass attitude. You’d be wrong. The one thing that I found interesting was her gripes about mortality and death.
There are many things that are not consistent with the plot and the most striking of all, is the pairing of Emrys with Richard. The core of All That Glows is the love story which is, sadly, weak at best. I couldn’t grasp how Emrys, being an elegant Fae and hundreds of years old, connects with a supposedly ‘notorious, partying bad boy.’
From what I gathered, Richard isn’t notorious at all nor he is a bad boy because getting drunk every other night isn’t the definition of being bad. On the contrary, it makes him ordinary. There is no reason given whatsoever for his being the way he is. It takes the biggest shock of his life to turn him into the opposite of irresponsible and in just a span of a few weeks. I wasn’t sold at all.
All That Glows is overwrought with metaphors that either results in very unpleasant imagery or don’t make much sense. The book picks up its pace, especially towards the end of the book, when the action takes the front seat and Emrys manages to shine for a bit. In all, the execution of an amazing premise is lost in the lackluster romance and an unrestrained use of metaphors.

THE QUOTES

‘At one time, I could count on the world. Winter’s hard freeze, the bitter howls of gray wolves, the colors and laughter of May Day and the bonfires of Samhain, the twines of magic holding me together . . . Things once constant, now suddenly not. Nothing, not even the immortal, is safe from decay.’ 

‘Death — the aftermath of it — is a strange thing to watch from the pedestal of immortality. I’ve seen death in every way: as a thief in the night, as the heat of fever, as the lust of a warrior. Yet I’ve never really understood grief, or what it does to those left behind.’

Love-A-Thon 2014

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This is my first Love-A-Thon and I’m excited to be a part of it. Hosted by Katelyn and Alexa, it’s a fun event where we bloggers get to share the love of blogging.

INTERVIEW

Since my partner wasn’t able to participate, I interviewed myself and had fun doing it.

HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH YOUR BLOG NAME?
I had a random blog on Posterous titled Artsy Musings but I didn’t use it much. I came up with it because I’m artsy and I daydream a lot. So when I decided to book blog, I thought I’d use it but it wasn’t bookish so I added of a Bibliophile which made it kind of long. But I’m fine with it. I love it.
WHAT GENRE/SUBJECT MATTER DO YOU READ AND REVIEW MOST ON YOUR BLOG?
My go-to genre have alway been contemporary but I usually review other genres more on my blog. I don’t know why that is, though.

NAME THE 3 BOOKS YOU’RE EXCITED FOR IN 2014!
2014 is killing me with all the wonderful releases and it’s only February. Having said that, I’m most excited for Heir of Fire by Sarah J Maas, the yet untitled third book in The Raven Cycle series by Maggie Stiefvater and In a Handful of Dust by Mindy McGinnis.
WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE YOU BLOGGING FROM?
I’m blogging all the way from Pakistan. Asian blogger says hello!
TELL US — HOW DID YOU GET INTO BLOGGING IN THE FIRST PLACE?
I never got blogs or blogging but then I stumbled across a few via Goodreads and thought that this was something I could totally do because hello, books forever. I tried it out on Tumblr and then officially started book blogging a little over two years ago.

APART FROM READING, WHAT OTHER HOBBIES/INTERESTS DO YOU HAVE?
Sometimes, I sketch and paint but it’s been too long since I’ve done that and I want to start doing it again. Does watching TV shows count? Of course, it does. So I just binge-watched the first season of Orphan Black which was awesome and started watching Veronica Mars. I also like to take random photos of things and write poetry whenever the mood strikes.
IF YOU WERE STUCK ON A DESERTED ISLAND, WHICH BOOKS WOULD YOU BRING WITH YOU?
Vicious by VE Schwab because Victor Vale, The Dream Thieves because Pynch is my ship and the raven boys are the best, and Harry Potter because I’d get to sneak in seven books instead of one and get to use it as a weapon if anyone tries to kill me. Oh wait, it’s deserted. Err, I’ve been reading too many books, okay.
IF YOU WERE STUCK IN SOME DANGEROUS SITUATION (LIKE A FIRE, A SINKING SHIP, A WARZONE), WHICH BOOK BOY OR GIRL WOULD YOU WANT TO COME AND SAVE YOU?
Ronan Lynch (The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater) would be a badass fistslamming his way into the fire. No kidding. Also, Lynn (Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis) would rock in a warzone.

YOU’RE ATTENDING A PARTY WITH YOUR FRIENDS. SUDDENLY, THE DJ CHANGES THE SONG AND IT’S YOUR SONG – WHAT SONG WOULD THAT BE?
I love this question and how hard it is to answer it. I’ve been obsessed with What You Know by Two Door Cinema Club as well as Now You by GJan lately so, I’d probably go with these two.
WHAT 3 MOVIES WOULD YOU LOVE TO HAVE YOUR FAVORITE AUTHOR WRITE INTO BOOKS, OR VICE VERSA?
I’d love to read the book versions of The Breakfast Club (could be written by Gayle Forman, I think), (500) Days of Summer (Sarra Manning can ace this as a book), and Inception (VE Schwab can totally write this) or something similar. They are the three of my favorite movies and would make for fantastic reads or maybe I’m just biased.
As for books, well, Vicious is already happening in 2016 and The Raven Boys movie is in the pipeline. Other than these, I’d love to for Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles to be made into movies, or better yet, a TV series. Now that would be awesome.

BOOK SPINE POETRY

Since I’m away from home and only have two print books with me, I decided to do a book spine poetry using some of my favorite books.

What do you think?

BOOK VALENTINES

A little Vicious backstory: Victor Vale has this habit of defacing his über-cool psychologists parents’ books into simpler messages. Seeing as Victor hates wasting words, I chose some of his own words, put a spin on them, and proclaimed my love for him.

MASH-UP: ARTSY YA CHARACTERS

I love and appreciate art of any kind from poetry to architecture. I also like to paint and sketch sometimes so, I decided to highlight some of the artsy characters in YA.

THE PAINTER


We all know that Peeta is a great painter along with being a great baker. His his camouflaging skills were great in The Hunger Games and I loved that he painted Rue in Catching Fire.

THE PERFORMER OF ARTS

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I haven’t read John Green’s Will Grayson, Will Grayson yet. I only know that it has a character who performs musicals. I love this so much. Also, I loved that Willem De Ruiter from Gayle Forman’s Just One Day performs Shakespearean plays.

THE COMIC BOOK ARTIST

Source

Trevor from Kasie West’s Pivot Point is a comic book artist and this is probably why I adore him as much as I do. It’s a very cool hobby to have.

THE INSTRUMENT PLAYER


I only know that Mia Hall from Gayle Forman’s If I Stay plays cello and I think that is great. I’d love to read more about character who play instruments in YA.

I’ll be updating this post with the mini-challenges throughout the day.

Are you taking part in Love-a-Thon? Let me know below.