Was My High School a Freak?

Something has been really standing out to me in my reading and it's probably one of the dumbest things to notice too because it's so irrelevant to the plot at hand. Class schedules. And I'm not talking about an individual character's class schedule but just the schedule in general. Namely the number of classes per day, usually 8 or 9.

This was not my high school experience. I haven't had this many classes a day since I was in middle school. As an incoming freshman, that was the first year (1997, hi and welcome to me dating myself) my school system starting using block scheduling, aka torture if you despise the class. The board's theory was that it was a means to get students used to the longer classes one would see in college (irrespective of the fact that not everyone was college-bound). So instead

of 8 classes a day at 45 minutes (or so) each, I had 4 classes a day at 84 minutes each. Do you have ANY idea what chemistry was like for me??? The days were then split between A days and B days with rotating lunch schedules and what not. So while I didn't have to deal with hated classes on a daily basis, I had to sit through nearly an hour and a half of them EACH when they did come up. Like I said, torture.

So back to class schedules, this leaves me wondering if this is something that never picked up on a greater school scale. The block scheduling was something that lasted throughout my high school years. Whether they're still going with it I have no idea. I'm assuming so. But considering I keep coming across books where students have the typical 8 class days, I'm starting to think my high school experience in that realm was atypical. And I didn't go to a special school or anything. Regular public school for me.

Yeah, totally asinine I know but it's been niggling. Has anyone else known the joys of block scheduling in high school or am I the loner at the lunch table?

Lovely TV!

Since I always talk about my love for books here (it being a book blog and all), I figured on this Valentine's Day I'd mix it up a bit and talk a bit about the shows that I love. Or at least like enough to watch. I don't have cable so I'm not crazy up to speed about what's on but from what I do know is available, I'd rather shove pins into my eyes than watch most of it. But outside of all of that TV hate, a few shows have weaseled their way into my life and are nesting comfortably in my cockle area. These are those shows. You may or may not pick up on a theme.

Thanks to a very adamant friend INSISTED I watch Supernatural, I finally became hooked. Thanks to this friend I owned the first three seasons, and with her bringing the fourth season on vacation with us, thus introducing me to Castiel, I promptly bought my own copy, along with the fifth and dove right in. Yeah, I was a late bloomer. Really late since I really picked it up at the start of season 6. And while the show's totally shitting the bed lately and REALLY needs to be canceled to save the vestiges of its dignity that remain, I still can't help but love Sam and Dean. And the dead characters past that the show insisted on snuffing (Gabriel, Castiel, Bobby, Rufus). Crowley's cool too although he's not dead. Just absent. I'm still going to buy season 7 when it comes out on DVD simply to complete my collection. I'm praying to whatever god exists that it ends after that.

I'm not in love with Once Upon A Time but I like it enough to sit down, pull it up online and watch it every week. I want to see how long they're going to drag the story out and how much worse the queen's acting can get (because let's face it, she's a pretty big overactor). Still, I like the storyline and I'm REALLY rooting for Snow and Charming to finally get back together for real. Because I can be a sap.

Another show I'm not totally in love with but I like it more than Once Upon A Time, Grimm reminds me of Supernatural with a police procedural mom. It has a kind of quirk to it that Once doesn't but that monster of the week feel that Supernatural did in its early days. Plus Monroe is the saving grace of that show. If it weren't for him I don't know if I'd watch it. But as long as he's there, I'll keep tuning in. Or logging on, as it were.

The only non-paranormal show I watch, I can't help but love Bones. There is not a single character in this show that I don't like and for the love of god will Brennan and Booth get together already? Jeez! I find myself never getting tired of the set-up or the shit that constantly seems to happen to these guys. I keep tuning in and salivating for more. I'm pretty sure I cried through most of the season 6 episodes. I think Angela's pregnancy hormones were projected onto me.

My most recent obsession, the UK version of Being Human has burrowed under my skin and will not come out. Why not the US version? Probably because I watched the UK version first and nothing quite beats British humor. It can't be translated, it can't be replicated and instead of recreating the series the US should have just broadcasted this version here. I'd be okay with that. I'm not even through the second season yet and I'm twitching to watch more. Thankfully (or not) UK series are short so I don't have many episodes to get through but still. I know what I'm doing this holiday weekend. I've already cheated a bit and looked ahead to see when Herrick is coming back. I love him.

I've been an addict since it was released in 2010. Zombies? Yes. AMC? Yes. Sexyshirt that played Jamie in Love Actually? Yes. I'm there. I really don't know how to carry on talking about The Walking Dead without totally fangirling it. But I love it so. It's such a great story, the characters are insane and I can't take my eyes off of the TV. More watching to do this weekend, I have the latest episode in the boiler.

At the behest of many people, I finally started watching True Blood and yes, hooked, if only for the Eric Northman sexy times (because Bill's far too brooding and I HATE the way he says Sookie . . . Sookeh) and Pam. Total girl crush on Pam. Sookie is a basketcase that I'm hoping gets hit by a car but everyone else is pretty cool. I still haven't seen the fourth season because I was catching up on the first three while it was airing. When I was finally able to watch season 4, it was done and unavailable because HBO is evil. I'm waiting for the DVD release date so I can order and devour it and then watch season 5 as it plays thanks to soldier boy's cable. Yeah, he likes it too. Hates most of the cast but loves the show. I still don't understand but at least I have a True Blood buddy.

YAckers Review: When She Woke by Hillary Jordan

Published October 4th, 2011.

Author website.

Hannah Payne’s life has been devoted to church and family. But after she’s convicted of murder, she awakens to a nightmarish new life. She finds herself lying on a table in a bare room, covered only by a paper gown, with cameras broadcasting her every move to millions at home, for whom observing new Chromes—criminals whose skin color has been genetically altered to match the class of their crime—is a sinister form of entertainment. Hannah is a Red for the crime of murder. The victim, says the State of Texas, was her unborn child, and Hannah is determined to protect the identity of the father, a public figure with whom she shared a fierce and forbidden love.

A powerful reimagining of The Scarlet Letter, When She Woke is a timely fable about a stigmatized woman struggling to navigate an America of the not-too-distant future, where the line between church and state has been eradicated, and convicted felons are no longer imprisoned but chromed and released back into the population to survive as best they can. In seeking a path to safety in an alien and hostile world, Hannah unknowingly embarks on a journey of self-discovery that forces her to question the values she once held true and the righteousness of a country that politicizes faith and love. (goodreads.com)

This book is meant to incite rage in its readers, whether it's of the feral intolerant side that foams at the mouth when Christianity is questioned or the blaspheming side that has nightmares about such a world as showcased in WHEN SHE WOKE existing. Only Laura and myself waxed poetic about abortion this month. Or maybe we took a cheese grater to it. Either way our feelings were similar, getting all riled up in the right spots and finding the Where's Waldo Dickhead in the Chromed oblivion but we ultimately liked it. For all the anger it induced, it was written phenomenally and without a hint of preaching. How's that for authorial self-control? Read our thoughts at the official Keeper of the Book's place this month, A Jane of All Reads.

Ban Factor: High - Abortion. That word alone would have the banner running with matches blazing.

YAckers Review: Liesl & Po by Lauren Oliver

Published October 4, 2011.

Author website.

Liesl lives in a tiny attic bedroom, locked away by her cruel stepmother. Her only friends are the shadows and the mice—until one night a ghost appears from the darkness. It is Po, who comes from the Other Side. Both Liesl and Po are lonely, but together they are less alone.

That same night, an alchemist's apprentice, Will, bungles an important delivery. He accidentally switches a box containing the most powerful magic in the world with one containing something decidedly less remarkable.

Will's mistake has tremendous consequences for Liesl and Po, and it draws the three of them together on an extraordinary journey. (goodreads.com)

Ultimately it ended up being a lovely story but it just felt something was missing. And really I think it was. The characters just weren't built up enough and the story didn't reach it's full potential. But it was still nice. I enjoyed reading it and so did my fellow YAckers. But I think our mindset was so fixed on YA that we kept forgetting this was a middle grade story. Read our thoughts over at our substitute Keeper of the Book's place, Laura at A Jane of All Reads.

Ban Factor: Medium - It's got magic in it but it's almost as light and fluffy as Cinderella so it would depend on how smart the reading banner was. Which is an oxymoron.

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White + Giveaway

Published September 1, 2010.

Author website.

Weird as it is working for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, Evie’s always thought of herself as normal. Sure, her best friend is a mermaid, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she's falling for a shape-shifter, and she's the only person who can see through paranormals' glamours, but still. Normal.

Only now paranormals are dying, and Evie's dreams are filled with haunting voices and mysterious prophecies. She soon realizes that there may be a link between her abilities and the sudden rash of deaths. Not only that, but she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.

So much for normal. (goodreads.com)

I'm seriously kicking myself for waiting so long to pick up PARANORMALCY. The voice is epic; like the author crawled inside my head and kidnapped my seventeen-year-old self and put it on the page. It rings true and normal to Evie, not over the top at all in any way (like intelligence or snark or whatever). It just fits to a T. Love it.

Evie is the kind of chick that we need more of in the YA world. She can hold her own in a nominally normal way (she doesn't have super human strength and actually depends a lot on a taser, a pink one at that) and she calls it like she sees it. When Reth goes all super creeper she lays the smack down on him as best she can. She's not all like "OMG he's sooooo hot. Isn't it romantic when he watches me sleep without me knowing and kidnaps me to places unknown?" He's a creep, she calls it and she does her best to stay away from him. I felt bad for her when the shoe dropped because her world as she knew it came crumbling down in so many ways. The pseudo-family she built up for herself, gone. The only home she ever really knew, gone. All she ever wanted to do was be normal and she tried despite it all but in the end it never worked.

Lend is a great character. Totally the kind of guy I can get behind and root for. No stalker tendencies for him. He just is. Like Evie, he just wants to be normal. He wants to be with someone for whom he doesn't have to pretend around. Someone that can see him. Enter Evie and her x-ray eyes and bam! We have a couple. Through Lend Evie can be the semi-normal chick she so strived for and Lend can just be himself. They really do compliment each other.

I'm not the biggest fan of The Chosen One syndrome because it stands out so much but when its done well, I'll take it. Evie's story is done well. She's an odd ball, a non-entity entity that no one can explain and the story takes a while to build up to it but once it gets there, when everything unravels it seems to fit. I'm not left going WTF? but yes, I believe that. So Evie gets a pass for being the super awesome prophecy child.

The whole world White built is like that, believable. A pseudo-government agency that monitors paranormal life all over the world? Sounds like The X-Files with Sam and Dean heading up the presidency. I believed it. With Evie underground we were behind the curtain, seeing things that no other non-paranormal would get to see. Step out from that and Evie gets to see the life that the rest of us are privy too. She comes behind our curtain. But the shades don't stay drawn for long. Eventually the curtain just gets ripped right down.

The ending offers resolution for this particular story but it leaves things open for the coming books. At least it wasn't done cheaply. Yeah, I want to know more about Evie's weaknesses because those, her real ones, don't come out until the end. It made her even more relatable and I want to see more of that. Not to mention what happened with the faeries and the people she knew at the Center. But the immediate arc is resolved and while it left me wanting more, I didn't feel deprived or gypped out of a good ending. I got it and I loved it.

PARANORMALCY is a great book for anyone looking to get away from your standard YA paranormal fare as of late. With a snarky, sharp voice and a heroine to stand next to and fight the battle with, it's an excellent fresh breath in an otherwise smog-ridden landscape. I can't wait to read SUPERNATURALLY.

Ban Factor: High - Werewolves and vampies and big bad faeries. Eeeeeeeeeeee!

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