Beautiful creatures

Beautiful creatures
By: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Outer back cover: In Ethan Wate's hometown there lies the darkest of secrets...
There is a girl. Slowly, she pulled the hood from her head... Green eyes, black hair. Lena Duchannes.
There is a curse. On the Sixteenth Moon, of the Sixteenth Year, the Book will take what it's been promised. And no one can stop it.
In the end, there is a grave.
Lena and Ethan become bound together by a deep, powerful love. But Lena is cursed and, on her sixteenth birthday, her fate will be decided. Ethan never saw it coming.

It was nice to get lost in a world where the natural and supernatural lives side-by-side again. The book is kind of "childish" and very suitable for young teens.

Something will happen to Lena on her sixteenth birthday and I enjoyed reading about how she and Ethan tries to find out more about it and do something about it and what they find out about the people in the village as they do it. I also think the book captured how it can be for an "outsider" to come into a small community, where everybody knows each other, quite well. And the small mindedness of some people in such communities.

My favourite part of the book was learning about Lena and Ethan's families, there are still a lot of things that's unanswered about Ethan's family though, but since the book is the first in a series I'm guessing you would find out more about his family in the next books.

My favourite character was the librarian, Marian, she was a very interesting lady.

Except for the last part of the ending where the authors left a kind of cliff-hanger, and the fact that there was a lot of unanswered things about Ethan's family, the book could have ended where it did without any more books. It was a good ending in a way. I don't know if I will read the other books in the series as I won't let myself buy any more books at the minute, but maybe I will in the future. Plainly because I want to learn more about Ethan's family.

A place to myself

I am looking forward to one day in the future having my own place, my own permanent place.

• I look forward to having a bedroom to myself (and maybe a lucky guy)
• I look forward to being able to buy loads of vegetarian and vegan cookbooks
• I look forward to having a freezer
• I look forward to having an oven
• I look forward to having my own bathroom and not having to wait to use the toilet or shower
• I look forward to having my own place to decorate
• I look forward to having a wardrobe so I can put my clothes away instead of living out of a suitcase and to be able to buy as much clothes as I want to
• I look forward to not having to pay every time I need to do laundry
• I look forward to having a bookshelf and being able to keep the books I want to
• I look forward to knowing that if my room/kitchen/bathroom/living room is messy there is only myself to blame
• I look forward to not having to fight for a place in the kitchen or search for a place to put my stuff in the fridge
• I look forward to not having to share a TV
• I look forward to being able to do what I want and have lazy days when I feel like it without anybody other than myself judging me for it
• I look forward to having my own new linen and crockery
• I look forward to not having to fight for a plug to charge my phone
• I look forward to not having to be quiet and leave the lights off in the evening and morning just because someone else is sleeping

The White Tiger

The White Tiger

By: Aravind Adiga

Inner back cover: Meet Balram Halwai,

the “White Tiger”: servant, philosopher, entrepreneur, murderer. Over the course of seven nights, by the scattered light of a preposterous chandelier, Balram tells his story…

Born in a village in the dark heart of India, the son of a rickshaw puller, Balram is taken out of school by his family and put to work in a teashop. As he crushes coal and wipes tables, he nurses a dream of escape – of breaking away from the banks of Mother Ganga, into whose murky depths have seeped remains of a hundred generations.

His big chance comes when a rich village landlord hires him as a chauffeur for his son, daughter-in-law, and their two Pomeranian dogs. From behind the wheel of a Honda, Balram first sees Delhi. The city is a revelation. Amid the cockroaches and call-centres, the 36,000,004 gods, the slums, the shopping malls and the crippling traffic jams, Balram’s re-education begins. Caught between his instinct to be a loyal son and servant, and his desire to better himself, he learns a new morality at the heart of a new India. As the other servants flick through the pages of Murder Weekly, Balram begins to see how the Tiger might escape his cage. For Surely any successful man must spill a little blood on his way to the top?

The White Tiger is a tale of two Indias. Balram’s journey from the darkness of village life to the light of entrepreneurial success is utterly amoral, brilliantly irreverent, deeply endearing and altogether unforgettable.

Very good book. It was really interesting to kind of learn about India and how things are there from someone who comes from the “darkness”. I wonder if India really is like that, and to be honest I wouldn’t be surprised if it is, which is really sad when you think about it. The book has made me want to see India with my own eyes even more, but it has also made me less willing to go on the roads there. I might have to rethink my plans of going on a bus-tour of India…

I like how the book is written in letter-form from Balram to the Premier of China, but I wish it would have said something about how the Premier reacted to Balram’s life story.

Balram has led a very interesting life. He does everything he can to get what he wants and to get higher up in life. I really enjoyed reading about how his family was and how he looked at the rich people and what he felt he needed to be happy in life.

The book is sad, funny and very interesting. It’s probably a bit too “dark” for children, but I think everybody else should read this book.

Ladies Night - Oh what a night!

Some friends and I went on a ladies night last night at North Leagues and Service Club in Kallangur outside Brisbane (Their cheesy garlic bread is to die for!). The Sydney Hotshots were preforming. For those of you who don't know who that is (like me before I got my invitation to the girls night), they're male dancers... That just happen to take their clothes off...

I have never been to a show with male strippers before, or female strippers for that matter. It wasn't actually that good. I found it mostly awkward, but maybe that was because I didn't drink much as I haven't been feeling well for a few days. Some ladies in the audience got pulled up on stage and got to kind of dance with the men or help them take their clothes off. I'm sure glad I wasn't among those ladies. Don't get me wrong it was a fun night and a good laugh and it was nice to do something other than just going for dinner or to the pub for a drink or whatever. The guys weren't that great though to be honest. Nice bodies, but I think at least 2 of them (there was only 4) were new and the times they preformed together they kept looking at the other guys for what to do. The Mother, which was one of the ladies I went with said that she'd seen them before when they were much better.

Part of me would like to go see a show like that again, when I've had a bit more to drink and when the show is hopefully better, just to see what's that like, but another part of me doesn't really want to as I feel uncomfortable seeing people take their clothes off. And yet another reason I'm not sure I want to see another one: the guys only stripped down to a thong so you never saw their gear, I don't really get the point as I can just go to a beach or whatever to see that.

But it was a good laugh. Until one of the girls passed out sick in the ladies room. She was okay, she had someone to drive her home. I don't get the point of drinking that much though. Drinking so much that you're sick when you get home, fair enough, but being sick while you're still out? You're just ruining the night, not just for other but for yourself as well. I don't understand teenagers who judge the greatness of the night out by how sick they were.

Another one of the girls was sick in the car on the way home... Yuck! She didn't even say anything. Luckily the girl that was driving had noticed that she didn't look very well and opened the window. Then one of the other girls asked if she was feeling sick and she said yes, but then she was sick straight away before the driver could pull over. Some of it got inside the car.. Eurgh! TM was kind enough to deal with it and clean it up. Mostly because the rest of us is no go dealing with spew. The girls that threw up did give the girl driving some money though as she felt really bad about it. What I don't understand though is why she didn't shout out for the driver to pull over when she felt she was going to be sick!? It might be embarrassing, but as she probably now knows it's even more embarrassing to be sick in someone's car.

Tattoo #2

Well as I said in one of my Melbourne posts I got a tattoo while I was there. I got it at Fox Body Art. Here is a picture of the original. I did ask the tattoo artist to cut off the top half of that really long swirly thing, and then he drew a new one that would look better on my hip, which I agreed on the design on.

I had put some numbing cream on before I went to get the tattoo. Like on my first tattoo, since the design changed, part of it was outside the area with the numbing gel. That hurt! I’m glad I had numbing gel on at least part of the area, I couldn’t feel a thing there, it actually tickled a bit. Anyway. I was lifting my head occasionally and looking at what the tattoo was looking like, one of those times I noticed he was making a mistake; he was filling in the swirly bits.

Me: Are you filling it in?

Tattoo Artist: Yes.

Me: …. It wasn’t supposed to be.

TA: It was on the original.

Me: No it wasn’t, it was just outlined and the heart was filled in except for the bottom swirl.

The tattoo artist did say he was sorry and asked if I wanted him to only outline the heart, but I told him to just fill it in, so that it would match the rest. I wasn’t too happy that he filled it in, I had actually thought that I should say when I was getting it to not fill it in, but I totally forgot on the day. And also I figured he would follow the original picture. I didn’t want it filled in because that way it’s a lot “lighter”, it’s not as “heavy” as when it’s full colour. But at least it wasn’t a major mistake, and it still looks good. So I can live with it.

 (The tattoo is not getting smaller at the top by the way, it was just a bit hard to take a picture of my own hip... )

I had paid $55 in deposit, which went towards the tattoo. When I was going to pay it was another $70!! It’s so expensive! I can’t believe it! The one I got in England was only £30! I kind of wish I had pointed out he made a mistake on something that is going to be on my body permanently and see if I could pay less because of it, and I probably should have, but I just wanted to get back to the hostel and lie down for a bit. It was really weird to walk right after I got it since it’s on my hip I could feel it every time I moved my feet.

Now for the meaning of it. It’s a heart, so you can probably guess it has something to do with love. And you’re right. It’s to remind me to not be scared to love, to take chances. Things may not work out, and I might get upset, but if I don’t take a chance then nothing will ever happen. And no, it’s not got anything to do with The Paramedic, I would not get a permanent mark on my body because of ONE guy. He just fits into the reason, but so will any person that I have a relationship with.

Viaduct Child

Viaduct Child
By: Patrick Wood

Outer back cover: The orphaned Dushma lives in the arch of a railway viaduct with her unsympathetic Aunt Megan. Officially a non-person, by law she should be in the workhouse. Instead she spends her time exploring the tangle of streets beneath the viaduct and the outlandish, labyrinthine St Gotha's Cathedral, occasionally accompanied by the glamorous truant and shoplifter Alison Catfinger.
When police raid her home, Dushma flees. Rescued by a small band of fellow outcasts, she finds refuge in the forgotten passageways of the city's underground railway. But hardly has she begun to discover the truth about her new companions that she is once again running for her life. And this time she's not only threatened by the sadistic Detective Inspector Rapplemann, but also the elidra, the lethal, unpredictable electric dragons that guard the tunnels...

A kind of believable future world. Some of the things in the book seem a bit barbaric, but some things actually seem like a good idea. The book is set in Britain and unless you're "registered" there are things you can't do. You're automatically registered if you're born to parent who are allowed to have you. If you do something wrong it's 3 strikes and you don't have your registration any more. You can't travel or get a normal job unless you're registered. If you're not registered you end up in the workhouse and you're not allowed to have kids.

The story was quite exciting. To read about how Dushma was trying to stay away from the police and how she got on with the band of outcast boys who saved her. I would have liked to learn more about the workhouse and what goes on there and also what happens to Dushma. I'm kind of hoping for a book number 2.

Dushma has a kind of issue with electricity, I don't want to go into too much detail, but I didn't really think it had too much influence over the story and I could have done without it. Part of it was okay but Wood took it a bit too far and it just made it unbelievable, I think in a way the story would have been better without it. But other than that it was a good and exciting book.

The highest tide

The highest tide

Jim Lynch

Outer back cover: When thirteen-year-old Miles O’Malley discovers a rare sea creature one unforgettable night, he unwittingly becomes a local celebrity and is hounded by TV crews urging him to explain the phenomenon. But Miles is just a kid on the verge of growing up, infatuated with the girl next door, worried that his bickering parents will divorce, and struggling to keep his world in tact.

The beginning of this book was really boring I though. There was too much detail for me to think it was interesting. It was also a bit hard because although I think sea life is interesting I don’t know a lot of the names for stuff, especially in English. I googled some things but there was just so much that I gave up in the end and just focused on the story.

The book got a bit more interesting after a few chapters. The whole sea life side of the book was interesting, and the next time I’m on a beach I will probably stop and look a lot more because of this book, but what happened with the sea life was a bit over-the-top to be believable. My favourite parts of the book were the parts with Miles best friend, an old lady named Florence with a degenerative disease; she was a very interesting old lady.

I think maybe this would be a good book for older children and young teenagers that are already interested in sea-life, just so they can read more about it but in a story rather than a textbook.