Tag: meme

Top Five Wednesday: Who’s Coming to my New Year’s Party?

John Guillen6 Comments

I haven’t done one of these in a LONG time. Mostly because the girl who took over started with crap topics. Bleh. The topic is pretty easy to comprehend. Leggo.

Katniss Everdeen

She’s the Girl on Fire. I mean, come on.

Harry Bosch

I don’t drink alcohol. So I’d sit down with a bottle of water out away from the rest of the party and talk to Harry about everything. He’s insightful and I doubt anyone could match his stories from decades with LAPD. I’d also tell him his daughter would make an excellent detective.

Mark Watney

I just finished The Martian and have LOTS of thoughts on it, but for now I’d just like to tell Mark here that’s he’s hilarious. Stay tuned for a full review in the next day or two!

A

She’s the protagonist from Every Day and it would actually be cool to invite her every year to the New Year’s party just to see her in different bodies.

Guy Montag

This might seem like an odd choice when you consider the fact that I HATE this book. But I’d invite him because every other person invited to this particular party would love books. And this bastard burns them. I’d pretty much just tell him off. And perhaps create a mob in the process.

Those are the five characters I’d invite to my New Year’s party! Who would you invite to yours!?

Top Five Wednesday: Favorite Mothers

John GuillenLeave a comment

Welcome back to the latest edition of Top Five Wednesday. Today’s topic is favorite mothers. And yes, I realize it’s Thursday. But I had some important business to tend to yesterday.

I’ll start with very easy choices who need no explanation.

Lily Potter

She wasn’t alive in any of the books and still had a huge impact on so many things. Most notably, doing everything possible to keep Harry alive.

Molly Weasley

Another one who doesn’t really need an explanation. She’s great. And funny when she’s upset.

Mrs. Everdeen

I’m just now realizing that her name is actually never mentioned in the books. I couldn’t remember off the top of my head and tried searching, but nope. My reasoning behind picking her is that she shapes Katniss into who she is in the years leading up to the Reaping in which Katniss volunteers to compete in the Games for her sister. We know immediately that she hasn’t been the best parent, and to me that’s part of what makes Katniss so strong.

Marjorie Lowe

She’s the mother of Harry Bosch. And like Lily above, she was never alive during any of the books in the series. She was killed when Harry was young, but her death shapes him into the no nonsense LAPD detective he becomes. Her death’s impact on his life simply cannot be understated.

Nana Mama

She’s Alex Cross’s grandma. She’s living with him as soon as we’re first introduced to the Cross family. She isn’t afraid to put him in his place when she disagrees with him, but also reminds him that he’s got an entire family counting on him just like he’s got a department and city counting on him. She’s witty, smart, and motherly. And you never forget that she loves every member of the Cross household.

That’s all I have for y’all today. Five great mothers from some of the series I’ve read. Who are YOUR favorite mothers from books?

Writing Pet Peeves #6: Apostrophes

John Guillen35 Comments

i-dont-always-saqpsl

Every once in a long while I’ll have to think for an extra second about using an apostrophe correctly. It’s usually when I’ve already written the rest of the sentence so poorly that I almost confuse myself. But again, this is a rare thing.

I remember in kindergarten and first grade being taught how to read. And I remember in second grade being taught how to write cursive and book reports. Somewhere along the line the rules of apostrophes were drilled into my brain. And I’ve never had any issue with them since. Too bad everyone can’t have my experience.

Here are some of the things I see all the time.

Decades written like “1940’s”.

Days of the week written like “Sunday’s”.

Plurals written like “phone’s”.

And so many more. And it’s frustrating. Maybe the education system is to be blamed. Maybe these people didn’t pay attention in English class. Maybe English is the universal second language of the world and no one knows the rules for using apostrophes. Or maybe I’m just going to have to bang my head on my desk for the rest of my life because so many people use apostrophes incorrectly.

On this day in 2014 I published Never Ask a Reader About Their Favorite Book.

 

Stop Smelling Your Books

John Guillen54 Comments

i-like-smelling-new-books

Photo Credit: We Know Memes

Please.

This blog is coming up on 12,000 comments, and you would not believe how many people have said something about the smell of a new book. I’m pretty sure each and every time I’ve read that in a comment I’ve rolled my eyes and proceeded to scream loudly on the inside.

I mean, new cars have a nice smell. New shoes have a nice smell. Heck, a pile of clothes out of the dryer has a nice scent, but books? I’ve never once smelled a new book. And I’ve never even thought to do so. I guess I missed the memo that told everyone how great paper and ink smell.

I’m writing this imagining all of you walking through Barnes and Noble or your local bookstore just picking random books off the shelves and smelling them. And repeating this over and over until….I don’t even know. Until you catch someone looking at you like you should be institutionalized? Seriously, there might be something wrong with you if you’re smelling your books so much.

Oh! I know! You’re actually in the drug trade and you’ve laced the pages of your books with some illegal substance and you sniff them to get your high. Glad I finally figured it out.

My 2014 Reading Biography

John Guillen27 Comments

AKA the books I read this year.

Honestly, I’m not sure that “reading biography” is a thing that people say, but I saw it on another post and I’m stealing it. How about we make it catch on and then eventually everyone who reads this blog will be able to say they had a hand in a new tag/meme on WordPress. I can see it now.

“Hey guys, this is my reading biography. As started over at Write me a Book, John!”

Maybe? Anyway, this is going to be a much shorter post than I’d have hoped at the start of the year. I’m pretty sure you know by now that my goal each year is to read 50 books. I think it’s a nice round number that’s definitely attainable, considering I read 44 a couple years ago in just seven months. Guess how close I got? Just guess. I’ll wait.

Hurry up.

Okay. Time’s up. I read…seven books! SO close to my goal! Not. It was a terrible reading year. I mean, how can I even say I’m a reader with that kind of number? It’s really disappointing and there’s no explanation. I’m just a loser. Here’s the mediocre list anyway. And I’m even going to post the date I finished each one so you really get an idea how bad it really was.

1. Valediction (Spenser #11) – Robert B. Parker – January 1

2. The Diary of a Young Girl – Anne Frank – March 7

3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Harry Potter #1) – JK Rowling – March 13

4. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl – March 26

5. London Bridges (Alex Cross #10) – James Patterson – April 12

6. The Fault in our Stars – John Green – June 12

7. The Drop (Harry Bosch #15) – Michael Connelly – June 21

Pages Read: 2193

Reading Time: 36:07

Series Books: 4

Authors: 7

Amazon 100 Books: 4

That’s it. That’s all there is to know from what I read in 2014. This means I’ve read a whopping 22 books since January 1, 2013! What am I doing!? No. 2015 will be better. I know it.

How was your 2014 reading year? It couldn’t have been any worse than mine.

Why Make a Big Deal About a Typo or Two?

John Guillen29 Comments

typos

Photo Credit: DorkTower

This is something I really don’t understand, especially when it comes to writers who are reading. Why is it that so many people feel the need to make a big deal when they discover a typo or two in the text of a book? Oh right, because they’re perfect and those typos would have never happened if it was them doing the writing or editing.

I mean, does any sane person think it’s easy to find every single typo that appears throughout the any given text? No. Because it isn’t. The whole “Oh but they’re supposed to be professionals” argument is ridiculous. They’re also human.

For me, I’d say I find one or two every few books I read. Which means that in my reading experience they are extremely rare. One typo for every 5-10 books is damn near perfect. So get over yourself. Every typo is not going to be caught before publication, no matter how many times the book is read through.

The Books That Have Stayed With Me

John Guillen25 Comments

Don’t worry, I’m not going tell you about ten books that have stayed with me. Cause I don’t think I have ten, or five even. But in the name of kinda sorta not really participating in this little Facebook tag that seems to have sprung up out of nowhere, I’m going to talk about it.

I’ve just read an article that states that Facebook has determined the book included the most in responses to the tag is…can you guess it? I could have. Easily. I’ll give you a second to think about it.

Here’s a hint if you’re still thinking. The main characters in the book go to a special kind of school by the name of Hogwarts. The most common response to this particular Facebook tag was the HP series. I think it’s understandable considering who I think is more likely to be on Facebook responding to these kinds of things. Would I have included the series? No. I think the movies are great and the books are likely a bit better, but have they stayed with me? I don’t think so. They’ll ultimately just be really great books that I think generations upon generations will continue to read. But I’ll just be reading through them once.

The rest of the top 20 on the list compiled by Facebook is about what you’d expect. Here it is:

1. Harry Potter series – J.K. Rowling – 21.08%
2. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee – 14.48%
3. The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien – 13.86%
4. The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien – 7.48%
5. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen – 7.28%
6. The Holy Bible – 7.21%
7. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams 5.97%
8. The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins – 5.82%
9. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger – 5.70%
10. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald – 5.61%
11. 1984 by George Orwell – 5.37%
12. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott – 5.26%
13. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte – 5.23%
14. The Stand by Stephen King – 5.11%
15. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell – 4.95%
16. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle – 4.38%
17. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood – 4.27%
18. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis – 4.05%
19. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho – 4.01%
20. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery – 3.95%

Stephen King is perhaps the only mild surprise if you ask me, but eh I’m no expert. What do you think of the books people are saying have stayed with them? I know it’s completely subjective, but we all have opinions. If you’re wondering, my entire list would consist of The Diary of a Young Girl and The Hunger Games. No more. Dracula would be very close to being included.

Besides letting me know what you think about the top 20 responses, let me know why particular books have stayed with you, or if you’ve written this post link to it in the comments and I’ll take a look at your picks.

I snagged this list from here.