TTT - Most Unique Books I've Read

It's time to link up with the Broke and the Bookish again!

Today's topic is about the most unique books we've read, which is pretty cool. There's a lot of stuff out there that starts to feel a bit deja vu-like after a while. You know the stuff - a love interest with a crooked smile, a chosen one who has to save the world, an evil government that can only be brought to its knees by a seventeen year old girl, blah blah blah. Let's talk about the OTHER stuff. The stuff that makes you go "Whoa, that's seriously cool." The stuff that stands out from the crowd. Yes? Yes.

(All images from Goodreads)

1. Wilfair (and Redwoodian. And Stay Awhile) - Alysia Gray Painter

I know I talk about this series a lot, but it's just so fabulously quirky. The characters are in no way cliched or cookie cutter-y or crooked smile having. The settings are utterly fabulous. The writing is to die for (once your brain gets past the initial "............what am I reading?!" stage). And the plots are like nothing I've ever seen before. GO. READ. NOW. 

2. Shadows Fall - Simon R. Green

This book is weird, to say the least. It's set in the place where gods and monsters go when no one believes in them any more, where old toys end up when they're no longer loved, where celebrities who died too soon can have a little more time, where the heroes from TV shows and cartoons go when everyone's forgotten who they are. Everything is nice and peaceful until murders start happening. It's a story of redemption and prophecies, and it's full of completely awesome characters. (And please - don't judge it by the android-y cover on the US edition, because it's HIDEOUS)

3. Love and Leftovers - Sarah Tregay

I picked this up at the library last year thinking that it would be a cute YA thing. It turned out to be written in verse, which I was NOT expecting. I nearly put it down immediately based solely on that, because I'm not a big poetry person. But I gave it a shot and ended up loving it. Despite being written in really short snippets, it does a brilliant job of conveying the characters and the story was so much deeper than the usual contemporary YA fluff. 

4. Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell

A book that not only brilliantly conveys what it's like to start out in a new place where you know no one, and how people aren't always what you think, but also a book that discusses fandom really REALLY well. Fandom and fanfic are huge parts of a lot of people's lives, and it's really rare that you find characters who are into fandom and fanfic but aren't stereotypical comic book nerd types who feel the need to hide their identity so that people will like them. 

5. Beauty Queens - Libba Bray

Packed full of cultural satire, this book was pretty hilarious from start to finish. Given that it's about a plane full of beauty queens that crashes onto a deserted island, there's no one main character. Instead, we get girls from all walks of life, of all different ethnicities and sexual orientations and motivations who have to work together to stay alive. Sure, the plot verges on paper-thin here and there, but it's so much fun that I didn't really care.

6. Flowertown - S.G. Redling

A really interesting, semi-dystopian book. Ellie is a really awesome character. She's really complicated and a little messed up, but she just keeps on fighting, no matter what. Lots of great supporting characters and full of twists and turns. Plus, it leaves the reader with a bunch of "What if?" questions about how a situation like that would be handled in the real world. 

7. Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn

Man, this book is polarising. People either love it or hate it, and a huge part of what makes that decision for people is what makes the book unique - THE MAIN CHARACTERS ARE AWFUL AND IMPOSSIBLE TO LIKE. It's a rare book that can have me hating pretty much every character I come across and still want to keep reading and find out what happens. 

8. Daughter of Smoke and Bone - Laini Taylor

This series is unlike anything I've read before. Wonderful settings, fabulous characters. The chimaera are fascinating, the angels aren't what you think, and it's filled with characters finding love in the most unlikely of places. 

9. Saving Francesca - Melina Marchetta

A contemporary YA book in which the romantic plot isn't central to the story? YES PLEASE. There's a lot going on in this book, including children struggling to deal with the fall out of a parent who's suddenly stopped doing all the things you expect a parent to do (including the basics, like getting out of bed). And, much like real life, there are moments that will make you laugh hysterically and moments that will make you ugly cry. Basically, it's really relateable, while also recognising that romance isn't everything.

10. A Monster Calls - Patrick Ness

Really short but such a completely incredible story. It's a story about fear and grief and pain and having no one understand you. The artwork is astonishing, and the story manages to be both heartbreaking and full of love. One that stays with you well after you've turned the final page. 

What are the most unique books you've read? 

K xx

The Great J.K. Rowling Debacle

As you're probably already aware, over the weekend a new interview with J.K. Rowling hit the media. And as you're probably already aware, this interview included some rather...opinion dividing news...about how things ended up in Harry Potter.

Yes, they're fictional characters and we shouldn't be getting so worked up about them. But at the same time, these are the characters that shaped our childhoods, our teen years, our twenties. Characters that we grew up with. Characters that we love and relate to. So we can't help but take it personally when the creator of these characters announces - seven years after the fact - that she thinks she made a mistake with one of the major relationships.

Obviously, the fandom immediately erupted. With joy from those who sail with the good ship Pumpkin Pie, and with anger/disappointment/WTF DID YOU DO, ROWLING feels from those on Team Romione.

I've been thinking about it a lot following my initial outrage, and I think I've managed to finally sum up my feelings about why I find this so enormously disappointing.

1. It implies that the only two people Hermione could ever be with are two guys she hung out with in high school.
Yes, the Golden Trio went through a lot together, so it's understandable that they'd be friends forever. What DOESN'T automatically follow is that Hermione - the one who goes back to Hogwarts to finish her education, the one who ends up with a career that needs further education, the one who dated a world class quidditch player - will never find anyone more suited to her than her two best friends from high school. Furthermore, why does she have to end up with ANYONE?! She saved their arses a million times, and influenced millions of girls all over the world. Why did her entire story have to be turned into this?

2. It doesn't just damage the contents of the epilogue. It damages the entire series. 
The epilogue was, let's be honest, pretty bad. Rowling started to drop hints about the future relationship between Ron and Hermione at the same time that she started to drop hints about the future relationship between Harry and Ginny - in Chamber of Secrets. So by saying that Hermione should end up with Harry after we sat through FIVE BOOKS building up completely different relationships? Not. Okay.

3. Ron's "not smart enough" for Hermione.
For all that he's the Chosen One, Harry's not much smarter than Ron. By saying that Ron's not smart enough, Rowling is effectively forgetting everything she wrote about the character. Sure, Ron's not the most academic of characters. Not don't forget that he destroyed a Horcrux. He was Gryffindor's keeper for two years. He became an Auror. HE BEAT MINERVA MCGONAGALL'S CHESS SET WHEN HE WAS TWELVE. Intelligence isn't limited to exam results, Rowling.

4. It once again makes Ron the forgotten Weasley.
Ron's at the bottom of the pile as far as Weasley children go. Bill and Charlie are the cool, popular successful ones. Percy's a pretentious arsehole, but he's still brainy as hell. Fred and George are the jokers, the ones who are always getting into trouble but who everyone loves just the same. Ginny's the long awaited girl. And Ron's the Other One. The sidekick. The one who, in the movies, is reduced to a punchline. By saying that she wishes that once again the hero had gotten the girl, Ron's back at the bottom as nothing more than an afterthought.

5. It turns the entire series into a love triangle. 
Okay, so the actual books don't really feature typical love triangle content. But knowing the the author has gone from being on board with the canon she created to shipping? You can't avoid the feeling that the two best friends are locked in a battle over a girl. You inevitably read into every conversation, every touch between Harry and Hermione. Joanne, dude. Go write pseudonymous fan fiction to deal with your feels and leave canon alone.

6. What does this mean for Ginny? And for Ron?
It's one thing to say that you wish Harry and Hermione had ended up together. But by saying that, you leave fans wondering about the others. Does Ron spend the rest of his life in a tragic bachelor apartment? Does Ginny - the famous quidditch player - end up married or does she have a string of boyfriends and never settle down? Providing a single line statement like that does more damage than good.

7. It impacts future enjoyment of the series.
Sure, you can ignore the interview all you want. It's true - the interview doesn't change what happens in the books. But you're still going to have that niggling doubt in the back of your mind whenever you read or watch the series that the creator wishes she could retcon the entire thing. It damages our entire history with the series to know that she regrets what she wrote.

8. Of all the things she could possibly regret, it's THAT?!
Not making Neville and Luna canon. Killing Fred. Killing Tonks AND Lupin. Snape being an enormous bully. Not giving us more Marauder's Era stories. ALBUS SEVERUS. These are things that should be regretted. Romione is nothing compared to these things.

9. Leave us alone, Mel Brooks! 
Sure, Joanne, regret your decisions all you want. That's your prerogative, it really is. You created the characters, you can absolutely regret the way things panned out. Just stop telling people about them. Because that rips the fun out of things for everyone. Even the Pumpkin Pie shippers, because now they're all going to be disappointed that you DIDN'T write the story you wish you had every time they read it.

Do you agree? Disagree? Or are you just jumping with joy because the good ship Pumpkin Pie sails again??

K xx

Ranty McRanterson

Being a fan of things is great. But sometimes, dealing with other fans? Is really not. In the past year, I've ended up dealing with a lot of fans of two shows in particular. And as a result, my feelings towards those shows have changed quite dramatically. I vlogged about it, because it seemed easier...



Has fandom ever ruined something for you? Were you able to love it again down the track??

K xx