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Haley Mathiot (9 KP) rated How to Survive Your Freshman Year in Books
Apr 27, 2018
Rating: 3.75
How To Survive Your Freshman Year contains a truckload of information: at nearly 400 pages and contributions from tons of college students all over the world, it’s not exactly a fast read. How To Survive Your Freshman Year is like an encyclopedia of tips and tricks for Freshman on every topic you can think of, and probably some you didn’t think of.
Twenty chapters and an appendix full of useful information, This book is a great tool for upper class High-schoolers and college Freshman—and even parents—who have questions and concerns, or are just curious and looking for information, or just don’t know what to expect.
I would, however, use with caution. How To Survive Your Freshman Year gathers advice from everyone—Jews, Christians, Atheists, Homosexuals, etc. so there are contradictory pieces of advice, sometimes right next to each other. The thing about this book is you have to know yourself pretty well in order to use it. You have to decide which pieces of advice are suitable for you, which follow your beliefs, and which you should pretend you never heard. The book does post this disclaimer inside it:
Warning: This Guide contains differing opinions. Hundreds of Heads will not always agree. Advice taken in combinations may cause unwanted side effects. Use your Head when selecting advice.
I think this is a reasonable disclaimer, as it’s very true that there are some very opposite viewpoints in here.
Also, some of the information in here is common sense—then again, it may be common to me but not to someone else because of the way I was raised—and those pieces of advice are just taking up space on a page.
And then there was, in my opinion, also a lot of really dumb advice: like sleep with people, it’s ok to goof off your first term, college is about having fun, bring a fake ID. (note these are not direct quotes, they are summaries of various reoccurring pieces of advice.)
All in all, however, the book is beneficial and worth the buy, especially to brand new college students. I don’t attend a university yet, I attend a community college. I’ve found that a lot of the information and advice I have already gone through and experienced, but there were some other helpful things on topics I’ve yet to encounter, such as large lectures and dorms and vacations/study abroad and a few other things.
Content/Recommendation: There is some colorful language used to prove points in some quotes. There is a chapter on dating and sex. But, the age recommendation is to highschool and Freshman college students and parents, so it’s age appropriate. There is also some mention of religions and beliefs, and the word God is changed to G-d, probably to keep from offending some people.
How To Survive Your Freshman Year contains a truckload of information: at nearly 400 pages and contributions from tons of college students all over the world, it’s not exactly a fast read. How To Survive Your Freshman Year is like an encyclopedia of tips and tricks for Freshman on every topic you can think of, and probably some you didn’t think of.
Twenty chapters and an appendix full of useful information, This book is a great tool for upper class High-schoolers and college Freshman—and even parents—who have questions and concerns, or are just curious and looking for information, or just don’t know what to expect.
I would, however, use with caution. How To Survive Your Freshman Year gathers advice from everyone—Jews, Christians, Atheists, Homosexuals, etc. so there are contradictory pieces of advice, sometimes right next to each other. The thing about this book is you have to know yourself pretty well in order to use it. You have to decide which pieces of advice are suitable for you, which follow your beliefs, and which you should pretend you never heard. The book does post this disclaimer inside it:
Warning: This Guide contains differing opinions. Hundreds of Heads will not always agree. Advice taken in combinations may cause unwanted side effects. Use your Head when selecting advice.
I think this is a reasonable disclaimer, as it’s very true that there are some very opposite viewpoints in here.
Also, some of the information in here is common sense—then again, it may be common to me but not to someone else because of the way I was raised—and those pieces of advice are just taking up space on a page.
And then there was, in my opinion, also a lot of really dumb advice: like sleep with people, it’s ok to goof off your first term, college is about having fun, bring a fake ID. (note these are not direct quotes, they are summaries of various reoccurring pieces of advice.)
All in all, however, the book is beneficial and worth the buy, especially to brand new college students. I don’t attend a university yet, I attend a community college. I’ve found that a lot of the information and advice I have already gone through and experienced, but there were some other helpful things on topics I’ve yet to encounter, such as large lectures and dorms and vacations/study abroad and a few other things.
Content/Recommendation: There is some colorful language used to prove points in some quotes. There is a chapter on dating and sex. But, the age recommendation is to highschool and Freshman college students and parents, so it’s age appropriate. There is also some mention of religions and beliefs, and the word God is changed to G-d, probably to keep from offending some people.
graveyardgremlin (7194 KP) rated Bloodshot (Cheshire Red Reports, #1) in Books
Feb 15, 2019
What a truly awesome and fresh take on vampires in the crowded genre of Urban Fantasy! The star of <u><b>Bloodshot</b></u> is vampire Raylene Pendle, a top thief of priceless artifacts, who takes on a case from another vampire. This vampire, Ian Stott, was blinded by a top-secret government program and wants Raylene to steal back papers dealing with those experiments. What follows is a fast-paced, scene-changing adventure filled with unique characters that fulfills everything the book promised and more.
Raylene is your typical vampire in a lot of ways: the sun gives her a nasty sunburn to the extent of death, there's no awakening to dusk after decapitation or going up in flames, and of course, she's preternaturally fast and strong. However, she differs in that she's paranoid, self-deprecating, neurotic, and a tad OCD. So while Raylene can kick some major ass and make sarcastic remarks like the rest of the UF heroines, she also second- (and third and fourth) guesses herself a lot and is always prepared for the worst, usually thanks to her quick wits and sometimes even to the helpful contents of her "go-bag". I found Raylene to be a terrific protagonist, and for someone who claims to be anti-social, she sure picks up a lot of "pet people" throughout the duration of the book, which makes her a big, warm, gooey marshmallow inside (even if she doesn't own up to the fact).
What did surprise me was how funny the book was. I laughed, giggled, chortled, snorted, and smiled (usually rather goofily) quite often (there was many a line that left me in hysterics -- good thing I was reading in the privacy of my own home). Judging by the cover, I expected a more serious and suspenseful read, but while I wouldn't say this was exactly light, it wasn't as heavy as I imagined either. The plot moves swiftly each step of the way and kept me glued to the pages; there wasn't one dull moment to be had. Every character that popped up in the book was interesting and fully fleshed out, no bores within these covers, and helped move the story along. The writing was great, from Raylene's first-person inner dialogue to the action scenes, not one thing bothered me overly much.
While there is a sense of closure to the book as a whole, the story is really just beginning and I am left eager (and impatient beyond belief) for the next installment, [b:Hellbent|9842559|Hellbent (Cheshire Red Reports, #2)|Cherie Priest|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg|14733361] (set to come out August 30, 2011). If one book can make you a fan of an author, surely this one did it for me. Cherie Priest created a great intro to a character whose very vitality is evident every page of this book and has made Raylene one of my new favorites in the UF field.
Raylene is your typical vampire in a lot of ways: the sun gives her a nasty sunburn to the extent of death, there's no awakening to dusk after decapitation or going up in flames, and of course, she's preternaturally fast and strong. However, she differs in that she's paranoid, self-deprecating, neurotic, and a tad OCD. So while Raylene can kick some major ass and make sarcastic remarks like the rest of the UF heroines, she also second- (and third and fourth) guesses herself a lot and is always prepared for the worst, usually thanks to her quick wits and sometimes even to the helpful contents of her "go-bag". I found Raylene to be a terrific protagonist, and for someone who claims to be anti-social, she sure picks up a lot of "pet people" throughout the duration of the book, which makes her a big, warm, gooey marshmallow inside (even if she doesn't own up to the fact).
What did surprise me was how funny the book was. I laughed, giggled, chortled, snorted, and smiled (usually rather goofily) quite often (there was many a line that left me in hysterics -- good thing I was reading in the privacy of my own home). Judging by the cover, I expected a more serious and suspenseful read, but while I wouldn't say this was exactly light, it wasn't as heavy as I imagined either. The plot moves swiftly each step of the way and kept me glued to the pages; there wasn't one dull moment to be had. Every character that popped up in the book was interesting and fully fleshed out, no bores within these covers, and helped move the story along. The writing was great, from Raylene's first-person inner dialogue to the action scenes, not one thing bothered me overly much.
While there is a sense of closure to the book as a whole, the story is really just beginning and I am left eager (and impatient beyond belief) for the next installment, [b:Hellbent|9842559|Hellbent (Cheshire Red Reports, #2)|Cherie Priest|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg|14733361] (set to come out August 30, 2011). If one book can make you a fan of an author, surely this one did it for me. Cherie Priest created a great intro to a character whose very vitality is evident every page of this book and has made Raylene one of my new favorites in the UF field.
Solomon Wendt (30 KP) rated The Big Book of Madness in Tabletop Games
May 5, 2019
Cooperation (3 more)
Spell Casting
Some randomization
Multiple Difficulties
Small cards (1 more)
Unclear rules/mechanics
This game is made by iello games, makers of Mountains of Madness and King of Tokyo. It is about student magicians that feel they aren't learning enough in their classes and decide to sneak into a library to learn new spells. There, they find a grimoire that contains monsters and accidentally releases them. They must work together to defeat the monsters and seal the book, learning from the books around them to learn new spells and collect elements to cast the spells, all while trying not to give into madness.
The game mechanics feature deck building, spell casting, cooperation, and some randomization of spells available and monsters to defeat. There are schools of magic related to the four elements; air, earth, fire, and water. Each element has two magician students that specializes in that element for a total of 8 different characters, each with their own special ability. There are four decks of spells, again related to the elements, that is randomized during set up, changing what spells are available game to game. Similarly, the monsters you must face are randomized, so the chance of having the same exact game as another is rare. The gameplay remains consistent, though.
Over the course of 6 rounds, players work together to defeat monsters. It is a pure cooperation game. No one has any secret objective and should communicate with other players. Games of this fashion, such as Pandemic, tend to end up having one or two people make all the decisions for the group. It my many plays of the game, I have only had that happen once or twice. The variation in spells, magicians, and elements usually make a player uniquely helpful to the group, allowing players to choose how they want to build their character. Although each magician has an elemental alignment, you can choose to focus on different elements and spells and are not limited to one type of role. Each element of magic has a different role to deal the challenges players face, meaning a good balance can be very beneficial. However, due to the randomization, it is possible either the spells or the monsters leave one of the elements non-essential, but that is fairly uncommon.
Overall, the game is very enjoyable and can be played multiple times with different variations. The difficulty can be adjusted if ot feels it is too hard or easy. My group that plays about once a week are clearing the 2nd difficulty 50% of the time and haven't cleared it with a variation yet. It can be a challenge and has elements of luck and strategy. It is a fun game to play with friends, especially because it is cooperative, and I would recommend adding it to your collection.
The game is 2-5 players and runs 60-90 minutes. It is family friendly and a great game for those who love magic fandoms such as Harry Potter.
The game mechanics feature deck building, spell casting, cooperation, and some randomization of spells available and monsters to defeat. There are schools of magic related to the four elements; air, earth, fire, and water. Each element has two magician students that specializes in that element for a total of 8 different characters, each with their own special ability. There are four decks of spells, again related to the elements, that is randomized during set up, changing what spells are available game to game. Similarly, the monsters you must face are randomized, so the chance of having the same exact game as another is rare. The gameplay remains consistent, though.
Over the course of 6 rounds, players work together to defeat monsters. It is a pure cooperation game. No one has any secret objective and should communicate with other players. Games of this fashion, such as Pandemic, tend to end up having one or two people make all the decisions for the group. It my many plays of the game, I have only had that happen once or twice. The variation in spells, magicians, and elements usually make a player uniquely helpful to the group, allowing players to choose how they want to build their character. Although each magician has an elemental alignment, you can choose to focus on different elements and spells and are not limited to one type of role. Each element of magic has a different role to deal the challenges players face, meaning a good balance can be very beneficial. However, due to the randomization, it is possible either the spells or the monsters leave one of the elements non-essential, but that is fairly uncommon.
Overall, the game is very enjoyable and can be played multiple times with different variations. The difficulty can be adjusted if ot feels it is too hard or easy. My group that plays about once a week are clearing the 2nd difficulty 50% of the time and haven't cleared it with a variation yet. It can be a challenge and has elements of luck and strategy. It is a fun game to play with friends, especially because it is cooperative, and I would recommend adding it to your collection.
The game is 2-5 players and runs 60-90 minutes. It is family friendly and a great game for those who love magic fandoms such as Harry Potter.
Nicole Hadley (380 KP) rated Laura Ingalls Is Ruining My Life in Books
Jun 18, 2018
Laura Ingalls Is Ruining My Life by Shelley Tougas is a middle grade novel where we meet Charlotte Lake. Charlotte and her family are constantly moving to new cities for her mother’s passion of wanting to be a published author. Charlotte’s mom wants to write a book about Laura Ingalls, who was inspirational to her as a child. Charlotte is embarrassed by her mother’s obsession and frustrated with constantly having to start a new school and new life. She never feels like she fits in anywhere. She has a twin brother who has chosen to not talk since he feels his voice is not being heard in the moves, and a younger sister who is perfect. Charlotte struggles to make friends and find her niche among so many moves.
The family recently relocated to Walnut Grove, one of the places Laura Ingalls grew up. It houses a Laura Ingalls museum that hosts an essay contest each year. In a spark of brilliance, Charlotte decides to enter the contests and win the grand prize of $500. She knows this money will change her family’s life and maybe help her mother put down some roots. As the contest deadline nears, Charlotte becomes very ill with the flu and misses over a week of school, and time to create her essay. At the last moment, she furiously scribbles out the line, “Laura Ingalls is ruining my life,” and turns that in as her essay. Her clever teacher reads this and probes Charlotte to write more and dig deeper.
The family rents out the basement of a house owned by Mia and Miguel, who live upstairs with their granddaughter, Julia. Charlotte has moved so many times that she is reluctant to learn the names of her fellow classmates or draw any attention to herself. After she is out sick at the very beginning of school, she starts to notice that her brother has made a lot of friends in her absence. Charlotte, however, is still uncomfortable and even fails a reading test so that she has to spend her lunch time doing remedial work. She hopes to win an essay contest about Wilder because the $500 would be helpful to her family, but Julia wins instead. The two girls start to volunteer at the Wilder museum, and start to become friends. Charlotte’s mother is writing very little, and as the year progresses, starts to slip into a significant depression. Rose’s father remarries, and Rose is devastated that he no longer schedules any of their visits together. When there is vandalism at the museum, Charlotte is blamed, but the real perpetrator is not any of the people who are suspected.
I recommend this book for any fans of pioneer life, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and middle grade readers. I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley via Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group and Roaring Brook Press.
The family recently relocated to Walnut Grove, one of the places Laura Ingalls grew up. It houses a Laura Ingalls museum that hosts an essay contest each year. In a spark of brilliance, Charlotte decides to enter the contests and win the grand prize of $500. She knows this money will change her family’s life and maybe help her mother put down some roots. As the contest deadline nears, Charlotte becomes very ill with the flu and misses over a week of school, and time to create her essay. At the last moment, she furiously scribbles out the line, “Laura Ingalls is ruining my life,” and turns that in as her essay. Her clever teacher reads this and probes Charlotte to write more and dig deeper.
The family rents out the basement of a house owned by Mia and Miguel, who live upstairs with their granddaughter, Julia. Charlotte has moved so many times that she is reluctant to learn the names of her fellow classmates or draw any attention to herself. After she is out sick at the very beginning of school, she starts to notice that her brother has made a lot of friends in her absence. Charlotte, however, is still uncomfortable and even fails a reading test so that she has to spend her lunch time doing remedial work. She hopes to win an essay contest about Wilder because the $500 would be helpful to her family, but Julia wins instead. The two girls start to volunteer at the Wilder museum, and start to become friends. Charlotte’s mother is writing very little, and as the year progresses, starts to slip into a significant depression. Rose’s father remarries, and Rose is devastated that he no longer schedules any of their visits together. When there is vandalism at the museum, Charlotte is blamed, but the real perpetrator is not any of the people who are suspected.
I recommend this book for any fans of pioneer life, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and middle grade readers. I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley via Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group and Roaring Brook Press.
Sophia (Bookwyrming Thoughts) (530 KP) rated Eona: The Last Dragoneye (Eon, #2) in Books
Jan 23, 2020
Apparently when Eona and Co. are on the run, things get mighty interesting and there's almost never a dull moment. There's the ten dead Dragoneyes, an entire army of Sethon's supposed minions (who knows if they're actually loyal to the dude, anyways?), and a supposed-to-be emperor by the name of Kygo who's also on the run from being brutally murdered as well.
Goodman starts out the whopping 600-paged book with a "primary" source from Teacher Prahn, quickly summarizing the events at the imperial palace in the ending of Eon, and it's helpful for those who haven't the first book in a long while (unless you have a fantastic memory, which I sometimes have. Epiphany!). The second and last book to the duology starts out shortly after those events, with Eona and her friends on the run from Sethon and the hunt for Kygo. Goodman brings us outside of the imperial palace and into other parts of the Empire of Celestial Dragons, places that were briefly mentioned in book one and now play a bigger role in book two.
I personally disliked Eona back when she was Eon, and I don't like her any better as a girl either. Back as Eon, Eona just seemed to desperate to fit in and trying to prove herself worthy – those sun drug scenes? The worst of Eon. I even vowed to DNF this book if Eona decided to run around with the sun drug again; it was that bad.
In a way, I do like Eona: she's not desperate, she's <s>Taylor Swift</s> fearless (all those odds stacked against her!) – she's a lot better when compared to Eon, when she trying to fully disguise herself as a guy and being a slinky. Eona just argues a lot with Kygo when she finally finds him, and I mean a huge emphasis on "argues a lot." I'm pretty sure if I get a dollar for every time they argued, I could actually pay my rent. Though compared to the <s>lovely</s> love triangle with Ido (thank you, so-called prophecy), I fully ship Kygo and Eona, even though Eona seems very mopey when it comes to whether or not Kygo truly loves her.
<blockquote>"What if I said you could have either me or my power? Which one would you choose?"</blockquote>
Eona certainly makes up for the many dull moments in pacing from its predecessor, where the beginning is a little interesting, the middle is extremely draggy and the decent ending is very fast and rapid. The pacing in the final book of Goodman's Eon duology is much better and engrossing, bringing us a fantastic end to two very long books.
-----------------
Original Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Review originally posted at <a href="http://bookwyrming-thoughts.blogspot.com/2015/01/review-eona-by-alison-goodman.html">Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
<a href="http://bookwyrming-thoughts.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cG5gfBqJVzk/VA5BIojjZ9I/AAAAAAAAD1g/7srLUfpAGEU/s1600/banner.png"; /></a>
Goodman starts out the whopping 600-paged book with a "primary" source from Teacher Prahn, quickly summarizing the events at the imperial palace in the ending of Eon, and it's helpful for those who haven't the first book in a long while (unless you have a fantastic memory, which I sometimes have. Epiphany!). The second and last book to the duology starts out shortly after those events, with Eona and her friends on the run from Sethon and the hunt for Kygo. Goodman brings us outside of the imperial palace and into other parts of the Empire of Celestial Dragons, places that were briefly mentioned in book one and now play a bigger role in book two.
I personally disliked Eona back when she was Eon, and I don't like her any better as a girl either. Back as Eon, Eona just seemed to desperate to fit in and trying to prove herself worthy – those sun drug scenes? The worst of Eon. I even vowed to DNF this book if Eona decided to run around with the sun drug again; it was that bad.
In a way, I do like Eona: she's not desperate, she's <s>Taylor Swift</s> fearless (all those odds stacked against her!) – she's a lot better when compared to Eon, when she trying to fully disguise herself as a guy and being a slinky. Eona just argues a lot with Kygo when she finally finds him, and I mean a huge emphasis on "argues a lot." I'm pretty sure if I get a dollar for every time they argued, I could actually pay my rent. Though compared to the <s>lovely</s> love triangle with Ido (thank you, so-called prophecy), I fully ship Kygo and Eona, even though Eona seems very mopey when it comes to whether or not Kygo truly loves her.
<blockquote>"What if I said you could have either me or my power? Which one would you choose?"</blockquote>
Eona certainly makes up for the many dull moments in pacing from its predecessor, where the beginning is a little interesting, the middle is extremely draggy and the decent ending is very fast and rapid. The pacing in the final book of Goodman's Eon duology is much better and engrossing, bringing us a fantastic end to two very long books.
-----------------
Original Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Review originally posted at <a href="http://bookwyrming-thoughts.blogspot.com/2015/01/review-eona-by-alison-goodman.html">Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
<a href="http://bookwyrming-thoughts.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cG5gfBqJVzk/VA5BIojjZ9I/AAAAAAAAD1g/7srLUfpAGEU/s1600/banner.png"; /></a>