BookCon Chicago was a blast!

So i talked about bookcon before here and i went and so wanted to tell you about my fun! I went to bookcon with my friend Melissa and had a grand ole time. in no particular order here's all the fun i had that day:

-got to meet the amazing Lindy West, the author of 'Shrill'. when waiting in line to get her signature, they passed out these megaphones with 'Shrill' written on it.

-got to meet the amazing Sam Maggs, the author of 'The fangirls guide to the galaxy' and 'wonder women'. i love the stay rad in the book! hehe.


-colored on a wall with melissa. here's melissa doing it and the bird i colored. there was a bunch of coloring books for sale at the con. melissa got one of the books. as part of the selling it, there were a bunch of walls or floors like this that people could color. this was the only one that melissa and i stopped at. for it's harry potter. how could you not stop at the harry potter coloring wall?! hehe.
 

-got some cool book marks. one that says "shhhh. i'm trying to read." hehe. which i just think is perfect to have as a book mark. that way you can hold it up when someone tries to talk to you when you're reading. hehe.

-there were some cool signs hanging around the con. hehe.


-another cool piece of swag i got was an edgar allan poe doll that was knitted. that's right an edgar allan poe doll. hehe. i love it.  he stands on my dresser in my room right now. hehe.


-speaking of edgar allan poe, i got socks with edgar allan poe's head on them. so sweet! hehe.

-here's a picture of all the fun swage i got. i always got a glass of some sort when i go to a con. this con's glass was a tea/coffee mug with a spoon. i really like that a spoon came with it and that it has the bookcon logo on it. all the books i got. my fun 2 sets of socks i got. the poe doll. and my totally awesome atlas shrugged t-shirt (i love that book).


-the con was totally sweet. there were tons of authors there that you could meet (there were panels at the con, but i didn't go so i can't say anything regarding them. though i'm sure they were totally sweet!). and there were tons of booths selling literature and selling literature related things. hehe. overall i had a great time. i would totally go again, but sadly BookCon has already said that they are going back to New York next year. so i'm not going to be able to go to BookCon next year. but if you can go, you really should go!

bookcon 2016

so i live in the chicagoland area and recently found out that there is a book con here! which i think is totally awesome. for those of you who don't know, i'm a huge reader and always have been*. and so for me this is a huge deal and very exciting! the con is run by Reedpop who also does C2E2 in chicago every year and other conventions in the USA (twitch con, a bunch of the PAX cons to name a few).

so i'm totally excited about this book con! it doesn't have the most imaginative name of a con, it literally is called BookCon. but in the end the name doesn't matter. the authors that are going to be there are: the maze runner series, the princess diaries, avatar: the last air bender, the absolutely true diary of a part-time indian, the divergent series - to list a few. i didn't list their names, for i assume people know the books more than they know the authors name. so i'm totally excited about these authors being there!!!!!

so yeah, i'm totally excited about a book con being in chicago (one nice thing about chicago, there's always stuff going on here). these authors listed aren't small time authors. the books are famous books and have sold a bunch. so yeah, totally excited. if i haven't said that enough yet. hehe. TOTALLY EXCITED! hehe.

i have a sketch book that i just bought that i'm going to use to get signatures from any famous people that i meet (authors and other famous people that i might meet at cons and such). and i haven't been able to use it yet, so this will be the first time i will get to use it. i'm excited to see who's signature i can get in it. the book is cool, the cover of the book has wonder woman on it and it says 'not all princesses need to be saved'. when i saw it i just had to get it. so i'm going to bring it with me to the book con and have the authors i meet sign that book.

so for those who want to go, BookCon is May 14th at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL. its only for one day and the cost for the ticket before the con is $30. which i think is totally reasonable. if you get your ticket the day of the con it's going to be $40. so yeah, if you go, send me a message and maybe we can meet up. otherwise i'll make sure i say how it goes after the con! hope to see everyone there!

*i've been a huge reader since i was a kid. when i was a kid, my mom would get me to go shopping with her by saying we will go to the book store. she would literally bribe me by taking me to the book store. hehe. and then she would have to limit me on how many books i can get. hehe. and as i've grown up, this hasn't changed. hehe. you want me to go do something that i don't want to do, bribe me by saying you'll take me to the book store. hehe. or by saying you'll get me a chill-cheese dog. hehe. that always works too.

the wheel of time

so on jan 8th the last book of the wheel of time came out, a memory of light. and i of course i got to barnes and noble and waited for it to open so i could get the book. i finished it yesterday and i have to say i thought it was great! i've been reading the series since i was in like 5th grade (i don't remember exactly when i started reading it) and it is the series that really got me into fantasy literature. i thought i would share different things about the last book of the series and just things about the series that i loved.

i love the series so much i have two tattoos that are from the books. the first tattoo i ever got is on my neck and it is a picture that is in the books. it's some leaves with vines. you can see a picture of it in my last post showing my steampunk outfit. the second tattoo i have from the series is the last tattoo i got that is on my arm. here's a picture of it. it says 'dovie'andi se tovya sagain'. which means 'it's time to toss the dice'. it's in a language from the books. sorry the picture is backwards, stupid mirror. hehe. i liked the idea that you have to take a chance if you want different things in life. and so i wanted that idea with me always. always to remind me to take chances and see where my life goes. 

needless to say i'm in the love with the series. when robert jordan died i was worried what would happen to the series, but i'm really happy with what brandon sanderson did. he once described taking over the series as if another director was making the same movie. i thought that was a good description of him taking over. i thought brandon sanderson did a great job. and i just wanted to say thank you to him for all that he did for the series.

on jan 9th i got to see brandon sanderson, harriot (robert jordan's widow) and a helper (who sadly i can't remember her name. but she she helped with the series from the beginning). it's the second time i got to see brandon sanderson. there was a book signing and that's how i got to see them. i didn't get a booked signed (i have a different book in the series signed by him) but i listened to the Q&A that was done. i always like listening to those for you get to see how different parts of the series was done. here is a picture brandon sanderson and company from that night.

the last book was wonderful (spoilers alert). i really like how not everyone lived at the end. it made it seem more real. for it is just impossible that every character is going to survive this great last battle. a battle that is for the survival of mankind. as much as i would love all the characters to survive, it just doesn't seem logical that they would. too many times in series do all the characters survive and for me it's just hard to believe. now there are main characters that survive the last battle, not everyone dies. and i'm glad for that too. i want the characters i love to survive.

i like how the book ends. it ends how every book in the series starts. in the beginning of every book robert jordan (and then brandon sanderson) started it with the wind blowing through different parts of the world. blowing around and taking the reader all over. the end of the book (the last two paragraphs) go back to the wind and have it blowing again. to me, it shows how the world continues to move on. for also at the beginning of every book it says something to the lines of: the wind was not the beginning. there are no beginnings nor endings to the turning of the wheel of time. but it was a beginning. the end of the book, the last two sentences, went right back to that. it said: 'there are no endings, and never will be endings, to the turning of the wheel of time. but it was an ending.' i thought it was a great way to end the book/series.

one of the characters in the book is named aviendha. she was a great character and one of my favorites. i've been in love with her name from when she was first introduced. i really want to name my daughter aviendha rose (rose being a family name for the child's middle name). another character in the book was matrim. my brother's name is matthew and from time to time i would call him matrim (as a side note, my brother is the person who got me into the books, so he knew what i was talking about when i called him that).

these are just some of the things that i love about the books. i'm sure i could go on forever about them, but i don't want to bore you. in the end, i love everything about the series. i'm very happy with how it ended. i'm sad that there isn't anything else that will be coming out for the world of the wheel of time. at least not any time soon. everyone should go out and read the series. it is some wonderful literature. let the dragon ride again.

things and stuff

hey everyone. sorry it's been so long since i've written. i do apologize. things have been a little crazy for me. i will do my best to update much more often, like the old days. hehe.

i must write about dragon con a little bit. it was awesome as always. this was my second year going and i have no thoughts of stopping. there were some awesome costumes (as always). this year one of the guests of honor was RA Salvatore! sadly i didn't get to meet him, i tried but the line was too long and i never made it. but i did get to see him up close and personal. i did something new this year, i went to the walk of fame. which is where the celebrities go and you can get their signatures. saw katee sakof, jonathan franks, levar burton, michael dorn and felica day (just to name a few). i didn't get any of their signatures but, i did get lou ferigno's. if you don't know who he is, he played the hulk for the tv series. he is huge! and he was very nice to me. last year i had gone to his panel and he was so positive i couldn't help but like him. so i just had to get his signature this year. i made some new friends this year. so that was cool. and thanks to twitter, i get to stalk them. hehe. no one wanted to take my picture because of anything i was wearing, but at the Ta'veren tee's booth (wheel of time), they took a picture of my two wheel of time tattoos. that was pretty awesome. the girl recognized matt's saying on my arm right away and asked to take a photo. then when she was done i showed her my neck tattoo and she asked to take a photo of that. so that made me smile really big and feel all cool. so over all, dragon con was tons of fun! go to my flickr page and you'll see all the pictures i have.

so i posted about being on twitter and instagram now. yeah i'm addicted now. i check it all the time. i've already posted on twitter over 200 times. hehe. whats cool is when people i don't even know follow me on there. makes me feel like what i have to say is important. i know it's really not, but it makes me feel that way.

the wheel of time's a memory of light prologue came out for everyone to read. you had to pay like 4 bucks, but you could read it in full if you wanted. so of course(!) i did. it rocked! i can't wait until the book comes out. i'm really sad it comes out the day AFTER my birthday, jan 8th 2013. but, you better believe i will be buying it on 1/8. i actually might take the day off so i can read it all day. that may seem silly to you, but i wouldn't be able to handle working when i could being reading that book. that is how much i love those books. i can't believe they are coming to an end. i love the books so much, two of my tattoos are from the series (as mentioned above). i'm debating whether i should pre order it or not, i've never done that. so i don't know. but i WILL have that book. hehe.

cubs sucked this year. bears are rocking it. sadly i have nothing to say about hockey for they are locked out. and i don't think we will have a hockey season at all. so i'm going to go to a college hockey game at soldier field. notre dame, wisconsin, minnesota and miami ohio are going to be playing. so that should be fun. all of those school's have a history of having good teams. at least i'll get some kind of hockey. and i get to go to soldier field. i haven't been to it since i was like 8. so i'm excited for that. but sadly that game isn't until February.

well that's all for now. i will do my best to update more often. 

holy sonnet: death be not proud by john donne

DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then;
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

ray bradbury

yesterday i heard that ray bradbury died at the age of 91. i didn't know he was still alive, i thought he had already died. but sadly it is true now. ray bradbury is one of the forefront writers for science fiction. just some of the things he wrote were: fahrenheit 451, the mars chronicles, something wicked this way comes. some interesting facts regarding ray bradbury are: for those of you from illinois, ray bradbury is from Waukegan, Ill. bradbury's father, numbered among his ancestors a woman who was tried as a witch in Salem, Mass. as a kid, bradbury read buck rodgers and flash gordon (those of you who know me, know that i just love that he read comic books). For many years he refused to travel by plane, preferring trains, and he never learned to drive.

the new york times wrote an article about him and i thought i would share some of the things in the article.

Though his books became a staple of high school and college English courses, Mr. Bradbury himself disdained formal education. He went so far as to attribute his success as a writer to his never having gone to college. Instead, he read everything he could get his hands on: Edgar Allan Poe, Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Thomas Wolfe, Ernest Hemingway . He paid homage to them in 1971 in the essay “How Instead of Being Educated in College, I Was Graduated From Libraries.” (Late in life he took an active role in fund-raising efforts for public libraries in Southern California.) Mr. Bradbury referred to himself as an “idea writer,” by which he meant something quite different from erudite or scholarly. “I have fun with ideas; I play with them,” he said. “ I’m not a serious person, and I don’t like serious people. I don’t see myself as a philosopher. That’s awfully boring.” He added, “My goal is to entertain myself and others.”

His first big success came in 1947 with the short story “Homecoming,” narrated by a boy who feels like an outsider at a family reunion of witches, vampires and werewolves because he lacks supernatural powers. The story, plucked from the pile of unsolicited manuscripts at Mademoiselle by a young editor named Truman Capote, earned Mr. Bradbury an O. Henry Award as one of the best American short stories of the year.

In 1954, the National Institute of Arts and Letters honored Mr. Bradbury for “his contributions to American literature,” in particular the novel “Fahrenheit 451.”

“The Martian Chronicles” was pieced together from 26 stories, only a few of which were written with the book in mind. The patchwork narrative spans the years 1999 to 2026, depicting a series of expeditions to Mars and their aftermath. The native Martians, who can read minds, resist the early arrivals from Earth, but are finally no match for them and their advanced technology as the humans proceed to destroy the remains of an ancient civilization. Parallels to the fate of American Indian cultures are pushed to the point of parody; the Martians are finally wiped out by an epidemic of chickenpox. When nuclear war destroys Earth, the descendants of the human colonists realize that they have become the Martians, with a second chance to create a just society.

In 2004, President George W. Bush and the first lady, Laura Bush, presented Mr. Bradbury with the National Medal of Arts.

Mr. Bradbury is survived by his daughters, Susan Nixon, Ramona Ostergen, Bettina Karapetian and Alexandra Bradbury, and eight grandchildren.

banned/challenged books

here is the list of the 10 most banned/challenged books in 2011 as according to the ALA (american library association). some new books and some classics. 

1)      ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
Offensive language; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group

2)      The Color of Earth (series), by Kim Dong Hwa
Nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group

3)      The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins
Anti-ethnic; anti-family; insensitivity; offensive language; occult/satanic; violence

4)      My Mom’s Having A Baby! A Kid’s Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy, by Dori Hillestad Butler
Nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group

5)      The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Offensive language; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group

6)      Alice (series), by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Nudity; offensive language; religious viewpoint

7)      Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Insensitivity; nudity; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit

8)      What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones
Nudity; offensive language; sexually explicit

9)      Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily Von Ziegesar
Drugs; offensive language; sexually explicit

10)  To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Offensive language; racism

vampire literature part 2

so in my first vampire literature post i complained that most of the authors going to C2E2 write vampire lit. i am super sick of all the vampire literature but i must say i'm super excited about the newest author they have announced will be there. anne rice is going to be at the convention! i'm totally stoked! her vampire literature i have actually read and like. i'm sure if i read some of the other authors literature i would like it, but i'm just so sick of vampire literature i don't even want to read it. but hurray for anne rice. and yes i know this makes me a hypocrite, but i'm ok with that. hehe.

chicago zine fest

so i got an email today stating that chicago is having their 3rd annual zine fest this weekend. i'm very excited about it and will definitely be going! the authors that are reading on friday, i don't know any of them, but it's always exciting to hear new material and meet writers. so if anyone wants to go with me, just give me a call/text.

today in history

in 1865 alice's adventures in wonderland was published: Lewis Carroll's fun-house novel was published on this date. Lewis Carroll was the pen name of Oxford lecturer in mathematics Charles L. Dodgson.