Kelsey's Classics 3 (Non- YA Book Recommendation)

I'm still on my hiatus from YA lit. I think I'll come back soon but idk who knows I have lots of books on my shelf currently that aren't YA. ANYWAY I totally forgot about another non-YA novelist that I really enjoy. I just started (I'm assuming) his most recent book "The Buried Giant" and am totally into it. I'm talking about Kazuo Ishiguro.
The book of his I'm going to consider one of my classics is "Never Let Me Go" which got an equally heartbreaking movie. This novel is a quasi- dystopian setting in which we've reached the level in science where we are cloning people for their organs. These clones (children) are raised in various "schools" to make sure they stay healthy for the people they are intended to be organ donors for. Once they reach adulthood they go off to start giving their donations. The novel centers around one particular school, Hailsham, and three of it's students. It's weird because like the clones kind of understand what it is they are made for but not really, not until they're being sent out. And the reason the novel is about this one school is because the person who runs it has the kids make art which is unusual for a clone school and there are rumors among the other schools as to why Hailsham is so different.
This book raises a lot of questions regarding science and the value of all types of life and human emotions and OUR SOULS.  It's also like really truly tragic. There's no happy ending or feeling of hope at the end. Which probably doesn't sound like something I'd enjoy but I swear I don't just like fantasy/ romance YA lit. But ugh this book is so good and Ishiguro is a great storyteller. So you should give it a chance. Or not idk.

ALL OF THE TEARS OMG

(these are the three students I was telling you about)

Captain Swan 4 Lyfe (A TV Post)

So I had a thought. I'm a giant nerd about numerous things and I think I've touched on most of them on this here blog except one: TV. It only occurred to me because I watched the season finale of "Once Upon a Time" last night and boy it was rough.
Before we get into OUaT let me just paint a picture of the kind of TV nerd I am. Of course I watch "Game of Thrones" and I also love "Bates Motel" because of my slight obsession with horror. I also love all things superhero so I watch "The Flash" and had a problem that was "DareDevil" and when I say problem I mean I loved it so much I couldn't stop and now I'm left with Murdock withdrawals. I also watch quite a bit of anime which you already know and that really isn't relevant.
Okay so you get it I'm one of THOSE people (the really cool ones... right?). So on to OUaT. As we all know I'm obsessed with all things fairytale and Disney related so I instantly fell in love with this show. It was a situation where my family didn't see me for days while I was catching up. If you also watch OUaT you'll know that you can never get too comfortable . Sure the current situation always gets figured out and for like thirty seconds everything is fine then some other shit happens. The episode I watched last night was especially heart breaking and UGH I wish I could just go on and on as to why but people don't like spoilers sigh. And now I have to wait till the fall shows start to find out what happens next???? HOW DARE YOU ONCE UPON A TIME??!?!?!!
Sigh I'll just say I hope it doesn't tear me up to watch next season.
Also if you watch "Once Upon a Time" too omg PLS  I need someone who understands

Peeking Cat

THIS IS NOT  BOOK POST!!!
But I do kind of have some cool news to share. As stated in the little bio under the blog title I'm an avid writer a well as reader. Actually to be honest I don't write as much as I'd like but I get stuff out here and there. I hope one day to write a novel (which is super hard omfg) but I also write a lot of poetry. I never really thought of myself as a poet. Poetry just kind of comes out I guess sometimes. When it started accumulating I figured I might as well do something with it. To kind of get my work out there I decided to submit primarily poetry to various literary journals. I've had three poems published and one short story.
A couple days ago I got an acceptance letter to this UK journal called "Peeking Cat Poetry" (which is too perfect). They want a poem I submitted called "For the First Time." Which is really exciting! Yay! Very excite!
If anyone is interested in reading any work of mine that I actually take seriously just get in touch and I'd be more than happy to share some with you.
Okay that's all thanks BYE

Evidence of my excite

This is Probably Why You're Afraid of Clowns (Non- YA Book Recommendation)

I did say I was going to back to Stephen King when I announced my hiatus from YA so I figured I should break my silence on my favorite adult fiction writer. (I'm currently reading "Doctor Sleep" in case you're wondering and it's super.)
My favorite book by Mr. King is "It." I read it because, once again, I wanted to watch the movie and I just hate watching things that are books before experiencing the book. It took me a long time to get through but it was so worth the time. People assume "It" is about this clown that eats children (which he does) but it's about so much more than that. The clown is hardly in the book really. It's more about this group of kids and their friendships and sigh it's actually super beautiful and made me kid of sad but in that pleasant way books do.
I think Stephen King has this reputation for being a horror novelist and don't get me wrong his stories are eerie and have startling images and I can totally see how they could scare people. However I don't think any of his (at least of the ones I've read) stories are meant to be scary at their heart. I like Stephen because it feels like all of his books are him just taking a scenario and asking what if? I remember reading this intro he did for the edition I have of "Pet Semetary" and (I'm going to try and paraphrase this story he tells) he's talking about when he moved to this little town for a teaching job with his wife and son where there was this highway in their front yard. One day his son was playing and (I think) chased something out onto the street. He almost got hit by a car but Stephen grabbed him in time. It made Stephen wonder what if I hadn't gotten him in time? (I'm not sure if I got that quite right but it was something like that.) And poof "Pet Sematary" was birthed.
Idk I just really like his books but I know they aren't for everyone.

Kelsey's Classics 2 (Actually another YA Book Recommendation)

Okay so I realized that just because I was reading a non- YA book didn't mean I had to stop posting and I kind of missed going on and on about stuff only I care about so here I am.
My favorite book hands down is "Looking for Alaska" by John Green who is my favorite author. I aspire to be him when I grow up. "Looking for Alaska" is a book about grief and having to live with unanswerable questions and falling in love. The last part isn't actually a gigantic theme but it is in the story.
John has a real knack for writing interesting and complex female characters and Alaska Young is the epitome of those things. I love her so much my cat is named after her. Most of the time I feel like authors write female characters that every guy falls in love with and I'm like WHY???? Like in "Twilight" almost every guy in the book Bella's age wanted her and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why. She seemed boring and uninteresting to me. This shit irritates me when I'm reading a YA book because it happens a lot but not with Alaska. She made the people around her want to know more and kept them guessing without really trying. I understood the attraction.
John also embodies what I love most about YA writing which is its simplicity. I think regular adult fiction writers try too hard with their language to make it unique or try to make themselves sound smart by using obscure words. The beauty of YA is that they don't try to do that. There's a certain beauty in the simplicity of the language that makes you focus on the figurative language. If that makes sense. I guess I just mean they don't use big words or go on long spiels describing things.
But anyway "Looking for Alaska" holds a special place in my heart and I think you should give it a chance to make a home in yours too.

Some Can Touch This ("Shatter Me" Part 2)

Guess what? Okay, I'll tell you. I finished "Shatter Me" earlier and I don't think I've had this much to say about a book. I feel like I have to say there may be spoilers at the beginning of all of my posts but it feels redundant sigh. Anyway LET'S GET STARTED
Okay, once again I'm going to try to not include too much of the plot. Let's just say Juliette and Adam have been on quite the journey. Also I want to say that if there is a love triangle (Juliette, Adam, and Warner) I will be very frustrated. Is it too much to ask for there not to be a love triangle in a YA series???
Also be warned Juliette and Adam like want to bang all the time. Whenever they're around each other, which is most of the time, they can't keep their hands to themselves. Goddamn teenagers.
Besides the repetition I mentioned in my previous post there were some other things about the structure (?) of this book that I find troubling. I personally don't feel connected to any of the characters. Except maybe Juliette. I can't really identify why but I think it could be that there isn't enough dialogue. I know that Warner is a terrible guy but mostly because Juliette tells me so. I don't know what it is but I feel a disconnect. It also could be because there hasn't been a face put to this Reestablishment group mentioned. And we haven't gotten a real good look at the outside world that is in such shambles. The only real evidence we have of that is when Juliette and Adam go to his house where Adam's little brother James lives.
I'm so torn because this story is very very interesting and I definitely plan on seeing it through. We'll see if I get more invested in the next book.
Just so anyone who actually reads my posts knows, I'm planning on taking a break from YA for a little while which means I won't be posting for a bit. These books may be included in a non YA book recommendation post in the future but for now I'm going to go back to my one true Adult Fiction love (Stephen King <3333). Until next time!

Can't Touch This ("Shatter Me" Part 1)

"Shatter Me" thus far has been quite perplexing but enjoyable. You know the drill, I'm half way through blah blah blah it's time to sit for a chat blah blah blah spoilers blah blah blah okay LET'S GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD (what does that even mean).
"Shatter Me" is a dystopian novel by Tahereh Mafi that centers around a girl named Juliette. When we first meet Juliette she's locked up in an insane asylum basically and she's getting assigned a roommate which wtf roommates??? Who are both crazy??? Anyway. Which is when we meet Adam, a boy who is from Juliette's childhood. I believe they're both supposed to be 17. Ugh okay so I'm going to try REALLY hard not to include spoilers even though I want to. Because I do find the basic storyline, plot, idea or whatever you want to call it for this book very interesting.
HOWEVER (yes, it's a big however) the language in this book, I feel, gets a bit repetitive which sometimes is the point. There are parts where she literally repeats the same phrase or word three or more times in one sentence I guess because we're in Juliette's head and people repeat stuff in their head I suppose. But that's not the repetition that bothers me. The author describes some things multiple times (like Adam's eyes) and uses the same words or metaphors and sometimes uses cliche figurative language (like that his eyes are blue and deep like the ocean). So because of this sometimes I feel like yelling I GET IT HE HAS DARK BLUE EYES.
But at the same time, at least when I first started reading the book, I found the language to be very poetic and quite beautiful. So maybe she found a few metaphors or phrases that worked off the bat and is kind of beating them to death with the bat. Idk that's just the feeling I'm getting the more I read the book.
Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying "Shatter Me" very much. I'm not really sure why but I am.
Oh, I forgot to mention for some reason Juliette can't touch anyone or it kills them. She basically drains their life force and absorbs it. That's kind of important to the story.
Side note: when you type dystopian it tries to correct it to Utopian. Idk I find that interesting I'm weird okay bye.