So the one side of my snapped-in-half glasses were feeling a little loose in the duct tape, so I said “Hey boyfriend, can you fix this?” since he did the original wrapping. OF COURSE, the second wrapping did not go as well, and my glasses fell off like a half-dozen times while I was driving down the highway tonight.
SO UNSAFE.
Also, this post will be short because I can’t take my glasses falling off again and again. On the other hand, I got an eye appointment for tomorrow morning, so hopefully something good will happen tomorrow, like I’ll have enough of a change in my prescription to get some sexy/geeky new frames!
In book news, I went…ugh…antiquing with the bf and his parents on Friday, and I discovered something AMAZING. Did you know that not only are there stores full of UTTER CRAP, but these stores sometimes contain NOT SO VERY OLD BOOKS? In fact, BOOKS THAT ARE EXACTLY THE RIGHT AGE TO, SAY, BE HARLEQUINS FROM THE LATE EIGHTIES AND EARLY NINETIES?
I found two or three books on my Harlequin list, but I already had all of them. HOWEVER, I ALSO found a book that was one of mine that I had never remembered! The title looked familiar but once glance at the cover and I KNEW.
Now if only I knew where the bf put it…
Seriously, though, another book! It’s weird to think that this one’s quite random, not in a set like the rest. (Harlequins came out then, and probably come out now, in batches per month.) So I wonder where I got it, and why I barely remember it at all. Even skimming the cover just made me think, “Yes, I’ve read this but…but…I can’t remember ANYTHING.” Maybe it just wasn’t that interesting?
We’ll soon find out!
I’m feeling bad about the lack of content here. I mean, for some reason, I feel like anything but a recap isn’t much content at all.
So maybe tomorrow morning, after I get some schoolwork done, I’ll start putting together my first Harlequin recap. But which book to start with??
I mentioned before briefly that I was reading Claudia and Mean Janine for one of my classes. I didn’t actually get to say this outside the class’s discussion board, I think, but I was actually really impressed with the book during the reread! There’s a lot going on, and even if some of the characters never get rounded out, there’s the sense that they are or will be in other books, and all of them are distinctive. Now, I don’t know if part of that is my memory, filling in the blanks for each child, but that doesn’t really matter, I think. The point is that I didn’t really have much to snark! I’ve heard that other books in the series are pretty racist, pretty dim, pretty annoying, but this one is not. Claudia is smart, that totally comes through, but she thinks she’s lazier than she is. (Anyone who balances baby-sitting, grandmother-sitting, art classes, and housework isn’t as lazy as she thinks she is.) Also, as an adult it was much easier for me to see how lonely Janine is and how she’s really trying to connect with Claudia. I also find the title fascinating: there was so much less Janine than I expected!
It didn’t make me wanna pull out the entire series, but it was nice to go back and not get a horrible surprise like with The Vampire Diaries.
The other thing I mentioned I was reading for school that I didn’t follow up on is Julia Child’s My Life in France. As I said before, vegan and a fiction reader–so out of my comfort zone, but I also forgot to mention my idea of cooking is pouring boiling water on ramen noodles. That said, despite what I expected, I pretty much was only grossed out by two things, both of which had to do with more French cuisine than cooking animals. (It’s preparing them to look like what they are, something we’re not really crazy about in American cooking; we prefer nuggets and strips and such to keeping the beak on.) The rest of the book I was totally fine with–although keep in mind, I’ve been vegan for a few years now and I have a pretty good disconnect to animal products at this point. Also, the chapter on bread: OM NOM NOMMITY NOM NOM NOM. But it’s not really about food. It’s about France, and Julia Child’s marriage, and politics, and family…it’s about LIFE, really.
And that’s odd for a fiction reader: it’s not till someone who reads fiction almost exclusively picks up a non-fiction book that they realize how structured fiction is–how unlike real life, no matter how realistic the fiction. Real life is anecdotes, stories told around a dinnertime; there’s no plotline.
The book was very easy to set down, but just as easy to pick up. I guess that’s the mark of good non-fiction, for me.
I’m not a very good blogger today; my glasses snapped at the bridge yesterday when I was drying them–they are only about three years old; I thought they were much older. (I figured out their age based off my Photobucket account. So clever.) But anyway, not the point. They are broken, which is funny cuz I was going to call the eye doctor tomorrow morning to set up an appointment anyway. The bf tried to superglue them back together but it didn’t work, so he taped them instead. I am big nerd. Er, I am a bigger nerd than before. Wait wait, THAT wasn’t the point either. The point is, they’re not taped PERFECTLY so they’re a bit…off. This makes me a big headachey. So…no big post.
This morning I woke and thought, “Oh, busy day, I guess I should get my NaBlo post done early” (well, in truth, this morning I woke up and thought, “I could fall back asleep,” then there was a competition to see who could push whom off the bed, with the loser having to go get the laptops, which is when I ACTUALLY thought this–and it’s not REALLY losing if you fall off the bed first but you take your opponent with you, right?) and then I thought, “I have nothing to say.”
Really. I’m so, so very slowly getting through the book I’m reading because I’ve been spending more time writing and doing schoolwork this week, and also the bf’s been off for the NJEA convention, so I feel…like I have not much to say. Except then I realized that’s how I felt yesterday about NaNo.
Yes, just one day after I posted about my NaNoWriMo excitement, I hit a wall. I hadn’t exactly written myself into a corner so much as I didn’t know where I was going, so what do I do? All the energy drained out of me–not even DRAINED, more like when Alex Mack would turn into a puddle and everything would go SPLOOSH downward. I started to feel that sort of emotionless shell that you know is hiding all the real emotions underneath–disappointment, maybe, and fear–and then the boyfriend stepped in like a goddamn superhero and listened to me babble about my story and then said the one thing that made everything better.
“You could change perspective–write from [the other character]’s point of view.”
GENIUS! I immediately started turning stuff over in my head and getting excited about writing again. Then I finished where I was with my main character and switched over to knock out another 600 or 700 words.
Then we had stuff to do, and then I fell asleep watching a movie, and okay, now I’m behind a couple hundred words from where I wanted to be (I want to keep up with the little statistics bar) BUT! I’m BACK! All in, like, the course of a day.
That’s pretty neat. And I think there’s a lesson in it: just because there’s a bit of a stumbling block, that doesn’t mean you should give up. Sure, it’s “only” writing, but look at how simply things were resolved! He only really needed to say two words –”change perspective”–and everything rocked again! I was happy again!
So if anyone else is hitting an end-of-the-week block, change perspective. Maybe not literally, but somehow. Write the end instead of the beginning? Jump to the middle. Write a sex scene, for those inclined. (I find them ridiculously easy, for some reason, probably because I don’t hit a lot of detail so I don’t have to worry about cliches.) Do some backstory, go back to your prewriting, or fill in some sort of writing tool, like a plot diagram or a conflict box. If you have an outline, go in and fill in some details. None of these tricks are tried and true–all I can say is “Change perspective” worked for me–but do ANYTHING and see where it takes you. Remember that the number of words isn’t the full goal; if you’re down a few hundred from the little bar graph, you can make it up when you’ve found your spark again. But give yourself a chance to look for that spark. Sometimes you’ve dropped it right by your foot–it hasn’t gone far, but you haven’t looked in the right direction yet. START LOOKING.
Man, I’m cheesy.
[Editor's note: As always, brought to you by Sarah.]
Imagine a movie montage done to Alice Cooper’s “School’s Out (for the Summer)” played backwards. That seems to pretty much be what’s going on here.
Poor Zoey wakes up in Hell. Not only is it 6:21 in the morning, she also has to suffer the indignity of Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You.” Call me crazy, but I think an eternity of being buried to the neck in ice and having hail fall on you would be infinitely preferable to Whitney’s version of that song. Dolly Parton did it first an best. Accept no imitations. Anyway, Zoey muses on how life-altering being a senior will be. She wonders if it will make her hair easier to manage.
Nina wakes up to “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns n’ Roses. Poor soul. There are only two G n’ R songs I have heard that I’ve liked and I can’t even remember what the names are. [Editor's note: I'm just going to assume one is Mr. Brownstone.] Hmph. Anyway, it’s 6:25 and Nina is trying to psych her self up for school. She imagines Claire will break up with Benjamin and Benjamin will turn to her. She thinks about Lucas being back. Then, she decides it’s totally not worth it and consoles herself with an unlit cigarette.
Benjamin rises to Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony. He takes a shower and thinks about the fact that he has no idea what he looks like. He decides it doesn’t matter because he’s a senior.
Claire wakes up vaguely disturbed by a half-remembered dream. She goes up to the widow’s walk to admire the clouds and notes that it will be a perfectly clear day. She wonders what her reaction to Lucas will be and is briefly worried she might still have feeling for him. She puts these thought out of her head and muses that things will work out the way she wants them to because they always do.
Kalif wakes Aisha up by screaming that the house is on fire. Kalif is very lucky that Aisha didn’t rip his arms off for that little stunt. She debates breakfast vs. taking a shower and decides that everyone will notice if her hair is unwashed, so she opts for shower-time.
Jake, like Nina, awakens to “Welcome to the Jungle.” He is very pleased by this for some strange reason. Yes, I REALLY hate that song. [Editor's note: D:] He then stretches, does fifty situps, seventy-five crunches, and some more stretches. He’s pretty sure he’ll make the football team again and decides he’ll wake up a half-houur ealier to get in more exercise time. Then he goes for a run.
Lucas has been up since 6 am because that was the routine at YA. He stands on his deck with a cup of coffee ogling the Passmore abode, wishing he could see Zoey.
*
The Pullaways (it’s like the opposite of CASTAWAY! HAHA!!! AREN’T I WITTY??) are on the ferry. Nina is told that her unlit cigarettes won’t be welcome at school. Did you know that they used to have smoking areas in high school? My mom told me this and I think it’s so odd, how rules and ideas of what’s appropriate change with the times. Nina says that since it’s unlit, it doesn’t count. I have to disagree with that. She apparently just leave the cigs on the ground and who knows how many high school hooligans have lighters!
Anywho, Jake sees Lucas and completely loses his shit, over-speaking insults at Lucas and trying to get Zoey involved in his passive-aggressive douchery. He claims that Lucas should swim to school and Benjamin kind of mocks his manly machismo by suggesting he just beat the hell out of Lucas and get it all over with. Jake claims he doesn’t want to screw up his eligibility for football. Apparently he has no compunction about ruining his eligibility for flaming Assjerk (TM my grandmother) of the Year award and drags Zoey for the specific purpose of invading Lucas’ personal space. Jake demands that Lucas movve his feet. Lucas does so. Then, Jake starts making out with Zoey. Then he drops his pants and wiggles his ass in Lucas’ face (Uh, no he does not! The whole thing just seemed so attention-whorey that it made me think of mating rituals in the animal kingdom. You can understand my confusion, right?).
Jake gives Lucas a nasty look and tells him that nobody likes him and that he should just go eat worms (well, no, but it’s pretty much the same maturity level). Zoey is just there feeling very awkward and probably wishing she had the ovarian fortitude to shove Joke off the damned ferry and be done with his idiocy.
Lucas then basically tells Jake that he might as well just hit him and get it over with, so Jake punches him in the stomach and then in the face. Then, he starts dancing around in a pugilistic manner, because he is an awesome manly man who hit a guy who wasn’t doing anything…or something. Skipper Too (whose name is actually Tom) tells Joke to knock it off or he’ll be banned from the boat.
Zoey goes to help Lucas, the Pullaways (Minus Zoey) are all shocked and appalled by this, despite the fact that they’ve known Zoey for years and this is the exact type of romance novel shit that revs her engine. Jake demands that Zoey leave Lucas to bleed and Lucas tells her to leave and she’s just so into being the savior of the wounded hero that she tells her stupid excuse of a boyfriend to go away
The Pullaways (Minus Zoey) leave and Zoey sees Claire put an arm around Joke and feels very alone.
Next up: Aisha and Christopher face off at another one of his jobs, the Pullaways eat lunch, and Zoey makes yet another list.
See ya then!
When I was a kid, I was a Writer. In 4th grade, we were told we had to put our vocab words into sentences, and I don’t know if the assignment was to put them into blocks so that they read like a story, or if I just did that because I enjoyed it so much, but it was a revelation to me: I WAS A WRITER! I LOVED WRITING! I didn’t stop writing for something like ten years straight.
Everyone knew I was a Writer. My mom even offered me the opportunity to go to a private school with a writing program. I wanted to, but I was afraid of not knowing anyone and leaving my friends. It was probably the wrong choice, but I decided to go to public school.
By the time I got to college, I was a total writing snob. I turned my nose up at Composition. Didn’t they know I was a Writer of Fiction?
I actually ended up failing out of college due to laziness, snobbery, being burned out on school in general, and relationship ~*drama*~. (My major was NOT writing, because that seemed terribly impractical to me; plus, who could teach me anything about writing? I WROTE ALL THE TIME. Never mind that I didn’t finish anything…) I then met the man I was going to marry and had a kid with him, and I slowly but surely stopped writing. Don’t think the new invention of the “internet” wasn’t a part of that. From the time I was sixteen on (I went to college at seventeen), my amount of time on the computer NOT writing steadily rose.
After that, I slowly but surely became phobic about writing. I know that in 2001-ish, I didn’t have internet and wrote a novella about a demon falling in love with a human. Then, inspired by this show called Buffy the Vampire Slayer that I’d just started watching, I wrote the bare bones of a novel. Beginning to end, actual length and content, for what felt like the first time ever.
I was a writer again! Except now I had these ridiculous standards for myself. I was going to edit and expand the book, except then the hard drive crashed and all I had was a version on a disk that had been written on a program that was not available in my next computer. When I opened the thing again, all the formatting was lost. What also got lost was my motivation to edit the story.
I don’t know how between then and now I got phobic about writing fiction. I think part of it is that I started dating someone who’d gone to school for screenwriting and I was starting to realize that everything I wrote was pretty much plotless (rather, it was about couples getting together and breaking up; I sure love me some characters) and I started to feel highly critical of myself without even writing a word. I was also growing more aware of how writers were writing, and I felt like I couldn’t connect to the process. I thought about taking writing courses at school, but I wanted to get through school fast and learning everything else in the world was making me feel good about myself, so I focused on my degree (English, then literature, and now library science) and, when I had slots free, music (because that’s another place where I got tripped up but a story too long for this post).
About a year or so ago, a friend of mine paid for us to take one of those internet writing courses, because we’d taken a writing course together in high school. I half-assed my way through it, although I liked some of what I did, and my friend never did anything at all because he got busy with school. Oh well, it was his money. But it reminded me that I like to write more than just papers and journal/blog stuff. Still, it lit no fire within me–at least one that didn’t die right away.
So last week we thought we’d be quarantined for at least another week because of the flu, but my daughter bounced right back and even went to school again this week. (Was it actually swine flu? Who knows? They don’t even test unless they have to.) I decided on the 31st to sign up for NaNoWriMo.
Generally, I avoid it like the plague. In part it’s because November is a ridiculously busy month for students. In part it’s because I like to avoid communities of people who are like I was once: writing snobs. On top of that, I cannot help but mock fan fiction and have an underlying hatred for it, because I think in some cases it stops good writers from being original, and it keeps fan writers from trying to make it in the business. (Who needs to tough out validation from Hollywood when you can get it in droves from your peers?) I know that this is a closed-minded and somewhat-unfounded opinion, especially in connection with NaNo, but I just read something on Livejournal where this girl petitioned a natural childbirth community to help her with a Transformers fan fic, and I just…something dies inside of me every time, I swear.
But yeah, I figured I’d have a lot of time, and if there’s one thing I really enjoy, it’s challenging myself to the point of hating myself. I’m good with goals. I did well with NaBlo. Why not write with NaNo? Sure, I get phobic about writing, but during the two or three periods of the past couple years where I have sat down and written, I’ve had a good time, even if I’ve gained no real lasting satisfaction. (Cuz I haven’t FINISHED anything.)
I went in with no idea of what I was going to do, except that I wanted to maybe write a superhero romance that’s less campy than Estep’s Bigtime novels. (I love Estep, but I hate camp. It’s a delicate balance for me. I’m excited to check out her next series.) I then chose a name for my character, and started writing.
There is NOTHING about what I’ve written so far that’s interesting or plot-driven or coherent, but I’m having a good time. A lot of my validation isn’t coming from the writing itself, but how impressed people have been with my output: I write about 500 words every fifteen minutes or so, and then I write in chunks of 20-30 minutes using Write or Die. Other people will probably have a book when they’re done; I’ll have a hodge-podge of, if I make it, 50K words. But AFTER November I can deal with that, if I want to.
I frontloaded my schoolwork for the week so I’ve been keeping up well. I write a to-do list, IN ORDER OF IMPORTANCE, usually of about 10 things, and I tend to get to about 6 every day, which is usually NaNo. Oops, I almost forgot I have something to do for school but I have until about 3:30 to work, because my daughter’s off for the NJEA convention and I’m not seeing the boyfriend until after I drop her off with her grandmother and great-grandmother. (Twelve = the age of “Can I go to Granny’s? They have cable AND let me use the internet without hovering.” SIGH.) So that gives me about six hours to do what’ll probably be three hours of work, and I’m sure the bf and I will write together later. He’s not officially doing NaNo, but he’s using me to keep up with his own writing, which is also superhero stuff, but without the romance. Bor-ing. 
So I guess what this boils down to is: So far, so good. I missed a night due to feeling sick, but my output is such that losing one night doesn’t matter. I’m still over 6667 or wherever one “should” be by now to keep the pace up.
I’m excited to find out whether I finish, and what’s going on with the story. Sometimes you write them, and sometimes they write you. Actually, I’ve generally finished the latter and almost never the former, so we’ll see if that sticks here.
Today I had to return a book to the library without reading it, because it was new and people had requested it. I always feel like a Book Girl failure when that happens, especially when the book is reallllly good. I had to do it with Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
I know a bunch of people who don’t like Atwood, and those people are generally Canadian. If often sounds like the Canadian school system believes that Margaret Atwood is the only writer of note they’ve ever had. That’s not true! There’s…uh…okay, nothing’s coming straight to mind and when I go to the Wikipedia page, all I see jumping out at me is Kelley Armstrong, and quite frankly I said “of note.” I did so love Bitten, but her second book was flat-out Buffy fan fiction. Now Amazon says she’s up to TEN Women of Otherworld books? How disappointing. Bitten could’ve stood on its own and been wonderful. (And yes, I read more than two; I read four. Three was okay, four was eh.)
But if you’re not FORCED to read Atwood, she can be a revelation. I’m trying to get my book club to read Oryx & Crake–maybe next month after Batman: The Killing Joke. (We needed something quick this month; NaNo and finals and whatnot.) I think my favorite Atwood books, in order, are
1) The Handmaid’s Tale
2) Cat’s Eye
3) The Robber Bride
4) Oryx & Crake
5) The Blind Assassin
All fantastic books. All very different.
This one’s another dystopian novel, so I’m TRIPLY disappointed.
I’m so sorry, book. I finish this term in three more weeks; I’m going to reorder you now and maybe you’ll come in just when I can actually give you the time you deserve.
I still have like 8 other things out from the library but there’s no way I’m going to get to any of them. Still, THEY’LL renew, I guess.
So disappointing.
So busy.
Welcome to the blessedly final installment of The Struggle, a book that at times was so bad it made a part of my soul die.
When last we left Our Heroine, yesterday, she’d “triumphed” over her petty, shallow, priority-conflicted nemesis (they’re perfect for each other!) to…uh…not have her boyfriend run out of town by an angry mob. Oh okay. I guess that’s a good thing. Then she had a hissy at her aunt/Damon because they don’t support her relationship with Stefan. (I sort of want to say “Stefan” the way my boyfriend says “Angel,” all drawn out and eye-roll-y and kind of sarcastically nasal.)
~*Elena*~ is under the impression that Damon is using Aunt Judith as his mojo sock puppet.
Here’s the thing: he could be. Or maybe he isn’t. It never occurred to me when I was younger to doubt ~*Elena*~; now it’s all I do. But the thing is, instead of being reasonable, ~*Elena*~ once again flips out. Now, we’re at the point where she’s been highly emotional for days, she’s been deluding herself, she’s been ridiculous. And also she’s probably in the process of dying before (spoiler) the car hits the water. However, I think it’s hard to know anything for sure at this point. Is that bad writing? Is it depth? It is assuming intelligence on the part of the reader? Is it purposeful confusion? I know I’M confused. But at the point where ~*Elena*~ makes a scene, she could be as ill as Poppy. It’s only that it’s clear when it happens to Poppy. It is not so clear here.
So Aunt Judith is vocalizing what are probably valid concerns but ~*Elena*~ believes that Damon is controlling her. I guess it makes sense; it’s not like Aunt Judith talks this much usually. But yeah, VALID: ~*Elena*~ is secretive, rude (in Judith’s eyes, without reason BECAUSE ~*ELENA*~ HASN’T TOLD HER ANYTHING), and yeah, maybe poorly influenced by her new boyfriend, who really is still QUITE new at this point. ~*Elena*~ upsets Judith, which upsets Robert (also, he’s got Margaret with him, so ~*Elena*~ is pulling this crap in front of a four-year-old), which leads to a good old-fashion screamfest that culminates in “You’re not my mommy!” Actually, that comes after “WE’RE ENGAGED EVEN THOUGH I’M SIXTEEN.” So, like, Judith is RIGHT IN ALL WAYS. Man, I hate ~*Elena*~.
She declares her desire to get to the boarding house to be with her ~*fiance*~ and storms off, to…oh, right, the only person in Fells Church with a car, albeit a jalopy: DoorMatt. ~*Elena*~ alternately asks nicely and tells him what to do, as is her way. “She almost snatched the keys out of his hand.” OH ~*ELENA*~. And oh, Matt, for being such a nice person who’s going to feel such guilt soon.
~*Elena*~ drives down the road, thinking about her and Stefan eloping. How are they going to do this, exactly? If the officiant is mojoed, is the marriage legal? “They would show everyone. She would never set foot in Fell’s Church again.” But, ~*Elena*~, are there any other towns but Fell’s Church? I assume when you get very far, everything disappears like in a cartoon and you’ll be surrounded by whiteness.
“She certainly didn’t need stupid old Robert E. Lee, where you could go from being mega-popular to a social pariah in one day just for loving the wrong person.”
Two things here.
1) Who fucking cares?
2) ONE day, ~*Elena*~? ONE day? I don’t think so.
But she does calm down, and admits that Meredith, Bonnie, and Matt don’t suck. Well, maybe not Matt. Well, maybe Matt. She giggles–oookayyyy–over the idea of borrowing Matt’s car. Her and Stefan both. OMG ~*Elena*~ that is such a LOL! Except…uh…I think you might be hysterical.
She thinks that she should be celebrating her “victory” over Caroline (SIGH) but instead she’s crying, and that’s sucky. She does hope that someone videotaped Caroline’s humiliation at the festival. Yeah, well, I hope someone videotaped you treating your aunt like shit, ~*Elena*~. Your aunt who took you in despite being really young and having no experience with kids.
~*Elena*~ realizes that Mrs. Flowers is not home and the door to the boarding house is locked. She then notices there’s a hell of a storm brewing–a rather unnatural storm, at that. And on top of that, ~*Elena*~ is getting the supernatural sense that something malevolent is out there. And it’s after her…
She feels its bloodlust and it’s made of mist and/or wings. Not black like Damon though; white. She still calls out to Damon to stop what he’s doing. She run back to the car for safety but the car begins to rock. She begins to drive just out of something to do, something active to do. (I do like that ~*Elena*~ is active SOMETIMES when Bad Shit Happens.) She thinks she needs to get to Stefan, but then she realizes no, she has to get to the bridge. If she crosses the bridge, this powerful thing is actually less inclined to get her, because its power strengthens its limitation, as Stefan once told her.
Except, you know, Death is waiting for ~*Elena*~ at the bridge. But she’s forgotten that.
So anyway, car goes off the side and she drowns.
*
Bonnie and Meredith find Stefan, who’s being harassed by Tyler and his friends, and Caroline’s bitching about the diary. Meredith tries to bring attention (and therefore shame) to Caroline, and Bonnie tries to say something but is instead overtaken by her magical psychic abilities and talks about ~*Elena*~ being at the bridge. They all rush there–wait, Meredith has a car too. Why can’t anyone just take Meredith’s car anywhere?–and there’s a felled tree that makes them have to walk part of the way and–you know, it doesn’t matter, cuz she’s SO dead anyway. Stefan gets ~*Elena*~’s body from the water and he and Meredith have some sort of shouting match that we don’t get to hear because it’s all through Bonnie’s shocked perspective. He says he will put ~*Elena*~ under the willow trees, and he tells Bonnie to get Meredith out of there.
End of chapter, but there’s only a few more pages left, so I’m going to keep going.
Stefan kisses ~*Elena*~’s forehead and attacks the FUCK out of Tyler and his friends, in a super-vampy drink-their-blood sort of a way. FINALLY. He’s gaining Power so that he might be able to take on Damon. He’s going to attack Caroline too, but we all know she isn’t worth. He filled up on jock appetizers anyway.
This power gives him the ability to turn into a falcon, and he goes after Damon, clawing him. They fight and talk telepathetically the whole time. Damon’s all “WAIT WHO DID I KILL THIS TIME?” and Stefan’s like “ELENA.”
Who, by the way, is waking up under the willow trees. She smells a squirrel, which is weird cuz THAT’s never happened before, and she knows she’s gotta find her man.
For some reason, her man has black eyes, not green.
~*Elena*~ steps into the midst of their conflict, and the book ends.
*
I don’t even have anything to wrap up here. Ending on a cliffhanger kind of does that. This was a difficult book to get through. I actually hated it more when I reread it than when I reread it AGAIN to recap it, so that’s…something? I still hate Damon half the time. That’s annoying. Finishing up doesn’t make me want to keep going, though; it makes me happy I’m taking a break.
Not sure how long the break is going to be, but I’ll be recapping Night World in the meantime, if Liss and I can get it together. (And I’m sure we can, cuz we’re awesome.) The other thing I wanted to say is that I’m not going to be posting links to future Vampire Diaries recaps in the usual places. It’s not that it’s a HUGE deal, but I feel that by now people have had the chance to decide whether they want to read me. If so, they can add the blog somewhere, bookmarks or Bloglines (I LOVE Bloglines and highly recommend it) or whatever. I’ll let the usual places know when I’m starting the third book, but you won’t have 14-16 individual links anymore.
Thanks for reading, everyone. Hope to hear from you in the comments, and we’ll be seeing Stefan and Damon and ~*Elena*~ and the rest soon.
The Vampire Diaries: The Struggle Part 14: Because “she stole my diary” are very hard words to say
Before we delve into all the wackiness that ensues the day of the festival, let’s discuss how reasonable or unreasonable it would be for ~*Elena*~ to say “Caroline stole my diary.”
Reasonable: when in the room with the librarian.
Unreasonable: when Caroline is at the podium during her reading.
Why? Because what is Mrs. Grimesby going to say, really? “Oh dear, dear. Caroline, do give that back to her.” Because even librarians in Fells Church are crappy stereotypes. “But Mrs. Grimesby, it reveals the murderer of Fells Church!” “Caroline, dear, this is not PROOF. This is circumstantial. If you truly believed Stefan murdered someone, you would have gone to the police. This is obviously a petty rivalry and it ends here.”
Librarians are FIERCE.
Unfortunately, this reasonable scenario does not happen. Instead, Bonnie stakes out the Forbes home to find that Caroline is carrying a little bag, just big enough for a diary. Then she’s picked up on the corner by Aunt Judith and ~*Elena*~. Why Aunt Judith doesn’t say “Bonnie, why are you standing on a random street corner?” is beyond me, but this book rarely makes sense anyway, so moving on. Aunt Judith doesn’t even get any lines, of course.
But the “plan” at this point is reasonable. ~*Elena*~ is going to the librarian’s to pick up her costume and she’ll either snatch it from Caroline there or, if Caroline leaves it in her parents’ car, Meredith will make a grab for it. Because, um…okay let’s just pretend Meredith can pull off pretending she and Caroline are still friends and if the door’s locked, she’ll tell Mr. and Mrs. Forbes that Caroline forgot a tampon in there.
WHAT? IT COULD HAPPEN.
I hate that this book makes me fill in the blanks of sense.
Also, Bonnie calls Aunt Judith “Miss Gilbert.” They’ve known each other for at least four years now, come on. That’s just too respectful of someone the book treats so poorly.
We are not told that Mrs. Grimesby (who at least is a Mrs.) is some old biddy with white hair, but we’re told that she’s the Fells Church librarian and archivist, and her house is full of books, on shelves and ON THE FLOOR. Awesome. Yes. Accuracy! We’re also told that “the bedrooms were full of students in various stages of undress.” Thanks for letting us know. We’re also told that when ~*Elena*~ is guided to a room to change with Caroline, Caroline’s in her underwear. I wonder if the show is doing anything like that, or if they’re clever enough to come up with something more intelligent than this stolen diary storyline. (Not that it couldn’t be a good storyline, if it made sense, I suppose.)
Blah blah blah, old clothes, and Caroline being gloating without saying a word. “[~*Elena*~] debated making a grab for [the bag], but Mrs. Grimesby was still in the room.” Um…see above.
We are told that Honoria Fell kept a journal. I’M THINKING THIS MIGHT BE IMPORTANT IN THE FUTURE. Bless your foreshadowing heart, Ljane.
Also, a note falls to the ground. Oh, Caroline. You just can’t leave it alone. It’s from the first line of the first book: Something awful is going to happen today.
Yeah; I had to read this book some more. Only two more chapters…probably one more post…
“It’s just a piece of trash,” ~*Elena*~ tells Caroline and Mrs. Grimesby. WORD.
So they’re ready to go and ~*Elena*~’s heart breaks to find that Caroline’s bag is a period piece and therefore she gets to keep it with her the whole time. No change for the grab now UNLESS YOU JUST GRAB THE FUCKING BAG. OR SAY SOMETHING GODDAMN REASONABLE LIKE “OH WOW MRS. GRIMESBY THAT’S AWESOME CAROLINE DO YOU MIND IF I LOOK AT IT? THAT BEADWORK IS FANTASTIC–YOINK.”
I feel very talked-down to.
~*Elena*~ then goes and tells her cronies that Caroline has “outsmarted” them. Um…wasn’t hard, pookie. Wasn’t hard. ~*Elena*~ then gets on a buggy with two white horses (of course) and joins the parade, miserable. She can’t even see Caroline at any point, but she’s sure the bitchmonster from hell is surrounded by people, with no chance for grabbing the bag.
EXCEPT MAYBE TO GET HER ON AND OFF THE FLOAT, HOLDING HER HAND “OH LET ME TAKE THAT, CAROLINE” ETC ETC ETC ETC ETC ETC ETC ETC
During lunch, Caroline is protected by one Tyler Smallwood, and Stefan tries to use his mojo to get her to hand over the diary, but of course that doesn’t work because Stefan is the weakest vampire in all of vampire history, except maybe for Louis de Pointe du Lac, who was such a pansy.
Also, DoorMatt wins Outstanding Male Athlete of the Year. I have some awards for him too: Most Tolerable Character That Gets More Than Two Pages of Screen Time Per Book; Most Regrettable Waste of a Character; Most Ill-used Ex in All of Fiction.
~*Elena*~ is feeling particularly awful, health-wise, and we’re told her brain is empty. I’ll let that one go, in the spirit of the day. The three “Spirits” are to do readings, and we find that Caroline is the “Spirit of Fidelity.” You could say this is ironic, but I think Caroline is very faithful to the most important thing in her life: Caroline.
Anyway, what happens is pretty simple: Caroline goes to take out the diary and realizes it’s not ~*Elena*~’s, but her own; she gets pissed and THROWS IT AT ~*ELENA*~–and let me tell you, I haven’t been this happy about something being thrown since ~*Elena*~ threw a kitten at Damon–and she totally loses her shit all over the podium and everyone’s like “Bwuh?” and we realize that Damon has somehow pulled a bait-and-switch.
They also use the word “cafetorium.” Such a funny word.
Somehow, ~*Elena*~ manages to get out of the place without Stefan following her (THIS IS SO UNREALISTIC, VAMPIRE BOOK) and confronts Damon, basically accusing him of doing a nice thing, and he’s all “No I didn’t. I wanted to get some.” Okay, he doesn’t say THAT, because sex and this book don’t get along, but for some reason, we’re supposed to have a change of heart about Damon or something? Then Aunt Judith comes along and gushes over Damon, and ~*Elena*~ starts flipping out at him for it, and the chapter ends.
Yeah, that’s it.
Next up: the end of the book. YEE-HAW! THE END IS IN SIGHT!
Editor’s note: Starting NaBlo with a guest post seems like a cop-out, but this recap was long overdue! And this isn’t a rag on Sarah. Her copy of the book was missing for quite a while. In case you were wondering about the Mystery of the Lost Book, well…the culprit was none other than Sarah’s daughter!
You have to admit, that’s DAMN clever. But on to the recap!
Zoey opens the door and instead of Nina’s smiling face, she gets….Claire and Joke. Claire and Joke want to talk to Zoey and go about it in a rather condescending and off-putting manner. Claire invites Zoey to sit on her own couch and Joke pats the cushion next to him, offering her a place ON HER OWN COUCH. I had someone do that to me. It’s rude and invasive and made me want to scratch somebody’s eyes out. Luckily for Claire, Zoey is oodles more polite than I am. Claire and Joke basically get Zoey to ‘fess up that she talked to Lucas. (Note that she doesn’t mention the sticky-sweet creamy interlude of LURVVVVVVE. [Ed note: Dirty!]) “Damn it!” is Joke’s eloquent reply. He and Claire exchange meaningful looks and poor Zoey is feeling plotted against and ARGH! I feel the need to rant:
Okay, I understand a bit of Jake’s animosity towards Lucas, really I do BUT it’s not as if Lucas knocked Wade unconscious, locked him in the car trunk, and set the car on fire. He drove drunk. It was a mistake which he did the time for. The book never gets into Fred and Daisy’s feelings toward Lucas, but I’m pretty sure they aren’t telling grown men and women to shun him.
Jake furthers his expedition into Asshatsylvania by claiming that it’s just like Lucas shot Wade and in this analogy the shooter could be sorry, but Wade would still be dead and how he hasn’t paid for his crime and….OH, STFU! JOKE, I HATE YOU AND YOUR STUPID ANALOGIES. If Lucas hadn’t done time in YA then Joke might have a point, but seriously? WHAT DOES HE EXPECT? Is Lucas supposed to be put in front of a firing squad? Ugh, I wish I could summon Joke into corporeal form and punch him in the nose. It’s completely possible that I may be over-reacting as I have never lost a sibling, but his behavior is…irksome.
Zoey is shocked at all this vitriol and explains that she wasn’t that connected to Wade and Joke tells her that if she loves him, she’ll shun Lucas. Joke offers Claire a ride and she demurs, taking the opportunity to make snide innuendo about Zoey and Lucas being next door neighbors. Zoey tells Clair the message Lucas gave her about keeping promises and Claire looks worried for a second, then leaves.
Zoey makes a list and waffles (get it? HAHA!) more about her friends turning against her and Lucas being OMGZ!SO DREAMY!!! and decides that she needs to get out of her house.
Zoey runs into her family on the ferry and starts chatting up Benjamin. They chat about Lucas coming over and how Joke and Claire dog-piled her. [Ed. note: SO DIRTY.] Benjamin points out the weirdness of Claire becoming so involved. Benjamin tells her a story about when they were kids and whale-watching and how you knew the whales were coming up because you could see them under the surface of the water. Then they start talking about the accident and how one would think that the people in the front of a VW Bug would be the most harmed. Zoey is kind of confused as to why Benjamin has never mentioned this theory to Claire. Benjamin explains that telling Zoey is as good as telling Claire because Zoey always talks to Nina. Uh, the thing that would be as good as telling Claire would be, you know, TELLING CLAIRE.
Hand-written: Claire. Claire is a Daddy’s Girl. When Claire and Nina’s mom died of breast cancer, Nina was sent to their aunt and uncle because she was close to her mother and her father felt she needed a change of scenery. After the accident that killed Wade, her father didn’t leave her bedside. She had trouble remember exactly what happened until Lucas confessed.
Geiger Abode – Burke, Claire, and Nina are planning on cooking lobsters. Unfortunately, there are no lobsters to be found at the grocery store, so Burke decides to go see Roy Cabral as he owns half of Roy’s boat. They get their lobsters and Nina brings up Benjamin’s Volkswagen theory. Burke asks Roy for more lobsters and decides to invite Benjamin to dinner.
Benjamin comes over to dinner and Mr. Geiger offers to help pay for his college. Naturally, Benjamin is surprised and Mr. Geiger tries to brush off his new found philanthropy and then ruins it by talking about how he values loyalty and honor and somehow manages to come off as he has just walked off the set of “The Godfather” or something.
HOPES:
Zoey hopes for good grades and nobody to con her into running for student council and suffer the humiliation of losing to Beavis. (Although, she did beat Butt-head by two whole votes!)
Claire hopes that teachers do not assign so much homework, for some annoying guy to get a sex-change operation so he’ll stop asking her out (Um, I’m pretty sure that’s not how they work, dear), for people to stop asking what’s the deal with Nina’s weirdness, and to murder whoever wrote her number in the boys’ bathroom.
Aisha hopes for better padding on desks and that the cafeteria will stop serving green beans “that will make you want to cry.”
Nina is “blowing chunks of hope” that school won’t be usual “dark, mind-numbing, spirit-destroying hell” it was last year.
Next up. School starts! Jake still doesn’t grasp that tricky “turn the other cheek” thing, and asks Zoey to choose sides again…and she does!
Only not really.
NaBloPoMo. A post every day for a month. You heard me. I’m going to do it.
Also, Sarah sent another recap. I just need to edit it.
Also, going to finish The Struggle.
Also, we have SWINE FLU so it’s not like I have anything else to do but sit at home and think of ways to be productive. I’m hoping we’re not out of the game for longer than week, but in a week, a LOT can get done. Especially if the fever doesn’t hit me like it’s hitting my daughter.
If it does, those’ll be some funny posts.
