Banned Book Vlog

My File was too big so here's a link to it. If it doesn't work I'm not really sure what to do about it.

http://dw4.convertfiles.com/files/0687586001411747443/banned%20book%20week.mov

The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled In Death And Detection And Created Modern Crime 9-16-14 pages 0-20

Boy is that a long title.
I'm going to be reviewing this book by chapter, maybe every two since there are only nine.
Reader discretion advised for gore.

     So chapter one so far, titled "Imagining Murder" is about the first string of murders in England that really set things off. Normally here would only be one murder a year, and then all of a sudden a family of three and the husbands apprentice where brutally killed. 
"Marr and his apprentice were lying in the shop, battered to death...Mrs. Marr was lying dead halfway to the door leading downstairs...Meanwhile Margaret Jewell rushed in with a group of excited bystanders. looking for the baby. They found him lying in his cradle in the kitchen, his throat cut."
     A lot of hype is made about murders back then. It's almost a family affair to see the scene and the bodies and go to the funeral wether you knew the people or not. Flyers and these things called Broadsides were sold too which according to Wikipedia, are like posters with information on them, but only if you type in the 18th century as well because otherwise you get parts of ships like if you use dictionary. 
     Then, pretty much the next day, guess what happens. On page seven, four pages later after the first murder, three more people. Same way, slit throats and bashed skulls.
     They found a supposed killer, and then he committed suicide by hanging himself in the jail-cell. Everyone saw it as an outright admission to the murders, so his body was publicly shamed. Before the shaming though everyone was just spreading rumors and sensationalism like the plague it was ridiculous. The fact that no one had anything better to do asides from talk to one another made things spread even faster. 

     All of this hype over time caused what we now know as the standard police force to form due to citizen request of more security. At was mostly just a collage of individual forces run by the many parishes that were in the areas. Eventually the government and Parliament started to regulate everything. 

     This was also the time where crime started to come up as a genera. A series of memoirs about a Detective sparked a couple of screenplays. At the very end of the chapter a series of satirical essays written by Thomas de Quincey is mentioned to view and speak about murder as the newest fine art. Quite an interesting point I think, since he was correct about how interested people are in the murders themselves, but not the actual victims. We really haven't changes much.

    To be honest over all it's really quite boringly written so far. I was hoping she would write more like Sarah Vowell, -who I am rather fond of- but it's really just strait and to the point. Perhaps It'll have more individuality and flare as I go on.

The Maze Runner- 9/10/14 Finished

So The Maze Runner is 3rd Person Limited to the main Character Thomas which is interesting and somewhat frustrating as well because the reader is about as confused about everything thats's going on as he is. There really isn't any wordplay, though the imagery is more pronounced in some areas than others. One part that really comes to mind is when the Grievers are introduced and described. Rather unfortunately I had been eating breakfast which I do not suggest during pages 38 and 39.
" A large bulbous creature the size of a cow but with no distinct shape twisted and seethed along the ground in the corridor outside ... The creature was a horrific mix of animal and machine, and seemed to realize it was being observed, seemed to know what lay in the walls of the Glade, seemed to want to get inside and feast on human flesh."
The sentences are normally medium or long like the two I quoted, but there isn't really any wordplay. The size of the Grievers is likened to a cow though so I guess that counts for something.

I really did like the book though, and I have pretty high hopes for the second one. Since the test group in this one was all boys and it was hinted at that there was a group b I have a feeling that the next one will be all girls trying to escape the maze and then the third one they actually cure the plague that's engulfed the world because of solar flares.

Top Ten Book List

Percy Jackson and the Olympians series

This series really entertained me in elementary school and continues to now; with the relationship between Percy, his friends and now girlfriend Annabeth.  It's also sort of an influence to my writing as well since it caused me to get into different kinds of mythology, which have been used in one of my story lines.






 

The Harry Potter series

This was probably my first favorite when I was little, and though I've moved on to other things, the story and characters will stick for a long time. Like the previous mentioned, it has influenced my writing (though slightly less if not the same) in how magic works in the worlds if there is any at all.




 

Simple Wicca

Helped me find a religion that was both engaging in how it can be both complex or simple depending on what you do with it, and had morals I agreed with. Though Wicca can be a tad bit elaborate with rituals and having an Altar and various other things it's all very interesting; like how different things evoke certain energies like herbs and gemstones. It's also all very customizable. There really isn't one way to do anything so as long as you follow the code you can do things as you please.

Charlatan: America's Most Dangerous Huckster, the Man Who Pursued Him, and the Age of Flimflam

I would definitely not call this a child appropriate book but up there with The Wordy Shipmates it is one of the few (aka three) historical books that hasn't bored me out of my skull. It's also a biography about a young Charlatan of the name John R. Brinkley who cons his way through life and it's quite hilarious.

 

 

 

 

Divergent

I got a sort of mutual respect and/or tolerance for Utopian/Dystopian society based stories when I read this. If it isn't a complete pit of despair and absolutely nothing else like The Hunger Games series is,  and good things or relation ships are built and stay to some degree it's okay. Mostly I just like how the society's are structured because it's interesting but the stories are okay too.

 

 

 

Where The Sidewalk Ends

Introduced me to children's' poetry. Also didn't give me a headache like Alice in Wonderland or Beowulf. Despite how much of it I write I really don't read it unless it's involved with something in class. It's hard for me to find poems of the genera that don't make my head spin or aren't dull as a oxidized copper. It might be pretty, but that isn't really what you should want to be remembered for. If it doesn't mean something it's nothing.

 

 

 

 

The False Prince

This one kind of made me question the kind of person I am because the main Character Sage/Jaron is a cunning sarcastic little thing I would get into trouble for writing and yet I really get a kick out of it. He's witty and quick minded with insults and not-so-flattering remarks  and it tends to be quite fun to read. Some decisions I'd like to push him in a creek for, but it's only some.

 

 

 

Coraline

Another world or place may be better seeming than your own, but don't jump in until you really know what lies beneath it. If you do, you'll wind up with a nasty surprise. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Skary Children And The Carousel Of Sorrow

Everyone is superstitious for a reason. It may seem silly, but still tread carefully if you decide to check it out for yourself. 

 

The Eyes of the Dragon

I cannot stand it when the plot is based around the main character getting wrongly accused of a crime and other people have to figure it out because their thrown in jail it isn't fair I can't stand it and I am never reading a book with such a plot ever again.