Tagged (Cyberbullying)

Tagged is an Australian short film that deals with the effects and implications of cyberbullying. I mentioned it a bazillion years ago (Facebook and Cyberbullying), but only just got around to watching it, and I’m glad I did.

Tagged is brilliantly filmed, and deals with the issues surrounding cyberbullying in a fantastic, and highly realistic way. This is a must watch, particularly for anyone involved in schooling (teachers, staff, students, parents = anyone!). Digital ethics education is becoming increasingly important, and it is only through using and promoting films like this that we can ensure that everyone is aware of the implications of using the Internet for harm.

Go on, watch it! I think it’s fantastic.

Also, Tagged has managed to win Internation Media Awards for its portrayal of key social issues.

One last point before I go:

At the end of the day, cyber bullying and sexting don’t just affect the victim; it can have a significant effect on whole communities.

This is a serious issue for twenty-first century life and learning, don’t let it go unnoticed

 

30 Day Book Challenge: Day 3

Day 3: Book that makes you laugh out loud

The easy answer to this challenge, is: most of my favourite YA novels. (At least the fantasy ones, the realistic YA I tend to read is generally pretty far from funny! :P)

Particularly, this applies to my Harry Potter books, and my Tortall novels. Both J.K. Rowling and Tamora Pierce know how to write a funny, fantasy-adventure story. And that is why I keep going back, reading them again and again.

And then I thought about it all a bit more… I never really like things to be all that easy. So, the roundabout (kinda cheating answer) is:

FAN-FICTION!

S.P.E.W. Does Not Approve by makani

I have read a lot of (almost exclusively Harry Potter) fan-fiction in my days… Ever since I was first introduced to it way back in 2004. Well, I say ‘read’. What I mean is that I’ve devoured it. In fact, I used to read so much fan-fiction that my dad actually firewalled fanfiction.net on our home network… What did I do? I downloaded stories while at school, copied them into Word documents, and read them on my laptop. I even got some stories professionally printed. I wrote fansfiction (we won’t go there!). Basically, for quite a few years, a lot of my reading was done online.

Why was I so insane about it? Basically, fan-fiction can be terrible, horrendous, bad on a level that is stomach-churning. But it can also be brilliantly written, thought-out and developed. I have read some fan-fiction stories that I could honestly say were just as good as the published works that inspired them. Some very, very talented authors have their beginnings in fan-fiction, I’m sure.

Also, though, fan-fiction can be damned funny! And this was the main reason I decided to go with fan-fiction to answer this question. Sure, Rowling and Pierce and many other published authors have made me laugh, some have even made me laugh out loud (I’m hard to please!), but the stories that have truly made me laugh out loud, made me guffaw and all the rest, have been fan-fiction.

To illustrate my point, follow on for some fanart!

Books of the Future!

It’s a uni work day today… 😛

Taken from: Incidental Comics

Dark Side of Harry Potter

Wow. Just wow. I’ve never really thought about the series this way. Sure, I’ve always known that it was so much more than just ‘children’s books’, but to have everything articulated in this way is just fantastic. Brutal, but fantastic.

 

here-is-the-place:

When people say these books are children’s books, as if to demean them, I balk. These books dealt with themes that adults do not fully understand or wish to. It dealt with racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, prejudice, and general ignorance. These books taught us that it doesn’t matter how you were raised, but that you get to choose to be kind, loyal, brave, and true. They taught us to be strong under the pressures of this world and to hold fast to what we know to be right. These books taught me so much, they changed me as a person. So just because they’re set against a fantastical backdrop with young protagonists does not mean that their value is any less real.

Seriously. Read the rest!

30 Day Book Challenge: Day 4

Day 4: Book that makes you cry

First, a question: I can only choose one?

I’m one of those readers who cannot help but form attachments to the characters in my books. See here. Where there is a challenge, I am with the character as they strive to beat it. Where there is love, I am rooting for that character to succeed. And where there is pain, loss or heartache, I can generally be found to be crying alongside them. Sometimes, when re-reading a book, I can be found to be crying in advance, because the characters are happy, and I know the loss to come.

So the answer is this…

(Almost) All of Them

This is a photo of my old bookshelf, before I moved rooms and got a new one. And I can honestly say that I have cried in almost every one of these books (and many more!). The main ones that will always succeed in bringing at least a tear to my eyes, are these:

• Son of the Shadows by Juliet Marillier – it took four times for me to be able to read past a certain scene without balling my eyes out. And it still draws tears to my eyes.
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling – there are three particular scenes that I remember shocked me to tears the first time I read it, and subsequent times…
• Kushiel’s Legacy series by Jacqueline Carey – there is so much pain and heartache in this series… Phedre, as I’ve said previously, is a favourite character, and when she cries, I cry.
• Into Temptation by Penny Vincenzi – possibly the most heart-wrenching of the books in the series, and the one that made me cry. A lot.
• The High Lord by Trudi Canavan – a redeemed character redeems himself further by sacrificing everything to protect what they love.
• Blade of Fortriu by Juliet Marillier – there is a character death in this book that is so horrific, beautiful and heartwrenching that the mere thought of it makes me want to cry…

And there are more. But if I talk about them, I’ll cry for sure!

 

30 Day Book Challenge: Day 5

Day 5: Book you wish you could live in

I thought long and hard about this one. There are so many stories that I have loved over the years, so many worlds and times that part of me would love to live in. And then I realised that a lot of bad things happen in those worlds. My favourite characters are almost always faced with trials, horrors and pain… I find it hard enough toread about these, let alone actually live in them for myself! So I chose the lesser of many dark, painful worlds, that kind of works out okay in the end.

(P.S. I’m assuming I get to live wherever, right? Because if I end up in the poor sector, I’m going back home!)

The Spoils of Time series by Penny Vincenzi

The three books that make up the Spoils of Time series are set predominately in London, but also in France and America, and they span the period from the end of the 19th century, to around the 1960s. But the setting of the novel itself is not why I would want to live there, though it does help. Beginning with No Angel, the series focuses on the Lytton family, and particularly its matriarch, Lady Celia. When the series begins, Celia is about 19 years old, pregnant, and marrying Oliver Lytton against the firm wishes of her mother who believes the match is beneath her. Celia is a fantastic character, filled with passion, determination and courage – but, like all of my favourite characters, she makes her fair share of mistakes.

Much of the series takes place around Lytton’s, the family publishing house run by Oliver, and in which Celia is determined to work, despite the fact that upper-class women in the early 20th century were not expected to work. The novels touch on life during two World Wars, and the depression and we see the family (ever extending) as they go through intense struggles, happiness, and test the strength of their relationships.

This is a fantastic series! The characters are strong and relatable and utterly three-dimensional. As well as Celia and Oliver, there are so many characters whom I enjoy reading about: Barty Miller, Venetia Lytton, Izzy Brooke, Jay Lytton, Kit Lytton, Elspeth Lytton… The list goes on and on. I also really enjoy the historical aspect of the series, so much 20th century history is covered in this series, and done well! And then there’s the fact that it’s set in a publishing house. I would jump at the chance to be in a London publishing house during the early to mid-20th century! Sounds fantastic!

Interlude…

Found this somewhere on the interwebs… It’s so true. So very, very true!

30 Day Book Challenge: Day 6

Day 6: Favourite young adult book

I had trouble decided on a single young adult book to choose for this challenge. And the YA novels I read are so diverse that it didn’t make my choice any easier. I’ll go from dark, realistic YA, to paranormal, to fantasy, to fairy tale retellings. Really, I’ll read just about any YA novel, so long as it gets some good reviews. 🙂

So, I’ve chosen two favourite YA books, with two runner-ups, just for fun.

For realistic YA, the runner-up was The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. Seriously, read it! Number one was:

Dreamland by Sarah Dessen

I guess that the eventual reason I chose this book is that I first read it over nine years ago, and it still stays with me today. Mostly in a good way. This is one of the more realistic YA books I’ve read and I love the way Dessen handles teenage relationships, and particularly the abusive one that the main character, Cailtin ends up in. Life isn’t easy for Caitlin, she doesn’t get the whirlwind fantastic relationship you would expect, but she does find the strength in herself to get out and move on and become herself. I found this book quite inspirational, and I think it would be a great book for any young adult (mostly girl) to read. Particularly because of the insight it provides into how abusive relationships can happen, and why women can find it so hard to leave.

 

For YA fantasy, the runner-up was Lady Knight by Tamora Pierce. A great conclusion to a fantastic series! And the winner was:

Cybele’s Secret by Juliet Marillier

This is a great YA fantasy adventure novel, with a fantastic female protagonist who is strong, brave and determined. Paula is a great character, and probably the main reason I prefer Cybele’s Secret to its predecessor, Wildwood Dancing. Additionally, she is accompanied on her adventure by two great, handsome, noble and cheeky men who make the adventure all the more worth reliving! But what I most love about Paula is that she isn’t without flaws. Yes, she gets herself in a bit of a love triangle and has to make some tough choices. And I love that she stuffs it up. Paula is only seventeen, she is young and confused enough to make mistakes, and Marillier lets her make them. Having made enough of my own teenager (and twenty-something!) mistakes, I love that Paula is a strong, resilient character who makes her mistakes and sets about living with them. All and all, a fantastic YA fantasy book! (And I sort of just wanted another Juliet Marillier book in here – though there are more to come!!!)

 

P.S. This challenge kind of made me realise that nearly all of the YA books I read are geared toward girls. Must explore the other side!

30 Day Book Challenge: Day 7

Day 7: Book that you can quote/recite.

First off, I have reaf far too many books over the years to be able to quote and recite any single one. While I’ve re-read several of my favourites over the years, I am no where near being able to recite them! My good friend is able to recite whole passages from pretty much every Terry Pratchett novel… but I just don’t have that much dedication.

Having said that though… I can think of a few books that have particular lines/passages that I love and can recite if need be.

From Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier:

“…it matters not if you are here, or there, for I see you before me every moment. I see you in the light on the water, in the swaying of the young trees in the spring wind. I see you in the shadows of the great oaks, I hear your voice in the cry of the owl at night. You are the blood in my veins, and the beating of my heart. You are my first waking thought, and my last sigh before sleeping. You are – you are bone of my bone, and breath of my breath.”

 

From Cybele’s Secret by Juliet Marillier:

“If a man truly loves… He gives no heed to what others may think. His heart has no room for that, for it is filled to the brim with
the unutterable truth of his feelings.”

 

  Several scenes from assorted Harry Potter books, particularly the earlier ones. (Quite a few, really!)

Mostly I remember some of the amazing one liners from the books. For instance, Hermione claiming she can’t make a fire without wood in the first book. To which Ron promptly responds: “Are you a witch or aren’t you?”
Also, Ron refering to the first years in Order of the Phoenix as ‘midgets’, and – after being told off by Hermione – replying with “What? They’re titchy.” Gold. Always gold.
Ooh! And Fred and George in the first book, saying that they don’t know why their mother bothers putting their initals on their jumpers, as “We know our names are Gred and Forge.” So many great moments and one liners in those books! I’ll stop now, as otherwise I’ll just keep going! 😛

 

And this gem from Page by Tamora Pierce:

“What was that about?” Neal demanded.
Kel turned. All of her friends were arrayed at her back. “He says he’s changed.”
“I suppose he could have changed,” Neal said dryly. “I myself have noticed my growing resemblance to a daffodil.” The other pages snorted.
Kel eyed her friend. “You do look yellow around the edges,” she told him, her face quite serious. “I hadn’t wanted to bring it up.”
“We daffodils like to have things brought up,” Neal said, slinging an arm around her shoulders. “It reminds us of spring.”
“Does dung remind you of spring, too, Princess Flower?” Cleon demanded irritably.

 

Really, makes me laugh every time! I’m certain that there are many more that I am forgetting, but these are the ones that come immediately to mind. And I did catch myself reciting the scene from Page just the other day. More soon!

 

 

30 Day Book Challenge: Day 8

Day 8: Book that scares you

Another one that I really didn’t need to think about, because seriously, who wouldn’t be terrified by this book?

The Exorcist – William Peter Blatty

Though, I have never actually read The Exorcist. I tried. A few years ago I was enrolled in a Popular Literature subject and we read some amazing books. Books that I never would have thought twice about reading, and then absolutely loved (Fahrenheit 451, And then there were none, Casino Royale, Psycho, The Princess Bride, etc.).The Exorcist was on that list of books to read, and – having enjoyed all of the other books in the subject – I did really want to read it, even borrowed it from a friend.

And I just couldn’t do it. Hardly even got past the first page. Truth is, I’m a scaredy cat. I’m the kind of girl who will go to the movies to see a horror film with friends and promptly close my eyes for the next two hours. Naturally, I know roughly what The Exorcist is about, I’ve seen stills and even scenes from the film. The friend who I borrowed the book off had even warned me not to read it in the middle of the night. All of this seems, to me at least, to be a pretty good reason not to read something.

But none of those reasons are what stopped me from reading The Exorcist.

This was:

Youcannot tell me that isn’t terrifying!

Yes, I tried to read a horror book, and I couldn’t get past the cover. It’s just too… horrifying!