Between-the-Shelves

Playlist: Leah on the Offbeat

“Girls/Girls/Boys” by Panic! at the Disco / “Drumming Song” by Florence + the Machine / “Perfect Places” by Lorde / “Take a Walk” by Passion Pit / “Stubborn Love” by the Lumineers / “Helpless” by Phillipa Soo (Hamilton) / “Dive” by Ed Sheeran / “White Blank Page” by Mumford & Sons / “You Will Be Found” from Dear Evan Hansen / “Flaws” by Bastille

http://www.between-the-shelves.com/2018/05/character-playlist-leah-burke.html

Because I’m so very excited about the new Avengers movie, Avengers: Infinity War, that’s basically all that’s on my mind this week. For example, all my Instagram posts this week will be comic book themed, and I’m going to try to fit in some comics reading. This also means that I’m going to theme my April playlist after the Avengers–though I’ll probably fit in some songs in tribute to the other characters that will be in the movie (like the Guardians of the Galaxy). Without further ado, a playlist in tribute to Avengers: Infinity War.

“Shoot to Thrill” by AC/DC

“The Wolves” by Ben Howard

“Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” by Pentatonix

“Kill of the Night” by Gin Wigmore

“Pompeii” by Bastille

“We Come Running” by Youngblood Hawke

“Left Hand Free” by Alt-J

“The Chain” by Fleetwood Mac

“Helpless” by Sir Sly

“Not Giving In” by Rudimental

Review: Modern Romance

The reason Aziz Ansari gives for writing this book is that he was looking everywhere for a modern book about dating, but couldn’t find one. So this is where his book comes in! In Modern Romance, Ansari examines the ways that dating has changed over the years with the implementation of technology. His driving question was: since technology has theoretically made dating easier, why are so many people frustrated?

A lot of the points that Ansari brings up are interesting and valid. One of the sections I found most interesting was about the power behind texting conversations. Since texting is many people’s main mode of communication, there are a lot of implications behind a variety of things in text messages, especially when it comes to time. How long do you wait before texting someone back? What does a wait to return a text mean when you’re dating someone? Ansari examines all these questions, and I just found the communication patterns fascinating.

The book was a bit tainted, though, with the recent allegations that came out against Ansari. If you’re someone that’s seen Ansari’s show, Master of None, he didn’t seem like one of those people who would have these sorts of allegations come out about him. Even his comments about dating in his book seemed that way, so learning of his behavior on that date tainted the book slightly for me. The information he was presenting was still interesting, but perhaps I won’t take some of his advice to heart.

Review: Champion

June and Day thought that they had finally been able to work on an effective peace solution for the Republic and that all would be quiet. At least, until a new plague breaks out in the Colonies that they blame the Republic for. Now, the Republic is on the brink of war once again–and they don’t have enough resources to win. The only thing that can save them is Day’s brother, Eden, but Day isn’t willing to give him up to the Republic once again. Will Day and June be able to save the Republic, or will it end in destruction?

Possibly the strongest book in the trilogy, there are new developments at every turn that Day and June have to navigate in order to save their country. But the complicated past of their country makes Day question whether saving the Republic is the right thing to do, or if they should just let it crumble and a new government take over. Lu raises some very valid questions within this ending that could apply to any country or government that is crumbling–and I think the characters within this society deal with it in a very realistic way.

Review: Prodigy

After the events in Legend, June and Day are now on the run from the Republic–and the Patriots might be their only way to survive. But trusting them might put them in even more danger, especially since the Patriots are willing to go to any length in order to bring down the Republic. Will June and Day go along with their most recent plan, or will they take a different path?

The only thing that tripped me up about this installment was the pacing; at times, it felt slightly off to me. The pace overall didn’t feel even, making the timeline included within the book slightly difficult to follow. But the end left room for the final book in the trilogy, and left enough open to make me want to read the final book. Overall, the characters made up for the flaws in the plot and the formatting still helped to build the voices of both June and Day.

Review: Legend

What was once the United States has now become the Republic, a country that’s always fighting both inside and out. June is the Capitol’s prodigy–groomed to be an important part of the government from the beginning. Day is the Capitol’s most wanted criminal–stealing in order to help his family survive.
When June’s brother is murdered, Day is the one wanted for the crime. But as their paths cross, June begins to learn about the Republic she’s always defended and the secrets that it is desperate to keep hidden.

Told in alternating points of view, we get two extremes from the Republic–one that has everything and one that has nothing. This helps to not give the reader a biased view of this society, giving the reader a clearer overall view of the new society. As someone who reads a lot of dystopian fiction, this book was able to utilize a different take on the post-apocalyptic future, and one that I’m interested in learning more about in the later novels.

Read more at: http://www.between-the-shelves.com/2018/03/review-legend.html

Representation Matters

The movie Love, Simon was released this past weekend, to an overwhelmingly positive reception. Not only did it receive 91% on Rotten Tomatoes, people took to Twitter, exclaiming how much they loved the movie. I was definitely one of these people–I read Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda awhile ago, and this movie definitely did it justice (from what I can remember. A re-read of the book is now a must).

The importance of this is tenfold, and this is something you can see just through searching the tag #LoveSimon on Twitter. Both adults and teens alike can’t stop talking about how much they loved this movie–the adults wishing that this was a movie that they had when they were teenagers. As a first major studio gay teen rom-com (that made $11.5 million in its first weekend!), it’s on par with the profit of John Green movies in the theater. And that’s amazing, for a lot of people.

Jeff Zentner, another fantastic YA author, put it best after seeing the movie:

“We just saw Love, Simon, and it was beyond perfect. I loved everything about it. The performances were pitch perfect, so deeply sympathetic and hilarious. The movie was perfectly cast (1/5).

The musical cues were amazing. The comic beats killed me. The romantic beats killed me. Imagine the best of John Hughes and then turn everything up two or three clicks. Go see this movie!! And read the book!! It’s just as delightful (2/5)!!

I forgot to mention how deeply moving it is. It’s cliche to say something will make you laugh and cry, but it really will (3/5).

One more thing that kept running through my head while watching it: evil people can win political elections and hold power. But while they do… (4/5).

our country’s center of gravity is going to keep shifting out from under them, because good people are better at telling good stories. And stories shift our culture (5/5).”

The shift toward giving voices to oppressed populations is easily seen within one of my favorite things–young adult literature. Love, Simon has shown that it’s possible for these stories to make it to the big screen and be successful. Go see Love, Simon–and then buy the book. And while you’re reading the book, listen to the playlist I made for Simon! Maybe download the soundtrack for the movie too, because it also doesn’t disappoint.