The Ladybug Reads...: June 2009

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Dudes to Drool Over... and Duds to Despise

This seems to be developing into a bit of a meme among some of the book blogs I've read, so I thought I'd start off here by adding my two cents (and because I haven't recently finished any books to review). So here are my five favourite fictional guys from the world of YA literature... and the five fictional guys that I wish didn't exist (even if it's just on the page):

Top 5 Dudes:

5. Eugenides - The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

The character was what really made me fall in love with this book. Gen (as he's usually known) is cheeky, funny, self-deprecating, and seems like the sort of person you'd want to have around when you're on a quest to recover a legendary artifact. Too bad the author totally ruined the character with the second book in the series; she might as well have killed him off.

4. Howl - Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

I'm talking about the Howl from the book here... not the effeminate girly-man with the out-of-place baritone voice and emo tendencies from the movie. What's so fun about Howl is that he is, in some ways, just a boy... and yet he's also able to pull off playing the romantic lead as well.

3. Stephen - I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

He's sweet and relatively innocent. Sometimes that's refreshing in a world of "bad boys".

2. Nick - Willowmere Chronicles by Alison Baird

Can't really say much about this delicious bad guy without giving too much away. (I don't really understand why, with the popularity of books like Twilight and Evermore, this series hasn't taken off. Could be because the third and final book is only available in Canada. But if you can get your hands on it, do so.)

1. Tom - Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones

He's the perfect tortured hero with a secret. I realize that some people think that Tom is a bit of a pervert, as a grown man who becomes friends with a little girl. However, there's nothing even remotely sexual in their relationship (especially at first, and much of their communication is through letters). By the time any kind of attraction develops, Polly has grown up. Fire and Hemlock was written decades ago, when we were all a little more innocent. I'd be much more worried about a couple of the guys in the following list...

Top 5 Duds:

5. Owen - Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

A 35-year-old mind in the body of a 17-year-old boy lusting after a 15-year-old girl. Need I say more?

4. Harry Potter - Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling

I'll admit, Harry was charming at first. But by the end of the series, the character was grating on my nerves. In Book 7, I was actually rooting for Voldemort (but I'm not too pleased with him, either... he turned out to be too stupid to be really formidable).

3. Keenan - Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

Is it just me, or was Keenan just boring? Actually, I found all of the characters in that book boring. They all lacked depth. For Keenan, this was especially frustrating, as he should have been someone to dread or be attracted to; for me, it was neither.

2. Damen - Evermore by Alyson Noel

Why does every guy in YA fantasy have to look like a 17-year-old supermodel? Sometimes flaws (physical or otherwise) are interesting. Aside from that, I can't really get too excited about a guy who's constantly doing bad magic tricks. If he's going to pull stuff out of thin air, at least he could manifest something more useful than tulips.

1. Edward Cullen and Jacob Black - Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer

Two for the price of one!

Edward Cullen: stalker, chauvanist, and pimp. Just what every girl wants in a man, right?

As for Jacob, I'll admit, I did like him at first, back when he was just a sweet kid from the rez. But after all the emo whining, shapeshifter/werewolf nonsense, and implied pedophilia... Well, all I can say is "ick". I do have to give Stephenie Meyer props, though... she did manage to completely ruin two salvageable characters within the space of a few hundred pages. That can't be an easy task.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Let's Make Limericks! (Index)

Let's Make Limericks! is a weekly weekend meme that involves writing a limerick about a book.

I've always enjoyed the challenge of writing limericks, and I thought it might be fun to try writing them about the books I've been reading (or have read, or am going to read). So I thought, why not make a meme out of it?

Here are the rules:

Every weekend (yes, this is flexible... choose Saturday or Sunday!), pick a book. It can be one that you're currently reading, one that you've finished, or one that's in your TBR pile.
Write a limerick about the book (click on the link if you're unclear on the limerick format).
Try not to include spoilers!

Let's Make Limericks! (2)
Let's Make Limericks! (1)

Share-A-Book Saturday is a meme started by Just Another Book Addict. Every week, we recommend a book to others. It's not a review; it's just a recommendation of a book that we enjoyed that we think others might like.

Share-A-Book Saturday (28) - The Rainbow Kid; Turtle Time; Puppy Love; Crazy Christmas; Valentine Blues
Share-A-Book Saturday (27) - The Thief
Share-A-Book Saturday (26) - Good-Bye Pink Pig
Share-A-Book Saturday (25) - The Dark Tower/The Princess in the Tower
Share-A-Book Saturday (24) - The Princess Bride
Share-A-Book Saturday (23) - Tom's Midnight Garden
Share-A-Book Saturday (22) - I Capture the Castle
Share-A-Book Saturday (21) - Both Sides of Time
Share-A-Book Saturday (20) - The Witches of Willowmere; The Warding of Willowmere; The Wyrd of Willowmere
Share-A-Book Saturday (19) - Awake and Dreaming
Share-A-Book Saturday (18) - The Glass Harmonica
Share-A-Book Saturday (17) - Goodnight Mister Tom
Share-A-Book Saturday (16) - The Twits
Share-A-Book Saturday (15) - Shirley Temple: A Pictorial History of the World's Greatest Child Star
Share-A-Book Saturday (14) - A Certain Slant of Light
Share-A-Book Saturday (13) - The House of the Scorpion
Share-A-Book Saturday (12) - The Raging Quiet
Share-A-Book Saturday (11) - The Neverending Story
Share-A-Book Saturday (10) - Wolf Tower
Share-A-Book Saturday (9) - The Light Princess
Share-A-Book Saturday (8) - The Haunting at Cliff House
Share-A-Book Saturday (7) - Half Magic
Share-A-Book Saturday (6) - The Wreckers
Share-A-Book Saturday (5) - Trader
Share-A-Book Saturday (4) - Sophie's World
Share-A-Book Saturday (3) - Wren to the Rescue
Share-A-Book Saturday (2) - Fire and Hemlock
Share-A-Book Saturday (1) - The Blue Girl

Friday Firsts (Index)

Friday Firsts is a weekly meme in which we share the first line of our current read and then write a blog post based upon it.

Friday Firsts (5)
Friday Firsts (4)
Friday Firsts (3)
Friday Firsts (2)
Friday Firsts (1)

Friday Fill-Ins (Index)

Word verification Balderdash (Index)

Thursday Thunks (Index)

Thursday Thunks is "a blog meme for those who need a little kick in the butt to find something to post about."

Thursday Thunks (13)
Thursday Thunks (12)
Thursday Thunks (11)
Thursday Thunks (10)
Thursday Thunks (9)
Thursday Thunks (8)
Thursday Thunks (7)
Thursday Thunks (6)
Thursday Thunks (5)
Thursday Thunks (4)
Thursday Thunks (3)
Thursday Thunks (2)
Thursday Thunks (1)

Booking Through Thursday (Index)

WWW Wednesdays (Index)

WWW Wednesdays is hosted at Should Be Reading.

WWW Wednesdays (8)
WWW Wednesdays (7)
WWW Wednesdays (6)
WWW Wednesdays (5)

WWW Wednesdays (4)

WWW Wednesdays (3)
WWW Wednesdays (2)
WWW Wednesdays (1)

Wishful Wednesdays (Index)

Wishful Wednesdays is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. With this meme, we get to list the books we're wishing for!

Wishful Wednesdays (5) - Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar
Wishful Wednesdays (4) - Coffeehouse Angel; Saving Juliet
Wishful Wednesdays (3) - Catching Fire; Mockingjay
Wishful Wednesdays (2) - Evidence of Angels
Wishful Wednesdays (1) - Crazy Beautiful

Wednesday Writing (Index)

Wednesday Writing is a creative-writing meme that was started by Tashi at Taste Life Twice.

Wednesday Writing (2)
Wednesday Writing (1)

"Waiting On" Wednesday (Index)

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we get to list the books we're eagerly anticipating.

"Waiting On" Wednesday (4) - Prophecy of Days - Book One: The Daykeeper's Grimoire
"Waiting On" Wednesday (3) - Before I Fall and Enchanted Glass
"Waiting On" Wednesday (2) - Amazon Kindle and Darklight
"Waiting On" Wednesday (1) - Hush, Hush