The Weekly Update: 1/22/17

 
 

Gah, I have nothing to talk about again!

Umm, I cut my hair? I cut at least eight inches off, but it’s still what most people would consider long, so that’s probably not very exciting news lol. The hair I temp-dyed teal years ago that never actually washed out have all finally been removed though, so that’s something, I suppose.

Oh! I tried this frozen apple crumble thing that you cook in the oven, and it was delicious. And it’s got apples, so… healthy šŸ˜‰

Unfortunately my tennis elbow is still being really bothersome in my right arm :-/ Guess all my news can’t be good. But that about sums it up!


Blog/Bookish Updates:

I just want to say thank you to everyone for being supportive of my Sci-Fi/Fantasy Books with Disability Masterlist (there’s also a link in header menu, just in case anyone wasn’t sure how where to find it), for sharing it on social media, etc.! And thank you to anyone who has already submitted a book! I don’t know who some of you are since my form is anonymous, but I still appreciate your help šŸ™‚ Some of new ones people have submitted sound good, I didn’t anticipate how this might affect my TBR, haha. And just for the record there’s no time limit, this is a list I plan to keep updating for however long I keep blogging, so any time you find a book you can submit it! (Also there was a problem with the Amazon links at first, but I’ve fixed it.)

Also, the official Cover Characteristics is back! So I’ll probably be back to doing more of those posts now (I’ll be joining in tomorrow, at least).

Books I Received for Review:

No new review copies! I’m telling you, I’m on a roll here with my review copies, reading more than I’m getting, actually getting the number down—only 16 right now!

Books I Finished:

Rogue Magic by Kit Brisby | reading, books
A Face without a Heart by Rick R. Reed | reading, books
Peter and Wendy by J.M. Barrie | books, reading, book covers
All Darling Children by Katrina Monroe | reading, books
 

Rogue Magic was great book and a realistic look at how it might be if we had magic in our modern world. A Face without a Heart, however, wasn’t so great :-/ It was basically just the original Dorian Gray but modernized rather than a unique retelling. Peter Pan was a reread because I read it the first time before I was a blogger and wanted to write a review. But crap, guys, my review is so long. I just have so many thoughts though! I don’t want to shorten it, but I’m pretty sure none of you are going to read it lol. All Darling Children wasn’t perfect but was exactly the kind of dark Peter Pan inspired story based on the original rather than the Disney version that I wanted.

I have a bone to pick though. Reading reviews for the book after I finished writing mine legit made me angry. So many people gave the book low ratings and complained because they didn’t like that it was dark, didn’t like how the author made Peter Pan so bad, didn’t like how she changed the story so much from the DISNEY VERSION. Like, they blamed her for the fact that Peter was psychotic and that it wasn’t all cute and sweet. I obviously have no problem with everyone having different taste and people sometimes not liking books. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. But seriously people, if you’re going to complain about something like that, THEN YOU NEED TO AT LEAST KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT. The Disney version is NOT the original. Her book was not based on the Disney version. No where in the blurb does it claim to be. The Disney version IS a retelling itself. #&%@*$!

Song of the Week:

No song this week.

 

In Case You Missed It:

– I introduced my pet project, the Sci-Fi/Fantasy Books with Disability Masterlist!
– I reviewed The Girl in Between by Laekan Zea Kemp, a mysterious paranormal with a fantastic portrayal of chronic illness and pretty writing.
– I recommended 10 lesser-known sci-fi/fantasy books with disabled characters (which I know is very similar to my list, but this post kind of spotlighted some specific ones).
– I reviewed King’s Lament by Lilia Blanc, an angsty M/M/M high fantasy.

The Sunday Post Link-Up:

Once again, I’m linking up to The Sunday Post at Caffeinated Book Reviewer šŸ™‚

 
 
 
 

Talk to me!

Did you find any good books or music last week?
Do you like apple crumble? (Or maybe peach crumble? That's the other kind they sell, so it's the only other type of crumble I know of lol.)

 
 
[shared_counts]
 
 
 

Your Thoughts

 

50 thoughts on “The Weekly Update: 1/22/17

I'd love if you'd share your thoughts, too!

 

Reading your comments makes me a very happy blogger!

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

 
  1. Greg

    Yeah I imagine your TBR is going to grow with that little project. šŸ™‚ I do like all the attention disability is getting, both physical and mental, around the blogosphere right now. Very cool. I’ve thought of a few although I know you’re looking for physical only ATM

    I’m going rogue for a week or two yet on CC only because I sorta had these planned- hopefully S&S won’t mind too much. šŸ™‚ But I’ll be back on official topics soon. Except for a few I’m skipping because ugh.

    Lol about Peter Pan. Wait Disney created everythiiiingggg … didn’t they ??? That’s funny. And a long Peter Pan review- I’d read it. I’ve only seen the movie and I have mixed feelings about so a long rambling review might be interesting. šŸ™‚

    1. Kristen Burns

      I suppose if I’m going to have a problem, “too many SFF books with disability to read” is a good problem to have lol. Well, write those books down and when I start including mental illness, you’ll be ready to add to the list!

      I actually had lots for Big Ben already, which is this week’s topic. Eating utensils, not so much lol. So I’ll do something different next week.

      You’re gonna regret saying you’d read my review when you see how long it is, haha. Though, if you haven’t read it, you might actually find my review interesting.

  2. Luna & Saturn

    We’re really glad that a greater diversity of books is being read by the blogger community, and that disabilities could be physical, mental, intellectual or psychological. It’s getting more realistic and that’s good, though we are startled by the number of books we find where the disability is misportrayed or a result of some paranormal activity. Eight inches (20 cm?) – that’s a lot for sure, but we hope you like it. Argh, hope your tennis arm decides to heal itself ASAP! Have a nice week!
    ~ PendragonsĀ 

    1. Kristen Burns

      I’m so happy about that too! But yeah, it’s unfortunate when books portray disability incorrectly or have it be paranormal or cured since then it gives people the wrong idea about disabilities :-/ Yep, I cut quite a bit off my hair, but it super long lol. And thank, I’d love it if my tennis elbow could heal already! Same to you šŸ™‚

  3. chucklesthescot

    I get annoyed looking at unfair reviews, y’know the ones who didn’t bother to read the blurb before buying then moan that the book was about something they didn’t like, when it clearly tells you if you read the blurb! Gah! I saw someone who gave a book one star because it was about zombies and she hated zombies…the book had zombies in the title, the blurb said it’s a violent zombie apocalypse book and the cover had zombies on it. People like that drive me nuts. On the tennis elbow front, google natural remedies for tennis elbow and that should give you a few options.

    1. Kristen Burns

      I can’t stand when people do that! I’ve seen that exact kind of thing too, where it says zombie in the title and whole blurb is about zombies and then the person rates the book poorly because they didn’t know it was about zombies and they don’t like zombies -_- How could you possibly not know what the book was about??? I have been using some remedies, but they only help so much. So far epsom salt soaks seem to be most helpful, but they’re also a pain in the ass.

  4. Dragonfly

    Wow you cut 8 inches and it’s long… Rapunzel! ?I hope you post a pic with your teal hair. Teal is my favorite color and I bet it looked awesome. Ugh I hope that elbow gets better! ?

    1. Kristen Burns

      You would not be the first one to call me Rapunzel, haha, although now it just looks normal and not so Rapunzel-like (it’s like a few inches past my shoulders). The teal did look nice because I have green eyes that sometimes look more bluish so it kinda matched my eyes lol. Thank you!

  5. Dragonfly

    Ha! Loved your ranting about the bad reviews. I read your review in GR and got me curious because you said it was dark (I’m like soooo predictable ?) but I had never been into peter pan stories,( especially the Disney version ? ) So I’m still thinking about it ?

  6. Samantha

    Oh I get so mad when people complain that something is not like X or Y. Its like saying “The book was nothing like the movie. I thought the book added all kinds of stuff that wasn’t necessary”. As if the book were written after or something! Any time there is a retelling of anything, it will be different! No one is going to write the exact same story. I will never understand people who expect a retelling to be so similar. It doesn’t make sense!
    Hope you have a good week!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Yes! First of all, exactly, retellings are allowed to be different. Second of all, she was using J.M. Barrie’s version of Peter Pan, not Disney’s, so she wasn’t even the one who made him dark in the first place! Thanks šŸ™‚

  7. sjhigbee

    Congratulations on your spec fic with disabilities post – you’ve got a great list there. Sorry to hear of the tennis elbow – it’s such a painful problem, as I recall when our fencing teacher went down with it:(. I’m also impressed at how you are getting through your review arcs – I’ve completely backslid with all the impulse control of a toddler once I get onto NetGalley *sigh*. Have a great week, Kristen:).

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks šŸ™‚ Yeah, it did actually get really painful when I went to sleep last night, my wrists were just aching :-/ Lol I have been really good control on NG. Thanks, you too!

  8. Lola

    Eight inches is quite a lot to cut from your hair. I probably need to get the ends of my hair cut soon too. I made apple crumble this week! It’s so good! Glad your frozen variety tasted well, those things can be hit or miss at times. Are you planning on trying the peach crumble as well? Peach crumble is actually my favorite and I always make sure I have a can of peaches at hand, so I can make it whenever I feel like it.

    I think your list is a great idea and that’s neat so many people already submitted the form for new books, although I can imagine you end up adding some to your own to-read list.

    I probably could use a week like that with no new review copies. I do keep reading them, but also keep adding more.

    And yay for cover characteristics being back, I always enjoy your cover posts, so I am looking forward to the next one.

    I feel that with retellings so many people only know the Disney version as those are the ones that are most popular and people often assume (I do this too) the retelling is based on t hat. But it’s good to check to make sure this actually is the case as with that Peter pan book it seemed obvious it wasn’t based on the Disney version.

    Rogue Magic sounds interesting, I am curious about your review of that one. And I wonder how long your peter pan review is, I am pretty sure I will read it completely. Have a great week!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Well you and me, we gots the long hair lol. Although now my only is only a few inches or so past my shoulders. Feels so short to me, haha. I’m not a big fan of peaches, so I’ll prob stick to apple.

      Thanks šŸ™‚

      Lol yeah I just haven’t been seeing any books that I REALLY want, so I’ve done a good job of restraining myself. It’s good ’cause I have a lot of non-review books I really want to read but don’t want to feel stressed while reading them.

      But it’s like, even if they didn’t realize before reading that it was going to be dark, don’t blame the author for making the character dark when it was J.M. Barrie who originally made him that way!

      It was good! But the Peter Pan review is… really, really long lol. But oh well, I’m not shortening it. Those are all the things I want to say! Thanks, you too šŸ™‚

  9. Michelle

    I need to check out All Darling Children, I love retelling, the darker the better and Peter Pan I always saw as a dark book to begin with.
    I loved your Sci-Fi/Fantasy Books with Disability Masterlist, I need to check some of those book out. It’s a great idea!
    Great job on the not grabbing any books, I grabbed a few this week but I have gotten a lot better. I really want to read what I have.

    I hope you have a great week, Kristin! Happy Reading!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thank you, it IS a dark book! That’s why the reviews aggravated me so much. And thanks, glad you like the list! I have a lot of non-review books I want to read, and I get stressed if I know I have a bunch of review copies, so I’ve gotten better about not grabbing too much too.

      Thanks, same to you!

  10. Becky @ A Fool's Ingenuity

    Yay for a haircut. I absolutely hate getting my haircut but that feeling after it’s been cut is so nice. I don’t know what it is, maybe it’s the nice definition to where your hair ends or something. And I occasionally count coffee as one of my 5 a day (it’s made from beans which are from a plant… it makes sense) so you’re apple crumble thing definitely counts. And I adore apple crumble, it’s apple pie but better, my mom makes a really good one and I love it. I really want some now.

    Now we’ve addressed your week let’s move on to the books. I know I’ve already said I like your new master list but I will say it again anyway. It’s the place I turn to for checking out some new books which is great! And it looks like we’ve read the same number of books this week (yay) so that’s good. It seems like you read some interesting books, would you believe I’ve never read Peter Pan? It was just never a book which appealed to me, but I get your frustration about people rating a book low because it was a dark retelling. I mean, as a retelling you’re kind of allowed to do what you want with the story anyway but I can’t say that Peter Pan necessarily seemed like a bright and cheery book anyway. Disney definitely has a lot to answer for when it comes to their film versions of books.

    1. Kristen Burns

      It is so nice! I don’t know why either. I don’t actually make mine perfectly straight at the bottom because I do a layered thing, so it can’t be that reason lol. Coffee is made from beans, definitely counts, solid logic šŸ˜‰ But the apple crumble was so delicious! You’ll have to get your own though, I don’t share.

      Lol. Thank you! I’m really glad to hear that people like the list. And YES. The original IS dark. Not as dark as this retelling thing since the original also had humor and stuff, but it’s still got a lot of dark undertones. So it’s like, I could understand if someone just complained that it was dark and they don’t like dark. Maybe they wanted to take a chance and try something new but it wasn’t for them. But these people were basically like, “The Disney movie is so cute and Peter Pan is a sweetheart, how dare the author make this book dark and make Peter so bad?!!?!?!?!” I got news for you, people, PETER PAN IS A MURDERER IN THE ORIGINAL BOOK. SHE DIDN’T MAKE THAT PART UP. *bashes head on table*

      1. Becky @ A Fool's Ingenuity

        How rude! I’ll get my own apple crumble don’t you worry.

        And you just got to accept people accept Disney as fact. It’s hard not to, I suppose. A lot of us grew up with those films, you sort of accept them to be true I know when I found out Disney’s version of The Little Mermaid wasn’t strictly accurate I was shocked. How could the book not involve talking sea creatures and a happily ever after?

        1. Kristen Burns

          Just tellin’ it like it is. Wouldn’t want you to get stabbed with a fork if you tried to take my apple crumble šŸ˜‰

          But no! It’s still not ok to blame the author!

  11. Let's Get Beyond Tolerance

    I haven’t read the original Peter Pan, but your comment on people getting upset by an author remarking the story and having it be dark is ridiculous. You’re right, Disney remade Peter Pan. Most of those original stories were dark and Disney just made them family friendly.

    -Lauren

    1. Kristen Burns

      Exactly, the original was dark, and that’s why it aggravated me so much that they were essentially blaming her for ruining Peter Pan by making it dark!

  12. Deborah

    I must check out more of the book-related link-ups as I really only participate in this one and (rarely) Top Ten Tuesday. I love the o/s book blogging community!

    I think it’s good you don’t have much to report, I sometimes struggle with that as well but it usually also means nothing crappy has been happening!

  13. Toady

    How wonderful that your hair grows like that! Maybe you could go for 12 inches if you could part with that much and donate it. I have never been able to, but our son did it when he was just a kid.

    1. Kristen Burns

      My hair isn’t all one length, and it’s too damaged to donate. That’s awesome that your son donated his hair though šŸ™‚ I gave mine to the birds outside to use as nesting material though, so it didn’t go completely to waste!

      1. Toady

        Mine is so color treated and damaged that I could never imagine getting it to the place that I could donate. Duh though. I never thought of giving it to the birds. Such a great idea.

  14. Maureen Beatrice

    Congrats on reading more books than your getting! Thatā€™s pretty damn good. I did good last year but lately Iā€™ve been requesting more and more books. I canā€™t seem to stop. Sigh.. šŸ˜€
    Looks like youā€™ve got a good reading week!
    Happy reading!

  15. S. J. Pajonas

    Lol. I always laugh when you say nothing happened! Because my life is so full of stuff that I have to write LOOOOONG updates every week. I should send some of it off to you. šŸ˜‰ I could use a break! Anyway, I’m sorry to hear your elbow still hurts. I really hope that lessens soon. What about your ant situation? They all gone?

    1. Kristen Burns

      Disney versions are the most commonly known ones, but I’d actually prefer if more retellings were based on the originals :-/ But still, it just aggravated me because the people were actually blaming the author for changing Peter Pan and doing certain things when she wasn’t even the one who came up with those things, it was just that way in the original!

  16. Wren

    Well I don’t know if the books will be any good, but I got 11 books from the thrift store! (*hangs head in shame*)

  17. Bookworm Brandee

    So did you donate your hair?? Sorry your tennis elbow is still bothering you but it seems like maybe otherwise you had a pretty good week!?! I love your rant about The Darling Children reviews…ugh! Sometimes I read reviews and get so angry…and lose faith in humanity. So frustrating. But I’m happy you liked it even if it wasn’t perfect. I look forward to reading your reviews…even the super long one. šŸ˜‰ Oh, and apple crumble thing… totally healthy since it has apples. šŸ˜€

    1. Kristen Burns

      No, it’s all different lengths because it’s layered and filled with split ends, but I did give my hair to the birds for nesting material, so it wasn’t completely wasted!

      Seriously, the reviews actually made me angry! Like, don’t blame the author for something she’s not to blame for! And even if the Disney version was the original and she changed it to make the story dark, she’s allowed to, that’s what retellings are! Thanks, I’m looking forward to your thoughts šŸ™‚ And I’m totally sticking to the healthy thing šŸ˜‰

  18. Di @ Book Reviews by Di

    Hair cuts are news! šŸ™‚ I’m dying for my hair to grow out more (I had a hair disaster last August and I’m still struggling to grow it out of my medium length hair that I want to keep growing instead of cutting it all off because it’s gross).

    Apple’s also happen to be one of my favourite ingredients of all time – apple and chicken meatballs, apple pies, apple curbles – so your frozen thing sounds delicious to me, and of course #healthy.

    Ugh – I’m sorry your tennis elbow continues! I hope it goes soon!

    I hear you on the Disney rant – why do people always assume because it’s Disney it’s original/correct?

    1. Kristen Burns

      Aww sorry about the hair disaster. I’ve just reached the point where I don’t even really care anymore if the haircut isn’t good. I literally just put my hair in a ponytail on top of my head, flipped my head upside down, chopped some off, then took it out of the ponytail and evened things out a bit. Normally I add more/better layers, but I was lazy this time and didn’t even do that.

      Apples are great for cooking!

      Thanks!

      Idk! But a lot of retellings are based on Disney versions, which frustrates me because those are already retellings and I’d rather have more based on the originals.

  19. Jessica

    I used to get an apple cinnamon with oats thing made by Dole. You could put it in the microwave for 30 secs. But they discontinued it. šŸ™ It was called Fruit Crisp. It was really good. I don’t understand why they discontinue things that are good and keep things that are nasty.