Day 13: Your Favourite Writer – Dr. Seuss

See, now a cool person would put a clever little rhyme or something to set up this post… but I’m not cool, so… ONWARDS TO THE NUMBER TEN.

10. Dr. Seuss
    Honestly, if you don’t like Dr. Seuss… well you should love Dr. Seuss. Why? WHY YOU ASK?! ‘Cause he’s an inspiration, a teacher, and probably the most creative guy ever, next to Shakespeare, when it comes to literature. While Shakespeare did break rules, and created more than a thousand words that are in our present day dictionary, Dr. Seuss created a world for children and adults alike that is equally enjoyable, sans death, tragedy, fights, etc. Plus he created hundreds, maybe even thousands of words that AREN’T in our present day dictionary, and that makes him even cooler.

    “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go…” – Oh, The Places You’ll Go

    With books like Oh, The Places You’ll Go Dr. Seuss described, basically, life. With everything around us – people judging us, parents choosing our paths for us – Dr. Seuss points out that we are individual and we can choose our own futures.
    In his book, The Lorax, Dr. Seuss saw the world for what it was before the majority of the world figured it out. He saw how destructive human kind could be to nature, to the earth, to the trees. And he made a valid point when he wrote:

    “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
    Nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” – The Lorax

    Dr. Seuss is a legendary author who managed to reach out to audiences of all ages with his words and he remains as one of my favourite authors/writers of all time.

Day 13: Your Favourite Writer – John Green

Okay, in all honesty, there are MANY reasons as to why I love John Green, so… let’s go!

9. John Green
   The first time I heard of John Green was back in 2010. My friend was walking home with this guy I’ve never seen before and I stopped to say hi to her. He was holding a book, and I asked what it was. Lo and behold, it was Looking for Alaska. Three weeks later, I borrowed it from him. Needless to say, I loved it.John Green weaves a number of amazing stories and his books talk about things I’ve never thought of, or even heard of. I was captivated by the before and after in Looking for Alaska, I found Quentin’s adventure though paper towns in Paper Towns riveting and different (in the best way), I hated all the math in An Abundance of Katherines but adored the book regardless, and I fell in love with The Fault in our Stars. John Green’s books are addicting, fun, and real. He brings emotions, humour, and amazing concepts and characters to the table and his books continuously blow me away~

   What I also love about John Green is his constant support for his fans and his unbreakable connection to them. Through YouTube, Twitter, Project for Awesome, IndieGoGo, Tumblr, and a number of other sites, John connects with his fans, his readers, his brother, the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, numerous charities, etc. He and his brother have helped their fans create and begin new ventures and projects, such as the Lizzie Bennet Diaries.

   John Green is an inspiration to many, and I feel like, through YouTube, Twitter, and all of his and his brother’s projects, he’s REAL. He’s HUMAN. And he’s AWESOME.

 

Day 13: Your Favourite Writer – Maureen Johnson

Not bad time getting this up since the last one, haha ~ Yay /onaroll.

8. Maureen Johnson
   I think I’ve told the story of how I first got into her books. It was way back in the day… at least like 5 years ago or something. I was at the Toronto Public Library at Bayview Village. There’s this creepy guy there who ALWAYS asks you what your name is, your address, phone number, etc. ’cause he seems to think everyone plans on stealing my card or something. ANYWAYS. He kept staring at me when I was looking at some of the books that were left on a table so I escaped to the YA section. There I found 13 Little Blue Envelopes. I decided to pick it up and when through the annoying process of checking it out through Mr. McCreepy. MOVING ON. I loved the book. As a 7th or 8th grader, this book was the craziest adventure, and I loved the envelope idea that took Ginny all across Europe. Years later, the sequel to it came out: The Last Little Blue Envelope. Somehow, I liked this book even more. I especially liked Oliver ’cause hot damn, he sounded like a pretty awesome guy by the end of the book.

   My favourite thing about Maureen Johnson, though, is that she’s really connected to her fans. She’s also a little quirky, but that makes her even more awesome. Through Twitter, I found that she has a large virtual presence and that’s pretty darn cool. She does Q&A stuff with her fans, and writes about the oddest things that happen to her or the people she knows. This made her seem more real to me, as a reader and as a fan. Honestly, she’s one of my favourite Tweeters~

   I have yet to read her new series, Shades of London, but I heard it’s awesome! I also enjoyed her book Girl At Sea, Devilish, and Suite Scarlet (though I still have yet to read the sequel…)

Day 13: Your Favourite Writer – Julie Kagawa

Today, I shall be talking about the awesomeness that is Julie Kagawa and why I love her writing. Three more authors and I’m going to move on (finally) (I should have stuck with one, but it’s so hard to choose) (I would’ve done twenty, but I’m about as consistent with this as … well I’m just not ’cause books)

7. Julie Kagawa
   I actually started her series a little backwards. My first sighting of the Iron Fey series was back in 2011. Ash was a contestant in The YA Sisterhood‘s YA Crush Tourney. I didn’t really pay any mind to how hot he was. What really grabbed me was the stunning cover of the yet to be released, at the time, The Iron Knight. I immediately virtually dashed over to GoodReads to check it out, only to find that there were three other books that came before. This time I actually dashed over to my school library (looking at Crush Tourney’s during school, tsk tsk), and the first book was shockingly sitting right there, on the shelf, tempting me.

   It is now two years later and I have fallen for Julie Kagawa’s characters, her imaginative worlds, and her stories. However, as much as I found Never Never a true world of fantasy and Puck absolutely hilarious, while Ash was smolderingly hot, I have to say that I love Kagawa’s Blood of Eden series more.

   Just when you thought that the vampire thing was dead and gone, Julie Kagawa took the sparkly, over-hyped, and overdone trend and made it into something scary, something dangerous, and something absolutely thrilling. Kagawa has this ability to make her characters so real, that you feel like you know them, you feel what they do, and next things you know, you’re sitting in the sewers with Kanin, Allie, and Zeke, and yet you’re happy you’re there ’cause OMFG they just became REAL.

   But you’ve all heard me gush about Kagawa’s writing before. If you still haven’t checked out her stuff… WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!? GO!

Day 13: Your Favourite Writer – Sarah Dessen

It’s that time of the month again where I continue with my 30 day challenge that has taken MUCH long than 30 days~

6. Sarah Dessen
   I’ve been a fan of Sarah Dessen since I was in ninth grade (to put that in perspective, five years ago). My friend told me about this book that she got during the weekend. At the time I was heavily immersed in the vampire/werewolf/generally supernatural overflow of YA novels. I wasn’t about to put aside the last vamp story to read a contemporary. But when I took the time that day at lunch to peak into This Lullaby, I tossed my currently-reading and to-reads list off a cliff and borrowed the book. I loved it!

   As I said before, it’s been five years and I’ve read all of Dessen’s novels (save for That Summer, ’cause… well, I just never got to it -shrugs-). Dessen’s characters are all unique. Some entertaining, some insecure and shy, while others could probably kick yours and my ass for the hell of it. I have enjoyed reading each and every story, some more than others, and even watched HOW TO DEAL, a movie based off a mix of Dessen’s That Summer and Someone Like You.

   Since ninth grade, Dessen’s imagined town of Colby has become a second home for me, as much as Quick Zip has become an imagined hangout for me.Dessen has created this unique world with her characters, her settings, and her books. My absolute favourite thing about her books is that she weaves each one with the other. As I’ve said in my review of The Moon and More, you get a glimpse of characters from previously read novels, or something like Spinnerbait or a good game of Gotcha! is mentioned, and you just feel in the loop, like you’re a part of their story too.Sarah Dessen is without a doubt one of my favourite authors, and I hope to read more by her soon ~

Other books by Sarah Dessen:
The Truth About Forever
Just Listen
Along for the Ride
Lock and Key
Dreamland
Keeping the Moon
What Happened to Goodbye

Day 13: Your Favourite Writer – Colleen Hoover

I’ve had all these sitting in drafts for so long, I really should get back to it :$

Alright, next author on the list….

5. Colleen Hoover
   I discovered Hoover at the same time I came across Tammara Webber’s book Easy. Hoover’s novel, Slammed, had been a finalist on Goodreads too as best contemporary fiction or something, and I figured that any book that made it that far had to be good. So I stuck it on my to-read list and purchased it after I got a number of Indigo/Chapters/Coles/Kobo gift cards for Christmas last year, and in all honestly, I loved it. Granted, I’ve only read two books by Hoover, Slammed and Point of Retreat, I really enjoyed both books. In Slammed and Point of Retreat, Hoover wrote both a emotional, heart-wrenching story, but also moving and very cleverly written poetry. I loved that her books included my two favourite types of writing. I’ve never read a book like these and I loved them so much, they’re number two and three on my top ten list for books read in 2012!
   Colleen Hoover’s use of poetry to express feelings, sentiments, and bits and pieces of her characters lives brought her characters to life. If you haven’t read any of her book yet, I would recommend them to everyone. There’s something to be gained through her novels, and I for one have fallen in love with her characters, her stories, and her books ~

Day 13: Your Favourite Writer – Kelley Armstrong

One day, probably sometime in August or something, I’m going to finish this supposedly thirty day challenge (which I had extended to a fifty day challenge for some odd reason, that is really inexpicable, seeing as I wasn’t doing great with thirty days, and fifty is like infinity for me ’cause I’m so darn inconsistent with my posts). Okay, stepping away from my inability to be a star blogger, here’s author number four.

4. Kelley Armstrong
   The Summoning came out the summer right before high school, and to be honest, after I read that, I needed more. I started searching up all of Kelley Armstrong’s novels, and became determined to read it all. Alas, I have yet to TOUCH one of her Women of the Otherworld books, let alone READ them. However, five years later, I just finished her novel, The Rising, and I think I am going to really miss the Project kids. Though, as much as I love it, I also can’t wait to start reading her new Age of Legends series (which is out in 2014), and maybe even start her adult series (now that I actually am an adult, haha).

   

   

   I loved Armstrong’s characters in the Darkest Power Trilogy and the Darkness Rising Trilogy, mainly ’cause they were relatable and although not exactly as I had, they went through similar problems, like shyness, like getting picked on. I also loved the growth of the characters, especially Chloe, as the books went on, they all matured and grew with the reader. I also appreciated Armstrong’s writing style ’cause I didn’t have to dig through dictionaries to figure out what was going on.

   Kelley also maintains a great connection with her readers through Twitter, Tumblr, and her website. Something that I really like about Armstrong is that she takes the time to release little shorts and novellas between books, and sometimes even after the series ends, so it never feels like the characters’ stories are really done. Not many authors release as many novellas and shorts as Armstrong does, and I really give her props for that, haha ~