Lost

the melancholy whisper of sparrows’ wings
distracts me from
sunshine on bare feet and
leaning over wooden decks

your hair is waving like flags on a windy afternoon
at the carnival, red and white popcorn stands
decked out in pink cotton candy and rainbow lollipops
hearing “can you make it purple?” and “I want that!”

the sky is dark with the flight of a thousand birds

you remember the icy winter nights in city penthouses
the black of a thunderstorm in the middle of nowhere
the forbidding candles in the window of a haunted house

while I am stuck in
summer mornings at the pool
picnic evenings in fields of sherbet
watching the opening and closing of butterflies’ wings
classy black splendor with splashes of amber

I am submerged in rusty oranges,
finding no way to get back to the blue.

© Priya Ganesan, May 2009

(Poetry Friday roundup here.)

The Sound of Music in a Train Station

Just something I saw at school today and wanted to share with all of you.

Shakespeare, anyone?

Liv over at Liv's Book Reviews is hosting a Shakespeare challenge for the summer. The goal is to read three Shakespeare plays from June 1st to August 31st, and then post a little something about each play. And just to spice it up, Lisa Mantchev is sponsoring the challenge! By participating, you are automatically entered into some drawings to win "cool stuff."

I decided to join, and I think it'll be fun. I've read summarized versions of Romeo and Juliet, and I read Julius Caesar this year in English. But I've hardly read any "real Shakespeare," and I'm dying to read the actual Romeo in Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice, and much more. I'm going to encourage all of you to join too. It's only three plays. You know you want to do it.

The Great Cookie Experiment

For the first time ever, my sister and I baked cookies. Sugar cookies. With vanilla frosting and everything. We were very excited.

Here are some pictures of our lovely creations:

And finally, our homemade frosting:

The Graveyard Book

by Neil Gaiman

Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead. There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard for a boy. But if Bod leaves the graveyard, then he will come under attack from the man Jack—who has already killed Bod's family.

(borrowed from the front flap)

I've seen so many fabulous reviews for this book, and obviously, if it won the Newbery Medal, it must be a terrific book. I agree that the story was unique and original, the ideas were creative, and the writing was absolutely flawless. The descriptions were elaborate and Gaiman's sentences were full of imagery. The characters were definitely well thought-out, especially the dead ones.

Yet for me, there was something that didn't click. Yes, I thought it was a great book, but I don't think it's on my favorites list. I felt that there was something lacking in the book- perhaps there were too many undead characters, or the story was just too perfect. I think the main reason why I didn't completely enjoy it was because until the end of the book, when all the action came in, I wasn't entertained by the story. Although Bod had some close scrapes and many adventurous moments, most of them seemed artificial and bland. I wasn't wholly captivated by the story until the climax, when I could actually feel all the emotions and adrenaline going through Bod.

Sooo...that was basically my overall impression of The Graveyard Book. What did everyone else think of it?

From Imagine Angels

by Guillaume Apollinaire



I finally got a picture of the poem up! It's translated from French, I believe, and if you read it in a circle starting at the top, it's really cool. (Or, as Q pointed out, you can read it from its rightful beginning at the bottom left.)

I hope you can read it. :-/ If you can't, then drop me a note in the comments and I'll type it out for everyone.

The Last Olympian and other thoughts

I think I have bloggers' block, as Summermoon mentions in her "not very coherent book review." My mind just goes blank when it comes to blogging. Any advice?

***

On a completely different subject, I finished The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan today and it was absolutely mind-blowing. It somehow felt kind of different from the other books, sort of lacking in something, but I think that was mostly due to the fact that the story was practically all battle scenes.

Several characters made heroic comebacks or had surprising personality changers, which just added to the excitement building throughout the story. A lot of minor characters also came into light in this book, which was great since we got to learn more about them. The ending was satisfying and wrapped up the whole series nicely, leaving no questions unanswered.

If you've read the other four in the series, you HAVE TO GO PICK UP THIS BOOK NOW. Seriously. It is so epic.

***

Finally, my sister got an...interesting email yesterday. It was from a mother who had heard of her book, and in one part of the letter she says that she was originally considering hiring me to teach her daughter piano. I guess I should be honored, but it's not like I'm a fabulous player or anything. I'm just thirteen.

It was nice to read, though. :-)

Hmmm....

It is rainy and windy and cold outside. (Which is weird, because it was so sunny and warm yesterday and now it's hailing.) And that means that it's time for a nice, rambly post.


First of all, I'd like to post up the link to the winning Gallagher Girl widgets here, just because I thought they was so cool. They're both similar, but the second one has a Harry Potterish feel with the numbers and everything, and the word "countdown" in the block letters was great too.

Second of all, The Last Olympian is coming out tomorrow! Woot! Some of my friends were so excited today at school, it was scary. I'm not as enthusiastic as them, but I am eagerly waiting to see what happens. Although I'm sure everything's going to end up fine and dandy, since no author ends their series unhappily.

I also found an amazing poem that I really like, called "From Imagine Angels" by Guillaume Apollinaire. What's fascinating about the poem is not just the words, but the formatting. (You'll understand later.) I really wanted to post it up here, but the only place where I can find it is in A Family of Poems by Caroline Kennedy, which is a delightful collection of poems with bright, colorful illustrations. So anyways, I'll see if I can take a picture and post it up. Look for that soon.

Happy Monday!

Happiness

We were leaning over the balcony, a cool wind spluttering through our hair, watching endless blue waves roll by. We listened to the elated shouts of children in the pool, the clatter and chatter of people in the restaurant, the relaxed conversations of adults stretched out on chairs facing the water. The air was filled with the fresh smells of sea salt and straight-out-of-the-oven pizza, swirly vapors twisting up to where we stood, enveloping us in a kind of happy, warm goodness.

Find me, it seemed to say. Come and find me.

© Priya Ganesan, April 2009

Body Image Challenge

I've joined the Body Image Challenge as part of Body Image Week. Here are the rules:

Part I: Feel Better About Yourself
For the next 7 days, we challenge you to look in the mirror every morning and find something you like about yourself. I don't care if all you can come up with is that you like your nail polish or your cute socks or your earlobes! Find something you like and can be happy about all day.

PART II: Accept That Other People Think You Are Great
Throughout each day if you ever receive a compliment about anything I want you to say "THANK YOU" and Stop. Right. There. Don't negate the compliment with "Whatever ... you're the one that's pretty" or "Thanks, but I wish my hair would have turned out better today" or "Thanks, but I'm not really very good at that".

PART III: Be A Builder
Now it's your turn to help the people around you know that you think they are beautiful and talented, too! Make a conscious effort to tell your friends and family the things you like about them, whether it's cute shoes, a listening ear, etc. You never know when it's just the thing they need to hear!


In order to accept the challenge, you can go here for more details.

NOW

I've been tagged by Danielle!

All the meme requires you to do is to take a picture of yourself immediately without fixing your hair, changing your clothes, etc. Here's mine:

I did this with the photo-taking tool on Gmail Chat, so it's kind of small--sorry about that!

I now tag:
Jen
Em

And if anyone else has a burning desire to take a picture of themselves, feel free to do this too!

Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City

by Kirsten Miller

Ananka Fishbein's boring, ordinary life suddenly becomes extraordinary when she meets Kiki Strike, a small, pale girl who seems to be strange, but surely not dangerous. Ananka's views of Kiki change when she is asked to join Kiki's exploration group of the Shadow City, a labyrinth of abandoned tunnels below Manhattan. One thing is for sure: Ananka's life will never be the same again...

I loved Kiki Strike! It had all the things I love in a book: mystery, adventure, history, action, and more. The story line was engrossing with several surprising twists, and the writing was interesting and fast-paced. I also loved how the story was so suspenseful, yet I learned a lot about New York from reading this book. I would definitely give this five stars, and I can't wait to read the next book!

The Adoration of Jenna Fox

by Mary E. Pearson

Jenna Fox has just woken up from a year-long coma. Her parents (supposedly) have given her a stack of past home videos, hoping that watching them will spark her memories. Adventure comes to Jenna in the form of school, conversations with her neighbor, community service, and more.

The Adoration of Jenna Fox was a beautiful book of self-discovery, self-learning, and self-acceptance. Jenna was a very relatable character, and her emotions and memories were conveyed really well. The science fiction aspect of the book was interesting, and it weaved in with the realistic fiction elements of the story. Overall, this book is a must-read!

Spacing

I've noticed several times that my spacing on my blog posts often gets messed up. Either it completely ignores the spaces between paragraphs, or the spacing is too much and I can't fix it. Has anyone else had this problem? Have you found a way to fix it?

Awards, Awards, and More Awards!

I've received:



The Proximidade Award from Em




"Your Blog is Fabulous" from Maya






The "Best Poetry Blog Award" from Katie

Thank you all so much!