Fangirl, a book review

by Rainbow Rowell
published in 2013
a chocolate covered 5/ 5 stars
Goodreads / Amazon / Rowell's Website

Cath shook her head. "Now is all you get," she spat out, wishing she could make more sense. Wishing for more words, or better ones. "Now is all you ever get."

Fangirl is everything. It's everything that's good about chick-lit, it's everything that's good about YA. It's so honest and genuine that sometimes I wonder if it's actually written, or whether it's just the previously recorded words and dialogues of an 18 year old girl living her life. I guess it's kind of a both. This book is like the voice of a college freshman, rendered into a fresh prose that makes it so delectable to read. (If this book was a food it'd be chocolate to the power of chocolate). 

Meet Cath. She loves Simon Snow, the book series that has taken the literature world by storm. As teens, she and her twin sister Wren read and wrote Snow fan-fiction, mainly as a hobby, but also to keep themselves grounded, after their mother left when they were little. But now with college looming around the corner, Wren has taken a more independent approach on life, and has mostly grown away from Snow fandom, and has told Cath that she doesn't want to be roommates. Cath has never felt this alone, and her sulky roommate (who happens to have the world's most positive boyfriend) doesn't help the mix. Oh and her fiction-writing professor doesn't approve of fan-fiction. Cath is now facing the biggest hurdle of her life, but also a door of great opportunities... And as she acts on both of them, Cath will discover that to live, sometimes you got to step out of your comfort zone. 

Fangirl is honestly the best book I have read in a long time. Everything in this book just felt right, it felt like it belonged. All the elements were so balanced, from the quirky friendships, the blossoming romance (sigh), the AWESOME fan fiction, and the family situations. It's a coming of age novel that really enraptures you, and after a while it doesn't even feel like you're reading. It feels like you're living the story, it feels like you're being.

Classical Piece of the Week: Symphony 4, 4th mvmt

A while back I attended the Tchaikovsky Festival show by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, and it was a mind-blowing experience. One of the pieces they performed was his Fourth Symphony, and the whole piece kept me at the edge of my seat. All four of the movements were extremely impressive, but the movement I want to showcase today is the fourth movement.

The movement is 9 minutes of epic, grandiose, magnificent music. It's everything that's good concentrated into the sound of the bold strings, blaring brass, balanced winds and the booming percussion. (All those b's were definitely unintentional, hehe). The music always builds and intensifies from its momentum, but just when you think it's at its peak, everything just diminishes again and a new, even more powerful momentum starts to develop. And then all this energy just releases at the end, giving you one of the most EPIC endings ever.

An Ode to the Mighty, the Humble... Watermelon.

I named my blog The Humble Watermelon, so I figured I should make at least one post on this lovely fruit. So today, I shall discuss about watermelon's history, tell you some interesting facts about it, and share three of my favourite watermelon pictures!

Ready to go on this Grand Watermelon Adventure? Yeah? Okay then, let's go!

Watermelon's Fruitful History:
Watermelon is thought to have originated in southern Africa, where you can find it growing in its wild state. There is evidence that it had been cultured in the Nile Valley, around the second millennium BC (2000-1001 B.C.). By the 10th century, watermelon had started being culture in China, and by the 13th century, Moorish invaders had introduced this fruit to Europe. Watermelon then moved on to North America, where they were grown by Native Americans in the 16th century. Today, China is the biggest watermelon producer, growing more than 69 million tonnes of watermelon in 2011!