Heart Full of Ink

The Story of a Childhood

7:01 PM

Summary of Persepolis

Wise, funny, and heartbreaking, Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi’s memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. In powerful black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah’s regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq. The intelligent and outspoken only child of committed Marxists and the great-granddaughter of one of Iran’s last emperors, Marjane bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country. (Summary from Amazon)

Review

It's rare for me to read a graphic novel. To date, I do believe Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi and American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang are the only two I've ever read. I usually prefer to read traditional novels. That being said, I do think Persepolis was well written.

I teach a contemporary literature class and decided I wanted my students to read a graphic novel because I view them as being contemporary. I chose Persepolis because I wanted to broaden my students' view of the world, especially of the Middle East. With all of the news coverage on what the US should do about the situation in Iran, I think it is important for my students to know the history of how Iran came to be the place it is today. In the introduction of the book, author Satrapi explains that she wrote Persepolis to show the world that Iran is not full of extremist terrorists.

Along with being one of the few graphic novels I've read, Persepolis also happens to be the first memoir I've read. Satrapi pulls no punches and doesn't hide anything about what life was like growing up as a child and teenager in Iran. She mixes humor with the stark realities of regime changes and the Iran-Iraq war. Her childlike innocent retelling of historical events highlights the often senseless violence and cruelties of the world in which we live.

If you're interested in learning more about Iran's history, Persepolis is the book for you.

Angels of the Apocalypse

8:09 AM

The ABBA Book Tag

4:16 AM

Treat Your Self Book Haul

5:52 AM

Both Christmas and my birthday have passed. These are the two times a year when I use gift cards to buy books. The rest of the year, I check out books from the library and make lists of what I'll buy come next Christmas. However, there are some times in life when you feel the need to treat yourself to something nice.

So, I decided to use some of my hard earned paycheck and buy some books.

Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories by Martha Alderson
The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers by Christopher Vogler
Thief of Lies by Brenda Drake
On Writing by Stephen King
The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Expression by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi

From second grade all the way to about last year, I'd alway been a panster when it came to writing. I never planned out what I was going to write and instead relied on inspiration. Well, this resulted in a lot of unfinished stories. The only stories I ever did finish were writing assignments for school, and, even then, they were short stories and never a full length novel. Though I was able to write a novel by the seat of my pants during NaNoWriMo a few years ago (a manuscript which was so terrible I'm glad I lost it when my computer died), last August I decided to try plotting my current WIP (Work in Progress) before I began writing it. As both a teacher and a Ravenclaw, it's hardly any surprise that I want to learn as much as I can about plotting. The Plot Whisperer Workbook was recommended by Monica B. Sanz—one of four lovely writers who lead the #Wattpad4 Twitter chat every Monday night at 8PM Eastern Time—so I decided to check it out. Though I haven't had time to do any of the exercises in the book, I'm excited to use them this June to help me plan out my next NaNo project which I plan to start writing in July.

The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers was also recommended by a member of the Wattpad4 writer group on Twitter. Erin Latimer writes and reads a lot of fantasy, and as I do as well, so I was happy to take her word for it that I should add this book to my small yet growing collection of writing books. I remember reading portions of Joseph Campbell's The Hero's Journey back in college when I was writing a paper for one of my literature classes. It will be cool to revisit Campbell's ideas again through the lens of a writer.

I first learned of Brenda Drake when I heard about #PitMad, one of several book pitching contests she hosts on Twitter in an attempt to connect writers with agents. After interacting with her through an interview for Wattpad4, I decided to check out her work to see if I'd like it. When I saw Thief of Lies was about to be published and it was about characters who traveled through portals from one library to the next all over the world, I knew I had to read it. Libraries are some of my favorites places in the entire world.

On Writing by Stephen King has been recommended to me time and time again. So when Rebecca Sky of Wattpad4 also raved about it, I decided it was about time I finally did.

The last book I bought was recommended by all four of the #Wattpad4 hosts. Though I've only paged through it, I know I'm going to use The Emotion Thesaurus a lot, especially when editing. Let's face it, you can only have your character roll her eyes to show her annoyance so many times before readers begin to wonder if it's the only range of motion of which she's capable.

Looking back at what I've written, I could've called this post #Wattpad4 book recommendations:)

The Monster Goddess Book Club February Review: Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda

4:21 PM

Guess what? I'm actually semi-on time with my book club review! The Monster Goddess Book Club is run by Tash at The Bookie Monsters and The Book Goddess. February's theme was romance.

Summary of Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda

16 year old Simon Spier is not openly gay, though he does exchange emails with another gay boy who uses the pseudonym Blue. They haven't exchanged names, but both are beginning to fall for each other. Their anonymity is threatened when the class clown Martin intercepts one of Simon's emails to Blue and blackmails Simon. Either Simon helps Martin get a date with a girl, or Martin will tell everyone Simon and Blue are gay.

Review

Reading Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda was like peeking into the brain of one of my high school students. Becky Albertalli absolutely nails a teenage boy narration. Simon is so relatable; he complains about school, he says "freaking" all the time, he participates in the school play, and he has an obsession with Oreos.

All of the characters were so incredibly real to me, especially Simon's family and friends. His family plays a game on Christmas morning where they announce a category like "overly gushy couple post" and then each scroll through their friends' posts on Facebook. The first to find and share a post which meets the category gets to choose the next category. While my friends and I have never played this exact game, we've often had conversations about counting how many people announce they're getting engaged on Facebook. Simon's friends have lengthy discussions about Doctor Who, and I am a total Whovian as well.

The mystery of who Blue is had me turning the pages faster and faster. Albertalli does an excellent job of providing red herrings. While I did suspect the correct character at one point, I later dismissed the character only to find out the character was Blue all along. I won't spoil it for you.

All I'll say is that when Simon and Blue get together, it is absolutely "freaking" adorable.