Modelland by Tyra Banks was released this week. With all of the hype surrounding it, I decided to check out the official website. There wasn’t much to it but there was an excerpt from the book. After reading the excerpt, I decided I had to read this book. I picked up a copy from Target on Tuesday and–driven by the urge that makes me see movies starring Nicolas Cage–started reading it immediately.
Modelland is the best worst book ever. In my opinion, it is the literary equivalent of The Room by Tommy Wisseau. The Room holds a special place in my heart and I’m pretty sure Modelland will too.
As of today, I’m only on chapter 7. It’s taking me longer to get through it because a) it’s 563 pages (what?) and b) I keep stopping to laugh hysterically and send quotes from the book to my friends. It’s a lot for my brain to process. The book seems to be a mash-up of Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with just a pinch of Twilight sprinkled on top. Tyra Banks and her ghostwriter take elements from each (magical school, dystopian society, golden tickets, and a dude with golden eyes) and poorly constructs the story of fifteen-year-old Tookie De La Creme. Yes, you heard me, Tookie De La Creme. Daughter of Creamy De La Creme and Christopher “Chris-Creme-Crobat” De La Creme. Sister of Myrracle De La Creme. Friend of Lizzie, whom dwells in a tree. Predictable love interest of the rich and popular Theophilius Lovelaces. Probable foe of the rich and snobbish Zarpressa Zarrionneaux. Yes, all of this was to highlight the ridiculousness of the character names.
If I’m able to finish this book, I will be posting a review. It will contain spoilers and quotes. Tons and tons of quotes. But in the words of rapper and poet, Gucci Mane, “I might don’t make it.”
I guess I’m considered to be a “book blogger” since most of the content of this blog are book reviews. Reading is something I really enjoy doing. I’ve been having an awesome time keeping up with this blog and sharing my two cents on different books with the world. However, it takes me forever to read a book (forever in my opinion is a couple of hours). As a “book blogger” I feel like I should be powering through 2-3 books per week. I know people who can read as many as 12 books a week and can finish off one in an hour (lol Hi, Angel). That puts my measly one-book-per-week thing to shame.
But that isn’t the reason why I started looking into speed reading.
I’ve heard many times over that the only way to become a good writer is to read, read, read–and that’s what I try to do. I try to read as much as possible but I’m always defeated by my ever-growing to-read stack. Every week there are new books that pique my interest and it seems like I never have the chance read them all. Here’s where speed reading comes in. I found a few techniques online that may be helpful and I’m going to share them here since I know I’m not the only person who wishes there were more hours in a day to read.
The Hand
The first method is to simply place your right hand on the page and slowly move it straight down the page, drawing your eyes down as you read. Keep an even, slow motion, as if your right hand has its own mind. Your eyes may not be exactly where your hand is, but this simple motion will help you go faster. Don’t start, read a little, stop, read a little, start, read a little. Keep the movement slow and easy. Only do it once per page. If you are “left-handed” use your left hand as the dominant pacing hand.
The Card
The next technique is to use a card or a folded-up piece of paper above the line of print to block the words after you read them. Draw it down the page slowly and evenly and try to read the passage before you cover the words up. This helps break you of the habit of reading and reading a passage over and over again. It makes you pay more attention the first time. Be sure to push the card down faster than you think you can go. Slide the card down once per page.
The Sweep
Another method is to use your hand to help draw your eyes across the page. Slightly cup your right hand. Keep your fingers together. With a very light and smooth motion, sweep your fingers from left to right, underlining the line with the tip of your tallest finger from about an inch in and an inch out on each line. Use your whole arm to move, balancing on your arm muscle. Imagine that you are dusting off salt from the page.
The Hop
Similar to the “sweep” method is the “hop”, but in the “hop” you actually lift your fingers and make two even bounces on each line. Each time you bounce, you are making a fixation which hopefully catches sets of three or four words. Moving to a “hop” method also makes it easier to keep a steady pace as it is a lot like tapping our fingers on a desk. Balance on your arm muscle, don’t just wiggle your wrist.
The Zig-Zag
The last method is a type of modified scanning technique. In this one you take your hand and cut across the text diagonally about three lines and then slide back to the next line. Now the idea here is not necessarily to see each word, but to scan the entire area, letting your mind pick out the main ideas. I wouldn’t recommend this for material that requires very careful reading, but it is a way to help you get the general ideas of easy material.
I haven’t forgotten about my weekly goal post that I attempted to implement a few weeks ago. I’ve been surprisingly busy lately but I have managed to squeeze in updating this blog and writing. I’m going to work on keeping this up.
My goals for the week are:
Continue working on my just-for-fun wip, adding 5k
Continue reading Choker by Elizabeth Woods
Continue reading The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab
Young Adult Vault is a meme hosted by the ladies at Short and Sweet. YA Vault posts will be posted here on Taking Friday every Saturday. There are a few rules to go along with the meme. Each book must be a YA title and each must be older than one year old.
For my first Young Adult Vault post, I’ll be featuring The First Part Last by Angela Johnson.
Released: 2004
Page Count: 144
Bobby’s carefree teenage life changes forever when he becomes a father and must care for his adored baby daughter.
I borrowed this book from my cousin a few years ago. It was a quick read, well-written, and powerful–qualities I love to find in YA. I read it as a teen and have yet to go back and read it as an adult but I plan on doing it soon. If anyone chooses to read this book, I hope they enjoy it as much as I did.
Yesterday, I wrote a review of “Party” by Tom Leveen where I began to share some of my thoughts on minority characters in YA lit. It apparently was only the tip of the iceberg for me and I felt I had more to share on the topic. I would like to begin by stating the following is simply my opinion which is based on a few observations. I am in no way speaking on behalf of an entire group of people. Only myself.
In my previous post, I stated that it seemed like most characters of color are there for the purpose of allowing the other characters to be able to say “Oh, it’s cool bro. I have a black/Asian/Hispanic/Middle Eastern/etc. friend.” For the most part, PoC (Person/People of Color) characters are at best props–just there as a half-hearted (or a not well planned) attempt at diversity. The creation of those characters rely heavily on stereotypes and most often borderline on being offensive. Then for further character development, the author will browse through Urban Dictionary to find the latest slang for more “ethnic” appeal–giving the character some jacked-up and unrealistic way of speaking. Yes, it’s okay to use slang and different dialects–people speak differently–but use caution. The use of slang is usually were authors veer into offensive territory. Nothing makes me put down a book faster than having difficulty understanding what a character is saying or feeling belittled by the way author chooses to have the character express themselves (given the context of the story, of course).
I believe writers should approach using characters of color with this in mind: THEY ARE PEOPLE. Give the characters substance. Make them seem like real people. Instead of trying to make this PoC fit into this situation because you believe you’ll be able to reach a larger audience, why not start with the basics? Why not start by developing a character who has a lot of different interests, likes/dislikes, hobbies, unrequited crushes, family drama, friend drama, etc. but they just so happen to be African American/Hispanic/Asian/Middle Eastern etc. Not every African American youth has to struggle with poverty and the decision whether or not to join a gang. Not every Asian teen has an extremely strict upbringing. Not every Hispanic/Latino young person has to struggle with maintaining cultural identity while trying to assimilate into the American way of life. Yes, these are building blocks for powerful stories. Yes, this is a way of life for many people. However, these scenarios should not have to be the back story for every minority character. Yes, their cultural/ethnic background will impact the way they interact with other characters but they shouldn’t be the literary equivalent of stick figures with “Hi, I’m [INSERT MINORITY GROUP]” taped to their foreheads. In the long run, it doesn’t make the characters seem well-developed or thought out.
As a teen, it was difficult finding books that featured PoC as protagonists that were well-written and felt…organic. Like they were real people with real issues who happen to be of a certain ethnic background. It was difficult then (I wasn’t a teen too long ago) and it’s even more difficult now (actually, it’s difficult to find a YA novel that isn’t about a pale, dark haired girl who falls in obsessive love/lust with a pale, beautiful boy who turns out to be a mythical beast). This is why I choose to write YA. To bridge the gap and write for those who are unrepresented in the genre and its sub-genres.
This was just a few of my extended thoughts on the matter. And apparently, I have more. I’ll be covering more on characters of color soon.
I really would like to know what you all think of this. Please a comment with your take on the topic.
I’m giving away brand new copies of Speak, Twisted, and Catalyst by Laurie Halse Anderson to three lucky readers! I am a HUGE, HUGE fan of Laurie Halse Anderson’s work and I wanted to share my love of her novels with someone else.
When Melinda Sordino’s friends discover she called the police to quiet a party, they ostracize her, turning her into an outcast — even among kids she barely knows. But even worse than the harsh conformity of high-school cliques is a secret that you have to hide.
High school senior Tyler Miller used to be the kind of guy who faded into the background—average student, average looks, average dysfunctional family. But since he got busted for doing graffiti on the school, and spent the summer doing outdoor work to pay for it, he stands out like you wouldn’t believe. His new physique attracts the attention of queen bee Bethany Milbury, who just so happens to be his father’s boss’s daughter, the sister of his biggest enemy—and Tyler’s secret crush. And that sets off a string of events and changes that have Tyler questioning his place in the school, in his family, and in the world.
Meet Kate Malone-straight-A science and math geek, minister’s daughter, ace long-distance runner, new girlfriend (to Mitchell “Early Decision Harvard” Pangborn III), unwilling family caretaker, and emotional avoidance champion. Kate manages her life by organizing it as logically as the periodic table. She can handle it all-or so she thinks. Then, things change as suddenly as a string of chemical reactions; first, the Malones’ neighbors get burned out of their own home and move in. Kate has to share her room with her nemesis, Teri Litch, and Teri’s little brother. The days are ticking down and she’s still waiting to hear from the only college she applied to: MIT. Kate feels that her life is spinning out of her control-and then, something happens that truly blows it all apart. Set in the same community as the remarkable Speak, Catalyst is a novel that will change the way you look at the world.
The giveaway is open to U.S. residents only (Sorry guys, international shipping fees are crazy). You don’t have to be a follower of this blog to enter (though that’d be nice =) You can subscribe by entering your email address in the form on the sidebar). The giveaway will end at midnight on September 10th. To enter, fill out the form below.
It’s saturday night in Santa Barbara and school is done for the year. Everyone is headed to the same party. Or at least it seems that way. The place is packed. The beer is flowing. Simple, right? But for 11 different people the motives are way more complicated. As each character takes a turn and tells his or her story, the eleven individuals intersect, and reconnect, collide, and combine in ways that none of them ever saw coming
I picked up this book at Borders during one of my book hauls. Finally had a chance to read it this weekend. Reading the blurb on the back piqued my interest so I decided to give it a go. I would like to begin by saying I think I have a love/hate thing going on with this book. It is very reminiscent of teen movies about parties. The one that came to mind while reading was Can’t Hardly Wait starring Ethan Embry and Jennifer Love Hewitt. If anyone knows me, they know I absolutely adore the whole teen movie genre and pray to the alter of John Hughes. That was one of the reasons I initially picked up Party, it seemed like a fun read.
I’ll start with what I liked about it first–the good stuff. I really dig when there are several POVs revolving around one event. It is interesting to see how each person interprets what happens and how they interact with one another and the environment. It also gives the reader more insight into the event from different perspectives. Tom Leveen does an excellent job of giving each character an unique voice. I was able to tell each person apart from one another without having to flip back to the beginning of the chapter to she whose name was bolded in other to tell whose POV I was reading. It was well written and pretty funny. The story held my attention long enough for me to finish it in one setting. Since I get distracted very easily, that is most definitely a feat.
Now on to the not so good stuff. I’ll begin with the plot. It was almost like an episode of Skins. And not Skins UK but more like the watered down American version of Skins. It was drama-filled, formulaic and rather predictable. I felt there were too many life lessons the author was trying to convey to the reader and they all kind of lost their steam/power midway through the novel. While I was still pretty entertained, I wasn’t as invested in the characters as the story progressed. I felt like I was just roaming around the party, trying to find my keys and get the hell out there. But somehow I kept running to the characters and hearing them whine about problems that I no longer cared about during my search. It got kind of annoying.
I also didn’t care for the amount of characters. At least half of them really didn’t have a purpose other than to talk about the characters that were driving the plot. The story could’ve been told from the POVs of Beckett, Morrigan, Azize, Anthony, Max and Ashley and still could’ve worked. And with those characters, I only found myself attached to Beckett. She was the only one that came across as the most developed (though there were some logical flaws with her situation). The rest of the characters were stereotypes. And for the only two characters of color, pretty bad stereotypes.
Being African-American, I tend to look for how people of color are portrayed in YA Lit. So far, I have yet to come across a novel that handles them in a reasonable manner. It always seems as though there’s at least one TMF (token minority friend) that has been added to the cast to make it seem diverse and with that, it becomes fairly easy to cross the line into offensive territory. It also seems off like the TMF character is there for the soul purpose of allowing the other characters to say “It’s cool guys. I have a Black or Asian or Middle Eastern or Hispanic friend.” The characters are typically half-developed and lean more toward being stereotypes moreso than true characters. And this is the case with Anthony Lincoln. Anthony was described by what appears to be every other character as a “huge, black guy.” He plays football so he shows up at the party wearing a Oakland Raiders football jersey….lol okay. The characterization of Anthony put me in the mind of this trope.
Personally, I feel like the altercation between Anthony and Azize at the climax of novel was both unnecessary and kind of a cop-out. Anthony’s back story could have belong to any other character but I felt it was given to him because he was black. It seemed like it was there to soften the blow of the racial implications of a hate crime. Like it’s mildly better because a non-white person committed it. If that was going to be the driving force of the plot, I would’ve respected it more if an all-or-none approach was taken. If you were going to have this as a major plot point, then go all out. Don’t do it half-way because you would like to polish things over and have everything tied into neat little bow for the ending. A situation like that could not be fixed by a bros fist bump and an “I’m sorry” in real life. Not at all.
Would I recommend this book? Eh. Yes and no. While well-written and fun, I had problems with the plot, amount of characters and characterization of the characters of color. The story started off great but kind of got lost in the midst of things. Read it if you’re jonesing for a Skins US fix. Check out the book trailer below.
