#context: i read them both over audiobook so until now i couldn’t go back and reread all my favorite parts

[skepticalcatfrog]

Guess who officially has text copies of both These Violent Delights and Our Violent Ends and is about to make it everyone else's problem

[lunaajade]

Everything You Need to Know about “Shadow and Bone” on Netflix (*UPDATED: POSSIBLE LANGUAGE OF THORNS ADAPTATION INFO)

 Since it’s recently been confirmed that we’d be getting S&B content in a few days (finally!), I thought I’d compile and summarize as much info as I could to refresh everyone’s memories! Please spread the word/share this post to those who aren’t up to date! (I’ve seen some people online who are worried about how it’s going to turn out, and I’d like to be able to hopefully reassure those people)

Now, there’s a LOT of stuff, so there’s always the chance I missed/forgot something. This post will be split up into categories based on type of info, so here we go! I went back and listened to/watched both of the big live streams (NYCC and the S&B Charity Competition), went on the Grishaverse Reddit, etc. to find as much (extra/bonus) stuff as I could. (If I missed anything/got something wrong, please feel free to leave a comment!)

Update: A lot of people have been asking where it was confirmed we were getting content soon. I found out from one of the update accounts I follow.

Thanks for reading, everyone!

General/Key Info About the Show

-This first season will be adapting both “Shadow and Bone” and what has been dubbed a “Book 0″ (most likely meaning prequel/backstory/set-up) for “Six of Crows” -In relation to the above point, the timelines are being brought together for the show. (Normally in the books, the two series are set two years apart)(We don’t know how exactly or what this means for the story, but I have a really interesting theory that I thought up in relation to this, message me if you’d like to hear it.) -Leigh acknowledges and understands that some of us have doubts and are worried about the show, but she has publicly assured us (numerous times) of how much she loves the show and cast, how well she thinks the crew/writers did in bringing the Grishaverse to life, etc. See a later point below in the Facts/Tidbits section -The first season will have 8, one-hour long episodes -Alina has been made half Shu (half Asian) for the show! Leigh stated that was decided on after she and Eric had a lengthy discussion on Alina’s character. -The main cast (as in confirmed to be in all episodes) is comprised of Jessie Mei Li (as Alina), Archie Renaux (as Mal), Ben Barnes (as the Darkling), Freddy Carter (as Kaz), Amita Suman (as Inej), and Kit Young (as Jesper) -Wylan and Nikolai are NOT in the first season. (Nikolai didn’t appear until the second book, and Leigh confirmed that at this point in the story, the Crows had not met Wylan yet.) -Other cast members include Danielle Galligan (as Nina), Calahan Skogman (as Matthias), Daisy Head (as Genya), Sujaya Dasgupta (as Zoya), Luke Pasqualino (as David), Julian Kostov (as Fedyor), Simon Sears (as Ivan), Zoe Wanamaker (as Baghra), and more! -The Darkling will also be called “General Kirigan” in the show. From what we know, The Darkling will be the “enemy” to Ravka (so in essence, General Kirigan is his alias/fake persona (what he’ll most likely be referred to for most of the show), and no one knows that he’s actually their enemy. (Meaning it’ll most likely a super big moment when they learn their general was actually the Darkling in disguise)). -The show was shot on location in Budapest, Hungary. (And additional filming took place this past fall in Vancouver) -In order, the 8 episodes are titled the following: “A Searing Burst of Light”, “We’re All Someone’s Monster”, “The Making at the Heart of the World”, “Otkazat’sya”, “Show Me Who You Are”, “The Heart is An Arrow”, “The Unsea”, & “No Mourners”.

Other (Fun) Facts/Tidbits About the Show

-Upon seeing Jessie’s audition, Leigh loved her audition/portrayal of Alina so much that she apparently stated that she wanted her to play Alina or she’d be out of the project. She was sent five auditions to watch, Jessie’s was the third, and she said she didn’t bother watching the rest of them. -Leigh stated that she and Eric Heisserer (the creator of the show) said they were on the same page from the first meeting. All other past meetings with producers and companies about possible adaptations had left her with a bad feeling, but she said they’d had the same ideas about inclusion, story, staff, etc. She said she’s loved the respect he’s shown towards the work (and, in a way, to us the fans) -Netflix apparently also has the rights to adapt “The Language of Thorns” , though we’ve gotten no info on that adaptation yet. (UPDATE: I just watched a Leigh Bardugo event from Feb 2019 (a few weeks after the show was first announced, I think): As of  that day, she said that she thought that they were going to use LoT more for "texture” (IMO that might mean worldbuilding?) in the show. And I don’t know if she was talking about LoT specifically because she was very vague, but she said that there were certain things in the show that she thinks readers will be really excited about. Again, this was over a year ago, back when they were still in pre-production and stuff, so don’t take my word for it. Besides this, I couldn’t find anything else relating to a possible LoT adaptation. Maybe they’ll have the stories from LoT appear as actual folk tales told in the show, and that’s the “adaptation”? IDK. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpHnw8Ygw5c&t=1906s)) -Leigh is an exec. producer on the show! I’m no expert, so I don’t know how much say/power she had in the process, but she definitely had some. -There is a RAVKAN edition of the “Shadow and Bone” book that Leigh says makes a cameo in the show! -Jesper’s guns had custom etchings done on them by a Hungarian antique gunsmith! (And they were so good that Leigh and Eric said that it looked like it belonged in a museum--they were also described to be quite heavy!) -Eric Heisserer is the creator of the show, he is an award-winning writer, well known for “Arrival”, “Bird Box”, and more. (If I remember correctly, Leigh said that he’d reached out to her about making the show!) -A DeKappel painting (maybe the one owned by Van Eck?) was confirmed to be in the pilot episode. -Pekka Rollins and Tante Heleen have been confirmed to be in the first season, but their casting has (up to this point) not yet been revealed. -Bo Yul-Bayur is confirmed to be in the show! (Though Kuwei has not) -Leigh will have  a cameo in (I think) Episode 5! She will be wearing a Materialki kefta and will be opening a door, if I remember correctly. -A lot of the crew was also extremely passionate about the project and fans of the books -The “Lives of Saints” book that was published in October is an actual book/prop that is appearing in the show! -I’m personally fine with Mal, but Leigh says that Archie is going to change everyone’s minds with his portrayal! -The costume designer for the show is Wendy Partridge, known for her work on “Thor: The Dark World”, “Pompeii”, and more!  -The composer for the show is Joe Trapanese, known for composing for “The Greatest Showman”, “Straight Outta Compton”, “Lady and the Tramp”, and more! At the NYCC Grishaverse panel, they revealed a little bit of the score (”Grisha Theme”): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFxIEbsHKJA 

Fun Cast/On Set Stories/Facts

-The cast all loves each other, and are all extremely passionate about this show, which is great! (Leigh said that on her second visit to the set, she heard them singing together) -Leigh says that Ben Barnes once snuck up behind her on her first day on set and scared her by whispering “Fine, make me your villain” -Freddy’s favorite Grishaverse book is “Six of Crows”, but most specifically the first line of chapter 2 (”Kaz Brekker didn’t need a reason.”) -Jessie would apparently come to set on some of her days off to support the cast and crew! -Sujaya has stated that her favorite Grishaverse character is Nikolai! (#Zoyalai) -Freddy has become famous/popular with the fandom, one of the reasons being because he often comments on posts/live streams asking something along the lines of “What was it like working with Freddy Carter? xoxo” -Danielle loves Nina and her journey in “King of Scars” -According to a Tweet, Freddy and Leigh said that there had been a scene with “a very pesky gate”--Freddy said that it “wouldn’t be proper to tweet the expletives [he] used that day” and that he thinks he “scarred” Amita and Eric. -Amita’s favorite thing about Inej is her silence, and her favorite Grishaverse book is “Six of Crows” (as of May, where we learned this during a live-stream, she said she’s read it three times and listened to the audiobook twice.) -There was a waffle truck on set on the last day of shooting! -Calahan says that if he could play any other Grishaverse character, he’d want to play Nikolai! -While she did work with the trainer to get more physically fit, Amita learned most of her knife techniques by herself! -Leigh said she cried a lot while on set! (She said there was one scene they were shooting that she has a very clear, vivid memory of writing many years back--based on the context of which she was talking about it, if I had to guess, I’d guess she’s describing the Winter Fete.) -Leigh also said that on one of her first days on set, it was funny/weird to see all the extras in First Army uniforms chilling on their phones, drinking coffee, etc. -One of Calahan’s favorite character dynamics in the books is the dynamic between Kaz and Matthias -There was a moment where Amita was fully in costume and doing amazing, graceful knife work, only to trip and fall when she’d finished. -Amita and Jessie and Sujaya were best friends on set. -Sujaya loved everything about playing Zoya. (Especially her confidence) -Leigh says one of her favorite props was Kaz’s cane, especially because of what it meant to her and the story. -If he could be any Grisha order, Calahan says he’d want to be a Corporalki -Calahan loves Matthias’s journey/arc. -Kit’s favorite Grishaverse book is “Crooked Kingdom”!

Links

-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X65iI1YXrbU (NYCC Grishaverse Panel) -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHou5rVs6o0 (S&B Talent Show Charity Live Stream ft. the S&B Cast!--the IG video got taken down because Archie deleted his IG account and switched to a new one) -https://www.netflix.com/title/80236319 (”Shadow and Bone” on Netflix!) -https://twitter.com/shadowandbone_ (Official “Shadow and Bone” Twitter!) -https://www.instagram.com/shadowandbone/?hl=en (Official “Shadow and Bone” Instagram!) -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRh-Pmbynww (Annoucement made by cast when filming wrapped! (can be found on the social media accounts, but here’s a link to YT)) -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bpY8uLtyB4 (A S&B Cast Crack video by HeartPhantom--it highlights a lot of the inside jokes and memes that we’ve gotten to witness among the cast, and also just generally shows off how hilariously chaotic everyone is (this cast is the definition of chaotic good, lol))

[casscutting]

Cover Designer Breakdown: What You Should Know Before Hiring A Designer

Let’s talk more about cover design if you couldn’t tell Graphic Design is a big passion of mine. It’s up there with storytelling, my dogs, video games, books… Okay, you get it lol.

In my previous post, I barely scratched the surface of cover design so I want to expand on what I started and give you all a true breakdown of what you should do when you’re looking to hire a cover designer. Now, these tips are more tailored to those of you who are going the Indie publishing route. HOWEVER, since there are still a lot of things left up to the author who goes Traditional these tips can apply if you need bookmarks, banners for cons, business cards, etc.

Just a note before we get into the steps make sure your book is fully ready for print before you commission a designer. Make sure your book is formatted and any extra little pages you need/want to include ie the copyright page, the acknowledgments, maps and artwork, etc. is all accounted for because ACCURATE PAGE COUNT MATTERS because it determines the sign of the design for printing. If you don’t have this done and you get your covers designed you may have to go back and pay MORE to have the whole design adjusted to fit the proper size.

Inspiration! When you hire a cover designer you’ll usually be asked to provide images of book covers you like that fit within the context of your book. For example, if you are writing a cutesy YA contemporary romance about two teens who go away to a summer camp hating each other only to fall in love by the end of the summer you would want to give them covers that reflect that vision. Now the whole cover doesn’t have to fit your book but if there is some aspect of it that you like that does work for your story save it.

The other thing that would be smart to give but is not as important as the book covers themselves is fonts. If you see a font that you like, you should also send that to your designer as well.

Now a note with fonts not all fonts are free to use in a commercial since which a book cover would fall under. So depending on the designer, you may be charged extra if that designer has to purchase a specific font. Usually, these fonts licenses are no more than $25.00 American though I have seen some bat shit crazy prices like $150.00+  which is stupid and I’d never pay that for a font.

I personally have font licenses covered in my pricing then again I have roughly 1,500 fonts that are either free for commercial use or that I own licenses for. That goes for most designers as well we all have a catalog of fonts.

But like I said this is not a requirement in the least because even if you send a font to the designer there is no way of telling right off the back if that specific font will work with the overall design.

Finding A Designer There are several ways you can go about finding a designer. Social media: You can look on Instagram under the #CoverDesigner #GraphicDesigner or #BookCoverArtist hashtags.

Websites: 99Designs which is strickly for graphic designers and then there are Fiverr and Freelancer who also houses a large number of freelance Graphic Designers. I have also seen more and more graphic artists and designers on Etsy offering cover designs. Hell, even here on Tumblr you can find graphic designers selling book cover if you look. There are a lot of options out there.

Ask Indie Authors: More and more Indie Authors are taking advantage of graphic designers (THANK YOU) so if you see a book that is Indie Published DM that author and tell them that you really loved their cover and was wondering if you could get the name of their designer. Now they may not want to give you that information and that’s their choice but most of them will.

Indie Editors: A lot of indie editors work with cover designers and can put you in contact with them if you ask. Some of them even offer packages that include edits for your book along with cover designs.

Graphic Design Companies: I put this option last because it is by far the most expensive. There are thousands of these all over the world thus making them easy to find. I live in a SMALL town and there are 3 different graphic design companies within 30 minutes of me. A plus side of going with this option you’re less likely to have to plan so far in advance to book one of their artists but you will pay for that convenience.

A lot of designers especially the more widely known designers have a backlog of clients and thus usually have a post on their websites and or social media accounts stating if they are open to new clients or not.

No matter who you choose or what method you find them the one thing above all others is that you like their work, liking them as a person is also a really good plus lol.

Consultation & Booking Now that you’ve found a designer(s) you like its time for the Consultation. Most designers will have a price list/breakdown on their websites but on the off chance they don’t message them and say: Hello, my name is NAME I found you on Instagram (or wherever)  I am looking for a cover designer I liked your portfolio and was wondering about your price list because I didn’t see one on your site. Thank you, NAME” or something to that extent. It is best to be professional.

If their prices are within your budget then message them back and say that their prices work for you and you would like to talk about having them design a cover for you. Tell them that you are looking for a book cover (Hardcover, Paperback, E-book, and or Audiobook) Tell them about your book usually the synopsis will do. Tell them that you have inspiration pictures of other book covers that you think fit this book in some way.

If they are open to new commissions they will let you know and if they like the concept aka your synopsis. Some designers will take any client but most of us won’t want our name on something we don’t believe in. For example, if somewhere to come to me with a book about how Transgender people are the worst and should be killed. I’d be as “professional” as I could and let them know that a Transgender Graphic Designer isn’t the best choice for their project. True that is an EXTREME example but it’s not out of the realm of possibility.

You will give them any ideas you’ve had for the cover most authors/writers I know, myself included, have at least a basic vague idea of what they want for their book’s cover. It’s not the end of the world if you don’t just make sure you communicate that to the designer.

As I stated in my previous post depending on the designer you will most likely have to pay at least a portion of the coast up front and the rest before you’re given the final print ready copy. To keep it strictly business and to protect both you, the author, and the designer a contract will likely be sent over for you to read through and sign most of the ones I’ve seen break down like this: 

The author agrees to pay this set amount unless extra work is requested that goes above and beyond the stated arrangement ie 5 revisions and fixes, etc. set forth by the designer. 

The Author agrees to pay this amount upfront before any work is to start. 

The designer has this period of time in which to complete this work baring unforeseen illness and or death. 

The author is to pay the remaining balance before they are given the high quality unwatermarked version of the design. 

If the designer fails to meet the deadline and grace period of a set number of days has elapsed they designer forfeits the remainder of the contracted payment and is to finish the design within a timely manner and the design in question is to be given to the author who commissioned the work. 

If for any reason the author fails to pay within a set time and grace period has elapsed they forfeit the design and said design can be used going forward by the designer as they see fit. 

Then both parties sign and things proceed from there.

There are also stipulations within some contracts that I’ve seen that say if you as the author make the payments and get your product and you turn around and file a claim with PayPal (if that is the method of money transfer) to get your money back thus stealing from the designer you open yourself to litigation for usually double if not triple the original amount of the original contract plus any bank fees and lawyer and court costs. So think long and hard before you want to steal from someone.

Just like in the traditional publishing world people talk and if someone were to do this the designer will make sure that no one works with you at least not without knowing what took place.

The first payment is usually always made upon signing of the contract or within a set amount of time. The contracts even when signed, unless your designer is a monster, usually won’t be valid until that first payment is made and the money is in the designer’s position.

There you have it a more in-depth breakdown of what the cover process is likely to be. I hope this helps you on your journey to publication.

[libralita]

Title: When Dimple Met Rishi

Author: Sandhya Menon

Summary: Dimple Shah has it all figured out. With graduation behind her, she’s more than ready for a break from her family, from Mamma’s inexplicable obsession with her finding the “Ideal Indian Husband.” Ugh. Dimple knows they must respect her principles on some level, though. If they truly believed she needed a husband right now, they wouldn’t have paid for her to attend a summer program for aspiring web developers…right?

Rishi Patel is a hopeless romantic. So when his parents tell him that his future wife will be attending the same summer program as him—wherein he’ll have to woo her—he’s totally on board. Because as silly as it sounds to most people in his life, Rishi wants to be arranged, believes in the power of tradition, stability, and being a part of something much bigger than himself.

The Shahs and Patels didn’t mean to start turning the wheels on this “suggested arrangement” so early in their children’s lives, but when they noticed them both gravitate toward the same summer program, they figured, Why not?

Dimple and Rishi may think they have each other figured out. But when opposites clash, love works hard to prove itself in the most unexpected ways.

Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

Review:

It’s probably not a good sign when the only reason you want to finish a book is because you want to be able to write a full, in depth post about the abuse in this book. But my hats off to the narrators for the audiobook, they did a really nice job. I wanted to like this book. I saw it on Amazon a while back and thought it was going to be a cute, perfect for the summer type of read. But oh boy this was just an awful book.

I’ll get into the things that I did like. One was the scene where Celia and Ashish are telling the main characters that they hooked up. It was really funny and unexpected but made total sense. I liked how it cut back and forth between Dimple and Rishi’s perspective. Honestly the way the story was told from the duo-perspective was fine. They had distinct voices (Rishi was sweet and endearing and Dimple made me want to kill kittens) and it flowed nice.

Also, normally I would be more angry that Dimple and Rishi get together but then break up for really stupid reasons but honestly there’s much stinker shit to be mad at.

I’m happy that Menon wants to share her culture and give a new perspective. I’d love to learn about Indian culture. However, what I found annoying is that Menon writes as if everyone reading this book knows the basics of Indian culture. If you aren’t or have never lived around Indians then you’re probably going to have an annoying time reading this like I did. I don’t expect her to spend pages upon pages explain ever little detail but maybe spend a little time describe what the traditional clothes looked like or what exactly the food was. At the very least she should have translated the dialogue. Any time the main characters were talking to their parents I had no idea what they were saying. It didn’t leave me interested in the culture, it left me confused and I just kept reading on instead of taking the time to look into it more. It’s like if I were in Japan and writing a book where a Mexican character had a sombrero or was celebrating dia de los muetros, I’d probably have to explain what those things are because Mexican culture isn’t very well known in Japan.

Second, there are a lot of inconsistencies in this book. Dimple is introverted, nerdy, isn’t traditionally attractive (until she puts on a dress because yes that trope is still alive), is made fun of and comes from a culture that would make her an outcast. Yet, she likes to go to…parties. She wants to go to a college party where she will only know one person there. How is that at all consistent with her character?

Dimple’s parents are so inconsistent that I don’t really know what problems Dimple has. So the book starts off with us thinking that her parents are very traditional and they want her to get married and have babies. Patriarchal values and other such nonsense. But as we get to know her parents we see that her father doesn’t really care and wants Dimple to win the Insomnia Con. Okay, maybe it’s just her mother—

“Whatever you do, Dimple, I am your mother. I will always support you. I am always proud of you. Okay?”—Page 365

Nope. So…what’s her problem? The only thing I can think of is that because her parents lied to her about why they wanted her to go to Insomnia Con and…her mother doesn’t want her to dress like a complete slob. The first one, is sucky but really get over it. We don’t get to see if Dimple’s parents are learning to accept their daughter for who she is or if this a miscommunication or what. At the beginning of the book Dimple says they don’t support her and at the end of the book they say they do. So…what happened?

Also, she’s complaining about her mother wanting to find an IIH and that’s the only reason she’s going to Stanford but that doesn’t make much sense. Why would your parents, who aren’t that rich, send you to Stanford to meet a husband? Why not, oh, I don’t know, set you up with someone they know? Like that nice Patel boy! Why do they need to send her to Stanford? If I were writing this book, I’d make it where Dimple gets into Stanford but her mother doesn’t want her to go. So she asks to go to Insomnia Con to prove that she has what it takes to be a coder and they agree mostly because they know that nice Patel boy is going. Problem solved.

Finally, the main problem with this book. Dimple Shah. She is one of the worst characters I’ve ever read. First of all she’s so ungrateful. Her parents are sending her to freaking Stanford but because they “don’t have the right intentions” so, her life is awful. Rishi gets her a meeting with her Jenny Lindt and she then breaks up with him because they’re “too perfect”.

Second, she is so hypocritical. She complains about misogyny and complains that Celia basically has internalized misogyny when she’s been nothing but awful to her mother because of her mother’s values.

“Rishi rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand. ‘I don’t know; she’s your mom, you know. I feel like if you were really hurting or really needed her, she’d be there for you without question. And maybe there’s a part of her she hasn’t shared with you yet that’s totally not what you expect.’ Dimple thought that was likely utter BS,”—Page 283

Rishi brings up the fact that maybe her mother has good intentions or another side to her. Dimple just brushes this off as BS and never goes back to think “hey maybe Rishi was right”. Another time when she’s being hypocritical is when the talent show comes up, Dimple picks a dance where she doesn’t have to do much and passes the burden off to Rishi without consulting him. She eventually pressures him into do it and he gives in. Then within the same scene Evan is pressuring Celia to do a dance in a swimsuit and Dimple says:

“‘No.’ Dimple reached out and put a hand on Celia’s arm. ‘Not at all. It’s totally up to you how comfortable you are with this, you know? It’s totally up to you how comfortable you are with this, you know? It’s not up to Evan or Hari or Isabelle. So what if she wants to do it? She’s not you, and you’re not her.’”—Page 237

Like what kind of horseshit is that? You literally just pushed Rishi into doing something that he may not be uncomfortable with but it’s not okay for Evan to do that with Celia? She never has any self-awareness at all. It never crosses her mind that Rishi also might have stage fright. Then when he turns out he’s not a great dancer she gets pissed like. It was your idea Dimple, not Rishi’s.

Now, time for the part of this book that I hated the most. Dimple is so physically abusive to Rishi and it just made my heart ache. She was just an awful person and I couldn’t stand it. Okay, so there’s a time when Dimple first meets Rishi and he says “hello future wife” it freaks her out and she throws her ice coffee at him. It totally get that, if some stranger came up and said that to me, I’d probably do the same. Then in the next scene Rishi goes to explain himself to her and she cuts him with a map because she thinks he’s continuing to be creepy and not taking a hint. It’s in self defense. I have no problem with that but there are several points where Dimple hits Rishi for playfully teasing her and that’s where I have real issues with. Especially how Menon handles it.

A little context to this first quote, Rishi and Dimple are on a scavenger hunt and they’re at an antique shop so Dimple is being silly trying on hats and things.

“She pretended to strut around, and, on impulse, he raised the Polaroid and took a picture. ‘Hey!’ she said when the flash popped. ‘What was that for?’ she reached out and punched him in the ribs seemingly as an afterthought. ‘Ow!” Rishi said, rubbing his side. ‘What the heck?’ ‘Sorry,’ Dimple mumbled, and it looked only half true.”—Page 71

This next scene is where Dimple and Rishi are working on the concept art for their app. Rishi draws zombies as the bad guys but Dimple says those are overdone and suggests aliens.

“‘Aliens?’ Rishi rolled his eyes. ‘You totally don’t have my artistic vision.’ Dimple punched him in the ribs, lighter than she wanted to, but he still winced. ‘Ow. You know, most girls just slap guys playfully on the arm or something. They don’t actually hurt them.’ ‘Well, maybe you need to expand your idea of how girls behave,’ Dimple replied, grinning. Rishi laughed. ‘Fair enough. And yes, I can totally do aliens since they seem so important to you.’”—Page 130

So both times Rishi is being playful, taking her picture and jokingly teasing her. Then Dimple chose to respond by punching him. She’s actually hurting, even when she’s “going lighter” she’s still hurting him. Also, this gives Dimple (and the females in the audience) the idea that if she punches Rishi that she’ll get her way. He let her get away with punching him and changed his concept to aliens. Then, the line, “expand your idea of how girls behave”. That sounds to me like the author thinks that girls hitting boys is okay and empowering. No. Thousands times no. That shouldn’t be your message. Your message should be it’s not okay to punch anyone. That is not an okay message to teach young women and no one in the story class Dimple out on this.

The character is constantly complaining about misogyny, at one point Rishi makes a snarky quip to a bunch of dude-bros about “casual misogyny”. So if just talking about a wet-shirt contest is casual misogyny, I’m guessing that Dimple is a straight up misandrist. There are times when Dimple says “Fighting is ever the answer” but you’re constantly hitting him to the point where he’s now use to it.

“‘That…you’re a little too obsessed with Insomnia Con?’ Dimple punched him in the ribs, and it was a testament to him having acclimated to her that he didn’t even flinch.”—Page 233

Seriously, I didn’t want Rishi to get with Dimple. I wanted him to find a girlfriend that wouldn’t constantly abuse him. When he called her an unkind person, I was so happy because she is. She’s a horrible person and this author is telling her audience very questionable things. This book would be a million times better if Dimple wasn’t in it. She’s abusive, preachy and giant hypocrite.

I felt like I was being trolled the entire way through this book because there’s no possible way an author could be this not self-aware. This is probably worst than Future of Us because I had to drag my way through this book. It put me in a reading slump. It was awful.

[meiilan]

How sound became my space-suit

Okay, this sounds like a weird sci-fi novel thing, but it will make sense in context. I had some thoughts today on my own mental health and what it’s affected by and how I came to be, where I am now and so on. And I figured, it might be beneficial to write some specific thoughts down, if only for the sake of having shared them at least once.

I put most of it under a read more, because it’s a bit of a brief life-story and so I reckon it’ll get quite a bit long. Also it’s going to mention several of my mental health issues, which some people just might not want to read about.

For as long, as I can remember, I have been particularly affected by sounds, especially music. Now don’t get me wrong! This is not going to be a “How I became a Musician” story, because truth be told, I’m as musically gifted, as a piano that was tuned with a sledgehammer. I have a very bad sense of rhythm, can’t hold a note for the love of it and have never truly learned, how to read sheet music, or play an instrument. The only instrument, that I could produce decent melodies on, was a harmonica, I got when I was still in kindergarten. I taught myself to play simple nursery songs on it, by likening the sounds, I could make on the instrument to the notes, I heard when the songs were being sung.

But music and sound has always had an important part in my life and in how well I did, or did not function around people. Up to the point, where the mere thought of loosing my hearing, terrifies me. I’m not much afraid in comparison of loosing my sight, as long, as I will still be able to hear and yes, I had thought of that, too, because the gradual loss of eyesight is kinda a thing in my family and it has already started within me as well. But I’m pretty sure, I could deal with being blind one day, just as I know, I could absolutely not deal with loosing my hearing. Music and sound is just too fundamentally a necessity for my own well-being...

For example, up until I entered elementary school, I always insisted that mum sings me a lullaby before bed and I think, at least during the first grade of elementary school, I still requested her to do it sometimes. It was always the same song, of which she couldn’t even remember the whole text, let alone hit the high notes. But the familiar melody, together with the voice of my mum were an important requirement for me to actually calm down enough to be able to fall asleep eventually. Which might explain, why I started to develop serious insomnia and other sleep-related problems for a couple years, after we stopped that tradition.

The first music aside from mum, that I can remember affecting me, was the soundtracks of The Jungle Book and The Lion King. I had both movies as audiobooks on cassettes back in the days. I don’t know which came first, but I do know, that I replayed them over and over again, until they broke, or the cassette recorder ate them. But I didn’t replay the entire audibooks. I had perfectly memorized, how I had to rewind, or fast forward in order to reach specific songs, which I wanted to play. I don’t remember singing along to them, but listening to them was really important to me.

Which so far doesn’t seem all that unusual yet.

But then, when I was about 8 or 9 came the era of the walkman. It was around that time, that I also started to subconsciously realize, that the place the society around me had shaped for me, didn’t quite fit me. I just didn’t fit in. In social groups outside my family, I had always been a bit of an outcast. I only ever had a very limited number of friends as a child, which usually consisted of outcasts like me and children with too weak a will to push me away, when I came up to them, boldly demanding their friendship.

Okay, that last part sounds a bit shitty on my side, but it’s not like I was at an age, where I truly realized that. I was just that desperate for friends. Everyone outside of this small circle of friends and family members seemed to have a problem with me. The teachers thought I had a learning disorder, because I got distracted and bored in class, the other kids picked on me, up to the point, where the class had me against a wall, with my hands over my ears. The world outside my safety bubble just seemed super hostile and what was worse, was that I didn’t understand why. I felt literally alien out there. And that’s where the walkman came in.

I clearly remember a holiday camp I went to around the age of ten or so. I had a walkman by then and I had a cassette with mediocre covers of superhits from the 90s. And one of the biggest hits at that time was “I’m blue” from Eiffel 65. Now I didn’t have the original, but I had this pretty catchy cover of it, which I played up and down on my cassette recorder during the entire camp-time, up to the point, where I actually performed a sort of blue-painted alien dance during the children disco with a camp-friend I made there and never saw again after.

Whenever the other kids started talking about whatever was IN back then, or grouped up in little play groups, I wasn’t invited to, I pulled out my walkman and listened to that song. It was simply easier than trying to understand, what all the kids around me where up about.

And no this isn’t me saying I was a special child (tm) or I wasn’t like the others (tm). It’s just literally my experience. I failed to understand other kids. Music was easier. Music didn’t need to be understood. And I really didn’t understand it, because my English-skills at that age were still pretty much basic-level. All I understood from that song was, that the singer was blue, as in the color.

I had such a bad understanding of the kids my age, that my teachers demanded of my mother, that I was to see a psychologist, because I was clearly antisocial and maybe even underdeveloped. The psychologist, I went to, thankfully debunked those accusations and diagnosed that I simply had developed other parts of my intelligence, than most kids do at my age. I wasn’t very emotionally, or socially developed, but I had a keen understanding of logical problem-solving and of language and thus verbal expressiveness. I also somehow was clumsy as shit, because of that ill-balanced development, but that’s neither here nor there.

After the walkman, came the CD-player and the portable CD-player and the trend of pulling out the headphones only increased, because the world around me had become more hostile. Mainly because everybody started to hit puberty and I didn’t understand that either. It was around then, that I figured, that I was probably bisexual (disclaimer: that realization was bound to change a lot within the following years) and I wasn’t very secretive about it either. Which of course made me only more the focus of bullying by my peers and the invention of the first MP3-player came like a blessing from heaven to me, because it meant, I didn’t need to carry a hefty CD-case on top of my also hefty CD-player anymore. Music from then on was always available at a single press of a button.

I became so dependent on my mp3-player that I became incredibly moody and insufferable when the batteries ran out, or my headphones broke and I had to walk to school just one day without music. Thankfully, although my mother didn’t understand it, she didn’t punish me for it either, but simply made sure replacements were made in due time.

A lot of bad stuff happened during my puberty and all the way up to now. I developed psychosomatic stress-disorder from the excessive bullying, eventually started to even cut myself and became so unstable, that I fainted every second or so day of school, unable to attend. I used my MP3-player and later my phone more and more often during the day, up until the only time, I hadn’t headphones stuck in my ears, was at home (not always, though), or during classes. And I was seeing a psychologist again and somewhere in this time, I realized, I might be pansexual, instead of bisexual, but the biggest revelation I had during therapy, was when my psychologist asked me, if I ever considered, that I might be transgender.

Fast forward a little. A lot of stuff happened from then on too. Not all of it was bad. I came to terms with the fact, that both my gender-identity and my sexuality are a lot more confusing, than what I thought as a teenager. I found new friends, got two lovable cats, have had several relationships and several jobs, but my mental health kept declining, up until I had to be hospitalized. The diagnosis: Severe depression.

I suffered badly from insomnia by then and only medications and the discovery of MyNoise.net, a free website that provides hundreds of calming soundscapes, from instrumental to natural sounds, helped me fall asleep. I still use MyNoise.net, even though, I usually don’t use medications to sleep anymore. When I leave the house alone, I always cover my ears with headphones, music accompanying my every step. When I’m alone at home, music is playing from my pc. When I have to go to town and ride the subway, music helps me fend of a panic attack. When I’m in exhausting social situations, I put on my earphones to tune out all the people around me. I’m awake roughly 10-12 hours a day. I’m pretty sure, I’m not exaggerating, if I say at least 8 of those hours, I listen to soundscapes or music.

It is, as if I’m living in a world, where the air is too hard to breath, the surrounding environment is too hostile for me to survive, constantly attacking my mental and emotional stability. Putting on my earphones is to me, like putting on a space helmet. Only when the music starts playing, can I actually breath.

[cover2covermom]

Happy end of March bookworms!

After my ridiculous reading month in January when I read 11 books, I really thought I had peaked in 2017.  That was until I read 14 books in March.  #NailedIt

My blogging month was also not too shabby.  All around, March was good to me.

Let’s recap shall we?

*Book titles link to Goodreads

What I read in March:

 » A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab

Summary of feelings: This book.  I thought A Darker Shade of Magic was great, but this book knocked my socks off.  If I am being completely honest, reading these books gave me similar feelings that I had as a child reading Harry Potter.  I know once I finish this series, it will always hold a special place in my heart.

» Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

Summary of feelings: I know this is often everyone’s favorite Ann Patchett novel, but it was just ok for me.  I actually enjoyed State of Wonder more.  That being said there were elements that I really liked about this book: the focus on music, the blurring of lines between captives and captors, and the intense ending.  I would have liked the pacing to have been a little more steady throughout the book versus the snails pacing for 95% of the book, then the big rush to the finish for the last 5%.  That ending though!  Patchett foreshadowed throughout the novel, and I was anticipating a crazy finish, but not to that extent.

*Part of my SOKY Book Fest TBR

» Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Summary of feelings:  Neil Gaiman.  Why are you so damn brilliant?  I don’t think he could do any wrong in my eyes.  The man writes pure gold.  If you asked me which of his books has been my favorite, I really couldn’t tell you as I’ve loved them all.

» My Father, the Pornographer by Chris Offutt

*3.5 Stars

Summary of feelings: My Father, the Pornographer is more about the author Chris Offutt, then it really is about his father, Andrew J. Offutt (the pornographer).  While many parts of the book were slow going and mundane, I found parts of this book absolutely fascinating.  It definitely was darker than I was anticipating.  If you are interested in psychology at all, you would find parts of this book very appealing.

*Part of my SOKY Book Fest TBR – Unfortunaly this author canceled and will not be attending :(

» Echo by Pam Muñoz Ryan

*4.5 Stars

Summary of feelings:  Echo was a beautiful middle grade book that blended fairytale, history, and music together.  I did not realize when I started this book that it was going to start off as a fairytale, but eventually turn into a WWII historical fiction.  I thought the way the author took multiple story lines and  wove them together was very clever.  I also liked how each story ends on a cliffhanger, but you don’t really find out how they all end until the end of the book.   I cannot stress enough that if you are able, audiobook is definitely the way to go with this one.  Not only is each section of this book narrated by a new narrator, but the music is also played out.  I would recommend this one to any music lovers, and especially any of you that are musicians yourselves.  I think the author really captured the essence of the love that musicians have for creating music.

» Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris

*3.5 Stars

Summary of feelings:  Now I don’t typically reach for thrillers, but I do enjoy throwing them into the mix every once in a while.  Behind Closed Doors was selected as my book club’s March book.   If I am being honest, I have yet to read a thriller that has knocked me off my feet.  I don’t know if I am just not reading the right books, or if my reading tastes just do not include thrillers… Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed this book, but would I want to read it again?  Probably not.  I will say this was a very quick read and at least kept me interested until the end.  I think this book could have been much better if the author would have told this in a dual perspective of both Grace and Jack.  I wanted to know more about Jack… his thoughts and motives.  I did really like how everything panned out in the end.

» Paper Wishes by Lois Sepahban

Summary of feelings:  I read this book in one sitting.  This is a middle grade historical fiction, but I would probably say the target audience is on the younger age range of middle grade.  Maybe 7-10 year olds?  This book tackles a topic that we don’t hear about much in school here in the U.S: the relocation and incarceration of Japanese-Americans in the U.S. during WWII.   This would make for a great book to use in a classroom setting (maybe 2nd-3rd grade?) as this book has themes of family, loss, friendship, etc. along with the historical context.

*Part of my SOKY Book Fest TBR

» The Shadow Queen by C.J. Redwine

Summary of feelings:  The Shadow Queen was a solid read, but it didn’t blow me away by any means.  The thing I liked the most about this book was how the author spun this retelling of Snow White.  I think she did a good job staying true to the story while giving us some new elements: dragons and more magic.  If you are a fan of YA fantasy and/or fairytale retellings, then I would recommend this book to you!  I think my biggest issue with this book was the characters.  They didn’t feel real to me and were lacking emotion.  I think if the author had slowed the plot down just a tad and focused a little more on character development, this would have helped me to form more of a connection to the characters.

*Part of my SOKY Book Fest TBR

» East by Edith Pattou

Summary of feelings:  I loved this book and I can’t really put my finger on why exactly.  It may have just been the right book at the right time.  East is very fast paced read with short chapters and multiple perspectives.  Despite the fact that this book is just over 500 pages, I was immersed in the story from beginning to end.  This book feels very much like a fairy tale because it is based off the Norwegian fairytale “East of the Sun and West of the Moon.”  I am not familiar with this fairytale, so prior knowledge of it is not a requirement to enjoy East.   This book also gave off an epic journey vibe as well.  So, an epic journey fairytale?  Whatever this book is, I loved it.

*Part of my Ohioana Book Fest TBR

» Sachiko: A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor’s Story by Caren Stelson

Summary of feelings:  Wow.  What a heartbreaking and horrifying story, yet also uplifting and hopeful.  The author weaves Sachiko’s story with historical context throughout the book, which made for an emotional and informative read.  We are given a personal account at what it was really like to survive the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.

Honestly Sachiko’s account reminded me of pictures and media coverage of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001.   It felt many of the same feelings I did as a 14-year-old kid watching the coverage of the terrorist attacks on TV: horror, fear, anger, and sorrow.

This book also questions the decision of the United States to use nuclear weapons before really knowing the effects the bombs would have both short and long term.  Truman rationalized his decision by saying that dropping the atomic bombs saved hundreds of thousands of American lives we would have lost if we would have sent troops to Japan to fight a war in the east.  HOWEVER there were most likely other motives in play here as well.  Was it worth the instant death of 120,000 Japanese people?  How about the countless number of Japanese people who died in the aftermath from injuries, radiation sickness, and years later – cancer?

Sachiko definitely gave me a lot to think about.

» A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park

Summary of feelings: Another thought-provoking novel.  A Long Walk to Water is about the war torn country of Sudan, a country in northern Africa.  The majority of this book is about one of the “lost boys” of Sudan, Salva.  I must admit, before reading this story, I knew practically nothing about the hostility in Sudan that went on for YEARS (conflicts are still going on today), nor the very real problem that it’s people face: access to clean water.   A Long Walk to Water is also about a girl named Nya, whose job it is to fetch water for her family.  She spends 8 hours EVERY day fetching water for her family.  The book is told in alternating perspectives and timelines, but the connection between these two stories isn’t made clear until the end.  This book really opened my eyes to how privileged I am to be able to walk to my kitchen and turn on a faucet.

» The Girls in the Garden by Lisa Jewell

Summary of feelings: No one is more shocked then me that I actually really enjoyed this book.  If you have followed me for a while, you know that thriller novels are not my go-to books, but I kept throwing them into the mix.  Girls in the Garden is one of those books where you learn about “the incident” first, then go back in time leading up to the incident.  I thought the author did a great job of holding my attention the entire time.  I really liked how Jewell introduced all kinds of characters/scenarios to thrown the reader off the trail.  The conclusion wasn’t exactly a huge shocker, BUT it was definitely more involved and complicated then I was anticipating.  Typically I don’t like when the author leaves things un-resolved, but Jewell does leave a few things up in the air.  I think it worked here.

*Full review to come

» The Animators by Kayla Rae Whitaker

Summary of feelings:  I am going to venture to say that The Animators is going to be the biggest surprise of 2017 for me.  This book is so much more than I was anticipating.  I was anticipating a light hearted contemporary novel with friendship being a central theme.  While friendship is a major theme, The Animators is NOT a light hearted read.  It is very gritty and raw… definitely more of a darker novel.

I also thought this book was young adult, and it turns out that this book is very much an adult book.  I think it was because the cover gave off a YA vibe to me?  Anyways, The Animators has a lot of adult content that is not suitable for a young audience.

*Part of my SOKY Book Fest TBR

» Loving Vs. Virginia: A Documentary Novel of the Landmark Civil Rights Case by Patricia Hruby Powell (Illustrated by Shadra Strickland)

Summary of feelings:   Loving Vs. Virginia is the Supreme Court case that legalized marriage between races.  In this book, we learn about Richard & Mildred Loving, the couple behind this infamous case.  Told in verse, Loving Vs. Virginia is very much the love story of Richard Loving, a white man, and Mildred, a biracial woman.   I was anticipating a little more historical content, but overall, this was a very well done YA book.  I must admit, I have never really read a book about interracial marriage before.  The challenges that the Lovings faced was heartbreaking to read about.

I listened to the audiobook version, but I am waiting for a copy from my library to see the illustrations.

*I am definitely interested in reading a book that goes a little deeper into the history of interracial marriage, as well as challenges that interracial couples face in today’s society.  If anyone has any recommendations, please let me know.

Challenge Updates:

» Goodreads Challenge 

» Diversity Bingo 2017

Since I am more focused on reading for my upcoming book festivals, I was only able to knock out 1 square for #DiversityBingo2017.  This isn’t to say I am not reading diverse books, just that the ones I read didn’t fit into any of the categories for this month.  I am now a total of 11 squares down.  This month I completed…

• Displaced MC → Paper Wishes by Lois Sepahban

*Actually a few of the other books I read this month would also fit this category: A Long Walk to Water, Sachiko, and Loving Vs. Virginia all have characters who are displaced.

Here are the squares I’ve completed thus far…

• MC w/ chronic pain → Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo #OwnVoices

• MC w/ an under-represented body → 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl by Mona Awad

• Diverse non-fiction → Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly

• POC on the cover → Stella by Starlight by Sharon M. Draper

• Non-western (real world) setting → Listen, Slowly by Thanhha Lai #OwnVoices

• Immigrant or Refugee MC → Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai #OwnVoices

• Black MC (Own Voices) → Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson #OwnVoices

• MC of Color in SFF → When the Sea Turned to Silver by Grace Lin #OwnVoices

• Own Voices → The Crystal Ribbon by Celeste Lim #OwnVoices

• Free Choice → Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin (Gender Fluid MC)

*Not sure if this challenge is like traditional BINGO where you only need to get a line to “win,” but I’m going for a cover-all

On the Blog:

Book Reviews:

 Book Review: Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood

Book Review: And I Darken by Kiersten White

Kids’ Corner: Diverse Children’s Picture Books in Review (March 2017)

Other Posts:

February 2017 Wrap-Up + Book Haul

March 2017 TBR

Book Event: V.E. Schwab’s A Conjuring of Light Book Tour

Dream Loot Crate: Bookish Crate (Theme: A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab)

Blogging Babble: Blogger/Follower Expectations

Top Ten Tuesdays

Top Ten Tuesday: Spring 2017 TBR

Top Ten Tuesday: Authors I’ve Met & A Few I’d Like to Meet

Top 5 Wednesdays

Top 5 Wednesday: Favorite Fantasy Books

 March Book Haul:

Follow Cover2CoverMom on Instagram @Cover2CoverMom

» A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab *SIGNED*

*I picked up my copy when I attended V.E. Schwab’s book tour, which you can read about here → Book Event: V.E. Schwab’s A Conjuring of Light Book Tour

» The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui

*Won from a giveaway hosted by Crystal @Lost In A Good Book.  Huge thank you to her for hosting this giveaway!

» The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel

*Via Blogging for Books

» The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

*I already have a copy of this book, but when I saw a gently used hardback copy at my library for $0.50, I wasn’t about to pass it up.

» The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier

*Another used copy I picked up at my library for $0.50.  I really enjoyed Girl With a Pearl Earring by this author, so why not.

How was your March?

Which books did you read?

Did you buy any books? Which ones?

Comment below and let me know :)

I #NailedIt in March by #Reading 14 #Books! See which ones in my #WrapUp. #BookBlogger Happy end of March bookworms! After my ridiculous reading month in January when I read 11 books, I really thought I had peaked in 2017. 

[rigelmejo]

Ok so I’m still reading this fanfic, still on chapter 3. In my defense I am reading DAILY and this fic is well written and also complex ah.

I do think me pushing through the first few chapters helped immensely though. Authors do have a “style/particular word choice preference” and I think I’m through the bulk of it. Now I can pick up a lot more of this author’s usual adjective choices and ways of describing. Like which words are used to express things like sigh, look, gently, weakly, expressionlessly, warm, cold etc. As for the nouns - I think that is a hurdle whenever there’s new exposition, but once that introduction is over the same nouns are repeated again and again because they’re plot relevant. (In this case, the home Zhang Qiling owns and it’s furniture and layout objects, the silk clothing shop and embroidery/tailoring items he interacts with regularly, photography related words, ghost/blood related words). Now that those parts of the world have been established, the narration just keeps repeating those same words in new contexts as the plot progresses. So it’s gotten easier - I’m now recognizing a lot of those words without looking them up. I imagine I’ll keep getting repetition on these words as I read, which is helping me learn them. And there shouldn’t be another huge hurdle until the plot switches to a new ‘arc’ with new main nouns (idk maybe a bank? An isolated river bank? Who knows what will be next).

I do think I’m learning some words, I do think the repetition is helping me learn some words. Thankfully, I am also picking up a bit of new Hanzi recognition too - this part is slower going, but for the very frequent words (and words with very intuitive radicals like 飘 and 瞟) I am starting to easily recognize them.

I do think this read through is benefiting me. This novel is so “hard” to me, so it takes like 40 minutes a chapter. But I have no doubt my reading speed will be way up once I go back to easier material, and my dictionary lookups will be less frequent. Easier stuff being: less intense plot fanfics, stories I’m familiar with (Silent Reading and Guardian might well be easier after this), dmbj might well become easier (dmbj is WAY LESS descriptive than this fic), slice of life novels will Definitely be easier.

So, like usual: I do something too hard for me, and it makes the things actually-my-level suddenly much easier. My current reading method for this novel: reading through and thinking the pronunciation, clicking any new words I need to understand (I’ve just been looking up all new words cause I’m not I’m a rush), and clicking any new words I don’t know the pronunciation of to listen to it. So basically, intensive reading. I normally prefer to do extensive reading and only look up as necessary to follow the main gist, but I am using this fic to drag my vocabulary up more - so more lookups. Also, this fic is really good, I don’t want to skip any details. I noticed with this fic: I’m very good in general with reading dialogue without dictionary help, compared to other parts of a novel.

—-

Other activity I’m doing for study/etc: Listening-Reading Method with Silent Reading by Priest.

Goal is to drag up my listening comprehension, and hopefully learn some new words/phrases by listening. Ideally this method eventually gives you some “natural learning” base ability so that you can hear simpler audio and fully comprehend it afterward (or mostly, to the point you can then pick up new words from context when listening to easier content). And so that you can have better ability to comprehend listening when watching shows/talking etc. I very much want to drag my listening comprehension at least up to my reading level. And I’d LOVE if I picked up new words too - since i am fairly good at recognizing Hanzi in reading, if I had more audio base of words I think I could pick up overall words in reading a bit easier (as in remember their pronunciation faster).

For this, I have been doing Step 1 - reading a chapter in English for context. Then step 3 - listening to chinese audiobook and skimming the English to attach meaning to what I hear and follow along. It’s been working very well.

I skipped step 2 since I already have listened to the audiobook with the chinese text for some chapters before, and I listen pretty decently already. I might do step 2 AFTER I’m done with the book in step 3, in order to attach Hanzi spelling to the audio words I’m picking up in this Step 3 read through. In that way, I can use Step 2 to improve my reading comprehension a little (to try and match both reading and listening levels a bit more).

Step 3 has been very easy. But it is critical that: I read each chapter in English first (otherwise, I try to read the English instead of skimming for meaning when I do step 3). And also that the audio matches the translation content wise! As in the paragraphs roughly are the same! This makes all the difference in if step 3 can even benefit you!!! On if step 3 is even possible as a study method!!! For Silent Reading, a few lines of dialogue are switched or ordered differently, but all of the paragraphs are still there in some form, and all the descriptive paragraphs mostly have the same exact sentence order. (And dialogue being varied is less of an issue for me - unknown words still seem to match the English so I can attach some meaning to them, and I can already understand dialogue pretty well when listening without any text so these changes don’t make me lost). Also, the person reading aloud tends to pause a little after each paragraph, giving me time to realize we’ve moved on (if I somehow did get lost mid paragraph), and giving me a chance to figure out if a paragraph was skipped in the audio (it almost never is, but if so, this pause gives me time to skim and figure out where I am in the text again). The audio being so compatible with the text means step 3 is very easy. I do NOT have to waste some of my concentration to struggle to match audio to text, I can use all of my focus on listening to the audio and glancing for the definition of unknown words. Which is the main goal of Step 3. (I tried L-R Method with a novel with highly mismatched audio, and it was so bad I couldn’t even do a chapter all the way through, and most of my focus was just keeping my place in the text - not even focusing on the audio’s meaning). For Silent Reading I have been able to easily breeze through Step 3, simply following along. The readers voice is also very clear, so I can easily locate the sentence I’m hearing based on the words I know WELL.

I imagine doing this for Guardian, with Avenuex’s audiobook, would be equally “smooth” as an experience. Her audiobook matches the text almost perfectly, her reading voice is clear and a good normal pace (I can follow the gist just listening to the audio on its own twice or so), and she naturally pauses with the flow of the story shifts.