Well, it was thanksgiving *fairly* recently, and although I don’t celebrate, I’ve felt a need to be grateful so here, have this post! I’ve been thinking a lot about this recently especially as I prepare to reboot this blog and move to Wordpress. I’ve tried similar projects in the past, moving from one place to the other; it’s never really worked out, but I’m hoping it does this time, and I think it will because I’ve realised how much the blog means to me. There are a few key reasons, and I’m sharing them below:

1. It’s my own personal corner of the internet

This is a really big one, and I probably could’ve split it into many categories but why not keep it as one? I love that I get to express myself, my opinions, my thoughts on books here. I don’t have to censor myself, or edit out my personality in the robotic way school likes to make you do. Here’s an example from recent times: I wrote an essay about a book as a practice for exams, and in the feedback I got, there was a circle around a passage in which I’d written “so” (for rough context the sentence the word was derived from was something like “I love books, so I’m willingly to spend money buying them” (I know that’s not exact but I’m trying okay)), and above it the teacher had written “through”. This comment annoyed me more than I would’ve expected; I didn’t mean “through”, I was fully aware of what I meant when I used the word “so”. I don’t feel that I have to be perfectly grammatically correct all the time, especially when it detracts from me getting my point across. Also, I’m such a freak about this kinda of stuff? I’m obsessed with correct capitalisation and spelling, which crosses into grammar sometimes (but only if it’s extremely bad). So I feel somewhat insulted when my grammar is brought into question. Technically, English isn’t my first language, but it’s definitely my dominant one.

Anyway, moving on from that mini-rant, what I’m trying to say here is that all the content on this blog (except guest posts/blitzes etc but you get my point) is written by yours truly, without supervision. I don’t have to report to anyone, or make changes based on other people’s opinions; if you don’t like it, don’t follow me! It’s that simple. Of course I’m always striving to make my content better and more enjoyable for the people who do read my blog, but I don’t feel that I need to sacrifice my personal voice for a prim, proper, formal tone in these posts. I like being myself! It’s only recently that I’ve realised how much that part of this blog means to me; being able to express myself is so important to me especially as when I was younger I felt that a lot of the time I wasn’t allowed to say what I actually thought and was stuck in a world of pretending to be who people wanted to be. This blog definitely helped change that feeling, and for that I’m so grateful.

2. I can talk about whatever I like (without being judged by other people)

Kind of following on from my first point, which is really an umbrella for everything to come, I can talk about things without being judged! It’s such a great feeling, especially when a lot of people still think reading is nerdy and uncool (I’m sorry us readers are more intelligent than you). I know the focus of this blog has shifted a bit from books as I’m using it to explore all of my interests more, but books are the reason I started this blog, and are a major catalyst in me being able to use it as a platform to speak out about anything and everything. The glory of all this being online is you don’t have to witness people laughing at you; all the adoration and hate is private, and as I’d like to think this community is quite positive I don’t feel that hate is a huge part of it; it probably exists, but in a small dark chasm paid attention to by only a select number of people.

3. Free. Books??!!

Yay, I finally thought of a point which is less related to point number one! In 2016, upon starting high school, I decided to take a chance and reach out to some NZ publishers and ask if they were interested in sending me books in exchange for promotion and a review. Well, it worked. I feel guilty because I am always infinitely behind in reading the books they send me (this holidays might be yet another opportunity to catch up which I should take instead of reading the latest books from the library I haven’t returned yet but should) but I do really appreciate them and try to fit reading into my busy schedule. If you’d told 2013 me, who read more books in a year than I probably ever will for quite awhile now, that I would be getting free books in a few years, I would’ve laughed in your face for sure. Dreams can become reality! So I’m going to keep on dreaming despite what others tell me.

4. The community

It’s funny because I’ve never felt like I’m part of this community; I don’t really have any close friends to show for it. Nevertheless, I’ve always felt really included especially when commenting on other people’s blogs. On Instagram, I had some fairly close friends through the editing/fandom community but there was always a strong sense of negativity surrounding the community and I’m not the greatest with keeping in touch with people online as I’m trying to cut back on screen time, mobile devices in particular so I guess we drifted easily. But I’d really like to get closer to people here, and possibly also establish links with them through bookstagram; we’ll see. Regardless, I appreciate everyone here for constantly making me feel welcome even as I’m little more than a stranger to a lot of you.

I can’t think of anything else right now, so I’ll just end it here, but thank you too to everyone who is reading this post; although I don’t get many comments I see proof of your existence through the engagement and also followers on my book related Spotify playlists. Is there any aspect of book blogging/something else you do which you’re really grateful for?

{This post has been in the works since forever (the publication of part one, to be more specific), and now that I've finished my second last exam of this year I've decided to go ahead and spend more time on it. It's such a massive rant, and I even go as far as to suggest some "solutions" to the issues of this system (I'm so extra I know, don't come @ me because I'm not an education system expert okay I just know what works and doesn't work for me as a student). If you don't mind that, read on!}

Hey, I'm back with another post totally unrelated to books! Due to the popularity of my last post about my issues with the NZ education system, I'm back with part two, except this one is entirely geared towards high school (the final three years to be exact). If you haven't read "part one", my general explanations yet, you can do so here.

My main issue with the high school system is NCEA (National Certificate of Educational Achievement) run by the NZQA (New Zealand Qualifications Authority). This is an exam system used nationwide with the exception of a few schools, which do other programmes such as IB or Cambridge. But for this post I'll be focusing on NCEA, which is what my school uses, and it'll cover topics such as how exactly the system works, why I don't like it, and alternatives to this system.

What is NCEA?

You could probably google it for a concise definition (but don't quote me on the accuracy of that statement), but I'll try and explain it without making it sound too confusing. If you already know what it is/are or have done NCEA, feel free to skip ahead to the next section because you should also know all of this!

For your last three years of high school, the majority of your school work is geared towards getting NCEA standards, of which there are three levels. In the first of these years, Year 11, you're working towards Level One, in Year 12 (the most important year) you work towards Level Two, and in Year 13 Level Three. It's also possible to "skip ahead" in some cases, but that's another story.

Credits

Each assignment/exam, which I'm gonna call a task, earns you credits (usually between two and six per task). NZQA likes to think that each credit is roughly equivalent to ten notional hours, which is class time as well as homework. You can get your credits at four levels: not achieved (you don't get any credits, but they show up on your learning record under not achieved credits), achieved, merit, and excellence. These levels just show how well you did at the task as there is different marking criteria to see what level you're working at.

In order to pass the year, you need to gain eighty credits. However if you are trying to get a level two or three certificate and you've already done a lower level, you can 'take' twenty credits from that level so you only need sixty credits. Likewise, if you have credits from higher levels and you are trying to get a lower level endorsement, you can use those credits too.

Endorsements

For high achievers, there is an option to try for merit or excellence endorsement. There are two types of endorsement; certificate, and subject. Subject endorsements are considered harder to get. Certificate endorsement is where you get fifty or more credits at merit or excellence for a merit endorsement/fifty or more excellence credits for an excellence endorsement. This just means your certificate will say something like "John Doe achieved NCEA Level One with Excellence Endorsement".

Subject endorsements are endorsement on a smaller scale, in individual subjects. The courses of most subjects are usually around 20-24 credits, with a mix of internal (assignments, reports, research projects, performances, tests) and external (exams) assessments. To get a subject endorsement you need 14 excellence credits, with at least three internal and three external credits.

External Exams

What's wrong with NCEA?

So I seem to be posting a lot more recently, even though the posts have sort of gravitated to just being quite random in nature and topic wise. Here's the latest one, inspired by my lovely friend Adair @ Discussions With Myself when she wrote a similar post in geography class and suggested I do so :) I tried to make these as unrelatable as possible?

- exams are in four weeks and I'm more stressed about my piano recital/scholarship competition the Saturday before than the actual exams, I should really care more about thing...

- I don't ever know what to say in reply to a compliment, I've always felt awkward saying "thank you" and I don't know how to downplay achievements, I think it's better to just accept the praise but I don't want to seem self centred though I kind of am in that I know my own ability?

- summer is approaching (today was cold in the morning but then it got too hot okay) and I'm excited because of the holidays but the weather's gonna suck, I hate the sun and there are too many bugs flying about already :(

- my parents often question why I choose to do exams outside of school, I mean it's something I genuinely enjoy! Also they're proper exams, unlike NCEA which is a disappointment to all exam systems (see my education related posts if you wanna know more but I warn you they're massive rants)

- a lot of people around me seem to have little to no care or thought for their future and that's cool, you do you, but I personally want to leave this place behind and have a great life overseas?? does ambition still exist in young people outside of laziness and desire to procrastinate forever?

- high school is known for cliques and friend drama but my school and friends are different! It's not very cliquey thankfully, there are fixed groups but we all keep to ourselves and there's rarely conflict which is good but I feel like even here many friend groups have a lot of drama unlike us

- I can't help but base my characters on people I know, thanks to the weird dreams I have about people which make it so that I can't look at them the same again... thanks subconscious mind.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this post! Did you relate to any of these? Do you have any unrelatable problems?

What's up, guys? Here I am, back with ANOTHER post not related to books (I promise book posts are coming, I'm just lazy).

The idea to write this post came to me when for what felt like the umpteenth time I walked down the street staring down at my phone, daring strangers to judge me. I try and avoid doing this as a general rule because firstly it's dangerous and also older strangers seem to always be in a mood to judge. But sometimes I just can't be bothered caring, and after checking the way is clear I will do so. I do this a lot going down the stairs outside my local library (weirdly enough I think walking down the stairs while staring at your feet is safer than walking along the street looking at your phone?).

Basically what I'm trying to get that is I am, for the most part, a responsible teen and I think being a teenager, I am immediately classed as "troublesome" the second someone sees me on my phone. I don't think this is fair to me or any of the numerous people I know who are amazing and mature. In a way, teenagers are expected to be perfect, and if not then we are immediately the bad guys in every situation.

Now that that rant is over, I will list some common stereotypes which I think aren't true/should be demystified! I didn't really plan this bit of the post so I have no idea how it's gonna go, but anyway. Just a note: I apologise if any of this offends anyone, I'm not trying to hit back at people but the topic has been something that I've been meaning to write about for awhile and I'm sick of being judged by my age. So enjoy my 1.4k word essay I suppose??

1. teenagers are all in cliques/fit a stereotype

2. teenagers are all addicted to their phones, social media, taking selfies

3. teenagers are lazy and self centred

4. teenagers are irresponsible and rebellious

5. teenagers are unintelligent and bad with spelling, grammar

It's kind of hit me recently just how much reading tastes can change as you grow up. It's certainly happened to me; what I like to read has definitely developed through the years. This post is basically a chronology of my reading tastes since I first got into YA (as best as I remember) and putting this into the context of age or what was happening in my life at the time. I will then wonder if the respective ages associated with these genre periods had any influence on my reading.

STAGE ONE: 2013-2014 (when I first started reading YA)

STAGE TWO: 2014-2015 (intermediate school years, Dystopia, Paranormal Romance)

STAGE FOUR: 2018-PRESENT (getting more mature maybe?)

Please note: this post contains SPOILERS for Thirteen Reasons Why Season Two, including references to events in Season One of this TV series.

The content in this post may be triggering or harmful, if you believe reading about this TV series may be detrimental to your mental health, please stop now.

As you may know from my weekly wrap-ups, I've recently started watching The Blacklist, and am on season three of How To Get Away With Murder. I know they're tv shows, but they've really got me thinking about law enforcement in books. As a massive fan of the mystery/thriller genre, you often read about law enforcement officers catching criminals, or these "smart" criminals who eventually get caught by the "right" detective. So my question is this:

Are the depictions of law enforcement officers in books accurate?

Most of the books I read are set in the US so maybe it's a little different there, but here in New Zealand you rarely hear about cases with a serial killer on the news (a good thing I guess, but I'd like to know more about this kind of thing). But I know that there definitely are serial killers, and some are out there. There's certainly no lack of attention about the shortage of police officers, which leads to hundreds of unsolved cases.

However, unlike the US, New Zealand has a 90-95% resolution rate for homicide. The US averages at around 40%, so there's a drastic difference. This is probably why it's not as 'exciting' here but it also means that it's a lot safer.

I don't really have anything else to say about this topic really so I'm gonna cut this short, but I'd love to know what you guys think.

How 'safe' do you think your country is? Are book representations of law enforcement officers accurate or a little too exaggerated in their bravado?

Hi everyone! How are you guys? I've missed posting discussions here, and since I'm settling into the rhythm of school quite well you can expect more posts soon, I hope.

I recently read an article on time which prompted this post. Matt de la Peña writes about including darker themes in children's books, and about his illustrated book Love which publishers initially refused to publish because it was "too dark". You can read the article here.

While I've only read one of Matt de la Peña's books, book eight of the Infinity Ring series, and a short story he wrote, I absolutely agree with his points. Why should children's books filter out the darkness of "the real world?"

I definitely think this shouldn't happen at all. If children grow up believing they live in a utopia, what good will it do? It would likely harm them in the future rather than help them. If mature themes are gradually introduced into children's books, they'll get a real education and grow up informed and well equipped to deal with tough situations.

I'm a realist, and I don't think the harsh truths of our world should be "hidden" from young children, which is why I have a strong dislike of Disney childrens' movies (a topic for another time).

Do you think mature themes should be featured in children's novels? Why/why not?

Hi everyone! Here's the random discussion I promised y'all in my "what's in store for 2018" post. Though I doubt many of you are going to enjoy this post, it's coming anyway. I thought I should post about more than just books, so tell me any other topics you want me to post about!

Whoa, first discussion post of 2018!! I've been meaning to write this post for ages, so I'm glad it's finally here. Just pretend that I did actually "recently" read Midnight Jewel :)

I recently read Midnight Jewel by Richelle Mead, which is told from the perspective of Mira Viana. She is Sirminican, a minority race in The Glittering Court series, and I love how Richelle Mead captures her personality without shying away from the discrimination she must've seen due to her race and gender.

I've seen many posts from readers who disapprove of how some races are represented in books, such as Henry Cheng, who is half Korean, half Chinese. His mother sells valuable artefacts on the black market. Many readers seem to see this as a racial stereotype.

A lot of people talk about representation, and misrepresentation. Is it better to have a misrepresented character rep, or no character rep? I think what matters is the author's intention. If their intention is to increase their popularity, that's a bad sign. But if they do research and make a solid attempt, why should they be hated on for doing so?

A character rep won't represent all people of that minority. Maybe it'll only represent a few people from that group, but just because it doesn't represent you doesn't mean the character doesn't represent someone else. As long as the rep doesn't encourage harmful stereotypes or is deliberately prejudiced, why hate on the author?

What do you think about character reps in books?

Whoa, by the time you're reading this post it's probably already 2018 here in NZ. Wow.

Checking in for the final post of the year??!! I've really enjoyed writing the last few posts of this year, they give me hope for 2018. Here's an idea that I stole off Cait @ Paper Fury (check out her much better version here).

Now, why are these books on the list and others not? I've decided to go through notebooks and other media where I've recorded books that I've aspired to read in monthly goals and other similar things and feature them here. The point: I put in a little more effort to stick that book on a list. But still didn't manage to read it.

#1: Geek Girl

I received a copy of Forever Geek (book six) for review, and I thought that would help me to read this series which I've been wanting read for ages. But no, I still haven't read Geek Girl yet.

#2 (collectively): My Best Friend is a Goddess; It Was Only Ever You; and Runemarks

#3 (collectively): The Dark Prophecy; and The Ship of the Dead

#4: Summer House With Swimming Pool

#5: Divergent (Chinese Edition)

Looking through Listopia on Goodreads, I realised that I don't actually know many of the YA book releases on Goodreads. But I did find a few I've heard of, and a few others piqued my interest. I've compiled them below:

January Releases I'll Be Getting My Hands On:



Holly Black, fantasy queen is back in the house. I can't wait to read this one. And yes, my library has it! I have now reserved it :))

I just found Reign of the Fallen but it sounds exciting. I doubt I'll get my hands on a copy though.

I'm so stoked for Zenith, I can't wait! Another book which I've already reserved.

I have yet to read anything by Amie Kaufman, but everyone seems to enjoy her work. I'll see, maybe in January when the library gets a copy I'll give it a go.

I've actually received an ARC of Pretty Dead Girls, but I probably won't get around to reading it until January. It sounds like my kind of book though!

Okay, look. It's KELLEY ARMSTRONG. And I know it didn't exist on Goodreads until after I wrote this post, but of course I had to add it. So goodbye to all the other January releases, this one's the one I'm most excited for. Though I'll probably get it in February since the release date is January 30... But anyway. You know I'm obsessed with Kelley Armstrong. Just look at the list of titles under her name in my review archive, and the length of this paragraph compared to all the others.

Books Which I Like But Probably Won't Get To Read:



What January releases are you looking forward to?

Hey, just popping in for another post as I enjoy the holidays! This one's an important one, as I admit a few things I learnt this year about blogging. In case you missed it, read my 2017 blogging failures post here (trust me, you don't want to miss this one. It's probably one of your only opportunities to see me admit that I did something wrong).

My blogging style has really changed this year, I'm doing less "formal" review posts and more "fun" discussions like this one. I'm trying to interact with you guys more and also interact with other book bloggers by reading and commenting on their posts too. This way, I think you get to know me a little more and kinda see what my personality* is like through my posts, and I get to have some more fun.a

*personality? Hah. If you met me in real life... You'd probably hate me, oops.

Of course, I'd love it if there were more comments on these sort of posts, so we have yet to see how popular they're gonna be :) But that really depends on those of you who read my posts. Well, with no further ado I'll get right to it!

#1: Blogging isn't just about posts

#2: Reviews aren't the most popular type of blog post

#3: Posts take time to write/compile

Okay so first of all, to everyone who celebrates christmas: MERRY CHRISTMAS! Enjoy the festive season while it lasts. (And to those of you in the northern hemisphere, enjoy the snow.) Besides holiday festivities, what's the post for today, you ask?

What makes you want to read a book?

Whoa, I can't believe this year is almost over! It's truly been amazing, even with the downs. I've achieved so much, gone through so much, and emerged stronger than ever. I'll be sad to leave this one behind, but I can't wait for 2018 and the things I'm already looking forward to next year.

The year's not quite over yet so this count won't be totally accurate, but from 1/1/2017 to 24/12/2017, I read 34,065 pages across 126 books. That's an average 270 pages per book. The most popular book I read was Thirteen Reasons Why with 1,024,476 also reading the title, probably courtesy of the television show coming out this year. However even though I did end up watching the show, my reasons for reading the book were simply because a friend gifted me the book as a birthday present (hence the rarely seen edition featured on the left)

My average rating for the year was 4.0 stars. That's 0.4 stars lower than 2016, 0.9 lower than 2015 and 2014, and 1 star lower than 2013 (then again, I only joined Goodreads at the end of that year so maybe that explains the "perfect" ratings). I'm proud of my progress as a reader and reviewer, looking at books with a more critical eye actually allows me to enjoy books more because I recognise the amazing parts of it and appreciate them even more. This also helps me develop as a writer as I observe what works and doesn't work for me as a reader.

For 2017, I had a goal of 175 books because I wanted to read more. I ended up changing this to 125, which I barely achieved. It just shows how my time is lessening, as each year I've almost consistently read less, roughly 25 books per year since 2014's 200 book goal. It's a little sad, but I feel like my reading choices are getting better and even though I'm reading less, I'm learning/selecting my books better.

If you want to see my year in books in full, click here.

What about you? What reading goals have you achieved in 2017?

Hey everyone! Here's a nice post where you can sit back, glance at your device, and enjoy reading about my failures this year. Feel free to go make yourself a coffee, tea, or anything else; this post will just sit here waiting for you.

Now, as you know, 2017 is coming to a close. Two weeks left! So, I set some goals for the year of 2017 which I tried to achieve*. But here's failure number one to add to the list:
*spoiler, I failed miserably.

Cas's 2017 Blogging Failures #1: failing to write a list of blogging goals at the start of the year

Cas's 2017 Blogging Failures #2: trying to have a post for all 365 days of 2017

And why would I stick to this goal if I struggled so much with it? The reason is stupid, but true. My blogging calendar looks wonderfully aesthetic (well, not really, just colourful) with posts filled in for each day. Filling in and back scheduling blog posts allowed me to catch up for the most part, except for September onwards, where the onslaught of school work made this an impossible feat.

Cas's 2017 Blogging Failures #3: believing that I'd be able to write book reviews quickly

In 2016, I had no trouble writing reviews straight after I finished a book. This year? The struggle was much more real. Sure, I had time to finish books, but writing reviews takes time and thought, and energy that I was putting into homework (definitely not a voluntary action). And then, even when I did finish writing them, I had to find the time to type them up, a simpler and more mechanic motion, but still something that requires time.

Long ago, idiot me believed I could write a book review for every book I read. This soon became impossible, which I discovered not long after I read a post by a fellow book blogger, which said "you can't review every book you read". Well, for anyone still wondering, this is absolutely, most certainly, the truest piece of blogging advice I have ever read. It's just not possible. Because of this, it also made #2 harder because at some points I'd read enough books, but that didn't mean I had enough reviews written.

These are only three of my blogging failures this year. What have you failed to achieve this year?

https://aimees23.wordpress.com/http://oliviascatastrophe.com/2017 certainly has been a hectic year for this blog, and myself. As I was going through my blog, reflecting on this year, an important question rose up: why do I blog?

I've done some stupid things, stubbornly refused to give up on "impossible" goals*, read some amazing books, overloaded myself... But at the end of the day, I had to ask myself whether blogging even means anything to me anymore.

*just watch me. No matter how much backscheduling I had to do and am still doing, I will/have achieved my impossible goal.

When I started this blog back in 2014, I had no idea what it would grow to. I'm grateful for all the people I've met, the connections I've made, the confidence I've gained. 2017 wasn't any different for all this, but blogging began to seem more like a chore rather than a hobby. While it's never gotten as bad as it has been with my instagram account, at some points I did feel like I was slaving away with no purpose and now I know I need to change that.

So here it is, the reasons why I blog. It's a reminder to myself as to why I continue to balance this blog even with everything else in my life, and I hope it helps any of you out there who are doubting yourselves/why you blog.

Enjoyment

Of course, this is the most important factor. Why do anything if you don't enjoy it? Yes, you have to do that stupid homework assignment or the laundry because your parents made you. But with everything else? You are in control. Pick your extracurriculars and hobbies wisely, because they'll have a great impact on your life. If you no longer enjoy something, it may be hard to let go, but perhaps this is the best course of action because then you'll find things you are far more passionate about.

Reviewing

After many months of being absent in the blogosphere, I finally started to comment on other blogs again. As I did so, I noticed something different from the last time I did a lot of blog surfing; the lack of book blitzes and tours on the blogs I visited, which got me thinking.

Blitzes and tours are the most popular posts on my blog, but they take little time to create and schedule. Most of the time, I'm promoting books that I don't really care all that much about, which I'd like to change in the future. Because of this I'll be posting less of these posts, and more discussions.

Maybe because of this choice my blog won't receive as many views, but I think this is a necessary move. I hope that over time, my discussion posts will become more popular and readers will be more interested in them.

Do you like seeing blitzes and tours? Are they worth the pageviews?

I'm writing this post mainly for my own benefit, but hopefully it can help some of you out too. We've all heard of the art of procrastination, right?

procrastination
/prə(ʊ)ˌkrastɪˈneɪʃ(ə)n/

noun
the action of delaying or postponing something.
"your first tip is to avoid procrastination"

Looking at the definition above, is it something to be proud of? NO. Then why do we all seem to think being a master of procrastination is an achievement? Here's my theory.

I wasn't aware of the word procrastination or its meaning until two years ago, in my first year of high school. A lot of my friends on Instagram would constantly talk about this word, and soon it became a thing at my school too, in relation to homework tasks. When I first searched up the definition I thought "oh, this is terrible" but my view soon changed, especially as I saw my friends procrastinating in creative ways, such as making edits or artwork instead of doing homework.

Procrastinating in this way is of course still procrastination, but the knowledge that people procrastinated like this diminished my disapproval of procrastination instantly. Creativity is good, right?

I think procrastination has the same appeal as something like alcohol. It's advertised as "bad" by adults and teachers, which makes teens all the more curious to try it out, if only to rebel. Saying "I'm procrastinating" or "I'm out partying" when someone asks what you're doing can make you sound cool in the teen world, unlike saying "I'm reading a book".*

*Of course, I disagree; reading a book is so cool.

How to stop procrastinating

This post contains spoilers from the original Shatter Me trilogy, don't read on if you haven't read these books (but it probably won't contain many because I suck at remembering details about books which I've read ages ago).

I know I know, the news that Restore Me is actually going to be a book is months old, but I just found out. And in case you're super slow on book news like me, you can find the original post on Entertainment Weekly right here.

MORE SHATTER ME BOOKS???!!!