Jane

What would happen if Jane Eyre were to fall in love with a rock star? Such is the premise of April Lindner's Jane, a retelling of Jane Eyre. The central character, Jane Moore, is mostly alone in the world. Having lost her parents to a car accident, her only family members are her two siblings, and they're not at all close. Miss Moore doesn't have any friends either, and she's a rather shy, reserved person. One day, she decides to become a nanny.

Little does she know, however, that she'd become nanny to Madeline Rathburn, daughter of the one and only Nico Rathburn, an internationally famous rock star.

Miss Moore researches Mr. Rathburn online, and is greeted by stories of wild parties, substance abuse, and the general madness that typically seems to follow rock stars around. Apprehensively, she takes the job.

As she gets to know Maddy, she becomes acquainted with the staff of Thornfield Park- and it seems something is not quite right. Eventually, she gets to know Mr. Rathburn and develops an appreciation for his music, along with Mr. Rathburn himself.

She eventually falls in love with him, as one might expect, though somewhere along the lines, things go awry.

 I must say that I really enjoyed this book. I received an ARC courtesy of my library, though it took me an eternity to read through, it was a thoroughly good retelling of Jane Eyre.  I must now confess a grievous sin through my blog, that being that I've never read the original book by Charlotte Brontë. I have, however, seen a brilliant film adaptation. Lindner has created multidimensional characters, set them to an immersive experience, and impressively rekindled the burning fire of a classic. I especially enjoyed this book, and if you're looking for a nice spin on a classic, I recommend it.

On something great I stand

At this moment in this time, on something great I stand,
upon the precipice, the very edge, on the verge of a great thing grand.
Incoming is fresh opportunity,
new chances and potential;
I'm sitting on its ledge.
The untouched land,
awaiting harvest,
of glittering beaches and verdant forest.
Entering my view,
it soon will be here,
prodding away- the gloom to clear,
This will be a brand new year.

It sings the song of high potential,
a melody luxoriously long;
quite sentimental.
Ideas like waves wash in,
lapping the shore ever so gentle,
as one year reaches its fin,
it becomes time to set right the wrong.
Thus arrive tendrils of spring in grend beams of light,
imagination can take hold;
creativity set to flight.
Coming forth so bold,
a promise is made,
many words are exchanged,
massive happenings unfold.
Plans have been laid,
the future lies in range.

I hope you enjoy this poem, I got the idea for it late one night (as usual) and as soon as I finished I felt the urge to rock out to Dark Chest of Wonders, by Nightwish. Enjoy!
Once again, I'd really like to thank everybody who reads my blog, it means a lot to know that I have an audience. What's in store for next year? I'm glad I asked, you can expect a greater variety of books, more content, such as book trailers to accompany reviews, my take on video games (I'm still working on that set of articles on their history, the industry, etc.), and, here's where things get interesting; I'm upping my goal from last year of 12 posts a year all the way to 18 posts a year! I'm pretty sure I can do it.

This year has been excellent.

To my dearest readers,

This year has been one of the best for me as a blogger, and in regular life as well. I'd like to thank you for your feedback on my works and reviews, it means a world to me!
I'm preparing a disc. A very special disc. It's a dual layer DVD, which will pretty much hold twice as much as a regular DVD. It's not exactly Blu-Ray massive, but it'll certainly get the job done!
What, you ask, could I possibly stuff on there? Well, I could put this entire blog on there. And I will. In fact, I can do that thousands of times over. But that would be unnecessarily redundant. Instead, I've decided to create a time capsule of sorts (cue Inception music!) featuring just about anything I can get get my hands on. Thus, interesting videos from Youtube, the original Phantom of the Opera from the 1920's, various public domain books, pages from Wikipedia, Xbox 360 demos, and naturally this and other blogs are all going in. In addition, I'm adding music, photographs, and short notes from friends of mine about themselves and things they enjoy now, what their year was like, etc.
This blog post will be on the disc.
Any comments will be their as well.
The disk will pretty much be a sample of 2010!
If you have a blog that you'd like to be preserved on the disc, please be sure to post it in a comment below, prior to the deadline of January 1, 2011 (1/1/11).

So here are some awesome things that happened this year I thought I'd take note of:

I saw the original Tron.
I finished the Hunger Games trilogy on Mockingjay.
I finished the 10th grade.
I got a Dreamcast.
I visited the Nintendo Store in NYC.
I watched E3 conferences over the internet.
I watched them present Project Natal.
I watched that become Kinect.
I bought one.
I got a free Hunger Games poster from Hot Topic.
I discovered Dealspl.us which is an amazing website for free stuff.
I had the most fun I've had in over a decade at a dance party with some friends.
I also managed to translate both "avant-garde" teenager and "brand new to ballroom" into "I think I've created a victim" that same night.
I'm learning to dance.
I'm taking it seriously.
Already I'm having loads of fun with the paso doble.
I got my first ARC.
Thanks to a couple friends, I watched A Walk to Remember. That's now among my favorite movies, right up there with Away From Her.
I purchased a copy of Fallen and Tragic Kingdom.
I made new friends.
I got closer to old ones.
We're happy.

Lastly, I had at least one post per month on my blog! It's a monumental record for me.

Archvillain

Before I get into my review of Archvillain, I'd like to thank Mr. Barry Lyga for providing me a free copy of his book. It means a lot to me! I'd also like to apologize for taking so long to write my review, it seems life managed to sneak up on me yet again.

Archvillain is the story of a boy, specifically young Kyle Camden. Kyle isn't particularly well understood by adults- or local law enforcement for that matter. What he has going for him? His mind, his wondrous mind. He's quite intelligent and has a taste for pranks- not dumb, pull my finger type pranks, but more complex, Rube Goldberg-esque practical jokes, usually with the goal of making people realize just how they make fools of themselves.
One night, Kyle is granted superpowers that seem to enhance everything- especially his mind.
He soon discovers, however, that he's not the only one with power. Another boy known simply as "Mighty Mike" rolls into town, and he seems to have a bad case of amnesia, since he remembers nothing of his past life. He seems to have good intentions, that's for sure, but he doesn't really know just the havoc he can unwittingly wreak! Regardless, the people took to loving Mike, and poor Kyle, who was once in the spotlight, is now pushed aside.
Kyle decides he'd rather not be probed and keeps his abilities secret. His feelings eventually get the better of him; he has to show up Mike for who he is! And so, Kyle becomes his nemesis.

This was a rather fun read, and while the target audience seems to be readers from 7-12, it was rather enjoyable for myself (an older reader), helped along by an interesting protagonist, unique plot, various nerdy references that touch a special area in my heart.
In all, if you are, or if you know a kid around age 7-12 who enjoys a fun story, interesting, progressive characters, and some sweet comic book style action, I can definitely recommend it. Lyga has done an excellent job on this book, his first for such a young audience.

More:

Official Site:

http://barrylyga.com/new/archvillain-1.html

Interview with the author:

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/archvillain-novel-interview-101029.html

Jonathan Liu on Archvillain:

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2010/11/how-to-become-an-archvillain/