Cassie's Library Presents... DISNEY WEEK!

So, I have realized I might have an unhealthy obsession with the world of DISNEY. 

I have previously reviewed two of the manga sets that NetGalley offered

(Magical Dance Volume 1 and Disney Faeries: Vidia and the Fairy Crown). 

Then I noticed that this week I was going to be reviewing two more Disney related books (starting to see a pattern here yet?). So I decided that I would simply try to get it out of my system by doing an entire week related to nothing but DISNEY related books! That being said though I am starting with a Q & A over Disney and myself. You can see some of my Disney love in the following questions. Enjoy! 

Why Do I Love Disney?

Most of my life I have been forced into being an adult, even as a child (i.e. before I should have been). I didn't get to watch many of the Disney features as a child. I didn't get to enjoy them and have those nostalgic memories of them as most children have. The memories that I have of Disney primarily as an adult. The fancy and carefree nature of many of the stories. The crisp clear lines. The stories of love conquering so much hate. This type of story, no matter how cliched you may think it is, is important for people that have been through horrendous things, like myself. To have an entire company that you can guarantee is going to have positive messages in the vast majority of the films they create and present to the world is vital for someone looking for that type of storytelling. Also many aspects of Disney and their related franchises are simplistic. They do not require someone to be overly intelligent or to engage with super deep meanings, though often there are some deep meanings if you are wanting to hunt for them. You, however, can enjoy Disney and their properties on a surface, mindless level and never come away feeling disappointed. This is why I hug tight to the different Disney franchises. 

Favorite Disney Princess?

My favorite Disney Princess is:

Yes, I love Aurora (Sleeping Beauty). Her aesthetic (look) is beautiful to me, but also I have always enjoyed the fact that her story involves a Princess saving her. What can I say? I like the cliche of a damsel in distress needing saving. While I know she is not represented as the "strongest" Princess. I mean duh Mulan has a lot more "strength" if we were judging solely on that. I just enjoy the classic story of "Sleeping Beauty" and enjoy this representation of her. I enjoy her so much that I literally had my birthday cake this year as her.  

Favorite Disney Animated Movie?

I can't just choose one. This is so hard for me to do! Okay fine... It is a little known Disney film, but it relates back to one of my favorite book series as well.

I love "The Black Cauldron" movie that Disney made. It is based on the Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander. At some point I will probably reread these books and review them because I love them so much. This movie though is not widely popular as a Disney film, but it holds a dear place in my heart. The characters are similar to their representation in the book series. The animation is also on par for normal Disney films. Every single time I watch this my heart soars and yes I have watched it way too many times for one person. Perhaps I am trying to make up for those of you that probably have never seen it?

Favorite Disney Live-Action Film?

This one was super easy for me. There was no contest. This has been my favorite Live-Action Disney film since forever (I snuck watching this as a child) and it will never be replaced. I still sing this song from it: 

 

Yes, my favorite live-action Disney film is Pete's Dragon. This film is about a boy and his imaginary friend, Elliott (who is a dragon). He is an orphan and it is a magical musical romp of an adventure. I know they recently remade this, but I have not forced myself to watch it because I do not want it to alter my memories of this particular film. 

 So these are just a few of my favorite Disney related things. This week you will also get the opportunity to see my opinions on different books that are Disney related! 

(All images and videos are property of the Disney company and are used here for blogging and review purposes. All rights are still theirs and theirs alone.)

Book Haul 2 or I told ya'll that I buy too many books!!!

My next post will be on Tuesday and is a VIDEO for 

LGBT HISTORY MONTH!!!

Music used with permission from freemusicarchive.org. All rights to the original music are 

Chris Zabriskie's and the song title is "Readers! Do You Read?"

You can find me on Goodreads at

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/59000535-cassandra-winters

You can also check out these great blogs:

Collectors' Universe- collectorsuniverse.blogspot.com

Green Plastic Squirt Gun- greenplasticsquirtgun.blogspot.com/

Thank you for coming to the library... I hope you check me out again soon!

Last Question For New To Booktube Tag or WOO HOO I FINISHED A FREAKING TAG WOO HOO

The original creator of the "New To Booktube" tag (which is where these questions came from) is "Between Chapters" who can be found at this link:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5sNXtE1-m-Sipo1tDnvQQw

You can find me on Goodreads at

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/59000535-cassandra-winters

You can also check out these great blogs:

Collectors' Universe- collectorsuniverse.blogspot.com

Green Plastic Squirt Gun- greenplasticsquirtgun.blogspot.com/

Thank you for coming to the library... I hope you check me out again soon!

Recent Book Haul or Oh Lord! I buy too many books sometimes...

My next post will be on Thursday and is a VIDEO finishing 

"The New To Booktube" Tag!!!

Music used with permission from freemusicarchive.org. All rights to the original music are Chris Zabriskie's and the song title is "Readers! Do You Read?"

You can find me on Goodreads at

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/59000535-cassandra-winters

You can also check out these great blogs:

Collectors' Universe- collectorsuniverse.blogspot.com

Green Plastic Squirt Gun- greenplasticsquirtgun.blogspot.com/

Thank you for coming to the library... I hope you check me out again soon!

Inkheart: The Book Review or Wow, I read over 500 pages!!!

Inkheart
by
Cornelia Funk

I had the pleasure of seeing the movie "Inkheart" when it first came out on DVD, which I imagine for the original theatrical release date of 2008 was shortly after that. My uncle, John, had checked the film out from the local video store (Dave's Video I believe) and told me that I should see the film. I watched it that night. I was pleasantly surprised, as I remember it. This is what led me to finally decide to read the book because I thought it would be interesting to see finally what the main differences between the two were. 

As I went to the library to see if they had it, since it was not a book I was keen on owning at that particular point, I was apprehensive. I know that a lot of books that are made into films simply do not translate correctly, for whatever reason. I was hoping that my love would not change for the movie. I discovered the library had all three of the books in the series (Inkspell and Inkdeath are sequel books). That is when I got a bit of a shock! The book was over 500 pages in length. I am not one that usually reads a book of that size. I am about 350 max on most of my reads. I, however, accepted the challenge to read it anyways. 

This is the cover of the edition that I read:

I brought the book home and began reading it. It took me about 18 days to read this book. I started on September 1 and finished it on September 18th. Which shows that I am building up these blogs on purpose, so that I have some content for you all to read or watch. :) It took me that long to read not because it was a bad book, but because I just am a slow reader. As I got into this book I was finding myself drawn into this world that Funke created. She created a rather rich world. I have never been one to enjoy books with a heavy emphasis on fantasy, which is partially because I was not allowed to read books outside of specific types. This resulted in me not appreciating these fantastical elements as much as someone that has say read "The Hobbit" or "Lord of the Rings" series, which I never have. This being said I was still highly impressed with this book. The action drew me in and Funke sprinkled it throughout the massive volume to keep the reader wanting more. Just when I was starting to think it was getting a bit boring she would have another element be revealed or have another character have something happen to them to draw me back in. 

There were several passages in this book where I literally said "Wow, I can picture exactly what Funke is talking about." I felt transported into the Inkheart book myself. The premise of the book is also a strong one, which goes back to the sentence I just said "transported into the Inkheart book". One of the main characters has the ability to read people in and out of books, which I am comfortable stating because this is discovered fairly early on in the book and also is mentioned in the book jacket synopsis. This premise was interesting, fresh, and allowed for great plot moments throughout. 

My favorite character in this book was probably Dustfinger. He was a heavily flawed character, but one that had one simple desire. This made him easy to relate to and also allowed me to see clearly how every action was driven by that one desire. You never had to question why he was doing something because it was very obvious. I enjoyed this as almost a character analysis and how well a character can be written when given a purpose.

My least favorite character had to be one of the main characters, Mo. I understood that he was a big part of the driving force of the story, but he just seemed to be taking up precious story time from other characters that I liked more. I also could not see why he would need to be in subsequent books with the way that the story ends. It felt like much of his story was resolved. 

WHO I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO: Fantasy book lovers, new fantasy readers, young adults, children, book lovers, book collectors, and those that simply want to have an enjoyable long read.

WHO I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO: People who do not appreciate books (why are you even reading if this is you? #sorrynotsorry), people who do not like books with any truly dark characters or non-redeemable qualities to a character, and anyone that feels that fantasy is not a genre up their alley. 

My next blog posting will be today and will be about:

INKHEART- THE MOVIE!!!

You can purchase INKHEART (The Book) at

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Half Price Books

You can find me and my rating of INKHEART on Goodreads at

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/59000535-cassandra-winters

You can also check out these great blogs:

Collectors' Universe- collectorsuniverse.blogspot.com

Green Plastic Squirt Gun- greenplasticsquirtgun.blogspot.com/

                     Thank you for coming to the library... I hope you check me out again soon!

"Am I a Girlboss?" or finding inspiration anywhere

#Girlboss

by 

Sophia Amoruso

This was a book that I checked out from the public library. I am not sure how I heard about this particular book, but somehow it got on my radar. I went to see if the library had a copy, which they did. The book was checked out at the time, so I put it on hold. The book came in and this was basically the cover:

Going into this book I had not heard of Sophia Amoruso or NastyGal.com, which is surprising given the fact that I do a lot of looking at clothing stores online (I discovered later there was probably a good reason I had not come across it in my various searches, which I will discuss below). The main reason I picked up this book was because I simply had a desire to read a book that I felt would be inspiring and also I wanted to fully embrace whatever it was that a #Girlboss was. 

The book is a big "work your butt off" inspirational message to women. Amoruso discusses how she went from having nothing to selling vintage clothing from thrift stores on eBay. The selling of clothes on eBay eventually became and launched NastyGal.com into a major fashion competitor.  The story she shares is a lot of advice to the average woman on how to be what she says is a #Girlboss or someone that takes charge of their life. The type of person she discusses here is someone that does not wait for opportunity, but one that makes their own. The picture below sums up the overall message that the book is trying to portray to the reader.

As a book that I was hoping to draw inspiration from it was a great kick in the pants for me. For example, it is one of the reasons that I decided to finally start doing this project of this blog. I had been putting it off because of a million excuses that I kept telling myself, but this book made me recognize that I could keep saying those things or just do what I wanted with my own life. I am taking my own version of #Girlboss from this book, which I think is the point. This book serves a purpose. It is a bit scattered in its logical flow, but overall if you are going into this just for a bit of inspiration you will get a good read. If you are going into this for some connection on how to start your own successful business, there are better books out there for you and this is not that kind of book. It was, however, a good book for me to read at this particular stage of my life. I appreciated it for what it is.

My favorite quote from this particular read was probably this one because it is accurate. One should never allow others to define aspects of yourself. If they are that is when you need to remember this quote:

WHO I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS TO: People needing motivation or inspiration, Females, #Girlbosses, Entrepreneurs, Quick Readers, and Grammar Nazis (She goes in on spelling).

WHO I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS TO: People looking for a business plan or better understanding of business, hard nose realists, Conservative individuals, and those that hate grammar nazis.

You may purchase #Girlboss here:

Amazon

Half Price Books

Barnes and Noble

(If you have a place you like to purchase books regularly from let me know in the comments and I will link it regularly here. Just let me know!)

You can find me on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/59000535-cassandra-winters

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Since reading this book I discovered a little bit more about Sophia Amoruso. I did discover that she has stepped down from NastyGal.com due to issues that she has faced from a business standpoint. This does not taint my review here of her or this book because it still serves the purpose of being inspirational in nature. Sometimes people have things that happen in life after they publish and this is just one of those instances.

I would also like to state that a series based on this book will be coming to NETFLIX at some point. It is being produced by Charlize Theron. It is going to chronicle the more upstart part of the book where she was trying to make a successful business from selling stuff on eBay. I look forward to when it launches.

Little Bits and Pieces or My version of "New to Booktube"

New to Booktube Tag

The original creator of the "New To Booktube" tag (which is where these questions came from) is "Between Chapters" who can be found at this link:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5sNXtE1-m-Sipo1tDnvQQw

This is the blog of the person that got me to think about doing this blog, which was mentioned in one of the videos uploaded for this tag:  http://collectorsuniverse.blogspot.com/





Music used with permission from freemusicarchive.org. All rights to the original music are Chris Zabriskie's and the song title is "Readers! Do You Read?"

You can find me on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/59000535-cassandra-winters

Backstory or Explanation of Blog

NOTE: This video does briefly discuss issues related to childhood abuse, if this is a trigger please be advised. Otherwise enjoy!

Music used with permission from freemusicarchive.org. All rights to the original music are Chris Zabriskie's and the song title is "Readers! Do You Read?"

You can find me on goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/59000535-cassandra-winters