This is a wonderful meme type post hosted by Jessi @ Novel Heartbeat. Basically, there is a topic pertaining to the blogger every Thursday. This way we can all get to know the person behind the blog.

Mari's Goals and Dreams

Yikes, if someone had asked me this a year ago I would've written them the world's longest essay. Now that I've caught a whiff of just how out of reach some of those dreams are, I've shrunk the list. Not that I've given up, but I think I'll take life one step at a time and try to enjoy.

For goals, beyond personal improvements which are always taking place, I have some academic ones. I'm in university for a commerce degree so I would really like to achieve that while maintaining a high average. And since we're already on the topic of business, I want more business clothes... They're just so pretty!

In the long terms my goals are to get a nice job that travels! I'm leaving it vague on purpose, you never know where you end up.

At this exact point in time, my one real dream is to travel. I want to see places but I don't want to go alone or don't have the guts to do it alone, just yet. I'm working on it.

Move to a bigger city would be a start. I love Ottawa but I want to also live in other places. The travelling job will help with this. Someplace in Europe would be nice or anywhere warm: Vancouver, LA etc.

Visit Scotland! Visit Russia! Visit Italy ahhhhh Yes. I want to travel and sight see.

P.E.'s Goals and Dreams

Academic goals notwithstanding, I think my goals have also simplified. I'm also in management so obviously I want to be employed after I graduate. I don't know about which field, so one goal is to figure out what I like and what I'm good at. 

Most of my goals are short term. Be a good person today. Be happy today, and tomorrow. Probably the biggest thing I'm trying to work on is productivity. I spend an inordinate amount of time doing nothing and although I've always gotten everything I need done on time, I want to learn about being more productive now. That means I'm trying to make effective routines for things like sleeping, laundry, food, and school work. 

I don't know if I have many dreams. Maybe paying off all my student loans? I've never been able to picture where I'll be in the future, so I've decided that the best way to get to somewhere I would want to be is to be where I want to be. That means that if I make the right choice now and am happy now, then I shouldn't need to worry about the future. In general, I want to be educated and open-minded; someone fair that has earned a lot of respect. 

This was pretty hard, how about you?

Help! P.E. has been kidnapped! Well, who's the kidnapper? P.E. herself.

I recently read Reality Boy by A.S. King and it wasn't the read I wanted it to be, but there is one theme it explored quite well that is sticking with me, days later in all situations. It's the idea of demanding what you should rightfully have.

This idea makes me quite uncomfortable because I think as a person, I feel guilty a lot. I live somewhere peaceful in a decent family and have friends and will be going to university. I have a great life, and I feel guilty sometimes because I wonder if I'm not living it to the fullest because I really ought to for all the people that want to be in my position but can't.

So demands are not things I'm very comfortable with, but it's something I know I can do. So, let's talk about some of my bookish demands.

1. I demand my right to love what I love.

This is a quite general demand that is true in numerous ways. First of all, there are people that are slightly rude when they find that I'm a reader. It's totally a nerdy thing to do, and you know what? Nerds are great. Nerds are just people that really love something deeply, and I'd rather be a nerd in love with the world than someone that enjoys condemning other people's interests.

Furthermore, there are the people that are snobs about what types of books I read. What I've noticed thus far is that there are ALWAYS people that don't look well upon what you're reading. Some books are too pretentious to read. Some are for boring people. Some are not mature enough.

I really give no shits about what people think about what I'm reading (books make me too happy for that) so this is more aimed towards the people that enjoy just shitting on what you love. Stop that.

2. I demand to read what I want.

Oh, the blogging pressure. No one will outright say that certain books needs to be read (well, we all say it but not seriously!) but absolutely, there is an undercurrent that the best blogs have ARCs of the most hyped up books first. There's pressure to stay on the curve and keep up with your audience: new books.

The fact that I'm writing on a YA blog now doesn't mean I'm not allowed to read books on philosophy or memoirs. I'm allowed to grow as a reader.

This pressure doesn't exist for everyone, and it's probably self made, so I'm going to demand this of myself: I have a right to read whatever the hell I want. I don't need to read a review book because some author seems very sweet and the synopsis might possibly work for me. I don't need to force myself to try ARCs to keep my blog going. I don't even need to stick strictly to YA. I demand that my life is too short to spend doing what I don't want to do, and I will read what I want.

3. I demand that I stop feeling guilty for not liking something.

I am sad whenever I don't like a book. Especially when other people whom I respect immensely like the book. I always wonder, what am I missing? It can make reading a strange experience because I'm wondering if I'm not empathizing enough, or if I expect too much from a certain book.

I've been told my ratings for books are quite harsh because as soon as I remember a book with negative feelings, it gets a 1 star and five stars are quite rate. 2 stars is my average read. Just as I am capable of loving books, I am equally capable of clearly not liking a book, and I shouldn't feel so incredibly guilty at the thought of an author looking at my review. They're grown-ups  (for the most part!) and they can handle it. It's not like I'm shoving my opinion in someone's face, either.

I'm sure there are more demands I'm probably forgetting, but three works for me. Reality Boy made me remember that demands aren't always selfish, and it's important to be kind to oneself.

-P.E.

Author: Jostein Gaardner
Date of Publication: 1991 (whoa!)
Pages: 403
Source: Borrowed

A page-turning novel that is also an exploration of the great philosophical concepts of Western thought, Sophie’s World has fired the imagination of readers all over the world, with more than twenty million copies in print.

One day fourteen-year-old Sophie Amundsen comes home from school to find in her mailbox two notes, with one question on each: “Who are you?” and “Where does the world come from?” From that irresistible beginning, Sophie becomes obsessed with questions that take her far beyond what she knows of her Norwegian village. Through those letters, she enrolls in a kind of correspondence course, covering Socrates to Sartre, with a mysterious philosopher, while receiving letters addressed to another girl. Who is Hilde? And why does her mail keep turning up? To unravel this riddle, Sophie must use the philosophy she is learning—but the truth turns out to be far more complicated than she could have imagined.

Review:

It's fitting that I'm sitting here, inside, on a bench at the intersection of the mall and the bus stop, as I finish Sophie's World. I'm waiting for the eternally late Mari, and I've had a weird day and I will be having a weird weekend, and I am obviously in the perfect mood for such a book.

Sophie's World is another book I needed to read, even if it wasn't something I wanted to do. I've already written about how I'm a dreamer, and how I tend to over think. I also wrote already of my impressions of Sophie's World some hundred pages into it. I was bored. I was learning, but not that into it.

I wasn't entertained. But, I think that the things I learned in Sophie's World are exactly what I needed to know. I want to know about the world. People and humanity fascinate me. Sophie's World may have proclaimed itself to be a book about the history of philosophy, but while reading the book I realized that it's also the history of humanity. Sophie's World is about all the big ideas humans all throughout the ages have pondered and answered.

It covers science, math, space, psychology. Philosophy is important in every aspect of life, and its critical thinking skills have developed the society we know today. Sophie's World is so jam packed with knowledge that I know I probably didn't absorb even a third of it all, except now I can say I have a better general knowledge of the world.

Sophie's World is a great introduction to philosophy because it simplifies everything and explains it in clear terms. A few pages are spent describing each major philosopher and their major ideas, and it's really a sampling of history. The main ideas are presented and thoughtful, but I think what was also cool was that it gives a basis if you're more interested in certain ideas. Personally, I find Epicurus, Kant, and Sartre's ideas fascinating, as well as the scientific bits about the universe and the political parts about the fundamental flaw of capitalism.

I know this book is a bestseller and what I don't understand is why we're not reading Sophie's World in school. I learned more about the history of the world in Sophie's World than I ever did in history class. I even prefer this to my philosophy textbook (and class) because it's so compact and full of only the main ideas.

I guess the thing to remember when reading Sophie's World is to take it slow. Try to absorb it. Also, the ending is so strange and I don't even know what to think about it. I'm looking forward to talking to my accounting teacher, who recommended this book to me and see what he thought. Sophie's World is a great book to discuss, and I think it's worth a read for anyone looking to learn something from what they're reading, especially if you're looking for an intro to philosophy or general world history.

-P.E.

Hello!

I'm P.E., previously from Tantalizing Illusions. You may know me from Twitter rants, Goodreads reviews, or you may not know me at all. Either way, welcome to The Sirenic Codex, mine and Mari's new book blog.

Now you may have some questions. Mari and I both already had book blogs; why are we starting a new one? Also, looking at my history, you may wonder why would I start a book blog after being such an infrequent poster?

I've always enjoyed reading but I admit, it's harder when you're a blogger. There's so much pressure to post content and that's a daunting task. Especially when you're new and not established. The first time I made a blog, I think I was a little naive. I expected that when everyone saw my content, they'd love it right away. I was expecting brilliant discussions in the comments section and I thought it would be much easier then it actually was.

I had a reasonable amount of success. I did gain a following; a few people that knew about me and that commented sometimes. This made me so incredibly happy, but I still felt like I needed more content. I needed my blog to look better; I needed better posts; I needed to be better socially. If you're an overachiever like I can be, you realize that when your goals look impossible, you tend to give up. So I took some time off and came to some pretty huge realizations.

First of all, I enjoy writing reviews. I noticed this when I kept writing about books on Goodreads and reading other peoples' thoughts. I love writing about books and how they make me feel. I also realized that I wasn't interested in just promoting books. I wanted a recollection of my honest feelings on them with the key word being 'honest'. If there is anything I've learned, it's that honesty is so important.

Mari told me how she wanted to continue blogging but wanted someone else with her. We talked and texted and mused for days before we decided to do it. A brand new blog representing a fresh start.

It's been a few days of setting up this blog and adjusting the template (do you like it?!) and I've had so much fun. It's fun to start something with a friend and know that this huge responsibility you're welcoming isn't yours to shoulder alone. We can do it together with different styles.

I feel more free now to be able to post what I like to post; reviews. Mari will bring her creativity into this blog, and together I hope we can make a site worth reading. Somewhere honest with no false pretenses. This will be our book blog with our opinions. There will be memes, features, and long, rambly reviews, and I hope you'll join us.

Welcome to The Sirenic Codex.

-P.E.