The Bees Knees

KEYWORDS: Capital R Romanticism, Classic, Horror(?) Frankenstein is probably a word familiar to everyone. Coming to mind, whether it is the green, grotesque monster depicted in children's horror stories or the somewhat irksome PE warm up we had to do every class without Coach Rachael, believe it or not, they are actually misrepresentations of the original novel. The monster in the book was not named Frankenstein; in fact, he doesn’t even have a name. Frankenstein was his creator’s, Victor Frankenstein's, family name. Briefly, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley featured a young, ambitious scientist, Victor, who devoted himself fully to study in search of knowledge and pride. Lucky(?) for Victor, his endeavor was somewhat successful: he animated a huge 8 ft tall monster from corpses he found in the vaults and charnel houses. However, right after seeing the grotesque appearance of the monster, he was overwhelmed by fear and nausea, causing him to immediately abandon his creation. Thi...

by Sophia Chen TW for the F-slur and just general homophobia (obviously in the book, not the review) When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Future Possibilities  is, believe it or not, a book title. It's the debut collection of a Chinese-American poet named Chen Chen -- and no, I didn't mistype; that's just his name. Two Chens. Believe it or not. When I first saw this book on the library shelf and took it down to read the blurb, I was immediately interested. As a Chinese-American person myself, and a queer one at that, I'm constantly looking for books reflecting my own experience (they're not exactly common in the market, unsurprisingly), and the idea of someone similar to myself speaking on their own experiences drew me in instantly. First impression of the book: loads of figurative language. Personification especially is all over the place, which of course isn't a bad thing. I found myself impressed by the parallels Chen made between the nature of non-living ob...

     What is the quickest way you can find a book to read? Well, before searching that up, you should probably consider the sequel of an amazing book. That’s Stuart Gibbs’ Spaced Out , the second book in the Moon Base Alpha (MBA) series and the follow-up of Space Case (you should read my other blog about it first!).        In case you forgot, Space Case is a futuristic novel (in the year 2041) about Dash’s (the main character) life with his family in the first settlement on the moon, called MBA. It consisted of 27 moonies (the term used for those living in MBA), including Dash and the arrival of new moonies at the beginning of the book. In the beginning, the story begins when Dr. Holtz dies a mysterious death. As a result, Dash, who is the only one to suspect the possibility of a murder, undergoes a secretive, life-threatening investigation to find the murderer. When the murderer was uncovered by Dash’s deductive skills, he/she was sen...

    I had always thought myself of being pretty open when it comes to mangas, especially in this genre. Sure, they were all basically the same book over and over, but that's how I knew I would like it. Never before have I ever read a worse manga than this one.     Classmates (also known as Dou kyu sei) was written in 2006 by Asumiko Nakamura. It follows the story of two boys (Hikaru Kusakabe and Rihito Sajo) trying to fall in love in an all-boys high school. Sajo and Kusakabe's romance is like any other stereotypical relationship in a young adult novel; the laid-back extrovert falls head over heals for the intelligent introvert, We've seen it many times before, which is why it isn't a shock when they get together.     Obviously, there is no issue with this trope. People like it, so it keeps doing so well when published. What I don't like, however, is the quick plot that is overwhelming. So overwhelming that it feels like you've sunk no information in by the...

Before getting into the next part of Out of Stock, I say, I forgot to mention that this is a story that goes along with a horror game series called “Five Night’s at Freddy’s” made by Scott Cawthon.               If you had the chance to get the one thing you’ve wanted all year but the minute you get close, your chance disappears, what would you do? Oscar, desperate and zoned out in an eruption of angry customers, saw a chance to grab that one thing he really wanted. A Plushtrap Chaser, a three-foot-tall “…light-activated chomping green rabbit…” as the book describes it. In all the chaos, Oscar steals the toy, a choice that in a few days he and his friends would drastically regret.               After reaching Oscar’s house, he and his friends, Isaac and Raj, try almost everything they can to power on their new all-too-humanlike Plushtrap Chaser. Seeing on...