Allergic to "E" Challenge

I've never been tagged in a blogging challenge before (still working on a YouTube challenge for Catharciss). So when I was tagged by Ana is the Bookworm, I was delighted. Then I read the challenge:

The idea of this challenge is to construct and write a paragraph that is between four and six sentences without using the letter E once.

My immediate response upon reading this? Simple.

With that being said, here is my challenge response:

For many months my cohorts and I had thought out our vacation. Locations and days connoting minor forms of fun in comparison with our final goal. Our plan was circuitous so as to build anticipation for our final affair. This trip would go down in history as our shining hour of glory. 

I'm not really sure whom to tag for this challenge, but if you want to participate, go for it. As for me, Challenge Completed!

Bambi's Jewish Roots by Paul Reitter| Mini-Review

Summary:

This is a collection of, admittedly, narrow themed essays about German-Jewish Literature.

Review:

Reitter admits, up front, that his graduate degree in German Studies isn't very marketable and that writing a book like this was one of his best career options that matches his genuine interest in getting his dissertation to the public eye. I thank Reitter for adding this to the preface because it helped put my mind in the proper mode for reading what followed.

Though Reitter said this was intended to not be an academic work, throughout the reading I was continually grateful that I had a background in philosophy. The essays in this book read like philosophers critiquing other philosophers for their techniques, their findings, their faults and their successes. The vocabulary, as well, seems geared towards academics. Almost every essay had me reaching for the dictionary.

That being said, I feel that this book would be beneficial to a course on German-Jewish Studies or Literary Criticism. Graduate or Undergraduate I'm not sure. But it is well written and definitely well researched. If you are at all interested in literary criticism or German-Jewish literature, I do recommend it. 3.5 Hoots!

                Hoot!

           Hoot!Hoot!

                 Hoo

*This book was provided on Netgalley for free in exchange for an honest review. This has no affect on my review.

Marvel Character Book Tag

It has been far too long since I've posted something. My reading has been slow and my reviews difficult to write. So, to get something on the blog and, hopefully, get me back into writing, I'm going to do a post based on the Marvel Characters Book Tag that I found on YouTube. I am doing this based on the video from BooksAndOtherNerdyThings. I did change up the Wolverine Tag, mainly because I couldn't think of a character that I "hate to love". This is my first tag post, I'm not tagging anyone else, but feel free to join in and do your own post on this or leave comments!


I. Black Widow - Favorite Badass Character

For this tag, I have to go with Onyesonwu from Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor. Onyesonwu fought against racial and sexist bias to be one of the most powerful magic wielders in the world. She had to experience her death twice! She suffered the loss of her friends, her father, her love and she STILL kept going to do what needed to be done. Onyesonwu is a certified badass.

II. Ant Man - A book that sounds bad but is awesome

I have to give this one to Cinder by Marissa Meyer. I picked up that book thinking it would just be yet another miss in my long list of YA disappointments. I was not only pleasantly surprised to be proven wrong, I was blindsided by how amazing the entire series has been! Cinderella as an android. Who'd've thought?

III. Groot - A character that says little but is important

There were several contenders for this tag, but I gotta give it to Sparky, the dragon from the Princeless series by Jeremy Whitley. Let's face it, without her, Princess Adrienne wouldn't be able to travel to her adventures so easily.

IV. Rocket - Favorite Loudmouth Character

I'm gonna have to give this one to Mike Ross from Pennies for the Ferryman by Jim Bernheimer. He's the main character and the narrator so he does talk a lot to you, but he also has no problems saying what he wants to the other characters. This doesn't always work out to his advantage, and can lead him to just getting his butt kicked a bit more, but I always enjoy it. 

V. Ultron - Favorite Sci-Fi Book Character

I actually wrote about Barry (aka Zzzap!) from the Ex-Heroes series by Peter Clines in a post for Armchair BEA. Barry is my favorite because he almost always makes me laugh, is highly relateable (except that he has superpowers) and is just all around pleasant. There have been moments in the Ex-Heroes series where I threatened, out loud, to burn all my Clines books if anything happened to Barry. I'd love to meet him in real life. Preferably this dimension, though. I wouldn't do well in a zombie apocalypse. 

VI. Pepper Potts - Favorite Sidekick

I don't know that she counts as a side-kick, but Madelyn Adelaide (Maddie Addie), not a main character, is one of the most adorable secondary characters in the TwoKinds webcomic. She is adorable and mischievous and never has any problem saying what she's thinking/feeling. I cannot get enough of her!

VII. Iron Man - A book with a lot of hype

I was originally going to go with Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard because it did receive a lot of hype, but I decided to go for a book that I liked. I really enjoyed Zodiac by Romina Russell. Definitely a book that actually did live up to all of the hype for me. 

VIII. Wolverine - Character with a tragic backstory and long life

So, the original tag calls for this to be a character that I hate to love and I just couldn't think of anything. Not to mention, for me, this doesn't fit the character of Wolverine. So instead, I'm choosing a character that has had a tragic life made worse by an unnaturally long life that he did not choose. Buzzard from The Goon series by Eric Powell definitely fits this. The man's story makes me want to cry and he has lived so long (while still aging) that he has been mistaken for the specter of Death. He is cursed to roam forever, never dying, never finding peace. Buzzard got his own min-series (four issues I think) and it was one of the most beautiful, sad comic book series I had ever read.

IX. Jean Grey - Good Character Turned Bad

There was a character from the Ex-Heroes series that I was tempted to use, but I want to make this list as diverse as possible, so I went with Kral, the giant, from The Banned and the Banished series by James Clemens. I was honestly quite sad when he turned, mainly because I had believed him to be a much stronger character. 

X. Spiderman - Character With A Unique Trait

I have to give this one to Mike from The Fold by Peter Clines. I had never before read a book with a character that had an eidetic memory and it was quite interesting to see how this was made to work in a normal human character. Since the book is told from Mike's perspective, we get to see the good and the bad of a perfect memory. I'd never before experienced that so, for me, Mike does have a very unique trait. 

So, these are my choices for the Marvel Characters Book Tag. Let me know what you think and feel free to send me a link to your own tag in the comments section. I'll be honest, I now kinda want to start up a Dark Horse Comics Tag!