Here is to 2013 being an outstanding year! New Year's Resolution (as it is every year) get into better shape. That doesn't mean huge diet and massive weight loss. It just means I need to be consistent with my gym appearances, maybe say no to the fries and ranch dressing when eating.
We have once again signed up to do the Lincoln Half Marathon, which means that I have extra motivation to get to the gym. I only shaved 2 minutes off my time last year from the previous year (2012- 2h 29 min), so I think I am actually going to try to train with a bit more vigor than the casual Sunday long distance runs, and occasional skipping of a weekday run. Walking into the gym after work this week, I have been greeted by a plethora of new faces, making it hard to find an available treadmill. Hitting the gym is a common resolution, but it never lasts long. I've seen this phenomena each year I have been a member of Prairie Life, and once February rolls along, quite a few eager treadmill and weights enthusiasts have gone back to their original sedentary lifestyles... I can stick it out.
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City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
I finished City of Bones over my break from school. Along with a few James Patterson's (my guilty pleasure). I previously reviewed Clockwork Angel which was a prequel book to the this text and the Mortal Instruments series. City of Bones and the other books in the Mortal Instrument series were written first, and then came Clockwork Angel, Clockwork Prince, and the highly anticipated Clockwork Princess (March 2013 I believe?) which are called the Infernal Devices.
I quite enjoyed the Clockwork books, and the time period they were set in. After reading City of Bones, I found I haven't been as excited to pick up the next book in the series as I was with the prequel. This one does take place in modern times in New York City. It follows Clary Fray a 15 year old girl. Clary lives with her single Mother, (father passed away before she was born), and has a best friend named Simon, whom we know is in love with her yet she is too dense to figure it out. In the beginning of the story Clary and Simon are partying at the Pandemonium Club when Clary notices some attractive teens engage in strange behavior. She follows them, they kill someone. But it's alright, it turns out they are demon hunters and the person they killed was a demon. A bit shocking, yes. What is a teen to do? Mull it over but just go home and not worry about it.
Clary's mom and her get into a fight when she gets home, her mom is also acting strange. So she does what any good angsty teen will do, leave to a poetry reading with best friend Simon. While there she runs into one of the teens from the club, a Shadowhunter (what the group of demon killers are called) named Jace. She gets a call from her mom that sounds like an attack. She gets home, mom is missing, place is torn to pieces, and a demon tries to kill her. She kills it instead. She starts to realize that things going on around her aren't always as they seem. She can see through the "mists" and see things for what they are. Demons and other downworlders such as vampires, werewolves, fairies, etc exist, but they simply blend in to us unknowing "mundanes." Jace takes Clary back to the institute. She meets more Shadowhunters. They get into more trouble as her new found friends help her hunt for her missing mother. There is so much that goes on, but I really don't want to spoil it. Here is a quick list of events: (spoiler alert with last few bullets!)
- suspect she is a shadowhunter herself
- talk to psychic that lives next door to get more info and missing mom
- see mom's best friend Luke (like an uncle to her) is being questioned by people associated with those her took her mom (the bad guy is Valentine, he is looking for the mortal cup- which Clary's mom took)
- Go to the High Warlock's party, find out that he had been helping erase her memories (she is the daughter of Shadowhunters, and her mom didn't want her in that world)
- They find out where the mortal cup is
- Valentine comes and steals Jace
- Jace is her brother (making her pining really disgusting)
- Valentine is her dad, wants her to join them in evil
Ok, so there is much more but those are probably the main points. Throw in some interesting adventures with Simon, the head of the Institute doing some backstabbing. And Clary herself being quite whiny. I still liked it, just not as much as Clockwork Angel. I feel like in much of the modern YA lit I have been reading that follow the fantasy angels/vampires all the heroines really like to complain. Why not take some of that out? Just fall in love, have a little angst, and kick butt? But, as I sit in my library listening to the Teens during their down time, maybe complaining is just what they do. :)
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