The Case of the Love Triangle

The scene that started it all... One of the best examples of love triangle tension EVER!!

            As my friends and I were brainstorming throughout the day, we had so much fun coming up with examples of love triangles. Recently I have mentioned a lot about them in my blogs and I decided it was time they had a blog of their own. Especially since they have become so popular in young adult novels (thank you, Stephanie Meyer!!)

Two blogs* I have read about love triangles in YA novels focused on “gender stereotype” and how they always involve a girl deciding between two boys, and not the other way around. However, my opinion is a little different, so I will focus on two main questions:

1)   Why are love triangles so popular?

Is it a coincidence that Blair wears the same outfit
when she is meeting her two men? I don't think so!!

If you look at my list below, you will definitely agree that love triangles are popular not only in books but in all kinds of media, from medieval (Camelot!) to current hot stuff (Gossip Girl!) But why do people like them so much?  In my opinion, it is as simple as this: they are just more INTERESTING!! As much as I adore “Chair” (aka Chuck and Blair, for all you non Gossip Girl fans) would anyone keep watching Gossip Girl if everything was all perfect and dandy all the time? NO!! People keep watching for the drama, and the best way to add drama is to add another love interest, of course!! In the words of a fancy English scholar** that my sister tried to explain to me, “everybody wants to read about triangular love, not linear love.”

2)   Why do the love triangles always include two girls and one boy in young adult novels?

While some argue that this has to do with gender stereotype, but my personal opinion is that it has more to do with the novels’ target audience. Let’s face it, your typical supernatural romance is usually written with a teenage girl in mind. (Most authors give up on teenage boys, since the majority of teenage boys do not read, and if they do read, they read Vince Flynn Spy Books like my brother.) To make the books more appealing to girls, the author will naturally add another “hot guy” into the mix. Furthermore, I don’t think girls would really like to read about a boy choosing over two girls because a) we don’t like to read about how jealous and catty our fellow girls can be, because then it would be like admitting an ugly truth that WE might have acted the same way and b) it DOES play to the gender stereotype and we would probably label that boy as a pimp, pander, etc.

BUT, if you go beyond the world of teen literature, you can find many more examples of love triangles with one guy and two girls, because different types of media are targeted to a more varied audience. (I highlighted the ones below that have one boy and two girls.)

So, whether you read YA fiction or not, you have to agree that a good love triangle makes any love story more interesting. Can you think of any more love triangles? What are your thoughts?

Books

Bella/ Edward/ Jacob (Twilight)

Katniss/ Peeta/ Gale (Hunger Games)

Laurel/ Tamani/ David (Wings)

Meghan/ Puck/ Ash (Iron King)

Fire/ Brigan/ Archer (Fire)

Henry/ Penelope/ Diana (The Luxe)

Darcy/ Elizabeth/ Caroline (Pride and Prejudice)

Guinevere/ Lancelot/ Arthur (Tales of Camelot)

Ian/ Spencer/ Melissa (Pretty Little Liars)

Cassia/ Xander/ Ky (Matched)

Tally/ Zane/ David (Uglies)

Hermione/ Ron/ Viktor (Harry Potter)

Ron/ Hermione/ Lavender (Harry Potter)

Henry/ Anne/ Mary (The Other Boelyn Girl)

Savannah/ Tim/ John (Dear John)

Scarlett/ Ashley/ Rhett (Gone With the Wind)

The tension between Viktor, Hermione, and Ron is in full swing at the Yule Ball...
(Watch it all explode below.)

T.V

Serena/ Dan/ Nate (Gossip Girl)

Blair/ Chuck/ Nate (Gossip Girl)

Dan/ Vanessa/ Olivia (Gossip Girl)

Rachel, Ross, and Emily

Finn/ Rachel/ Santana (Glee)

Emma/ Mr. Shuster/ Carl (Glee)

Hannah/ Jake/ Jesse (Hannah Montana)

Casey/ Cappie/ Evan (Greek)

Cappie/ Casey/ Rebecca (Greek)

Dan/ Marty/ Savannah (Hellcats)

Ross/ Rachel/ Emily (Friends)

Carrie/ Big/ Aidan (Sex and The City)

Barbara/ Cody/ Bob (Suite Life of Zach and Cody)

Movies

Allie/ Lon/ Noah (The Notebook)

Andie/ Ducky/ Blaine (Pretty in Pink)

Mr. Knightley/ Emma/ Harriet (Emma)

Rose/ Jack/ Cal (The Titanic)

Sebastian/ Annette/ Catherine (Cruel Intentions)

REAL LIFE

Brad/ Angelina/ Jennifer

Aaron Carter/ Hillary Duff/ Lindsay Lohan (I did NOT make that up)

                         

 *To read the two blogs I referenced, click here and here. I think they are good blogs and they have a lot of followers.

** To read this article I referenced, click here. René Girard, the author, is a well-respected English scholar. Most English majors have read him for a class, like at Princeton. :)

Fire by Kristin Cashore: A Definite Must-Read!!

I finished Fire, the “prequel” to Graceling by Kristin Cashore, over the weekend. And, I have to say that, even though it is hard to beat a first book in any series, Fire did just that. Don’t get me wrong, I really liked Graceling, but I couldn’t put Fire down. Maybe my opinion is unfair since the books are about completely different characters, and I just happened to like the ones in Fire more, but I also think that Kristin Cashore developed more as a writer in her 2^nd novel. In any case, here are some of the many reasons why I loved this book.

            The Protagonist: One reason I liked Fire so much (and more than Graceling) was because the leading lady was so likable.  Katsa, from Graceling, is stubborn when it comes to love, and thinks that that falling in love means losing her true identity.  While she changes some throughout the book, and I respect her opinion, sometimes I was bored by her lack of romantic side. Fire, (the protagonist of Fire) on the other hand, puts herself out there, which I think takes more courage and certainly was more interesting to read. Also, Kristin Cashore’s depiction of Fire’s inner struggle made it even more interesting to read. While Katsa is blind to her own beauty, Fire is not ignorant and knows exactly how her “monster” beauty affects others. The twist is that she can manipulate peoples’ minds also, and one of the main story lines of the book is how she comes to terms with her power and how far she will go to use it. The fact that Fire sees her beauty’s effects and chooses to do something about it, or use them for good use, makes her far more likeable to me. Katsa thinks she can just cut her hair off and solve all her problems. (I don’t know why this bothered me so much, but I think it has something to do with my mom’s threats of cutting all my hair off if I don’t keep it out of my face… :P

            

Katsa                      vs.                              Fire

             

Who would win?!?

The Plot: I won’t write any spoilers, but another reason I loved Fire was because there was a… wait for it… drum roll… LOVE TRIANGLE!! Woo!! Every teen girl loves to read about a good love triangle, am I right? But the reason this one was so good was because it felt fresh, not like a Jacob/Edward repeat, and it didn’t feel FORCED. When I was reading it, I didn’t say in my head, “Oh, I bet Kristin Cashore put this love triangle in to make her book more appealing and exciting to teenage girls.” Either way, I still would have eaten it up, but that just made it even better.

                        Another thing I loved about the plot of this book was that it took a single character from Graceling and wove him into Fire’s story, in a way that you learn more about him, but that it was still its own book. Anyone could have picked up Fire without having read Graceling and enjoyed it for what it is, a good fantasy novel, which brings me to my final point…

            The Writing: Kristin Cashore’s writing was just great in this novel. Her description of the setting and history of her fantasyland the Dells was actually enjoyable to read and not boring. She creates an original setting, plagued by unique brightly colored monsters and riddled with underground tunnels, that feels new and exciting to read about.

Overall, I would definitely give Fire 5 out of 5 stars, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy or adventure, (or a good love triangle!!)

Check out these "book trailers" for Kristin Cashore's two books. But don't let them influence you on whether or not you will read the books, (because I know the first one is a little creepy at first...)

To read more reviews on Fire, click here and here. The first is an Amazon book page, which I love because it includes professional reviews like The School Library Journal, but it also includes reviews from costumers. The second is a link to a Book Review blog, and since its name is "Persnickety Snark" I was surprised to see that it agrees with my opinion. Kristin Cashore has also created a list of praise and rewards her novel has received.

Heterochromia Iridium: The Case of the Different Colored Eyes

The back cover of Graceling.

In the fantasy world of Graceling, certain people are “graced” with extraordinary powers; some, like fighting, cooking and mind-reading (Edward Cullen style) are useful, while others, such as holding your breath or climbing a tree, are useless. These “gracelings” may receive their powers at a day old or at 10 years during their childhood. Parents watch the eyes of their children warily until they are grown, because the mark of a graceling is two eyes of different colors. When gracelings are marked, they are immediately sent to the king until they learn what their grace is. If it is something useful, they stay at court, but if not, they return home, but to no advantage, because gracelings are avoided and considered “freaks of nature.” In this story, both main characters are gracelings. Katsa has one green and one blue eye, while Po has one silver and one gold eye.  Ever since reading The Clique series, when Cam Fisher, Claire’s boyfriend, has one blue and one green eye, I have been interested in the idea, and I decided to take a closer look into how people can have different color eyes.

Famous American actress, Kate
Bosworth, has one hazel
eye and one blue eye. You
might recognize her from
Remember the Titans!!

            People used to believe that only one gene controlled eye color, and that it could be inherited straightforward, like in Mendelian genetics (like the Punnet squares we learned about in biology!!) However, now people believe that eye color is a polygenic trait, meaning that many genes influence one eye’s color. The main thing that affects eye color is melanin. The more melanin an iris contains, the darker it becomes. That’s why people who produce more melanin have dark skin and brown eyes while people who produce little melanin have light skin and blue eyes.

 Odd-eyed, Turkish Angoran cats like this one
are considered "national treasures" in Turkey.

            

While heterochromia iridium (the fancy scientific definition for one individual having two different colored eyes) is common in dogs, cats, and horses, it is fairly uncommon in humans, but not impossible. It is caused when each iris contains a different amount of melanin, resulting in two eyes of different colors. This difference is melanin is believed to be caused by an altered gene that affects eye color. This trait can be inherited, caused by injury or trauma near time of birth or later, or caused by medical problems like Waardenberg syndrome.

 ~I think it would be so cool to have different colored eyes, don’t you? They are so special and interesting to look at. At least I have my birthmark…~

For my research on this blog, I used this website as my main starting point because it was written by an expert, but it was a little hard to follow, so for all of you non-scientists out there like me, use this other website if you want to learn more, because they used the same source, but explained better.

10 Things (Or More) You Didn't Know about Kristen Cashore

Biography: Kristin Cashore is the author of my current read, Graceling, which was her debut novel published in October 2008. Since then, she has written a prequel Fire, published in October 2009, and is currently writing a third companion called Bitterblue. She grew up in the northeastern Pennsylvanian countryside with a passion for reading. She attended Williams College and afterwards “developed a compulsive moving problem” which took her from New York City to Austin to Italy and in between. While living in Boston, she studied at Simmons College and earned an M.A. at the Center for the Study of Children’s Literature. While studying there, she developed her passion for young adult novel. She began her “dream job” of writing full-time with educational children’s books, and now with writing novels. She currently lives in Massachusetts.

Instead of boring you with a long, detailed version of her life story, I decided to keep it short so that I could make a list of 10 facts about Kristin Cashore that I find much more interesting than a boring research blog… so… here is my list of....

10 THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT KRISTEN CASHORE 

1.     Since she suffers from thoracic outlet syndrome, which causes pain in the neck/arm/fingers, she hand-writes her novels in notebooks instead of typing. She then uses voice recognition software to get them into Word form. See how she uses it here.

2.     She keeps her notebook in a waterproof, fireproof safe, in case her house burns down. Before that, she kept it in the refrigerator. :)

3.     In college, she spent a year studying abroad in Sydney, Australia. (jealous)

4.     She meditates. Not only does she meditate, but she pictures Prince Harry when she meditates. (what good taste!!)

5.     She takes trapezing lessons, as in, the flying trapeze, to take a break from writing.

One way to get over Writer's Block!!

6.     One of her favorite fantasy authors is Tamora Pierce. (this isn’t a particularly interesting fact except that I LOVE Tamora Pierce’s books!!)

7.     When she is first writing a book, the character’s relationships, characteristics, and feelings come most naturally to her, and the plot is the most difficult for her and what she thinks of last. (didn’t you think it would be the other way around?)

8.     She loves Peeta from the Hunger Games (again, good taste) but doesn’t like his name.

(I found this out from one of her particularly funny blog posts.)

9.     She loves Bollywood movies.

10. She gets all of her books from the library, and then buys the ones that she loves. She loved The Book Thief so much that she bought multiple copies to spread the joy.

To find out more about Kristin Cashore, visit her blog at http://kristincashore.blogspot.com/. I only included a little of the funny material that I found there!! 

 

Top 10 of '10: My Top Book Picks of 2010

Remember in lower school when reading logs were kept in

bright colored journals?! Oh how the times change…

Here is my list of recommendations for books published in 2010:

10. Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares, by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

            I loved this book because it was set in New York, and even better, during CHRISTMASTIME!! Lily, an awkward, optimistic girl, hides a red moleskin notebook in her favorite second hand bookstore containing a scavenger hunt. When Dash, a mysterious boy and a loner, finds it, he is immediately interested, and so begins a series of dares that may or may not lead to romance…

            For fans of: 13 Little Blue Envelopes, Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist

9. Matched, by Allie Condie

            My sister introduced me to this book saying that it would be the next Hunger Games. Although it did not completely live up to that standard, it was a great read anyways. Matched is set in a dystopian society called “The Society,” (hehe) where your jobs and your spouses are picked for you. In this book, Cassia must choose between Ky and Xander, which causes her to question the Society’s power. The love triangle was interesting, but there really wasn’t much action, just a lot of inner struggle.

            For fans of: The Hunger Games, Uglies

8. The Sisters Grimm: Book Eight: The Inside Story, by Michael Buckley

             I am probably way too old to still be reading this series, but hey, they are so good I just can’t stop now! In this story, The Grimm Sisters and Puck the fairy must travel into the book of Everafter in order to save their baby brother and capture the leader of the Scarlet Hand, an evil band of fairy tale characters intent on taking over the world (what else is new?)

            For fans of: Inkheart, any fairy tales!!

7. Spells, by Aprilynne Pike

            In this sequel to Wings, Laurel sees Avalon, her home-fairyland, for the first time and actually goes to school there! (My dream come true…) She spends some quality time with one of her love interests, Tamani, the hot fairy. Did I mention she also has a boyfriend on Earth (David) who loves her as well? This girl has got it goin’ on. Good thing Miley Cyrus was cast to play her in the movie…

            For fans of: Twilight (because of the supernatural love triangle), Miley Cyrus (hahaha) (just kidding)

But really, I'm not kidding - http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2009/07/miley-cyrus-wings-away-to-new-movie-possible-franchise/

6. Heist Society, by Allie Carter

            In this girly version of Ocean’s Eleven, Kat is trying to get out of the family business of high-end thievery. This stops when she must steal certain paintings back from an infamous thief to save her father. This was an all around great read, with lots of action and romance.

            For fans of: Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy, Ocean’s 11

5. Bright Young Things, by Anna Godberson

            Set in Manhattan during the Roaring Twenties, this book includes everything I love: New York, small-town girl trying to make it on Broadway (NYC… just got here this morning ;) ), flappers, and speakeasies (just because Chuck likes them on Gossip Girl…)

            For fans of: The Luxe, Gossip Girl

4. The Iron Fey Series, by Julie Kagawa

            THIS SERIES IS AMAZING!!! I don’t want to spoil it, but basically it is a fantasy book set in the world of faeries (aka Oberon, Puck, and Queen Mab) from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Meghan Chase finds out she is very important in this world and the books are all about her adventures to save it. The best part is that there is another supernatural love triangle… (that might be better than Twilight? :0

            For fans of: Twilight, Wings

3. Across the Universe, by Beth Revis

            I know what your thinking, but this book has NOTHING to do with the movie. I mean no relation, at all. Also, it technically isn’t published until Jan. 11, 2011, so you will just have to wait. (Woohoo sources in publishing world for giving it to me early… shout out, sis!!) It’s set on a ship bound for another planet 300 years away. Elder, the second-in-command, is exploring secret parts of the ship, when he discovers a girl that has been frozen-in-time since the original departure from Earth, and he finds out there are 99 people also like her, and someone is trying to kill them. It may sound super sci-fi, but it is SO GOOD!!!

            For fans of: Avatar, Titanic, “I’m on a Boat” (haha)

2. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

            The last book in the Hunger Games was just as fantastic as the first two. In the last part of the story, Katniss accepts her role as the leader of the Revolution, with a final attack on the Capitol. Must. Read.

1. ???????????

            What was YOUR favorite book of 2010?