Squeetus summer book club: Princess Academy, chapter 14

Chapter 14

Weather: Again beginning the chapter with weather. In a climate with four seasons, it's an easy way to tell time passing. Nature isn't sentient, so any description of it reflects the observer. How is the main character/s feeling? That can be shown with a description of the weather.

Wishes: Here Miri doesn't know what she would wish for. If you had a wish, would you know how to best use it? I don't know if I would. I'd have to keep it if I could and wait until I was really sure about something.

Pg 161: "The world had never felt so wide, a great gaping mouth that could swallow all of them whole." I remember times when I realized just how big the world was, how many people, how little I mattered, and how scary that felt. "It made Miri wish she could bite back." Ah, there's the gumption in that girl!

Disappearing scenes: Sometimes as I read, I'm remembering what isn't there as well as what is. I trim as much as I can from every draft, but what I cut from the last drafts lingers in my mind after so many readings. I see the ghost scenes between scenes. So the book I read isn't the same as the book everyone else reads.

Quiet stone, pg 165: This phrase and what it means came from my quarrying research. I love the idea of it.

Pg 169: "Or maybe you just avoid talking about Jans." This line makes me laugh. Yes, sometimes I laugh at my own writing (embarrassing) but I feel like I'm laughing at something Miri said.

Pg 177: Something resolves, though not the way Miri had wished. Though perhaps better than she would have hoped? I'm glad there aren't real magic wishes. I think we'd mess things up royally. Better to trust in life's surprising resolutions.

Going to have to get to your questions tomorrow. Also, look what I got in the mail yesterday!