78. Don't Worry, Animals Can't Give Opinions Yet

Synopsis

BOOK THREE IN THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING SERIES

"Thrilling and hard to put down, readers will absolutely devour Tahir's latest." --BuzzFeed

An Entertainment Weekly Summer Reads pick!

"The perfect summer read." --The Washington Post

The highly anticipated third book in #1 New York Times bestselling author Sabaa Tahir's EMBER QUARTET.

Beyond the Martial Empire and within it, the threat of war looms ever larger.

Helene Aquilla, the Blood Shrike, is desperate to protect her sister's life and the lives of everyone in the Empire. But she knows that danger lurks on all sides: Emperor Marcus, haunted by his past, grows increasingly unstable and violent, while Keris Veturia, the ruthless Commandant, capitalizes on the Emperor's volatility to grow her own power--regardless of the carnage she leaves in her path.

Far to the east, Laia of Serra knows the fate of the world lies not in the machinations of the Martial court, but in stopping the Nightbringer. But in the hunt to bring him down, Laia faces unexpected threats from those she hoped would help her, and is drawn into a battle she never thought she'd have to fight.

And in the land between the living and the dead, Elias Veturius has given up his freedom to serve as Soul Catcher. But in doing so, he has vowed himself to an ancient power that demands his complete surrender--even if that means abandoning the woman he loves.

This is a book of WAR! If you're gifted with martial art skill, would you tease people to fight you? Do you feel an itch to find out if you're still the best, just like Snow White's stepmom who always ensured she was the fairest of all? I like world peace. Therefore, I won't show off my martial art skill, even if I'm the best. I would teach my children the skills though, so they can capture animals for food. Then, I'll let them hunt freely in the jungle. It's a test to see how well they can apply my teachings.

See also: Home School vs Public School Traumatise Your Children, So They Won't Do The Same Mistakes Again. Don't Worry, It's Education Cinderella, How I Hate You So

Book Recommendation:

• Sabaa Tahir - A Reaper at the Gates (An Ember in the Ashes)

77. Send Me Cheques, I Deserve It, I Just Do

Synopsis

A young orphan named Lewis Barnavelt aids his magical uncle in locating a clock with the power to bring about the end of the world.

Genres	Family, Fantasy, Horror
Director	Eli Roth
Starring	Cate Blanchett, Jack Black, Lorenza Izzo

The book:

What is the most important thing in the world, that when it's passed, we won't get it back? TIME Try to jot down a list of what you have right now. Can you see how rich you are? Now, try to take a note of what you have every year (every new year's eve when you write your resolution). You'll see your progress, your life in a bigger picture, and where you'll go forward to chase your dreams. Make time for all the things that are important for you. Cherish your time with your parents while you still can. When God decides to take them away from you, your time is up and you won't even have time to meet them anymore. Chase your dreams to the corner, grab them all, hold them tightly, while you still can. You know that you can't run that fast for 100 miles if you're 100 years old, right? Use your time wisely, to beat this world. If you're successful, don't forget to send me cheques. I helped you, remember? I just did.

See also: I Don't Wanna Help You Sacrifice Them All If You Find A Good Way to Hide, Don't Forget to Share, PRETTY PLEASE A Hero: Are You? Why Don't I Want To Re-do My Life? I Did It My Way

Movie Recommendation:

• The House with a Clock in Its Walls (2018)

76. True Artist #3 - Taylor Swift

Summary

Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. One of the world's leading contemporary recording artists, she is known for narrative songs about her personal life, which have received widespread media coverage.

Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Swift moved to Nashville, Tennessee at the age of 14 to pursue a career in country music. She signed with the label Big Machine Records and became the youngest artist ever signed by the Sony/ATV Music publishing house. Her 2006 self-titled debut album peaked at number five on the Billboard 200 and spent the most weeks on the chart in the 2000s. The album's third single, "Our Song", made her the youngest person to single-handedly write and perform a number-one song on the Hot Country Songs chart. Swift's second album, Fearless, was released in 2008. Buoyed by the success of pop crossover singles "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me", Fearless became the best-selling album of 2009 in the United States. The album won four Grammy Awards, with Swift becoming the youngest Album of the Year winner.

Swift was the sole writer of her 2010 album, Speak Now. It debuted at number one in the United States and the single "Mean" won two Grammy Awards. Her fourth album, Red (2012), yielded the successful singles "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and "I Knew You Were Trouble". With her fifth album, the pop-focused 1989 (2014), she became the first act to have three albums sell 1 million copies within one week in the United States. Its singles "Shake It Off", "Blank Space", and "Bad Blood" reached number one in the US, Australia, and Canada. The album received three Grammy Awards, and Swift became the first woman and fifth act overall to win Album of the Year twice. The 2015 concert tour for 1989 became one of the highest-grossing of the decade. Swift's sixth album, Reputation (2017) and its lead single "Look What You Made Me Do" topped the U.K. and U.S. charts, with the former becoming her fourth million-selling debut.

As a songwriter, Swift has received awards from the Nashville Songwriters Association and the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and was included in Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time in 2015. She is also the recipient of 10 Grammy Awards, six Guinness World Records, one Emmy Award, 23 Billboard Music Awards, and 12 Country Music Association Awards. Swift is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 40 million albums—including 27.8 million in the US—and 130 million single downloads. She has appeared in Time's 100 most influential people in the world (2010 and 2015), Forbes' top-earning women in music (2011–2015), Forbes' 100 most powerful women (2015), and Forbes Celebrity 100 (2016). Her inclusion in the third of these made her the youngest woman on the list, and she ranked first in Celebrity 100.

Source: Wikipedia

Born	Taylor Alison Swift December 13, 1989 (age 28) Reading, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, actress
Years active	2004 - present
Net worth	$280 million (June 2017 estimate)
Musical Career
Genres	Pop, Country
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, banjo, piano
Labels	RCA, Big Machine
Website	taylorswift.com

WHY ?
She composed all her songs and she grows up with her songs even if sometimes it's through unnatural incidents.

She's proactively creating new experiences on her own. This is like she picks a topic for herself, even if that wasn't supposed to happen to her. Like how she took part in Kanye West's music video, being naked, even when her boyfriend was against her. Then, she made that Look What You Made Me Do, and album by the title Reputation. I didn't think she needed to be naked for other people's sake. Even Miley Cyrus is wiser for being naked on her own album.

Her songs were great. I love the tunes, the lyrics, and how she interpreted the songs into music videos. Some songs can harm you when you listen to them, in that you'd get headache just by listening to it. Her songs were among those which I consider as safe listening.

See also: True Artist #1 - Keith Urban True Artist #2 - Selena Gomez Useful Songs #1 - Charlie Puth Useful Songs #2 - Meghan Trainor Useful Songs #3 - Westlife Jason, Why?

Singer Recommendation:

• Taylor Swift

75. True Artist #2 - Selena Gomez

Summary

Selena Marie Gomez (born July 22, 1992) is an American singer, actress, and producer. After appearing on the children's television series Barney & Friends, she received wider recognition for her portrayal of Alex Russo on the Disney Channel television series Wizards of Waverly Place, which aired for four seasons from 2007 until 2012.

With her former band Selena Gomez & the Scene, she attained the top-ten on the US Billboard 200, with her albums Kiss & Tell (2009), A Year Without Rain (2010) and When the Sun Goes Down (2011). As a solo artist, Gomez has released the two number-one albums Stars Dance (2013) and Revival (2015). She has also earned six top-ten entries on the US Billboard Hot 100: "Come & Get It", "The Heart Wants What It Wants", "Good for You" with ASAP Rocky, "Same Old Love", "Hands to Myself", and "It Ain't Me", with Kygo. In 2017, Billboard reported that Gomez has sold over 7 million albums and 22 million singles worldwide.

Gomez's acting credits include starring roles in the films Another Cinderella Story (2008), Princess Protection Program (2009), Ramona and Beezus (2010), Monte Carlo (2011), Spring Breakers (2012), Getaway (2013) and The Fundamentals of Caring (2016). She voices the character of Mavis in the Hotel Transylvania film franchise. Outside of entertainment, Gomez released her own clothing line through Kmart in 2010 and a self-titled fragrance in 2013. In 2017, she released a limited-edition collection of handbags called the "Selena Grace" that she designed in collaboration with the luxury brand Coach, Inc. She has worked with various charitable organizations for years and became a UNICEF ambassador at the age of seventeen. As of 2018, Gomez is the most followed Instagram user in the world. Gomez has earned numerous awards throughout her career, including an ALMA Award, an American Music Award, an MTV Video Music Award, a People's Choice Award, two Billboard Women in Music Awards, and sixteen Teen Choice Awards.

Source: Wikipedia

Born	Selena Marie Gomez July 22, 1992 (age 25) Grand Prairie, Texas, U.S.
Occupation	Singer, actress, producer
Years active	2002 - present
Musical Career
Genres	Pop, Dance-Pop, Electropop
Instruments	Vocals
Labels	Hollywood, Interscope
Associated acts	Selena Gomez & the Scene
Website	selenagomez.com

WHY ?

• She made her songs out of her feelings towards something. The lyrics remind me of her life, her career, her struggle to fight lupus, her smoking habit, her relationship with her guy (or her fans)... her.
• Listening to her songs, I feel like she's here by my side, painting how she feels about things on my heart as her paper (even though what I get doesn't always mean the same thing to her or other people). She's a very talented artist.
• She's young, very beautiful, even if I were a woman, I'd like her. She's mesmerising, gorgeous woman (girl, if she prefers it). I don't just have a crush on her, I love her.

See also: True Artist #1 - Keith Urban True Artist #2 - Taylor Swift Useful Songs #1 - Charlie Puth Useful Songs #2 - Meghan Trainor Useful Songs #3 - Westlife Jason, Why?

Singer Recommendation:

• Selena Gomez

74. True Artist #1 - Keith Urban

Summary

Keith Lionel Urban (born 26 October 1967) is a New Zealand Australian country music singer, songwriter, and record producer. In 1991, he released a self-titled debut album and charted four singles in Australia before moving to the United States the following year. He found work as a session guitarist before starting a band known as The Ranch, which recorded one studio album on Capitol Nashville and charted two singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.

Still signed to Capitol, Urban made his solo American debut in 1999 with a second, eponymous album. Certified Platinum in the US, it produced his first number one on the Hot Country Songs chart with "But for the Grace of God". "Somebody Like You", the first single from his second Capitol album, Golden Road (2002), was named by Billboard as the biggest country hit of the 2000s decade. The album's fourth single, "You'll Think of Me", featuring his nephew and Australian country artist Rory Gilliatte, earned him his first Grammy Award. 2004's Be Here, his third American album, produced three more number one singles and became his highest-selling album, earning 4× Platinum certification. Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing was released in 2006, containing "Once in a Lifetime" as well as his second Grammy Award song, "Stupid Boy". A greatest hits package entitled Greatest Hits: 18 Kids followed in late 2007. Defying Gravity and Get Closer were released on 31 March 2009 and 16 November 2010, respectively. In September 2013, he released a brand new album titled Fuse, which produced four more number ones on the Country Airplay chart, two of which are duets—one with Miranda Lambert and the other with Eric Church. A new single, entitled "John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16", was released in June 2015 as the lead-off single to his eighth American studio album Ripcord. The album later produced the Country Airplay chart number one hits "Break on Me", "Wasted Time" and "Blue Ain't Your Color", with the latter also becoming Urban's longest-reigning number one on the Hot Country Songs chart, spending twelve weeks at number one. His tenth album, Graffiti U, was released in 2018 and includes the Top 20 hit "Female".

Urban has released a total of nine studio albums (one of which was released only in Australia), as well as one album with The Ranch. He has charted 37 singles on the US Hot Country Songs chart, 18 of which went to number one, counting a duet with Brad Paisley and the 2008 single "You Look Good in My Shirt", which he previously recorded on Golden Road. Those also include his third Grammy Award-winning single "Sweet Thing" from his album Defying Gravity.

Urban is also known for his roles as a coach on the Australian version of the singing competition The Voice and as a judge on American Idol. Since 2006, he has been married to actress Nicole Kidman. In October 2013, Urban introduced his own signature line of guitars and accessories.

Source: Wikipedia

Born	Keith Lionel Urban October 26, 1967 (age 50) Whangarei, Northland, New Zealand
Nationality	New Zealand Australia United States
Occupation	Singer, songwriter, guitarist, musician, TV show judge record producer
Spouse(s)	Nicole Kidman (m. 2006)
Children	2
Musical Career
Genres	Country, country pop, country rock, pop rock
Instruments	Vocals, guitar
Years active	1990–present
Labels	Capitol Nashville Hit Red
Associated acts	The Ranch, Brad Paisley, Miranda Lambert, Eric Church Carrie Underwood, Rory Gilliatte
Website	keithurban.net

WHY ?

• I always immediately fall for ALL of his tunes.
  He expresses his feelings too well through music. I can see why Nicole Kidman said YES to him through his The Fighter song. Salute!!! (plus screaming like crazy)
• I can easily repeat the words in my mind
• He was on drugs before, giving him a bad boy look, while singing emotional songs
  He has a great body too, those muscles are breathtaking, really a surprise treat. Listening to the songs, I've always mistakenly imagined he has a slim (read: thin, no muscles) body.

See also: Useful Songs #1 - Charlie Puth Useful Songs #2 - Meghan Trainor Useful Songs #3 - Westlife

Singer Recommendation:

• Keith Urban