Abducted By Books

Abducted by Kate's questions...

2012-02-24T11:34:00.000-06:00

Well, people are running around, tagging each other like CRAZY!!! And since I just answered Andrea's questions earlier this week, I really wasn't going to do another one...but I can't say no to a friend!

So Kate, this one's for you! (find these questions at midnightbookgirl.com)

1. What song would you pick for the soundtrack of the book you're currently reading?

Man, that is hard because the book I'm reading RIGHT now is Knocked Out By My Nunga-nungas and those girls are British so I have no idea what they are listening to. But I could see Georgia pulling an Emma Stone and busting out some dance moves via "Pocket Full of Sunshine" by Natasha Bedingfield.

2. What drink do you order most at Starbucks?

Java Chip Frappuccino even though I know that it is incredibly horribly terribly bad for me!

3. What literary character would you kiss, which one would you marry and which one would you push off a cliff?

First off, I would have to marry Neville Longbottom. So that leaves Jamie Fraser to have a hot and steamy make out session with...and to push off a cliff...hmm...well, the only character that is coming to mind is Lissa from Shut Out, but I think pushing her off a cliff would be a little extreme. Maybe I would just trip her with a stick.

4. Forget Zombies vs. Unicorns. Are you Team Robots or Team Mermaid?

I don't know, although I love Ariel, mermaids kind of freak out and they are very limited to the water if we are talking true mermaid and not a mermaid who has been transformed and suddenly has feet. So, I'm going to have to go with Team Robots.

5. What's the last movie you saw in the theater?

Beauty and the Beast 3D

6. If they were to make a movie out of your life, who would you want play your love interest?

Kate may be the only one not shocked by this answer but I'm going to go ahead and say Jesse Tyler Ferguson. I love me some Gingers! Although I love guys like Elijah Wood and Matthew Lewis up on the big screen, in my every day life I'm more attracted to guys like JTF.

7. If you could kidnap an author, which one would it be and what book would you have them write and/or re-write?

God, that is a hard one....I don't know! My instinct is to go with one of my favorite authors just so I could meet them, but then they would hate me! OH OH OH I GOT IT!!! I would kidnap Stephanie Meyers and have her rewrite the ending to Breaking Dawn to something a little bit more satisfying! That ending was such a cop out Stephanie, and you know it!!!

8. How many books are in your TBR pile?

If we are only talking about books I bought prior to Jan. 1st, the answer is 88. But since then I have probably bought maybe 5 or 8 more books.

9. What's the worst job you've ever had?

I worked at two different daycares back in 2005 and they were both awful! One because of how the place was run and the other because of how they treated their staff.

10. I want to paint an accent wall in my bedroom Peacock Blue, what color would you recommend for the other 3 walls? :)

Peacock blue is such a strong color that I would paint the other walls Swiss Chocolate White, which is the shade of white I just used on my wall at home! But I would accent with some throw pillows and whatnots that were deep purples and greens.

11. What is your favorite board game?

My favorite games are Scattagories and Apples to Apples, but they don't involve a board, so when it comes to actual "board" games I would have to go with either the classic; Clue, or Andrea has this great game called Imagine If that I love to play! You have to play with your friends and you write everyones name down on the board, or you can use fictional characters or celebrities, and then you ask questions like "If Katniss was a shoe, what kind of shoe would she be?" or "If Kate was a piece of athletic equipment, what would she be?" In which case the answer to that question, no matter who it is in reference to, is always jock strap!

And saddly no, I am not attending BEA this year! Maybe next year....maybe...

Abducted by TGIF 2.24.12

2012-02-24T07:58:00.001-06:00

This week I have decided to answer the question from TGIF hosted by Ginger at GReads books!

Required Reading: Which book from your school days

do you remember reading & enjoying? Is there a book published now

that you'd like to see in today's curriculum for kids?

I do have an answer for this question, but there is a catch...

My favorite book that I remember being required to read in high school was...

The catch is, I don't really remember caring about it when I read it all those years ago. I re-read it, oh man, it must have been three or four years ago now, and I LOVED it! That is when it became one of my favorite books, I only wish I had appreciated it when I first read it.

***OH, I just remembered, when I was a senior in high school we had to read the first chapter of The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, and I loved it so much I did go out and buy the book and devoured it!***

Now, as far as what I think should be required reading, I'm going to say pretty much anything by John Green or David Levithan.

They are both such amazingly talented writers, plus all of there books involve a messages of accepting others but also accepting yourself for who you are. But if I had to pick just one, I would be hopelessly optimistic and pick...

Boy Meets Boy is about all forms of acceptance. And with all the dangers to teens today with bullying and teen suicide, I think it could be an important read for them. However, I know that the day a book called "Boy Meets Boy" EVER being included in our schools curriculum is a looooooooooong way off.

Abducted by Andrea's Questions!

2012-02-23T10:57:00.000-06:00

One of my best friends, Andrea over at the Overstuffed Bookcase, asked some random book questions on her blog on Monday. So now I wanted to write a real quick post answering her questions!

So, let's get started...

1. Have you always been a huge reader or is it something that happened recently?

I have always loved reading and writing, but I was never as committed to it as I have been recently.

2. Can you pinpoint one book that solidified your love for reading?

I'm always embarrassed to admit this, but when I was younger I became obsessed with the Lurlene McDaniel books. She wrote all the series about young kids that were dying these tragic deaths in very romantic ways. I was a very emotional kid so I devoured these books! Of course now, I almost refuse to reread them because I don't want to be forced to realize how pathetic I really was. I will be reading Prey by Lurlene McDaniel soon, but that book has nothing do with kids dying of cancer or anything, it is about a teacher sleeping with her student... so Yay!

3. Do you prefer series or stand alone books?

Stand alones! Definitely! I will read series but I try not to read them until all of them are out because I am not a patient person and I don't like waiting!

4. Do you write in your books and/or dog-ear the pages or do you like to keep your books looking brand new?

I LOVE writing and underlining in my books! I love for my books to actually look like they have been read! I will not, EVER, dog-ear pages though! I know that sounds weird, but I just can't do it, it feels wrong to me!

5. What fictional world would you love to live in?

Well, I do love the idea of Narnia, but I'm not crazy! I need technology! I need plumbing! So, I'm going with the world of Harry Potter! Not only do they use all kinds of lovely magic at Hogwarts, but when they go into the muggle world they have electricity!

6. What book are you most looking forward to reading this year?

I don't know... I am excited for the next in the Curse Workers series by Holly Black.

7. Do you have to read to the end of a chapter or can you set the book down at any point?

Okay, you guys are about to discover how anal I really am! I am obsessed with how many pages are in books, I don't know why, I just am. So, sometimes, yes I do have to get to the end of a chapter before putting a book down, if we are just talking about putting it down to go to the bathroom or get something to drink. But when it comes to putting a book down for the rest of the day, I have to read until I am a certain number of pages from the end. For example if the book is 273 pages long, and I've just started it, then I will try to read either 23 pages that first day so that I have 250 pages left, or I'll read to page 73 so that I can go to bed knowing that I only have 200 pages left. For some reason I have to have those whole rounded numbers of pages left in a book. Crazy right? I know I know! Please don't judge me!

8. Describe what you are using as a bookmark in your current read.

I use whatever I have lying around. In one book I have a Hufflepuff book mark Kate sent me. In another I have a paint sample card from when I was trying to decide what color paint to paint my living room. In another I have the top half of a Chinese restaurant menu I got in the mail.

9. What book would you absolutely never want to be made into a movie or a TV show?

I don't think I have one. I usually get really excited about the prospect of my favorite books being turned into movies, even if they end up being terrible.

10. Do books easily make you cry or do you hardly ever shed a tear while reading?

I'm a cryer! Trust me it does not take much to get me bawling!

11. What book have you recommended the most?

I'm pretty sure that it would have to be The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan. I love that book and I'm on a mission to have everyone I know read it! But I am trying to scale back on how hard I am pushing it because I don't want to cross a line. I'm not saying it is the best book ever written, I'm just saying that for the concept and the way it is written, that it is amazing!

Abducted by Every You, Every Me

2012-02-22T15:27:00.000-06:00

*** Don't forget to enter my giveaway of a David Levithan novel! Winner will be announced on February 29th so you have plenty of time to still sign up! Just click HERE!!! ***

My fourth selection for my Levithan Love-a-thon was I believe his most recent novel...

This book made for a very interesting read, but I'm telling you right now, it takes you to a dark dark place!

The story is basically these two guys, Evan and Jack, and this girl, Ariel. Now, Ariel is gone. We don't know where, why, or how. What we do know is that Evan was Ariel's best friend and Jack was her boyfriend, and that they are both not handling her absence very well. Then one day, on his way home, Evan starts to find pictures. He'll just be walking down the street and find a picture in an envelope waiting for him. And he knows they are for him, because one of them is actually of him and some are of Ariel. When Jack gets a picture as well, they have to come together to figure out who is doing this to them. Now, that may not sound too dark, but the story is all told through Evan's perspective and that kid is doing some serious grieving!

Here are some cool things about this book...

1. The title comes from a song of the same name by the British band Placebo. According to Levithan, Placebo's music "very much informed the writing of this book." The song, Every You Every Me was featured on the soundtrack to Cruel Intentions, and here is the video that was made for that movie...

(or at least I hope you can click on the video, at the time of writing this my internet isn't quite cooperating)

2. For this project, Levithan, worked with photographer Jonathan Farmer. It started with the photo that is on the cover of the novel when Levithan saw it on Farmer's refrigerator. Farmer would send Levithan a single photo at a time and then Levithan would write the next section of the book. In the author's note, Levithan wrote; "I never had any idea what photo would come next. And Jonathan had no idea what I was writing. He didn't read a single word until I finished the first draft." That almost seems impossible when you read it because the photos fit so perfectly into the story.

And 3. A good majority of the story is ~~crossed out~~! Sometimes it is every other line or just certain words, and then sometimes it can be entire paragraphs. In the beginning you get the feeling that the things that are crossed out are whispers. Whispers that represent the difference between what we want/should/need to say and what we actually do say. And also what we want to remember verses the truth. But then, towards the end, those crossed out lines start to feel as if Evan is screaming at himself because he is trying so hard not to think the things he is thinking. Sometimes the lines that are crossed out are lines that other people are saying to him, and that did confuse me at first. But I think it is showing that Evan is choosing not to hear certain things. Also, sometimes the randomness of the narrator's thoughts and the down spiral he is on can be confusing, but it all comes together as being very genuine.

Every You Every Me is the 9th David Levithan book that I have read and it has definitely left an impact on me. It isn't filled with the abundance of optimism and hope that I like to think of as Levithan's signature style. However, the book is honest and thought provoking and will keep you guessing all the way up until the very end.

Originally I gave this book a three star rating on goodreads but now I'm going to have to raise it! I haven't been able to stop thinking about this book since I finished it and I keep trying to work it into conversations as much as I can! So, I'm going to give Every You Every me an abduction rating of...

Abducted by ... a Sex God

2012-02-20T09:34:00.003-06:00

***Don't forget to sign up for my giveaway of a David Levithan Novel! Not many people have signed up so your chances are good! Click HERE to enter and the winner will be announced on February 29th! ***

I actually read Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging way back in August of last year, and I mentioned in that review that I was going to space out reading the books, but I had not intended to space them out this much!

I LOVED this book so much!!! I remember liking the first book, thinking it was light and fun, but this book had me in tears! Georgia is crazy! She is just sooooo crazy!!! I couldn't believe half of the things she was saying and doing. I read most of this book at work (if you are a regular reeder of mine you may have noticed that I don't actually do a lot of "working" at work) and I think I might have started to get on the nerves of my co-worker because I could not stop laughing!

It is hard to discuss a book that is a sequel without giving away certain things that happen in the first book.

For example, by the fact that I am reviewing a sequel you now know that Georgia LIVES!!!

I'm kidding! I mean yes, Georgia does live, but at no point is her life truly in jeopardy throughout the first novel. I was just using that as an example of the types of things that may be spoiled for you by reading a review of a sequel. One thing that you do have to realize though is that this is a series that follows the life of a 14 year old girl through 10 diaries! So of course there are going to be fights, hookups, breakups, and potential cliff hangers. The series starts off Georgia obsessing over Robbie, but as I have been lead to believe, by the end of the series she is going to have three strapping young lads to choose from! I do promise to do my best to not give anything away, but if you would rather stop reading right now, I will try not to be offended.

One of the things that I loved about this book, was the fact that Georgia has such a great group of girlfriends. In this book there is the threat that she will have to move away and her friends really do what they can to support her and make sure she knows that they will miss her. Of course, Georgia (like any average 14 year old) can be a little self-centered sometimes and therefore doesn't always appreciate her friends, especially Jas. I loved Jas, I thought she was a great friend to Georgia. I just wish that Georgia would cut her a little slack from time to time.

And then you have the boys! In this book, Georgia is still pining away for Robbie the Sex God, but we do get our first glimpse (albeit a short one) of Dave the Laugh. This is the part where I did kind of struggle with the book a bit. I mean, in her diary all Georgia ever talks about is what an "arse" she makes of herself every time she is around Robbie. So, I'm sorry, but it did kind of leave me wondering; what does he see in her?

Dave the Laugh on the other hand, I really wanted to like him in this book, but I felt like he came off way too strong! I was rolling my eyes at a lot of the stuff he did. But I'm still holding out on my judgment for him until we get to know him better.

My only real complaint for the series so far is the mom! What is wrong with this woman??? Throughout the first novel we see her flirting with some random handy man guy and in this one she is drooling over some George Clooney look-a-like doctor! Which I mean, Okay, I get it, if he really does look like George Clooney then what did I expect her to do? But with her husband out of town, and how close she came to cheating on him in the first book, and how desperately she was throwing herself at the George Clooney doctor in this one, it just had me a little worried. Is this something that I need to expect in every book that makes up this series? In each of the sequels to come is there another guy around for the mother to fawn all over? Because if so, her and I are going to have issues! It already bothers me that Georgia is as disrespectful as she is to her father, I don't want to be seeing it in the mother as well.

In the end, however, humor wins out over everything! And because this book really had my sides splitting from laughter, I just had to give it an abduction rating of...

Abducted by Feature and Follow 2.17.2012

2012-02-17T00:30:00.002-06:00

*** ENTER MY GIVEAWAY OF A DAVID LEVITHAN NOVEL!!! HERE!!! ***

I just got back from singing some karaoke at a local bar here in town, and I figured what better time to hop around on some blogs before going to bed! And in case anyone is curious, I sang my go to classic song, Jump by Kris Kross, and then sang Little Black Back Pack by Stroke 9. I had never sang Black Back Pack before and I was shaking sooooooo incredibly bad! That is probably why I have the energy to write this blog before passing out!

It is time for another Feature and Follow hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read

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This weeks question is...

I like unique names for characters and am looking forward to coming up with some when I start writing. What's the most unique character name you've come across?

I love unique character names but off the top of my head it is hard to think of some! So, I'm going to go with...

I LOVE the character of Odd Thomas from the series of the same name by Dean Koontz. Not only does he have a unique name, but he is a completely original and charming character! I can't wait until the movie comes out because I know it is going to be amazing!!!

I love when authors create first names that don't sound unusual when you are reading them, but when you stop and think about it the names really aren't that common. I mean I don't know anyone with the name of Odd in real life, but when reading the series it never took me out of the book when I read over his name.

I have read quite a few science fiction and fantasy books where the names are so strange I couldn't even pronounce them! I ultimately will just make up my own nick names for the characters and call them that because it is just so much easier for me.

There is one more unusual character name that I LOVE, but unfortunately I haven't read the books yet. And that is Ford Prefect in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series!

I haven't read the series (although I own all of them and I absolutely will read them this year), I have seen the movie. Mos Def plays him in the 2005 film adaptation and he was hysterical! Once I heard his name in the movie, for some reason, I just fell in love!

I tried to use the name Ford for the love interest in the project I attempted for NaNoWriMo last November. But that project never really saw completion. As soon as I do write something worthy of the name, however, I am totally using it!!!

Okay, I have some tidying up to do before I sleep so I really better go. But have a great Friday!

Abducted by Marly's Ghost

2012-02-15T08:35:00.003-06:00

It is now time for my third post in my...

Levithan Love-a-thon!!!

(you can also check out my reviews of The Lover's Dictionary and Are We There Yet?)

***DON'T FORGET TO ENTER MY LEVITHAN LOVE-A-THON GIVEAWAY!!! JUST CLICK ON MR. LEVITHAN'S PICTURE ABOVE AND BE TAKEN TO THE LINK TO ENTER!!!***

Marly's Ghost is a retelling of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, but with a Valentine's Day spin. David Levithan filled the story with his own romantic and beautiful style. God, he is such a fantastic writer! The more I read his books the more I never ever want to have him read anything I ever write because I would die of embarrassment!

Ben is the main character in the story (aka E"Ben"ezer), and he is grieving the loss of his longtime girlfriend Marly. Marly and Ben met when they were ten and became a couple when they were thirteen. However, they only got to spend three short years together before Marly died of cancer.

The story picks up on the first Valentine's Day after Marly's death, and we find Ben to be cold and distant from all of his friends and family. Marly's death has affected him greatly and he can't seem to get past it, nor does he want to. In the original story, Ebenezer is just this grouchy old man. But Levithan does an amazing job of portraying Ben in such a way that in spite of how cruel he can be, you feel for him and how much pain he is in.

Marly's ghost comes to Ben and basically says that because Ben can't let her go, she cannot rest in peace. Then the three ghosts come. You know which three ghosts I'm talking about; The Ghost of Love Past, Love Present and Love still to come. They remind Ben of what he had with Marly, show him the truth of how he is hurting the people around him, and show him what will happen to him in the future if he continues down this past of isolation.

I loved all the ways that Levithan mixed his writing with the original work of Dickens. One of my favorite parts in the original is when a young Ebenezer's love, Belle, his breaking off their relationship because she feels he in unsatisfied with her. Levithan did an amazing job of having that conversation play out with the same tone and feeling, but instead of her saying "You would now, never choose to love someone who is poor" she says to him "You would now, never choose to love someone who is dying."

However, I will say that there were a few lines that were too close to the original and therefore felt odd and strange in the modern setting. But other than that, I truly LOVED this book! It had such beautiful writing and I loved the way that Levithan included all the original characters in their own special way. My favorite, was of course Tiny Tim, who in this novel became Tiny and Tim, a young gay couple that are just starting their relationship.

I loved this book so much that I couldn't put it down. If you aren't a huge fan of the original story, I'm not sure how much you would appreciate this book. But seeing on how I LOVE the original story, I was completely absorbed in this version of it. I'd give Marly's Ghost an abduction rating of...

Abducted by Levithan Love-a-thon GIVEAWAY!!!

2012-02-14T07:37:00.003-06:00

I have decided that I am having so much fun reading the works of David Levithan that it is time to spread the love!

So, I'm hosting a giveaway, but I'm going to keep it as simple as possible.

The giveaway will start today (February 14th) and run through February 28th. The winner will be announced on the last day of my Levithan Love-a-thon, February 29th.

Simply fill out the form below and you will be entered. And if you follow my blog, that will get you an extra entry!

On, February 28th I will announce the winner and send them an email. They will have 48 hours to get back to me with their information and their selection of novel. After 48 hours, if I haven't heard from them I will pick another winner at random.

Once the winner has been determined they will get to choose which one of the 5 David Levithan novels I read for my Levithan Love-a-thon they would like for themselves.

The Lover's Dictionary

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Good Luck!!!

Abducted by The Name of the Star

2012-02-13T07:00:00.001-06:00

My dear friend Kate sent me the audio version of The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson for Christmas and I just finished it last week!

The story centers around a young girl named Rory who moves to London from New Orleans to attend a boarding school. Rory is instantly a character that pretty much any one could relate to. She definitely has her own "fish out of water" moments, but she braves them all brilliantly and manages to make friends and find her own place in the school.

At the same time someone is terrorizing the streets with his own brand of Jack the Ripper inspired murders. Before she knows it, Rory is thrust into the investigation and is fighting for her life and the life of those around her.

I had never read Maureen Johnson before, but I have been meaning to. I do read a lot of YA and I'm a huge fan of authors like John Green and Holly Black, and they all seem to be friends. I've seen her books on so many of the blogs that I follow and was very happy to finally get my shot at reading her work. And now, I can easily say that I am fully converted! Johnson's writing was funny and honest.

I have always loved movies and shows that are based on Jack the Ripper so when I heard that his story played a major part in this story I was excited to read it! Johnson did not disappoint! As I said earlier, I had the audio version of this book and I was listening to it in my car. I'm not going to lie, there were some moments that when I was driving around quite late at night, I found rather chilling. Sure the book had its moments of being really funny, and a couple of kissing scenes were rather steamy, but mostly it was a full on ghost story! Which I was not expecting, but I did greatly appreciate!

I also loved all the characters. Rory was charming from the get go, with plenty of stories of her crazy family. And since this is a boarding school we got to meet a lot of her classmates and friends a long the way. My only real complaint was that we didn't get to see more of the character Jazza towards the end of the book. Jazza is Rory's roommate and they form a strong friendship from the beginning of the book. As chaos ensues we see less and less of Jazza. Don't get me wrong, the character isn't completely dropped and when you read the book you will see that everything that happens is for a reason, I'm just saying it was...unfortunate. She is a great friend to Rory so I hope she continues to play a part in the series.

That is the other thing! I did not know when I was reading this that it was going to be a series! YAY!!! I mean, this book works perfectly on its own. There is no doubt about that. Like I said, I had no idea it was going to be part of a trilogy. If someone had told me earlier I must have completely forgot. I didn't find out until I sat down to write this post. The ending of The Name of the Star absolutely lends itself to be a continuing story, but at the end of the novel there is still a sense of completion. If this book was not going to be part of a series, I would be okay. I would be disappointed, but not devastated.

I'm just excited that the story will move on because, call me crazy, but I really really really want something to happen between Rory and Stephen! I don't even know if that is something that has crossed Johnson's mind yet or not! I'm just saying I'd like for it to happen, it would make me very happy!

In this story Rory is seeing her classmate, Jerome, and Stephen is one of the "special" local cops investigating the murders. Stephen has had a rough past, so when we meet him he is kind of on the cold side and all professional. Towards the end he does start to come out of his shell around Rory, and I think she could be the best one to step in and warm his heart right up!

The Name of the Star was an enjoyable read and I can't wait to come back for more.

I will give it an abduction rating of...

Abducted by a Feature & Follow

2012-02-10T11:25:00.000-06:00

It has been FOREVER since I have done a blog hop, but a lot of my friends have been doing them lately, so I figured; Hey, why not!?! Also, I am soooooooo close to getting over 100 followers and it would be awesome to finally break that barrier!

Let me start by giving a special shout out to the feature blog:

The BookChowDown is a really cute blog, so congrats to her for being a feature! She also mentioned that she thinks she was the one who submitted the question for the week. That's exciting! I know I submitted a question once, but now I don't quite remember what it was. Hmm...

Anyway, the question for the week was:

Q: What would your prefer: reading your favorite book over and over again until you got sick of it OR reading 100s of mediocre books? And why?

Well, as I have mentioned on my blog, time and time again, my favorite book is The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis. I think, at last count, I have 10 different copies of this book. All with different covers and different art work. There is even a Hebrew edition on ebay that I have my eye on, but I haven't actually bought it yet. Because as my friends keep reminding me, I don't actually speak Hebrew.

But anyway, even though it is my favorite book, and even though I do try to re-read it once a year. I still think I would rather read 100s of mediocre books, than read my one book over and over again to the point that I was sick of it. The Chronicles of Narnia is such a magical series, and I would never want the Silver Chair to loose that magical quality for me.

I hope everyone has a great time jumping around on the blog hop! If you decide to follow my blog, please leave me a comment letting me know so that I can return the favor!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!!

Abducted by Are We There Yet?

2012-02-08T15:59:00.001-06:00

Today is the second Wednesday in February and it is time for my second entry in my...

Levithan Love-a-thon!!!

I explained in the last post that David Levithan writes a lot of his stories as Valentine's Day gifts, so that is why I've declared February my Levithan Love-a-thon month and I will be posting a review on a different one of his books each Wednesday. Last week I reread The Lover's Dictionary, but this week I read Are We There Yet?

This book was nothing like what I thought it was going to be. Let me share the blurb on the back of the book for you...

"Elijah and Danny don't think they have anything in common except their parents. Danny thinks Elijah is a lazy, slacking, clueless dreamer who doesn't know how to make a living. Elijah thinks Danny is a workaholic, stuck-up, soulless drone who doesn't know how to make a life. Yes, they're brothers. But they really can't stand each other.
Then their parents trick them into taking a trip to Italy together. Nine days of escape. Nine days of somewhere else.
Elijah and Danny aren't sure it's going to work. Until they each meet a girl - the same girl. Julia. And nothing will ever be the same again.

Welcome to David Levithan's mixed-up, turned-around, never-what-you-expect-world of brothers, Italy, and love - a place where everything unsaid carries the same weight as everything said, where lifelong histories can turn in the course of a minute, and where two brothers always have a chance...if they can only figure out what it is."

So, I knew that the book was going to involve brothers going to Italy, but I thought that the girl Julia was going to play a bigger part of the story. First of all, Julia doesn't even come into the story until page 78 which is almost exactly a third of the way through the book. Mostly the book was about the relationship between the brothers.

The relationship between Elijah and Danny reminded me so much of my relationship with my sisters that it was scary! They love each other but they have also grown apart. I love my sister, I truly do, but there is a wall between us.

"Elijah's problem, in Danny's mind, is that he has no sense of what it takes to make a living.

Danny's problem, in Elijah's mind, is that he has no sense of what it takes to make a life."

When I read that line, I had chills.

my sister and I at the U2 concert 2 and a half years ago

Siblings are interesting creatures, aren't they? No one can love you the way they can, and no one can hurt you as easily as they can. And it is hard to explain that to people because they always ask "Well, what did she say? What did she do?" But siblings don't have to do anything!

"If you live with someone all your life, you can tell when you are annoying them. Their face just shuts down. Their words sound almost mechanical, because they are reining in all the other emotions. I think I'd also know if I made Danny happy, but I never make him happy. Ever."

One thing that Levithan was great at was keeping a true balance throughout the story. Even though, I saw more of myself in the Elijah character, I was never against Danny. I understood completely where both brothers were coming from and I felt and rooted for each of them. And I'm not going to lie, the last page got me chocked up...just a little.

The other amazing thing about this book was that every sentence read like poetry. My neighbors probably think I've been spending the last few days talking to myself, because I couldn't help but read the pages out loud. The language and tone of the book just flows off the pages. You know how when you try to just read a poem in your head it doesn't sound as lyrical as when you read it out loud? That is how I felt about this book. I started reading it at my parents house during the Superbowl and was kind of like "yeah, okay." But, then I came home and started reading it out loud, and I fell in love.

Although I may not have been completely absorbed in the book, I still really loved it! I think it is perfect for everyone out there that has siblings. Especially when those relationships may have been strained. I'd give it an abduction rating of...

Abducted by The Lover's Dictionary

2012-02-01T23:28:00.000-06:00

In the last two years, I have been introduced to the writing of David Levithan, and he has come to be one of my favorite authors of all time. I love that he challenges the way a story is told, for himself and for his readers.

One thing I have learned about Levithan that really makes me love him, is why he writes the majority of his stories. In a lot of the interviews for him that I have read, he talks about the fact that most of the time he starts out writing stories only with the intention to give them out as Valentine's Day gifts for his friends and family. And it is only with their love and encouragement that he goes on to the develop the stories into full novels.

Seriously, how completely charming is that!?!

Upon learning this, I have since made it my mission in life to read everything he has written! And what is a better time to start then February, the month of Valentine's Day!?!

I am officially declaring February as the month for a...

Levithan Love-a-thon!!!

Every Wednesday I will be posting a new review for each of his books that I am going to read this month. I have set aside The Lover's Dictionary, Are We There Yet?, Marley's Ghost, Every You Every Me, and Boy Meets Boy.

And it all starts today with The Lover's Dictionary!

God, I love this book! I started reading it today, which means that it counts towards my goals of books to read this year and pages to read this year, but also one day reads and rereads!

When I first marked this book as "currently reading" on my blog this morning my friend Steph commented; "You're rereading this already?" And all I could think was; "Well, yeah! Why not? And hey, July was 7th months ago!!!"

The Lover's Dictionary is David Levithan's first adult novel (he usually writes Young Adult) and is written in the format of a dictionary. Levithan selects specific words for each letter and uses their definitions to share a piece of the puzzle that makes up relationships.

What I love about this book is that it is honest. It is honest about the big romantic gestures and it is honest about those small more intimate moments. There are moments when the narrator is deliriously happy, but other moments when we find him fearful and angry. Everything is right there, all contained within these 200 pages! I love it!

I gave this book away at my book club's book exchange at Christmas (and I am so glad that Tracy got it and loved it!) and I already bought another copy to give to yet another friend of mine that I know will appreciate it. I think I might make that a tradition, every time I reread this one I'll have to buy a copy to give to yet another friend. I will never loan this book out, I will always just make sure they have their own copy to read.

-- Okay, wait a second. Breath, Courtney, breath!!! You might be crossing the line to where you are getting too excited and building the book up way too much. You might start scaring people away! Take a step back and reel yourself in! --

...yeah...*shrugs*...I mean this book was alright...you'd probably like it...you know...whatever...

Originally when I rated this book I only gave it a four because I was unsatisfied with the end. But upon my rereading of it, I can see that I actually just mis-interpreted it. So this time around The Lover's Dictionary get's an abduction rating of...

Abducted by The Fault In Our Stars

2012-01-26T00:36:00.001-06:00

Wait a second!!! What was that??? What's that you say???

Is there a John Green giveaway going on???

Why Yes! Yes there is!!!

My awesome friend, Andrea, has two extra copies of The Fault In Our Stars that have both been signed and Hanklerfished! Soooo, If you don't have a copy yet, or want one with a Hankfish on it, you should absolutely sign up!!! Just click on the image above and it will take you straight to her new blog, The Overstuffed Bookcase, where she is hosting the giveaway!

Andrea and I actually went to the book signing that was part of the Tour de Nerdfighting in Austin this weekend with our friend Tracy! Some of you guys know that 2012 did not start out as the best year for me, so I've kind of been down in the dumps lately, but this weekend was just what I needed to lift my spirits like nothing else ever could!!!

The book signing was at a high school (because there were 1100 people there!!!) but it was hosted by a local independent book store called Bookpeople! And let me just say it, that book store was AMAZING!!! They apparently have authors coming through there all the time and they often leave signed copies of their novels behind! I felt like we were on a treasure hunt because every which way we turned we would find books that were signed by their authors! It was so exciting! Tracy got a signed Sarah Dressen and we got Andrea a signed Scott Westerfield for her birthday.

And I took home a copy of Why We Broke Up signed by Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) and Maira Kalman. I had no idea what this book was about, but the blurbs on the back were hysterical so I thought that it just has to be good. Plus, the art work on the inside looks amazing so I have very high hopes!

And then I turned to Tracy and said "If I find a David Levithan, I'll die!!!" Less then a minute later I was staring at several signed copies of all of David Levithan's novels and screaming my head off in excitement! I'm pretty sure my friends were trying to tell me to quiet down because I was embarrassing them but I was like "Hey, I warned you!"

*DFTBA Courtney! Hank Green*

And then we went to the book signing! John Green signed my copy of Looking For Alaska (on the very last page because I have a thing about last pages of novels) and Hank signed my copy of a new cd he released just for this tour! It was a magical evening! I will say though that I am a little disappointed that neither John, nor Hank, looked up at me and recognized me as the kindred spirit that I am so that we could go ahead and start are inevitable best-friendship! But hey, there will always be another tour and another book signing, I'll just have to wait!

This particular book signing was for John's new book The Fault In Our Stars, which came out on January 10th. All of the nerdfighting community was buzzing with excitement for this release and the wait was well worth it.

At this point however, I'm not really sure what I could say about this book that you haven't already heard. So, I'm just going to try the best I can.

This book is about kids, who are struggling with understanding the meaning of life and the concept of death, one kid trying their best to leave this world causing as minimal amount of pain to those that love them, the other doing everything they can to find a way to make a difference and leave a memory behind. The characters are completely honest and genuine and one hundred percent charming!

In case you need yet another reason to read this book, I'll give you this: It was written by JOHN GREEN! What more of a reason do you need? Seriously?

*To Courtney - John Green*

With all of John Green's novels he has created this Universe of stories. This entire world where every single character (young and old alike) are insanely clever and witty and smart and perfect and in their own little ways each one of them is absolutely, and yet beautifully, flawed! You want to know these people, you want these kids to be your best friends, you want these parents to be your parents, you want to go to that school and hang out at that mall. And in that magical John Green universe, this book, The Fault In Our Stars, is at the heart of it all.

And I for one can't wait to read John Green again, because every time I read his books I get to go back on vacation to that world!

I know you might be thinking that all of what I just said is a tad on the cheesy side. And you are right, it is. I know it is. But I can't help it. It's the truth.

The Fault In Our Stars gets an abduction rating of...

*big surprise right?

Abducted by...I NEED HELP!!!

2012-01-17T10:57:00.000-06:00

I'm having problems with my blog...can anybody out there help me???

So I have a new blog through blogger, Courtney's 29th Year.

It is all about my personal struggles and growth I'm going through this year.

But here is the problem... I've lost all my followers!

When I look on my dashboard it says that I have 6 followers of that blog.

When I view the blog, it says that I only have 1. So I don't think my posts are showing up on my friends' googlereaders.

My friend, Shavonne, tried to re-follow my blog and was able to add herself, but then when I went back to my blog to check, it still said I only have 1 follower.

Has this happened to anyone before?

Does anyone out there have any idea how to fix it?

Abducted by Tuck Everlasting

2012-01-14T07:00:00.001-06:00

On Sunday I read Tuck Everlasting in ONE day!

That means that this one little book, counts toward all of my 2012 challenges, except one!

My own page count challenge? Yep! A full 139 pages!

Bev's TBR challenge? Yep! I've had it on my tbr shelf since August!

Kate's Re-Read challenge? Yep! I read this one back in middle school!

Annette's Read in a day challenge? Yes, Sir! I read this one on Sunday and I also managed to have lunch with my mother, run some errands, go grocery shopping at Sam's, and had dinner with my parents followed by a couple of hours of television!

The only challenge it doesn't work for is Yvonne's Finishing the Series challenge...but hey you can't win them all now can you?

Anyway, Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt is an amazing novel about a ten year old who is forced to come to terms with life and death, when she meets a family that can never die.

I love this novel because it walks the line through a very difficult balance. The novel is dealing with these heavy issues and yet, it doesn't get to heavy into developing the relationships in the book.

Like I said, I first read this book back in middle school (which was a pretty long time ago) but I feel like the reason I remembered the novel so well is because I have seen the movie...more then once!

The 2002 movie, starring Alexis Bledel and Jonathan Jackson, actually follows the novel pretty closely. I think that really the only noticeable difference was that in the movie Jesse and Winnie spend more time together and really develop their relationship.

But their relationship in the book isn't that close because James is 17 and Winnie is only 10. She is excited by him and charmed by him, but is it love? Who knows!

- Out of respect, I'm going to go ahead and say SPOILER ALERT in reference towards the next paragraph for those who maybe haven't read the book and don't know how it ends, but I mean seriously, come on, this is a classic! Go read it! -

In the end, Winnie is given the opportunity to live forever when Jesse gives her a bottle filled with water from the same spring that his family had drunk from. And what does she do? She pours it out over a toad in order to save him instead. I love that because it shows that she understands the theory of the circle of life enough to know she can't keep the water for herself. But, in her own childish way, she comes to love and respect life in all creatures to the point that she wants no harm to come to this little toad.

I think novels like this are important today. Especially for a society that is beginning to romanticize the idea of eternal life with novels about vampires and werewolves and whatnot. We want to believe in eternal love. We want to believe that we can live forever, happy and fulfilled. But is it right?

Hell No! Remember that from time to time people!!!

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt gets an abduction rating of...

Abducted by a Meme!

2012-01-12T17:58:00.000-06:00

My awesome friend Kate completed this meme back on the 1st and even though it has taken me a while, I still really wanted to do it too!

It was originally posted by Christine!

Here we go...

Using only titles of books that you read last year (2011), complete the prompts below. Try not to repeat any book titles. Think creatively and have fun!

Describe yourself: Nothing to Fear by Alicia Dean

How do you feel: I Am America by Stephen Colbert

Describe where you currently live: Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

If you could go anywhere, where would you go: You Know Where To Find Me by Rachel Cohn

Your favorite form of transportation: It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

Your best friend is: The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen

You and your friends are: In the Company of Cheerful Ladies by Alexander McCall Smith

What's the weather like: Forever Odd by Dean Koontz

What is life to you: Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison

Favorite time of day: Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby

Your fear: I Dreamed I Married Perry Mason by Susan Kandel

What is the best advice you have to give: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Thought for the day: Remember Me by Sophie Kinsella

How I would like to die: The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis

My soul's present condition: Unbearable Lightness by Portia de Rossi

Abducted by Will Grayson Will Grayson

2012-01-10T22:20:00.000-06:00

I finished Will Grayson, Will Grayson on Saturday, and I know that I promised a raving review for you guys, but now that I am sitting here, fingers poised to type, I can't think of what to say...

(3 hours later)

The book was amazing! I really did love it!

First of all, I love John Green. I have read most of his books (I haven't read Let It Snow yet, and TFIOS is laying patiently beside me), but I am also a huge fan of his vlogbrother videos. David Levithan on the other hand, my love for him is bordering on obsession at this point!As far as the rest of the book goes...

I truly loved all the characters! Each one of them was flawed in their own little perfect way. Each character also, had an arch and they all changed and grew by the end of the story. Except, of course, for Jane. Jane was awesome in the beginning, stayed awesome through the middle, and someday I will have an "I'm with Phil Wrayson" shirt just like the awesome one she wore at the end.

I loved Will Grayson #1 (John Green's Will) because I really felt for the struggles he had to endure with his relationship with Tiny. It is hard to have friends that you have had since you were a child. As you get older and you both change, you can start to grow apart. But I felt that Green handle it in a very honest and genuine way, that I know I was able to relate to.

Will Grayson #2 (David Levithan's Will) I struggled with just a little bit more, but his story was also a tad bit darker then Will #1. His friendship with Mara was disturbing, and when she tricked him I was devastated! In the first chapter he was being a little cold towards his mother, and anyone who knows me knows that is something I can not stand! It is a huge turn off for me when I'm around someone who disrespects their parents. I know that not all parents are as amazing as mine are, but still...

Anyway, I tried to give Will #2 some slack, he was high school boy after all, and I am glad I did. By the end, his relationship with his mother had me in tears!

I could not stop myself from underlining different passages in this book. I underlined so much, I even underlined one of the comments they authors added in their acknowledgments at the back of the book! So, I wanted to include one of my favorite passages that came from a Will #2 chapter:

"i can't imagine us saying these things to each other out loud. but even if i can't imagine hearing these words, i can imagine living them. i don't even picture it, instead i'm in it. how i would feel with him here. that peace. it would be so happy, and it makes me sad because it only exists in words."

This book isn't perfect. It is close, but it does have a fault or two. However, I promise you that this book is pure dessert.

I like to say that some books are "candy books". They may not have stellar writing or poetic metaphors to stand on, but they are light and fun.

This book is pure delight and fun, but it is not candy. This book has so much substance you could choke on it! This would be a creme brulee of dessert books.

That is, of course, if you like creme brulee, which I've never been a fan of. So I would have to compare this
book to the most sinfully decadent and lavish chocolate cake.

Wait - did I just compare WGWG to cake so I would have an excuse to stop by my absolute favorite french bakery, La Baguette, and pick up a slice of cake???

Hell yeah I did!!!

I will be giving Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan an abduction rating of...

Abducted by an ending and a new beginning

2012-01-06T23:21:00.001-06:00

I have been meaning to write this post for a week now, so I apologize for it taking me so long!

I want to do a quick recap of how I did on all my challenges last year so I can then tell you about all of the challenges I'm going to shoot for this year.

Okay, so for starters, last year I challenged myself to read 111 books.

I failed miserably! I only read 82 and a good deal of those were audio books and graphic novels.

But I do want to take this moment to simply say;

My favorite book I read in all of 2011: Jane Eyre! If I had known that book was going to be so amazing I would have read it 10 years ago, when I first bought it!

My favorite author to discover in 2011: I have two! One of the first books I read in 2011 was Dash & Lily's Book of Dares which introduced me to David Levithan! I am now officially obsessed with him! And in April I started listening to an audio recording of Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby. Even though that book wasn't quite what I thought it would be, I still managed to fall in love! I now must read anything and everything Hornby has had a hand in!

I also challenged myself to read more books with 350 or more pages, but I only managed to read 6.

Scarlet Feather by Maeve Binchy

Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

It's Kind of A Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

I accepted my dear friend Kate's challenge to reread some of my old favorites and managed to reread 11.

All 7 of the Chronicles of Narnia

Cheerleaders: The First Evil by R.L. Stine

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

Letters from Rifka by Karen Hesse

Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz

I also tried to read a book for each letter of the alphabet, but I missed out on the letters Q, X, and Z.

Who knows, maybe next year...

Okay, so for next year I will be participating in the following challenges:

and of course, my very own,

If you are interested in any of the new challenges I'll be doing you can click on the images to find their original posts. Sorry, this post was so boring, by I'm almost done with Will Grayson Will Grayson so expect a review coming soon!

Abducted by 2012 Challenges

2011-12-30T23:41:00.001-06:00

Well, it is time to start looking forward towards some new challenges for my reading in 2012.

My challenges proved to be somewhat unsuccessful in 2011, but with my New Year's resolution to quit procrastinating, I know that I will be able to get way more done in 2012. Way More. Easy!

So, I'm going to write a quick post for some of the challenges I plan on shooting for in 2012.

I'll be updating this post as I find new challenges to join but here are the ones I know I want to join now:

This challenge is hosted by Annette and, as you may have guessed, is about finding those amazing books you can read in just one day! Should be fun, and I have a lot of short books on my shelves just waiting to be read. I think for now I am going to go for Level 1, which is 15 books, but I'm hoping to get closer to Level 2, which is 25 books.

This challenge is all about tackling those towering TBR piles, with an awesome mountain theme! I'm going for Mount Kilimanjaro, which is the challenge to read 50 books that you've owned prior to January 1st 2012! I have tons of books I have already spent money on so this challenge is perfect for me!

I'll also be doing this challenge, which is geared towards reading a series! I'm going for Level 3, therefore I will be finishing 3 series!

I already have C.S. Lewis Space Trilogy and Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Christopher Pike's Final Friends series in my TBR pile! I have read none of the books in any of those series so I'll be starting from the beginning on all of them. But I'm also hoping to complete the Odd Thomas series by Dean Koontz and the Georgia Nicolson series by Louise Rennison. So that is a lot of reading to do!

And don't forget about my challenge:

Come on! It is only 15K pages! You know you can do it! Just sign up!!! It will be awesome!!!

Abducted by Tim Curry

2011-12-25T14:56:00.000-06:00

***sign up for my 2012 challenge to read 15,000 pages HERE

Well, it is Christmas, and I hope it is proving to be a joyful one for all of you!

I have had my Christmas morning planned for weeks now, because I'm big on planning things!

When I was a kid, we spent our Christmas morning having my dad make pancakes. The entire house would smell like coffee and bacon, and then we would go ripping through presents.

This year, we had to have our present opening on Christmas Eve evening, so I decided to spend Christmas morning making pancakes myself and listening to the audio recording of Tim Curry reading A Christmas Carol!

It was perfect!

Can you think of anyone better suited to do an audio book! He gave the narration the perfect balance of apathy and empathy, and that creepy frightening quality this ghostly tale deserves. Even though I've heard this story what feels like hundreds of times, and feel as if I have seen just as many film adaptations, when Tim Curry read the part where Mr. Cratchit is mourning the passing of his son, Tiny Tim, I cried like a baby. And yet when Tim Curry read the part where Scrooge wakes up jovial on Christmas morning, I laughed out loud. Curry truly did an amazing job with this timeless classic.

A Christmas Carol is a story of redemption with a Christmas backdrop. It is a story that reminds us that having drive and ambition is good, but we shouldn't use it as an excuse to not show compassion and generosity to those around us. It is important to have balance in life and not be so consumed with thoughts of personal gain.

As I mentioned earlier, there are countless adaptations and reinventions of this seemingly simple tale, but my favorite is Scrooged with Bill Murray! I love the crazy ghosts and the funny moments with Bill Murray dressed up as a dog, the sweet moments between him and Karen Allen, and I especially love when the cast breaks out into the musical number at the end! It get's me all chocked up!

Bill Murray is hysterical as Frank Xavier Cross, the Scrooge inspired main character. Christmas is the one time of the year that I love to watch all of the campy-corny-cheesy-made-for-tv type movies, but it is fun to mix it up with something a little darker and sarcastic, and Scrooged is perfect!

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and read by Tim Curry gets an abduction rating of:

And again, I just want to say, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all!!!

2011-12-23T11:50:00.000-06:00

Don't for get to sign up for my 2012 challenge to read 15,000 pages!

I'm currently working on putting up a button on the top left hand side of my home page.

At the time when I am writing this, the picture image is all messed up, but hopefully by the time you are reading this it will be perfect! And I will have done it all by myself!!!

I know some challenges get hundreds of people to sign up but I'll be happy just by keeping it a small group of us. Especially since it is my first time doing a challenge and I want to be a good hostess.

So spread the word because I am hoping to get at least 4 more people to sign up. It is an easy challenge and there will be at least 2 prizes at the end of the year!

Here is the link for more information:

http://abductedbybooks.blogspot.com/2011/11/abducted-by-2012-challenge.html

Abducted by Unbearable Lightness

2011-12-16T11:04:00.000-06:00

Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain is a book by Portia De Rossi that I finished a couple of weeks ago. I was listening to the audio version, which was amazing because it was read by Portia herself.

The story mainly centers around two great struggles in Portia's life. One being her own struggle to accept that she was gay and the role that would play in her life in Hollywood. The other being her growing eating disorders.

The story jumps around a lot, between her childhood, her relationships, and the time she spent acting on Ally McBeal. But even with all the jumping around, the story actually comes off seamless. Portia does a fantastic job of giving you the information that you need to know, when you need to know it, in order to best understand how her eating disorders came to be.

Which I did understand, fully! I don't think I've ever really put much thought into how someone grows into having an eating disorder. I guess in some naive way I just assumed that someone would wake up and just decide to stop eating. Okay, I realize how crazy and small minded that sounds, but like I said, I've just never really thought about it. But in listening to this autobiography, I really enjoyed hearing about how it started as something she did to prepare for photo shoots and other jobs, and then became an means to have more control in her life.

One of the stories that she told that made the biggest impression on me was this one about her eating an entire pack of gum.

So, on this totally normal day, Portia goes to work on the set of Ally McBeal and then stops by a shopping center on her way home to pick up some clothes or something. After she is done shopping she heads to her car and when she gets in she has a piece of gum. She chews it briefly and then spits it out. She never allows herself to really eat a lot of gum because it is one of those little things that add to your calorie intake that she just can't tolerate. After spitting out the first piece of gum she decides to go ahead and have another, and then another, and then another. And before she knows it she has finished the entire pack of gum. Her anxiety gets the best of her and she ends up running laps in the parking garage, weaving through all the other cars.

But the part that really bothered her was not that she looked like a crazy person to all the other shoppers, no, it was that a perfectly normal, uneventful, carefree day could end with her losing control. If you know what events are going to trigger you to lose control, you can avoid them, but if you lose control over nothing, what is going to stop it from happening again. That was one of the biggest meltdowns in the book and I remember when she was reading that part, I stopped what I was doing and was just staring at my laptop. I just couldn't believe she was really going so nuts!

The hardest part about reading the book is that the entire novel is devoted to her struggle and the epilogue is the only part devoted to her recovery. I knew how long the audio book was, and as I was watching the time running down I was starting to plead with her to "JUST GET BETTER ALREADY!!!" Only because it was so heartbreaking to listen to, not because it was boring or anything like that, by any means. But I will say that the epilogue was entirely satisfying.

In the end, Portia was so honest and open about her life. It was a great novel and very captivating to listen to.

I would give it an abduction rating of:

Abducted by Glow

2011-12-03T15:53:00.000-06:00

Before we get started:

Don't forget to sign up for my 2012 blog challenge by clicking on the pic

And check out my new blog HERE

Quite a few months ago, my friend Andrea read an advanced readers copy of the book Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan, and she LOVED it. Basically it was her favorite book she read all year and she can't say enough positive things about it.

So, she loaned it to our friend Tracy, who also loved it!

So, then, she loaned it to me. My reaction was more along the lines of: "Uh...okay"

It took me over a month to finish it, when Andrea and Tracy both read it in a matter of days, and after many weeks of processing the book, I still have no idea how to rate it.

Let's break it down shall we,

To start off, the story Glow is about two ships, the Empyrean and the New Horizon, they have left the Earth we know today behind so that they can travel through deep space (an 80 year journey) to arrive at New Earth. Along the course of the journey problems arise, one that leaves the people on New Horizon unable to conceive children. In order to quaruntee their own survival New Horizon commandeers the Empyrean, taking hostage all the young girls.

Was the book well written?

Yes, absolutely. That is to say at times I couldn't believe how intricately woven the story was. It was throughly detailed and extremely clever. But there were a few times where I felt the dialog was a little on the weaker side.

Was the story original and interesting?

With out a doubt, Yes! The basis of the story is heavily rooted in science fiction and yet I didn't feel that the entire book was a science fiction story. There are so many layers to the story that it is hard to say it fits into one genre. Plus, there are a ton of surprises and twists and turns along the way.

Did I like the characters?

This is the part that I really struggled with. I love books with great characters. Whether or not I love a novel is entirely dependent on there being at least one character that I can connect to. I don't have to love the main character but I need to at least like them, care about them, root for them. I do understand that this criteria isn't as important to other readers, but it is what I need to enjoy a book.
Now, Glow is told through the perspective of two teenagers. A girl named Waverly and a boy named Kieran. Waverly tells the story of what happens to the girls when they are taken aboard the New Horizon, and Kieran tells the story of what happens to those left behind on the Empyrean.
I really liked Waverly. When I was reading her parts of the story I couldn't get through it fast enough. Not just because I liked her, but also because the whole idea of being taken hostage only to be treated like a baby making machine is terrifing!!! Although, towards the end there were things that she did that left me scratching my head, and by the very end I found myself completely frustrated and irritated by her.
Kieran, on the other hand was like a teeter totter through out the whole book. I didn't like him from the beginning, then I felt sorry for him, then he started to get pretentious, but then he became a good leader. He also fought with this other guy, Seth, the whole book. Those scenes became a little too much like Lord of the Flies for my taste. I found it very easy to put the book down and walk away for a couple of days (weeks) when it came around to the boys' perspectives.
By the end of the book I did not like Seth, I wasn't too happy with Waverly, but I was rooting for Kieran.

Would I recommend the book?

Yes, I would. I would tell someone that the book is clever, unique, intriguing, and surprising. And because I was so perplexed by the book I would want to encourage others to read it just to see if they had the same issues as I did or not. Plus, I do think it is the mark of a truly deserving book to leave me, as the reader, questioning so much. This isn't the kind of book that you are going to forget about as soon as you close it, it lingers with you.

And so, now, what do I rate it...

I'm torn between a 3 or a 4.
4 because I really want others to read it and I do think it was clever.
3 because I didn't love the characters and because it was sooo easy for me to walk away from it at times.

But based on my own definitions given for my rating system, I'm going to have to go with...

Abducted by Nano...and other matters

2011-11-29T14:21:00.000-06:00

Well, I have officially given up on Nano this year.

I just wasn't feeling it. It is a little disappointing and it was really hard to let go of it, but in the end, trust me, there was nothing to be done.

I am going to go back and tie some stuff up and try to get to a full 30K, but then I am definitely calling it quits.

I hope everyone else had a more successful year then I had!

Well, actually, I can’t call this year’s Nano completely “unsuccessful” because during this last month I have come up with an absolutely superb idea for next year! Which is one of the things I wanted to talk to you about today.

Next year, my Nano project will be about a girl and her search for love. And in preparation for this project, I am going to be doing some searching in my own life as well. Starting today, for one year I will be praying for love, for change, for hope, and for the future. And I am inviting you to join me.

I have started a new blog called “Courtney’s 29thYear” and I would love for you to follow me. I will still be writing my book reviews and other stuff for this blog, but my other blog will serve as a place to reflect on the many things I will be learning about myself this next year.

I’m really excited (and yet also completely terrified) so please join me!

Also,

I just want to mention that I have started the sign up for my blog challenge for 2012. The challenge is to read 15,000 pages next year. And if you really sit down and think about it, this is probably something you are going to end up doing anyway, so you might as well sign up and be entered to win some cool prizes!

Click on the pic above to learn more about the challenge and sign up

I think that is all for today, I’m hoping to get my post up for my review on the book Glow by the end of the week, so I’ll be seeing you soon!

Abducted by 2012 Challenge

2011-11-23T21:40:00.003-06:00

I'm officially announcing that I will be hosting a challenge in 2012!

The challenge is to read 15,000 pages in 2012!

Basically, in the year 2011 a lot of my reading centered around reading graphic novels and listening to audio books. So when I was thinking about how I wanted to challenge myself in 2012, I decided to challenge myself on how many pages I read.

It will break down like this...

read 41 pages a day

read 100 books of 150 pages

read 75 books of 200 pages

read 50 books of 300 pages

read 30 books of 500 pages

read 15 books of 1000 pages

Do you see how easy this will be?

THE RULES:

1. You have to actually read the pages, i.e. no audio books but I will include e-books since you are actually reading the words. Just look up the book on goodreads or amazon to get a page count number and I trust you to be fair.

2. Graphic Novels are not including because a majority of this genre is centered around the graphics and not the text.

3. You can only include the pages you read between January 1st, 2012 and December 31st, 2012.

4. You can only include the pages you actually read, so if the book has appendixes but you choose not to read them, don't include them in your final tally.

A lot of the rules I will have to trust you and your conscience on whether or not you actually follow them. But I figure, this is a book challenge for avid readers and it is meant to be fun. So I don't really expect a lot of cheating to be going on.

THE PRIZES:

One prize will be given out at the end of the challenge to the person who reads 15,000 pages using the least amount of books.

Another prize will be given out to the person who reads 15,000 pages using the most amount of books.

And if enough people sign up, I'll even give away a prize to whomever has read the most amount of pages by June 30th.

All you have to do is fill out your information below with your name, email address, url, and let me know how you will be keeping track of your page counts.

ENTER THE CHALLENGE

So blow the dust off your TBR pile and get ready because 2012 is just around the corner!

Abducted by Nostalgia

2011-11-15T22:33:00.001-06:00

A long long time ago (three and a half years to be exact) my friend Kate and I started an online book club. It really only consisted of myself, Kate, and our friend Amanda, but the idea was for others to join in. These days Kate and I are both in our own seperately successful book clubs. However, Kate has recently decided to restart our online book club called The Midnight Book Club. We'll each post about the books are clubs are reading that month and hopefully start some good online discussions about them.

But that is not all I wanted to share today!

What I really wanted to share is that, all those years ago, Kate and I had two completely different blogs then the ones we present to you today! Kate was able to find the links to them and sent me mine and I've had so much fun looking over my old blog posts that I felt I just had to share them! So for the next couple of weeks I'm randomly going to re-post some of the highlights from that first blog of mine. Starting today!

The summer that all of this was going on was also the summer that I moved into my first solo apartment. I had moved out with roommates before, but now it is just me, myself, and my dog Riley. And in that first summer I didn't have cable or internet or anything, so I had to rely on dvds to make up my entertainment. Which isn't so different from how I live now, if I'm totally honest.

Anyway, so Kate loaned me the entire series of Felicity on dvd to help pass the time. And one of my first posts was about the tragedy that was the relationship of Julie and Zach in the first season...

"the Pink Guy" and the Pink Power Ranger

Mood:heartbroken betrayed dissapointed hurt
Music:No music this time, just season one of Felicity episodes 7&8

Why Zach, Why!?!

Zach just raped Julie!! I can't believe it! I mean how could he? He was perfect, I loved him, I was rooting for him!! He was so adorable being all shy and cute. He was a film geek, I love film geeks!! I mean really Zach you couldn't have taken it slow? That's all Julie wanted. I mean hell, that girl sat through Solaris TWICE for you. Granted the first time she watched it in parts and the second time she fell asleep but hey, the effort was made. You guys were so cute together.

Okay I know I know, I have got to get a grip. I can't completely fall apart over a show that aired a decade ago. And Julie and Zach weren't even the main couple of the show (for that we turn towards the tortured triangle of Felicity, Ben, and Noel) but I loved Zach! And may I point out that in the first SIX episodes of the first season of Felicity, the start of the Zach and Julie disaster, the only abusive thing Zach does is aggressivly handing her her popcorn after she got done ripping his movie apart. So how could those #%$*&^~ writers turn my sweet adorable lovable Zach, into a rapist!?! It's just not fair. NOT FAIR I TELL YOU!!! I DEMAND a re-write.

Alright to be honest, I knew it was coming. I was 15 when Felicity first was on tV. The thing was though that Felicity just kept really pissing me off. She kept crossing the line with all her friends and breaking promises and telling secrets. So after the first half of the first season I just gave up on her. I had seen enough to know that this would happen to Julie. And when I first saw Zach with his pink laundry I suspected that he would be the one. I hoped that I was wrong. But alas, nothing can be done. It is over, they are over. But thanks to my friend Kate, I can now watch Felicity, the whole series, from start to finish. And maybe by the end of it, I will have forgiven Felicity for all her faults and watch as Julie finds another love."

Nice, right? Does it sound like me? I think so! I was really torn up about all that drama!

Just wait, later this week I will re-post the letter I wrote to J.J. Abrams discussing the ending of the show.

Abducted by NaNo part 3

2011-11-10T11:09:00.001-06:00

Dear Mother Nature,

I wanted to write you a letter to let you know that I really appreciate all that you have done to keep me motivated lately. I mean the simple fact that you would send all of those natural disasters my way, means more to me then you can know!
I mean the flash flood warnings weren't much of a big deal. That happens pretty much every time their is moisture in the air in my neighborhood.
Nonetheless, the tornado coming through Oklahoma in NOVEMBER! Now, that was pretty incredible.
But I must say, the pièce de résistance has been all of the earthquakes you've been sending me. Now those have been a real nice touch!
Each time the ground started rumbling was a moment when I was on my computer and not working on my NaNo. How, you have come to know me so well, is beyond me!
And as much as I love how much you care, I must say that it is starting to make some people around here a little nervous.
That is why, I'm writing you now. I wanted to inform you that all of those motivation techniques of negative reinforcement are no longer needed! Yesterday I wrote 10,000 words in ONE DAY! Can you believe it? It was incredible! I couldn't have done it without you!
Perhaps if you would consider sending some "positive reinforcement" my way, I would really love to see some little white snow flakes falling down around me soon! You know, just a suggestion!
Anyway, thank you for all you've done. And it comforts me to know that you will be there, watching over my shoulder, ready with a volcanic eruption or something, should I fall behind again.

Yours affectionately,

Courtney!

P.S. I'm trusting that if the whole "2012" thing is going to happen, you'll let me know.

...Right?

Now, in other news! I want to send a shout out to Lori of Imagination Designs! Those of you who are reading my post in your Google Reader may not have noticed, but Lori has completely redesigned my blog! Does it not look fantastic!?! The final look that she created for me goes so far above and beyond what I originally had in mind that I can't even believe it!

Thank you, Lori, it looks amazing!

Abducted by NaNo part 2

2011-11-06T01:59:00.000-05:00

Well, let us just say that my participation in the Epic Write-a-thon was an EPIC failure!

I think in total I only wrote like 1500 words!

I went in to work for "just a quick trip" and ended up staying there 3 HOURS!

However, I'm not worried. If there is one thing I have learned from the few episodes of Top Chef I've been sucked into, it is that the only win that matters is the last one.

So, yeah, I wasn't successful today, but as long as I complete NaNo in the end...well then, I'm still a winner.

But I do want to send a big shout out to Steph for being such a great hostess! She puts a lot of work into running that blog and she does a great job

Thanks Steph!

I think when New Years comes around my resolution for the next year is going to be to get better at my time management skills.

Abducted by Nano part 1

2011-11-05T10:46:00.000-05:00

So today is Day 5 of NaNoWriMo and so far I'm not doing so well.

I only have 264 words! And those words are completely made up of the title of my novel, the lyrics to the song I titled my novel after, and then 25 pages that provide my 25 chapters with titles.

However, even though I'm only 264 words into my novel, I have already earned myself FOUR of my NaNo badges!

The first one is for NaNo socializing, #3 in the pic above. I went to the kick off party on the 30th, then I posted in a forum for us to meet at Panera Bread on Wednesday night and 8 people ended up coming!

The second badge is for procrastination, #2. I think the simple fact that it is day 5 and I have 264 words should explain why I gave myself that badge!

The third is for padding my novel, #8. I earned that one by including the lyrics to the song I used to title my novel.

And the last one is for having that Eureka moment, #6! Even though I haven't actually started the whole writing process, I have figured out some key moments to the story. Now if only I could get them down on the page!

I took a picture of the badges on my computer but my stupid phone wouldn't let me save the image, so I threw it across the room.

Now for those of you who are curious, I'm using the song Another Day by Paul McCartney as the inspiration for my novel.

I love that when you read the lyrics it is actually a really sad song, but the melody provides this overwhelming feeling of resiliency and hope.

So, anyway, today is Steph's Epic Write-a-Thon! As of now, they are in the middle of hour 4. I have been on board for participating since the date was first set. However, I woke up this morning at 7 to let the dogs out and I had the worst headache! After I put all the dogs outside I went back to bed for another 2 and a half hours. But now I'm up again, and coffee is made. I still feel pretty...off, like I could come down with a cold in the next day or two. But I plan on getting to work now so I don't waist the entire day.

My goal for the day is 10K words. If I could somehow manage to squeeze out 15K I'll be thrilled! But 10K will be perfectly acceptable. Anything less will be dismal, only because I'm so far behind.

Okay, I'm getting to work now. I'll be back to update you on my progress later in the day.

Abducted by Obsessions 10.29.2011

2011-10-29T16:29:00.000-05:00

I started a meme a while ago that I was going to do once a week. However, because the read-a-thon was last Saturday, and I had so many other posts going up on that day, I decided to hold off on that one.

But I'm back now, so here's what three things I've been obsessed with...

1. Coldplay's Mylo Xyloto!

Coldplay's new album was released on itunes and amazon on Monday but the physical cd wasn't released until Tuesday. I waited the extra 24 hours so that i could buy the actual cd with the cover art and graphics and all that good stuff! There are very few bands that I insist on buying the actual cd's for and Coldplay is one of them. U2 and Dashboard Confessional are the other two. The first time I listened to Mylo Xyloto my reaction was; "Yeah...ok...sounds like Coldplay." But the more I listened to it, the more the songs started to amaze me! Now, I love it! It goes from my home, to my car, to my office, back to my car, back inside my house. And this video had me cracking up at the end! It is hysterical!

2. United States of Tara

I've been interested in watching this show and it has been on my netflix queue for a long time, but I only just started watching it this past week. The first few episodes were nothing special but slowly it is starting to grow on me. And although I do love Toni Collette and John Corbett, it is actually the performance of Keir Gilchrist that has me hooked. Toni Collette plays a woman who has multiple personalities, she has gone off her medication in an effort to understand her alternate personalities and work through why she needs them. The show focuses on how this affects her and her husband (Corbertt) and her two children; Marshall (Gilchrist) and Kate (played by Brie Larson).

In the middle of season 1, one of the alternate personalities betrays Marshall in just the cruelest way possible. Marshall reacts by burning down the shed in the families backyard. There is a scene when the rest of the family comes running out to put out the fire and Marshall is just sitting on a lawn chair, completely blank. I had chills running up and down my arms when I was watching it, Gilchrist went beyond impressing me in that moment. And I had seen him in another movie that really didn't move me at all, so I've just been in awe watching him on this show.

and last but not least!

3. BABIES!!!

Many of you who know me well, will also know that becoming a mother is not necessarily something I have planned for my future.

Becoming an Aunt, however, I'm all about! And one of my best friends, Mary, just told me this week that she is pregnant!

I am so excited! I've known Mary and her husband for a long time. I've had the privilege of knowing them before they were a couple, I saw them get together, I was a bridesmaid at their wedding, and now I get to watch them become parents! And I know that they will be incredible!

I started suspecting something was going on last Sunday, but Mary and David were waiting to tell people until after their doctors appointment, which was on Thursday. Ever since I found out I have been obsessed with planning a baby shower! I have two really good ideas for games and I know where I want to get the cake. Of course, the shower wont be until May, because she is not due until June, but still I like to plan early!

And it is perfect that my post is going up today because today is Mary's birthday!

Happy Birthday Mary! Congratulations and I love you!

Abducted by the end of Readathon :(

2011-10-23T09:05:00.000-05:00

Well, last night, after my fabulous book club party, I tried to read through a rather short graphic novel but I completely passed out!

So my end results for this October readathon are as follows:

Last 60 pages of I Dreamed I Married Perry Mason

Last 4 hours of In The Company of Cheerful Ladies

First hour and a half of Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain

and 68 pages of the quick text graphic novel edition of Jane Eyre!

I had a lot of fun, even though I was pretty stressed most of the day. I can't wait until the next readathon in April. I for sure wont be hosting book club that month so I should be good to go!

Now we have about two weeks until the next marathon called The Epic Write-A-Thon, which is 24 hours of writing and is hosted by Steph over HERE!

That marathon is on November 5th, which is right during the beginning of Nano so I will totally be participating. I will be working on my Nano novel but also working on some review posts for my blog. That way if I get a little too bogged down with my Nano project in November, I will already have some posts ready to go.

I hope everyone has a great day of recovery! Catch up on all your much needed sleep!

I'm going to finish that graphic novel real quick and then take a shower.

Abducted by Readathon hours 10-?

2011-10-23T00:59:00.000-05:00

I've completely lost track of what hour we are in!

Hold on let me do some quick math....

7:00pm would have been hour 12...it is now midnight here in Oklahoma....so that makes this hour 17!

I can't believe it has already been 8 whole hours since my last post!

Okay, so book club started at 6 and, like I said, it is now midnight so book club lasted for 6 hours!!!

Yep, that is just how our book club rolls!

We had so much fun, it was a total blast!

I was able to get my entire apartment cleaned (or at least the important parts...don't ask about my bedroom!) by 5 and then Mandy showed up early, just as I was starting to get the food ready, and helped me prepare the chicken! Actually, she cooked the whole thing! Which was awesome! She totally cooked the dinner and then when we were done eating everything she cleared all the plates and then loaded and started my dishwasher for me! How amazing is that???

I have the best friends!

For dinner we had Parmesan Crusted Chicken (the Hellmann's recipe) with angel hair pasta and tomato sauce, and garlic bread. I tried to make a salad, but when I opened the bag of lettuce it had already started to brown, so we had to just throw it out. Then for dessert we had chocolate fondue with angel food cake, pretzels, mint chocolate marshmellows, strawberries, and cheesecake bites!

Do I really have to say how good it all was, or are you already jealous :)

We also drank four bottles of wine. Because my book club girls and I, we like our wine!

Then, after we discussed I Dreamed I Married Perry Mason by Susan Kandel, we played a murder mystery game.

This is Andrea (the bad boy Ralph Rottingrape), Me (the detective Bud Wizer...I have a pipe in my mouth so that is why I look like I'm making an odd face), Amanda (the vineyard care taker Papa Vito) and Holly (the German wine merchant Otto Von Schnapps)

And these were the ladies! Tracy (the neighboring vineyard owner Hedy Shablee), Ame (the vineyard pageant winner turned movie star Marilyn Merlot), and Mandy (the seemingly innocent wife of Ralph Rottingrape and former fiance of the victim of the murder, Bruce Underwood).

We also gave a trophy to whomever came most in character. Amanda won for two reasons. One, because she looked adorable. And two, because after we all voted on who we thought the killer was, it was revealed that her character was the killer, but no one had voted for her! So, basically she got away with murder!!!

Now, after I've written all of this, it is 1am. I'm really going to try to start a graphic novel and see if I can read it quickly before I pass out. I do want to attend mass in the morning so I already know I can't pull an all nighter. But we will just see how far we get.

Abducted by Readathon hours 7-9

2011-10-22T15:47:00.000-05:00

We are getting close to the end of hour 9 in the readathon.

In the last three hours I cleaned my kitchen, cleaned out the freezer, mopped the floors (in spite of the fact that my trusty mop would grip on to the wet cloth thing properly), I cleaned out my dog feeder, dusted my bookshelf, and even wiped down the blades on my ceiling fan.

I also listened to the last two and a half hours worth of In The Company of Cheerful Ladies : The #1 Ladies Detective Agency and started the audio version of Unbearable Lightness : A Story of Loss and Gain.

Book club starts in just over two hours, I'm not dressed and I still need to dust and vacuum the living room!

Not to mention the fact that I still have some cooking to get started. I'm a little stressed and I feel a panic attack coming, but I'm determined to keep calm and just keep moving. That is why this post is going to be really short.

I hope everyone else is having a great readathon experience.

I wont be able to post another update until after book club so keep up all the hard work and I'll check back soon!

Abducted by Readathon hours 4-6

2011-10-22T13:05:00.000-05:00

Well, these last three hours I've been running around like a crazy person!

I did some more laundry (movie clothes from my apartment to the washer, washer to dryer, dryer back to my apartment and so on and so on and so on)

Then I took my dog up to Moore, went to my parents house to borrow some extra chairs for tonight, went to Target to get strawberries, and went to my favorite Mexican restaurant, Qdoba's, to get lunch!

They make the most insane burritos! My friend Shavonne took me their for dinner almost a month ago and now I crave them all the time!

So, with all of that going on I tried to listen to my audio book but was only able to listen to an hour and a half of it.

Now it is 1:00 pm and I just finished eating. In the next three hours I plan to continue listening to my audio book while I clean my kitchen and vaccum the living room.

Abducted by Readathon hourse 1-3

2011-10-22T10:05:00.001-05:00

1st hour of readathon: I read two pages out of I Dreamed I Married Perry Mason by Susan Kandel and fell back to sleep.

2nd hour of readathon: I had two rather large cups of coffee, did two loads of laundry and read another 20 pages. Whilst listening to the Ben Folds Five/ Nick Hornby cd titled "Lonely Avenue"

3rd hour of readathon: more laundry, more coffee, and I FINISHED I Dreamed I Married Perry Mason whilst listening to My Chemical Romance.

Now I will be listening to In The Company of Cheerful Ladies: The #1 Ladies Detective Agency while running some errands and putting up all the laundry I was doing this morning and checking in on all my readathon buddies!

PS: Dad came by and couldn't figure out what was wrong with my car. It is overheating but has plenty of fluid. So I'll have to take it to Kwik Kar next weekend and see what they think it is. But it was nice to see my dad for a bit. He came in and played with Riley.

Abducted by the Start of Dewey's Readathon!

2011-10-22T06:55:00.002-05:00

Today is my second chance at participating in Dewey's readathon. I am really excited because I know it will be a fun day regardless, but I'm getting a little apprehensive and my defeatist attitude is already giving me thoughts of throwing in the towel.

I started setting aside books for today months ago, and I even asked to use some of my vacation time today so that I would for sure not get sucked into working. I thought it would be perfect because even though I knew I would be hosting my book club this month, it originally wasn't supposed to be until the 29th.

Well, that got moved. So, now I have 6 or my favorite female readers coming over tonight and I'm responsible for entertaining and feeding them! And since Halloween is coming up and we wanted to do a costume theme, tonight we are discussing a cozy mystery novel and having a murder mystery party! They are all going to be the suspects and I'm the detective! It should be really fun, and I'm trying to keep things as simple and easy as possible, but I still have so much cleaning to do!

And I just know that I'm going to be paranoid sitting on my butt reading all day when I'm hosting a party tonight. I can see myself jumping up every ten minutes thinking "I forgot to dust the picture frames!" "My books aren't organized on my bookshelves!" "There are dust bunnies all around the baseboards!"

THEN, when I came home from work today my car was doing something odd, so I called my dad just so I could tell him before I forgot about it, and I assumed he would just say; "I'll check it out when you're at the house on Sunday." or "Well, when is your next day off? I can come by then."

But no! His response was; "How early are you getting up tomorrow, so I can drive right over!"

Which, okay, on one hand, I adore my father and am grateful for everything he is willing to do for me. But on the other hand I'm like; but but but I had plans....

And at some point today I have to drive to the neighboring town of Moore to drop off my dog at the sitters so he doesn't have to stay locked up in my room all night when the girls are over for book club.

I swear if it isn't one thing, it's another!

But you know what...I'm up...I'm here...I'm ready to start reading!

Whatever the day brings...well, that is just what the day is going to bring!

My original goal was to finish five books today, but now I'll be happy with even one. Every book will be an achievement as far as I'm concerned.

I'll be posting updates through out the day. And I do have an audio book ready to go for when I'm ready for a break and want to look around at everyone else's progress, so I can't wait to see how everyone else is doing!

Have fun reading!

Abducted by Obsessions 10.15.2011

2011-10-15T07:00:00.001-05:00

I've been thinking lately that I need to start a new meme, or something, in order to make sure I keep up with my blogging. It is hard for me though, because I don't read as much as certain friends of mine. I mean, don't get me wrong, I read by far more than a lot of my other friends, but for someone trying to keep up with a "book blog" I don't read nearly enough.

Then I remembered that one of my favorite talk shows to watch is Watch What Happens: Live with Andy Cohen on the Bravo channel. And at the end of his episodes he does a segment he calls "The three things I'm obsessed with this week"

So, basically, that's it. That is going to be my new meme. I'm thinking I'll do it every Saturday, and it will just be a chance for me to share with you all the three things I become obsessed with each week and therefore, share with you all the three things that keep me from reading each week.

Without further delay, here are three things I'm obsessed with...

1. 7 Minutes in Heaven with Mike O'Brien.

Okay, I've actually been obsessed with Mike O'Brien for a while now, but this is my first chance to write about him on my blog so I'm taking it.
Mike O'Brien is a writer for Saturday Night Live who stars as the host of this wonderful youtube talk show. Every Friday he invites celebrities to come to "his closet" for some drinks and a few laughs. When he first started the show, 2 months ago, the interviews were actually quite awkward and strange, but that was what made them brilliant! Unfortunately, now he's actually getting a lot better. The shows are funny, but I still liked it better in the beginning. He has interviewed tons of celebrities now, from Elijah Wood, Patricia Clarkson, Amy Poehler, to Christina Ricci. Just last Friday he had Ellen DeGeneres on, and today it was Jack McBrayer from 30 Rock.
I've tried to get a lot of my friends to subscribe to this one, but not everyone apprieciates how fantastic it is.
But, what can you do.

2. The Guild

I've known about The Guild for over 2 years now, but for some strange reason I never got around to watching it until this past week! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!
Don't worry though, as soon as I started watching the Guild I couldn't stop until I watched them all! And I LOVED IT!!!! Felicia Day is my new role model. I so want to be her when I grow up. Wait...huh, I wonder how old she is...hold on I'll check...okay, well, she is only 3 years older than me, but still, I want to be her someday!
The Guild is perfect! Basically, the story is about 6 gamers who come together online to form a guild, but then they end up meeting in real life and becoming friends. Chaos ensues! The acting is spectacular and the humor is undeniable.
My only complaint is that I wanted Felicia Day's character, Cyd "Codex", and Wil Wheaton's character, "Fawkes", to have been a real couple. But, oh, well, he was still awesome in the role he got to play.

and 3. Pillars of the Earth

The funny thing is that I first received the discs for Pillars of the Earth back in September from Netflix. But it took me until recently to finally start watching them. At one point, I almost considered sending them back, thinking I just wasn't in the mood for it right now, but then I thought; "No, I've held on to them this long. I better just watch them."

Oh. My. God. It was AMAZING!!! Soooo Good!!!

Every break I was forced into taking when I had to wait on the next disc to arrive, was literally painful! A part of me wanted to skip to the end just to make sure that it all ends happy, but I couldn't! That is what you get for getting sucked into an 8 part mini series. But so many of the episodes end with such sadness that you really can't imagine that things could work out the way you want them to. But on Friday night, I finally finished!
And I could not have been happier! There is a love story, a loyal Priest, family, incest, betrayal, heartbreak, murder, redemption, everything that goes into a good miniseries. Also, a good book from what I hear!

Maybe I'll become obsessed with that next year.

Abducted by Where She Went

2011-10-10T14:28:00.000-05:00

Happy Columbus Day Everybody!!!

Usually, on Columbus Day, I try to have a Chris Columbus marathon of movies, but this year has been an epic fail! I've just been so busy that I wasn't able to ask off work for it. And I was going to watch Adventures in Babysitting last night, but I got caught up in the second season of Heroes on Netflix. Tonight, however, I will for sure watch RENT after my work out. And then I might still try to fit in Gremlins on my next day off.

If you are interested in more of thoughts on Chris Columbus check out my post on reviewsin5.com

I can't believe that we are already almost half way done with October! That is crazy! And because the year is winding down and I'm running out of time, I'm going to have to do something I really hate to do...

I'm going to have to stop reading books that don't interest me.

Once I have started a book it is extremely hard for me to walk away. I know a lot of you out there will feel my pain on this. But, I'm running out of time to reach my goal of 111 books in a year, so if a book doesn't capture my immediately, I'm going to have to walk away.

Starting with The Maze Runner by James Dashner.

I checked out the audio version of this book from my local library, but I'm really struggling to get through it. It hasn't sucked me in at all. I've been listening to it for over a week and haven't even finished the first disc. It's time to walk away. I also think this is one of those occasions where I may have to actually read the book itself and not just listen to it. Either way it will have to wait until next year.

I'm also struggling with In The Company of Cheerful Ladies (The #1 Ladies Detective Agency) but I'm over half way with that one so I'll just tough it out.

I did finish Where She Went last week which was the sequel to If I Stay by Gayle Forman.

Now this is a book that I was immediately drawn into and captured by! This was also an audio book I checked out from my library and I would then listen to in my car. I don't even want to think about how much gas I waisted making extra laps around my block or taking the back roads to get to a store that is down the street from me, just so I could finish one more chapter.

If I Stay is the story of a 17 year old girl, Mia, who is in a car accident that takes the lives of both her parents and her younger brother, and leaves her in a coma. While her body is incapacitated her spirit is able to observe the world around her and therefore make the decision as to if she should stay now that her family is gone.

Where She Went is told from the perspective of Adam, Mia's boyfriend, three years later. Adam's life has gone off in a direction that he never imagined and he is still grieving all that he has lost over the last three years. He is now a rock star living it up in LA, recording music in NYC, and about to go on tour in Europe. However, his constant effort to forget about the life he lost, has put a strain on his current relationships with his family, friends, band mates, and his celebrity girlfriend.

I really felt for Adam in this book. I could completely empathize with his frustration and pain, and I wanted answers just as bad as he did. I have to really give credit to the author for this because she did an amazing job portraying his grief and depression.

I also loved Gayle Forman's inclusion of music throughout both books. Music is what originally brought Mia and Adam together and it plays a significant part in both books. In If I Stay, Mia is an accomplished cellist and for the audio book, they played little riffs of cello music in between some chapters and at the end of the discs. However, since Where She Went is Adam's perspective and he is an accomplished guitarist, it played kind of a bluesy rock piece.

Now, as far as which one I liked better, I'm going to go with the second one, Where She Went. Both stories were beautifully written and the development of the characters felt very honest and genuine. However, I felt that with If I Stay the ending was more limited. You know as you are reading that the story is going to end with her choosing between two options; she will stay, or she will die. Where as in the sequel I felt like I had no idea how is was going to end, there were just so many choices and variations. And the way that it ended did surprise me, because I didn't think it was possible for everything to tie together the way it. So having those options made me like Where She Went just that much more.

But please don't let me give you the impression that If I Stay is a limited book just because the ending is limited, because it is not limited at all! The journey that Mia takes you on is emotionally heart breaking. By the end of the book I didn't know any more whether or not I even wanted her to live! After everything she lost, all the pain she would endure by choosing to stay, it is unbearable.

But the whole book isn't about death either. In If I Stay, Mia uses her time trying to make her decision, to reflect back on stories of her childhood with her family, how she started to play the cello, how she met her best friend, and also, of course, how her and Adam came together. And in turn, Adam uses his time in Where She Went to reflect on the time he was with Mia, how he got along with her parents, trips they had taken together, but also about how he lost touch with his music after Mia's accident. How he strayed from the band and how he let the fame go to his head.

Both books are incredible so I strongly recommend them.

On goodreads I gave If I Stay 4/5 stars and Where She Went 5/5

Abducted by a White Cat w/ Red Gloves

2011-10-02T00:32:00.000-05:00

I have found that the worst part about not keeping up with my blog, is that, in turn, I don't really keep up with my google reader either! Which means not only have I not been posting, but I haven't been reading all the wonderful posts by all of my fellow bloggers! I'm so sorry guys! Well, tonight, I finally got my google reader completely cleaned out, and I tried to comment on as many pieces as I could, but now I figured it was time to start posting again myself.

Here is a quick post of two audio books I finished recently...

White Cat and Red Glove

The Curse Workers series is another collection of YA novels about high-schoolers that can do magic. There is trouble teens, lots of angst, love interests, secrets, family drama, a mob boss, basically all your normal fantasy YA fiction ingredients. But let me tell you my #1 reason for why I love this series... in this magical world there are consequences for ones actions.

When you read a lot of fantasy novels where the leading cast of characters have all of these extraordinary powers, one can't help but be curious about which power they would want or what it would be like to have certain abilities. But, what would you do if every time you used your "special power", you had to deal with the "blow back"? Well, blow back is exactly what the curse workers have coming to them every time they do something magical, and I LOVE that!

It works like this... Let's say that your special power is the ability to give someone dreams, then your dreams become affected. Or if you have the ability to "curse" people to change their memories, you will start to loose some of your own. Oh, Oh, Oh, AND, if you have the power to kill someone, then when you curse them, a part of you dies as well! So, if you kill someone with your power, when the blow back hits one of your fingers (or your nose, or your ear, or your big toe...whatever) just decays and falls off!

Now, stop for just a second and let that sink in...

Can you imagine how that will affect how you would use your powers? I mean you have no control of what happens to you when the blow back hits! You can't just make a list of which memories you want to loose so that the next time you curse someone you can just start knocking them off the list. And you never know that if you use your power to kill someone, if you will loose a finger or your whole arm! I mean seriously...what would you do? How do you use it? How do you control it?

All the dynamics and layers that those consequences allow, those alone make me LOVE this series!

Before I forget, the Curse Worker series was yet another series forced upon me by fakesteph! She has a pretty good track record of recommendations going so far, if you haven't checked out her blog yet just click on her name.

I listened to both White Cat and Red Glove in my car and they were read to me by Jesse Eisenberg. He's not quite the Castle I had pictured in my mind, but he did a great job. White Cat, on its own, I did not give 5 stars to, but I feel that was because I love books that are more character based. However, any time you are starting a series that takes place in some form of a fantasy world, the first book in the series is always more about introducing the reader to that world as a whole. So, while I loved the world the book was set in, I didn't really connect to the characters. But then I immediately started Red Glove and that one got 5 stars hands down! It had its own story and mystery to solve, but there was more about the characters, so I did like it more.

So far the series is just White Cat and Red Glove, but Black Heart will be released in April! It isn't necessarrily a novel that I'll be waiting on the edge of my seat for, but when I do finally pick it up on audio from the library, I know I'll be excited to get back into the world of the Curse Workers!

P.S. I forgot to give an update on my dad. In my last post (which was just under a month ago...God, Really?, sorry guys) I mentioned that my dad was in the hospital with shingles. Well, he is doing better, but he is still technically in the recover process. He was in the hospital for a week before I finally got to take him home. And what I have learned is that, when you or someone you know is affected by shingles, it isn't like they have the common cold or a really bad flu, or some other normal disease. Not only is the pain by far worse, but it can take months even years before you are back to your old self. My dad has one of those larger then life, jovial personalities that just draws people to him. So, having him now be so quiet and withdrawn has been very difficult. The adjustment has been challenging, but you just have to give it time. But it is frustrating because I see my dad so often, but in a way I still really miss him. Shingles is also highly contagious and so the entire time he was in the hospital we couldn't really hug him or touch him at all. Last Sunday, as I was leaving my parents house after dinner, that was the first time he let me hug him good bye. But he is getting better. His appetite is slowly starting to come back, and with that his strength and his energy. So, like I said, it will just take time.

P.P.S. I love how every time I start out writing a post by saying "I want to write a quick post..." it always becomes way super long! Ha, it makes me laugh :) usually I just go back and delete that line, but from now on I'm going to start leaving it in so that my regular readers will be able to notice just how often I do that.

Abducted by Gatsby

2011-09-03T14:00:00.000-05:00

Well, here it is, the long awaited post about why I really didn't care for the Great Gatsby.

But first let me clear some personal things up.

The situation at work has blown over. I can't get into the actual details as to what happened and why it blew over, on the off chance that someone from my company stumbles across this blog. But I will say, with all of its frustrations (and there are a lot) I really do love my job so I'm really happy that I'll get to continue working there...at least for the foreseeable future.

As far as my weekend goes, I had hoped that since my labor day weekend equaled a 4 day weekend from work, I would get a lot of cleaning done, a lot of reading done, and a lot of blogging done. However, my father has landed himself in the hospital so now it looks like I'll be camped out at Norman Regional for the next few days at least. He has something called "shingles" which I guess is the adult form of chicken pox. It is very painful and can cause nerve damage and swelling. At first his swelling was mainly forming over his left eye, but today it has started spreading to his right as well. We wont really know how much permanent damage has been done until the medication is given time to work and the swelling goes down. So please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.
Now that picture is of my dad and my little sister because neither I nor my father are very photogenic and it has to be a special occasion to get him in front of a camera, that picture was taken at her engagement party.

Now, on to Gatsby...

Let me start out by saying that one of the main reasons I struggled with Gatsby was because I already knew going into reading the book that Baz Luhrmann was going to be making another film version and had cast Leonardo DiCaprio (Gatsby), Tobey Maguire (Nick), and Carey Mulligan (Daisy) in the picture. And for the life of me, when reading it I could not see these actors in these parts. Tobey Maguire, sure, he would be fine as Nick. But Carey Mulligan as Daisy?

Don't get me wrong, I love Carey Mulligan. I just feel she has grown so much as an actress and has taken on more substantial parts that it is really hard for me to picture her going back to play a character that is childish and superficial. I have no doubt she can do it, but she just wouldn't be my first choice.

And I think Leo will be perfect for the charming Gatsby we meet at the beginning of the book, but when Daisy comes back into his life Gatsby changes and I just can't see Leo as that second Gatsby.

But putting the movie aside. Here is my other issue with Gatsby;

Therapists will say, concerning alcoholics and drug users, that when an person first starts to become dependent on these substances their emotional development stops. So whatever age a person is when they first start to become dependent on drugs, that is the emotional age they will stay at until they come off the drug and get treatment.

I felt like Daisy was Gatsby's drug of choice. He became dependent on her at a young age and maturity wise he never really grew up. Every choice he ever made was looked at as "will this get me closer to her?" He planned his entire future on how to get her back. And the second she showed up and wasn't that impressed, he was willing to throw it all away for a woman he barely even knew! He was blinded by his lust for her.

I did think the language of the book was very musical and I enjoyed the style of writing more then I thought I would. Maybe after I see the movie I'll be so impressed with Leo and Carey's performances that I'll want to reread the book and love it that much more.

Abducted by life Part 2...

2011-08-26T01:14:00.000-05:00

Still haven't had time to write my review on The Great Gatsby.

This weekend is when my book club meets and I still haven't finished my book yet so I've spent the entire day reading. I'm pretty sure that every month I am always the last one to read the books. I don't know why I wait so long to start, it is just a really bad habit I've fallen into. This month's selections was Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles. Anyone out there read it?

I wanted to jump on my blog real quick though and thank everyone for there support. It really does mean a lot to me that I have a place to go and just rant like that. The current status is that we are having a store meeting on Monday. I wont for sure know anything until then, but I am feeling better about it for two reasons. 1) I don't see them firing me in front of a whole room of people. 2) If they needed to let me go I think they would get it over with and not continue to pay me to work an extra 4 days. So now I would put my chances at not loosing my job at 75%.

Anyway, other then that I'm still not really in the mood to do much writing.

But I do hope that everyone has a great weekend!

I for one can't wait to finish Perfect Chemistry, go to book club, and have multiple, multiple margaritas!

Abducted by life...

2011-08-23T21:46:00.001-05:00

Okay, so here is the thing...

You know that challenge I issued myself to read 25 books in 35 days, well unfortunately that little challenge has come to a screeching halt.

Some stuff is going down at work and, well, there is a slight possibility that I might loose my job. I would say the chances are 40/60. 40% being that I'm definitely loosing my job tomorrow.

And I'm totally freaking out right now.

I don't want to loose my job. I like my job. I don't always like what I do and sometimes it can be really frustrating and boring, but I really love the people I work with and we get along so well.

Plus, there is this whole thing I do that I really enjoy, it is called "paying my rent"! Yeah, I love being able to do that!

The bottom line is that if I do loose my job I'll be fine because I'll figure it out. I just really really don't want to have to figure it out. Not now. I have to take my car into the shop, I have bills that need to be paid. I can't figure this out right now. If I loose my job it changes everything. I mean I know I'll be fine, but in this economy and with everything going on right now there is no time table for "fine". "Fine" is not promised to me this week or next. It may take me a year to get back to "fine".

Oh, God, I'm freaking out.

Anyway, about the challenge. I'm calling it off because right now the last thing I can do is just come home and sit still and read. I need to be up and I need to be moving. I need to be distracted. I need instant gratification. I need a bottle of wine and The Notebook and then I'll be fine.

If it happens, it happens right?

Oh, God, I can't breath.

Anyway, when I first started typing this I was only going to say a little bit about what was going on and then do a quick review over The Great Gatsby, but I can't sit here any longer so that will have to wait.

I should be able to post again on Thursday so I can write about Gatsby then. But if by the grace of God I'm still employed by Thursday, keeping my job is going to require a lot of hard work on my part so I wont be able to commit to my reading schedule like I had hoped.

Anyway, I really need to move away from the computer now.

Thanks for letting me electronically cry on your shoulder.

Abducted by Forever Odd

2011-08-22T00:46:00.001-05:00

I first listened to the audio version of Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz almost three years ago! And I loved it!

The town of Pico Mundo is so special, the plot is exciting, the pace is hart pounding, the characters are unique, and Odd Thomas, the title character, I think, is one of the greatest characters ever written. He would be in the top 100 at least! To read the review I wrote for Odd Thomas back in February click HERE.

However, an event takes place at the end of the story that changes things forever and, more specifically, changes Odd. Because of this, I put off continuing with the series until now.

I finally read the second book in the series, Forever Odd, and I've got to say, I was not impressed.

Odd has changed. After everything he went through in the first book there was no way he was going to stay the same. And I truly respect Dean Koontz for the way he incorporated those changes into this new Odd. The changes are very subtle. On the surface he is still the same Odd Thomas, but it is almost like you can tell the luster and shine is gone.

Also, this novel takes place in one day while Odd is searching the desert for his missing friend, Danny. Because of this, all the delightful and entertaining characters that make up the the town are not featured in this one quite as much as they were in the first novel. Some times I talk a little about how I love books that are character driven. I need for a story to have fantastic characters even if the plot sucks. And, unfortunately, I would say that Forever Odd is the perfect example of this.

Let me simplify the plot for you...

A crazy phone sex operator, who is obsessed with the supernatural, becomes intrigued when she learns that one of her clients, Danny, is best friends with a guy who possesses "special" abilities, Odd Thomas. Due to her desire to get as close as possible to the other side, she kidnaps her client in order persuade Odd to give her a demonstration of his powers.That is literally all that happens in this book. The beginning is Odd finding out his friend is missing and then the search begins. And that's it! Seriously!

So, no, the plot is not that great. Some of the scenes could be pretty action packed and my heart would just start to begin to race, but ultimately I was underwhelmed.

However, because it is Odd Thomas, the book was still worth the read and the ending still made me cry. When it comes to Odd Thomas I could literally read an entire book of him telling me about flood drainage or something.

Oh, wait, I just did!

Okay, okay, that joke was a little harsh (however, it was also true).

If you haven't read Odd Thomas yet, please please PLEASE do so! The first novel is amazing. Read it! I promise you'll love it! Then you can make up your own mind about the rest of the series. I'm still looking forward to reading Brother Odd, the third book. I bought it at Borders during their going out of business sale. I'm not sure when I'll have time to get to it, but I determined not to let my...what's the word...hold on let me check a thesaurus... "discontentment" stop me from enjoying what is still to come.

I've recently become obsessed with Anton Yelchin! Mainly because I saw a trailer for his new movie Like Crazy and nearly died! So, now I'm really excited about him playing Odd in the feature adaptation, whenever that happens...

Actually, I just checked imdb.com and it says they are now filming!

EXCITING!!!

Abducted By Blog Hop 8.19

2011-08-19T12:02:00.001-05:00

Went to the library today...

Paid my $3.90 late fees for the two audio books I kept 2 weeks past due...

And then I checked out 4 more!!!

Yup, that is right! I'm totally ambitious!

With those 4 books and my daily cheer from my cheerleader (love you Holly) I'm feeling so motivated! I know I can still complete my challenge so don't count me out yet.

after I write my review for Forever Odd I'll be at

17 more books : 19 more days

But I wanted to take a quick break today and answer the two questions out in the blog community!

For the Blog Hop hosted by Crazy for Books the question was:

"What is the longest book you've read?"

My answer:

The unabridged edition of The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.

And yes, this book is my go to book when I feel the need to distinguish myself.

I'll be at book club and we'll be talking about books and I'll say; (in the poshest accent I can muster) "Well, when I was reading the full 1312 page of Count of Monte Cristo I learned that Alexandre Dumas really liked eating grapes." - or something like that!

Now, over at Follow Fridays hosted by Parajunkee the question was:

"If you could write yourself a part in a book,

what book would it be and what role would you play?"

My answer:

Harry Potter of course! I would be a slightly misfit Hufflepuff who becomes Neville's love interest!

I've loved Neville since the beginning, but come on! Have you seen how Hot that kids become???

HELLO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Abducted by Challenge Day 20

2011-08-18T22:51:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I spent the ENTIRE day reading!

It was horrendous!

Mostly because the three books I managed to finish were not very interesting.

Wait, I take that back, they were interesting...it was just that they weren't the type of books one would normally try to read in one sitting.

But still, I did nothing else! My apartment is a mess, the sink is over flowing with dishes. My dog Riley needs a bath and that still hasn't happened. And I haven't watched any TV what-so-ever since Sunday nights episode of The New Jersey Housewives! (Ashley is such a spoiled brat! I hope Jacqueline really does kick her out because she totally deserves it!)

I'm going to write about two of the books I finished now and save the last one (Forever Odd by Dean Koontz, 2nd book in the Odd Thomas series) for Saturday!

Okay, so starting off we have...

How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card.

I got this book about two years ago. Back when I thought I was going to be a fantasy writer! Nothing against fantasy, but really...what was I thinking?! I mean, other then the books I read for book club, I don't really read science fiction or fantasy books, I don't really see the world that way, I don't really think that way, those really aren't the kind of characters I picture when I sit down to start writing. So again I ask you; what was I thinking!?!

I think I was thinking that I really wanted to go to Sci-Fi conventions and have people come dressed up in costumes that were based off my stories! Because, I mean come on, really, that would be AWESOME!

But I have to be true to myself and the stories in me. And those stories are not fantasy. I do have to say, though, that there is a lot to be gained by learning the techniques of writing in all the different genres.

I have never read anything by Orson Scott Card, I just bought this book randomly. I wanted to read this one now because it is only a little over 100 pages so I thought it would be a quick read. It wasn't, at least not for me. Some of the parts when he was talking about time travel and other sci-fi elements, since they didn't really apply to the stories I want to write, they were kind of boring. It was like trying to read 140 pages of a text book in one sitting.

But in the end, it was worth it.

There was a lot of helpful advice and tips found in the book. Everything was explained thoroughly and with a lot of humor. If you are a fan of Orson Scott Card, or want to one day write sci-fi, then this book would be really helpful. And even though it was slightly difficult for me to get through it, I can recognize that for it's purpose it was a good book. So on goodreads I rated this book 4/5.

The other book that I finished yesterday was I Am America (And So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert.

All I really want to say about this book is that if you are a fan of Stephen Colbert, you should read this book because it is really funny. However, like with the book mentioned above, some parts felt to me as if I was trying to read a text book. I think this mainly comes from the fact that when you read these kinds of books you are not reading a "story". There is no underlying tension pulling you through chapter by chapter; paragraph by paragraph. So it was difficult to try to finish in one sitting. I would recommend this more as a coffee table book to read over time.

But I it was really funny! My friend/co-worker, Shavonne, also has this book. When I was reading it at work I was trying really hard not to read it to her because I wanted to give her the chance to read it herself, but I kept coming across so many parts that had my dying laughing and I would be like;

"Wait...hahaha...you have to hear this part...hahaha...it is so funny...hahaha...

All weather is sin-related. Lust causes thunder, anger causes fog,

and you don't want to know what causes dew..."dew-ing" it!

And if you wonder what God thinks about sodomy, just ask a Sodomite.

Oh, that's right - you can't, because God destroyed them all with fire and brimstone!

...hahahahahaha"

I rated this book 4/5 as well on goodreads.

and now we are down to...

18 more books : 20 more days

-getting a little nervous here guys

Abducted by a Blog Hop, a book, and a request...

2011-08-12T13:05:00.000-05:00

As the title of this post suggests, we have a lot to cover today so let's get down to business...

I am going to start with the blog hop but I do have a request and would love everyone's help, so if you don't want to read this entire post, at least skip to the end and leave whatever recommendations you have in the comments. - Thank you!

This week the question for the Blog Hop hosted by Crazy For Books was...

Let's talk crazy book titles! Highlight one or two (or as many as you like!) titles in your personal collection that have the most interesting titles!

Well, I do have a couple of books that have very peculiar titles. Like; Go Mutants!, Still Life With Woodpecker, and Round Ireland With A Fridge.

But this question actually ties in perfectly with the book I was still needing to write a review for and so my ultimate selection for book with the craziest title is....

ANGUS, THONGS, AND FULL-FRONTAL SNOGGING

And what is kind of funny is that it was my love of the crazy titles given to this series of books by Louise Rennison that made me want to start reading them in the first place.

Stephanie over at thefakesteph.com reviewed this series (if you click on her link it will take you to her review of this A,T, & FFS) and her reviews really started to suck me in. But every time she reviewed a book I was really more taken by their titles then the humor that Steph promised each one held inside itself.

I can't wait to read the 6th book in the series entitled "Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers"!

Now, as for my review of this book, here is what I will tell you...

I loved it!

I loved the humor. Especially the instances that involved Georgia attempting to remove or permanently alter any of her hair. I have very vivid memories of my little sister trying to pluck her own eyebrows and just destroying them! So, that scene for Georgia had me rolling on the floor with tears streaming down my cheeks. And even though I never personally lost my eyebrows, I have had my own horror stories when it comes to trying to dye my hair. My hair has been every color from red, blond, brown, orange, and (on one occasion when I accidentally fell asleep during the dying process) purplish gray.

I loved all the side characters from the crazy cat, the cranky neighbors, all of Georgia's friends, and her adorable little sister.

But the thing that really got me, was the voice. When reading this book you know, without a doubt, that this is the mind of a 14 year old girl. This is how 14 year olds think and speak and act. The book was so completely genuine to the voice of this character that I couldn't help but be overwhelmed with nostalgia. And what intrigues me more then the plot of each book, is the eagerness to see how / if that voice is going to change and grow throughout the series.

My only complaint is that I wasn't a fan of how she treated her father. But, I think that stems from the fact that I am such a complete Daddy's girl that I would never talk to my dad like that!!!

Originally I was only going to give this book a 3/5 when I rated it on goodreads. Because even though I thought the book was really light and funny, I kind of...sort of...felt like it lacked real content. Not in a bad way, I swear! Just in the way that not a lot really happens to a typical 14 year old, so therefore not a lot really happens in the book.

HOWEVER!!! Then I got to the last chapter, and she started bleaching her hair and then it fell out right in front of a certain someone!!! I was totally won over! That one scene earned a whole other star toward my rating system!

So, ultimately, I rated Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging 4/5! I do have the sequel at home ready to go but I think I am going to try to space them out a bit.

Okay, so, I've done my blog hop entry and I have reviewed the book that so many of my loyal followers were eager to read...now for my request.

I've been on a total positivity kick lately! Just making an effort to attract positivity to me and repel the negative. And this all coincides with getting ready to work on NaNoWriMo in November. I've had the idea for my upcoming NaNo project since March and it is going to be a story all about positivity, starting over, and learning to love yourself. I'm very excited about it.

I've already started putting together a playlist of music to listen to in order to help get me ready, but I need more!

I need positive and uplifting songs! Songs that when you listen to them in the morning they make it impossible for you to not turn up the volume and dance like a Peanut character all the way to work! Songs that make you feel bolder and stronger and braver! Songs that are infectious with their up tempo melodies and meaningful lyrics! I want lots and lots and lots of HAPPY songs!

All suggestions are welcome!!!

Abducted by Monday Memories 8.8.11

2011-08-08T00:26:00.001-05:00

Well, hello there!

I mentioned in my last post that I was going to Texas to spend the weekend with my sister, Lindsey, and my brother in-law, Jason!

So, I thought it would be nice, for my Monday Memory, if I shared about books that meant a lot to Lindsey, myself, and my older sister Stephanie when we were kids.

That would be the works of Dr. Seuss!

And just as a reminder, Monday Memory is hosted by Annette!

When my sisters and I were kids we spent our summers at our Grandparents house. We were really lucky because all of our Grandparents lived in the same town as us. I always thought it was so strange when my childhood friends would talk about only getting to see their grandparents one week during the summer or during major holidays. Mine were always just right here. They took us to doctor's appointments, packed school lunches, drove us to camp, took us to swim practice, and taught us to drive. We were really close.

When I was a kid we would spend our summers at their house and they had this one book shelf that was covered with books. Most of the books were ones that we had left there, but the majority of them were from when we were really young, so it was a lot of Dr. Seuss.

I know Lindsey always liked Are You My Mother. And my older sister, Stephanie, said that her favorite was between Are You My Mother and Green Eggs and Ham. But my favorite was the Put Me In The Zoo book. I loved how the spots would transfer to all the different objects in the back ground and how they would change colors.

But my Grandmother liked Green Eggs and Ham. She would read it to us all the time.

I do not like them, Sam I am

I do not like green eggs and ham...

When it came time for lunch my Grandmother would sometimes let us help her in the kitchen. One of our favorite meals quickly became scrambled eggs. Now, I'm sure my Grandmother only fed us this a couple of times a week but of course I remember this as if we had scrambled eggs EVERYDAY!

But because of the poem in the book, we always called it SamIam!

Grandma would come in and ask, "What do you want for lunch today?" and we would cheer, "SamIam! SamIam!"

And then she would take us to the kitchen, help show us how to crack the eggs without dropping any of the egg shells. How to melt the butter and when to stir the eggs so they don't stick to the bottom.

It is a really special memory and therefore a very special book. And I am looking forward to the day when my sister and brother in-law, finally makes me an Aunt, so I can come over and make SamIam with her kids!

I've included some pictures of my family. My Grandfather passed away in 2007 and my Grandmother passed in 2008 so these pictures are a little old, but they are my family.

Thanksgiving 2006

Stephanie, Grandpa Paul, Me in the back, and Lindsey

Easter 2008

Grandma Winona and Lindsey

Have a great week!

Abducted by Blog Hop 8.05

2011-08-05T15:52:00.000-05:00

IT'S FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so excited! This weekend my mom and I are traveling down to the great state of Texas to spend some quality time with my little sister Lindsey and my brother in-law Jason!

I've missed them the last two times they've come up for a visit so I'm glad I'll be getting to see them. Also, it is fun to go and see their house and all the improvements and home projects they have done. We are going to go see the JFK museum, get In-N-Out Burger, and spend an evening at home watching Christmas movies (to help remind us that this God forsaken heat wont last forever)!

But for now, since it is Friday, I thought I would see what was going on over at the blog hop hosted by Crazy for Books!

This week the question is...

"What is the one ARC you would love to get your hands on right now?"

I don't know, that is such a tough question!

I'm beyond excited for John Green's The Fault In Our Stars to be released but I am definitely willing to wait for my autographed copy!

Yeah, that's right, I'm so special that John Green himself is sending me an autographed copy of his next book! I am just that awesome! - Just kidding guys!

Seriously though I am willing to wait for this one. Sort of a delaying of gratification, that kind of thing.

I am hearing a lot of buzz about this new book Glow. My friend Andrea does have an ARC for this one and she brought it to our last book club meet up. Since then I've been seeing it pop up on blogs all over the place! So, I think that is the one I would go with. Plus, Andrea said it was brilliant and I trust her well enough, so, I bet it is really good.

In other news I did finish two books this week and I fully intended to write reviews on them for my blog, but I'm running out of time today and I have to actually get some work done before heading to Texas. I will write it some time next week, I promise! I know Steph and Holly are probably dying to read about my thoughts on Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging!

But for those of you keeping up with my reading challenge, right now the count down is at...

20 more books : 28 more days

Abducted by Challenge Day 1

2011-07-31T02:56:00.002-05:00

The first day of my challenge and I am off to a really good start!

I explained in my last post that I am challenging myself to read 25 books by September 3rd in an effort to get back on track towards my overall goal of 111 books in a year.

So here is what I accomplished so far...

I finally finished a collection of poems by C.S. Lewis. I have been working on this book since April, which is surprising because it really isn't that long! I love Lewis's writing and I am really excited that I can finally add this book to the collection I have for him. Below I am including my favorite poem that I found in this book.

As the Ruin Falls

All this is flashy rhetoric about loving you.

I never had a selfless thought since I was born.

I am mercenary and self-seeking through and through:

I want God, you, all friends, merely to serve my turn.

Peace, re-assurance, pleasure, are the goals I seek,

I cannot crawl one inch outside my proper skin:

I talk of love - a scholar's parrot may talk Greek -

But, self-imprisoned, always end where I begin.

Only that now you have taught me (but how late) my lack.

I see the chasm. And everything you are was making

My heart into a bridge by which I might get back

From exile, and grow man. And now the bridge is breaking.

For this I bless you as the ruin falls. The pains

You give me are more precious than all other gains.

I mentioned in my last post that I was looking forward to finally reading The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan. Well I started it when I came home from work today and was finished in just over 2 hours. It is fast paced and a quick read but the story does not fail to be compelling and satisfying...that is, until the end. I may be the only one that will feel this way but I really didn't like the way he ended the story. But please don't let that sway you to not read the book because it really is unbelievably surprising!

Oh, also, on a side note, I said in my last post that this book was a dictionary that had one entry per letter, and I was wrong. Some letters did only have one but other letters offered up a lot more. Just wanted to clarify that!

Here is the entry that I think best describes the book. It is the entry is for "ineffable" -great word.

"These words will ultimately end up being the barest of reflections, devoid of the sensations words cannot convey. Trying to write about love is ultimately like trying to have a dictionary represent life. No matter how many words there are, there will never be enough."

And lastly, I finally finished 1984 which was my book club book for July. We actually discussed this book last weekend but I still had 25 pages left to read so I only just now finished it!

I flipped through it to find a part to quote on here as my favorite and there was one part that we discussed a lot when we met at book club. It is this section when they talk about how Big Brother has come up with this new, simplified, language and we were comparing it to how people use "text" language in actual, vocal, conversations nowadays.

So here is a compilation of the key points made in 1984 regarding language:

"We're destroying words - scores of them, hundreds of them, every day. We're cutting the language down to the bone...It's a beautiful thing, the destruction of words...Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Byron - they'll exist only in Newspeak versions, not merely changed into something different, but actually changed into something contradictory of what they used to be."

So after the first day of my challenge, this is what I have left...

22 more books : 34 more days

Abducted by Blog Hop 7.29

2011-07-29T11:21:00.000-05:00

Well, I for one am exhausted today!

I stayed up until 3 in the morning last night, sadly not a record for me, in order to finish up some homework for another site I take part in called reviewsin5.com. We just finished up our month long reviews of Harry Potter and are now diving into reviews for Cate Blanchet! I'm excited because I love her!

Anyways, I stayed up late and now am at work ready to pass out! I figured the longer I put off doing any actual work, the more likely that eventually my caffeine will kick in. So I thought I would take part in this weeks Blog Hop hosted by crazy for books.

This weeks request was:

Highlight one book you have received this week (for review, from the library, purchased at the store, etc.) that you can't wait to dig into!"

I actually had to think about this one for a moment because I have recently spent an obscene amount of money on books. Our local Borders has just closed and they were having their "Going Out Of Business" Sale and I got a little carried away. I'm not proud of it. In fact I've been beating myself up for it this entire week.

But what is done is done.

Anyway, I had a lot of books to choose from and to be honest there are quite a few that I can't wait to dig into. But there is one imparticular that stands out and it is...

I can't wait to dig into this one for two reasons.

One being that it is really short and I am shockingly behind in my reading for the year, so short books are my friends right now!

The other reasons is that I am so in awe of the idea behind this book.

Basically it is set up like a dictionary with one entry, per letter, ranging from A to Z. Some entries are only a word, while others are longer then a page. From what I understand the entries are abstract, tender, humorous, poignant, and endearing.

I have heard nothing but rave refuse for this book but at the same time I remain skeptical.

How? How can he possibly be able to tell a true love story within such a limited structure?

It isn't possible! Is it?

If there was ever an author that could pull it off, I can see it being David Levithan. So I am very intrigued by the idea behind this story and very excited to see what Levithan does with it.

Now, on a side note!

I am going to issue myself a challenge.

Starting tomorrow, July 30th, and running through September 3rd, I am going to read and review 25 books!

I have to! I simply have to! It is the only way I am going to get back on track for my reading schedule this year. I signed on to read111 books and I fully intend to read 111 books IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO!

Now, this wont be easy! In fact, it is completely crazy to even think it is possible, but I just have to do it. And by challenging myself to review each book I've read, my trusty followers will be able to hold me accountable through out this next month!

5 WEEKS : 35 DAYS : 25 BOOKS

here goes nothing......

Abducted by Monday Memories 7.18.2011

2011-07-18T17:31:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted this week, but I've been crazy busy!

Went and saw Harry Potter with my book club. It was awesome!!!

Then I went and agreed to dog sit for TWO different friends of mine! What was I thinking?

Also I've been working really hard with my friends Andrea and Jeremy to put up some great Harry Potter posts over at our reviewsin5 website.

But I am back today to post another Monday Memory hosted by Annette!

July is a very important month for me because, as far as I am concerned, it marks the beginning of the real baseball season!

In July players from all the different teams come together to play in the All Star Games. Now, I am a huge Red Sox fan! I mean HUGE!!! And I have watched them go into the All Star Break leading their league only to come back and loose their fire. At the same time I have seen them go into the All Star Break getting beat and yet when they come back they are unstoppable! That is why over the years I have learned to never trust the standings until after the Break.

Well the Break was last week and as of the standings this morning the Red Sox are leading their division by 1.5 games to the yankees.

GO SOX!!!

Since I'm so thrilled that we can finally get excited about baseball again I thought today would be a great day to share the memory of my favorite book about baseball.

I first read Shoeless Joe back in 2004 so about seven years ago. I remember reading it on my lunch break at work. I would get it out of my locker and immediately start reading it while I was walking to the break room.

This is the book that the movie Field of Dreams was based on. There are some changes to the characters and a lot is left out of the movie, but Field of Dreams does a fantastic job of capturing the essence of the book.

2004 was also the year the Red Sox finally won the World Series, I read this book shortly after that win so I was still on a pretty big high. I remember gushing over all the baseball comments in the book. Personally, I feel that in the movie Field of Dreams, Ray Kinsella merely appreciates baseball, where as in the book he is a baseball FANATIC! I think that is why I connected so much to the book at that time, because I was on such a high I could really enjoy reading a book about someone who loved baseball as much as me.

The author, W.P. Kinsella, gives his novel a very lyrical and loving tone that flows into each page. And the story is one of redemption and forgiveness, as well as hope and contentment. And since it is only 272 pages, I bet I could read it again before the summer is over!

If you hate baseball, then I'm sorry to say, you may not like this book. Yes, the story is about so much more, but the author does praise the game pretty consistently throughout the story, and that may start to weigh on you after a while.

But if you love the film Field of Dreams, you should definitely give it a shot!

Have a great week everyone!

Abducted By Monday Memories 7.11.11

2011-07-11T18:07:00.000-05:00

Before I get started I just want to send out a big...

to my little sister Lindsey and her husband Jason who are celebrating their 1 year wedding anniversary today!!!

I can't believe it has been a year already! I love and miss you guys! Don't forget that mom, Riley, and I are coming to visit on the 6th and 7th in August. Mom invited Stephanie to join us but she wasn't sure if she was going to be doing a church function that weekend or not.

Now, down to business!

I don't know about you guys but I'm exhausted! Today I went outside in this scorching heat and cleaned my car. Cleaned out everything from inside it, cleaned the inside of all the windows, cleaned the dashboard, cleaned the upholstery, got all the dog hair out, and then took it to the car wash and washed the outside and fully vacuumed the inside. It didn't take that long, but damn, it is really hot outside!

Now I am inside, relaxing in my air conditioning watching Tin Man on Netflix (my old computer died before I could finish watching it) and working on my blog.

And since I've been so aware of the heat today, I thought it would be a perfect source for my Monday Memory!

One of my favorite authors is C.S. Lewis.

I know, I know! Big surprise, right!?!

I started reading his book as part of an English project when I was a senior in high school ten years ago! I truly enjoyed his books but I was also really fascinated by him. We share a birthday so I guess I always felt a connection to his story. So much about his struggles and triumphs are easy for his fans to relate to and also there are parts to his story that are so beautiful you'd think they were written by Hollywood.

For example, did you know that he first got to know his wife, Joy, through letters she would write to him? She started to write to him originally because her sons were huge fans of Lewis's Narnia series, but her letters stood out to him and he wrote back. It wasn't long before they began a constant stream of correspondence and before she was making trips to England to visit with him.

Lewis agreed to marry Joy so that she could move to England with her children and have a green card. With this marriage, their friendship grew and before long they really were in love. Unfortunately, during this time she was diagnosed with bone caner in her legs. The cancer quickly became severe and the doctors told them that there was no hope.

While Joy lay on her deathbed, Lewis invited Peter Bide, an Anglican Priest, to come to the hospital and marry them so that their marriage would be recognized by the Church. Lewis claimed it was Joy's dying wish. The priest came, consecrated the marriage, prayed for her healing, and a few days later Joy walked out of the hospital, the cancer completely in remission.

The couple enjoyed three more years together, traveling the world, until Joy's cancer returned and claimed her life. Lewis died three years later.

How do I know all of this? Well, I've seen the movie Shadowlands with Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger for one thing. Also, I've read a ton of his books, numerous times, and have also read Douglas Gresham's (Joy's son who was adopted by Lewis) autobiography Lenten Lands (which was extremely good by the way).

As well as, The Magic Never Ends by John Ryan Duncan.

I know what you are thinking; "What does this have to do with a Monday Memory and/or the heat of summer?"

Well, I'll tell you.

I first read The Magic Never Ends about eight years ago. It was the middle of summer and my older sister Stephanie invited me to come with her to our local lake, Lake Thunderbird, for the day. The water there is filthy so of course we didn't go in, we just laid on the sand and...well, tanned I guess. I brought this book with me and I was laying on my stomach reading it and lost complete track of time. Before I knew it several hours had passed and I was sooooooooo sunburned!

Now, for those of you who don't know me, let me describe my looks in a word for you. That word be...

PALE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Needless to say, a sunburn for me is no ordinary sunburn. I went to the doctor and it turned out I had second degree burns all over my back and had to put this prescription cream all over them. Actually, I had to ask someone to put it on my back for me, which was really embarrassing. Also, I'm a pretty modest girl, but after that I was forced to wear spaghetti strapped tank tops with no bra on for weeks until the blisters healed.

A year later when I went with my family to Hawaii, I took five different kinds of sunscreen with me, which I applied rigorously!

That's all for today folks!

Have a great week and remember to drink lots of water...

AND WEAR SUNSCREEN!

Abducted by Hornby

2011-06-30T20:39:00.000-05:00

I'M BACK!

All right stop collaborate and listen, I am is back with the brand new * sexy back...yeah...them other bloggers don't know how to act...yeah * that's why I'm back here baby, missed you, want you, need you so, that's why I'm back here baby * back in the saddle again back where a friend is * back, yes I'm back, well I'm back, and I'm back in BLACK* so shake it shake it shake those healthy books cause baby I'm back * and I back that thing up...something something something...yeah, honey back that thing up * cause it's all coming back to me nooooooooooooooooooow!!!

Alright enough of that!

Everyone, I would like you to say hello...

to...

DYLAN!!!!

Dylan comes to us from the Dell family and he is gorgeous!

He's been a little shy about meeting you all but now he is here and ready to work.

I have decided to use my first post coming back to write about an author that I have just in the past 3 months completely fallen in love with...

Mr. Nick Hornby!

The funny thing about me falling for Mr. Hornby is that I fought reading him for so long. He has had 3 of his books adapted into feature films like Fever Pitch, High Fidelity, and About A Boy.

Now, About A Boy is one of my favorite movies and I remember one day, years ago, walking around Hastings and selecting this book and flipping through the pages and just by glancing at some of the writing I could tell that the plot laid out in the book was going to be very different from the film.

I was not okay with this.

There was no way the book was better then that movie so obviously Hornby had to be a dimwit right?

Then a few months ago, my friend Andrea and I got into a pretty heated discussion about this conviction of mine. I think I was really starting to wear down her patience, so I finally agreed to give Hornby a shot.

I started with Fever Pitch. One reason being that I love About A Boy so much that if I read that one first I might be too bias and the other reason being that it was the only one of his books at the library when I first went in.

Now, here is the thing I didn't know. Fever Pitch is a memoir. So, if you've seen either the British film or the American film, those stories are not in this book. There is no plot. Each chapter is just about another year that makes up the long legacy that is Nick Hornby's love of his favorite football (soccer) teams. And for someone that isn't really a fan of football (soccer) and has no idea who any of those players were thirty years ago, it made parts of this book really boring. But the thing I couldn't deny was that Hornby's voice shined through. His tone, his rhythm, his personality, his style, it was all right there. And I could not help but be captivated by it.

I wanted more.

So, I went to a different library and got a more recent novel; Juliet, Naked. This is a novel about an English couple, Duncan and Annie. They have been together for years and have shared a lot. Duncan is obsessed with an American rocker named Tucker Crowe, so obsessed that he runs a website devoted to Tucker. Tucker had a hit album at one time but then fell off the grid and hasn't been heard from since. Through certain circumstances Annie and Tucker actually begin to secretly get to know each other through letters and emails, and as their relationship grows, the relationship between Annie and Duncan begins to diminish. For as many moments that were beautiful and moving in this story there were twice as many that had me laughing my ass off! It is just such a great story about how the people in our lives change us and alter us and shape us, even if it is only for a moment.

And after it was done.......... I wanted more!

I went back to the original library and got Nick Hornby's YA novel called SLAM!

When I checked this one out, I didn't even read the back of the cover. I just grabbed it and ran. It wasn't until later that I realized the book is about a 16 year old boy who gets his girlfriend pregnant and how that comes to change his life. Trust me when I say that this book was a little depressing. It is kind of like when you are in a minor car accident, one that you know you will live through. Right before you hit the wall or car or fence or curb or whatever, everything is in slow motion. You know this impact is coming, you know it is going to hurt, and you know that you can do nothing to stop it.That is what this whole book felt like, one long slow motion car accident. And, yet, it was still enticing. Hornby's writing is like music. The story may be sad but the melody he gives it is completely charming.

So of course...I wanted MORE!

And that is when I got A Long Way Down.

This one has by far been my favorite! There are these 4 main characters; Martin, Maureen, JJ, and Jess. When the book starts on New Year's Eve these characters haven't met yet, but we quickly learn that they each have specific reasons for wanting to commit suicide. Apparently there is this one spot in London that is famous for having people commit suicide there, so they each separately decide that is where they should go at midnight. Naturally, that is when they meet each other. They start talking about why they are there, trying to decide who should go first, but through talking about why they are up there they slowly start to help each other. They form these unlikely friendships.

And the hilarity ensues!

I am not exaggerating when I say that there were moments in this book that had me laughing so hard I was crying! CRYING! Like with tears and everything! Oh, God, just replaying certain moments in my head has me chuckling to myself right now! I cannot recommend this book enough.

Unfortunately, at this point, I have yet to find the rest of Hornby's novels at my local libraries but I'll keep an eye out for more of them.

No fear though because to tide me over until then, I have purchased this album...

Lonely Avenue is an album recorded by Ben Folds Five. However the lyrics were all written by Nick Hornby.

The lyrics are filled with Hornby's signature wit and the melodies are overflowing with Ben Folds Five haunting sound. If you are a fan of either the group or the author you should get this album now!

My favorite song is called A Working Day and it talks about the feelings every artist has when they are approaching a new project and thinking to themselves "I can do this! This is going to be perfect!" and how quickly that becomes "I SUCK I SUCK I SUCK!!!"

My favorite line is the chorus;

"Some guy on the net thinks I suck and he should know,
He's got his own blog"

Anyway, before I sign off let me say that I've really missed everyone and thank you so much for all your comments!

It feels really good to be back!

Abducted by Tobey

2011-06-06T15:04:00.004-05:00

Well, folks, it has finally happened.

My beloved laptop, fondly named Tobey the Toshiba, has passed on.

It has been touch and go for a while now but those who loved him were holding out for hope. Just praying that somehow, some way he would find the strength to keep going.

But alas, sadly, his all too brief life was cut short on Friday, June 3rd 2011.

We only had six years together but the memories we shared will be treasured.

Although, it is true, you can not replace those that you have lost. I must now cross my fingers that another laptop will be coming into my life in the near future.

Unfortunately, what this means is I wont be on my blog, at all really, in the next few weeks, maybe a month or so. I can access my blog at work but I can't really stay on it for too long (because of the whole having work to do problem). I will be able to keep up with my google reader so I will be checking in on all my favorite blogs.

In conclusion, here is a picture of my beloved Tobey that I took last November. You can't really tell that it is my computer because the picture is of the NaNoWriMo stickers I had put on him back then to show how much I was accomplishing.

But still, here he is...

Hopefully I'll be back soon, but I guess it is time to say...

So Long For Now!

Abducted by Monday Memories

2011-05-30T10:00:00.004-05:00

Wow, today I finally FINALLY finished cleaning out my googlereader!!!!!! GO ME!!!

And now it is time to share a Monday Memory! Hosted by Annette!

I have always loved to read, ever since I was really little. I would spend all day during my summer vacation reading one book after another. One of the authors that I LOVED was R.L. Stine.

I mostly read the Fear Street books because I was never really that fond of the Goosebump books.

I read all of the Silent Night books and the Cheerleader books. I think I even read a couple of the Babysitter books but not all of them.

I remember sitting out side on our swing set just devouring the books. And I still have very vivid images in my head of some of the scenes out of his books.

I remember one of the Silent Night books had a girl being stalked in a department store.

And I know that in one of the Cheerleader books someone drowns in a lake and then there is a scene when the main girl goes out on the lake, that is now frozen over, and I remember she looks down and can see the girl who drowned under the ice. That scared the crap out of me when I was little!

This weekend I actually took some time and reread the book The New Girl by R.L. Stine which was AWFUL! The whole time I just couldn't believe I ever liked those books. I mean it was really really bad!

But then I reread Cheerleaders: The First Evil and I LOVED IT!!! That is the R.L. Stine that I know and loved! Now I can't wait to reread the rest of the Cheerleader series...

...and also I'm now in the mood to watch Bring It On again!

One of the blogs I love to follow is at fakesteph.com and this last month she got to go to this book festival thing where she got to hear a lot of authors talk about their writing process. If you click on the link I provided above you can read her post on what R.L. Stine had to say.

Thanks again for sharing that Steph!

Plus, if you head over to Reviewsin5 you can read Andrea's post on her Top 5 Favorite Disney/Pixar films!

Have a great Memorial Day!

Abducted by Narnia

2011-05-28T08:00:00.002-05:00

I love the Chronicles of Narnia Series and I wanted to do something special to bring the journey through Narnia to a close.

So, I've created my own list called...

THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS: ABOUT NARNIA!

Even if you didn't get to read through the chronicles with me, please feel free to add some of your own answers to the list in comments or leave a link to your blog in the comments, so we can all share in our favorite things!

1. Favorite Book: The Silver Chair! I'm pretty sure I've said enough about this so if you have any questions as to why, just click on the link.

2. Favorite Creatures: The Dufflepuds! The Dufflepuds are discovered on The Magician Coriakin's Island in chapter 9 of the Voyage of the Dawn Treader. They are good natured and a little eccentric. For most of the story they are invisible but then Lucy sets them straight. They are adorable little creatures who hop around on one foot. I've just always found them really funny and cute.

3. Favorite Character: Puddleglum. I love Puddleglum, he is such a great character! I also really like Mr. Tumnuss from the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe but he is barely in the story, and I think I am mostly just fond of him because of James McAvoy's portrayal. But Puddleglum is kind and brave and clever and loyal.

4. Favorite Pevensie: Edmund. I always found Lucy to be a little goody-goody and Susan a little-miss-know-it-all. Peter is a good leader but kind of bossy. Edmund has such growth and development. We really get to see his character get tried and evolve and by the end of tLtW&tW he becomes a really good character and a good brother.

5. Favorite Aslan Moment: Mine is him at the end of The Horse and The Boy when he gives the whole speech about how he was always there. I don't remember quite how he says it but he is basically saying "I was the cat that comforted you, I was the lion that scared courage into you, I was the one that protected you." I really love that moment. As cliche as it sounds, it always reminded me of that footprints poem about how Jesus is the one carrying you. It is just this beautiful moment when he is saying, I was always here, when you were scared and weak and confused, I was always there.

6. Favorite Line: Well, seeing on how I recently had it tattooed on my leg, I would say that my favorite line would have to be the speech that begins with "Suppose we have only dreamed..." You can click on the link HERE to see the pictures of my tattoo and read the full quote.

7. Favorite Villain: For me it is actually Uncle Andrew from the Magician's Nephew. Sure, the White Witch and the Green Witch are scary and cause more damage, but I guess I find Uncle Andrew to be more entertaining and so therefore I like him more. He was evil no doubt, and cruel. But...I don't know...I just like him.

8. Favorite Tear Jerk Moment: In the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, when Lucy and Susan are crying over Aslan's body and then the mice come up. At first the girls think the mice are there to defile the body and then they realize that the mice are there to chew away at the cords that bind him. I don't know, there is just something about that moment, that realization, that get's me. Every time.

9. Favorite Audio Book: Okay, there are just some books that you have to listen to the audio versions of. This series is one of them! Hearing them read aloud by some amazing talent is chilling and heart warming at the same time. Mostly they are read by Broadway talent but some notable names would include Lynn Redgrave and Patrick Stewart. But my personal favorite is hearing Kenneth Branagh read to me The Magician's Nephew. I mean it is just perfect! As far as I am concerned this man can do no wrong anyway, but still, he adds just the right amount of humor in his voice that is just perfect for reading Digory and Polly, and even Uncle Andrew. That is also why I probably like Uncle Andrew as much as I do. Because with Kenneth Branagh reading him to me I can't help but picture Uncle Andrew as an eviler version of Professor Lockhart.

10. Favorite Film Adaptation: Without a doubt, hands down, the Walt Disney and Walden Media production of The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe!

The casting was perfect, the screenplay was perfect, the special affects were once again, PERFECT! I love this book and this film version is a direct reflection of it! I will be the first to admit that the quality in the adaptations has been slipping ever so slightly with each additional adaptation to be released but this first one was flawless!

Okay, so that brings an end to my journey through Narnia!

I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

For those of you who missed any, here is a list of all of my posts:

The Magician's Nephew

The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe

The Horse and His Boy

Prince Caspian

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The Silver Chair

The Last Battle

And if you haven't had enough of me yet, be sure to check out Reviewsin5.com! Andrea has her next top 5 post coming on Monday!

Blog Hop 5/27

2011-05-27T07:08:00.002-05:00

It has been a really long time since I've done one of these, but since I was up early enough I figured I would do some blog hopping before heading off to work.

The Blog Hop is hosted by Crazy For Books and this weeks question is...

"What book-to-movie adaptation have you most liked? Which have you disliked?"

Hmm...that is kind of a hard question.

I would say that some of my favorites have been the Lord of The Ring series. They were slightly different from the books but they were a perfect reflection of them.

I also really loved the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice!

And of course the first two Harry Potter adaptations were excellent. 3 and 4 weren't bad either but the first two were really good when held up to the books.

As far as which ones I liked least,

Mansfield Park (1999), The Count of Monte Cristo (2002), and Dracula (1992).

I mean seriously, when I watched each one of those movies after reading the books all I was thinking was "What the hell was that?"

What really irks me though isn't that they want to make changes to a book before making the adaptation. Like I said The Lord of The Ring series made changes and I liked it better for it. Also, Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby and The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham, they both had big changes to their plots when it came to the film adaptations, and I personally loved them.

No, what really irks me is when the films make these huge changes to the plot and then advertise it as "Bram Stoker's Dracula" or "Edmond Dantes' The Count of Monte Cristo"

If you insist on making changes to the plot, DO NOT link the author's name to it because then you are just going to piss me off!

I mean I never saw any press clippings where Bram Stoker approved of that piece of crap movie. So, if there are any out there send them my way.

Have a great day!

Abducted by The Last Battle

2011-05-26T15:32:00.005-05:00

The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis

For some reason this has never been one of my favorites in the Narnia series. And what is funny is I can never really remember the plot. But then whenever I start it again it all comes back to me and I'm like "Oh, yeah, I like this one."

I'm going to have to warn you now that there will be some spoilers in this post. If you haven't read the last book in the Narnia series and don't want to know how it all ends yet then don't read any farther.

Stop reading....

right now....

Everybody ready to keep going?

Awesome!

Okay, so The Last Battle is basically split into two acts or books or sections, however you want to look at it.

In the first half of the book we are introduced to the last king of Narnia, King Tirian. There is an ape, Shift, who is using his power of persuasion on a donkey named Puzzle (who is adorable). Using Puzzle as a pawn, Shift convinces the Calormen armies to start a war against King Tirian.

Eustace and Jill are sent into Narnia to help and the battle begins.

And, man, what a battle!

I mean this is the battle to end all battles!

And it is told in heartbreaking detail.

The whole first part of this book is captivating and heart racing! You almost don't want to put it down because you have to know what happens. How does it all end?

And how does it all end?

Everybody dies.

Thus begins the second half of the book.

When I was in middle school and high school my friends and I would write notes back and forth to each other. Mostly the notes were about gossip but sometimes we would spend our time in class telling stories back and forth. Each of us adding on the next paragraph. Then whichever one of us had the note at the end of the hour would finish off the story with the same line each time...

"She opened the car door and the whole world exploded. The end."

"He looked up at the sky and the whole world exploded. The end."

And I think a part of me never liked this last book in the Narnia series because I always thought that Lewis, having everyone die and Narnia be destroyed reminded me of those

notes. For us, it was just a quick way to end the story before the bell rang.

But, I really don't think that was what Lewis was trying to do. In fact, I know that it wasn't. He wasn't looking for a quick way to end this series of books, he was just bringing it full circle.

Even still, I've never really liked the last half of the book.

I guess it also might be because the beginning half of the book is so action packed that the last half comes across as boring. Kind of ending the series on a downer.

Over all, I love that Lewis does bring the books full circle in the end. I love that all the old characters from

all the other stories are brought back. I love that we get to hear what has happened to them all as they have aged. I even kind of liked that Susan, wasn't included because it brought a small amount of reality to the stories in it's own way.

I loved Puzzle in this book. He was so cute I just wanted to hug him every time he felt down on himself.

I liked King Tirian, he was a good king and I'm glad Lewis ended the series with such a strong figure.

I love that Eustace and Jill are the ones that come back. Mainly because, well, with the Silver Chair being my favorite book, I'm glad that their pairing get's to be acknowledged again.

There is a lot of religious symbolism going on in this book. I think more so in this one and in The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe, then in any of the other 5 books, including The Magician's Nephew. There is so much symbolism going on that it is hard to really even start talking about any of it for fear that it would monopolize my whole post.

I'm sad that our journey through Narnia has come to an end, but I do have one more post I'm going to do. I've made a list of my Top 10 Favorite Things About Narnia and I'll post that on Saturday.

Hope everyone is having a great week. Surviving all the Spring storms!

Don't forget to stop by Reviewsin5 to check out our finale thoughts on COLIN FIRTH and Jeremy's thoughts on his favorite HOCKEY MOVIES!