Abducted by It's Kind Of A Funny Story

It is time for my #6 post in my week long marathon of posting! I am so excited that this week is coming to a close! Mainly just because I am proud of myself for actually completing it! I mean for going so long without any real posts and to then do a real post every day for a week! I can't believe I made it! YAY!!!

It was exactly the kind of kick in the butt that I needed to get back on track. I'm looking forward to taking a break from writing so much everyday but I promise to keep up with my blog more.

Today I'm going to post on a book I read called It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini.



Ned Vizzini started writing articles for the New York Press at the age of 15 and not long after began writing essays that were published in The New York Times Magazine. Some of these letters were combined to make his first book, Teen Angst? Naah... that was published when he was 19! Then 4 years later his first fictional novel was published; Be More Chill. It was around this same time that Vizzini suffered a minor bout of depression and checked himself into a mental hospital for 4 days. Just 6 days later he began writing It's Kind of a Funny Story, and he finished it in less then a month!

I really loved this story and it was written with such humor.

One of the quotes from Teen Vogue on the back of the cover says "A book about depression that's not the least bit depressing."

Okay, well that is just not true. I mean, maybe if you have never experienced a day of depression in your life then you might be able to gloss over certain parts that hit a little too close to home for the rest of us. But it is quiet funny. Vizzini has a great ability to include sarcasm and absurd humor in very dark scenes without taking away from the emotion of the moment.

There were a lot of lines in this book that I could easily relate to, but one in particular was when the main boy in the story says "It's when they compliment you that you're in trouble. That means they expect you to keep it up."

All my life I've never been able to take a compliment and it always shakes my confidence as soon as someone does compliment me. Seems weird right? But to me, a compliment always registered in my mind as a standard. A standard I would never be able to live up to or top again.

A movie was made based off this novel just last year, and it was when I saw the trailer for the movie that I knew I really wanted to read this book. The book was really good but the movie version turned out to be only okay. They didn't make too many changes from the main storyline and the changes they did make were all justifiable. It had a great cast, my only wish is that Lauren Graham had been in it more. She played the main boy's mom and in the book the mom has quiet a few scenes but I guess there wasn't time for all of them in the movie version.

Okay I guess that is all for today. I'll see you all tomorrow with my last post in my week long marathon of posting!

Don't forget to sign up for a chance to win a $15 gift certificate for Amazon! Just click on the abduction below!

Abducted By The Horse and His Boy

Now it is time for my #5 post in my week long marathon of posting!!!

But first, don't forget to sign up for my giveaway of a $15 gift certificate for Amazon. To enter just click on the abduction below...





Today's post will be on the abduction of The Horse and His Boy the 3 book in the Chronicles of Narnia, as part of our read along blog posts hosted by SHE IS TOO FOND OF BOOKS.





The first time I read the complete series of the Chronicles of Narnia I really didn't care for this book. I barely remember reading it and I think at the time I was just trying to get through it so I could move on to the rest of the books.

And yet, with each reading I come to love this story more and more.

This book has a very Arabian tone to it that is different from the other Narnia books. I love that for the first time we get to really experience the other cultures that belong in that world.

I also really love the relationship between Shasta and Aravis. Many of the Narnia books have two main children characters that bicker; Polly and Digory, Lucy and Edmund, and even Jill and Eustace. But all of those relationships start off in some form of a friendship. But for Aravis and Shasta they don't like each other at all when they first meet. She sees him as annoying and simple and he sees her as a snob. But overtime they come to care about each other as two members of a team and then of course that friendship becomes something more.

Personally I was always on Shasta's side and thought that Aravis was a little stuck up. Plus I felt bad for Shasta because it wasn't his fault he had never been educated in other cultures and what not.

One line that always strikes me as odd is when Shasta has been mistaken for Prince Corin and he was over hearing Edmund and Susan make plans to escape. Edmund says;

"My guess is that the Tisroc has very small fear of Narnia. We are a little land. And little lands on the borders of a great empire were always hateful to the lords of the great empire."

Okay wait...hold up...LITTLE LAND??? Narnia is considered a LITTLE LAND!?! Just how big is this world supposed to be anyway if Narnia is the little land?

My favorite side character is Prince Corin. I just think that scene when he finally returns back to the castle and Shasta asks him where he had been and he tells the story of some kid in the street making a joke about Susan, so he "knocked him down" then that kid's brother came out so he "knocked him down." Then Corin was followed until they ran into the watch so he "knocked" the watch down. I can just picture this little boy trying to tell this big story about how tough he is. It's so cute! I loved it!

Anyway, it is about eleven o'clock here so I guess for my week long marathon of posting, I'm getting this one in just under the wire!

I hope you had a great weekend and I will see you all tomorrow!

Abducted by The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe

It is time for my #4 post for my week long marathon of posting!

But before I forget I want to remind every one to sign up for my 1 year anniversary giveaway. You can win a $15 gift certificate to Amazon!!! All you have to do is be a follower of either my blog, my friend KATE'S blog, or both. It is that simple! To enter just click on the abduction below and it will take you to the form to submit. The giveaway started yesterday and runs through April 12th. Then I'll announce the winner in my 1 year anniversary post on April 13th!




Now today I am going to do my long over due post on The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe By C.S. Lewis!





This post was supposed to be a part of the Chronicles of Narnia read-a-long that SHE IS TOO FOND OF BOOKS is hosting. But I failed epically to post when it was due so I'm posting it now, two weeks late, and then I do my post for The Horse and His Boy tomorrow!

I loved this book! I read it for the first time years ago, long before the movie version came out. But I will say that this was one instance where the movie was a perfect adaptation from the book. There were some differences but they were small and personally I felt that they helped the story. Obviously the movie showed more of the battle then what was given in the book, but that was awesome because you got to see all these crazy creatures running around.

And because I love the movie so much it is hard for me to read the book now and not be picturing the film in my mind. Especially when it comes to Lucy and Mr. Tumnus. Who wasn't picturing James McAvoy? I mean COME ON! He was perfect! And when you read the book you are reminded just how small a roll Mr. Tumnus really was. I mean, not in quality of course (Mr. Tumnus is crucial to the plot) but in terms of how often he is actually seen in the story. Lucy comes to Narnia that first time and we meet him. She comes a second time followed by Edmund, but we as the audience stay with Edmund and only hear later that Lucy went to Mr. Tumnus's house. By the time all the children come to Narnia, Mr. Tumnus has already be taken captive and we don't see him again until the end. But with the movie, James McAvoy is so endearing and charming as Mr. Tumnus that you instantly feel as bonded to him as Lucy does.

One part of this book that I have always hated is the scene when Edmund first goes to the White Witch's castle and he draws the fake mustache on the lion statue. Don't get me wrong, I completely and totally understand where Edmund was coming from and why he did it. He was a little boy, in a strange land, he was scared, and he needed to do something to comfort himself and establish some form of power or control over the situation, even if it was only in his head. BUT, as the reader, knowing that was a real creature, taken captive, turned to stone, taken away from it's family and friends and life. I mean that was a real lion!!! It was an animal with a heart and soul and everything! And for all we know it could have been dead! And there is Edmund drawing faces on it! I mean maybe I am over re-acting but even when I was a kid I remember thinking there was something so cruel about that moment!

One thing that struck me as odd having just finished The Magician's Nephew, was the Professor's reaction to the children going to Narnia. I mean I always thought it was so fantastic that he just accepts that the kids are being truthful. That whole scene when Peter and Susan go to him about Lucy and he defends her, has always been one of my favorites. But, since I had JUST finished the other book it got me to thinking. Why wasn't Professor Kirke more cautious with them? Why didn't he warn them about the dangers of going to Narnia? I mean just think about it...

Professor Kirke went to another world as a little boy, he almost died, he almost lost his best friend Polly, he woke up an evil witch and then managed to bring her with him back to London, where she attacked his Aunt and if she had come upon his mother would have for sure given her such a fright she would have died instantly! Then she terrorized the city for a day, got in trouble with the cops for stealing and being a menace, broke a lamppost, and she hit a cop! Then he finally got her back to the other world only to have her be set loose in Narnia. So Professor Kirke knew that she was in Narnia and knew she was evil. He also knew of the troubles one can find themselves in if they mess around with magic. So why didn't warn them?

Well, that is simple...i guess. He didn't warn them because at the time Lewis wrote The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe he had yet to write the Magician's Nephew so maybe Lewis didn't even know how bad an experience Professor Kirke had with his adventure.

He didn't warn them because he trusted the magic was calling to them for a reason?

And I guess, the most obvious answer would be that he didn't warn them because he knew that in the end all the good of Narnia would out weigh the bad.

But I mean, still, come on! I'm just saying a little warning would have been nice!

That is all I have for now!

Have a great rest of the day and I will see you all tomorrow!

ABDUCTED BY A GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Enter to win a $15 gift card for Amazon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (last day to enter is April 12th)

Abducted by Dash and Lily and the Blog Hop!

Wow, today is going to be a really busy day for me and my blog! We have my #3 post in my week long marathon of posting which will be on Dash and Lily, then we have the Friday blog hop hosted by Crazy For Books, but also today is the start of my first giveaway!

To celebrate my one year anniversary I'm hosting a giveaway that begins today and runs through April 12th! All you have to do is enter the form on the link below and you will be entered to win a $15 gift certificate for Amazon! In order to enter you just have to follow either my blog, or my friend Kate's blog MIDNIGHTBOOKGIRL, or both. And if you add yourself as a new follower be sure to leave a comment so that I can return the favor and follow you as well.

In order to be abducted by my giveaway just click on the abduction below...









and for my answer to the blog hop and my review on Dash and Lily just keep reading!






The question for this week was;



"Do you read only one book at a time, or do you have several going at once?"



My answer: I usually have several going at once. Anywhere from 2 to 4. But there is always one of the books that tends to be more of a priority. Also, they aren't all the same media.

Like right now, I have 4 books I'm reading but 2 are audio books.

I have one that I listen to in my car (A Horse And His Boy by C.S. Lewis), then a book I read that I keep at work (The Return Journey by Maeve Binchy), then I have a book I read at home (Anna And The French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins), and then another audio book that I listen to as I'm getting ready for bed (The Pilgrim's Regress by C.S. Lewis).



Now for my review of Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn...





I LOVED this book! I mean there were moments where I might have wavered slightly but all in all I LOVED it!!! It was one of my audio books but I promise you that in December I'm going to buy the actual book and reread it just in time for Christmas!

I know some of you might have some reservations about this one so here is my disclaimer: are you the type of person who when you watch one of those Hallmark Channel type movies on tv you find yourself thinking at times how full of holes the plot is and how terrible the acting is and how horrifyingly bad the dialogue is AND YET, at the end you find yourself filled with that warm fuzzy feeling in spite of it all?

If your answer is no, okay fine, truth be told you may not like this one.

If your answer is yes, What are you waiting for? Go read it now!

First of all, speaking as someone who LOVES books, I loved how much Dash and Lily LOVED books. The story spends a lot of time in The Strand bookstore in NYC so the authors had plenty of opportunities to make various references to books that I love, like the Godfather!

Also they made tons of references to Franny and Zooey by JD Salinger which is a book I have wanted to read for FOREVER! And Rachel and David included references to another book they wrote together; Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. For example there is a scene where Lily is looking at the writing on the bathroom stall in some club and she reads the words that Norah had written. I thought that was pretty cool.

It is kind of funny though that these characters love books, and make lots of references to all kinds of books, and yet there was one failed reference to Hermonie Potter! At first it really annoyed me but then by the end of the book I had kind of forgotten about it so I guess it wasn't such a big deal.

I loved Dash, although he could be pretty pretentious at times. I also really loved his friend Boomer! At first I thought Dash's friendship with Boomer was odd but after a while Boomer really grew on me and by the end of the book he was one of my favorite characters.

Lily was a little too goody-two-shoes for my taste. At first she didn't really bother me and I thought it was funny to have her love Christmas so much in contrast towards Dash's perspective. But after awhile it really started to bother me that she was soooooooo naive. I mean she was supposed to be 16? and her family treated her like she was 10 and she acted like she was 5! And speaking of her family...OH MY GOD her brother was obnoxious!!!! When he got sick and was whining for Lily to come read to him, I rolled my eyes so hard I had a headache the rest of the night!

But all I want to say in conclusion is that, I think those of us out there in the book blogging community get so used to dissecting books that sometimes we forget to look at the book as a whole. Yes, if you take Dash and Lily apart you will find plenty of flaws, but there is an essence about this book that was intoxicating. A tone or vibe that had me smiling the whole time I was reading it (expect in the scenes with Lily's brother and then I was rolling my eyes to hard to smile). Yes, the dialogue was lacking in some spots and the characters weren't always relateable, but I wont deny the warm fuzzy feelings that pour out of this book!


Thanks for reading my post, be sure to enter for the giveaway! Have a great weekend and I will see you all tomorrow!

Abducted by The Duff

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE St. Patrick's Day!!! I think it is because I really only have one friend who loves St. Patrick's Day (and all things Irish) as much, if not more then I do. And she moved away a few years ago, so every St. Patrick's Day always feels like my very own holiday. Of course I know lots of people that enjoy St. Patrick's Day and like to go out and celebrate or whatever. But they don't go nuts like I go NUTS! Last year I put so many decorations up at my office that they would set off the motion detectors at night and I would have to drive all the way back into the city (45 min. drive) just to turn the alarm off!

Two words: Worth It!

This year since I'm at my new office I didn't put up ALL my decorations but I put up plenty! And today I have on lots of green. I love St. Patrick's Day because it celebrates short little Irish red heads! And guess what, I'm pretty short, and I've got a little Irish in me, and my hair....well, I think I've dyed it so much over the years that it has finally surrendered to a nice dark strawberry blond, so What Up!







Any way, I should really move on to my Post #2 in my week long marathon of posting!

Today I'm going to review The Duff because I left my notes for Dash and Lily at home, so I'll do that book tomorrow.



The Duff: Designated Ugly Fat Friend by Kody Keplinger.

This was yet, another book I listened to on audio from the library (yeah that is right I finally got that all important library card!) As far as the audio version goes, the girl who did the narration did a perfect job for being the voice of "the Duff" Bianca, and she wasn't bad at doing the voice for the main male character of Wesley, but for the other characters it was awful! Bianca has two best friends in the novel, Jessica and Kacey. And Jessica sounded like she was 12 and Kacey sounded like she was 40! Plus she would deliver some of the lines completely dead pan, with no emotion at all. Which was really only a problem for the lines like;

"What. is. up. bianca." jessica. said. excitedly.

Also, Bianca has a crush on this boy Toby Tucker, and the reader made him sound way to much like a boy off a 1950's television show, "Gee Golly, Sir". The more I thought about it, I realized that if I had been reading this on my own, I would have seen Toby as James Marsden in The Notebook.

Now as far as the actual novel goes...

There was A LOT of sexual content, and if I ever took a minute to think about how this was a YA novel and being read by really young girls, I might have been a little disturbed by that fact. But for the most part, I didn't really notice it and wasn't bothered by it. There was also quiet a few curse words, but it didn't bother me at all. The cursing in Nick and Norah bothered me because it was in moments where it wasn't needed and it would be a long stream of curse words. I mean it would just be pages of "fudge fudge fudge fudge shite" and it felt like it was for shock value, although I don't think it was intended that way. But in The Duff, the cursing felt natural and added because that is how people would talk, at least if I was in that situation I know that is how I would talk.

In The Duff, Bianca is a senior in high school who is going through, well, A LOT. Problems at home, with her parents getting a divorce, an absent mother, an ex-boyfriend who is back in town with his fiance, and a classmate "playboy" named Wesley, who has just informed her that when it comes to her and the group of her friends, she is The Duff. She is the one in the group that is uglier compared to her friends and the one guys will talk to in hopes of scoring points with the hotties of the group. And how does Bianca deal with all this stress? By distracting herself with sex, and sex with Wesley none the less. But, by distracting herself with sex, Bianca is actually just running away from her problems instead of dealing with them. And in the process begins to alienate herself from Jessica and Kacey and quickly becomes someone she does not recognize.

I really liked the dynamic between Kacey, Jessica, and Bianca. I really liked the friction and tension between Wesley and Bianca. I also really liked the little bit about female empowerment at the end. Trust me, this isn't giving anything away, but Bianca spends the whole book being haunted by Wesley calling her The Duff, and in the end the girls decide to lay claim to the word themselves and find power by stripping the word of it's power.

I would say my only complaint of this book was that Bianca would justify her actions and yet continue to judge and be disgusted by Wesley's actions. But as I said in my last post, that is reality. We often condemn people for their flaws while justifying our own.

Okay, that is all for now, I'm going to go make some coffee and have a bagel! I will see you tomorrow with my blog hop and review for Dash and Lily!

Stay safe and have a great St. Patrick's Day!

Abducted by Mansfield Park

Day #1 in my week long challenge of posting on my blog everyday, and I am ready!



We are going to start with a book I just finished last week, Mansfield Park by Jane Austen.

I was really excited to finish this novel because it is one of those books that has literally been sitting in my TBR pile for longer then I can remember so I am so glad to be done with it and get to move it to my official bookshelves.

I keep all my novels I haven't read on a different shelf from the ones I have. The books I have read tend to be a bit snobbish, they like to brag about how I gave them my undivided attention and some of them get such big heads that they forget about the time they spent on the TBR shelf. They tease and poke fun at the books I haven't read yet and make them doubt their ability to be an entertaining novel so it is best to keep them separated.

If I'm being completely honest, the only way I was able to get through Mansfield Park was to listen to the audio book, but I did follow along in my book so I was able to make notes and underline lines I did like.

Recently I had a conversation with my friend Tracy about the difference between reality and fiction. And how people can act a certain way in real life but when you have to read it in a novel it is infuriating. And I think that was the problem with Mansfield Park, it was way to realistic. Sure, at times, you want to slap Fanny for her devotion to Edmund, but in reality that is how girls act. Speaking from experience I can't tell you how many times I've fallen completely head over heels for a guy who never notices me. For that guy who you just no is completely perfect for you and if he would only take a second to consider you he would realize it too.

I am thinking of a specific boy in my past, whom I was completely infatuated with. Even in his imperfections I knew that we were perfect for each other. I knew that he only saw me as a friend, but I was certain that if he would just take another look and consider me, he would see it. But, like Fanny, I always loved him from afar. When we hung out together I never made any moves or flirted with him, I just waited patiently. And I know that my friends wanted to slap me out of it as much as I wanted to slap Fanny out of it.

Of course, because it was fiction, Fanny's story ends with a "happily ever after" and mine...well...moving on...

I love the movie Jane Austen's Book Club, and while reading Mansfield Park I couldn't help but think that I agreed with Grigg, what was so wrong with Henry Crawford anyway?

I loved Henry Crawford, but I think a lot of that was because I saw him as Barney on How I Met Your Mother. There is a scene on the first episode of the fourth season where Barney, the womanizer, is trying to admit that he has feelings for Robyn. And he goes on this spill about how he wants to hear about her day and tell her about his, smell her hair and hold her hand, blah blah blah, and the way that Neil Patrick Harris delivers those lines is hysterical.

And what made the connection for me was that in Mansfield Park there is a scene where Henry says about Fanny, "I only want her to look kindly on me, to give me smiles as well as blushes, to keep a chair for me by herself wherever we are, and be all animation when I take it and talk to her; to think as I think, be interested in all my possessions and pleasures, try to keep me longer at Mansfield, and feel when I go away that she shall be never happy again."

However, as much as I would have loved to see Fanny end up with Henry (had he not turned out to be what he turned out to be) I have also been in the position where your friends are forcing someone on you that you have no feelings for what so ever. So all of those scenes where Mary, Edmund, and Edmund's father, are really trying to force Henry on Fanny just made me feel awful for her.

All in all, I thought that Mansfield Park was a little on the boring side although it did start to come around towards the end. Maybe if Jane Austen had cut out the five chapters in the beginning that they spent picking a play to preform it could have gone faster. I mean seriously, FIVE chapters! Was that really necessary Jane?

I have only read 3 of Austen's novels and so far she is batting 1-2. I wasn't much of a fan of Sense and Sensibility either, but Pride and Prejudice I loved.

Okay, well, that is my first review for the week and I will see you tomorrow with either my review on Dash and Lily or The Duff. Have a great day!