Gotta get back.

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Hello World!

I gotta get back into blogging my book experiences. It’s been quiet a long time and I have no real excuse for giving up so soon.

For anyone wondering–last year I did beat my 50 books New Years resolution. This year I tried a different reading resolution and failed almost immediately. I wanted to read one adult fiction book for every four YA books.

This didn’t work. At first I was embarrassed that I was/am so obsessed with YA but now I have embraced it. I am much happier reading about the lives of people who believe in love, magic and the excitement of the future. I am soooo over adults whining about their shitty lives. I don’t want to escape from real life to read about real life.

And if you have every met me you will know that I am not a real adult. I spent the entire day today putting coat upon coat of glitter nail polish only to just dip my nails in real glitter to get the right amount.

Anyway. I am excited to start documenting, recommending and possibly crying over books with anyone on here again.

Welcome back to me!

One word

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“If one person sits down at their computer and types one word, does that affect the future? If that one person didn’t type that one word, would the futures history be changed? Does their one word even mean anything? Does that one persons one word even get read–once? If I wasn’t sitting here writing my words would my future be different?”

– Esther Earl

15 Questions for Book Lovers: My Answers

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Thank you to the thousands of you who participated in the “15 Questions for Book Lovers”. Did I say thousands? I meant several people.

As promised, here are my answers for you:

  • What is the first book you read by your self? “The Betsy, Tacy and Tib” series by Maud Hart Lovelace.
  • Did you parents read to you before bed? If so, what did they read you? Yes. My parents read to me a lot. I remember my dad reading “The Chronicles of Narnia” by C.S. Lewis to me. One chapter every night.
  •  Name a movie that is better then the book. Doesn’t happen often. “The Notebook” by Nicholas Sparks. The book was not good at all. They tell the old person part first so that you know it’s Noah and Allie. I liked in the movie the mixture of the two stories.
  • What was the worst movie adaptation of a book? I agree with both commenters from my post here. The Harry Potter movies were good but they did not live up to the expectations I had.
  • Outdoor or indoor reading? Outdoor. Hammock. Cool breeze. Sun shining through the trees. Happy Samantha.
  • Book you’re most embarrassed to have never read? I couldn’t get through “Pride and Prejudice” OR “Pride, Prejudice and Zombies”. Sigh. I have a hard time reading the classics. Mark Twain said it best, ‘Classic.” A book which people praise and don’t read.”
  • What is the most embarrassing book you have ever read? “50 Shades of Grey” by E.L. James
  • What was the worst book you ever read or stopped reading? I really try to suffer through books I don’t like just in case it has an amazing ending but there have been a few I just couldn’t finish. Last year I had to read “Solaris” by Stanislaw Lem for school and skipped several chapters because none of it made sense and it was so boring. Oh, and “The Lighthouse” by Virginia Woolf. Don’t get me started.
  • Would you rather read digital or paper books? Paper by far. I love the smell and feel of it. But I was spending so much money on getting a new book every week or so I invested in my Kindle/BFF so that I could spend less over time.
  • What character in a book would you like to sucker punch in the face? Peter Van Houten in “The Fault in our Stars” by John Green. Not many characters in books made me as angry as he did when he said,
“Perhaps, but I was under the misguided impression that you were incapable of transatlantic travel, I was trying…to provide you with some comfort, I suppose, which I should have known better than to attempt.”
  • What character in a book would you like to be best friends with? Best friends? Tina Fey (She counts!), or Hermione Granger. Boyfriend–Han Solo!!!
  • How many physical books do you own? 216 books. Two of which are being used as door stops!
  • What book do you want to make sure you read to your children? I’ve started a collection of those books that I would love to read my future child. I recently went to a local used bookstore here in Thousand Oaks and found vintage “ The Complete Adventures of Peter Rabbit, “Curious George Flies a Kite”, and “The Wind in the Willows”. You better believe my child will be very well read.
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  • What book describes you best? “The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkien Who wouldn’t be synonymous with the greatest adventure of all time.
  • What are you reading right now? Last night I finished book 29 of the year. I love that every week I get to embark on a new adventure. This past week it was the first book in the “Matched” series by Ally Condie. Loved it. I’m spending my morning watching the WWDC keynote address and deciding what book to dive in to next. It’s a hard life.

 

15 Questions for Book Lovers

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Good morning world!

I have always been in a relationship with reading. But I find as I get older this relationship becomes more and more important to me. I finished a book last night and my husband caught me crying in the bathtub. When this happens he smiles, shakes his head and walks away. He doesn’t know that all consuming joy or despair that a reader experiences when a book ends. Those characters in a book become part of you.

In the almost six years we have been together I have never seen him pick up a book. I once tried to read The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien out loud to him but he fell asleep. Maybe this is how he feels about sports? The all consuming pleasure in picking up a new book knowing that you are about to depart on a new adventure to a new reality.

To those of you who proudly display your obsession with reading here are some questions that I would love to see the answers to. This is a great way for all of to get to know each other and spark conversation and get new recommendations and ideas. Answer as many as I would like. I will post my answers tomorrow.

  1. What is the first book you read by your self?
  2. Did you parents read to you before bed? If so, what did they read you?
  3. Name a movie that is better then the book. Doesn’t happen often.
  4. What was the worst movie adaptation of a book?
  5. Outdoor or indoor reading?
  6. Book you’re most embarrassed to have never read?
  7. What is the most embarrassing book you have ever read?
  8. What was the worst book you ever read or stopped reading?
  9. Would you rather read digital or paper books?
  10. What character in a book would you like to sucker punch in the face?
  11. What character in a book would you like to be best friends with?
  12. How many physical books do you own?
  13. What book do you want to make sure you read to your children?
  14. What book describes you best?
  15. What are you reading right now?

Happy reading!

Chapter Seven: An Abundance of Katherines

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I have officially read all of John Greens books. A An Abundance of Katherines is about a boy who has just graduated high school and has been dumped by the love of his life, Katherine 19. He and his best friend decide to go on a road trip. This was by far my least favorite.

I am a huge fan of John Greens. In every one of his other books I have read I had an epiphany moment. A moment of clarity where you see how you want to live your life and feel like someone understands you completely. Because of his books my mission statement is “Seeking a Great Perhaps”.

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John Green is fantastic at making the reader feel something. I mean, who hasn’t read The Fault in our Stars and not completely lost it when Hazel says, “Gus, my love, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity.” I listened to this on audiobook and was crying so hard on my drive from work I had to pull over.

In An Abundance of Katherines I feel like Green was trying to give me that same feeling I got when reading his other books. The feeling of freedom and understanding and self awareness but he stopped short.

I was able to get three great quotes from it though. The first can be found here. The other two:

 

Books are the ultimate Dumpees: put them down and they’ll wait for you forever; pay attention to them and they will always love you.”

 

“I feel like, like, how you matter is defined by the things that matter to you. You matter as much as the things that matter to you do.”

The book is funny at times. I’m glad I read it and can sit and wait as patiently as possible for the next John Green book.Hopefully this wait isn’t a DMV line type wait.

 

I still need to let you all know about my thoughts on the Maze Runner series which I finished last week and my weekend adventure to the Los Angeles Book Festival. Guess you’ll just have to come back!

 

Update on the book count: 19/50

 

Happy reading!