Salt Lake City Library

So I figure I'll post links to my new blogs here for awhile. Just in case I'm still on a few people's lists :) You can read my latest blog on my visit to the Salt Lake City library by clicking here.

Free books. Seriously, what could be better?

I was all annoyed about having to wake up early (yes 7 am is early for me, morning people don't complain) and then I found out about an amazing book giveaway. Totally turned my day around :) Let's hope my day stays this way :)

The prize is a $100.00 gift card!! wooohooo!

http://www.squeakybooks.com/2011/03/blooming-books-giveaway-100-gift-card.html

To My Fellow Readers

I finally joined BookReads! I'd heard of it before, but I'd never taken the time to check it out. My friend Emma suggested I join. I can't wait to explore the site. I love talking about books so this should be fun.

Although I think I'm going to have to get tougher about rating things. I noticed that in the initial ratings they have you do when you sign up I kept leaving a row of stars blank rather than rate a book low. It's like I was worried about hurting the book's feelings. lol.

This has also prompted me to think of some of my favorite YA and Middle Grade books:

The Wanderer, Sharon Creech (I haven't read this in years, but when I first read this something stuck with me. I read it over and over)

Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot

Ella Enchanted, Gail Carson Levine

Holes, Louis Sachar

Maniac Magee, Jerry Spinelli

Face on A Milk Carton, Caroline B. Cooney (I suppose this falls under that last category, but this one I was really into) All mystery books really; I don't think I ever got over my Nancy Drew phase.

Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling

Blue Sword/ The Hero and The Crown ( I don't really love rereading these, but I remember being so enthralled when I first read them)

The Truth About Forever, Sarah Dessen

Christmas in Heaven, Carol Lynch Williams (I read this before I took her class, and I just adored it)

Everything is Fine, Ann Dee Ellis (So sad. So good.)

Oh, and now time for some shameless promotion.

I love reading. This you know. If you didn't know it, you probably got it loud and clear after reading my enthusiasm about GoodReads.

I also love reading Throwing Up Words, a blog with Ann Dee Ellis and Carol Lynch Williams (wonderful people and authors who I am lucky enough to know in real life). You might have noticed it on my sidebar before (TUW, netflix, and the artorialist are my favorite forms of internet procrastination). Anyway, TUW has introduced me to a book blog that looks like a lot of fun. It's called Room on the Shelf (http://cherylynne.blogspot.com/) and Cherylyee (blogger in charge) happens to be having a big fat giveaway (50 books up for grabs and you can enter multiple times, for posting links and stuff like that). I mean really who doesn't love a free book?

So heads up fellow readers.

I've also become recently obsessed with finding authors and book twitter feeds. I used to get really bored with twitter, but following the right people makes all the difference.

So what have you all been reading? Any favorite books you want to reminisce on? Or suggestions for my first GoodReads review?

Currently reading: The Drowning Pool, Ross Macdonald (for my American Detective fiction class)

Currently craving: Ice Cream

Along for the Ride

One of my favorite books is The Truth about Forever by Sarah Dessen. After reading that book I started reading more of Sarah's novels and she has become one of my favorite juvenile fiction authors.Two of her books were also made into a movie (They took characters and plot details from both books and combined them), How to Deal. Sarah Dessen released a new book last year, Along for the Ride. It finally came to my library, and I got to read it.

Screenshot from Sarah's website

I love reading Sarah's books in the summer (If only it was summer in Provo!) because most of her books are about the amazing, crazy adventures that happen only during the summertime. Along for the Ride is no exception. It's about a girl named Auden (No, they do not pretend this name is normal)who moves to be with her dad for the last summer before college. It takes place in Colby, a fictional town from one of Sarah's other books, Keeping the Moon. I hate to be vague, but I also really hate spoilers. So I'll give this very general description: Auden's summer doesn't exactly go as planned. She starts off her stay in Colby with a not-so-fun mistake, and then somehow ends up working in her stepmother's over the top girly botique. Her parents are exhausting, and she's also an insomniac who is bored to death wandering around in a small town all night. But lucky for her things get better. This book has fun characters, and a cute love interest, but what I really love about it is that it proves that everyone deserves second chances.

I really enjoyed reading this book(although The Truth about Forever is still my favorite). It was a nice chance for my brain to relax after all the textbook reading it's been doing lately.

Here is Sarah Dessen's website: http://www.sarahdessen.com/ She has the first chapter or two of every book up for free on her website (which I think is an amazing idea). If you need a fun book to read I suggest starting with one of these: The Truth about Forever, Lock and Key, Keeping the Moon, or Just Listen.

You can also see a video of Sarah reading a part of Along for the Ride on YouTube or read the reviews on Amazon ( I like this because you see real people's opinions as well as critics) or common sense media (this site is more geared toward parents; it talks more about the messages presented and what age should be reading the material, rather then the actual story).

Currently Listening to: Ingrid Michealson on Pandora

Goal of All Goals

So recently I found a sheet of paper in the BYU music lab that had the title GOAL OF ALL GOALS written out. It was a very impressive title. However when I actually read what the goal of all goals was I was a bit disappointed. It was a list of every on campus eating establishment – with only one place checked off (It's March they better get going).

Finding the goal of all goals got me thinking about some of my current projects. I am a goal person, and I'm a bigger list person so I always have at least one thing I'm working on. I decided maybe I should start working on one of my abandoned goals. I decided it was time to follow through on my latest reading goal. I want to read the TIME's list of the 100 best novels. I started this at the beginning of the semester, read one book, and promptly forgot about. Maybe writing it here will help me stay focused!

Originally this had no deadline, but I think I need one to stay motivated. So I've decided to try and do it by the end of the year. Even if I fall short of my deadline (which very well could happen, we are talking like 10 books a month, which is a bit much even for someone who loves reading like I do), it should help me stay on track and not completely abandon my idea. Luckily I've already read a few on the list in the past so I don't have to read the entire 100. I know this still leaves ALOT of books, but it's supposed to be a challenge, right?


I head to the library Monday, wish me luck!

Here are the ones I've read already:

All The King's Men, Robert Penn Warren
Animal Farm, George Orwell
Are You There God, It's Me Margret, Judy Bloom
Atonement, Ian McEwan
Beloved, Toni Morrison
The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
Lord of the Flies, William Golding
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kensey
The Sound and The Fury, William Faulkner
Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee
Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
White Noise, Don Deilo



Currently: missing Gabby! It was so fun having her here! I'll put up pictures soon :)
Oh and the picture is from one of my favorite bookstores, Shakespeare and Co. !

Summer Books

One of my favorite things about summer is that I get to read. I usually don't get to read very much outside of school assigned texts during fall and winter semesters, but during summer break I usually get to read all I want. I try not just to read one type of book or genre. I usually read a lot of light fun novels, but I try to mix in some more "serious" literature, if you want to call it that. My to-read list for this break is already very very long. I can't help myself. Right now I'm reading this cure little Sarah Dessen book I picked up today; it's perfect for summer reading. Already since I've been home I've read a least 4 novels. I love it when you really get sucked into a book. You don't want to go anywhere or do anything, but read. I also love snuggling up with a good book right before you fall asleep. In fact I don't have a bookshelf right now, I just keep all the books I want to read in various little stacks and piles around the lamp next to my bed. When I finish one I just reach down and start another. However, I think my absolute favorite thing about reading is when you have an unexpected, can't put it down, read it three times, makes you smile out loud as your reading it, book find. There's something about being surprised with something great that makes it even greater.

Currently admiring: My latest accessory purchase, a teal purse
Currently on my book list: A few things by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, A good fantasy to replace my twilight fix, Blessed by Toni Morrison, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See, Obedience by Will Lavender, More Sarah Dessen novels, 1984 (Can you believe I never read that?), and any good suggestions of course...

All the King's Men

I finally finished All the King's Men and, well, I loved it. I know that All the King's Men is supposed to be THE novel about American politics, but that is not what attracted me to the story. There is just something about Jack Burden. I know it is not just Jack's story, in fact some might argue that it is more of Willie's story (I have heard that is how the most recent film adaptation portrays it), but I found myself most interested in what Jack had to say. The way he splits himself into different identities. The great sleep. The great twitch. The way he describes people around him: Lois, his mother, the scholarly attorney. Now I am babbling, but it really is a great book. And now I really want to see the movie (the older one, I've heard the Jude Law version is a let down).

Obsessed with: sunny days