NYC BOUND!

Last year two of my coworkers read The Hunger Games. I was thrilled because I had finished them all about six months prior. They devoured the books and we found ourselves emailing throughout the day about what we thought and how we felt about the books. Then next thing I knew, they were moving away to New York. Well, one of the girls sent out an invite for our work calendars to see The Hunger Games Midnight Showing March 23, 2012. I kind of laughed, accepted the invite and thought to my self, "Like that'll actually happen."

Well, people, it's here.

And Lisa and I are on a bus happily reading our HG inspired mags on our way to meet them in Manhattan where they will be saving us seats (or spots in line) for our theater. And I am so thrilled I might not be able to take a nap.

POST EDIT:

I figured I'd give the movie rating. We love love loved it. I thought the movie was fantastic. I loved the scenes that were provided to round out the story on the screen (ie the control room stuff) and was so thrilled with the movie. Totally worth it. Here we all are post movie all excited with our US Weekly magazine.

Reading

My roommate Rebecca sent me this a few minutes ago. I tend to use a similar chart in my head for Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays as well as following it today. I love Cloud Reader.

from Book Riot

Happy New Year!

I think 2012 is going to be a good year.

I will not be sharing most of my resolutions this year because then I don't feel guilty when I don't keep them up 5 months later. No, I did not learn how to do the splits, and some of my resolutions were completely forgotten as I headed completely in the other direction (ie. less baking/improve waistline. I actually did MORE baking and gained 10 lbs). But yes, I did read four books a month, except I failed on the non fiction side. I might have read three nonfiction for the entire year, maybe, and those were comedian memoirs... yeah, a little shy of that goal.

So anyway, I thought I'd give you my favorite 10 books read in 2011 (I actually ended up with 67 total on my list) since that was really the only goal I succeeded at. Ok, so here are my books I chose to recommend to you. Written in order of completion, not in order of preference.

• The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan-- if you like Greek/Roman mythology, these books are so fun. I recommend all the Percy Jackson books too and incidentally bought them for my sister Cami for Christmas since she just finished a Greek/Roman mythology class at BYU. Rick Riordan won Author of the Year at the Children's Book Choice Awards.
• The Chosen by Chaim Potok-- classic story about two Jewish boys in New York in the 1940s who become best friends despite their differences of religious practice. I reread this this year and liked it just as much as the first time.
• These Is My Words by Nancy Turner-- maybe my favorite book of the year. Told in diary format, it follows the life of Sarah Prine and her relationship with her family and husband in the 1800s.
• The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner-- I loved this book, I loved the characters, the storyline and the intrigue. I debated whether or not to buy this for my sister instead of the Percy Jackson books.
• Bossypants by Tina Fey-- I actually listened to this one since it was read by Tina Fey and found it so hard to not laugh out loud while listening on the metro. It was that funny. Seriously.
• The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt-- a nice feel good story about a middle school kid and growing up during the Vietnam War. It won a Newberry Honor.
• Room by Emma Donohouge-- I expected to be really disturbed by this book since it is told from the perspective of a little boy who was born in a high security one room prison that keeps him and his kidnapped mother. I avoided reading it for a while but am so glad I finally read it. 
  
• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston-- recommended to me by my mom, the author had such a good way of writing accents I some times found myself reading out loud to get the full effect.
• Entwined by Heather Dixon-- I like fairytale retellings and this one of the twelve dancing princesses was unique and original and I really liked the characters. Though the description of all their gorgeous hair was unrealistic. Or is it just that I'm jealous my hair isn't super lush and waist length?
• Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling-- I always felt like I'd love Mindy Kaling, but really, I want to be her best friend. She is real and funny and enjoys the same stupid things I do.

Happy Reading, Happy New Year!


P.S. I think you can tell a lot about a person by what they read. I don't know what my list says though. I like kids books and laughing with a smattering of seriousness? Half of my books on this short list were written for adolescents. I feel only slightly embarrassed. But I like stories, and I like fiction. I only know of one person who enjoys reading books on the history of cancer during their work commute. I prefer something light.

Recommendations?

Today is the first day of Autumn. Which means, I change the background of my blog to match the new season and mourn the fact that I didn't get to do as much in the summer as I wished and also rejoice in the fact that I will (hopefully) not sweat profusely every day. (Maybe I'll even be able to style my hair!)

Good thing about autumn is the National Book Festival, and it's this weekend! It's one of my favorite weekends of the year and I'll be skipping the ward service project to go. And, don't judge me, but I'm super, extra excited to hear Sarah Dessen* speak... yeah, I'm like a 15 year old girl.

I've been lacking in my book reading as of late. My New Year's Resolution was to read four books a month. Technically speaking one of those was supposed to be non fiction, but I really struggle with non- fiction, despite feeling like I should like it more. I think it's because when I meet someone who reads non-fiction I think they're smarter, better educated, and more sophisticated than I am. But that's also because I tend to gravitate towards things like Sarah Dessen... But then again, maybe I just don't have a good non-fiction eye to find the good ones. But I'm off subject now.

Back to the resolution. So far I have read 34 books and I'm two books short for this month, and last month I only read one. (Good thing I read like five on my Europe trip this summer!) And I'm going to need to read 14 more to hit my goal by the end of the year.

So, what I'm asking is for a book recommendation from you. I know I have a handful of smart, well read, blog stalkers out there. Please hop over from your Google reader and leave me a comment with a book recommendation. Pretty please? I really want to read some good stuff this Fall and favorite book recommendations are always the best.

I like a wide variety of books, so no recommendation is off. Some favorites and I suppose recommendations for you include: In Cold Blood; Ella Enchanted, Jane Eyre, The Power of One, The Truth About Forever (my favorite Sarah Dessen); The Princess Bride; The Book Thief; The Lost Hero (but perhaps start with Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief--bad movie, fun book, especially if you love Greek/Roman mythology); aaaaand last one, duh, Harry Potter 1-7 (if you haven't read these you're really missing out, even if you "don't like fantasy").


*She writes realistic teen romance novels not vampire stuff. And I like her. Like I said, I'm probably about 15...

8 hours later

And I'm still thinking about the end.

Series Books

You know that feeling when you finish a book that you really liked, I mean really got into. The type that you find yourself dreaming about all night about the characters, you as a character, reliving the good or dramatic parts of the book? Oh, you don't get like that? It's just me? Well then, this is another disclosure on my nerdiness.

I love series books. And for some reason that seems really dorky to me. But, I love them anyway.

I love them because the story keeps going. I don't have to imagine what happens next in the story, because all I have to do is pop open the next book. I blame my love of stories on this. This is probably why I like TV and movies so much.

Last night I finished a new book, that if I had read the fine print would have known it was the first in a new series of five books. And the other five haven't come out yet. And will be coming out over the course of the next four years. Tragic for me, because I just want to know what happens next!

But, this got me thinking about other series books I have enjoyed. If you're looking for a good one, I'd suggest one of these.

Harry Potter (probably the best series ever. if you're a hater, DO NOT tell me, I don't care)

Anne of Green Gables (adds more background to the movie and Gilbert is just as fantastic, and I really just like the first three best)

Uglies Trilogy (Way more sci-fi than I thought I'd like but I ended up loving the whole series. Such an interesting concept, getting plastic surgery at 16 to get rid of your genetic traits.)

The Books of Bayern (the first is my favorite but I loved them all. Started from a lesser known Brother's Grimm Fairy tale, The Goose Girl and then developed into the series. Just really great.)

Peter and the Starcatchers (a retelling of Peter Pan, before he could fly and before he met Wendy, and it's written by Dave Barry and he's hilarious, so the book is hilarious. And the audio book is read by Jim Dale, the same guy who reads Harry Potter, and it's pretty awesome.)

The Hunger Games (loved these and couldn't sleep for weeks. And I still love Peeta.)

Twilight (yes I enjoyed reading them. Yes this embarrasses me. No I do not find Robert Pattison attractive, or even the character Edward for that matter, and no, you don't need a link for these. But I figure I should be fully disclosing.)

Shopaholic (probably one of the funniest series I've read. it's easy to like Becky but also easy to want to throw the book across the room in frustration with her dumb choices. And, it's way better than the movie. Though I don't think I made it past the third book.)

Sarah Dessen books (though not really a series, sometimes her characters overlap and I like that, favorites are The Truth About Forever, Just Listen)

Emily Giffen (mainly Something Borrowed and Something Blue, they go together, and Something Borrowed is going to be a movie coming out in May. I'm pretty excited about that. But there is a character overlap in Baby Proof.)

Percy Jackson and the Olympians (the Greek gods are still alive, they've just moved to New York City, Percy Jackson, is part god, part human and will be essential in saving Olympus. These were awesome because I love Greek Mythology and I thought the writing was fun and energetic. )

And, finally my new favorite which is actually a companion series to Percy Jackson, Heroes of Olympus series (this combines both Greek and Roman Mythology and was so good, I'll be itching to get the second book this fall. If you're interested, read Percy Jackson first since characters from that series pop up in this next one. But over all it's fantastic.)

Oh yeah, most of these are young adult too. Does that make me a dork too?

Post Publishing Edit: I just remembered another series I loved, and added it above. The Books of Bayern, or the Goose Girl books. Fantastic too. 

Disclosure on my dorkiness

I tend to have a somewhat obsessive personality. I don't really like that I'm like this but it's not really something that I can help. So, what have I been obsessing about for the last couple weeks that has caused my sleep to suffer and my mind to race in the middle of the night contemplating different scenarios and options and outcomes?

The Hunger Games Trilogy.

Yup, I jumped on that bandwagon when I went to Oregon a few weeks ago for Jess' wedding. I actually bought The Hunger Games on accident on my Kindle while reading the synopsis (it's hard to be on a cardio machine at the gym and have steady fingers to click away on the Kindle). But I decided it's vastly popular so it must be good and worth reading and I like series books anyway (I sometimes hate when books end, I think it's because I fall in love with characters and want to know everything about them). So, I stopped reading the synopsis and started reading the book. I was hooked before the first chapter finished, it's so intriguing, and I didn't have any clue what was going to happen.  So when I find out that the main character, Katniss, volunteers to go to the Hunger Games in place of her sister I found myself crying at the gym. (You know she goes into the games for her sister by reading the back of the book, but since I didn't read that, I didn't know.)

Unfortunately this reading kept me awake on my across the country flight to San Francisco (I read the entire way and finished the first book) and because of plane problems I missed my connection to Eugene and had to spend the night in San Fran. And, unfortunately the only available hotel rooms were smoking rooms and it was hard to sleep from the smell. But I mostly didn't sleep peacefully because I was replaying scenes from the book in my head all night long. Pathetic.

I started the second book the next day on the flight to Eugene, Catching Fire, but stopped about a quarter of the way into the story because my sleep was suffering still, and I took a break with a "fluff book". (fluff book. n. a book that has no real value other than being an easy, fun, read. These books are usually associated with shopping, girly-ness and New York City. Examples are Confessions of a Shopaholic, Something Borrowed, and other novel to chickflick movies, which both of these are.) I ended up reading two fluff books before finishing Catching Fire and then continuing on to read Mockingjay.

While reading Catching Fire and Mockingjay, in an attempt to keep myself from becoming too obsessed (and so I could sleep), I had to start doing yoga stretches before bed and include in my prayers "to keep myself calm and be able to sleep" and I also may have sang a few primary songs in there, you know, just a few things to calm my over-active/hyper imagination.

Anyway, I finished Mockingjay last Friday. (I was satisfied with the way they ended.)

And now I can sleep.

(But the best part about finishing the book was that the next day the author, Susanne Collins, was at the  National Book Festival in DC. And it made me really happy that I live in DC. And I loved hearing her background, hearing why she is interested in war and how the idea of the book came together. And, if you really want to know, I'm Team Peeta.)

15 Books

I saw this thing once on facebook: "Here are the rules: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. They don't have to be the greatest books you've ever read, just the ones that stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes." Then you're supposed to forward it out/tag a whole bunch of people. I'm not really into that part of it, but it was interesting to think of the first books that popped into my head.

Disclaimer: This does not include the scriptures. Because, duh, of course it did.

1. The Power of One
2. The Giver
3. The Jungle
4. The Chosen
5. Yearning for the Living God
6. Night
7. Jane Eyre (please forgive the Twilight-esque cover of that one)
8. Ella Enchanted
9. My Antonia
10. Harry Potter
11. The Good Earth
12. Those Who Save Us
13. The Gurnsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
14. In Cold Blood
15. The Truth About Forever

I included the links for you to the books. This isn't a, you-should-read-this-book, book list, it's just a handful of books that stuck with me. That being said, if you want to talk to me about why they stuck with me, let me know.

And finally, enjoy this lovely picture of these lovely new shoes I bought today. I love them already.

 

pppst! they'retoms