HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURA!

HAPPY 20TH BIRTHDAY!!

CLICK HERE FOR PART 2 OF YOUR BIRTHDAY PRESENT :]

Dreaming of summer...

I am officially dreaming of summer days, where I can wear a tank top and flip flops, lounge on a beautiful beach, and read a good book. Since it is only February, my fantasy is a bit far-fetched. But I am counting down the days till June, when not only is it my favorite time of the year (my birthday is in July), but it is a time when I do not have to think about any schoolwork. I can focus on reading whatever I want without feeling guilty about it. So, in preparation for this lovely time of year, and yes, I know it is four months away, I have begun my Summer Reading List. A compilation of all the books that I have heard about, read about, seen, or been recommended to me, that unfortunately, I do not have the time to read right now. So here is the beginning of this very important list, that I will be adding to throughout this semester. I will also tell you where I heard about each one, which may help with your own reading adventures.

1. Sarah’s Key- Tatiana de Rosnay
2. The Forest of Hands and Teeth- Carrie Ryan

*I read about both of these books on an online college blog called College Candy, where there is a series called "Saturday Read." These reviews are very thorough and cover a bunch of different genres each week. Check it out!

3. True Blood series- Charlaine Harris

*I am assuming that everyone has read, or at the very least, heard of the Twilight series. They are the best books, love story, yay vampires, blah blah blah. Yeah, I know they are good. But I think the fad has gone too far, especially as a fan of the books before anyone read them, and when someone asked what you were reading and you said it was about vampires, you received a strange look. Ok no more Twilight rant. So apparently before Twilight ruled the teen world, Charlaine Harris wrote a series of books called True Blood. There is a television show based on these books, although I have never seen it. A friend recommended these books to me, and said that she couldn't put them down. So why not?

4. An Abundance of Katherines- John Green
5. Looking for Alaska- John Green

*I reviewed Paper Towns by John Green a couple months ago, and then saw these two books pop up while I was skimming through Amazon. His other book was good, so I figured I would try these out too. If I like one of a particular author's books, I will usually try out the rest of his/her collection. Typically, when one is good, the others that he or she have written are on the same level. This is not true for every author, but it is worth a try.

I will add more when I stumble on one that is worthy of this very memorable list. Stay tuned.

No time for recreational reading until May...

Winter break is over. Done. And now, the spring semester has fully begun, ready to overwhelm me with a whirlwind of reading, essays, projects along with club meetings and work. I barely have time to have a social life, let alone read for fun. So, it is necessary, and unfortunate, that I must take a hiatus, a vacation if you will, that is so not like a vacation, from recreational reading. Instead, I will be exploring the minds of Shakespeare, Sci Fi writers, and American Lit authors. About three books a week is about all the reading I can handle, and I love to read. So, it is time to say goodbye to late night mysteries and traumatic tearjerkers, and focus on the work of the Bard. I will attempt to update the blog world of my current academic reading, but as my workload is quite heavy, I am not promising anything. Which is fine, since I know only about four people are reading this, and that is quite okay.

P.S. I just saw the Lovely Bones, and for those of you who wanted to read it, the movie was just as unsatisfying as the book, at least in my opinion. But, the theatrical and dramatic effects were brilliant, and really made the story and Susie's perception of heaven real and mystical. So I would check it out if I were you :]

Pictures :]

I just posted some pictures from Snapfish on the sidebar. These are all of the photos that I just printed because Snapfish was having an amazing sale (50 prints for 50 cents)! So check them out :] They are of friends, family, vacation, relatives, etc. My cats are even in there! These will be plastered all over my wall soon :]

Enjoy!

Paper Towns

Paper Towns by John Green is book about the imagination, curiosity, high school stereotypes that can be broken, young adventures, and Walt Whitman. Quentin Jacobsen has always admired his next door neighbor, Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar, until the girl that he has always imagined and fantasized about shows up at his window dressed like a ninja, ready to take him on her latest adventure. It is the bes night of his life and he cannot wait for the morning when life will be different after his night with Margo. But she has disappeared.

Quentin discovers countless clues that she left for him to find. He frantically tries to piece the clues together and find the girl that changed his life. Will he be able to find her, or is she just a figment of his imagination, a girl that he never really knew as well as he thought he did.

This book was witty, mysterious, and unexpected. It was a quick read that kept the reader's attention with its humor, bur also dug deeper into the emotions of the young characters. You begin to imagine Margo as this fantastic creature just as Q imagines her, but at the end, you realize along with him that she is just a regular person. I especially liked the Walt Whitman quotes throughout the book and the references to the paper towns.

"It's a paper town. I mean look at it, Q: look at all those cul-de-sacs, those streets that turn in on themselves, all the houses that were built to fall apart. All those paper people living in their paper houses, burning the future to stay warm. All the paper kids drinking beer some bum bought for them at the paper convenience store. Everyone demented with the mania of owning things. All the things paper-thin and paper-frail. And all the people, too. I've lived here for eighteen years and I have never once in my life come across anyone who cares about anything that matters."

Did Margo leave to escape the paper town? If so, did she intend for Q to follow her?

"Missing me one place search another,

I stop some where waiting for you"

-"Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman

The Last Song

"Life, he realized was much like a song. In the beginning there is mystery, in the end there is confirmation, but it's in the middle where all the emotion resides to make the whole thing worthwhile."

The Last Song. Spectacular. Heartbreaking. Unimaginable. A story of second chances. A love story. This book has it all.

I first want to say that this is the first book that I have read in a while that was truly amazing. When I finished it, I honestly wanted to pick it right back up and read it again.

The Last Song is another Nicholas Sparks masterpiece that shows us the importance of love. Ronnie Miller is a seventeen year old rebel, who has been acting out ever since her parents got divorced. Her father, a concert pianist, leaves NYC and moves to his hometown of Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. Despite not talking to her father for three years, Ronnie's mom sends her and her brother down south to spend the summer with him. Ronnie's father attempts to reconnect with his children, but struggles with his rebellious daughter, who will not forgive him. Ronnie wants to leave the small town, but then finds something she does not expect, her first love.

I am not going to say anymore. Some books you need more information to get into it, but this one, I think that the less that you know, the better. But please read it. It was not only a story of first love, but heartbreak, love between a father and his children, and how important one's last song is.

I first saw this book because the movie is coming out in April. Do not judge it by Miley Cyrus as the lead. I think that she might do a good job. We will have to wait and see. Anyways, the movie looks good and I will definitely be seeing it in theaters. Watch now please.

Hey, 2010!

It is a new year. 2010... Crazy. I feel like was waiting to graduate in 2008 for so long that now any year after that just feels weird. But it is a new decade :]

I did not write down my New Year resolutions this year, so I will just post them here:

1. Exercise
2. Take more pictures with my family (because God knows I take enough with my friends)
3. Feel GOOD!

So that's about it. Happy New Year everyone :]

Oh, and seven days till Paris and London!