What I read: 2016

As you may or may not know, I am mildly obsessed with a website called Goodreads. Goodreads is a website dedicated to keeping track of what you've read, what you want to read, and what you're currently reading.

You can look up a book and see what people are saying about it, the average rating they give it, what books are similar to it. I often check it when I'm in the library about to make an impulse decision. Most days I walk into the library with set ideas, a carefully curated list of books that I'm excited about it. And some days I wander down the aisles, leisurely skimming the titles under I stumble on something that looks promising. I then scan the barcode with my Goodreads app and see how readers generally felt about the book. Most of the time if the reviews are mildly negative I proceed to ignore that completely and get the book anyway. Some of the books I've loved (*ahem* Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord) have lukewarm reviews.

But I digress! Goodreads also has this cool ability to list what books you read in a year along with various stats. For future me, I wanted to log how 2016 went, book-wise, and make some goals for 2017.

So let's get to the data! (aka my favorite part)

Total Books Read: 22
This is almost an average of two books a month-- I would like to get closer to two, if not three, books a month for 2017. I know if I manage my time wisely this won't be difficult. The difficulty will be restricting my YouTube activity to normal amounts. This number is also partly a lie-- I often move books that I gave up on to my 'read' shelf because I've read all that I want to of them. Also, the number includes one or two books that I read in the past but only just now put them on my 'read' shelf. So really this is all lies.

Longest Book Read: 584 pages, Shadow Of Night by Deborah Harkness
This was actually a re-read for me. It's the second book in a trilogy and the third has just come out-- but it had been three or so years since I last read the second book so I thought I needed a refresher. The book was good, but so long that by the time I trudged through the end I wasn't up for devoting another month of my life to book #3.

Shortest Book Read: Sprinkle with Murder (231 pages) by  Jenn McKinlay || A Time to Love (228 pages) by Barbara Cameron
It's basically a tie for this award-- split between a fluffy murder mystery (with cupcakes!) and an Amish romance. I know, I know. Amish. Romance.  A Time to Love is a novel that I've considered talking about-- I even wrote a vlog script about it, but never filmed it. Amish books are a genre that I've always judged without every even reading one. I mean, it feels weird to read a (probably) romanticized view of a group written by an outsider. However, I will say that it was an enjoyable novel-- it had its flaws but overall I'm glad that I gave it a chance.

Books Written by Women: 15

Books Written by Men: 7
Well that was skewed in a way I didn't expect.

Books Written by Non-American/English Authors: 2
I only managed to read two novels written by people not from the UK or America. The Best of All Possible Worlds is by Karen Lord who is from Barbados and Lexicon is by Max Berry who is from Australia! Diversity is definitely something that I want to actively work on in 2017.

And that's it! I think those are all the categories relevant to me, ones that hopefully a year from now I will be post updates to.

What about you? What types of books (foreign authors, male authors) do you struggle to read more of?

Thanks for reading! (ha ha)

Jan-Feb Book Roundup

Looking for some books to check out? Looking to procrastinate from that assignment you were supposed to start yesterday? Looking for some pretty pictures of book covers?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions (and even if you didn't) then you are in luck! I'm taking a break from obsessing over the new Hamilton soundtrack (okay, who are we kidding, I'm literally listening to the album as I write) to list off the books I've managed to read since the semester started. I found that writing posts like these help me better remember what books I've read and how I felt about them. 

Today, I have two categories of books-- one autobiography and several historical fiction novels for you to peruse. So, without further ado...

Autobiography

The Only Pirate At The Party 

By Lindsey Stirling and Brooke Passey 

Lindsey Stirling is my favorite violinist-- she is a YouTube celebrity whose videos have millions of views. She mixes the traditional sound of a violin with hip-hop and other fun genres. Anyway, when I found her autobiography as an ebook from my library I downloaded it. It was a quick read and really interesting. I enjoyed reading about her life and struggles to make it as a musician. 

Historical Fiction

With romance!

Dawn on Distant Shore 

by Sara Donati 

This is actually a sequel to a novel I've written about before. It follows the struggle of a frontier family as the father discovers he has very powerful Scottish relatives who want to use him as a pawn in the complex religious and social struggles in Scotland. The cover looks rather cheesy, I know, with all the talk of 'epic romance', etc. However, I found the story captivating, and difficult to put down. I can't wait to go get the sequel-- the story is starting to shift to the next generation and I'm excited. 

With murder! 

India Black 

by Carol Carr

This a fun story of a prostitute who runs a brothel and gets involved in saving the British government from a political scandal. I enjoyed the twist on the normal Victorian murder mystery novel. There was only a minimal love subplot which I liked because nothing felt forced. That being said, these Victorian murder mystery novels are becoming a bit repetitive; I don't know if I'll pick up the sequel. 

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir 

by R. A. Dick

This novel wasn't historical fiction when it was written in the 40's. I saw the 1947 movie a while ago and ever since I learned it was based off a book I wanted to read the book. This was a short novel and a quick read. Recently widow'd Mrs. Muir and her two children move into a house on a bluff overlooking the sea. The house also happens to be haunted by its former owner, a salty sea captain. It was a good story, and I like to sprinkle in diverse books into my bookshelf, as I don't often read books from the 40's. I used the inner-library loan to get this book, which is one of my favorite things to do. For those of you who don't know, you can request just about any book, as long as some library in the US has it, and the book will be shipped to your local library. For me, the entire thing costs 50 cents which is a crazy bargain! 

My next in the series of "novels that inspired great films" will be the novel which inspired Foreign Correspondent (1940) which is one of my favorite films. It was based off the stunningly imaginatively titled Personal History by Vincent Sheean. 

That's it! That's all I've managed to read this semester. If I wait until the semester is over to compile a book list I'll inevitably forgot what I read at the beginning. I just made it through the first exam week-- I had to proctor and grade 300 exams for the class I TA on top of having three assignments of my own due, and halfway through the week was my birthday. 

Which means I'm 23! I toyed with the idea of writing a nostalgic/predictive post but suffice it to say, I've entered the realm of boring birthday numbers-- no one counts down the days till their 24th birthday ;) 

Now, I'm back to learning every word to every song on the Hamilton soundtrack. It's a new (off?) Broadway musical about the life of Alexander Hamilton and it's surprisingly absolutely amazing. For the record I think I would kill it at playing Eliza. But alas, my future is in a lab and not the stage. 

Thanks for reading!  

6 Books to Check Out in 2016

I've spent my break exploring some really good books-- my latest obsession is a site called Goodreads aka the best thing ever. It literally comes up on my computer before Google. That's how much I use it. It's a site that helps you keep track of the books you'e read/want to read. It also helps me find books I love. I rounded some up books to recommend that I've read and loved recently!

All the Light we cannot see

by Anthony Doerr

10/10

I'm not the first to rant and rave over this book. It's a mammoth, 530ish page novel that I read in two days (or so). It tells two stories, one of a blind French girl, the other a young German orphan boy and weaves their stories into the tapestry of WWII. What makes this book unique (to me) is that it refused to turn a blind eye to the complexities of being a German in WWII. It doesn't hide behind the label of evil which is often cast (rightfully so) upon Nazism. It forces you to hear the story of the German solider just as much as you hear the story of the blind girl living in a captured French town. You don't have to sympathize at all with the German boy's story but you have to hear it.

Beyond that, the writing is beautifully lyric with metaphorical phrasing that really sticks with you. The author skips past cliches and deals with the harsh realities of the war. The story skips from the girl to boy but also skips in time-- a feature I loved but can be offsetting to some.

The Eyre Affair

By Jasper Fforde

8/10

Part wish fulfillment by the author, part detective drama, this novel takes place in an alternate universe where literature takes on a religious like importance. Rather than going to the movies, one would go to a live showing of Richard III, put on my audience members because of course everyone and their mother knows, and loves, every line to the Shakespearean play. The ideas presented are wonderfully fresh, even if the writing can be a little lacking. The characters weren't fully fleshed out, but I just loved the universe they lived in so it was a fun read. 

The Mad Scientist's Daughter

By Cassandra Rose Clarke

10/10

A Tale of Love, Loss and Robots really sums the whole thing up-- even if I am partial to the Oxford comma ((which would make it A Tale of Love, Loss, and Robots)) but maybe the author's going for something really meta with the omission of the comma, thereby grouping 'loss' and 'robots' together more intimately. This beautiful, expansive novel follows Cat, the daughter of a 'mad scientist' starting when she's a little girl meeting her new live-in tutor, a robot who acts and looks quite human. You watch as she grows up and makes decisions, some good, some heartbreaking.

The novel reminded me of Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro in the fact that there is a lot of stuff going on in the background. There's the creation of sentient(?) robots, activist groups fighting for rights for the robots, an apocalyptic history which turned part of the US into a wasteland and created deadly hot summers but none of those things are the main focus on the book. Rather, the book is about people, about relationships-- about, like I said, love and loss. The writing was beautiful in a melodic sort of way. I hate to say more because one of things I love about reading is discovering what is going on while I read it. But yeah. Go and read this amazing, albeit somewhat depressing, novel. 

A Darker Shade of Magic 

8.5/10

Like I mentioned, I hate reading summaries. On the back of the book, on websites-- I do my best to avoid them. What I do instead is read the first sentence or so of the summary, just enough to try and get a feel for what the book will be like. If those couple of sentences sound promising, I get the book from my library and try it out. 

A Darker Shade of Magic was good, but quite different from what I expected. The first couple lines of summary on Goodreads talked about a universe where multiple, parallel Londons existed, and certain people could travel between them. This idea, I found quite fascinating and picked the book up. The novel did indeed have that, but that idea of multiple Londons was mainly used as a means to an end for the plot. It was well written and captivating but I would call it traditional high fantasy(think typical, medieval fantasy), rather than the innovative sci-fi/fantasy hybrid I had imagined it would be. 

Into the Wilderness

By Sara Donati

9/10

I read this epic historical fiction/romance novel last semester. I downloaded it from my library and thought I would give it a try. It's size was daunting (800ish pages?) especially during the busy semester. I was hooked from page one. This novel is about a 'spinster' (she was in her 20s but this is set in the late 1700s) who travels over the America where she is thrown into among other things, the strained relationships between the settlers and the natives. The romance was well written-- if a bit rushed, they married where I would have started dating, but perhaps that can be chalked up to historical accuracy. The writing really transports you to the New York wilderness and you quickly become attached to the characters, which are pretty well fleshed out. It is a long novel, but the plot is fast paced so it doesn't feel like you sloughing through 800 pages. I was quite sad when I reached the last page, but I recently found it is the beginning of a series! So I'll be checking out the sequel soon.

 Afterworlds
 by Scott Westerfield 

Stars: 8 / 10

I've always had this weird prejudice against Westerfield, author of the Pretties/etc series. I'm not sure why; I never really liked the Pretties series. However, I was looking for an ebook to read on my library's ebook website and this was the first title I saw. I thought the plot was intriguing so I downloaded it. 

I read the entire novel in a day or so-- it was like candy; easy to read and hard to put down. The novel is really meta; it's about a young girl who wrote a novel during NaNoWriMo, something I appreciated since I did NaNo a couple of times during high school. Half of the book is her going to New York City and trying to make it as an author, editing her novel, etc. The other half of the book is her novel-- titled Afterworlds. I thought that premise was really intriguing. How does knowing, in a very concrete sense, that Afterworlds is a work of fiction change the way we approach it? In one chapter the girl talks about her difficultly in writing a certain scene of her novel; the next chapter you read that scene. It definitely causes you to interact with the work in a different way. 

The novel had some issues but I really enjoyed reading it.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

And that's it! Six books you need to check out. If you're looking for a light, quicker read, see Afterworlds. If you're into historical fiction then All the light we cannot see is a must-read. If you're into romance then you have two options: Into the Wildnerness and The Mad Scientist's Daughter though the latter can be rather heart breaking. And if you're looking for something really different and inventive please read The Eyre Affair, bonus points if you're a Jane Eyre fan!

Thanks for reading! ((I feel like there's a pun to be made here....))

2014 Book List

Last year I constructed a 2013 book list, populated mainly by books I read while over in France. I thought I would continue this trend this year!

To call it a 2014 book list is slightly misleading, these are mainly books I've read since August of this year. As I have a good number of very talented English-major friends, I'm staying far away from critical reviews or academic insight of these books. Mainly I just want to share some great books I've enjoyed recently, and try to convince you to read some if you haven't already. If I magically convince you to read one of these novels please tell me so I can earn bragging rights, as that is not a feat I believe I've ever accomplished before.

 

The Awakening by Kate Chopin

8 out of 10

I found this title on a book list I wrote on my phone ages ago, I'm not sure where I heard about it. It's a short novel written during the turn of the century. It tells the struggle of one women as she tries to reconcile herself with her role in society as a woman. I loved how Chopin portrayed the main character as she chafes under restricting societal norms, as she searches for love and happiness, while trying to define what those things mean to her. It was surprisingly interesting, given that early 1900s literature isn't my forte.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

9.5 out of 10 

I finally broke down and read this classic, mostly because I felt like I should. However, from the first page I was hooked and really enjoyed the novel. Not only was it surprisingly funny in parts, the characters were fully fleshed out, and the story was captivating. It also breaks the glass on some of those cutsy love quotes you see on Pinterest taken from this novel, which turn out to have not so cutsy back stories.

The Faithful Place by Tana French

10 out of 10

I am in love with this author. If I wrote fan mail, I would send her letters, gushing about how much I adore her writing. She writes detective mysteries set in Dublin, Ireland, and is well known for her skill in character development. On top of multidimensional characters, her plots are twisting and haunting. Throw in her poetic skill with words and you'll see why I read anything that she writes. This is actually the 3rd book in a (loosely associated) series. While you can read them out of order, you should probably start with Into the Woods first, which is one of my all time favorite novels.

American Gods by Neil Gaimen

8.5  out of 10

Another classic, though not in the same sense as Wuthering Heights. American Gods is a classic, as it has influenced the entire genre of modern magic novels. This novel twist to magic and mythology was captivating from page one. Gaimen is already a giant in literature, and this book proves why. The main character was likeable and easy to root for, which is something I always love in a book. 

 

Neverwhere by Neil Gaimen

8 out of 10

This is the first Gaimen book I've read and I loved it. It's a fascinating story set in London featuring a really unique modern day magic system. It's not as well known as American Gods, and is not as massive in its undertaking, but I really enjoyed this little book.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

7 out of 10

Guaranteed by Buzzfeed to change my life, I pinned this title on Pinterest and finally got around to reading it. This light sci-fi novel is written like a memoir, a style that I was not expecting. It portrays one woman's life in a future with a dsytopian sheen; not all encompassing like 1984, but the type of dsytopian which does such a good job of passing itself off as normal you almost don't see it. After reading the novel I spent the better part of an hour ranting and raving to my poor roommates; it's a good, but frustrating novel.

Shades of Milk and Honey by Kowal

6.5 out of 10

I'm pretty sure that this novel was recommended in one of Hank Green's vlogs. It's a light fantasy set in Victorian England. While the magic system set up is quite unique, I went away feeling like I had read a watered down Jane Austen novel. The main love interests could easily be plotted on a Darcy at the beginning of Pride and Prejudice vs Darcy at the end of the novel graph. All of their main characteristics being traced back to classical underpinnings, like the close connection between the Darcy-look-a-like and his sister; or the gruff, arrogant demeanor of Darcy-look-a-like-number-2. It felt a little artless at times-- which isn't a fatal flaw, I just wanted a bit more poetry in the words. Regardless, it was a fun, short read.

Don't Breathe A Word by McMahon

6 out of 10

I found this title on Pinterest, promised some high title like best books of 2014! or best mystery books ever, as per usual on Pinterest. This book is a quick modern fantasy read. The plot seems straight forward at first, but the more you read, the more convoluted and twisting everything becomes. Allegiances shift with every page until you don't know who is real, and who you can trust. That part I felt was done well. The reason why it has such a low rating, then, is because towards the end the plot reached critical capacities of convoluted-ness. I'm still not entirely sure what happened on a couple plot points. At the end the novel began to resemble Dreams and Shadows by Cargill mainly in the surprising dark and hopeless events. Even if I'm still bitter at the ending, it was a page-turner, and worth the read. 

So that's it! Just a little list of some great books that I've enjoyed reading. I hope that maybe I've inspired you to pick up one of these novels. If so, I would love to hear what you thought about it! 

Thanks for reading, and be sure to check back to see more crafting adventures!

2013 Book List

I read a lot of good books recently ((though I can't really call this a 2013 book list as I no longer remember the books I read in the beginning of 2013. This is more of a late 2013 list)) and half of the fun of reading an amazing book is badgering everyone you know into reading it. To date I haven't been extremely successful at this but there's a first time for everything.

The Magician by Lev Grosman

I could rant and rave about this book for hours but the end result is that you need to go out and read it. Like, now. I feel like this is a book I would have written-- it makes references to Narnia, Star Trek, LOTR, so basically this is as good as fiction gets. I can't fully explain how much I love this book-- it's interesting and an non-romanticized view on life and magic. It's like a gritty grown up story about magic where magic doesn't even come close to solving all the problems. It has a sequel (also a book that you must read) called The Magicians' King. I'm eagerly awaiting the next book which should be released this year.

The Fault in our Stars by John Green

I rarely cry at the movies. Broadchurch (go watch it) is the only tv show that has ever made me cry. But I never thought I would ever shed a tear reading a book. That is, until I read The Fault in Our Stars, a modern day take on star-crossed lovers. It's a quick read-- I started and finished it all in an emotional, tea and Kleenex filled Saturday afternoon. I was reading it on Michelle's iPad and there was a point when the iPad got tired of my tears and started flipping out, causing me to flip out thinking I damaged her iPad with my tears. It's that emotional. The movie is coming out next summer but I don't know if I want to put myself through that again. It's heartbreaking but also amazingly beautiful.

 

All I Ever Wanted by Kristen Higgins

This was a guilty-pleasure quick read romance book I downloaded from my library onto my nook while I was in France. I loved every page of it-- it was well written with interesting characters and made me laugh out loud more than once. That being said, if you read this and like it, just stop there. Don't try and find other books by the author. I found another book by the same author and found it to be almost identical to this one-- same premise, basically same main character, some of the same quirks, ect. However, All I Ever Wanted is a nice fluffy romance.

The Pox Party by M. t. Anderson

I've seen this cover multiple times but never took the time to read the book, until it appeared on a list of books recommended by John Green. It was definitely an interesting book-- slightly esoteric and poetic at times it told the tale of a little black boy during the Revolutionary War. The boy is being raised by a group of philosophers who want to determine whether or not African Americans had the same mental capacities as their whiter counterparts. It's heartbreaking but beautiful.

 

 

The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

I found this book on a NPR best book 2013 list and picked it up online through my library while I was in France. It's a fun paranormal read set in London-- I read it after my trip to London so it was fun to recognize some of the things mentioned. It heavily features, surprise surprise, the tale of Jack the Ripper, but it isn't cliche or particularly expected. I can't wait to go find the sequel in my library.

Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

I'm pretty sure this book was recommended to me by a friend a while ago but I just never got around to reading it. That was a mistake, as I really enjoyed this paranormal(? more like fantasy) story. I had, once again, rented the ebook from my library, and I really enjoyed the vintage photographers that tie in heavily with the story and that appear on the pages. I can't wait for the sequel to come out this year. 

That's is! I've read some other books but I really loved these and wanted to share them so that maybe someone else can enjoy them as much as I did. 

Thanks for reading! 

Christmas Gifting

"Oh unto us a child is born. Unto us, a son is given...we shall call him, wonderful, consular, Almighty God the everlasting Father the Prince of Peace...."

With Christmas now being only one day away I have finally gotten my act together and made a few gifts.

As you might know by now, the fact that I don't have a job and also the fact that I'm just a thrifty person means that I didn't have the money nor the will to go out and buy a lot of gifts for Christmas.

So I just made some instead. ;)

First project? Homemade Christmas cards, complete with handmade envelopes! Last year, stuck at college after Christmas, thank-you letters still unwritten, I couldn't find time to leave campus and go buy cards.

So I just made some. This year I did the same. I have tons (as you well know) of pictures of my adorable cat, nature, and even some family pics. Perfect for a Christmas card!

With a few minor adjustments in Photoshop, my pics were ready to be on cards.

With that out of the way, next came to the question of envelopes. I didn't want to just stick my newly crafted card into an ordinary run of the mill envelope. It helped that I was going to hand deliver them, not mail them, so I didn't have to worry about having a space on the front to write an address.

As you may know I've recently become somewhat obsessed with Pinterest and treat it as a solution to all my crafting problems. So I spent like an hour on Pinterest, trying to get inspiration on a)how to fold an envelope and b)what material to use.

Eventually, frustrated I gave up on Pinterest. It suddenly occurred to me-- really, how hard would it be to fold an envelope? It certainly seemed quite straight forward. So I grabbed a pretty piece of scrapbook paper and just started folding.

This one actually turned out to be the best one. That's because I folded the bottom giving like two inches to cover the back. On the other ones I didn't fold far enough, leaving a gap at the back.

Anyway I just kept folding. First on the bottom, and then on the sides.

All the tutorials I had seen where quite complicated, with rulers, exact measurements, and small cuts.

Pshhhhh. Who needs exactness? Just approximate. ((rules I live by))

It was pretty straightforward. I did the same for the other card, using another piece of scrap paper.

I just folded the top down, like a present. The result looked exactly like an envelope. If you wanted to mail them, you would just want to tape them shut ((I slipped the end of the flap under the bottom fold, keeping it closed but not enough for mailing)) and find a way to put a legible address on front.

Easy as pie! 3.141592658979323.........

Anywayyyyyy.....in other news I just finished another book I want to briefly write about.

It's historical fiction set during the last days of the Romanov family-- the last tsar of Russia. It's seen through the eyes of a daughter of a mad/saint/guy who is sent to live with the royal family right before they are imprisoned.

It's a beautifully written if not tragically sad novel. Go read it.

Tune in later to see my other homemade Christmas gifts, including but not limited to, homemade Reces peanut butter cups! :)

And Merry Christmas :)