Reading my life away...

One of my FAVORITE things to do is read. I've always been a bookworm. Summer allows me to do a lot more of that. It's fun to just get lost in a book.

I'm a big fan of chick lit for the summer time. They're easy and they're fun to read and isn't that what you want for summer? Here are a few that I've already finished:

This one tells the story of Charlotte, a twenty-something woman who is getting ready to jet off to Paris with her fiance. When she discovers that he's cheating on her, she decides to go to Paris anyways and just live life and date like a man. I saw the ending coming, but the journey of Charlotte was really fun to read. The setting made me want to book a trip to Paris ASAP! There's a sequel coming and I will definitely be adding it to my Kindle very soon.

I love British Chick Lit. Not really sure why, but my favorite chick lit books ALMOST always by British authors. This one has  fun premise: Natalie is someone who just doesn't like to cause trouble ever, so she tends to not be honest about how she feels. One day she gets hypnotised and all of a sudden, whenever ANYONE asks her a question, she must tell the truth. There were definitely LAUGH out loud moments and I almost didn't want the story to end.

I don't know about you, but I LOVED The Devil Wears Prada, both the book and the movie. So I was PUMPED when I heard she wrote  a sequel. And yet. It was a total let down. I finished it, because I don't like to NOT finish a book, but the characters bugged me. I didn't understand the title, because while yes Miranda shows up, she's not really a huge part of the book. The plot isn't really about her. Times like these I wish I could return ebooks.

I do read smart books to, just saying! I just tend to get lost in these fluff pieces during the summer. What books do you like to read?

Books, books, and more books!

So. We found a place to live! YAY! Actually, let's make that a DOUBLE YAY! Since J and I finally found a place to live (a blog post later this week is coming, I promise!) I finally got my butt in gear and began going through my most prized possessions.

Not clothes.
Not jewelery.
Nope. MY BOOKS. I have books all over the place at my house. I live by this quote really:

I have teeny bopper books, old BSC books (and if you need to ask what that stands for then that means I am way older than you!), non-fiction books, teaching books, and good ole fiction books. I counted them. I counted almost 150 before I lost count.

I have three bookcases full of books. But since my new place will only have ONE (oh, the horror!) I needed to pare down my collection.

Here's what I kept: (I was going to take pictures, but my iPhone is being ridiculous and my camera died!)

• The entire Harry Potter series
• All of my Nicholas Sparks books (except for Last Song which I can't stand)
• All of my Sophie Kinsella books (except for Shopaholic, I must be the only person who HATED that book)
• My favorite non-fiction books
• Hunger Games
• A bunch of classics, like Madame Bovary, Catch-22, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Felt like those should be kept and it would make our bookcase look smart. 
• My Princess Diaries books that I got signed by Meg Cabot ages ago. 
• And a few others that don't really come to mind at the moment. 

Here's what I got rid of:

• Twilight. ALL OF THEM. My library has them available as e-books so if I ever get the urge to relive them, I can for free. I must be the only person who liked the movies better than the books.
• My Private series books. The series was pretty good in the beginning but got completely wack-a-doodle near the end. 
• The Jessica Darling series. Another one that started out interesting but then BAM started to stink. :/
• Wicked. The only book I never finished. Seriously. I make it a mission to finish all books, no matter how crappy they are. Not that I thought it was crappy, it wasn't. But I couldn't make it through. Does that make me a horrible book geek?
• Lots of other random books that I read once and know I will never read again. 

I also pulled out a few to give to my friends. For instance, while I loved this biography:

I know that I won't read it again. So I gave it to my friend Jessica, who is even more obsessed with the Royals than I am!

When I texted J that I was keeping forty books out of 150, I was totally expecting him to say I could give up more. But no, he said good job! Guess he's finally aware that books are my weakness!

Off to get ready to teach. 27 days left (not including today) but who's counting?? :)

The Fault in Our Stars (Book Review)

I love to read. I've always considered it my hobby. So when I saw that both Bonnie and Julie were reading the same book for their book clubs, I jumped on it!

This month's book was The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.

I'm HORRIBLE at summarzing books (even though it's a key first grade standard!) so here's the synopsis of the book:

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.

I love to read hyped-up books. I have to know what people are talking about. It's how I fell in love with Harry Potter, hated Twilight, and was disappointed in 50 Shades. I had heard about this book and had hoped it would be good.

My hopes were blown out of the water! I fell in love with the character of Hazel from page one. John Green had me wanting to learn more about Hazel from the get go. I also wanted to learn more about Augustus. 

Some of my favorite parts:

• A lot of times, young adult fiction portrays the parents as idiots. As people to get away from. As people who just don't get it. It was completely refreshing to see that Green did not portray Hazel's or Augustus' parents that way. At times the kids did get exasperated with them, but what teenager doesn't? I loved how Hazel's mom understood what she needed and even surprised her. 
• How much Augustus cared for Hazel came through so clearly in the book. At times young love can be written as schmaltzy. As a stockpile of sunshine and roses. But that's not what Green did here. Was it a loving relationship? Yes. Was it sad? Of course. But still engaging to read. 
• I liked how he wrote Peter Van Houten. I don't want to give a lot of way, but I'm glad that his behavior shocked both Hazel and Augustus. If it had been predictable, it would have made me dislike the book. 

My only annoyance:

• Others have touched on this, but the way that the main characters speak is NOT the way American teenagers speak. At times I had to use my own context clue skills to figure out what the heck they were saying. The language did get a bit distracting at times. But I understood why Green wrote them that way. These teenagers are so vastly different from the typical teenager. 

So go! Read it! I promise you'll like it. I know I liked it, because it had me crying at the end, and I never cry at books or movies. 

Finally did it...

Finally read 50 Shades of Grey. I am a bookworm. A massive bookworm.It's been that way since before I could actually read a book on my own. When I hear people getting hyped up over a book, I must always read it. So I borrowed it from J's mom (which was a little awkward to say the least!)

I have to say I didn't like it. I did finish it though, because there was something intriguing about it AND I hate not finishing a book.

Why didn't I like it? A few reasons:

• The ecard up there says it all. The writing. There were a few moments where I laughed out loud, not because something was funny, but because of the word choice. I felt like James just had a thesaurus next to her the whole time and replaced simple words with bigger words. 
• It was way too much like Twilight for me. I know it started out as fan-fiction, but I really don't feel she changed enough. There are no vampires, but the heroine still doesn't realize how great she is, the guy is still scary, she has a best guy friend who likes her, a mom who has issues, a dad who is outdoorsy, etc. Did I mention that I only like the first Twilight book?
• The sex scenes didn't bother me. From the way people were talking about the book, I actually thought the scenes would be a lot kinkier. What did bother me was how controlling Christian was. Even Edward wasn't that controlling. 

I feel a little weird for not liking something that so many women are obsessed over. I will probably read the other two just to say that I have.

Did you like it? Am I missing something? Is it ok that I'm not a fan of Christian Grey?

Busy day!

I am trying to get out of the house at least once a day while I am on vacation. It helps keeps me sane and not lazy!

Today, I ran a ton of errands. I first stopped to pick up J's watch and drop off my comforter to be dry cleaned. TRUTH: My comforter has been in a bag for the last week or so. It's too hot to use it, so taking it to the cleaners has been low on my list.

Then I went to Target, where a miracle happened! I ONLY BOUGHT WHAT I NEEDED!!





I needed cat food, shampoo,  and bobby pins. That's all I bought. Yay me! I even resisted all the new teacher stuff in the Dollar Spot.

Next to Target is the most amazing fro-yo place: Sweet Cece's. It's creamy and low fat. I treated myself to some coconut yogurt topped with almonds, strawberries, and cheesecake.

Pure deliciousness!

My final stop was the library. I had to return some DVDs and books. I was only going to check out Catcher in The Rye   (to get a head start on my 30 Before 30 list). I'm delusional apparently. Only come home with one book? Please! I came home with 6 CDs, 5 books and 2 DVDs. Disclaimer: the DVDs were for my dad and brother.

Like I said, busy day. Off I go to read a great book and drink my amazing Strawberry Pink Lemonade slushie.

Yum! Happy Monday!T his post is linked up with Carly at Lipgloss and Crayons and Molly at Still Being Molly for YOLO Monday! I like meeting new bloggers and I hope you like what you see

Media Monday

I like this link-up with Rachel from LaLaLists and Brittany from Yellow Umbrella.

 Gives me a chance to to talk about what I'm watching and reading.

MUSIC

Today's been pretty rough. I haven't been feeling so hot because of some of the meds that I take (I feel like I'm going through menopause: hot flashes, headaches, the works). I decided to just chill at home and clean my bathroom. There's something relaxing about cleaning. So I turned on the 90s station on Music Station, and I must say it's been fabulous. I've heard some fun tunes such as







This takes me STRAIGHT back to all my middle school dances. In fact, I can picture all of my friends doing the dance.

MOVIES

My other habit that I do while I'm cleaning is to pop in an old movie that I love. This way it's something fun to watch but it's not distracting. My choice today?

Adore Center Stage. I did ballet when I was little for about 6 years, so anything dance related I love.

TV

J got me hooked on Men at Work on TBS. It follows this group of four guy friends and their various life issues. It stars Danny Masterson from That 70s Show. It's really funny!

Oh and the guy who plays Tyler (the guy on the right) is really cute. :)

BOOKS

Last week, I finished reading Heaven is Here by Stephanie Nielson. Stephanie was in a horrible airplane crash that burned over 80% of her body. The book details her life before the accident, her recovery right after the accident, and learning to live her life again. It is such an inspirational story; definitely brought a tear to my eye while I read it. 

So those are my faves this week. Don't forget to link up. Off I go to jam out some more, because MmmBop by Hanson just came on the 90s station! Love the 90s!