Favorite Reading Spot

Where do you do most of your reading?
Your favorite spot?

(And yes, I understand that these might not be the same thing–your favorite spot could be the beach, but you do most of your reading at home . . . in which case, tell me about both!)


It's kind of ridiculous, but I do almost all of my reading while I'm blow drying my hair in the morning. My hair is completely uncooperative. I've got a full-on mane of fine, frizzy hair. Consequently, I have to blow dry it, round brush it, straighten it, and plead with it every morning to get it to look half decent. The only way that I've found to make this bearable is to read while I do it. It takes a little bit longer, but it's worth it. Every morning I take my blow dryer into the spare bedroom and that is where I read! (I would do it in our bathroom, but it wake's up Spenc.)

Where would I like to do most of my reading? On the beach. In one of those comfy looking beach chairs. While drinking one of those fruity drinks with the tiny umbrellas in them. That, however, only happens about once every five years or so...so I'll have to stick to my spare bedroom.

P.S. I am still reading, so don't think I've turned into a lazy book-blogger. I'm reading Atlas Shrugged which is over 1100 pages long, so I think I deserve a break. I'm over 700 pages into it and I expect to post my review sometime next week.

Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwarz

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I have been deathly ill and unable to lift my fingers to type...Okay, not really but I have had a cold and I'm a complete wimp when it comes to being sick. Anyways, on to the review....

Drowning Ruth was….interesting. I definitely didn’t love it, but it was still worth reading. Let’s look at my “good book” qualifications:
1. Interesting Plot? Definitely. The plot was probably the best thing about this book. The author starts the book with a piece of an event but doesn’t reveal what truly happened until the last page. The desire to know what really happened kept me turning the pages until the very, very end.

2. Did it touch me? Am I a different person because I read it? Ehhh…not so much. This book didn’t really strike a chord with me. I mean, it dealt with serious issues, but not in a way that touched my heart.

3. Was the writing beautiful? Again, not so much. It wasn’t bad writing, by any means. However there were very few places where I stopped to “Hmm, what a lovely phrase”…or…"That is an amazing metaphor!” Yeah, there wasn’t much of that.

4. Were the characters easy to relate to? Were they believable? The author did a great job with the characters. Besides the plot, they were what made me keep reading. Each character was so complex and real. Also, the relationships between the characters were very interesting. Because of the characters alone, I would say that this book is worth reading.

Ultimately, I think that this book would be a great one to rent from the library and take on a vacation. It’s not one that I would want to buy or recommend to my literature-nerd friends, but it was an attention-grabbing book that would be perfect for a long plane ride or day on the beach.

Book Meme

1. Favorite childhood book?
The Wizard of Oz by L Frank Baum

2. What are you reading right now?
Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwarz

3. What books do you have on request at the library?
- A Vintage Affair by Isabel Wolff
- Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
- The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

Two of the three books I have on hold have baked goods in their titles. What does that say about me?

4. Bad book habit?
I have many, unfortunately. My worst would probably be reading in the bathtub. I’m ashamed to admit that most of my books show some sort of water damage.

5. What do you currently have checked out at the library?
- Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwarz
- Fanciful Quilts to Paper Piece by Wendy Vosters
- Hazard by Jo Beverley
- Jesus the Christ by James E Talmage on CD
- Little Shop of Horrors sheet music
- The Tony Awards Songbook sheet music
- Teddy Bear Redwork by Jan Rapacz

6. Do you have an e-reader?
Absolutely not

7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?
Almost always one at a time. When I read, I like to completely immerse myself in the world created by the author. You can’t really do that when you read more than one book at once.

8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?
I think my reading habits have definitely changed. I’ve started analyzing the books that I read much more deeply. I also seem to be more purposeful in watching for beautiful language, instead of just skimming over it.

9. Can you read on the bus?
Yes. But not in a car.

10. Favorite place to read?
As previously mentioned, the bathtub. Although I also love reading outside, especially in the spring.

11. What is your policy on book lending?
I only lend a book to a person if I know that I would be comfortable asking them to give it back.

12. Do you ever dog-ear books?
Yes. :( That’s another of my bad-book- habits.

13. Do you ever write in the margins of your books?
Absolutely. But only in pencil.

14. What is your favorite language to read in?
Um...English. Although I did read a few chapters of Harry Potter in French, once!

15. What will inspire you to recommend a book?
Beautiful writing, believable characters, and a worthwhile plot. Also, I will never recommend a book that I felt was dirty or racy in some way.

16. Favorite genre?
Trade fiction.

17. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?)
Biographies. I wish I had more patience with history books. I would love to learn more about the historical figures that I admire, but I cannot stand the dry writing style often found in biographies.

18. Have you ever read a self-help book?
From start to finish, no. I’ve read bits and pieces of several, though.

19. Favorite cookbook?
Anything from America’s Test Kitchen. I have never made a recipe from one of their cookbooks that has turned out badly.

20. Favorite reading snack?
I wish I could say carrots or rice cakes, but I must be honest and admit that my favorite reading snack is a warm chocolate chip cookie with glass of cold milk. Mmm.

21. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?
Although I sometimes feel bad about doing it, it must be done. If a book is not good, I’m certainly not going to tell people that it is!

22. Most intimidating book you’ve ever read?
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

23. Most intimidating book you’re too nervous to begin?
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

24. Favorite Poet?
Probably William Wordsworth, although I also LOVE William Blake.

25. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time?
Usually like 10. I’m a book hog.

26. How often have you returned book to the library unread?
I usually return unread books, unfortunately. My policy is that if the f-word is used more than once, I immediately stop reading. Consequently, I usually have one book in every batch from the library that I can’t get past the first chapter in. It’s unfortunate that authors use such vulgar language so often. I really don’t see how they think such crude language improves their work!!

27. Favorite fictional character?
GAH, worst question ever! There are so many. How about top 5 female characters? (In no particular order.)
1. Jane Eyre from Jane Eyre. An amazing woman with strong moral fiber.
2. Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejdice. I think that every woman admires Elizabeth Bennet because of her strength and her wisdom. She’s not an airhead like her sisters, and women like to think that intelligence counts for more than beauty! Elizabeth Bennet proves that it does. Also, she stands up for herself despite that fact that she is a woman. There are not many female characters from that time period who showed as much spine as Austen gave to Elizabeth. That is why I love her.
3. Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games. She kicks butt. The end.
4. Polly Milton from An Old Fashioned Girl. I think that the reason I love Polly so much is because I like to think that I’m a little bit like her.
5. Hermione Granger from Harry Potter. C’mon. She’s a nerd with a wand!!!!!

30. Books I’m most likely to bring on vacation?
Basically anything except for a classic. It’s just too difficult to focus on classics when you’re on vacation.

31. What distracts you easily when you’re reading?
TV. I simply cannot read when Dwight Schrute or Shawn Spencer is blaring in the background.

32. Favorite film adaptation of a novel?
BBC's Pride and Prejudice. SOOOOO GOOOOOODDDD.

33. Most disappointing film adaptation?
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It’s my favorite book in the series, and they completely butchered it. Terrible. Just terrible.

34. How often do you skim a book before reading it?
Never. Why would you do that??

35. Do you like to keep your books organized?
Theoretically, yes. In practice...Not so much.

36. Name a book that made you angry.
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. I won’t say why it made me angry in case anyone hasn’t read it yet, but for those who have read it...you know why. Grr.

This book meme is from the Booking Through Thursday blog

The Tower, The Zoo, and The Tortoise by Julia Stuart

The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise describes how the life of a beefeater living at the Tower of London is turned upside down when Her Royal Highness decides to restore the royal menagerie. The story is full of amusing mayhem as the old guards attempt to cope with the influx of royal animals, however it also deals with the deeper issues of grief and loss.

The characters of the book are downright quirky. There were moments when I laughed out loud at their absurdity. I often found myself chuckling throughout the day as I recalled their adventures. However, the beauty of this book was that it was immensely amusing without being complete fluff. In my opinion, a book can only be “good’ if it changes you in some way. A “good” book touches you and helps you to grow into a better person. Despite the silly, nonsensical setting and occurrences, this book met this requirement through its very real relationships.

I would recommend this book to anyone. It’s light, witty, quaint, and heartfelt. I can see myself reading it again and again.

Here is the “Cast of Characters” listed at the beginning of the book:

- Balthazar Jones: Beefeater, overseer of the Tower's royal menagerie, father to Milo, and collector of rain.

- Hebe Jones: Balthazar's wife who works at London Underground's Lost Property Office

- Mrs. Cook: Balthazar and Hebe's 180 + year-old tortoise - the oldest tortoise in the world

- Arthur Catnip: London Underground ticket inspector of limited height

- Rev. Septimus Drew: Tower chaplain who writes forbidden prose and pines for one of the residents

- Ruby Dore: Barmaid at the Tower's Rack & Ruin pub who has a secret

- Valerie Jennings: Hebe's eccentric colleague who falls for someone of limited height

- The Ravenmaster: Philandering Beefeater who looks after the Tower's ravens

- Sir Walter Raleigh: Former Tower prisoner and its most troublesome ghost

- Chief Yeoman Warder: Suspicious head Beefeater

- Oswin Fielding: Equerry to The Queen

- Samuel Crapper: Lost Property Office's most frequent customer

- Yeoman Gaoler: Deputy to the Chief Yeoman Warder who is terrorized by ghostly poetry at night

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

This book explores the relationship between African American maids and their white employers in the 1960s. Although this is not a topic that I would normally be drawn to, I had heard so many good things about the book that I simply had to check it out. Everyone I talked to said that the appeal of The Help was the voice that Stockett gave to each of her characters. They were completely right. Stockett masterfully uses language to paint a picture of each character in such a vivid way that it feels like they are telling you their story in person. She brings the flavor of the South through the language without making it difficult to read or understand, as sometimes happens when authors try to use a specific vernacular.

My colleague (and reading buddy), Cindy, summed it up when I told that I had finished the book. She said, "Don't you miss them?" The characters become your very real friends and the ending (though satisfying) leaves you yearning for more of Minnie, of Aibileen, and even of mean Miss Hilly.

Favorite Quotes:
- You is kind. You is smart. You is important.

- All I'm saying is, kindness don't have no boundaries.

- Ever morning, until you dead in the ground, you gone have to make this decision. You gone have to ask yourself, "Am I gone believe what them fools say about me today?

- I used to believe in em (lines). I don't anymore. They in our heads. Lines between black and white ain't there neither. Some folks just made those up, long time ago. And that go for the white trash and the so-ciety ladies too

- That's the way prayer do. It's like electricity, it keeps things going.

- Frying chicken always makes me feel a little better about life.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

What an amazing, amazing, amazing book. Instant top-ten book, for sure. It's a futuristic book describing a society in which books are illegal. The story follows the journey of a "fireman" whose career consists of burning illegal books.

There are two things that make this book so fantastic. First, the writing. Bradbury has a unique writing style that is brief and yet incredibly descriptive at the same time. I felt like I was getting the detail of Dickens in every profound, precise sentence. Bradbury truly understands how to manipulate the English language. Second, there is so much truth in this book. I found myself nodding in assent throughout the book as statements rang true in my mind.

Rather than attempting to review the entire masterpiece, I thought I would simply share some of my favorite quotes:

1. "Many were those whose sole knowledge of Hamlet ... was a one-page digest in a book that claimed: 'now at least you can read all the classics; keep up with your neighbors.' Do you see? Out of the nursery into the college and back to the nursery; there's your intellectual pattern for the past five centuries or more."
- Ummm...Internet Sparknotes?

2. "We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal. Each man the image of every other; then all are happy, for there are no mountains to make them cower, to judge themselves against."

3. "People want to be happy, isn't that right? Haven't you heard it all your life? I want to be happy, people say. Well, aren't they? Don't we keep them moving, don't we give them fun? That's all we live for, isn't it? For pleasure, for titillation? And you must admit our culture provides plenty of these."

4. "If you don't want a man unhappy politically, don't give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none. Let him forget there is such a thing as war."

5. "Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs or the names of state capitals or how much corn Iowa grew last year. Cram them full of non-combustible data, chock them so damned full of 'facts' they feel stuffed, but absolutely 'brilliant' with information. Then they'll feel they're thinking, they'll get a sense of motion without moving. And they'll be happy, because facts of that sort don't change. Don't give them any slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy."

- This quote definitely hit home for me. I watched Jeopardy every single day until I was twelve and I still try to catch it when I can. (They changed the stupid time...pff). For many years my dream job was to be the next Alex Trebek. I know an enormous amount of absolutely trivial information...that I will never ever, ever use, and yet I am remarkably proud of my knowledge. *Sigh...* I am one of those useless stuffed people.

6. "Our civilization is flinging itself to pieces. Stand back from the centrifuge."
- What profound imagery! It reminds me of Yeats' poem "The Second Coming." Look it up.

7. "Everyone must leave something in the room or left behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you're there. It doesn't matter what you do, he said, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take your hands away. The difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said. The lawn-cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime."
- Every time I read this quote I get warm and fuzzies.

8. "Some day the load we're carrying with us may help someone. But even when we had the books on hand, a long time ago, we didn't use what we got out of them. We went right on insulting the dead. We went right on spitting in the graves of all the poor ones who died before us. We're going to meet a lot of lonely people in the next week and the next month and the next year. And when they ask us what we're doing, you can say, We're remembering. That's where we'll win out in the long run. And some day we'll remember so much that we'll build the biggest goddamn steam-shovel in history and dig the biggest grave of all time and shove war in and cover it up. Come on now, we're going to go build a mirror-factory first and put out nothing but mirrors for the next year and take a long look in them."
- And this is why we learn.

Epic by Conor Kostick

As a self proclaimed player of MMORPGs (Massively multiplayer online role-playing games), I was understandably interested in the premise of this book. It is another one of the post apocalyptic books that are so popular right now, except the twist here is that the new government is based on a computer game. It is a nonviolent world where violence is punished by exile. Instead of warfare or fighting, all disputes are supposed to be worked out within the medium of the game, thereby preventing actual violence.

The writing itself was definitely enjoyable. Although Kostick’s writing is not take-your-breath-away good, it’s certainly not bad. I really enjoyed the “game” aspect of the book. The author was very proficient at keeping the reader firmly set in realty, while allowing them to satisfy their imaginative cravings created by the game. I got my fill of warlocks, druids, and vampires without feeling like I was a complete nerd. (Just sort of a nerd.)

What I really loved about this book was the message that Kostick presents through the plot. I don’t want to give any details away, but ultimately the characters are frustrated that so much time and effort is spent in an imaginary world. The average person gets their money through the game performing tasks that are completely fruitless in the real world. Political disputes are handled within the game, in which the officials are ultimately powerful. Consequently, the average person does not have sufficient resources for their needs in the actual, physical world.

At first, I just thought it was an entertaining story. The more I thought about it, however, the more I wondered if the author was trying to make a statement about our governments today. I mean, when you think it, isn’t our political system just one big game? So much of a politician’s time is concentrated on accomplishing personal agendas, getting reelected, and strengthening their positions of power that their actual responsibility of representing the people is lost by the wayside. Do the people have any real chance of getting their needs and opinions heard? Think about our monetary system! Our currency consists of numbers on a screen representing wealth that doesn’t actually exist! I consider all of the resources spent on campaigns and it makes me absolutely sick! What if the resources spent on campaigns, political networking, and lobbying was spent in a constructive way instead of being dumped into the bottomless pit that is the game of politics. How much better would our world be? I’m not saying that all of politics are corrupt. I recognize that there are some very good people in government. Nor am I saying that our system of government is bad. The system set up in the constitution is good; it is the game of politics that is repulsive.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

I cannot say enough good things about this book. It is absolutely exquisite! This was my second time through it, and I was surprised to find myself even more captivated by the magic weaved by Yann Martel than the first time I read it.

First off, the plot itself is fascinating and extremely unique. There is nothing else to say beyond that. It’s simply a wonderful story.

Secondly, Yann Martel is a magnificent writer. With every turn of the page I found myself stopping at some especially beautiful metaphor or a particularly interesting sentence to savor the way in which Martel turns the words into art. Take this passage, for instance: “There were many seas. The sea roared like a tiger. The sea whispered in your ear like a friend telling you secrets. The sea clinked like small change in a pocket. The sea thundered like avalanches. The sea hissed like sandpaper working on wood. The sea sounded like someone vomiting. The sea was dead silent.” Is it just me, or does this passage make your heart skip a beat as well?

Lastly, this book was thought provoking, which is the most important attribute that a book can have. It made me ponder survival and the overwhelming desire of living things to live, despite any misery that comes. It caused me to realize that nothing in life is objective. Each event that occurs in life is seen differently by each of its participants because each person has a different past that taints their view. Because of the individual, experience-tinted glasses through which each of us see the world, everyone sees a different story. Most importantly, it helped me to draw closer to God. It reminded me how it feels to have a personal relationship with deity and reminded me that doctrine is not the most important thing. What really matters is having the Spirit of God constantly in your life.

Favorite Quotes:

"The lower you are, the higher your mind will want ot soar."

"To chose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation."

"The reason death sticks so closely to life isn't biological necessity - it's envy. Life is so beautiful that death has fallen in love with it, a jealous possessive love that grabs at what it can."

"Bapu Gandhi said, 'All religions are true.' I just want to love God,"

"Hindus, in their capacity for love, are indeed hairless Christians, just as Muslims, in the way they see God in everything, are bearded Hindus, and Christians, in their devotion to God, are hat-wearing Muslims."

Mockingjay

I LOVE the Hunger Games series. My collegue at work introduced me to Suzanne Collins and I immediately became hooked! I started reading the series when Catching Fire came out and, needless to say, I have been anxiously awaiting the release of the final book in the trilogy.

I got the book the day it was released. Spenc and I had to go to two different stores to find it. I started reading at 8:00 pm and finished the next day at lunch. I'd read the first two books the weekend before so it was a joy to be reunited with the characters that I felt were my friends.

The first two books are centered around "the games," which made this book stick out like a sore thumbs. Although Collins tries her hardest to make the adventures of Katniss seem like another version of "the games," I didn't buy it. The entire book was based on action, horror, and violence. The character development that drove the first books was left behind and the characters that I so dearly loved became shallow and empty. Unlike the first books where each page offered a new surpirse, the plot was fairly predictable with few of the shocking twists that I have come to expect from Collins. The flow of the book was awkward and I felt my self wishing the plot would simply move on while at the same time acknowldeging that everything was far too rushed. To top it off, the ending was abrupt and unsatisfying.

Ultimately, I think that this should have been divided into two books. There needed to be more time to build the characters so that the plot could be based more on the story itself rather than violent epidodes of horror. This would also have allowed for a more complete ending.

I'm not saying that this book should not be read. It was still a very stimulating read, it just didn't live up to my expectations given the first two books.

The one positive thing that I can say for Mockingjay is that it made me want to be more proactive in our government. In fact, the day after I finished the book I registered to vote! The fact that this book provoked me to action made it worth reading, in my opinion. It made me wary of the personal agendas of politicians and reminded me that the lure of power is often too great for even the best of men to resist. It helped me to realize how fragile government is and emphasized the idea that the government should serve the people, not the other way around.