Happy Holidays!

Current Read: Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
Current Listen: Alexander Hamilton by Rob Chernow

Hello friends! Happy holidays! It's been a crazy time (just did my fifth performance of the weekend), so I thought I'd get you caught up on how my reading life is going.

First, a little while ago I finished Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt. This is a nonfiction book about Savannah, Georgia in the early 1980's. This book was later adapted into a movie starring John Cusack and Kevin Spacey (two of my absolute favorites). The book portrays Savannah as a town that is very resistant to both outsiders and change, which, according to Berendt, is the perfect atmosphere for eccentricities to flourish. My personal favorite character (and I think most people's favorite) is the Lady Chablis, a larger than life drag queen who is a tourist attraction in Savannah with her outrageous personality and even more outrageous gowns.                                          
                                            

The book focuses on a murder that took place in Savannah in the early 80's. Jim Williams, quite the character himself, is accused of murdering his assistant, Danny Hansford, who may or may not have also been his lover. Berendt befriends Williams, giving him total access to the inner workings of his home, Mercer House, which is filled with invaluable objects such as an extensive Fabrege collection and is still a tourist attraction in Savannah today. Savannah is incontestably the main character of the story, and Berendt does a wonderful job of telling that story while also incorporating Jim Williams' four trials (the record in Georgia for the most trials for the same crime). This book completed the "book with antonyms in the title" portion of my reading challenge.

Next, I finally finished Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, one that has been on my reading list for a very long time. Now I can finally see the movie! The story takes place in a dystopian future in which humanity is fighting off an alien race. Ender is a young boy who is chosen at age 6 to be trained for military command at the Battle School. He must grapple with growing up in a world in which most children are not given the chance to do so. He struggles to maintain his humanity and empathy when everyone around him needs him to become an alien-killing machine.

This book started a bit slow for me, but as the story went along I became very interested in the way Card immerses his readers into this alternate future and into Ender's mind. It was difficult to read this book from the perspective of a teacher, since most of the "teachers" in this book are abusive and manipulative. The book was published in 1985 and has been really influential in the further development of dystopian novels written for young people.

Finally, last night I finished the final installment of the Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children series, Library of Souls. I love, love, love this series by Ransom Riggs. Riggs began collecting old, strange photographs, and he uses them to create a story about children with supernatural abilities.                                            

The resulting story about Jacob Portman, a boy who discovers that he, too, is peculiar, is a wonderful adventure story filled with incredible characters that are for the most part based on these strange photographs. I plan to eventually read them again.

Alright. It's getting very, very close to the end of the year, and I have a few things left to read that are stressing me out a bit. I still need to read Let It Snow, but that one I've been holding off on on purpose. I have started Far From the Madding Crowd, and that's going better than expected so far. The problem is that it's really hard to focus on that when the last Lunar Chronicles book is also sitting on your shelf and will not renew from the library, so that's happening presently. I'll get it done, though, since it's break. Youtube is also still happening, and you can check out my channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/eleanorrigby7390/videos

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday, and for now, that's all she read!

Rainbow and Robert

Current Read: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
Current Listen: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Hello all! It's December, so things are getting intense in terms of me finishing up my reading goals for the year. It's looking like I will read at least 80 books this year. I'm at 76 after today, which is definitely the most I've read in a year since I've been keeping track. Some thoughts on what I've read:

Over Thanksgiving weekend I finished Landline by Rainbow Rowell, which was the last of hers I had to read! This was in the same category as her book Attachments in that it was for adults rather than teens. It is about a woman named Georgie who writes for a sitcom in Los Angeles. She knows her marriage is in trouble, especially when she has to cancel going to her in-laws for Christmas to attend a meeting about a new TV show. Here is where it gets weird. As she struggles to decide what to do, she discovers that when she calls her husband from her childhood landline she speaks to him as he was when they were in college. It's essentially a time traveling phone. It sounds totally bizarre, which is why I was so hesitant to read it.

But I should not have doubted her. Rowell is great at avoiding writing the flat, static characters that are so common in chick lit. All of her characters, major and supporting, developed and changed through the course of the novel. There was much crying and #feels, and it turned out to be a really great read. Not my favorite of hers, but everything she writes is really easy to relate to, even with the semi-magical premise.

Then today I finished the third Cormoran Strike novel by Robert Galbraith, Career of Evil. This is a series written by J.K. Rowling under a pseudonym, and I do not think that these novels get enough credit. They are just solid, dependably good crime novels. Cormoran Strike is a really great character (who I'm sure will get a movie at some point in the near future). All three of them have had great premises, complex twists and turns, and CREEPY suspects. In Career of Evil, Cormoran's assistant, Robin, is sent a severed leg in the mail with a letter referencing Blue Oyster Cult lyrics, lyrics that were tattooed on Strike's mother, a famous groupie who died under suspicious circumstances. Strike must sift through the list of enemies he has made during his career as a military policeman and private investigator while fearing for Robin's life.

Though I loved every second of this book, I do feel the need to give a trigger warning. This book heavily references domestic violence, rape, and sexual abuse against children. I KNOW. Some deep, scary stuff and some huge creeps for suspects. Just FYI. Probably not for everyone.

That's it for now. I'm halfway through Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, which is very interesting reading, and I have both the last book in the Mrs. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children series AND the last book in the Lunar Chronicles series. There also might be some sort of haul post soon, since I picked up some things at the friends of the library sale and on black Friday. Happy reading to me! That's all she read.

Powering Through

Current Read: Landline by Rainbow Rowell
Current Listen: Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith

Hello internet! I've read many things, and also purchased/received some things. BETTER GET READY.

First, I finished the second book in Marie Lu's Young Elite series, The Rose Society. You'll recall that I was a little skeptical about the first book. It's a very ambitious series that is completely fantasy (as opposed to the Legend trilogy, which is dystopian and set in America) and that also has a sometimes-almost-even-a-little-bit-evil heroine, Adelina.

It's hard to give too many details without spoiling plot points from the first book, but I was happy with new developments and new characters. Adelina is continuing in her quest for revenge against the government's Inquisitors, who are trying to rid the land of Kenettra from malfettos like her. Malfettos are young people who suffered from a past plague, and some malfettos have developed strange powers after surviving the illness. LIKE I SAID. It's a very ambitious story. But in this second book Adelina also encounters many new, intriguing characters, such as Magiano and Sergio. The reader also gets to know Adelina's sister, Violetta, as well as just get a better handle on Adelina. She's a very complicated girl, and it took me awhile to figure her out. Actually, I think Marie Lu does a fabulous job of conveying the fact that Adelina does not have herself figured out. It was a great read, and I can't wait to see how the series continues. I think it will be hard to just stop it at a trilogy, but I haven't heard about what her plans are for Adelina. It better not be over, though. There is an unresolved love triangle, and that just won't do.

Next was M.T. Anderson's Symphony for the City of the Dead, which was about Shostakovitch's 7th Symphony, known as the Leningrad symphony. I know basic facts about Shostakovitch, since I was required to take music history courses in college, but I LOVED learning more about him in the context of Soviet Russia. M.T. Anderson does a nice job of balancing the Soviet Russia/Stalin stuff with the music stuff and the Shostakovitch personal life stuff, if that makes sense. I learned a LOT about the context for many of the great composers, musicians, and writers of early Soviet Russia, and it was some scary stuff. There were many times where Shostakovitch could've been killed or exiled by Stalin. Many of his friends were. The book talked a lot about the siege of Leningrad, also, which I knew almost nothing about. The Leningrad Symphony did not get performed in Leningrad for a long time because he radio orchestra, the only one left in town, had too many members who were dead or dying. They ended up recruiting other musicians still in the city with extra rations, and even then many died while rehearsing the piece. I've been listening to Shosty 7 a lot since I read that book. And a lot more Shostakovitch in general. Not sure why it's taken me this long to figure out that nonfiction is my jam. Especially enjoyed the audiobook of this, since they interspersed some passages of the music that they were discussing.

Finally, last night I finished the Saul Bellow, Mr. Sammler's Planet. Took a month and a half, but I did it. This was the book that I used as my "book I should've read in school but didn't" on my Popsugar reading challenge. I was told to purchase this book for a freshman writing seminar, but we never actually read it and did poetry instead. Saul Bellow has a Nobel Prize for literature, which makes sense, but that doesn't mean that this book was easy to read. It was quite difficult for me.

It is set in New York in the 1970s and is told from the perspective of a man named Artur Sammler. Sammler is a Polish Jew and a survivor of the Holocaust. Sammler feels that he has a unique perspective on humanity, particularly the brand of humanity found in New York City, because of his experiences. At one point he says of himself, "What Sammler was he could not clearly formulate. Human, in some altered way. The human being at the point where he attempted to obtain his release from being human...Petitioning for a release from God's attention." He wanders around New York City thinking about modern America and the modern world in general, which is what made it so hard. There was not a lot of action in this book, but a lot of very interesting philosophical ideas. Most of the novel takes place in his head. I think this would've been a great book to discuss with classmates, and there would have been a wealth of material for a paper. Sammler was personally very hard to relate to for me, since I am neither old, in the 1970's, nor Jewish, but by the end of the book I appreciated his perspective and unique outlook on the normal lives of the people around him. The vocabulary is quite advanced, and there were some cultural references that were beyond me. If anyone has read it, please feel free to message me to discuss it. I think that would be enlightening. I'll leave you with a long quote, but a very interesting and representative one:

"Sammler, from keeping his own counsel for so long, from seven decades of internal consultation, had his own views on most matters...there were mental dry courses in his head...small ravines made by the steady erosion of preoccupations. The taking of life was one of these. Just that. His life had nearly been taken. He had seen life taken. He had taken it himself. He knew it was one of the luxuries. No wonder princes had so long reserved the right to murder with impunity. At the very bottom of society there was also a kind of impunity, because no one cared what happened. Under that dark brutal mass blood crimes were often disregarded. And at the very top, the ancient immunities of kings and nobles. Sammler thought that this was what revolutions were really about. In a revolution you took away the privileges of an aristocracy and redistributed them. What did equality mean? Did it mean all men were friends and brothers? No, it meant that all belonged to the elite. Killing was an ancient privilege. That was why revolutions plunged into blood."

The whole book is like that. Rambling, very eloquent, but very dense and sometimes hard to read or understand the first time. That being said, I marked many pages with intense, important quotes like that. It's quality, just not what I normally gravitate toward.

In other news, I only have three books left in my challenge! And it's currently Thanksgiving break which means I'll finish at least one more this week (hopefully) in addition to the Rainbow Rowell. I also have Ransom Riggs' Library of Souls waiting for me at the library, which is very exciting. ALSO I got to go to a giant library giveaway and got a ton of books for free, which was basically the greatest thing. PHEW. That was a long one. Thanks for taking the time, and that's all she read!

Carry On, Ursula Todd

Current Read: Mr. Sammler's Planet by Saul Bellow and The Rose Society by Marie Lu
Current Listen: Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovitch and the Siege of Leningrad by M.T. Anderson

It's been a bit since my last update, but I'm still here! Still STRUGGLING by way through the Saul Bellow, though I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It's just hard to move toward that light when you can read Rainbow Rowell instead.

I just finished Carry On by Rainbow Rowell, which is her newest release (again my reading schedule is determined by whether or not things will renew at dear old IMCPL). Carry On follows the story of Simon Snow, who is a variant on the Harry Potteresque "Chosen One" idea. This book exists because of a previous Rainbow Rowell book, Fangirl, about a girl who is a popular Simon Snow fanfiction writer. I was skeptical about it for that reason, but Rowell does a really excellent job filling you in on the world of Simon Snow that has, in Fangirl, existed for seven books before Carry On. That's confusing, but I liked that it was a fictional book that became a real book. NOW John Green just needs to do that with An Imperial Affliction. That'd be great.

This book also did a good job of distinguishing itself from the Harry Potter series. I particularly liked that in the world of Carry On many people who are magickal live their lives among Normals and have Normal jobs. Also, the spells in Carry On are well-known phrases from nursery rhymes, songs, and other common aphorisms. That was really neat. I don't want to spoil all the fun little surprises in the world that Rainbow Rowell created, but suffice it to say that it was compulsively readable but also contained a surprising amount of emotional and philosophical depth. Rainbow Rowell is truly a master of her craft.

On the listening front, I finished Kate Atkinson's Life After Life. When I finished it, it took about 15 minutes of intense reflection for me to decide that I really, really liked it a lot. But it was definitely a lot to take in and was not a perfect book. It took a LOT of stamina to get through the first third of the book (spoiler alert: the Spanish flu was a really terrible thing that happened), but I'm glad I fought through it because it was a very rewarding, thought-provoking read.

The book is the story of a girl called Ursula Todd, who is born during a snowstorm in 1910. The umbilical cord is wrapped around her neck and she dies. Then she is born again in the same storm, but this time her mother is able to find surgical scissors and she is saved. And so Ursula's multiple lives begin. She has the same family, but lives through the early 20th century in many, many different ways. We watch her grapple with the Great War, the Spanish flu, and finally the Blitz. There was some intense, intense stuff. It made me appreciate the London blitz, especially. I also liked that she experiences the war both living in England and in Germany, and both ways from the perspective of an every day citizen of the country.

In the end, Life After Life is a testament to the role of the smallest decisions we make in our days and how they can radically impact our lives. It is a story about possibility and perseverance that I would like to read many, many more times.That being said, I'm not sure why the audiobook is so popular. Listening and not reading really took a lot away from the story for me, since I couldn't go back and compare the details of each story line. I'm not sure if I will read the sequel, A God in Ruins, but I would be open to the idea.

Up next is powering through the end of my reading challenge, though I do have to also throw in Marie Lu's The Rose Society (already overdue, oops), and the only Rainbow Rowell I have yet to read, Landline. I'm confident that I'll make it to the end of the challenge, though, which makes me feel really, really great. If you are only a blog reader, please make sure to also check out my Youtube channel, also called Book Buying with Katie! Posted a wrap up for the month of October last week which can be found here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbzQerOimi4

Thanks for reading, and for now, that's all she read!

YA, YA, YA

Current Read: Mr. Sammler's Planet by Saul Bellow
Current Listen: Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

Hello all! It's been a bit, but I do have two books to report on. I've been sprinkling in some easy to read YA among the Saul Bellow so I don't drive myself crazy. The Bellow is even harder to read than I thought it would be (I'm not much for modernism), so I needed some romance and action to tide me over. Plus, that thing has happened again where all the new books that won't renew came in at the library at the same time, so they all need to be done in two weeks. I'm scrambling, but I love it.

First, I read The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson. My review of her newer novel, I'll Give You the Sun, Can be found here: http://bookbuyingwithkatie.blogspot.com/2015/09/ill-give-you-sun-and-some-updates.html

Since I'll Give You the Sun was so devastatingly wonderful, I sought out her first book. It is the story of a girl named Lennie whose sister dies unexpectedly. Lennie has to navigate the normal perils of being 17 (read: what is sex what am I doing with my life what is friendship I just can't even) while also grieving her sister's death. Sounds like a run of the mill YA story and not anything special, but the way she writes is just gorgeous. It also had some little twists on the paradigm that were very compelling, at least to me. There are two different love interests (OH WHAT FUN!), and she is a talented musician, so the musical bits kept me very engaged.  I started it at 8 PM and finished it at around 1:30 the next morning. Please just read her books. I own them both now (oops), so if you know me please borrow them. I would also like to point out that I tweeted at Jandy Nelson twice, and she favorited both tweets. I'm twitter famous, basically.

Secondly, today I finished The Young Elites by Marie Lu. The Legend trilogy, her first three books, were some of my favorite reads of this year, so I was very excited to hear that she has a new series. They are more fantasy than Legend, and set in a mythical land rather than a dystopian one. In The Young Elites, a blood fever has spread through the country of Kenettra with disastrous consequences. Some children who survived the blood fever, have developed unusual facial characteristics and even seemingly magical powers and have been deemed the young elites. The story follows Adelina, a girl who has been used and abused by everyone. She is "rescued" by a group known as The Dagger Society, who train her to develop her powers. But everyone wants something for her, and she must figure out who she really is and what she believes in before she chooses a side.

This was a very interesting book. I was not immediately drawn into the story as I was with Legend, but in some ways it is much more complex and therefore more intriguing. Adelina is one of the growing number of main characters in popular culture who is not straightforward in her goodness. She is ambitious and power-hungry to the point of committing evil. But her inner struggle is what made the book so fun to read, since her character made it hard for anything to be predictable. I gave it a 3.5/5, but I'm definitely reading the sequel, The Rose Society, and I'm hoping the Marie Lu can develop the plot and tie everything together a little bit more.

I'm about halfway through Mr. Sammler's Planet, and it is getting better. I was STRUGGLING with the stream of consciousness for the first two chapters, and I definitely think that it would be more relatable if I were a middle-aged Jewish man, but whatever. Also, each chapter is 40 or so pages long, which is discouraging sometimes. The more I read, the more kernels of wisdom I find in it.

If you haven't already, please check me out on Youtube by searching Book Buying With Katie. That's all she wrote!

Some Quick Reads

Current Read: Mr. Sammler's Planet by Saul Bellow
Current Listen: Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

Hey Internet! A quick update for you. I've read three books in the past few days that were all pretty quick reads. I chose to take a little bit of my fall break on some relaxing reads that did not take a whole lot of brain power but were nevertheless quite enjoyable.

First, I read the first two books in the Veronica Mars series, The Thousand Dollar Tan Line and Mr. Kiss and Tell. These were written by the same man who wrote the show and movie, Rob Thomas, with the help of Jennifer Graham. I am a HUGE fan of the show, which is not super well known. It has a cult following big enough that they were able to crowdfund a movie, though. The series and he books center around Veronica Mars, a young woman working as a private investigator in Neptune, California. Both books were very true to the narrative style of the show and the characters. They were easy reads, and not particularly deep--though the mysteries were not too cheesy and unfolded well--so they were very nice for the car trip I took on Saturday. Not a lot of effort involved.

Then, the other day my friend Susie recommended I try Monster by Walter Dean Myers. I have of course heard of Myers, and I did hear that he passed away last year, but I somehow missed his books when I was younger while I was devouring middle readers and YA. Monster is narrated by a 16-year-old boy named Steve Harmon who is in jail after having been implicated in a robbery that resulted in a murder. To help deal with the experience, he decides to write everything down as a movie script, complete with descriptions of camera angles and movement directions. I whipped through this thing during an 80 minute stint on a stationary bike, It would definitely be a great read for late middle school/early high school, and I think a lot of kids in urban schools especially would be able to relate. It definitely was a good use of an afternoon.

With the Veronica Mars books, I only have four books left in the reading challenge! Just started Mr. Sammler's Planet, and then the only things left are Far From the Madding Crowd, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, and Let It Snow!  So excited that I'm actually doing it! Also, last time I checked I have read 67/55 books for my Goodreads reading challenge. Need to up the goal a little bit next year since the blogging business is making me more motivated to read.

As always, thanks for reading, and that's all she read!

Musicophilia and The Martian

Current Read: The Thousand Dollar Tan Line by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham
Current Listen: Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

Hello, Internet! First, a quick update. I made a second Youtube video! I made a video based on @booksandquills "On My Shelf" series, where she gets numbers from her followers for a shelf and a book and then just shows you five random books from her shelves! It was a fun and EASY video to make, and I just saw that she RETWEETED my tweet to her about the video, which is just amazing. She has 20k twitter follows and almost 140k Youtube subscribers, NO BIG. Also discovered this morning that she put the video up on a playlist of other responses to her series. (Insert small freak out here.) You can check out her original video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M07pGnd-ZFQ

You can find MY video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fbcYU-934g

If you want to give me a quick like and subscribe, I would really appreciate it! My goal for that video was 30 views (haha starting small), and I'm there already! It was amazing if I could get 100 views.

Now, on to what I've been reading. It is the first week of my fall break, so I've been reading and listening quite a bit. First, I finished Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks. That fulfilled the book I started but never finished category on my reading challenge. It was just an exceptional book. I took it slow to start, trying to read about a 20 page chapter a night. Oliver Sacks, who died earlier this year, wrote books that could be described almost as medical anthropology. His most famous book is probably The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, which I want to read some day. Each chapter is devoted to a different condition or phenomenon, and each chapter is full of both anecdotes based on his experience with his patients and a TON of research.

I learned a lot while reading this book, particularly about music and neuroscience, but it was so easy to read because each chapter is rooted in stories rather than just in the science. A few topics that really stood out:

-Amusia, when people cannot perceive music, often due to brain injuries or strokes
-Musical hallucinations, which are more or less "musical imagery" (songs in your head) that is completely uncontrollable and interferes with your life--several patients could not sleep because they always heard very clear music that sounded like it was being played in the next room
-Musician's dystonia, when musicians lose control over certain small muscles that impact their playing--violinists or pianists with a few fingers, and even a horn player with his embouchure
-Williams Syndrome, a condition characterized by low IQ, hypersocial behavior and a profound love of music--he described it as almost exactly the opposite of autism. This was my favorite chapter.

The whole book was just craziness. I DEFINITELY recommend it for musicians and lovers of music.

Also, I finished The Martian about a half hour ago. I've been doing a lot of cooking and listening this fall break. This book was about the perfect sci-fi adventure. I'm sure the movie (which I'm seeing tomorrow) will be EPIC. From what I see on IMDB, the casting was pretty phenomenal. Mark Watney is a pretty awesome character, so even though I'm not a HUGE Matt Damon fan, I'm sure it'll be okay.

The book itself can only be described as a love letter to science. The entire book is filled with pretty good, understandable explanations of very complicated, actual rocket science. Mark Watney, due to circumstances beyond anyone's control, is abandoned on Mars when his crew leaves amidst a dangerous dust storm. Since Mars is VERY far away, he has to figure out how to survive several years with the limited supplies given to his crew for their 30 day mission. Meanwhile, back on Earth, NASA has to figure out if there is a way to keep him alive until rescue is possible. It was so fun to listen to them think outside the box and problem solve their way to solutions, and I'm sure the movie will be a fan favorite at the Oscars this year.

Finally, a reading challenge update. I've changed one book that I'll be reading. Though I am OBVIOUSLY still going to read Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel at some point, I've decided on a shorter book for the category of "a book that is based on or that was turned into a TV show." A few weeks ago, Kristina Horner, another booktuber, was talking about the two novels that have been written based on the show Veronica Mars, which is one of my favorite shows ever. I got them both from the library and forgot until today that that was a category. They are much shorter and less dense, so I thought I would give myself a break. I might actually finish that Veronica Mars book today, because just like the show, it is so far quite addictive and fun. Audible-wise, next up is Kate Atkinson's Life After Life, which has been downloaded for months now. That's all she read!

Falling Off the Wagon

Current Read: Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks
Current Listen: Mostly Hamilton the musical...but I did start The Martian by Andy Weir

Whoo. Got a doozy of a post for you tonight. I've been reading and listening a ton, and I also bought some books. OOPS.

First, I finished Go Set a Watchmen by Harper Lee. I purposefully tried really hard not to read any reviews of this book before reading it myself. I pleasantly drifted through the first half, very much enjoying the vignettes about events later in her childhood (I particularly enjoyed the one about what happens when the church musical director tries to change the tempo of Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow) and the strong voice of Jean Louise. The stuff that everyone got upset about isn't until about half way through. I understand why they are upset, and I was sure for awhile that it would all turn out to be a big misunderstanding. I understood the point of it, and I think it's very interesting that Jean Louise must accept the same thing as we as readers have had to accept when it comes to Atticus: He is not a god. We shouldn't idolize him, I was a little let down by how everything turned out, and I don't think that it was meant to be published but I don't regret reading it at all.

I also just finished Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton, which is another one to cross off the reading challenge! This was my book that came out the year I was born. It was quite enjoyable. There were a few characters that I did not like AT ALL and thought were super annoying (the granddaughter, Lex, in particular, was way whinier than any child I've ever met), but that didn't impact my enjoyment of the suspense or the story. It was fast-paced and QUITE scary in places, much more so than the movie, which I also obviously love. No spoilers, but there is one scary dinosaur scene that scared me during the movie but was even more intense in the book. Oh, man. It was quite effective as an audiobook, as well.

Alright. Now for the confession. I had a pretty substantial book buying relapse this week. It was multi-faceted as well. First, on Monday I was browsing Audible because I get my credit for a new book on the 6th of every month. I generally use Audible when I want to read any lengthy nonfiction. I'm a huge nerd and love books that teach me things, but sometimes physically reading a nonfiction or biographical tome takes me AGES. I thought it might be fun to read Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow, since it is the basis for Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton, with which I AM COMPLETELY OBSESSED. I CAN'T STOP, GUYS. Since I couldn't decide between the Chernow and The Martian by Andy Weir, I decided to get both. I'm very excited to read the Weir (hopefully before I see the movie, but we'll see). I also picked up M.T. Anderson's Symphony for the City of the Dead, which is about Shostakovich's Leningrad Symphony and the siege of Leningrad during World War II. Excited about all three of those.

Then later in the week I was feeling a little burned out and just generally MEH, and when I was going for a soothing, meditative walk I somehow ended up at the Half Price Books across the street from my apartment. OOPS. Picked up a few things there.  I found two HarperPerennial Olive editions, which are really streamlined and PRETTY. Since I already have a copy of Everything is Illuminated by Johnathan Safran Foer (one of my favorites ever) in that edition, I thought I would pick them up. Those were State of Wonder by Ann Patchett, which I haven't read, and The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, which I have.

                        

They were cheap, I promise. And then further down the shelf was a book that I didn't recognize that had NICK HORNBY in big letters on the side, so obviously I had to at least look. It's called Speaking With the Angel, and it's a short story collection that Hornby contributed to and edited. It was produced to benefit The Treehouse Trust, an organization that advocates for education for children with autism. There's a Colin Firth story in it! Other author highlights include Zadie Smith, Dave Eggers, and Helen Fielding. Plus, there was no price anywhere on it so the guy rang it up for two bucks. I'll take it, I say! And then finally I picked up The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone, another one of those fun history buff books. It's a novelization of the life of Michaelangelo that I've heard is fun.

Seven books. Serious lapse. I have been doing very well overall, though! I have a pile with at least that many to give away. As for currently reading, Musicophilia is awesome, and I'm sure I'll ramble about it here in the new future. There are people in the world with "amusia" that literally cannot perceive music. And people have musical hallucinations. It's just so interesting, as I knew it would be. Alrighty, folks. That's all she read.

New York and Scotland

Current Read: Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
Current Listen: Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

Whoa. So many feels. I finished New York by Edward Rutherfurd last night, and I was not expecting the 9/11 section to have such an impact. Obviously you can't write a historical novel about New York City without it, but it was a bit of a trigger. This novel was an epic, I'll grant you, and I'm not sure that it will be to everyone's tastes, but I definitely found it worthwhile. I might have even liked it better than the first Rutherfurd I read, Paris.

It follows the Van Dyke and Master families (Dutch and English) through generations from the times of New Amsterdam through the 2008 recession. Along the way we also learn about many other families that reflect the diversity that New York generates throughout history. We encounter the descendants of the Masters' slave, Hudson (no last name there for obvious reasons), the Irish McDonnell family, the German Kellers, the Italian Carusos, and the Jewish Adlers. All of the story lines blend so well, and Rutherfurd generally does a great job keeping you up to speed with who each character is related to and using dramatic irony to reference things from the past. He also does a great job of making sure the generations of characters are not flat or stale and have different personalities, motivations, and perspectives. I had a fun time reading it, and I learned some things! I had no idea about the Draft Riots of 1863, for example. Also, since I just really got into Hamilton the musical, which is set for the most part in New York City around the Revolutionary War, it's been fun to put both the musical and the book into the same historical context.

I also finished At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen. I read this one quite quickly, and it was a fun little break after the seriousness of the Dickens from the previous week. In this story, Maddie Hyde travels to Scotland from Philadelphia with her husband Ellis and his best friend Hank, despite the fact that it's early 1945. Silly war getting in the way of the rich folks' plans. They also happen to be looking for the Loch Ness Monster. It was sort of a strange, unbelievable premise, but it turned out okay. A lot of complaints I have read about the book mentioned the fact that Maddie is rich and privileged and therefore hard to relate to, and I'll agree that for the first 50 pages or so that was a struggle. However, Maddie SUPER redeems herself by overcoming the privileged attitude and standing up for herself (yay feminism!). She and the cast of Scottish characters make the book worthwhile, along with Gruen's writing style.

I know I have no reason to be antsy, but I am getting a little nervous about the books I have left in the challenge. Here's an updated list:

A classic romance: Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

A book you were supposed to read in school but didn’t: Mr. Sammler’s Planet by Saul Bellow

A book with antonyms in the title: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt

A book that came out the year you were born: Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

A book set during Christmas: Let it Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle

A book based on or turned into a TV show: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

A book you started but never finished: Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks

Awesome people keep writing books that I just NEED to read (like the new Harper Lee that I just started), and those have more intense time constraints. Also, my favorite TV shows are starting up again (Mindy Project, How To Get Away with Murder, Scandal, etc.), AND Oscar contender movies have started coming out, which divides my time some more. Incidentally, would people be interested in my movie travails, or would that make this too complicated? ANYWAY. I've started the Harper Lee and also Jurassic Park, and also have been reading Musicophilia, since that seems like one that is better read a chapter a night rather than binged. I have fall break in a few weeks, so I reckon I'll get a lot done then. This blog continues to motivate me to read, which is pretty darn great!

Thanks for taking me seriously, and for now, that's all she read.

The Mystery of the Unfinished Book

Current Read: At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen
Current Listen: New York by Edward Rutherfurd

Whoa, buddy. What a week of reading. I forgot how intense Dickens is. I read A Tale of Two Cities in high school and ABSOLUTELY loved it, but I do remember several intense marathons of reading out loud so I made sure that I got everything. There's a lot of wordplay in tiny jokes in Edward Drood, and if you blink you might miss one. I miss that aspect of high school and college lit courses. Discussing books with other people is the best part of reading, in my opinion. I'm constantly demanding that people read books so I can talk to someone about them. I was actually thinking about writing a post about this topic...people seem confused sometimes when I say "I liked a book so much that I had to buy it." I tend to buy books that I have already read if I really, really loved them so I can read them again or recommend them to others. Thoughts on a longer post about this?

ANYWAY. The Mystery of Edwin Drood was Charles Dickens' last novel. It was published in serial in 1870 and is unfinished because he died in June of that year. It was shaping up to be a great novel. This was Dickens' first foray into the world of the detective or mystery story, and he introduced many different characters who could have been the murderer (if in fact Drood was murdered at all). The idea of reading an unfinished story was quite intriguing to me, and I have come up with several different things that I would have liked to happen. My best friend is performing in the musical version of the show this weekend, and I am interested to see what ending the writers of the show came up with. The story is centered around two young people, Edwin Drood and Rosabud, who have been engaged to be married since they were young. Edwin Drood's guardian is his uncle, John Jasper, who is the music master of the cathedral, Rosabud's music teacher, and an opium addict. The story takes place in the town of Cloisterham, which is universally agreed to be a depiction of Rochester, England. It is revealed early on that Edwin and Rosabud have drifted apart and do not necessarily wish to be married, and it is ALSO revealed that Jasper is enamored with Rosabud (who is repulsed by Jasper in turn). The plot is a bit difficult to describe since many, many different characters are introduced even in the first 23 chapters that were published. My two favorites were Mr. Grewgious, Rosabud's guardian (a very Angular man), and Durdles, a stonemason who is often called upon to give characters more information about the cemetery in Cloisterham. Durdles always carries a mysterious bundle and pays a youth, known as Deputy, to throw rocks at him if he is out after 10 at night.

Overall, I am not sure that I would recommend this book to people who did not already like Dickens. I find that people often need convincing to try a novel that is more than 100 years old, and so if you are new to Dickens you should probably stick to one of his more notable works. I do not, however, regret reading it. I am quite fond of Dickensian humor, it turns out. Next up is the new Sara Gruen book! It is not part of my reading challenge, but I have been on the hold list at my local library for months and it finally came in. It won't renew, obviously, so no time like the present! I'm also making good progress on New York, which is QUITE a long audio book at 36 hours. I am almost half way through it, and I just finished a LONG section on the Revolutionary War, which is one of my favorite bits of history. Next up is Tammany Hall and the Civil War.

Thank you so much for reading, and for now, that's all she read!

I'll Give You the Sun and some updates

Current Read: The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens
Current Listen: New York by Edward Rutherfurd

My name is Katie, and it has been one day since I purchased a book.

I'm ashamed. I bought two. BUT. To explain. One, The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty, was purchased with the three dollars I was given for selling a few old DVDs to Half Price Books, and I was actually GIVEN 11 cents for buying that book, since the amount I was paid was less than that of the book. The other one, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra, was purchased at a fun little thrift store in Chesterton, Indiana for 1.07. SO I paid a total of 96 cents for two books. Not feeling too guilty about it. I'm also planning on selling a bunch of books soon, which is the other benefit of actually reading everything I own. After I read it, I'll know whether or not it's a keeper that I want to re-read and recommend to others (The Shadow of the Wind) or whether it is taking up more space than I think is worth (Our Town). I'm not anticipating HATING anything that I've purchased or been given in the past, but nor am I counting on loving every single thing. Also, I'm a millennial with college debt. Sometimes I sell things because I need money. Or need to at least feel better about spending money on books.

But now to the matter at hand. The magnificent I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson. This was recommended to me by Kristina Horner in the same video that led me to Aristotle and Dante. Almost want to write her a thank you note, since these two books were two of the best that I've read all year. I'll Give You the Sun follows twins, Jude and Noah, who grew up incredibly close, but at age 14 are torn apart by tragedy. The twins share the narration, Jude at age 16 and Noah at age 13, which created both suspense and dramatic irony as the plot was teased out bit by bit. Both of the twins have an artistic sensability, which took some getting used to and almost created a sense of magical realism as the two talk to ghosts and view circumstances as though they were a part of a painting. I was brought to tears several times, but I ended the book feeling incredibly uplifted. I am holding off on buying it only because it isn't out on paperback. I also just ordered Nelson's other book, The Sky is Everywhere, from the library. So we'll see if I end up just buying both in the end.

And now for a few updates. Firstly, I have finalized the last few books of my reading challenge! It's really doable, actually. Rather than posting the whole list, I'll just show you the categories that I have yet to complete and what will go in them.
A classic romance: Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

A book more than 100 years old: The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens

A book you were supposed to read in school but didn’t: Mr. Sammler’s Planet by Saul Bellow (Finally figured out something for this! We were told to buy this for our First Year Seminar course at Butler but then never read it)

A book with antonyms in the title: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt

A book that came out the year you were born: Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

A book set during Christmas: Let it Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle

A book based on or turned into a TV show: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

A book you started but never finished: Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks (RIP)

Secondly, I've been thinking more and more about venturing into the Youtube space. I have been spending more and more time watching Youtube videos and have been exploring the world of booktubing since the BookTubeAThon a few week ago. That seemed like a LOT of fun, but I'm worried about how low my production value would be. I was thinking I would try something simple for a first video, like a video version of the TBR list that I just talked about.

Finally, I just want to express how grateful I am to everyone that has taken the time to read my thoughts on books and book buying and life. I have noticed that it has been motivating me to read more so I can write more blogs, which I think is just awesome. Reading makes me feel much better about myself than bingeing on Netflix. Finding hobbies as an adult can be tough, but this one seems like it's a keeper.

So, readers (because I have those now), what are your thoughts? Opinions on anything in my to be read? Suggestions for future posts? Should Youtube happen? Did I make any grammar mistakes?

That's all she read!

Fairy Tales, Small Towns, and Stalkers

Current Read: I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
Current Listen: New York by Edward Rutherfurd

Finished three more things! It's been a pretty relaxing weekend, and I've been listening to my audio book while shopping and running errands. Also, I just really needed to know how You ended, and I was NOT disappointed. This was a book I found that was promoted by Audible, and every review I read just raved about the reader, Santino Fontana. Fontana was the prince in the Broadway cast of Cinderella and the voice of Hans in Frozen, so I bought the book out of curiosity. He was an excellent, excellent reader, second only in my experience to Davina Porter, who reads the Outlander series.

You takes place in contemporary New York City and is narrated by Joe, a very intelligent loner who manages a rare and used book store. One day, Guinevere Beck walks into the bookshop and Joe is hooked on her. The whole book is a conversation with "Beck," and he goes to phenomenal lengths to get to know her and to win her love. He is basically a stalker, but never have I been so understanding of someone who should by all accounts be terrifying. I was reminded a bit of Lolita in that I found myself understanding where Joe was coming from against my better judgment. It was an awesome, fun thriller, and I was kept interested despite the fact that I am not normally drawn to this genre. I just discovered via Goodreads that there will be a sequel, also starring Joe! I'm slightly skeptical--I feel like a sequel might be a little formulaic--but I'll definitely read it.

I also finished Renee Ahdieh's The Wrath and the Dawn yesterday evening. I was about a third of the way through it, then read it at the gym, then came home and just read until I finished it. I love YA, and this title falls into a category that I love even MORE, the YA that re-imagines an old fairy tale. This is an AWESOME retelling of Scheherazade. The Caliph of Khorasan takes a new wife every evening and strangles her the next morning. Shahrzad's best friend is taken and killed in this way, and Shazi decides to volunteer to be his next bride in order to exact her revenge. She discovers that things are not as they seem, and there is a lot of tormented, forbidden love. It was super fun, and I'm so, so glad that a sequel comes out next May. The sequel is a fortunate happening not just because I can't get enough of these characters, but because it is easier to resist purchasing a book if I know I'll have to buy the sequel as well. Not that I would be upset if someone gave me the complete set of the Lunar Chronicles for Christmas once the last book comes out.

Finally, I decided to use the weekend to breeze through Our Town, the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Thornton Wilder.I'm sure that if I saw the play, I would be weeping all the way through Act III, but plays just don't translate very well for me unless I get a bunch of people together to read different parts, a la high school English. Worth reading, though. With these books, I've completed my Goodreads challenge to myself of reading 55 books this year, which means I need to up the ante considerably for next year. Updated challenging for those following along at home:

A book with more than 500 pages: Drums in Autumn by Diana Gabaldon

A classic romance:

A book that became a movie: Paper Towns by John Green

A book published this year: Girl on a Train by Paula Hawkins

A book with a number in the title: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

A book written by someone under 30: My Drunk Kitchen by Hannah Hart

A book with nonhuman characters: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

A funny book: Grace’s Guide by Grace Helbig

A book by a female author: Royal Wedding by Meg Cabot

A mystery or a thriller: Doll Bones by Holly Black

A book with a one-word title: Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

A book of short stories: Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

A book set in a different country: Berlin Boxing Club by Robert Sharenow

A nonfiction book: A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

A popular author’s first book: An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

A book from an author you love that you haven’t read yet: Fairest by Marissa Meyer

A book a friend recommended: Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library by Chris Grabenstein

A Pulitzer Prize-winning book: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

A book based on a true story: Odette's Secrets by Maryann Macdonald

A book at the bottom of your to-read list:

A book your mom loves: Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

A book that scares you: The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression by Andrew Solomon

A book more than 100 years old:

A book based entirely on its cover: Playing for the Commandant by Suzy Zail

A book you were supposed to read in school but didn’t:

A memoir: Yes, Please! by Amy Poehler

A book you can finish in a day: Hidden by Helen Frost

A book with antonyms in the title:

A book set somewhere you’ve always wanted to visit: Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon

A book that came out the year you were born:

A book with bad reviews: Frogged by Vivian Vande Velde

A trilogy: Legend trilogy by Marie Lu

A book from your childhood: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

A book with a love triangle: Voyager by Diana Gabaldon

A book set in the future: Cress by Marissa Meyer

A book set in high school: Armada by Ernest Cline

A book with a color in the title: Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

A book that made you cry: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz

A book with magic: Wild Born by Brandon Mull

A graphic novel: Watchmen by Alan Moore

A book by an author you’ve never read before: The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

A book you own but have never read: You by Caroline Kepnes

A book that takes place in your hometown: All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

A book that was originally written in a different language: Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

A book set during Christmas:

A book written by an author with your same initials:Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo

A play: Our Town by Thornton Wilder

A banned book: Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

A book based on or turned into a TV show:

A book you started but never finished:

I've swapped out a few titles that I read as part of the Young Hoosier Book Award nominations (I read them all for school) in favor of titles that I enjoyed more. Not that anyone noticed, which is fine.

That's all she read!

Philosopher Teens, Aliens, and Wil Wheaton

Current Read: The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh
Current Listen; You by Caroline Kepnes (narrated by Santino Fontana wow he's so good)

My name is Katie, and it has been one day since I purchased a book.

BUT I HAD TO. I REALLY DID.

Because Aristotle and Dante. I finished that book and legitimately wanted to read it again that second. One of the most honest looks at the teenage experience that I've ever read. And it was narrated by a teenage boy, which is rare and wonderful, and that teenage boy was Mexican American, which is even more rare and wonderful. AND it dealt very thoughtfully and truthfully about questioning one's sexuality. When I try to describe the plot to people I always just end up saying "ermagerd read it now" because it doesn't sound like much to write home about. Just boys growing up and being friends.But there's so much amazing stuff about family and dealing with emotions as a young person, and I wish I had read it when I was younger and struggling with everything. It was just great. There's not really anything else to say.

I also finished Armada by Ernest Cline, which fulfilled the "book set in high school" piece of my reading challenge. It was not nearly as good as Ready Player One, I must say, but I still enjoyed it quite a lot. It is set in contemporary America, and it is revealed that a popular video game is actually a military simulation designed to train the populous to fight aliens using drones. Fun, original concept. Good family related plot line, and lots and lots of fun 80s references, since it IS Ernest Cline. Wil Wheaton wins at narrating forever. I felt that the emotion in the book was genuine, if not a SMIDGE cheesy, and the story was just fun.

Haha that is not nearly enough words for those books, since I liked them both a lot. It took me too long to put this post in the world and my emotions are a little less raw and fangirl-y. I'll try to be better about that. The two I'm working on right now are both quite good as well, though. I'm thinking I might start scheduling reading time for myself. Boyfriend always laughs at how I give myself reading assignments (like the 2015 reading challenge), but I was really good at school when I did that, so sometimes schoolifying (wow, okay, words) my life is helpful.

Also, I had to buy a car over the weekend which took ALL OF MY LIFE FOREVER and there was little time for blogging. But now I have her and she is beautiful and her name is Matilda. :) Alright. Here's my book challenge for those zero people following along at home.

A book with more than 500 pages: Drums in Autumn by Diana Gabaldon

A classic romance:

A book that became a movie: Paper Towns by John Green

A book published this year: Girl on a Train by Paula Hawkins

A book with a number in the title: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

A book written by someone under 30: My Drunk Kitchen by Hannah Hart

A book with nonhuman characters: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

A funny book: Grace’s Guide by Grace Helbig

A book by a female author: Royal Wedding by Meg Cabot

A mystery or a thriller: Doll Bones by Holly Black

A book with a one-word title: Scarlet - Marissa Meyer

A book of short stories: Interpreter of Maladies - Jhumpa Lahiri

A book set in a different country: Berlin Boxing Club by Robert Sharenow

A nonfiction book: A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

A popular author’s first book: An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

A book from an author you love that you haven’t read yet: Fairest by Marissa Meyer

A book a friend recommended: Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library by Chris Grabenstein

A Pulitzer Prize-winning book: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

A book based on a true story: Odette's Secrets by Maryann Macdonald

A book at the bottom of your to-read list:

A book your mom loves: Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

A book that scares you: The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression by Andrew Solomon

A book more than 100 years old:

A book based entirely on its cover: Playing for the Commandant by Suzy Zail

A book you were supposed to read in school but didn’t:

A memoir: Yes, Please! by Amy Poehler

A book you can finish in a day: Hidden by Helen Frost

A book with antonyms in the title:

A book set somewhere you’ve always wanted to visit: Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon

A book that came out the year you were born:

A book with bad reviews: Frogged by Vivian Vande Velde

A trilogy: Legend trilogy by Marie Lu

A book from your childhood: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

A book with a love triangle: Voyager by Diana Gabaldon

A book set in the future: Cress by Marissa Meyer

A book set in high school: Armada by Ernest Cline

A book with a color in the title: Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

A book that made you cry: The Secret Tree by Natalie Standiford

A book with magic: Wild Born by Brandon Mull

A graphic novel: Watchmen by Alan Moore

A book by an author you’ve never read before: Almost Super by Marion Jensen

A book you own but have never read:

A book that takes place in your hometown: All the Bright Places

A book that was originally written in a different language: Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

A book set during Christmas:

A book written by an author with your same initials:Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo

A play:

A banned book: Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

A book based on or turned into a TV show:

A book you started but never finished:

That's all she read!