Books I Read

Dewey The Library Cat

By

It’s been quite the year. I survived a wild, whirlwind of a summer followed by an even more wild fall. In September I started my masters program in Library Science, began a new job, and moved across the state. Now it’s November and I don’t know where 2016 went or how it’s already time to pull out my Christmas movie watch list again!

I have been blogging, just not here (I know. Terrible). For library class we each keep a blog of our class reflections and reading take aways. If you’re dying to read some stuff that makes little sense out of context, check it out.

Meanwhile, I’ve been making a Herculean effort to keep up with my personal reading. Hopefully getting back into my blog updates will help with that.

deweydookLast Friday I finished the book Dewey The Library Cat by Vicki Myron absolutely bawling. It’s the true story of a kitten that was abandoned in a library book return in rural Iowa and grew up to become the joy of the small town public library. Dewey was a big, fluffy orange tabby who spent his days snuggling with kids during story hour, sitting in on important meetings, and sleeping on as many laps as he could. Honestly, living in a library has always been a childhood fantasy of mine so I was incredibly jealous as I read about Dewey’s glorious life.

There was also a lot in the book about the changes rural Iowa went through during the 1980’s farming crisis and beyond. It was a part of history I’d never thought about, at all, and having it as part of this heartwarming story of a library cat made the book that much better. I wouldn’t say I loved the writing but I can certainly see why people loved Dewey.

If you don’t have time to read the book (and it’s past time to own up to the fact that most of us don’t), here’s a cute YouTube video from the Iowa Public Access story on Dewey. It’s very 80s and the librarian glasses are a riot.

Book Review: Convincing Leopold

By

It’s hard to believe that I read my first Ava March book a little over a year ago. Since then I’ve read almost everything else she’s written, including this ARC of the re-release of Convincing Leopold.

Convincing Leopold is the sequel to Convincing Arthur. This is what I love about Ava – she writes the first book about her rakish and uptight men fighting their feelings for each other, a falling in love tale. In the second she shows us what happens after the happy ending. In this book that means challenging her characters to keep the promises they made when they initially got together.

I liked seeing their struggle – the real fears come to life that weren’t just manifestations of jealousy and paranoia. There is a real and present danger that this tenuous relationship may crumble when faced with the inherent incompatibility of the characters’ day to day life. I really enjoyed this book, more than the first one even. Plus it set up the third book in the series (which hasn’t been released yet) and I love a good tie in.

Read more about Ava and her Regency M/M Erotica here.

Ten Best Books I Read This Year

1 Comment / By

I made this list for obvious reasons. Obvious to me but since you’re not in my head, here they are:

  1. I love lists.
  2. It’s the end of December* so end of year top ten lists are all the rage.
  3. I read a whole lot of books this year that you should read too.

Ten Best Books I Read in 2015

Come As You Are by Emily Nagoski – have questions about your sexuality? (if you don’t are you sure you’re human?) This book is for you. It’s for all of us.

Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari – It makes you think, it makes you laugh, and I loved it.

Wallbanger by Alice Clayton – Oh wow. Just so much love for this one!

The Duff by Kody Keplinger – This is an awesome YA novel to read at any age and the movie absolutely doesn’t do it justice.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman – This one is a life changer for sure.

Sandman Volumes 1-10 by Neil Gaiman – I don’t recommend binge reading these like I did. They are intense.

Tanglewreck by Jeanette Winterson – I was surprised to find out Jeanette Winterson wrote a book for young readers. Turns out it’s only in the youth section because the heroine is twelve.

The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown – If you haven’t read anything by Brene, do so now.

A Room with a View by E. M. Forster – delightful

How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran – Hilarious, insightful, and relevant.

Happy reading!

 

*Note: When I started writing this list, it WAS the end of December.

 

 

Stuff I’ve Done – The Outtakes

By
  • I have managed to spill coffee on myself, my couch, my afghan, or my floor every day for the past three months. I’m not even surprised anymore.
  • I finished my NaNoWriMo challenge with 2 days to spare! The last week was tough because what I thought was the midpoint was actually the climax and the whole book needs to be rewritten from that scene onward. So I wrote down how I want to do the rewrite then wrote some fun scenes with the characters. Like fan fic of my own fic. Now the whole thing is simmering until I decide to pick it up again.
  • I got over the half way hurdle with the line edits on my novel. Now that there’s some semblance of an end in sight, the editing is going far more smoothly. One for the win column.
  • The Christmas movie watching obsession has officially begun! I’ve been watching them for weeks already but it wasn’t official until December 1st. Some of these movies I’ve seen a dozen times and watching them is like meeting old friends. And not the ones you’d assume. Oh I watch the classics – It’s a Wonderful Life, White Christmas, Elf, Love Actually…but the ones that I most look forward to? The ABC Family Originals. Particularly the ones with the insane plot lines and actors who used to be singers (or models or child TV stars). My end goal here is to some day have a list of the 25 absolute best Christmas movies ever, all defended with brilliant examples and screen shots.
  • I make my bed every morning and tell myself that it’s basically the same thing as having a clean house.
  • Of course I’ve been reading A LOT. I have a stack of books to share and I hope to get caught up before the year is out. I started two new reading challenges for myself – my own personalized 100 Books to Read Before You Die list (all the classics I feel I might not hate) and a list of romance authors to read before the next RT convention. More on these later. Also look for my list of the top books I’ve read this year – that’ll be showing up sometime around December 31st.
  • And now I’ve got another book to plan because why have one book project going when you can have three?

Books, A Love Affair

2 Comments / By

I’m having a love affair with books. What we have is precious, a once in a lifetime romance. I always have more than one book going at a time in order to keep a well-rounded, healthy reading life. (P.S. my mother says that if I spend as much time and energy on exercising as I do on researching, acquiring, and reading books I’d be in great shape.)

My categories:

The romance novel. This one is partially research for my own writing but mostly a fun, tittilating read. I devour these books. I have to read them within days or else they consume my mind, making it impossible to think about anything but the book.

The non-fiction book. This is usually on my current, personal research topic. At the moment I am researching relationships, dating, and media. You would not believe the number of fascinating books on this topic that have come out in the past year.

The bed stand book. This is also a non-fiction book and, frankly, one that puts me to sleep. I find it relaxing to fall asleep to a book. Though sometimes I start to dream, wake up, and continue reading and often I can’t distinguish what was in my dream and what was in the book.

The self help book. I know. You’re thinking – what can you possibly have to improve about yourself? You’re perfect already.

The book needs to go back to the library but I’m determined to read it before the due date. This happens more often than you’d think.

There you have it. The books of my reading harem.

This Week I Read… October 10th Edition

By

On this week I read, I introduce what as become an fascination of mine – dating and relationship books. One of my life goals is to become a relationship expert. Not an expert at HAVING relationships, an expert on how other people do, see?

Unknown-2Anyways, I read Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari. You’ve probably heard of this book – it’s kind of a big deal. Unlike the other celebrity books that have come out in the past few years, this one is not a memoir, cookbook, or autobiography. It is a social study of modern relationships as explored through focus groups, audience interactions during comedy shows, and interviews with psychologists, sociologists, and relationship experts. It’s informative, it presents some fascinating ideas about dating and technology, and it has that wonderful hint of Aziz humor that we know and love. A great book if you’re:

  1. single and want to get into online dating
  2. frustrated with your lack of online dating success
  3. don’t understand what the deal is with online dating and why all these people are doing it
  4. studying to become a relationship expert
  5. really into Aziz Ansari
  6. need some interesting factoids to spice up your conversations during awkward social interactions

I personally am doing a bit of 4, 5, AND 6.

A Whirlwind of Books (Wouldn’t that be cool!)

By

Since I’ve been in the process of moving the site for the past week or so, I haven’t had a chance to update you all on my latest literary conquests! So here they are:Unknown-1

Last week I read Wallbanger by Alice Clayton. If you like smut, especially funny smut, you really can’t get any better than Alice Clayton. I aspire to write smut this hilarious! Thank you, Alice Clayton for writing this book and then for writing four more in the series so I don’t have to say goodbye to your comedy genius just yet!
Of course, before I go on to read the rest of the series, I had to finish up some library books whose impending due dates and lack of renewal opportunities rushed them to the top of the list. One of thesUnknowne was You Are A Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by Jen Sincero. It was transformative. Every time I read a passage I thought, that’s right, I am awesome, I can do this, I can be the best me I can be! Of course, as with most books, I’ve only retained about 30% of what I read. But that 30% is remarkably useful.

The section that really spoke to me was about money. I am someone who can get by on very little money. I am also someone who has lived my life up until now viewing money as the root of all evils. What Jen Sincero points out is that money isn’t an enemy or a friend, it isn’t anything really until we apply the emotional, cultural, and psychological aspects of our interactions with and surrounding it to the picture. Money is not the root of all evil. I don’t have to be afraid of making it or not making it. But I do need to accept that there is a certain amount of money that I need to  accomplish what I want (improving living situation, eating healthy, giving back, financing my writing, etc.). That amount is my goal. Not the bare minimum I can live on, not the money I’d make if I sold out my dreams, the amount I need to accomplish what I want to do. So I’m going to try out this new attitude and see what happens.

I am currently devouring Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari so look for that review coming up in a few days!

This Week I Read…

By

Welcome to the September 14th Edition of This Week I Read…

Since I started working at the public library, I have discovered so many new and interesting books (like A LOT of books!). I’ve mastered the inter-library loan system that allows me to get books from anywhere in Michigan. The only problem is, when five of these requests show up at the same time, I only have three weeks to read them. Challenge accepted.

One of those books was Adulting: How to be a Grown-Up in 468 Easy(ish) Steps by Kelly Williams Brown. Love the title. Love the format (a book long list!). Some of it was funny, some serious, some obvious, and some new. Overall I’d say, according to this book, I am about 33% of the way to being a grown-up. Not bad. Not bad at all.

It feels like something I should have written. If I had, it would be less useful and far more ridiculous. Since I didn’t it, I commend Kelly Williams Brown for writing a book that had some very funny moments in it and a lot of practical, useful ideas. I particularly recommend the section about friendships. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it means to be a good friend, how to break up with toxic friends, and what the appropriate boundaries are for what type of friend (I get SO much TMI!). Thanks for the tips Kelly!

This Week I Read…

1 Comment / By

I completely spaced out and forgot to post this Tuesday. I was sitting on imgresthe couch, thinking there was something I needed to do. I decided it was take a nap. So now here I am, posting my this week’s reads on Thursday (don’t even ask about yesterday, I have no excuse).

I finished the Princess Diaries! The last two books were so good I couldn’t stop reading. I spent all of July 4th with my face buried in book 10.

First up there was Princess Diaries IX: Princess Mia, then Princess Diaries X: Forever Princess.

imgres-1And finally, the one I’d been waiting to read for months, the reason I started this reading adventure – The Princess Diaries XI: Royal Wedding.

I was curious to see if, years after the last book was released, Meg Cabot could keep the story alive. And you know what? She did. It was like visiting an old friend you have  n’t seen in a while and picking up as though no time at all imgres-2had passed. I loved seeing what happens to Mia (and everyone else) after high school. It was fun and funny with just a hint of the very ridiculous.

This Week I Read…June 30th Edition

By

Welcome back to another edition of “This Week I Read.” Firstimages up was, surprise, The Princess Diaries Volume VII: Party Princess by Meg Cabot. I’m moving into the books I don’t remember as well, which only adds to the adventure. I mean, how did I forget Grandmere’s play?! It is a triumph my dear, a triumph.

I did take a break from the Princess Diaries this week because I watched the movie The Duff. I read the book, The Duff by Kody Keplinger, a few months ago soimgres-1 I was excited about the film. It did not live up to my expectations at all. See, the brilliant thing about the book is it deals with real issues, not issues adults think are appropriate for teenagers. The book is full of swearing, sex, alcoholism, bullying and more. The movie takes on some of that, well the bullying part, but makes it a cliche commentary on high school hierarchies that is disappointing and ineptly dealt with. The controversial material that makes the book one of the best contemporary YA novels I’ve ever read is dumbed down and ignored. No one is going to argue that cyberbullying is ok. But seventeen year olds who hate each other having meaningless sex and hiding it from their friends? Things just got interesting. So, obviously, I had to reread the book .