shang-a-lang sound

Holy crap new decade!!!

Can you believe we are going to be looking back on this one like we did with the 50s and 80s and so on? And how are you supposed to refer to it? Leggings and Kanye glasses were popular back in the...two thousands? So what's this decade? The twenty tens? Weird.

To be retrospective, this was a pretty uneventful year. I got back from Florida in early January so I really consider the whole experience to be more 2008. It's honestly been school. Period. However, I did make some good school friends this year, bonded with my younger cousin, did "Halloween" up right for once, payed off my car, went to a wedding, found that my opinion actually matters at work, learned the its/it's rule, became the bearer of our family Thanksgiving noodle recipe, took a class on old campus, had a major crush, purchased two pairs of chuck taylors, and saw the Jonas Brothers in concert. I'd say it was fairly successful.

This year was also successful in the amount of books I read. I love that my job requires me to read kids and young adult books. Here's the stuff I read in 2009:

1. Austenland by Shannon Hale
2. Fablehaven by Brendon Mull
3. The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson (Got 3/4 of the way through. Did NOT like.)
4. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
5. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
6. Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
7. Peter and the Shadow Thieves by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
8. Peter and the Secret of Rundoon by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
9. Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List by Rachael Cohn and David Levithan
10. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaimen
11. The Legend of Holly Claus by Brittany Ryan
12. A Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones
13. Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy by Ally Carter
14. The Heroines by Eileen Favorite
15. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachael Cohn and David Levithan
16. Ransom My Heart by Meg Cabot
17. Tales from the Hood by Michael Buckley
18. Generation Dead by Daniel Waters
19. Luna by Julie Ann Peters
20. Paper Towns by John Green
21. A Little Bit Wicked by Kristen Chenoweth
22. Cybele's Secret by Juliet Marillier
23. Beastly by Alex Flinn
24. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K Rowling
25. Looking for Alaska by John Green
26. Party Princess by Meg Cabot
27. Sweet Sixteen Princess by Meg Cabot
28. Princess on the Brink by Meg Cabot
29. Princess Mia by Meg Cabot
30. Forever Princess by Meg Cabot (Oh don't look at me that way, they're funny okay!)
31. The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale
32. Don't Judge a Girl by her Cover by Ally Cater
33. Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher
34. Devilish by Maureen Johnson
35. Wings by Aprilynne Pike
36. How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas Foster
37. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
38. The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett
39. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
40. Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause
41. Last of the Mohicans by James Fenmore Cooper
42. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
43. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
44. Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
45. Soulless by Gail Carriger
46. 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson
47. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
48. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
49. House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne
50. The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance by Elna Baker
51. The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker by Leanna Renee Hieber
52. Scones and Sensibility by Lindsay Eland

Not a bad haul. My initial goal was to read 100 books and obviously that didn't happen. But 50 isn't awful when you are also trying to have somewhat of a life. Of my dreaded unread stack I have only read two titles. But it's also been the holidays and I've been working so I'll let it slide this once.

Happy New Year!!!

some people read because they cannot think for themselves

It is freaking cold out. I haven't constantly had my nose pressed against the window, but I'm fairly sure it has been snowing nonstop for the past two days. I love being inside and watching it from where it's nice and warm but actually venturing out into it is such a nightmare.

Tis' the season for finals. I only have 3 more and my monster term paper, due at the end of this week. I'm significantly less stressed than last semester, which is good.

So to the point of today's blog:

I finally got my floating bookshelves up today! Admittedly, they are making me a tad nervous. They seem sturdy enough, but I just don't like not having good ol' fashioned wood holding them up! The large shelf supposedly is supposed to be able to hold 20lbs. I weighed all seven of the Harry Potter books, plus Beedle the Bard, and Harry's textbooks and all that came to 16.5 pounds. But still. They look precarious. This addition meant that books needed to be shuffled around because of extra space. As I began to move books around I began to make mental notes of which ones I haven't read yet. The mental list began to grow. I thought, hey, wouldn't it be fun to see just how many books I own that I haven't read? Thus did a good two hours of procrastination begin.

Here is a stack of all of the books I intend to read.



No, dear reader, your eyes do not deceive you. That first stack is literally crammed between floor and ceiling. Remember, these are books I intend to read. Not ones that I have already read or ones that I will probably never read that I got out of pity from various discount bins or for free that will most likely be donated very soon.

Holy crap I have a lot of books. When I take them out of their natural environment, the veil is lifted. Where did I get all of these?! I know the 3/4 of the books that have been purchased were from Borders when I had my discount. I bought a couple of books a week, give or take. Oh to be young and unburdened with fiscal responsibility. I remember the week right before I left, Borders had an enormous sale of overstock books from stores throughout the region. Most of them were between one and three dollars. I came home with a box. That's where that box behind more door came from! I still have it and always wonder why I came home with one. Mystery solved.

Anyway, the rest are mostly books I had from before I worked there, free advanced readers copies I have gotten throughout the years from both Borders and An Open Book, and books from the trade show I attended in September.

I began to muse over which of these neglected books will be making the journey with me to Florida. This has been a conundrum that I have brought to Sam's attention in the past. She has been instructed to be a hard ass and only let me take a small bookshelf-full. I am confident that she will fulfill her duty with pleasure.

So here is my goal. To get as many of these 153 books read as possible before I leave for Florida.

The more books I read the less I will be tempted to bring with me, see? I am aware that, even being a stupidly fast reader, there is no way I will be able to read them all by this summer. Especially accounting for the fact that I do still need to pass my last semester to graduate. But maybe this self-challenge will be a kick in the pants for me. I haven't read for fun in over a month and a half. As much as I blame this on required reading I know it isn't true. Most of my time is wasted on the internet doing nothing. Really, nothing. I find myself checking the same sites 2 and 3 times a day. That's ridiculous.

This blog (since it really hasn't been used for anything else) is going to become my progress report. I may move the whole project to totally different blog, but for now, this will be its home.

While taking the tower down from the hallway, the top books began to fall. I quickly threw myself at it to keep the entire thing from toppling over, hollering for my freakishly tall 7 year old brother (oh wait...he's how old? 16?! not possible) to come help me. Caleb came running and tried to help me carefully take down the top of the stack. Kendal, however, proceeded to tickle me and a moment later I found myself on the floor, covered in books, with a sore eye, the beginnings of a bloody Marsha Brady nose, and screaming obscenities at the top of my voice.

I was pissed but found a silver lining. I sat down in the middle of the mess and began to write down the books where they fell closest to me. I am going to try and read them in that order. That way I don't skip the books I'm always skipping and just read new ones.

Hooray, hooray, I'm your silver lining.

So there's that. I hope this won't be one of those projects I undertake and give up after a few months. I'm really going to try and see it through. I'm thinking that I'm going to really start this weekend after I don't have to worry about finals anymore. I'm also hoping that you guys don't get really bored of reading book reviews. :)

The book that fell closest to me is called The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker. I had no idea that I had it or what it's about. Off to a great start.

*Edit* This idea was thought up before I got the email from my senior lit professor about the reading material we'll be needing for next semester. ELEVEN BOOKS...balls.