Day 5: 5 Books To Bring to a Desert Island

So for Day 5 of the 30 Day Book Challenge it asks which 5 books would be the ones that you would bring to a desert island and why?

1. SAS Survival Handbook: For Any Climate, In Any Situation. Obviously, I am going to need something to help me keep myself alive and so on. Especially since I would die within a few days because I would have absolutely no idea what I'm doing!



















2. The Complete Novels of Jane Austen. I own this book personally, and I am very sad that I still am only on the third novel. I know!! It's so bad of me! Obviously, I need to continue to live vicariously through the intricate love lives of the strong women of her novels. I don't know what I would do without being able to read about my Mr. Darcy!!

3. A Suitable Boy. This is a pretty big book that I have somewhere that I have yet to read. I got it from my high school novels class and I loved some of the other books that she gave/recommended for me and because it is longer, it would keep my attention longer and waste more time while I am bored alone.













4. The Complete Poems of Elizabeth Bishop. Elizabeth is one of my favorite poets. I love her poems and having her complete poems would be a very good option for me to ponder over and read.
















5. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I chose this book because it is another longer book that I own and have yet to read. I also chose it because of the philosophical leanings. My mind needs to be kept thinking and working, otherwise I'm afraid I would end up talking to a volleyball friend like Tom Hanks.





These books are the ones that I would bring with me to a desert island. I think that they are pretty different from each other. What books would you bring?? Ones that you've already read? Ones you haven't? Survival books?

Day 4! My least favorite characters

For Day 4 of the 30 Day Book Challenge is all about what book characters you hate!

Now, I can be pretty judgmental on book characters, but trying to think of book characters that I hated was actually kind of hard. These are what I came up with!

1. Dolores Umbridge. There is a reason that this woman is numero uno on my list. She is THE BIGGEST BIOTCH that ever made me throw a book across the room. Seriously. I threw Harry Potter across the room. I know! It's sacrilegious!! Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix made me very angry and Umbridge was the main reason. Ugh I just hate her.

2. Romeo and Juliet. Yep. They are both here and together. Why? Because they are the dumbest couple that I have ever read about. "I love this girl. Oh. Nope. That one's prettier. I love her!" "I don't get any attention from boys until you, so I love you too." "I'm gonna pretend to be dead and NOT tell my secret husband because I'm a total idiot." "OMG you're dead! I'm gonna kill myself because I'm a complete idiot." "OMG why are you dead? I'm gonna kill myself for real now." You have now read the entire Romeo and Juliet play without all the annoying language. -_- They are just too dumb for me.

3. Bella Swan. Yes. I hated her before the movies and the horrible acting of a certain actress. Again, she is just really dumb and it really bothers me. She is awkward and I just can't help but hate her. I'm sorry, but the movies have just totally vindicated my hate of her even more.

You may not think that I have very good reasons, but I cannot help but read about these characters and just hate them. These are just MY opinions!

What are your least favorite characters??

A Love/Hate for American Gods

So, for one of my book clubs, I read the book American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

This book took me almost a month to read. A MONTH! Books never take me that long!! It was just so boring! I cared about what was going to happen and I did really like some of the characters, but I honestly didn't really get into the book until the last few chapters.

I really liked the theme of religion, especially the old religions, throughout the book. You quickly find out that a lot of the characters in the book are gods and goddesses of pagan religions. There is a big tension between the "gods" of today like television, money, etc, vs the old gods that have very few followers and believers in America.

There is a lot of talk about how people today view religion and god or gods. I found the book very thought provoking and philosophical. I happen to be a pagan, so for me it really made me think about religion a lot and what I believe in and re-evaluate.

I really loved the writing of the book. That is one of my favorite parts of this book. Neil writes very close-handed. By that, I mean that it is like someone at poker. You do not know any more than what the author wants, and he only releases certain details slowly and at the perfect times. You don't know exactly what is going on until the last chapter or two.

There were a couple of really weird things about the writing style though. There would be random parts that had absolutely nothing to do with the plot of the story. They were just other random parts where the story kind of had to with old gods and things, but it was just kind of weird and I think totally unneeded parts that could have been left out of the book.

Have you read this book?? What did you think of it?

Library Haulin from the School Library

So I am in my home away from home for the weekend. I go to college a couple hours away from home and since I am going to be moving back in a few weeks anyways, I figured why not see if they library is open and get some stuff! (Even though I have 5 more books ordered for the library at home...)

So here is what I got!!!

I was perusing the Browsing section, since it is a college library it is mainly for academic books, but they do get browsing books as well, and then I came across the non-fiction browsing. Now, I am not the most avid memoir/biography reader, though I have read a few, but these just totally stuck out to me!!

I LOVE books written by comedians, well I love the Chelsea Handler books anyways!! I saw the title, and just automatically grabbed. Who doesn't feel like this sometimes? 24 pages in...I think I might just have to look up her comedy and totally, like, stalk her. Because she's awesome!

For a Women's Studies class that I took last semester we had to read a lot of memoirs, especially ones about mother-daughter relationships stuck with me. I'm a momma's girl. Don't hate. And I just happen to love Diane Keaton, I think she is a gorgeously unique person, so I picked it up too :)








Then, I decided I needed the Criminal Minds Season 2. I only one season 1, so yea.









Have you gotten any good library finds lately??

Day 3 My Favorite Book Characters!

So for Day 3 of the 30 Day challenge, it asks what your favorite book characters are. This is going to be a little bit of an overlap with some of my favorite books, because one of the things that makes me love a book so much are the characters! I also don't really like picking the obvious characters that most people would automatically pick.

So here they are :)

1. Sam Gamgee from Lord of the Rings. I LOVE Sam! I just think he is so cute! I love how he is so loyal and, personally, I think he is just so strong of a character! I even think that he is stronger than Frodo (GASP! I know!!), but he has to be. He is just so pure and I really love that about him.

2. Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter. This is not the obvious character that everyone would automatically think of, but I just can't help but think she is totally awesome! She is just so weird and out there, but a totally good person. I just love her character, it's crazy - I know, just like her :)

3. Spencer Hastings from Pretty Little Liars. Okay, just bear with me here. I am on a little bit of a Pretty Little Liars book binge....the first four in four days and I am about to order the next four from the library. But seriously, I love Spencer's character in the books. I love her in the show too, but just not as much as the books. In the books she's more of a badass, which I LOVE! Class, smarts, and a bit of a rebel streak? You go girl!

4. Poe from Secret Society Girl. In the first book, I hated him. In the second book, I thought that he had kind of redeemed himself. And by the third book, I loved him. The thing I love the most about this character, is the depth of the character himself. Every book you learn more about him, it is like peeling back layers, and yea he may have made some bad decisions. *cough* Almost ruining his, now girlfriend's life *cough* But he totally makes up for it in his devotion to her :) And I totally think he's dreamy. But I digress.

5. Christoper John Frances Boone from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. First off, if you haven't read this book...Go. Now. READ IT. Christopher is different from the other kids, he has asperger's. It is a mild form of autism, and because of it, he has no understanding of human emotions. Reading the book from his point of view, you get such a sense for the character and throughout the story you really feel for him. He's the kind of character that really sticks with you and teaches you something, and that is why he is one of my favorites.

These are just a few of my favorite characters, because I pretty much have a favorite character from every book!! Do you like, or even dislike, any of these characters? What are your favorite characters??

Day 2 Five LEAST Favorite Books

This is actually kind of hard for me. I don't read books that I don't like. I will literally just stop reading if I don't like something, usually anyways...

Here are five books that I am really NOT a fan of:

1. Romeo and Juliet. I HATE Romeo and Juliet. I'm sorry if you are a fan, but I cannot stand this one. They are just so DUMB and I cannot help but just want to smack them both. I was forced to read this ridiculousness for high school.

2. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I know that a lot of people like this book, but I just cannot make myself like it. It was torture to read for class. The part that I REALLY hated was the language. It was horrible. It took me forever to understand what on earth they were trying to say!!

3. From a Buick 8. I personally pretty much like Stephen King's books, but this one I could not read past chapter 1. Maybe it gets better...but I doubt it. It just was not the book for me. And so here it is on the list.

4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Why was this book ever recommended to me??? I just cannot understand how someone would think that I would like a book that, to me at least, is just SO dumb! It's pretty much on Romeo and Juliet-I'm gonna kill myself because you're dead level. I just can't.

5. The Odyssey. I don't hate this one nearly as much as these other books, I don't even really hate it. It's just not one of my favorite books and it was pretty boring to read. It is good though, so I do still recommend it, I just ran out of books that I didn't like.

So those are my least favorite books. These are just MY opinions! What are your least favorite books?

Day 1 of 30 Day Challenge!

Day 1: Your 10 Favorite Books of All Time

This is definitely going to be a hard one! They are not in any specific order.

1. Harry Potter Series: I am just going to lump them all into one because I cannot choose between them all! I grew up, literally, on Harry Potter. They absolutely HAD to be on this list.

2. The Fellowship of the Ring: This is my favorite book of the Lord of the Rings series. I wouldn't put all of them together because I actually didn't really like The Two Towers- I was so bored with it I took a two year break in the middle of reading it!! The books are amazing though and I really love this one because it sets up the whole world and it's just a beautiful book.

3. Wide Sargasso Sea: This was a book that my Senior year Novels class teacher gave to me. It was a wonderful book! This is a book that tells you how the original Mrs. Rochester became the crazy locked up woman of Jane Eyre. You really feel for the character and I really like that it goes into how someone turns crazy.

4. A Series of Unfortunate Events Series: I love this series! It is so much fun, all of the things that they go through to find out what really happened and everything.

5. The Black Jewels Trilogy: I know that there are more books now, but when I read them there were only three. I love the world of these books and it is such a roller coaster ride as you go through her life.

6. The DaVinci Code: LOVE it! It's amazing and I just cannot help loving the quest that Langdon goes on and I think that it really can open your mind if you let it.

7. Old Magic: This is a book by an Australian author that I found and I have probably read it 5 times or more. I love it more every time. It is magic in the real world and then they end up going to the past to fight a powerful wizard. I can never get enough of it and I have been dying for them to make a movie of this.

8. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler: If you haven't read this, you should. It is sooo cute! Two kids decide to runaway from home and they do it be living inside of a museum! I want to live inside of a museum...Then they discover something and search for the truth on a possibly famous work of art.

9. The Alexandria Link: This is the second book in the Cotton Malone series. It is about searching for the lost Library of Alexandria (which happens to be an obsession of mine). It was my first Steve Berry book and I cannot help but have it be my absolute favorite!

10. The Fountainhead: This book may be epically long, but it is more than worth reading. If you haven't read any Ayn Rand, then read any of it. Her books are full of philosophical ideas and they really make you think, which I love!

There are some other books that are TOTALLY worth being on this list, but I am pretty happy with the ones that I have :)

What are your 10 favorite books of all time? Have you read any of these? Did you like them too?