A Sign Of Four: Another Sherlockian Quest

I actually really loved the romance that blooms in this book! I did not even really see it coming. I took note that her name was Mary, and I kind of wondered at it, especially with how Watson kept narrating that they looked back on the events in certain ways, which made it more and more obvious that she became his Mary.

I don't know how I feel about Sherlock using cocaine. I'm not shocked because it is mentioned in the 1980's show and referenced in the current, and just seems to be a common knowledge of Sherlock. It makes me kind of sad, but at the same time I can see why he does it. He has such manic tendencies, that drug use is not surprising.

I like how it all went along, but I am definitely ready for Watson to get a lot better at observing and deducing himself. Obviously, I still loved the story and the chase, and of course the integration of Toby!! :) You'll only understand if you've seen The Great Mouse Detective.

Pictures from: Bored Mary and Watson Toby

A Study in Sherlock: A Review

I've always loved Sherlock Holmes. Anything Sherlock Holmes. Seriously.

My first memory of Sherlock Holmes is probably while watching The Great Mouse Detective. If you have not watched this movie, crawl out from under your rock and go watch it. Now. Seriously. It's Disney. It's based off of Sherlock Holmes and there's cute talking animals.

The second memory would probably be of a book that my mom had, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. I always wanted to read it, and by the time I took it down, my younger brothers had ripped pages out and colored in it with crayons T_T

From there, I watched everything I could on Sherlock Holmes to fill the void of sadness. I even watched some of the black and white movies. I especially love the 1980's BBC show and obviously, I love the new Sherlock, duh!

Just recently, I read A Study In Scarlet, the very first novel introducing Sherlock and Watson and the beginning of their adventures.

I gave this book a 5 out of 5 Stars. :)

I loved it! It was really nice to read the introduction between Watson and Sherlock. You really get a sense of awe that Watson has for Sherlock, which I kind of hope doesn't stay. I like it for the first novel, because he does seem so beyond comprehension with his abilities. I can't wait to read more :) I have read The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes before, and now I have all of the other works besides The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes. It was not included in the ebook compilation that I bought because of apparent copyright issues in the US. 

Have you read any Sherlock Holmes? Do you love it? Have you seen any of the shows? How amazing is Benedict Cumberbatch?!

Look What I Just Got!!!!!

Okay, so just so you are aware, this post will probably be full of ridiculousness. I gave you fair warning.

OH MY FRICKING GOD!

I GOT THE MOST AMAZING THING EVER!

SERIOUSLY.

So one day, I was perusing the local Wal-Mart and just happened to come upon...

ISN'T IT FRICKING GORGEOUS?!?!?!?!

The picture seriously doesn't even do it justice. It's a gorgeous grey with the etching and the awesome gold on there. The whole thing is like a velvety-suede kind of fabric, if that makes any sense. 

It's just so soft and I just want to hold it to my chest and stroke it.

Which I did.

In the store.

#DontCare

I just needed it in my life, but I told myself no. You already have it. Are you really going to read it again? It's $21 (practically a steal if you ask me, but hey, money is rough). 

So I waited.

And WAITED.

And then finally, I couldn't stand it anymore. After work I briskly-walked into that baby and picked up the most beautiful that I have come to own. Legit.

What is the most beautiful book that you own? Do you ever just find something and you're just like, I NEED you!?

And did I mention that today, well now it's yesterday, but I haven't gone to sleep, so today- is World Penguin Day?!

I Love Penguins 

Okay, I need to address the big dragon in the room...

Can we just take a second and look at "The Hobbit." An AMAZING book. So good. Needs more credit. Needs to be read by like, everyone. Ever. Serious.

Now, let us look at the two movies that they are calling "The Hobbit."

I do not want to hear anything about the stupid appendix parts that they are adding. I want to talk about everything they have SO WRONG it makes me cringe and want to cry.

The first movie, I was so mad that they got the dialogue wrong when Gandalf showed up at Bilbo's, because, come on. How can you get this wrong? It was written for you. And was a pretty witty moment that made me immediately fall for the book. How dare you? So yea, I'm pretty salty about it. Still. Then it went along and it was ok, and suddenly we get closer to the end and all of a freaking sudden there are a bunch of freaking orcs everywhere and I'm like, "What the hell are you bloody doing???" You can't just put a species in that part that wasn't there. You just can't. Still, the ending was pretty okay, I just knew I couldn't see the second part in theaters, (which is where I saw the first part and my friend had to keep telling me to shut up) but I was resigned to watching.

The second part comes out. I wait for it to get out on DVD and then I keep procrastinating watching it. Finally, I go to my mom's house and it's just there and I sigh and take it home to put it in.

OH MY FREAKING GOD.

It was WORSE than the first part! HOW could it be worse???? Seriously, the entire freaking movie I'm sitting there going, "That didn't happen. That didn't happen. Okay you got the spider part, yay you. That didn't happen. That didn't happen. WHAT DO YOU MEAN ALL THE DWARVES AREN'T GOING TO THE MOUNTAIN?!?!"

I am SO disappointed in Peter Jackson right now. I feel betrayed. I feel like he slapped Tolkien in the face and said, "No bit**, I'm doing it my way." It makes me want to cry.

And the ending. Ughhh the ending. Noooooot a fan. Not a fan at all. Not even a cliff hanger. Not even really that awesome. Dragon is just like I'm gonna go kill everyone and flies off. Ugh.

Can I just point out how AMAZING this movie could have been? The dialogue is great, the action is awesome, the growth of the characters is moving (expect for the snafu with Thorin until someone practically slaps him in the face to wake up). The Hobbit is an amazing book, and done faithfully could be truly epic and be right on par with Lord of the Rings. It could be worthy of every oscar at the Academy Awards if it had been done faithfully to the book. I am just so sad that the fans aren't even being thought of.

I will still watch the third one, in hopeless hope that they will wake up and smell the book pages and come through with the last one, but in all honesty I am just prepared to hate it.

Book Haul!!!!

Okay, I totally did not plan buying so many books today...

Yesterday I decided I was going to go to Goodwill today because books there are ridiculously cheap and I have been binge watching booktube videos since yesterday. I've been finding so many new good channels and I've been watching hauls, and yea, I just really wanted to buy books. Hardcovers are $1.79 at my Goodwill. Paperbacks are $0.89. Yea. You can see why I had to go.

Then, I was just looking around on Amazon and making a wish list and then all of a sudden I found some ridiculously cheap kindle books, and I just couldn't help myself....

My books from Goodwill:

Bottom to top: The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern : Literally caught my eye. Most beautiful book cover I've ever seen.

The Other Side and Back by Sylvia Browne : I just freaking lover her and all of her books so I jumped right on this.

Insight: Case Files from the Psychic World by Sylvia Browne : Same reason as the previous book.

Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin : Saw the movie. Decided to get the book. Why not?

The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler : Ummm, did anyone else see Jane Austen in the title?? Yea. So did I. I've actually read this before and seen the movie. But still. Needed it on my shelf. And it's really cute.

A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks : Don't have it. Love Nicholas Sparks. Love the movie. Needed it.

The Jefferson Key by Steve Berry : Now that I have this, I only need 5 more Steve Berry books. Including the ebook only books. Yea I have a need for them. A NEED!!! 

And now my Kindle books :)

OMG. So excited. If you haven't heard of Steelheart. Go look it up. Go read the synopsis. And then Go get it. I know you will. 

Next, Beautiful Ruins. I've seen this book everywhere. Library. Book websites. Everyone seems to recommend it. It was cheap and I am interested in reading it, so yea I got it.

And finally, The Last Heiress. I have an Egyptian passion. I should be more specific, an Ancient Egyptian passion. Everything. The pantheon. The pharaohs. Yea. I needed this in my life. It's about Tut's wife. Yup. Yup. Had to get.

I can't wait to dive into these books. Especially my kindle books because I actually have not read a single ebook since I got my nook tablet. What's wrong with me???

Highlighted in Yellow 3-16-14

So this is going to by my first "Highlighted in Yellow" post. These posts are going to be quotes from a book that I own that is called "Highlighted in Yellow" by H. Jackson Brown, Jr., and Rochelle Pennington. The book is full of inspirational quotes and sayings and other things that really make you think about, and evaluate yourself and your life. I'm going to post these at least once a week, hopefully more.

Enjoy :)

"I expect to pass through this world but once. Therefore, if there be any good that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now, for I shall not pass this way again."

-William Penn

*quote from the section on Kindness

...It's been over a year....

Wow. Seriously? I really had not realized that I had not posted on here since November of 2012. How sad. Well, there were some very good reasons. One being that I have not had a laptop since May 2013. It's kind of hard to try and write a blog post from a cell phone or a tablet. If you have done so, I applaud you. I don't have the patience for that. Between November and May I was completely stressing out over my last year of college and being the House President in my sorority and spending all other energy on not going off on one of my roommates. Excuses are for the weak, so call me weak.

If you have not gathered, I am now a college graduate! Yay! I now have a degree that is pretty much useless unless I spend thousands more dollars to go back to school again to get a masters degree. I have no intention of doing such a thing any time soon. After almost 20 years of being stuck in school, I am rebelling!! I do not want to do any more papers, fill my head with any more useless information, or listen to some teacher drone on about something I really don't care about.

The Plan.

1. Get a job that can pay my bills. DONE! I'm not the biggest fan of my job, or my workplace, but I do work 40 hours a week and get a nice, steady paycheck that has been helping me pay off all of the other debt besides student loans that I gained while going to school.

2. Get a laptop again. DONE! :) Go me. Laptop is quite essential to whole plan really. I got a MacBook Pro 13 inch. It's lovely. If you hate apple, you can avoid commenting, because I love it. Windows 8 is an abomination and I refuse to use it, hence me getting a Mac, because everything else and it's mother has Windows 8. Ew. Plus they last really well.

3. Continue with blog and possibly join the booktube community. Obviously continuing reading and putting up reviews and things book related on here is not only enjoyable, but something that I think will give me a good background. As for youtube, I am seriously considering it. I have been for some time, and I'm just not sure if I really want to take the dive...but we shall see.

4. Write a book. This has been on my life list since I was probably 10. I love books. I love reading. I actually even like writing. So now I just need to stop procrastination and get myself writing. It's going to be difficult, but if I can do this, then I can do anything. :)

I shall return with fervor. I have so many ideas and things waiting to be put into action that I will probably become annoying, so get ready.