Textually Active

I was a little late with my Top Ten Tuesday (considering I’m doing one at all is pretty amazing for me)

So Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created over at The Broke and the Bookish, a blog particularly fond of creating lists. Each week a new list is created by The Broke and the Bookish and myself and my fellow bloggers respond with our top ten books that fit the category!

This weeks’ Top Ten Tuesday (or in my case Wednesday) is…

Top Ten Books on my TBR List for Winter

1. Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare
I absolutely love Cassandra Clare. Of her two series that I have read, The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices, Infernal Devices is the lesser of the two. However, that definitely doesn’t mean that it’s not worth picking up. I loved Clockwork Angel and I can’t wait to read this!

2. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
I know very little about this novel. All I know is Maggie Stiefvater is one of my favorite authors. And if The Scorpio Races turns out to be on the same level that The Wolves of Mercy Falls series was I know I’ll be hooked.

3. Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins
The question isn’t why is this on my list, its why WOULDN’T this be on my list? I loved Anna, and I know I’ll love Lola.

4. Destined by P.C. and Kristen Cast
With great hesitance I will start the 9th novel in the House of Night series. I think I lost interest somewhere around book 6? For some reason I’m still trucking through this series. My review should be pretty hilarious though.

5. Unearthly by Cynthia Hand
I have heard nothing but rave reviews for this book. I can’t wait to get it!

6. Chain Reaction by Simone Elkeles
I’ve been following the Fuentes Brothers since Perfect Chemistry. It’s going to be strange reading about the one that’s the “good” brother. If this book is anything like its predecessors I know I won’t be able to put it down.

7. Crossed by Ally Condie
I was really unsure of how I felt about Matched. One minute I loved it, the next I felt it was seriously lacking in some areas. Hopefully Crossed will leave me with a better feeling. I just have to find out if Cassia finds Ky.

8. The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore
Really The Lorien Legacies is one of few science fiction books I’ve read. I’m kind of sad that this one isn’t going to be from John’s perspective, but I just loved the first too much not to keep going.

9. Wolfsbane by Andrea Cremer
I hardly remember what happened in Nightshade, what I do remember is that I loved it. All the lies and intrigue and romance. Also, someone’s got to root for Ren.

10 The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
Once again this book has nothing but good reviews. On Goodreads it has an average of above 4 stars. I’d be stupid NOT to read this.

Happy reading =]

-Amy

 It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians Book 1)
By Rick Riordan
375 Pages
Publisher-Disney: Hyperion Books

Let me first take a moment to say I’m sorry. I have been reading this book for over a month now and that is far too long to go without reviewing! I gotta say though, this series and this book in particular is a long time coming for me. It’s been sitting on my shelf for what feels like two years. My roommate recommended it to me and for some reason I put it off. She claimed it was on par with Harry Potter, which if you know me at all (and you know my love for all things involving Mr. Potter) is hard to come by. Now I saw the movie. You know the one with Logan Lerman that came out last year. In true book to movie fashion the book was far superior. Rick Riordan knows how to take a story written about twelve year kids, and make 21 year old readers such as myself understand and relate to what is going on in the story. Of course it’s hard to relate to a story about demi-gods but that is beside the point.

I love all things Greek Mythology. I’m not sure why but I’ve always been fascinated by all the gods and goddesses, and their children that make up that world. Demi-gods seem like the perfect fit. I think part of the reason I put Percy off for so long is that I knew the ending. However, if I had known how much better the book was going to turn out than the movie I would have started it long ago. This book is almost non-stop action. Percy was a serious refresher from all the brooding vampires, werewolves, fallen angels, and faeries I’ve been reading about the last few years. He (Percy) is brave, sarcastic, witty, a bit of a bad-ass, and he’s only 12 years old. Another thing that struck me about this book is just that. Percy and Annabeth are only 12, and yet they behave like they are much older. This is one of the main reasons I loved this book so much, half the time I didn’t even notice how young they actually are. There is so much more to this story than what the movie gives you. On my goodreads account I gave The Lightning Thief 5 stars, however I’d really like to give it 4.5, simply because while yes I loved the story, it didn’t hold my attention like some other books. If you’ve seen this movie, you really need to read the book. No offense to the director Chris Columbus (he did direct Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone after all) but he cannot hold a candle to Rick Riordan. Soon I’ll be bugging my roommate for The Sea of Monsters, just so I can see where Percy Jackson goes next.

-Amy

Full synopsis of The Lightning Thief

This being really my first post I kinda hate the fact that it’s not an actual book review. However, over at The Broke and the Bookish they created a weekly feature called Top Ten Tuesdays. And since I am jumping on the blogging bandwagon, I decided to partake in Top Ten Tuesdays myself! Top Ten Tuesday is basically a list of ten books that apply to whatever the topic of the week is!

This week’s topic is…

Ten Books That I Read That Were Outside Of My Comfort Zone

(Before I begin I would like to add that these books are not in any order. My fellow bloggers may be ranking them, and I may in the future, but for this particular list, there kinda just thrown in there)

1. Twilight By Stephenie Meyer-I won’t even get into how I feel about The Twilight Saga (that would take pages of text) but at the time I read Twilight, I think I was around 16, it was like nothing I had ever read before. Paranormal fiction just wasn’t in my repertoire at the time. Vampire romance was completely outside of my comfort zone. If you really want to have the Twilight debate with me, please feel free to comment. Chances are I will never review them.

2. Across the Universe by Beth Revis-Let me preface this by saying Across the Universe is one of the best books I’ve read this year, if not ever. Anyway, science fiction is not cup of tea. Sure, I like Star Wars as much as the next person, but I usually strayed away from the science fiction genre of literature. I don’t know if it was the pretty cover, or awesome reviews it was getting that drew me to Across the Universe, but I’m sure glad I did.

3. Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life by Bryan Lee O’Malley-I’ll be honest, the movie prompted me to read this. I was never into graphic novels, I’m still not, but a movie as fantastic as Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World had to stem from something equally as awesome. Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life and its sequels are just as hilarious as their movie counterpart, along with adorable illustrations.

4. The Kiss by Kathryn Harrison-I had to read this non-fiction memoir for my Creative Non-Fiction class last semester. The seriously taboo topic of incest gave me the heeby jeebies. An interesting read, and definitely unlike anything I had ever read before.

5. Incarceron by Catherine Fisher-I’m really only including Incarceron because it was, and still is, one the most unique concepts for a story that I have ever heard of. When I picked it up the in bookstore I was a little wary of, but something (the literature gods) were telling me to read that book. The concept is unlike anything I have ever come across. Some crazy combination of fantasy and paranormal that I was simply in love with. If only its’ sequel had been just as good.

6. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer-The combination of stories thrown together in one novel was also different from my usual choice. This book sounds so incredibly real you’d mistake for a non-fiction novel. That along with the compelling drawings and photographs made this book definitely fall outside of my comfort zone at the time, and made me more daring when it came to choosing what to read.

7. Tuesdays With Morrie By Mitch Albom-This book falls outside my comfort zone in large part cause it was read to me, instead of me reading it. Each Tuesday in my sociology class in high school my teacher would read us a chapter of Tuesdays with Morrie. Once again I am not a huge fan of non-fiction books. I don’t purposefully avoid them but I would much rather read fiction.

8. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley-Credit this man with my increasing obsession with dystopic novels. Never before had I read something so compelling, or jaw-dropping as this novel. I love it to pieces.

9. In the Forest of the Night by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes-Probably the first paranormal book I ever read. I think i was in 8th grade, at my best friend at the time recommended this novel. Atwater-Rhodes creates a world so visual its impossible not to get lost in it. For being only around 15 when she wrote her first novel that’s pretty impressive writing. Also the fact that I was only 14 when I read this, and the sexual imagery in it, made it well outside the realm of my 14 year old comfort zone.

10. Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld-I’d hate for Curtis Sittenfeld to read this but frankly, I hated this novel. I have no idea what made me even finish it, but for some crazy reason I did. The reason it’s outside of my comfort zone is because it was literally uncomfortable to read. It made me squeamish. So…better luck next time Mr. Sittenfeld.

There you have it my first Top Ten Tuesday, kinda bittersweet. Hope you guys enjoyed it!

Hi, my name is Amy, and I’m a book-aholic

If you read the information on my profile…go head and do it I’ll give you a second…it is by no means my life story. Who could fit their entire life in that space? However, this blog is dedicated to something that does make up a large portion of my life. Simply put; books. For the last four or five years, my high school and college career has been focused solely on one thing, become an English teacher. No matter what it takes, ignore the nagging feeling in the back of your mind telling you that you don’t want this, just do it. And up until recently it’s been an good process. I really felt, for a period there, that this really is what I’m meant to do. Inspire (ideally) thousands of kids to love reading, and to cherish the written word like I do. It has only been in the last few weeks that I decided to actually listen to that voice in the back of my head, and basically throw my plan out the window. In all honesty, this scares the shit out of me.

Now before I get ahead of myself, I don’t have to change my major, I don’t have to drop out of school. I’ll still graduate when I thought I would…if not sooner. But changing your life plan, if only slightly, is fucking scary. Like it says also in my information, it has been a journey of probably close to ten years now, consuming as much literature as I can. Now I’ve always been a reader. My Mom taught me to read before I even started school. I read as much as the next kid growing up, it wasn’t until high school that literature became this all encompassing entity in my life. At the time in high school I also loved to write. I told myself I should be a journalist. And while I still love to write, that passion has dwindled since high school. After I realized I would never be a good enough writer to do it professionally, I decided around my senior year of high school, to be a teacher. Specifically an English teacher…of course. Even then, when I decided that I should be a teacher, I don’t think it was for the right reasons. I loved, more than anything, reading and I excelled in English. I thought, why not? I could do that. I could be a teacher. It was never “Yes I am destined to be this.” And that is the unfortunate case with a lot of people today, they are doing whatever will make them money, whatever falls into their lap. It may be foolish, it may sound corny, but I don’t want to settle. I just didn’t realize this until very recently. Up until around two weeks ago I was still okay with settling.

I began my clinical observation hours this semester. For those of you who are not hip to that lingo, it just means I have to sit in a middle school and high school for 40 hours, and observe a real English teacher in action. I use the present tense because I am still doing this. It has never felt more pointless. Well…it has made some impact on me. It made me realize that teaching is not what I want for myself. Which I guess in the long run, will make this a rewarding experience. In the end its better I figure this out now, than a year from now when I would have been getting ready to student teach. When I finally said it, not just in my head but out loud, “I don’t think I want to be a teacher anymore, ” it was like a huge weight was lifted off my chest. I was standing in my bedroom, the words were directed at my boyfriend, Nick, but I think I was speaking to myself more than anything. Immediately I felt lighter. It scared me, saying those words out loud, but somehow I felt happy. I knew then, with that feeling, that I was making the right decision. After that my true ambition became pretty damn clear. What I want to do, with the rest of my life, is read…and get paid for it =]

Now while I do realize this is close to impossible, I could pursue something pretty damn close. Book editor/publisher. I entertained this idea in the past. I let the glorious dream of reading for a living dance around in my head, out of reach of reality. Now, it will be a reality. I will make this happen for me. When people ask me what I’m talented at the first and only thing that comes into my head is reading. How can a person be “good” at reading? Painting, writing, playing an instrument, those are talents. Reading? That’s not a talent. At least that’s what I told myself for a long time. However, reading, successfully being able to read and analyze literature, is a skill I have honed. I read fast, I read critically, and I read well. Not counting the fact that I read a book or more a week. So when I say I read a lot, its the complete truth. I read a lot. More than the average college student that’s for sure. This blog is not only to share my passion with the rest of the world, it is to hopefully get a footing in the book review world and see what I can do with it. What this long protracted speech comes down to is this; my future may be more uncertain than ever, but I couldn’t be happier about it. I will find a way to still inspire kids to read like I did, and still do. Eating up novels like they’re candy.

I should warn you before hand, I may be 21 but the large majority of what I read is YA, or young adult literature. I feel if adults can write books for teenagers, I can read and review them. I’ll be honest, I love YA. People have tried, and failed, in the past to move me from YA to adult, because let’s face it at 21 I am, as much as I hate to admit it sometimes, an adult. I can’t break this habit though. YA has stuck with me since books took over my life. So if you’re interested in “adult” books, I suggest you go somewhere else. Unless I get a request this blog will be devoted in large part to the YA books and authors I love so much. Hopefully I will get a following on here. Even if it’s just my friends and family, that will be a good start. And one day I’ll be working for Simon and Schuster or Scholastic, or Penguin or any of the other countless publishing companies, and I will be reading for a living. Just like I was supposed to do all along.Enjoy =]