Too Busy Reading to Post

I am not being productive, working on anything for school, cleaning my house or hanging out with friends.

I am reading Breaking Dawn like the cool kid I am.

So don't bother me.

But feel free to read about how it's breaking sales records...

Do You Realize What Today Is?

Today is August 1.

It is not just the first day of the second half of the year. It's not just the first day I get my health insurance back. It is not just another Friday.

Today (or rather, tonight), Breaking Dawn is released in bookstores everywhere.


If I can stay awake long enough, I will stand in line at Border's until 12:00AM when I get my hands on a copy and probably start reading immediately.

Call me a teenage-wanna-be but I'm pumped.

TEAM EDWARD!

Vampires Rule Comic-Con

Apparently fans of the book series waiting in anticipation for the movie have whipped Comic-Con into a Twilight frenzy.

Read VH1's report on the cast's Comic-Con panel

I can't even imagine 6,000 teenagers (and probably a bunch of weird adults like me who like the books) screaming and/or declaring allegiance to Team Edward or Team Jacob.***

Author Stephenie Meyer also sat down for an exclusive video interview at Comic-Con with Entertainment Weekly. Here's a link to the first clip--click here for the other 3 parts of the interview, including information about Breaking Dawn--out one week from Saturday!

Stephenie Meyer EW.Com interview

***I, by the way, am totally on Team Edward. A beautiful vampire or a hairy werewolf? No contest.

Twilight Trailer

Okay I'm not sure what I think about this but here it is, a longer trailer for Twilight:



I have a feeling this movie will not be what I imagined--from the trailer it looks awfully action vampire-y rather than the love story I enjoyed so much.

Either way, like I've said before, I'll be there on 12.12.08 to see it. I should probably stop trying to pretend I'll be anything but ridiculously excited alongside all those teenyboppers.

Only two more weeks until Breaking Dawn!

POST 300: 3 Fun Things

1. Weeds
This week's episode was pretty great, actually. Back to the old quick-witted humor, bizarre antics and hysterical family interactions. I thought Celia returning was going to be stupid, but she totally fits into the motley Botwin crew. I love that Nancy has to work retail at an outlet mall on the border and that she finally apologized to and/or thanked everyone in her family--AND that she actually admitted she was a terrible drug dealer. I hope this seasons continues to get better and better!

2. Wanted
I went to see this movie with my sister and her friend over the weekend--mainly because I had already seen every other movie I was remotely interested in seeing and because Wanted featured Chicago. I was in Chicago, so it made sense even though honestly I had no idea what the movie was about. Turns out, it was super violent, pretty insane plot-wise, kinda goofy at times... but also very entertaining and full of fantastic special effects. Things I didn't like: The stupid train wreck part and Morgan Freeman dropping an F bomb not once but twice! That is Samuel L Jackson crap. Things I loved: James McEvoy dripping wet and the part where he flipped his car over a gangster guy's limo and shot him through the sunroof.

3. Swapping Lives by Jane Green
So I thought I was way beyond chick lit but I am having fun reading this book! It was a little hard to start but now I am hooked and it is very cute. Jane Green is a great story teller and really makes you like and identify with her characters. Nothing intellectual or ground-breaking here but a fun "beach read" amidst all of the education stuff I'm reading right now.

THAT WAS MY 300th POST! CRAZY!

Fang You Very Much

Thank you, Entertainment Weekly for this:


I know I haven't blogged about it yet, but I am kind of obsessed with Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series. I read all three books in under 2 weeks--just totally ate them up. Aaaaand I may or may not have fallen in love with a fictional vampire. Ha! The movie may not come out until December, but EW already has it on the cover of this week's issue.

I'm still not sold on the casting (Edward is soooo not pretty enough!) but I will totally be at the movie on opening day, pretty or not. 12.12.08-- such a long time to wait! However, coming up much sooner is the release of the fourth book in the series-- Breaking Dawn, out August 1!

Books a Million

The Big Read 100

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.

2) Italicize those you intend to read.

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen (One of my favorites)
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien (How is it possible I never read these?)
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4. The Harry Potter Series - JK Rowling (It's both because I've read two of them. Yeah, I know.)
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6. The Bible (Not the whole thing but parts. Does that count?)
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte (senior year of HS)
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell (also in school)
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller (Summer reading for AP English)
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare (Again both because I've read some but not all.)
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger (SO much fun reading this sophomore year with Mrs. Wilcox)
19. The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger (on my shelf waiting to be read)
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell (the movie was enough for me...)
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald (AP English with Prib--not my favorite)
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy (but I have read Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky, does that count?)
25. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams (DON'T PANIC.)
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh (I want to read this before I see the movie!)
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky (oops there it is!)
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck (Read it five or more times. My favorite!)
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll (Jabberwocky was enough for me)
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy (It was on Oprah's Book Club list, after all)
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis (Only The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe)
34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen (Want to read for sure after seeing Jane Austen Book Club)
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis (mmmm Peter)
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini (LOVE this book and especially love his second book)
38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne (Never a huge Pooh fan)
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown (Wayyyyy overhyped but interesting)
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery (Love these books)
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood (school again)
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding (We not only had to read this horrible book in school but also saw a horrible play)
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan (Sooooo good)
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen ((I'm reading it again right now in 144 installations from dailylit.com)
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley (yeah another one read in high school)
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon (Such fun!)
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez (better than 100 Year of Solitude for sure)
61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck (Lenny and that mouse! Oh my gosh)
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold (An excellent book but a little disturbing at times--I wish her follow-up would have been as good)
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones’ Diary - Helen Fielding (Love the books, love the movies, LOVE Colin Firth)
69. Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker (I love epistolary/journal novels!!!)
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath (Eh)
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray (waiting on my bookshelf)
80. Possession - AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens (Not a huge Dickens fan but I can tolerate this one)
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker (Goooooooood that book is depressing)
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry .
87. Charlotte’s Web - EB White (EB White was a childhood favorite)
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom (Eh. Frankly, I thought it was a tad trite.)
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad (I HATED reading this book in high school.)
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare (not my favorite Shakespeare but better after re-reading it last summer for a class)
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl (Roald Dahl is awesome--the Twits, James and the Giant Peach--awesome)
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo (I love this story!)

Read count: 43--thanks mostly in part to my high school honors and AP English classes and also thanks to my book nerdiness

To be read: (only) 10-- sighhhhh... just add em to the list. I have about 100 waiting in my big cabinet.

Another Quickie Book Review

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
I literally read this book in one day. I couldn't get enough of it and ended up suffering through a pretty terrible sunburn thanks to sitting in the sun for about 5 hours and reading it. But guess what? It was worth it.

I loved this book. It's the story of a man who leaves veterinary school after a personal tragedy and hops on a train... a train that ends up being a circus train and a new, crazy, mysterious, dangerous, magical chapter in this man's life begins. Gruen did a TON of research about circus trains to get every detail as authentic as possible and it shows--I was not only entertained by the love story and thrilled by the murder plot but also learned a lot about the fascinating world of a depression-era train circus.

If you haven't read this book, go get it and read it now. You'll thank me later. Just make sure you have a whole day to read it cause if you're anything like me, you won't want to put it down. *****

HBO Has Their 'Cake' and Eats It, Too!

I just posted my review of it (even though I did finish reading it about a month ago) but now know I'm not the only one who enjoyed Sloane Crossley's I Was Told There'd Be Cake (apart from, of course, the thousands of readers who put it on the Bestseller list).

HBO has purchased the rights to Crossley's Cake and are planning to create a new series based on the book. How fun is that? Another great author getting her media reward for excellent writing.

Crossley says it's more Larry David than Sex and the City so we'll see how it turns out...but you can bet I'll be tuning in for it no matter what!

Three Quickie Book Reviews

Such a Pretty Fat by Jen Lancaster
Another Jen Lancaster masterpiece! I laughed out loud on several occasions and she also inspired me at the same time. It was a very real look at losing weight with plenty of hysterical anecdotes thrown in for good measure. Quintessential Jen--I can't wait for her next book... but will it be young adult fiction or another memoir? Check out Jennsylvania.com for more about the book and Jen's amazingly clever (and only a tad cynical) take on life. A total must-read. *****


The Life Before Her Eyes by Laura Kasischke
This book was overall... confusing. It switched back and forth between the present and the past but without much notice. I felt like I knew early on that the girl and the woman were the same person, but they never actually really said that was the case for sure. I read it very quickly and it was filled with intricate description but I can't say that I enjoyed it much. However, I am excited to see the movie starring Evan Rachel Wood and Uma Thurman [click here to watch the trailer] because I think that the story will be easier to follow with visual representations rather than trying to dissect the vague characters of the book. **

I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley
I heard about this book of essays from Jen Lancaster's blog (see Such a Pretty Fat, above) and was excited to see it on the Buy One, Get One 1/2 Off table at Border's. I was slow to get into it but once I did, I found her writing to be just the right amount of snarky, and the essays were actually very entertaining. I especially loved the essay about her name. Sometimes I found myself thinking "did this really happen to her?" but you know what? I bet it did. ****

A Book Nerd's Virtual Dream Come True

I came across this site today and was actually really excited about it!

Zoomii.com is like a virtual bookstore--everything on Amazon.com in a more Borders-like, browsing-friendly set up. Zoom in, zoom out, click on a book to read a summary, add books to your check-out basket, etc. etc.

It won't replace going to the bookstore to browse and pick out books, but it's definitely another fun option--especially for passing time online.

Ode to Fat Camp

I loved Stephanie Klein's memoir Straight Up and Dirty. Now, following in the footsteps of Jen Lancaster (though they are not so much friends as supercompetitors) Klein has written her memoir of being overweight in Moose. Although... Jen's is more about life as a somewhat overweight adult and Klein's is about being overweight in childhood (Hello! Check out the video she is super thin now).

Anyway from the looks of this "book trailer" I'm going to love reading this book (Book trailer! Who knew?):



P.S. I finished Such a Pretty Fat! Review coming soon. Next up: I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley

Random 5

1. My mom is way into The Office lately. Hilarious. She was cracking up watching reruns last night on TBS and now she actually requested to watch a few episodes on DVD tonight. I'm glad she finally appreciates this show! We'll have to watch this season (at least the season finale, which was hysterical) on NBC.com.

2. I'm almost through with Such a Pretty Fat by Jen Lancaster. A rave review will follow my completion. The great thing about subbing is using plan period to read! Too bad I can't do that next year. I'll have to actually... plan. Right.

3. Somehow I got hooked on Keeping Up With the Kardashians. I blame E! marathons and a Memorial Day with nothing else on TV. First it was just mildly ridiculous. Then I kinda sorta started to get into it. Now I find myself scouring the program guide looking for the next time it's on (not until Saturday--ah!). Sad but true. Especially since the entire family has the same voice. Weirds me out but I can't stop watching.

4. This Chicago Tribune article about censorship in high schools is super disturbing, especially since I am just beginning my career as a yearbook/newspaper adviser and my students keep telling me how they want to go "deeper" with their stories next year. Let's hope I can keep my job!

5. Yeah, I said I probably would and I am. I'm watching the second audition night for So You Think You Can Dance. The summer hasn't even begun and I'm already desperate for something to watch on TV. Yikes.

Amnesia is So Hot Right Now

I just finished Sophie Kinsella's latest novel, Remember Me? As I was reading about a woman waking up from a coma and not remembering her life, conveniently inflicted with partial retrograde amnesia, I thought to myself, "haven't I heard this one before?" Right. It's basically the premise for Samantha Who? (one of my favorite new TV shows this season). The show and book are so uncannily similar that both titles even end in a question mark. Scary, I know.

The close resemblance of the book to the show really didn't take anything away from Remember Me? but it did leave me with one big conclusion: amnesia is so hot right now. I swear I can't throw a remote around without bumping into someone in a coma who wakes up and can't remember anything about themselves, whether it's a medical drama or rerun of While You Were Sleeping.

For some reason, audiences seem captivated by the idea of someone who forgets everything about her life and gets to "start over" and change who she was. Maybe it's a fantasy that everyone has--at least everyone who carries around any guilt or regret (so, yeah, basically everyone). I enjoy it but I'm not sure it's because I wish I could get a hard bump on the head (darn those car accidents!) and wake up with no memory of anything bad I've ever done.

Plus if I could have Todd from Samantha Who? or Jon from Remember Me? waiting anxiously for me to wake up, that would be just lovely.

Quickie Review: Earthly Pleasures

Somehow I have found time to read lately, and I blew through this one. Earthly Pleasures by Karen Neches started off great. The premise is very creative and original: Skye works as a "greeter" in the welcoming center of Heaven. She provides orientation for people who have just died and the entire description of heaven is pretty amazing--people can type anything into their "Wishberry" and it materializes immediately! God is a woman who works in the HP Sector (Higher Power) and they watch people still alive on a reality show called "Earthly Pleasures."

Fun so far, right?

Well, about halfway through, the story turns away from heaven to a pretty ridiculous romance complete with mistaken identities, a crazy old woman (there may have been more than one), multiple comas, and a former celebrity playboy-turned-nice guy.

I really wish a) the second half of the book would've incorporated more of heaven or b) the book would've ended halfway through. Overall, an easy read and the first half is definitely enjoyable, but it was hard to really like it by the end.

Oh and I'm pretty sure anyone very religious wouldn't really like it. What I liked about heaven and God being different may not fly with others. Proceed with Caution, Christians!

Wednesday Run-Down

Teenage Pothead Idol Voters, I LOATHE YOU
Once again, America, you made the wrong decision last night on Idol. I'm not the hugest Brooke fan, but truly and honestly, Jason was HORRIBLE on Tuesday night. He doesn't even seem to want to be there, and I read something on some blog today (lost the link) that he is "ready to go home." We are ready for you to go home, too, Jason. You are NOT a good singer and should NOT be in the top 4. Utterly unbelievable. Who is his fan base anyway? I don't get it. This has by far been the most outrageous singer. I'm starting to miss Kristy Lee Cook. At least she could carry a tune on occasion.

Little Tykes Kitchen Set
How much fun was last night's episode of Top Chef? I loved having the kids as sous chefs--they lightened things up and brought some much-needed humor to the show. This season has been full of good cooking but not so much with the drama. Which is good for the competition, bad for entertainment. However, how many freaking twists can Padma throw in? First only 15 minutes for the quickfire challenge, then only $10 for a budget, then kid chefs? Next they'll have to tie one hand behind their backs or not be able to talk to their team or have to use one fish to feed a thousand... er, right. SNL's parody a few weeks ago isn't too far off! I'm excited for the wedding episode next week, although I wish it was a super cute gay couple again.

Goodbye, My Almost Lover
While working on my portfolio, I have been listening to A Fine Frenzy pretty much non-stop. It invades my thoughts and even my dreams--I can't stop singing it in my head.

Bookworm Update
Earthy Pleasures--finished! Review coming soon...
Next up: Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella

My Portfolio--oh, oh, oh-oh!
5 standards done out of 10! Woohoo! Halfway there!

Quickie Review: The Know It All

After what seemed like quite a while but was really only about two weeks, I finally finished The Know It All by AJ Jacobs. How much fun was this book? Not only did I learn about everything from Animals to Zeros, but it was intertwined with a bunch of fun anecdotes, an unsuccessful run on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, crazy Mensa conventions, a couple's struggle to conceive and way too many attempts to impress others with (pretty much) useless knowledge. Education + entertainment = absolutely enjoyable!

Check out this description and excerpt from Jacobs' web site

I'm definitely going to read Jacobs' other book, The Year of Living Biblically, in which he writes about his quest to obey all the rules of the Bible for an entire year. If it's half as entertaining as The Know It All, I'm sure I'll love it.

Television and Movies <3 Books!

How much do I love the TV/movie industry right now? They keep pumping out awesome adaptations of some of my favorite books.

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult is heading to the big screen soon. The Memory Keeper's Daughter premiered on Lifetime last weekend. Gossip Girl is a breakout show on the CW (not necessarily my favorite books, but entertaining nonetheless). Even Lipstick Jungle was pretty fun overall as a series on NBC (I still say it would have been better without Brooke Shields).

Now another great author is getting her movie and TV dues. Jennifer Weiner, who already had one book adapted into a movie (In Her Shoes--love it!) has Little Earthquakes and The Guy Not Taken in movie development. She also reportedly has now inked a deal with ABC to develop a gal-friendly series.


I can't wait to watch that show and I don't even know what it's about yet!

Let the "Book-Reading Nerd" Chant Begin

David and Chad and Tony love to tease me about my reading "habit." I think in their weird little picture of me I'm holed up in a cave with a million books around me, just devouring them page after page. It's really not like that.

BUT

If I did have a cave of books, apparently I should include these 110 Books that Britain's Telegraph decided make up the "perfect library."

Guess What?

I only own 23 out of 110. Guess I'm not a book nerd after all!

Quickie Review: Everybody Into The Pool

For some reason, it took me like two days to get through the first "true tale" in Beth Lisick's Everybody Into the Pool. I don't know how that happened, since it took me only about 4 hours to finish the entire rest of the book!

Lisick's memoir made me laugh, made me feel uncomfortable for her awkwardness, and made me think--all great things when reading a book, at least in my opinion. In her humorous way, she tackles real subjects and real life events that anybody can relate to, no matter if you lived in San Francisco and traveled around with a lesbian motorcycle group or not (Me? Not so much). A super quick read (apparently once you get past the first ten pages) and lots of fun. *****

Next up: The Know-It All by AJ Jacobs--an Esquire editor reveals his journey through the entire encyclopedia. I already started it and I freaking love it.