Preview to Summer Link-Up: 5 Books Every Young Woman Should Read

April 28, 2013 Filed Under: Reading/Books Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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The ‘Preview to Summer’ blogger book swap is officially under way! I’m so excited. We got our partners earlier this week and I’ve been having lots of fun getting to know a new blogger in the process.

Another Sunday means another link-up leading up to the final book swap, and I’m linking up on Spillerena!

Today’s question: What are 5 books every young woman should read?

There are a lot of books out there that young women should read, if we’re being honest. I think a lot of people will say that there are some classics that are an absolute must, and I wouldn’t disagree about that in the least. But I’ve never been very interested in classics. They have never appealed to me or impacted me the way some other books & characters have in past years.

I think everyone will have different favorites that they think are a “must” for future generations. In my experience (as a bookseller, working with teens) and in my own personal growing-up experience, there are some not-so-classic classics that I think every growing teen girl should read!

1. Harry Potter – the entire series by J.K Rowling (tell me you were surprised, honestly!)

I grew up on these books and discovered what falling in love with books, characters and words on a page was about. I would not be ME without those books, I would not know what it means to lay in bed for an entire day just to devour the pages that one of my favorite authors has written. Hermione was a character that I looked up to and, in a way, still do. Every young woman (and girl, teenager) should be able to have this feeling with books.

harry potter series

2. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares

I don’t even know where to start with this series. It affected me on so many levels growing up, it’s ridiculous. Tibby, Lena, Bee & Carmen encompass a little bit of what every young woman should be. Brave Bee, outspoken (and slightly self-conscious) Carmen, beautiful and modest Lena, and the creative yet nerdy Tibby. My friends were these girls. I became these girls. I vacationed in Greece with my three best friends and could only think of the Sisterhood. It’s a story of friendship that every girl out there should know!

sisterhoodSee also: my favorite book-to-movie adaptation, like, ever. 

3. The Jessica Darling series by Megan McCafferty

I read this series a little bit late, but it still affected me so much more than I realized at the time. Jessica Darling- she is ME. Or rather, she was me growing up. Every young woman should read Jessica Darling, because I guarantee we ALL have something in common with her as we go through our awkward teen years. She is funny, witty, discovers love, embarrasses herself on a daily basis, and learns that it’s okay to be YOU. She is a wonderful literary role model that every young woman should discover.

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4. 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson

Growing up, I was always told to travel as much and as often as I could. I’m sad I waited until I was an adult to discover and fall in love with the rest of the world, instead of uselessly spending my time and money as a teenager. 13 Little Blue Envelopes is a coming of age story for teen girls. It touches upon tough situations, love, heartbreak, and of course, travel. This book made me fall more in love with Europe than I already was, and Ginny Blackstone is an absolutely amazing exploration of what it really means to be a teenage girl going through life.

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5. the Confessions of Georgia Nicholson series by Louise Rennison

I had to dig way back for this one, search through my Goodreads & look through all the books I have read. The fifth spot was tough to fill because I’ve ready So many great books that have potential for this spot, but I needed to put something that has stuck with me over time. I read these books in high school and they were exactly what I needed. Georgia is the best, most hilarious character I have ever read, and she just goes through the most ridiculous teenager moments, you can’t help but fall completely head over heels in love with this girl from the very first book. The entire series is worth reading, and I must admit it taught me a good lesson in not taking myself too seriously!

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What would make your must-read list for young women?

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Blog Awards & Such!

February 8, 2013 Filed Under: Blogs & Blogging Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

About a year and a half ago, I was nominated for the blogger Liebster Award, and it was a wonderful honor. This week, the awesome blogger Kimberly Erskine nominated me for the award once again, and I am just as honored and thrilled to be chosen. I love that this award has been making its rounds over the years, and I love that I have been privileged to be recognized multiple times for writing something that has impacted another blogger in the world. Thank, you, Kimberly!

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It seems that the award has some rules, and I’m too-happy to follow along:
1. Each person must post 11 things about themselves.
2. Answer the questions that the tagger set for you plus create 11 questions for the people you’ve tagged to answer.
3. Choose 11 people and link them in your post.
4. Go to their page and tell them.
5. No tag backs!
The 11 bloggers I”m tagging for this award:
Eeep I’m a Blogger| Lisa’s Yarns| Sweet Green Tangerine| With Faith and Grace| Curious Notions| Lovely Explorer| Veni Vidi Vici| Stephany Writes| Girl With the Red Hair| This Unscripted Life| Angie Eats Peace|
Some of these ladies have been in my Google Reader for YEARS, and some are more recent, but they’re all the blogs that I immediately open when I have the chance to catch up on my blog reading. They’re inspirational, they post thoughtful, well-written pieces that never fail to inspire me in one way or another. I consider them all friends in one way or another, and I can’t recommend them all enough for you if you enjoy the writing you see around here. We all have rather similar interests, so check them out! :)
If you girls feel like participating, here are my 11 questions for you:
1. Why did you start blogging, and more importantly why have you chosen to continue it over the years?
2. What was the ONE most important moment of 2012 for you, and why?
3. If you were on a deserted island and could have any three things, what would they be?
4. What is your current favorite song that I should be listening to?
5. What is one favorite blog post you have written? (post a link!)
6. Name one of your guilty pleasures.
7. If you could give a piece of advice to yourself when you were 15, what would it be?
8. What book are you looking forward to reading in the near future?
9. Tell your readers something they may not know about you!
10. You’re told that you have to drop one of your social media accounts- which one, and why?
11. What is one thing that you truly could not live without?
Kimberly’s questions for me:
1. What was the most influential moment of your life?
This is a tough one, because I think there are many influential moments so far in my life that have shaped who I am. Some of them include the birth of my nephew, who taught me once again how important family truly is; another was all the work I put towards getting into my school- not only has it changed my life, but it showed me that I AM capable of doing anything I put my mind to.

2. If you could only have one, what vanity product is a must keep (i.e. blush, make-ups brushes, hair product, spandex :P )?
I don’t NEED my make-up or my vanity products, I go many days without using any at all! I’d have to say that hair products for curly hair would be a big must though (if not straight hair, then gotta keep those curls alive!)and probably cream, because I moisturize like it’s nobody’s business!

3. What is your favorite read and why?
MY FAVORITE READ? Well, you’ll never get me to choose one book, Kimberly, ha! I have about a dozen that immediately come to mind. The Harry Potter series, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Looking for Alaska by John Green, Graceling by Kristin Cashore, Sarah’s Key by Tatiana De Rosnay, and 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson. I also spot about 10 more I could have named. This question just gave me some anxiety!

4. What was your dream job as a little kid?
I think I wanted to be a doctor or a veterinarian… And when I was a young teenager I wanted to be a psychologist. That one followed me for a long, long time!

5. What is your favorite quality in a person?
Honesty. I’m a very honest person, I don’t like to play games, and if I can have a straight conversation with you,we’ll be the best of friends

6. Which of the blog posts that you’ve written is your favorite (post that link)? =]
Can I be kind of vain and say that I have a lot of favorite posts? Most of them are my more honest ones. One of the first in the series from two years ago now is called ‘On…Waiting’ and I still love it because it symbolizes everything that I became after the events that happened at that time in my life. I have become a more forgiving person, I listen more carefully, and I have just always been more aware of time, and how it is such a fleeting thing.

7. What is your favorite quote?
I have many. Many of the are book related, and you can check them out on my Goodreads HERE! I have many music ones as well, one of them being: “This world can be ugly, but isn’t it beautiful?” And really, isn’t that the truth? I just love it.

8. Who is your celebrity crush?
Leonardo DiCaprio is the longest running one for sure. :)

9. If you could have dinner with anyone (alive, deceased, fictional), who would it be and why?
You mean, other than Leo D so that we could finally get married? Probably John Green (because we’d get along extremely well, I’m sure of it) and probably Emma Watson, because she seems like an amazing person, and I want to pick her brain!

10. What is one thing you wish you were better at or wish you had that talent?
I’ve always wanted to be a singer! Like, a really good one. I love to sing, I want to work in music… It’s a curse that I wasn’t given the talent!

11. What is one goal that you have for your blog?
Hmmm. I’ve had many goals over the five years that I’ve blogged, but I must admit many of them no longer apply. I think after so long, my biggest goal is to always keep this space honest, and true to who I am.

AND FINALLY. 11 (honest) things about me:

1. I think the person that I AM and the person that people see sometimes doesn’t match up in my mind. I consider myself very awkward, anxious, and overall not great in social situations. I’m told this isn’t necessarily the case? Not sure how that happened.
2. Not a single day goes by in my life that I don’t listen to music. I think I would go insane without the ability to listen to it.
3. My work, more often than not, is a second home to me. When I walk in, I’m comforted by the rows of books, by the people, and by the customers. The smell of Starbucks brewing during an early morning shift? Nothing beats that source of comfort.
4. I desperately want to take part in a humanitarian trip. I want to go some place in the world where they need people to know that they are thought about, cared for, and not alone.
5. I wouldn’t be the person I am today without my family. Sometimes, I’m sad that I didn’t have one of those big families with tons of siblings, but when I think of the people I DO have, I’m so eternally grateful that it hardly matters.
6. I’m not so great with relationships.
7. I’m also not so great in school, even though I desperately wish I was.
8. I lack an ability to self-motivate myself in the things that aren’t *fun*
9. I wish I had the ability to pause the day & enjoy a couple extra hours
10. I’m materialistic. It sucks sometimes, but my life is no longer complete without an iPod, an iPhone and all the other comforts I’ve grown used to.
11. I often wish I was one of those bloggers who could make money from my space here. I just love it so much, I wish I could do it all day, every day!

Thanks again Kimberly! If you’d like to participate but don’t want to write a whole post, feel free to answer any or all of the questions above! :)

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The Book Chat {19}

February 7, 2013 Filed Under: The Book Chat Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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Thursday, my Friday, Book Chat day! As always, you can link up on Sweet Green Tangerine.

Today’s Question: Do you like to re-read books? Which are your favorite to read?

I do. I love to re-read books. In fact, I think it’s completely underrated and really, if you truly love to read, you will re-read, too. I don’t mean to judge if you’re not a re-reader, I just think you’re missing out SO much.

When I was a child, I constantly re-read the same books. I have one shelf of my old elementary school & pre-teen novels, and I could practically recite any of them back to you, even after so many years have passed since I last picked one up. California Diaries, Amazing Days of Abby Hayes, various titles by R.L Stine, Kit Pearson, and a ton of other awesome 90′s books that I would pick up at Garage sales.

As a teenager, I did a lot of re-reading as well. Obviously, Harry Potter. I loved reading those, but I must admit I didn’t re-read the later ones nearly as much because they were so big. I read the Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella several times in high school as well as a few of her other books that had been out back then.

I was also weirdly in love with a particular French series of books by V.C Andrews that my grandmother lent me when I was in high school. The English translation of the book series is ‘The Landry Family‘ and it’s twisted, classic V.C Andrews, and I have no idea why but I just ADORE those books. In fact, I made my grandmother promise not to ever get rid of them when I gave them back to her (after reading them several times) because I wanted them so badly. And in fact, when she passed away, it was the first thing my mother let me take out of her apartment. The books not only have their own space on my bookshelf, but they make me think SO much of her every time I look at them. I’ve been waiting for a good moment to finally read them again, for the first time since I was a teenager and able to avidly discuss them with my grandmother, who had loved them very much too.

Now that I’m older and have a more in-depth knowledge of books (thank you, job in book industry!) I’ve definitely re-read books much less, because I’m constantly buying NEW books. In the last two years I’ve made a point of re-reading favorites, and the more I do it the more I am reminded of just how much I love them. In the last 3-4 years I have re-read The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series (a long-time favorite), The Hunger Games series, and the entire collection of Harry Potter. I’ve begun to remember, slowly, just how important it is to keep these stories in my life, and plan on re-reading some of them every year from now on. I have a fairly vast book collection, and I don’t think there is any point to it at all if I don’t take full advantage, and crack open some books I’ve loved so much, time and time again!

Some novels I’d like to re-read in the near future: 

- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

- The entire Mortal Instruments series

- The Jessica Darling series

- The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffeneger

- 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson

To be honest, I could have probably gone on longer, but I think that dozen is a good enough start!

Do you re-read favorites? If not, why and if so, what are some of your favorite re-reads?

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The Book Chat {Vol 17}

January 10, 2013 Filed Under: The Book Chat Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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A new year, a new effort at participating in the book chat as often as I can. Thursdays, as always, are book chat days over at Sweet Green Tangerine- link up if you like!

Today’s question: What are your favorite self-help/inspirational books? 

I’ve read a LOT of inspirational books (well, inspirational to ME) that I don’t think I could ever narrow it down to a list small enough to share here. I think inspiration comes in every great book I’ve read- whether it be because I relate to a character, because the writing is wonderful & I hope to learn from it, or simply because the story itself is inspirational.

But let’s be honest, this wouldn’t be a book chat if I didn’t at least mention a few right? So with not a whole lot of context at all, here are some novels that greatly inspired me in one way or another in recent years: 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson, WILD by Cheryl Strayed, Night by Elie Wiesel, I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak, OPEN by Andre Agassi, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares, Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda, Eat/Pray/Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, Harry Potter by JK Rowling, Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, and Looking for Alaska by John Green.

Seriously, I could keep going. It’s crazy how many fantastically inspirational books are out there!

I’ve read far few self-help books, and the ones that inspire me in those are fewer still. As a general rule, I have a really wide variety of books that I thoroughly enjoy, and I have to say that self-help has recently become, when properly chosen, a new favorite of mine. Here are a few that I would recommend to almost anyone.

#3 Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser

I had a love/hate relationship with this book because of all the controversy that surrounded it’s publication… And the fact that I had to read it for school. But I devoured it in just days, wrote a kick-ass book report on it and got an A+ (the best grade I have yet to receive in University). I think that says something for its impact on my life. Although I didn’t agree with EVERYTHING Schlosser had to say about fast food (or the way he chose to illustrate his points) I still think this was an extremely insightful book and I’ve never been able to look at fast food the same again.

#2 Blink by Malcolm Gladwell 

I wish I remembered the details of this book better, but having read it on my Kindle, I don’t have a copy to look back on. I read it on a beach in Greece, and was COMPLETELY taken by Gladwell’s research, his findings, and his writing. I have a couple of his other works on my to-read shelf and I hope to get to them in 2012. I briefly shared my thoughts about Blink on this post.

#1 The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin 

This still remains my favorite self-help book, and almost two years after reading it, I still constantly find myself picking it up from my bookshelf for a little inspiration. I wrote a whole post about this book, and everything I said back then is still completely true. If you’re optimistic, constantly searching how to improve your day-to-day life & an ambitious goal setter (cough cough) I can’t recommend Gretchen Rubin’s work enough!

I want to know- what books inspire YOU? What are your favorite well being books, any recommendations? 

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The Book Chat {Vol. 5}

March 29, 2012 Filed Under: The Book Chat Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

As always, Thursdays are book chat days! You can link up over at Sweet Green Tangerine today & join the good book chat times we’ve been having for the last month.

Today’s question: What is the funniest book or character you’ve read?

This one was a bit tough for me because I LOVE reading funny books so I kind of have a lot of choices. I think I read an equal amount of serious characters VS more funny ones, but I couldn’t decide which ones characterized as actually FUNNY rather than just humorous for me to read. If that makes any sense.

Anyways. Since this is meant to be a more fun, lighthearted book chat, I thought I’d share my FIVE  favorites! These are all books that I enjoyed reading because they were either written funny/quirky or because the main character was that way.

The Shopaholic Series by Sophie Kinsella

Growing up, I read these religiously. Now? They’re definitely more of a guilty pleasure. They’ve been re-read a couple times, too, because Becky Bloomwood happens to be one of my favorite guilty pleasure characters.

This is actually one of the few books that I adored that I never even bothered to see the movie of… I just realized that! But honestly, I’ve loved almost everything Sophie Kinsella has written. She’s always had a knack to make me laugh with her British humor- I love British humor!

The Jessica Darling Series by Megan McCafferty

I’ve written about these before so I won’t dwell on them too much, but I loved the first book, Sloppy Firsts, almost immediately because of the humor. Jessica Darling is such a quirky character from the get-go I couldn’t help but totally relate to her and laugh at the ridiculous things she does… Mostly because it’s what I’d be doing in her situation too!

Abundance of Katherines by John Green

I don’t know if this book was meant to be funny or not, but it REALLY was to me. It’s not secret that John Green is one of my favorite authors (ever) and I absolutely loved this more lighthearted novel of his. Not only is the main character, Colin, totally awesome in his own quirky way, but his best friend Hassan is equally as hilarious. I love the way this book was written with footnotes and I love the plot behind the book, which is totally hilarious in it’s own way.

Plot: Colin has a special type of girl he dates. Girls named Katherine, spelled specifically in that exact way. Exactly 19 Katherine’s have broken up with him and he is on a mission to find out why on earth he gets broken up with so much. He is also a child prodigy and can anagram anything you give him. 

Anything written by Maureen Johnson

Can I just preface this by saying that I adore Maureen Johnson? Not only is she hilarious in her writing, but her books have such awesome plots and ideas. I think 13 Little Blue Envelopes has become one of my favorite books because it is so perfectly balanced between sad and hilarious. I’ve breezed through every single MJ book I’ve ever read because they’re so fun and yet so intriguing at the same time. I highly recommend any of her novels. I haven’t read them all, but I definitely plan on picking a couple more up when I get the chance.

The Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordan

This is a bit of a younger series of books (9-12 years old) but I can’t tell you how much I loved it anyway. I wasn’t sure at first if I’d like it or not, but it is SO funny and so educational all wrapped into one. I just have the last book in the series to read and I have no idea why I’ve been putting it off for so long! Anything RR is a guaranteed good read, but I’ve just really grown attached to Percy over the last 4 books. He’s one hilariously well written kid. :)

*As a side note, I think Percy Jackson was one of my LEAST FAVORITE book-to-movie adaptations… EVER. They ruined this book in the movie. I was so disappointed. READ THE BOOK!

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I don’t think there’s anything better than kicking back with a funny book. Any time I’ve been in a reading rut, it’s books like these that have pulled me right out of it and reminded me why I love reading SO much.

What are your favorite funny reads? Your favorite funny/quirky characters? I love recommendations! 

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