Mini Half-Price Haul

Alright, it has been a while since my apartment mate and I went to Half-Price and we were feeling a bit deprived. Not to mention, we saw a trailer for the movie if i stay, which looks amazing, and we felt the need to find the book and read it before the movie comes out (as all good readers know to do). Anyways, my apartment mate ended up purchasing it, so we have a copy, and I think that she has nearly finished it already.
I wanted to share with you my mini-haul of the week, totaling for $17!

1. A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin. In case you don't know, I'm a mere 105 pages away from finishing the first book in this brilliant series by George R.R. Martin, so I decided to not wait and purchase the second book in the series. Even though I have not seen the TV series and have barely finished the first book, it is already very clear to me that this series is going to be one of those that will make my head spin and I will love every moment of it. Ok, minus when I started to randomly (in the view of others) scold the author for breaking my heart and killing another one of my favorite characters or the characters for being stupid, but still, the book would not be the same without that! My most expensive book of the haul, but I think $8 was worth it!

2. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. Who would not love a book written from the point of man's best friend? Yes, my friends, another book written from the POV of a dog! Rejoice and enjoy!

3. Shakespearean Detectives: Murders and Mysteries Based on Shakespeare's Life and Plays edited by Mike Ashley. This book was more purchased out of curiosity....I love Shakespeare and I really have a hard time passing up anything that has to do with him and/or murder mysteries. Seems like a perfect marriage right?

4. The Templar Legacy by Steven Berry. I had tried to check this book out of the library only to learn that my library card was not accepted in that county :( It made me very sad and when I saw this in the clearance section I couldn't say no. I do love my medieval literature, fiction and not!

What books have you been reading lately?

Love,
Sara :)

Books Books Books: Simple Thai Food by Leela Punyaratabandhu

I'm finally getting back into the book reviewing! I'm excited and hopefully you are too! Here goes my first book review back from my time off. :P

When I was in high school, we had a foreign exchange student come and visit from Thailand. Until then, I had never really been exposed to the Thai culture, all I knew was they had elephants and spicy food. My foreign exchange brother, as my sister and I called him, had a dream of someday opening his own restaurant, which of course led to him cooking for us once or twice. He also found a delicious restaurant in Milwaukee where we ended up going several times throughout his stay that served authentic Thai food. I think it was at that point that I fell in love with Thai cuisine. Nearly eight years later, this cookbook has fully renewed that love for Thai food.

Leela Punyaratabandhu has done an amazing job with bringing out the beauty and subtle complexity that Thai food offers. As soon as I opened the book, I was struck by the colorful pictures and ended up paging through the book first just to see the bright colors of the food that I could not wait to cook in my own kitchen. Her descriptions of each dish at the start were funny and felt homey at the same time, with a friendly voice to the narrations and optional American alternatives that make each dish more available to those of us unable to order completely authentic ingredients.

As with many different authentic cuisine books, some of the ingredients were a bit more on the pricy side, so for people on a limited budget it is a bit more difficult. It also is not a cookbook that is friendly towards certain dietary restrictions, just as a forewarning. Another thought to be noted is that this cookbook is not for those looking for a quick meal; the recipes are complicated and require several ingredients that most households would not normally have in order to attain the unique Thai flavors. However, the aroma that filled my apartment as I tried my hand at Leela's recipes is one that will bring your friends and neighbors knocking to try a taste.

I hope that you get the opportunity to try out some of these recipes, which I will be posting a few of my own vegetarian alterations as well as possibly some chicken recipes as soon as I get my act together.

Love,
Sara :)

I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review.

Blogging for Books

Due to my recent desire to read, but the lack of actually following through with it, I have joined a website called Blogging for Books. I still plan to finish the books I had listed in my Summer Reading List, but now will be receiving books in the mail to read and review online here. I am excited to get back into the swing of writing reviews for the books I read and really thinking about them instead of just jumping into the next one like I have been doing recently.

The premise of this website seems to be to allow book lovers to read and rate books for free. Which in my opinion, is awesome! I can order one book at a time and need to post a review within 90 days of receiving the book. This review should be posted both on the Blogging for Books blog and on my blog as well, meaning it will show up here! After posting a review I can request a new book.

I am super excited to get started with this and look forward to my first book, Simple Thai Food by Leela Punyaratabandhu, which is coming in the mail! I can't wait to share these reviews. I know this blog isn't very widely read but these reviews are for those who do get the chance to get on and read. You are awesome!

Love,
Sara :)

Books Books Books: Summer Reading Update

Hey all! So, last month I made a list of the books that I was going to read this summer. I apologize but I haven't been putting up any sore of reviews here, mostly because I've been kinda lazy. Anyways, I wanted to take this time to summarize what I've ready as of now since it's near the end of the first month of summer!

As of now I've read only two books on my list, Divergent and The Lightening Thief. However, to be honest, I got distracted by The Lightening Thief and ended up reading the entire Percy Jackson and the Olympians series in a few sittings. This series was awesome and really held my interest throughout the books. Now, yes I do have the mind of a teenager at times when it comes to books, but I think these are all definitely worth a read. As for the Divergent series, my apartment mate has just finished the second book in the series, Insurgent, and has started the third, Allegiant, I think I may hold off on these two though until she finishes the last one so I can read them all the way through without having to wait. The first one was brilliant and I can't wait to read the rest of the series! I've heard good things!

Instead, next on my list is going to be Game of Thrones. Now, a disclaimer, I realized that the picture I put up on my previous post about this book was a picture of the cover of the graphic novel. I will not be reading the graphic novel, but the actual thick, paperback version of the story. I'm hoping to have this one done before Matt and I head to a friend's for the 4th of July.

For any of you who did look at my Goodreads account, you know that I am also reading a few other books at the same time. I hardly ever only read one book at a time, that's just not my style. I am also currently reading My So-Called Freelance Life: How to Survive and Thrive as a Creative Professional for Hire by Michelle Goodman, mostly because I've got this dream of being able to write my own stories someday and I'm a personal trainer (not usually classified as creative, but still a professional for hire!) and knowing how to run my own 'company' or at least hire myself out is something that I think would be good to know! The other book on my reading list is Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People, according to my boss, it's a book that every professional should read (even though it was published originally in 1936) and so I am reading it. Lastly, Eating Animals is still not done...it's hard for me to get through.

I put this last picture in here because that is how I'm feeling a bit about my summer reading list, since nearly all the books have been made into movies (nothing to say the movies were bad....but Percy Jackson?), be sure to ready the books if you want to learn the true meaning behind over half the movie and what really happened to the characters! Just because the movie isn't the best means nothing for the worth of the book itself! Remember :)

Love,
Sara :)

Decorating My Bedroom: Clocks

As many of you know, I moved into a new apartment with a roommate this about six weeks ago (woah!) and since then it's been busy nearly all the time for both of us. However, we are still trying to figure out how to make our home seem more like a home. Being me, I turned to books for advice, specifically: I'm currently breezing my way through Adulting: How to Become a Grown-Up in 468 Easy(ish) Steps by Kelly Williams Brown. This is one read I would highly recommend for anyone who is moving into a house or apartment for the first time (more likely apartment, but the same stuff can also apply to a house) mostly because it addresses pretty much everything from cooking, to what to look for in an apartment, to dating, to dealing with neighbor's sex noises....yes, it's actually in here!

Anyways, that was a bit of a tangent, getting back to our new apartment! We are working on decorating and while things are coming around slowly, one thing that we both have noticed that we need are clocks. So, being that the clocks we've been finding at Michaels and Kohls have been either not our style or too big, I've been turning to the internet for ideas! What do you guys think?

ThinkGeek is always a great place to start! :P This clock has always been one of my favorites since I first saw it in a friend's room in college. Find it here!

Or if you're in doubt, Etsy is another place where you can find some of the more creative versions of anything. Also, I do tend to be late for things...so this clock is quite accurate for me! Find it here!

I really can't help but put up this clock as one that I'd love to have hanging in my own kitchen someday! Maybe a bit ambitious considering my current state, but I love it just the same. And, it's from the lovely ladies at A Beautiful Mess!

What do you guys think? Kinda cute clocks? I'm not sure what we are going to be doing as far as reality goes, probably more window shopping until one of us finds something that we both like and that works for our place, but I wanted to share these :)

Love,

Sara :)

Summer Reading List 2014

I was meaning to put up a spring reading list for this year and then never did. So, here's my summer reading list of books that I want to get read by the time September rolls around. Now, for those of you who know me, you know that I don't always pick the books that I'm going to read, especially at the library, they almost pick me. I'm starting this list at the end of May (or planning on it at least), I mean summer is sort of a unspecified amount of time, so does it really matter? Meh, we will see :P

1. Divergent series. My apartment mate is actually getting me a copy of the first book in this series and I am super excited to read it. Yea, I'm a little slow on the uptake on this book, but better late than never right?

2. Game of Thrones. I started this book a year or so ago and then lost it for a while and really need to get started on it again because I want to know what happens but I don't remember enough to start again where I left off.

3. The Lightening Thief. Yea, I think I said this one last time too....but honestly this just needs to happen. Like, seriously.

4. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. I finished the first one and it turned out I didn't have the second one :( So, I need to get my act together and get it read while the last one is still fresh in my mind. Also, side note here: if you haven't actually read this series, you are seriously missing out on a great adventure story!

5. Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World. Long title, but after reading what it's about on Amazon and reading the reviews, I can't help but admit that it sounds so cute and awesome. Not to mention I've been starting to read more non-fiction books and even though they tend to take me longer, they are a lot of fun and really interesting!

6. Wuthering Heights. Yea, yea. I'm a post-college bookworm who hasn't read one of the most popular classics in the history of writing. Sue me...I'm working on it!

I am currently finishing up In The City of Bikes: The Story of the Amsterdam Cyclist by Pete Jordan, and all I can say now is that Amsterdam is definitely on my list of places to go when I travel the world!
What are you guys gonna read this summer? What other things do you have planned for this summer? Follow me on Goodreads!

Love,
Sara :)

Half-Price Haul

I remember mentioning at some point that I was addicted to Half-Price Books. Well, I made a trip to said bookstore once again and have returned with more books! Yay!

I'm going to go through each of these books quickly, top to bottom, see what you think!

1. The Dress Lodger by Sheri Holman

A historical fiction (always a hit and miss genre) set in England back in 1831. A single, teenaged mother, struggles to make ends meet, as a potter's assistant by day and a dress lodger by night. What caught my eye was that it was is supposedly set in a modern tone, which is very intriguing for a historical fiction. I'm interested to see how this one turns out!

2. Bone Man's Daughter by Ted Dekker

Kidnapping. Serial killer. Psychological puzzles. Need I say more for your curiosity concerning this book to skyrocket? Or is it just me?

3. Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen

Ever since taking that class in college on the Holocaust, I've been fascinated with so many different aspects of World War II and how it affected Europe. I'm not sure why, but when I say this book for $2, I really couldn't pass up another book to add to my growing collection concerning the Holocaust and Hitler.

4. Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin

A murder mystery set in the time of Henry II with a female detective who is suspicious of everyone and sounds like a version of Sherlock Holmes! I'm super excited!!!

5. Deception: Spies, Lies and How Russia Dupes the West by Edward Lucas

I almost didn't buy this book. I think I passed it like three or four times...but the concept of spies is one that I'm not sure I'm capable of passing up. And so I didn't pass it up, I got the $2 book.

What are you guys looking at as far as books or your own entertainment?

Love,
Sara :)

Current Reads

I did manage to get started on a few of the books that I posted last week. Mainly, I'm reading Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer whenever I'm passing time outside of my house and My So-Called Freelance Life: How to Survive and Thrive as a Creative Professional for Hire by Michelle Goodman. So far, these two books are quite interesting, but let me start with Foer's book.

I can normally go through interesting non-fiction in not too long, however with Eating Animals, I've found that I need to put it down every so often and take a deep breath. I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting from this book, but what I got wasn't it. Don't get me wrong! It is a well written and interesting book, but it is hard to read at times and that makes the book itself difficult, but I also can't seem to just drop it. Like I said it is well written and Mr. Foer is a very smart man, so I find myself wanting to finish out this journey with him as he learns more about where our food comes from.

Michelle Goodman's book is the other end of the scale for me. Since I am reading it before bed, I don't go through it nearly as fast as some of my other books because I'm already tired when I'm starting to read it. But from what I've read so far, I really want to drop one of my day jobs and pick up some sort of art or freelance writing just because I love doing it so much and she is very much a follow your dreams kind of writer. I love that she never once says that following what you want to do is going to be easy, in fact it will probably be the opposite, with many hardships and 'doh' moments along the way, but if it means you get to do what you love, wouldn't it be worth it? I recognize some of her ideas as parts of my personal training job, my boss has even mentioned before that if she didn't have to make a living, she wouldn't charge people for personal training because it's just something she feels that passionate about! How cool is that?! I love talking to people who are that passionate about what they do! I hope to someday be as passionate as they are!

I've been writing a lot lately, but I hope you guys don't mind because I guess it's a sort of release for me as well. I'm working on a piece concerning why I blog and hopefully that should be out in not too long so you can understand a little more about me :)

Love,

Sara :)

Current Reads

I realize that it has been a while since I have done any updating that involves books and me reading. I have been reading quite a bit and my habit of buying books before I finish them is becoming obvious as I realize I have to start packing up my books to take them to my new apartment (still so freaking excited to share that!) and I have several boxes with just books in them....yea, that's how awesome I am! Anyways, I wanted to share the new books that I've gotten and then what I'm currently working on, especially since I am also still getting library books.

From bottom to top I'll try and go through each book quickly!

Thunderstruck by Erik Larson.
Back in high school I read Mr. Larson's top seller Devil In The White City, which if you haven't read you need to go out and read now! It's a brilliantly written (in my opinion) story about a series of murders which occurred during the Chicago World's Fair. I have only heard good things about his other books, so when I found this for $5.99 at Half-Price Books, how was I supposed to say no?

The Muse Asylum by David Czuchlewski.
Whenever I walk through the isles of a bookstore, I find myself waiting for something to catch my, almost like the book itself is calling out to me. This is how I felt when I saw this book. I'm not sure what exactly drew my attention here, but I picked it up and here it is now in my to-read pile!

Life Drawing for Beginners by Roisin Meaney. 
I'm not going to lie, when I saw this book I panicked slightly at the idea of it being a novel about life drawing. These tend to end up very sexual, and for all I know, it still could turn into a bit of a lemon filled novel, however I had to allow myself one purchase of a novel that was not about murder (*cough*ErikLarson*cough*) and could have a bit of romance.

Blogging for Creatives by Robin Houghton.
I've been trying to keep this blog up (and I think I'm doing alright?) for over a year now, and I figured maybe it was about time that I do a little research and figure out what I'm doing right vs what I'm doing wrong. Maybe it could help with me trying to figure out what to do from now on!

My So-Called Freelance Life: How to Survive and Thrive as a Creative Professional for Hire by Michelle Goodman.
I'm still trying to figure out why I bought this book. Honestly! I'm not a creative professional for hire, I'm a personal trainer...I mean Matt is a creative professional in a sense, but I'm still not sure. Perhaps it is the vain hopes that I will end up becoming a creative professional and get to do creative things for a living like paint or write. We all have our dreams!

Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer.
I am a pescitarian (a vegetarian that still eats some seafood, milk, and eggs). I have absolutely no problem with anyone else eating whatever sort of red meat they want and I don't judge because, hey, that's their choice not mine. But when I looked at this book if caught my eye because it seems to be more about where our animal products come from and not so much trying to convert people to vegetarianism or what-not. So, I figured it could be a good read! Also, this is the guy who wrote Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and I enjoyed the writing in that book too.

And lastly, The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan.
I know, I know, I'm a bit slow on the uptake here. This book has been out for how long and has been a movie for how long again? Hey! Better late than never! I received the entire box set of this series (5 books) for Christmas this past year from a friend and haven't gotten the chance to read them yet, so it is now near the top of my list to read.

I will say that these books that I'm sharing are not the only books I have that I have not yet read. If I were to go through all those books I would need several days! What other books do you guys have a suggestions for me to start reading? I'm open to just about anything, just not too big on horror....like Stephen King...he's bloody brilliant! But not really my style, ya know?

Love,
Sara :)

ps. Please forgive the quality of my photos, my camera from the iPhone is being stubborn and not working so I'm using a family member's iPod touch, but honestly, the lighting in my bedroom is super sucky. I'm working on getting that new camera but I'm still at such a loss for what to get! Help!!

Writing Tips I've Been Given

I'm a reader, like a big reader. I read whenever I can, I have two bookshelves in my room full of books and I've read close to 1/4 of the mystery section in my library. Not to mention there are about 3 or so other bookshelves in my house that are full. So, it's a big thing in my family. I've also found that I enjoy writing. But this is a bit different since writing takes a bit more thought than reading a mystery book. I have started about 2 or 3 stories that I've dreamed about turning into books, but I haven't found a character that I had a long enough interest in to finish more than 3 or 4 chapters. Not to mention there is not nearly enough time in a day for me to get everything in that I want, but since when is that news?

Anyways, I wanted to share some advice I got from multiple sources about writing and what it takes, and how to make t not so much easier as more manageable.

1. Write everyday. Seriously, one of the best ways to become a better writer is to write everyday. I carry around 2 notebooks in my purse as of late: one for notes on daily life while the other is my writing notebook. Whenever I am bit with something that I feel would be a good section in a story, I write it down, because heaven knows if I wait until I'm home it'll never come out!

2. Read what you can. By reading what is interesting to you, you develop a style that is all your own but shares in bits of the styles of the writers you admire and want to be like. A writer who does not read has only his own life to write about.

3. Talk to your characters. If you don't feel like these charaters you are creating are real, your readers won't see them as real either. You are only as good as you let yourself be, and your characters are people/creatures so let them tell you what they are doing rather than you telling them what to do. I understand that this seems a bit weird, but seriously it's true!

4. Don't be afraid of more drafts. Rewriting your chapters may get rid of some of your characters and may change your plot completely, but if you did not like it the way it was, then your readers won't either. Don't be afraid to have 5 or 6 drafts! Each time you change something, you are getting better at your writing. Just know that if you are looking for perfection, it will take much longer, but only stop when you are satisfied or when your characters stop talking to you.

5. Relate to others. If you can't understand why other people do what they do, why they get angry, why they get sad, why try jump for joy, if they jump for joy, how are you supposed to be able to write about how a character of your creation acts? They are people in your mind as well, and it is just as important for you to understand why they do what they do. You can make one character like yourself but an entire story with little mini-me's running around really is not that interesting, there's no plot or conflict and that tends to only come when oh understand other characters and how the issue comes up. And to do this, you have to understand other personalities. Good luck!

6. Write what you like. They always say write what you know, but what f what you know is not what holds your interest? In my opinion, it should be write what you like because that is what you'll end up passionate about. Your passion will show in your writing and will get your readers as excited as you are about whatever it is! So if you want to write about snow, then write about snow, were about why you like snow and what happens on the snow. Write about freaking snow! 

7. Write the book you want to read. Ok, this one I got off Pinterest, but it seriously ring true. It might make it harder to write but it brings is back to passion. Just go write something!

I hope that this was at least interesting, a bit of a change in pace from my routine stuff! I'm working on taking my own advice ere and tying to get into the habit of writing everyday (so far...not too good) maybe it can help with stress!

I'm sorry that I've been so distracted lately, but life is crazy! I love you all for coming back and reading even though it's not consistent :)

Love,

Sara :)

Library Books

I think I need to rethink my strategy when going to the library. First off, I need to remember when I have already requested books. Secondly, I need to remember that I can't read books 24/7 (even if some days that is all I want to do). Thirdly, the length of the book does (usually) tend to make it a longer read, especially when I am not sure if I will like it or not. Fourthly, I should really look at how many books I'm grabbing for the next few weeks when I grab them rather than after I get them home and realize my book bag is heavier than when I brought my books back.
This library trip resulted in five books that I won't be starting until I finish my current read The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings (SUCH a good book! But still long, and yes I'm a bit slow on the uptake here...). It would be a bit different if these books were all shorter books and not the 465 page Science Fiction book I decided needed to be read :P
However, this is simply a part of my personal library experience and is probably why I always have some sort of fine (never been more than a dollar!) when I try and check out more books.
This is a quirk of mine, that and BookBub. If you've never heard of it OMG! Bookworms everywhere should have this, or maybe not....it's so addicting and I've gotten so many books for my kindle this way, so definitely check it out!

Love,
Sara :)

Loki Had Kids: a Short Mythology Lesson

Yes, Loki had children. According to Norse mythology, Loki had three children. The first was a son, named Fenrir, the second was another son, Jormungand, and the third was a daughter named Hel. They all lived in Asgard, until Odin got tired of them and their evilness, he was even warned by another god to be wary that they will endanger him and his own family. Jormungand was thrown into the sea by Odin, he is often depicted as a giant snake that bites his own tail. Loki's daughter, Hel, was sent to guard the underworld, where she would live with and look out for the dead, which she accepted without complaint. Fenrir, a wolf, was simply kept under observation as he did not seem to be much different from other wolves, until he started growing larger and larger each day. At some point he got too large for the comfort of his fellow gods, they realized that since they could not kill him, they needed to get him and his evil blood out of Asgard. They attempted to tie him up with chains called Laeding, which he breaks without much of a problem. They tried a second time, this time tying him up with chains called Dromi, which was twice as strong as the Laeding, these he too was able to break. In a panic, Odin turned to the dwarves to create a chain strong enough to hold his grandson. The chain they created was called Glepnir, which was made of some very strange things...like a woman's beard and fish spittle (yea, idk, found this in a mythology book!). When the gods attempted to put this rope around Fenrir, he demanded that as an act of good faith one of Odin's sons put his hand in Fenrir's mouth. So, Tyr (a son of Odin) put his hand in Fenrir's mouth and as the rope tightened around Fenrir, his mouth ended up tightening around Tyr, who ended up loosing his hand over this whole ordeal. He is then gagged with a sword and waits for the end of the world, which Norse mythology refers to as Ragnarok. There are some references to Fenrir breathing fire, but that part is unclear. Fenrir was, in the end, killed by Vidar (another son of Odin) during Ragnarok.

Uffdah! Well, there's an information dump for you! I'm sorry it's not terrifically written, but I thought it was interesting. I also picked up a fiction book called Fenrir, which I am anxiously waiting to read.

Oh! Note! For the next two weeks, I am going to be super stressed because my CPT exam is the 19th! Here's to hoping that I pass!!! Talk about nerve wracking! But on the plus side, my new job as a soon-to-be-personal-trainer is really teaching me a lot and I'm super excited to get started!

I hope you enjoyed the mini history lesson!

Love,

Sara :)

Pinning: Fun Bookshelves

Pretty much my entire life I have been a big reader. When I was little and my parents were first starting their own company, they would have meetings, I would come along with a stack of books and stay quiet throughout the meeting while reading my books. Apparently, it worked no matter where we were, too!
While surfing Pinterest this week I found a few different bookshelves that I just couldn't pass up and had to share with you! So, enjoy!

What do you guys think? I'd love to have a little cubby among my books to read in, not gonna lie!

Love,

Sara :)

Books Books Books: The Rover

I've been searching for a good, light-hearted fantasy book that included all of the classic fantasy components: wizards, magic, dragons, dwarfs, and, of course, lots of history. I finally found one! Being able to travel to this other world really helped out my mental state, which has been consisted of me wandering around like a zombie because I'm so tired lately.

Anyways, here's my review for Mel Odom's The Rover.

"A great, lighthearted story that kept me turning pages all night! While parts reminded me of The Lord of the Rings, it really was very much its own story. Well-written and captivating! A great read for any sword-wielder and dragon believer, a pretty simple read."

Go pick it up and read it fellow knights and adventurers!!

My next read looks to be (finally) The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship if the Rings. Yes, I know I'm a bit behind on the times but this is the first time in like years I've had enough time to sit down and actually read something! And on that note I actually have to study :P yes, it never does really end. Beware!

 

Love,

Sara

My Poor Kindle...

So I went to dig my kindle out of my desk today because I'm getting a little tired of carrying around all these big books (they do make for good weapons at times and I really like the library, but seriously it's getting to be a bit heavy for my purse and afraid I'm gonna end up breaking it. I still plan on carrying some around every so often, and as much as I love the idea of having a solid book in my hand, when I'm out and about a kindle just seems to be easier and lighter...

Anyways, I dug my kindle out today and plugged it in since it had died and this came up:

Ummmm...I think my kindle might be sick. And yes this is like the very first kindle made. I think it might even be the original version of the kindle! So, my plan is to head into Best Buy tomorrow and see if my kindle can be healed or if I need to buy a new one. If I need a new one, any kindle users out there have a suggestion? I want one that's not too much because all I'm going to do is read books, no tv shows, I've got an iPad and Netflix for that! And I do have kindle on my iPad but I can't buy any new books on there for kindle which is quite annoying. Suggestions?

Love,

Sara :)

Books Books Books: Dog On It

I'm always looking for my next read. Nevermibd that I have a pile of pools at home that I haven't read, I am plagued by the constant 'bookworm' problem if never having anything to read. Now this problem is less about not having something to read and is more about not having anything to read that I want to read. For instance, I have 4 book out from the library and at least 10 in my room that I haven't read but there really isn't anything there to read, meaning nothing there I really want to reach at this moment. Does that make sense? I'm not sure.

Anyways, I finished the book Dog On It this past week. I wanted to share this book because the author, Spencer Quinn, did something very interesting with this book. He wrote it from the point if view of the dog. Not just any dog, but Chet, a K-9 almost trained dog belonging to a detective named Bernie. Now, I'll try not to give anything away because you should go out and read this book, like now, but I will say that:

"Reading this book was refreshing. It was nice to get away from all the panic about mysteries, and instead see it from the POV of someone who couldn't tell his side of the stories and who would fall asleep during what we would think to be key aspects if the mystery and would forget the names of uninteresting people and randomly find himself doing something instinctual and getting in trouble for it. I would just like to say well done, Spencer Quinn, well done!"

Next book I'm reading (like currently) is called Blood Red Road by Moria Young. It's a popular book I guess, so I figured I'd have to give it a shot! So far, not bad!

Love,

Sara :)

Books Books Books: Flying Too High (Phryne Fisher #2)

A few weeks ago I put up a post about finishing a book called Cocaine Blues which was the first in a series that I quickly became a big fan of! Well, in continuation I finished the second book during my most recent overnight shift for work. This one was called Flying Too High and in my opinion really held up to the standard set by the first book. Not only did the story continue, but Miss. Fisher was back to solving mysteries, actually solving two of them in the same night in this book! Here's my official review for this book:

"A charming story with twists and turns, our female Sherlock Holmes returns, with her classy, patient, and sexy attitude. Only this time, she is solving not one, but two mysteries at once and of corse knows exactly what to do. Miss Fisher really is not scared to get down and dirty in this book, even if that means sleeping with an artist and walking on the wing of a flying airplane! I will be getting the third book at the next opportunity! She keeps me interested and on the edge of my seat throughout the story."

Yes, this is one series that I would love to continue reading and that I may even consider purchasing in the future. Imagine that! The next in the series is called Murder on the Ballarat Train. Next time I'm at the library I will pick it up assuming that my library has it :P
Happy reading!

Love,
Sara :)

Half-Price Books

I have a problem. I can't go into a bookstore and come out empty handed. If I do it's because I don't have any money or they don't have anything I haven't gone through. Half-Price Books is not helpful with that. It doesn't have to be just books either: I'm a sucker for cheap/discount books and music.

For instance, today at Half-Price Books I bought one book and 5 CDs (some of which, if not all, will be featured on my musica Mondays at some point). The book is "Emily and Einstein" by Linda Francis Lee. The CDs are: "Black is Beautiful" by Rolling Blackouts, "Fast Too Slow" by Samsara, "Falling Uphill" by Lillix, "2205" by Sick of Sarah, and These Modern Socks. All of these for under $9!! This is why whenever I go there I come back with a bag of things and significantly less money. I was talking to the cashier about this and he said that there's a reason why the employees are for the most part former customers. It is defiantly a place where a book or music lover could spend quite a long time :D myself included!

Where do you guys like to go for cheap finds? What was your last Half-Price haul?

Love,

Sara :)

Books Books Books: Buttons and Foes (Mandy Dyer Mystery, Book 6)

So, before I go into this book review (yea! I'm on a roll right now as far as book reviews and reading in general goes! woot!!) I really need to make a correction about my previous book review. I wrote the title in wrong!!! It is The Fault in Our Stars NOT souls! My apologies go out to anyone who was offended by this or who noticed this...I'm so sorry! I promise that I will do my very best to ensure that this will not happen ever again!

Moving on, I just finished a book (this Sunday) called Buttons and Foes. I picked it up because it sounded interesting at the library and the other books that I was looking to read were no where to be found in my library. I did finally get around to ordering the second Phryne Fisher book and that should be in and I will pick it up next chance I get to go to the library (which is now closed until Tuesday :c) called Flying Too High. But I'm getting off topic, this book that I just finished was one that I rated as being alright, not my favorite but not too bad. I gave it three out of five stars on Goodreads and here's my review:

"Mandy was the type of character who could, at points of the story, annoy me to no end, but in the end she was always right when it came to her suspicions and even if non of the men (and yes, the majority seemed to be men...) around her supported her in her endeavors to learn the identity of her loyal customer's murder. The story was predictable but was well put together and ok. The opinion might be a bit off considering I realized just now that I started with the 6th book in the series....fail on my part..."

Yes, that was all in my review. I hope that you all find this helpful or at least a bit amusing considering I made such an amateur mistake as not checking the order of the series! I feel quite silly about that whole bit... Well, my cat is begging to be given attention so I shall scurry off to play with him a bit before he breaks my computer....sigh. I hope that you all are reading good books and having a good back to school time! It's so weird not going back to school this year....huh....weird!

Love,
Sara :)

Books Books Books: The Fault in our Souls Review

Alright, your resident bookworm is back, after two failed attempts at finishing books before their due dates...yea, not exactly proud of that. Anyways, her redemption: reading one book in a little more than 3 hours. Yes, 3 hours, and I know what happened in the book and I got attached enough to the characters that I nearly started to cry, and that takes a lot from me! (Random note: you know you're a bookworm when you get more emotionally attached to the characters in a book than ones in a movie...I've cried more for characters in books than for any in movies.) What book was this that kept my attention so well that I was able to read over 300 pages in just over 3 hours? To be fair, it is a New York Times Bestseller by John Green, called The Fault in our Stars. Here's my review for this book:

"This book was an attention grabber for me starting at the beginning. The eloquent and highly logical way all the teens spoke was made even better with their no bullshit attitude and a sense of humor that quite matched my own. I found myself turning the pages even before I got out of the library and finishing it within a few hours. A wonderful read that ends in a tear-jerker, John Green's writing held me for the entire story wanting more! Is there more?"

Honestly, if there's another I'd be game for reading it! There were at least 10 copies of this book at my local library, so go check your library I'm sure there will be something there! :) I give it five stars out of five for sure!!

Happy reading!
Love,
Sara :)