2018 Reading: The Prize

#38 A book with an ugly cover

First of all, ugliness and beauty are subjective. Second of all, I just wanted to get this book off of my "to-be-read" list.

I have to admit, I started this book thinking that it was going to be this lame poetry talking about love being a summer breeze or whatever, but I was pleasantly surprised. Her stories were easy to read, but had so much depth and meaning behind them. I really enjoyed reading them and I hope I can find more works by her in the future.

2018 Reading: Turtles All the Way Down

#18 A book with song lyrics in the title

My friend Tara showed me the video for the song 'Turtles All the Way Down' by Sturgill Simpson and I really enjoyed it. Then this book came out and I knew that I had to read not only because of the title but also because I simply love the books of John Green and have read all of his previous work so far and I hope that he writes more books in the future for me to enjoy.

I know that this book has been hailed as being a really good read as far as writing about OCD and similar mental illnesses, and I think all of them are correct. The descriptions of thought patterns and a sense of detachment  are by far the best way of replicating the effects of most of these afflictions that I have ever heard. And it never goes away. Never. That's just the simple and honest truth. There is no perfect ending. In fact, there is no ending at all. That's the whole point of the book itself.

It's turtles all the way down.

2018 Reading: Ready Player One

#42 A cyberpunk book

I really liked this book! I like the way it was both futuristic at the same time as being an homage to the past. And now I am totally ready to see the movie, although I have been told to give myself some time so that I can actually enjoy the movie for what it is instead of just straight up comparing it to the book.

So... I Have Kids Now?

OMG, don't lose your shit, but I have adopted to living beings.

This is Belle and le Bête.

What? Did you think I would actually have real, living, breathing children that I would voluntarily put under my care and be responsible for their health and well-being!? HA!!! You're funny.

My sister and I were walking through Hell yesterday and something in me decided to make a change. The change started with these little ones. In many ways, I am still a child. I admit it freely and am at any given moment grateful for that. But lately, I have been taking more and more responsibility (some would say that I should have taken it long ago) onto myself so that I can become more self-sufficient should the need arise while not getting overwhelmed in the process. Bills, food, clothes, time management... it's all getting worked on (though some are more successful than others).

I brought the kids home and while deciding where to put them, realized that I had no room. I was overwhelmed with stuff on my desk (the ideal place to display their cuteness). I don;t know what came over me, but I took this task more seriously than anything in recent memory. I cleared everything off the desk, wiped it all down, put aside what I didn't want on the surface, and made it more habitable for the children.

After that, I had all this stuff left over that now had no home. This started a whirlwind of cleaning and organizing that I haven't had in a while. It felt good. I was throwing things away (a feat that has been a problem for me in the past), putting things that I actually used within reachable distance and storing other things in a more manageable way for future use. A MIRACLE! I wish I had a before picture to show, but alas, I do not.

I don't have much room to work with, but it's my situation right now. And now I share it with these two beauties. Here's hoping...

Edit (after being at work when 10 kids came in a wrecked everything all at once): This is why I chose cacti. After all the screaming and the whining and the running and mess... I get to go home to two SILENT plants that merely exist to look pretty and ease my troubled mind and all they expect of me is water. This is why you choose plants over everything else.

2018 Reading: Quidditch Through the Ages

#29 A book about or involving a sport

I pretty much hate all sports, so this was the only one I could even tolerate reading. I guess I could have picked poker or something, but I already had this book because I have the Hogwarts Library collection.

2018 Reading: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

#21 A book with a female author who uses a male pseudonym

I wanted to read the actual book instead of the screenplay because I can just watch the movie if I wanted to. It's a cute little book that I'm glad she made for Comic Relief (which I think is a very excellent cause). Very informative, though I would have liked to see even more notes from Harry and Ron in the margins.

2018 Reading: Room

#6 A novel based on a real person

This book was phenomenal. I truly could not put it down once I got started on it. I've read a few books on the subject of people kidnapped and put into captivity (I Know My First Name Is Steven b y Steven Staynor, A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard, etc.) but this one was very unique in that it was, while being loosely based on true events of a boy named Felix Fritzl from Ausrtia, told from the child's perspective. To have grown up your entire life in one single room with no outside contact whatsoever is so foreign to us that we could not even begin to conceive a life for these people.

I literally cannot wrap my brain around it.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone and everyone.

2018 Reading: Severed: The True Story of the Black Dahlia

#11 A book with your favorite color in the title

This is one of the cases that I actually knew almost nothing about. It was interesting to learn these facts for the first time and I may read other books about this subject in the future.

The case itself is very interesting. There were so many people involved with her that it would have been nearly impossible to meet them all and figure out what happened. It's amazing the impact she had on the entire town even before the sensation of her murder.

I had a guy come into the library who claimed that she was his aunt and that he knew who killed her, but after reading the remainder of the book after he left, I can confidently say that he was just making things up off the top of his head. You get crazy people like that sometimes.

2018 Reading: Herding Cats

Another adorable addition to the Sarah Scribbles collection. I love following her online and seeing these as they come out but I also love reading the books where there are extra little doodles for her over-all theme.

2018 Reading: The Merchant of Venice

#27 A book you borrowed or that was given to you as a gift

As with most Shakespeare, it is meant to be seen on the stage rather than read. One of things that I like to do is put faces to the names of the characters so that I can imagine who is speaking while I read the text. So I made a cheat sheet:

Antonio = Sam Walton (merchant, get it?)
Bassanio = Chris Hardwick (marries an heiress)
Portia = Lydia Hearst (heiress)
Shylock = Scrooge (miser)
Gratiano = Ryan Reynolds (hilarious)
Nerissa = Blake Lively (marries Gratiano)
Solanio & Salerio = Jedward (interchangeable and forgettable)
Lorenzo & Jessica = random instagram couple (sickeningly adorbs)
Duke of Venice = Judge Judy (harsh but fair judge)

After reading it, I can think of nothing more than seeing Ryan Reynolds doing Shakespeare... This needs to be a thing that happens, but he has to be a funny character. Maybe young Hal in Henry IV, or Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing... I could see him doing hilarious parts like those.