Gift Shop Book

I'm a sucker for gift shops. I know that most of the things in there are nothing that I actually need but I can't help myself. I get sucked in. I totally needed little porcelain bird salt and pepper shakers, the record player that has Christmas music, the frog squirting water, the pens, notebooks, books. Oh my. They are all scream at me to buy them or at least admire them.

One book in a gift shop recently caught my big blue eyes and I had to have it. It was a cutesy book about love and I was on a date. I just had to have it.

Me and the boyfriend read this book together. I read a few pages and then he read a few pages. It was so strange that everything we read it was fitting for us to read it and not necessarily the other way around. I don't know how that was possible at all but it was really beautiful reading the book together.

Reading a book together just so happens to be one of my 101 goals on my list. I didn't actually mean read a book together like we did. I kinda thought we would pick a book and read it separately and talk about it. Very strange that we did this goal totally...by the book.

This just made me love and appreciate gift shops even more. You never know what you are going to find.

Reading My Height In Books Part 3

I've been on a historical fiction/non-fiction kick all about the same time period. I've read The Book Thief and now these two below. There are a lot of sadness within the books. Tissues are required.

Night by Ellie Wiesel

I don't even know if it is possible to write a review for this book. It is written by a holocaust survivor. It is about unimaginable brutal events that people should never be capable of doing. It is about faith. It is about love. It is powerful and heartbreaking, I definitely think everyone should read this book if you they haven't already. 

War Brides by Helen Bryan

War Brides was a good read. It was hard to get into at first. There are a lot of characters and the author makes long chapters about each and every one before they come together as a group. Once they become a group it was a lot easier to read and keep up with. The ending left me wanting more. It didn't seem like it was suppose to be over. Despite the beginning and the ending, I really loved this book! I finished this book in a day thanks to Gage's bedtime and a slow day at work. My mom is reading it now!

Reading My Height In Books Part 2

I read 3 books last week. One was a easy enjoyable read. One was a book I didn't even want to finish reading. The other was really long and took most of the week to finish. I didn't take a picture but I think I finally read enough books to make it the size of my head. I'm getting closer to reading my height in books.

Crazy Love by Francis Chan

My Review: I didn't like it at all. I really didn't even want to finish it. He wrote in circles the whole book. In one chapter he said this and the next he went back over it but had a different take. It was awful. He describes most Christians as being "lukewarm". That might be a true statement. No one wants to admit that they are lukewarm but I am. I fall in that category and I would like to change that. This is the wrong book to get me inspired to do that. It was far from inspirational. I felt like through the whole book he was saying "LOOK HOW GOOD I AM. IF YOU DON'T LOVE GOD EXACTLY THE SAME WAY AS ME YOU ARE GOING TO HELL". It just didn't sit well with me. I probably could write a whole post about this book but there are already plenty of them out there.

Hollow City by Ransom Riggs

My review: Ahh! I preordered this book and was so excited when I got it. I absolutely loved the first novel. I loved the 2nd one just as much. I couldn't put it down. I finished it in a day. The pictures in this book are amazing. It really gets your imagination going. It is about children who are "peculiar". They have/can do special things and they've been hidden away for years. The first book tells that story. The 2nd book is them finally leaving their hidden island and going out in the world to help other peculiars and the one's who look after them. The story line was great. The plot twist was shocking and I didn't see it coming! These novels are really something special.

                                               

                                           

The Shadow Of The Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

My review: My coworker really wanted me to read this. It was one of her favorite books. It was a very long read. I think it took me almost 4 days to read it. It was wo

rth it. This is a pretty magical book. It is about a special book, too! The boy in the book picked this book and was told to guard it for the rest of his life so it would never be forgotten. The book brought on a great mystery and the characters tried to solve it for years. They were trying to figure our what happened to the author and why was someone trying to burn all the authors books. The book definitely kept me hook. I don't think it ever got boring to me. It was a great book. I look forward to reading more of Carlos Zafon's books!

Book-A-Thon Book Review

What fun this book-a-thon was! The best part is every one left me alone to read because...I was in a book-a-thon. I wonder how long I can get away that excuse! Also, in my 101 goals in 1001 days list, one of my goals is to read my height in books. I've been completed 5 books since starting my goal list.

This goal is definitely going to take awhile! My 5 books isn't even as big as my head!

My books for the week:

Book 1: Looking For Alaska by John Green
My thoughts: I've heard  lot about this author. I thought I wanted to read The Fault In Our Stars especially because it is going to be a movie soon but I couldn't do it. I knew it was going to be sad. I have a son with an auto immune disease and I don't want to read about a child dying from a disease. So, I picked another book about a child dying! Great! Looking For Alaska kept my attention from start to finish. I like the way John Green writes. It was a pretty sad book. I think I even shed some tears near the end of it.

Book 2: Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer
My thoughts: After the last book I knew I needed something more uplifting. This book still had its sad moment but this book was mostly just inspirational. I have so many pages marked and turned down in the book. It was wonderful. I loved every part of it. It was a easy read. The book wasn't very long but it packed a strong message.

Book 3: The Sweetest Thing by Elizabeth Musser
My thoughts: I was hesitant to pick this book up. Something in me told me to and that something was right. This book touched my heart. It spoke straight to my soul. It had very religious tones it and I loved every minute of it. It is a huge book and I didn't think I would finish it so quick. I started reading around 9am and finished right before midnight with many breaks in between. All of the characters in it were wonderful. They found themselves and they lost themselves. They failed at things and were triumphant in other things. They loved and they lost. Isn't that what is life is about? Overcoming our obstacles. This book was amazing.

I was going to go ahead and break my goal for the book-a-thon but after taking a day break I decided that I needed to take a little more time before picking up my next book. I'm also still swarming with thoughts on the 3 books I just read. I'm a reader, though, and my hands won't be off a book for long!

2 Goals And A Baby

There is no baby despite the title of this post. I just thought it was catchy. 2 men and a baby. 2 goals and a baby. Get it? Ok. Maybe not. On to the goals!

I read The Spectacular Now earlier this year. It was a pretty good book. It was one of the first books I read on my iPad after swearing I would only ever read paper books. Now I find myself rarely buying paper books.

I watched the movie yesterday. I'm having a lot of fun with the goal of watching a movie for every letter in the alphabet. I'm not going to count the The. So, my movie was an S.

The Spectacular Now is just sad. Not sad in a bad way. Sad in a sad way. Through out the movie and book, I didn't know if I liked the main character, Sutter Keely. He was frustrating. I realized, though, that he is just trying to figure out the world and making mistakes along the way like the rest of us. Not a hugger but he needed a hug. If only I could reach through a book or screen.

Speaking of rarely buying paper books, while Christmas shopping I picked up one. It was The Book Thief. It took me a minute to get into the book but once I did I couldn't put it down and blazed through in no time. I'm really excited to see the movie now. I'm also excited that I am starting another goal on the list and that is reading my height in books. A couple inches down and only about 5 feet and 3 inches to go!