Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Top Ten Tuesday | Books Recently Added To Your To-Be-Read List

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly original meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Today's topic is simple and straight forward. Let's get started.

1. In Real Life by Cory Doctorow

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I picked this up at my local Barnes&Noble the other day after hearing non-stop buzz about it from legitimately everyone. EVERYONE.

2. 5 to 1 by Holly Bodger

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Honestly, I had never heard about this book until I checked out a recent video from Hails Hearts Nyc and it sounds super intriguing; at the same time, certain descriptions from fellow bibliophiles have made it seem like the book version of the Disney movie Brave. I don't know if that's accurate though so I'm still giving it a shot!

3. Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

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Okay, real talk: you're lying to yourself if you claim this wasn't partially a cover buy. It was for me but I had also heard many varying opinions from friends and booktubers. Some good, some bad, but hey, I'm still willing to read it and form my own opinions about it.

4. The Enchanted by Rene Denfeld

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I saw an advertisement for this last year at Powell's Bookstore in Portland and let me just say, I thought this cover was absolutely beautiful. It sparked my interest so I immediately went online and read the overview for it and well, I still haven't managed to find a copy at any bookstores near me. No worries, I shall try to get a copy soon!

5. Night Film by Marisha Pessl

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Surprisingly, I haven't heard that many people talk about this book but it's also not in my "priority" genre. Plus my bookstore only carries the ugly cover version and I am quite the cover snob, I'll give you that.

6. The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski

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I know this has been out for quite some time now but I didn't originally want to read it. Then, as the second book came out not too long ago, I decided that I need to pick both of them up in the near future.

7. Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick

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Another one that I recently added, but it was released a few years back. I watched the movie version of Silver Linings Playbook which is written by the same author and I didn't like the movie at all. In my mind it put a damper on the possibility of reading the book version so I think I'm going to try this instead.

8. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North

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Not my typical read but Regan from PeruseProject has really good taste in books and I usually love her recommendations. 

9. S. by J.J. Abrams

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The premise of this book is flat out awesome. I haven't even read it and I'm already impressed.

10. Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes

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Here we are, yet again, with another book that was just added to my list of books to read when it was released over two years ago. Still, I am stoked to read this next after I finish my current read.

Those are my top ten choices for this weeks meme and I apologize if this post is incoherent at parts. I wrote this half asleep because syllabus week is kicking my booty.

Friday, March 27, 2015

Movie Review | INSURGENT


Alright, I have been trying to write this review ever since I saw Insurgent last Sunday, but I couldn't articulate my feelings whatsoever. Therefore, I went to watch it again last night. Seeing it a second time gave me some much needed clarity and I think I may have found the words to finally share my thoughts.

This review will contain spoilers, so if you have not read the Divergent trilogy or watched the first movie, I'm warning you not to read this review.

**SPOILERS**

If you know me, you know that the Divergent trilogy is composed of my favorite books ever. When the first movie came out last year, there was a lot of hype and I was convinced it would live up to my incredibly high expectations. It did. Divergent became one of my favorite movies. Now this time around, I didn't hear as much about Insurgent before it was released. Then, after March 20th, it seemed as though all hell broke loose: every review I read or watched was negative. Going home for break, awaiting the day I finally got to watch it, I was told to go in with low expectations. Everyone's negative and unimpressed reviews brought me down, so I listened to them. I walked into that movie having very low expectations. I walked out having been hit right in the feels. 

THE BAD
  • Although I think Octavia Spencer is a lovely person, in my opinion, she was the wrong Johanna.
  • I wasn't blown away by the casting choice for Evelyn, her performance was weaker than I was expecting in comparison to the book.
  • My least favorite part was by far the factionless; they felt like a bunch of try hards and wannabe badasses.
  • Edgar. He thought he was tough stuff, the acting was bad, and I'm not sure if that was the actors fault or the direction in which they purposely tried to take it. I understand why the entire Edward thing wouldn't have worked out with or without the original actor, but this was an unfortunate addition.
  • I'm not going to lie, they effed up the ending hardcore, like I have no idea what they're going to do with that but I can't wait to find out next year!
THE GOOD
  • Let's get this rant out of the way: I will forever love Jai Courtney as Eric. Eric was one of my favorite characters in the book and Jai Courtney only made me love him more in the movies. Plus he's beautiful, admit it. I know that Eric is an awful person, but he translated so well on screen. Jai Courtney made him a multifaceted character. He was intimidating, confusing in terms of motive, and downright scary by the middle of Insurgent. I found him fascinating. 
  • Side note: I was super butthurt that they left out certain lines right before his execution scene but oh well. It was still a wonderful portion of the movie itself. Great acting.
  • Peter was wonderfully terrible, as always. His sass was relentless and I couldn't help but laugh along with him every once in awhile.
  • The action sequences in this film were on point from Tris and Four being chased out of Amity by Dauntless, to them kicking major factionless ass on the train.
  • THE CANDOR TRUTH SERUM SCENE MADE ME CRY LIKE A BABY
  • The simulation scenes weren't my favorite but they were interesting enough; I completely forgot that Peter injects Tris with the death serum and holy shoot, it was executed very well.
  • They finally gave us Uriah and he was close to perfection.
Sure, certain aspects within the second film were off. Tris saved the little kid from being shot by Eric. Uriah didn't have as much character development as fans were expecting. Marlene and Lynn were down played. The box idea was different, but it didn't bother me all that much. I feel as though certain changes were necessary while others I don't and maybe won't ever understand. Either way, I tried my hardest to separate the movie from the book and I suggest that other fans who haven't seen it yet do the same. As a movie, I thought Insurgent was awesome, confusing moments and all!

Please feel free to voice your opinions in the comments section below! Did you love it or hate it? What was your favorite part? What was your least favorite part and why?

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

As Asher Roth Once Said, "I Love College"

Why hello everyone! This is my long awaited return to my very missed blog. I check in every once in awhile but I really haven't had the time to dedicate myself to it like I did during summer vacation. But I'm back, and hopefully I'll be here on a consistent basis.

In late September, I moved a few hours away to attend university. As I mentioned in my last post from September, I was extremely anxious. I wasn't sure if I'd like my new school, if I'd make friends, or if I'd get along with my roommate. These were all huge concerns of mine. Once I moved in, I found that it was kind of difficult to put myself out there in my attempt to socialize and not mess college up the way I messed up high school.


Anna and I at a hockey game
Thankfully, five doors down and a few days before school started, I met this goofball named Anna whom some of you may have seen vaguely on my Bookstagram account. I was drawn to her apparent ability to speak to other people and her beyond contagious laugh. The day I decided to talk to her was the day we pretty much clicked, and now I can say that I've found my college best friend as well as my "ride or die" because let me tell you, this girl has my back and I have hers.


Anna, myself, and Taylor
Meeting Anna has forced me to put myself out there in terms of meeting people. She's a social butterfly and I try to keep up. Our endeavors either end up working out perfectly or turning into a disaster, there is no in between. Throughout my collegiate journey, I have made a fair amount of new friends, but I can tell that a few of them - some of the girls on my floor specifically - are going to be lifelong buds. Other than Anna, I spend most of my time with my crazy roommate Taylor and my firecracker/badass/muddin' loving friend Destinee. Dealing with them is a handful, especially living on an all girl floor, but we've made some awesome memories that I wouldn't trade for anything.

Overall, in terms of the schooling aspect, I'm enjoying my time at university more than I originally thought I would. I was expecting to hate college the way I hated high school but it's so much better. The amount of control that I have over my own schedule is amazing. I love being able to determine when I go to class and what classes I take every quarter. Fall Quarter was the best time I've had in school since junior high. I took a required study class, Computer Literacy, and my favorite, Classics in Literature. Two of my three professors were quite helpful, funny, and passionate about what they were teaching. Now, Winter Quarter is an entirely different story.

I felt ready for Winter Quarter after I had registered for classes, but that was before Winter Break happened. My break was almost a month and that's a long time to be away from school when I had just gotten used to it.

Break was a really difficult time for me. I went home knowing that my oldest dog wasn't doing so well and I wasn't looking forward to seeing that. About a week and a half into break - three days before Christmas - my little man Cody passed away. He grew up with me for 15 years. His passing hit hard. I cried all day and my grandmother did the same. I received what felt like a million texts condoling me for my loss and I cried almost every day during the rest of my time off from school. I basically removed myself from interacting with friends from home in order to be with my family, but for the most part, I was ready to go back to school.

Once I got back to school, I felt ready to focus on my classes again...but that hasn't exactly been the case. I enjoy my English class (after all, I am an English Literacy major) and I always get a good laugh in my Psychology 100 class. Then, unfortunately, I have Math 104 in which I can't earn college credit and I am currently failing. I stopped meeting with my peer coach, I'm pretty positive that I've gained the freshman 30 instead of 15, and my social anxiety has returned in full swing. I know that sounds awful, but I swear, I'm actually doing a lot better than I was during break.

Speaking of breaks, my Spring Break is coming up in two weeks which means I'll have some more free time to blog! In the meantime, I'll try to post every so often these next few weeks because I miss my online blogging/reading/writing community! I can't thank you all enough, truly. I appreciate all of the support that I receive from you guys, even throughout my five months away from blogging. Y'all are all-stars and I hope you know that. 

UPDATED SOCIAL MEDIA

I no longer use my Twitter account solely to speak about books and reading. It now serves as my personal account, where I tweet like a normal adolescent because that's what I am. If you'd like, go ahead and follow me, I will gladly follow back: TWITTER

My Bookstagram account is mentioned in the above paragraphs. That account is currently private, so if you'd like to send me a follow request, go for it! 

At the moment, I'm not updating my Goodreads page because I haven't read nearly enough books in the past few months. I will try to update it as soon as possible.