This is a blog just to talk about books and things of the like. If a movie comes along that catches my eye and is off a book....(or not sometimes.) I just hope you will enjoy what you see here. :)
I don't really have one! I know some people have a whole process but mine is honestly to just climb into bed with a kindle or a book and read. Now, if you mean, read until I fall asleep? I can do that. But if you mean, "just a few more pages!" and it tur
1. When Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released, I skipped to the end to see if Harry lived. I couldn't wait to find out.
2. when Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was released--I skipped school in order to read it...and I did in one day.
3. I read 'The DaVinci Code' in 4 hours.
4. My all time favorite character in a book is Scarlett O'Hara.
5. I love books written in first person perspective. I feel like I see things better when I'm reading it through that perspective. It has to be a really good book in order for me to lose myself in third person perspective.
5. I absolutely hated Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter. Maybe it is because I adore history so much, that the idea just put me off and I couldn't get into it.
6. In college, I took a Lit course and I read 'The Yellow Wallpaper'...and I wanted to shoot myself. I absolutely hate that story.
7. Historical-fiction is my favourite genre of book.
8. I was two when I started to read on my own.
9. I can honestly say that I generally dislike a lot of modern books; meaning books set in today's world. I enjoyed the Vampire Chronicles and Harry Potter but mostly I like books that take place in the past.
10. I think that the greatest gift you could ever present me with is a book, a gift certificate to Barnes & Noble or my own personal library. (I can dream, right?)
11. I don't think e-books are bad things. I think that reading is important, no matter how you choose to do it.
12. Reading and having a Starbucks coffee in hand will always make me smile.
13. I could spend hours in a bookstore.
14. Goodreads is an amazing site and I spend way too much on it.
15. I hate when a movie is based on a book and they completely change it.
Have you ever wanted to be a southern Belle? When I was younger, I wanted to be Scarlett O'Hara. Granted, there was only GWTW for me to learn and to try emulate. While I'd like to think I have some of Scarlett's grace, I mostly have her not so pleasant points. (Temper, vanity, jealousy...) However, all would be Belles now have a manual in which they can use to help them achieve this goal.
Enter Phaedra Parks and her new book, 'Secrets of a Southern Belle'.
I had my doubts. Self help/how-to books usually irritate me but this flowed nicely and was very pleasant to read. Phaedra has clearly put time and effort into this--a Belle never rushes, after all!--and it really shows.
She teaches everything from how to compliment someone (even if she doesn't mean it), to style tips, decorating, how to use fancy utensils (outside in), how not to be shy and how to do it all on a modern woman's schedule. It seems like a steep task but Phaedra makes it sound easy. She's an attorney, filmed for tv, a wife, a mum, a friend, an author...she works it all out.
I think you'll enjoy this book, it's not just a plain, "This is how you do it." sort of book. On the contrary, it reads smoothly and has humorous anecdotes too. I think you could tell that this was a labor of love for Phaedra and it has nifty tips that even if you don't want to be a Southern Belle, you may want to employ. Being nice in this hustle and bustle world is a rarity lately, so I feel that this book is encouraging you to be the one sunflower In a field of daisies.
An enjoyable read for certain! One of my favourite tips was about thank you notes. I may not be a Belle but I love to write thank you notes out.
So bless your hearts, go on and get yourself reading this book now, you hear?
;-) *This was provided to me from NetGalley. This did not colour my view in any way. I did enjoy this book immensely.
Let me begin by saying that I wanted so very much to love this book and I did at first but then it began to drag on...and on...and on. I cannot possibly imagine enduring all the suffering that she did. She certainly did go through a lot and as person suffering from bipolar disorder, it could not have been easy.
I wanted to be able to relate to her, however, she was quite unlikable I found. She was such a conflicted individual and I found I often wanted to reach into the book and smack her because as a child/young woman, she was intolerably rotten. Spoiled rotten and over-privileged...granted, I know that is how she was raised, but I just couldn't believe her. And how she hooked Lincoln into marrying her...I know that this was just a dramatization but how dreadful of her. Also, I didn't like how she complained about being poor. She knew when she married him that they'd be poor. Yet, hey, let's go blow money on gowns that she didn't need! Let's buy furniture for the house they didn't have yet! Let's force Lincoln to work even harder and have nothing to show for it since people didn't regularly pay him.
I do appreciate the details; I like to hear about the hustle and bustle of towns, the detail of attire and I will give the author as much credit for that as I possibly can. Sadly, that is about as much praise as I can give and even that can be too much of a good thing. The scenes were repetitive; such long paragraphs about Mary Todd Lincoln feels and those way too frequent dream sequences...ad nausium is the term I'm thinking of here.
All in all? Just...no. I did not enjoy this book and that's a shame...there was so much potential.
Recently, my friend Jenifer gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. She also has an adorable almost two year old son. When a friend and I went to visit her shortly before she gave birth, we brought presents for both kids. I was really excited because we decided to bring a book for her son and her daughter because you can never start reading too early to a child. We were going to bring 'Curious George' but then we saw the ultimate kids classic.
Green Eggs & Ham!
I don't know too many people who didn't have this read to them or any Dr. Seuss book, really. I loved them as a child and as an adult, I'm not going to lie, I hear the rhymes and they instantly make me smile. I find some children's books these days silly. I'm a classic book lover. I was talking with my parents and I asked them what was my childhood favorite book. I had several apparently and if my parents were brazen enough to skip a part, I knew it well enough to say, "hey!" I amused and irritated my parents, since I made them read things over....and over...and over again. I grew out of these books rather quickly. Despite being developmentally delayed, I was reading at a far higher level than other children my age. I recall in 2nd or 3rd grade that my classmates were reading age appropriate books and I had to get special permission from the principal to borrow Dickens from the school library. I was reading at a college level by 3rd grade. I feel fortunate that I was indulged by all the adults in my life to read as much as possible. It has served me well.
So....what was my favorite book? Find out after the jump!