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. :)
Ya'll, I am so sorry. I just kinda of spaced out for a long while, seriously. The joys of being bipolar.
In that time, I've read a few books which I will post reviews for and I also experienced a death in my family...my dog Scruffy passed away. Don't laugh...he was so much a part of my family. We'd gotten him when I was 15, going to be 16. We had him for 12 years, nearly 13. He was my best friend and I read a book or two with him on my lap.
Anyway, I am back now. I'm in a better place...I'm in therapy and my new therapist is amazing. She's also highly encourages me to write and to read...so I'll be working on here.
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.
I never thought I’d want one, admittedly. I know there are some traditionalists who would say that e-readers are the worst thing created.
But I realize, that it’s actually better for me. It will allow me to open up more space in my room, rather than try to squash another bookshelf in there. My room is not very large (I have a queen sized bed that hogs up too much space) and as a bibliophile, my thirst for books is insatiable, but I haven’t anymore space for them. (It does pain me to admit that.) It’s a heartbreaking prospect for me. Even if I donate books, I will only fill up those spaces with even more books that I really have no room for. It’s a bitch to have a small room. I plan on redecorating unless my family and I were to move, but being on a fixed income, the changes will be slow coming. I do have an idea of what I want to do. I will be donating some of the books to the local library, because I know they’ll be well loved there. [Support your local libraries!!]
I love the smell and the feel of a book. I love everything about them, the turning of the pages, the excitement of it all. Yet, with a Kindle, there is none of that. I admit that. There is this electronic object and yourself. You turn it on and you don't feel that connection straight away. But, this object will hold over 100,000+ books. That is a phenomenal number. I can keep all the books I want and never have to worry about them taking up space.
I can load as many books on there as I want, be they classic or brand new. I can still get lost reading over the words that the author has written--just as I do with a book. My imagination is still very much alive which is fantastic. I can see the imagery and be taken back in time or into a world that I never knew existed. So, there is that. I used to think Kindles wouldn't last. That they would fade away into nothingness and books would win. However, Kindles have lasted and as someone who needs more space in their room, I can see and accept the usefulness of it.
Will I get rid of all my books? Of course not. Will I buy more books? Eventually.
But for now, I give in entirely to the Kindle and I even plan on getting the new one; the Kindle Fire HDX. It's lower priced, which is fabulous for me, and I have wanted a tablet for awhile. So, kill two birds with one stone.
I think authors would be happy that they are still being read, no matter the medium.