Little Bits of Wisdom- May, August, and Septemer 2010

So I haven't posted my monthly quotes in forever! So here's a catch up:


"It was harder to be bold when the whole world seemed to be watching your every move." -Michael Grant, Gone

"Evil things love chaos." -Michael Grant, Lies

"Sometimes life gets tough and scary, okay? We've all been scary places before. But here we are, right? We're all still here." -Michael Grant, Lies

"There was no better way to understand life than to live it-if not through your own life, then through another's... Not to read was to turn your back on the wisest of minds." -Ted Dekker, Thr3e

"You don't fight evil with evil; it just creates anarchy." -Ted Dekker, Thr3e

"The heart is always at liberty- the sudden spark of feeling, the quick jet of passion, the mellow glow of satiated love. In all these states, the heart has its independence and will not be governed. The great secret is that all the conventions of society can be satisfied, and still the heart is at liverty. The heart knows what it knows, and it knows when it is met in a rapture of recognition." -Sena Jeter Naslund, Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette

"It's never something huge that changes everything, but instead the tiniest of details, irrevocably tweking the balance of the universe while you're busy focusing on the big picture." -Sarah Dessen, Lock and Key

"'And the rest is history.' I said.
'Nah,' he shook his head. 'The rest is now.'" -Sarah Dessen, Lock and Key

"Not everything's perfect, especially at the beginning. And it's all right ot have a little bit of regret every once in a while. It's when you feel it all the time and can't do anything about it... that's when you get into trouble." -Sarah Dessen, Lock and key

"Dark days often force us to become more ingenious, to monitor and modify the ways we reached failure and reshape them into a new patter of success." -Isaac Fleischmann


Ok, I admit it. I only found one in September and I found it in my business textbook (thank you Mr. Fleischmann!). So I took it out of context a little, who cares? I mean, you would never have known that the last quote was actually talking about how patents have actually risen since the whole economic crisis rose, would you, now? =D But whatever. But I'm just starting My Dearest Mr. Darcy by Sharon Lathan, so once I finish that one I'll move onto the new book in the series and review it, yes?

As always, feel free to comment and follow me on Twitter and stuff. You can see my THREE latest tweets over on the right hand side of your screen. It always makes me happy when I get new comments and followers! *hinthint*

Anyways, thanks for reading!

Love,

Kristi

My NEW Bookshelf

So I don't know if anyone remembers my post I did about my bookcase, back in May, but I just realized that I have a new bookshelf now since I'm in college and such. So, I decided to write a post all about it since I haven't written in forever and I'm a major bum of a blogger.

There it is! It's definitely a lot smaller than I'm used to, but I manage. I didn't bring all of my books with me to college! I only brought 48! But I did buy a lot more, so I guess that kind of cancels it out.... But whatever. =D

It's organized in pretty much the same way as the old one. My books are up top in alphabetical order by author's last name, then first name, then book title, or volume. And my DVDs are organized alphabetically too! You can't see it, but they're double stacked on the two shelves to the left and continue onto the shelf on the top right. I can't really stand it, since I can't see all of my movies at the same time, but I deal with it. Also, my books are way too high for me to reach, so I had to buy a stepladder. Yeah, I'm short, but who cares?

The gap you see is where the book I'm currently reading, Loving Mr. Darcy by Sharon Lathan and the future home of her new book, In the Arms of Mr. Darcy, which I should hopefully be getting on Friday if the post office doesn't get everything all messed up! So, you know what I'm reading, but I should add I still have the third book in the series to read, My Dearest Mr. Darcy, before I can move on to the new one. But once I finish the fourth one, I PROMISE to write a review! I can't believe I haven't posted anything since August! But, then again, I have been super busy, adjusting to college and studying, plus I've only read two new books recently. One I didn't have a lot to say about and the other I probably could've written a very strongly opinionated review about, but I had a ton of homework, so never got to it.... And I always review stuff right after I finish it, so it didn't work very well. The book was Nanny Returns, which is a sequel to The Nanny Diaries, which I wasn't the biggest fan of.... But whatever, it's my own fault for reading it. And excuses are over now. =D

As always, please feel free to comment! I love getting those and they make me really want to write more posts and such. Also, if you want to know what my opinions are on the books I mentioned, just let me know, and I'll gladly tell you. =D You can always talk about others too! Like the top of the page says, anything book related is fair game. However, I am a pretty talkative person (if you haven't realized) so if you want to say something else, go for it! =D

Thanks for reading!

Love,

Kristi

Sarah's Key

Author: Tatiana de Rosnay

Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten-year-old girl, is taken with her parents by theFrench police as they go door-to-door arresting Jewish families in the middle of the night. Desperate to protect her younger brother, Sarah locks him in a bedroom cupboard- their secret hiding place- and promises to come back for him as soon as they are released.

Sixty years later: Sarah's story intertwines with that of Julia Jarmond, an American journalist investigating the roundup. In her research, Julia stumbles onto a trail of secrets that link her to Sarah, and to questions about her own romantic future.


So, my best friend has been trying to get me to read this book for about a year. And if you knew my best friend, you would understand that she doesn't give me book recommendations a lot, because she doesn't really read as much as I do (which might be understandable, seeing how I always call her when I finish reading a book and rant on about it while she pretends to listen. =D). But I have never been disappointed by a book that she tells me to read, so I don't really know why I don't listen to her right away.

Obviously, since Maria's recommendation never fails, I really liked Sarah's Key. I think it had a really good balance of predictable and unpredictable moments. Honestly, I love when something unexpected happens, but occasionally, if every single thing is unpredictable, it feels over the top. But if it's all predictable, it gets really boring. However, this book has the perfect combination, which makes it feel much more realistic. The author also makes the unpredictable things plausible, which helps the story extremely. She didn't take it to the extremes, she put in plot twists that, while you would never have expected them, also makes sense. For example, when you find out what actually happened to Sarah, my jaw did drop, but I also thought, "Well, why didn't I think that would happen?"

I also loved that the author chose to write about such an obscure point in history, the Veldrome d'Hiver roundup that occurred in Paris on July 16, 1942. I've never heard of this, ever, and I'm a history freak, so I'm not used to reading books where I don't at least have a small amount of knowledge about the history. That means that I learned quite a bit, while reading a really enjoyable book. That's always a plus. =D

Another great thing about Sarah's Key is the setup or layout (I'm having problems thinking up words tonight because it's about 3 am). I love how in the beginning the perspectives change every chapter between Sarah in 1942 and Julia in 2002. I think it's really interesting and I think de Rosnay handled it very well, by making sure that neither of the characters knew anything they weren't supposed to know until they were supposed to know it, even though the other character may have known. (Confusing sentence, eh?) Personally, I would've jumbled it all up (like I do with everything), so I have major respect for her, especially since I think that a lot of authors really don't handle it very well, either, when you've got two different people in two different time periods. I also think that she chose the right time to end Sarah's narrative. Not only would it have ruined some of the bigger plot twists, it also seemed (to me, at least) kind of symbolic of when Sarah really lost her spirit, no matter how cheesy I just made that sound.

I only had a few things that bugged me. It kind of got annoying how Sarah was referred to as "the girl" through most of her perspective chapters. I mean, it was obvious who it was. The book is called Sarah's Key and the synopsis on the back of the book says that Sarah locked her brother in a cabinet. So wouldn't it make sense that girl who locked her brother in the cabinet and had the key would be named Sarah? I'm sure there was a reason for doing it, but it just bugged me, because I didn't see that reason.

Also, I thought that ending kind of dragged, after it transistions to 2005. I thought it was pretty unexciting compared to the rest of the novel, until it got to the very last chapter. I liked that. =D

But anyways, overall, I did really like it, so I'm glad that my best friend told me to read it and my aunt gave it to me. I would highly recommend it to anyone who's interested in a little historical mystery. =D Sorry if my blog sucked, but I haven't written in quite a while, plus it's super late. But, anyways, I think that I'm going to read The Private Life of Marie Antoinette by Madame Campan next, because I've only read it once and I don't really remember how much I absorbed of it last time. So, I'm not going to be reviewing it, since I have read it before. I start college in 2 weeks so if I have time after that (which I'm pretty sure I will), I'm going to try read something that I've decided to leave behind. Yes, my parents and my best friend have convinced me that I will not have enough room in my dorm to bring all of my books, so I've narrowed it down to about 48, so I'm proud of myself. =D As always, please feel free to leave me comments about anything, and I really do mean anything. =D Chances are, I'll respond!

Anyways, thanks for reading!

Love,

Kristi

I'm Back!

My hiatus is finally OVER! I'm sure you're very excited. =D haha. That's the main message of this post, so if you don't want to hear my blurb of randomness, that mostly has nothing to do with books, you can stop reading now and I totally won't mind, because I have been told that my blurbs are waaaaaaayyyyy too long. =D

But, anyways, I got back from my longest vacation ever about two weeks ago. I got to visit my wonderful family (my mom's side, along with my dad's mom) in Florida for 6 whole weeks! I haven't seen them for 3 years, so it was really awesome! Also, since my family is HUGE (my mom is one of 7 children and my dad is one of 5), I swear, we are always adding new family members. So, since the last time I was there, we added a new uncle, and 4 new cousins! So I got to meet them and they are just adorable!

Since my brother and I are the only grandkids that don't live in Florida, we normally do get a fuss when we're there, but apparently, that is NOTHING compared to when you graduate high school. =D I'm the oldest grandkids on my mom's side, so, therefore, first one to graduate and first to go to college right afterwards. So, I got a LOT more attention than usual, which was uncomfortable at times, but whatever. I got a party, a cake, and a cousin talent show dedicated to me, full of hula-hooping, spelling, and singing Taylor Swift songs.

My brother left a few weeks earlier than I did, so that he could help my parents move into their new house, but I stayed. My aunt and uncle decided to celebrate my cousin Megan's 7th birthday at Fort Wilderness in DisneyWorld since they just bought a new camper and my mom got us tickets to go to the Magic Kingdom for 2 days! Needless to say, all girls of any age (or at least most of the ones I know) are huge Disney fans, Megan, her older sister (and my oldest cousin at 10 years), Victoria, and I were thrilled! It was their first time doing the whole meet the characters things since they normally just went on the rides before, so we did that, which I LOVE doing (and did most of the time when I went to DisneyLand in May). But, I didn't get my own autographs and pictures, and just let my cousins do it. (Although, I DID stand in for Megan while she went on a ride in Tomorrowland and Victoria wanted to see Chip and Dale, so I have a picture with them.)

Anyways, they also took me to this show called the Hoopdeedoo Review, and despite how corny it sounds, it was probably the funniest thing I've ever seen. If you ever go to Fort Wilderness, SEE IT! Victoria also introduced me as the new Disney princess, so you are now reading words written by royalty, aren't you excited? =D haha.

But anyways, when I had to leave, I started crying REALLY BAD, which was really embarrassing, because I was in the airport with my grandparents, two of my aunts, Victoria, Megan, and my youngest cousin Dylan, and I most definitely don't like crying in front of people. =C So, I flew here to Texas, where my family moved, but to be completely honest, I'm not sure I'm a huge fan of it, no offense to any Texans. But I'm sure I'd probably like it more if I were in a place more like Phoenix, instead of a city that's 45 minutes away from the closest Target. But that's ok. I'm also still adjusting, and haven't really made any effort to make any friends, since I'm going back to AZ in a few weeks to start college!

Anways, I'm excited to go start college, even to actually go to the classes, because they're actually interesting! =D But to relate this post more to books, like it's supposed to be, I'd like to add that I did read a TON while I've been on break, so I may post a list of what I read and a few thoughts on them. I won't do full reviews because I probably won't remember the details of the books, but I definitely read some really good ones. I guess part of being a huge reader/book hoarder in a family of aunts that never keep their books (like my mom, but she actually throws them away, which breaks my heart! =C), that means that I get a whole bunch of new books to bring home! Plus my aunt took me to Georgia to go visit for a few days with one of her friends, so on the drive up there, we found an awesome discount bookstore, full of old library books. We spent two hours there. =D But I'll probably make that list later, since it involves a lot of effort and I'm just in a lazy mood.

In other news, my best friend, and my parents, and pretty much everyone finally convinced me not to bring all of my books with me to college, so I'm only bringing around 48..... So I'm really hoping that I don't feel an overwhelming need to read one of the books I decided not to bring.... But then again, there is a Barnes and Noble right across the street, so it's all good.

FINALLY, we're at the end, so I'm sure you're relieved my blurb is over. =D I'm currently reading Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay, which my best friend has been trying to get me to read for months (and getting a book recommendation from her is a very rare occurance, since she kind of thinks I'm a freak for reading so much. =D But we're just the kind of friends that call each other freaks, so it's not mean, if that's what you're thinking) and my Aunt Jodie gave me when I visited her. So that'll be my first review after my hiatus! =D

And I think that's all I have to say. =D

So, thanks for reading!

Love,

Kristi

Well, I Forgot to Post a Notice About Hiatus....

So, here it is, I suppose.... About a month too late, actually.... But the reason I'm put the blog on a temporary HIATUS is because I did have to go to my college orientation (which was probably the BIGGEST waste of time and two days, since all they did was repeat all the same things over and over again). Then I had to get all of my stuff in my house, along with my brother's since I pretty much packed all of his stuff as well, into boxes so my parents could get it all moved to Texas (since that's where they're moving to after I head off to college) while Chase (my brother) and I went to Florida to visit my family. We're still here and I just now finally got an internet connection in my aunt's barn apartment (which, since my brother and I are older, we get to stay in. =D). Exciting and super busy, yes?

But let my say that I have no idea what I was thinking, bringing as many books with me as I did, plus finding two more books at this awesome book store that sold $20 books for $3, and then my Aunt Kelly gave me TWO MORE books. So my count right now of the amount of books I actually have is 9, but one of those books has every single Jane Austen novel, so technically I have 16.

And here's the list I have. I haven't decided if I'll do reviews of any of them, yet, or if the blog's hiatus is even over, but just so I can put it out there with a few of my thoughts on those that I have read:


The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Sherman Alexie)- I have this book because my school gave it to me and told me to read it over the summer. I read it in about 4 hours at my grandparents' house the other day. It's not my favorite book ever, but it certainly wasn't the worst one, either. It was funny, and I also enjoyed the pictures, though.

The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)- One of the books my Aunt Kelly gave me. I loved it, even though it was really sad.

Kiss Me, Kill Me (Lauren Henderson)- I got this at the $3 store, but I haven't gotten to it just yet.

Someday My Prince Will Come (Jerramy Fine)- Another $3 store find, but I haven't gotten to this one either.

Dear John (Nicholas Sparks)- I haven't read it yet.

Versailles: A Biography of a Palace (Tony Spawforth)- This is what I started last night at midnight. I've only read the preface and looked at the map, so far, though. I think it looks good so far, though. =D

Picture Perfect (Jodi Picoult)- Got it from my Aunt Kelly, and I haven't read it yet.

Emma (Jane Austen)- Emma has a book all to itself, because carrying my huge Jane Austen book is a hastle on the airplane. I loved it though. But Pride and Prejudice is still my favorite.

Seven Novels of Jane Austen- I'll get to it eventually. =D

Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette (Sena Jeter Naslund)- I had to bring it and reread it, but my Aunt Nique is currently borrowing it. =D


So, there we go. If I decide to review a book, then I'll get it up, if not, then I'm not doing anything. =D Make sense?

Thanks for reading!

Love,

Kristi

My Bookshelf

Above, you see a picture of my bookcase. Unfortunately, the vast majority of my books and DVDs are packed away and in storage. That was a very sad day. =C However, I did take this picture a few months ago and since then I've added significantly to my library, and maybe 2 or so DVDs (I just love the $5 movies at Walmart!). Currently I've only got 6 books on my shelf, so I pretty much bought 4 books in the past week or so. 

Anyways, I'm very OCD when it comes to this bookshelf. It is ALWAYS clean, unlike the rest of my bedroom. It's always organized and I swear I can tell if anyone moves my books from their place (like my brother tends to do quite often). There is a very specific way that it's organized. It goes alphabetically by the author's last name, then first name, if two authors have the same last name. All of the books by one author then go alphabetically by title. (Example: For Sarah Dessen's books go Along For the Ride, Dreamland, Just Listen, etc.). 

Then after all my books are my seasons of Gilmore Girls, because that show is just awesome. =D Then my DVDs start and they are also alphabetized. I try to get as many to fit on the darn bookcase as possible because all the ones that don't fit go on this awesome thing my parents got me a few years ago from Sharper Image. It looks like this (click it because my computer is dumb and is only letting me put one picture on this post). But it the spaces for the DVDs don't fit my weird shaped ones, so I try to just use it as overflow since most of the weird shaped ones just happen to start with letters at the beginning of the alphabet. That way, all the DVDs stay in order, like they should be.

So, now you know a little bit about my OCDness. Do you have any weird OCD moments? You should tell me in the comments! =D I'd love you forever! Anyways, currently I'm reading Thr3e by Ted Dekker because my friend asked me to. I'll review it, I think, and then I'm going to move on to Austen's Emma.

So, thanks for reading!

Love,

Kristi

Lies

Author: Michael Grant

It's been seven months since all the adults disappeared.

Gone.

It happens in one night. A girl who died now walks among the living: Zil and the Human Crew set fire to Perdido Beach; and amid the flames and smoke, Sam sees the figure of the boy he fears the most: Drake. But Drake is dead. Sam and Caine defeated him along with the Darkness-or so they thought.

As Perdido Beach burns, battles rage: Astrid against the Town Council; the Human Crew versus the mutants; and Sam against Drake, who is back from the dead and ready to finish where he and Sam left off. And all the while deadly rumors are raging like the fire itself, spread by the prophetess Orsay and her companion, Nerezza. They say that death is a way to escape the FAYZ. Conditions are worse than ever and kids are desperate to get out. But are they desperate enough to believe that death will set them free?

447 pages. 12 hours. Minus the times that I left to go to lunch with my family. Minus the time I spent searching for the keys to my dad's truck (which my mom seems to have accidentally forgotten to take them out of her purse when she went down to Texas this morning). And minus the times that I spent inspecting the gorgeous handwriting that my best friend put ALL over my car for my birthday. So 8-9 hours, possibly? That's how long I spent reading this book today. 

If you've read any of my Twitter things lately, you already know I have been looking forward to the newest novel in the Gone series (and if you haven't been paying attention, first of all, now you know, and second of all, you should definitely follow me. =D). And let me tell you, I was not disappointed. 

I was hooked from the very first sentence, all the way to the last one. When I was forced to put the book down, I was a VERY unhappy camper. It was just so exciting throughout the whole thing.

What was really great about it was the unpredictability of the novel. Usually, I'm pretty good at guessing what's going to happen, just because I read so much in general, and so many authors seem to be incapable of writing anything that doesn't sound like something else that's already been written. However, this is most definitely NOT the case with Michael Grant. I only had ONE correct prediction, and it doesn't really even count, because I was half wrong at the same time. That is majorly impressive.

And as with the other two books in the series, I loved how realistic the characters were, even the ones that had crazy powers. All of them were complex enough to be real people. They had their good qualities and bad qualities. Astrid, for example, while she does remain Astrid the Genius, proves that while she's theoretically the best person to lead the FAYZ, she doesn't manage to pull it off due to her failure to work with the team to accomplish what needs to be done. Diana also shows that even though she's on the side of bad boy Caine, she actually is a good person.

I love the writing style. The dialog is mostly perfect and completely appropriate for each individual character. A lot of authors have problems with that, in my opinion, and all the dialog sounds like the same person could be saying each thing. Also, I love the little humor that's added into it. When the book gets really intense, sure enough, a joke will come up in the perfect spot. Grant performs an amazing balancing act!

I must admit, however, that I was very confused at some points in the book, especially with the whole Drake/Brittney thing, but that's how Grant set it up, I think. Everything that was supposed to make sense at the end, did. However, there were of course, the new mysteries that were brought out. Like what's behind the FAYZ wall, for example. Were Orsay and Little Pete right that the parents lay just outside, watching and waiting for the children? And what exactly happened to Mother Mary? I have a feeling that her story isn't over yet. But I believe there's going to be six or seven total books in this series, and this is only number three, so there's plenty of time to learn all the answers. 

The only bad thing I thought was that Michael Grant definitely needs to get a better proofreader. I swear, punctuation and spelling mistakes are my pet peeves when I'm reading. However, that still didn't detract from the general awesomeness of the book. =D

So, as you can tell, I LOVED IT. End of story. I mean, if you knew me and what I normally read, you would NEVER think that I would like this book at all. These books are the only sci-fi ones that I like. I just generally don't enjoy sci-fi books, so I give major kudos to Michael Grant. And I must say that I don't hate looking at the cover. Sam is a very, very nice looking man. =D

Anyways, the plan was to finish reading Dear John since I ditched it to reread the Gone series. However, I was supposed to move today, but that didn't happen, so all of my books are currently in storage. =C But I bought Jane Austen's Emma yesterday, so I'm going to read that. And while it is going to be my first time reading it, I'm not sure if I want to take on reviewing a classic.... So I probably won't do a review for it. Therefore, I have no idea what book I'll be writing about next, but I'll update my Twitter account and you can see my latest 3 (?) Twitter posts on the right hand side of the page, so you can keep updated there. =D Or you could just follow me. =D And, as always, please feel free to comment about anything! I love comments!

Anyways, thanks for reading!

Love,

Kristi