Where is you warm weather reading nook?

Hopefully warm weather for most of us is here soon… so tell us about your favorite outdoor reading spot. Or take a picture!

I wish I could take a picture of my favorite outdoor reading spot, but it’s looking shoddy right now since it’s overcast and half-melted piles of snow lay everywhere. I’ll show it off this summer so you all can get the full effect of its awesomeness.

I live on a lake. Okay okay, I live on a canal that links two lakes together. But, if I peer two houses down to the left, I can see the lake, so it’s kind of like living on the lake, right? Once the weather gets warm and sunny, I drag a plastic lawn chair down to the edge of the canal, plop down, and read. Usually my boyfriend follows with his fishing pole and tackle box, and he’ll spend his afternoon catching small bass and catfish and bluegill. He’s good company when he fishes because he usually doesn’t interrupt my reading unless he wants to show off his catch or he needs help pulling a hook that a catfish swallowed. Every once in a while, some kids in canoes will come down the canal or a family will float by on their pontoon boat, and they’ll wave “hi” and ask if the boyfriend has made any good catches. It’s pleasant.

Usually I have to call it quits when the sun starts to set because the mosquitoes come out in droves, and I am a delicacy to mosquitoes. Once, my boyfriend and I took turns reading aloud poems from a Charles Bukowski book while sitting outside at night. He had not a single bite on his body, but I got loads. And! I was wearing long socks, jeans, and a hoodie because I just knew I would get bite. They ended up biting me through my jeans, and I had to douse myself with Calamine lotion. It was awful. Instead of heading outside at night, I   usually prop the back door open so I can listen to the bullfrogs and the Sandhill cranes and the cicadas while I read.

Follow Friday is a meme hosted by Rachel at Parajunkee’s View!

Follow Friday: What Supernatural Creature Do You Wish Existed?

If you could choose one supernatural being/creature to really exists what would it be and why?

I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for elves. These creatures have taken on many different roles throughout folklore and literature, so it’s kind of hard for me to decide which type of elf I wish were real.

In Grimm brothers’ story of The Elves and the Shoemaker, elves are helpful creatures who are very handy cobblers. Shoes are inexpensive these days, so it’s easy to purchase replacements. However, isn’t it dreadful when you have to retire your absolute favorite pair of shoes because you’ve worn the sole down? If these types of elves existed, all you would have to do is entice them with some warm clothes to mend a worn sole.

Tolkien’s version of elves are supposed to be beautiful and wise and total bad asses. Maybe my reasoning for wishing these types of elves existed is superficial, but I’d be a very happy lady if elves bore a striking resemblance to Orlando Bloom. He totally inspired me to write awful fanfic, and I may or may not have had this picture printed out and tacked to my corkboard in high school.

Then there is your standard Christmas elf. I mean, they make presents. And they smile. And any friend of Santa is a friend of mine. At some point in elf lore, they gained a bad wrap. It was believed they afflicted humans and especially livestock. But, does Buddy the elf seem like he wants to smite cows? No. He just wants to spread Christmas cheer through song! Also, true story: for my Accounting final, I wrote an essay about how Santa should switch from a periodic inventory system to a perpetual inventory system. I made the argument that it would be less time-consuming, so his elves could dedicate their time to other things they’re passion about…like dentistry.

Follow Friday is a meme hosted by Rachel at Parajunkee’s View!

Book I Wish I Could Unread

If you could “unread” a book, which one would it be? Is it because you want to start over and experience it again for the first time? Or because it was THAT bad?

The Good – These are the books that I wish I could unread because I loved them so much. I wish I could experience them for the first time again.

• Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling, duh! Although, to be honest with each time I read the book I always discover something new, so in a way it’s kind of like I’m reading it for the first time.
• The Hobbit by JRR Tolkein
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Bad – This describes my high school required reading experience. I don’t want to unread these books because they were horrible necessarily. I want to unread them so that I can read them with a fresher perspective. Required reading was such a chore. Nothing about the experience was inspiring. The books were mostly dull from my 15-year-old perspective. The discussions were dull because only two or three people read enough of the book to even have a discussion. And then the teachers ruined it all by giving us daily quizzes to see what of the story we retained. That’s no way to inspire an analytical reader. These are some of the books I read in high school that I wish I could unread:

• 1984 by George Orwell
• Brave New World bu Aldous Huxley
• Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
• The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
• One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksander I. Solzhenitsyn

The Ugly – These books may or may not have caused me to throw a literal temper tantrum while alone in my room. I wish I could unread them for good.

• Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
• Grendel by John Gardner
• the last two books in the Twilight Series. I’ve officially been halfway through book 4 for a year as of two weeks ago.
• The Republic by Plato (Who makes 14-year-olds read this stuff?)

FF: How Many Books Do You Read At a Time?

Do you read one book at a time, or do you switch back and forth between two or more?

I am guilty of reading multiple books at once. I usually switch between three different books at any given time. The idea behind this is I have a specific book to read at a  specific place or time. For example, when I’m at home and about to crawl into bed, I usually read something on my Nook. When I’m at work I usually read one of my books that has a “neutral” cover. As opposed to when I’m at home and sitting by the lake while my boyfriend is fishing, I’ll read a book that has a super girly cover/kissy-face cover (you know the sort, I’m sure).

It may seem like I have book ADD, but despite all the book-switching I actually retain everything that I read. Then again, I’ve been a notorious book flip-flopper for years, so I’ve had a lot of practice. The worst thing about being a book flip-flopper is it takes me a while to finish up a book.

Right now I am reading:

Twilight: Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer – This is my “down by the lake” book.
The Demon King (Seven Realms series) by Cinda Williams Chima – This is my “lunch time at work” book
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson – This is a book that I apparently can only read on plane rides where I have zero distraction, which explains why it’s taking me so long to finish the book.
As for my bedtime book, I haven’t settled on what I want to read yet. I keep starting books, get through the first three pages, and decide I’m just not in the mood for that genre of book.

To make matters worse, I have Cinder by Marissa Meyer sitting on my bedside table. I so badly want to read it, but I’m trying to read responsibly. I don’t want to read too many books at once because then things will really get out of hand!

Follow Friday is a meme hosted by Rachel at Parajunkee’s View!

FF: Lengthy Reads

What is the longest book you’ve read? What are your favorite 600+ page reads

The longest book I’ve ever read is Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at 896 pages, and it also happens be one of my favorite books of all times.

In second place comes Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at 759 pages.
In third place comes Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire at 734 pages.
In fourth place comes Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince at 652 pages.

Are you noticing a pattern here? Even though these books were some of my longest reads, I blew through these books like they were just novellas time and time again. It’s so easy to get lost in the world of witchcraft and wizardry!

I’ve also read Eclipse from the Twilight series (629 pages), but it seemed so much longer than that. And, I’m still in the process of reading Breaking Dawn, which has 768 pages. It’s taken me nearly a year to get through this book…

 

I would really love to add books to my 600+ pages list, but as a slow reader I sometimes find these books to be a bit daunting. Especially as a blogger! Still, I’ve had my eye on the Inheritance series by Christopher Paolini for a while now (books 2-4 have over 800 pages each). Other than the Inheritance series, I can’t really think of any super long YA books. Do you have any recommendations for YA books that are 600+ pages?

Follow Friday is a meme hosted by Rachel at Parajunkee’s View!

FF: Quality over Quantity

What would you prefer: reading your favorite books over and over again until you get sick of it or reading hundreds of mediocre books? And why?

This is an easy answer! I’d rather read my favorite books over and over again until I get sick of them instead of reading hundreds of mediocre books. There is so much in life that is already mediocre, like

• first jobs
• “fat-free” and “diet” anything (additionally, sugar-free candy on Halloween)
• generic brand Lucky Charms
• weak coffee in the break room
• Those weeks between the last snow melt of winter and the first blooms of spring when you notice all the garbage along the side of the road, and you realize just how much people litter
• studying really hard for an exam and only earning a C+
• jeans that don’t fit quite right
• school lunches
• magnets that fall off the fridge every time the fridge door shuts

Why settle for the mediocre when I can enjoy my favorites, like

• roaring fires in the fireplace during Autumn and Winter (alternately, long drives in the countryside during Spring and Summer)
• thunderstorms
• cats (preferably orange ones)
• AFI (that’s a really good band, folks)
• loose leaf tea (or whole bean coffee, freshly roasted by Jackson Coffee Co.)
• the following books: Harry Potter 1-7 by J.K. Rowling, Dearly, Departed by Lia Habel, and Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Follow Friday is a meme hosted by Rachel at Parajunkee’s View!

FF: What Book Genres Do You Avoid Reading?

Which book genre(s) do you avoid at all costs and why?

The Classics: I feel like I’m obligated to like these because of my AP English courses in high school and because I did major in English at college. Many of my friends from high school loved the Classics too, so I tried to read a few just so I could take part in their conversations. But, for the life of me, I’ve never been able to appreciate them. The only Classic I’ve read from start to finish is The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and I did like it (both times I was required to read it). But every other Classic I was assigned I read the Cliffs Notes for! I’m not entirely sure why I can’t get into the Classics. Maybe it’s the sophisticated/old-fashioned language because usually the storyline seems interesting enough. Maybe the Classics were introduced to me at the wrong time too. I’ve often thought about trying to read a few Classics now I’m older. Maybe I’ll be able to appreciate them now as a twenty-something year old rather than as a 15-year-old. I’ve stored a few on my Nook with the intention of tackling at least one, but I usually put them aside for another book I KNOW I will like.
P.S. I know “The Classics” is not a genre.

Romance: This includes anything from those Harlequin romance novels my mother used to read religiously to Chick Lit to most YA books that revolve about romance. Love and romance in real life is pretty neat, but they’re not topics I care to read about. Give me teen wizards battling an oppressive villain, not Scarlet, who is swooning over her hunky and debaucherous Greek/Italian/French boss. I know both are fantasies in their own way, but the wizards seem way more believable to me! As for romance in YA…I try to avoid it, but it’s pretty difficult since love is certainly a unique teenage experience and therefore has a place amongst books written for teens. But, I find YA romance books to just be…wrong. Most of it seems to be instant love– a 16-year-old girl asks her mysterious/brooding/handsome locker neighbor to help her open her locker, and in that moment she realizes she’s just found her soul mate. Sorry, it just doesn’t happen that way, and I can’t hop on board. And don’t even get me started on the books that portray unhealthy relationships between two teens. The possessive nature of certain love interests is disturbing, not swoon-worthy.

Westerns: I’m actually very interested in the American wild west, so in theory I should like Westerns. But, alas I’ve always avoided the genre! I blame it on television’s Spaghetti Westerns. Westerns just seem hokey to me.

Follow Friday is a meme hosted by Rachel at Parajunkee’s View!

Now until the break of day/ Through this house each fairy stray

The most recent Follow Friday up at Parajunkee’s View posed this question:

In light of the Summer Solstice. Also known as Midsummer…let’s talk about fairies. What is your favorite fairy tale or story that revolves around the fae?

The first story that comes to mind is William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  This probably wouldn’t have been on my list if I hadn’t taken a Studies in Shakespeare class my senior year of high school.  And it probably wouldn’t have been on my list if my class hadn’t been asked to perform the play.  We were supposed to perform the play in 15 minutes.  Ha!  Yea right.  It ended up being a 2 hours performance.

Reading A Midsummer Night’s Dream was fine, but performing it really helped me to understand all the strange things that happened– I was Helena, by the way.  There wouldn’t have been much of a story without Oberon and Titania.  Oh, and of course Puck, who made me feel both frustrated and amused because of all the trouble he caused!

Puck also made an appearance in another book I recently read– The Sister’s Grimm!  Maybe it’s too soon to determine, but it seems like I may have found a new favorite series.  Expect a review shortly!  But, back to Puck!  He’s still around causing mischief in the town of Fairyport landing, but there seems to be a Peter Pan characteristic that wasn’t there in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  Plus, while he still likes causing mischief, Puck does use his powers for some good in The Sisters Grimm.

Favorite stories aside, there is one that I have never read or watched that has fairies in it…I think…well, according to Kingdom Hearts there are fairies in this story.  I am talking about Sleeping Beauty!  Never in my 22 years of existence, at least that I can recall, have I ever heard the story of Sleeping Beauty.  It’s been on my to-read and my to-watch list for years, but I still haven’t gotten around to it.

Image Credit: hellobaby @ deviantart.com

hem hem!

Who is your all-time favorite book villain?

There is no book villain who makes my blood boil more than Professor Dolores Umbridge from the Harry Potter series.  What I wouldn’t give to be smote by Lord Voldemort or put under the Cruciatus curse by Bellatrix Lestrange than brush elbows with Umbridge.  She takes pleasure in watching the physical pain of youngsters as she punishes them.  She is a bigot(!) and believes discrimination is a perfectly honorable practice.  She’s manipulative!  She’s passive-aggressive.  She exercises extreme measures of censorship!  She put Mad-Eye Moody’s eye in her office door and used it to spy on workers!  She’s not the average villain.  She appears normal–like she could be your neighbor.  Maybe invite you over for some coq au vin and then trick you into writing lines with a quill that cuts messages into the back of your hand.  Umbridge is the only character from a book who has made me audibly groan in frustration. 

* Book Blogger Hop is a meme hosted by Crazy For Books

 



What embarrassing thing have you done on cold medicine?

Somehow, I managed to catch a cold during the middle of summer vacation, or maybe I had allergies.  Whatever the cause for the stuffy head and runny nose, I gulped down some cold medicine right before work.  Regrettably, I didn’t notice the side effects that were listed on the box: may cause drowsiness.  That summer I worked in a factory making cables (the kind that hooks into the back of tv cable boxes), and about a half hour into work, the medicine kicked in. 

I had the hardest time keeping my eyes open.  And, the longer I fought the sleepiness, the more disoriented I became.  As you can imagine, factories are not the most opportune place to feel disoriented.  I almost shut my fingers in the vice on several occasions.  I shudder to think of the destruction that would have caused.  At one point, I allowed myself to rest my eyes.  For just a moment!  But, I guess I ended up nodding off.  One of my friends had to nudge me awake.  She startled me, and I totally tipped over!

Everyone thought I was hung over from the night before, or totally depressed because the boyfriend and I broke up.  Which I wasn’t, and we didn’t!

I excused myself and escaped to the bathroom where I tried to get ahold of my boyfriend on my cellphone.  When the receptionist told me he wasn’t available, I busted out crying (while on the phone with the poor lady) and returned to the factory floor.  Several minutes later, my dad phoned me (he just happened to be The Boss  at the place where my boyfriend worked) to tell me he was on the way to pick me up.  He also told me that the receptionist had been paging the boyfriend every 15 minutes for about an hour.

The boyfriend was responsible for picking me up after work since I didn’t have a car at that time.  He never got my message because he just so happened to have left work early that day!  Harrumph! Had he not skipped work, he would have known that I left work early.  And, had he known I left work early he wouldn’t have waited for me at my place of work for 20 minutes.

* Follow Friday is a meme hosted by Parajunkee’s View!

Follow Friday!

What is your favorite romance hero-type? Stereotype wise. Do you like the strong silent type or the brute macho man?

I don’t like the brute macho man.  That type of over-bearing persona just agitates the feminist part of me.  And, I don’t like the strong, silent type because in my opinion, they have a tendency to be moody which is just agitating period.  Plus, they don’t talk much which doesn’t offer much in the way of  dialogue.  I prefer the charismatic hero.  The mostly cheerful and positive hero.  The hero that was originally your BFF until you realized how swoon-worthy he is.  Well, gee, kind of like Jacob Black from Twilight.  Pre-werewolf transformation, that is.  Ack!  I can’t believe I went there.  I don’t have many examples to go by because romantic novels are beyond my comfort zone.

I have yet to read a romantic hero that is a socially awkward nerd.  You know, that kind that is into Dungeons and Dragons, Magic: the Gathering, and comic books.  But, I’m sure I’d think he were the bees knees too!  Do these types of romantic heroes even exist in book?  If you know of one, please please let me know!

Follow Friday is a meme hosted by Rachel at Parajunkee’s View!

- Jackie