Some Progress

Pages Read: 138 (57.74)
Opinion thus far: This selection is even better than I remember it. I love it. I've laughed, I've cried (a lot), I've been astounded, disturbed and felt the spirit of the blanket men. I'm currently in the middle of Sands' 46-page epic poem titled "The Trilogy" - I love it. 

Transition

Pages Read: 99 (41.42%)
Opinion thus far: I finished "One Day in the Life" - it is even better than I remembered it. I really liked this memoir, even though it was very difficult to read at times because of the horrors the blanket men were put through. What made it readable was the undying spirit they had - even when they were within an inch of death, Bobby Sands and his comrades would not give up and kept their belief in their cause strong. I also started the second part of Writings from Prison, which is a selection-combination of poetry and short stories. There are so many great lines that I've had to stop, write down and underline so far - the tell tale sign of a good selection.  

Disturbing

Pages Read: 58 (24.27%)
Opinion thus far: In the middle of "One Day in the Life", it is astounding and (just like the first time I read it), I did cry a bit. It is disturbing and at parts, very difficult to read. I can't believe this happened just across the ocean just a few short years before I was born...

A Little Reading, A Lot of Work

Pages Read: 31 (12.97%)
Opinion thus far: Today I finished the introductions and got started on the largest work in this selection - a short memoir called "One Day in the Life", which takes the reader through a "typical" day in the H Blocks. It's just as horrifying as I remember it, but still a very good (yet disturbing) read. 

Writings from Orlando

My next read is Writings from Prison, a mix of memoir, short story and poetry by the Irish revolutionary Bobby Sands. Bobby Sands was imprisoned in the H Blocks in Belfast in the late seventies, was elected from prison into British parliament and died on May 5, 1981 while leading a hunger strike. I've read this selection many times before (first time was last May, just around the thirtieth anniversary of his death), but I've never taken to review what I consider to be one of my favorite books. After the first time I read this selection in whole, I've skipped around to the parts that mean the most to me... so this will be the first time that I've read the selection in whole in almost a year. I'm excited to see what I take from it this time around - so much has changed since I first read it. Writings from Prison was originally published 1997 and my copy was printed in 2001. 

Pages Read: 17 (7.11%)
Opinion thus far: First difference from last time I read this selection - I am really enjoying the introductions to his work. When I first read the selection, I rushed through it because I was anxious to get to the "main part", but now that I know more about Bobby Sands and the Blanket protests, I find the introduction adds a little more to the reading experience and gives much needed background to comprehending the works ahead. 

A Quick Review: Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes

This was the quickest read I've read so far - and I loved this collection of poetry! I love Sylvia Plath, and she's always fascinated me, so getting to read about her from someone else's point of view has been interesting. Especially because Ted Hughes, who was married to Plath, got to see and experience a more private view of her life. The poems I enjoyed in particular were: "Visit", "St Botoloph's", "Your Paris", "You Hated Spain", "Aprehensions", "Perfect Light", and "Totem". I definitely enjoyed this collection, and would recommend it to a friend. Especially if that friend has read Plath before, but that is not a requirement to enjoying "Birthday Letters". 


A little information about my copy of Birthday Letters:

Pages: 198
Original date of publication: 1998
My edition: 1998 (Farrar, Straus, Giroux)
Why I decided to read: I love Sylvia Plath, was interested in learning more about her as a person and writer and was definitely in a poetry mood. 
How I acquired my copy: Half Price Books in my hometown; January 18, 2012

Rapid Progress

Pages Read: 108 (54.55%)
Opinion thus far: LOVE this collection of poetry! I think it is fascinating to see her spiral of insanity through someone else's eyes.

No More Travels, What Will I Read Next?

Since I finished Travels with Charley early this morning, I was left in a quandary of what I should read next as my commute read. I brought a number of books with me to Orlando, but even with a limited selection, it doesn't make picking a new read any easier! After a little examination, I decided my next read would be Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes. This book is a collection of poetry dedicated and written to/about his wife, Sylvia Plath (love her!), written in the twenty five years after her death. It was originally published in 1998 and my copy comes from Farrar, Straus and Giroux and was printed in 1999. 


Pages Read: 50 (25.25%)
Opinion thus far: I'm really loving this poetry. It took me a little bit to get into the swing of reading poetry after reading a full length piece of prose, but now that I've gotten used to Hughes' rhythm, I really am enjoying it. Since I love Sylvia Plath and her writing, I find it interesting to get a new perspective on her and her life. 

Fully Traveled with Charley

Today, I finished Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck, which (to be honest) I was a little sad to reach the end of. I loved this book. I loved it far more than I ever expected to, which I think made it even more exciting. This book was incredible, it was inspiring, it was enrapturing and fantastic and words cannot describe how much I enjoyed it. It is hard to explain the plot line, since there really is no major plot lines except that John Steinbeck is cataloging his travels across America in 1960 over the course of one fall/winter. I've never read Steinbeck before, and I loved this book - I think it was the perfect introduction to his writing style. I can't wait to read more from him!

A little information about my copy of Travels with Charley:

Pages: 275
Original date of publication: 1962
My edition: 1972 (Bantam Pathfinder)
Why I decided to read: I read great things about this book, and it sounded interesting. It also was long enough to hold my attention during my travels, but short enough that it wasn't intimidating. 
How I acquired my copy: Half Price Books in my hometown; January 15, 2012

Almost there....but not quite

Pages Read: 264 (96.0%)
Opinion thus far: Sooo close to finishing, but I didn't want to rush through the final pages since I've loved this book so much.

Making Steady Progress

Pages Read: 168 (61.09%)
Opinion thus far: Words cannot express how much I enjoy this book.

Consistency is Nice

I'm starting to fall into more of a schedule here at my internship, which means I'm finding more time to read! Always a great break from a crazy day.

Pages Read: 136 (49.45%)
Opinion Thus Far: I loved the portion about Milwaukee in particular, some of the ideas really did speak to me about my hometown.

A Little Progress Since Times are Crazy

Pages Read: 107 (39.91%)
Opinion thus far: Love.

Final Book Countdown - I'm in Orlando, so it really is official!

There are all my books, nicely stacked, that I ended up taking to Orlando! The only one that is missing is my current read, Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck. On the left is drama, non-fiction, and novels that are large. The ones on the right are classic novels and some drama that are smaller.

The list goes as follows:

• A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
• A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
• A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
• A Separate Peace by John Knowles
• All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
• All You Who Sleep Tonight by Vikram Seth
• Animal Farm by George Orwell
• Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes
• Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyvesky
• Dead Souls by Nicolai V Gogol
• Elephant Rocks by Kay Ryan
• Gold Set Dancing by James Liddy
• Howl by Allen Ginsberg
• Howl on Trial edited by Bill Morgan and Nancy Peters
• Junky by William S Burroughs
• Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
• Loose Woman by Sandra Cisneros
• No Exit and Three Other Plays by Jean Paul Sartre
• Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
• One Act plays edited by Samuel Moon
• One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kessey
• On the Road by Jack Kerouac
• Other Voices, Other Rooms by Truman Capote
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman
• Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegurt
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
• The Awakening by Kate Chopin
• The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
• The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
• The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
• The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
• Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh
• Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck
• We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families by Philip Gourevitch
• Writings from Prison by Bobby Sands
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

No surprise anymore, I have a book problem.

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"I drove as slowly as custom and the impatient law permitted. That's the only way to see anything." - Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck, page 36

Traveling with Charley (Literally!)

Well, today I flew from Milwaukee to Orlando to start my internship... which meant (at least, until I started checking in and that process) I had a good chunk of reading time! Yay!

Pages Read: 71 (25.82%)
Opinion thus far: Really enjoying this book, can't wait to see what other adventures Steinbeck has!

Monday Musings

This week’s musing asks…Why do you think that the Young Adult genre is so popular with even the adult readers? Do you read YA books, yourself?


I think that the YA genre is popular because it is easy to read, which makes it incredibly easy to slip into another world. With YA, it is easy to pick up and put down, which fits perfectly in our busy lives and doesn't require the attention, analyzing or concentration that classic literature or poetry requires. I have read many YA books in the past, but at this point, I have been focusing more on the classics and poetry because I feel that I've ready too many YA books so I need to "retrain" myself to analyze. 

A Little Progress, a Lot of Packing

Didn't have a ton of time to read today...things got pretty crazy since I leave for FLORIDA tomorrow!

Pages Read: 36 (13.09%)
Opinion thus far: I was unaware that this was more of a memoir than a novel... I love that! I think it adds a very interesting dynamic to the book.

Starting my (Fictional) Travels Early

After finishing up the tedious book that is William Shakespeare's The Sonnets, I decided to get a jump start on some of my plane reading for Florida since I didn't want to start something new and add it to my ever growing book packing list. That means, my current read is Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck. This piece of classic American literature is a semi-autobiographical account of Steinbeck's journey across America before he accepts his old age that was originally published in 1962. My copy was printed in 1963 by the Viking Press.

Pages Read: 28 (10.18%)
Opinion Thus Far: I am extremely enjoying this book so far. I definitely relate to Steinbeck's need to always stay moving, travel and never stay in one spot for very long. It hooked me from the start and I see this book becoming a page-turner and, therefore, a quick read.

Oh Sonnets, How Shall I Review Thee...

Today, I managed to finish William Shakespeare's The Sonnets, which is an impressive feat in itself seeing as I had over a hundred of them left to go. It took an entire day of devoted reading, but I managed to read, understand and analyze all of them.

To be honest, I have mixed feelings about The Sonnets. There were a few I loved, but most I either disliked or felt "meh" about. I did not enjoy this book nearly as much as I thought I was going to do, which is thoroughly disappointing. Maybe it's because I wasn't in the right head space to read them or perhaps my Shakespeare comprehension is not up to par, but I really did not enjoy the majority of the book. 

I circled only 13 sonnets out of 154 as ones that I loved and greatly enjoyed, which is only a 8.44% success rate. Not that great. I felt that most of the sonnets got extremely repetitive - after all, how many different ways can you explain to the viewer that love is blind or the beauty fades?! These are two common themes that I found repeatedly throughout the book. 

It is the first book that I would not recommend to a friend, but I think that there are a few sonnets worth reading - in my opinion, these are 16, 17, 18, 35, 38, 50, 71, 76, 82, 83, 115, 116 and 128. I found these thirteen sonnets to be exceptional and definitely read-worthy. 

A little information about my copy of The Sonnets:

Pages: 203
Original date of publication: 1609
My edition: 2001 (Penguin)
Why I decided to read: I've been on a classics kick lately, and I've also recently dove back into writing poetry. I decided to read some poetry by one of the masters of traditional poetic form. 
How I acquired my copy: Half Price Books in my hometown; January 15, 2012

One Last Goodbye

I took my final trip to Half Price Books today...or at least, my final trip for the next four months. I managed to pick up three books, which will be coming with me to Orlando....and I couldn't be more excited about them. I've already edited my previous Orlando reading list post and added them in. (:

Here's what I picked up:

Howl on Trial: the Battle for Free Expression edited by Bill Morgan and Nancy J. Peters  ($7.48)
- I've been staring at this book for about two months now, so I decided to splurge and get it! I loved Howl when I first read it over the summer, am extremely excited to reread it in the coming months, and hopefully this book will give me some insight into the surrounding events.
Gold Set Dancing by James Liddy ($6.99) - This collection of poetry combines two of my favorite things - Ireland and my hometown, Milwaukee. I am thrilled! I can't wait to read these poems from a professor at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. 
Junky: the Definitive Text of "Junk" by William S. Burroughs ($5.98) - I am SO excited to read this. I have heard great things about Burroughs' work and am excited to experience it first hand. Plus, it is considered a "modern classic." 


Total: $21.49 (average $7.16/book)

Some Data:
Number of books total: 3
Number of books UNDER $10 - 3
Number of books UNDER $7 - 2
Number of books UNDER $5 - 0

Books by Male Authors - 2.5
Books by Female Authors - .5

Genre: Poetry - 1
Sub-genre: Contemporary - 1
Genre: Nonfiction - 1
Genre: Novel - 1 
Sub-genre: Modern Classic - 1

Didn't read at all today.

My day was jam-packed with internship prep and I managed to read about half a sonnet today. Oops!  Tomorrow will be better...I hope.

A Small Confession

Pages read: 86 (42.36%)
Opinion thus far: Today I managed to read through Sonnet 39, and to be perfectly honest, I must confess I'm kind of hating them. Maybe its partially because I'm rusty on my Shakespeare-comprehension, but I am not finding them very enjoyable at all...and this is coming from a girl who adores poetry. I've found a few that I've liked, but not many at all. Of course, I'll push through the next 115 of them in the next day or two (I really don't want to cart this to Florida with my other books), but keep your fingers crossed that my opinion changes!

Plane Reading

How could I forget to mention what I've chosen to take with to read at the airport and on the plane? I selected two titles - one novel and one drama.

The novel is Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck.
The drama is A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry.

I may add a selection of poetry to this mix, but it really depends on whether or not I get one more run through Half Price Books before I leave! I know that I have about a years worth of reading in all of what I've selected, but I love books! And I can't see a few hundred miles changing that...

Revised Reading Lists

I've edited and re-edited my book list for the next few months, but I've finally narrowed it down to a list I am incredibly happy with me. It is not much shorter than the other list, but I feel like it is a much more manageable selection and I can always ask my parents to send me more as necessary. (and I have my Kindle, what a relief!) 

• A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
• A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
• A Separate Peace by John Knowles
• All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
• All You Who Sleep Tonight by Vikram Seth
• Animal Farm by George Orwell
• Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes
• Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
• Dead Souls by Nicolai Gogol
• Elephant Rocks by Kay Ryan
• Gold Set Dancing by James Liddy
• Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg
• Howl on Trial: The Battle for Free Expression by Allen Ginsberg
• Junky by William S. Burroughs
• Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
• Loose Woman by Sandra Cisneros
• Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
• No Exit and Three Other Plays by Jean Paul Sartre
• Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
• One Act: Eleven Short Plays of the Modern Theatre edited by Samuel Moon
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kessey
• On the Road by Jack Kerouac
• Other Voices, Other Rooms by Truman Capote
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Kolosterman
• Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
• The Awakening by Kate Chopin
• The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
• The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
• The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
• The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh
• We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will be Killed with our Families: Stories from Rwanda by Philip Gourevitch
• Writings from Prison by Bobby Sands
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Out of what I've selected, here is some data about the books:

Total number of books: 37

Genre: Poetry - 6 (16.22%)

Genre: Novel - 28 (75.68%)

Genre: Nonfiction - 3 (8.11%)

Genre: Drama - 2 (5.41%)

Genre: Combination - 1 (2.70%)

Male Author - 29 (78.38%)

Female Author - 8 (21.62%)

Less than 200 pages - 15 (40.54%)

Between 200 and 400 pages - 20 (54.05%)

Over 400 pages - 2 (5.41%)

BTT: Skipping

Booking Through Thursday is a weekly meme that gives prompts to bloggers about books and literature. Anyone can play along! You can find the prompts at btt2.wordpress.com. 


I saw this article the other day that asked, “Are you ashamed of skipping parts of books?” Which, naturally, made me want to ask all of YOU.


Do you skip ahead in a book? Only if I've already read the book.
Do you feel badly about it when you do? Seeing as I've already read the story, no I don't feel bad about skipping around to my favorite parts.

Progress is Sweet

Made a bit of progress on The Sonnets today. Finally finished the introduction and have managed to read and comprehend the first few sonnets.

Pages Read: 52 (25.62%)
Opinion thus far: I must admit, my Shakespeare-reading-skills are a little rusty, so its a bit slow-going, but I am enjoying them immensely!

Packing and Book Addictions Do Not Mix

Well, I think that I've finally come to a decision on what books I will be bringing with me to my internship... Looking at all the titles I've selected (about 30-35% of my book collection), I still think that I'm not bringing enough, but on the other hand, I feel like I'm bringing too much! I have no idea where my head'll be in the next four months and I don't want to be left without something I feel like reading. My mother promised that she'd be willing to send me books, but I still want a good basis so that's only a last resort. Oh, and I'm bringing my Kindle so, in all reality, I have endless books, just in case. I may cut a few out of this list, but this is the tentative list right now:

• 1984 by George Orwell
• A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
• A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
• A Separate Peace by John Knowles
• All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
• All You Who Sleep Tonight by Vikram Seth
• Animal Farm by George Orwell
• Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes
• Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
• Dead Souls by Nicolai Gogol
• Elephant Rocks by Kay Ryan
• Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg
• Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
• Loose Woman by Sandra Cisneros
• No Exit and Three Other Plays by Jean Paul Sartre
• Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
• One Act: Eleven Short Plays of the Modern Theatre edited by Samuel Moon
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kessey
• On the Blanket: The Inside Story of the IRA Prisoners’ “Dirty” Protest by Tim Pat Coogan
• On the Road by Jack Kerouac
• Other Voices, Other Rooms by Truman Capote
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
• Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Kolosterman
• Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
• The Awakening by Kate Chopin
• The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
• The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
• The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
• The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
• Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh
• Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck
• Ulysses by James Joyce
• We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will be Killed with our Families: Stories from Rwanda by Philip Gourevitch
• Writings from Prison by Bobby Sands
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte 

Some data: 

Genre: Poetry - 5

Genre: Classic Lit (Novel) - 26

Genre: Nonfiction - 3

Genre: Drama - 3

Genre: Combination - 1

Male Author - 32

Female Author - 6

I picked a good assortment of long and short novels, drama, nonfiction, poetry and a combination piece (short story, memoir, poetry). I think it will be more than enough to keep me entertained during the coming months, and I feel that I will end up nixing a few from my list, but I guess we'll see where it goes. 

Book Buyers Anonymous

I know that they are far worse things than being addicted to buying books, but it does put quite a dent into my checkbook... I love books! I am a bit obsessed with buying new ones, all the time. I justify this, however, by telling myself about the great deals I'm scoring (saving from publisher's price) and the fact that I will be states away from a Half Price Books while I'm in Orlando, so I better stock up now!

Today was just a small (yet expensive) score:
Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes ($6.99)
Loose Woman by Sandra Cisneros ($4.99)
Elephant Rocks by Kay Ryan ($4.99)
All You Who Sleep Tonight by Vikram Seth ($2.99)

Total: $20.98 (average: $5.24/book, my highest average to date)

Some Data:
Number of books total: 4
Number of books UNDER $10 - 4
Number of books UNDER $5 - 3

Books by Male Authors - 2
Books by Female Authors - 2


Genre: Poetry - 4
Sub-genre: Contemporary - 4

BBW: Archives from May 2005

Since I've recently discovered the literary blogging world - and my, oh my, it is vast and inspiring! - and among the fabulous blogs I have discovered, I found a blog named Booking Through Thursday, which is a weekly meme that gives short prompts for literary bloggers to spin off of. I've sifted through the archives and have been a bit obsessed with the prompts, I wish I would have started blogging about books ages ago. So now, Wednesdays will be for sifting through the archives and Thursdays will be for the most recent prompts on the website.


Some people read one book at a time. Some people have a number of them on the go at any given time, perhaps a reading in bed book, a breakfast table book, a bathroom book, and so on, which leads me to…

1. Are you currently reading more than one book? Currently, the only book I am reading is The Sonnets by William Shakespeare. 
2. Is this normal for you?When I used to read "fluff" books (like chick-lit or romance), I would read many books at one time. I'd have a book everywhere on hand, and could always tell you where I was at in each of the stories. Now that I've moved into classic literature, I find it a bit harder to keep track so I'm sticking to one book at a time...at least for now. 
3. Where do you keep your current reads? Since I'm currently only reading one book, I keep it with me wherever I go. I stick it on my nightstand so I have it in the morning and before bed, I stick it by my computer when I'm doing schoolwork, in my bag before I head to work or out at night and always stash it in my car if I have some time to kill when running errands. 

WWW Wednesday

This weekly meme is hosted by the fabulous MizB of ShouldBeReading.

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

What am I currently reading? I'm currently reading The Sonnets by William Shakespeare, an edition edited by Stephen Orgel with an introduction by John Hollander. I started it yesterday morning.
What did you recently finish reading? I finished As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner on Monday night.
What do you think you'll read next? This is a question that is seriously up in the air for me, depending on how quickly I finish reading The Sonnets. I am packing to go down to Orlando for a four month internship, so many of my books are packed in between clothes and home goods in suitcases. I also select books on what I feel like - I look at all the books on my shelf and see what calls out to me. Because about 20% of my collection still remains on the shelf, it will be very interesting to see what I choose next. I'm thinking it may end up be To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee or The Picture of Dorian Gray and other stories by Oscar Wilde, but only time will tell.

Never Ending Introductions

Today, I started William Shakespeare's The Sonnets, a collection of his sonnets edited by Stephen Orgel with an introduction by John Hollander. I am excited to read the poetry to come, but first comes over forty pages of introduction. OVER forty pages. Seems a *bit* excessive to me, to be perfectly honest, but I am enjoying the background about Shakespeare and the sonnets. Shakespeare's collection of sonnets was published in 1609 and my copy was printed in 2009 by the Penguin Group.

Pages Read: 34 (16.74%)
Opinion thus far: I've finished the short biography about Shakespeare and his texts and am about halfway through the introduction to the Sonnets. While it is very interesting information, it feels never-ending and I wish that I could just get started on the sonnets already!

Packing is Very Hard to Do...

I'm starting to pack up my two suitcases and one carry-on for as four month internship down in Orlando, Florida...and I am having major separation anxiety leaving books behind. I've been sitting in front of my bookshelf, staring at all the books, trying to decide what to take and what to keep at home. After all, how am I supposed to know what I want to read? I am deathly afraid of not taking something with me but wanting to read it later. So far, I have managed to pack up about 80% of my books and only leave a few remaining on my shelf. I'm still weighing in with plenty of poundage to go and only a few things left on the list of things to pack, so I *may* be able to squeeze a few more books in... I have a major problem. I admit it. I have about a year's worth of reading packed in for four months worth of travel. But I have no idea what kind of mood I'm going to be in, so I must pack for all possible moods, right?

Top Ten Tuesday: Book Recommendations

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list that one of our bloggers here at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.

Top Ten Books I'd Recommend To Someone Who Doesn't Read X (X, for me, being Classic Literature):


1. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
2. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
3. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
4. Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Other Stories by Truman Capote
5. No Exit by Jean Paul Sartre
6. A Separate Peace by John Knowles
7. Waiting For Godot by Samuel Beckett
8. Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg
9. Macbeth by William Shakespeare
10. The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald

I'd recommend all of these books because they are the perfect mix of short story, novel, poetry and drama to give a new reader a basis in classic literature. They are all relatively easy reads that won't take too much time, and I would consider most of them a "starter" piece from each of the authors. Someone who doesn't read classic lit would be able to sample writing styles from each of these authors without too much of a time investment because none of these run over three hundred pages, and most run under two hundred.

Have you read any of the books on this list? Have you meant to? What do you think should have made the list?

Teaser Tuesday: As I Lay Dying

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"It used to be redder than this. Then it went swirling, making the stars run backward without falling." - As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner, page 225

Monday Musings: Reading Devices

Monday Musings is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just follow the weekly prompt. This week, it's "What devices –if any– do you read books on? Do you find it enjoyable, or still somewhat bothersome? Or: If you only read the print books, why haven’t you chosen to read on any devices?"

When I was sixteen, I begged my parents' for a Kindle 2 (It had just come out on the market, and was quite a chunk of change). That was all I wanted for my birthday and I spent months drooling over it on Amazon. Well, my birthday came and went and alas, I didn't get the Kindle from my parents for my birthday. All hope lost, I decided to grin and bear it (after all, I was a *super* cool sixteen year old)...and then, a few days after my birthday, my sister came up from university for the holiday weekend (my birthday lands right by Memorial Day) with a gift...my KINDLE 2!!! I was ecstatic. Somehow, she had gotten an amazing deal on it and I was thrilled. I soon became attached to the Kindle and was obsessed, I spent countless hours reading on the light, digital e-reader. 

Now, two years have passed, and I don't use my Kindle as often. I will sometimes use it to read free e-books, chick lit and other guilty-pleasure reading but in my mind, nothing beats the beautiful smell and feel of the printed page. Nothing compares to a new book or an old book or the feeling of flipping through the pages, the satisfaction of closing it when the reading is done. I like to write in my books, I like to read what other people have written in them before me. 

My Kindle is great from a traveling perspective, it's always nice to have the peace of mind of having thousands of books accessible at once. However, I don't really enjoy reading serious literature on the Kindle. I greatly prefer the printed book, where I can write in the margins and feel the heft of what I am reading. I can't get over reading on a screen, even though it isn't back-lit, it can bother my eyes at times. The harsh white around the screen that is carefully gray I find to be distracting and irritating. I feel that e-readers take a little something away from the reading experience. But, despite its downsides, the convenience of the Kindle, its portability and its subtle nature are lovely positives. 

In the end, I won't be giving up my Kindle anytime soon (it sure is convenient) but you will never, ever, EVER separate me from my printed books. 

Love at Second Sight

Finished As I Lay Dying tonight! While at parts it did drag, once I got past the two-hundred page mark, the pages flew by because the plot thickened (and proceeded to wrap up) and the prose was fantastic. The ending was both completely irritating and fantastic. While I flirted with the book the first time around (I read maybe a chapter or so when it was assigned last year in AP English), I loved the book with this attempt. In fact, I loved the book a lot more than I was expecting to.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone and everyone. Particularly people who enjoy the writing styles of Hemingway, Woolf or Joyce - Faulkner strikes me as the perfect mix of Joyce or Woolf's stream of consciousness and Hemingway's abrupt diction.

A little information about my copy of As I Lay Dying:

Pages: 261
Original date of publication: 1930
My edition: 1991 (Vintage)
Why I decided to read: I'm on a classics kick, I remember liking the little bit I read when it was assigned in AP English last year and it seemed to jump out at me from my bookshelf. 
How I acquired my copy: Half Price Books in my hometown, Black Friday 2011

There are two motives for reading a book: one, that you enjoy it; the other, that you can boast about it. ~Bertrand Russell

As I Die Reading

Back in AP English, which was the first time I was exposed to Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, me and my classmates had a running joke that the book should have been titled "As I Die Reading", for reasons (to be perfectly honest) I cannot truly recollect. Now that I am reading the book on my own schedule, I am truly loving this piece of literature. I cannot recall why I (or my classmates) found it so tumultuous because I am obsessed with Faulkner's writing style, plot lines and character development.

Pages Read: 151 (57.85%)
Opinion Thus Far: Fascinating. Simply, simply fascinating.

Let Me Be the First to Admit It...

I have a huge book-buying problem. I love buying books, I love reading books, I love talking about books. I love bookstores, new and old, chain and independent, fresh off the press or used. I'm obsessed.

On today's trip to Half Price Books, I scored:

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov ($7.49)
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess ($6.99)
The Sonnets by William Shakespeare ($3.49)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kessey (2.99)
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut ($2.99)
Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck ($1.99)
The Presidential Papers by Norman Mailer ($1.75)

Total: $25.18 (I had a 15% coupon) (Average $3.59 per book -- not a personal best, but the books I picked out today are definitely worth it!)

Some Data:
Number of books total: 7
Number of books UNDER $10 - 7
Number of books UNDER $5 - 5
Number of books UNDER $2 - 2
Number of books UNDER $1 - 0
Number of books UNDER $.50 - 0

Books by Male Authors - 7
Books by Female Authors - 0

Genre: Classic Literature - 7
Sub-genre: Poetry - 1
Sub-genre: Drama - 0
Sub-genre: Novel - 6

A Little Progress, A Lot of Plot

While I didn't manage to read a whole lot today (only about forty pages or so), I am so loving this book! It is fascinating, it is fabulous and the plot line has jumped around a lot, even in the few pages I had a chance to read today. I am a bit obsessed with Faulkner's writing style and his plot and character development.

Pages Read: 86 (32.95%)
Opinion Thus Far: I am adoring this book. Period.

Haul-in' Books.

What a great (albeit rushed) trip to Half Price Books today...I managed to score 9 books for 14 dollars, and I would've done better but I couldn't resist a copy of The Virgin Suicides that was a tad expensive, but brand new!

Here's what I scored today:

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides - $6.99
Other Voices, Other Rooms by Truman Capote - $1.48
Heart of Darkness and The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad - $1.25
Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner - $1.00
No Exit and Three Other Plays by Jean-Paul Sartre - $.95
Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka - $.95
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck - $.38
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque - $.30
Selected Stories and Poems by Edgar Allen Poe - $.25 (A NEW RECORD!!!)


Total: 9 books for $14.24 (Average $1.58/book)

Some Data:
Number of books total: 9
Number of books UNDER $10 - 9
Number of books UNDER $5 - 8
Number of books UNDER $2 - 8
Number of books UNDER $1 - 5
Number of books UNDER $.50 - 3

Books by Male Authors - 9
Books by Female Authors - 0

Genre: Classic Literature - 9
Sub-genre: Poetry - 1
Sub-genre: Drama - 1
Sub-genre: Novel - 7


I am thrilled about my purchases! Got some great deals today, and they're all off my list. (: Fab!

Sweet, Sweet Progress

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner, is a dark comedy about the Bundren family's odyssey to bury Addie, the dead matriarch. Switching narrators with each chapter change, Faulkner uncovers the ulterior motives of each family member as they cross the countryside to bury their wife and mother. Published in 1930 by Faulkner, my copy was "corrected" in 1985 and printed in 1991 by Vintage International Books. 

Pages Read: 50 (19.15%)

Opinion Thus Far: I am loving this book! It is just as good as I remember it, I love the character development, Faulkner's writing style, the plot line and the switching between narrators. It is absolutely fabulous. 

Found a New Read!

I thought about what my next book would be all of yesterday. I thought about it when I started packing for my internship, I thought about it when I ate lunch, I thought about it when I was at work - I even tried reading a few classics on my Kindle during slow times at work. No success.

Then, this morning, I woke up...and I had it! I knew which book would be the next to tackle -- "As I Lay Dying" by William Faulkner. We studied it in advanced placement English last year, but let's be honest...I barely read a chapter of it. I do remember enjoying the few pages I did read, so I've decided to give it a second shot.

I've managed to read a few pages so far today, and I am enjoying it immensely! Will give you an update soon.

What are you currently reading? Have you ever gave Faulkner a try?

Booking Through Thursday: The Interview, Part II

But enough about interviewing other people. It’s time I interviewed YOU.

1. What’s your favorite time of day to read? I love to read in the afternoon and evening, preferably with a cup of tea. 
2. Do you read during breakfast? (Assuming you eat breakfast.) Sometimes, but it really depends on the book I am reading. 
3. What’s your favorite breakfast food? (Noting that breakfast foods can be eaten any time of day.) I love yogurt! 
4. How many hours a day would you say you read? It depends, but usually about an hour to three hours a day.
5. Do you read more or less now than you did, say, 10 years ago? More, definitely. Seeing as 10 years ago, I was eight. 
6. Do you consider yourself a speed reader? Sometimes, it really does depend on what I am reading.
7. If you could have any superpower, what would it be? Invisibility. 
8. Do you carry a book with you everywhere you go? Always. It's a must when buying a new bag. 
9. What KIND of book? Whatever my latest read is, but now it will be a piece of classic literature. 
10. How old were you when you got your first library card? Around three or four years old. 
11. What’s the oldest book you have in your collection? (Oldest physical copy? Longest in the collection? Oldest copyright?) The oldest physical copy is from 1938, The Iliad by Homer. The oldest in my collection is about eight months. The oldest copyright is from 850 BC, The Iliad by Homer.
12. Do you read in bed? Always. (: 
13. Do you write in your books? Definitely! I also underline and highlight as necessary. 
14. If you had one piece of advice to a new reader, what would it be? Be bold, be ambitious with your reading choices...and take your time, don't rush. 
15. What question have I NOT asked at BTT that you’d love me to ask? (Actually, leave the answer to this one in the comments on this post, huh? So I can find them when I need inspiration!) Hmm, I'm pretty new to BTT, so I don't have anything yet!

The Woes of an Ambitious Reader

I can't seem to pick what to read next! I just finished Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Other Stories, so I want to keep up the momentum and start something new right away...but I can't seem to decide on anything. I thought I had it narrowed down to two books: The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald and Dead Souls by Nicolai Gogol but I've gone back and forth between the two, reading the first few pages - and can't seem to decide. Plus, all the books on my shelf look so appealing: Swann's Way, Middlesex, Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, Animal Farm, The Awakening, Crime and Punishment, The Inferno, Siddhartha, Catch-22, Hamlet.... Oh, the woes of an ambitious reader, haha.

I guess the best decision at this point is to sleep on it and decide in the morning, but we'll see! Why does everything have to look so good?!

Sucess!

I've officially finished the first book of the year, and of my new found mission to becoming literate.

Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Other Stories by Truman Capote was a fantastic, albeit quick, read. It was gripping, it was fascinating and I loved every second of it. I love Capote's writing style, his character and plot development (even in short stories) and his sense of novelty in realistic tales. While I adored the title novella, I also loved equally loved the three companion stories. "House of Flowers" shocked me as the story unfolded, "A Diamond Guitar" had me gripped to my seat and "A Christmas Memory" broke my heart.

I don't really understand rating the books, because I don't have enough of a background in literature by which to grade them, but I really did adore these tales. I would recommend them over and over to a friend.

A little information about my copy of Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Other Stories:

Pages: 178
Original date of publication: 1950
My edition: 1993 (Vintage)
Why I decided to read: I've always loved the title's film, I've heard rave reviews about Capote and his writing style, and it is considered a classic piece of literature - which has been my New Year's goal to read the classics.
How I acquired my copy: Barnes and Noble in my hometown

BBW: Archives from May 2005

"I once knew a man who read about WWII. He read everything he could get his hands on on the subject. He had a whole wall of books that were all about WWII. It amazed me. How could he continue to find one subject that engrossing? My mother, on the other hand, loves to read best sellers. I’ve known other people who read science fiction to the exclusion of everything else; for others it was philosophy, self-help, or history.
So, to the questions…

1. What kind of books do you like to read?
2. Why? Provide specific examples."

I've recently become extremely interested in reading classic literature - after all, they are classics for a reason! I'm loving the literature I've been reading thus far - I find it to be extremely interesting in all aspects- character, plot and literary wise. I love how they show that some new ideas aren't actually that new and that stereotypical overarching "themes" are actually universal. 

Booking Back Wednesday

Since I've recently discovered the literary blogging world - and my, oh my, it is vast and inspiring! - and among the fabulous blogs I have discovered, I found a blog named Booking Through Thursday, which is a weekly blog that gives short prompts for literary bloggers to spin off of. I've sifted through the archives and have been a bit obsessed with the prompts, I wish I would have started blogging about books ages ago.

So now, Wednesdays will be for sifting through the archives and Thursdays will be for the most recent prompts on the website.

What can I say, I'm obsessed!

Passing Through

Made quite a bit of progress today on my current read -- I even managed to finish the first story in the book (or I suppose you could say, the main novella): Breakfast at Tiffany's. It was a fabulous read, but now I am thinking that I must re-watch the film of the same name since I can come up with very, very few similarities between the novella and the film. I loved the novella, I loved the characters, the plot line, the ending. I can't wait to read the other three stories by Truman Capote that are in the book.

Pages Read: 111 (62.35%)
Opinion thus far: love it. love it, love it, love it.

"When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes" - Erasmus

This quote is becoming more and more true for me all the time. "Hello, my name is Emily and I am a book-a-holic."

Don't believe me? I've gone to Half Price Books twice today. I managed to score 19 books for just over $30. But, while I am becoming a HPB groupie, a few things have come to my attention. First, I find book buying to be an intense, solitary activity. I like to look for books in silence, look at the type, imagine myself reading them, go extremely slowly through every single book in the literature section. I pay intense attention to detail and have a list of books that is constantly growing of things to watch for. Second - I am extremely frugal. I go through every single copy of a certain book to find the cheapest (yet still readable) edition. I have scored some amazing deals this way, but it is something that can't be done without patience or with company. Third, I am obsessed with books....and my list keeps growing!

Check out my haul today!

First, a trip this afternoon with my cousin scored me:

Swann's Way - Marcel Proust ($4.48 - this killed me a bit, but the copy is gorgeous, was the only copy available, and it is in impeccable condition)
Beloved - Toni Morrison ($2.00 - on clearance, the original HPB price was $6.98)
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides ($2.00 - on clearance, the original HPB price was $7.49)
The Picture of Dorian Gray and Other Stories - Oscar Wilde ($1.99)
Siddhartha - Hermann Hesse ($1.98)
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte ($1.98)
Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky ($1.48)
Emma - Jane Austen ($1.25)
A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens ($1.13)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain ($.98 -- less than a dollar!)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain ($.48 -- less than fifty cents!)
The Jungle - Upton Sinclair ($.30 -- yes THIRTY CENTS. A personal best, ever. So proud of this!)

Total: 12 books for $21.07 -- average $1.75 per book

Second, a trip this evening in perfect solitude:

Dead Souls - Nicolai V. Gogol ($6.98 - this killed me a LOT but the print is perfect, the pages are still the perfect creamy white color, the copy is in impeccable condition and the cover is GORGEOUS. I fell in love.)
The Canterbury Tales - Geoffery Chaucer ($1.75)
Four Great Plays by Chekhov - Anton Chekhov ($.88 -- less than a dollar!!)
The Inferno - Dante ($.88)
Billy Budd, Sailor and Other Stories - Herman Melville ($.82)
The Iliad - Homer ($.38 -- what a steal)
Typee - Herman Melville ($.30 -- another THIRTY CENT score. woot!!)

Total: 7 books for $12.60 -- average $1.80 per book

Some Data:
Number of books total: 19
Number of books UNDER $10 - 19
Number of books UNDER $5 - 18
Number of books UNDER $2 - 15
Number of books UNDER $1 - 8
Number of books UNDER $.50 - 4

Books by Male Authors - 15
Books by Female Authors - 4

Genre: Classic Literature - 19
Sub-genre: Prose - 3
Sub-genre: Drama - 1
Sub-genre: Novel - 15

In the end, I am so ecstatic about my purchases! I don't even know where to begin... so, ready. set. READ!

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Authors I Wish Would Write Another Book

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list that one of our bloggers here at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.

Top Ten Authors I Wish Would Write Another Book


1. Truman Capote
2. Allen Ginsberg
3. Bobby Sands
4. Oscar Wilde
5. Sylvia Plath
6. Mark Twain
7. Jane Austen
8. Emily Bronte
9. Ernest Hemingway
10. Marcel Proust

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

--Grab your current read

--Open to a random page

--share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

Be sure NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

--Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!

"But that's not why I'm mad about Tiffany's. Listen. You know those days when you've got the mean reds?" - Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote

Making Progress: "Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Other Stories" by Truman Capote

I made great progress today on this book! I've really gotten into it, and can't seem to put it down! Great read so far. 

Pages Read: 84 (47.19%)
Current Reaction: Love the novella, it is very surprising and gripping, yet I have found very few similarities between the book and film of the same name. 

Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book. ~Author Unknown

Mondays will bring a quote I find inspiring about reading, and perhaps another post if I'm feeling up for it. Enjoy!

Currently Reading: "Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Other Stories" by Truman Capote

So, what is the first book to kick off my path to literacy and a fantastic 2012? If you really could not guess from the title, the honor goes to Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Other Stories by Truman Capote. This book, which I picked up at Barnes and Noble this past week, is the fiftieth anniversary edition of one of Capote's most well known stories. It was originally published in 1950 but my copy was published in 2000 and printed last year. Breakfast at Tiffany's is incredibly well known for the film that was roughly adapted from the novella, but as far as I can see thus far, I am finding very few similarities between the two. The other three stories that accompany the well known novella are "House of Flowers," "A Diamond Guitar" and "A Christmas Memory." My copy of Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Other Stories has an intriguing cover, good-size print that is easy to read and an interesting short biography about the author in the front.

What's my progress? 
Pages Read: 38 (21.3%)
Opinion Thus Far: While I am finding very few similarities between the novella and the beloved film, I think that Breakfast at Tiffany's is extremely intriguing and well-written. I am curious about Holly's mysterious visits to Sing Sing and interested to see where the narrator's encounters with Holly go.

Treasure Troves and Used Bookstores

A visit to Half Price Books for me means a commitment of at least an hour of time and twenty dollars from my pocket book, though usually my bill is much higher. For those of you who have never experienced the wonder which is called Half Price Books, let me give you something to think about: Half Price Books is exactly what it sounds like, it is a used bookstore chain where customers can come and sell back old books and buy books at half the publishers price - or less! It is a treasure trove for amazing finds, and most of my bookshelf comes from this gold mine.

Last night, after work, I decided spur of the moment to swing by Half Price Books and check out their selection, which always is something new and surprising. I found two gems today: a copy of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald ($5.99, not a personal best but the copy is immaculate and the cover art is GORGEOUS) and Catch-22 by Joseph Heller ($.48 - yup, only forty-eight cents, which is my personal best ever). In total, my trip only put me back a little less than seven dollars, which may be a first.

Can't wait to read these classics, they won't be sitting on the shelf for long!

Do you have a Half Price Books near you? Have you ever checked out a used bookstore? What did you think?

A Realization and an Introduction

Yesterday morning, I woke up, a little groggy, around ten in the morning and rolled over to check the time on my cell phone. Yes, I am one of those people who sleeps with their phone right next to them...for no good reason, though, because I always wake up to the same amount of messages I went to bed with - none. This isn't to say that I have no friends, but is to say that they don't have anything dire to say to me in the early hours of the morning. Now, my phone is resting on a pile of books that are stacked on my nightstand, which is next to another pile of books on my nightstand, which is next to a pile of books on my roll out shelf, which is next to two more shelves completely stuffed with books. I thought nothing of it, checked the time, rolled over and went back to bed for another few hours... oh the joys of winter vacation. 

Later that day, as I headed off for work (I work part-time seasonally at a department store where I worked in high school), my dad asked me to pick up an order for him from Barnes and Noble. Thinking little of it, I made a quick stop before going in for my shift, and picked up his order. A little earlier than I expected for work, I went upstairs to the employee break room in the department store where I work to get something to eat. This is when I came to a realization. 

When did I stop reading? I used to be the girl who spent every summer day at the library, who racked up tens of dollars in library fines because she didn't want to give her favorite stories back, who read by flashlight and fell asleep with the words clutched in her arm. I perfected walking through the hallway at my high school with my nose stuck in a book, not running into anyone, begged for a Kindle for my sixteenth birthday and packed more books than clothes on vacations. I spent hours in bookstores and always left with double the books I was expecting to buy, Half Price Books was a definite stop on Black Friday and I always astounded librarians as a child during summer reading programs. When did I change from this to someone who the last thing they read was the back of a cereal box? Do you know what the last thing I read was? A grocery list. A grocery list, might I add, that I wrote myself. 

At first, I gave myself excuses: I've been busy at school, reading only textbooks, and I am burnt out. I need time to brainlessly relax after work because I'm exhausted. The holidays were hectic and I had no time. But then, I became ashamed of myself and this realization. I have become the downfall to modern society - a faux intellectual. 

With this realization stinging in my mind, I rushed from the break room back to Barnes and Noble to pick up a book, something, anything to read. It's not too late, I told myself, I can turn this around and start reading again. After all, I loved it then, I will love it again. I picked up a copy of "Breakfast at Tiffany's and three other stories" by Truman Capote, a book that I had been trying to find at my local Half Price Books for a year now. Success. I can trod on the road to literacy again. 

I paid my $14.41 and, head held high and smile on my face, went back up to that break room to read. As I sat down on the leather sofa, I opened my book and started to read the first page... only to get distracted by a coworker conversation and an episode of Third Rock from the Sun. The book went back into my bag for another attempt later. 

A shift later and I returned home, falling asleep after a few episodes of Psych. This morning, I awoke, shortly before noon, and leaned over again to check the time. As I rolled out of bed and downstairs to eat breakfast, Capote's tale slipped from my mind thanks to another episode of Psych which played during breakfast. As I did some household chores and this show played in the background, my dad asked me a question: "Why don't you just pick up a book?" 

I looked at him, astounded. How had someone else notice that I don't read anymore? Is it really that obvious? "I do read," I said defensively, "I read all the time." Blatant lies, I must admit. He further questioned my reading habits, which caused me to admit to myself again what I had come to realize yesterday - that I have transformed from someone who loved to read to a faux intellectual. My dad's notice of my lack of literacy made me realize that it was not just something that was affecting me, but others had begun to take notice. 

I wondered who else had noticed that I stopped reading? I prided myself in being an intellectual woman, admittedly even looking down on those who "thought reading was dumb" or "didn't like to read". And now, I've become one of those people! How did this happen? In a way, it was because of the excuses I gave myself - I have been busy with school and work and family and friends. But, I also find time to blog and watch Netflix and waste way too much time on Pinterest and Tumblr. So there really is no excuse that I can't be using this time to read - so, in the end, there is no excuse except my own laziness. 

Which is where this blog comes in. I need to regain my literacy again, but in a new way. When I loved to read in the past, I was a child, a young adolescent. My specialties were childrens and young adult literature, with some chick lit thrown in. Which was fine, because I was a child and a young adult. But, now I am eighteen, technically considered an adult in the court of law and in the world. Reading fluff won't cut it anymore - and I've never tackled the classics. I mean, sure I read some in school, and I took advanced placement literature classes but I never read them for myself, to actually enjoy them and garner the meaning. I read (and let's be honest, mostly Spark Noted) all of them to get an A. 

With this blog, I'm not looking to get an A. There is no motivation behind this blog to get a good grade or to please a teacher. The only motivation is my own fear of diving deeper into this world of mindless action and my mission to becoming literate  so I can be an intellectual citizen of the world. Which is motivation enough in itself. 

Here, I will be sharing the books I am reading and want to read. As I move farther along, I will share my thoughts on the books I have read. I will journal about my journey into literacy and as I start "living literate" in the future. Living Literate means that I no longer miss book references, that I can bring up things I have read and have intellectual conversation, that I have become a well-rounded individual and not just someone who "reads". And by "reads" I mean trashy magazines, chick lit and cereal boxes. 

In this blog, I will be setting goals for myself so I can keep reading and not slip back into old patterns. My first goal is to read one book by February 1, 2012. This gives me about three weeks to complete a piece of literature - you have to start small, right? The book I will be reading is the book I picked up at Barnes and Noble yesterday: "Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Other Stories" by Truman Capote. 

Ready, Set, READ!