Mid-Year Reading Stats, and other stuff

First, Happy 4th of July! Hope everyone has a fun and safe holiday today :-)

In other news... I decided to post my reading stats for the first half of the year. Honestly, they're not where I wanna be. So I'm hoping to get super-amounts of reading done during the rest of the year. Honestly, I'm only about 5 to 10 books behind where I'd like to be... Ideally, I want to read 130 books this year.

So here's how the first six months of this year have gone...

January: 13 books read, 5502 pages
February: 10 books read, 4407 pages
March: 8 books read, 4195 pages
April: 13 books read, 4631 pages
May: 8 books read, 3349 pages
June: 6 books read, 2825 pages

Total books read: 58
Pages read: 24,909

Broken down my genre...
Classics: 2
Comic: 1
Fantasy: 7
Historical Fiction: 4
Non-fiction: 3
Poetry: 2
Romance: 6
Sci-fi: 1
YA: 13
General fiction: 19

And here's my thoughts...

• Stupid June. I was pretty busy in June... my little brother graduated, and we threw a baby shower for my little sister Amanda who is supposed to have her baby at the end of July.



• OK, so it wasn't just that I was busy in June... I've been relying on DVD's at work to keep me awake, because I don't get enough sleep beforehand. But work is a huge chunk of my reading time, so I gotta cut that mess out and start sleeping right so I can read more. Plus I did more crocheting/sewing this month than usual. Which is awesome, but means less reading.



• January was awesomesauce. Partly because I was re-reading the Harry Potter series in the beginning of the year, and I flew through those.



• Also, 8 of those YA books were Harry Potter books. So if you don't count those (because they're amazing and should have their own genre), my YA count is actually only like 5.



• Fiction is all of the books that don't really fit into my other categories...



• I need to read more classics, sci-fi, and non-fiction.



• I didn't list it, but 12 of those books were re-reads. But since my goal this year was to kind of focus on re-reads, that's okay.



• I'm sick of these bullets.
  

SO, that's my reading info for the first half of this year. OH also, I've accrued 108 books so far this year, and spent $532.86 on books. Crap, that's a lot when you really look at it. Kind of regretting starting that "book purchases" spreadsheet now...

ALSO, because this is one long-ass post and I'm too lazy to do a seperate post....

The Summer Mini-Readathon is only SIX days away! Yup, it's on this Sunday. I can't wait!
I'm a big one for preparing. I have most of the challenges figured out, so lately I've been planning out my snacks / drinks / books!

Food stuff:

Probably just waffles & coffee for breakfast.

Homestyle popcorn as some point. Because it's delicious and perfect snacking-while-reading food.

I'm thinking soup & bread for lunch. If I have the A/C on. I really, really like to read while I eat soup. I have no clue why.

Deviled eggs, if I'm not too lazy to make them. Because they're SO GOOD.

Not sure about dinner... maybe I can ask the honeyman to make a pizza. That way I don't have to worry about cooking :-)

Oh, and that coffee I mentioned earlier? There will be coffee all day. Because I love coffee.

And near the evening... probably wine, or some amaretto sours.

THE BOOKS:

Definitely, Maybe by Heather Webber (a short-story that I'll be reading on Kindle-for-PC)

Shambling With the Stars by Jesse Petersen (a short-story that I'll be reading on Kindle-for-PC)

Into the Dead by Jesse Petersen (a ARC of nine short stories that Jesse sent to me for review, also reading on the computer)

The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran (might re-read if I get outside at all that day)

Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand (one of the poll-winners for this month!)

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray (other poll-winner, I have it on hold at the library, hopefully it comes soon)

Voyager by Diana Gabaldon (might start re-reading this by the end of the readathon)

1776 by David McCullough (actually currently reading this, so I'm hoping to get a couple chapters in during the readathon. Trying to celebrate Independence Day and up my non-fiction numbers all at the same time)

Obviously that list is way too long. But I like to have options ready! I never know what I'll feel like reading next. And I fully expect to read those three short-story novellas right away, hopefully they'll only take a couple hours.

*Also, I linked to the books where I could in case you were interested in them. I linked to Amazon (mostly out of laziness), but I don't get anything from Amazon for doing so. It just seemed easiest.

So, are you getting ready for the readathon? Books picked out? Food all planned? Tell me about it!

Summer Mini-Readathon Reminder! And some updates!

You guys! The Mini-Readathon is only TWELVE DAYS away! So here's a little recap, reminder, update thingamajig...

• Will take place on Sunday, July 10th for any 12 hour block of your choosing. I am reading from 10 AM to 10 PM Eastern time.


• There will be five mini-challenges, one of which will be hosted by the fabulous Jenn from Booksessed. I am SO excited to have Jenn hosting one of the challenges!


• Taking part in the 5 mini-challenges will get you up to five entries to win one of the three gift card prizes!


• First winner will receive a $30 Amazon gift card.


• Two second prize winners will each receive a $10 Amazon gift card.


• There will also be a BONUS mini-challenge & giveaway, held by my wonderful sister Heather at All You Need Designs. Heather not only designed my blog, she also makes awesome handmade jewelry, bookmarks, and more. If you take part in her bonus challenge, you'll be entered to win a beaded bookmark made by her! She's going to make one especially reading-themed to giveaway, but visit her very successful Etsy shop for some examples!

I know this is a lot more low-key than other Readathons. It's shorter so that you don't burn out. It has fewer mini-challenges so that you can focus on reading. There's not a bajillion giveaways and prizes, because for the most part this is all coming out of my pocket. And because I want people to participate because they want to read, not just because they want to win free stuff.

I'm really looking forward to this! I already have several books in mind to work on throughout the readathon. And I'm really, really excited to have Jenn & Heather helping out too. Please visit here to sign up if you haven't already joined.

See you guys on the July 10th!


~Sarah

Because I wanna... Book Survey

Sadly, I have not finished a book since Sunday. My little sister kind of threw all my reading plans off track this week when she came to visit on Monday & Tuesday. I love seeing her :o) and of course would rather spend time with her than read, but I'm very behind now. Anyhoo, since I have no review to post, I decided to do this little survey.

I found this a few days ago on Jenn's blog at Booksessed, and she found it on Amber's blog at Me, My Shelf, and I. And so now I'm joining the fun, cause I wanna. And then I'm getting my butt offline and reading!

• Book next to your bed right now: Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill


• Favorite series: The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon


• Favorite book: Outlander. Also, Wuthering Heights, The Poisonwood Bible, anything by Christopher Moore, and a bunch more.


• The one book you would have with you if stranded on a desert island: Seven Novels by Jane Austen, that big pretty B&N leatherbound classic. It's massive, should take me a while to get through!


• Book / series you would take with you on a long flight: Harry Potter series, or The Hunger Games series.


• Worst book you were made to read in school: Hamlet. We read it in like 7th grade and I didn't have a clue what was going on.


• Book that everyone should be made to read in school: To Kill a Mockingbird, Ender's Game, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, etc....


• Book that everyone should read, period: Well obviously the ones I listed to read in school.


• Favorite character: Too many really. Jamie & Claire from Outlander for the most part. I've also been liking Tyrion from the A Song of Ice and Fire series.


• Best villian: Hades from The Eyre Affair. I really liked him, even though he was a baddie.


• Favorite invented world: Any old-time-y setting, with magic and dragons and stuff.


• Most beautifully written book: The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran comes to mind.


• Funniest book: Lamb by Christopher Moore. Just cracks me up.

Sorry for the delay...

Hey errbody. Just wanted to let you know that I'm still alive. Haven't posted since Monday AM for a few reasons:

1. I'm re-reading Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon, which is like 900 pages. Should finish it in the next day or two, and then there will be a review. And THEN I'll be starting Bossypants.

2. My preggers little sister, Amanda, came into town Monday afternoon. She only lives like 1.5 hours away, but I haven't seen her in a long while. So we hung out the rest of the day Monday and all day on Tuesday. It involved a lot of visiting the rest of the family so they can see her 7-month belly. It was exhausting, but fun. I like her visiting.

3. I would've managed to post this week's Top Ten Tuesday meme, except that I seriously couldn't really think of any books I've lied about. I actually tried making the list up Sunday at work, and couldn't think of freaking anything. That might be the first TTT post I've missed in a long time.

4. Playstation Network is back online, so when I have free time and I'm not catching up on the blogosphere, I've been getting my Black Ops fix.

But now my work week is starting, in about 2 hours. So for the next 4 days, I should get A LOT of reading done while I'm working. As long as I'm not too sleepy. So reviews to come, I promise. I'm gettin there.

In the meantime...

vote for June's read

sign-up for the Summer Mini-Readathon

Top Ten Tuesday: Biggest Literary Jerks

Good morning everyone! Before we get to this week's Top Ten Tuesday, I wanted to post a quick announcement. I've started a second blog called Sarah Says Watch It, where I can review and talk about tv shows, movies, video games, music, and so on. Don't worry - THIS blog will always be my #1 concern, because I love books more than all of those other things combined. But I wanted to try out Wordpress.com, and I wanted somewhere where I could talk about more media-related things other than books. So ta-da! I've already done 1 post and hope to do around one or two a week. Please check it out :o)

Now, on to the good stuff! Top Ten Tuesday is hosted weekly by the lovely bloggers over at The Broke and The Bookish. This week's topic is a lot of fun: Top Ten Biggest Jerky Men in Literature. This should be a lot of fun, cause there are some major-league assholes in a lot of books! I should also mention that there are a couple jerks who I also really like. As my honeyman always tells me, I'm attracted to assholes. And while I love my honeyman dearly, he does have jerk-ish tendancies, so I guess he's right :o)

1. Hades from The Eyre Affair: Okay, Hades is an evil mofo. He's evil just for a sake of being evil, and while he's a jerk and dangerous and keeps trying to destroy major literary works - he's also really witty and kind of funny while he does it. While he's jerk, I actually loved Hades. He was my favorite character in this book!

2. Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights: Again, he's a total asshole. He very carefully and skillfully ruins EVERYONE who has ever wronged him in the worst ways. But yet - I love Heathcliff. He's one of my favorite characters EVER. (See what I mean, about liking jerks?)

3. Dimitri from The Bronze Horseman: Man is this guy a leech. This book is set in Russia during WW2 and he is in the military, but he is the BIGGEST candy-ass ever. And not only does he know it, but he uses his "friend" mercilessly to try to save himself, no matter who he hurts or screws over in the end. I can't stand Dimitri.

4. King Leck from Graceling: Maaaaann, this guy a pyschopath. I can't go into too much detail for fear of spoilers, but he's a bad mamajama.

5. Ambrose from The Name of the Wind: Ambrose is ALWAYS on Kvothe's junk. (Kvothe is the main character for those of you who don't know.) Ambrose ia rich, full of himself, and tortures Kvothe for no other reason than he's jealous and an asshole.

6. Francis Reynaud from Chocolat: Though it was a bit stereotypical, he was the jerk of a parish curate. He decides that he doesn't like the new pretty woman who moves into town and starts a chocolate shop because she is unmarried, associates with people he doesn't approve of, and he thinks she's a witch. He's one of those jerks who takes his religion a LITTLE too seriously and condemns everyone in sight for his own torment.

7. David from Bet Me: He is the heroine's ex-boyfriend and he is such a tool. The book starts with him dumping her, he then tries to make a slimy bet about her, and throughout the book decides to try to win her back because now someone else wants her. He's a total asshole.

8. Prince Joffery from A Game of Thrones: He's the youngest jerk on this list. He's about 12 and already thinks that he's God's gift to the world. Seriously, only his stupid mama likes him. Near everyone else seems him for the jerk he is.

9. Bob Ewell from To Kill A Mockingbird: Seriously, who does not hate this man? In my book, there are no bigger assholes than racist trash, and Ewell fits that description perfectly.

10. Holden from Catcher in the Rye: This kid is such an ass. Full of whiny, bratty teen angst, he acts like a huge jerk. And I don't think his teen angst is any good excuse.

Ok, so those are my jerks. I feel like I'm forgetting some... I wrote down a bunch last week but lost my list and I don't know if I remembered everyone that I had on it. Grrr. Oh well. Who do you think some literary huge jerks are?

P.S. - Have you signed up for the Summer Mini-Readathon yet? There are now some cool buttons along my right sidebar that you can add to your blog to help spread the word and show your excitement :o) My blog's columns are a little narrow so they look big, but they should fit just fine. (Buttons made by the awesome Heather at All You Need Designs. )

Bookstore Memberships: Barnes and Noble vs. Borders

I know, two posts in one day, crazy. But I have some extra time here at work, and I've been meaning to write this for ages. I actually forgot that I'd been meaning to write this post, but a recent email from Borders Rewards reminded me. Borders announced some new changes to it's membership program, but I'm going to start this out as if I hadn't heard that yet and I'll explain more in the end.

And sorry if this is boring to you because these stores aren't near you... but they're the two major book retailers in my area.

This has actually been kind of a sore subject for me - I was frustrated with both the Barnes and Noble and the Borders Rewards programs. They each had major pros and cons. And yes, I've been a member to both.

First, my Borders Rewards membership. I've had this one for years for two reasons. One, because I worked at Waldenbooks (which Borders went and closed) when the BR program came out, and secondly because it's free, so there's no harm in having it. With the BR program, you get weekly emails with coupons - some coupons are for specific books, but there's usually a coupon good on any one item, ranging from 25% to 40% off. You also get what's called "Borders Bucks" for every $150 you spend in a year - so spend $150 and you get a $5-off coupon. I generally buy my books used, so I never paid much attention to that (until this May, when I got the coupon and realized I spend more on new books than I thought). If you don't buy books that often, that's not really helping you but at least there's the email coupons.

I got my Barnes and Noble membership for a birthday present - otherwise, it costs $25 a year to be a member, but you save 10% on every purchase. Which means you need to spend at least $250 in one year just to break even with the cost. I have to admit, I loved getting 10% off automatically. B&N also sends you email coupons, but the "on any one item" ones didn't come very often, and they were usually only 15%, so you'd save 25% total. Therefore anytime I was going to be buying a hardcover or somewhat expensive book, I'd just wait to get a Borders coupon and go there to save upwards of 30%. But having the extra 10% at B&N was nice, and it encouraged me to go there more often. Which was especially nice because I was usually closer distance-wise to B&N anyways.

Before this recent announcement from Borders, B&N and the BR programs were pretty matched; pay a fee to save a little every time you shop, or save about once a week but at no extra cost.

Then the other day I got an email announcing two main changes to the Borders Rewards program;

1. Now, once you spend that $150 in a year, you've reached "Gold Status" - on top of the $5 Borders Bucks you also get a "Personal Shopping Day" - a day to get an extra 10% on your whole purchase. Also, you only need to spend another $100 to get another PSD and Borders Bucks, instead of another $150.

2. You now have the option to upgrade your membership to a Borders Rewards Plus Member. Being a BRPM, you get all those benefits that you would as a free member, plus you'd save an additional 10% on your books, all the time - for $20 a year.

I think the scales just tipped dramatically in Borders' favor. It's a cheaper membership, with way more benefits - better coupons, the possibility for Borders Bucks and Personal Shopping Days, and the same 10% off on all other purchases. Also, apparently if you buy 5 coffees in their cafe you get 1 free. They didn't say this was new, but I hadn't heard of it before.

And if you're already a Borders Rewards member and don't think it'd be worth it for you to upgrade, log into your account online - you can see how much you've spent so far for the year. Amazingly, I'm only $15 away from my second Borders Bucks this year - apparently I spend more than I thought. (I'm trying to remember if the B&N website has that feature, and I can't recall - I don't think so, since you don't get anything special for spending a certain amount in a year).

And of course, I had just decided a while ago that I liked B&N better (I just like the store better). But now B&N is apparently having serious financial troubles and selling off it's stock, and I think Borders just delivered the final blow with their new membership offers. I'll probably actually spend the $20 on this new "Plus" membership upgrade at Borders, and start shopping there almost exclusively.

Finally, I think I'm pretty satisfied.

Here's links to their respective membership-info pages, if you want to check them out yourself:

Borders Rewards Membership
Barnes and Noble Membership

And I promise, I'll start doing more book reviews soon. I just realized I'm averaging about 1.5 a month. That's just sad :(

~Sarah

True Blood: Season 1

True Blood is based off of a series of novels by Charlaine Harris, which I have never read. Just to let you know.

Sookie Stackhouse is the main character, a telepathic waitress in a small Louisiana town. The season starts when Sookie meets a vampire, the first in the town of Bon Temps. Vampires in this series are "out of the coffin", meaning that they exposed themselves to the rest of the world and are now asking for equal rights - they can live off of "True Blood", which is synthetic blood and now sold in bottles like beer. Anyways, Sookie falls for this vampire, Bill Compton, despite the opinions of her closest friends.

Besides the growing relationship between Sookie and Bill, you learn about the vampire-lore in this series, and there is also another major storyline/mystery throughout the season - someone is killing girls in Bon Temps, and it seems it has to do with the recent appearance of vampires in the area, and the girls seem to be "fangbangers", or women who have had sex with vamps before.

This show has a great range of supporting characters. Tara is Sookie's best friend - one of the few black people in the town, and she's strong, and extremely sassy and callous in a very loyal and sometimes-loving way. Sam is Sookie's boss, and he happens to be in love with Sookie. Jason is Sookie's womanizing brother, and Lafeyette is Tara's gay cousin. There is a lot to love about these characters, however by the end of the season there's plenty of reasons to dislike them too.

Okay, so the things I love about this show (or at least, this season): The characters are all different and humorous. The vampire-lore is interesting. You always end an episode wanting to go on to the next.

That being said, there were some things that bothered me too. Even for an HBO show, there is TOO MUCH SEX. Now, I understand that one of the major plots has to do with fangbangers, so it's slightly forgivable - I just don't think they needed to be so damn graphic in damn near every episode. So, just to warn you - may not want to watch this with family. Also, it reminds me of a soap opera a little bit because there's so much drama between the characters - but of course, that's probably me just being anal and having to find some fault. And again, it is HBO - of course it's dramatic.

I'm definitely looking forward to watching season 2 when in comes out on DVD in May. I wish I didn't have to wait so long!

4 out of 5 stars :o)

~Sarah

"Waitress"

Okay, so I just finished watching the movie "Waitress" and it was overall a great movie - except the ending just killed it for me. I'm going to give away the ending at the end of this review. Don't worry, I'll warn you first.

(Without spoilers)
Funny movie! I really like Nathan Fillion, who played the OB-GYN in the movie, so that was a plus. The characters were all cute and likable - there was a big theme of adultery in this movie, which I don't like, but I tried to overlook it in the spirit of being a good sport :o)

Jenna is a pie-makin' waitress with an awful husband named Earl. The worst part about him is that he actually tries to be what he thinks of as "sweet", but he's possessive, jealous, domineering, and a huge idiot. The movie starts when Jenna realizes she's having her husband's baby, and it ruins her plans of someday running away from her terrible marriage.

Througout the movie, Jenna makes you laugh with random imaginary pies with funny names such as "I Hate My Husband Pie" or "I Don't Want Earl's Baby Pie". Her diner friends are kind of quirky and you take an instant liking to them. The movie was cheerful, and I was happy to see a movie in which the pregnant woman is dreading the birth of this baby because it will ruin her life. (As someone who doesn't want kids, it's nice to see it represented in media - trust me, it's rare.)


**********HERE COMES THE SPOILERS************



SKIP TO THE END OF THE POST IF YOU DON'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT THE END!








*****
Jenna and her doctor slept together throughout her entire pregnancy, and fell in love with each other. I could forgive Jenna for this since she cannot stand her husband and she's afraid to try to leave him. (The doctor not so much, since he was married and not unhappily so.)
Now, since Jenna was so resentful of this unborn baby, I was hoping she would leave it and Earl at the same time and somehow be able to run away with her doctor. But noooooooo. Just like most damn movies, she "falls in love" with her baby as soon as she sees it. Very upsetting, since I was happy to see a heroine who didn't want any offspring and she just did a 180 there. So, then she tells Earl she wants a divorce. Yay! A very good thing. And then she goes and breaks up with the doctor, completely ignoring and forsaking the obvious love she feels towards him to devote herself to this newborn that she didn't even want 24 hours ago. I guess I'm just disappointed. Obviously loving your baby is not a bad thing - it's just in damn near every movie. I was excited because I thought that this would be something different, and it wasn't.












***********************END SPOILERS************

Anyways, the majority of the movie was cute and funny. Jenna's a very real and likable character, as well as her friends. And if you're pro-child-bearing, I'm sure you'll like this movie even more than I did :o)


4 stars out of 5 I suppose

~Sarah

Dexter: Seasons 1 - 3

Okay, so this may not be the best review. Mainly because me and the honeyman finished season 3 a couple weeks ago, and we're devastated that season 4 won't be out on DVD until next year!

For those that don't know: Dexter is an hour-long show that plays on Showtime. (Dexter is played by Michael C. Hall, who I think does really well playing weirdos.) It's about a serial killer named Dexter, who works in Florida as a blood-spatter expert. He is a sociopath; he doesn't have normal human feelings, and is compelled to kill, but was raised with a moral compass that means he only kills those who kill.


Season 1: What an AMAZING season. We saw the first episode or two at a friend's house and went and bought it ourselves the next day so we could keep watching. Dexter is kind of witty and weird in his serial killer ways. You find out why he's so good at doing what he does without getting caught, you learn a lot about his past and how he grew up with a really great adoptive family. The storyline in this season is incredible. The only thing that frustrated me was Dexter constantly monologuing about how emotionless he was. Oh, one of the great things about Dexter - when he's spying on a potential victim, breaking and entering, killing, etc., he wears the same grey-ish shirt and green cargo pants. Me and Treland call it his "I'm-doing-bad-shit" outfit. Just one of his weird quirks.

5 out of 5 stars


Season 2: Oh my god did I hate this season. It was still great and we still watched it as fast as we could, but it was infuriating. Dexter constantly screws stuff up - murders, relationships, etc. A huge mess of a character gets introduced called Lila. I hate her. I don't want to say too much there because I don't want to give anything away. But seriously, I hate her. Another thing is that Dexter was so self-doubting all the time and it was really annoying. He was constantly screwing things up for himself and then doubting his skills and what he should do. One of the things that makes Dexter a good character is that he's so confident in his badness, so this was a disappointment. The end of the season was pretty good though, lots of twists.

3.5 out of 5 stars


Season 3: MUCH better than season 2, and just slightly less great than season 1. Dexter is finally back on track and much more self-assured than he was last season. His entire personal life seems like it's finally falling into place, and it becomes extremely obvious how "human-like" he is becoming. While he may not feel as strong emotions as we all do, it's obvious that he's feeling something. There wasn't quite as good of a storyline as season 1, maybe just because it was less suspenseful. But that was probably a good thing - I wasn't staying up until 4 am because I couldn't wait to see what happened next! And it left me eagerly awaiting season 4.

4.5 out of 5 stars


Really, I highly recommend this show. I read the book that the show was based on, Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsey. Ehh. Definitely not as good as the show, and I don't recommend reading it before you try the show out. It is essentially the first season in book form, but the plot is no where near as intricate. This show quickly became one of my all-time faves. Now go rent, borrow, or buy it and enjoy it as much as I have!

~Sarah

The Hangover

The Hangover is, of course, about the day after a very event-filled bachelor party in Las Vegas. And, as to be expected, there's a lot of weird, crude humor. Right up my alley!

Don't expect a really great storyline, but it was a fun movie to watch. My favorite character was Allen, a chubby soon-to-be brother-in-law in the group. He was weird and hilarious. He has a great dry, serious humor that just cracks you up. The part I laughed the hardest was when someone was yelling at him and cursing and such and he just said "Your language is very offensive!" back. Lots of great lines in this movie, and of course since it's a comedy, it has a fairly happy ending.

If you need to chuckle and watch something mindless, this is it :o) The only reason the rating I'm giving it seems low is because it won't be a favorite of mine, but I probably will own it eventually, just for the laughs.


3.5 out of 5 stars

~Sarah

The Time Traveler's Wife (movie)

I haven't read the book yet, but now that I've seen The Time Traveler's Wife at the movie theater, I can't wait to read it.

Claire (Rachel McAdams) is a young woman who has had visits from a man named Henry (Eric Bana), a time traveler, since she was 6 years old. When she, as a young woman, meets him at the library where he works (in present-time), she asks him to dinner and there begins a really touching love story.

This movie was just wonderful. I think the actors did a great job, and the scenery and camera work were really impressive. The storyline was easy to follow and had me chuckling, gasping in surprise, and crying my eyes out. I also think that there's something extra-romantic about sci-fi love stories. The idea of traveling through time and gravitating to the person you're meant for is just super sweet. Aren't I such a sap? Also, when Henry time-travels, his clothes don't come with him. I'm a nit-pick and like that it's only him that travels, and not whatever he's wearing or holding at the moment.

Overall, I didn't think there was anything bad about the movie. And since the books are usually better, I'm looking forward to picking up a copy of the book for myself.

4.7 out of 5 stars



~Sarah

ABC Meme

ABC Meme
I was tagged by Lit and Life for this :o)

Here are the rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Share your ABC’s.
3. Tag three people at the end by linking to their blogs.
4. Let the three tagged people know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.
5. Do not tag the same person repeatedly but try to tag different people, so there is a big network of bloggers doing this tag.



Available or married? Well I'm not married, but I'm definitely not available!

Best Friend? Probably my honeyman.

Cake or Pie? Mmmmm cake!

Drink of choice? Ice water I guess.

Essential item for every day use? Cell phone.

Favorite color? Brown!!! And pink.

Google? Sometimes, I use Yahoo too.

Hometown? Rochester, NY

Indulgences? Books, food, and bubble baths.

January or February? February! My birthday and Valentine's Day, so you can't go wrong :o)

Kids and their names? No kids for me!

Life is incomplete without…? Smiles!

Marriage date? Not married.

Number of siblings? 3 - Heather, Amanda, and EJ

Oranges or apples? Apples, they're easier to eat. I'm not good at peeling oranges.

Phobias and fears? Tornadoes, killer dolls, growing old.

Quote for the day? "Life is good...enjoy the little things" - a little plaque I have on my desk at work.

Reason to smile? I get to leave work early today! And since it's Friday I get to spend time with Treland tonight :o)

Season? Spring! I absolutely love it when you can see the first little buds growing on the trees.

Tag 3 people?
Lori at The Coffee Girl
Thauna at Silly Fluff n' Stuff

Jo at Diggin' Around


Unknown fact about me? Cranberry juice makes me sick.

Vegetable you hate? I can't think of one...aren't I such the snob?

Worst habit? Nail-biting, without a doubt.

X-rays you’ve had? None.

Your fave food? Chicken! And potatoes.

Zodiac sign? Pisces

Lost in Austen

I am relatively new to Jane Austen. I have seen Sense and Sensibility (years ago and hardly remember it). I have seen the newer movie of Pride and Prejudice and found it extremely lacking. And then I had the fortune to watch the BBC Pride and Prejudice, and fell in love. I am now reading the novel for the first time and finding it incredibly enjoyable.

Therefore, when I heard about a British "series" called Lost in Austen, I thought it might be fantastic. It's about a young modern woman named Amanda Price who discovers a door in her apartment that allows her to trade places with the famous Elizabeth Bennett. And from that point on, the whole thing just went to crap.

I will try to refrain from spoilers, but as Amanda herself once said in the movie, Jane Austen must be spinning in her grave. It completely diverged from every main storyline and just did it's own thing. Amanda completely ruins the story line, and by the end it is, more or less, repaired. But the three hours I spent watching this movie were not gladly spent. I was frequently just pulling my hair out, yelling at the TV that so-and-so would never do those things! Besides storyline changes, characters were completely altered and it was more infuriating than enjoyable.

I'm sad to say that I do not recommend Lost in Austen to anyone, especially if they enjoy the story of Pride and Prejudice in it's original form.

2 out of 5 stars.

~Sarah

Funny People

*****SPOILER ALERT*****





****YOU'VE BEEN WARNED - THERE WILL BE HUGE SPOILERS HERE*****



You know the new Adam Sandler flick, Funny People? - Not so funny.

The premise is great, I love Judd Apatow movies, and I like almost all of the main actors. However, it ended up kind of sucking. Ira (Seth Rogan) is a deli-market worker in L.A. who's trying to break into comedy by doing stand-up. By a happy coincidence, famous comedian George Simmons (Adam Sandler) sees him perform, and they later meet. George has just found out that he has a rare form of leukemia and that experimental medicine will give him an 8% chance of surviving. Not feeling very funny, he hires Ira to write some jokes for him. They spend time together, George lets Ira in on the I'm-dying-but-don't-want-to-tell-anyone secret, and they kind of bond.

George looks back on his life and realizes he never should have cheated on his ex-girlfriend (Leslie Mann). She's "the one that got away", and she's married with kids now. But he reconnects, and they sleep together. And, *shocking*, George doesn't die.

The ONLY person in this movie that maintains some dignity is Ira. George is a past-cheater, and is now seducing a married woman. The woman is disgusting because she KNOWS she's married to someone not that great and uses that as an excuse to cheat. Even Ira's roommates are skanky and sleeping with people they should not. Clark, the husband, has been adulterous too. It's disgusting.

However, Ira is the only person who grows as a person, gets better at his desired profession, and doesn't go sleeping around. George Simmons, the one who has a brush with death and the main character the movie is based on - no growth, no real change.

If you enjoy hilarious, vulgar humor like Apatow's other flicks, you might enjoy this. The stand-up scenes really are hysterical. But the "real" storyline sucks. I hate characters that cheat, and it makes me not care about them anymore. I'm really disappointed - this was Apatow's first real venture into something serious (as well as Seth Rogan and numerous other actors in the film) and it failed miserably. I read some article a while back that said based on his movies, Apatow must have a very low opinion of his fellow males and females. I thought they were stretching things a bit (after all, his movies were comedies), but now I think that reporter may be on to something.


1 out of 5 stars. Ouch.

The Jane Austen Book Club

This was my number 3 pick for my Everything Austen Challenge that I'm doing. I've already seen the movie, but I really enjoy re-watching it.

The idea behind this movie (it's based on a book of the same name) is that 5 women want to start an "All Jane Austen, all the time" book club to help them deal with the various problems they're all going through. Sylvia is a middle-aged librarian and mother whose husband leaves her for another woman. Jocelyn is Sylvia's best friend and an unmarried dog breeder, whose favorite dog just passed away. Bernadette appears to be almost 60, is friends with Sylvia and Jocelyn, has been married 6 times, and enjoys yoga and knitting. She meets Prudie at a Jane Austen film fest - Prudie is a French teacher who is married to a man who would "cancel our trip to Paris for a basketball game". Allegra is Sylvia's 20-something year old daughter - adventurous, sweet, and fearless. And Grigg is a young man that Jocelyn meets and invites to the book club - supposedly for a male perspective, but really as eye candy to distract Sylvia.

And from there they spend 6 months reading the 6 Jane Austen novels. Of course, the movie is filled with parallels between the books and their own lives. But it's a movie truly about some remarkable and intelligent women and about life.
I thoroughly enjoy this movie. I think that it just makes me yearn to be like these women - dealing with life, but always sitting down and having the time to read and enjoy Jane Austen. It makes me feel relaxed and indulgent. I have to say however, that the end, the epilogue for lack of a better word, is my least favorite part of the movie. I won't say exactly why, just that I feel that it makes some of the women look weak and as though they simply settled in matters that were important to them.

Over all, I recommend this movie. It desperately makes me want to reach for a blanket and an Austen novel. What could be better?

4 out of 5 stars

Letter Writing

This is my first review of something that isn't exactly tangible - it's not a book or movie you can go pick up. This is dedicated to the lost art of letter writing.

I am writing this because I have become a pen pal with some of the girls from the Chicks of Lit group on Goodreads. I haven't been a pen pal since I was in middle school, so I'm pretty rusty at it. I don't even know if I'm particularly good at it.
However, on Thursday I got my first letter from a wonderful chick in Tennessee, and I was SO excited. Think about it - when is the last time you got a letter in the mail that wasn't a card or from a company of some sort? I can't even remember, which is what made it so great. And I almost made the mistake in the beginning of this blog to say that letter writing isn't a form of entertainment, but that's not true. I definitely enjoyed reading the letter from my new pen pal, and I thoroughly enjoyed writing a letter back today. It's something that allows you to connect with someone elsewhere in the world, you get to polish your writing skills, and you can include fun things like stickers, post cards, and anything else you think your new pal might like. I received a handmade bookmark in my letter from my pal! And it's something that actually meant a lot - even my everyday friends and family have never thought to give me a bookmark!

If you have the chance, sit down and write a letter - to anyone. Have a family member that you don't see very often? There's the perfect chance to try this out, or search online for a safe pen pal site. I absolutely recommend it!

Letter writing gets 5 out of 5 stars!

Bridget Jones's Diary

I watched this DVD tonight (with my sweetheart of a boyfriend) as the first on my list for the Everything Austen Challenge that I am attempting. And ohhhhhhmyGOD was it painful for the both of us. Why the hell do people like this movie??? And someone please tell me that the book is 1000 times better...

This movie makes British people look bad. Awful. It makes them look like sleazy, smoking, constantly-cursing airheads. And Bridget herself was just a trainwreck. While some things could have been forgivable, such as her horrendous public speaking and her making stupid decisions when it comes to men, she just wasn't a likable person. She smoked and drank too much, and was only able to curb those bad habits when she was with a man instead of relying on her own willpower. She constantly made herself look like an idiot. And for goodness sakes, NEVER leave your house wearing just underwear, but especially when it's snowing outside. The romances between her and Daniel and Mark were forced at best...I never had a strong urge for any of her romantic attempts to succeed.
Even though I detest Bridget and everyone else in the movie, Colin Firth (who played Mark Darcy) was the only person I liked throughout the whole movie. He wasn't sleazy or stupid, and he is the only one who ended the movie with his dignity still intact.

I understand the parallels between this movie and Pride and Prejudice, but I really hope that the BBC version of P&P is better than this crap. I don't think I could sit through something like that again.

1 out of 5 stars...

Lily Allen

Let me say right off the bat - I love Lily Allen. She's great. I first heard her CD maybe a year or so ago, and instantly liked her sassiness and fun, catchy music. She's a British singer, although her CD's do quite well in the U.S. as well. She's a refreshing female who is the exact opposite of the other female pop-stars that are oh-so-popular right now (Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, Amy Winehouse, etc). Where they are dull, talentless, crazy, and appear to be the epitome of skankiness, Lily is bright, clever, and real - all while keeping her clothes on. If I could give her a 5 1/2 stars out of 5, I would.







Her first CD is Alright, Still and I believe was released in July of 2007. This album is so great that I can't pick a favorite song. The CD is spunky and fun. The music is great, and the lyrics are even better. I never thought that one of my all-time favorite song lyrics would be "Oh my gosh you must be joking me / If you think that you'll be pokin' me". And better yet, her songs are all so wonderfully original. She has a song about how thinking of her cheating ex getting hurt makes her feel better (Smile), a song about how much she loves her city, even though there's so much dirt going on (LDN), and even a song about her pot-loving little brother (Alfie). While she does show a bit of sweetness and vulnerability in the song Littlest Things, her CD has a great overall hit against grimy men who have wronged her. This CD is full of a sun-shiny snarkiness that you can't help but love.


It gets 5 out of 5 stars.

Her newest CD, which just came out in February of 2009, is It's Not Me, It's You. In some ways, Lily's better than ever on this one. There are more socially and politically conscious songs, which I think is great. We need more songs like that in the world! The Fear is the first single off her CD and perhaps the best one. It discusses the fakeness and materialism in the world with a happy, biting sarcasm. And Not Fair, in which she likes a guy but doesn't want to stay with him because he's awful in bed, is reminiscent of her old album. But overall, the music itself is just not as upbeat and catchy as the other CD. In some ways, it shows her growth and a sense of maturity, but on the other hand it just doesn't make it as fun to listen to. It's definitely worth the $15 though for her flair and spiky humor displayed throughout the album. I give this one 4 1/2 stars out of 5.

-Sarah

Oh I've Done It Now

So, I caved. I decided to start a blog of my reviews. It will not be limited to books - I'll also write my thoughts and opinions on movies, shows, music, restaurants, the theory of gravity, etc. Whatever I feel like reviewing. Since I'm short on time at the moment, the first review will come in following days.

-Sarah