Private

I have left this blog public for a long time and have finally made the decision to go private.  If you would still like to be able to read it just let me know and I will send you an invite.  Thanks for taking the time to read my random thoughts.

Amazing Experience

I really would like to start blogging again, and I just have to share this with you.  My husband took  me on a date tonight and let me pick the movie. I picked one I new had special interest to me called October Baby.  It was an amazing movie.  Brian read the reviews and was hesitant to see it as it got poor reviews.  After seeing the movie we decided that the poor reviews were because the liberal critics found it too political.  I thought it was amazing.  This movie held special relevance to me because the girl is adopted and so am I.  I cried and cried because I could totally relate to a lot of what she was feeling.  I bawled for about fifteen minutes after the movie ended because parts of it were like telling my own story.  It's a powerful movie - not action packed but please take your kleenex because you will need them.

Book Reivew: Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Unbroken: A World War II Story Of Survival, Resilience, And Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I could not put this book down. Non-fiction...not usually my genre...read this book because it was our book club book this month. So glad I did! WWII is my absolute favorite time period to read about, it fascinates me. It was such a turning point for life in this country that I am continually amazed by this astoundingly tragic period in our world's history. That being said, this is the first non-fiction account I have read of a POW in Japan. There were times that the atrocities committed were so horrific I wanted to hurl the book across the room and scream...then there were such tender moments of enlightenment that I could feel the waves of compassion and growth rolling off the page. What an astounding thing the human spirit is. This brave man was made of the sternest stuff and yet was so lost because of the deprivation of human spirit that happened to him. The degradation was nothing short of sickening, yet somehow he persevered. I do no laud him as an infallible man, simply as one who when he hit rock bottom somehow found the reserves and ultimately found the strength through something greater than himself. I would recommend you read this book but only if you have a stout heart and a strong stomach, because it is heartrending and gut-wrenching. You will feel wrung out and uplifted at the same time. Thank you Laura Hillenbrand for your beautifully narrated epic (especially because of the health trials of your own that you endured while writing it). This book is worth your time.



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Book Review: Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I liked this book, but it wasn't riveting. It took me 9 days to read - that's a long time for me. I like the story but didn't love it. Again there is flat out talking about teens having sex, but nothing ?descriptive. But again, why does it need to be in there. The one think I did think was cool (and didn't notice when I read the first book) is that the print in the book is the same color as the cover. This one was green, the first one blue and the last one red. That was fun!



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Book Review: Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


"As the hours crept by, the afternoon sunlight bleached all the books on the shelves to pale, gilded versions of them selves and warmed the paper and ink inside the covers so that the smell of unread words hung in the air." pg. 8 I love this quote form the first page of the story...it perfectly describes what independent book store smells like to me (chain stores don't smell the same)...like unread words. I LOVE book stores. That being said...this isn't my favorite teen book I've read. It was very plodding...the story was interesting but to me not climatic. I liked the characters and they were easy to picture in my head. I also liked the way some of them evolved. I am looking forward to the next books in the series (they came in set). My one big complaint is the illusion to teenagers having sex. There is nothing graphic, but why does it need to be in there at all? I wouldn't recommend this for young teenagers.



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My Feelings Exactly

I tried to explain to someone why I love the little cluttered used book store in our town. I told her that "I just love the way books smell." It's hard to describe, and she laughed at me "The way books smell?" I DO love the ways books smell, but not new books, Barnes & Noble doesn't smell like books to me. The scent I love, and sometimes crave is how I'd imagine the "library" in one of those old Victorian mansions would smell like. It's a combination of leather, parchment and glue. I don't even know how to explain it to you. Today I was reading a book and found the perfect way to describe it, someone really does understand how I feel about the way books smell. "A warm feeling came over Luce as she looked around the library. She's always loved the faintly sweet musty way that only a roomful of books smelled." That is from a teen book called Fallen by Lauren Kate. I don't know why I felt like sharing that little thought, but it so encompassed how I feel about the smell of books I just had to share it.