December book haul!

GUYS. This was a BUSY month. By my estimates I got 12 new books, and that doesn't count the new books I purchased for next semester. Only two of these were gifts, however - the rest were all either "found" (read: stolen from my boyfriend's fraternity's attic) or bought by me.

The books above are the ones that I bought/was given this past month. Bite Me! and Why Nations Fail were my only Christmas books. Between Gears I swiped as a Black Friday/Cyber Monday deal, The Smartest Guys in the Room and The Stranger were picked up from the Chicago O'Hare airport, and North and South and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd were picked up while Christmas shopping. I'm pretty pleased with this group, to be honest.

THESE books I took from the attic of my boyfriend's fraternity. He asked me if I wanted to "go shopping" (of course I did), and lo! I found an ex-English major's stash (To the Lighthouse, The Sound and the Fury, and The Vintage Book), as well as the Class Matters books and Women Without Class. I'm interested in reading the class books, since it's a topic I've been more interested in learning about. Women Without Class especially, since in its introduction the author mentioned the book Reviving Ophelia (which I poached from my mom), and how issues of feminism, confidence, etc., were only examined in women of "higher class" (upper middle/upper class), and neglected to discuss the needs and issues of women in lower classes. 

I don't want to totally lose my marbles here, but look! I've wanted these two books for a while. I've been a fan of Bite Me! for years, and recently got into Between Gears earlier this semester. (And by "got into," I mean, "read about five to six times during the semester while I definitely should have been doing my homework.") I'm really excited to have them, and hope that by buying them I was able to support them a little bit!

So there it is! My last post of 2013. I've posted a bit today (slash, last night), but I'm trying to tie up some loose ends before the end of the year. Now, if I could be this careful in running my errands, cleaning my room.... Well, there's still time. :) Also, I'm super sorry for the shit quality of the photos - I can't seem to find my camera. :|

2014. (also, Happy Birthday blog!)

I'm going to make 2014 my year in all the ways that 2013 sucked.

I'm going to make new friends, get more involved, and look for ways to discuss feminism and books more frequently in both real life and on this blog. I'm going to create more personal art, and draw more. I'm going to bust my ass in ways I haven't before to get to where I want to both professionally and academically. I'm going to try to make smarter decisions, and be more aware about my personal self-care, and to ensure that my self-care doesn't eclipse another person's needs. I am going to work on being less jealous/envious/"competitive," and focus more on celebrating my friends.

While I'm still ironing out my "personal" 2014 resolutions, my reading resolutions are as follows:

1. I will read 30 books.
2. I will read the books I own; if I buy any new books, it's because I see them as an "investment piece" (i.e., I'll read them over again). 
3. I will utilize the library more.
4. I will continue to post reviews, and establish a firmer grading scale for books. (one star vs. three stars, etc.)
5. Out of the books I want to read for the next year, I will prioritize books given to me as gifts, or those that relate to my area of study. 

I'm looking over all the books I've read this past year, and I'm actually kind of pleased. I read more memoirs than I ever have before, as well as a little sci fi/fantasy, and two huge books (And the Band Played On and East of Eden - both clocking in at over 600 pages each.). This time last year, I hadn't read much over the year, and I was reading even less during the school year. I feel like that's changed, and I now know that it's possible to read for pleasure while trying not to drown under my homework. 

As for my favorite books that I've read this year, here they are:

 
 

 

 

This entry also marks the one year since I've started blogging here. While I wasn't very consistent at first (and I'm probably still not very consistent), I've written a lot about what I've been reading and what I thought about it - more than if I hadn't had this blog, I'm sure. It's fun looking at past entries and reading my reactions to new books.

This upcoming year I want to continue to improve the content of this blog, through features as well as design. That means continuing Midwest Mondays (although maybe planning them out in advance), as well as working on a banner for the blog and expanding the "I love..." feature.

I hope y'all are doing well, and are looking forward to the new year. I feel like a lot of great things are on the horizon. I'm ready to get started.

The Year of Magical Thinking, by Joan Didion

Last book review of 2013! Hoo boy.

I should have been doing my homework instead of reading this. #whateva

Genre: Memoir

Rating: ★★★

Published: December 13, 2007

Publisher: Vintage International

Pages: 227

Before reading The Year of Magical Thinking, the only other work I had read by Joan Didion was her essay, "On Self-Respect," during my senior year English class. I decided that I liked her voice, thought she was funny, etc... but totally forgot about it once I exited the classroom. This year, I've been trying to expand my reading horizons and search for new authors in the big, wide, world of "adult" fiction. Joan Didion seemed to be a good person to look for, since I'd seen some interviews with her featured on websites that I liked. I picked up The Year of Magical Thinking because I had seen it around, and had decided that it was a good place to start. (Also, the school library copy of Slouching Towards Bethlehem looked like it was about to fall apart.)

The Year of Magical Thinking, is (according to the back of the book) "a portrait of a marriage." Hm. Okay. Yes, it is. But I feel like that description is somewhat misleading, because The Year of Magical Thinking is primarily about grief, grieving, and death. It illustrates the year after Joan Didion's husband died, as well as her different trains of thought/personal vortexes that lead her to reflect upon her grief and their marriage.

I really liked Didion's style of writing; I found it to be humorous, wry, and insightful. I feel like I have a good grasp on her person voice as a result of reading this book. That said, I rated it three stars. Not because I disliked any parts, but because - while I felt that it was quite powerful - it did not have its full intended effect on me because I have not experienced the loss of a spouse. I was, despite that, able to connect to a fair amount of what she said about revisiting death, as well as the nature of grief:

“Grief turns out to be a place none of us know until we reach it...We might expect if the death is sudden to feel shock. We do not expect this shock to be obliterative, dislocating to both body and mind. We might expect that we will be prostrate, inconsolable, crazy with loss. We do not expect to be literally crazy, cool customers who believe their husband is about to return and need his shoes.”

(I already returned the book to the library, so here's an excerpt via Goodreads. Plz work with me.)

If pressed, I'd probably rate this book higher; as it is, I'm just glad to have this review done with now. I'd recommend it to others, but I would prefer to warn people that the focus of this book is on death and grief, just in case that's something that someone is trying to avoid completely.

Hopefully my next review won't be so long overdue; I need to work on drafting some of my reviews faster!

End of November book haul

(Belated, but whatever.)

So, I've decided to start doing "book haul" posts at the end of each month now, since I feel like they've reached "filler" status on my blog, and honestly it's a little shameful sometimes to keep posting pictures of new books. (Idk, is it...? Am I being crazy?) This is also my way of putting a spending freeze on myself; if I look at them all at once, then I can see how much money I'm spending, right? (....Right?)

Anyways, here's the lot, snagged from Goodwill. The children's books were $0.49 each, and the adult books were $0.99. Although it was under $6.00. (How could I resist??)

Two books, Timeline and Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code are ones that I've previously read; Timeline in eighth grade (for a class), and Artemis Fowl younger than that. A few years ago, I loaned all of my Artemis Fowl books to one of my friends and never got them back. (I think she might also have some of my comics... Grrrrr.) Since The Eternity Code is my favorite of the Artemis Fowl universe, I was really excited to find it and knew I had to have it.

I got Anne of Green Gables because I've never read it, and despite having a copy on my iPhone, I've never read it before. (It's a free iPhone copy - I don't really have the incentive to read it.) It was also kind of fun to see an "Apple Classics" book, since my elementary school had lots of those editions lying around, and seeing it made me feel cozy inside.

As for the other two, The Rape of Nanking and Thunderstruck, I got those at the behest of my friend, N. (It evens out - I made her get some Stephen King.) If I'm being honest, though, it didn't take much to win me over.

I'm entering finals season now, so I might not get to update this week's Midwest Monday until I'm out of it - but who knows. My procrastination abilities are legendary, and I do feel really bad about not having it up this week. (Oh, well - it gives me a reason to sit down and write and learn, and those are good things.)

Outside of books/reading/etc., I've been busy trying to get things going for me "in the real world" - that means working on papers and reading about politics and trying to make plans for this summer and actually making living plans for next semester and travel abroad plans. (When those are finalized, I'll post about them here. Until then, I don't wanna count my chickens before they hatch.)

Trying to keep my head above water, I'm trying to remind myself of the good things that I'm doing, and the ways that I'm being responsible and basically being a productive human being. No one is going to do these things for me; I have to hustle for what I want.

Keep safe and happy, guys!
xx