Book Review: Big Little Lies

I'm just going to give it away: Big Little Lies is a great, fun read. 

I was a little disappointed in my first book of 2015 so it was extra exciting to update my Goodreads with this one. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty is another one of those books that has been gracing Best Of lists and there apparently will be a limited television series based on it starring Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman (verdict: SO EXCITED! TV was the way to go, it'll play out much better on a week-to-week basis than if it were a movie).

via Amazon

In the interest of complete honesty: is Big Little Lies some great, moving piece, some literary art? No - not to me, anyway. But I had so much fun reading it: the characters are great (and relatable - I can name a Madeline, a Celeste, a Renata in my every day life without hesitation), the storyline is interesting, the themes are easy to pick up on without being shoved in one's face. . . I really cannot ask for more in a novel.

Book Review: Belzhar

I've officially read my first book of 2015. 

thank you for the encouragement, Goodreads

I read Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer during a bed-ridden sick weekend (it was the worst. I'm a terrible sick person). This book graced many Best of 2014 lists, including this one by Publisher's Weekly and this one by School Library Journal. Amazon had repeatedly recommend it to me so I finally took the bait and went for it when I loaded up my Kindle right after Christmas.

via Amazon

I have to be honest: when I was telling Jon about this book (which is rare, actually, but he asked and seemed genuinely interested) he asked what the name of it was. I told him, "Belzhar but it's more like BLEHzar," and cracked myself up - so, you know, that pretty much sets that tone, doesn't it?

Book Review: BZRK

As a huge fan of Michael Grant's Gone series, I was pretty excited to discover BZRK. 

As I mentioned in my last review, I'm pretty terrible with summaries, so let's leave it to the experts at Amazon:

Set in the near future, BZRK is the story of a war for control of the human mind. Charles and Benjamin Armstrong, conjoined twins and owners of the Armstrong Fancy Gifts Corporation, have a goal: to turn the world into their vision of utopia. No wars, no conflict, no hunger. And no free will. Opposing them is a guerrilla group of teens, code name BZRK, who are fighting to protect the right to be messed up, to be human. This is no ordinary war, though. Weapons are deployed on the nano-level. The battleground is the human brain. And there are no stalemates here: It's victory. . .or madness.

BZRK unfolds with hurricane force around core themes of conspiracy and mystery, insanity and changing realities, engagement and empowerment, and the larger impact of personal choice. Which side would you choose? How far would you go to win? 

via Goodreads

When one is a fan of YA, as I am, it is almost impossible not to run into an almost disappointingly easy to read writing style, a tone that is simplified for its targeted audience* - take note, folks: that is not the case here.

The January Slump

Ah, winter. Post-holidays, all you have to offer are cold weather, icy roads which lead to a longer commute, endlessly gray days and building enough time into my morning routine to scrape and de-thaw my car before I drive it. 

via Boring Pittsburgh | seriously, this is how the new year wants to greet me?

Barf.

I don't know about you all, but January is the worst month of the year for me. I always joke that I'm in need of a sun lamp because I am just straight miserable during the winter, but especially in January. I mean, a lot of it is due to my own hang-ups. Take New Year's Resolutions and goals, for instance: I like instant gratification and the ability to see results, but really, all of my/our goals are a process - most of which that will likely take the entire year. I know I sound like a brat who wants what she wants right now and I won't say that's wrong - it's just that while I'm looking forward to all that 2015 has to bring, I'm also just in a weird twiddling-my-thumbs place. 

In the same vein, January can also be a little overwhelming to some. All of the New Year, New Me ideals floating around, articles instructing you to take the time to purge and clean and re-organize and DO ALL OF THE THINGS. It's like geez oh man, the year just started, can I have a minute? 

One of my far-off-future goals is to plan a little vacation for Jon and I in January, a post-holidays de-stress and a pre-year re-energize. That's fun to dream about, for sure, and will definitely be a bright spot to look forward to. . .even if post-vacation depression rears its ugly head - take the good with the bad, am I right?

So, knowing this general ickiness is coming during these dark (figuratively and literally, if you will) days and nights, I'm trying to be proactive about it. 

2015: A ReSet

Yes, folks, it's that time: time for a New Year, New Me post. A post full of resolutions and goals. A post full of reflection and positivity.

I am really into making things real by writing them down - I know how that sounds, but I'm a to-do list maker, a grocery list writer, a post-it note inspirer. I think that maybe this is why I haven't written down resolutions for quite a few years now: if I don't write them down, they aren't real so I don't have to hold myself accountable.

Well, part of the fun of having a blog is having an outlet for these types of things, am I right? Not only am I putting thought to word as a means of holding myself accountable, I'm inviting you to hold myself accountable as well. 

I'm viewing 2015 as a reset year for myself. I know what should be happening across the board and have opted to ignore all of that. In 2013, my focus was on my wedding - even after it was long over, I felt like we were still piecing together a collage of Life After Marriage (which included some large setbacks, like a disease/surgery). 2014 brought a year of a mess and although it has ended well, it was tough more often than not. So in 2015, I'm focusing on all of the stuff I can change and should change and am going to change it. I'm going to use it as an opportunity to press the reset button, so that we can begin to prepare for the future and whatever it may bring. 

personal collage | Photo credits, clockwise from top left: Reading Challenge, Financial Goals, Fitness Goals, Makeup/Skincare Goals, Closet/Clothing Goals

Book Review: The Jessica Darling Series

Once upon a time, there was a really angsty, miserable teenager. She was convinced that she was better than her hometown (Spoiler Alert: she totally was) and that she was full of untapped potential. She was a giant bitch all throughout high school, a chip on her shoulder and a grimace on her face all four years. 

This girl found solace, as many a teenager before and after her, in books. She would walk to the local library after school and check out as many books as her extra bag would allow - sometimes up to ten. She would often stop at the Dunkin Donuts next to the library, order a coffee, and start reading one of her books before she'd catch the bus home. 

Surprise: that girl was me.

I wrote a post when I was still blogging for Weddingbee about who I was in high school, so I'll let that speak for itself. The books, though, that got me through, have such a special place in my heart - specifically The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (this book affected me so much that I kept a list of quotes and their page numbers in my purse until college. . .when I put them on my wall), Violet & Claire by Francesca Lia Block, How to Deal (which is actually two separate novels, That Summer and Someone Like You) by Sarah Dessen and the Jessica Darling series by Megan McCafferty. 

I am sure that there are many deep and involved reasons why I decided to re-load the well loved series onto my new tablet after it had sat on a previous reading device, untouched and un-thought of for quite some time; why I had been thinking about Jessica Darling so much as of late that I decided to re-read the books right before Jon and I were heading on a five-day-stay in our hometown for the holidays; why I devoured the books and couldn't wait to write about them. I'm sure that there's a lot to be said about the power of my subconscious regarding this decision - but I'm not the one to say any of it. I'm just happy to have reunited with those who feel like my old friends. I'm happy to have re-connected to them and to the story and I'm happy to have an outlet that allows me to express all of this.

images via Wikipedia, copyrighted to Three Rivers Press and Crown publishers

It's hard for me to review the books adequately as individuals as each time I've read them, I've read them in rapid succession, so that it's essentially one long, great story, so I'm reviewing them in their entirety as The Jessica Darling Series.

Book Review: We Were Liars

For as long as I can remember, I've been an avid reader. I embody almost every stereotype about a bookworm: begging to stay awake for "just one more chapter", laying by the window with the streetlamp to keep reading when my previous request was denied, burning through The Baby Sitter's Club books and moving on to my mom's Danielle Steel collection in elementary school, garnering the most Accelerated Reader points in middle school, being a regular at the library and having to have a dedicated library tote big enough for all of my books in high school. . .the works. One of my friends calls me Gretchen Grundler, from Recess; Jon calls me Twilight Sparkle.

image via Disney Wikia

When we moved into our new place, I had a vision for a small space near the front of our apartment and conveyed it to Jon, who agreed it was perfect - thus, my reading nook was born. 

#ApartmentLife : My Reading Nook. On the opposite wall is a bookcase (although, admittedly, I'm a Kindle girl these days).

All of this to say: I like to read.