Bloggin 'Bout Books Blog

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier is not my favorite "classic" novel I've ever read. I've often heard this novel grouped with the novels by the Brontes and the Austens, however I think it falls very short of either of those. I didn't find any of the characters very relateable until the very end. Maxim is aloof and distant. The Narrator is really nothing short of pathetic. And Rebecca sounds like the very worst sort of person imaginable. Even the side characters are turn-offs. The only character I felt was a decent person was Ben. Now, I know you all are screaming, Hayley, your favorite book is Wuthering Heights!! How is that any different?? Well, I feel that the characters in Wuthering Heights have redeeming qualities (primarily their love for other people). In Rebecca, the love errs on the wrong side of infatuation, and it's very disturbing as it appears to be very one-sided. There were several quotes I liked: "We can never go back, that much is ...

Hello Lovelies!! Another TTT coming at you, courtesy of The Broke and the Bookish  . This week's topic is our own choice of a previous topic aka TOP TEN REWIND. So I decided to go with Books I'd Give a Theme Song To (because I'm feeling a little music-y today and I apparently wanted to do one that would take me forever to complete!) So here we are... Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell : Really, is anyone  surprised when this book ends up on one of my lists?? I can't help how much I adore this book. The theme song I'd give it would probably be something appropriately 80s like I Melt With You by Modern English.  Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte : Lucky for me, this has already been done and done spectacularly! The movie adaptation was horrendous, but this Mumford & Sons song (called The Enemy ) is a fantastic theme song for the novel.  The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness : Uhm, yeah with my new obsession with this series, this ...

Hello Lovelies!! I don't know what happened yesterday, but a whole heck of a lot of you visited my blog, so thanks for that! That was a nice surprise to come back to, especially because I've been a HORRIBLE blogger this last week and a half. But alas, what can you do? Just jump back on the bandwagon, eh? So I'm back with my week in review! Let me tell you guys. I do not get any happier when I see that my week in review graphic is still "seasonal". It's the worst. It's been snowing again for the last couple days and we're supposed to get like a foot by tomorrow and SCHOOL'S ARE ACTUALLY CLOSING. You don't understand. I live in Montana. Literally the only time I didn't have school growing up was when our water heater exploded and the school was partly flooded and had no water. Snow storms were not a valid excuse. It's like the end of the world. Which speaking of, I didn't see any ginormous wolves or snakes yesterday; did...

Hello Lovelies! So, as I have mentioned a time or two, I'm working on applying to a graduate school program in Boston. As part of the application, I'm asked to write a "Statement of Purpose."  The prompt for this statement is given as "Describe your intellectual goals in seeking this degree. highlight your academic or professional engagement with children's/young adult literature and discuss the questions about children's/young adult literature that have interested you and will influence your study." Intellectual goals?? INTELLECTUAL GOALS?? GUYS MY ENTIRE LIFE IS AN INTELLECTUAL GOAL. I just....what?? I mean, do I have intellectual goals? My life is all about learning and sharing that learning with others. That's really all I want to do. I'm not sure how to relay that into an "intellectual goal" for (basically) an essay. And that's only the first part of the question! The even harder part is to describe what ques...

Ohmygod guys. Ohmygod. Okay. Everybody. Stop what you're doing. And traipse on over to your favorite local book store (or Amazon. if that's your thing. And by thing I mean, it's either too late or you're too lazy to leave your house, no judgments here). And buy this whole series. Because that was a pretty damn stellar completion. Okay, spoiler thicket ahead. Caveat Emptor (Caveat Reador??). Well, the second book in the Chaos Walking series didn't thrill me, I could see how it was basically all a set-up for this spectacular finale. I cried. A lot. My roommate judged me more than a little bit. (I also was crying in the middle of the University Center on campus -- welcome to a reader's life, amirite?) I don't want to ruin anything for you, so I'm going to try to keep my spoilers in check, but wow. Wow. I have a lot of feelings right now, okay?? First of all, I loved the inclusion of 1017's perspective. It really gave a complete view of the ...

Hello Lovelies! As usual TTT is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish  . This week's theme is books that'll make me swoon. AKA books that I'll be rereading this Friday when I'm at home alone :D  My YA Picks: 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson : A voyage abroad at 17 where she meets a cute guy and has a delightful time? Dream come true for me. Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins : I've seen lots of Anna and the French Kiss  on these lists, but why neglect Stephanie's equally delightful 2nd novel?? I CANNOT WAIT for Isla and the Happily Ever After Okay, I know my picture is of That Summer, but I'm too lazy to change it to The Truth About Forever  which is probably my favorite of Dessen's books, but they're all phenomenal. Just pick one--it'll be swoon-worthy. My adult picks The Darkest Pleasure by Gena Showalter : Okay, okay, it's the third book in the series. But this is by far my favorite so far (in term...

Hello Lovelies!! I know, I know. It's Monday and I'm a day late with my week in review and I didn't post at allll this week beside TTT. It's been a crazy week!!  Well, sort of. It's not like I really did anything. But it was freeeeeeeezing at the beginning of the week and then I lost my gloves Tuesday morning and then it started snowing on Wednesday and hasn't really stopped since. So all I've wanted to do is curl up on the couch and watch movies and read things and do nothing else.  But alas, I had to work. And I worked an extra day last week for a co-worker (who was going out of town for a Grad program interview so I could not blame him in the least and I haven't got to talk to him about it yet, but I hope it went really really well!!), so I had today off.  But what did I do this week?? Well... this week I, celebrated my friend's birthday by going out for sushi - yum!! watched the last episode of Season 3 of Sherlock...

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi  is an intricate graphic novel that tells the story of one woman's childhood in Iran. Having been trained as a teacher, I have a problem where occasionally I'll be reading something and all I can think about it how much I want to teach that novel. And that's what I kept thinking when I was reading Persepolis. For years and years and years now, America has has the tendency to think of the Middle East as a homogeneous culture that is comprised of one belief set (and that is the belief set that has driven a very small minority to very big displays of patriotism (or terrorism if you prefer)). Satrapi writes about her experience growing up in a country that was experiencing some pretty intense revolutionary changes. She writes of the hypocritical nature of people--how people are so willing to move with the regime changes of a government. She writes of the confusion of being a young girl in a culture that keeps changing history and "facts...

The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness  killed me. Okay MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD. HERE BE DRAGONS, ETC ETC So. I finished The Ask and the Answer last night, and I've been thinking about what I would write all day.  I guess, I should be honest and say that it wasn't quite as phenomenal as TKONLG. But at the same time, it was really good. And I wonder if part of the reason I didn't like it very much is because it's a second in a trilogy. Because I typically have issues with 2/3 books. Sequels in trilogies are the worst for me because problems keep piling up and up, and there is no resolution. And I know that going in, so I tend to be a little bit more harsh on them than I maybe should be.  I love the dynamic between Todd and Viola. That's part of what drove me so fiercely through the first book. It's a relationship I can believe in. I felt connected to them and their actions. The second book keeps that relationship, but it's no longer prevalent and beau...

As usual, TTT is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish . This week's theme is Top 10 Book that Will Make You Cry. Now if a book makes me cry, it's probably going to end up on my favorite's list, so this is what I came up with. 1. Harry Potter : The whole series. All of it. Now it's like tears of reminiscence, but holy god I was just talking about how I pretty much cried my way through the whole last book. 2. The Knife of Never Letting Go: Obviously, I read this fairly recently, but I was sobbing. Like my cat had to come investigate the noise. 3. The Fault in Our Stars: Yepppppppp. 4. The Book Thief : Ahhh my heart. 5. White Oleander : How do people survive this in real life? 6. Wuthering Heights : Oh unrequited romance! 7. Eleanor & Park : Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I love this book so mu-u-uch 8. The Golden Compass : The ending kiiiiiiiiillllllssssss me. It's part of why I despised the movie. 9.Thirteen Reason Why : Ouch. Rough t...

Hello Lovelies! You might remember this goal post  about what I wanted to do with my blog in 2014. My friend did a similar recap of her goals on one of her sites, so I sort of stole this idea from her. 1. Get Commenting : So far, not bad. I haven't commented on every blog post I've read, because often I don't have much to say, but I have left a few comments which I thought were meaningful. 2. Get better at design: Obviously not much has happened there. I tried to figure out how to add a few buttons to my side bar, but I don't have enough time right at the moment. 3. Blog at least 3x a week: Success! It hasn't always been on the schedule I was trying to keep, but it's happened. 4. Finish 3 series: Not yet, but I am steadily making my way through the Chaos Walking series, and I only have a book and a half left of the Uglies series. 5. Read 100 books: 9 so far! Goodreads says I'm one ahead of schedule, woot! 6. Read 1 book I own for every new ...

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster  is a very thought-provoking children's classic. To be honest with you guys, I resisted reading this book for ages. When I was in I think fourth grade, I was reading Harry Potter (as one does, y'know) and all these adults I would talk about it with were like "Oh, you should read The Phantom Tollbooth!" And I looked at a copy of it at the library and was like hell no that sounds stupid and nothing like Harry Potter. So I didn't. And to be totally honest, I only sort of regret that choice. I regret it because I think this book would have meant a lot more to me if I'd read it when I was younger. I regret it because I think my enjoyment of this book was less than if I had read it when I was younger. But I don't regret it because I didn't like it that much. Like it was okay .   There were some entertaining characters and interesting situations, but nothing that really made me go, oh yes this  is the book I...