Book #25 "Billy and Me" by Giovanna Fletcher: "Yes, I admit- I'm one of those annoying people who walk through life oblivious to my surroundings, while spying any impending dangers in my peripheral vision, thanks to my literary obsession! I still manage to keep up the obligatory nod of the head or polite 'Good morning' to the people I pass, whilst continuing to stay in the world of Cathy and Heathcliff." page 11
So I woke up this morning to realize that I have 124 pages left to read before tonight, after walking and reading all day (which i admittedly do ALL THE TIME, which is pretty much why the above quote is so appropriate) and literately just locking myself into a room for an hour straight I am finished! THANK GOD!!! So now lets get to talking about the book, shall we?
"Billy and Me" was written by the wife of Tom from Mcfly (the band from the UK that I am totally in love with, go check them out BTW). So when I heard that she was writing this book I couldn't wait to read it!
The story follows Sophie and (obviously) Billy. Billy is a famous actor coming into the height of his career when he meets Sophie who lives in a small town outside London where Billy happens to be filming his next film. They meet and can't get enough of each other.
Things, in my personal opinion, went really fast in their relationship but I guess I have to remember that 10 pages in the book can be 10 weeks in the book. In a matter of months it is apparent that they are crazy about each other and Billy confesses that he doesn't want to go anywhere without her, so what does he do? He asks her to move in with him in London to be with him 24/7. She agrees.
In the months that follow there are many ups and downs that Sophie deals with as she finds out just how hard it can be to be a part of Billy's life while at the same trying to still be herself and not lose herself in the craziness of it all.
And I would have to say that that is one of the things I liked best about this book, was that when it talked about awards shows, or them filming on set it showed that not-so-glamorous side of things as well. It really did an amazing job of capturing how an outsider would feel when suddenly thrown into this glamorous/dazzling/hectic/trying life.
As a first book from Giovanna Fletcher I say good job. I look forward to reading more from her.
As I told you all before, with me struggling to do this 100 books in a year while in college I changed it to 25 for this year. I am now pleased to say that I have finished!!! I will be restarting and going for 50 next year. First book has not been picked yet but be sure to check back here as it will be posted within the next few days!
Hope you all have a safe New Years and are as excited as I am about the new year to come. Thanks for sticking with me through all this! I'll be back with more thoughts on books and what-not :)
That's all for now,
Michaela Jane
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Book #24 "One Day"... Finished!!
Book #24 "One Day" by David Nicholls: "The city had defeated her, just like they said it would. Like some overcrowded party, no-one had noticed her arrival, and no-one would notice if she left." page 56.
Want to start by pointing out that the above quote doesn't really represent this book very well but it is the one that I like the most, so yea, there's that.
"One Day" was made a movie back in 2011, which is how I first heard about it. The movie wasn't the best thing ever but, as I have said before, I am a strong believer in the whole book-being-better-then-the-movie-theory.
The story follows the life's of Dex and Em, whom become unlikely friends(/let's be honest lovers) throughout the story. The really interesting thing about the book was the style of how it was written. Each chapter represented a different year (chap. #1 would be 1988 chap.#2 1989...) and it would just focus on whatever was going on in their life's that day. I thought it was a cool and different approach to telling the story.
If I was to give you very brief idea of what "One Day" is about I would have to say that (as cheesy as it sounds) it's about how you can have one person come into your life and if you realize it in the beginning or not they completely change your life for the better. And how unfortunately sometimes it takes people until that person is gone to fully realize this.
Maybe it's just me but I think that this is one of the better books that have realistically captured the ups and downs of friend ship and really life in general. How in the beginning they are just graduating college and are unsure what they are going to do next with their life and goes through the really down moments through all their moments of triumph. But in contrast to other books, how your always kinda like, "well, sure that happens in books but that could never happen in real life." While your reading "One Day" it almost seems like someone is just telling you how something actually went down in their life. It was just a refreshing change.
Over all I found it a really good read and it will definitely be one that I will be recommending :). Next book up for #25 is a special one to me it is "Billy and Me" by Giovanna Fletcher. Giovanna Fletcher is married to Tom Fletcher from one of my favorite UK bands Mcfly. I've been really excited to read this so I'm really looking forward to it!
On a side note I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas I hope your all having a lovely day with your families and that you get a chance to cuddle up with a book before the year is over.
That's all for now,
Michaela Jane
Want to start by pointing out that the above quote doesn't really represent this book very well but it is the one that I like the most, so yea, there's that.
"One Day" was made a movie back in 2011, which is how I first heard about it. The movie wasn't the best thing ever but, as I have said before, I am a strong believer in the whole book-being-better-then-the-movie-theory.
The story follows the life's of Dex and Em, whom become unlikely friends(/let's be honest lovers) throughout the story. The really interesting thing about the book was the style of how it was written. Each chapter represented a different year (chap. #1 would be 1988 chap.#2 1989...) and it would just focus on whatever was going on in their life's that day. I thought it was a cool and different approach to telling the story.
If I was to give you very brief idea of what "One Day" is about I would have to say that (as cheesy as it sounds) it's about how you can have one person come into your life and if you realize it in the beginning or not they completely change your life for the better. And how unfortunately sometimes it takes people until that person is gone to fully realize this.
Maybe it's just me but I think that this is one of the better books that have realistically captured the ups and downs of friend ship and really life in general. How in the beginning they are just graduating college and are unsure what they are going to do next with their life and goes through the really down moments through all their moments of triumph. But in contrast to other books, how your always kinda like, "well, sure that happens in books but that could never happen in real life." While your reading "One Day" it almost seems like someone is just telling you how something actually went down in their life. It was just a refreshing change.
Over all I found it a really good read and it will definitely be one that I will be recommending :). Next book up for #25 is a special one to me it is "Billy and Me" by Giovanna Fletcher. Giovanna Fletcher is married to Tom Fletcher from one of my favorite UK bands Mcfly. I've been really excited to read this so I'm really looking forward to it!
On a side note I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas I hope your all having a lovely day with your families and that you get a chance to cuddle up with a book before the year is over.
That's all for now,
Michaela Jane
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Book #23: "Two Lies and a Spy" ...Finished!!
Book #23 "Two Lies and a Spy" by Kat Carlton: Ok so I honestly don't even know what to say about this. I know that I said that I liked to try to read a more 'mindless' teen book in between harder novels but this was just...wow.
Before you are confused that 'wow' was NOT meant in a good way. At all. It's not that the book was bad, and honestly I don't know why I thought it would be any better then it was but I don't know maybe I just need to stop reading these dorky young teen books...
I will say one good thing about it, no make that two things, 1: It did serve the purpose of being a easy read (which was the original reason that I picked it up) 2: The ending did surprise me quite a bit. It didn't have the whole traditional ending thing going for it, however this was unfortunately not enough to redeem it, at least not in my mind it wasn't.
The other thing that really bugged the crap out of me, and for anyone who knows me I'm sure you will find this ironic, was the insane lack of correct punctuation in the entire book. Whoever was in charge of editing seriously needs to be talked to! It was a lot of common sense stuff that was the part that killed me, and yes I know that I don't always have correct punctuation on here but I feel like I at least am smart enough to get the basics.
Ok, enough of the rant. The next book up for #24 is going to be "One Day" by David Nicholls. Oh, and on a side note today is the last day of the semester which means as of tomorrow I will have a ton more time on my hands to read! :) hopefully means that the post will start coming more often, at least until the spring semester starts up in January anyways.
That's all for now,
Michaela Jane
Before you are confused that 'wow' was NOT meant in a good way. At all. It's not that the book was bad, and honestly I don't know why I thought it would be any better then it was but I don't know maybe I just need to stop reading these dorky young teen books...
I will say one good thing about it, no make that two things, 1: It did serve the purpose of being a easy read (which was the original reason that I picked it up) 2: The ending did surprise me quite a bit. It didn't have the whole traditional ending thing going for it, however this was unfortunately not enough to redeem it, at least not in my mind it wasn't.
The other thing that really bugged the crap out of me, and for anyone who knows me I'm sure you will find this ironic, was the insane lack of correct punctuation in the entire book. Whoever was in charge of editing seriously needs to be talked to! It was a lot of common sense stuff that was the part that killed me, and yes I know that I don't always have correct punctuation on here but I feel like I at least am smart enough to get the basics.
Ok, enough of the rant. The next book up for #24 is going to be "One Day" by David Nicholls. Oh, and on a side note today is the last day of the semester which means as of tomorrow I will have a ton more time on my hands to read! :) hopefully means that the post will start coming more often, at least until the spring semester starts up in January anyways.
That's all for now,
Michaela Jane
Friday, December 6, 2013
Book #22: "Wicked" by Gregory Maguire...Finished!!
Book #22 "Wicked" by Gregory Maguire:
"Elphaba the girl does not know how to see her father as a broken man. All she knows is that he passes his brokenness on to her. Daily his habits of loathing and self-loathing cripple her. Daily she loves him back because she knows no other way." page 382
Generally I try to pick quotes from the book that kind of sum up the book to give those of you who haven't read it to give you a more general idea about it. It was a long book but for some reason I never came across such a quote. But I did however find the one at the top of this page that I fell in love with, so yea, you get that one instead.
There was some points while reading this book that i just would get super confused. They went off on all these super long, deep, theological rants that at times I would have to go back and read stuff multiple times really slowly before I would even start to understand what the heck they were saying.
I grew up watching "The Wizard of Oz", as I'm sure most of you did, and I got to say I always kind of just assumed that the Wicked Witch of the West was evil, I personally never remember even questioning it. So, if you have read this book, then when I read this you can understand why my mind was completely blown and I had to reconsider everything I have ever known about this story. I guess it just goes to show what they say is true, there is always more then one side to every story.
Seriously though I honestly think that I have jumped ship as far as who's team, either the Wicked Witch or Dorothy, I am on. Because obviously when you watch the movie you are all on Dorothy's team wanting her to get home, get back to her family and go on living her happy little life. But then you go and read this book and you get all the background story of the Witch and the life she has lead and you realize that maybe she isn't really evil at all, or at least not the extent that they made her out to be in the movie.
And while on the note of the movie, may I just say that I do understand that they had to change/cut out stuff in order to make the story work but at the same time I just kinda wish they had done it a little differently that's all.
I don't want to say more and ruin it for any of you, if anyone actually is reading this, who have not read it yet. I highly highly recommend it especially if you grew up with "Wizard of Oz" this just gives you a completely different view on the whole story.
So now that I have read a larger more brain-challenging-novel it is time to give my brain a bit of a rest and read one of my dorky young teen books. Book #23 is going to be "Two Lies and a Spy" by Kat Carlton. Now while we are on the topic of the number of books that I am at I know what your thinking, "HA, she's never going to make it to 100 books by the end of the year." well good for you to go and figure that out all on your own. Your probably right, so this year I am aiming for 25. I know it's lame but you try being in college and doing this it is HARD! So next year I will try harder and go for the big 100 again, hope I didn't disappoint you all to much.
That's all for now,
Michaela Jane
P.S. OH! Super fast may I just say the whole part about at the end about who the Wicked Witch of the West father was totally BLEW MY MIND!! Like I can't even tell you!
"Elphaba the girl does not know how to see her father as a broken man. All she knows is that he passes his brokenness on to her. Daily his habits of loathing and self-loathing cripple her. Daily she loves him back because she knows no other way." page 382
Generally I try to pick quotes from the book that kind of sum up the book to give those of you who haven't read it to give you a more general idea about it. It was a long book but for some reason I never came across such a quote. But I did however find the one at the top of this page that I fell in love with, so yea, you get that one instead.
There was some points while reading this book that i just would get super confused. They went off on all these super long, deep, theological rants that at times I would have to go back and read stuff multiple times really slowly before I would even start to understand what the heck they were saying.
I grew up watching "The Wizard of Oz", as I'm sure most of you did, and I got to say I always kind of just assumed that the Wicked Witch of the West was evil, I personally never remember even questioning it. So, if you have read this book, then when I read this you can understand why my mind was completely blown and I had to reconsider everything I have ever known about this story. I guess it just goes to show what they say is true, there is always more then one side to every story.
Seriously though I honestly think that I have jumped ship as far as who's team, either the Wicked Witch or Dorothy, I am on. Because obviously when you watch the movie you are all on Dorothy's team wanting her to get home, get back to her family and go on living her happy little life. But then you go and read this book and you get all the background story of the Witch and the life she has lead and you realize that maybe she isn't really evil at all, or at least not the extent that they made her out to be in the movie.
And while on the note of the movie, may I just say that I do understand that they had to change/cut out stuff in order to make the story work but at the same time I just kinda wish they had done it a little differently that's all.
I don't want to say more and ruin it for any of you, if anyone actually is reading this, who have not read it yet. I highly highly recommend it especially if you grew up with "Wizard of Oz" this just gives you a completely different view on the whole story.
So now that I have read a larger more brain-challenging-novel it is time to give my brain a bit of a rest and read one of my dorky young teen books. Book #23 is going to be "Two Lies and a Spy" by Kat Carlton. Now while we are on the topic of the number of books that I am at I know what your thinking, "HA, she's never going to make it to 100 books by the end of the year." well good for you to go and figure that out all on your own. Your probably right, so this year I am aiming for 25. I know it's lame but you try being in college and doing this it is HARD! So next year I will try harder and go for the big 100 again, hope I didn't disappoint you all to much.
That's all for now,
Michaela Jane
P.S. OH! Super fast may I just say the whole part about at the end about who the Wicked Witch of the West father was totally BLEW MY MIND!! Like I can't even tell you!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)