So it has been a really long time, guys! I'm so sorry I've been gone for so long. The end of August was a rather busy time. I began my senior year of high school! And I pretty much put reading on the back-burner from the excitement of it all. Not saying that I haven't read at all. :)
I have read quite a bit. I'm not sure if I'll review the books I finished up reading towards the end of the summer or even the books I've read since then. But I will say this:
John Green is possibly the best author in the whole world.
Seriously, the man is awesome. I've read all of his novels and they are absolutely fantastic. Ranking them in order I would have to say....
1.The Fault in Our Stars
2. Looking for Alaska
3. Will Grayson, Will Grayson
4. An Abundance of Katherines
5. Paper Towns
I own 3/5 and I seriously need to finish my collection.
Also, Michelle Madow sent me a PDF copy of the final installment of her trilogy, Timeless. She's asked me to post a review during the book's release week in November. I'm halfway through and I'm trying super hard to pace myself so I can finish the ending right when I need to post my review.
On the subject of reading, my final summer reading list was as follows:
1. The Night Circus-Erin Morgenstern
2. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan- Lisa See
3. Damned- Chuck Palahniuk
4. Angel- Mary E. Kingsley
5. A Prayer for Owen Meany-John Irving
6. My Name is Mina and I Love the Night-David Almond
7. Will Grayson, Will Grayson-John Green
8. The Knife of Never Letting Go-Patrick Ness
9. The Fault in Our Stars-John Green
10. Paper Towns-John Green
11. The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight-Jennifer Smith
12. We the Animals-Justin Torres
13. Wintergirls-Laurie Halse Anderson
14. White Oleander-Janet Finch
15. Playing with Matches-Carolyn Wall
16. Coraline-Neil Gaiman
17. The Time Traveler's Wife-Audrey Niffenegger
18. The Notebook-Nicholas Sparks
19. The House of the Scorpion-Nancy Farmer
20. Kristy and the Snobs-Ann M. Martin (I know I'm silly)
21. Spirits in the Trees-Morgan McDonald
22. The Phoenix Rising-Olivia Burgess
23. We Need to Talk About Kevin-Lionel Shriver
24. Never Let Me Go-Kazuo Ishiguro
25. The Perks of Being a Wallflower-Stephen Chbosky
26. Dr. Franklin's Island-Ann Halam
So I was a long shot off from my goal of 60 books, but I have a new goal!! You see, I have this notebook that I started keeping February 2012. In it, I write the title and author of every book I finish. I am up to 85. So my new goal is to read 15 books by February 28th, 2013. That will be 100 books in one year!
Exciting.
Recently I've read:
The Fifth Child-Doris Lessing
The Kingdom of Childhood-Rebecca Coleman
An Abundance of Katherines-John Green
Looking for Alaska-John Green
The Lover's Dictionary-David Levithan
The Almost Moon-Alice Sebold
More Tales to Chill Your Bones-Alvin Shwartz (so 3rd grade)
I'm going to start reading a lot more in my free time and spending less time on Tumblr. I don't have much homework (Perks of only taking a few honors classes) and so I should be able to accomplish my goal. :)
Thanks for sticking around!!
-Kayla
Friday, October 12, 2012
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Brain Melting Cuteness.
So I have a dog. His name is Roscoe. And I love him. Like I seriously would not hesitate to say that he is my best friend. We've had him for a little over 2 years. He is great. So, because I love my dog so much, I thought I would dedicate a whole post just for pictures of my awesome dog.
Roscoe had a great time at the beach. Except he was not a fan of the sand up his nose.
He might be slightly scared of me. But I don't care.
I don't know if he was posing for the photo op or if he was vehemently protesting bath time.
He wasn't feeling picture time that morning.
He really is this cute.
He's a 'super' dog. HAHA.
So anyway. That's all I really had to say today. I woke up with a huge appreciation for my dog so I thought I'd share his awesomeness with you guys!
Have a great day!
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Never Let Me Go.
I just finished Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. I'm....on the fence with this one guys. Usually I can say one way or another: I LOVED THE BOOK or EH.
But this time, I can't say. I was very into it in the beginning. I really liked the tone. I liked all of the characters. I thought that the whole thing was a little off (never expecting, however, how right I was) but regardless, I liked it.
It is narrarated by a woman named Kathy. She reflects on her life at a school called Hailsham. Her friends, teachers, classes. Things that amused her or stood out to her as a child.She talks a lot about a boy named Tommy who is prone to tantrums (but later she and him become close) and her best friend Ruth.
Throughout the whole thing, you just assume that the kids are at some sort of british boarding school. Until it gets to the part of the novel where the kids kind of age out of the school. They go to a place called The Cottages. And that's when you start to GET IT. These aren't normal kids.
All in all, I can say...good. Okay. But I didn't LOVE IT. And this is why. The author is Japanese, and I'm not sure if the book was translated from Japanese. Because sometimes, it got awkward. Like...The Catcher in the Rye is the closest thing I can compare it to. You know how Holden will repeat things? Like he'll say something and then in the very next sentence he repeats it? It's a lot like that. But it doesn't seem to fit the tone of the book.
Also, I'd like to call this a romance novel. I'd really like to. And if it were, I think that it would have left larger impact on me. If Kathy and Tommy had really, REALLY, been in love, then perhaps I would have loved the book. It would have been touching. Instead it was just another sci-fi distopian...I can't even say thriller. It was very casual. And now that I think about it, that is what kind of made it so sad. Because although they know what will happen to them, they just kind of embrace it.
Overall, I'd give the book an 8/10. It really did end up being a book that makes me kind of think. But it didn't make me cry or anything.
ANYWAY. I thought I'd leave a quick review. Give it a try if you'd like to. I don't regret it. :) And I'm very excited to see the movie. Can I get a 'woot-woot' for Andrew Garfield, anyone?
But this time, I can't say. I was very into it in the beginning. I really liked the tone. I liked all of the characters. I thought that the whole thing was a little off (never expecting, however, how right I was) but regardless, I liked it.
It is narrarated by a woman named Kathy. She reflects on her life at a school called Hailsham. Her friends, teachers, classes. Things that amused her or stood out to her as a child.She talks a lot about a boy named Tommy who is prone to tantrums (but later she and him become close) and her best friend Ruth.
Throughout the whole thing, you just assume that the kids are at some sort of british boarding school. Until it gets to the part of the novel where the kids kind of age out of the school. They go to a place called The Cottages. And that's when you start to GET IT. These aren't normal kids.
All in all, I can say...good. Okay. But I didn't LOVE IT. And this is why. The author is Japanese, and I'm not sure if the book was translated from Japanese. Because sometimes, it got awkward. Like...The Catcher in the Rye is the closest thing I can compare it to. You know how Holden will repeat things? Like he'll say something and then in the very next sentence he repeats it? It's a lot like that. But it doesn't seem to fit the tone of the book.
Also, I'd like to call this a romance novel. I'd really like to. And if it were, I think that it would have left larger impact on me. If Kathy and Tommy had really, REALLY, been in love, then perhaps I would have loved the book. It would have been touching. Instead it was just another sci-fi distopian...I can't even say thriller. It was very casual. And now that I think about it, that is what kind of made it so sad. Because although they know what will happen to them, they just kind of embrace it.
Overall, I'd give the book an 8/10. It really did end up being a book that makes me kind of think. But it didn't make me cry or anything.
ANYWAY. I thought I'd leave a quick review. Give it a try if you'd like to. I don't regret it. :) And I'm very excited to see the movie. Can I get a 'woot-woot' for Andrew Garfield, anyone?
Okay guys! I'm all done. Have a nice night!
I'M FINISHED WRECKING THIS JOURNAL!
GUYS I'VE FINISHED MY WRECK THIS JOURNAL! I got it back in February and I finally finished. I decided to post a few of my favorite pages for your viewing pleasure. (Note: please ignore my hideous ugly disgusting abhorable nails. Please.)
This is my cover. I like princesses. And blue paint. And my initials.
This is my coffee page. It smells like coffee.
These are the things I find. I find a lot of playing cards and random things.
This is my gum page. A page where my friends and I put our gum.
This is the page I painted. Obviously.
This is my hand.
These are things I found around my home.
I painted this picture with a penny.
This is my stain page which smells like mustard
Anyway this is what I do with my life. HAVE A NICE DAY!
Sunday, August 12, 2012
We Need to Talk About Kevin...and School.
SO IT'S BEEN FOREVER...AGAIN! I know. I kind of suck at this whole 'blogging over the summer' thing. But guess what guys? SCHOOL starts here in 2 weeks. Well...15 days.
15. Tiny. Little. Days.
Which means I have to start waking up before 12:00 pm every day. Which will not be easy.
Here's the good news: I'm kind of excited. I wasn't before, but now I kind of am! I am going to be a senior! I'm absolutely thrilled. However, I haven't felt the need to make any huge deal out of things. I got one new pair of shoes and a few shirts. And then as far as supplies go, I just decided to use last year's backpack and get new notebooks. That's it.
My class schedule should be pretty easy.
I took Zoology, Personal Finance, Government Honors, English 12 Honors, and of course.....my favorite. Creative Writing. However this year it's going by the rather cheesy name: Imaginative Writing.
So in 15 days, that's what I'll be doing with my time.
But recently, I've been reading. And the book I've been reading is We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. It was basically the scariest book ever.
It's about a woman who decides she wants to have a baby. However, when she finds out she's pregnant, she kind of...doesn't want to be pregnant anymore. Call it "Mother's Intuition" because her son Kevin turns out to be psycho. Like...crazy. From the time he is born he is evil. But evil in backwards ways. So that when she would tell her husband "Oh Kevin does not stop crying from the time he wakes up to the time you get home." He's like...well yeah. He's a baby. Stop whining. But the thing is, Kevin IS JUST INSANE. I can't even describe. Eventually he goes from a crazy baby to a crazy child to a crazy teenager. And bad things just always seem to happen when Kevin is around. But it could all end up being just unfortunate coincedences...right? Well, it seems so until Kevin takes a crossbow to school...
It has an intense shocker of an ending that left me paralyzed. Like I don't want to sound overdramatic, but I couldn't move. And then the last page was even worse. I had to read it twice. Like really, lady?? Really?? If you read the book, you'll know what I mean. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK. In fact, I may go read it again. It definately makes you think twice about wanting kids someday.
Anyway. What else have I read recently? I found a pretty good book on PixelOfInk.com but I can't remember the name right now. It was a romance, but it was a scary ghost book...I usually don't like either of those types of books but this one was great. Next time I blog...IF I EVER BLOG AGAIN...I'll let you know what it is called. :)
I hope everyone's summer has been great so far!
P.S: Here's the movie poster for Kevin. I haven't seen the movie yet, so I can't say if it's good or not.
15. Tiny. Little. Days.
Which means I have to start waking up before 12:00 pm every day. Which will not be easy.
Here's the good news: I'm kind of excited. I wasn't before, but now I kind of am! I am going to be a senior! I'm absolutely thrilled. However, I haven't felt the need to make any huge deal out of things. I got one new pair of shoes and a few shirts. And then as far as supplies go, I just decided to use last year's backpack and get new notebooks. That's it.
My class schedule should be pretty easy.
I took Zoology, Personal Finance, Government Honors, English 12 Honors, and of course.....my favorite. Creative Writing. However this year it's going by the rather cheesy name: Imaginative Writing.
So in 15 days, that's what I'll be doing with my time.
But recently, I've been reading. And the book I've been reading is We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. It was basically the scariest book ever.
It's about a woman who decides she wants to have a baby. However, when she finds out she's pregnant, she kind of...doesn't want to be pregnant anymore. Call it "Mother's Intuition" because her son Kevin turns out to be psycho. Like...crazy. From the time he is born he is evil. But evil in backwards ways. So that when she would tell her husband "Oh Kevin does not stop crying from the time he wakes up to the time you get home." He's like...well yeah. He's a baby. Stop whining. But the thing is, Kevin IS JUST INSANE. I can't even describe. Eventually he goes from a crazy baby to a crazy child to a crazy teenager. And bad things just always seem to happen when Kevin is around. But it could all end up being just unfortunate coincedences...right? Well, it seems so until Kevin takes a crossbow to school...
It has an intense shocker of an ending that left me paralyzed. Like I don't want to sound overdramatic, but I couldn't move. And then the last page was even worse. I had to read it twice. Like really, lady?? Really?? If you read the book, you'll know what I mean. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK. In fact, I may go read it again. It definately makes you think twice about wanting kids someday.
Anyway. What else have I read recently? I found a pretty good book on PixelOfInk.com but I can't remember the name right now. It was a romance, but it was a scary ghost book...I usually don't like either of those types of books but this one was great. Next time I blog...IF I EVER BLOG AGAIN...I'll let you know what it is called. :)
I hope everyone's summer has been great so far!
P.S: Here's the movie poster for Kevin. I haven't seen the movie yet, so I can't say if it's good or not.
Monday, July 23, 2012
Oh, Be Quiet.
Yeah. I went missing for 20 days whatever have I been up to?
Reading.
And playing Pokemon.
So shut up.
Here's a list of books I've read and the score OUT OF TEN I gave them.
1. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern-10
2. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan-9
3. Damned-4
4. Angel-8
5. A Prayer for Owen Meany-8
6. My Name is Mina-9
7. Will Grayson, Will Grayson-10
8. The Knife of Never Letting Go-9
9. The Fault in Our Stars-Over 9,000
10. Paper Towns-7
11.The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight-6
12. We the Animals-9
13. Wintergirls-10
14. White Oleander-9
15. Playing with Matches-8
16. Coraline-10
17. The Time Traveler's Wife-10
17 books. I'm over halfway through the summer and I'm nowhere near my goal of 60 books. :'(
I suppose it was a hefty goal to begin with.
Right now I'm reading The Notebook. I'm not that far in, but so far I don't love it. Too simple. But I love the movie so I guess I'll truck on.
Regardless. I got a tumblr. batsby.tumblr.com. You may follow me, or not, but that's where I've been doing my reviews. I'LL BE BACK I SWEAR.
Reading.
And playing Pokemon.
So shut up.
Here's a list of books I've read and the score OUT OF TEN I gave them.
1. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern-10
2. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan-9
3. Damned-4
4. Angel-8
5. A Prayer for Owen Meany-8
6. My Name is Mina-9
7. Will Grayson, Will Grayson-10
8. The Knife of Never Letting Go-9
9. The Fault in Our Stars-Over 9,000
10. Paper Towns-7
11.The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight-6
12. We the Animals-9
13. Wintergirls-10
14. White Oleander-9
15. Playing with Matches-8
16. Coraline-10
17. The Time Traveler's Wife-10
17 books. I'm over halfway through the summer and I'm nowhere near my goal of 60 books. :'(
I suppose it was a hefty goal to begin with.
Right now I'm reading The Notebook. I'm not that far in, but so far I don't love it. Too simple. But I love the movie so I guess I'll truck on.
Regardless. I got a tumblr. batsby.tumblr.com. You may follow me, or not, but that's where I've been doing my reviews. I'LL BE BACK I SWEAR.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
I'M ALIIIIIIIIVE
My, my, my.
It's been over a month, hasn't it?
I apologize for my absence. But it's SUMMER TIME. And as much as I love writing these blogs, it's hard to tempt myself into dedicating even a few minutes to writing. At all.
But here I am!
I'm not dead.
I'm here.
I have done some reading. Obviously. I read The Host by Stephanie Meyer which was one of the best books I've read in awhile. It had a slow start but once you get into it, it's fantastic. I read A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving that was also very good. It was VERY long, but still very good. I've read a few random books here and there that I don't have much of an opinion about. And, just now, I finished My Name is Mina by David Almond which was really really good. I love books like Mina...it was very dreamy and beautiful. But still very simple, if that makes any sense.
Next on my to-read list is The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness which I have heard amazing things about so I'm very excited about starting that.
Other than that, what's new? With me? Not much. I did get a new phone. It's a Nokia Lumia 710 and it's white and I named it Mina (after the book, obviously) and I love it. The end.
I'll try to write more, more often. :) Sorry it's been so long!
I hope you all are well!
It's been over a month, hasn't it?
I apologize for my absence. But it's SUMMER TIME. And as much as I love writing these blogs, it's hard to tempt myself into dedicating even a few minutes to writing. At all.
But here I am!
I'm not dead.
I'm here.
I have done some reading. Obviously. I read The Host by Stephanie Meyer which was one of the best books I've read in awhile. It had a slow start but once you get into it, it's fantastic. I read A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving that was also very good. It was VERY long, but still very good. I've read a few random books here and there that I don't have much of an opinion about. And, just now, I finished My Name is Mina by David Almond which was really really good. I love books like Mina...it was very dreamy and beautiful. But still very simple, if that makes any sense.
Next on my to-read list is The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness which I have heard amazing things about so I'm very excited about starting that.
Other than that, what's new? With me? Not much. I did get a new phone. It's a Nokia Lumia 710 and it's white and I named it Mina (after the book, obviously) and I love it. The end.
I'll try to write more, more often. :) Sorry it's been so long!
I hope you all are well!
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