A few administrative things...

So I guess there was something wrong with my RSS feed and the last, oh, 25 posts have been delayed until today!  Sorry guys, I had no idea until my husband told me today!  Hopefully now the glitch is fixed but lemme know if you notice a giant absence in posting :)

Also, I have been a bit light in content (and commenting) lately as life has just been getting a little crazy.  Hopefully, I'll get more disciplined soonly and pop out a bunch of reviews for you guys!  Thanks for being patient!

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Quotes

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, this week's topic: Top Ten Favorite Quotes

1.  “Don’t believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look with your understanding. Find out what you already know and you will see the way to fly.”
― Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull

2.  “I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, then all at once.”
― John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

3.  “If you can sit in silence with a person for half an hour and yet be entirely comfortable, you and that person can be friends. If you cannot, friends you'll never be and you need not waste time in trying.”
― L.M. Montgomery, The Blue Castle

4.  “I wanted to tell the book thief many things, about beauty and brutality. But what could I tell her about those things that she didn't already know? I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race-that rarely do I ever simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant.”
― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

5.  “I remember it as October days are always remembered, cloudless, maple-flavored, the air gold and so clean it quivers.”
― Leif Enger, Peace Like a River

6.  “I saw Eternity the other night,
Like a great ring of pure and endless light,
All calm, as it was bright,
And round beneath it, Time, in hours, days, years,
Driven by the spheres,
Like a vast shadow moved, in which the world
And all her train were hurled.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, A Ring of Endless Light

7.  “It had flaws, but what does that matter when it comes to matters of the heart? We love what we love. Reason does not enter into it. In many ways, unwise love is the truest love. Anyone can love a thing because. That's as easy as putting a penny in your pocket. But to love something despite. To know the flaws and love them too. That is rare and pure and perfect.”

― Patrick Rothfuss, The Wise Man's Fear

8.  “Crowds of people moved through the streets with a dream-like violence.”
― Nathanael West, Miss Lonelyhearts & The Day of the Locust

These last two I'm gonna cheat by taking multiple quotes from two awesome books:
9.  “Yet you could feel a vibration in the air, a sense of hastening. It had started with the moon, inaccessible poem that it was. Now men had walked upon it, rubber treads on a pearl of the gods. Perhaps it was an awareness of time passing, the last summer of the decade. Sometimes I just wanted to raise my hands and stop. But stop what? Maybe just growing up.”
― Patti Smith, Just Kids 

“We imagined ourselves as the Sons of Liberty with a mission to preserve, protect, and project the revolutionary spirit of rock and roll. We feared that the music which had given us sustenance was in danger of spiritual starvation. We feared it losing its sense of purpose, we feared it falling into fattened hands, we feared it floundering in a mire of spectacle, finance, and vapid technical complexity.”
― Patti Smith, Just Kids 


10.  “What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn't happen much, though.”
― J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye 

“I am always saying "Glad to've met you" to somebody I'm not at all glad I met. If you want to stay alive, you have to say that stuff, though.”
― J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye 

“That's the whole trouble. You can't ever find a place that's nice and peaceful, because there isn't any. You may think there is, but once you get there, when you're not looking, somebody'll sneak up and write "Fuck you" right under your nose. Try it sometime. I think, even, if I ever die, and they stick me in a cemetery, and I have a tombstone and all, it'll say "Holden Caulfield" on it, and then what year I was born and what year I died, and then right under that it'll say "Fuck you." I'm positive, in fact.”
― J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye   

Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday is a touring meme where book bloggers share their bookish acquisitions from the week prior.  It is hosted this month by Martha's Bookshelf.  This week the books were just pouring into my house!


For Review:
This week I received the Hogarth launch edition containing a lovely tote bag and the first four titles of this new literary imprint of Crown Publishing:

The Kissing List by Stephanie Reents

I Am Forbidden by Anouk Markovits

The Watch by Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya

The Dead Do Not Improve by Jay Caspian Kang

Purchased:
The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams

Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller

May Reads

Yeesh, my TBR is getting scarily large these days!  Here's some books coming out this month that couldn't escape the fate of being put on my tremendously long need-to-read list:

Are You My Mother? by Alison Bechdel - graphic novel about the author's relationship with her mom.

In One Person by John Irving - It's John Irving...'nuff said.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein - this YA book has been garnering praise left and right, I can't wait to see what all the fuss is about!

In the Kingdom of Men by Kim Barnes - An Oklahoma woman marries and travels with her husband to Saudi Arabia where he is then accused of murder and a gripping story ensues!

The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda - I have an ARC of this book and I can't wait to read it!

Top Ten Tuesday: Film Adaptations

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, this week's topic: Top Ten Books I'd Like to See Made into a Movie.

I'm going to preface this list by saying that many of my MOST FAVORITE books are absent from the top ten because I simply don't see how a movie could do justice to that book.  This may be due to length, complexity of story, or that I feel it will easily get lost in translation.  That being said, the novels listed are all fantastic books that should ALSO make terrific movies.

1.  Dystopian YA: Delirium by Lauren Oliver, Divergent by Veronica Roth, and/or Enclave by Anne Aguirre - I could easily see any of these becoming the "next big thing" in movie franchises (each is the first book in a trilogy).  Also, I would be just as excited to see the film versions of these books as I was with The Hunger Games!

2.  When She Woke by Hillary Jordan - I can never forget the excitement a friend of mine had when he overheard me describing this book...thinking it was a movie.  And when I thought about it, I realized that it would be a pretty visually stunning story with "chromed" humans and whatnot (I mean, just look at the cover)!

3.  Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal - I love Austen-esque books and movies and think that the "glamour" (or magic) element involved in this reinterpretation would be extremely interesting to see on-screen!

4.  Awesome kick-butt female YA fantasy: Graceling by Kristin Cashore, The Poison Throne by Celine Kiernan, and/or Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder - all of the heroines in these novels would be great role-models for young girls...plus their stories are all multi-faceted with elements of intrigue, action and romance!

5. The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta - I could see this becoming a really fantastic indie film.  It wasn't one of my favorite books (though I did like it) but I could see this becoming an award-winning movie.

6.  Flip by Martyn Bedford - this is a short book but it packs a punch!  If well done, I think a movie version could have the same power.

7.  Ill Wind by Rachel Caine - people controlling the weather, how visually stunning!

8.  The Book of Lost Things by John Connelly - twisted fairytale coming of age story...how cool does that sound?

9.  Soulless by Gail Carriger - it's been proven that people love their supernatural films and I think that this story and these characters would make an AMAZING movie!

10.  Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks - I think this would make a really interesting drama-filled historical film.  Has there been a plague movie yet?

Latest Review: I Capture the Castle

Goodreads Summary:
I Capture the Castle tells the story of seventeen-year-old Cassandra and her family, who live in not-so-genteel poverty in a ramshackle old English castle. Here she strives, over six turbulent months, to hone her writing skills. She fills three notebooks with sharply funny yet poignant entries. Her journals candidly chronicle the great changes that take place within the castle's walls, and her own first descent into love. By the time she pens her final entry, she has "captured the castle"; and the heart of the reader; in one of literature's most enchanting entertainments.

My thoughts:
First of all, I must say that Cassandra is one of the most endearing narrators I've ever come across in fiction!  She's intelligent, spunky, and refreshingly honest.  The rest of the cast of characters in I Capture the Castle are so much fun too!  My favorites are quirky Topaz (the stepmother) and the dependable and handsome Stephen.  Dodie Smith keeps the reader guessing as to Cassandra and Rose's romantic endeavors and it is truly a pleasurable reading experience!

 I loved that the ending is not tied up with a neat little bow and the expected "happily ever after."  Overall, I really enjoyed this little character-driven gem!  Recommended to fans of Jane Austen or to those who like historical romances.

*Sidenote: I Capture the Castle was made into a movie (that boasts a pretty decent cast), I looked it up and saw that it's featured on Netflix streaming.  I added it to my instant queue and plan on watching it soonly (see the trailer below)!

 4/5 stars

Monday Memes

 

Hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.  We share books that we've read over the past week and those we hope to read this week.  

Last Week:

Last week I finished Partials by Dan Wells and Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers - and both were fantastic!

 

This Week:

I would like to read The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (a retelling of The Iliad) and The Long Way Home by Karen McQuestion.  If I finish the aforementioned books then I'm either going to start on the Btown Booksters newest pick, the super-chunkster Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, OR I'm going to get down to business on my ARC bookshelf because it has been neglected for far too long!

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Mailbox Monday is a touring meme where book bloggers share their bookish acquisitions from the week prior.  It is hosted this month by Cindy's Love of Books.  This week the books were just pouring into my house!

For Review: 

The Long Way Home by Karen McQuestion - copy courtesy of the author.

Goodbye for Now by Laurie Frankel - ARC courtesy of Doubleday.

Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage - ARC courtesy of Dial Books

For Review via NetGalley:

Advent by James Treadwell - the Deborah Harkness endorsement on the cover sold me! (Simon & Schuster)

The Paladin Prophecy by Mark Frost - written by the co-creator of Twin Peaks! (Random House Children's Books)

Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin - I've wanted to read her former book The Happiness Project for awhile, so when I glimpsed this on NetGalley I jumped to request it! (Random House)

Purchased: (at an excursion to Barnes and Noble with a good friend!)

Eon by Alison Goodman - I purchased this because I've read lots of rave reviews on the blogosphere (and the cover is just so durn pretty)!

The Search for WondLa by Tony Diterlizzi - I bought this because I saw it on this fantastic list of books for kiddos and it is described as "sci-fi meets the Wizard of Oz!"

Phew!  That's all for the week.  What goodies did you guys get last week?

Just for Fun - Bookish Pins!

Click on the photos to be taken to the original sources!

Do you guys agree with this list?

Neil Gaiman's home library!

Book tent!!

Rustic reading nook - complete with Plato quote

Ahh Pinterest, how I love thee!

Top Ten Tuesday: Fave Characters

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, this week's topic: Top Ten All-Time Favorite Characters in Books

1.  Holden Caulfield - for so many reasons!  You gotta love a character that readily admits to being a terrible liar and a sex maniac.  Also, I want to bring back the word phony just for Holden's sake.

2.  Victoria Jones - her background in the foster system and subsequent communication difficulties make you root for Victoria throughout the novel!

3.  Todd Hewitt from the Chaos Walking Trilogy - such a pure heart and what a wonderful boy!

4.  Kvothe from the Kingkiller Chronicles - seriously, Kvothe is so awesome it's almost too good to be true!

5.  Winnie the Pooh from the A. A. Milne books - I grew up with Pooh and feel like he will always be a part of my life!

6.  Vicki Austin from various Madeleine L'Engle books - I really identified with her insecurities and her understanding of the world around her when I was growing up!

7.   Rudy Steiner from The Book Thief - oh gosh, the Jesse Owens scene...actually this lemon-haired boy just steals every scene he's in.

8.  Merlin from the Mary Stewart Arthurian Saga - I looooved seeing events fold from Merlin's eyes!

9.  Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice - this one should be pretty obvious!

10.  Yelena from Poison Study - she can kick your butt plus she's super-smart...really well-drawn character (and a huuuge part of the reason why I loved this book).