November TBR (Books)

    Hey guys!  It's already November, which is both good and bad news for me.  Good because it's that much closer to the holidays, which is always my favorite time of year.  Bad because I only have about a month to finish my colloquium, (yeah, it's still not done...).  I don't even have a solid due date for this thing, but I'm assuming the beginning of December since that's when the semester ends and grades need to be in for me to graduate on December 31st, (FINALLY).  That being said, I am almost done and I'm going to just pump this thing out and have it done hopefully before Thanksgiving.  I've found setting goals for myself really helps me keep everything in check.  Speaking of GOALS, (see what I did there?), I wanted my November TBR to have a theme so the theme this month is finishing series.  Most of the books I chose to read this month are series that I've started and want to finish, with only a few exceptions.  I've set my goals a little more realistically this month to only read 8 books, so we'll see if I can keep up with that.  Let's get started!

(goodreads.com)

    I actually started this book on October 31st, as it was supposed to be in my October TBR.  Since I ran out of time to finish it last month, I added it to this month because I've been waiting a long time to read this book and I wasn't going to wait any longer!  The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is about two dueling magicians, Celia and Marco and all the lives that encompass their competition.  Although they are supposedly competing against each other, Celia and Marco can't help but fall in love.  The book takes place over the course of about 30 years and follows their lives together and apart through a circus constructed by them that travels over Europe and the Americas.  I am almost done, so I don't want to say too much more about it, but I love it!

(goodreads.com)

    Clockwork Prince and Clockwork Princess are the second and third books in the Infernal Devices trilogy by Cassandra Clare.  This series acts as a stand alone but also sort of a prequel to the Mortal Instruments series.  I read the first book I think last month and I really enjoyed it, so I immediately wanted to continue with the series.  As I think I explained before, I've tried to read the Mortal Instruments series in the past and couldn't get into it, which is why I started this series instead.  I had heard from multiple people that this series was a good introduction to the world and I was really drawn to the setting.  Clockwork Prince begins where the last book left off, with Tessa officially joining the ranks of the Institute of Shadowhunters in London after moving there from New York.  After the turmoil of the first book, we'll see a lot of political strife as the leader of Tessa's Shadowhunter faction, Charlotte, is being driven out of her post by instigators within the Clave.  As the Shadowhunters try to save their leader and their faction from demise, they are also trying to solve the mystery of the Magister, who has declared war on the Shadowhunters.  Should be an interesting middle novel.

    Clockwork Princess is the last book in the series and involves Tessa getting kidnapped and everyone trying to save her from the Magister.  Since I haven't read the second book I know very little about the third, obviously, but it should be a great lead.  I've found that although I'm not a huge fan of Tessa as a "heroine," I am intrigued by the relationships she's developed between Jem and Will, (especially Will), and the mystery involving Will's enchantment.

(goodreads.com)

    The Seven Realms series by Cinda Williams Chima is also one that I started last month with The Demon King, which follows two main characters Raisa and Han as they navigate their very different lives separately until coming together in the end to save the kingdom.  All together, I thought the world was very well put together and the characters were interesting.  There are magical beings like wizards working against clan members and other humans.  Towards the end of The Demon King, Han discovers something powerful about himself that he has to come to terms with and Raisa is sent into hiding by a powerful wizard's hold over her mother, the Queen.  They go into hiding together in the only neutral zone in the entire kingdom, where they hope to be safe.  In The Exiled Queen, Raisa attends a warriors academy in secret with her friend Amon, (SWOON), to learn how to become a better queen and Han attends the adjoining wizard academy to learn more about his gifts.  The Gray Wolf Throne sees Raisa attempt to ascend to her Queendom, only to be hunted and threatened with death.  She'll need Han's help to take the crown away from those who covet it for the wrong reasons.  In the final book, The Crimson Crown, Raisa attempts to keep the peace in her Queendom, but is met with hostility and the promise of war tearing her people apart.  She will need to work together with Han to restore balance to The Fells.  I'm invested in this world and I'd like to see this story played out to the end.  I've also come into possession of Chima's next series, based in this world and set a few years in the future, so I'm excited to follow it further!

(goodreads.com)

    The Invasion of the Tearling by Erika Johansen is the sequel to The Queen of the Tearling, which I read a few months ago.  This sequel takes place after the events of the first book, in which Queen Kelsea took back her throne from her uncle and grew into some astonishing magical powers, helping to thwart a shipment of slaves to a neighboring kingdom.  With war looming overhead, she must devise a plan of attack and protect her people from this growing threat.  Apparently she also ends up connecting with someone in a timeline from the past, (time travel?), in order to find answers for her future.  It seems slightly more interesting than the first book, which was just getting good towards the end, so I'm hoping to enjoy this book better than the first.  I'm also not sure if this series will continue, but I'm assuming it will with at least another book.

(goodreads.com)

    Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo is another book that has been on my TBR shelf for awhile.  It is the first book in a new series I'll be starting set in a world similar to Eastern Europe and Russia, but with magical elements.  It takes place in a kingdom called Ravka, which has been overrun by the shadow realm by beasts that eat human flesh.  Alina Starkov is a member of a regiment that is sent to attack The Fold to prevent the evil from seeping into her realm.  By a series of unnatural and unforeseen events, Alina is recruited to become a member of the Grisha, a magical elite fighting team made up of people with similar abilities to Alina, lead by the Darkling.  Since her powers have manifested, it is up to her to determine how best to use her untamed power.  This has all the elements that I usually go for in a YA novel, so we'll see if I'm attracted to this series like I am to the cover art.

    So there you have it, my picks for my November TBR.  Have you read any of these books?  What did you think?  What's on your November TBR?  Let me know in the comments.  I was thinking about doing NaNoWriMo this year, (which would have seriously diminished my book count), but decided against it in order to finish my colloquium.  I think 8 is a manageable number, plus I've always found it easier to add books than to take them away.  Thursday I'll be going over my Comic TBR for November, which will also be themed "continuing series."  Until next time, I remain your faithful correspondent.

Updates!

  I'm back!  Sorry that took so long, but I really needed a break.  A lot has happened since the holidays, so I'll try to catch you up to speed.  I have announcements, health updates and even a review of The Bachelor so far, which I've missed terribly!  I'm also going to be updating my "Book Reviews" tab with my most recent finished novel, The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon.  At this point, I'm going to try to get back into my regular blogging routine so I don't lose my luster, so we'll see how that goes, but I'm at least going to give it a shot.  Can't hurt, right?

  First things first: health.  Not that I really need to update you all on this, but I've been doing alright.  Over the holidays I did have a serious flare up situation, (just Christmas Eve and Day mostly, you know, the important days...), in which I could barely walk and that is not an exaggeration.  My husband had to carry me around at times, (which was less than stellar and incredibly degrading), but it was all due to a lack of drugs and once I got those back I went back to "normal."  Needless to say the holidays were a lot more stressful than I had originally anticipated, but I'm glad I survived.  More recently I've been battling the ever-present virus that keeps circulating around my profession.  Working with kids has its downsides and constant exposure to various illnesses is only one of them.  I ended up catching some sort of upper respiratory virus, which was actually the flu in disguise, and gave that to my mother, who has been miserable.  We currently have at least three boxes of Puffs Plus Vicks going downstairs as well as two boxes each of DayQuil and NyQuil, among other things.  Luckily I haven't been working because of back-to-back snow days, which have picked this week to drop at least two feet of snow on us.  So I've been spending most of my time inside, in comfy pants watching Netflix, reading and working on my colloquium for my internship.

  Nice segue, self!  Right now my internship is at a stand-still.  I recently made the decision, after the holidays, to forgo teaching at the high school level in favor of having the opportunity to teach at the middle school level.  Although I'm glad to be out of my high school nightmare, I'm currently in limbo regarding my middle school placement.  It's been about two weeks at this point since I officially left my freshman and although I miss some of them, I miss being in the classroom more.  I've been trying to be as patient as I can, but it's difficult when you aren't in control and there's literally nothing you can do to speed things up.  I've been trying to keep myself busy, but I feel like I'm slowly losing my sanity.  I don't want to lose anything I've built up over the last few months.  I feel like I haven't done anything meaningful with my life in awhile and that I need to do something productive to help reaffirm my passions.  That's partially why I've been trying to read more for leisure, just so I can become a more literate English teacher, (which should be a no-brainer).  I don't want to lose the connection I have to my subject matter and I don't want to lose my excitement over the prospect of teaching my preferred age group, but it's slowly getting less bearable.  I've been trying to come up with curriculum units I could do with an imaginary class, seeing as all my other intern friends are either planning or currently teaching their solo week plans.  I feel like I'm falling behind, but not by choice, and it's frustrating.  Hopefully I hear something about where I'm going by next week, but at this point I'm not holding my breath.  I'm just hoping something happens for me so that I can continue to improve and finish strong.  I didn't realize just how close we were to the end up until a few weeks ago, but by April I'll be expected to look for jobs for next year.  By May I'll hopefully have my Masters degree and register for graduation.  My final months of university are approaching.  YIKES.

  As I said before, I have a lot more free time on my hands at the moment, so I'd like to use it accordingly to improve on and rediscover my passions.  I got a lot of books for Christmas, so I plan on trying to get through as many of them as possible and add to my collection along the way.  I've been spending a lot more time on Goodreads, updating my profile and my lists so that I can get more accurate recommendations.  I've also been watching more BookTube YouTubers to get book recommendations and to see what's out there, what's popular and what other readers are most excited about.  I was seriously considering turning my YouTube channel into a BookTube channel, but I'm still working on that.  I've determined that I really don't like being on camera, especially now that I don't look my best when I'm sick and I'm very self conscious about my appearance.  I would, however, like to continue to blog and write about books, seeing as that's my area of expertise.  I will see if I can update my tabs to include a link to my Goodreads account, but until then you can find me here.  I will try my best to keep up with this and hopefully my love of books will continue to grow.

  Lastly, we have reviews.  I have been watching this latest season of The Bachelor with much enthusiasm.  Starting with over 30 women was exhausting, but now that we're already down to 11 it feels manageable.  The most important things I took away from the first three episodes are that Ashley's are still my least favorite kind of people, Canadians are awesome, there IS such a thing as too much country, (and whiskey), muscles and competition aren't everything, and there can be more than one virgin in the house at a time.  Needless to say it's been an interesting season so far, culminating into what I believe are the three top ladies at this point: Kaitlyn, Whitney and Jade.  It's obvious that Chris has a natural connection with Kaitlyn.  She's obnoxious, care-free and ridiculously funny.  She's not afraid to get down and dirty outside or open up about her feelings.  She seems like an all-around great girl and a great fit for Chris, who seeks normalcy above all else.  She's my front runner at the moment, so I'm rooting for her.

  Jade is my second favorite, solely because of her genuine nature and girl-next-door vibe.  She's quiet, but respectful and patient, and Chris notices her anyway.  I also think they would be great together, but we'll have to see if she stands out over Kaitlyn.  Jade totally deserved that Cinderella date!  Ashely I. was getting on my nerves, complaining about her lack of pampering.  The reason the sisters chose Jade is because she doesn't normally get this sort of treatment and deserved to get some, not because she would look good in the expensive, outlandish ballroom attire.  That wasn't the point and the fact that Ashley somehow missed that makes me think she's not long for this show.  Obviously she's not right for Chris.  Those Jersey girls can't be trusted around shiny objects...

  Whitney I'd rather not like, but I can't deny that her and Chris had a pretty rad date crashing that wedding.  Their connection is also obvious, so I'm curious to see if it will eventually outshine or succumb to Kaitlyn's or Jade's.  Next week's episode looks like we'll be seeing more drama unfold from unlikely sources, so anything is possible!  If you'd like another place to get recaps of The Bachelor, I particularly love Mel Got Served.  She's hilarious and has a unique approach to reviewing each episode.  She also does recaps of other popular reality television programs, so if you're into that, please go check her out!
  That's all I have for this week.  I think that's enough actually...  If I'm still not doing anything next week, I should be able to upload my blog on time, or at least at a decent time.  I'm thinking about adding one or two more shows to recap along with The Bachelor, but I'm having trouble narrowing it down.  I just started watching Agent Carter, in addition to Arrow, The Flash, Gotham and Agents of Shield, which are all returning from their mid-season finales.  I've gotten to the point where I have too many shows to watch that I've gotten behind, so I'm trying to catch up.  The Amazing Race is starting again soon, as is Vikings, which I'm very excited about, so maybe I'll leave it at that.  Let me know what you guys think and what shows you'd like recaps and/or reviews of.  Until next time, I remain your faithful correspondent.

Home Stretch

    I hope everyone is having a good week so far.  Thursday happens to be one of my favorite days because it's that much closer to the weekend.  I definitely think next week should be just one giant weekend with all the work I have to complete.  The end of my semester is coming and I couldn't be more calm.  Usually I'd be extremely stressed thinking about all of the papers and projects I have to do before the beginning of May, but this year it's different.  I'm completely aware of the amount of work I have to do, but I'm not worried.  I have faith in myself to get everything done on time, or even early.  It's always nice to get a break for the summer.

    Three of my assignments are relatively large: a literature review, a unit plan and a multimedia narrative.  For the literature review I have to read an entire book and focus on a central issue regarding 21st century literacies.  I've created a unit plan surrounding one of my favorite movies, Harriet the Spy, using both the book and the film to draw conclusions around identity and character development.  For my multimedia narrative I'm supposed to reflect on my semester and make light of my experiences from the course using multimodal technologies.  I think I'm going to use Storify, which is a site dedicated to mashing up various aspects of social media to create a coherent story.  I'll be posting my thoughts and rough draft of this project tomorrow on my ENGL 889 page.  All of these projects are labor intensive and require a huge amount of reflection and organization.  I'm curious about what I'll discover while working on all of these simultaneously.  I've already found that some of the readings I've done in both classes have the potential for crossing over.  I'm looking forward to getting down to business and putting as much effort into these as I can muster.  I may even share one of these finished projects on here in my ENGL 889 page, so stay tuned for a finished product.

    On top of this school work, I've been working on finding a summer job.  So far I haven't had any bites yet, but I'm still waiting to hear back from two places that seemed promising at first.  Honestly, I don't know what will happen with either of them, but I'm still trying to keep my options open.  Hopefully I'll hear something from one of them by next week, but who knows.  Honestly, I didn't think I would be on the job hunt again so soon.  I've also never applied for summer jobs before, so most of the application deadlines for opportunities in my area have been closed since mid-March.  It's actually more stressful than my projects.  The good news is that the after school program goes until mid-June, so I have some time left, but not much.  I'm praying for some much-needed beach time, so fingers crossed.
    As for TV reviews, they're very similar to last week.  Heads up for some SPOILERS...

  The Amazing Race brought the laughs this weekend with the Globetrotters attempting to ride the smallest donkey's in Italy.  Or maybe they just looked tiny underneath Big Easy?  Needless to say it was another frustrating week for me, being a fan of the Globetrotters.  I didn't like that they went home, but I have to say I can't really defend them this week.  They've been having trouble reading the directions on their road block cards...or maybe just with common sense.  Besides screaming at my television every time the Globetrotters were on screen, it was a decent episode.  I didn't like that Brenchel won again, but I have to give Rachel props on her calligraphy skills.  Is it sad that that road block was one of my favorites?  I would've loved to have taken that one on, but alas, I don't think my dad and I will ever make it to the Amazing Race.  I can still dream though.

  Once Upon a Time answered some questions for us this time around.  We finally found out what Zelena is planning to do with all her body parts, why she wants to go back in time and who's brain she needs.  How she plans on getting it is a whole other story...and it's probably not pretty.  You know what else wasn't pretty?  Rumple and Zelena's make-out session...EW.  There was a time when I thought any romanticism with Rumple would've been gross, but I'd give anything for Brumple to be whole again, without Zelena.  She's becoming an annoying wicked thorn in everyone's side, so I hope her demise is quick and painful.  My favorite person from this week was definitely Regina.  With her acting brave and working hard to help everyone, it's obvious that she's turned over a new leaf.  Also, her kiss with Robin was AMAZING! (and so over due).  Needless to say I can't wait to see what next week has to offer.  Especially with Hook being so shady, now that he's pissed about the curse.  Still hoping for a Emma/Hook ship to happen!

  Game of Thrones was also great this week.  I don't think I'm the only one who loves the dynamic between Arya and The Hound.  It won't last, but I like that they hinted at Bravos as a potential ending point.  I would like to know what Baelish wants to do with Sansa, but honestly I think she's safer with him.  I wouldn't want to go back to King's Landing under any circumstances, even to save poor Tyrion.  I definitely don't think he'll die, but his dialogue with Podrick was so moving!  He really is the best squire ever.  We're still not sure who actually killed Joffrey, but at this point I'm just glad he's dead.  Obviously, if you've read the books, you do know who killed him, but I haven't gotten that far yet, so I think we'll find out soon.  Another one of my favorite relationships is the one between Daenarys and Daario, who proved he was as badass as he claimed to be this week.  From the look in her eyes at the end of that miserable excuse for a showdown, she likes what she sees.  I'd ship them.  There were a lot of things I didn't like about this episode though: Sam sending Gilly to that nasty brothel, Jaimie raping his sister near their dead son's body, (c'mon man, even Cersei wouldn't do that...), and those damn cannibals killing and eating everyone.  Poor Stanis doesn't have a leg to stand on anymore, so I don't know why they even bothered giving him a two minute scene.  Who knows what will happen next week, but from the looks of things it's going to be good.

    I'd like to take this opportunity to mention something I'd like to start for the summer.  I'll be reopening my book reviews page and starting a summer reading list.  Now that I'll have more time to read, I can keep you guys updated on my progress and what books I'm reading through my GoodReads page, which has become severely neglected since I started classes.  I'm not sure about how much time I will give myself to read each book, but I don't really believe anyone should put a limit on reading time, so I think we'll leave that up to chance.  I will be reviewing each book once I finish them, so be on the lookout for which book I will start reading first, starting as soon as I finish all my projects.
    That's all for reviews this week.  I think it would be good for me and all the work I have to do to take a break next week, so unless something ridiculous or miraculous happens, there won't be a blog.  Sometimes you need to take a break in order to get stuff done, so that's what I'll be doing.  I'll have my recaps and reviews of next week's shows and hopefully more interesting information regarding my life for May 8th.  Until next time, I remain your faithful correspondent.

Oh, and this...

Vacation Land

    It's Tuesday again, so you know what that means!  Another boring blog.  It's school vacation week around here, which means no visitation/observation hours at schools and no work substituting.  I haven't even had class since last Wednesday.  I've also been really sick, so that's been no fun at all...especially since I've been a snot zombie and can't feel my face from all the congestion.  The good news is that I have at least one fun thing planned for this week, which I am excited about: tubing!  Maybe I'll remember to take pictures this time when I leave the house so I have proof that it actually happened...

    Operation Employment has been stagnant of late since the botched interview last week.  I'm still hopeful and I have at least four or five other jobs lined up, so we'll see what happens.  I've caved and applied to some retail stores, seeing as that seems to be all I'm good for, so maybe I'll hear back from someone this week.  Maybe not...  Who knows?
    As I currently have no steady job with any way to make payments on anything consecutively, I've resigned myself to the fact that I will probably not be getting a new car this year:(  I was holding out for it and very excited, but since getting fired put a damper on my funds I really don't have the means to purchase even a newer used car right now.  This couldn't have come at a worse time, and the savings I had up until this point would've been great towards a down payment, but I've had to use it to live off of, so it's slowly dwindling down to nothing again.  Maybe someday I'll be able to get myself a new car so that the Red Baron can finally retire, but it is not this day.

    Let's have some good vibes now!  So far, my two big TV reviews are for The Bachelor and for The Amazing Race, which premiered this past Sunday, (unbeknownst to me, but my father called and let me know we missed it so I could watch it yesterday).  Unbelievable, (for both shows).  SPOILER ALERT!!...  I can't believe Renee got eliminated!  And yet I can, because she was really the only normal person left besides Andi and he obviously wasn't giving her enough attention.  That being said, he probably should've let her go a little earlier, considering he ended up meeting her son for no apparent reason.  I don't know how I feel about that, and the fact that Nikki has already met Camila.  Does that mean he likes her the most?  Meeting someone's child should be a big deal, in my mind, and Renee tore down a lot of walls to make that happen with JP and Ben, but to no avail.  It's really sad, but at least they won't be burdened later on with the fantasy suite fiasco set up to happen.  I'm still rooting for Andi, but at this point, I wouldn't be surprised if Nikki won.

    The Amazing Race started off with a huge disappointment!  Of course Mark and Bopper were one of my favorite teams to come back and race for the all-stars, but they couldn't let me have that.  Poor Bopper, all ready to go, then BOOM, inflamed pancreas, (or whatever).  Poor Mark too, since he's stuck to that Mallory from now on.  Despite this obvious set back, (and set up), I will be supporting Joey and Meaghan for this race, seeing as they're the only people I really know.  That's a little sad to say, isn't it?  Claiming you "really know" someone from YouTube.  But it is possible I think.  We'll see what this race holds for everyone, but there are already people in this one I don't like so I'm not sure.  That's all I have for TV right now.  I don't think all of my shows are back just yet, but they should be by next week.  Also, Vikings is back on Thursday and I couldn't be more excited!  I should have a review of that by next Tuesday, so if you're into that, be on the lookout!

    For Thursday I think I'm going to be talking about the book I'm currently reading called Born Digital, which focuses on understanding our generation of young people as they master new technologies.  Even for someone like me, born in the beginning of the growing digital age, there are still some things I don't understand about today's technological advances and how kids know how to use them.  It should be interesting and I'm reading the first six chapters, so I will do an overview of that with a book review to follow after I finish in a few weeks.  I want to start getting back into doing educational or English-related blog posts on one of my blogging days, so let me know what you think about that and any topics you'd like for me to discuss.  I will be updating and monitoring my Good Reads account a little better to let everyone know what I'm reading right now and what I plan to read in the near future.  Now that I have a lot of downtime, I'm hoping to at least start a new book, but I have to decide which one first.  Until then, homework awaits!  Until next time, I remain your faithful correspondent.

Books for the Holidays

    Hello all!  I hope everyone had a successful and satisfying Thanksgiving with your families:)  I wasn't going to do a blog today just because of the holiday and the fact that I've been gone all day, but I decided when I got home that I wanted to write about some books I saw at Barnes and Noble yesterday while shopping with my sister.  This isn't a review of sorts, rather a suggestion post regarding new releases or options based on particular interests in reading genres.  Literally speaking, I think these are pretty swell choices for gifts or just leisurely reading over the holidays.

    Amy Tan's The Valley of Amazement is first on my list, being that I'm a fan of her work, including The Joy Luck Club.  Tan's typical theme generates around Asian-American conflicts with a mixture of mother-daughter struggles and other relationship turmoils.  This new book is no exception; focusing on the courtesan life of an Asian-American immigrant, from past to present, Tan brings to life the tainted truth of naivety and innocence with her characters and true-to-life detail and scenery.  I would read this book solely because of the author's reputation, but also because the story, like her previous works, dwell on the conflicts of minority groups, which have always intrigued me.  To read a great review of this book by NPR, click here.

    Another book I've been interested in reading is The Book Thief.  I recently saw the trailer for the movie version, and I nearly died.  It looked so great!  But I realized that I hadn't read the book in years and would be completely lost if I saw the movie first, so I decided it would be a great idea to re-read the book.  Narrated by Death, the story of Liesel unfolds in front of us as she tackles hardships ranging from death to fear to imprisonment fighting through Nazi Germany during World War II.  I am absolutely obsessed with the history of this time period and enjoy this genre of creative non-fiction, (however horrible the actual history may have been).  Considering the movie looks amazing, the book would be a great gift for someone looking to see it.

    For those teen-novelists out there, (or middle schoolers), I have the perfect series for you!  Including her Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series, Louise Rennison has never disappointed me in the laughter department.  Thus, when I came across her new series, starting with Withering Tights, I got a little excited.  Where Confessions focuses on the preteen life of Georgia Nicolson, Withering Tights focuses on Georgia's cousin Tallulah while she attends a performing arts college for the summer in northern England.  This is a comedy preteen series from the UK, so it evolves to a different kind of funny that only the Brits have mastered at this point.  I've found this author hilarious for a number of years so far, and expect nothing different from her new series.  If you want to learn more about Georgia Nicolson, click here.

    Last recommendation is another book-to-movie fandango, (see what I did there?...), called Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children, a seemingly horrific story about dead children.  A 16-year-old boy named Jacob gets sent to this children's home after a family tragedy and has to cope with not only his own troubles, but the terrors lurking within the walls.  Even though I cannot watch scary movies, (it's a physical impossibility), I've found that I can read scary books, so I wouldn't mind reading it.  Although it didn't get great reviews on Goodreads, I would still at least give it a shot.  The less scary the better, in my opinion.  The fact that this is going to be a movie is another incentive to read it.
    I know this wasn't a typical Thursday post, but I didn't want to load people with knowledge on a day devoted to spending time with families, so I made it easy and holiday-related.  If you are interested in any of the books above or want to suggest your own literary picks for holiday gifting, let me know in the comments.  If you want to keep track of your reading lists, need book suggestions or want to expand your literary knowledge, check out Goodreads and sign up to get unlimited access to book reviews, ratings and new releases.  Until next time, I remain your faithful correspondent.