Friday, August 6, 2010

The Rory List

The following is a list that has been making quite a splash among my friends. Those of us who are Gilmore Girls addicts are very familliar with the fact that our beloved Rory is a book-a-holic and has very good taste in literature. The following is a list of books that have been mentioned throughout the show known simply as The Rory List. It contains a very good mix of both old and modern classics, so even if you aren't a fan of the show I urge you to take a look and add a few to your very own Mount To-Be-Read! (Thanks to Sari for the list!)

xoxo
Abielle

Rory's List (in alphabetical order)

1984 by George Orwell
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (TBR)
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Archidamian War by Donald Kagan
The Art of Fiction by Henry James
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Babe by Dick King-Smith
Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women by Susan Faludi
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (TBR)
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Beowulf: A New Verse Translation by Seamus Heaney
The Bhagava Gita
The Bielski Brothers: The True Story of Three Men Who Defied the Nazis, Built a Village in the Forest, and Saved 1,200 Jews by Peter Duffy
Bitch in Praise of Difficult Women by Elizabeth Wurtzel
A Bolt from the Blue and Other Essays by Mary McCarthy
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Brick Lane by Monica Ali
Bridgadoon by Alan Jay Lerner
Candide by Voltaire
The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer
Carrie by Stephen King
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
Charlotte's Web by E. B. White
The Children's Hour by Lillian Hellman
Christine by Stephen King
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse
The Collected Short Stories by Eudora Welty
The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty by Eudora Welty
A Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare
Complete Novels by Dawn Powell
The Complete Poems by Anne Sexton
Complete Stories by Dorothy Parker
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas père
Cousin Bette by Honor'e de Balzac
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (TBR)
The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber (TBR)
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Cujo by Stephen King
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
David and Lisa by Dr Theodore Issac Rubin M.D
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
The Da Vinci -Code by Dan Brown
Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol
Demons by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
Deenie by Judy Blume
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson
The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band by Tommy Lee, Vince Neil, Mick Mars and Nikki Sixx
The Divine Comedy by Dante
The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells
Don Quijote by Cervantes
Driving Miss Daisy by Alfred Uhrv
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Tales & Poems by Edgar Allan Poe
Eleanor Roosevelt by Blanche Wiesen Cook
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters by Mark Dunn
Eloise by Kay Thompson
Emily the Strange by Roger Reger
Emma by Jane Austen
Empire Falls by Richard Russo
Encyclopedia Brown: Boy Detective by Donald J. Sobol
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
Ethics by Spinoza
Europe through the Back Door, 2003 by Rick Steves
Eva Luna by Isabel Allende
Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
Extravagance by Gary Krist
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Fahrenheit 9/11 by Michael Moore
The Fall of the Athenian Empire by Donald Kagan
Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World by Greg Critser
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
The Fellowship of the Ring: Book 1 of The Lord of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien (TBR)
Fiddler on the Roof by Joseph Stein
The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
Finnegan's Wake by James Joyce
Fletch by Gregory McDonald
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger
Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers
Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut
Gender Trouble by Judith Butler
George W. Bushism: The Slate Book of the Accidental Wit and Wisdom of our 43rd President by Jacob Weisberg
Gidget by Fredrick Kohner
Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels
The Godfather: Book 1 by Mario Puzo
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Alvin Granowsky
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (TBR)
The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford
The Gospel According to Judy Bloom
The Graduate by Charles Webb
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
The Group by Mary McCarthy
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (TBR)
Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry (TBR)
Henry IV, part I by William Shakespeare
Henry IV, part II by William Shakespeare
Henry V by William Shakespeare
High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
Holidays on Ice: Stories by David Sedaris
The Holy Barbarians by Lawrence Lipton
House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III (Lpr)
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende (TBR)
How to Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer
How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
How the Light Gets in by M. J. Hyland
Howl by Allen Gingsburg
The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo (TBR)
The Iliad by Homer
I'm with the Band by Pamela des Barres (TBR)
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (TBR)
Inferno by Dante
Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee
Iron Weed by William J. Kennedy
It Takes a Village by Hillary Clinton
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
The Jumping Frog by Mark Twain
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
Just a Couple of Days by Tony Vigorito
The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar by Robert Alexander
Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Lady Chatterleys' Lover by D. H. Lawrence
The Last Empire: Essays 1992-2000 by Gore Vidal
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
The Legend of Bagger Vance by Steven Pressfield
Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
The Little Locksmith by Katharine Butler Hathaway
The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
The Lottery: And Other Stories by Shirley Jackson
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
The Love Story by Erich Segal
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
The Manticore by Robertson Davies
Marathon Man by William Goldman
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov (TBR)
Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter by Simone de Beauvoir
Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman by William Tecumseh Sherman
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
The Meaning of Consuelo by Judith Ortiz Cofer
Mencken's Chrestomathy by H. R. Mencken
The Merry Wives of Windsro by William Shakespeare
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Miracle Worker by William Gibson
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
The Mojo Collection: The Ultimate Music Companion by Jim Irvin
Moliere: A Biography by Hobart Chatfield Taylor
A Monetary History of the United States by Milton Friedman
Monsieur Proust by Celeste Albaret
A Month Of Sundays: Searching For The Spirit And My Sister by Julie Mars
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (TBR)
Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall
My Lai 4: A Report on the Massacre and It's Aftermath by Seymour M. Hersh
My Life as Author and Editor by H. R. Mencken
My Life in Orange: Growing Up with the Guru by Tim Guest
Myra Waldo's Travel and Motoring Guide to Europe, 1978 by Myra Waldo
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco (TBR)
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin
Nervous System: Or, Losing My Mind in Literature by Jan Lars Jensen
New Poems of Emily Dickinson by Emily Dickinson
The New Way Things Work by David Macaulay
Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
Night by Elie Wiesel
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism by William E. Cain, Laurie A. Finke, Barbara E. Johnson, John P. McGowan
Novels 1930-1942: Dance Night/Come Back to Sorrento, Turn, Magic Wheel/Angels on Toast/A Time to be Born by Dawn Powell
Notes of a Dirty Old Man by Charles Bukowski
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Old School by Tobias Wolff
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life by Amy Tan
Oracle Night by Paul Auster
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Othello by Shakespeare
Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan
Out of Africa by Isac Dineson (TBR)
The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
The Peace of Nicias and the Sicilian Expedition by Donald Kagan
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Pigs at the Trough by Arianna Huffington
Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain
The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby
The Portable Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker
The Portable Nietzche by Fredrich Nietzche
The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill by Ron Suskind
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Property by Valerie Martin
Pushkin: A Biography by T. J. Binyon
Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
Quattrocento by James Mckean
A Quiet Storm by Rachel Howzell Hall
Rapunzel by Grimm Brothers
The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe
The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham
Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (TBR)
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
Rescuing Patty Hearst: Memories From a Decade Gone Mad by Virginia Holman
The Return of the King: The Lord of the Rings Book 3 by J. R. R. Tolkien (TBR)
R Is for Ricochet by Sue Grafton
Rita Hayworth by Stephen King
Robert's Rules of Order by Henry Robert
Roman Holiday by Edith Wharton
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
A Room with a View by E. M. Forster
Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin
The Rough Guide to Europe, 2003 Edition
Sacred Time by Ursula Hegi
Sanctuary by William Faulkner
Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford
Say Goodbye to Daisy Miller by Henry James
The Scarecrow of Oz by Frank L. Baum
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand
The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (TBR)
Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette by Judith Thurman
Selected Hotels of Europe
Selected Letters of Dawn Powell: 1913-1965 by Dawn Powell
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Several Biographies of Winston Churchill
Sexus by Henry Miller
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Shane by Jack Shaefer
The Shining by Stephen King
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
S Is for Silence by Sue Grafton
Slaughter-house Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Small Island by Andrea Levy
Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway
Snow White and Rose Red by Grimm Brothers
Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World by Barrington Moore
The Song of Names by Norman Lebrecht
Song of the Simple Truth: The Complete Poems of Julia de Burgos by Julia de Burgos
The Song Reader by Lisa Tucker
Songbook by Nick Hornby
The Sonnets by William Shakespeare
Sonnets from the Portuegese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Sophie's Choice by William Styron
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
The Story of My Life by Helen Keller
A Streetcar Named Desiree by Tennessee Williams
Stuart Little by E. B. White
Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Swann's Way by Marcel Proust
Swimming with Giants: My Encounters with Whales, Dolphins and Seals by Anne Collett
Sybil by Flora Rheta Schreiber
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Tender Is The Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Term of Endearment by Larry McMurtry
Time and Again by Jack Finney
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (TBR)
To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (TBR)
The Tragedy of Richard III by William Shakespeare
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (TBR)
The Trial by Franz Kafka
The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters by Elisabeth Robinson
Truth & Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
Ulysses by James Joyce
The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath 1950-1962 by Sylvia Plath (TBR)
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (TBR)
Unless by Carol Shields
Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann
The Vanishing Newspaper by Philip Meyers
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
Velvet Underground's The Velvet Underground and Nico (Thirty Three and a Third series) by Joe Harvard
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
Walt Disney's Bambi by Felix Salten
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
We Owe You Nothing – Punk Planet: The Collected Interviews edited by Daniel Sinker
What Colour is Your Parachute? 2005 by Richard Nelson Bolles
What Happened to Baby Jane by Henry Farrell
When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka
Who Moved My Cheese? Spencer Johnson
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire
The Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (TBR)
The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Book Review: Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang by Chelsea Handler



Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang by Chelsea Handler

Synopsis:

The hilarious new book from the star of Chelsea Lately and the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea .

Get ready for big laughs as Chelsea Handler lets loose with more comic personal essays. In this new, no-holds-barred account of life on the ridiculous side, Chelsea mines the wealth of material that is her family, her sex life, her career, and her distinctively outrageous worldview. Here is young Chelsea discovering "The Feeling" during a third-grade sleepover and getting shafted by clueless parents over Cabbage Patch dolls...and grown-up Chelsea at the mercy of the remote control, Lean Pockets, and Sex and the City --but still managing to convince her boyfriend that there are Swiss Army knives in the soles of her $16,000 shoes. Through it all, Chelsea never lets anyone off the hook, even herself, as she delivers page after page of irrevent humor, biting wit, and deliciously off-kilter entertainment.


Review:

If you're looking for a book that will keep you in horrified stitches throughout the entire experience than do yourself a favor and pick up a copy Chelsea Handler's hillarious collection of essays, Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang. Handler addresses issues such as her first time seeing male genetalia and her first time getting 'the feeling' in such detail that the reader can only continue on in guilty facination. Caution, some of the descriptions are rather graphic, so don't pick up this book if you get embarrassed easily because you will find yourself blushing!

Personally, I found Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang very entertaining and witty and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good laugh on topics that most of us are too shy to discuss in our daily lives.

Overall, I would rate Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang an 8/10

xoxo
Abielle

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Book Giveaway!

Win ARCs of CLOCKWORK ANGEL, PARANORMALCY, DELIRIUM, LINGER, and more!

Enter Here

Follow @21books on Twitter and remember to follow her blog!

xoxo
Abielle

Friday, July 9, 2010

Book Review: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare



City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

Synopsis:


When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder — much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Clary knows she should call the police, but it's hard to explain a murder when the body disappears into thin air and the murderers are invisible to everyone but Clary.

Equally startled by her ability to see them, the murderers explain themselves as Shadowhunters: a secret tribe of warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. Within twenty-four hours, Clary's mother disappears and Clary herself is almost killed by a grotesque demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know....


Review:

New York City has never been more magical. The world that Cassandra Clare has formed is one that is unique and intricate, full of fantasy and mysterious beauty that surpasses many of her peers in the YA fantasy genra. Her characters are each uniuqe with very strong personalities that would be able to withstand a story of their own easily. Clary has become one of my favorite YA heroines of all time because of the inner strength and personability her character exhibits throughout the story. City of Bones opens up the world of the Shadowhunters and places the reader into a world that is full of ancient magic minus the cliches.

Clare's writing style is absolutely wonderful. The series has sort of a Harry Potter meets Buffy the Vampire feel and is able to captivate the reader from the very first sentence to the last. If you're the sort of reader who enjoys that emotional connection with your book, the one that makes your heart contract the moment you turn the final page, than I would highly recommend this series. City of Bones is a must read for any fan of YA fantasy.

Overall, I would rate City of Bones a 10/10

xoxo
Abielle

Monday, July 5, 2010

City of Bones Giveaway!

Book Whore is giving away a SIGNED copy of Cassandra Clare's fabulous novel, City of Bones.

Follow Book Whore's blog and enter here for your chance to win!

xoxo
Abielle

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Its now 10:36pm on the fourth of July, America's Independence Day. I sit here after having just witnessed the most beautiful fireworks display I've ever seen pondering what that elaborate display stood for. How many people gave a single thought to the penning of the Declaration of Independence on this 234th birthday of our nation's emancipation? Has it really become just another 3 day weekend full of BBQs and fireworks?

I've included the first portion of the Declaration below. Please take a moment to read it and allow yourself to go back to that moment in time when our forefathers stood around a table and looked down upon a piece of paper that signified the beginning of one of the greatest legacies to have ever risen up upon this earth.

Freedom is a term that is used too freely these days. Use the remainder of this day to remind yourself of the sacrifices those men and women, both 234+ years ago and today, have made so that we can have "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Happy fourth of July everyone.

The Declaration of Independence (first two paragraphs only)

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.


xoxo
Abielle

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Seize the Day... Tomorrow

The best part about procrastination is that you are never bored, because you always have number of tasks that you should be working on.

Tonight instead of finishing the last 500 words worth of editing and revising on my current project I have decided to compile several lists of my 'Top 10's'. No... I'm not kidding, I love lists. Usually I make them on pretty paper with sparkly multi-colored pens, but unfortunately y'all will just have to settle for this boring ole type. :p

Drum roll, please... *makes cheesy noise and taps index fingers on Walter*

Abielle's Top 10 Books You Must Read Before You Die or Go Blind

10. Grimm's Fairytales by the Brothers Grimm

9. The Shining by Stephen King

8. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

7. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

6. The Inferno by Dante Alighieri

5. Wurthering Heights by Emily Bronte

4. The Collective Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning (yes, I count that as one book!)

3. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

2. Night by Elie Wiesel

...AND THE NUMBER ONE BOOK YOU MUST READ BEFORE YOU DIE OR GO BLIND IS:




1. Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi


Thanks for reading my random procrastination blog post! Off to be productive... or play with something shiny...

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

My Father's Heart

Tonight I've been going through some short stories written by one of my favorite writers- my father. As I'm a bit choked up while typing this I'll let his work (below) speak for itself. After rereading his story A Prairie School of My Own for possibly the hundredth time I just felt compelled to share it with someone so here it is, one of the stories that is most near and dear to my heart written by the one man on this earth who I love more than life itself. Hope you enjoy.

A Prairie School of My Own
(Published in Prairie Magazine ca.1998)
by Tim McGannon

Growing up amidst a maze of intersections rumbling with traffic offered certain advantages to town kids. My brothers and I could usually count on a half dozen neighbor kids for a game of kick the can or sand lot baseball. An ice cream cone was never more than a few minutes and twenty five cents away. And, a frosty bottle of coke cost a dime at the local gas station. But every so often, as if to torment us, our father would announce at the breakfast table “we are going to grandfather’s farm for the day”.

“There’s nothing to do on the farm.” We lamented. “We will die of boredom.” But off we went, heads bowed solemnly, packed into the family’s Ford, for a day in the country.

Upon arriving at the farm we three slowly crawled from the back seat of the car, lumbered over to the concrete stoop in front of my grandparents house and pouted for a reasonable length of time. My youngest brother, looking for a way to end this self imposed penance slowly raised his head as a bright yellow finch danced from tree to tree. Off he went, on a solitary mission to capture this golden fowl. My older brother and I, experienced in this sulking game and without a word between us, admitted our defeat. Our mood broken, we too began to explore.

My grandfather’s farm was a wondrous place filled with adventures, mysteries and treasures. In the back yard, close to the barn, stood a galvanized steel stock tank kept full with a pipe running cool water from an artesian well. The continuous flow, spilling over the low side, produced a steady stream coursing over the ground to the slough several hundred feet away. Old pieces of farm equipment supported on wooden spoked wheels with forged iron rims dotted the trees surrounding the farm yard. Armed with a bag of Black Cat firecrackers and a punk, we boys could turn these relics into cannon for many imaginary wars. Inside my grandmothers chicken coop I learned that with a steady hand I could reach under a sitting hen and pluck her guarded treasure.

But my favorite spot of all was an old one room school house. An important looking building with raised steeple pointing majestically to the Dakota sky, this particular school sat vacant for a decade until discovered by me.

The old school house was about a half mile’s walk from the farm. For a 6-year-old, this journey from farm yard to school yard was a long one, requiring a canteen of water, a sandwich, a couple of apples from the tree and at least one brother.

The path from farm house to school house was a worn gravel road lined with grasshoppers, gophers and a snake if we were lucky. A steady hum of crickets, highlighted with the whistles of meadowlarks reminded us we were not alone on the journey.
The ditches, cropped low to the ground and sun dried in the fall air, crackled underfoot. Midway, a conveniently placed bale of hay served as lunch table and rest stop.
In the quarter hour it took to make the journey, an occasional car would pass on the gravel road, momentarily silencing natures sounds and stirring the dust into the air, leaving a choking cloud lasting for minutes.

Arriving at the school, our sandwiches gone and canteens half empty, my brother and I discovered that an abandoned country school is one of the loneliest places on earth. Unkempt with thistle and kosher weed growing through the sandy soil, the playground looked tired and abandoned. Saplings pushed their way upward from around the outhouse. The outhouse door, long relieved of its duty banging into the well worn door jams, now lie askew on one hinge. Wooden swings hung by rusty chains eerily creaking in the prairie wind would unnerve all but the bravest of souls, but not my brother and me.

We played for a short while on the swings, but soon our curiosity about what treasures lie within the school took over. First, we opened the outer door of the foyer, only to find the inner door padlocked soundly. We climbed upon the coal box and tried the window. It too was locked or stuck shut. For some time, we gazed at the belfry wondering if there was a way down from that tower, but soon discovered that the way up to the tower was a greater problem. We were ready to give up until my brother decided to open this coal box upon which we were perched. We climbed down and opened the large door of the box and in the dark bottom there appeared a small, square opening about the right size for a boy. In we went. Lying on our backs, feet in the air propped over the edge of the coal box, we squeezed into the schoolhouse head first. Covered with dirt, dust and cobwebs, we began to dust ourselves off.

The air in the school was heavy with the smell of mildew. And dust, awakened from its long sleep, danced excitedly in the sunlight. Bookcases of oak lined the walls, and wooden desks in neat rows waited for the next morning class. On the teacher’s desk sat a brass hand-bell with a long black wooden handle. In the corner near our new entrance stood a wood or coal burning stove. The wooden floors sounded a creaking welcome, punctuated by the sound of the bell, now in my brother’s hand. Hearing an approaching car, we ducked down, listened as the car passed and shared a feeling of sheer excitement that somehow we had gone unnoticed by this passerby . We were inside and no one was the wiser.

Driven by the wind, the ghostly sound of the old swing set alerted us that the weather was changing. The sky had dimmed, the setting sun hid behind fall thunder clouds and a cool breeze announced an imminent shower. We unlocked the window above the coal box, climbed out, pulled the window down behind us and ran back to the farmhouse.

Arriving at the farm yard about the same time as my father and grandfather returned from the field, our dust of adventure went unnoticed amidst their dust of harvest. We men all washed up for dinner. When we finished eating, my father announced that it was time to go back to town.

“There’s nothing to do in town.” We lamented. “We will die of boredom.” But off we went, heads bowed solemnly, packed into the family’s Ford, for the drive to town.


xoxo
Abielle

Monday, June 28, 2010

Inspire Thy Soul

For the last hour I've been sitting in my favorite coffee house at my favorite table attempting to write despite the muse's absence from my fingertips. Instead I've been sitting here pondering the concept of: "What exactly is a 'muse' and how does inspiration work?"

There are so many little subconscious actions or sounds that can have a ripple effect on our creativity. Something as simple as seeing an animal scurry along it's daily routine outside our bedroom window or as common as a song we may have heard fifty times before could strike a chord in our brains, releasing that adrenaline rush and making us jump internally for joy! 'I've got it! This is going to be incredible! I can't wait to show the world my interpretation!' Houston, we have lift-off- cue dramatic 'ooh'ing and 'aah'ing. Inspiration has struck.

Tonight must be one of those lovely summer nights where the ancient Greek inspiration givers are off frolicing among the forests and rivers, enjoying the eternal life they've been given rather than tolling away at the office. After all, even the muses must require a holiday every now and again, right?

Though inspiration helps bring life creativity is it really nessecary in order to produce a great work? Surely all artists can't just sit and wait for that one single drop of rain to fall from the sky and fill the ocean with waves in order to play in the water, right?

Regardless, the show must go on...

xoxo
Abielle

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Book Review: Burned by P.C. and Kristin Cast

Synopsis of Burned by P.C. and Kristin Cast

Things have turned black at the House of Night. Zoey Redbird’s soul has shattered. With everything she’s ever stood for falling apart, and a broken heart making her want to stay in the Otherworld forever, Zoey’s fading fast. It’s seeming more and more doubtful that she will be able pull herself back together in time to rejoin her friends and set the world to rights. As the only living person who can reach her, Stark must find a way to get to her. But how? He will have to die to do so, the Vampire High Council stipulates. And then Zoey will give up for sure. There are only 7 days left…

Enter BFF Stevie Rae. She wants to help Z but she has massive problems of her own. The rogue Red Fledglings are acting up, and this time not even Stevie Rae can protect them from the consequences. Her kinda boyfriend, Dallas, is sweet but too nosy for his own good. The truth is, Stevie Rae’s hiding a secret that might be the key to getting Zoey home but also threatens to explode her whole world.

In the middle of the whole mess is Aphrodite: ex-Fledgling, trust-fund baby, total hag from Hell (and proud of it). She’s always been blessed (if you could call it that) with visions that can reveal the future, but now it seems Nyx has decided to speak through her with the goddess’s own voice, whether she wants it or not. Aphrodite’s loyalty can swing a lot of different ways, but right now Zoey’s fate hangs in the balance.

Three girls… playing with fire… if they don’t watch out, everyone will get Burned.


Review

After months of eagerly awaiting the seventh installment of the House of Night Series I hate to admit that I feel greatly underwhelmed by Burned. One of the things that turns me off of a series is when it starts to feel like the author is writng book (insert next number in series here) instead of a must read continuation of the story, regardless of previous books published. To me this one felt like it was being put out as book number seven rather than a 'must read or the suspense will kill me' creation.

Though the writing has always been just a little over mediocre, I've been able to overlook that in favor of a great story, but the House of Night seems to have hit its summit for me and I do not plan on reading any further in this series.

That being said, if the Casts were to do a spin-off centered around the character of Aphrodite, I would be the first in line to pick up a copy. She is the only character in the whole thing who has gained my utter devotion as a reader.

Overall I would rate this book a 1.5 out of 5.

Next book on the list- Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang by Chelsea Handler

xoxo
Abielle

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Losing My Virginity (blog style)

Hey there *waives awkwardly* So, as you can see this is the first post on my shiny, new Stained Glass in the Night blog. I welcome you all and hope you are able to find something worth reading in the future here as I will be posting reviews of the books I've read, original writings/musings and maybe the occasional rant. All commentage and suggestions are much appreciated, so don't feel shy! I don't bite...hard. ;)

The poem below is one I wrote last week and is rather short and simple, but hey, that's my style. It is one of my favorite creations thus far so I hope you enjoy.


If my heart were a painting on display for all to see,
I’d paint myself with shades of water flowing ever free.

Tender strokes and swirls I’d use to illustrate the tide,
Blue and green and turquoise for the waves I’d never hide.

On that canvas I’d pour my heart and never be ashamed,
to show my soul for what it is in gold forever framed.

Raise me up and steady me on the wall with gentle hands,
View my soul’s true nature and please try to understand.

This portrait’s of a woman grown who’s not afraid to show,
The beauty of the ocean deep for all the world to know.


xoxo
Abielle