This And That

One of my favorite things about living is this area is that there's always something to do, whether it's a...

show at MotorCo in Durham:

Seeing KishiBashi for the 3rd time, love that guy

night in with some crafting fools:

cooking class at the Savory Spice Shop:

craft market of local artists:

my new print from Near Modern Disaster in Durham

book signing at a cute bookstore:

With Theron Humphrey and Maddie from Maddie on Things

Book Club

Ali, Lauren, Mary, (the other) Courtney, Kelly

A few weeks ago, my friend Lauren proposed the great idea to start a book club with some of our lady friends and I jumped on board immediately. I was lucky enough to get to pick our first book options and we ended up deciding on Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer, my author crush. And boy, was it an interesting book. Definitely different than his others but just as good. 

This past Monday, we met up for a potluck dinner and to talk about the book. The rain and heavy storms kept a lot of people away but we're hoping for a bigger crowd next month when we discuss The Innocents by Francesca Segal. I'm especially excited to read this one because it's described as  "combining 'Gossip Girl' with every one of your own dramatic family get-togethers."

Wishful Thinking.

{Photo}

Currently wishing for:

+ The arrival of my Harry Potter books

+  Eloquent writing skills (Ahem,  Abby)

+ Energy after 6 pm

+  A boyfriend who can discuss both politics and sitcoms

+ An organized desk

On Eating Animals

I read this book a couple of weeks ago and it made quite the impression, almost to the point that I wish I hadn't read it. I've always been weary of meat, specifically red, which will forever annoy my parents since I grew up on a cattle farm. Poultry and seafood have always been delicious, though. Most days I had a turkey sandwich for lunch and never tired of it. 


After reading this book, I haven't been able to eat any meat. I was knocked off my high horse when I read how terrible the poultry market of production is, specifically for chickens and turkeys. It's unbelievable what the animals and farmers go through to get food on the table.


Earlier in the summer, I bought a "The Joy of Cooking" book from the 1950s and noticed in many of the recipes how long was necessary back then to cook a chicken. It bordered on two hours for some recipes and I couldn't figure out why it now takes us less than 30 minutes to prepare chicken. One reason Eating Animals honed in on was the growing presence of antibiotics in the food we eat and how it's slowly eroding our immune systems, but we view it as convenience to make a quick meal. 


I know this book is extreme but Foer makes a lot of jaw dropping points that have very little to do with his opinion (he became a vegetarian while writing the book) on eating meat and everything to do with what the current production system is doing to our bodies and the environment. 


Regardless of your stance on the food industry, it's a book that will certainly surprise you.

Books You Shouldn't Read in Public.

I am a huge fan of coffee shop reading. It's noisy enough in there to create a dull roar and when my eyes need a break, I can do some prime people watching. Sometimes when I read a really funny book, I have to stay at home to avoid those wondering stares from fellow coffee shoppers who wonder what sort of drug was placed in my iced coffee to make me smirk and laugh when I'm reading. Here's a rundown of the books that are better read at home:

1. Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicholson, by Louise Rennison


This book is the diary of a 14-year-old girl who has a cat named Angus and is more or less obsessed with snogging. I'm fairly sure guys wouldn't understand a bit of this one but ladies, this was us in middle and early high school. Apparently British girls are no more mature than we were and it's a universal fact that we often wished our parents were invisible during this stage of life.  

2. Bridget Jones's Diary, by Helen Fielding


Good golly. I'm a decade late on reading this but it was worth the wait. If you've ever suffered through unrequited love, done something embarrassing, worn the wrong thing, or made New Year's resolutions that were impossible to keep, then this book was made for you.  Again, British humor at its finest.

3. About A Boy, by Nick Hornby


If this book had been written by an American author, I doubt it I would have put it on the list. But if you haven't figured it out yet, I REALLY like the way British authors write and the way British people speak. It's a great plot, very entertaining, but what really pulled me in was the dialogue between characters. You can feel uncomfortableness oozing out anytime a conversation is happening...or when a conversation should be happening.

4. My Booky Wook, by Russell Brand


Okay, so here's the deal with this one: I like Russell Brand. I think he's attractive and his British accent only reinforces that. A lot of people don't like him and that's okay...but they probably shouldn't read this book. It's almost written in a different language- one that was coined by a British comedian who finds his past of drug and sex addiction hysterically funny. Disclaimer: This book will make you blush just as much as it makes you chuckle.

5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain


I know this book is offensive with its language but it's also incredibly funny. The part where Huck dresses up as a girl to get food will make you gasp for air. No, really, it will. 

6. The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible, by A.J. Jacobs


In the introduction to the book, Jacobs describes himself like this-

"I’m officially Jewish but I’m Jewish in the same way the Olive Garden is an Italian restaurant." 

In case the title didn't give it away, this book is about one guy who decides to live by all the Bible's rules for a year. He makes a master list only to discover there are more than 600 rules he has to live by. Some make sense (the Ten Commandments) and others seem downright bizarre (not wearing clothes of mixed fibers).  I would venture to say this is the funniest piece of nonfiction ever written. So basically you will look like a fool laughing by yourself while reading and then when people see the title of the book, they will think one of two things: 1- that you think the Bible is funny, which is dangerous here in the Bible belt, or 2- that you are some sort of Jesus freak. 


That's all I've got for now! I make no promises that you will feel smarter after reading these books.

Just Kids

So I just finished reading Just Kids by Patti Smith and I have to suggest that you read it too. I didn't know anything about Patti Smith except that she was a rockstar and picked the book up on a whim. Her writing is incredible and drops names like Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin so humbly that you'd think she was talking about a passerby on the street. Her memoir is more about the grit of gaining status than about the glamour, so does that make her more of a rockstar?

What We Did.

In 4 short days, Elizabeth and I managed to do all this:

Visited the Met 

Stared at the Statue of Liberty

Took a tour of Brooklyn Brewery

Watched a couple get married at Grand Central 

Scored some handmade jewelry at Artists & Fleas

Mistook this guy for the real Naked Cowboy

Hung out with Jerry and his friends at Tom's Restaurant

....and a whole lot more that I didn't take pictures of! Elizabeth and I pounded the pavement for about 12 hours everyday shopping and doing all kinds of good stuff, including a tour of NBC Studios and visiting the Strand Books, which boasts 18 miles of books. Such a perfect weekend!

Currently Reading.

Last week, I tested out the limit on books one can check out at the library. I came out with these, several were suggested by Abby. My Goodreads account is a lifesaver in a library pinch, too. 

10 Irrational and Practical Fears

These are some of my fears, in no particular order:

1. Mice and sharks (Can you imagine the terror if these two joined forces?)
2. Talking to men
3. Being boring
4. Never being successful
5. Never living outside of NC for any amount of time
6. Falling down stairs
7. Getting hit in the eye with scissors
8. Teaching Shakespeare to high school students
9. The dark
10. Large bodies of water

Fear number eight has become my life from 8:25 am until 10 am everyday for the next couple of weeks. Not only is Shakespeare difficult to read, he also wrote (or plagiarized, who knows) some intricate plots. Despite studying him in high school, again in college, and even going to the Globe Theater to see King Lear when I studied abroad, I will never feel comfortable with teaching his works to a group of sleepy teenagers who would rather be reading Twilight.

The best book.

Over the next couple of weeks, I have to write an essay defining my personal criteria for a good novel and then choose one novel that I think is the best. With such a broad topic, I'm at a loss for what novel to write about. How is it possible to pick one? That's like asking what kind of bear is best- there's no right answer!

Right now my top contenders are:

The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Life of Pi by Yann Martel
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

They all have something unique about them and makes it hard to select one as the champion. Salinger's humor over Morrison's symbolism? Martel's plot over Twain's puns?

HELP ME DECIDE. (Especially you, Abby Pratt.)

Fall booklist.

School starts back up in measly 10 days. I just checked my booklist for the fall and it was a whopping three pages long, full of 21 books that I get to buy. It made me a little sad to think about the fact that reading 21 assigned books over four months won't leave me very much time to cross many titles off this list.

My current reads are Life of Pi by Yann Martel and Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides.

Image via {wit+delight}

broken

Broken by Daniel Clay

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


After the first few pages, I was turned off by how much Clay was trying to imitate To Kill a Mockingbird in such an obvious manner (i.e. solicitor Archie being the father of Jed and Skunk) but it turned out to be a lot more than that.

There were a couple of things that I thought could have been better. One was the way Clay developed Skunk's character. It's clear he was never an 11 year old girl. He made her thoughts seem way too elementary. Another thing that threw me off was the language in the book. Children were using a lot of "French" to talk to each other and adults, in school, etc. That seems like a silly complaint to have but seeing as how the author was adamant on making it known he was modeling it after To Kill a Mockingbird, it did seem inappropriate.

Other than that, I would recommend it. The violent imagery was enough to make me squirm. And the plot was good enough to keep me up way past my bedtime when I couldn't quit reading.

In the end, it does seem like a darker version of The Lovely Bones and To Kill a Mockingbird. Narrated by Skunk, a girl in a coma who can see everything unfolding, it digs into the social prejudices often overlooked- domestic violence, teen pregnancy and flaws in the judicial system.

View all my reviews >>

Nancy Drew is old.

For those of you who say Twitter is useless, I say something witty that shuts you down entirely.

I loved reading all about Nancy Drew and her ability to solve just about any crime and wear a pencil skirt while doing it. Now Fred Flare, an online retailer, is celebrating her 80th birthday with a "serialized fashion mystery." Thank goodness somebody tweeted about it or I would've never known!

Check it out here.