#weekly lists

This list could go on forever, so to keep it short, I've only included places that actually exist. Also, all of these places save the last two are in Europe or the US, which I blame myself for for not reading enough books set elsewhere :(

Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier- Dutch countryside

I've been to Amsterdam, but Girl with a Pearl Earring is set in Delft (in 1664, which might be tricky...) and the setting in this book is as much a character as Griet or Vermeer or anyone. It's a gorgeous use of setting and I would love a time machine to visit it, but I would settle for modern Delft as well.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson- Sweden

Sweden in general has always interested me because my grandma's family is from there, but this book (and the Swedish movie version, which is both excellent and on Netflix) solidified my desire to go there. It's set both in Stockholm and in a fictional tiny town called Hedestad and both are portrayed really well.

The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen- any beach town for the summer

This could go for any of Dessen's books set in Colby, but this one is the most recent. There's something about a Sarah Dessen book that really makes me want to spend the whole summer in a tiny beach town eating ice cream and falling in love and mending my broken family dynamics.

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray and Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro- the English countryside

This one's a two-parter. I read AGATB in high school and it kindled an obsession with Victorian England that lasted through my college experience. So much so that in 2011 I studied abroad in Norfolk based almost entirely on my love for this series and Harry Potter. Then earlier this year I read Never Let Me Go, which contains this really lovely passage about Norfolk being a place where you find the things you've lost. The passage really spoke to me for a lot of reasons I won't get into to save space and now I desperately wish to go back there and revisit my old haunts and maybe find some new ones (which may sound silly to any actual English people, since Norfolk is seen as sort of the hillbilly cousin of the rest of the country, but there it is).

A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly- the Catskills

A Northern Light didn't spark my love of mountains, but it exploded the already-burning embers, to say the least. I love mountains. I love trees. I love slow rambling hikes. I want to go- preferably in 1906, but I'll settle for this century.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein- France

I went to a lot of places while I was in Europe, but I never made it to France and I am kicking myself retroactively for not taking that opportunity. Once you look underneath the whole War is Terrible and the Worst part, Code Name Verity makes me want to eat bread while walking down a French country lane with my best gal on a Sunday morning.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares- Greek Islands

I have been to Athens and a small port town on the western shore of Greece, but I have never been to the islands. Lena's parts of Sisterhood really give a lot of life to the white and blue houses and winding lanes traversable only by foot or donkey of Santorini, although if I met a cute boy there, I'd make sure not to needlessly obsess over him for the rest of my entire life. Just saying.

Orleans by Sherri L. Smith- New Orleans

I have sort of a personal mission never to visit the South, but I would make an exception for New Orleans. If anything, this book makes me want to visit all the beautiful places on Earth before the human race inevitably destroys them all.

Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor- Morocco

I've wanted to go to Morocco for a long time, but this series made me want to even more. I almost did once, but decided not to at the last moment because I didn't want to go by myself. I'd drink all the mint tea my body could hold and buy spices in bulk to bring home with me.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams- space

I just really want to traverse the universe on a talking spaceship.

Honorable fictional mentions: anywhere in the Wizarding world, Eretz, the Seven Kingdoms/the Middluns, Tortall, Middle Earth.

This one was pretty easy, because most of the YA I read is obscure YA that no one else has read or popular YA but 5 years after everyone else, so non-YA is a safe topic for me. I steered away from classics because that's really a different dynamic than just non-YA.

Top Five non-YA books:

Backseat Saints by Joshilyn Jackson- this is a heavy book- it deals with a lot of upsetting situations. But it was definitely worth it, in my opinion. It's one of those books that I read at exactly the right time in my life and it really means a lot to me. It's a rare thing for me to say a book changed my life, but this one did.

Room by Emma Donoghue- another heavy book. A lot of people didn't seem to like this one because the narrator doesn't feel like a normal kid. Don't even get me started on how wrong those people are. I could go on for days about how wrong those people are. This book definitely has its oddities (the author is Irish and she uses a lot of Ireland-specific words and grammar, even though the story is set in California??), but I loved it. I'm excited for the movie!

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams- what a shocker. Absolutely hilarious books, definitely on my Must Read at Some Point in Your Life list.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness- you could call this YA if you want, but you could just as easily call it middle grade or children's or adult. It defies age-based genre, in my opinion. And it's amazing. It's the only book in the whole world that's ever made me cry and it'll probably kill you. But like, in a good way. Also excited for this movie!

The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch- this is one of my favorite books from my early childhood and it's not your average princess story. It's all about inner beauty, not putting up with a boy's bad personality just because he's a prince, how dragons are actually pretty neat, and how even if someone "rescues you" that doesn't mean you owe them your love.

This is the time of year when I start reading things specifically to finish certain challenges, so it's a bit of a ragtag group of books.

Top Ten Books on My Fall TBR List

The rest of the books for the Tortall Readathon- Trickster's Choice (I'm about 1/5 through ish), Trickster's Queen, Terrier, Bloodhound, and Mastiff all by Tamora Pierce

The rest of my TBR for the Treesofreverie Readathon- 2 books from #1, Snail Mail No More by Ann M Martin and Paula Danziger, and The World of Pooh by AA Milne

Cinder by Marisa Meyer- I bought this in July and I told my friend I'd read it and then I didn't because I'm terrible.

The Selection by Kiera Cass- I've seen super mixed reviews for this one, but I requested it from the library anyway, because it was... there?? Idk why I requested it, really, but I believe I'm now #3 on the list.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley- I'm saving this one for Halloween time. I was supposed to read this in high school, but I sort of didn't and I need a 19th century classic for a challenge.

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens- I somehow own 3 copies of this book and it's probably about time I actually read it, plus I need a "Classic About War" for a challenge and I believe this is set in the French Revolution, so I'm counting it.

Battle Royale by Koushun Takami- this has been on my TBR forever and I need an alternate history for a challenge, so bam! Two in one!

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn- I really want to read one of her books because I hear great things and I picked this up for $1, so it's sort of a match made in heaven.

Harry Potter by JK Rowling- I haven't reread Harry Potter since 2008 or 2009 and it is time to remedy that! I'm not gonna put it off any longer! (I'm kidding. I'll probably put it off longer.)

I don't know! I'm intentionally leaving this blank, because the truth is I'm terrible at planning in advance when it comes to what to read next. I usually just pick whatever looks best at the time, which I won't know until I'm already reading it.

A wild Tuesday appears. This one was pretty easy. There are a lot of authors I've only read one book from, but picking the top ten was surprisingly easy. I left out series that I haven't finished, because that would have been a lot harder.

Top Ten Authors I Need to Read A Second Book From:

Elizabeth Wein- I read Code Name Verity in July and I loved it. I was completely blown away by how much I loved it, because I really wasn't expecting it at all. I was dismayed at first to see there was a sequel, because I'm wary of sequels, but Rose Under Fire I guess is more of a companion novel, so I'm excited to read it.

Kazuo Ishiguro- I read Never Let Me Go in March and was expecting to love this one, because I saw the movie when it was out and I really liked it. I bought Remains of the Day a few weeks ago, so I hope I'll enjoy that one too.

Emma Donaghue- I read Room in two sittings in June. It was absolutely captivating. Once I got into it, I couldn't put it down. She has a collection of fairytale retellings I'm very exited to read, because I love fairytale retellings.

Jennifer Donnelly- A Northern Light is one of my favorite books ever and it has been since the day I finished it- in 2006. I can't really believe I've never read another of her books considering how much I love it. It's a little embarrassing.

Oscar Wilde- I read The Importance of Being Earnest for a drama class in August 2010 and I thought it was so hilarious, it was one of the funniest things I've ever read. I played Lady Bracknell in a scene reading for the class and got to channel my inner Judy Dench for it, which was amazing. I've had The Picture of Dorian Gray and An Ideal Husband on my Kindle for like 2 and a half years and somehow haven't read them yet.

Tracy Chevalier- I read Girl with a Pearl Earring in June and fell in love with its very simple but evocative writing. It's about a painting and it reads like a painting. I loved it enough that I bought my own copy about a week after returning the library copy, even though I had no intention of rereading it so soon. I just had to have it.

Beverly Cleary- I have a secret love for vintage YA. There's something about simple, chaste stories where they blush at each other for 300 pages and then maybe kiss exactly once at the end. I don't know why, but I love it. I've read The Luckiest Girl at least 4 times. It's cheesy and sugary sweet and super 50s, but I love love love it. I want more.

Marisa Silver- I read Mary Coin in January (a lot of these come from this year- I guess it's been a good reading year!) on a total whim. I really enjoyed it. I recommended it to both my parents, but neither have read it, which makes me a little sad, but I'll get over it. The God of War also sounds really interesting, I'd love to read it someday.

Carol Plum-Ucci- This is another one (like #4) where the book I read is one of my favorites, but someway somehow I've never read another by the author. What Happened to Lani Garver is a super intense book. I actually read it at the recommendation of my high school librarian (I know- I was that nerd who actually used the high school library). I've been meaning to read The Body of Christopher Creed for a long time. I'm not sure why I haven't yet.

Honoré de Balzac- I read Le Père Goriot (Old Man Goriot) for a 19th-century lit class in April 2011. I honestly was expecting it to be the most boring book ever, I thought I would hate it, but I was so surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Balzac wrote a huge body of work called the Comédie humaine (Human Comedy) that features a lot of the same cast of characters crossing into each other's stories, which is exactly how I write my own stories, so I'm really interested to see how that all works out. I probably won't read the whole Comédie humaine because there more than 100 works in it, but I'd like to read some.

Never done Top Five Wednesday before, but I'm excited to start :)

Top 5 Series I Won't Finish:

1. The Georgia Nicholson series by Louise Rennison

There are 10 books in this series and I've read 9 of them. I've often considered just going ahead and reading the tenth because it's just one book and then it'll be over and I can say I've read the whole thing. But I started losing interest in the series around book 6 and I just have zero motivation to read the last book at all. I even gave the first 9 books to a thrift shop last year because I was so apathetic to them.

2. The Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich

I take issue with a lot of these series that go on for 20 or 30 books (this one currently has 21). I'm cool with it as long as the plots remain fresh and the characters grow, but these books lost their hold on me around book 14. I think I read book 15, but I honestly can't remember. Once you get to around book 10, I have trouble remembering which book had which plot and I got really frustrated that the narrator had so little character growth over so many books. This series started in 1994 and 20 years later, she's still in the same love triangle she was then. I just got tired of it.

3. The Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

I only read the first book in this series and I just didn't really like it. I didn't feel anything at all for the main female character, good or bad and I felt like her disabled sister was shoved in there for no reason but to show what a ~good person~ MC was taking care of her. She wasn't her own character, she was just sort of a prop for MC to use and I had a big, big problem with that.

4. The Shadowhunter Saga by Cassandra Clare

I read The Infernal Devices and it was alright. Like it has issues to be sure, but it's practically a masterpiece compared to The Mortal Instruments. I read the first 2 or 3 TMI books because I was genuinely interested in them, although not terribly so. I read the last 3 because my friend and I buddy hate-read them. I don't even want to get into the issues I have with that series, because it woulf take 4 years to type it all. So, naturally, I won't be reading The Dark Artifices when it comes out.

5. The Nancy Drew series by Carolyn Keene

I have a different reason for never finishing this series and it's not because I don't like it, it's because there are 175 Nancy Drew books. I could read 5 Nancy Drew books a year and it would still take 35 years to finish the series. And that's not even including the spinoffs, that's just the main series. Thanks to my sister's childhood mystery obsession, I own 29 of these books and eventually I'll read all of those 29, but I highly doubt I'll ever read the whole series. It's just too long.

it's a late start to week 1 but it doesn't have to be a monday to get started on something. 

i'm going with a 'things to consider doing' and a 'to done' list. i can do what i'm interested in doing this week without feeling forced into one specific subject while still having some kind of general direction. the 'to done' list makes more sense in this case and is also motivational to me.

let's see how this goes!

things to consider doing:

america: the story of us. 12 hours of documentaries. us history.  if anyone is looking for a good 'intro to us history', i think this would be wonderful. it's a lot more living history and a lot less dry documentary. i'm planning to move onto a book called america: a narrative history after this which i already own multiple copies of. 

arabic. need to get through alif baa and then move on to al-kitaab fii ta allum al-arabiyya. already own both. i'd like to start back up with an online class either in the summer or the fall. 

calculus. i'm taking on online calculus class. there are eight chapters in total. i've completed chapter one and i'm around half way through chapter 2. i'm trying to get through it ASAP though because i pay for each month i use. after this, i'm planning to review my weak points in high school math. geometry and pre-calc in particular. i want an 800 on SAT math and the SAT II Math 2 if i can afford to take both. i'm thinking of using ALEKS, the online classes i'm using for calc or just going it alone with some textbooks i already own. after all of that, mit ocw calculus or an open university course are on my radar. i also have a-level maths books. difficult decisions...

psychology. i've jumped in and out of the introduction to psychology lectures offered free online by yale but i want to properly sit down and get through them. i have a family member with a psychological disorder and also suffer from an anxiety disorder that i have been medicated for in the past so it's something i find personally interesting. i need to finish reading the burden of sympathy after that. highly recommended to people who care for someone with a mental illness. 

KISS grammar. i got a 770 on the writing section of the SAT but it's purely an intuitive grasp. i don't know how grammar works. 

a+ study guide to walt whitman. walking book club, man! i also understand nothing about poetry so it should prove useful. downloaded already. 

to done list:

(did a little shifting of weekly lists since I started in the middle of the week last time, lol)

Continue to track my food, daily

Continue workout routine 2-3 times a week

Drink lots of water

Take medication on time

Get enough rest

Register for classes at college (and gain access to gym)

Up my protein intake vs fats and carbs

Goals for the week: 

  Start researching gyms

Get into the habit of recording what I eat

Eat more frequently

Eat healthier meals

Focus on portions

Walk whenever I can

Drink enough water