A Bookish Update of Sorts....

I'm sorry for not posting for a whole week and a 3 days! I'm a bad blogger, I know. I'm 50% forgetful and 50% procrastinator, so if you're reading this thanks for sticking around :) Updates:

1. My dad, otherwise known as Man Who Gave Me Love for Books and Words In General, (I know, it's a long name. Actually, I'm the only one who calls him that.) bought me a book. Not just any book. THE book that I've been keeping my eye on for three months, waiting for it to go on sale. He bought me The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemmingway and I finished it three days later. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone, although the writing style threw me off at first. It was a lot more sentimental than any other book by Hemmingway

2. I finished The Hobbit and Mockingjay this week. I'm not gonna lie, when I read the last few words of Mockingjay I cried a little inside. It's always like this when I finish a good trilogy/series. Goodbye, old friend!

3. Yesterday my dad (You know, MWGMLFBAWIG) took me to a Poetry Slam. It was nothing short of amazing and I can't wait to go again next month. He also took me book shop hopping afterwards where I bought the cutest and most expensive travel journal I've ever seen.

4. Today I was window shopping for books and I lamented to my sister the lack of online book review sites so you can steer clear of reads that are dishonoring to God. Well as I was Googling for something completely different, I came across this site that does exactly that! It's worth checking out if you're considering buying a book.

What have you been up to readers?
Are you getting sick of my book-ranting? If so, what other topics would you like to hear about? Honesty is welcome! :)

P.S. Doesn't this book look interesting?

Wise words

Truth if I've ever heard it:
(click to enlarge in new window)
Moral of the story: Don't give up. The beginning is always the hardest.

What are you doing this weekend? I'm going on a youth camp and I'm SO excited!

Poetry

I mentioned briefly in a previous post my infatuation with poetry. Here are some of my favorites:

5. Water Lilies by Sarah Teasdale
This poem is beautiful.

4. Various poems from Stephen Crane
I know that he was cynical and sometimes dark, but Stephen Crane makes his points strongly in all of his poems. Here are some of my favorites from him: The Wayfarer, In The Desert, and War is Kind.

3. The Dream Keeper by Langston Hughes
There's something about this simple poem that just gets me. I have it hanging up in Walden and it inspires me to not listen to my inner editor while I write!

2. Evening Star by Edgar Allan Poe
There is nothing I love so much as personification of nature in poetry.

1. Somewhere I Have Never Travelled by E. E. Cummings
Also "I thank you God for most this amazing" by the same author.


So those are my favorites, what are yours? Also, I've been looking for more Christian poets. Not look-at-nature-and-how-God-made-it poems, but thinking poems originating from a Christian world view. Do you know of any?
Enjoy the rest of your public holiday, SA readers!

I'm back!

Alright so I've been neglecting this poor little blog for the last few weeks. At first I forgot, and then I procrastinated. So I'm sorry, blog! And I'm sorry any readers who have visited for the last few weeks, expecting to read up on literary happenings and coming to a barren, empty, desert.

BUT

I'm back! And I will be back to normal, to one or two posts a week. In my world of books, I've finished Anna Karenina (my new favorite! Swoon!), read through the Little Prince for probably the fifth time this year, and I am now working my way through the Scarlet Letter.

What have you been reading?


(photo of the return of the Mona Lisa to the Louvre after the war, Paris, 1945, via Vic. Doesn't it give you goosebumps?)

"You asked me once what I would remember – this and much more."

I don't like sentimentality in writing. It's always been drilled into me that writers should just present the facts to keep their readers loyal.
But today my sister is leaving home for at least a year.
And I will be as sentimental as I want. Sappy, even, because she is my sister and one of my best friends. I've always known that goodbyes would be inevitable in a family as diverse as mine, yet I never knew how unprepared I'd feel.
There are so many words to say, so many things to remember before sending my sister on her way that I feel helpless to relay our 16-year history in such a short span of time. So if I could say anything in the world right now, I'd say these three words: Please don't forget. Don't forget the tea parties we used to have with our mini plastic tea set with that bright pink, germ-infested tea pot we used to love so much. Don't forget the time we both stayed home with a cold, me from preschool, you from the second grade, and ate popcorn while watching Ice Age. Don't forget the years we laughed and played and fought with our cousins. Don't forget the sleepovers, sleepless nights, the fights, all those times I scared you, all those times you stuck up for me, and all we shared in this thing called Life. We're growing up, and I don't like it much, but may these years be the best ones of our lives.
I will miss you
but it's not forever.
After all, are we not two volumes of the same book?

I want to live here

source: stumbleupon.com

A Few Sweet Things

Source I love this quote!


Hey there, readers! So it's a start to another week full of busy-ness and work. I thought I'd start you off with a few links to sweeten the load :)


Dying to put some of these in Walden


Do you have a friend like this? I do (Holla, Kelsey!)


Sweet thoughts on my new favorite movie, Tangled


I've been loving this song by The Head and The Heart lately.


Watch Blair Wingo perform some crazy soul stirring poetry. It's 9 minutes long but I promise it's worth it.


That's it for now. Have a great week!

JULIAN SMITH - I'm Reading a Book

I feel like this whenever I start to read the Hunger Games and get called to do chores.

Bookfessions

I came across the cutest tumblr.


source

source

source

It's so hilarious and true! People write in with their confessions of how much they love books. I can relate to most of these, especially the last one. I'm going to the mall on Friday and the only reason I'm excited is because I'm getting my paycheck this week and I can buy myself a new book! Check out more bookfessions here