Thursday, August 18, 2011

Summer Reading

I have discussed my love and addiction before, so I will not bore you with another rant on that topic. Rather here is a photo of all the books I have purchased this summer - this does not include the many other books that I read.

Here is a list of the books pictured above with my opinion on them [keep in mind I am very easily entertained]

1. Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay - This wasn't my absolute favorite, but it was a good read. Explored a topic that I personally did not know very much about and had me near tears several times. Had some language to it but overall it was good.

2. Left Neglected by Lisa Genova - LOVED this book! It was a fast read, clean book (which isn't the easiest to find), and it really makes you think about what is important in life and where your priorities should be.

3. Born to Run by Christopher McDougall - This was another book that I absolutely loved! This is a nonfiction book about runners and why humans are designed to be runners. After reading this book I wanted to get a pair of barefoot running shoes...but I haven't been fully converted to that yet!

4. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell - I haven't actually read this one yet (I just got it for my birthday) but I read another book by Gladwell earlier this summer and love his style so I am excited for this one.

5. One Day by David Nicholls - This was another book that I was just satisfied with and not overly enthused about. It had some language, but was a very unique book (each chapter was a year apart showing a single day in the friendship of two people). I was disappointed with the ending though, it was kind of depressing, which left me simply satisfied with it. Although I am planning on seeing the movie!

6. Room by Emma Donoghue - I started this book today and so far I love it. It is told from the point of view of a five-year old, so a very ugly situation is portrayed through an innocent mind. And from what I have heard about it, this will probably be a tear jerker.

7. Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks - I have not read this one yet either - another birthday present - but it is Nicholas Sparks. I love his books. Granted they are predictable (stranger comes to small town, has a secret, falls in love with someone from the town, they secret comes out in inconvenient circumstances, but they get through it and live happily every after), but I love a good romance. I'm a sap.

8. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell - SO GOOD!! I loved this book! Very interesting and gives you a different perspective on why people are successful and why some are not. I would recommend this book to any one. It is a sociological sort of book, but it is written in a very entertaining manner. This is probably my number one recommendation right now.

9. 127 Hours by Aron Ralston - This guy's story is incredible. I got this book because I had seen the movie and wanted to read the real story. The book is great, but while reading it I kept thinking he had it coming because he was always in life threatening situations. This one had language too, but then again he had his arm pinned to a wall for 127 hours too soooo, I don't blame him there.

10. Charlie St. Cloud by Ben Sherwood - Have you seen the movie? It's almost exactly the same. So I was kind of bored reading it since it was so similar, but it was good and there were some differences. I enjoyed it and I am sure I will read it again.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Teenage Dream

Welp. My teenage years are over. Just like that I have left behind my teen years and am entering the world of adulthood. Yikes. Haha, just kidding! I know this is super ridiculous but I already have fears of getting older. Hence the reason behind the 20 things to do before turning 20 - I needed something to get me excited about being 20. And let me just say it definitely helped because I am so ready for this 20th year and what it might bring!

There are a couple of things on my list that I wasn't able to finish but by the end of the year I should hopefully have them done. I am planning on going to Florida to see Kaitlyn at the end of this semester (she is going to be working at Walt Disney World and will be able to get me into the parks!) and then I am going to be driving across the Golden Gate bridge in just a couple of weeks because I am running a Ragnar Relay in San Francisco and part of the route sends us right over the bridge. I can play through Nearer My God To Thee but I am super slow with it so I won't pass it off just yet. Since starting this I visited the Las Vegas Temple and Draper Temple, but wasn't able to make it to any other ones that I hadn't already been to - but hopefully I will make it to a few more this semester! The last thing on my list was expressing emotions, which is something that is hard for me to do (I just keep everything in and then something dumb will happen and it will be the straw on the camel's back that makes me burst into tears and I end up sobbing uncontrollably - it drives my dad crazy) but I have definitely been getting better about it, though I am not crossing it off yet cause I just feel weird doing that! So yeah, I did everything else on my list and had an absolute blast doing it!

My summer break is just about over, but it has been a great summer! Just one year left to go and I will be a BYU graduate! Woohoo!!