Working Out

I have been working out more consistently. Extra motivation always helps. 

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan

I almost loved this book. Until I got to near the end. Some people (especially people who are conservative) will not like it.

This is a reworking of The Scarlet Letter. Hannah Payne has become pregnant and she has an abortion. In this book, an abortion is illegal and considered murder. Criminals also have their skin dyed a color based on their crime. Because Hannah is convicted of murder, her sentence is to have red skin for 16 years.

I liked the basis of the book. A dystopian society where the government has extra control over its people. There were a few bits in it that I could do without. But overall it was a good read.

Spring, Books and Movies

1. There are 17 school days until Spring Break. I did not realize that it was so soon.

2. I listen to books on CD. I have realized they only ones I listen to are ones the voice actors have British accents. And then I like to try to talk like them.

3. We might be moving soon. And the new place doesn't have a good library. It doesn't even have a website...so that is not awesome. Of course, I have never visited it so I guess I shouldn't judge yet. How am I going to reach my 50 books this year with a poorly stocked library?

4. Chris and I saw Chronicle this weekend. I thought it was the best (only) movie I have seen in theaters this year. I really did like it. 3.8/5.0 stars. I did not like how it was shot in steady cam.

My Valentine

Valentine's Day is not my favorite. It is a nice day and there are never enough reasons to eat chocolate, but I could live without it. 

However, I do have a favorite person. And there are never enough reasons to spend time with him. I love him.

Veracity By Laura Bynum

I loved this book. It was the first book I read in a while the I devoured. It took me 2 days to finish it and would have been shorter if not for work.

It is a dystopian novel. This society monitors everyone and controls the words that they speak. There is a chip imbedded in everyone's neck that shocks them if they say a forbidden word. Words like revolution, library, discriminate, and fossil are on the Red List. It is a police state and the Blue Coats have authority to arrest, judge, sentence and carry out punishments all at one time.

The book starts with Harper Adams running away from this society. She is a monitor and she works for the new government targeting people who might be dangerous. Her backstory is told every other chapel and we learn more about why she chose to run.

The book was suspenseful and had more background about the society than other dystopian books I've read. I was a bit unsure exactly how Harper Adam's job worked and would have liked more information about her and her boss. He seemed more important to the story than we were told.

For the most part, it is a clean book. Whenever the Blue Coats show up, it gets vulgar.

This book shows what society would be like if the government were to take all our rights. While it is an extreme position, I think we should cautious now when laws and acts are passed that limit our rights in the United States. While little steps might be taken to protect us, I don't want to see our rights slowly taken away.

Bring it On The Musical

Do you like musicals?
Do you like Bring it On?
Do you like to be happy?

If you answered yes to all these questions, this might be the musical for you.

I bet you haven't even heard of it. It has just got out of workshop and starting to tour the country. It doesn't even have a soundtrack CD yet, which is a shame when I really want to listen to the music. I watch this Youtube video to get me through it while I wait.




Towards the end it did start to feel too much like High School Musical. And just because it takes place in high school does not mean it should've. Lots of musicals take place in high school and don't feel like that.

Commercial

I didn't watch the Superbowl so I didn't see this commercial. But it is my favorite. I love NBC and if I could only watch 3 channels, NBC would be one of them.




It makes me extremely happy to see Community here.

Another List

1. As long as you read books, I don't judge you, mostly. Unless you read Extreme Conservative Non-Fiction, Weird Self-Help books and Romance novels (as in real romance novels, not two people fall in love novels.) You might as well have a sign that says "Idiot."

2. I wrote this whole post on being a teacher and how I was frustrated that people discredit teachers as real people and that teacher's jobs are so easy. But it was a little rant-y, so I deleted it. Can we all just agree that everyone's job is hard? Unless you get to pet puppies all day long. If you really thing teacher's jobs are easy, let me know. I'll give you my rant.

3. A combination of Downton Abbey and reading a prequel to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies has me re-reading Pride and Prejudice. I like it so much better this time around.

4. The best part of the Super Bowl is the food. And I had no idea what a safety was until last night.

5. Downton Abbey is really good. And the first season in on Netflix streaming. Always a bonus.

Goodreads

Here is my new obsession. Goodreads. I joined it years ago but just started using it consistently. I can browse all day looking at books to read. My to-read list is long and I am trying to knock books off of it. But I just keep adding to it. Plus, it is a great way to find books similar to books I have already read and liked.

So join, become my friend.

Books I Didn't Finish

Seed By Rob Ziegler

I was really looking forward to reading this book. Chris found it at Barnes and Noble and it sounded exactly like the type of book I would read. A society in the future where the government controls the food supply. Or a robot controls it. I only read about 40 pages of it. It didn't really get into the story it was supposed to. And there was a lot of language. And the characters spoke in a mix of English and Spanish. Maybe someday I'll start it again.

Reading the OED by Ammon Shea

This was a non-fiction book about a guy who read all 21,730 pages of the Oxford English Dictionary. It was kind of like reading a dictionary. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it wasn't quite what I expected. He goes on for 3-4 pages about what it was like to read the dictionary, and then gives a list of interesting words he found in a certain letter. I made it to "D."

Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe

I like Rob Lowe. I currently love him in Parks and Rec. But this book was like he was trying to hard. I am going to assume that he had a ghost writer and there is a reason he doesn't have his own book deal. There were good stories (from what I read) but just too much. I got probably 25 pages in.

Engagement Pictures

Charleah and Steven are engaged! And these are my favorite pictures of them that I took a few weeks ago. I think they look adorable but Charleah is super picky about them. And I can say that and post them here because she doesn't even read this.