Double-Stacked Bookshelves

Teaser Tuesday:  Heart-Shaped Box Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Jenn @ A Daily Rhythm . Here are the rules: grab whatever you're reading, open to a random page, select no more than two sentence (NO SPOILERS), share the title and author, and GO! Here's today's teaser: "He turned and looked.  She was naturally pale to begin with, but now her face was bloodless, like polished bone, so she resembled a vampire even more than usual.  He wondered if it was a trick of makeup before he saw that her cheeks were damp, the fine black hairs at her temples pasted down with sweat.  She stood in pajamas, clutching herself and shivering in the cold." --page 70           Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill This book has been on my bookshelf for a long time...figured I'd finally get around to reading it. Happy reading!

Teaser Tuesday:  Flawed Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Jenn @ A Daily Rhythm . Here are the rules: grab whatever you're reading, open to a random page, select no more than two sentence (NO SPOILERS), share the title and author, and GO! Here's today's teaser: "I've learned that to be courageous is to feel fear within, every step of the way.  Courage does not take over, it fights and struggles through every word you say and every step you take.  It's a battle or a dance as to whether to let it pervade.  It takes courage to overcome, but it takes extreme fear to be courageous." --page 107           Flawed by Cecelia Ahern I'm a big fan of Cecelia Ahern's books and this is her first foray into the YA genre.  It's pretty good so are! Happy reading!  

Bout of Books 16 Wrap-Up Sadly, this round of Bout of Books has come to an end.  Though I didn't get nearly as much reading in as I would have liked, I still had a great time!  Here are my overall stats:   Number of Books Read From  3 Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH and Yours Heart is a Muscle the Size of Your Fist and Flawed   Finished Books 2 Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH and Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of Your Fist   Total Number of Pages Read 605   Challenges Completed Four   Fun Had INFINITE!   I'm very excited for the next round of Bout of Books (August 22nd-28th!).  Hope to see you all there!   Happy reading!

Bout of Books 16 To keep track of my progress for the challenge, I will be updating this post listing what I'm reading, what I've finished (if anything), pages read, challenges completed, and thoughts on how the event is going for the week.  Here we go! Day 7 Progress Current Read:   Flawed by Cecelia Ahern Pages Read: 176 Total Pages Read:   605 Books Finished:   Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of Your Fist and Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH Challenges:   None..whomp whomp Thoughts:   I took it super easy on the last day of the challenge and didn't really check in on any social media.  Instead, I stayed in my pajamas and read to my heart's content, watched TV, and drank coffee.  I finally finished my second book of the challenge and dove into my third.  Day 6 Progress Current Read:   Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of Your Fist by Sunil Yapa Pages Read:   88 Total Pages Read :  429 Books Finished:   Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH Challenges

This week's topic is:  Tattoos.  Do you have them?  Why or why not?  Talk about one. I actually got my first tattoo this year...and immediately followed it up with another!  It's true what they say: tattoos are addictive.  It took me a long time to finally get a tattoo because I was indecisive.  I had ideas of what I wanted, but was never totally certain on placement/exact image/etc.  I was also worried that it would be more painful than I wanted it to be.  It took my fiancé making me schedule an appointment to force my decision.  And I'm glad he did because it wasn't painful (really) and now I am on the path to possibly doing a full sleeve!  YIKES!  My first tattoo is totally FOR ME.  I specifically turned it upside down to face me (not the correct placement for tattoos) because I wanted to look at it.  It's not for anyone else's pleasure but my own.  It speaks to my nerdy-ness and my love for Harry Potter and the German language.   The Deathly Hall

Spring has officially begun here in the PNW...we have the allergies to prove it!  Despite the scratchy eyes, runny noses, and overall itchy feeling Spring often gives us, there is still a lot of room for love during the season.  Here are 10 reason why I love Spring! Colorful Flowers The abundance of flowers and colors in Oregon is astounding.  This is the best time of year to really experience a fragrant, beautiful array of eye-candy (the other kind) and freshen up any room.  My favorite is the peony :) Warm Days (that don't get too hot ) I am NOT a fan of warm weather.  Spring (and Fall) offer the type of weather that I am most comfortable in: 60-80ish.  Though we've had a much warmer Spring so far, it hasn't been completely unbearable yet.  I'm very worried about Summer temps though...yikes! BBQ's Galore You really can't beat the smell or taste of BBQ.  And the fact that BBQ's are often comprised of getting together with a group of friends...tha

Today's mini challenge for Bout of Books 16 is 5 Favorites! A simple challenge where you select any categorizing topic you'd like (genre, heroines, trope, cover, anything) and highlight your five favorite books that fall into that category.  Super easy to do, but very difficult to narrow down. My chosen topic is... My Five Favorite Books from Elementary/Middle School The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle  by Avi This is probably one of my favorite books of all time and one I've re-read multiple times since I first discovered it in elementary school.  That's saying a lot since I rarely re-read books.  I loved Charlotte and her relationship with Zachariah and I wanted to go on adventures with them.  Her initiation into the crew left me completely on the edge of my seat and wanting to know what would happen next.  So good!  Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D Taylor I read this in middle school during a phase I went through where I was obsessed

Teaser Tuesday:  Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Jenn @ A Daily Rhythm . Here are the rules: grab whatever you're reading, open to a random page, select no more than two sentence (NO SPOILERS), share the title and author, and GO! Here's today's teaser: "Something was happening in the street.  She saw a woman standing next to Park's horse.  Saw her touching the horse.  Saw Park's baton begin to rise." --page 54           Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist by Sunil Yapa I have been eagerly waiting for this book to become available at the library and finally have it in my hands!  Super excited to read it :) Happy reading!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and it's a way to share what you're loving in list form. The topic changes every week, so there is always something new to discover! This week's topic is:  Top Ten Websites I Love That Aren't About Books .  Let's see what I come up with here! The Bloggess If you've never checked out Jenny Lawson's AWESOME blog, please do so now.  You will laugh.  You will cry.  You might find someone you can relate to.  Her entries can be serious or completely insane...and that's what makes it so beautiful.  Jenny is a hilarious, inspiring individual. Buzzfeed A great time-waster and loads of fun...though sometimes completely ridiculous. Sporcle If you want to waste time, but tease your wrinkly dome, then this is the website for you!  There are brainteasers, quizzes, and fun games galore.  I promise that you will find something to completely wile away your hours. The Huffington Post

Bout of Books 16 I'm very late to the game this year, April and the beginning of May have not been the kindest to me, but I'm totally going to do this round of Bout of Books.  I need this round...badly!  Consider this my sign up post :) The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal .  It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 9th and runs through Sunday, May 15th in whatever time zone you are in.  Bout of Book is low-pressure.  There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional.  For all Bout of Books 16 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog . - From the Bout of Books team   What I hope to accomplish for the challenge: Finish The Walking Dead, Compendium 3 by Robert Kirkman.  I'm about 100 pages in as of now (5/4)...there are nearly 1100 pages.  It is a graphic novel, so there is always the chance that I will