Double-Stacked Bookshelves

Teaser Tuesdays:  The Night Circus 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 this week's teaser: "In response, Celia goes to the wall and removes a thin Ottoman dagger with a jade hilt from where it hangs with its partner.  Holding it in her right hand, she places her left palm down on the billiard table, over the scattered cards.  Without hesitating, she plunges the blade into the back of her hand, piercing through skin and flesh and cards and into the felt underneath." --page 281           The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern Though the verdict's still out on how I feel about this book (roughly 95% finished), I'm holding out until the end to see how it all pans out before making up my mind completely... Happy reading!

Cecelia Ahern's PS, I Love You Logistics Title:  P.S. I Love You Author:  Cecilia Ahern Published:  January 5, 2005 Publishing Company:  Hyperion Page Count:  470 Summary via Goodreads Holly couldn't live without her husband Gerry, until the day she had to. They were the kind of young couple who could finish each other's sentences. When Gerry succumbs to a terminal illness and dies, 30-year-old Holly is set adrift, unable to pick up the pieces. But with the help of a series of letters her husband left her before he died and a little nudging from an eccentric assortment of family and friends, she learns to laugh, overcome her fears, and discover a world she never knew existed. My Thoughts I love just about everything Cecelia Ahern has written, aside from one book (more on that in an upcoming post), but I put off reading PS for ages for one simple reason...Hilary Swank.  Yes, the book came out prior to the film, but her casting in the ...

I always swore that I would never, Never, NEVER read Cecilia Ahern's novel PS, I Love You .  Why so adamant, you might ask.  Well, let me tell you in two simple words:  Hilary Swank.  I haven't picked this book up because of the movie (which I've yet to see) because I can't stand Hilary Swank for some odd reason.  It's strange.  I don't mind her in Freedom Writers or even in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the original), but for some inexplicable reason there is something about her that grates on my nerves.  It's the same way my friend Margaret feels about Julia Roberts, whom I like a lot.  And another aspect of the film that grates...she's NOT American!!!  Ugh.  Screw you, Hollywood! Anyway...while wandering through a bookstore in Portland, I came across a copy of PS that was not a movie promotion copy (I prefer the non-movie cover ones) and it was only two dollars.  And, being me, I caved and bought the damn thing.  I've loved...

Initially I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy Jennifer Weiner's Best Friends Forever because I'm not much of a Chick Lit reader, but I was pleasantly surprised.  It was entertaining, engaging, and I always wanted to see what would happen next.  Perhaps this was more a reflection of Weiner's writing style rather than the genre; I guess I'll have to explore it a little more. Friends follows the tumultuous relationship between Addie and Valerie.  They first meet when they are nine years old and become immediate friends.  As the two grow older, they experience the harsh realities of middle school and, more devastating, high school.  It is during a specific episode in high school where their friendship is changed forever.  Fast forward twenty years later and it is time for their high school reunion.  Valerie has become a pseudo local celebrity while Addie has never moved away and continued to work from her childhood home.  Addie refuses to go to the reunion ...

It's Wednesday (halfway through the workweek) and that means it's time for Why I Love.  Now I know I haven't been a dedicated Why I Love poster these past few weeks, but I am trying to remedy that.  Instead of reading through student journals and midterm exams I am choosing to actually write a post for this week's topic:  Love Stories . I, like nearly every girl out there, love a good love story.  Though I don't generally gravitate toward "happy ending" books, sometimes you need a little pick me up amidst the melancholy.  This is where a good love story comes into play.  While a lot of the times love stories tend to follow the same pattern, there are a few that really stick out in my mind.  Here, in random order, are my picks for favorite love stories: Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice I absolutely love the story of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy...mainly because I want my very own Mr. Darcy (Colin Firth-esque).  I like the fact that they start as...