Welcome All!

As you may know, I am currently taking college courses as a part of a scholarship that I received a few months back. Lets just say that I have been reading so much to the point where I refuse to read a textbook for atleast two hours. If the readings weren't mandatory, then I wouldn't have even read any of my textbooks. Anyways, I wanted to just share the few texts I've been reading for school related things. I'm thinking of this as a show and tell rather than an in-depth first impressions of the novels themselves. I thought it would be nice to discuss the covers of the novel, assess the number of pages, and talk about other book related topics!

The placement of the title reminds me of like someone being blindfolded (ex. lady liberty). I think the blurred out/watercolor effect was really neat. The book is about dreams, so I see the connection between the book's concept and the cover art. Also, it is a pretty short read.

This is one of my textbooks for one of the classes I take which is called, "The Logic of Dreams". We study dream theories, how to interpret dreams, psychoanalysis, etc.


I have a few things to say about this book. The first thing is that it's a very lengthy, slow read which is a common theme when it comes to college readings. Second, I enjoy reading about Freud's dreams and his patients dreams. Third, I probably wouldn't want to read this again unless I have the patience to do so.


I have already mentioned Pastoral in a previous post and it was literally called, "Book Chats: Pastoral". If you would like to learn more about this novel, then you should head over to my last Book Chats. Also, I could have finished the novel sooner if it wasn't for all the reading I had to do for my college classes.


André Alexis is not only the author of Pastoral, but he is the author of Fifteen Dogs. Fifteen Dogs is the next book on my list to read and I'm honestly trying to finish Pastoral up as fast as I can to do so.

On a final note, I should hopefully be done with Pastoral soon so that I'll be able to share my first impressions on Fifteen Dogs in next week's post. If you haven't check out my latest post already, then head over to Check-In: College Life to hear about upcoming college posts! I hope you all have a wonderful day and I'll probably talk to you all tomorrow! :)

Welcome All!

I hope you all are having a wonderful week so far. If you're having an uneventful week like me, then you should try sitting down with a good book to read. Personally, I'm reading two books at the same time. The books are Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Pastoral by André Alexis.

 

Pastoral is a newer book since I have only been reading it for about two weeks now. The description on the back of the novel states, "The very first parish Father Christopher Pennant is assigned to is the rural town of Barrow. With more sheep than people, it is sleepily bucolic-too much Barrow Brew on Barrow Day is the rowdiest it gets. But things aren't so idyllic for Liz Denny, whose fiancé doesn't want to have to choose between Liz and his more worldly lover Jane. or for Father Pennant himself, whose faith is profoundly shaken by three 'miracles' he witnesses: a man walking on water, trained gypsy moths and a talking sheep," and it continues, "In this surprising and delightful new novel, the award winning André Alexis tackles fundamental questions of love and faith by bringing a modern sensibility and a new liveliness to an age-old genre, the pastoral."

 

People might be turned off by the religious aspects in the novel, but I have to say that it's more than that. I believe the book is focusing on the struggles surrounding the concept of faith. You could tell by the description when Liz's fiancé can't pick between being faithful to her or being faithful to his feelings about another woman.

 

Besides that, it's a very good book and you should check it out. I especially love the cover even through it was given to me taped up like this. I don't believe that a book should be treated this way because books are very precious in my opinion. 

 

On a final note, I'm currently writing down some favorite quotes/phrases as we speak so stay tuned for that in the next Book Chat. I will hopefully be publishing a "Pack with Me" blog post tomorrow since I'm moving into a dorm room on Sunday! If you haven't check out yesterday's post, then here's the link to Summer Edition: Spring Cleaning. Thank you all for visiting and I'll talk to you all later!

Welcome All!

Recently, its been hard for me to get back into the habit of reading. My junior year of high school has gotten pretty hectic especially these last few weeks. I was able to read a few pages of a new book but was interrupted again by schoolwork. I'm currently reading a novel, A Tale For The Time Being, by Ruth Ozeki. The book has two point of views to match the story. Here's the little description from the Barnes and Noble website:

In Tokyo, sixteen-year-old Nao has decided there’s only one escape from her aching loneliness and her classmates’ bullying. But before she ends it all, Nao first plans to document the life of her great grandmother, a Buddhist nun who’s lived more than a century. A diary is Nao’s only solace—and will touch lives in ways she can scarcely imagine. Across the Pacific, we meet Ruth, a novelist living on a remote island who discovers a collection of artifacts washed ashore in a Hello Kitty lunchbox—possibly debris from the devastating 2011 tsunami. As the mystery of its contents unfolds, Ruth is pulled into the past, into Nao’s drama and her unknown fate, and forward into her own future.

Full of Ozeki’s signature humor and deeply engaged with the relationship between writer and reader, past and present, fact and fiction, quantum physics, history, and myth, A Tale for the Time Being is a brilliantly inventive, beguiling story of our shared humanity and the search for home.


The cover is the first thing that caught my eye. I didn't have enough time to take a picture of the book but I would definitely show you in a future post. Lets just say that it's very colorful and unique in its own way. Another thing that caught my attention was the description. The time gap between the two characters and the life of Nao seems very interesting. I'm curious about what her unknown fate is and the life of her great-grandmother.

From the first few pages, I would definitely recommend that people who are the ages 17 and older could read this book. There is no holding back when it comes to Nao's language which obviously fits her age group. Besides that, the book is already diving into the story itself which is a good thing. A majority of books take a while to get to the point and this is why people become uninterested after reading the first few pages. I'm glad that I'm starting off spring with a fresh read!

Welcome All!

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine had lend me a copy of "Whiskey Words and a Shovel II" by R.H. Sin.  I would say that it has a similar aesthetic style and format to "Milk and Honey" by Rupi Kaur. One of the main ideas the author focuses on is love. I'm not one to relate someone else experiences with love but it was pretty good overall. It's a very quick read like you could literally read it in an hour. Today, I'm going to be sharing my favorite parts from the book!

Yup, we all fall in love with what we see rather than the real thing. It's all an illusion until you know what's real. 

I am a true believer that a good cry could really make you feel better. It's so overwhelming when you're holding in all that emotion and displacing it where it's not needed. The consequences of storing all of the sadness could take a direct toll on your own comfort.

In the end, you have to look out for yourself. This is especially true if you're in a relationship that's keeping you down.

This piece reminds me of a mother bird teaching a baby bird how to fly. A person has to fall a few times before they can get back up to move on.

The sudden action of the speaker just instantly stood out to me. The meaning behind the poem really knocked the wind out my chest which made me fall in love with it. This one, by far, is my favorite piece out of the whole entire book.

I don't even have to explain this one because it's pretty self-explanatory. One thing I've noticed about the book is that it's very simple and straightforward. I think the author says things that are common sense but rewords them in different ways.

Welcome all!

On my break, the books that I really wanted to read are slowly collecting dust on my shelves. The upcoming tests in school are hindering me from even picking up a book. But I am glad to say that I atleast finished reading Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. I felt like the book inspired the plot of many romantic novels that surrounds the idea of two men fighting for a girl's heart. Otherwise, I haven't read any other book like Wuthering Heights so far.

To get myself back into reading, I've decided to start a book called, "Women Who Run With the Wolves" by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. My Creative Writing teacher gifted me the book a few months ago but I was preoccupied with reading When Women Were Birds. It is a lengthy book which was one of the reasons why I held off on reading it. I finally started it because I wanted to read it in honor of Women's History Month. I'm eager to read some mythology (since I haven't read it in a while) and piece together an idea of an untamed women before she was tamed by society. In the future, I will be sharing a set of quotes with you all since the book is probably packed full of them!

Question of the day:

What is your favorite book of all time and what has it taught you about life?