2010 Book Survey

Lauren did this, she got it from her hubby and he got the questions from Life With Books.


1. Best books of 2010? Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen and Dark Places by Gillian Flynn.

2. Worst book of 2010? There were a few that I started but didn't finish, and I can't seem to recall any of them.

3. Most disappointing book of 2010? Sickened by Julie Gregory. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but for some reason I felt rather... let down.

4. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2010? Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah. I had tried to read another book of hers at one point and wasn't into it at all, but this one I really enjoyed.

5. Book you recommended to people most in 2010? Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, for sure.

6. Best series you discovered in 2010? The Hunger Games Trilogy, by far.

7. Favorite new authors you discovered in 2010? Jen Lancaster.

8. Most hilarious read of 2010? Any of Jen Lancaster's books. She's flippin' hilarious.

9. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2010? Water for Elephants and The Hunger Games books.

10. Book you most anticipated in 2010? Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (Third book in the Hunger Games Trilogy). I had finished the first two shortly before the third came out.

11. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2010?





Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks. It's just... pretty. Haha.
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.

12. Most memorable character in 2010? Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games and Marlena in Water for Elephants.

13. Most beautifully written book in 2010? Water for Elephants wins it again. Though Blankets by Craig Thompson was fantastic as well (though in all fairness it is a graphic novel).

14. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2010? The Lost Boy by Dave Pelzer.

15. Book you can’t believe you waited until 2010 to finally read? Water for Elephants.

16. Honorable Mentions? House Rules by Jodi Picoult. It was very typical of her style, and in fact, I had it "figured out" within the first few pages. But the fact that she really showed an interest and understanding in the Autistic Spectrum really made this book worth reading.

Ugh. I feel like I didn't read much that was "worth it". That's sad. Hopefully with the TBR challenge for 2011 and some other ideas I have for books to pick up, I'll fair better.

Chances are this will be my last post of 2010, so... I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable New Years Eve! Mine will be spent babysitting. I know, I'm a wild one.

See you next year!

Vintage lusting

I spent a good portion of the day with my dear friend Jess hitting up a few thrift stores in the area. I was really excited for some vintage fabulous-ness in both clothing and housewares. Sadly, not much was to be found.

I found these two dresses that I absolutely fell in love with. Sadly though, my boobs are too dang big. They fit great everywhere else, just not so great in the bust. But, I did at least get a quick picture of each dress. The plaid dress, the skirt looks much like the top, just the way it falls has it look like teal stripes, haha. They both had matching belts, as well.









I found two sets of Corelle Butterfly Gold cups/saucers, but since I can't be certain the set is in the attic still, I decided to pass. I also found a Pyrex dish in the Gold Leaf pattern, but it was missing the lid, so I passed on that as well.

The goal for tomorrow is to try to get over to the house to snag the Pyrex bowls and hopefully find the Corelle dishes. Maybe even hit up one more thrift store that we didn't make it to today. Also, to get to Crocker Park to maybe spend some gift cards at several different stores.

That said... any good recommendations for books or music I should purchase?

TBR Challenge - 2011

It's no secret that I love to read. It's also no secret that I have a plethora of books that are on my shelves (or on virtual lists of "to-read") that I have yet to pick up and enjoy. So, I thought I'd join the TBR challenge that Lauren of Oh, Lauren posted about.

So my twelve books are:





1. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
2. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
3. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
4. The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory
5. MiddleSex by Jeffery Eugenides
6. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
7. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
8. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
9. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
10. The Schopenhauer Cure by Irvin Yalom
11. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
12. On The Road by Jack Kerouac

Alternates
1. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
2. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair



Happy reading, friends!

Deck the halls with vintage pyrex

(my tree)

I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas. I know I did, and I still have a week off of work to enjoy things and to get things done.

I received a lot of gift cards from the kiddos at work as Christmas gifts, and so I'm sure I'll be heading out to spend some of those (I have a ton that go towards two bookstores and I'm really excited about that!).

The goal is to get a few errands run that need to get taken care of as well as cleaning and organizing a few things, such as my big closet, around the apartment.

(my favorite word, found several times in my apartment, also adorns my tree)

I'm quite excited to do some thrifting this week to search for some new and unique clothing as well as household things and hopefully some records since I got a turn table for Christmas from my dad.

I'll be heading over to the house I grew up in, and attempt to snag a few things from there such as...

Dishes! Growing up we had this particular set of Corelle dishes (Butterfly Gold is the pattern name). Sometime in my pre-teen/early teen years my parents replaced it with a plain white Corelle dish set. The theory is that these dishes are still up in the attic somewhere. Now, I've been up there several times in the year and some change that I've lived in my apartment and I haven't come across them. However, I wasn't ever looking for them either. So here's hoping that they are still there.

I know where these are, so I'm really excited to get them out of the house. Pyrex Orange Harvest Wheat nesting mixing bowls. Another staple in the house I grew up in, that until recent years I never really appreciated. I'm quite psyched about this.

Both the dishes and the bowls aren't hard to find at a local thrift store or even online. I'm well aware that there are many rarer Pyrex and Corelle sets out there, but for now I'm going with what I can (hopefully) get my hands on easily and for free :)

Fresh starts.

I figured that a fresh start may be in order. I've started a few blogs, and I always know what I want to do with them and then I never seem to get around to it... and that's somewhat sad.

A place to talk about books, and a creative outlet. Somewhere to share fun finds, facts and information and of course, some bits of personal everyday real life things thrown into the mix.

Credere. To believe. I believe... do you?