I've always been an avid reader, though compared to last summer's list of completed books, this summer's pales in comparison. I don't find much time to read during the school year though I do get a few books in. In the past two weeks I've been eating up books though. They come in handy during naptime at work when I can soak up some chapters (while simultaneously trying to get thirty kids to sleep!) Some have been good, some bad, and some are still yet-to-be-completed.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
I received this book as a gift for my 20th birthday. Initially, I thought I wouldn't be all that into it because vampires really aren't my thing. I'm not much of one for the fantasy-horror genre (or whatever genre this book falls into.) But I gave it a shot anyway. I hadn't heard all the hype that surrounded this book, claiming it as a romantic sort of Harry-Potter-romance-fantasy-for-girls thing, but I don't really understand all the media attention for it. Yeah, it's a great book, but nothing extraordinary. It has a simple plot: girl meets boy, girl falls in love with boy, girl discovers boy = vampire. It begins slow and thus I found the first half of the book to be rather slow, full mostly of descriptions of how the main character is mysteriously consumed by this boy she meets, or - as she would describe it - "dazzled" by him. The middle and end of this book are what got me. That's when the plot finally thickened and shit started happening. I'm quite excited for the movie as well :)

Can You Keep A Secret? by Sophie Kinsella
Ok, ok. So I've always sort of scoffed at the whole "chick-lit" genre, believing most of these femme fiction novels to be about city-women in their late twenties running around falling in and out of love all over the place and all ending the same way: with Mr. Right. All lipstick and Prada bags and Manolos (because let's face it, about 80% of these books take place in NYC.) But I had to read this one because I'm a fan of the Shopaholic novels. Plus, these are set in England - a nice break from the Big Apple. The synopsis on the back of this pink little paperback gem intrigued me: Emma thinks her plane is about to crash and in a frenzied panic, makes a rash decision to spill all of her juicy little secrets to the complete stranger sitting next to her. The twist? She later finds out that stranger is the CEO of the company she works at, whom she now has to deal with on a daily basis. I couldn't imagine having my boss know all my personal details and secrets! It's got wit, humor and of course some romance on the side. An easy and quick read, I'd catergorize it as a great novel to throw in your bag and read at the beach.

Stop Dressing Your Six-Year-Old like a Skank by Celia Rivenbark
I picked this up at B&N on clearance, as in, I didn't pay more than $5 for it. I'm kind of glad about that, too. It's not that it's a horrible book or anything; it just wasn't anything special. When I read a book, I want to be engrossed by it. I want to be clutching the book, turning pages so fast I might almost rip them. You know, one of those books that just makes you think, "Wow, how do people come up with this stuff?" This is a collection of little essays (or "southern wisdom" as the author puts it) about many different things: how you are a horrible parent if you don't take your child to Disneyland, celebrity mom secrets and children's fashion that makes them look like miniature Vegas showgirls. I thought it would be interesting and quirky, something light and fun to read. Mostly I was bored. A few of the essays are entertaining but mostly I found myself skimming pages and hurrying through chapters just to be done with the book.

July 26

Hi! Sorry, I'm not dead - just my website. Or at the very least it took a very, very long nap. Pretty much a year long nap. But I'm back! I'm going to try this again. So last we spoke, I was going off to college for sophomore year. I'm going back to college (junior!) in a few weeks. As for the summer, what can I say? Summers are supposed to be Mickey Mouse icecream bars melting in the midday heat, white sandy beaches, palm tree lined highways (heading towards some fabulous vacation destination), parties, late night movies and catching fireflies. Summer is not supposed to be eat, sleep, repeat with work fit in between.

Photos:1, 2, 3, 4