Let's Bust a Recap : The Selection Trilogy

We're going to start this post off with a little bookish confession: I'm not a library user. I don't even have a library card, and I haven't checked any books out of any library since I was a child. I'm a slow reader and I don't need the pressure of deadlines in my reading life. But in January, when the book club decided to read The Selection by Kiera Cass, I borrowed my husband's library card, got me down to our local library in town and checked out the trilogy. I didn't really have any personal desire to read these books, and I figured they would be a one-off for me. 

(SPOILER: I was right.)

The Selection, The Elite, and The One by Kiera Cass were published in 2012, 2013, and 2014 respectively, and from what I can tell, the trilogy is pretty popular with its demographic. There are a couple other books in the series along with several spin-off novellas. Every person that I know who has read these loved them, so my opinion is definitely in the minority on this set (although I found plenty of my people in the Goodreads review section). 

In The Selection, we are introduced to 17 year old America Singer who through a series of absurd unfortunate events, finds herself in the Selection with 34 other young ladies who are in a Bachelor-style competition to marry Prince Maxon of their dystopian country Illéa. America has recently broken up with her secret boyfriend Aspen and really has no interest in marrying Prince Maxon because she's so above all this and is only participating so she can get some good meals and help financially support her family back home. (Can you just see me rolling my eyes?) 

A lot of people have described these books as a cross between The Hunger Games and The Bachelor. I've never had any interest in The Hunger Games—books or movies—and I find the concept of The Bachelor completely inane. So it didn't come as a shock to me that I couldn't get into these books. On top of the fact that the content wasn't my cup of tea to begin with, I found the writing rather juvenile, America to be an entirely unlikable character, and most of the plot hilariously predictable and impossibly convenient. The books weren't hard to read, and I can see why girls might find this series entertaining, but I found America's flip-flopping, spineless, wishy-washy attitude tiresome by the end of the first book and nearly unbearable by the end of the second. I didn't think any of the characters were written with any consistency, and Cass didn't develop any of the remotely interesting plot points she dropped in the book. It just didn't work for me.

My book club was less than impressed with my complete lack of enthusiasm for these so I'll reiterate that my opinion—at least among the people I actually know in real life—is definitely in the minority. I'm glad I was able to find them at our library so I didn't waste any money on them and was able to return them for someone else to enjoy. But these just weren't for me, and I wouldn't recommend them. (Book Club, please don't kick me out.)

Have you ever come to blows with a friend over a book that she loved and you didn't?

A Tuesday Confession

I went back to Florida a couple weekends ago for a visit.

Naturally, I made sure to visit my favorite secondhand bookshops while I was there.

Remember how at the beginning of the year, I confessed that I own over 500 unread books? 

And that I was going to try to get that number down some this year?

I came home from Florida with 30 new-to-me books.

Thirty. 

Three-zero. 

Three sets of ten. 

My unread number is now over 560. 

I have a problem.

A Tuesday Confession

Meet my dishwashing buddies.

This is an entire collection of McDonald's Happy Meal toys.

My confession is not that my standing McDonald's order is a 6-pc chicken nugget Happy Meal with buffalo sauce and chocolate milk.

Nor is it that I eat enough McDonald's to collect an entire set of the Happy Meal toys in a 6 week period.

It's not even that I traded toys with my 2 and 3 year old nieces so I could collect all ten.

My confession is that I used my husband's facebook account to go onto a group page of Happy Meal toy collectors and I traded toys with perfect strangers on the internet to complete my collection.

The little arctic fox flew here from a sweet family in Nebraska.

The sea turtle made its way from a darling nurse practitioner in Alabama.

And the manta ray traveled all the way from a college kid in California.

Yes, they all sit on my kitchen window sill.

No, I never let any of the myriad kids who are constantly in and out of this house ever touch them. There are plenty of other toys to play with here.

Don't you dare judge me, Lizzie.

A Tuesday Confession

I really cannot stand listening to female sports commentators.
Like, if we have to have them, can't we just stick them all in women's basketball and keep them out of the good stuff?
I'm not advocating that we give back our right to vote or anything, I just think there are some jobs better suited for men and this is one of them.
Does this make me a backwards, anti-feminist, "toxic masculinity" championing woman with a 1950s housewife mentality?

So be it.

A Tuesday Confession

I actually hate this VAR crap.
It makes the refs lazy and slows down the gameplay.
Just let the beautiful game be played the way men have played for generations before now.
I really don't think a 93% accuracy rating is so bad and using VAR to bump that up to 99% isn't worth the disruption to the game.
This technology is not our friend, people.
Make the refs to do their job and make the players respect the refs' decisions.

How hard is that?

A Tuesday Confession

Even when the USA is in the World Cup, my loyalties lie not so secretly with Brasil.

Does this make me a total Benedict Arnold? 

I don't even care.

! VAI  VAI  VAI  BRASIL !

2006 FIFA World Cup

A Tuesday Confession

Sometimes (read: more often than not) I leave the lid of my washing machine open when I'm doing laundry.
Not on purpose.
But because I actually forget to close it once I get the load in.
And then I come back to put the clothes in the dryer and my washer is just sitting there wide open with a load of wet clothes inside.

Getting old is hard, y'all.

At least the load actually runs with the lid up, and I can just roll my eyes and shake my head while I'm moving my clean clothes over into the dryer.

Anyone else?

A Tuesday Confession

I know this post isn't going to win me any friends, but I am not on board with this whole essential oils craze.
My friends are all, "Don't you want to get rid of all these toxic chemical cleaners you use and be healthy?" and I'm all, "Pass the bleach and excuse me while I spray everything in my house with Lysol."
It hasn't killed me yet.
In fact, I'd argue that thanks to all these wonderfully effective, bacteria-murdering cleaners, our lifespans have lengthened and our quality of living has improved.
But that's just me.
You do you.

A Tuesday Confession

Spiderman 3 starring Tobey Maguire is my favorite Spiderman movie.
I know this movie got bad reviews and most of the people I've ever talked to said it was the worst one in the franchise because they tried to do too much and blah blah blah.
But I loved it and if it was the only one they had ever made, that'd totally be okay with me.
(Although the back story from 1 and 2 is pretty important to be able to understand 3.)
I love the themes of forgiveness and friendship, and, in my book, Spiderman 3 is a homerun.

What is your favorite Spiderman movie?
Have you seen the new Spiderman: Homecoming movie? Is it any good?
Who is your favorite superhero?

Books & Big Fish

In my post this past Friday, I alluded to the shelf-full of new books we got on our anniversary weekend. Lest you think I'm exaggerating...

...the new books we got literally filled a shelf. Sixteen new books. Can you be addicted to books? Because if you can, we definitely are. I just looked it up. There's a term for this. We're "bibliophiles". We don't just love books, we love to collect them. You'd think we'd have run out of shelf space by now, but I have an easy solution for that: buy more shelves. I decided to do an entire post about the books we recently acquired so that I could also talk about this idea I have that some books are like fish. Before I get into that, let me tick off the books we got. From left to right:

• Aesop's Fables : (a beautiful hardcover 1968 edition)
• Villette : Charlotte Brontë
• Jude the Obscure : Thomas Hardy
• The Age of Innocence : Edith Wharton
• Anna Karenina : Leo Tolstoy
• The Brothers Karamazov : Fyodor Dostoevsky
• Sons and Lover : D.H. Lawrence
• Catch-22 : Joseph Heller
• The Old Man and the Sea : Ernest Hemingway
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn : Betty Smith
• A Wrinkle in Time : Madeleine L'Engle
• Poem a Day, Vol. 1 : edited by Karen McCosker & Nicholas Albery
• Atlas Shrugged : Ayn Rand
• The Pearl : John Steinbeck

...and then a couple of French books for Cody because he's going on a missions trip to French speaking countries soon. I know this seems excessive, but we got half of these at our local used bookstore at a 1/2 price sale. 8 books for $17? Yes, please. The 1/2 price sale just happened to fall on our anniversary weekend. WE CAN'T CONTROL THESE THINGS! I mean, it's not like we could skip our annual Barnes & Noble anniversary date just because we already bought 8 books that day. Let's not be silly.

But getting back to my fish analogy: I think of certain books on my Life List as "big fish" books. In fact, I think of my Life List as a whole as a "big fish". Go with me here. If you've ever been fishing or listened to an avid fisherman tell stories, he'll often recount tales of the "big one". Big fish are elusive things. Oftentimes they get away. But when you actually reel one in, you feel an undeniable sense of pride and accomplishment. 

That's how I feel about a huge classic. Moby Dick (pun unintentional but fully embraced), The Count of Monte Cristo, Gone With the Wind, Les Mis, The Brothers Karamazov, Anna Karenina--these are Big Fish books for me. My Life List is a Big Fish because it's constantly growing. The goal to read all of Shakespeare or a biography on every president: Big Fish. Will I ever read all these books and plays, all the classics and all the poetry? Probably not. There are so many books and so little time. These goals are elusive and slippery. But it's such an adventure tailing the treasure and slowly reeling it in. Since starting this blog and creating yearly book lists for myself, I've managed to catch some of my Big Fish. Vanity Fair, Theodore Roosevelt, and Great Expectations to name a few. I've also discovered that some of those fish I'd been trailing weren't such a challenge after all like The Last of the Mohicans. 

My Big Fish this year are The Three Musketeers and Tess of the D'Urbervilles. The Three Musketeers is already proving its Big Fish status by putting up quite a fight. But it's going to make it that much better when I'm finally able to say I finished it. 

fishing in the Keys : 2007

Is this the craziest analogy you've ever heard? What are some of your Big Fish books?

A Tuesday Confession

I can't get into audiobooks.
I've tried listening to a few, and I just can not ever make it for more than a few minutes.
Furthermore, when someone tells me they've read such-and-such book and then I find out they actually just listened to it via audiobook, I feel as if they have lied to me.
I don't think there's anything wrong with audiobooks, and I think they're a wonderful way for people to explore literature.
They're just not my personal cup of tea, and I appreciate it when people differentiate between reading a physical book and listening to an audiobook.
I'm not sure why that difference is important to me, but I don't think it's too much to ask.

And since we're on the subject, if you do enjoy listening to audiobooks, I've had several people recommend LibriVox to me so I'll just pass that right along. It's an extensive collection of free audiobooks read by volunteers. So if you're into that or you've been wanting to expand your knowledge of classic literature, but you're not into reading physical books, this is a great resource for you.

And as a bonus, Haley from Carrots for Michaelmas wrote this post a couple years ago recommending her favorite readers on LibriVox. So there's that.

Do you like audiobooks?
Is there anything that people expect you to like based on your interests, but you actually just aren't into it?

A Tuesday Confession

As you may remember, I recently re-read Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen.

I love that novel. 

I love all Jane Austen's novels.

But here's the big confession: I don't care for either of the major film adaptations. 

Most Austen enthusiasts I know will pick a side and go down swinging over this, but I just don't like either one.
The BBC mini-series starring Colin Firth certainly pays faithful homage to the novel, but it's painfully long, the acting is a tad on the cheesy side, and several of the actors don't really capture the essence of the characters they're portraying, in my opinion.

The 2005 film directed by Joe Wright is absolutely gorgeous with a fantastic score and the actors do a much better job of embodying the characters (with the unfortunate exceptions of Kiera Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen--arguably the two most important characters of all), but it basically flips the novel the bird and does its own thing for some of the most important scenes that it makes me want to scream every time I watch it.

Yes, I own both of these films on DVD.

I'm not sure what that says about me, but whenever I'm in the mood for Pride & Prejudice, I just sit down with the actual novel instead of popping one of those trainwrecks into the DVD player.

Have you seen either of these movies? Are you a fan of one or the other?
Anybody else own movies that you don't particularly enjoy and you're not exactly sure why? 

A Tuesday Confession

I have the worst high school yearbook pictures in the history of the world.
I know that there are many people out there who might think this about themselves, but mine are actually the worst.
I would show you, but it's just too embarrassing.
Okay, fine: I'll show you anyway. What's the point of a Tuesday Confessional if we can't laugh about these things, right?

Oh y'all.
It pains me to look at them.
Hi Ellie Mae (Freshman Hannah) who wore overalls to school on picture day. The tweasers were not your friend freshman year, were they?
Sophomore year: I will never forgive that crock of a photographer whose actual mission was to wait to snap the photograph until he could extract the worst possible facial expression from me. I'm serious. (Mini-rant here: I sat there smiling while he said stupid things like, "Say 'I love hamburgers!' or 'I love peas!' or 'I love my boyfriend!'" And finally, in exasperation, I ground out, "I don't have a boyfriend" at which opportune moment, he finally decides to press the dang button. What a guy.)
Junior Hannah, thanks for forgetting altogether that it was picture day and wearing an oversized t-shirt and doing absolutely nothing with all that long, straight, hippie hair. But on the upside, at least your eyebrows were starting to grow back in.
And Senior Hannah, who were you mad at or contemplating murdering?? Would it have killed you to smile?

Did anyone else hate school picture day?

A Tuesday Confession

This will be my longest confession to date.

It's actually a double-confession of sorts.

Part I : one of my favorite parts of Christmas is getting Christmas cards in the mail.

There's something so magical and spectacular about opening your mailbox and seeing a stack of personal cards instead of credit card applications and coupons to Pet Supermarket.

Since we've been married, I have never thrown away a single Christmas card we've received.

I am the extreme opposite of a packrat, and I absolutely detest clutter. 

But there is a special drawer in my house just for Christmas cards. 

I love them.

Part II : I always keep one of our own Christmas cards each year.
They're pretty, they cost money, and they're a fun little recap of our year together.
And even though I have obsessively affectionately kept every Christmas card we've ever received, I realize that the average person probably does not have the same affinity for Christmas cards that I do, and they probably don't treasure our Christmas card for the rest of their lives.
And I don't expect them to.
Well, not entirely anyway.

Is this the craziest confession I've made yet?
Can we still be friends, and more importantly, will you still send me a Christmas card now that you know this about me?
Is there anyone else out there who keeps their own Christmas cards? I cannot possibly be the only person on this planet who does that, right?

A Tuesday Confession

I prefer the chicken sandwiches from Wendy's over the chicken sandwiches from Chick-fil-a.
Stone me if you want, but it's true.
They're not as oily, and they don't taste like pickles.
They're just better, and I'm not afraid to admit it.

What's your favorite fast food joint?

Let's Bust a Recap : The Scarlet Letter

Well, for the sake of trying to actually finish my book list this year, I took a break from The Pilgrim's Progress and decided to dive into The Scarlet Letter, and I have to say: it was the perfect October read. With just enough mention of witches, demons, and fiends against a dreary New England setting, this novel (one of the greatest American novels of all time, many say) felt almost haunted. Perfect for curling up under a cozy blanket and reading straight through. (In case you can't tell: I liked it.)

The Scarlet Letter was written in 1850 but set in the 1640s--long before America claimed her independence from England. The Scarlet Letter is considered to be the masterwork of its author Nathaniel Hawthorne, a native of Salem, Massachusetts whose many works feature moral allegories with Puritan inspiration. Hawthorne's fiction was part of the Romantic Movement and classified specifically as Dark Romanticism. (Sounds enticing, right?) He dealt with themes involving the inherent sinfulness of man and his work typically had deep moral messages and a lot of psychological complexity. And The Scarlet Letter is certainly no exception.

The novel tells the tale of the beautiful adulteress Hester Prynne (branded with the scarlet letter "A" for her sin), her elf-like daughter Pearl (conceived from her adulterous affair), the holy Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale (SPOILER! he's her babydaddy, y'all), and old Roger Chillingworth (who is straight-up possessed by the devil). At the beginning of the story, we find Hester Prynne being publicly shamed and punished for the sin of adultery. Despite extreme pressure from the town superiors to reveal her partner in crime, Hester absolutely refuses to name the father of her child. As the novel continues, we see Hester bearing up under the shame of the scarlet letter, raising her little Pearl, and managing to live her life with dignity after her very public humiliation juxtaposed against Arthur Dimmesdale wasting away with the guilt of concealing his role in the affair. (To find out more about nasty, old Roger Chillingworth and his part in this mess, you'll have to read the novel for yourself.)

Confession time: this was assigned reading for me in high school, but I never finished it. I think I got about halfway through before stopping. I had this wicked streak in me during my academic career to never finish books that were required reading. Honestly, I don't know why. Call it the devil, but I wouldn't even finish books I was enjoying. Like this one. Or Wuthering Heights (seriously, I got to chapter 20 and stopped. OUT OF 22 CHAPTERS!). Or Huck Finn. Or The Screwtape Letters (which was a book of my own choosing for my senior thesis paper!). I have read all of these books since high school of my own volition and to my own great enjoyment. Why I was such a decided little rebel back then I credit to the fact that we're all depraved creatures in need of the Good Lord's grace.

All that to say, this was my first time reading all the way through The Scarlet Letter to the end, and even though I had an idea of the basic plot, it felt like a brand-new, first-time read to me. 

And I absolutely loved it and would definitely recommend it with one caveat: skip the dang introduction. It was 32 pages of pure misery that had me believing that between The Pilgrim's Progress and The Scarlet Letter, I would never finish my book list this year. I'm not exaggerating when I say that it took me longer to read that 32 page introduction than it took me to finish the whole 24 chapter book. It's not that important and except for one tiny reference in the very last chapter of the book, you don't need to read it to understand anything in the novel. Spare yourself.

To wrap this up, I just have to reiterate how masterful and psychologically complex this novel is. I think I suffered a moral crisis while reading it, and as I was nearing the end, I really wasn't sure where Hawthorne was taking it or if I'd appreciate the destination when we arrived. He finished beautifully, and I would love to discuss this book in more detail with anyone who's read it. Two enthusiastic thumbs up from me.

Have you ever read The Scarlet Letter? Did you have trouble with taking direction in high school (or at any other time of your life)? What is your favorite October-y book to read? Any challenging books you're trying to wrap up before the end of the year?

A Tuesday Confession

I don't "get dressed for the day" unless I'm going somewhere.
I know a lot of people who claim they function better and feel better about themselves when they take the time to "get dressed for the day".
And I get that.
But if I'm not leaving the house, "getting dressed for the day" just means more laundry to me.
In other words: not worth it.
I'm mostly a homemaker, I live in cotton house-dresses, and I rarely put on any makeup.
And I like it like that.
Is that so wrong?
Do you like to "get dressed for the day"?
Or do you prefer to stay in your pajamas or house-clothes if you're not going anywhere?

A Tuesday Confession

One time, I ate 4 pints of Ben & Jerry's ice cream in one week.
Ok, so it was last week.
Half-baked. The Tonight Dough. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. Chocolate Fudge Brownie.
I have no regrets.
In fact, last night I was bemoaning the fact that there was none left in the freezer.
I would have killed for some more Half-baked.
It's truly a miracle I'm not 400 pounds.

Do you have any culinary weaknesses?
I would ask for tips on how to overcome them, but I don't feel even a little bit bad about eating all that ice cream last week.
What's your favorite Ben & Jerry's flavor?

A Tuesday Confession

I loathe unsweet tea.
Like, I completely despise it.
If you come to my house and I offer you tea, it goes without saying that I mean sweet tea.
And not just "sweet" but kick-you-in-the-mouth, this-might-give-you-diabetes, two-cups-of-sugar-per-gallon sweet.
Recently, I started to steep some tea to make a fresh pitcher and realized we were almost out of sugar.
I still made the pitcher but yesterday I dumped it because who drinks that?!
Is that too wasteful?
Do you like unsweet tea?
If you do, why?

#southerngirlproblems

A Tuesday Confession

Y'all.
Did you read my Top 10 list from Friday?
Apparently, I wrote it because I was needing a good Cry It Out sesh.
I came home from church Sunday afternoon and watched two movies from my list: Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and Martian Child.
Then I came home from Sunday evening service, fed my husband, got in bed, and watched Ramona and Beezus and The Help.
I was up till 1:30 AM.
And I probably cried more Sunday than is healthy for any one human being.
I finished off two boxes of tissues.
Tell me I'm not crazy.

When was the last time you had a good cry?