Desperately Seeking Bookworm

As I've said many times before I am a badge carrying member of Influenster Nation. Influenster is a review driven website that lets you earn badges in specific categories.  Once you've reached a certain score you may become eligible for their testing program called Voxbox. A voxbox can be one of two things, brand or themed related.  Up until now I have only received brand centered boxes, which have included a toothbrush, shoe insoles, makeup and dish soap.  Now I know what you're thinking "OMG how lucky are  you!", no you thought the same thing I did which was "that's lame". The only thing I am thoroughly happy with was my Dr. Scholls Active Insoles . Everything else was just okay. The UniVoxbox however, is my first themed box. I'm guessing from the name that the target audience is college students. While I am not a college student I still received the box. Although I wouldn't say its directly targeted for anyone other than women.  While ...

Photo from Goodreads I have a new book to add to my speed reading record list! Yes I know I'm a fast reader, but most of the time I don't realize I'm reading that much that fast.  Like when I read The Hunger Games for the first time, I had to stop myself at 3 in the morning from finishing the whole book at once!  This time I wasn't that lost in the story, but it had large print and extremely short chapters (most likely because it was written by a senior citizen)  I'm talking about Betty White's sixth book If you Ask Me (And Of Course You Won't) . It's an advice book without being an advice book.  Of course you want to know Betty White's thought on subjects like aging, loss, and children! Why wouldn't you?  The chapters were topic oriented and specific to something that Betty had experienced in her own life.  I liked the chapter set up ( I'm a sucker for short chapters anyways). They were so easy to read, that I was done before I even kn...

In Febrary I was selected to reeive another voxbox from Influenster.  If you don't know about Influenster, it's a website where you can review products, unlock badges, and be selected for their testing program called "voxbox". Voxbox is a free program where you take a pre-qualification survey and if you qualify you'll receive a brand or themed box. This is my fourth box, so far I've only received brand only boxes.  Meaning I've never gotten a specialty themed box. This particular box was from Colgate Optic White & I got to try their new Brush. Whiten. Go toothbrush. In their newest addition to the Optic White line, (which already includes toothpaste, mouthwash, and other toothbrushes) they have decided to branch out into the whitening pen market. Also included in my kit were several coupons and a travel size of Optic White toothpaste.  I have used this toothpaste before and discontinued use after I noticed a sensitivity developing in my teeth.  F...

Photo from Goodreads Feels good to read some fiction doesn't it? It's been awhile since I read one. I've been on a non-fiction binge and that's whats been filling up my Goodreads queue. My latest read was College Girl by Patricia Weitz. A terribly easy read that I think every girl in the world can relate too. At only 236 pages it took me two days to read. Very short and kept my interest the entire time. Told in first person by the main character, Natalie Bloom, a shy transfer senior at the University of Connecticut; and her journey into self destruction because of a boy.  When we meet Natalie she is from a blue collar town in Connecticut and has already begun her senior year at UConn to complete her degree in Russian History.  A hard studying introvert, Natalie meets Patrick at the library one Friday night.  Described as 6'4 with an abnormally large head, Natalie beings to obsess over their "future" together.  After a date and a lot of beer Natalie a...

Photo Credit: Goodreads.com So I just finished reading Amanda Knox's memoir. Well it wasn't really a full memoir, it was just on her four year ordeal in Italy. Which was absolutely crazy!  If you've never heard the story, Knox was an American student studying in Perugia Italy when her roommate, a British student named Meredith Kercher was murdered. Over the next few days Knox and her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito are investigated, jailed, and charged with her murder. After reading all the facts about Kercher's murder/how the prosecution handled it, I hope no one I love ever gets murdered in Italy.  How they dealt with this investigation such as saying pieces of evidence left on the FLOOR can't be contaminated because "DNA doesn't fly" or stating in the closing argument "this is most likely what happened", Italy should be ashamed of themselves.  Well not really ashamed but deeply embarrassed.  The book doesn't delve into much else.  I...

UPDATE:  I have really exciting news about one of my favorite reads of 2013!  The Astronaut Wives Club  by Lily Koppel, has officially been green-lit and ordered straight to series by ABC Studios. According to TV Guide the series will be hitting the small screen this summer as a 10 episode season. This book was a really, really, REALLY good read and I hope the series lives up to the book. Some other exciting news about this series is that Stephanie Savage & Josh Schwartz are the creators and executive producers of the show! If you don't know who they are, they are the creators of  Gossip Girl , which just wrapped up its sixth and final season in December 2012. That was one of my favorite shows (Blair and her headbands made that show), so I'm excited to see what they do with this. Some other news about this series, is that Joanna Garcia Swisher has joined the cast. You may remember her as pregnant teen Cheyenne on  Reba  or most recently as Ariel, the ...

Two books I read in January were both non-fiction accounts that were informative, sad, and grotesquely interesting. The first being Gracia Burnham's In the Presence of My Enemies , a terrifying recount of Burnham & her husbands time being held captive by an Islamic military sect, Abu Sayyaf, based in the Philippines. The second non-fiction novel was Jerry Oppenheimer's Crazy Rich: Power, Scandal, and Tragedy Inside the Johnson & Johnson Dynasty . I don't think it needs a one sentence summary because really we can all draw our own conclusions from that title. Photo Courtesy of Goodreads Quick Facts: Based on the true story of two American missionaries taken hostage in the Philippines. The Burnham's (Gracia & Martin) spent over a year in captivity. Rescue attempts along with the actual rescue were very botched resulting in the wounding of Gracia & the deaths of Martin, as well as one other remaining hostage.  Okay so that's not a lot of qu...

Woo Woo 2014, a month late but hey I'm a busy girl. So I've tackled the first book of the new year and it was Julia Pandl's Memoir of the Sunday Brunch.   Pandl a stand-up comic originally from the Milwaukee area tells, personal family tales of her sweet, but often failed childhood memories. From being the youngest of nine to free child-slave labor at her father's restaurant. Told in two parts, the first of funny brunch serving, sibling squabbles, and a lot of twitching; The second of more recent memories of caring for someone who once cared for you. Photo Courtesy of Goodreads.com "I thought my dad was just like every other dad, until the day I worked my first Sunday Brunch" Be prepared for the second half of the book to shock you emotionally. It goes from a funny eye rolling recount of childhood, transitioning into being an adult child with rapidly aging parents. The second half was particularly heartwarming and sweet. Of course there's still som...