Desperately Seeking Bookworm

I don't think it's any surprise that I love meself some YA! I think I was introduced to a blurb about The Selection series in Newsweek ...kidding it was an issue of Seventeen I was reading at the Dentist? Whatever it doesn't matter, all you need to know is that its awesome! A Dystopian America that's now a smaller fragile absolute monarchy and has a caste system??? Uh yes please! The series (originally a trilogy) is narrated by America Singer, a 5 (there are 8 castes) who lives in post WW3 (could be WW4 I honestly don't remember) Illea province named Carolina. As Artists, 5's are 3rd from the bottom in the caste system. I would equate them to the typical American family today, not well off, but they feel the struggle of staying afloat throughout the year. As per tradition with all the Princes of Illea a selection is held, where 35 girls throughout the kingdom compete for his hand in marriage. Kinda like The Bachelor meets The Hunger Games with less bloodshe...

I've been having a hard time deciding on what to read in order to check off Pulitzer prize winner on my reading list. Originally I wanted to read The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt.  After some further research, I read a lot of reviews that weren't very kind about Ms. Tartt's work. And they weren't professional reviews either, they were just ordinary reviewers on Goodreads, because the professional reviews that seemed to only fawn over this book. I'm conflicted. I fell like I should at least give The Goldfinch a try, but it's a really big book. I have some backups A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan and All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr . I've just finished the 4th book in The Selection Series, so now I can focus on this daunting task ahead of me. Any suggestions if this doesn't work out? I'm open to non-fiction winners as well! UPDATE: Okay so The Goldfinch definitely did not work out. I think I'm going to go with A ll the Lig...

I fell like historically September is never a standout month for BB. You would think it would be pretty bangin' because September is an important month for the fashion and beauty world with all the new releases. As always I peaked early on the site (BTW your box is usually available to see around the 9th of each month), and I wasn't overly thrilled with the contents. Acure Organics Facial Cleaning Gel Superfruit+CGF/Full-size $26 This cleanser infuses skin with anti-aging ingredients for a fresh, younger-looking complexion. This will be the second cleanser I've tried from Acure. I don't mind their products, its good to know you can buy their line at Target now. I think they're a great affordable line for people who want a natural skincare system. Anastasia Beverly Hills Perfect Brow Pencil/ Full-size $25 An easy-to-use tool that helps fill in and naturally shape unruly brows.  I actually thought this was Anastasia Brow Wizz which everyone seems to love, ...

Popsugar Ultimate Reading Challenge - A Book You Can Finish in a Day - A Play The story famously recounts how the faded and promiscuous Blanche DuBois is pushed over the edge by her sexy and brutal brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski. Picking a play to read isn't easy. Well I guess it could be for some people, but for those of us who haven't read beyond Macbeth in 12th grade, it's an issue. I tried to pick books that I would never want or need to read at this stage in my life, so settling on Tennessee Williams was a good choice. Of all the books I've read I've never had the pleasure of reading his work, not even while I was in school. Which concludes the story of how I decided to read A Streetcar Named Desire. I knew little about his play other than the famous "Stella!" line, oh and Josh Hartnett played Kowalski in the movie Hollywood Homicide (bonus points if you know that movie!). I was actually really surprised that the plot didn't really re...

I know I've talked a lot about the Popsugar Ultimate Reading Challenge and I've linked to it in the past, but I just wanted to get a quick post up with the list and what I have planned to read for the rest of the challenge. I came to the challenge in July and was worried about getting everything squeezed in, so I am using 1 book for multiple boxes to check off. I've been doing pretty well with the challenge. I know that I'm cheating and yes that does hurt me a little, but if they do another one next year I will definitely be doing this challenge again the correct way! Books I still have left to read: Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth Maus, 1 by Art Spiegelman White House Nannies by Barbara Klein The Girl who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson The Girl who Kicked the Hornets Nest Stieg Larsson Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte Landline by Rainbow Rowell Me Before You by Jojo Meyers The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt Life as I Blow It by Sarah Colonna The Hunger ...

Popsugar Ultimate Reading Challenge: A Popular Author's First Book A Book Set in High School A Banned Book I'll admit that I got sucked into the trend that was The Fault In Our Stars . I really did like the book and I thought the movie adaptation was pretty good. Since I loved that book, I was sure to love the rest of Green's work...yeah no. Earlier this year I read  Paper Towns, which was just eh. I wasn't impressed. Clearly I didn't learn from that because I decided to read Green's first YA novel Looking for Alaska , which checks off 3 of my Popsugar qualifications! Before.  Miles "Pudge" Halter's whole existence has been one big nonevent, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave the "Great Perhaps" (François Rabelais, poet) even more. He heads off to the sometimes crazy, possibly unstable, and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Beca...

As I said before I am participating in Popsugar's Ultimate Reading Challenge for 2015. There are 52 books (if you count the trilogy individually), but I did come late to the challenge, so I'm using 1 book to cover multiple qualifications. One that I really had to do research for was 'a book from the year you were born'. Now I was born in 1988, and when I googled top books of '88, nothing jumped out. On my second Google search, I dug a bit deeper and found Matilda by Roald Dahl , which also checked off the 'book from your childhood' and 'a book with magic' boxes. To be completely honest I did not read Matilda when I was a kid. I know exactly where the book was located in the elementary school library, but fiction was never my thing as a kid. I had and still have a pretty healthy obsession with biographies and memoirs. So I felt that it was a perfect opportunity to finally read some Roald Dahl! And I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I a...