Books for Breakfast

March has been crazy, scary, and confusing; let's be honest! The whole month has been fraught with uncertainty and I'm kinda glad it's over, but reading-wise, it ended up being a banner month for me. I felt like I was transported back when I was a homeschool kid with nothing better to do after finishing her lessons than to curl up on the couch and read for a few hours. On a tangent, my mom used to do this reading program with my sister and I during our summers. It kind of cracks me up now to think about it because in no way did my sister and I need any encouragement to read more than we already did, but I imagine it was a way to keep us focused on more academic things, and away from the T.V. all of the time, even when we were on break. The goal was to read at least a certain number of books between the months of June and August... I want to say it was 60 books but I honestly can't remember. We kept track much like I do right now... a running list of the title, autho...

10 people are invited to a remote island, and one by one, they are killed. The crime seems impossible... could it be that there is a murderer in their midst? Or is there someone else on this island with them?  I managed to squeeze in one more book in the month of March and boy, was it a doozy. All hail the queen of mysteries, Agatha Christie. I've heard that And Then There Were None is one of her finest works. I myself cannot attest to that as this is only my second Christie read, but I can agree that she is a master of complex plots. I devoured this one over the course of 24 hours; I was immediately pulled in and from the start, I found myself guessing on every page as to how the story would play out. The more I read, the more my heart would pound. It was almost like I was on that island with these characters; hunted, alone, and scared. The scariest part of this book, I believe, is the element of humanity. Think about it: when we find ourselves in a tense or stressful situat...

I sped through the last 20% this morning because I literally could not stop reading, it was that wild of a ride. The Vanishing Stair got off a little slower than it's predecessor Truly Devious did, but I'm willing to look past it for the rest of the heart-pounding pages. I literally got to the last page, turned it expecting to get another chapter, and all I got were the "acknowledgments." I looked at the page, flipped back to make sure I hadn't skipped anything, whispered "no," yelled "are you kidding me," and flung my kindle onto the couch... my family can attest to this. But seriously though... what did I just read? Mysteries were solved, new ones arose, David went crazy... so many things happened! This is another case of my kindle riding in on a white horse and saving the day; if I hadn't been able to rent this as an ebook, I would have waited for weeks in utter misery until our library opened up again. The magic of technology! ...

I feel like I should give some credit to this isolation-situation for giving me my reading mojo back. I haven't been able to read a book in two days for a long time... it feels so weird, but also so great because I used to go through books so much faster and now I'm finally getting back to that. The Prisoner of Azkaban might be my favorite HP so far; the story moved so quickly and contained this hype that kept my heart pounding and pushed me to read just one more page ! It was cool to compare the book to the movie and see what they changed and chose to not include. I'm in the group that insists the book is always better than the movie; this book, in particular, did something the movie was not able to do, and that was show the deep relationship between the characters. This ended up being a five-star read for me, but I also didn't come away from it with any really strong thoughts or feelings. I'm enjoying the journey through the HP books for sure, but I think my s...

My Kindle has become a lifesaver to me during this crazy time, let me tell you. Of course, the problem is now everyone and their mother is checking out ebooks because they can't get to a library, so it's slim pickings. Thank goodness for holds; just my luck all the books I want already have holds on them... Anyways, to the review ---> I picked up Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death on my Kindle because I had recently discovered the TV series Grantchester on Amazon (the show is based on the book, FYI). The book is told in a short-story format, I believe there were 6 stories in total? Sidney is a priest in the 1950's, post-war England, living in the small town of Grantchester. James Runcie, the author, has a very simple and straightforward writing style and in the beginning, I found it to be compulsively readable; it was so easy to get through that I could sit still for a good chunk of time and blaze through a story. Once I finished, though, the book ended up be...

(Just a warning, reader, this review might be a little disorganized)... I am not even sure how to efficiently review this book that took me over a month to read! Mere Christianity turned out to be different than I was expecting; I am so glad I buddy-read this with my friend because I don't know that I would have pushed myself to finish it otherwise. Her being a highly intelligent and extremely wise woman of the Lord was the added benefit because I was able to discuss certain aspects of the book with her. I realize I have started off with a clearly negative tone, so I think I should make it clear that I didn't dislike this book; on the contrary, Lewis delivered quite a few "mic-drops" that really hit me hard. However, there was quite a few parts of the book that made me shake my head in disagreement, and in the end, I found his general non-fiction writing style to be a bit grating (more on that later). As a side-note, I think it was perfectly acceptable that I dis...

please enjoy this photo of my squishy, sleepy kitty  Something wicked  devious this way comes...  What did I just read... If someone were to write a book about me, I feel that I could be perceived as equal parts Hermione, Belle (from Beauty and the Beast), and now Stevie Bell. From the very first pages, I found myself identifying with Stevie (except I've got wonderful parents whom I love and tend to agree with on most things...). I have loved mysteries since I devoured the Nancy Drew books as a girl and my interest in that genre has only expanded as I've gotten older, especially when it comes to crime shows and true-crime cases.  I could empathize with Stevie when she described how she felt like no one understood her; like she was an outsider because of this fascination with something that the rest of the world perceives as "morbid." When Stevie would say something awkward or feel like she didn't know how to respond to certain social situations, I wan...

 I am officially done with re-reading the HP books I have already read... all two of them :) But I'm feeling more motivated to continue on with the series so my hopes are high that I will have read the entire series by the end of this year. I have to say, I liked Sorcerer's Stone better; the story seemed to move quicker and I was more engaged with the storyline. I find it funny because in my opinion, the second book is usually better than the first (case in point: Catching Fire vs. Hunger Games). That's not to say I disliked Chamber of Secrets , on the contrary, I enjoyed the level of mystery in this book. I thought Rowling injected a kind of whodunnit air to the story with the integral question "who is Slytherin's heir and who opened the Chamber of Secrets." I think this was the main motivator that kept me moving through the pages. On the other hand, I feel like some scenes kind of dragged in places. Sometimes I put myself in Harry's shoes and thi...

I've been in the mood for a classic whodunnit style mystery and Murder on The Orient Express fit the bill quite nicely. Agatha Christie is an author that has been on my TBR list for a while, especially after watching the movie adaptation of this mystery. I actually didn't know that the movie was based on her novel when I initially saw the trailer for it and I am even more excited to learn that they are filming another Hercule Poirot movie to be released in November of this year. Since I had watched the movie, I already knew the basic plot and conclusion to this story, but as we all know, the books are better. It was interesting to reflect back on the movie as I read, particularly because there was at least one character in the movie that was not in the book. (Why do they do things like this, I wonder? The cast of characters was already perfect...). Christie's writing is so much easier to read than I expected. That fact alone is pretty much the only reason I have stayed ...

via Pinterest Here I am again, about to read my way through the HP series. I've been in this place before, but I never made it past book two. I intended to just continue on with Prisoner of Azkaban but my sister, as self-proclaimed HP lover, insisted that I should go back to the beginning and re-read the first two books since it had been so long since I first read them. Well, don't let it ever be said that I don't take advice from other readers!  The first time I read The Sorcerer's Stone , I was on a camping trip with my family. I spent quite a few hours curled up in a camping chair by the fire devouring it. I quickly made my way through The Chamber of Secrets as well, but something made me stop there, and I can't quite remember what. It probably wasn't anything significant, other than the fact that I am an incredibly moody reader and I moved on to something else. For some reason, the mood struck again right now and I'm plodding along again.  I...

My goal is to finish the Chronicles of Narnia series this year, but preferably within the next few months because they are so small. In this case, I read Prince Caspian in a little over a day. I was able to steal chunks of time here and there, especially when my sister and I went shopping downtown. We hit up a book sale and a couple bookstores and then planned on going to dinner afterward. We got done with our shopping a little too early to go straight to dinner, so we chilled in a coffee shop and each read the respective books we had brought or bought. I can't tell you how many times I have been saved from boredom because I thought to bring a book... and I can't tell you how many times I wanted to die from boredom because when I left the house that day I didn't bring a book, thinking I wouldn't need it. I swear this is how people read 20 books a month... or they just have a lot of free time on their hands :) (And as a side-note, I was very good  and only bought one ...

The more books I read through my Kindle, the more I find myself actually... liking it (gasp). Never would I ever have thought I, Rachel, would be enjoying reading books on an e-reader. I have been staunch in by support of "real books" and high in my judgment of those who read e-books. I'll eat my words and enjoy them, because miracle of miracles, I've been converted. I will still continue to call paper and ink books "real books," but I no longer feel as though that is my only option now. One of the reasons I love Kindle books is because it makes long books easier to tackle. I get to hold something in my hands that is less than an inch thick, versus holding a 3-inch tome. Instead of feeling overwhelmed as to how many pages I have left, I find it easier to simply focus on the page I'm at. I plan to read books like Gone With The Wind and Middlemarch in this way. Another advantage of e-readers, as is the case with my latest read, you can often grab a cop...

 New month, new look! I decided to give this little blog a facelift and I'm really liking the new layout. I've got big plans for this month, mainly getting ready for graduation, commencement, and applying to a teaching credential program. But my big plans also involve big reading plans, and to kick that off, here is my review for my first book read in March. The Mysterious Benedict Society was a re-read for me. I read this years ago, probably when I was 12... maybe 13? I remember absolutely loving it but never finishing the series. All of a sudden this month I was struck with the desire to read this series, and I'm so glad I followed through. This book sucks you in; from the very beginning when we meet Reynie Muldoon and read all about these... well, mysterious , tests he takes. I found myself flipping past page after page, not even registering just how much I had read until much later. I love those kinds of books. The pace does slow down a little in the middle in my ...

February kind of stunk... even with the extra day this year it felt so short and just flew by. There was also some other stuff going on in my life and all that combined meant I only read 6 books this month. I'm still struggling with the distraction; I want to read, but I often get side-tracked by other things and it gets left for last. So my priority this month is to really spend those free minutes reading instead of vegging on something else. Here are my wrap up stats for the month of February. Here's to hoping March is more full! 6 total books 6 total authors 1,244 pages read Longest Book: Caraval @ 407 pages Shortest Book: Bear Has a Story to Tell @ 30 pages Favorite Book: If Least Favorite Book: The Awakening of Miss Prim