And Possibly Dinosaurs
The best parts of being a homebody
I love the idea of self-help books. It’s like having the author holding your hand through whatever problem you’re having.
My problem, though, is always sticking with the book. I like the idea, but the follow-through is tough for me.
Inside Out by Anastasia Amour was completely different, though.
Not only did I love the idea of the book, but I also loved the book itself and had no problem following through on everything.
I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai has been on my to-read list for a long time. But Game of Thrones took over my reading life for a little more than a year, so it kept falling on the back burner.
But I was finally able to read it in July. And man am I glad I did.
Malala and her father, natives of Pakistan, are not ones to get pushed around. They stand up for what they believe in and speak their minds. This proved problematic, though, when she was targeted by the Taliban and ended up being shot.
Trigger warning: abduction, sexual abuse, physical assault, rape.
People seem to be fascinated with tragedy. Every time a celebrity dies, we’re heartbroken. And whenever a story breaks about a person (or group of people) who has been abducted and held hostage for years until miraculously escaping or being rescued, we’re fascinated. (Insert Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt theme song here.)
That’s why Room was so fascinating to me. Not only does it tell the story of a young woman who is abducted and held hostage, but it also tells the story of her five-year-old son, Jack, who was born as a result of the regular rapes she endures at the hands of her captor. And it tells it from Jack’s perspective.
I’ll never understand when people say “I don’t read.”
I absolutely love reading. Even if I take a break from reading, it doesn’t last more than a few days. And it’s typically because I have to recover from a particularly emotional scene.
Here’s looking at you, Red Wedding.
I’ve read a lot of books in my 24 years, but there are five in particular that stand out as my favorites.
I guess this is the answer to the age-old question: if you are stranded on a deserted island and could only bring five books with you, what would they be?
Well, these are the five I’d bring.
Back in August I wrote about the 11 books I couldn’t wait to read once I finished the current series I’m reading.
Well, I started that series back in May, and I’m still not done. Womp.
So, I cheated and read one of those books in the mean time.
I have a free trial to Scribd, and one of the first books I noticed was Hyperbole and a Half.
It was only 391 iPhone-6-sized pages, most of which were cartoons. So what the heck.
Back in May, I posted a book review of Alexis Jones’ I AM THAT GIRL.
However, IATG isn’t just an amazing book. It’s also the name of the nonprofit organization Alexis started with her friend Emily Greener.
IATG is a community, a support system, and a movement inspiring girls to LOVE, EXPRESS, and BE who they are.
When I first found out about the organization back in 2013, I knew I wanted to be involved.
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Amy Poehler is one of my favorite people in the world.
She’s a proud feminist, she’s hysterical, and she is incredibly successful.
Imagine my excitement when I find out she wrote a memoir.
And imagine my excitement when I find out she narrated the memoir for Audible.
Naturally, I now own two copies of the book: the hardcover and the audiobook.
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It embarrasses me to admit this, but I haven’t always considered myself a feminist. It wasn’t until I read Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In last year that I realized feminists aren’t the crazy, hippie, bra-burning women they used to be. They–we–are simply people who believe women as a whole are not given equal opportunities and are misrepresented in the mainstream media.
Once I realized this, I was like “Oh, well duh. Of course I’m a feminist.”
My eyes were opened even more when I went to Invisible Children’s Fourth Estate Leadership Summit back in August of 2013. One of the sessions I attended was called “Who Runs the World? Girls,” during which a panel of women spoke about all things women. This panel included my good friend Meg; actress Sophia Bush; and one of the founders of the nonprofit I Am That Girl, Alexis Jones.
The session changed my perspective on a lot of things and got me interested in I Am That Girl. Then I found out Alexis was writing a book, also called I Am That Girl, so as soon as it became available in March, I had my hands on it.
While the book was a little easy to put down, I still loved it. In fact, I’ve already bought two more copies to give as gifts and plan on giving it to every girl I know for our next gift-giving holiday.
Note: This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.
I’m one of those people who has way more books than I’m ever going to have time to read. And yet, I can’t stop buying books. There’s something magical about having a bookshelf full of (color-coded) books to read; no matter the genre, they’re full of mystery, suspense, and magic.
I wish I would have read one of the many books on my To Read shelf than Ann Brashare’s newest novel, The Here and Now.
Shoot, I wish I would have reread a different book than wasted a few days on this one.
I was really excited to get this one in the mail, because the premise sounded really interesting. It takes place in present-day New York City and follows a girl named Prenna James, who recently moved to the city. However, she didn’t move from a different city; she moved from a different time.
Roughly 1,000 people traveled from a year circa 2100 to 2010, escaping a mosquito-bourn illness that’s killing the world. Their mission: try to stop it before it happens.
The book is marketed as a YA dystopian romance: the biggest rule is that none of them are allowed to fall in love with someone outside of their pilgrimage. And what does Prenna do? Falls in love with literally the first guy she sees.
When I say “Africa,” what comes to mind? Red dirt? Huts with thatched roofs? AIDS? Poverty? Starvation? Lions? (Please don’t say tigers. Pleeeeeease don’t say tigers.)
As someone who has been to Africa twice, I get really bothered by the media’s portrayal of the second-largest continent. And that’s why I loved Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi.
Ghana Must Go tells the story of a Ghanaian man, his Nigerian wife, and their American children. It starts off with the man’s death in Accra, and the rest of the story unfolds in flashbacks from a wide range of perspectives. His children, who reside in their native America, have to travel to Ghana (most of whom have never been) to make arrangements for their father.
Not only does Ghana Must Go have a beautiful cover, but it also beautifully tells a story set in Africa without the African stereotypes. The family isn’t in extreme poverty. No one is going hungry. No one has AIDS. It’s a regular family just like you could find on any other continent. But it’s set in Africa.
