one year, 27 books

When I turned 26, I made myself a goal of reading 27 books by my 27th birthday.  Somehow, I actually met this goal.  This works out to about two books every two weeks.  Most of the books I read were new but a few were re-reads.  Here's my list!

1. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
2. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. Uncle Tom's Children - Richard Wright
4. The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
5. Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut
6. Tracks - Louise Erdrich
7. The Ramayana - R.K. Narayan
8. Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali - D.T. Niane
9. A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
10. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - J.K. Rowling
11. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J.K. Rowling
12. Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern - Joshua Zeitz
13. America Since 1900 7th Edition - George Donelson Moss
14. Technical Communication 11th Edition - Mike Markel
15. The Broke-Ass Bride's Wedding Guide - Dana LaRue
16. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
17. Call Me Zelda - Erika Robuck
18. Ruth Hall - Fanny Fern
19. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K. Rowling
20. The Awakening - Kate Chopin
21. Wide Sargasso Sea - Jane Rhys
22. The Woman Warrior - Maxine Hong Kingston
23. Four Souls - Louise Erdrich
24. ...every bedtime story Ari and I have read, which would really probably put me at over 300 books total for the year.

currently listening

I stumbled upon something magical on my Spotify app recently: 

Audio books. Language learning. Stand-up comedy. Etc.

I've always used Spotify for music (and I love it), but not long ago I was playing around and found out they have all these other options available. I was so excited!

Follow these instructions to find them:

Open Spotify > Menu > Browse > Scroll to the bottom > Category named "word"

Once you get to the "word" section, just browse around to see what's available.

I listened to 5 chapters of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë while laying in the sun yesterday.

It was lovely!

 

Because of the Old English language, it typically takes me ages 

to get through books like this.

Honestly, getting through five chapters reading would've taken me forever.

I'm actually really enjoying this story, though.
Here's a summary I borrowed from Amazon.com:

Jane Eyre is the story of a small, plain-faced, intelligent, and passionate English orphan. Jane is abused by her aunt and cousin and then attends a harsh charity school. Through it all she remains strong and determinedly refuses to allow a cruel world to crush her independence or her strength of will. A masterful story of a woman's quest for freedom and love. Jane Eyre is partly autobiographical, and Charlotte Brontë filled it with social criticism and sinister Gothic elements. A must read for anyone wishing to celebrate the indomitable strength of will or encourage it in their growing children.

If you are a Spotify user I highly recommend taking advantage of this feature!

I'm also curious about the language learning audio files they have available.

If I check them out I'll post about it and let you all know how they are!

-teddy x

post - hibernation

Alright folks, first off, I apologize for being away for 3 months (because I know you were all very much so missing my posts...). Apparently I went through a period of being 100% completely uninspired. Hopefully I'm over that now (the sunshine seems to help)!

Since my last post in February, a lot has changed. 

Also, a lot of this change has happened quite recently:

1. I got a new job! I'm now working full time at a college library. 

Going on two months and so far I love it!

2. My poor kitty cat recently became very sick and had to be put down today. :( 

RIP Fatty McFatCat

3. I am lucky enough to get to go back to England again
in a month to see my favorite guy, Tom!

4. Today I submitted my application to FSU. Hopefully come Fall I will be on track to get a Bachelor's degree. It's only taken me long enough to get to this point!!!

5. Currently reading: The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living
by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D. 

(not halfway yet and I already know it's going to be a fantastic read)

Here's a little excerpt:

"On the other hand, if you possess this inner quality, a calmness of mind, a degree of stability within, then even if you lack various external facilities that you would normally consider necessary for happiness, it is still possible to live a happy and joyful life."

6.  I took a little break at work today and went on a walk, after being stuck inside pretty much all day since 9am, because it was absolutely perfect weather.

-teddy x

5 top 5's

I am a huge fan of lists. I make at least one a day. Usually to-do lists, but I'm a bigger fan of fun lists. So tonight I've put together 5 lists with 5 top things* on each of them. They've been posted in no specific order. They all win top place.

*Top 5's are subject to change, as I am extremely indecisive. These only reflect my thoughts as of this moment.

_____________________________________________________

Top 5 Places I Want to Travel

Saint Tropez, France (or just all of Southern France)

Santorini, Greece

Antigua, Guatemala

Jaisalmer, India

Oslo, Norway (or wherever I can see the Northern Lights)

India. The colors. The architecture.

______________________________________________

Top 5 Hobbies I'd Like to Learn

Piano

Ukulele

Pottery

Painting

Sewing (I want to make clothes)

I feel like I could do this for hours if I learned how.
______________________________________________________

Top 5 Coolest Animals

Wrinkly dogs

Anything pygmy (goat, owl, marmoset, etc.)
Red pandas

Wolves

Painted Indian elephants

All the cute.

______________________________________________________

Top 5 Reading List

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Harry Potter (because this will never not be on my reading list)

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

I will always live vicariously through The Secret Garden.

_______________________________________________________

Top 5 Yummiest Food Places

The Real Food Cafe

Wolfgang's

Any English or Scottish pub

Chicken Shack

Maru Sushi & Grill

I could eat this every day.

_______________________________________________________

thanks for checking out my top 5 "top 5" lists!

cheers!

-ted x