It’s that time of the month again! Since I started creating to-be-read lists, I have been reading more and more. Sometimes I sway from the list, but all-in-all, my reading has never been any better. I’ve read more in the last two months that I did January through March. That being said, I did forgo some of the books on my May and June list, so I’m keeping my July list short in hopes that I can get to those books too. Let’s get started with what I hope to be reading this coming month! Image from Amazon 1. Sweet Forgiveness by Lori Nelson Spielman My mother gave me Sweet Forgiveness years…
Top 5 Books of 2018 (So Far!)
I’ve read over 20 books so far in 2018, and I am jazzed! With a goal of 50 for the year, I feel like I’m at a pretty good pace to hit, and possibly surpass, that goal for the first time since I set it a few years ago. Setting monthly TBR (to-be-read) lists has been revolutionary in my reading practice. It takes the indecision out of picking the book I am going to read next, and it encourages me to really reach my goals. For the most part I’ve enjoyed the books I’ve read this year, but these stood out for one reason or the other. Let’s get started!…
10 Tips to Help You Read More in Life
You’ve got dinner. And drinks. And a networking event. And a date. And a million other things to do. How are you supposed to fit reading into that schedule? It’s hard. Don’t get me wrong. It’s like fitting in exercise. It’s hard, but it’s something you know you should do to better yourself and your health. In all my years of reading, from spending summer days sprawled on my floor surrounded by The Boxcar Children books to squeezing in a few pages before class in college, I’ve seen it all when it comes to reading. I’ve gone months without picking up a book, and I’ve read books in single days.…
Red Queen: A Book Review
A girl like no other thrown into a world she knows nothing about determined to change the world. This sounds like almost every YA dystopian novel I have ever read — and Red Queen is no different. Victoria Aveyard’s breakout novel Red Queen is set in a dystopian world where there is a harsh division between the red-blooded and the silver-blooded. Those that have silver-blood are blessed with abilities that allow them to manipulate the elements around them. For some that means being able to grow massive trees from tiny seeds, and for others that means being able to start blazing fires from a tiny spark. While the silver-blooded live…
Top 5 Books To Give Dad for Father’s Day
Father’s Day is just around the corner, and what better way to celebrate Dad than by giving him an adventure of a lifetime. I truly think there is nothing better than giving a book as a gift. Today I’ve got five books you can give your dad for Father’s Day that are sure to make him feel special. Let’s get started! Image from Amazon 1. “The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkien What better book to give Dad than a classic adventure tale? “The Hobbit” is one of my favorite books because of the simple joy it encapsulates. Bilbo, a hobbit who has never know fun and friendship, is invited to go…
Summer Playlist
Summertime is finally here! It honestly feels like I was just thanking the heavens that it was spring, but spring sprang right into summer here in Tennessee. With a new season, of course comes a new summer playlist. I’ve been listening to a lot more podcasts lately, but I’ve got a road trip coming up that will be the perfect time to blast some tunes. I also love listening to some pump-up jams when I’m having a bad day or in a low mood. Since I always listen on shuffle (and usually skip until the song I want to hear comes on) this playlist has no particular order. It’s also…
May Reading Wrap Up
May was a fantastic month of reading for me! While I didn’t read everything on my list (“All The Light We Cannot See” got bumped to my June TBR), I did read four books from my May TBR and a couple that I didn’t anticipate reading. For the most part, I enjoyed everything I picked up this month, and I’m happy to be knocking a few books off my shelf that have been waiting to be read for years. Here’s a little mini-review of everything I read last month in a little May reading wrap up. Let’s get started! Image from Goodreads 1. “Trigger Warning” by Neil Gaiman “Trigger Warning”…
June Bullet Journal Setup
I talked about how much I loved bullet journaling in my last favorites post, and I’ve got to tell you, the love just keeps growing (it’s definitely hit its peak with this June bullet journal set up). As I take more time to set up my spreads and actually utilize my bullet journal to improve my life and productivity, I fall more and more in love with it. My favorite thing about bullet journaling is that I get to decide how to use my planner — there are no rules. A lot of people think a bullet journal needs to look a certain way, but that really isn’t true. For…
A Few Lessons I’ve Learned From My Grandmother
My grandmother (everyone in the family calls her Nani) turned 93 yesterday — NINETY-THREE! I know people live to be much older than this, but as my only living grandparent, I’m pretty darn proud of her for sticking around this long. This isn’ my typical blog post, but I wanted to honor her in a way that I could look back on in years to come. Let me tell you a little something about my grandmother — she is strong, brave, kind, inspirational, and a spit-fire. She treats complete strangers like family, says exactly what is on her mind, and never says no to dessert. She’s survived 93 years full…
Justice, Redemption, and Finding Inner Peace
“Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption” features a sleepy little town in North Carolina where nine months out of the year it is bustling with college life and the other three months people are sweating in the Carolina heat. Burlington, North Carolina, I can say from experience, doesn’t have much going on. There’s a wide divide between the rich and the poor (still) and a lot of economic activity results from the university in the small town of Elon. I first put “Picking Cotton” on my TBR when I read about it in another book, “Subliminal.” When “Picking Cotton” was mentioned, it was discussing how sometimes eyewitness accounts are…
