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Guys! I'm sorry this took so long to get up. Friday was a crazy busy day for me and this weekend was my mom's annual open house that she does for her business so we were all prepping and cleaning like crazy for that. I wanted to make sure that I got it up for you today at the latest though so that I can stay on schedule for next week.
For the longest time, throughout high school and certainly a significant part of my college experience, I always felt like I had "no time" for reading. Truth be told, I would make time to read if a significant book came out and I was motivated enough to finish it, but for the most part, a lot of my reading went undone in the course of two or three different jobs and a full time school schedule. Now that I've graduated, however, I am definitely more on board with the whole reading for pleasure thing. I'm currently reading Stephen King's time travel thriller 11/22/63 about the assassination of JFK. Next month, I'll be reading Kay Thompson: From Funny Face to Eloise which is a biography about the woman who created my very favorite literary character.
Now that I've been reading so much more, my goal is to finish one book each month for at least the next 6 months. Because of this perhaps very lofty goal, I have created a wish list on Amazon that is a bit long to say the least. I thought I would share them with you here in case you too wanted to read a ton of random books right along with me.
First up is Maleficent by Elizabeth Rudnick. I think I included Maleficent as one of my favorites back when this blog was still The Wild Ginger. It was, quite frankly, one of the best live action movies that Disney has released in years. The obsession is REAL. When I saw that someone had turned it into a book, I immediately had to read it. The movie version of Maleficent is also on my Amazon Wishlist when it comes out on DVD, but this time we're talking books so I won't bore you with the rest of the list.
Along the same lines as Maleficent is Fairest of All: The Tale of the Wicked Queen by Serena Valentino. This book has been on my list for a while. Like two years, a while. This book was a big deal in Disneyland when I was there the time before last. Much like Once Upon a Time (but infinitely better. The quality of that show has gone downhill since the first season. I'm pretty sure I'll watch the first episode of the new Frozen storyline and give up on it completely.) this story tells the background of the Evil Queen through her eyes. I read the first few pages outside of Elias and Co. while waiting for my family to finish the Aladdin show at California Adventure and was hooked. However, as I refuse to pay $10 for the Kindle Edition of a book, I have never gotten it.
Serena Valentino's second novel in this family is about The Beast from Beauty and the Best. It is called The Beast Within: The Tale of Beauty's Beast. This one I know nothing about...other than the obvious but I am excited to read it once I finish up the novel about the Evil Queen. In case this blog hadn't been clear enough already about this: I am a Disney kid, through and through. I did get to read a few pages of the book on Amazon while I was writing this post (multitasker for sure) and was hooked, much like I was with Fairest of All. Valentino's writing style is fantastic and I really enjoyed both snippets that I got to read.
I watched the cinematic adaptation of Heaven is for Real with my parents one weekend when we were looking for a good RedBox find. It was a great movie and I ended up being really curious about the book that Todd Burpo wrote about his son's experiences whilst in Heaven. As a result, his book is now on my wish list of things to read as week. I think it should be quite interesting.
Blood of Olympus may seem like a fairly random addition to this list except that I've been a mythology nerd for the better part of my life, Greek in particular, and have been reading the Percy Jackson series of books for years. I was super bummed when I finished the last book...only to find out that Rick Riordan had come out with somewhat of a spinoff series that incorporates both Greek and Roman gods. This latest book is what I'm pretty sure is supposed to be the culmination of the battle for Olympus that both the Greek and Roman demigods have been headed toward for all of the Heroes of Olympus series. It comes out in the fall, as all of his books do and I can't wait to read it!
I'm fairly certain that this will be the most random book on the list because it is neither fictional nor has anything to do with grandiose circumstances. It is The Perfectly Imperfect Home: How to Decorate and Live Well by Deborah Needleman. If all goes well in the next few days, I will finally have my first real job and will shortly thereafter be moving into my first solo apartment. As a result, I'm looking for all the inspiration I can get to furnish my little nest. I'm thinking this will end up being a coffee table book but I will definitely be using it for decorating tips as I'm getting everything together.
Back to fantasy for a second, this next book is definitely going to be a coffee table/display book for sure. Mermaids: The Myths, Legends and Lore by Skye Alexander is something I found while down the rabbit hole of late night Amazon book browsing. Being a lifelong mermaid lover (literally have it tattooed on my body type love), you can bet that some of my decor in my new home will have to do with mermaids (my kitchen, most specifically) and what kind of mermaid lover would I be if I didn't have some literature to supplement my decorations?!
This is the only book I've actually considered purchasing from my wish list, and not because it is part of Oprah's Book Club 2.0. Everyone and their mother on the blogs that I follow has read and raved about Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed. The College Prepster wrote a great review of the book earlier in the summer and that's when it really caught my attention. After seeing the trailer for it recently (hello, Reese Witherspoon is in it!!), I decided it might be time to check out the book and shake up my typical reading routine. After all, books are meant to be windows to another life, right? So why not read about Cheryl Strayed's life?
Another movie inspired purchase, after seeing the movie The Hundred-Foot Journey (SOOOOO good!!!) a few weeks ago, I wanted to read the book and see exactly what inspired the movie that I so enjoyed. I'm a huge foodie and have enjoyed watching cooking shows my whole life and as a serious cinephile, movies about food do it for me. This one was great, I loved the acting and the emphasis on the food was perfect. However, that being said, I'm always curious about the books that inspire movies and this time was no different.
This next one is probably just as random as the book about decorating, but I've talked on here about wanting to start moving my wardrobe into more grown up territory now that I'm graduated from college and moving my life in a new direction. How to Look Expensive: A Beauty Editor's Secrets to Getting Gorgeous Without Breaking the Bank by Andrea Pomerantz Lustig is a book that I've seen many a time on Amazon when I've gone down the rabbit hole of beauty and fashion books. While it has always peaked my interest, I've never really had a serious inclination to actually purchase it. However, much like The Perfectly Imperfect Home and Mermaids, I expect it to be a book that I not only read, but one that makes its way onto my coffee table at some point or maybe takes up residence on the shelving over my desk.
Phew! We're finally at the end of the list. Are you as excited as I am? My final book is one that probably comes as no surprise being that I'm a 22 year old girl and most girls my age seem to have and Audrey Hepburn obsession. However, unlike the average Audrey fan, I've seen more than just Breakfast at Tiffany's. Despite the myriad of Audrey Hepburn books being out there, How to be Lovely: The Audrey Hepburn Way of Life by Melissa Hellstern caught my eye because of the creative way that the book itself is put together. I got to take a peek inside of the book on Amazon and fell in love with it. In fact, it was the first book on my wish list when I started it a few weeks ago.
Well, there you have it, my literary wish list as of August 2014. Trust me, there will always be more books and there will be an ever growing wish list now that I've found my love of books again. Maybe you found something that you just have to read too, now.
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