I'm leaving today to spend the next two weeks travelling in London and Paris. The blog will on hiatus until the end of the month, when things will go back to normal. I will hopefully return with lots of pictures of pretty bookstores and some new books! 

Summer Reading 2012

How on earth do you pick 8 books to bring to summer camp? I'm leaving today to work in the kitchen at a camp in Algonquin Park until August 25th. I managed to pick which books I'm going to take with me, since I have no idea when I'll go home or see my family. Anyways, here's what I plan to read this summer.

• The Disenchantments by Nine LaCour
• I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak (reread)
• The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano
• Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins (reread)
• 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson (reread)
• The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (reread)
• As You Like It by William Shakespeare
• Falling In Love With English Boys by Melissa Jensen (not pictured)

On my kobo I have a bunch of classics, and I recently bought Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson. While I won't be able to read as much (it's likely I won't finish these books) I just want to make sure I always have something to read. I hope everyone has a great summer! 

April Fools Day and Jonathan Swift

Happy April Fools Day! 
The day is just starting where I live, and you can be sure that a great many of well planned out pranks will be happening all day. My very favourite April Fools joke was done by Jonathan Swift, writer of Gulliver's Travels and A Modest Proposal. Then, April Fools was called All Fools Day. In 1708, London's most famous Astrologer was John Partridge, although his predictions were always vague and rarely came true. Early in that year, a new astrologer appeared, called Isaac Bickerstaff. Writing a short almanac for that year, unlike most astrologers, Bickerstaff's prediction was very specific: John Partridge would die on the 29th of March, and it would probably be in his best interest to get his affairs in order before that time. Bickerstaff was, of course, a pseudonym for Jonathan Swift. On March 30th, an anonymous Lord wrote a letter that circled around London, detailing how Partridge had died the day before, admitting himself to be a fraud and that Bickerstaff was the true prophet. On April 1st, everyone believed that Partridge was dead. Church bells rang, mourners and funeral workers showed up at his door, and he was actually legally considered dead from that day on. Any of his published works assuring others that he was alive were dismissed. When meeting new acquaintances, Partridge would have to work hard to convince them that he was indeed John Partridge, and was not dead.  For the rest of his life, he was seen as either dead or a walking joke. In his life time, he never learnt the true identity of Isaac Bickerstaff.

You can read more here. Happy April Fools Day!

Happy New Year!

2011 was a good year for me, since I got a cat, read a lot of books and graduated from university. This year was also the only year I kept a New Year's Resolution! I wanted to read 50 books, which I definitely did. This year I'm going to have a few more goals, and hopefully I'll be just as good at achieving them as I was last year.

1. Read 50 books I want to read a bit less this year, so I'm going to start with 50 books. I'm likely going back to my old job in the summer, which will leave me with very little time for reading anyways.

2. Read more of the books I already own I'm not ambitious enough to say I should read all of them, but I definitely should read a good chunk. Some of these books were given to me, but I should definitely read all of the ones I bought myself.

3. Shop at more independent bookshops After I finish my Chapters gift certificates, I should start buying from independent shops more often.

4. Read more adult fiction It's funny because as a teen I really only read adult fiction. Now I'm 21 and I seem to be reading YA the majority of the time.

5. Write More I have so many empty journals. I definitely need to pick up a pencil more often.

I hope everyone has an awesome New Year's Eve and an even better 2012!

Vacation!

I'm so bad at making decisions. It took me forever to decide which books to bring on holiday with me, and I could still change my mind at any minute. At the moment, I'm bringing This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper, Linger by Maggie Stiefvater, Delirium by Lauren Oliver, City of Glass by Cassandra Clare and Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock (on my kobo.) I'm going to be gone for two weeks and two days (we're going to Michigan then to Northern Ontario) and it is very hard to know how many books to bring. If I brought two or three I'd run out of books in the first week and be bored. If I bring four or five, I'll be too busy to read. I just decided to bring as many books as I can fit in my backpack (four and my kobo.) Plus, I have 100 free classics already on my kobo, so I should never be bored, thank goodness.

New Books = Happiness

After what felt like a very long dry spell, I finally went to Chapters and bought some new books today. I have a small list of some books I've read that I need to buy, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky topped it. I actually didn't really like Perks when I first read it in high school but I gave it another shot last month and loved it. Another example of me being completely wrong the first time I read something.

I had actually never heard of Tales of Terror from the Tunnel's Mouth by Chris Priestley until I found it in the YA section today. The cover looked so amazing that I felt like I had to buy it. Usually (especially when I'm not shopping used) I don't make impulsive buys, just to be safe. However, I'm really optimistic about this book. I was a bit worried when I came home and checked goodreads to find out that it's the third book in a series. Thankfully, the series is none sequential, so it shouldn't matter too much if I start at the end.

During the school year, I went book shopping/browsing one night every week (usually Thursday.) I'm awful with budgets, and always take money that's budgeted for one thing and spend it on another (books.) Most people I know do the same thing with alcohol. This is why I buy my groceries with gift cards, other wise I'd have a very full bookshelf and an empty fridge. I buy more books than I should, but I've slowed down recently. On my end of week trips to Chapters, I'd usually start at Starbs and get a latte, maybe read there for a bit, then look around for an hour or so. I'd nearly always run into someone from school and chat with them for a bit and then look around a bit more. This sounds like nothing special, but many a time one of these trips saved my sanity, whether I bought something or not. Simply being in a bookstore makes me incredibly happy (although buying things is a plus.) Lately, whenever I go to a bookshop, I feel a bit rushed, so it's not the same.

An Introduction...

Something strange happened today.

The day started off when I woke up fairly early, since my dad's cell phone went off and woke everyone up (it actually interrupted me from a strange dream, involving WWIII and my family becoming war time refugees that were forced to leave North America for the UK- Catherine Tate actually made an appearance. Apparently we were friends). Anyways, I got a head start on writing a book review, the idea being that I'd finish it quickly and be able to start a new book as a reward. Here's where the strange part comes in: once I finished writing, I didn't feel like reading at all. First I thought it was because of the book, since I couldn't get into it, but as it turns out, it's me. Today, I am not in the mood to read, which is practically  a first in my 21 years of life. Today, whenever I start a book, I get bored almost instantly (sometimes I get like this with music, where I'll be skipping through every song on my iPod and not finishing one). Everything on TV was just as boring (even Merlin! I love Merlin) and I didn't feel like a movie either. And all my friends are either on vacation or at work (I'm jealous on both accounts). Anyways, one thing lead to another, and I decided to make a book blog, via blogger. I already have a book tumblr, and I love it, but tumblr is more pictures and quotes, while blogger seems to have more room for the ramblings of a bored twenty-something. Although it might take me a while to get the hang of it, I thought I'd give it a shot.