Vlog: Tackle Your TBR Week 2

Last week the second and final week of the Tackle Your TBR vlog and while I was going through some difficult things in my family life, I managed to continue reading. It was actually quite therapeutic over the last few days to be able to focus on a book. One of my favorite booktubers, Dana from The Book Hoarder, posted a very appropriate vlog a few days before my grandfather passed away that basically sent the message that books will always be there for you. In good times and bad, you can always pick up a book and be transported to a world where your worries are non-existent and you can just shut off your brain for a while. It's exactly what I needed through this tough time.

Grampy & I making sure my cousin doesn't tip over. XD

I hope you enjoy this vlog! As I mention at the end of this video, I'll be taking a couple weeks off from readathoning but I have a few lined up for the end of October and one for the beginning of November (which I am hosting)! Hopefully you don't miss my readathon posts too badly... ;)

2016 Reading Challenges Updates #3

You guys. I don't know what's come over me this season. This summer I read...

28 BOOKS!!!

That is so incredible to me. I don't know what it is, but I've fallen back in love with reading - something I've been pretty out of touch with since maybe my sophomore year of college (around 2010). I've always continued to read for fun, but never to this caliber! Because I have so many titles to go through I'm not going to do full written reviews of each book, but I will leave my star ratings for each. If you're interested in a full review of any of these please let me know in the comments and I will be happy to write one or record a video with my thoughts! Anyway, here's where I'm at with each of my goals:

GoodReads Yearly Reading Goal: 40/20 books 

(I've completed and doubled this goal in the past few months! WOW.)

PopSugar Reading Challenge: 32.5/40

The Little Prince by Anotoine de Saint-Exupery
PopSugar Category: A book you haven't read since high school
Hard copy, 5/5

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
PopSugar Category: A book that takes place during summer
Hard copy, 4/5

We're All Damaged by Matthew Norman
PopSugar Category: A book that is published in 2016
Audiobook, 2/5

The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg
PopSugar Category: N/A
Kindle eBook, 2/5

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany
PopSugar Category: N/A
Kindle eBook, 5/5

Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
PopSugar Category: A book at least 100 years older than you
Audiobook, 3/5

The Elephant Keeper by Christopher Nicholson
PopSugar Category: A book set in Europe
Kindle eBook, 4/5

Kalopsia by Andrea Michelle
PopSugar Category: A book of poetry
Kindle eBook, 4/5

Sick in the Head: Conversations About Life and Comedy by Judd Apatow
PopSugar Category: An autobiography
Hard copy, 4/5

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
PopSugar Category: A classic from the 20th century
Hard copy, 4/5

Nimona by Noelle Stevenson
PopSugar Category: N/A
Hard copy, 5/5

Cinder by Marissa Meyer
PopSugar Category: A book based on a fairy tale
Kindle eBook, 4/5

Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin
PopSugar Category: A book and its prequel (This is the 'prequel' and the sequel releases in November!)
Hard copy, 4/5

This One Summer by Jillian Tamaki & Mariko Tamaki
PopSugar Category: A YA bestseller
Hard copy, 5/5

Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut
PopSugar Category: A satirical book
Hard copy, 4.75/5

George by Alex Gino
PopSugar Category: N/A
Kindle eBook, 5/5

Summer Days & Summer Nights edited by Stephanie Perkins
PopSugar Category: N/A
Hard copy, 3.5/5

She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb
PopSugar Category: A book from Oprah's book club
Hard copy, 5/5

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
PopSugar Category: A book that's becoming a movie this year
Hard copy, 5/5

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
PopSugar Category: A science-fiction novel
Hard copy, 3/5

The Night Guest by Fiona McFarlane
PopSugar Category: The first book you see in a bookstore
Hard copy, 4/5

Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman
PopSugar Category: A National Book Award winner
Hard copy, 5/5

Mr. Smith Goes to Prison: What My Year Behind Bars Taught Me About America's Prison Crisis by Jeff Smith
PopSugar Category: A political memoir
Hard copy, 3/5

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
PopSugar Category: N/A
Hard copy (library), 5/5

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
PopSugar Category: A book about a culture you're unfamiliar with
Hard copy, 5/5

Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella
PopSugar Category: N/A
Hard copy, 3/5

The Dinner by Herman Koch
PopSugar Category: A book translated to English
Hard copy, 4/5

Lord of the Flies by William Golding
PopSugar Category: A book set on an island
Hard copy, 4/5

Currently Reading:

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin - Brett and I made quite a bit of progress on this one throughout the summer, mainly because we started to listen to bootleg audio versions of it on YouTube while driving around all summer. :P I think we're about half way done with this? Hopefully we can get closer to finishing it by the end of the fall and completely finish it by the end of the year!

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins - I've been buddy reading this with my friend Shannon during the month of September! I am listening to it on audio during my commutes and actually really enjoying it! I have about 25% to go and I plan to finish this before the end of the month (meaning by Friday)!

Slumdog Millionaire by Vikas Swarup - Another audiobook! I started listening to this during #DiverseAThon and I have about 90 minutes left. I'll definitely be finishing it by the end of September as well!

The Girls by Emma Cline - I also plan to finish this by September 30th, mainly because it's due back to the library on September 30th... :P I am currently on page 51 of 355!

Upcoming Readathons:

SpookAThon - October 17-23

Book BuddyAThon - October 22-28

BorrowAThon - November 7-14 (hosted by yours truly... more details to come! :D)

What have you been reading recently? Let me know in the comments!

Summer Favorites 2016!

Fall is here which means it is finally time for me to share my favorite things of the summer! Go ahead and click play on the video above to hear my explanation of each of these items, but if you just want a quick rundown of each of my favorite things this season, keep reading for the list! Happy fall, everyone! :)
Home & Office Favorite Moleskine Grid Notebook
TV Favorite Gilmore Girls
Podcast Favorite Gilmore Guys
Book Favorites She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie This One Summer by Jillian Tamaki & Mariko Tamaki Nimona by Noelle Stevenson
Movie Favorite The Little Prince
Event Favorite Rio 2016 Olympics

Vlog: #DiverseAThon + Tackle Your TBR Week 1

Last week was the first week of the Tackle Your TBR readathon as well as the #DiverseAThon! I managed to read 3 full books and a good chunk of a fourth. I thoroughly enjoyed participating in the #DiverseAThon, pushing myself to read diversely, learning about the perspectives of other identities, and learning from the other people participating in the chat! I've reflected so much on my own privilege and identity, the challenges others face solely based on their various identities, and felt myself thinking and growing in different ways which is one of my favorite experiences as a person. This vlog is loooooong but I had so much to say that I didn't want to cut and could have added in much more! I hope #DiverseAThon will come around again soon because I had an incredible time. I hope you enjoy this vlog! <3

Tackle Your TBR Week 2 Daily Progress Updates

Happy Week 2 of Tackle Your TBR! I've decided to split up my daily progress updates into two weeks so keep things a bit easier to navigate. If you're interested in checking out my progress updates from Week 1 and the #DiverseAThon, you can check it out here. I will be posting my vlog from the first week of this readathon on Thursday so be on the look out for that, but for now, enjoy my daily updates for the remainder of Tackle Your TBR! As always, this post will be pinned to the top of my Twitter page for east access and re-visitation to this post!

Tuesday, September 20th

Books read today: Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Pages read today: 44
Time listened today: 0:00:00
Books completed today: None

Wednesday, September 21st

Books read today: Slumdog Millionaire by Vikas Swarup, Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (62 pages) & Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella (22 pages)
Pages read today: 84
Time listened today: 1:02:17
Books completed today: 1 - Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Thursday, September 22nd

Books read today: Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella
Pages read today: 78
Time listened today: 0:00:00
Books completed today: None

Friday, September 23rd

Books read today: Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella (186 pages) & The Dinner by Herman Koch (50 pages)
Pages read today: 236
Time listened today: 0:00:00
Books completed today: 1 - Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella

Saturday, September 24th

Books read today: Slumdog Millionaire by Vikas Swarup (2:45:56) & The Dinner by Herman Koch (93 pages)
Pages read today: 93
Time listened today: 2:45:56
Books completed today: None

Sunday, September 25th

Books read today: The Dinner by Herman Koch (149 pages) & Lord of the Flies by William Golding (48 pages)
Pages read today: 197
Time listened today: 0:00:00
Books completed today: 1 - The Dinner by Herman Koch

Monday, September 26th

Books read today: Lord of the Flies by William Golding & Slumdog Millionaire by Vikas Swarup
Pages read today: 154
Time listened today: 0:26:41
Books completed today: 1 - Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Total pages read: 2,206
Total time listened: 9:19:52
Total books completed: 7

A Few of my Favorite Links {#25}

SURPRISE! IT'S A BLOG POST THAT ISN'T READING/BOOK RELATED!

I figured you all were looking for a break. ;)

It's been a bit since I've shared some links with you all so I thought it was time to compile some internet things for you all to click on and check out! This round we've got one more serious and heavy thing but mostly fun, hilarious, and ridiculous things to balance it out. I hope you all find something you're interested in, and make sure you share your favorite links of the moments in the comments!

I Replaced The Word ‘Millennials’ With ‘43-Year-Old White Men’ And Now These Headlines Are *Italian Chef Kissing Fingers Gesture*

I always get confused as to why other generations like to abuse the term "millennial" so much, as if the literally millions of people born between the years 1980 and 2000 are all the same and a single-handedly ruining society. So when things like this article come out it is beyond satisfying. Take a look at these hilarious edits and learn just how ridiculous that blaming literally everything terrible on Millennials.

Anxiety, Depression, and Being a Downer



Charlieissocoollike has been a favorite YouTuber of mine every since I started visiting the site back in 2007 (I can't believe that is nearly 10 years ago!). It means so much to me when people I admire speak out about mental health. There is so much ridiculous stigma around topics of mental illness when 1 in 4 people in the United States live with it everyday. We need more voices on this tpic, we need more dialogue regarding this difficult subject, and we need to start treating mental illness as just that - an illness that needs to be treated. It's real, and we need to treat it that way.
New Hampshire Rated Happiest State in New England

This was a cutesy little article just just relays one very important piece of information - New Hampshire, which I consider to be my home state even though I've lived in Massachusetts for pushing 10 years now, is the happiest state in New England! LIVE FREE OR DIE!

Lincoln Park Zoo Names Baby Camel 'Alexander Camelton'

I mean... the title of this link is all you need to know. The Lincoln Park Zoo is extremely witty. And I love it. ALEXANDER CAMELTON! WE ARE WAITING IN THE WINGS FOR YOUUUU!
$ave Dat Money - Lil Dicky

Brett showed me this music video and song and I'm obsessed. I've never related to a rap song so much in my life. Seriously, give this a listen and really pay attention to the lyrics. A.) They're hilarious (I mean, that iced coffee verse at the end? PLEASE.) and B.) They're so effing smart and I'm pretty sure anyone in my age and SES group can totally relate. American Girl Dolls Ranked by Betchiness

My friend Solange had posted this on Facebook and as someone who LOVED American Girl growing up I LOLed the whole way through this clickthrough article. If you know anything about American Girl - whether you had a doll, read the books, read the magazine, or visited the store - click through this article and cry-laugh along with me.
What links have you been loving lately?

Tackle Your TBR Week 1 & #DiverseAThon Daily Progress Updates

You all know the drill by now! Here is my blog post where I will keep my daily progress updates for the #DiverseAThon and Week 1 of the Tackle Your TBR readathon, which are happening simultaneously. Check out my TBR posts for both the Tackle Your TBR readathon and the #DiverseAThon (TBR subject to change) to see what I will be reading this week! As usual, I will be keeping this post pinned to the top of my Twitter page so you can easily find your way back to it throughout the week. I will also be vlogging throughout these readathons so you will be seeing my experience and my thoughts on each book as I read them. I hope you all have a fabulous week and if you are participating in either of these readathons that you have so much fun!

Monday, September 12th

Books read today: Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman

Pages read today: 206

Time listened today: 0:00:00

Books completed today: None

Tuesday, September 13th

Books read today: Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman (102 pages) & Mr. Smith Goes to Prison (41 pages)

Pages read today: 143

Time listened today: 0:00:00

Books completed today: 1 - Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman

Wednesday, September 14th

Books read today: Mr. Smith Goes to Prison by Jeff Smith

Pages read today: 27

Time listened today: 0:00:00

Books completed today: None

Thursday, September 15th

Books read today: Mr. Smith Goes to Prison by Jeff Smith (142 pages) & Slumdog Millionaire (audio) by Vikas Swarup (1:24:14)

Pages read today: 142

Time listened today: 1:42:14

Books completed today: None

Friday, September 16th

Books read today: Slumdog Millionaire by Vikas Swarup (1:43:48), Mr. Smith Goes to Prison by Jeff Smith, & Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (10 pages)

Pages read today: 50

Time listened today: 1:43:38

Books completed today: 1 - Mr. Smith Goes to Prison by Jeff Smith

Saturday, September 17th

Books read today: Slumdog Millionaire by Vikas Swarup (1:05:48) & Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (110 pages)

Pages read today: 110

Time listened today: 1:05:48

Books completed today: None

Sunday, September 18th

Books read today: Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie & American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

Pages read today: 352

Time listened today: 0:00:00

Books completed today: 1 - American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

Monday, September 19th

Books read today: Slumdog Millionaire by Vikas Swarup (0:51:08) & Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Pages read today: 253

Time listened today: 0:51:08

Books completed today: None

Total pages read: 1,317

Total time listened: 5:04:58

Total books completed: 3

Diversity Matters | #DiverseAThon TBR

This video was super impromptu (note the shower hair!) but yesterday I watched a really awful video of this BookTuber who spoke out against diversity in literature and that is something I just can't sit by and stay silent about. (I won't link to the video, but as of writing this it is still live so you can easily look it up if you want to listen to 22 minutes of ignorance.) As someone who considers themselves to be an educator, it is wrong for me to stay silent when someone is being racist or sexist or homophobic or xenophobic or transphobic or spouting ANY KIND of prejudice rhetoric against groups that are oppressed in our society. These things directly impact the students I care so much about and so many of my colleagues and friends as well. I can't consider myself a educator or friend to these people in my life if I don't take a stand against what this BookTuber and so many like this person are still saying in the year 2016.

I wasn't aware of this video or this readathon before posting my Tackle Your TBR readathon TBR selection last week, but as soon as I was made aware I knew I wanted to stand with the rest of the BookTube and online reading community and say No. This person is not a representation of us. We VALUE diversity. It matters to us. It's important. So I am participating in the #DiverseAThon this week, which will be taking place from Monday, September 12th (today!) to Monday, September 19th - the same timeframe as the first week of the Tackle Your TBR readathon. There were only two books on my original TBR that had diverse themes/characters so I added a few more diverse options for myself to choose from this week.

Click play on the video to hear my reasoning behind these picks! Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman 308 pages Diversity focus: Mental Illness Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella 286 pages Diversity focus: Mental Illness
Mr. Smith Goes to Prison by Jeff Smith 250 pages Diversity focus: The incarcerated, race, class
Americanah by Chimananda Ngozi Adichie 477 pages Diversity focus: Race, cultural differences
5 to 1 by Holly Bodger 244 pages Diversity focus: Cultural differences

Vlog: #RYBSAT Round #9!

Hello everyone! This week on my channel I'm posting my #RYBSAT vlog & wrap up! RYBSAT was a wonderful readathon filled with wonderfully supportive people who cheered on your reading literally day in and day out. I would put my phone down for an hour at work and I would pick it back up to TONS of Tweets from the RYBSAT crew and it was amazing. I totally recommend joining in when Round #10 comes about!

I also want to take the time to note that I realize that a lot of my posts lately have all been on the topic of reading. I've been really enjoying my time participating in the reading community online and while I want to apologize for this sudden change in posting topics, I'm not going to. This has been a lot of fun! :P However, I don't want my blog to be *just* about my reading and books, so no worries - I still plan on posting about other things! It's just been a bit book heavy as of late because I am on an awesome reading kick and I do not want it to stop. I do have a few posts about running and planning coming up over the next few weeks so be on the lookout for that! <3 
I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Tackle Your TBR Readathon | TBR Selection!

Clearly, I've been loving this readathon thing. It's been keeping me motivated throughout this busy time of year to continue to read and discover new stories! Because I've been loving it so much, I will be participating in a second readathon during this month called the Tackle Your TBR readathon, hosted by Wishful Endings. Tackle Your TBR is a two-week readathon - lasting from Monday, September 12th at midnight to Monday, September 26th at 11:59PM - which means much more opportunity to read my eyeballs out! Here is my TBR for this readathon:

Mr. Smith Goes to Prison by Jeff Smith

A political memoir

250 pages

Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella

286 pages

The Dinner by Herman Koch

A book that was translated to English

292 pages

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

A book that takes place on an island

202 pages

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

192 pages

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

479 pages

I of course have uploaded a TBR video in which I explain a little bit about each book and my reasoning behind selecting each title, so make sure you hit play to find out more about each one! I am also planning on vlogging, as usual, and since there is two weeks worth of readathon I will be doing one vlog for each week to try and cut down on the time. Please let me know in the comments or on Twitter if you are planning to participate in Tackle Your TBR - I would love to interact with you! :)

Vlog: Bout of Books #17!

Happy Friday, everyone!
Today on my channel I am sharing my vlog from the Bout of Books #17 readathon that I participated in last week! I honestly had such a wonderful time getting back into the groove of making time for reading and I loved it so much that I'm currently participating in another readathon! I'm reading so much more lately than I have over the course of this year and honestly it's been just what I've needed to make me feel like myself again. Basically, I'm really enjoying myself and I hope to continue to read regularly through the busy season at work. I hope you all enjoy this video and have a wonderful weekend!

RYBSAT (ReadYourBookShelfAThon) #9 Daily Progress Updates

Hi all! As you know I am participating in RYBSAT (ReadYourBookShelfAThon) this week and I thought I would once again share my daily reading progress here on the blog! I've been really enjoying my time during this readathon so far - it's been a welcome break from an extremely busy start to the academic year! I will again pin this blog post to the top of my Twitter page so you can access it easily if you would like to come back each day and see my progress! Happy reading, y'all! :)

DAY 1 - Wednesday, August 31st

Books read today: She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb
Pages read today: 119 pages
Books completed today: None

DAY 2 - Thursday, September 1st

Books read today: She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb
Pages read today: 65 pages
Books completed today: None

DAY 3 - Friday, September 2nd

Books read today: She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb
Pages read today: 24
Books completed today: None

DAY 4 - Saturday, September 3rd

Books read today: She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb
Pages read today: 92
Books completed today: None

DAY 5 - Sunday, September 4th

Books read today: She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb (165 pages) & A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (38 pages)
Pages read today: 203
Books completed today: 1 - She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb

DAY 6 - Monday, September 5th

Books read today: A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (167 pages) & Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff (163 pages)
Pages read today: 330 
Books completed today: 1 - A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

DAY 7 - Tuesday, September 6th

Books read today: Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Pages read today: 146
Books completed today: None

DAY 1 - Wednesday, September 7th

Books read today: Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Pages read today: 290
Books completed today: 1 - Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Total pages read: 1,269
Total books read: 3