52 books in 52 weeks

Over the summer of 2016 I discovered booktube. Specifically HaylesNYhearts (or now Hailey in Bookland) and I re-discovered Goodreads and thus re-discovered my want to read more books. I found the goodreads challenge, which is just a challenge you set for yourself for how many books you intend or want to read for the year. Since I hadn't discovered it since summer I decided to not keep myself expectations high and decided 20 books in six months. Well I was able to do 24 books in that time, so I figure if I double that, I should be able to do 50 in 2017.

But there's another challenge in a Goodreads group called: Around the Year in 52 Books. I kind of did this challenge in 2016 but I'm going about it a little differently in 2017. What this challenge is is a themed challenge each week in 2017 (list will be below) So week one is a book from the Goodreads Choice Awards 2016, week two is a book with at least 2 perspectives.

You can find the group here around the year in 52 books

They have forums to discuss book ideas for different themes, progress forums as well as planning forums on how to talk this challenge. You don't have to read the themes in order, however they do keep track of what week we're on at the top of the group. I personally can't go in order, I like the freedom of being able to choose whatever book I feel, and figuring out what theme it matches later on. Last year I copy and pasted the challenges to a word document and pasted book covers in my Goodreads tbr to the document. This didn't help at all either. A lot of books on my Goodreads tbr I don't own copies of, and when I do go to book stores I tend to buy what catches my eye as opposed to what I know I want to read. When I shop online I tend to buy books I know are on my tbr, unfortunately (or fortunately) I don't buy online too often as I enjoy going into a books store and exploring new things and helping out my local businesses (the book store I tend to go to is an independent local book store that can be a little pricey but my area doesn't have a Barnes and Noble... and I can't say I'm a fan of used books)

So here's this list of the challenges. Challenge yourself  and see if you can accomplish it!

The 2017 List
1. A book from the Goodreads Choice Awards 2016
2. A book with at least 2 perspectives (multiple points of view)
3. A book you meant to read in 2016
4. A title that doesn't contain the letter "E"
5. A historical fiction
6. A book being released as a movie in 2017 
7. A book with an animal on the cover or in the title
8. A book written by a person of color
9. A book in the middle of your To Be Read list
10. A dual-timeline novel
11. A category from another challenge
12. A book based on a myth
13. A book recommended by one of your favorite authors
14. A book with a strong female character
15. A book written or set in Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland)
16. A mystery
17. A book with illustrations
18. A really long book (600+ pages)
19. A New York Times best-seller
20. A book that you've owned for a while but haven't gotten around to reading
21. A book that is a continuation of a book you've already read
22. A book by an author you haven't read before
23. A book from the BBC "The Big Read" list 
24. A book written by at least two authors
25. A book about a famous historical figure
26. An adventure book
27. A book by one of your favorite authors
28. A non-fiction
29. A book published outside the 4 major publishing houses (Simon & Schuster; HarperCollins; Penguin Random House; Hachette Livre) - check all the editions
30. A book from Goodreads Top 100 YA Books 
31. A book from a sub-genre of your favorite genre
32. A book with a long title (5+ words, excluding subtitle)
33. A magical realism novel
34. A book set in or by an author from the Southern Hemisphere
35. A book where one of the main characters is royalty
36. A Hugo Award winner or nominee 
37. A book you choose randomly
38. A novel inspired by a work of classic literature
39. An epistolary fiction
40. A book published in 2017
41. A book with an unreliable narrator
42. A best book of the 21st century (so far)
43. A book with a chilling atmosphere (scary, unsettling, cold)
44. A recommendation from "What Should I Read Next" 
45. A book with a one-word title
46. A time travel novel
47. A past suggestion that didn't win 
48. A banned book
49. A book from someone else's bookshelf
50. A Penguin Modern Classic - any edition
51. A collection (e.g. essays, short stories, poetry, plays) 
52. A book set in a fictional location

Home Made Pasta: Another First

So I'm aware that cooking and baking is a stretch in terms of "ink" (i mean...cookbooks right....you don't need to know that I use google for most of the recipes I try...)

So this last Christmas, my boyfriend got me the noodle rolling attachment for my Kitchen Aide. I've only finally been able to use it, and I decided to go for something "easy": Lasagna Noodles. Long stretches of noodles. Should be a simple one to start out with. Box of lasagna noodles out just in case.

So the oddity for me was to stir eggs on my counter...not in a conventional bowl (as opposed to the little make shift sifted flour/salt "well") Now when I decide to try a recipe, I actually look up a couple and do a strange combination of a few. Though ultimately I tried to stick with one recipe for noddles (not that the recipe varied much in ingredients) but I somehow ended up with a lot more flour than I expected it to. Quite a few recipes said to go ahead and roll out the dough after you knead it for 5-7 minutes....but I watch Chopped and Beat Bobby Flay....no one does that, so needless to say I didn't roll the dough right away. I let it "rest" in plastic wrap and under a glass bowl (think Flay puts it under a metal bowl....I don't own one, nor do I really know what it does....but my roommates thought I looked like I knew what I was doing...)

By this time my dog was upset with me. How dare I not stand still enough for her to lay on my feet while I cook in the kitchen. Monstrous.

So rolling it wasn't as easy as it looks in Chopped/Beat Bobby Flay.... (I mean why would it?)  and silly me stacked the noodles on top of one another after rolling them.....they stuck together....more rolling. More noodle dough bunching underneath of the rollers and inevitably ripping. But over all the noodles turned out really light, and I was super proud. I did still have to make the box of lasagna noodles to cover the top. The lasagna was ultimately five layers of noodles, meat, cottage cheese and spinach. I'd like to try again after watching some tutorials.

What are some of your experiences with noodle making? Any interesting recipes for noodles you've found/had? I want to try and see if there are any ravioli dessert recipes out there....Stay tuned.

First Book of 2017

So the first book I finished in 2017 is Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan.

Synopsis: Nick frequents New York's indie rock scene nursing a broken heart. Norah is questioning all of her assumptions about the world. They have nothing in common except for killer taste in music, but one awkward chance encounter turns into an all-night quest to find a legendary band's secret show in the mystic maze of Manhattan-- and a first date full of falling in and out (an in and out, and maybe in and maybe out) of love.

Personal Review: On Goodreads I gave this book a 3 out of five stars, but it's more of a 3.5. The book over all was light and fun. We get perspectives from both Nick and Norah through out their strange night in New York City. I've watched the movie before hand and it was only recently that I knew that this was even a book (thanks Booktube). And it's definitely helpful. I feel like this gives the characters a bit more depth, specifically Tris. The movie just leaves her as a shallow bitch that likes to control and manipulate her men whether or not she's still hooking up with them. But the book sheds a new light on her. Don't get me wrong she's still cast as a kind of "bitch" but I feel more than my ankles getting wet with this one. This book also gives a bit more insight to what Nick and Norah are thinking along the way. The one thing that I think the movie does a bit better is the whole "all-night quest to find a legendary band's secret show" that is very prevalent and a common theme through out the movie but in the book in seems more happen stance and briefly mentioned. Another issues I had is that through out the book you can kind of see the personal growth of the two, but towards the end the inner monologues was becoming a bit of a pain to get through, particularly with Norah. But that I feel was personal preference. Otherwise a relatively fun light read.

Cover: So there are four covers to this book. The one I have is one that's copywritten by Shutterstock and published August 28th 2007 in paperback. Which I don't mind, it's playful, the blurred light in the background give a sense of New York traffic. It also fits in with other Rachel Cohn & David Levithan collaborative book covers. My one issue is that the "infinite" competes a bit with the background.

From what I can get on Goodreads this cover is the hard cover version published May 23rd 2006. I appreciate the light blue color, but that's about it. I'm not a big fan of people on book covers because it messes with how I feel the characters should look like. I don't mind the font in which Norah's name is typed but not a fan of the Old English style Nick's is typed in.

This cover is the e-book cover published November 13th 2007. The font doesn't bug me so much in this cover. The Old English style isn't so dominating like it was in the hardback version, and the fact it's slightly as-cue which make it a bit playful. The color of the background is lovely and the subtlety of the city is a bit romantic. The playfulness of the earbud cords is a nice gesture but I feel like it it could have been explored a bit more.

And finally, published August 28th 2008, this book cover is the movie rendition with Michael Cera and Kat Dennings. Again I'm not a fan of people on the cover no matter if I already saw the movie or not. But I truly enjoy the written block font of the title, as well as the silhouetted city-scape with the Yugo driving through. Honestly if this one got rid of Cera and Dennings and instead had the swirly earbuds of the movie cover (because they are well incorporated there) but still encircling the title (moving it up towards more the center of the cover) much like the e-book version I'd spoon with this book it'd be so adorable.

What do you think of the covers? If you read and watched the movies, what were your likes and disklikes? Let me know in the comments! If you don't like any of the covers and dislike my suggestions, how would your composition for this book look? If you have created one already, link the image, I'd love to see them!

That's all for now, until next time!
xoxo
Litta

Holding Breath and Jumping In

So this year I really want to try to continue doing this. Not just to be able to prove to myself that I can continue a never ending project, but also as a stepping stone for my ultimate goal to create a you tube channel.

I couldn't say for sure what I want this to be about. Scribbled Inks just seemed appropriate as a title as so many things I'm interested in wanting to talk about has ink in common. Scribbled could just mean a variety of things and just reminds me just how all over the place my mind, interests and hobbies can be.

So if you're reading this thank you for getting this far, and I hope you enjoy. If you don't, I'm not opposed to helpful critiques.

See you soon!

xoxo
Litta