May Review

 So it was kind of silly of me to think I could start this and be able to keep up with it in my last semester of College. But I'm done now, I've Graduated (Yay me!) so to keep from having a mental freak out of what I'm supposed to do next and how I'm still in the same dead-end job that helped me pay for college (breathe....one...two...) I've been reading more.

So Since it's the 31st of May, I have a month Review for the books I've read in May. I have read Five books, which to me, is saying something. Also this month I found a new love for Audible, which helps so much when I feel I need to do something but still want to listen to a book being read.

Ok so let's get into it:

The Five books I read were:

Where Am I Now by Mara Wilson

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman

American War by Omar El Akkad

and

The Anatomical Shape of a Heart by Jenn Bennett

A weird mix I'm aware....

Let get right on to the reviews.

Where Am I Now by Mara Wilson, was publish September 13th 2016. The book is 259 pages long. However, this was the first Audio Book I got into from Audible, which runs about 7 hours and 22 minutes. If you've ever seen Mrs. Doubfire, or Matilda, you'll recognize this little girl on the cover, that is Mara Wilson. This book is an insight into her. How she got into child acting, why she got out of it, and basically her as a person and how child acting affected her. It did lull in some parts, and I immediately started crying when she mention Robin William's death. But over all an interesting read (am I still allowed to call it that if I just listened to it?) The audio book was nice in that it's Mara Wilson reading it to you. I don't know if they have other people read biography's but if they do, they should stop (I mean unless their dead....) Having Mara read this made her feel more real to me. I get this she's a real person, living and breathing and all. But it helps me connect that this character I've grown up with, it just what it is, a character and that the child actor is actually older than I am. It was a nice reality check. I would love to give halves on Goodreads, but I gave this book three stars, while the average Goodreads rating is 3.88. I don't think I'll be picking up a physical copy. But do plan on looking for more biography's through Audible.

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman was published February 2nd 2017. 299 pages long, and takes 6 hours and 29 minutes on Audio. This was also an Audio I got into pretty quickly. My brother recommended it to me as he also did with Audible. Neil Gaiman himself reads the book to you (which if you haven't heard his voice before you should) and I love the fact he read his own book. Neil Gaiman, the only book I've read before this one was Coraline, and this is quite different. But still fun. Gaiman talks about why he enjoys Norse Mythology and gives references to two authors before him who actually told quite a bit of Norse Mythology, he just took the two and decided to tell some himself. Despite being a bunch of stories in one book, the stories, when put together feel like an adventure. You get the major events, how Thor got his hammer, how Odin became all knowing, you get the personality differences of Thor and Loki with a bit of other gods you may not have even heard before. It almost feels as though he's readying his book to you as a good night story, as he does the voices quite well to, much like a mother would when reading her child to sleep. It's quite nice. I gave this book five stars, I thought it was hilarious and informational as well as very adventurous. I do eventually want a physical coppy on my bookshelf to refer back to, as well as enjoy the cover art. The average Goodreads rating is 4.14 stars.

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman, was published June 16th 2015. Has 372 pages, takes 11 hours and 22 minutes through Audio, narrated by Joan Walker.
Unsure who Joan Walker is, but I love her narration. This was another audio book for me, and I absolutely adored it. It follows this 7 year old named Elsa, she's different, and her only friend is her 77 year old crazy grandmother. When I say crazy I mean, throwing feces at cops, shooting paintball guns at neighbors and throwing globes and head masters, type crazy... But when Elsa's Grandmother dies, she finds a series of letters apologizing to everyone in the house, and it's Elsa's job to make sure they get the letters and learning who her grandmother really was.
I fell is love with this story, I don't particularly like this cover of the book, but I want a physical copy on my shelf like last week. The reason why I don't like the cover is because I pictured Elsa differently than whats on the cover. And actually this book is written in a way that images kept creeping into my mind, creating a world for Elsa and her neighbors (who each have wonderfully different personalities). This would translate into a great animated movie. What was odd, because this book was translated (I believe from Finnish) there's a few things here and there that you can tell, but ultimately still a great book. Full of imagination and adventure, it's thrilling. Though there is bullying in this, which brought tears to my eyes, especially when no one really tries to help, and it made me wonder, when I have kids, how I can prevent this from happening to them, or how would I react if it did, how could I stop it. A very real moment in an otherwise sweet story. I gave this book five stars, and as I said, I need this cover. The average Goodreads rating is 4.02 stars.

American War by Omar El Akkad was published April 4th 2017. is 352 pages and is 12 hours and 13 minutes long through Audio. Dion Graham Narrates.
I actually read the physical copy of this book. And it took a bit. Not because it was a difficult read in text sense, but because I found it difficult in that this feels likely. This book is a futuristic dystopian of sorts. Oil is banned by use by the United States President, only for the Oil States to rebel creating Americas second civil war. The story follow Sarat, who's six when the war starts and claims her father life, the family has to move to a refugee camp where as she get older, becomes a prodigee to a mysterious functionary who turns Sarat into a deadly instrument of war. Her decisions can have deadly effects, not just on her, but on her family and the country.
This book got too real every now and then. but was still and intense and interesting read. The end however, I felt was rushed. While in the beginning it was just barely on the too slow side of things, I was able to connect with Sarat, was worried for her, was upset with her. But in the end she didn't want us to connect with her, and I believe we were supposed to be connecting with a family member. However this didn't happen, and I wish it did because I would have liked to know more towards the end. Not that no questions went unanswered, I just wanted to stay in the world a bit longer to see how they coped.
This book was actually an option for Book of the Month Club the month I decided to end my subscription. But I then found it in my local book store and managed to get $10 off due to a rewards system. The cover originally intrigued me, it's contrast, and the play that the barbed wire has with the font. However, I'm sure barbed wire is used in war still and will then, there was no real mention of it in this book and I actually thing the alternative cover works a bit better.

There is mention of the similar stars in the book, how they were done hastily and so were on even and lopsided (though this I feel is a little exadurated) I feel this cover fits more, but I dislike it, while the other cover I like but almost feel doesn't fit.
I gave this book four stars, (would more likely be 4.5) and the average rating is 3.98.

The Anatomical Shape of a Heart by Jenn Bennett was published November 3rd 2015. is 304 pages long and is not available as an audio book. After the last book I needed a light and fluffy read. I found this on book outlet, and thought it sounded cute. Pretty quick and easy read, where Beatrix Adams wants to be a medical illustrator, meets graffiti artist and vandal Jackson Vincent on the night bus in San Fransisco. Beatrix tries to get closer to Jack, and tries to find what makes him so wounded all the while trying to keep her own secrets from her family. The biggest issue I had with this book was the name Jackson Vincent. I hate it. It does not flow, it's not a pretty name. I got over Beatrix (nickname Bex) pretty quickly. Otherwise this wasn't a bad book. Like a said light and fluffy and with summer just starting seemed like a good summer read. I live in northern California and am familiar with San Francisco so the parts where they make fun of the weather or accurate. The fact the main character is an illustrator and wants to be a medical illustrator warms my heart. But her weird angst against color seemed odd to me, but sounds like something i would have done in high school. Towards the end though it did get very fairy tale like in that everything worked out just so. with little to nothing going wrong. so it seemed a little far fetched to me. Also haven't read and YA Contemporary in a while, so this just might be how they are? Over all not bad, gave 4 starts and average was 3.92.
Interesting fact about this book though, I remember a booktuber holder up a book called Night Owl and I kept trying to find it because it sounded really interesting but never could, until I saw the alternative covers for this book.

Meet the UK version of this book. Published August 13th 2015. I honestly kind of like this cover better. The fact that the US version is The Anatomical Shape of a Heart and is in the shape of a Valentine heart, bugs me to no end. We'll see if I can find a UK edition cover on sale somewhere.
Otherwise Jenn Bennett has another book out that I've been seeing that sounds fun called Alex Approximately, which came out in the US on April 4th this year, but again she has a UK version as well, which I like better that comes out in July that I may just wait for....

UK/NZ Edition

US Edition

I'm sorry, I just don't like people on the book covers, no matter how obscured they are with pool floaties. 

Alright, I think that's all for now. Let me know if you've read any of these and your thoughts on them.

Until next time!

Litta

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