Merry Wanderer of the Night [Search results for journal] 

Breathing Underwater by Alex Flinn is written as a series of journal entries. The journal is written by Nick as an assignment from the judge who also sends him to anger management after the girlfriend he beat up finally presses charges. The book was published in 2001, before the recent increase in dating violence novels, and it tells a story often overlooked, that of the abuser instead of the abused.

It's a delicate subject. And it tells a hard story. Because while Nick is (obviously) not without his faults, he most certainly has his good points as well. And as I read I found myself feeling... not sympathetic, exactly, but definitely feeling something, more than I thought I would.

Initially, Nick is angry at being forced into these group anger management classes and he hates the idea of having to keep a journal. He doesn't think he has a problem, thinks he just needs to pretend to clean up a little so he can get Caitlin back, get the courts out of his face and everything can be perfect again. Because we are reading Nick's journal, we are privy to his thoughts, his perceptions and misconceptions. But we are also able to read between the lines and recognize that we are missing things, both because Nick is leaving them out and because Nick simply doesn't see them. The initial entries into the journal are very sarcastic and emotionless. It's clear that Nick doesn't want to be bothered with a journal and that he thinks it's stupid. But as Nick's story progresses, more and more emotions leak onto the pages until Nick is really keeping a journal and using it as a way to organize his thoughts and face up to painful memories and truths.

This is a book with astounding character growth. We learn enough about Nick throughout the course of the story to know that his life is not as easy or golden as his school friends always believed it to be. And Caitlin knew this, which is perhaps the reason that she stayed with him for so long, forgave him so many times. But, even though Flinn offers up Nick's back story, allowing us to get to know who he is and what life experiences have shaped him, she never excuses or justifies his behavior, and ultimately Nick is not allowed that either.

The group anger management class ends up being the best thing that ever happened to Nick, both because of the sympathetic and understanding instructor, and because Nick can see himself in the actions of some of the other members of the class and he doesn't like what he sees. For such self-assessment to come from a 16 year old who then takes it and applies it to making himself better is amazing. Nick really grows as a person and while I don't think Caitlin should ever take him back, I also think that he would not easily allow himself to fall back into the patterns of an abusive relationship. He really gets it.

This is a story that needed to be told and needs to be read by more people. I don't think enough people know about this book and I don't think it's one that should be missed. It's painfully hard to read at times. Nick doesn't hide the nasty things he said to Caitlin, because in the beginning, he doesn't think there is anything wrong with what he's done. And then, as he begins to recognize what was wrong with his actions, he starts to expose more of his internal motivations for being so cruel and the thought to action correlation begins to make more sense.

Flinn is brave for taking an oft told story and telling the unspoken side of things. It would be easy, in a novel about an abuser to make him either evil and terrible or to justify his behaviors to the point of absolution. But abuse is not a misunderstanding and it's rarely so simple as to be the actions of the truly evil. And Flinn has captured that beautifully. Nick is human. He is flawed and over time, he begins to accept that and work toward a change. THIS is what Contemporary is all about. Finding these novels that capture a moment in the human experience and open your eyes to it, make you recognize it for what it is, make you learn and grow as a person and help to open windows of understanding into subjects otherwise closed to us. Every side has two stories and it is a brave writer who can so masterfully tell the unpopular one.

Ever since I saw the Moleskine Passions Book Journal I was overcome with lust. I decided to purchase it as a gift to myself for my hard work during midterms (and hopefully I worked as hard as I thought I did!). I've never been a huge fan of Moleskines, mostly because they carry a pretty hefty price tag and I don't take notes very often. I normally just takes notes inside the book I'm reading when I have a thought, and I don't every have my Moleskine when I want to take a note down about something I want to write or read. But I think this Book Journal might have changed my entire view on Moleskine.

This book is so organized, which I love. The book pages are in alphabetical order and on each page there is a space for the title, author, nationality, publisher, dates read, first edition (y/n), year, original language, awards, notes, quotes, and final opinion plus rating. So essentially everything I want to remember about a book after I read it. I really think this is going to help me stay organized for reviews as well. I haven't reviewed a book I've written about in here yet, but I have finished a book and filled out a page. I can already see a huge difference in how I read. And here is the really amazing thing, I have not left home without my journal since I bought it. I cannot even explain how amazing that is. There have been days where I thought to myself, "Eh, I won't really need that today," but then I always reconsider and end up slipping it in my bag.

At the back of the book there are sections where you can name your own tabs. So far I have tabs for Bookshops, Magazines, Readings & Signings, and Podcasts. The first four of those were labels that came with the book that I chose, but the last one I made myself with a blank tab. Following the tabs are more blank pages, which you could use for a never ending list of things. I'm using them for a Wish List and a List of Books Read in 2010.

My favorite thing about this journal though is probably the fold out compartment in the back. Here I can keep receipts for books, the labels that came with the book, recommendations, random notes, bookmarks, and whatever else I want. Another great quality is the book has three bookmark ribbons to mark three different important pages at any time. This is especially helpful since I'm usually reading a few books at a time, so I can keep my in progresses marked for quick notetaking!

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A report reveals how during Winter Solstice celebrations at the site in December last year, chewing gum was stuck onto the ancient monument, graffiti was sprayed on the ancient stones, attempts were made to light fires on them, and lines of oil were dripped on several stones.

Things were much worse during the Summer Solstice in June, when volunteers and staff were "left in tears" and had to clean up vomit and feces. The "appalling stench" and the "urine, vomit and feces" were left around the stones after 37,000 revelers descended on the site to watch the sunrise.

Winter Solstice numbers were much smaller, and amounted to around 1500, though the damage done to the stones was still considerable. A spokesperson of the English Heritage conservation group said of the oil, "It's still there and it's not degrading. This is an additional concern as there is still graffiti on the stones from the summer solstice."

Solstice revelries were banned between 1985 and 2000, when they were finally opened up after a long legal battle by King Arthur Pendragon, a self-professed "pagan leader". Pendragon said pagans were also unhappy about the vandalism. However, he states that the Heritage Journal are calling attention to this because they wish to halt future solstice events. "Heritage Journal have been doing that since they were formed in the first place. Basically they're just a number of archaeologists who don't want 'the great unwashed', as they see it, anywhere near Stonehenge. Obviously, we abhor the vandalism. We always keep an eye out for these sorts of things. From my point of view, as a druid and a pagan priest, it's not on."

Solstice events are marked by various denominations and faiths around the world. However, a spokesperson of the Heritage Journal remarked, "The latest research suggests the stones were designed to allow people to view the summer solstice sunset from outside the circle, not crowded inside it."

Stonehenge, a UNESCO World Heritage Monument, is the remains of a ring of standing stones set within earthworks, built between 3000 BC and 2000 BC.

Author: Sravanth Verma | Source: Digital Journal [March 10, 2015]

Stephanie Barron's The White Garden

is a fictional attempt to understand what happened to Virginia Woolf during the three weeks after Leonard read her suicide note and she was actually found in the river. I normally get hung up on things like facts and how true to the story an author is staying, but I could not put this book down. When Jo Bellamy tells her grandfather, Jock, that she is going to Sissinghurst Castle to copy The White Garden for a client he says all the right things. After all, it's a dream job for any gardener. Before she leaves though she finds that Jock has hung himself. When she goes through some of the history of Sissinghurst she finds out that Jock worked at the very garden she is going to, for a woman name Vita Sackville-West.

She finds a manuscript and the only author she can think of is Virginia Woolf. She asks the head gardener if she can borrow it for 24 hours, but it ends up being much longer than that. She takes it to manuscript analyst Peter Llewellyn. Peter takes the journal, but after looking at the dates tells Jo that it cannot be a manuscript by Virginia Woolf because the journal starts the day after Woolf's suicide. After talking he admits that Woolf was actually not found for three weeks after her death. Peter takes the journal to his ex-wife, crazy and beautiful Margaux, who then runs off with the journal. Peter and Jo continue to try and unfold the story of Viriginia Woolf's suicide and Jock's role in it, all while dealing with chasing Margaux and their budding romance.

This is the second novel I have read by Stephanie Barron (the other was Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor) and I enjoyed it leaps and bounds over my first Barron novel. The plot kept me going but Jo Bellamy is a wonderful heroine. She struggles over her interest in the actual story of Virginia's life and her need to understand her grandfather's suicide. She is also willing to kick some balls along the way, especially her employer's. The novel is complete and total fiction, but I still respect Barron for the risks she takes with what might have happened during those three lost weeks. My only quibble with the novel is the portrait it paints of Leonard Woolf, although this is really more of a quibble I have in general with people who brand Leonard Woolf as a bad guy. He was greatly shadowed by Virginia's success and there are some theories about his hands in her suicide but anyway. That is a story for another day!

Pub. Date: September 2009

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group

Format: Paperback, 336 pp

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Like many young girls, Elizabeth keeps a journal of her personal thoughts, feelings, and emotions. But the pages of Elizabeth's journal hold a secret too horrible to share...

Elizabeth's father was diagnosed with brain cancer when Elizabeth was six years old. She's too young to remember him as a healthy young man; she only has images of him and his illness. Despite his illness, he made Elizabeth feel "warm and comfortable and safe."

Eventually, her father is admitted to a hospice. Elizabeth and her siblings are split up among their relatives. Elizabeth's mother moves in with a friend, Doyle. Doyle showered Elizabeth with attention and gifts. However, when Elizabeth was eight years old, Doyle began molesting her.

THE TABLET OF MY HEART is a painfully honest account of one young girl's experience. Scattered throughout the journal entries are bits of poetry the author wrote to chronicle and express the hell she was experiencing. She writes about contemplating suicide at the age of ten years old, of the two occasions when she told someone of her abuse (both times she was dismissed), and of the additional emotional pain she experienced when she finally reported the abuse. But one of the prevalent themes in Elizabeth's poetry is her anger at God, her questioning of God's existence, and the ultimate understanding of God's plan.

THE TABLET OF MY HEART was not an easy read due to the topic.But the overall message was a powerful one: never give up on your faith. Despite all the tests forced upon you, you will persevere.

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Okay, so I know I said no more challenges, but this isn't an actual challenge really. It's more of a personal goal and growth challenge. The Reading Resolutions Challenge is hosted by Jenny Loves to Read. I was going to wait to post this until it was closer to new years, but since I have finished signing up for challenges now seems like a good time. I am a new blogger, English Major's Junk Food has only been around for three months, but I have been a reader for a long time and every year I say I'm going to do certain things and stuff (friends, school, life) gets in the way. Hopefully publishing it for all of you to read will help keep me on track.

In the short amount of time that I've been blogging I have really seen a change in how I read. I read a lot more for one thing, mostly because I feel like I have a reason to read. I want to thank everyone who has helped me learn the ropes and get involved in the community. It's been a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to the upcoming year!

My first resolution is to keep reading often and posting often. I have started a few blogs in the past and usually they only last a week or two and I quit. I don't want that to happen to this blog because I am loving it.

My second resolution is to get out of my historical fiction and classics box even more. I posted about the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge and mentioned that I want to read different kinds of historical fiction that I haven't read before. I would like to do that in general all year. I'm okay with staying inside my preferred genres but I really want to try some new things out. Specifically I would like to try out some more YA novels. There are some great ones out there but I never really pay attention to them.

My third resolution is to post more about the children's books I've been reading. On average I read about four-five children's books per week. I probably won't post about the meh ones, but ones that I really do not like or do like will be spotlighted on this blog.

My final reading resolution is not exactly a reading resolution, but we'll go with it. I want to start keeping a journal again. I used to be an avid journal writer but when I came to college I quit. I'd like to keep a journal to write about what I am reading and my life in a way that I really can't on my blog.

Finally, here are a list of all the challenges I am signed up for:
Shelf Discovery hosted by Booking Mama.
Reading Western Europe hosted by Samantha's Reading Challenge.
18th and 19th Century Women Writers hosted by Becky's Book Reviews.
All About the Brontes Challenge hosted by Laura's Reviews.
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge hosted by Royal Reviews.
First in a Series Challenge hosted by Royal Reviews.
Second in a Series Challenge hosted by Royal Reviews.

EDIT
I couldn't resist this one: You've Got Mail Challenge.

This kind of crept up on me but today is a day I have been looking forward to for awhile. Today Fiona Robyn will begin posting her novel, Thaw, on her blog. The book is a diary, so it's really a great way to check it out! I'm doing this today in place of a review, I hope you all give the first entry a try. Here is the first page:

These hands are ninety-three years old. They belong to Charlotte Marie Bradley Miller. She was so frail that her grand-daughter had to carry her onto the set to take this photo. It’s a close-up. Her emaciated arms emerge from the top corners of the photo and the background is black, maybe velvet, as if we’re being protected from seeing the strings. One wrist rests on the other, and her fingers hang loose, close together, a pair of folded wings. And you can see her insides.

The bones of her knuckles bulge out of the skin, which sags like plastic that has melted in the sun and is dripping off her, wrinkling and folding. Her veins look as though they’re stuck to the outside of her hands. They’re a colour that’s difficult to describe: blue, but also silver, green; her blood runs through them, close to the surface. The book says she died shortly after they took this picture. Did she even get to see it? Maybe it was the last beautiful thing she left in the world.

I’m trying to decide whether or not I want to carry on living. I’m giving myself three months of this journal to decide. You might think that sounds melodramatic, but I don’t think I’m alone in wondering whether it’s all worth it. I’ve seen the look in people’s eyes. Stiff suits travelling to work, morning after morning, on the cramped and humid tube. Tarted-up girls and gangs of boys reeking of aftershave, reeling on the pavements on a Friday night, trying to mop up the dreariness of their week with one desperate, fake-happy night. I’ve heard the weary grief in my dad’s voice.

So where do I start with all this? What do you want to know about me? I’m Ruth White, thirty-two years old, going on a hundred. I live alone with no boyfriend and no cat in a tiny flat in central London. In fact, I had a non-relationship with a man at work, Dan, for seven years. I’m sitting in my bedroom-cum-living room right now, looking up every so often at the thin rain slanting across a flat grey sky. I work in a city hospital lab as a microbiologist. My dad is an accountant and lives with his sensible second wife Julie, in a sensible second home. Mother finished dying when I was fourteen, three years after her first diagnosis. What else? What else is there?

Charlotte Marie Bradley Miller. I looked at her hands for twelve minutes. It was odd describing what I was seeing in words. Usually the picture just sits inside my head and I swish it around like tasting wine. I have huge books all over my flat — books you have to take in both hands to lift. I’ve had the photo habit for years. Mother bought me my first book, black and white landscapes by Ansel Adams. When she got really ill, I used to take it to bed with me and look at it for hours, concentrating on the huge trees, the still water, the never-ending skies. I suppose it helped me think about something other than what was happening. I learned to focus on one photo at a time rather than flicking from scene to scene in search of something to hold me. If I concentrate, then everything stands still. Although I use them to escape the world, I also think they bring me closer to it. I’ve still got that book. When I take it out, I handle the pages as though they might flake into dust.

Mother used to write a journal. When I was small, I sat by her bed in the early mornings on a hard chair and looked at her face as her pen spat out sentences in short bursts. I imagined what she might have been writing about — princesses dressed in star-patterned silk, talking horses, adventures with pirates. More likely she was writing about what she was going to cook for dinner and how irritating Dad’s snoring was.

I’ve always wanted to write my own journal, and this is my chance. Maybe my last chance. The idea is that every night for three months, I’ll take one of these heavy sheets of pure white paper, rough under my fingertips, and fill it up on both sides. If my suicide note is nearly a hundred pages long, then no-one can accuse me of not thinking it through. No-one can say, ‘It makes no sense; she was a polite, cheerful girl, had everything to live for,’ before adding that I did keep myself to myself. It’ll all be here. I’m using a silver fountain pen with purple ink. A bit flamboyant for me, I know. I need these idiosyncratic rituals; they hold things in place. Like the way I make tea, squeezing the tea-bag three times, the exact amount of milk, seven stirs. My writing is small and neat; I’m striping the paper. I’m near the bottom of the page now. Only ninety-one more days to go before I’m allowed to make my decision. That’s it for today. It’s begun.

I've had a long time love affair with Joan Didion. She is the master of the personal in the essay. She knows exactly when to divulge her own history and when to hold back and let others come trough. Slouching Towards Bethlehem is a collection of essays about 1960's America and Didion captures the mood perfectly. She isn't afraid to question or learn and that is what makes her such a fantastic essayist and journalist. In the preface Didion says she went to San Francisco because the world she understood was disappearing. And, as an essayist, she attempts to understand the world she has come to.

I think a lot of people feel this way now. The world a lot of us have been a part of is disappearing, and that includes me. Not only is technology moving faster and broader than any of us probably expected, but we are losing the vastness of American-- we are constantly building over it. Didion looks at San Francisco with the same wonder and confusion we look at our world today, and in doing so realizes that things fall apart. The collection is split into two parts, Life Styles in the Golden Land and Personals. Life Styles in the Golden Land contains essays that explore others lives in San Francisco while Personals is more of Didion's ruminations on things like journaling and home. I vastly preferred Personals to Life Styles in the Golden Land, but this was perhaps because they were easier to connect to on the surface.

Out of everything I read in this book, I loved her essay On Keeping a Notebook the most. In this essay she explores the reality of a notebook, and considers how temporary it actually is. In a journal we write what we are thinking at one moment, and years later we can return to those some words and not have a clue what we were actually thinking about. She talks about how she cannot actually keep a diary because it is too boring, but how she still has a need to write things down. And then she says "I imagine, in other words, that the notebook is about other people. But of course it is not. I have no real business with what one stranger said to another at the hat-check counter in Pavillon..." (135). I loved this because when I journal I often do write about other people, but it isn't actually about them, it's all just a reflection of me.

Because of the disconnect I felt between the two sections I'm giving this a B, but I know I will return to it someday.

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Second Hand Heart by Catherine Ryan Hyde is a complex novel and it's one that I've had a tough time really nailing down my thoughts and feelings for. Overall, this is a solidly good book. It has strongly written characters, all who are very distinct and unique and real. But some of their interactions and relationships were less real to me. And, some of their decisions made me angry. It's been weeks since I read this book and I still can't decide if I'm angry at the characters themselves for their stupid choices or at the book for going there.

I would like to say that any incoherencey in this review is to be blamed on the fact that this is how I'm working out the details of how I feel about the individual aspects of the book, so you might get to see some Aha moments.:)

The story is written as a series of journal entries from both Vida and Richard. Vida thinks her name is stupid. It's Spanish for life, and she's 19 and dying of a life long heart disease. She's at the very top of the donor list which is both a very good and very bad place to be. It's good because it means that the next matching heart is yours. It's bad, because it means you are so desperately sick, odds are pretty good that you will die before that heart donor does. It also creates some really intricate and rough emotions to deal with and I thought those were beautifully illustrated. We see it a lot in her mom also. How do you pray for a heart to become available to save the life of your child, when that available heart means that someone else has died. How do you feel like a good person when you are wishing for someone's death so that your little girl will be able to experience life. It's not bad enough that you have to watch your child suffer and wither into almost nothingness, but then you have to recognize that the only thing that could possibly save her is the loss of someone else. Ouch.

Richard is in his late 30s (I believe) and his wife, who was an organ donor and a match for Vida dies in a car accident. Vida and her mother ask/extend the invitation to Richard to meet them and he decides to go, against the advice of his mother-in-law. Richard is also putting himself into a tough position. He's just barely lost his beloved wife and now he's going to meet the young girl who had her life renewed because his wife lost hers. That would be so hard, and would definitely be made undeniably harder when the new owner of that heart declares her love for Richard, even though this is the first time they've met.

So — When reading Vida's narrative sections, I loved her. She's had such a hard life and it's definitely not easy now. But she's funny and so full of the idea of life. She's been so sick her whole life that she's had no normal social interactions and a lot of basic social skills completely escape her. Her mom doesn't know how to stop being the overprotective do-everything-for-you type, because with all Vida's health problems, she's never had that natural progression into self-sufficiency. Can you imagine the challenge? To go from dying to better almost overnight and trying to cope with the changes?! That would be hard on everyone involved and it was, it definitely was. Vida was by far my favorite character. But when Richard narrated, I didn't like her as much. She seemed awkward and weird and... kinda crazy. I have to say that this is probably brilliance on the part of Ms. Hyde, because initially, Richard does kinda write Vida off as crazy and that's easy to see in his recitation of their interactions through his journal. So while it made me sad, especially in the beginning, to realize that I didn't really like Vida when Richard was narrating, I also now recognize it as a brilliant move on Hyde's part because it pulls you more into Richard's character. If Richard doesn't like her, or views her as a bit of a lunatic, I can't do much else, even knowing how much I loved her before.

The focus of this novel is really in the relationship between Richard and Vida and the heart, and whether or not cellular memory can, in fact, possibly be a real thing. And this part of the novel was, almost without exception, flawlessly wonderful (there is one part, toward the resolution of the story that really didn't sit well with me, and no amount of explanation or justification will ever make me okay with that, but it's a pretty huge spoiler, so I won't go into detail). However, I did feel that much of the secondary character and story development really suffered because of how encompassing and important the heart was. It almost felt like Hyde was trying to tell two stories here — One, the story of a transplant recipient feeling the residual love and emotions of the donor and Two, the story of a girl who's never had a chance to really live being given a new chance at life, a chance to do all she had previously missed out on. You would think that those two stories would fit perfectly together, but for some reason, a lot of what happened ended up being slightly unbelievable (and not just the psychic either. I'm also talking about a boy who has had two head nods on the stairs with Vida being willing to completely uproot his life for a? ? maybe? ?). I'm choosing not to say much about these sections, because I do think the most important part of the story revolves around the heart, but if you do allow yourself a pretty hefty suspension of disbelief for how, the side stories and characters do create a novel that is so much more than it would be without.

I know I kind of circle around in that above paragraph about a few things (partly because I'm still conflicted) but overall, I did really enjoy this book and it is a book that I would actually recommend to a lot of people. It's incredibly thought provoking and one that really makes you think, makes you question, and makes you wonder about a lot of different things. There is so much to think about within this book. So much wondering, so much love and loss and life and pain and hope and strangeness that I'd say it's impossible to leave this novel without some type of food for thought. This is a book that I'd love to discuss with others because there is just so much to it.

Natalie Miller is the top aid of one of New York’s women senators. She’s devoted all of her time and energy to her career. Then she learns that she has breast cancer, and she’s forced to devoting all her time and energy to her survival. She takes a look at the decisions she’s made throughout her life and puts all of her energy into finding her past loves of her life so she can determine what went wrong. It turns out that she is the one to blame---she consistently chooses her job and her career over love and her own personal happiness. Natalie’s therapist suggests that she use a journal to channel her pain into, rather than falling into a state of depression. She learns how to embrace life and live it at its fullest. This book was amazing. The journal entries allow the reader to witness the evolution Natalie goes through during this self-discovery. Rather than being a downer, this book was incredibly uplifting. It realistically portrayed the frightening truth behind cancer and its victims but still provided hope.

I just spent one hour at the main library looking at articles in Persuasion (Jane Austen Journal) and The Gaskell Society Journal because I have to write a paper proposal. I then had to copy all of those articles, which took the bulk of my time. Now I have to leave for my earthwords Literary Magazine staff dinner soon. One good thing did happen while I was the library though, I found English Love Poems

and did some reading while I was copying. Thought I would share an Emily Bronte poem in hopes of lightening everyone's workload tonight, although I'll admit it's not the happiest of poems.

Remembrance

Cold in the earth -- and the deep snow piled above thee,
Far, far removed, cold in the dreary grave!
Have I forgot, my only Love, to love thee,
Severed at last by Time's all-severing wave?

Now, when alone, do my thoughts no longer hover
Over the mountains, on that northern shore,
Resting their wings where heath and fern leaves cover
Thy noble heart forever, ever more?

Cold in the earth -- and fifteen wild Decembers,
From those brown hills, have melted into spring;
Faithful, indeed, is the spirit that remembers
After such years of change and suffering!

Sweet Love of youth, forgive, if I forget thee,
While the world's tide is bearing me along;
Other desires and other hopes beset me,
Hopes which obscure, but cannot do thee wrong!

No later light has lightened up my heaven,
No second morn has ever shone for me;
All my life's bliss from thy dear life was given,
All my life's bliss is in the grave with thee.

But, when the days of golden dreams had perished,
And even Despair was powerless to destroy,
Then did I learn how existence could be cherished,
Strengthened, and fed without the aid of joy.

Then did I check the tears of useless passion --
Weaned my young soul from yearning after thine;
Sternly denied its burning wish to hasten
Down to that tomb already more than mine.

And, even yet, I dare not let it languish,
Dare not indulge in memory's rapturous pain;
Once drinking deep of that divinest anguish,
How could I seek the empty world again?

I feel like I've spent more time making books than reading books as of late. I'm enjoying taking two art classes this semester but it is a lot of work. These four books probably took me about ten hours last week. The bottom two were my first tries which is why there is so much sewing. I didn't really think that through-- it took forever.

The bottom one is 60 pages, so 120 front and back.

Some of them have flaps which is nice. The one picture above probably turned out to be my favorite. I glued two sheets of paper together to strengthen the paper for sewing. Everything turned out nice and even. I'm looking forward to using this one as a journal once I finish the journal I'm currently using. I have so many books I've made I don't know what to do with them all! I'm making at least 11 more this semester and already have 18. Who knew I'd end up with so many journals?

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Harmonic Feedback by Tara Kelly is another book I had been meaning to read for a while that became a prod from Allison to read now. And I am so glad that she pushed it so hard because OhMyGosh! This book is amazing and if you haven't read it yet you are so missing out and you need to go buy a copy right now because it shouldn't have to wait any longer and OhMyGoodness it's just so good! *deepbreath*

Drea is different. She has ADHD and a touch of Asperger's (on the Autism spectrum). But she's not that different. She processes the world differently from most people and a lot of social cues completely escape her, so it makes it harder to trust people and feel comfortable acting naturally around them. So up until now, she hasn't really had any friends. But her mom drags her to live with her grandmother (Drea is very opposed to this) but it is here that Drea meets both Naomi and Justin, people who will become very important to Drea.

Because Drea is our main character, we get to know what she is thinking and how she interprets things and it was fascinating. She's very high functioning and her diagnosis is actually for a 'touch of Asperger's'. So mostly, for Drea it translates into not understanding why people do a lot of what they do and being completely blunt. She has pretty much zero tact. She doesn't process it or understand it the way most people do. It was so refreshing to read a character who was blunt, but not cruel. Drea has a hard life. She's just this side of 'normal', so it's extra frustrating for her and those around her. It would be so hard to be put into situations again and again when you don't understand the nuances.

But the book isn't really about Drea and her Asperger's/ADHD. It's a huge part of it, obviously, because it's a huge part of Drea, but it's about so much more than that. It's about learning to love and let people in (because normal or not, pretty much all teenagers have a hard time with that) and it's about acceptance and growing up and finding yourself. And Tara Kelly has mastered that. In Drea, she has created a character that everyone can connect to and love and understand, because everyone has felt like they don't belong or don't fit in at some point. It's a part of growing up and I loved watching Drea learn that she really does have a place.

The other characters in the novel and painfully complex as well. Naomi becomes Drea's first and best friend. She shows up when they are moving in and starts chatting with Drea and decides right then that she likes her and she just befriends her, no questions asked. She wasn't my favorite person. She's troubled and she's also a perfect example of why I have never had even a tiny bit of interest in drugs. And, she gets Drea into bad situations too. But no on is perfect and she does some amazing things for Drea. So while I didn't really like her, I loved her.

Justin is another awesome character and he's just a solidly good guy. He's the type of guy that is awesome, but could still be a real person. He's there for Drea and he doesn't really let her hide behind her diagnosis. He pulls her out of herself, makes her recognize that there is more to life and more to her than he thought.

There are also some journal entries included in the book, as yet another way to learn more about Drea and I loved that they were included. The last journal entry is by far my favorite and it was just... just... just so much amazing. And the music. Guys, it's another book that has a lot of music references and it was brilliant. I just loved everything about this book. Seriously. Oh, and also, how can you not just love a cover that shows a girl celebrating the rain. Love. And I feel like that girl is Drea.

This is a book that I will read and reread. I reread parts while writing this review and I just fell in love with the characters over again. This book just leaves you with this feeling of fullness, of rightness and truth. It's a beautifully written story and one of those books that makes you think, makes you feel.

The Albuquerque Journal reports that monument Superintendent Dennis Vásquez and a supporter of the monument were exploring a section of the monument last week when they found debris, evidence of campfires, motorcycle tracks and graffiti.

The monument has thousands of samples of ancient Pueblo Indian rock art and it's managed jointly by the National Park Service and the city.

The vandalized section is owned and managed by the city.

City crews have started removing litter and debris and restoring sections of downed fence, and Vasquez said the Park Service and the city will work together to remove the graffiti as quickly as possible.

Source: The Associated Press [February 11, 2015]

Last year around this time I made a list of Gifts for English Majors. Another year has gone by and there are a lot of new things out there for English majors, so I thought I would make an updated list for the English majors (or book lovers) in your life.

1. McSweeney's and Believer combo subscription. For ninety dollars you can get a whole year's worth of awesome literary goodness. I've been a Believer subscriber for one year now and even though it has a hefty price tag, I haven't regretted it at all. The Believer is an almost monthly publication (nine issues) that has book reviews, comics, columns, and literature. They also have special issues throughout the year. I don't subscribe to McSweeney's (yet), but it's a fantastic literary magazine with great contributing writers. A year's subscription gets you four issues, which is basically like getting four books in the mail. Speaking of which, McSweeney's also has a Book Release Club for $100.

2. Ophelia Joined the Group Maidens Who Don't Float: Classic Lit Signs on to Facebook

is a book I reviewed last spring. It's super cheap ($6 on Amazon) and will give any English major hours of fun. Ever since I reviewed it I've lent it out to at least four people and everyone loves it. For more info on this book check out my review of it.

3. Moleskine Passions Book Journal

is another item I reviewed earlier this year and I absolutely love it. It's a great way for any reader to keep track of their notes from the books they read. I use this for school to keep track of the main ideas from books so by the end of the semester I can return to those notes and remind myself of the main points of the book. Check out my review of the journal for more info.

4. Penguin Classics Hardcover Collection

. I'm not suggesting you buy the entire $200 set, but a favorite book out of this collection would make a nice gift for an English major. I, of course, have my eye on Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre. Several stores have these on sale for less than $15 right now, so it's a good time to get them.

5. LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4

, because English majors have to have fun too. I can just see myself coming home after a long day of school and work, curling up in front of the television to play with my Harry Potter LEGOs. That actually sounds very nice.

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Today's character guest is Richard, one of the two narrators from Second Hand Heart, a book that covers a lot of emotional ground. Richard made the decision to donate his wife's organs after her death and meets Vida, the recipient of the heart. He's here today to give us a little more information about how he feels now.

Why did you initially decide to meet Vida? Your mother in law knew you wanted to meet her, and yet she only warned you against meeting the heart recipient. I know why the heart was the 'most important' organ for you, but why didn't you try to even meet the other recipients?

I know this sounds overly simple, but…Vida asked. Well, her mother asked. Abigail. If I’d been invited to meet the old woman in Tiburon who received Lori’s corneas, I might have. But still. There’s that fascination with a heart. Someone’s heart. It’s just a bit more to the point about a person than their corneas. Somebody told me about this interesting little experiment: if you ask people to point to themselves, they’ll almost always point to their own hearts. Rarely their brains, though we say we put so much stock in brains. Never their corneas.

We don’t use the phrase “the heart of the matter” for nothing.

Frankly, I think Myra would have warned me against anything that brought my loss more sharply into focus. That’s just who she is. She means well, and she was a lot of support for me. But she dealt with the loss of her daughter by keeping it at a distance. Sometimes people have to walk right into the sorrow if they want to heal.

In fairness, I only asked her advice about Vida. And I think it was my level of investment in the situation that set off her warning bells. I think I decided to meet Vida because of sheer curiosity. I knew the curiosity was not going to leave me alone. Or maybe I thought it would make me feel better. And it did. But not in the short run.

If you were able to do something differently in your relationship with Vida, what would you change?

Oh, God. So much. Everything.
I would have believed her. Trusted her to know what she was feeling. Really listened to her when she tried to tell me what her world was like. I treated her like a foolish child. And, well, in some ways she was. But she’d never really been given a chance to grow up. In other ways she knew more than I did.

God, I would do that whole thing over if I could. But I can’t. And, Vida being Vida, she doesn’t blame me. It’s not in her to hold a grudge.

If Vida never again made contact, would you continue to express an active interest in her life?

Oh, absolutely. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about her. Wonder where she is. If she’s okay. And not just the heart, either. The girl wrapped around it, too.

What do you think the most important part of your story? The most important thing for people to take away from reading about this experience?

I think the key lies in the difference between Myra and me. When we advise others about loss, how often are we really telling them to ignore it, or distract themselves? When we advise each other on our actions, aren’t we usually telling each other not to take a risk, so we won’t get hurt?

I know we mean well. But in my experience, the greatest changes and experiences in life happen when we take risks and get hurt. I’m glad for the whole experience with Vida, painful as it was. I’m a different person as a result of that. I wouldn’t subtract that pain from my experience for all the money on earth. It woke me up to life. This was the first time you had ever tried keeping a journal. Do you think it is something you would want to continue or resume in the future? Or is it something that you feel will be reserved for this portion of your life?

I think it’s one of those things like breaking down a dam. I don’t think I will ever manage to dam up my feelings again. Now that they’re flowing, I think I’ll always journal. As Ram Dass (or Richard Alpert, for starchy academics like myself) once said. “The trouble with awakening is that you just can’t seem to get back to sleep.”
Thanks so much for sharing! I love the extra details and information you've given us!

At first, di Lernia and many of his colleagues were optimistic about the future of archaeology in Libya after years of neglect under dictator Moammar Gadhafi. But today, di Lernia has trouble imagining what fieldwork will look like in the war-torn country.

Years after the conflict began, Libya is still unstable. The United Nations was holding talks in Geneva this week to attempt to unify the two rival governments in control of Libya since Gadhafi's dramatic downfall. Meanwhile, ISIS extremists have taken power in parts of the country, such as Derna, a city in the east, where the group Human Rights Watch has documented violent forms of abuse, including executions and floggings.

Alongside reports of human atrocities, there has been a steady stream of reports detailing the threats to Libya's cultural resources, from ideological destruction to unchecked development. In 2013, for example, there was construction equipment sitting at the Hellenic city of Cyrene, one of five UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Libya, ready to clear the way for houses. Another World Heritage Site, Ghadamès — a city sometimes called "the pearl of the desert" that was once home to the Romans and the Berbers — suffered rocket attacks in 2012. The same year, ultraconservative Islamists reportedly destroyed Sufi shrines and graves in Tripoli that don't conform to their beliefs. In 2011, robbers pulled off one of the biggest archaeological heists, stealing a hoard of nearly 8,000 ancient coins from a bank vault in Benghazi.

"I'm afraid if nothing happens, this will be a disaster for generations of Libyan archaeologists — and for universal heritage," di Lernia told Live Science. Today (Jan. 28), he published a commentary in the journal Nature to try to raise awareness about the situation within the scientific community. "It's very difficult to keep the light on Libya in this moment," di Lernia said.

Over the last four years, di Lernia, who is a professor at the Sapienza University of Rome, and his colleagues have been able to publish new research based on the wealth of material they collected in past field seasons. They've shown that dairy farms existed in a once-green Sahara. They have also analyzed Stone Age burials in the desert region.

Though access to the southeastern part of Libya has been restricted since 2011, di Lernia used to be able to travel to Tripoli. But as the fighting between Libya's two governments worsened over the past year, di Lernia wasn't able to get to Libya at all. From afar, it's difficult for international observers to assess the damages in the country.

"From time to time, I succeed in talking to my friends there, and they say that all sites are in danger, all sites are at risk," di Lernia said. "We don't know what's going on in many places. We don't know what's going on in the museums."

In other conflict zones, such as Syria, archaeologists have turned to satellite imagery to assess damage to cultural heritage sites. Those images show that places like Apamea, a Roman city and once-thriving tourist attraction for Syria, has been turned into a moonscape because of the holes gouged out by looters. But the same approach might not work in Libya, di Lernia said, as satellites can't detect more subtle damages, such as graffiti that's been reportedly painted over rock art in the Tadrart Acacus mountains, near the Messak plateau.

Di Lernia used to spend months at a time at the Messak plateau, but he can’t imagine long archaeological field seasons resuming in Libya anytime soon. In Nature, he put forth a host of recommendations to rekindle research, calling for more support for museum, university and lab-based research. Di Lernia said he'd like to see more museum collections go online, and a Web-based library for rock art sites. He also wants to see international universities provide support and funding for Libyan students and scientists to train and work overseas.

"The only way to keep Libyan archaeology alive is to do lab research, desk research, working on the Internet and working on the digitization of cultural heritage in Libya," di Lernia said. "The situation in Libya is a part of a wider picture, I'm afraid. Probably we have to rethink our capacity to do research within this political framework."

Author: Megan Gannon | Source: LiveScience ]January 28, 2015]

This is a weekly event to list the books completed last week, the books currently being reading, and the books to be finish this week. It was created by J.Kaye's Book Blog, so stop by and join in!

Books Completed Last Week:

It was a slow reading week for me. I think I'm still playing catch up after all the reading I did during the Read-a-thon.

Follow Me: A Novel

by Joanna Scott
The Lost Hours

by Karen White

Books to Read this Week:

• Firefly Lane

  

  by Kristin Hannah (book club pick, almost finished!)

• BoneMan's Daughters

  

  by Ted Dekker (amazing book. I'm about 100 pages in, just need to find the time to read it!)

• The 8th Confession (The Women's Murder Club)

  

  by James Patterson

• The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life Through the Pages of a Lost Journal (P.S.)

  

  by Lily Koppel

• Mighty Queens of Freeville, The: A Mother, a Daughter, and the Town That Raised Them

  

  (a book I've had for some time, just now able to fit it in my schedule)

• Angels of Destruction: A Novel

  

  by Keith Donohue (audiobook-I'm about three disks in and I LOVE IT. It's just as amazing, if not more than, The Stolen Child)

So, tell me...what are you reading this week?

I really enjoy writing and I like to read what other people think about their writing practice, so when I saw Views from the Loft: A Portable Writer's Workshop

available on Netgalley I decided to try it out on my nook. This book is a series of short essays and interviews by authors who have attended the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis. I gather that these all came from a literary journal the Loft publishes under the same title. A lot gets covered in this book, including several genres within nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. Most of my favorite essays were about memoir writing, and particularly enjoyed reading writers thoughts about fair representation in memoir writing.

If I read the interviews in a magazine, I might have enjoyed them more, but it seemed like a lot of the same questions were asked of the writers and several of them gave similar answers. I think the pacing in the book could have been a little bit better, with similarly written things spread out a little more... or perhaps omitted. My biggest problem with this book was that it was really too much information all together. After finishing it was hard for me to come away with the book with any real clear ideas on how I could improve my writing or for things to try. I think this book is better for dipping into from time to time, rather than to try and read straight through.

I do think this book is worth a look if you love to write. I wouldn't recommend it for a reader who just wants to hear about writers writing. And if you love to write, I would recommend this book as inspiration and not as a guide to read cover to cover. Find a topic that interests you, there are some nice subject divisions in the book, dip into that subject for awhile and then turn to writing with those ideas in mind. If you get stuck, come back to the book if you want.

I give this book a C.

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Monsterby Walter Dean Meyers was the first recipient of the Printz Award in 2000. It's the story of a young black kid on trial as an accessory to murder, although he's being tried as a full participant in the crime. 16 year old Steve is confused, scared and alone. The ADA calls him a monster, his court appointed defense lawyer thinks he's guilty, and his own parents aren't really sure who he is any more. Shoot, he's not even sure who he is anymore.

Because he's so confused right now, Steve decides to try and make sense of things the only way he knows how. He decides to turn the entire court and prison proceedings into a screenplay. He was taking a film class in school before being arrested and now uses the knowledge he gained there to try and cope with his situation. Interspersed throughout the screenplay are also journal entries from Steve where we have a chance to hear him talk openly about what he's feeling and struggling with.

I loved the format here. I loved viewing the court and all the proceedings through the lens that Steve puts on himself. The screenplay is not only his way to make sense of and cope with things, on some level, it's also his way of distancing himself from what is happening. This court case is going to completely change his life. If he's convicted, he'll be going to jail for a minimum of 20 years. That's a lot of a 16 year old kid to handle, and there are moments when he just needs to make it take a back seat.

Steve's thoughts are also unclear for most of the book. We are never actually sure if Steve is guilty, because I'm not sure Steve himself really understands if he is guilty or not. As we watch catch glimpses of his memories and are able to see more of how the events unfold, we are able to get a better idea of how Steve got to be in this situation. He wants to fit in with the tough guys in his neighborhood, wants to be tough like them, so he starts spending more time around them and through a series of bad decisions and moments where he let good choices go by, Steve finds himself with all of his time split between prison and court.

It's hard to watch Steve go through this. It's hard to see any young teen who might completely lose their freedom because of a series of bad choices, even though they are generally a good kid. I thought Meyers did an excellent job bringing enough ambiguity to Steve's character that we never really know if he's guilty, we never really know how involved he was, but we are also given enough information about him to know that he isn't a bad person. The scenes with Steve's family are especially painful. How do you talk to your kid when he's facing a murder charge and while you desperately want to believe he's innocent, deep down you aren't really sure?!

This one is a reread for me. I read it for the first time a few years ago and have been wanting to reread it for a while now. And I have to say, it's just as powerful now as it was then. It's not one to be missed.