Words, pages, paragraphs

Helloooo,

I love how I always have these spectacularly wonderful ambitions that never quite come about in a timely manner.  It's great, it really is.  Take this post for example, it probably would have been far more relevant had I written it last month when 2017 had just ended and everyone was still interested in what happened during the span of that year.  

Well guess what, I still care.  And because I care, I'm still going to tell you about all the books I read last year! So ha! (If you do not care, I encourage you to discontinue reading this now.)

There, now we may proceed!

 

 (I can only make out "David Copperfield" in this picture, a book I am not particularly fond of, but they all look so pretty! They must be good books, heehee)

You're going to be just amazed when I tell you how many books I read!  It is shocking, absolutely shocking!  You ready?

23!!!!!! (boo, Emma, boooo!)

 One of my go-to quotes, ask my family ;)

I know, not a lot.  Oh well. I don't really know how that happened, I mean, other than the obvious fact I just didn't read many books.  I think I read almost twice that many in 2016, so I'll have to try to beat that score this year!  (Because I know I don't have a chance at beating my brother!)

You might be thinking, "That's still a decent amount of books, Emma, it's okay!"  But here's the thing, a rather large majority of them were school books or picture books.  (What can I say?  I have a thing for rereading Beatrix Potter stories (maybe in accents...)  My dear sister will back me on this.)

  

Anyway, onto the books I read!

I'll spare you the textbooks and such, I don't think they'd be of much interest to you.

 

The first real book I read was "The Hidden Treasure of Glaston" by Eleanor Jewitt.  It was an adventure story set in medieval  England about two boys living in Glastonbury Monastery who search for the Holy Grail of Arthurian legend and uncover many more hidden secrets about themselves along the way.  I enjoyed it!

Also:

• "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Bronte.  If you liked this book, I would like to shake your hand.  If you love this book, we need to talk because you need to tell me what you see in it.  Sorrow, depression, death, wasted lives, more death.  What's not to love, right?

 

• "The Twelve Dancing Princesses"~The Grimm Brothers.  Um...interesting concept.  In a nutshell, *spoiler alert* king hires old (broke) soldier to follow his twelve rebellious daughters around at night to a magical dancing land that they disappear to.  They don't know they're being followed, he tattletales on them to their father, instead of punishing the naughty princesses, the king let's the old (broke) soldier to marry whichever daughter he chooses as a reward, he marries the eldest because "she's closest in age" (ever though I'm pretty sure he liked the youngest one best), The End!  How'd I do?

• "The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck" (my favorite), and "The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin", both Beatrix Potter.  We know those are always good, though!

•  "Weddings In the Family"~Dale Fife.  A sweet story told from the perspective of a little girl about each of her quirky Alsatian relatives' weddings and the hilarity often surrounding each of these events.

• "Lay Siege to Heaven"~Louis de Wohl.  The semi-fictional account of the life of the great Saint Catherine of Siena.

 

• "Number the Stars"~Lois Lowry.  A moving fictional story about a girl living in Denmark during the Nazi invasion of that country and how she helps to save Jewish refugee families escape capture.

• "The Great Gatsby"~F. Scott Fitzgerald.  This.  Book.  Is.  Wonderful.  If you haven't read it, you must do so.  If you have read it, tell me what you thought!

• "The Hundred Dresses"~Eleanor Estes.  I liked this book slightly less than her others, (The Moffats, Pinky-Pie ) but overall it was an enjoyable story.

• "'The Awakening of Miss Prim"~Natalia Sanmartin Fenolerra.  I enjoyed this book more than I expected to initially.  (What can I say, I judge books by their covers.)  If you love "Pride and Prejudice", "Little Woman", and constant intellectual Latin quotations, you will probably love it, too.

• "No Plot, No Problem", Chris Baty's wonderful accompany to doing NaNoWriMo, sooo worth the read!  I actually bought my own copy of the updated version so I'd have it next time around, it was that helpful.

•   "Saint Patrick and the Peddler"Margaret Hodges.  Confession: this was a picture book.  But it was a really good, Catholic picture book!  I read it to a bunch of kindergartners and kind of fell in love with it, the pictures are gorgeous!!  (And it was Ireland, so I mean, there was no way I wasn't going to read it ;) )

• "Black Heels and Tractor Wheels"~Ree Drummond.  (Not as edgy as it sounds, I promise.)  Anybody know Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman?  She's a cook, author, cooking show host, and really funny blogger.  This was a (sort of) dramatic biography of how she, a city girl through and through, met, fell in love, and married her cowboy-husband and all the crazy stories she tells surrounding those events.

And finally...

• "Rifles for Watie"~Harold Keith.  This is my brother's favorite book, he actually read it out loud to me!  I promised him I'd write a special post about it and about the new holiday we invented in honor of it, the NFRD or, "National Rifles for Watie Day".  More on that soon :)

Stats:

In conclusion, (if you stuck around this long) I read,

 23 books in 2017,

4,583 pages,

the longest book I read was "Christ And the Americas"~Anne Carroll, at 440 pages.

And my favorite book was "The Great Gatsby".

So I didn't win my family's reading challenge in any category last year, but I've got dibs for this year!  I'm going to try, at least!

What books did you read in 2017?  Did you have a favorite(s), least favorite(s)?


Always,
~Emma

'October's over? It can't be!' AKA, 'Whoops, I think I blinked too long!'

 

Couldn't we please just go back and rewind this month?

That'd be great.

Let me tell you, that, my dear friends, is very true.  Very true.

As is the following, which I like to imagine was written by someone specifically with myself in mind ;)

You know something?  This month has been a bit of a roller coaster.  And you know something else?  I've never been fond of those contraptions.

Believe it or not, I've been working on a draft post all month.  (I hope think you're going to like it!)  I keep adding to it here and there, always telling myself that I'm going to finish it tomorrow.  And then suddenly it's tomorrow, and the "Great Roller Coaster of Life" laughs and sends me into a tailspin.  Another one.

 

 If that's true, Mr. Chesterton, I could fill a book.  A big book.

 So that's been the month of October for me, but hey, that's okay.  Sometimes we just have little challenges and things to work through, nothing lasts forever.  And it's okay to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, smile, and remind yourself that just for right now at least,

And speaking of filling books, did I mention I finally decided to be brave and actually signed up for NaNoWriMo?!?!?

 

Is anybody else attempting this this year?  Has anyone ever participated in NaNo before?  If yes, I'd be eternally grateful for the companionship/mutual encouragement/advice.  Please let me know!!

**Edit: My NaNoWriMo username is StoryGirl17, feel free to  add me as a buddy or give a shoutout!

So anywho, I think I'm gonna end this weirdly random post before it drags on much longer.  (Or I bore somebody to death, I don't want to do that to any of you.)  If you were beginning to feel the grips on unconscious delirium setting in, I fully apologize.  It wasn't intentional ;)

 

We'll talk again soon, I promise!

Always,

~Emma

 p.s. I really missed you, just so you know! 

Things I love about June

Oh Emma, Emma, Emma, why is it you always begin composing blog posts past 10:30 p.m.?  Why can't your brain comply with regular office hours?  Why do you insist upon opening all of your recent posts with these odd soliloquies?

Hello.

I didn't have any grand plans of blogging tonight.  In fact, all I had in mind was curling up in my pajamas and finishing The Great Gatsby (which I did indeed complete).  Anyway, somewhere between the last page and Hamlette's closing remarks, my brain said something like, "Hey, let's write a blog post!"  I was like, "Why?" and my brain was like, "Because June 30th is such a pretty looking date, that's why!"

So here we are.

 Unfortunately for me, my over zealous brain didn't offer any brilliant suggestions as to what I should write about, so this is the best I could muster on my own.  I present to you,

Things I loved about June~

 

Beginning with this poem I found on *shocked gasp* Pinterest.  I know, right?

 I always feel like June is simply bursting with flowers, as though to make a bright show of fanfare to usher in the summer!  Because of course, Summer is yet another something I love about June.

 

Also the month when fresh produce becomes more readily available.  Fresh peaches, plums, strawberries, and cherries!

To all of those who suffer from a fear of this beautifully incredible phenomenon, (which has a name by the way, astraphobia), I deeply pity you!  I will admit, in certain circumstances they can be intimidating, but I will never cease to be amazed at how much power is displayed during a real thunderstorm.

The month of June brought visits from family and many close friends, including my little niece (Oh right, and my sister ;) ), so that was particularly special.

I think my favoritest thing of all, though, are all of the special memories of the past that are linked with the month of June.  The people, places, and things that make and have made this month special!

And thus ends my strange ramble for tonight! I hope my brain is satisfied because I have run out of ideas for this post.  I hope you all enjoyed your individual Junes!  

 

~Emma