A Single Girls Guide to a Bookish Valentines Day

It's that day again. That one where there are flowers everywhere and pictures of shiny new engagement rings flooding your news feed. I know the world looks like it's nothing but couples and love poems, so I've come up with some plans for the perfect Single Girls valentines day.


If you're looking to escape romance completely why don't you try:

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.
It's got ghosts and a little boy being raised in, you guessed it, a graveyard. Adorable, and just the right mix of adventure and growing up with minimal kissing!

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski.
Chances are you've heard of House of Leaves. The book about the house that's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside? it's strange and a little creepy. The effort of reading it alone should keep your mind completely occupied.

Game of Thrones by George RR Martin
The first book in A Song of Ice and Fire is just as bloody as everyone has warned you it is. Try this if you, like me, have had a Kill Bill Valentines day marathon in the not to distant past.

If you're in the mood for a sappy romance:

Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
What? You thought I could do a Valentines Day post without mention the mother of all RomComs?

Bridget Jones Diary by Helen Fielding
If you're ready to laugh and swoon and think "this book is really about me" but don't feel like reading a classic

The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
There's this girl, Claire, and she's in love with this guy, Henry, who travels through time. It's all warm fuzzies and heartbreaks.

If you're in need of a good cry:

One Day by David Nicholls
It's not all a sob story but i promise you that by the end you'll be sobbing.

The Book Thief by Mark Zuzak
This one you will cry all the way through. A little girl learning to read during the holocaust? Buy tissues.


Of course, if you're like me and are having a particularly trying Couples Awareness Day and need some retail therapy there is always make up inspired by some pretty cool books, cuddly fleeces that display your literary tastes, and necklaces that let you wear your favorite words near your heart.

Have a great Valentines Day!

Top Ten Romances

Top Ten Romances:

(I'm not sure if this meant actual couple pairings or romance novels so I'm going with the former.)

if I misunderstood the assignment, well at least i'm not wearing a giant ball of twine on my head

1. Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger
My original OTP. Their relationship is one of the things that made Harry Potter for me. Well, at least during one of my last read through. He's funny, she's serious. They're just the perfect pair and I love them. Okay? Okay.

2. Elizabeth "Lizzy" Bennett and Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy
Duh. Doesn't every bookish girl go through a phase where she just has to be Lizzy and the guy she is daydreaming about is just so clearly Darcy? I love love love this pair. I love how they don't start out as a perfect couple, that they both need to grow to be good for each other, that they're both quick witted and hard to tame. Jeez, I'm might just have to go and watch Pride and Prejudice right now.

3. Beatrice and Benedict
Remember two lines ago when i said I loved a quick witted couple who needed to grow into each other. Meet the arch-type.

4. Daisy Buchanin and Jay Gatsby
I know this is strange. Especially since Daisy and Jay are never really a couple during the course of Gatsby. However, there back story is so lovely and everything about them as a pair is just so sad that I can't help but want them to escape West Egg and make a life for themselves.

5. James Potter and Lily Evans
I can't think about James and Lily (Jilly. I spend way to much time on Tumblr) without getting a little misty eyed. They were so young, and clearly in love, and I really can't handle their tragic situation.

6. Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark
As much as I hate "teams" I was always team Peeta. The sweet baker boy who's greatest flaw was loving a girl he was too shy to talk to. I still find Katniss annoying, but Peeta mellows her out.

7. Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville
Elizabeth and Edward are my favorite royal couple. She's a widow who manages to catch the eye of the new and handsome king and together they are two pretty bada$$ Plantagenets.

8. F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Fitzgerald
I got an ARC copy of Z. The new novel about Zelda Fitzgerald. I spead through it and by the end was coming up ideas for what was clearly my new OTP. They're completely tragic, but they are so completely in love.

9. Catherine of Argon and Price Arthur
I really like The Constant Princess,a nd I really like seeing a version of Tudor England where Catherine is the young, beautiful princess and someone who isn't Henry is (sort of, okay not really) in charge.

10. Bridget Jones and Mark Darcy
HE LIKES HER JUST THE WAY SHE IS.

Beautiful Chaos - Garcia /Stohl

Beautiful Chaos

Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

The world is falling apart, or at Least Gatlin is. Ever since Ethan and his band of magical misfits got back from the Great Barrier, where his Caster girlfriend Lena claimed herself and broke the natural order of the world, both Caster and Mortal, nothing has been the same. Now Ethan is hearing a new shadowing song along with a creepy new voice in the back of his head. Did I mention he can't remember simple thing, like his phone number of that he's right handed? 

Beautiful Chaos is easily my favorite book in the Caster Chronicles series . Chaos has just the right mix of mystery, drama and exposition to make anyone who's stuck with the series this long speed through its pages. While everything in Gatlin is going to Hades in a hand-basket Garcia and Stohl managed to really up the depth and overall complexity of their characters.

Perhaps the thing I was most pleased with was how the authors dealt with the continuing theme of fate. Everything about the Caster Chronicles screams "hey, where do you stand in the fate vs free will debate?!" books one and two are about Lena being subject to a predetermined fate and finally breaking free and claiming herself for what she wants. However Chaos has the perfect blend of rebellion against the tides of fate and blind acceptance that everyone, especially in the Caster world has a story that must play out.

Honestly, I'm having a hard time seeing how Beautiful Redemption is going to be any better than Beautiful Chaos, and that's my only real complaint.

Wading Through Bestsellers

At the Beginning of the year I read this post by Catherine McKenzie about how she planned to read to read the Top Seller on the New York Times Best Seller list for all 52 weeks of 2013. I was really interested by this idea, even if it wasn't a challenge I'd want to take on myself.

You see, I'm not one to turn my nose up to best sellers, but I don't seek them out. I don't want to read the latest Tom Clancy or James Patterson and certainly not the new Nicholas Sparks, instead I wait for gems like The Help or The Paris Wife to get some real attention before I give them my time. Really, I'm more likely to read a book based on reviews on goodreads than it's position on the Time's Best Seller chart.

Probably my insistence on  trusting a small amount of reviews in opposed to the masses is a bit snobbish. However, the masses are also the reason the new Dan Brown book will sit atop every list this summer, and the reason i'll begrudgingly read it and remember all over again how I don't like Robert Langdon, or his made up science of Symbolwhatsit and his insistence that there are conspiracy's everywhere.

So I tip my hat to Catherine McKenzie. I hope to find some gems from her reviews.

Top Ten Bookish Memories

Top Ten Bookish Memories:

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Midnight Release:
My friend Colleen and I had gotten up ungodly early to wait in a line outside our local Barnes and Noble for wristbands and then after a day of speculating and fangirling and generally acting like a crazy person we went back and hung around the midnight release party till we got our books around one in the morning. I, of course, read through the rest of the night.

2.Neil Gaiman's One Book talk for Neverwhere at The Harold Washington Library:
Twice a year the CPL does this thing called One Book, One Chicago. In the spring of 2011 the book was Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. Now I'm obsessed with Neil Gaiman, as much as a person as as a writer and I was so stoked that he was coming to talk about Neverwhere, and life, and a few mentions of his yet to air episode of Doctor Who. It was fantastic and I now have a signed copy of Coraline to show for the night!

3. Johnathan Safron Foer's talk on Eating Animals, also at The Harold Washington Library:
Foer came to talk about his new non-fiction release, Eating Animals. As a non-vegetarian and a picky eater I was skeptical about going, but Foer is my favorite author and I wasn't going to miss a chance to see him speak. I'm still a picky eater, and I never read Eating Animals but it was a lovely talk and a great memory.

4. Becoming BFF's with Jasmyn, and therefor always having a person to have a bookish freakout with:
Jasmyn was one of the first friends I made at college. We bonded over love of Harry Potter, and other books, but mostly Harry Potter. Of course there are other things we have in common, but she remains my one friend that I can always go to with "So I'm freaking out about this book I'm reading."  We also run Camp or Crap together, in case anyone's interested.

5. My first 24hr readathon:
I think it was the fall of 2010. I just remember reading a lot and being very happy. Oh, and trying to get comfortable in a deceptive and dangerous purple chair. I don't think I actually liked anything I finished that day.

6. Starting Loving Books (DUH):
I've always been a big reader but running this blog has turned me into someone that can also think critically and have real, adult discussions about books. I love the bookish community on the internet and trust your reviews and musings. Thanks for letting me be one of you!

7. Reading Ella Enchanted on a Florida vacation:
I can remember being 13 and perfectly happy hiding out on the balcony of whatever timeshare we were staying at and speeding through Ella Enchanted. It was one of two books I bought that trip. The Other was The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and I'm pretty sure I dropped it in the ocean.

8. Reading on the Train:
This isn't a specific memory but one of the things I miss the most about living in Chicago is taking the train home to Michigan every few months. I loved curling up against the window and devouring an entire book. It was always a great way to start a mini vacation.

9. Rereading Harry Potter every summer before the next book was released:was released:
I was one of those kids who would read Harry Potter every summer, and if there was a new book coming out later that year you could be sure I was picking over the text with a fine toothed comb. Some of my best summer memories are reading Harry by a lake, or at my brothers little league games.

10. A Very Forced Anna Karenina Readalong:
Readalong is a strong word for this but my friend Kirsten and I had decided at the begining of last September that we would read Anna Karenina. We were to start immediately and finish by the time the movie got it's limited release. I loved Karenina, I hated it, I felt everything in between. In the end it was a good time. I enjoyed the movie, too.

Look forward to seeing all your lists!

Beautiful Darkness - Garcia/Stohl

Beautiful Darkness

Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Nothing has been the same for Ethan Wate since Lena's sixteenth moon. Now she's pulling away from him and the presents of a smart-as-a-whip British blonde isn't helping matters. When Lena finally breaks their connection and goes off with her dark cousin and the mysterious John Breed Ethan will do everything in his power to find and save her.

I may scoff at YA but when I'm hooked on a series I'm hooked. So please bear with me as I go down the rabbit hole that is The Caster Chronicles.. Right now I cannot get enough of Gatlin, SC, and it's inhabitants - both Caster and Mortal! For me, the beauty of a long series is already having an established world, and that's one of the things that makes Beautiful Darkness shine. It's 500 plus pages focus much more on story and character development, and only bring in a few new elements, like the Caster Tunnels and the Great Beyond (both of which were super cool, yo). I loved the back story that was developed for Macon and Ethan's mother.

I was pleased by how much was revealed about the Casters world, which is really the break and butter of the series. There was a lot of exposition about both Dark and Light casters, as well as other Incubuses along with new knowledge about how Mortals can contribute to this "other" world. With these new developments comes a new character, Liv, a keeper in training who quickly became my favorite new addition to Gatlin. Even though Liv introduces a love triangle, it is one that is necessary and came across as very realistic.

Overall I'm very happy I stuck with The Caster Chronicles as a series. The only real issue that I had continue from the first book to the second was Ethan's whiny nature. Oh, and the length can be a bit of a problem.  Beautiful Darkness does drag in part and has very uneven pacing. This didn't end up being a huge problem but if you're not already sold on the series it could put a huge damper on your reading experience.

The Artful Series That Made Classics Accessible

One of my reading goals for 2013 was to include some classics in my contemporary literature/celebrity memoir haul. I was lucky to discover Melville House's The Art of the Novella series at the end of last year. In a fit of holiday shopping that saw me spending equal money on my friends and family as I was spending on myself (I'm really bad at Christmas shopping but really good at buying myself things, oops) I invested in a superscription to get 2 novella's sent to me each month.  So far it's been a great way to expose me to classic authors that I would have steered away from otherwise.

So far I've gotten two months worth of stories, and a tote bag! They're short enough to read in one sitting with a nice cup of tea. I'm also a huge fan of the minimalist covers. They look great both on my shelf and in my purse, where they're small enough to easily carry.

This past month I found a Mark Twain story I actually liked! Before that I found a Melville story that didn't involve a whale in my mailbox. I've been very pleased with the variety thus far and am looking forward to being exposed to more renown authors through their shorter works!