BSchultz19

Maybe I should go away from the rain/waterfall and into more ocean sounds. My mom is the same way. I have to close the door to the room I'm reading in, otherwise every time she passes she has something to say and I'm always in the good part of the book when it happens

That's a good one

I will be near it, but I don't have a card and it is much smaller than the one here at home. The beginning of the year is the only time that the space between breaks is too long to get books from home and just renew them.

The way I always do it is hit the picture looking thing at the top left corner and choose spoiler and it has you type your spoiler inside then you press ok and there it is

I'm going to get to The Pact sometime this week hopefully. I've heard good things about it and I've enjoyed the three Picoult books I have read so far this year.

I really liked the books! They were both fantastic. I have another Picoult one from the library waiting to be read. Yes September will be difficult for me. I'll be at school, but I might try to get some reading done that weekend. If I remember

That's an interesting comparison. I never really liked Mark Twain either, but I have gone/still go to school in Missouri so Mark Twain is a big deal. I liked To Kill A Mockingbird and the only similarities I can think of is that they both talk about southern life. Other than that, I think TKAM is far better.

I use dog eared pages to mark favorite quotes that I notice while reading the book, and bookmarks to hold my place in the book. I have used so many things for bookmarks. Baseball cards, notecards, pieces of paper, homemade ones with quotes on them, and one of my favorites is a tag from a Captain America shirt that says Marvel and has all the characters. It's only a tag but it looks super cool so I use it as a bookmark.

My Sister's Keeper BLURB: Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate--a life and a role that she has never challenged. . .until now. Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister--and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable, a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves. A provocative novel that raises some important ethical issues, My Sister's Keeper is the story of one family's struggle for survival at all human costs and a stunning moral parable for all time. MY TAKE: I really enjoyed reading this book. I love how the author makes an ethical question that at the time was heavily argued into something more personal that a reader can relate to. Rather than think of ethics and the world as black and white, the reader is brought into the life of a family that is anything but black and white. No matter which decision the family makes, there could be very serious consequences. I would recommend this book to anybody, because it really makes you think about people rather than issues. Although the stem cell research, human genome project, etc. has not been in the news lately, other issues have that can be looked at better by thinking of everyone involved as people. Everybody needs love and struggles with the decisions they make everyday. RATING: 10/10

Perfect Match BLURB: What happens when you do all the right things for all the wrong reasons? As an assistant district attorney in York County, Maine, Nina Frost prosecutes the sort of crimes that tear families apart. She helps clients navigate their way through a nightmare – even though the legal system is not always the faultless compass they want and need it to be. She learns that the easiest way to cross this devastating minefield time and time again is to offer compassion, battle fiercely for justice, and keep her emotional distance. But when Nina and her husband Caleb discover that their five-year-old son Nathaniel has been sexually abused, that distance is impossible to maintain. The world Nina inhabits now seems different from the one she lived in yesterday; the lines between family and professional life are erased; and answers to questions she thought she knew are no longer easy to find. Overcome by anger and desperate for vengeance, Nina ignites a battle that may cause her to lose the very thing she's fighting for. MY TAKE: This book will make you question everything. It is a humongous moral question all rolled into one book. The description is amazing (as I have found while reading Picoult) because she does tons of research before every book she writes. The main character is a prosecutor and some of the arguments that are made in this book during court cases have me convinced that Picoult could be a lawyer. I love the characters in this book, because each one is different but also interconnected to the storyline and very well developed. I loved reading this book because it was tense, interesting, and unpredictable. RATING: 9.5/10

I agree I don't mind how it ended, I do have some gripes with it though.

I have a notebook too. Mainly because I just love writing things down despite my awful boyish handwriting Also, I'm glad I could help! I get the same way when I get ready to get books from the library. I completely go blank about what I really want to read. The easiest thing to do in that moment is look at my "To Read" on goodreads and pick three or four. I'm very sad that I'll be leaving the area of my library

Friday I read for a good amount of time (I'm not sure how long). Saturday I went back to school shopping, which took up most of the day so I didn't get to read very much. Today I have been mixing reading with watching netflix, which always leads to watching more netflix than reading. I read Perfect Match, My Sister's Keeper, and I'm in the beginning of The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud. So far I've read approximately 800 pages. I'll probably read a little more tonight before I go to bed. Not a bad read-a-thon for me.

I enjoy reading nonfiction occasionally too so thank you for the suggestion. I have not read Uncle Tom's Cabin, but I own it. Do you highly recommend it?

I really enjoy American History, so I'm into the 1770s-1780s, the 1860's (civil war time), the 1900s, the 20s (I love the moral issues brought about during this time, it makes for a great setting), and World War II. Basically any major time period in American History. I do, however enjoy other history, so I will check out the suggestions that you have made Thanks for the fantasy suggestions as well. It's something new that I tried out with ASOIAF series, but I liked it enough to try more in that genre.

I'm thinking about making a spreadsheet for all the books I read, including number of pages, how much I liked the book, and when I read it. The only problem I have is finding number of pages on past books I have read. I really want to have this for the future when I may want to re-read books or recommend books to people. I also just love making spreadsheets and this is a good reason to use one

Oh my I love your shelves Athena!! I'm so jealous. I hope to have a room full of shelves like that when I get a house. And enough books to fill the shelves, of course.

I've read The Pearl, Grapes of Wrath, and now East of Eden and the only one I didn't enjoy was The Pearl. Now that I've read more Steinbeck it seems like its different than his typical setting. I just didn't get into it, but that could also be because I read it in 8th grade and wasn't capable of understanding it.

East of Eden BLURB: In his journal, John Steinbeck called East of Eden "the first book," and indeed it has the primordial power and simplicity of myth. Set in the rich farmland of California's Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families--the Trasks and the Hamiltons--whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel. Adam Trask came to California from the East to farm and raise his family on the new, rich land. But the birth of his twins, Cal and Aron, brings his wife to the brink of madness, and Adam is left alone to raise his boys to manhood. One boy thrives, nurtured by the love of all those around him; the other grows up in loneliness, enveloped by a mysterious darkness. First published in 1952, East of Eden is the work in which Steinbeck created his most mesmerizing characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of identity, the inexplicablity of love, and the murderous consequences of love's absence. A masterpiece of Steinbeck's later years, East of Eden is a powerful and vastly ambitious novel that is at once a family saga and a modern retelling of the Book of Genesis. MY TAKE: I really enjoyed reading this book because the characters are amazing. Each of the main characters is told about from birth, which only makes them come alive even more as the book progresses. I love the themes in this book, because they are so true. The end of the book is SO POWERFUL. Aside from the book being a great literary work, I thoroughly enjoyed the book because Steinbeck has an interesting sense of humor which I was able to find while reading the book. Maybe he didn't intend to make certain things funny, but there were subtle ironies and the occasional funny thing a character said. It was a long one, but I really enjoyed reading it and felt like I fell into the world of the 1900s. RATING: Recommended to anyone. Timeless classic. 10/10

I'm very excited to get the chance to read it now

I love using goodreads, because it's an easy way to keep track of the books I have read and the ones I want to read whether I own them or not. It's really great for when I'm not feeling like reading any of the books I own and I check some out from the library. I usually go on goodreads, pick a couple of my want to read books, and then place a hold on them online. The internet is a beautiful thing

WOW. This sounds really interesting. I have not read it.

Yeah it's really hard to adjust. My teachers all think I have this amazing memory, but now it's shaky. I don't get headaches anymore (thank god) so I'm over that, but the long term effects are kicking in unfortunately. I am It's been over 6 months now since my last one. Hopefully no more

Thank you!!

Yeah, I'm fine. I had two within 6 months so it was rough for awhile. The weird thing is I still have a great memory when it comes to school (I took final exams with a concussion and aced them), but certain things go blank. It's sad because I used to have an almost photographic memory.