More Books I've read recently

These are in no particular order since my last posting about the books I've read. I think I'm missing a book or two in this round up since I sold a couple of books a little while ago. Anyways here are the books that I've read:



This is a fluff book. I knew that when I got it and I'm glad I did. It was lots of fun. The story is based in New York and is about a woman who gets in the PR world and learns it's not all that she thought it was. This is a light fun read and worth it if you like pop culture references like I do.

The Uglies Series by Scott Westerfeld. There are 4 books in this Young Adult series. The premise of the main story line is that the government has decided that everyone should be "pretty" by the time the turn a certain age to keep war at bay. The series does offer some interesting thoughts but overall this wasn't my favorite read. In fact it took me a little bit to get through the series because I often got bored and put it down many times.

I picked up The Pact by Jodi Picoult when I was on vacation in DE at a goodwill. I needed something new to read for my flight home. I had not read anything by Jodi Picoult before but I knew that she had written several books that had been adapted into best selling movies and that was enough for me to try it out. This book is sad and thought provoking (as I'm told all her books are apparently). It wasn't a difficult read and I think I read the whole book in less than 6hours. If you want a good cry this will do it.

I just recently learned that this book was being made into a movie and I was curious to find out what all the buzz was about so I purchased this book off of a friend. Water for Elephants is written by Sara Gruen and is about the Circus in the 1930s. I was actually really suprised to find that I liked this story. It has some circus history or legends mixed in with orginal characters. Overall it was a really fun book and I am looking forward to the movie adapation when it comes out.

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick is a young adult book about angels. Fallen angels and the possibiltity that they could live among us and the possibility for change. It's an interesting concept and has some interesting twists. From what I understand there will be a sequel that will be coming out in the fall and I'm looking forward to seeing what else she has in mind for her lead characters.

Remember Me

I don't usually mention movies that I watch from home but I thought this one was worth mentioning. Remember me stars Robert Pattinson (yes the same guy who plays Edward Cullen in the Twilight Saga) and Emille DeRavin (she was Claire on the show Lost). Chris Cooper, Lena Olin, and Pierce Brosnon are also in it. All I can say is that it's worth watching and that you will need lots of kleenex. Check out the trailer above for an idea of what the film is all about.

Eclipse

As many of my loyal readers know I'm a big Twilight Saga fan. It's not so much about the vampire/wolf thing it's more about love, family, and figuring out who you are that really captures me in these stories.

The latest movie Eclipse just came out. Midnight last night to be exact. Though this year I didn't travel to be with my friends who are big fans like myself. This year I decided to stay home and try and catch the movie at midnight with Todd. I lucked out since my sister in law is also a fan and wanted to go so we met up with them. Anyways here are my thoughts on the night:

First I was disappointed with the lack of organization at the theater. Granted we couldn't get there to line up till 10pm but it was just one huge mass blob line that ran around the theater. Not cool since there like 15 screens showing the movie in intervals and it just didn't make sense to have everyone in one line. After the last movie ended though it was basically a free for all as people found their way to the appropriate screens. We got decent seats but it was kinda crazy.

Secondly there were lots of New Moon shirts on people. We were in line for Eclipse. Guess everyone got their New Moon shirts on sale at Toy's - R - Us at it's grand re opening or at Hot Topic. I saw only a handful of Eclipse shirts and I was the only that I saw with my shirt design on. Lots of people without movie shirts on at all. If you are gonna wait for a midnight movie at least have a little fun with it and wear a shirt or something. No shame showing just how geeky you are if you are already there for the midnight showing.

Thirdly--Fan girl squeals when Jacob is seen without his shirt, when Bella and Edward kiss, or when Jacob and Bella kiss is not necessary. Really we know it's going to happen and it's just distracting listening to someone giggle hysterically because the couple on screen is kissing.

Fourthly--The movie itself was great. I just did a re read the book the other day and I thought the movie did an excellent job of capturing all the big moments in the book without dwelling on anything too long. I heard a few complaints about the bed room kissing scene not being long enough but I felt it was fine and in some ways kinda weird to watch on screen. Kinda like I was intruding on some one's personal moment. The chemistry between all the actors has gotten better and everyone seemed to settle into their roles a little more and it really did feel like you could have been watching real people up there and not just characters in a movie. My personal favorites though were Billy Burke as Charlie Swan. He had some really great moments and it was great to see more of him in the film. It was also nice to see Gil Birmingham as Billy Black more too. I wish they had spent a little more time on the Indians history. The movie moves quickly and when the 2hours is up you feel like there is no way that it has already been 2 hours.

Overall I had a great time and experience. Glad I made it to a midnight showing and can't wait to see it again (which I will when I have time). I can honestly say that I'm glad I stayed away from leaked or released clips that were online and in interviews since I was able to be really surprised when I did sit down to watch it in full. I really enjoyed the movie and would recommend it to any Twilight Saga fan.

Hanging with the troopers

Jo Beth had it's Star Wars day event so Todd and I took the kids to go check it out and have a little fun. Here is just a few of the pictures from that event. Go check out my facebook photos for the rest.

One of the many things we've done...

Last Saturday we took the kids to Jo Beth bookstore and let the kids feed the ducks in the pond behind the building. They had a great time and Sam got a big hoot out of the baby ducks swimming after everything that he threw into the water. We had to actually stop him from throwing in stuff since he would just grab anything and throw it in there just to see them all swim and quack over stuff.

Besides the bookstore we also took the kids to the humane society event that was in front of the store and checked out the adorable animals that were all there for adoption. We would love to get a dog eventually but for now we were just happy to play with all the wonderful animals. Sophia actually gave this huge 80lb dog the biggest hug and the dog just gave her a kiss. If we had the money that dog probably would have come home with us that day. lol. Sophia was in love.

We also managed to head over to Whole Foods and Good Foods for some shopping and some lunch. We are loving the healthy food options of things in these stores and the kids love going shopping so it was a win win for us all. Though we don't get much on these trips the kids are enjoying the change of pace and getting to do things that we don't do on a regular basis.

In fact this weekend we plan on taking the kids to the free event at Babies r us/Toys r us grand re opening tomorrow to see character appearances, story time, and to get some free prizes and then we plan on taking them out to lunch with the freebies they earned from the public library and then on Saturday afternoon we are heading out to Jo Beth again for the Star Wars event (face painting, characters, etc). We are taking advantage of the freebie events in the area and are having a good time despite the hot and humid weather.

What events, activities are you all up to?