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High Shelf Esteem

Archives for January 2018

January 30, 2018

Worth the Read? — Turtles All the Way Down

Welcome to “Worth the Read?” where I give you my honest opinion on whether you should spend your precious time reading a super-hyped New York Times Bestseller.

Today’s book is:
Turtles All the Way Down, by John Green
On New York Times Best Sellers list (Young Adult Hardcover) for 15 weeks

The Hype:
Just take a look at the book’s description on Amazon and you’ll see how incredibly loved this book is by critics. The number of “best of 2017″ book lists it’s on is crazy impressive! So, it’s not very surprising that Turtles All the Way Down has sold very well. John Green has been one of the most popular young adult authors of the last decade. He is so successful with his adolescent readers that major publications have called him “The Teen Whisperer.” His books sell millions of copies (that’s not an exaggeration), Paper Towns and The Fault in Our Stars have both been adapted to the big screen, and he and his brother have more than 3 million YouTube subscribers…he and his books are a big deal!

Plot Summary:
From the publisher
Sixteen-year-old Aza never intended to pursue the mystery of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Russell Pickett’s son, Davis.
Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts.

Thoughts:
Turtles All the Way Down is not my favorite of John Green’s novels, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t thoroughly enjoy and appreciate it. And to be honest, the publisher description (which sounds a lot like the summary of a Scooby-Doo epidsode) doesn’t do the story justice. It’s a lot more than a straight forward, plot-driven mystery. Green tackles major issues like mental health and socio-economic differences with aplomb, while still maintaining a style that is readable and relatable for his teen audience (and adults who like reading YA 🙂 ).
What I appreciated most about the book is how personal and honest it is. Green suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder like the book’s main character, Aza. It’s refreshing to see how frank he is about his own struggles during interviews and in the story itself. His descriptions of living with OCD are unflinching and a truly visceral experience.
I think the one element missing for me was humor. Obviously, issues of mental health aren’t funny, but in his other books that also deal with serious teen problems, Green somehow weaved in more laughs. Turtles all the Way Down isn’t devoid of humor completely. I just wish there had been more.
Looking for Alaska is still my favorite of Green’s novels, but overall, Turtles All the Way Down is a solid read.

Rating: 90% worth it
Rating Key
80% – 100% – the book lives up to the hype. Go read it now!
60% – 79% – the book is good, but there’s no rush to read it
40% – 59% – the book has some degree of merit, but has flaws and probably isn’t worth your time
0% – 39% – the book stinks and isn’t worth the read

Have you read Turtles All the Way Down?  What were your thoughts? Share in the comments below!

Filed Under: Worth the Read? Kristen Leave a Comment

January 27, 2018

Literary Linking: January 22 – 26

 

This week’s link topics include: crafting a sentence with Diana Gabaldon, bookish hashtags, a book club for minority boys, and more!

The best bookish links the week of January 22 – 26:

These Kids Started a Book Club for Minority Boys. It’s the Most Popular Club in School
I really hope these book clubs become a trend countrywide.

Bookish Hashtags To Follow on Instagram
Beautiful bookstagrams at your fingertips. If you haven’t already, check out my bookstagrams at @ihavehighshelfesteem.

Diana Gabaldon Walks through Her Process of Crafting a Sentence
I saw Diana Gabaldon at the National Book Festival in the fall and she is amazing. She wrote Outlander while being a mom AND working full-time as a college professor. I will take any and all advice she has on writing sentences!

Living through Death with Harry Potter
Bibliotherapy is real, my friends.

The Bookworms of France’s National Library
A fascinating look at how France’s National Library restores rare books. You have to “respect the object!”

 

Filed Under: Literary Linking Kristen Leave a Comment

January 23, 2018

It’s Okay to Forget: 10 Books I Love but Remember Very Little About!

Top Ten Tuesday is an original blog meme hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl and this week’s topic is Books I Really Liked but Can’t Remember Anything/Much About.

In an ideal world, I would remember every last detail of every single book I’ve ever read. It is not an ideal world.

I’ve read lots of books during my time here on earth, and many of those are but a vague and distant memory. This is even true of some of the books I call my favorites. While I wish that I could recall the details of everything I’ve read, I’m okay with just remembering the feeling the books gave me. The gut feeling you have about a book is very powerful. Plus, now I can reread those favorites and relive the magic!

Here is a list of 10 books that fall under this funny love-but-can’t-remember category. They’re all on my bookshelf, so I might just have to go back and reread them. It fits right in with my Back To My Bookshelves Challenge. For each of these titles, I’ll include the publisher description (since my summaries would be pretty pathetic 🙂 ) and what I remember loving about it.

Freedom, by Jonathan Franzen
Patty and Walter Berglund were the new pioneers of old St. Paul—the gentrifiers, the hands-on parents, the avant-garde of the Whole Foods generation. Patty was the ideal sort of neighbor, who could tell you where to recycle your batteries and how to get the local cops to actually do their job. She was an enviably perfect mother and the wife of Walter’s dreams. Together with Walter—environmental lawyer, commuter cyclist, total family man—she was doing her small part to build a better world.
But now, in the new millennium, the Berglunds have become a mystery. Why has their teenage son moved in with the aggressively Republican family next door? Why has Walter taken a job working with Big Coal? What exactly is Richard Katz—outré rocker and Walter’s college best friend and rival—still doing in the picture? Most of all, what has happened to Patty? Why has the bright star of Barrier Street become “a very different kind of neighbor,” an implacable Fury coming unhinged before the street’s attentive eyes?
Feelings: I remember being thoroughly entertained by Franzen poking fun at suburbia. Silly suburbia!

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, by Gabrielle Zevin
A.J. Fikry’s life is not at all what he expected it to be. He lives alone, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. But when a mysterious package appears at the bookstore, its unexpected arrival gives Fikry the chance to make his life over–and see everything anew.
Feelings: I love books about bookstores and book people, so this fit the bill. And the relationship between Fikry and the “package” is touching.

 

Blindness, by Jose Saramago
A city is hit by an epidemic of “white blindness” which spares no one. Authorities confine the blind to an empty mental hospital, but there the criminal element holds everyone captive, stealing food rations and raping women. There is one eyewitness to this nightmare who guides seven strangers—among them a boy with no mother, a girl with dark glasses, a dog of tears—through the barren streets, and the procession becomes as uncanny as the surroundings are harrowing.
Feelings: This book terrified and enraptured me. The concept was like nothing I’d read before.

Life after Life, by Kate Atkinson
On a cold and snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born to an English banker and his wife. She dies before she can draw her first breath. On that same cold and snowy night, Ursula Todd is born, lets out a lusty wail, and embarks upon a life that will be, to say the least, unusual. For as she grows, she also dies, repeatedly, in a variety of ways, while the young century marches on towards its second cataclysmic world war.
Does Ursula’s apparently infinite number of lives give her the power to save the world from its inevitable destiny? And if she can — will she?
Feelings: I remember feeling like I was unsure footing for a lot of the book, but was blown away by how everything is illuminated at the end.

White Teeth, by Zadie Smith
At the center of this invigorating novel are two unlikely friends, Archie Jones and Samad Iqbal. Hapless veterans of World War II, Archie and Samad and their families become agents of England’s irrevocable transformation. A second marriage to Clara Bowden, a beautiful, albeit tooth-challenged, Jamaican half his age, quite literally gives Archie a second lease on life, and produces Irie, a knowing child whose personality doesn’t quite match her name (Jamaican for “no problem”). Samad’s late-in-life arranged marriage (he had to wait for his bride to be born), produces twin sons whose separate paths confound Iqbal’s every effort to direct them, and a renewed, if selective, submission to his Islamic faith.
Feelings: I’m a self-confessed Anglophile so I loved the extreme Britishness of this book (humor included).

Veronica Mars and the Million Dollar Tan Line, by Rob Thomas
Ten years after graduating from high school in Neptune, California, Veronica Mars is back in the land of sun, sand, crime, and corruption. She’s traded in her law degree for her old private investigating license, struggling to keep Mars Investigations afloat on the scant cash earned by catching cheating spouses until she can score her first big case.
Now it’s spring break, and college students descend on Neptune, transforming the beaches and boardwalks into a frenzied, week-long rave. When a girl disappears from a party, Veronica is called in to investigate. But this is no simple missing person’s case; the house the girl vanished from belongs to a man with serious criminal ties, and soon Veronica is plunged into a dangerous underworld of drugs and organized crime. And when a major break in the investigation has a shocking connection to Veronica’s past, the case hits closer to home than she ever imagined.
Feelings: Adored the show and remembered thinking this was a fantastic book equivalent.

A Visit from the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan
Bennie is an aging former punk rocker and record executive. Sasha is the passionate, troubled young woman he employs. Here Jennifer Egan brilliantly reveals their pasts, along with the inner lives of a host of other characters whose paths intersect with theirs. With music pulsing on every page, A Visit from the Goon Squad is a startling, exhilarating novel of self-destruction and redemption.
Feelings: I was in awe of Egan’s writing ability and creativity.

 

And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie
Ten people, each with something to hide and something to fear, are invited to a isolated mansion on Indian Island by a host who, surprisingly, fails to appear. On the island they are cut off from everything but each other and the inescapable shadows of their own past lives. One by one, the guests share the darkest secrets of their wicked pasts. And one by one, they die…
Which among them is the killer and will any of them survive?
Feelings: The solution to the mystery was a complete surprise to me. Basically, Agatha Christie was a genius!

The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway
A poignant look at the disillusionment and angst of the post-World War I generation, the novel introduces two of Hemingway’s most unforgettable characters: Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley. The story follows the flamboyant Brett and the hapless Jake as they journey from the wild nightlife of 1920s Paris to the brutal bullfighting rings of Spain with a motley group of expatriates. It is an age of moral bankruptcy, spiritual dissolution, unrealized love, and vanishing illusions.
Feelings: Beautiful prose and… that’s it all I can remember, geez oh Pete.

The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt
Theo Decker, a 13-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don’t know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by his longing for his mother, he clings to the one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the underworld of art.
As an adult, Theo moves silkily between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty labyrinth of an antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love–and at the center of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle.
Feelings: I liked the main character so much. I can’t remember why, but I did!

What books do you remember loving but can’t remember very well? Please share in the comments below!

Filed Under: Bookish Musings, Reviews and Recommendations Kristen 12 Comments

January 22, 2018

Easy DIY Bookish Wallpaper for Your Digital Devices

I love bookish merchandise because it shows my love of reading in a visible way, but adding to my collection of literary “stuff” can get pricey. So, I’ve tried to find inexpensive and free ways to express my book obsession. One of my favorites is using the end pages from book-themed picture books to create wallpaper for my handheld digital devices. It’s super easy and free!

Since end pages (the pages at the very front and back of a book) often have a design that relates to the book’s story, it follows that book-themed books would have end pages with bookish designs. What I’ve done is found a variety of picture books with excellent literary end pages that you can use to create your bookish wallpaper.

All you have to do to make your free wallpaper a reality is follow these steps:

  1. Visit your local library and borrow one of the books listed below.
  2. Once you’re back home, stand the book up on a flat, well-lit surface and open to its end pages.
  3. Use your phone or tablet to take a photo of the portion of the end pages that you like best.
  4. Edit the photo to your liking.
  5. Set the photo as your wallpaper.

And that’s it! The books and end-page designs below are my favorites.

The Book of Gold, by Bob Staake

      

Otto the Book Bear, by Katie Cleminson

     

A Child of Books, by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston

     

The Midnight Library, by Kazuno Kohara

     

If You Ever Want To Bring a Circus To the Library, DON’T!, by Elise Parsley

     

Ruth Bader Ginsburg: The Case of R.B.G. vs. Inequality, by Jonah Winter, illustrated by Stacy Innerst

     

I hope you find one you like! And if there are any other excellent bookish end pages that you know of, please share them in the comments below. Thanks!

Filed Under: DIY Kristen Leave a Comment

January 8, 2018

A Brief Hiatus for High Shelf Esteem

This is just a quick post to let you all know that I will not be publishing any new content for the next 2 or 3 weeks. I’ve been out of work on medical leave for almost 2 months now, but will be heading back relatively soon. I need to take my remaining time off to clear my mind and prepare myself for the return. Staying away from digital stimuli and social media will be part of this mind-clearing.

I plan on using a lot of this time for reading, so when I get back online, I’ll have lots to share with you. Hopefully I’ll get through a bunch of my personal library and make a nice dent in my Back To My Bookshelves Reading Challenge.

Thanks for reading!

Filed Under: Bookish Musings Kristen Leave a Comment

January 6, 2018

Literary Linking: January 1 – 5

This week’s link topics include: J.K. Rowling’s pub in Scotland, exercising like your favorite author, auto-completed children’s books and more!

The best bookish links the week of January 1 – 5:

2017: The Year Americans Couldn’t Say Gal Gadot (and a Lot of Other Words)
Yup, I pronounced Wonder Woman’s name incorrectly all year!

Auto-Completed Children’s Books: Good Night Moon
Such a creative idea. This new version of Goodnight Moon was created by typing in the beginning of each line and letting Google fill in the rest. Funny stuff!

J.K. Rowling Has Her Own Pub in Scotland
The pub has her name on it for just a month. If only we had a little floo powder to transport us there…

Exercise Like Your Favorite Author
Who even knew Emily Dickinson exercised?! She is the coolest.

David Bowie’s Son Starts Book Club for Father’s Top Novels
David Bowie is a god and he’s alive in my heart (and ears). It tickles me pink that he was such a voracious reader.

Filed Under: Literary Linking Kristen Leave a Comment

January 4, 2018

No New Books for a Year!: The Back To My Bookshelf Challenge

I have lots of unread books on these shelves that I still need to read (And that’s only one wall of my library!).

I absolutely love my personal library and I like keeping it in tip top order. However, this has become more and more difficult with the excessive number of books I’ve acquired since my amazing husband finished building the library three years ago.

In an effort to do some organization and cleaning for the New Year, I decided to assess my collection, and I was alarmed at how many I haven’t read. For the past few years, I’ve focused on reading new releases. The library, Book of the Month Club, indie bookstores, the list goes on… have all kept me well-fed with the freshest books.  As a result, I ended up ignoring the books I already owned.

This glut of books extends to my Kindle as well. Because of Kindle’s Deal of the Day and other sites that send daily updates on deeply discounted ebooks, I have hundreds of titles on my Kindle that I haven’t gotten to.

All this is to say: I OWN A LOT OF AMAZING BOOKS AND I NEED TO READ THEM!

My goal for this year is to read almost entirely from my own library, both physical and digital. I will still get books from the library for work-related reading, book club selections, and the occasional newer release — I don’t want to be completely out of the literary loop, plus I still want to continue my Worth the Read? series.

And book purchases? No more for now. I even canceled my Book of the Month Club membership, which was pretty painful. I will accept books as gifts (duh!), but those will be the only new additions to my collection this year.

As much as I relish acquiring books, books, and more books, I think it will feel good to enjoy what I have. It will also be satisfying to cross off some backlist titles (older books available from a publisher, as opposed to new releases) that have gotten pushed waaaaay down on my TBR simply because they’re not brand new. It’ll also be good to save some money!

If you’re looking to cut back on your book purchasing and want to turn to your own bookshelves for great reading, try the Back To My Bookshelves Reading Challenge.

I’ve created a list of 20 categories, and the aim is to take a look at your shelves and find books that fit 12 of those categories (one book per category) and read them over the course of the year. I tried to choose categories that focus on the sentimental reasons why we keep and cherish books (e.g. your personal history with the book; who gave it to you; where you were when you bought it, etc.).

I’ll write about the books I read for the challenge in future posts, and I’d love to hear what you find on your shelves. Let’s take a trip down memory lane!

Click here to download your free printable Back To My Bookshelves Reading Challenge

 

What are your reading goals for the year? Please share in the comments below

Filed Under: Bookish Musings Kristen 4 Comments

January 1, 2018

What’s Making Me Happy: Vol. 7

I’ve been out of the hospital for about a month, and it has not always been easy. Thankfully, I have amazing friends and family who have kept a smile on my face this December. They are what truly make me happy.

A few other small things have buoyed my spirits:

Cozy Hugs Plush Animals
We’re in the midst of a major cold snap where I live and my Cozy Hugs dog is making it so much more bearable. Cozy Hugs are stuffed animals with a special insert that can be either heated by microwave or cooled in the freezer. Obviously, I’ve been heating mine and have enjoyed cuddling with my super soft and warm dog (he’s on my lap as I write this!). Thank you to my wonderful stepbrother for giving this to me for Christmas! If you run cold like I do and need a warm, furry friend to keep you warm, give one of these stuffies a go.

ThredUp
I feel I’m a little behind when it comes to learning about ThredUp, but I’m so glad I finally checked it out. It’s an online consignment site that sells tons of clothing brands (including some my absolute faves like Anthropologie and Banana Republic) at really low prices. I know I sound like a commercial, but I have been genuinely impressed by what I’ve purchased. I went on an online shopping binge while I was in the hospital a month ago (there’s only so much you can do in a hospital bed and shopping online is one of them!) and may have bought a little more than I should have, but I kept it all and it still wasn’t too painful for my bank account 🙂

The 1990s Coloring Book: All That and a Box of Crayons
I was a ‘90s kid and this coloring book really brought me back! There’s nothing like a little nostalgia to make you smile. My first coloring masterpiece from the book was the “You quiero Taco Bell” chihuahua and I can’t wait to get to some of the others. Clueless, Tickle-Me-Elmo, Ross Perot…there are so many gems! If the ‘90s weren’t your formative years, there are coloring books for all the decades. The trip down memory lane is lots of fun 🙂

NY Times Crossword and CW Pencil Enterprise Crossword Puzzle Set
My dad and I love doing the NY Times Crossword (well, at least the Monday – Wednesday ones), so when I heard about the Crossword Puzzle Set from CW Pencil Enterprise on Anne Bogel’s What Should I Read Next? podcast, I had to get him a set as a Christmas gift. We get a little competitive with the crosswording, so I realized I HAD to get a set for myself as well. I couldn’t give dad an upper hand. The set comes with six pencils that are perfect for crosswords (e.g. they don’t smudge, the erasers are extra eraser-y) and an informational brochure describing the features of each. It’s good ol’ fashioned nerdy fun!

Air Plants
I am notorious for killing any houseplant I attempt to care for, so when I heard how easy air plants are to take care of, I had to give them a try. I got mine at Trader Joes 3 weeks ago, and they haven’t died yet – woohoo! Air plants don’t require soil and very little watering, so I think they are my dream plant. Let’s see if I can keep mine alive for at least a year!

 

What’s been making you happy recently? Share in the comments below!

Filed Under: What's Making Me Happy Kristen 4 Comments

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