My Journey through reading, books, and bookish things
Okay these are not in any particular order because it is hard enough to pick 10 great books I have read this year.
*Strangely I did not have any pictures I could find of these 4 books.
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme brought to you by the lovely blog The Broke and the Bookish
This week their Top Ten is *drumroll please*
THE TOP TEN SERIES YOU HAVE BEEN MEANING TO START BUT HAVEN’T
IN OTHER NEWS:
My DSLR camera came in. I haven’t figured it all out but I have taken some pics on it. My favorites are the portraits of my dog.
ISN’T HE JUST BEAUTIFUL. My little kitty floofball won’t let me take his picture. Typical cat.
I am taking a children’s lit course this summer for my Master’s in Library Science. I have to read three books each week and review them for the course. I thought I might review them on here as well with my MORE honest opinions because my reviews for my class are all uplifting when in reality most kids I know would not appreciate the books like adults do.
Okay so for this week I had to read a Classic (list was given), a book by Mo Willems, and a Caldecott Medal Winner or Nominee.
I already had Kitten’s First Full Moon from an animal unit I did at the beginning of last year in my 3rd grade class. I also had Pigeon Finds a Hotdog but I have no earthly idea why. I had to order Millions of Cats as it was the only book on the Classics list that I don’t remember reading. Knowing my mother though I probably did read this as a kid. I have lots of fond memories of being in the library as a child and looking through the shelves and shelves of picture books. My mom always brought this giant pink beach bag with us to the library and between her and my sister and I we would fill the bag up every week. I wish that when I was a kid I had tracking apps like Goodreads so I could know just how many books I have read in my lifetime.
My favorite of the three was The Pigeon Finds a Hotdog. Mo Willems is a genius. If you are a parent of small children you should go check out his books. All of them. Right now. Go. Run. Seriously. I can’t imagine better books for reluctant readers. Pigeon is 100% hilarious. The drawings make it that much better. Mo Willems definitely has the facial expressions down.
Kitten’s First Full Moon is a cute book. There are some repetitive phrases for the younger audience. Repetition is essential for beginner readers. The story of the kitten chasing the moon is innocent and sweet. The pictures are all black and white but they are paneled on every other page sort of like a graphic book which makes them more interesting.
Millions of Cats is one of those more ridiculous classic books. I can imagine an older audience found this book hysterical. Classics are classics for a reason and I appreciate the story and the thought behind it but as a kid I would have never picked this book up without an adult making it more enticing. It was originally published in 1928 so the pictures lack any color (hello, it was impossible to mass produce in color in 1928).
What are your favorite picture books?
So there are a billion things on Etsy that are bookish that I wish I had. At the top of my list is candles for sure.
I mean… have you seen A Court of Candles?
Anyways, My Etsy store has actually had some sales and I am so excited about it. Here is what is new in the store:
I am in love with the Rhysand bookmark
I also discovered Society 6 today. So. much. book. merch.
Also if you are any good at graphic design you should look into selling on here. All you do is upload an image and they can apply it on a ton of stuff and then they print it on the items and ship it to the customers. All you do is upload your JPEG file and they do the rest and you make $$. Cool.
Here is the link to my store:
https://society6.com/erinthebookdragon
This is a couple days late and I haven’t updated my Instagram this week. I am failing in my promise to myself to work on this stuff! I think I put this particular post off because I only finished one book this week.
Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour
This is the story of Emi and her best friend Charlotte. These two girls are fresh out of high school, and deep into the film making process in Hollywood. Emi designs the sets for movies. While extremely talented and artistic, Emi is not good at relationships, especially with her on-again, off-again girlfriend. Emi is left the keys to her brothers apartment for the summer to live with Charlotte on the promise that they will use it to do something amazing. Neither girl knows what they are going to do until they find a mysterious letter from an Estate Sale.
While the story was interesting, this wasn’t one of my favorites. I don’t really care about how films are created which is a huge secondary part of this story. I also found the plot overly predictable.
3 out of 5 stars
Coming Soon…
So I am currently reading
Three Dark Crowns and Wuthering Heights
I am also taking Children’s Literature for my library science class this summer so next week expect a post on Picture Books!
Okay, I was distracted yesterday because this is my birthday weekend!
My sister is in town for the weekend so I was cleaning and such.
Once again, in no particular order.
Jane Eyre. Another classic and my favorite one. I love the story of Jane and Mr. Rochester. I have read this book a couple times and each time at a different time in my life. Since the book covers a wide span of Jane’s time periods, something new always speaks to me when I read it.
So, my boyfriend delivers food as some part-time work. Sometimes, when I haven’t seen him in awhile, I will grab a book and travel around town with him when he delivers. This is how I read An Ember in the Ashes. I was actually glad when he would have to stand in line for 30 minutes to get the food or when we pulled up to a confusing apartment complex so I would have more uninterrupted reading time. This fantasy is about a slave named Laia and a soldier named Elias, neither of whom have any freedom – until they meet each other and plot a way out of their current lives.
Hello 2nd Mini Series for my blog!
I am new to the whole writing reviews for books thing. So I am going to make it a little simpler on myself. I want to write reviews. I want to be good at writing reviews. I want people to read my reviews. So I am going to write short reviews for books I have managed to finish each week. So here we go…
From May 24- May 30 I managed to finish 4 books (4.. in a week!)
Go me! So in order from when each book was finished.
Sarah J. Maas brings to life this kingdom with rich metaphors and intricate details in her writing. She makes the reader feel as if they are living inside her world. Talk about a book hangover… I am surprised I moved on to other books this week.
5/5 Stars and would recommend to any Fantasy lovers
The research and time that was taken into finding the photos that were included in this book must have been difficult as many of them seem like private family photos. This book made me gain a deeper understanding of some of the Germans during WWII that resisted what was happening in their country.
3/5 total stars – 4/5 for a children’s book
Disclaimer: I listened to this book on CD in the car on my way to and from work for the majority of the month of May (I live 10 minutes from work). By the end of this novel I had to pull over because I was crying so hard.
5/5 because this book is both sad and funny. I enjoyed it and I know middle grade students in my library will enjoy it as well.
Props to the fun pictures throughout the book of the creatures made with repeated imagery.
4/5 because its Rowling, and I love magic. A great movie but not my favorite read. Maybe I just don’t enjoy screenplays…
Today I was looking at my bookshelves with affection and love and thought “Hmm. I should take some shelfies and share them online with annotations and captions.”
Ugh these pictures are super blurry and as soon as I get a new camera I will take new ones. My camera is 3 years old and point and shoot so I have to have PERFECT lighting to get a decent picture.
Ignore my messy desk.
So that is my mini office tour. I didn’t photograph my desk because it is so. messy. I have this problem where I clean it up completely and then start some project because its clean and I can and then I don’t clean up the project and I am back where I started. Maybe one day I can get a decent shot of that as well.
Sundays are my photograph days. I am currently doing 3 challenges a month so that I can gain more followings on my account. (I want nothing more than to be a rep for some of those fantastic bookish companies.) Plus I love the photography and bookstagram community.
So this is what my hallway looks like during a photoshoot.
I set up whatever I am photographing in front of my sliding doors where the light is good. You can see my box of props open in the background, and there are stacks of books I have already used up against the wall.
Chandler likes to help. This is the box from my
Here is what I got from Bookoutlet this week. I stalked their clearance section and got these 14 books for less than $50. The Paper Towns is a signed copy as well which was not listed in the comments.
Last thing – I got my first Melting Library Subsription box. This had an “Edibles” theme. I recieved 6 candles from favorite books and a chapstick and this adorable bookmark.
So, like most hard-working adulting people, Friday is my absolutely FAVORITE day of the week.
I look like this at 3:30 on most Fridays when school gets out.
So in honor of my favorite day of the week I bring you a mini series of weekly blog posts entitled FIVE ON FRIDAY.
What is FIVE ON FRIDAY you may ask?? Well… Five on Friday will be a list of my favorite books given to you in, you guessed it, groups of five (in no particular order) !
And now… I present to you PART ONE
Okay, disclaimer… I have not finished the series yet… I KNOW I KNOW. However, this series has EVERYTHING okay. Romance? Check. Action? Check and check! Intrigue? Check. Giants, ice zombies, dragons, and incest? Check. Definitely an interesting read even with the length of the series. I haven’t felt the need to rush through this because of George RR Martin’s infamous stalling of the next novel. Clearly if he is in no rush, I don’t need to be anxiously waiting the release of the next book with the rest of the fandom.
2. Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire
Any book where I stay up past midnight to finish in one sitting is going to make the list of favorites automatically. I read this book in one sitting and this isn’t a children’s 150 page novel. This is actually a pretty large book. HELLO COLLEGE ROMANCES. Okay, has anyone else noticed there is an abundance of high school romance novels (EX John Green Novels), adult romance novels(EX Nicholas Sparks novels) , and sexy adult romance novels( EX Maya Banks novels)? What I have not found is an abundance of college romance novels. I did enjoy this book right after I graduated college and had just started a new relationship which may be why I enjoyed this book and the characters in it.
3. Anything by Sarah Dessen
I started reading Sarah Dessen books when I was a junior in high school and I never stopped. I am obsessed with this author. Her books are always sweet, full of drama, have a good message in them, and deal with real life issues in the teen universe. 10/10 would recommend to any YA lover or teenager.
4. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas AKA ACOTAR
This is the last novel I finished so I have photographed it a lot lately. I fell into this Fandom head over heels. Feyre is the heroine of this novel and is an easy character to love immediately. The writing in this book is absolutely beautifully brilliant. I had to reread and reread sections over and over because Sarah. J Maas describes things with such intricate detail. Fantastic Read. So excited to delve deeper into this fandom.
5. The Once and Future King by TH White 
Classic. This is the story of King Arthur which was admittedly a required reading in high school for me but one I thoroughly enjoyed. There is no romance like Guinevere and Lancelot. Definitely a must read for everybody.
Okay that wraps it up for today. Have a great weekend!
I opened my bookmark store up last weekend officially. I am so excited to present BibliophilePrints on Etsy!! I am working on several bookmark designs and should have more items available this weekend.
I was surprised (and honored) when I recieved a message on Sunday night from Ashley Fuhr from MarkMyWordsShop on Etsy. She is working on a bookmark subscription box to benefit the Koman 3 Day Walk for Breast Cancer. She asked me if I would be willing to donate bookmarks for her boxes for July through October. I came up with 4 designs to send to her and they will be featured in her boxes. Look for those in her shop in the next couple months!
