Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts

Reading.

Sunday, November 11, 2012 § 0

So I'm incredibly proud of myself.  My freshman year, I hardly read at all for fun because I was taking a bunch of lit courses and had to read for that class.  Over the summer, I got lazy and read maybe one book a month.  Lame.  This semester, however, has been different.

I think it's the fact that I'm nannying now.  When I pick up the kids, I read until they're out of class.  While they're doing their homework, I read.  While Meg's at soccer practice, I read.

I'm inhaling books like crazy and IT FEELS GOOD.   It's the beginning of a good year, y'all.

What I've read: Summer to Now-


1.  The Host- Stephanie Meyer (Stefanie?  I don't know.)  So anyone who knows me knows that I hate Twilight with a burning, fiery passion just because I feel like Meyer's writing is akin to a 4th grader's (harsh but true).  However, my Swap.com profile kept telling me to read this and I did and it was surprisingly quite awesome.  Cheesy, but awesome.

2. Looking for Alaska- John Green  Tears.  Tears everywhere.  But JESUS CHRIST this man knows how to write a book.  John Green is my writing idol and I strive to be just like him one day.  Including the hilarious YouTube channel with his brother.  BY THE WAY, for those of you who have read this book and want to know the background on the pranks, watch this video of a young college-age Green talking about his boarding school experience:


 3.  An Abundance of Katherines- John Green Yeah, I was having a Green phase during the summer.  But he's just fantastic, and this book is my favorite of his just because it's so hilarious and good and I love road trip novels, I do.

4. Saving June- Hannah Harrington  .....Meh.

5.  Fireworks over Toccoa- Jeffer Stepakoff Okay, so this book is a little predictable and your basic love story, but damn if it isn't delicious.  PLUS it's set in the '40s and the main guy is italian and it's in the South and it's just so lovely.

6. My Name is Memory- Ann Brashares This is another love story, and this one tackles reincarnation and past lives.  It's pretty interesting, and I've read books like this before and this was far better than the others.  That said, it wasn't as amazing as I thought it would be and I had a hard time getting through it.

I read others, I'm sure, but I can't remember the rest and also I'm tired and it's late and I have to read this stupid book that I don't want to read for history.  Life is CRAZY.  Not really.  But I gotta go do that so that's what I'm gonna do.

I really have to stop blogging when I'm this tired.  My paragraphs are such gibberish.

Later,
Madi












They're out of order, but I'm thinking you probably don't care.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012 § 0

My latest 'photo a day' photos: 

Someone I love: Sarah Dessen.  She totally knows how to tap into my teen angst-y side.  

Reflection: Gotta get those brows waxed.  


Sweet: DELISH gummies the fam sent to me in a Valentine's day care package.  

Shoes: there's a pile of 'em on the floor right now.  

Until tomorrow, 
Cooper


Crisis.

Monday, February 20, 2012 § 2

So I had sort of a scary epiphany this morning. 

I was reading The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen (which I think I mentioned a couple of posts ago and how it's one of my fave books...anyhoo).  In this one scene I read, Macy (the main character) asks Wes (her love interest) what he's most afraid of.  

I'll just type out the whole scene so you catch muh drift: 

     "Okay," I said, "What's your biggest fear?"
     As always, he took a second to think about his answer.  "Clowns," he said. 
     "Clowns."
     "Yup."
     I just looked at him.  
     "What?" he said, glancing over at me.  
     "That is not a real answer," I told him.  
     "Says who?"
     "Says me.  I meant a real fear, like of failure, of death, of regret.  Like that.  Something that keeps you awake nights, questioning your very existence."
     He thought for a second. "Clowns."

Getting back to my point, I read this scene this morning (it was Bagel Monday, which means I go to the LSC, get a bagel, and read.  It's the absolute best) and literally stopped reading so I could think about what my fear was.  I went over it and over it in my head until I finally decided.  

I'm deathly afraid of being unhappy in my work.  
There's nothing I want less than to be working in a big office in a cubicle, or in a rushed newsroom, or cranking out articles for a magazine like a factory line worker.  

I want to write, but it's not only that.  I want to live in the country, and I want privacy and a big, green field and a yellow sunset every night.  I want to be sore at the end of the day because I spent the entire afternoon brushing down a horse, or pulling a rowboat up the stream, or walking to the edge of my land.  

And I just want to write, all the time, until my fingers get cramped.  Or read until my eyes get sore.  I'm just afraid for when I start my internships- I'm going to be in that office setting, guaranteed, and I have a feeling it'll stress me out to no end.  Life should honestly not be filled with so much stress. 

Not knowing what's going to happen with my life scares the shit out of me.  One thing about myself that I really don't like is that I always need to have a plan; I always need to know what I'm doing and where I'm going and when I'm going and all that.  I wish I didn't care so much about money and schedules and credits and side jobs.  I wish life wasn't like that, but it is.  

Well, this post is getting a little long and rant-y, so I'm going to end with something that caught my eye when I was going through my old posts earlier today.  I found this post, and it was so simple and perfect that I had to post it again.  Plus, it kind of puts me at ease a little. I posted it in April of last year.  



Sunday, April 24, 2011 § 0
I am going to go to college. 

I am going to publish a book. 

I am going to spend a long, long time in Europe.

I am going to buy a house in a big plot of countryside. 

I am going to have a horse.

I'm going to keep publishing books. 

I'm going to marry my soulmate.  

I'm going to get old.  


Plain and simple, folks.  Let's hope it works out (haha). 

Adieu, 
Cooper

Books.

Saturday, February 18, 2012 § 0

I realize that in my Photo a Day post, I took a picture of the book Queen Victoria for the day titled, 'what I'm reading'.  I hadn't started it yet, but I used it for that day anyway, excited to begin.  

It's four days later and as of this morning, I've yet to pick it up.  I don't want to say I've given up on it since I never actually gave it a chance in the first place, but....

I ended up fishing out The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen this evening when I started to get a little bit homesick.  I don't know what it was about this book that made me grab it, but I did. 

Ok, that's a complete lie.  I know exactly why I grabbed it.  The Truth About Forever is a book I've already read three times.  The first time I picked it up, I was in middle school and I found a copy with a tattered plastic protective cover around it in the Keller Public Library's Young Adult section.  I know every character and their subsequent personality traits by heart: brooding, handsome Wes; chubby Bert who believes in the second Apocolypse as if it's his only religion; quiet, closed-away Macy.  Every time I read a scene, I can tell you exactly what's going to happen, the way Macy feels, the way Wes looks at her, and if Monica sighs or scoffs.  

I remember the second or third time I read this book, I don't remember which it was, but it was the day before one of my first days of school.  I was really nervous, so I put this book in my backpack.  That night, I slept like a baby.  That morning, I got up and I was still a little nervous, but I was ready.  I just kept thinking about my copy of the book tucked away in my backpack and I felt totally fine. 

What is the point of all this rambling, you may be asking yourself?  My point is this: there are just those books that feel like home.  Like I said, tonight I started to feel a little homesick and so I reached for TTAF and after reading the first four chapters, I already feel better.  I felt better because I had Macy and Wes and Monica and Wish Catering and Wally from Raleigh and the grubby beach house and all that.  

I've got a lot of favorite books, and this is one of them, without a doubt.  I don't care how cheesy or predictable it is, and I honestly don't care that the main character is in high school (because isn't that when all of us go through a million little crisises, anyway?)

BOOKS=HOME. 

And that's all I have to say about that.  

Have you guys read this yet?

Sunday, January 1, 2012 § 0



It was such an amazing book.  I can only imagine how amazing it would be if they made it into a movie....and I only say that because of how vivid and beautiful the descriptions were!  Made me want to literally go to the Night Circus. 

READ THIS PLEASE.  The end.  

what I'm loving this week.

Sunday, October 16, 2011 § 1

I've noticed that I've been pretty scatterbrained recently...there's been so much going on that blogging has been pretty far down on my to-do list.  But right now it's one A.M., my roommate is gone, and I'm feeling like a late night.  Therefore, I shall blog!

I figure another installment of what I'm loving this week should brighten up Cooper Calamity's boring page.  Admittedly, it hasn't been too too bad, but I doubt you want to hear another rant about my homework or my week or anything like that.  In fact, let's just jump right in to what I'm loving.  Let's do that.

NUMERO UNO
This week's episode of Parks and Recreation.

Donna knows how to do it.  It was just a very hilarious episode and it's good that my roommate is away this weekend because I was laughing uproariously and it's quite late.  I would have woken her up....with all my laughter.....yes.  Okay. 

NUMERO DEUX

This book.  Okay, so I haven't read it yet, but I bought it this week and I like that I did that because it has gotten rave reviews and they're making a movie of it with Emma Watson in it and I just can't deal with how awesome it all sounds.  I can't wait to crack open this puppy.  

NUMMER TRE
This week's weather forecast.  I mean, 59?? I'm so excited; I want it to be cold with ALL OF MY HEART. I need to break out my fuzzy puffed coat.  


QUATERNARIUS


The 2012 Volkswagen Beetle.  I WANT IT.  It's so beautiful and gorgeous and I would even give up my beloved wonderful-piece-of-junk Volvo for it.  THAT'S saying something.  


Those are my loves for this week!  Let me know if you've got anything to add to the list.  Also, check out my new Life With Madi channel for the Collegian's vlog series here.  

Until who knows when, 
Cooper

Water for Elephants.

Saturday, April 23, 2011 § 0

Remember when I talked about how I was reading Water for Elephants here?  Well, it soon became one of my absolute favorite books.  I convinced my sister to read it and so now that the movie is out, my sister, my mom and I all went to the Colleyville Cinema Grill to see it.  We were so excited that we arrived an hour early, and we were first in line for the movie theater.  That's dedication, folks.

After seeing the first trailer, I was so afraid that the film was going to veer away from the story like so many other book-to-movie adaptations have.  However, there weren't many changes, aside from a handful of scenes nearing the end, and most of them weren't a big deal anyway.


Christoph Waltz was the most perfect August there ever was.   After that terrible scene with Rosie, when Jacob confronts August in his train car, I was literally seething in my seat, shaking my head at the screen, muttering to myself, "Don't listen to a word he says, Jacob!"  Yes, he literally got that much of a rise out of me.  Amazing!


Reese Witherspoon was absolutely gorgeous, especially her performance scenes when she's doing her thing in the big top.  I thought she was great for Marlena.  

And judging by the first picture, I'm guessing I don't need to tell you how gorgeous Robert Pattinson was in this movie.  After the show, my mom turned to us and said, 'Edward looked so hot!'  

Maybe it was because I read the book, but I had a lot of emotional reactions to this movie (especially the menagerie scene at the end- I won't say much for those who haven't read the book, but my heart was pounding the entire time!).  There's nothing like seeing one of your favorite books, something you've imagined out in your head as you read, come to life.  

It was a great movie, and you should all go see it!


Day 24: Something you would find in my bag. 
1. Wallet
2. Car keys
3. Phone
4. Ipod
5. Trash (candy wrappers & receipts, haha)
6. Whatever book I'm reading at the time

And not much else.  I don't carry much, and yet my purse still gets terribly cluttered.  How is that possible, you ask?  I make it possible!

Happy Saturday, 
Cooper


Sunday, April 3, 2011 § 0


I love looking at old books in antique stores.  Yeah, not looking through them or reading them, just at them.  They're pretty.  That's their only function, right?

Enjoyed some deliciousness from the local cupcake store, What's Up Cupcake.

My fave, the salted caramel cupcake.  Mmmmmmmmm.  It's got caramel in the middle. 

My day 14 family photo: 

This was taken in 2007, so we've all changed a lot since then.  But I couldn't find the one of us in Colorado, lookin' all hot! Oh, well.  Here we are in all our glory.  My parents are the most wonderful, supportive people on earth and I've told you the greatness my sister possesses already.  Love 'em all.

Happy Sunday evening, 
Cooper


Day 13, a little late.

Saturday, April 2, 2011 § 0

I'm really not in the mood to catch myself up by doing three 'days of blogging' in one post, so we'll just pick up where we left off :) Day 13!

So, five of my all-time fave reads.  Here we go!

1. Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen

Set during the Great Depression, this book is about a boy named Jacob who joins the Benzini Brothers circus troupe as a veterinarian after finding out his parents have died.  He forms a relationship with a worn-out, lovable elephant and the beautiful woman that performs with the horses, despite the sadistic circus boss she's married to.  This book is so interesting and romantic and absolutely wonderful.  I can't wait to see the movie.












2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- J.K. Rowling


Do I even need to explain my love for this book?  I've been a fan of Harry and his pals ever since a friend forced me to read the series freshman year.  I've read this one twice and I cried about every fifteen minutes during the first HP7 movie.  I plan on reading it about fifteen more times.  Maybe more.  











3. Leaving Unknown- Kerry Reichs

I describe the plot in this blog post, so I won't rewrite it.  I will say that I spent about five hours everyday on the tire swing, reading this nonstop.  It's romantic (when will I ever read anything that isn't) and really heartfelt.  The characters are funny and quirky, and I want to live in Unknown, AZ with all of them. 













4. Elsewhere- Gabrielle Zevin

Gabrielle Zevin is one of my all-time favorite writers.   This is one of the only books I've ever cried at the end of, not because it was a sad ending, but because it was so emotional.  Everything she says is symbolic in some little way, and anyone can relate even in the tiniest way.  What is it about, you might ask?  A girl dies and heads to the underworld or, Elsewhere, which is just like Earth except for the fact that when you arrive, you begin to age backwards until you are sent back to Earth as a baby.  It's such a wonderful concept and I haven't been more pleased with an idea of the underworld since Jesus played the Pearly Gates.  

For a tear-jerking quote, go here.







5. Queen of Babble series- Meg Cabot


I loved the first book, but I gotta say- the best one is the third one.  There's a crazy twist but it's a fantastic twist!  This is my guilty-pleasure read, my beach read, and it's like cotton candy except it doesn't make you fat!  Occasionally, when I need a little pick-me-up, I'll pull one of these out and read a little excerpt.  They're amazing. Look 'em up.













Those are my favorite reads, and you should definitely go look them up and read them ASAP.  They will change your literary life. 

Happy Saturday, 
Cooper

Dessert of champions.

Monday, March 7, 2011 § 0

Gettin' my read on, gettin' my cookie on, gettin' my milk on.  After finishing a project, I find it important to reward yourself.  

I feel like all I ever do is watch TV lately, and that's been bugging me.  I returned to my old self and started reading non-stop again.  I love it.  Especially this book.

Pics of todays outfit coming soon.  I left all the files at school! Silly me.

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