Random Tumblr Survey!

Hey look! It's a survey. Cause why not. I remember getting so many of these things in my email when I was eight or nine. I haven't done one in years, so what the heck. I found this here. I went through a bunch of these, and this was the cleanest one I could find. There are a lot on there that would be fun, but that aren't really appropriate for this blog.

1.How many pets do you own? 

One black cat named Luna.

2. What’s your least favorite season? 
Probably winter. I'm not a huge fan of snow (which we don't even get every year anyway), and winter around here is just cold and gray and wet.

3. Do you prefer to text or call? 

Usually text, though I am very aware of the communication issues texting can cause. I will always call if it's important. Well, actually that depends on the person I'm trying to get ahold of. Most people know me well enough that they know that if I'm calling them and not texting, it's probably serious or urgent. Unless it's my mom. I call her more often that most people.

4. Morning or night?

Five years ago I would have said morning, but now that I have to get up at 6am for school everyday, I would say night. I like mornings sometimes, but on the whole, I'm really a night person.

5. Do you like tacos?

Yeah, but they aren't a favorite food of mine.

6. Are you an introvert or an extrovert?

Extrovert. I used to be an introvert, but I am now clearly an extrovert. And I'm defining those terms the Jungian way, so when I say I'm an extrovert, I mean that I get my energy from social interaction, which I certainly do.

7. What’s your favorite desert?
Hmm. That's hard. Probably either gelato (like ice cream but better!), or fudge, if that counts. I don't know, is that a candy? Does candy count?

8. Do you enjoy walks?

I do, though I don't take near enough of them.

9. Are you a frequent user of Facebook?

Yes. Facebook is such a strange place, but I do spend a lot of time there.

10. Do you watch animated shows still?

Not really. Just Gravity Falls at the moment, and that's the exception, not the rule.

11. Can you roll your tongue?

Nope.

12. What’s your “lucky” number?

The number 12.

13. Are you scared of anything?

So many things...

14. Big mac or big whopper? 

Neither. I haven't had either one of those... possibly ever?

15. Do you like to play board games?

I do, though I rarely actually play them.

16. Are you fond of romantic novels?

Not really. I don't have anything against them, but I like more plot and character development than is typically found in a romance novel.

17. Fruitloops or cocopops?

The person who made this quiz has never met my mom. Neither.

18. Would you eat a live spider for one million dollars?

Gosh, that's hard. I don't know...

19. Are you a heavy drinker?

Heh. No.

20. Would you forgive someone for cheating?

It would depend on the situation, but probably not.

21. Are you superstitious?

Not really.

22. Have you seen A Clockwork Orange?

No.

23. Do you like to read?

yes!!

24. Are you easily distressed?

Yes.

25. Do you believe in aliens?

No.

26. If you were the last person alive besides one other person you get to chose, who would it be?

So not answering that one. Way too many people I know IRL will read this post.

27. Dogs or cats?

Cats!

28. Are you a grumpy person?

I like to think not, but my sister would tell you something different.

29. What’s something you hate?
People who abuse your trust. On a lighter note, avocados and sun dried tomatoes (though I love fresh tomatoes).

30. Are you a worry wart?

Yes. So much yes.

31. Do you like having your picture taken?

I don't have strong feelings either way on the matter.

32. Do you like cotton candy?

It's okay. Honestly, I've had it maybe three times in my life.

33. Would you ever use a dating site?

I don't know. I think they're kind of weird, but maybe someday?

34. Do you believe in ghosts?

No.

35. Rap or pop?

Pop, not that I like it all that much, I just dislike it less that rap.

36. What’s the weirdest flavor of ice cream you’ve tried?
I have no idea... I don't try a lot of weird ice cream flavors. At the gelato place I go every week, you can get three flavors at once. I think the weirdest combo I've ever had was Salted Caramel, Blood Orange, and Chocolate. Not that weird, I know... I just don't eat weird food.

37. Do you like math?

Math is the bane of my existence.

38. Are you the type of person to laugh at others misfortune?

No, I don't, and I hate it when other people do.

39. Love or lust?

Love.

40. Do you remember lyrics easily?

Yeah, I have tons of song lyrics memorized.

41. What was/is your favorite school subject? 

English.

42: Do you like tattoos?

I don't mind them on other people, but I doubt I'll ever get one.

43. Are you the type of person to lie?

Not unless it's absolutely necessary.

44. Do you eat porridge for breakfast?

No.

45. What music are you listening to right now?

Everclear, Arctic Monkeys, Red Hot Chili Peppers.

46. Are you allergic to anything?

Lavender, and that's about it...

47. Do you like Lady Gaga?

no.

48. What about Nick Minaj?

nope

49. Do you like rainy days?

I do. I think it's kind of a pre-req to living happily in the PNW. I don't like drizzly gray days, but actual rainy days are kind of nice every once in a while.

50. Last question, do you like pie?

Duh. Who doesn't?

Dancing, Gaming, and Blogging {Life Update}

The blog's been a little quiet lately, so it seems like a good time to do a little updating. First of all, some blog stuff. The rest of the Disneyworld posts are coming, I just need to finish writing them. There are two or three left, and should all be up by the end of next week. Also, there are several book reviews that are coming soon from books I read some time ago, but forgot to review. Homeschool posts should be coming back this week as well.

My mom is on spring break (she works at a community college), which is awesome. She also has a two week spring break this year, which is even more awesome. I'll still be doing school the whole time, but having her home and getting to sleep in are vacation enough. :)

I've always thought of myself as a geek, but the one part of that that I've been lacking in is my tabletop gaming skills. This week, I think I've managed to remedy that by learning to play two major geek games that I'd heard plenty about but never played: 7 wonders, and Magic: The Gathering. The second one I've resisted learning for probably two years, but I succumed to peer pressure. :) It actually was sort of fun, though mainly really confusing. I actually had to leave before finishing the game, but I promised my friend that I'd play again so that he could finish teaching it to me. 

Last weekend I danced in a dance show. It was fun, and it made me realize how much I want to try some other dance styles. I've done Irish dance for almost two years, but I'd really like to try jazz, tap, and maybe ballet. I've always kind of dismissed ballet, since it seems like if you're older than about eight you're too old, but it's not like I would expect to dance professionally or anything. It would just be for fun.

I've been sick the last week, and I was actually feeling pretty bad during our dance performances, but I made it through our two on Saturday (which were at nursing homes), and felt a bit better for our bigger show on Sunday. I wish I hadn't been sick, since I think I would have danced better then, but it still went well I think. :)

I also went to see a movie called "Walking the Camino" on Thursday, which I'm going to review in a separate post sometime in the next week or two.

I also have a post in the works about reading and why to read different types of books. It's still mostly an idea, but it should be done in a week or two as well.

So, the blog should be much less quiet soon! Is there anything you want me to write about, or any books you think I should read? Let me know. The post will probably happen, and I'll try to read the book, though my reading schedule is pretty packed. :)

For My IRL Friends...

Last night, I went and saw the Hobbit pt. 2 for the second time, this time with a bunch of friends (the Usual Suspects).

In December 2012, a new movie theater opened in my town, about ten minutes from my house. It is HUGE. It has sixteen theaters, including an IMAX theater, and all the theaters have stadium seating (there are no bad seats!). Since then, I have seen nine movies there (including the one last night). I have kept the tickets from all of them, and I recently realized that I had never been in the same theater twice, until last night.

For posterity, and my IRL friends who were curious, here are all the movies I've seen there, and the theater numbers.

12/20/12 - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Auditorium 8 (this is the IMAX one).
1/5/13 - Lincoln - Auditorium 12
5/12/13 - The Great Gatsby - Auditorium 14
5/30/13 - Star Trek Into Darkness - Auditorium 1
11/24/13 - Catching Fire - Auditorium 16
12/1/13 - Ender's Game - Auditorium 11
12/12/13 - The Book Thief - Auditorium 3
12/23/13 - The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Auditorium 9
1/12/14 - The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Auditorium 16

I know this is totally random, and most of you (or maybe all of you) don't care at all about this, but here it is.

A Life Update

I haven't done one of these in a while! I've been pretty busy lately, and I haven't had time to sit down an write up one of these in several months.

School is going pretty well, though you already know that, since school is the one part of life I manage to consistently blog about. :) Here are some other random things I have been doing and thinking about lately.

1. Our little homeschool choir just started up again, and I am really excited. This Sunday, we started working on our first song, The First Nowell, and I thought it went amazingly well. I moved from the Altos to the Tenors this time around, and I am really happy with the switch. While I can sing both parts, singing alto was often a strain for me.

2. Emma Approved just started!!! I loved, loved, loved The Lizzie Bennett Diaries last year, and I'm thrilled that they are keeping going with the idea. Unlike with Pride and Prejudice, I am not familiar with the story of Emma, which is a bit exciting. I actually don't know what is going to happen this time around!

3.  November is coming very quickly, and I am trying to get prepared. Mainly, I am writing 750 words every day (750words.com is what I use. It is no longer free after the first month, though I was grandfathered with a life time free account in since I was using it before it went to pay only)to get myself back into the habit of writing.

4. Halloween is coming just as quickly, and I am trying to get the last of my Sam (LOTR) costume together. I still need pants, a backpack/sack, and to decide what to do about the feet. Since there is a group of us being the Fellowship, us four hobbits kind of need to be in agreement about how to handle the feet. Some people are saying just go barefoot, but since we will probably walking around outside quite a bit, I'm not fond of that idea.

5. I'm about half way through the Joy Luck Club, which is this month's World Lit book. So far, I am really liking it.

That's about it for now. I don't have time to do a longer post today, so this is it. I'll try to come back tomorrow with a sponsored book review!

Lord of the Rings

This is not going to be a book review, or a movie review. It's just going to be a collection of thoughts I have after watching most of the LOTR movies in about 12 hours. I was at a super fun sleep over with some friends where we planned on watching all of them. I, unfortunately, starting feeling pretty sick during the beginning of Return of the King, and missed a lot of the 1st half because I wasn't able to concentrate, and the noise and lights where making me more nauseous. I ended up going home half way through the movie, as I kept feeling worse. I still feel a little out of it, though I feel a lot better. So, my thoughts aren't really going to include the last movie, since I kind of phased out/missed it entirely.

Anyway, my friend has the extended movie version, which meant that the three movies were a total of 11 hours! Yeah, it's a lot. I did find that watching them continuously like that is a different experience then watching them over the course of a few days or a week (which is what I have done before).

First thing is that I have never seen the extended version before (the one we have at home is the normal version), and I didn't really notice any differences. I think it was really just the same, but more. Longer battle scenes, more scenes panning out over the scenery, ect.

Random thoughts and movie images:

1. I'd forgotten how old Aregorn was! I had thought he was as old as he looked (thirties, forties), not 87!

2. Orlando Bloome is super cute, even with long blond hair and pointy ears:

Though I will say that I think he's cuter like this:

3. Well, that got off topic... Also, I can't seem to fix the formatting so that there isn't so much space there. Annoying.

4. Okay, I think I should just quit with this. This wasn't much of a LOTR themed blog post like I intended, but that's okay. I haven't actually eaten anything since a few bites of cake at about 11:00 pm last night (what with feeling sick and all. When I don't feel well, my appetite goes away completely), but I probably should.

What is Perfection?

I have so many posts that I have promised to write on all sorts of subject, particularly book reviews. I am getting super behind on posting this summer. Unfortunately, I'm not going to get started on that list today, but instead I have some more ramblings. Bear with me, and things will go back to normal after school starts (on September 2nd).

I have a problem. I worry too much. I plan too much. I think too much. Sometimes those are good things, but more often then not, they hold me back. For example, my mom goes back to work in a week, effectively meaning that summer is about over for me. My first reaction is to freak out. I naturally would spend that whole week worrying about how boring and sad things are going to be when she goes back to work, and I have to get up early and spend the days with my dad.

I need to stop doing that. My goal this week is to not worry about that. I want to enjoy every day of summer, and spend time with my mom while she is home all day. When the day comes, and she has to go to work, it will be sad, and it will be hard in lots of ways, but there is no reason to worry about it now.

Another way these tendencies of mine hurt me is my perfectionism. There are many things I am terrified to do because I am afraid I won't be perfect. When I started dancing last September, I was so nervous because I was sure that other students would be better then me, or would learn faster then me. Over the last year of dancing, I have found that I really love it. It's true that I am not the fastest learner in the class. I don't have the best rhythm. But my teacher has told me that my form is great, and that my best quality is my persistence. 

It is still hard sometimes, because I know that most of the other girls remember the choreography better then I do. I know that they will probably perfect the new steps faster then I will. But I also know that once I learn a step or a dance, I will never forget it. If I put in the time, I will learn it, and I will learn it well.

I need to stop worrying about being perfect. Dancing has helped, but I have a long ways to go. The stress I feel when things don't go according to plan is not right. I know that I don't need to have perfect grades, or the best posture, or the best hair, and in a way, I don't even care. But something in me cares so deeply.

I'm working on it. It may take a lifetime, but I've already made the first steps. What is perfection, anyway, and why should I need to attain it?

I hope that was not too boring. :) A little window into my brain!

Envisioning the Future

Today I am participating in the Let's Homeschool Highschool monthly blog hop! Today's topic is "Envisioning the Future."

When I think about the future, I don't know exactly what to think. Where will I be five, ten, twenty years from now? Today, I'm going to make some guesses, predictions, and ask some questions about the future.

In five years, I will be twenty years old. I imagine that I will be getting ready to start my junior year of college. I think it is likely that I will be going to a small, private, liberal arts college in Washington or Oregon. That, at least, is what I would like to do. It is also possible that I'll be going the college in town and living at home. That would be the more economical option most likely. Where will I be living? Will I keep in touch with my friends? Will I have a job I like? What will I be studying? Will it be English, or something else? These are my questions for my twenty year old self.

In ten years, I will be twenty five. I really don't know what to expect. I hope that I am living in a place I like, and that I have a job I enjoy. Will I have kept in contact with all my friends from today? Will I have a boyfriend or even a husband? Will I be in grad school? Will I be a librarian or editor, or will I have gone in a totally different direction? Will I be living here, in my home town, or will I have gone somewhere else, maybe to a larger city like Seattle or Portland? These are my many questions to my twenty five year old self.

In twenty years, I will be thirty five. By this point in my life, I would like to be settled down, maybe with a few kids. According to family tradition, I have to have a child when I am 31. :) My grandma was born when her mom was 31, my mom was born when my grandma was 31, and I was born when my mom was 31. I hope I have a job I love. Today, I envision that involving books, writing, or literacy in some way, but things can change. Where am I living? Did I stay in my bay side college town, or did I leave for somewhere bigger? Am I still on the West Coast? Right now, I can't imagine ever leaving, but things can change. Am I happy where I am? Have I done everything I wanted to do by this point in my life? This is my main question for my thirty five year old self.

I hope you didn't find my musings too boring. :)

Reading Goals

With a little less then half of 2013 left, I have decided to make some goals for the remainder of the year. The first of those is to read every book that I own that I have never read (there are far too many of those). The next is to read all the books that I own that I have not read in many years, or that I have never read my copy of (I have lots of books that I saw at a library sale and bought because I already liked it, and have never read it since). This post is mainly going to be a list of the books I hope to read in those two categories.I'm going to make another tab on the top of the page for this book list, though it will be arranged in the order in which I intend to read them. I'll cross them off the list as I finish them. I'll try to review as many as I have time for.

I'm sure I'll read lots of books not on this list, and I likely won't get to all the ones here, but I'm going to try to read as many as I can.

Check out that page for links to the Amazon.com pages for each book, and to check on my progress. I'll also put the date by each book I finish.

Books I Own But Have Never Read
1. Rosemount by Mary E. Trimble
2. McClellan's Bluff by Mary E. Trimble
3. The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
4. Ruth Fielding At Silver Ranch by Alice B. Emerson
5. Jason's Gold by Will Hobbs
6. Fablehaven by Brandon Mull
7. The Earth is My Mother by Bev Doolittle
8. Dorothy Dale: A Girl of Today by Margaret Penrose
9. The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester
10. Dreamdark: Blackbringer by Laini Taylor
11. Barnes and Noble's Great American Short Stories
12. Tales From the Arabian Nights translated by Sir Richard Francis Burton
13. The Greatest Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Aruthur Canan Doyle

Books I Own I Want To Reread
1. Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
2. Down the Rabit Hole by Peter Abrahams
3. The Arm of the Starfish by Madeline L'Engle
4. The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman
5. Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen
6. The Princess Bride by William Goldman
7. Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
8. Dewey by Vicki Myron
9. Troubling a Star by Madeline L'Engle
10. Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff
11. No Promises in the Wind by Irene Hunt
12. Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars
13. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

While making these lists, I also found that I need to make a third list, a list of books that I have not read in a long time, and that I do not own, that I want to read. Many of them are in some way related to books that I own. Some of the books I do own, but I put on this list to keep them with the rest of it's series. This list may grow as time goes on.

Books to Read that I Don't Own
1. The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
2. The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart
3. The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma

BEA, Blogging, and a Teen Writing Conference!

I'm sorry it's been a bit quite on here lately. I have some fun review posts that I'm working on right now, but today I thought I'd just ramble a bit. Over the next few weeks, look for posts reviewing Eleanor and Park (Rainbow Rowell), Messenger (Lois Lowry), Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury), and Star Trek: Into Darkness, the new Star Trek movie, which I saw yesterday. I'm also working on a post about the Great Gatsby movie.

In the mean time, here is a random list of things I've been doing and thinking about recently.

1. A new dream of mine is to attend Book Expo America someday. While I would love to go to all three days as an "industry professional," just going the one day it is open to the public would be absolutely AMAZING! I would be happy to pay the $49 for a ticket, but I would still need to get to New York City somehow... Someday, this is something I really want to do!

2. I am going to a teen writing conference in a few weeks that is being held locally. I am super excited for the speakers, all the break out sessions to choose from, and advice from actual writers working in the field. It will be awesome to spend a whole day with other teenagers who are as excited about writing as I am!

3. I wanted to talk a little bit about how I blog, and why sometimes there isn't much going on here. I rarely write posts the day they go live, though this one is an exception. As soon as I finish writing it, I will publish it. Usually, I will write up a few posts at a time, and then schedule them to be posted later. With blogger, it does it all for me, and they go live without me doing anything. When I get particularly busy, if I miss one day of writing blog post, that means three or four posts don't get written and scheduled. Then, often a week or so goes by before I really realize how long it has been. It's not the best method of blogging, and I don't like it all the time, but it makes it easier to blog when I am so busy. Hopefully this summer I will have more time to blog once I have less school to do.

That's it for today. I hope to have at least two new posts up next week.

Random Thoughts on Writing

I have struggled for a long time (literally years) to write fiction that I like. It is not the actual writing that's hard, it's liking what I write. I have won NaNoWriMo twice now, but I have never been happy with what I've written.

Today, as I sat down to try to plan out a new novel, I am deciding to take a new approach. In the past, I have always tried to write the type of book I like to read (scifi, dystoian, fantasy, general teen fiction) and it hasn't worked out too well. I'm realizing that maybe I need to take a note from John Steinbeck, who is one of my favorite authors of all time.

A long time ago, I remember reading that his first novels (which I have not yet read), were fantasy, King Arthur type stuff, because he had been told that was what was popular. Those books did terribly, and he realized he had to take a new approach. He decided to scrap everything he had been told and he wrote what he knew. He wrote about the people and places he loved the most, and his readers loved. Books like The Grapes of Wrath, and Of Mice and Men made him famous.

I'm thinking that maybe I need to try the same thing. I've spent two, almost three, years trying to write about things I know very little about. When I think about it, the pieces of my own writing I feel the bast about are my opinion essays and articles about things that matter to me. My two best pieces of writing (in my opinion), are an essay about Great Expectations I wrote last year, and a responsive essay I wrote on Ben Johnson's "On Education and Style." Maybe, someday, I'll share those here.

Both of those are essays on things that I care about and believe in. Maybe I need to take the same approach with my fiction. With all this in mind, I have a new plan, which I am sharing here for accountability.

I am going to try to have a finished novel by the end of 2013 with it's basis in my own experiences. I don't know exactly what I'm going to do yet, but I am going to try to "write what I know." That doesn't mean that it'll be a memoir (I only have 15 years to write about, and it wouldn't be that interesting), but there are many themes in my life that I can pull from. I'm sure homeschooling, which is hugely important in my life, will be one of them. My family has gone through a very tumultuous last few years, and I am sure those experiences, and their effect on me, will be prominent in my story as well.

I am a planner at heart, and I hope to spend the next few months brainstorming for, and eventually outlining, my novel. Maybe it won't go anywhere, or maybe it'll be the best thing I've done so far. We'll have to wait and see. Whatever happens, I'll try to post here about it regularly. At least once a month, I will try to post about how this new project is going, even if it's going nowhere.

Homeschool Fridays: Help Wanted!

Sorry, there is not going to be a full Homeschool Friday post. Instead, I am going to talk a little about what I am thinking about doing for Homeschool Friday in the future.

My general plan is to start next week by posting about each school subject that we do, one by one. I will probably do Math, History, Science, English, Art & Music, Latin, Physical Education, and Logic. Are there any other academic aspects of homeschooling that you have questions about? Let me know, and I will do a post on that subject.

After I finish with that, I am not really sure what I will go into next for these posts. These will take me through the last week of May, and maybe a little longer, so I will be good until then for sure. I think that that is close enough to summer that I will probably talk a bit about homeschooling laws and testing (that should be about two posts), and a bit about how we do summer, and how homeschooling fits into that. That will take me to the end of June, or the beginning of July.

So, all of that was to say that some time in early July I will be out of topics. Do you have any ideas for topics? I actually have a few more ideas then are written here, but they are not quite ready for the internet, and so  I can't count on them.

If you are a homeschooler, do you think that there are any aspects of homeschooling that I should talk about that I haven't before? If you are not a homeschooler, what would you like to hear more about? Remember, these don't have to be super school related questions. Ideas that relate more to how homeschooling has affected parts of my life that are not academic are welcome as well.

Let me know what you would like to see! If I really feel like I am going to run out of things to do, I might switch Homeschool Fridays to being every other week, instead of every week. That would help things last longer, especially if you don't like posts like this. :)

Camp NaNoWriMo Week One Update, plus Random Blog Stuff

I'm sorry this post is a day late, but life is CRAZY. For Camp NaNo, I am currently coming in at 5000 words, which is half of what my goal was to be at by this point. There are numerous reasons for this, the biggest one being that my life got a whole lot busier this week. Two stained glass classes and a print making class are all starting and they all mean several hours out of the house. That cuts in to my school time, and the end result is that I have less time to do things like write and play games and stuff like that. Another reason is that NaNoWriMo takes a LOT of self discipline, even with a smaller word count goal. I am realizing that while one month is a stretch, two might just not be possible.

Now, don't get me wrong here, I have by no means given up on Camp NaNoWriMo this month. I hope to get as close to my goal as possible, but I am realizing that that might not be something that happens, and that is okay. I am the kind of person who gets stressed out by things like this that are not getting done the way I want them to, so I am having to let go of this a bit, and make it less of a priority.


Moving on the "Random Blog Stuff," I have several updates about the blog. First of all, I have added my Shelfari book shelf to the right side bar. It has the books that I am currently reading on it, which will mean that it will probably have two or three most of the time. If you keep track of it, you will likely see a book show up on there, and then the review of the book will get posted a few weeks later, or maybe sooner.

Also, I have been pretty bad about making sure all the book titles in my posts link to their Amazon pages, so I hope to spend a few hours going through and updating my old posts soon. I also hope to get the pages along the top updated, and have my "Writing in Books" post up there, since I refer to it so often.

That's it for today. Just a basic update. :)

Banned Books: Part One

This post is the first in a series that I published on my old blog back in September 2012. Over the next few weeks, I will be reposting them on here. It has been edited for relevancy.

I have always been intrigued by the idea of banned books. Personally, when ever I hear that a book is banned somewhere, that makes it something of interest. I am always curious why people ban books, and it also makes me sad. Books are meant to be read, not hidden away from interested people. Many of my favorite books are "banned books," and so I wanted to share some of them with you.

Here are the top 15 most commonly challenged books from 2000-2009, according to the ALA. The bold ones I have read. My comments below the title. The links lead to their Amazon.com pages. In the case of a series, it either goes to a box set, or the first book in the series.

1. Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling

This series is wonderful. While the writing may not be the best ever, the story is really amazing. One of my favorites ever.


2. Alice series, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
I began reading this series at the age of eight. Last week I read the newest book. This series is most certainly in my top three.

3. The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier

 4. And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
 I have not read this book, but it's amazon.com page looks absolutely adorable. 

 5. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
I read this book this summer, and really liked it. It is sad, but it feels very, very real. This book really made me stop and think, "What would I have done in that situation? Could I have done what I had to?"

 6. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou

 7. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz

 8. His Dark Materials (series), by Philip Pullman
This series is really a bit weird. I really don't want to know what's going on in Phillip Pullman's head. At the same time, I really did enjoy it.

 9. ttyl; ttfn; l8r g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
I read the first book in this series a LONG time ago. I did not really enjoy it that much, though now I can not remember anything about it.

 10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
I have not read this book yet, though I mean to soon.

 11. Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers
 Again, I have not read this book, but it looks really good, and I hope to read it soon.

12. It’s Perfectly Normal, by Robie Harris
My mom got this from the library when I was about ten. It is... through.  You can probably guess what it's about. :)

13. Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey

14. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
A really fun book. Great for the 10-13 age range. I am pretty sure it is banned because of the language, but I honestly did not think it was that bad.

15. The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison


 So far, I have read 7/15. Not bad. :) How many have you read?

Do you have any additional thoughts about these books? If so, post them in the comments, and I will add them to this post. I would love to have some thoughts about each book by someone who has read it, if possible.

Welcome Back!

Hello everyone! Some of you may remember me from my old blog, Living Homeschooled. That blog was rather short lived, but I am starting over with this one. It will have many of the same features, such as Homeschool Fridays, though some things will be new. I hope you all like it!

If you read my old blog, you may see some of the same posts being recycled on here. I will hopefully have most of the Homeschool Friday posts transferred over here at some point. Don't worry, there will be lots of new stuff, with the old posts mixed in every here and there. Some of the things on my old blog will not be making their way here, and that is okay.

I hopefully will have two or three (maybe more) posts each week. One Homeschool Friday post (you'll never guess what day), and a few others each week. I hope to have a lot of book, movie and TV reviews, as well as just other stuff that happened to be in my head at the time.

I might talk about current events sometimes (probably not too much). I think there will be a lot of book talk. Probably a lot of tv/movie talk (though not as much as books). Lots of good stuff.

If you want to know more about me, you can visit the About Me page.  Of course, if you want to know even more about me, you should stick around and read my blog posts. :)

If you want to find a past post, check the tabs at the top of the page. Books has all the book reviews as well as other, general book talk. TV has all tv show reviews, and Movies had all reviews of them. Any talk about any of those topics that is not a review will go into the respective category. For example, a post talking about a movie that is coming out will be in the movies section.

All the Homeschool Friday posts will be under the tab with the same name. Everything related to writing will be under the tab Writing. There will also be a tab labeled Other, which is where you will find everything else. Every post will be under one of these categories, to help make finding them later easier. If I later find that I need more tabs to make things easier, I will do so.