College And Other Important Yet Semi-Tedious Stuff

Heeeeeeeey everyone. I know it's been a while...some would say too long, but I guess this is another I'm-not-dead-I-swear post.

So recently I've started college, and as you know, I don't get to see your bright, beautiful face everyday. And although that makes me sad, I'm kind of glad that I don't have to go back to high school.

To be honest, high school was incredibly stressful and it took its toll on me. I was constantly tired and depressed and it was just an overall bad time. The only thing that made going to school worthwhile was seeing my friends and the handful of teachers and staff that I was pretty close to. It was emotionally draining, and I hated it. I could never get around to reading anything, either, because at the end of the school day I wanted nothing more than to sleep for the next week and a half.

But being in college has sparked the want to learn again. And most importantly, I've gained my love of literature back (fucking finally). I was so excited to start my World Lit class this semester, and everything we've "read" in that class has reminded me why I love literature in the first place. There's this sort of...romantic yet ancient feeling I get whenever I go into that classroom. It's just so lovely, and college is so great.

Buuut anyway, enough about that.

I've also been writing a lot on my writing blog, and taking requests and stuff, but the thing I wanted to tell you was that I'VE STARTED READING AGAIN. FUCK YAAAS.

Recently I've started reading Eon by Alison Goodman, and let me tell you...it is really good so far. I would give you a brief synopsis, but I'll save it for the review when I'm done.

So yeah. College. Writing. Reading. That's what I've been up to recently. There has been more stuff kind of in between that, but that's for another day...and probably another blog.

I'll promise I try not to make myself a stranger on here anymore, and I'll attempt to be much more active. 

As always,

Live Long and Prosper, and DFTBA.

NEW BOOK THING AND NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS

Hey everyone!

I apologize for taking so long to upload this post, I've been going through some stuff that I'll get to later. BUT HERE IT IS. THE THING.

THAT'S RIGHT KIDS. I PREORDERED THIS.

"In this intimate memoir of life beyond the camera, Connor Franta shares the lessons he has learned on his journey from small-town boy to Internet sensation—so far. Here, Connor offers a look at his Midwestern upbringing as one of four children in the home and one of five in the classroom; his struggles with identity, body image, and sexuality in his teen years; and his decision to finally pursue his creative and artistic passions in his early twenties, setting up his thrilling career as a YouTube personality, philanthropist, entrepreneur, and tastemaker.

Exploring his past with insight and humor, his present with humility, and his future with hope, Connor reveals his private struggles while providing heartfelt words of wisdom for young adults. His words will resonate with anyone coming of age in the digital era, but at the core is a timeless message for people of all ages: don’t be afraid to be yourself and to go after what you truly want.

This full-color collection includes photography and childhood clippings provided by Connor and is a must-have for anyone inspired by his journey." Credit to http://books.simonandschuster.com/A-Work-in-Progress/Connor-Franta/9781476791616#sthash.0upMxdLG.dpuf

In other news, my birthday is tomorrow. Expect a new haul of books by the end of the week! I'll see you all soon! Love you guys <3

~ Josh

MUCH EXCITE SUCH WOW

HEY GUYS SO I GOT A BOOK IN THE MAIL AND I CAN'T WAIT TO GET HOME AND UNBOX IT GUYS YOU HAVE NO CLUE HOW MUCH EXCITE I AM RIGHT NOW I'LL UPLOAD PICTURES WHEN I GET HOME. STAY HELLA <3

The Great Gatsby/Stayin' Alive ((Ironic, Right?))

I am not giving up on this blog.

I will not give up on this blog.

I will never give up on this blog.





Hey Everyone!!

It's been a while. This is good, because I have updates!! Let's kick it off with a review of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.

The Great Gatsby takes place in America in the roaring twenties, specifically in a set of towns known as West and East Egg. The story is narrated by  the most plain, boring, unbiased character, none other than Nick Carraway. Throughout this wild adventure, Nick encounters a rich man named Gatsby, and all of his life problems.

While this novel is a must read, I absolutely despise it. Daisy, the empty headed *cough MARRIED cough* ditz that Gatsby must have, was one of the novel's worst characters, showing no development and truly did not play a massive role in the poor plot line. While this novel was written well, it overuses the literary device of foreshadowing. While this book is loaded with symbolism, it was ridiculously complicated. Complications include an uninteresting plot line, a long list of unnecessary characters, and once again, overuse of foreshadowing.

However, along with The Jungle, this novel is a must read for today's generation. 3/5 stars.






I am currently reading a few books, one being American Gods by Neil Gaiman, another being One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey, and another being City of Glass by Cassandra Clare. Updates and reviews over these books are ((hopefully!!)) soon to come. Until next time my brave little soldiers,


- Josh

#NotDead

Dear Josh,

As you can see I have returned! I apologize for my absence, but I've been kind of busy and to be honest I really been...motivated to update the blog. I really haven't had anything noteworthy happen in the past few months, and to be honest I feel like you wouldn't want to read a bunch of BS and stuff. So yeah. I saved you guys on reading a bunch of random stuff with absolutely no point other than to tell you that I'm not dead.

So what have I been doing you might ask? Well the answer to that is kind of simple. I've been filling out college stuffs, and even though I'm applying for multiple places I have it narrowed down to the ones I'm really interested in for the most part.

Not only have I been doing senior stuff but I've been busying myself with Speech and Academic Decathlon. I know, so interesting, right? Well it is, kind of, considering I actually sorta directed a thing for Speech and we did really well (all things considered). We're not going to State, but for what we did we did really well. And for Decathlon I think I did okay, too. I'm pretty sure this is the best I've done in my Decathlon-ing, so I guess that kind of counts for something...right? I mean, despite what you guys probably thing I haven't been sitting around and wasting my life way...even though that is kind of a big part of what I've been doing.

I've also been writing quite a bit, too. Thought, granted, most of it is fan fiction there has been a
significant amount of writing that has been...going down. I've written a DavexReader fic, which is always fun, and now I'm in the process of working on another SupernaturalxReader fiction in which the reader is Death's daughter and stuff happens. I don't know it'll be much better when it's written out and not when I'm describing it now. I've also been writing stories and stuff for a contest amongst friends, and this is the first one that I've participated in a long time. It's a WWII!AU between a character and an OC, but ya know...it still counts.

There has been one other thing that I've been doing (and this may be the most surprising thing I've done so far), but I've actually been reading. I know, crazy right?

Recently I've been starting my own journey into The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, which once I've finished I'll post on here. I'm not far into it but so far it's really good. I love the perspective so far and just *fails arms about for lack of words to describe how awesome it is*.

After I finish The Book Thief, I think I might move on to The Heart of the Dragon by Keith DeCandido which may or may not be a Supernatural book. Either that, or I've thought about starting The Mortal Instruments series again.

So yeah, that's about it. I guess this was basically a longer way to say

As always,

Live Long and Prosper and DFTBA.

Bout of Books 12.0 Wrap-Up

Well shit.

Hey guys, Bout of Books ends today, and I have failed. Miserably. I only read The Great Gatsby, and started Lexicon. Hopefully I can pull myself together next readathon, because I am a great disappointment.

That's right motherfuckers, I used the same .gif  as I did in the last post. Deal with it.

Now for the reason why I didn't accomplish more last week.

This post is old. I am so sorry.

Here I am again.  It's been a rough few weeks guys, I'm sorry. I'll try to post more, I haven't read much at all because of the bullshit that has been going down with the units lately. I hope to post again sometime soon, and stop feeling shitty. Be good.

~ Josh

Day 2 Wrap Up

Hey guys!

This is not the official ending of day two of Bout of Books 12.0, but I feel like posting now so I don't forget.

I bring dishonor. I have not finished a single book this week. However, I am close to finishing The Great Gatsby ((I have 30 pages left, cut me some slack.)) I plan on starting Lexicon next, and perhaps will switch between Lexicon and Pictures of Hollis Woods to avoid possible boredom. If I finish those books, I will finish The Perks of Being a Wallflower. And in the event that I run out of books...

Well guys, it's been lovely, but I have reading to do! 

Until next time, 

~Josh

BoutofBooks 12.0 TBR Lineup

Hey guys!

As many of you know, Bout of Books 12.0 is happening THIS WEEK!!!!!! Deadline for signup is on Wednesday, so go get yourselves registered!

In the previous post I mentioned how I was going to be combining Bout of Books 12.0 and the first Year-A-Thon challenge this week. My lineup consists of books that I currently own, and I plan on reading a few more standalone books after these are finished.

Firstly, I would like to read F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. Though this book is required reading for my American Lit/Comp class, I would like to finish it sometime today.

Secondly, we have Lexicon, by Max Barry. This has been sitting on my TBR pile for a while. I tried reading this once, but I was very confused, though that was probably my own fault. It seems interesting enough. "They recruited Emily Ruff from the streets. They said it's because she's good with words. They'll live to regret it. They say Wil Parke survived something he shouldn't have. But he doesn't remember. Now they're after him and he doesn't know who. There's a word, they say. A word that kills. And they want it back..." I'm definitely hoping I can get into this book.

Lastly ((for books that I own anyways)) I have Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff. I read this many many moons ago, and I thought it would be a great quick read. It's only one hundred sixty six pages, so I think I can tackle that either today or tomorrow.

I may also be reading an A.R.C. of friend Megan's book, A Real Monster.

I want feedback. What is your lineup for Bout of Books? Any questions about this read-a-thon, or any others? Leave recommendations, questions, etc. in the comments below!

Until next time,

~Josh

Two Posts In One Day????? WHAAAAAAAT?

Hello my lovelies!!

So I'm sure many of you are confused as to why I am posting again this evening. This is due to READ-A-THONS!!!!!! I was not aware that the first Bout of Books ((Bout of Books 12.0)) of the year was so soon. This starts tomorrow, so plan out your books tonight and go friggin' bonkers tomorrow. Tomorrow is also the first day of the Year-A-Thon challenge, where you will find more about below, after I talk about Bout-Of-Books 12.0

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 5th and runs through Sunday, January 11th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 12 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

This is the official blurb and button, to register you MUST post both the blurb and button on your blogs, whether it be on Tumblr, Blogger, Facebook, Twitter, Wordpress etc. I have participated thrice in this readathon, and would definitely love to see you guys enjoy it! It's a great way to tackle your TBR piles, win giveaways, or just have fun!

Now. The Year-A-Thon challenge is a monthly event where a week is devoted to a specific book genre. The dates and categories will be posted below. Included will be the link to the Read-A-Thon Goodreads group that will give you challenges and updates on dates, group read along books, reviews, suggestions for themes, etc. Check it out!

Goodreads Group

#AYEARATHON dates and themes:
2015 THEAMES :
January 5-11: Stand Alone
February 2-8: Diversity
March 2-8: Bench Warmers
April 6-12: Fantasy & Sci-Fi
May 4-10: Re-read Month
June 1-7: Finish/Catch Up on a Series
July 6-12: Agatha Christie/Mystery Month
August 3-9: TV & Movie Adaption
September 7-13: Banned Books
October 5-11: LGBT Month
November 2-8: Mythology
December 7-13: Graphic Novels/Mangas/Comic
Books/Picture Books 

I hope you all seize the chance to participate in these events, they're definitely a great time!

Until next time,

~Josh

Prodigy/The Program/TPOBAWF/New Years/Extremely Long Post Titles

Hey guys!

Recently, I read Marie Lu's Prodigy. I personally felt like this was brilliantly written. As a sequel to Legend, I can confidently say that Lu did not disappoint. In this book, June and Day go through major character developments as they carry on through the story line.

For those who have not read Legend, I would definitely recommend it. It is very strongly written, and the series is brilliant so far. If The Hunger Games or Divergent caught your attention, then this would be the next series that is a must read. I'm sorry for not expanding more on the review of Prodigy but chances are that if I say anything I will spoil both Prodigy and Legend in the same blog post, and we can't have that, now can we? Goodreads review can be found here. Purchase from Amazon here.

I also started Suzanne Young's The Program yesterday. I also finished it yesterday. To summarise, The Program is another dystopian book. Suicide in teenagers has become a national epidemic, and the only known cure is The Program. The only problem with The Program is, whoever goes in isn't the same when they come out. Their memories have been erased, to start a new life. Find out more by reading it. I would definitely recommend. Read the Goodreads review here. Purchase from Amazon here.

In addition to the other books I have started/finished, I have also started Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I am only fifteen pages in and the writing style is very similar to John Green's. Definitely would recommend. I can tell this book will tear at my heartstrings. Goodreads here. Amazon here.

So I'm sure you all are wondering why I have suddenly started posting and reading a ton. I have a very simple answer. New year, new me!

Okay, okay! Jesus. Calm yourselves. I kind of wanted to punch myself in the throat after saying that too. As you are all aware ((or should be, anyways)) 2015 is amongst us. And with each new year, there has to be resolutions. Some are destined to fail, while others are easily succeeded. My ((obtainable)) resolutions are to post here more, and read a lot more books. Keep up with me here or my Goodreads account, which I believe is posted to the right. Anyways, I have books to read and books to review.

Stay hella. Until next time,

~Josh