Book Club

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My Favorite Movies

The Oscars were like a second super bowl at our house. My step-mom was a drama teacher, so she loved this night of Hollywood stars and educating us on the ins and outs of the movie world.

We had ballots, and even though I never really knew what I was voting for it became a fun tradition and sparked a love for cinema.

Now most of my favorites were not seen on the Oscar stage, here are movies that I could watch over and over again. They never get old.

West Side Story

I love love love this movie. I am a sucker for musicals, and for me this is by far one of the best. I loved this growing up, but I developed a personal connection when I was in the pit playing the most amazing saxophone parts when my high school performed it. I can sing all the parts probably in my sleep. I know a lot of the dance numbers. So great!

Singin’ in the Rain

This movie is just so happy. Who doesn’t love watching singing and tap dancing wrapped up in a love story? This is a great movie to just make me feel good.

Miss Congeniality

Apparently movies that make me feel happy is a needed quality to be in my favorite movies category. To me this is uplifting and empowering. I still laugh so hard with this movie even though I know every scene by heart. Sandra Bullock is one of my favorite actresses, and I love her in this role.

Sabrina

I like the old version with Audrey Hepburn, not the newer one with Harrison Ford. That one is still good, but you can’t beat Audrey. She is my spirit animal. This movie is funny with a love story intertwined. I have a personal connection to this one as well since this was the senior show my senior year, and I played one of the supporting roles. It was so much fun so I love reliving it with Audrey.

While You Were Sleeping

Another Sandra film that I love. This one is quite humorous as well. A subway ticket woman falls in love with a stranger (who she has never actually talked to), and she finds him in a coma and accidentally pronounces that they are married to his family. Hilariously romantic.

 What are your favorite movies?

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My Favorite TV Shows

This is the hardest favorites list to narrow down.

I get hooked on TV shows really easily, and there are a lot of shows that I love like Veronica Mars, Bones, and Once Upon a Time. But when it comes down to it, these are shows that I could watch over and over again and never get bored. I actually own the DVD sets of all of these except one.

  • Gilmore Girls
    • This is a show that touches me in so many ways. I am the same age as Rory, and she is so like me with being a reader and high achieving student. I started watching this with my dad when it first came out, and I have recently watched the whole series over with my mom. There are so many ways that I have connected with the story lines, and there are parts where I could have written the dialog. How can you not love the witty crazy banter of Lorelei and Rory in Stars Hallow? I am so excited for the reboot!!!!
  • Boy Meets World
    • I grew up watching this on Friday nights. This is a show that when the time comes, I hope to watch with George to pass along the amazingness. I love Cory and Topanga. I think I always hoping to find my Cory in real life. I learned so many life lessons from this show. “Life’s hard. Get a helmet.” I could watch it’s cheesiness over and over again.
  • Dancing With the Stars
    • It was so great to have this on my birthday! I have been watching this show for over 10 years now. It never ever gets old. I love dance, especially the traditional dances of waltz and jive. Fun fact, I wanted to be a choreographer when I was little. I love the stories that this show tells too. It has rejuvenated countless stars careers, which I think is fun to see. I think it is nice to see these famous people be real and see them stripped down a little emotionally. I get so excited to see all the glitz and glamor as well. Also I am in love with Derek Hough, so I love that this show introduced him to me. (This is the only one on this list that we don’t own the DVDs for.)
  • Castle
    • I am sad to see that this show my be coming to an end here soon, but I also think it is probably time to bow out gracefully instead of having a “jump the shark” moment. I have loved everything about this twisty crime drama. The will they won’t they of Castle and Beckett kept the story going for most of the seasons. The creative spin of having a writer follow the NYPD makes for a different crime drama. Also I enjoy that they have actually ghost written the books from Castle’s character.
  • Law and Order SVU
    • I think the fact that this show is still on is a testament to how good it is and the following it has. It may be so predictable, but I love the crime fighting stories it has. I had my ring tone as the dun-dun for a long time.
  • The West Wing
    • This show tickles my social studies major heart. This is such a smart show that any side of politics would enjoy. It is funny and serious. It is what we hope politics could be. I love love love CJ! I didn’t want this show to end!
  • The Office
    • Tom and I fell in love over this series. We have re-watched it countless times, and it never gets old. It is funny, romantic, and you can’t help but fall in love with all the characters despite them all being a little crazy. From Dwight’s crazy antics to Michael’s stupidity and naivety to watching Jim and Pam fall in love, this was a magical show. Tom and I both cried on the finale. We still quote The Office almost daily, actually daily if you count “That’s what she said.”

I connected with the characters on each of these shows. As weird as it sounds, they become friends. So I am glad to revisit these places every now and again.

Have you watched any of these shows? What are your all-time favorites?

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My Favorite Books

I love books. I escaped in books growing up, and they are a way for me to have moments to myself now.

Here are my favorite books that fall into the “can’t put down” category.

Modoc by Ralph Helfer

This is my favorite book.  It is based on a true story about the relationship between a man and an elephant. It’s based in the early 1900s, and spans over several decades and through several adventures. It talks about traveling, the circus, family, and everything in between. There is a sad and serious undertone, but it is a very touching story.

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

I love historical fiction, so there is no surprise this is one of my favorite books. Many of Steinbeck’s works are considered American classics, but this is the best in my opinion. This book is based around the Great Depression and what families endured during that time. This to me shows human nature at it’s core when people have power and when they are desperate or have nothing to lose but have everything to gain. I love this snippet from Goodreads “tragic but ultimately stirring in its human dignity.“

North and South Trilogy by John Jakes

I can’t read just one of these. They are a packaged deal. I read these every summer in high school, and a couple times since. My favorite era in the Civil War, and this historical fiction takes that time and envelopes you with all the emotions. It is based on two families that are friends but are divided by the politics of war. Jakes does a good job connecting you to the characters and tells a fascinating story of defending their principles.

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Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult

If you are not as enamored by elephants as I am, you may not find this one as fascinating as I did. I wrote my review here. This is one that I recommend to anyone who asks for a book recommendation now. It is brilliantly good!

The Shining by Stephen Kin

I hate scary movies, a deep “make me have nightmares” hate. But for some reason, I am enthralled by the actual novels. I remember reading this for the first time in high school way into the wee hours in the morning to find out what this little boy is seeing now. Stephen King has a reputation for suspense, and this is one of his most well-known stories. This story follows a little boy’s ability to see things in a haunted hotel when he and his parents (the hotel caretakers) get stuck there during a storm. Scary but riveting. To this day I have never watched the movie though because even though I know the plot, actually seeing it in film with make me pee my pants in fright.

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Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling

This series needs no introduction. While I may seem old to be so in love with these books, I was in 9th grade when I read the first book. The last one came out the year I graduated from college, so I felt like I connected with the characters as I was growing up myself, obviously with a little less magic and death threats. What I love about these is the stark imagination it takes to write these intricate stories, and the longevity of the enterprise is impressive. I love that these books got millions of kids (and adults) to read again long before the movies came to being. These are fantastically written, and I read them through every few years. They are comfort reads for me. They are so much fun!

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Luckily, I have friends who are as obsessed as I am.

Apparently I love historical fiction and supernatural reads.

What are your favorite books?

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Rachel McMillan’s Murder Mystery Prize Pack and Facebook Party

I did receive this book complimentary from Litfuse Publicity Group for my review. These thoughts are my own.

Here is a snippet from the author’s landing page and Facebook Party:

 Meet best friends and flatmates Merinda and Jem, who launch their own Sherlock Holmes-esque consulting detective business in 1910 Toronto in Rachel McMillan’s The Bachelor Girl’s Guide to Murder. The deaths of young Irish women lead Merinda and Jem deeper into the mire of the city’s underbelly. Merinda could well be Toronto’s premiere consulting detective, and Jem may just find a way to put her bachelor girlhood behind her forever–if they can stay alive long enough to do so.

Rachel is celebrating the release of The Bachelor Girl’s Guide to Murder with a Murder Mystery Prize Pack giveaway (details below) and an author chat party on April 28!

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One grand prize winner will receive:

Enter today by clicking the icon below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on 4/28. The winner will be announced at The Bachelor Girl’s Guide to Murder Facebook party. RSVP for a chance to connect with Rachel and other readers, as well as for a chance to win other prizes!

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This was an interesting book. I am rating it a 3/5. There were parts that I liked such as the wit of Merinda and Jem. Based in 1910, you know a woman’s place was not solving murders and traipsing around in trousers. I found it hilarious to see these two women buck up against those traditional values of the time. Merinda was very quirky and lived on the edge, while Jem tried to keep her reasonable but also wanted to play detective to solve these murders. Their commentary alone was what kept me reading this.

What I didn’t like was that there were too many story lines and factors at play. For me it was hard to follow, and it didn’t seem to flow very well at first. There was a lot of bouncing around, and the character development was on the weaker side. It took me until midway through to feel like I knew what was going on.

The author did seem knowledgeable about the era, and it was a new twist on Sherlock Holmes mysteries. However, I feel like she was trying to hard to seem historically accurate, which is why I got lost in the details.

It’s not bad, but it wont be something I highly recommend as a read. This is a series, so maybe if you read more it would flow better for you. For me it was just ok.

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Book Review-Sit Stay Love

I did receive this book complimentary from Litfuse Publicity Group for my review. These thoughts are my own.

A book about dogs, baseball, and romance? I mean really, how could I say no to this book?

This was a fun light read. It was very easy to get into, and I read it in a few days.

This story is about a professional baseball player who inherits an elderly dog after his mom passes away. He hires a dog sitter since he wants nothing to do with the animal (how dare he!). Tippy, the dog, is a comedic thread throughout the story. She brings the sitter and the baseball player together even though their worlds are miles apart. Here is a simpleton dog sitter trying to maneuver through this very public sports figure’s world.

The characters are highly relateable. The author touched on loss and how your past can negatively impact your present. Sometimes things happen to us that cause this dark cloud to remain over us if we let it. We see how these two characters come to rely on each other and Tippy to move to a better place. I thought how they spoke to each other was real and honest. I felt really connected to Gina, the dog sitter. Some of her thoughts could have been my own. She was a girl after my own heart. I laughed out loud a lot reading her perspective on things.

The only part that I didn’t like was how the author described their physical reactions to each other. Note it was nothing real in depth or highly sexual. I just thought it was slightly awkward how she would describe them as distant and having known each other for only hours/days, and then the next page he was stroking her face or hair. I felt that their physical intimacy was weird with the other context of how she wrote their personalities. It just didn’t seem to make sense all the time.

Other than that tidbit, this was a great little afternoon read that I thought was funny and a nice change of pace.

I rate it a 3/5 on my meter. Good but not great. If you love baseball and dogs, I would recommend it. I love that I read this right around opening day!