Back Home At Blogger!

Guess what guys? I’ve moved! I know I know I know…I’m a pain in the freaking ass and I swear this is my last move. I’m now back at my blogger home where I originally started blogging And it feels good to be back. If you want to follow me over there, my new web address (or old web address) is http://chrisa511.blogspot.com or http://dream-stuff.com. Both will take you to the same place. If you’re totally sick of me, now’s an excuse to stop following me :p But I hope to see some of you over there!

All the Books I've Preordered!

So I thought I would let you all know the books I’ve preordered just in case there are a few there that you’re going to want yourself This is what I’m looking forward to for right now:

1. The Alphabet Not Unlike the World: Poems by Katrina Vandenberg – So so so excited about this one!!!! Atlas is by far my all time favorite volume of poetry. I think everyone should read it if you haven’t already. So needless to say I was ecstatic when I saw this was finally available for preorder!

2. Pink Smog: Becoming Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block - Oh yes…this is indeed a new Weetzie Bat book!!! I was made aware of this by Darla D. and I can’t thank her enough for letting me know about it!

3. Earth Unaware: The First Formic War by Orson Scott Card - Ever read Ender’s Game and wondered what happened during that first formic war? Well here are all of the answers!

4. Eyes Like Leave by Charles DeLint – An all new fantasy set in it’s own world with a GORGEOUS cover!!! Ooooh, I can’t wait for this one!!

5. Railsea by China Mieville – Mieville’s new Young Adult movie which sounds amazing!! I can’t wait to get this one either.

6. The Wolf Gift by Anne Rice - I haven’t been this excited about an Anne Rice book in a LONG time!! I love her and the idea of her tackling werewolves is just awesome to be honest.

7. The Unwritten Volume 5: On To Genesis by Mike Carey – Well it’s just obvious that I had to preorder this one :p Though I still haven’t read volume 4 which I need to do soon!

8. The Stuff of Legend Volume 3: A Jester’s Tale by Brian Smith - Another graphic novel that I absolutely love!! Can’t wait for this one to come out!

9. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz – I don’t even remember anything about this book XD But obviously it sounded good enough to order!

10. Rebel Fire (Sherlock Holmes : The Legend Begins) Volume 2 by Andrew Lane - I still haven’t read the first book in this series but I have it…it sounds awesome! Story of a young Sherlock Holmes.

11. Sweet Tooth Volume 4 by Jeff Lemire – Yet another graphic novel series that I’m in love with. Seriously…I really love this one!

12. Ruins: Pathfinder Volume 2 by Orson Scott Card – I LOVED the first book in this series and this might be my most anticipated series book of 2012.

13. Shadows in Flight by Orson Scott Card – ANOTHER Ender book coming out this year This is a good year!!!

So my question now is…WHAT DID I MISS???? What haven’t I preordered that I have to preorder? I think there’s nothing more exciting than preordering books for some reason :p So give me all of what you’re looking forward to this year!

Bad Bloggers – 1/14/12

Guys, you will be so proud of me!!! I only have FOUR books for bad bloggers this week. I talked about my finances earlier this month and part of saving money is no longer buying books!! Though I have to admit I have a LOT of preorders coming. Which is ok by me I guess it’s my occasional reward for saving money. Maybe I’ll do a post soon on everything I’ve preordered. Anyway, here are the FOUR books that I’ve received!

1. The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey – This book is the impetus for the biggest change in my life this year. It really contributes to everything else that I want! It’s all about getting my debt and finances under control And it really is invigorating! I’m almost done the book and then I’ll tell you all about it. This book is definitely giving Carl a point as I would’ve never done this if it weren’t for him Point to Carl! (Bought it)

2. The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories by Joseph Gordon-Levitt – I’ve already reviewed this one and I absolutely loved it!! My great friend Nancy sent me a copy of this and it’s such a little treasure (Gift from a friend)

3. My Life in France by Julia Child – I’ve always wanted to read this book and I was so excited to get a copy of it via Paperback Swap!!! Can’t wait to read this one! (Paperback Swap)

4. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green – So. Excited. About. This. Book. Of course I preordered this and jumped for joy (literally) when it arrived!!! I got my signature in green Which color did you guys get? And did anyone get a Hanklerfish??? I actually haven’t started this one yet because funnily enough, I’m reading ANOTHER John Green book right now, An Abundance of Katherines. And I’m loving it! But this book is next! (Bought it)

Guys! Guys! Guys!!

I passed the NCE today!!! It’s the national counselor exam and I need to pass it in order to become a licensed counselor in Louisiana So now I’m a Nationally Certified Counselor I have 20 hours left of supervision and then I can apply for my licensure and I’ll be a licensed professional counselor. Which means I’ll achieve my first major goal for 2012!!! I’m so freaking happy guys, I just had to share! I was convinced after taking the test that I failed it. I told the receptionist “God that was bad.” She said…”well you never know” So she went and got my results and said “What do you think?” I told her “I’m thinking I’m going to have to retake it” She said “look for yourself” and gave me the paper. It said pass!!! I needed to score a 97 and I got a 105…after which I looked like a complete loon and asked the receptionist if I could hug her because I needed to hug someone…upon which she let me :p

The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour

I first heard about this book from John Green, so I figured it would be good. Then I was lucky enough to get an ARC of the novel which kind of made me squeal in delight. Then I started the book and thought…er….But FEAR NOT!! I ended up loving it in the end! The beginning of this one felt a little forced and stereotyped, which I’ll talk about more in a little bit, but I think it may have been the author finding their way with the novel. Because when it started to work, it REALLY worked.

The title of the book refers to a band formed by three girls; Meg and Alexa, two sisters and Bev. It’s an all girl band formed under the influences of Sleater Kinney and Diana Ross with some Heart thrown in later. Thing is, they’re the worst band ever. Yet people still love them. There music doesn’t make any sense and is noisy, but not in that good My Bloody Valentine kind of way. But people still love them because of the love the girls have for their music and because their personalities shine when they play.

However, it’s neither of these three girls who are the narrator of this novel, it’s Colby, a boy who just graduated college who is sort of their groupie…and sort of in love with Bev who’s also his best friend. School has ended and Bev and Colby have plans that they’ve made for years to tour Europe together. But before doing that, the band is traveling in a Volkswagen Mini Bus from San Francisco to Portland and playing gigs one last time. And eventually dropping Meg off for College in Portland.

But the journey ends up becoming much more than just a physical one as Bev reveals she’s not going with Colby anymore to Europe and the group is saying it’s goodbyes. From basements to clubs to bathrooms in diners, this is a story of four teens learning who they are, where they belong in the world, and what they mean to each other. And it’s just wonderful.

I had a complaint at the beginning of this review. I felt like the book TRIED too hard at first. Girls with bright pink hair saying pseudo intellectual things, being rebels, all that jazz. But it quickly became real and the characters became so much more than their stereotypes which was SUCH a relief for me. And in the end this was just an awesome book with a sort of hazy summer feel to it and a bit of melancholy.

The book comes out February 16th and I HIGHLY recommend that you preorder this one or ask your libraries to order it because it’s going to be one you’ll want to read. I can see this becoming quite the popular book. Hope you all enjoy it as much as I did!

The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories by Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Well this book is exactly what the title suggests it is. It’s a tiny book filled with wonderful little tiny stories. The book was spawned by Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s project, Hitrecord, an online community that allows users to upload their art in numerous forms and profit from it while maintaining a community around it.

This book taps into the tiny stories section of Hitrecord and is just a small sampling of what they have to offer on the website. I just loved this little book. It’s such a gem. It features stories that pack a huge punch in sometimes just ten words or less. Stories that get to the heart of the human experience and feel much broader than what their small word count would imply.

Accompanying the stories are perfect little illustrations that add so much more depth to the stories. And the book itself is packaged just perfectly. Something you want to just hold in your hands and hug. Definitely one I enjoyed. A wonderful gift from a wonderful friend Thanks, Nancy.

Level Up by Gene Luen Yang

I went into this book expecting a story about video games. I guess it is partly that, but it’s more about living your own dreams vs. living someone else’s dreams. And as is typical with Gene Luen Yang, the story is told expertly and the artist he’s chosen, Thiem Pham provides amazing art to go along with the story.

Dennis wants nothing more than a nintendo gaming system for Christmas when he’s a child. He’s fallen in love with the world of video games that he’s discovered and the nintendo has just become available. What he gets instead is a chemistry set. He’s super disappointed and to make matters worse, his dad tells him that video games are a waste of his time and that he needs to plan for his future. He has to make sacrifices.

When Dennis is about to graduate high school, his father dies, leaving things unsettled. Since his father isn’t there, Dennis hallucinates angels from a card that his father gave him as a child that plead with him to go to medical school to become a doctor, and so he does that, feeling guilty for not living up to his fathers dreams. But the question is, can Dennis ever be truly happy if he’s not living his life for himself…if he’s living it for someone else.

This really is a great question, isn’t it? How often do we make choices in life based on what we think others expect of us…how often do we make choices because it feels like it’s the proper thing to do, not the thing that we necessarily want to do. I think all of us do to an extent…whether it’s something small in life or whether it’s what we actually do with our lives. I know I do this on a daily basis. With little things and with big things. I think it’s important to at least acknowledge that.

The thing I love about Gene Luen Yang is that his books really do an excellent job of tackling the essence of human experience…whether that’s about racism, ethnocentrism, money or living for ourselves. And he does it so damn well. In such a relatable way. Can’t wait to see what Yang puts out next!

Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman

 

Well I had no idea what this book was about going into it aside from it was an lgbt book. I was at Barnes and Noble one night looking for an lgbt book so I decided to pull out my trusty iphone and search for lists. I found a list of 100 modern lgbt books…and this was the ONLY one that Barnes and Noble had. Truly sad. But I bought it. And I came home and started reading it right away and got totally sucked into it!

The book is about a family in Italy in the 1980′s that takes in someone as a boarder every summer. This year, they’ve taken in Oliver, a 24 year old writer from the states that has come to finish his book. 17 Year old Elio, the son of the family boarding Oliver, quickly gets attached to Oliver and fantasizes about him and spends as much time around him as he can. As the two spend more and more time together, it is only a matter of time before they are honest about their feelings.

This book was SO beautifully written. It’s a coming of age tale, a sexual awakening tale, a tale of friendship. There are some very graphic scenes in the book, but it is ALWAYS done tastefully. Graphic sex is portrayed as art here and I think Aciman does an amazing job of capturing young lust mistaken for young love. Though who am I to say whether or not these characters love each other…their relationship certainly holds throughout the book.

I was worried at first that it would be creepy having a 17 year old and 24 year old sleeping together, but honestly, it wasn’t at all. It worked for them. Obviously there was a reason the author made Elio 17 rather than an adult at 18, but I think it added to the whole wonder and riskiness of the book. Though I have to say that if this were real life I may feel a little differently :p

Bottom line, great first read of 2012 and I only hope they get better from here! Highly recommended.

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I also wanted to mention that over the next several days I’ll be listing numerous books on ebay. These will mostly be first editions, signed copies, limited editions. As part of getting my debt down, I’m getting rid of some true treasures that I hold on to just to hold on to. So I figured I’d sell them to other good homes that would appreciate them. I am NOT asking you all to bid on my items…just making you aware that they’re out there in case there’s anything that really catches your eye and you might want to scoop up for a decent price. Here’s my ebay page and like I said, more books will be added every day. There will be about 50 books going up in total.

Money Makeover: The Starting Line

That picture, my friends, is my credit card. And it has just been cut up! And it’s the only credit card I have! I said that one of my goals for this year is to manage my money better and start getting out of debt. And that’s exactly what I’m doing. I’ve found a lot of motivation from my good friend Carl, who recommended a book by Dave Ramsey called Total Money Makeover. I ordered the book right after he shared his story using credit card points, yes those measly points I’ve accrued for spending thousands of dollars.

I’m only 60 pages into Ramsey’s book, but it’s seriously inspirational!! His approach so far is really no nonsense. Look at yourself in the mirror and reevaluate where you stand. And be honest. I know I spend money that I don’t have. Shopping has become a way of me dealing with depression, stress, anxiety, etc. And there are much better ways. I can see how this plan alone can make me happy just to see that I’M DOING IT!! In fact, it felt GREAT just to cut up that credit card!

I was nervous about Ramsey’s book because I know he’s a preacher. I’m agnostic on a good day, so I didn’t know how I’d feel about it, but seriously, this book can be read by anyone. He doesn’t preach at all in this book. It’s written really well and broken up into sections and is written with a language that isn’t intimidating at all.

So I thought I’d track my progress with this journey here on the blog. I’m going to bare all! I won’t tell you my salary, but I will share what my debt is, how it’s going down and how my savings are going up. It lets me hold myself accountable a bit more if it’s all laid out there. So here are the starting numbers:

Checking account: $531.71

Saving account: $25.80 (that number is seriously embarrassing to write)

401K: $13,289.76

Credit Card Debt: $7,154.34

Student Loans: $13,318.94

See where the problem lies here? What I have and what I owe are REALLY far away from each other….well, aside from my 401K, but that money isn’t touchable for right now. So it’s time to turn things around and I’m making an oath to myself that these numbers will only get better from here. This is the worst case scenario.

I haven’t even gotten to the part in Ramsey’s book yet where you actually start the plan, but I knew right off the bat that I had to cut up my credit card and make some changes on how I spend my money. Changes I can think of right off the bat are making my own coffee at home (which I can do now since I have an espresso maker and coffee grinder!) instead of buying it every day, stop joy riding which I love to do when I’m bored, read the books on my shelves instead of buying new ones, and start bringing my lunch to work. These are all VERY doable things that are just going to require some discipline.

Anyone else trying to get in a better situation in 2012 financially? If so, think about joining me by picking up Ramsey’s book and posting your own goals!! It would be fun to make progress together!! If you decide to do this too, leave me a comment so I know to check your blog often See you again in a month for an update! And I promise an ACTUAL book review soon!

First Bad Bloggers of 2012!

I feel like ALL I post about lately is the BOOKS that I have ACQUIRED! Hopefully that’ll change this year as I’m going to try to acquire less and read from my own shelves. I know I have some real treasures buried in there. But alas, I have gotten a lot of books over the holidays and it’s time for yet another of these posts! There are actually 32 books I’ve acquired since my last post, so I’m not going to post the pictures :p It would take up way too much space…so I’ll just list the books I got and the reasons I got them.

1. The Call by Yannick Murphy – Ms. Beth Fish reviewed this one awhile back and really liked it. She also did an EXCELLENT job of making it sound irresistible. So onto the old wish list it went and I finally got a copy from Paperback Swap! Point to Beth! (Paperback Swap)

2. Kraken by China Mieville – Oh Renay…you get a point for this one!!! Maree and Jodi read this together and then Renay started reading it and had an OMG attack….so I went out that night and bought this book. I’ve started it and it’s really good and bizarre but a book you read slowly…so still working on it. Point to Renay! (Bought it)

3. They Draw and Cook ed. by Nate Padavick – This is a cookbook that I saw at Barnes and Noble and had to have. It’s recipes that are all illustrated by different artists and it’s a SUPER cool book! (Bought it)

4. Unlikely Friendships: 47 remarkable stories from the animal kingdom by Jennifer Holland – OMG this book is so freaking adorable!! Another one that I had to have. It’s stories of pairs of animals that became the best of friends. True stories that are accompanied by adorable pictures. (Bought it)

5. Lost on Planet China: One Man’s Attempt To Understand the World’s Most Mystifying Nation by J. Maarten Troost – This was a christmas gift from Rich and OMG it sounds AMAZING!! When I was filing it away on the shelves I found that I had ANOTHER book by Troost that Rich gave me last year called The Sex Lives of Cannibals. These both sound incredibly awesome. (Gift from a friend)

6. Noisy Outlaws, etc. by McSweeney’s – This was a gift from the WHOLE Steven’s family It’s an incredible collection of really awesome stories by really awesome authors from a really awesome family (Gift From a friend)

7. Word Of Mouth: Poems Featured on NPR’s All Things Considered by Catherine Bowman – This book is SO COOL!!! I didn’t even know it existed, but Debi was sweet enough to find the absolute perfect book for me (Gift from a friend)

8. Goats: Small Scale Herding for Pleasure and Profit by Sue Weaver – !!! Does anyone know me better than Debi? Seriously. She gave me this book too and I just about died when I got it. This book will be put to good use once I get my own home as I plan on living in a more rural area with a nice lot size. I told Matt about this book and he said he’s excited for me to have goats XD He thinks it’s adorable. Oh I can’t wait!!! (Gift from a friend)

9. The Naturally Clean Home by Karyn Siegel-Maier – Yet ANOTHER gift from Debi who knows my tastes just perfectly (Gift from a friend)

10. Slice of Organic Life by Sheherazade Goldsmith – And yes…another book from my Debs There are plenty of these “organic homestead” books out there, but I have to say that none that I have seen so far are as AWESOME as this one is!!! I dug into it right away and I think every page is better than the next! This book is a true treasure! (Gift from a friend)

11. Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman – I was out book shopping one night and wanted an LGBT book (like I don’t have enough) and did a google search for books and found a list of 100 lgbt books. I’m not kidding when I tell you this was the ONLY one that Barnes and Noble had…pathetic. But I picked it up anyway and I’m reading it now! It’s really a fantastic book that I can’t wait to tell you more about soon. (Bought it)

12. If You Knew Then What I Know Now by Ryan Van Meter – This is a book of essays by a gay man about growing up gay. Looks fantastic! (Bought it)

13. Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown – Ok…so I did SantaThing on LibraryThing this year and could NOT have asked for a better secret santa. I mentioned that I was interested in LGBT books and I got a lesbian as my santa!!!! Hooray lesbian santas!!! She sent me four books and this was the first. The next three are all from her too. I’m excited about this one particularly because we have a gay bar here in New Orleans named after this book. (Gift)

14. Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan – I’ve wanted this one for years now and thanks to my santa, I now have it (Gift)

15. The God Box by Alex Sanchez – Also from the santa! Also excited! (Gift)

16. The Realm of Possibility by David Levithan – Yay!!!! I wanted this one ever since Debi got it It looks really freaking good! Point to Debi! (Gift)

17. Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5 Billion Year History of the Human Body by Neil Shubin – I forgot where I heard about this book but it looks so freaking good! I actually almost bought this, but luckily did NOT as my sister gave it to me for Christmas (Gift from Sis)

18. The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous and Broke by Suze Orman – Can you guess who gave me this one for Christmas? Yep…Mom :p Should be useful!! (Gift from Mom)

19. The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness by Elyn R. Saks – My mom got me this memoir too for Christmas and it sounds excellent! Anyone read this one before? (Gift from Mom)

20. The Penguin Anthology of 20th Century American Poetry edited by Rita Dove – My sweet, amazing boyfriend gave me this for Christmas Apparently he heard me talk about how much I was dying to have this absolutely GORGEOUS collection and surprised me with it (Gift from Matt)

21. Dear Bully by Megan Kelly Hall – My amazing friend Heather gave me this one I don’t know if she even knew, but I’ve been DYING for this book! (Gift from friend)

22. Shivers, Wishes and Wolves Vol. 1 by Donald Lemke – Heather gave me this one too! I’ve never even heard of it but it looks awesome! Graphic Novel adaptations of fairy tales! (Gift from friend)

23. Around the House and In the Garden by Dominique Browning – Just saw this one on Paperback Swap and thought it sounded really good! Can’t wait to read it! (Paperback Swap)

24. Exiles in America by Christopher Bram – Another one that I saw on Paperback Swap and really was intrigued by (Paperback Swap)

25. Dream Boy by Jim Grimsley – Yet another that I saw on PBS and wanted :p (Paperback Swap)

26. Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop – This one is ALL Memory’s fault! I’ve heard a lot about this series for a long time, but mostly from Memory I think. So I finally bought myself a copy over the holidays (Bought it)

27. How to (un)cage a Girl by Francesca Lia Block – Couldn’t pass this one up! Found it used at Hastings and hadn’t even heard of it before. It’s a book of poetry by Block, an author that I adore! (Bought it)

28. Eve by Iris Johansen – I wanted something to read while I was visiting Matt so I picked this up in the grocery store. Of course, I got no reading done at all during my trip :p  (Bought it)

29. Alphabet of Thorn by Patricia A. McKillip – I STILL haven’t read anything except for a couple of short stories by McKillip, but the Kinuko Craft covers always draw me to her books. Hope I enjoy the story too! (Bought it)

30. Codename: Sailor V Volume 1 by Naoko Takeuchi – Point to Renay for this one! She loves Sailor Moon and I feel like I should probably read it :p (Bought it)

31. While England Sleeps by David Leavitt – On PBS..sounded good. (Paperback Swap)

32. Hushed by Kelley York – Saw this one on The Book Depository and it sounded fantastic. It’s a murder mystery with some lgbt themes. Hope it’s as good as it sounds! (Bought it)

So have you read any of these? Any that you loved? Any you hated?