on the farm...

so, this happened a while ago, and i finally have time to share it! enjoyy...

This last one's my favorite!!

:]

Hannah Joy..

SOOO...my amazing cousin was baptized today! and in honor of her in general, i thought i'd give her a post :]

she's an amazing [and gorgeous!] girl who leads an amazing Christ-filled life. 

even though she's only 3 months older than me, she's always been a role model for me. 

i love how she boldly leads her life, and inspires me to do the same.

i always love when her and her family come to visit. 

we sit and watch old movies and knit :]...we're gonna make such cute old people!!


she also has an amazing blog, where she always seems to post the right lyrics or verses at the right time.




thank you, Hannah for being such an amazing role model and person :] i love you lots, and God Bless <3

The Hunger Games

"and may the odds be ever in your favor!"

i did it


i gave in to the Hunger Games craze...


and i'm glad i did!


the setting was amazing!! first off, i love how the reader is clueless in the beginning of the book- the year and how the world came to be in the state it is in are unknown. the reader's left guessing. it is just science fiction-y enough that it is different and interesting, but it is not so abstract that is it hard to comprehend.
katniss is a typical female protagonist, and she annoyed me from time to time, but it wasn't unbearable. she had her good moments and added to the story. the characters in general weren't too developed, but there are two other books. the fact that the reader feels that they still have so much to learn about the characters makes them want to read the other books. 
no matter who reads the book, there is a character for everyone. they are serious or funny, young or old, good or bad. 
the concept is simple: The Hunger Games; not too many extra, side ideas, just one main plot. yet, it is interesting enough to keep the reader hooked. also, the reader has their own conflict to worry about: 
Gale or Peeta?


pic

The Host

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"It's not the face, but the expressions on it. It's not the voice, but what they say. It's not how you look like in that body, it's what you do with it. You are beautiful."

I was never one to be into science fiction, or anything like that, but this book was amazing! i was hooked early on. the characters were well developed and likable. and much more complex and interesting than...some of  her previous work. The plot is layered, and there are many twists and turns that make the ending nearly impossible to predict! i became attached to the characters, and started to worry towards the end- it wasn't ending in a way that i wanted it to! i was scared something would happen that would ruin the book for me!

although it isn't a tough read-- her writing style and techniques are basic-- it is well worth it!

Entries!

Here are the pics i chose!

Find the contest here!

Contest :]

Im entering in a contest... :]
[the button on the sidebar will take you to it!]
BUUT.. i can only enter 2 pictures...
sooo... i need opinions!!

i'm thinking about the one above in color...?

Help is much appreciated!!

In Cold Blood...

" Perry Smith's life had been no bed of roses, but a pitiful, an ugly and lonely process toward one mirage or another..."

This book made me feel like a horrible person and a sympathetic and caring one.

I hated Dick for what he did, and how easily he got over it. I mourned for the Clutters, disgusted that someone would erase an entire family. I cried for Holcomb- I wanted to get  up in front of the whole town and tell them it was going to be okay. I wanted justice-I wanted Dick to pay for what he did.

Good so far?

Perry.

Oh, Perry.

While reading the book, I didn't hate Perry as much as I did Dick [Capote! Stop being manipulative!], but I still thought he deserved a punishment.

But.

Ah, there's always a "but"!

I had to go and watch "Capote"--NOT the whole thing! I don't recommend that!-- and when Capote was shown interviewing Perry in that prison cell, I could tell Perry was scared, I could feel it. and I could even sense regret as he told Capote his story. I wanted to save him! I felt bad for a murderer! Then, when Capote went and said his final goodbyes, I cried. Dick was joking around and being a jerk, But Perry was scared

sad

afraid...

of leaving Truman,

of leaving the world,

of himself,

of what was waiting for him.

And I cried! I felt so pathetic! I sat in the back corner of my English class and cried.

Now, I know!

They were only actors. It was a movie. 

But, seeing Perry portrayed as a person was the first time I saw him as human.

When i was reading, I just thought of him as a murdering...thing. I was stuck in my own mind. I didn't want him to become a person because I didn't want to feel bad for him. I put up a wall.

Capote tried soo hard. He pounded on the wall-beat at it, tore at it, trying desperately to get me to see Perry the way he saw Perry. It took some actor's portrayal and two movie scenes for me to let him win.

I love when books do that-when they pull soooo much emotion out of you.

I'm still not sure what I think of Perry. I am not condoning what he did,

but now he's a person.           

To Kill a Mockingbird...

   

"Hey, Boo..."

Yay! A school book I [mostly] enjoyed! Book One kinda bored me, but I still enjoyed it. I'm not a big fan of description-especially over 100 pages of it...

Book Two was great! The characters developed soo much more. I loved each one- even the ones you weren't supposed to!

I wanted to rip Atticus out of the book and just sit and talk with him. And I would love to have Boo as my neighbor!

I also enjoyed the first-person narration. It was a new perspective that i would't have gained if it was told in third-person.

Bekah Grace

I'd like to wish a happy birthday to my amaaazing cousin Rebekah...

Visit her blog here

Happy Birthday Bekah!

Catcher in the Rye

"People never notice anything..."

Okay, I understand this is just Holden talking to a therapist,and it's one of the greatest pieces of American Literature,

but come on.

Nothing happened! I only liked the end with his sister. Otherwise, I wasn't much of a Holden fan. I guess if he was a bit more crazy, I would have been more interested, but initially, I didn't realize that there was anything wrong with him in the first place. Maybe a more interesting plotline and more than one well-developed character? I don't know... just my thoughts...

Pride and Prejudice...

 

I have to start with one of my favorite books of all time. it just happens to be one of the first books i read this year...

"You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you..."-Mr. Darcy

I want a Mr. Darcy-awkward, funny, stuck-up, antisocial, charming, confused and altogether lovely. You can't help but love him! Even though he's an aristocratic snob, you adore him.

Elizabeth is another perfect character-soo easy to relate to. She comes from an average [but hilarious!] middle-ish class family. She has no spectacular talent. She's average...or, according to some, "barely tolerable", oh, Darcy!

You cannot help but fall in love with the Bennet Family! Funny and loving Mr. Bennet, crazy and marriage-obsessed Mrs. Bennet, sweet and quiet Jane, strange and ignored Mary, young and naive Lydia, and younger and energetic Kitty. They provide ninety percent of the humor of the book.

The book is a perfect balance of everything. You have romance with the Bennet girls. You have the mystery behind Mr. Wickham, Georgiana, Darcy, and Mr. Bingley. You have the humor from the Bennets and the awkwardness from Mr. Collins. Everything is perfectly balanced.

It's in 3rd person. So, of course, i spent most of my time yelling at the characters when their perception of a situation was wrong. When Mr. Collins was proposing to Elizabeth, i told him not to waste his time. When Jane was upset over Bingley, I told her that everything was going to be okay. I told Elizabeth she was stupid and just postponing the inevitable when she refused Darcy's proposal. I was very involved. From the first sentence, Jane Austen had me in their world.

cover

Books...

so, I've decided to add something new to this little blog thing I've got goin' on...

if there was only one activity I could do for the rest of my life...

it would be to read.

i love books. they are a chance to jump into someone else's mind, into someone else's world. when you open a book, your worries, your stress, your thoughts, your world just...disappears. and you are thrown into a new place, that contains new worries, new thoughts, new emotions. the characters reach out and grab you, pull you into their world.

you laugh with them. 

you cry with them.

 you worry when they worry. 

you are happy when they are happy. 

when they are troubled, or sad, or mourning, you want so badly to reach out and comfort them. to let them know that the story does end. and with a few page turns the pain will be over.

i love it when a book pulls me in so much, that i literally audibly react to the story. 

i laugh. i yell. i comfort. i scream. i cry. i whisper. 

i tell the characters that its going to be okay. i let them know when i don't like what they're doing. i laugh when something is funny and i cry when something moves me.

and i love it.

so. 

Maybe once a week or so, I'll have a day where I'll post on a book that i recently read. kinda like a book review. but mainly just a place to record my thoughts. I'll enjoy it. hopefully you will to :]

thoughts??

Sping Dreams...

i have to admit...i'm not a big spring fan...

all the bugs

and its warm, sometimes too warm...

but after seeing Ruche's Spring Lookbook, i kinda want a little spring...

First off, their stuff is AMAZING!!....just sayin'

I love the way the sun looks...

warm and comfy [but not too warm ;)]

"Spring makes its own statement, so loud and clear that the gardener seems to be only one of the instruments, not the composer."  ~Geoffrey B. Charlesworth

"Spring shows what God can do with a drab and dirty world."  ~Virgil A. Kraft

"The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring."  ~Bern Williams

"Now every field is clothed with grass, and every tree with leaves; now the woods put forth their blossoms, and the year assumes its gay attire."  ~Virgil

"And Spring arose on the garden fair,

Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;

And each flower and herb on Earth's dark breast

rose from the dreams of its wintry rest."

~Percy Bysshe Shelley

Happy Spring to you all!!!!