The Man in the Tree- Damon Knight

This guy was hanging in out in the back of my current bookshelf and I had no idea I even owned it. It looked interesting as an in-between read from Dracula to Room, by Emma Donoghue, which I knew was going to be a heavy read for me. 

This was an interesting little sci-fi break. The book centers on Gene Anderson who is a giant with powers. It touches on a lot of philosophical issues and even gets a little into religion at the end. I laughed, I teared up, and some parts made me irrationally angry, but all in all, I thought it was really well written. A little tragic, but good. 5/5 stars again.

Dracula- Bram Stoker

This was my challenge book for October. I LOVED this book. It really takes you for a ride with the characters and mysterious plot. I brought this book with me on the train to Chicago- I read this book on Halloween. I even finished it before the month was over.
Let me be completely honest here, I was expecting this to be like Twilight meets Nancy Drew or something. I had no idea what to expect. This book kept me up at night! It gave me the chills! It was as literarily (is that a word?) involving as Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. I loved it- what a great fall read. 5/5 stars on Goodreads.

Holler if You Hear Me-- Gregory Michie

Wow, long time no post, huh? I was reading I swear. But I also fell into a depressive slump and got busy with work- so a few excuses (and months) later here I am, again!
I think the last book I finished that I didn't write about was this guy- Holler if You Hear Me by Gregory Michie.

Bear with me, it's been a couple months since I've finished this one. It was a required reading for my English class and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Michie writes about teaching in urban areas and the kids' stories he learns along the way. I really enjoyed this book for the rawness Michie writes with. He doesn't sugar-coat any of his teaching experiences and he doesn't write off all of this student's stories with happy endings. He tells it like it is. I really appreciated that. I gave it 5/5 on Goodreads.

The Feminist Movement- Nick Treanor

Just finished this one up this morning! An easy 200 page or so read. It is basically a collection of essays and writings from feminists throughout the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd waves. I thought the collection was really well done. It even motivated me to buff up on my "to-read" shelf on Goodreads, which I hope will influence my recommendations a bit. I like that some of the works were issues that are still under controversy, many of these things we're still dealing with today. And it was funny to see names like Hillary Clinton pop up since we're still seeing her in our daily news coverage as well. There's even a section on androgyny and veganism. Anyway, I would recommend this to anyone. It gives a well-developed overview and insight into what women have been struggling with for hundreds of years.

Latest Book Haul!

Well! It was just about time for me to go another round of book-buying. A handful for school, a few just for myself. I'm actually really excited to get to some of these, I'm starting to really get into my fall term of college and the research papers are already starting up! I'm hoping I can borrow here and there from my new (and old) books to use on most of my work..

These two, I really consider brothers. I realized the other day that my house didn't have a single thesaurus and only a child's dictionary. This fixed that right away! Now when my professors shout terms at me I can find what I need slower than it would take another student to Google it! (No, but really, I needed these, especially for school.)

This is one of the books I picked up at Goodwill that was just for myself. I have learned about this book and read excerpts before but I've never read it cover to cover so I figured it's about time I owned it!

This one is obviously just for fun. I finished The X-Files a couple months ago (?) and it's probably one of my favorite tv shows of all time. Look at baby faced Scully on the cover. Who could resist?

Can I just say that I love Edith Wharton? Ever since I finished The Age of Innocence last summer, I've known that Wharton was an author for me. Then, in my Women's Literature course I'm taking this semester, we read and discussed The Angel at the Grave and The Other Two. I love her writing style- I'm really excited for this one. 

Another one just for me. Y'know ASoUE is my all-time favorite book series and yet I still don't personally own all the books. For shame. Anyway, 12 is just one of the missing pieces!

Can we talk about how pretty the cover of this is for a second? I just love a cover with loads of color. Anyway, I've read Inkheart (and have seen the movie) a few years back and I remember really enjoying the book so I'm looking forward to continuing the series!
Speaking of beautiful books.....

How gorgeous is this volume of Jane Austen works???? I own a few Austen novels but I couldn't pass this guy up. I wish the entire set had been at Goodwill but I know that's just greedy thinking of me.

This one is for school- I'm also taking a Women's History class and I thought this would come in handy when I have my term paper due at the end of the semester! It looks promising and it's a thick volume, so I'm excited!

Again, a book for school and report-writing. This little volume looks almost like a zine. I want to bring this to my Intro to Education class and see if my professor notices what I'm reading. She's practically drilling the dictionary definition of pedagogy into our brains. I am now able to define on demand, which really isn't so bad. I almost like shouting "THE ART AND SCIENCE OF TEACHING ESPECIALLY TEACHING METHODS AND STRATEGIES." I don't mean to make her seem like a drill sargeant, she's actually really fun. I think she teaches like this to keep us actively engaged and to show us examples of engagement in our future classrooms.

Welp! That's all for now. I'm still working on my Feminist Movement book. (A whopping 200 pages that I'm fighting through for whatever reason. Lack of motivation probably) Next I think I'm venturing onto Dracula by Braum Stoker!

My Sister's Keeper- Jodi Picoult

You know, when I first started reading this book I was optimistic. For whatever reason, I didn't read the back cover of the book nor did I skim the Goodreads synopsis. Based off what I knew of this book, I thought it was going to be a book from a sister's vantage point as her sister battles leukemia. I thought it was some close-knit family falling apart as their loved one dies. Well, the falling apart part was right, but nothing else was (no spoilers). Some parts of the book I openly cried. For most of it, I was confused until the last 50 pages or so until it's made clear what's going on. One of the romances seemed like content filler to me; I didn't get very into it and it felt cliché. The ending took me by surprise and honestly, disappointed me. It is too rushed- too much in just a couple chapters. I feel cheated.  Very sad book about a dysfunctional family dealing with one child's terminal illness. I gave it a 4/5 stars on Goodreads. I'm going to try and watch the movie next- if I can stand Cameron Diaz as the mom for that long (not at all who I pictured as the mom, I was thinking someone a little more Sally Field).

All Creatures Great and Small - James Herriot

You know, Goodreads tells me that I started this book way back in October of 2013, but I don't remember opening the front cover until a couple weeks ago. Boy, am I glad I picked it back up.  As you can see, I carted this bad boy around with me so much I wore the front cover off. But that's okay!
I would have never thought I'd be chuckling along with a story as a man has his arm fully lodged in an animal's extremities but here we are. Sometimes the language is a little hard to interpret from a number of farmers James Herriot encounters, but the author usually gives enough context that it is easy enough to tell what is going on. I would definitely recommend this book to almost anyone. It really doesn't matter if you like veterinary science or not- it's hilarious, it's warm-hearted, it's extremely relatable; even to someone who has never studied small animal anatomy or has performed any type of surgery. On Goodreads, I gave this book 5 stars out of 5, which it honestly deserves. A great easy 500 page or so read.