This is what I read in December 2014:
P.S. I forgot to add The Evolution of Mara Dyer and The Retribution of Mara Dyer to this list. So the total should be 17.
My favorites of these books include: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, Eleanor and Park, and Ignite Me.
What books did you read this month?
Today is OTP day! I’m so excited. It was very hard to narrow my favorite literary couples down to three, but I did it. And I am very happy with my decisions.
3. Leo and Calypso from The Heroes of Olympus
Leo and Calypso both had to go through the torture of ultimately unrequited love before meeting each other. When they first meet, they annoy each other to no end. But they finally fall in love. Leo almost literally goes to the ends of the Earth to find Calypso and try to set her free from her imprisonment on a lonely island.
2. Cress and Thorne from The Lunar Chronicles
Cress and Thorne are so cute together. Cress had a celebrity crush on Thorne. But then she gets to meet him! Not just that, but they save each other’s lives multiple times, and Thorne ends up returning her feelings.
1. Juliette Ferrars and Aaron Warner from The Shatter Me trilogy
Juliette and Warner are by far my ultimate OTP. They are perfect together. Their relationship changes dramatically between the first and last books. Even though this is a dystopian/sci-fi trilogy, it is very much about the characters. This relationship is one of the major facets of this story. They are just so good together. They help each other grow to unparalleled strength, and they love each other so much their questionable pasts.
What’s your OTP?
There are only a couple more days of 12 Days of Book Lists left! Today’s list includes movies. I don’t actually celebrate any holidays during holiday season, so I don’t actively watch very many holiday movies. So these movies are those that I remember watching multiple times of childhood winter breaks.
4. The Santa Clause
The Santa Clause is a fun movie I guess. It has its funny and heart-warming moments. The last movie was kinda weird though, but that’s just me.
3. How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Dr. Seuss stories have a special place in my heart. And the corresponding movies do a surprisingly well job at evoking the outlandishness of his books. How the Grinch Stole Christmas seems to be the one that has most effectively stood the test of time.
2. Home Alone 2
I really love the first couple Home Alone movies, as most people do. But the second one was definitely my favorite. I especially love the whole plotting/scheming process.
1. Elf
I have never met anyone who does not enjoy Elf.
What are your favorite holiday movies?
It’s is another day of 12 Days of Books Lists! Today I am going to be revealing my 3 favorite productivity blogs and my 2 favorite Booktubers.
5. A Life of Productivity
This is Chris Bailey’s current blog. It was formerly A Year of Productivity, in which he told the tales of the year that he devoured all that he could about productivity. The productivity experiments are definitely my favorite. And I’m looking to start experimenting with productivity myself.
4. Study Hacks
Cal Newport’s Study Hacks blog has morphed into an academic productivity blog, but it was previously devoted to student study hacks and time management methods. The archives are very extensive and the school-related posts are very organized. It is incredibly easy to spend days on this blog. There are so many tips and tricks and methods for students that it’s sometimes overwhelming.
3. Live Your Legend
Live Your Legend is Scott Dinsmore’s website. His tagline is “Change the world by doing work you love.” Compelling, right? The best part about this website is the huge variety of free toolkits and workbooks. I recently completed the 2015 New Year’s Resolutions workbook and the 27 Questions to Find Your Passion workbook. They both allow for much introspection and insight.
2. PolandBananasBOOKS
Christine is probably my favorite Booktuber. Her energy is infectious and her reactions to books and trailers are hilarious. I really love her book talks. Her vlog channel is also really funny, especially the videos with her sibliings.
1. Ariel Bisset
Ariel is so smart. She has some great insights on topics and is really good at verbalizing her thoughts about relatively complex concepts.
Who are your favorite bloggers/vloggers?
Today is day 5 of 12 Days of Book Lists. Which means it is time for 8 books that should be movies. I do realize that most of the books I’ve chosen are young adult series, but that stems from the fact that I haven’t read many books in the past year. And time-consuming series are definitely the most memorable. I also think that these books are popular enough and have interesting enough storylines that the movies would also be fairly successful.
8. Everlost (Skinjacker trilogy) by Neal Shusterman
The Skinjacker trilogy is amazing. I read the first book in middle school and recently caught up on the next two. This trilogy really needs to be more popular. Neal Shusterman’s ideas are amazing, and his characters are so complex. It’s about Everlost, the life between the life and the afterlife, but the only people living this “interlife” are children that don’t make it to the light at the end of the tunnel. I foresee this series becoming popular in a couple of years. So a movie might actually happen at some point.
9. Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles) by Marissa Meyer
The Lunar Chronicles is definitely the next YA craze. These books are undoubtedly going to become movies, and rightly so. If you haven’t heard of these, where have you been?
7. Branded (Fall of Angels trilogy) by Keary Taylor
I read this series last year. It is also not as popular as it should be. The Fall of Angels trilogy is about a girl that has nightmares every time she sleeps. These nightmares are about people who are being judged by a guild of angels. But in the next few days after each nightmare, she figures out that the people who she saw being judged were the recently deceased. I feel like the screenplay and cinematography of these books could be amazingly wonderful.
6. Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality by Eliezer Yudowsky
Realistically, this fan fic is probably not going to become a movie because of film rights and stuff. It does have J.K. Rowling’s seal of approval though. This book could probably become about 5 movies. I could see it as a Sherlock-ian take on the wizarding world. Having this as a movie would definitely confuse the Muggle public, which would be incredibly entertaining.
5. City of Masks (Stravaganza series) by Mary Hoffman
City of Masks is set in a parallel universe that is somewhat similar to ours, but the countries are different, time runs much slower, and science is replaced by magic. Oh, and a couple of people called “Stravagante” can travel between the universes. I feel like this series as a movie would be a historical fantasy/sci-fi, which we don’t see much of in the film industry.
4. Delirium (Delirium series) by Lauren Oliver
So Delirium has been tried out as a TV show, and the pilot was absolutely terrible. I think that it could have been a great series, so they should give it another try. And completely disregard the ideas from the pilot.
3. Shatter Me (Shatter Me series) by Tahereh Mafi
Shatter Me is also becoming very popular, as it is a YA dystopia. It will probably end up being a movie. YA dystopias are always popular because they are entertaining. And they make us think about the effects of our actions on the future Earth.
2. Fairest by Gail Carson Levine
Gail Carson Levine was a very dominant author from my preteen years. Ella Enchanted has already made an amazing movie, and I think Fairest can make an even better movie, especially if it is done in the same comedic style as Ella Enchanted.
1. Legend (Legend trilogy) by Marie Lu
The Legend series is also a wildly popular YA series. It is also another dystopian series. CBS has the film rights, which means a movie is probably on the way. But the producers were the producers of the Twilight series. And those movies ruined the series for me. Hopefully, that doesn’t happen with this series.
What books do you think would make fantastic movies?
Today is Day 2 of 12 Days of Book Lists. I now present 11 Literary Themed Gifts. (I sincerely apologize for the graphic. I know it sucks.)
For those who can never remember where they are.
2. Harry Potter Necklace
For those who still aren’t over Harry Potter.
3. Prism Glasses
For those who are incredibly lazy.
4. Percy Jackson pencils
For those who want to write like a daughter of Athena.
5. Personal Library Kit
For those who lend.
6. Writer’s Block book
For those who want to write the next bestseller.
7. Old Books scented candle
For those who want to smell like a library.
8. So Many Books! So Little Time! Bookends
For those who have too many books to read in a lifetime.
9. Fishbowl bookends
For those who need more life in their reading.
10. Talk Wordy To Me tote
For those who need some help carrying home their books.
11. Literary Quotations Calendar
For those who lose track of the date because they get lost in the world of a good book.
What literary gifts would you like to receive?
Today is Day 1 of 12 Days of Book Lists! Yay! I have listed only productivity/lifestyle books so that this actually fits with the theme of my blog.
The 12 Books I’m wishing for this winter are (in no particular order):
12. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
I am actually currently reading this, and it is awesome. I have already changed the way I think about routines and habits that I would like to implement to achieve my ideal lifestyle. I’m less wishing for this book, and more wishing to finish it.
11. Yes Please by Amy Poehler
I. Love. Amy Poehler. So. Much. I only recently learned that she had written a book, and I immediately wanted to devour it with my eyes. Since I probably won’t ever be able to hang out with Amy Poehler in real life, I am going to read this book, so I can pretend to be her best friend.
10. Juggling Elephants by Jones Loflin and Todd Musig
This is a productivity book that I want to read. This blurb from Amazon describes it perfectly: “Juggling Elephants tells a simple but profound story about one man with a universal problem. Mark has too much to do, too many priorities, too much stress, and too little time.” I’m hoping that this book will teach me more productivity skills and how to balance my circus of a life.
9. How to Win at College by Cal Newport
I’ve been reading Cal Newport’s Study Hacks blog for about a year. The things I have learned from it have changed my life immensely. His blog taught me skills such as time-blocking and research-paper outlining. I could not imagine my life without implementing the productivity tips I have learned from his blog. I assume that his books will teach me even more. I want to read How to Win at College because I am in college (university for you non-Americans). And I want to win at it.
8. How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren
“The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading.” Nothing much else to say.
7. Do It Tomorrow by Mark Forster
In this book, Mark Forster approaches time-management in unique, innovative ways. I want to learn these ways. So I want this book.
6. So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport
This is Cal Newport’s newest book. It is about “why skills trump passion in the quest for work you love.” I want to get a head start in finding my perfect job, so that I don’t realize that I want to do something entirely different with my life once I have already gotten deep into a specific industry.
5. Bossypants by Tina Fey
I love Tina Fey. This book was written at a time when she was juggling an enormous amount of projects. Tina Fey lives a busy lifestyle, as many of us do. But she is able to laugh about it. I think this is a skill that we can all do well to learn.
4. Use Your Head by Tony Buzan
“How to unleash the power of your mind.” Well, I want to unleash the amazingawesome power of my mind, so…
3. Brain Rules by John Medina
“In Brain Rules, molecular biologist Dr. John Medina shares his lifelong interest in how the brain sciences might influence the way we teach our children and the way we work. In each chapter, he describes a brain rule–what scientists know for sure about how our brains work–and then offers transformative ideas for our daily lives.”
2. The Motivation Hacker by Nick Winter
I have lots of things that I want to do, but lack the motivation to do (working out). But I know that if I can figure out what my personal motivation is based on, then I can accomplish any- and everything that I want to. I think this book will help me (fingers crossed). It is pretty high up on my reading list.
1. Getting Things Done by David Allen
I’ve researched a little bit on the infamous GTD productivity system. Honestly, it hasn’t seemed very appealing to me. I want to read this book because I want to see if it lives up to the hype. I also want to figure out what the big deal about GTD is. Maybe I’ll try it out after I read this book.
What productivity books are on your reading list?
Seeking Maybe 