Bookish and not so Bookish Thoughts ( Non-tired edition)

Time again for bookish and not so bookish thoughts, hopefully this week my tiredness won't get in the way of my writing. :)

My new haircut!

1. I had my first clinical rotation for OB this week but my patient didn't give birth before I left. :( I'm sure it isn't just me that would have been happier if the baby had come sooner. Next time... Next time! 
2. I finally finished The War of the Worlds. I enjoyed it and there should be a review coming (relatively) soon. Be sure to check out my reading challenges progress in the sidebar or in the reading challenges tab. With finishing War of the Worlds I got points for two different challenges (Back to the Classics and To Be Read Pile challenge).
3. I started reading Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray and I'm surprisingly enjoying it so far. I'm actually highlighting in it, which is something I never do with fiction books.... Of course that could also something to do with the fact that I am using the iBooks app to read it. :) 
4. I got a haircut... the shortest I've ever had it yet. It's the style that is shorter in the back, which is a big change. I have so much less hair now that it's taking some getting used to. 
5. We got a random snow day this week, which I actually didn't expect them to call. It was nice though to relax and get caught up on school work and then I also got my taxes and FAFSA done. 
6. I did a little more listening with The Warden earlier this week but in general I haven't been really diligent about listening to it. When it comes to audiobooks, I tend to just listen to them here and there when the opportunity arises. If it was warmer I would go on walks and then I would listen to it then. It needs to be warmer. 
7. I had a great time at my church's women's retreat this past weekend. There was a lot of great teaching and fellowship.
8. I had to have another photo shoot as the first one's photos didn't work out. If you didn't see my past post about that, I had photos taken of me for my college's quarterly magazine. The needed a nursing student and through mutual acquaintances they alighted on me. :)
9. I was going to start reading Tolkien's Children of Húrin last evening but by the time I got around to it, it was too late and I highly value my sleep time. Maybe I can start it today. 
10. I bought some grapefruit juice earlier this week and it is SO good! I have been eating grapefruit but they're kind of a pain to cut up and rather messy so I thought I'd try the juice. I don't think I'll ever go back now. It is DELICIOUS! :)

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Favorite Classic Literary Period

This is a link up for the Classics Club March meme.
Do I get two? I want two favorites because it's really not fair that Jane Austen and Charles Dickens are in two separate periods. So I guess my TWO favorite periods are the Romantic Period and the Victorian Period. This choice is completely due to those two authors, though I do enjoy other authors from the Victorian periods such as Charlotte Bronte (Jane Eyre).
So there's my answer plain and simple. :)

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Top Ten Tuesday: Popular Authors I've Never Read

This is so easy because there are a lot of modern books I haven't read but working in a library, I am familiar with all of them. :)

1. Stephen King
2. Suzanne Collins
3. Stephanie Meyer
4. Neil Gaiman
5. Veronica Roth 
6. Jodi Piccoult 
7. James Patterson
8. George R.R. Martin
9. Janet Evanovich
10. Lee Child

Probably I'll never read any of those authors, though perhaps someday I will read one of Stephen King's books just for the experience. 

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Fitting Reading in with School

I need a zap or something. The reading zap. I actually need as studying zap more but a reading zap would be more fun.
In other words, busy with school and other various activities (which are limited due to school), I did not finish a single book this week. However, I did do some reading on War of the Worlds, but I'm not done with it yet. So I'm going to continue on reading that and listening to the audiobook of The Warden. Hopefully, hopefully, HOPEFULLY, for the third week in a row, I'll start Children of Húrin this week. School is really busy and this last week I've come to realize that I need to put even more time yet into it so it isn't going to get any better. I'm planing to take some time though to relax this week and sneak in some reading or listen to an audiobook. How much I'll get done though really depends.
In more fun news, and by fun I mean more fun relative to school, we've had lots of snow and ice here in Kansas and I'm currently having to stay at my parents so I don't get snowed in out in the middle of nowhere. I'm also getting my first OB rotation tomorrow for nursing school, which I have high hopes for. :) Agh! I'm back to school! It never escapes me. :(
Linking up with Book Journey.

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Monthly Resolutions- March 2014

This month I've made a momentous decision. Let me explain.
I first started doing these monthly resolutions and report card posts to link up with Kelli from She Learns as She Goes. When she stopped doing them, I just kept on going because I found they kept me more accountable. This month, I've decided to host the link up. I am in no way trying to replace what Kelli did just trying to carry it on until she may or may not decide to start it up again (which I would love it if she did!). :) So be sure to make your own post with monthly resolutions and link up below and at the end of the month I'll have a Report Card link up so we can all see how we did on our resolutions. It's all just fun so no real pressure. Enjoy! :)

Read or re-read five books

I fell behind one book last month but I'll pick that one up this summer instead of trying to layer that one on right now while I'm in the midst of school. Hopefully this month I'll finish up listening to the audiobook of The Warden, finish reading the ebook of The War of the Worlds, finally start The Children of Húrin and get some other fun reading in. :)

Memorize Psalm 31:5-6

To go along with my year's resolution of memorizing Psalm 31

Pray Daily

It has become far more of a habit now, which is great, but that doesn't mean I get to slack off now! Quite the opposite!

Do one Crochet project

Hopefully I can slip this in somewhere. When I got a new coat last month I bought some yarn to make a hat and scarf to match but I never got around to making them... maybe that should be my next project.

Read a Psalm a day

I realized a little late that I forgot to include that in my resolutions last month but I still did it. This month I plan to continue on with that. 

At least two blog posts per week

I know I overdid it last month and I'll probably over do it again this month but better safe then sorry.

No Netflix

A new goal this month. I've been using my brother's account and he's discontinuing it anyways so there shouldn't be anything too hard about that. However, my sister and I are probably going to start up our own and go fifty-fifty on it so I'll still have to resist. I feel I could be better spending my time reading or studying. 

Study, study study!

I've got to be a more diligent student. This semester of nursing school is a killer and I am going to have to work as hard as I can to pass it. It is traditionally the hardest semester and it is not uncommon for people to fail it. I really don't want to do that. So study! :)

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Report Card- February 2014

School has very much been consuming my time anymore. I scarcely watch anything via netflix anymore except Phineas and Ferb (don't judge till you've seen it) because they're only twenty minutes. I have surprisingly doing a lot with my blog this month, doing lots of link ups every week. It's been tons of fun to meet other bloggers through that. Anyways, here's my report card for the month.

Read or Re-read five books

I re-read Mary Poppins Opens the Door, Mary Poppins in the Park, Ender's Shadow and Don't Waste Your Life. I would highly recommend all of those books. Unfortunately I only finished four. Close enough? ;) 

Memorize Scripture

I memorized, as planned, verses three and four of Psalm 31. I try to work on them every evening when I read my bible and that's working out well. Last month I memorized them by putting them to song, but this month I did it by coming up with hand motions. Don't mock me! It worked! 

Pray Daily

Achieved.

Do one crochet project 

Unfortunately not even started. It wasn't exactly a priority so I let it slip. I got so many done last month though that I think we can forgive me... right? 

At least two blog posts per week

As you well know, I way over achieved on this goal. But it was a lot of fun. This is a link to all of my posts for this moth. :) I would especially recommend my Classics Club post and my book review of the Mary Poppins books. 

Some good and some bad, but on the whole a good month for not only my resolutions but just life in general. :) Be sure to check back tomorrow as I'll have an announcement with my resolutions post!

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My Crazy Thoughts: Bookish and not so Bookish

This week has been a roller coaster and right now I'm just really looking to some relaxing and uplifting time at my Church's women's retreat.

Me: Very tired and at work. If you get a latte instead of
a cappuccino, or The Lord of the Rings instead of Twilight, you'll
know why. Actually, the latter example might be on purpose. ;)

1. Number one thought, I'm still tired... really tired. 
2. I've got to buckle down on school... got to! That really should have been my number one thought but I was too tired to think of it. This second semester of nursing school is so much harder then the first and I had enough struggles with the first.
3. I need to finish War of the Worlds by tomorrow or else I'll fail my five books for the month goal... which actually that wouldn't be the first time I've failed but I've had a pretty good run recently of keeping up with my reading goals so I'd rather not fail. 
4. I want it to be warmer. In my opinion only December should be cold and then only so there will be snow, and then only so that we'll have a white Christmas. Besides that nada! I'm not begging for summer though! I kind of envision spring. 
5. Despite school begin a pain, I'm still really enjoying all of the childbirth content. I can't wait until I get to the OB part of my clinical rotation! :) 
6. Do y'al have any methods for deterring distractions (especially internet distractions) while studying? I have deleted my Facebook app on my phone which has helped, and I can block certain websites on my computer with my Self Control app for periods of time but still... I'm kind of ADHD when it comes to studying. :(
7. I'm too
8. Tired to
9. Come up
10. With any more. :)

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2014 Goals: February Update

Today I'm linking up with Mama Kat for one of her blog prompts. Today it is an update on my 2014 goals. :)

Read or Re-read sixty books

I've got nine books done so far so on track right now. However, I need to hurry up and finish a book before the end of the month or else I'll get behind. 

Memorize Psalm 31

I'm keeping on track with this really well actually. I have the first four verses memorized which is in line with my two verses per month goal. 

Keep up with my Spanish

Not really at all. However, I'm planning on going to Costa Rica for my church's mission trip this coming summer so I'd better do something about that. :)

Pray Daily

Yep! This last month I haven't been as good about actually praying but I read a puritan prayer every evening before bed so I count that. :)

Do One Crochet Project per Month

I did plenty last month but now I'm thinking about this month and I don't think I've done any. Oops... I'll get onto that!

Write!!!

A little, not much... but that's what I expected. :) However, that's more then last semester.

Lose the weight

I don't even want to talk about it. I've been having a lot of trouble with this one. Life has been crazy and that means I eat crazy. I'm trying to stabilize that some though but it's not easy. You can pray for me with that. 

So over all I"m doing pretty well with a couple goals that I need to put more work into. I have the year ahead of me though so hopefully I can do just that. :) 

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Top Ten Tuesday: Book Quotes

Top Ten Tuesday and this week we can link up with any past themes. I was glancing through them and the obvious one that stuck out to me was "Top Ten Book Quotes". I couldn't resist. :) So here are ten of my favorite book quotes (I don't want to say favorite for fear I missed some).

1. "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a large fortune must be in a want of a wife."- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
2. "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat; it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort."- The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
3. "Miss Morland, no one can think more highly of the understanding of women than I do. In my opinion, nature has given them so much that they never find it necessary to use more than half."- Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
4. "I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."- The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
5. "Red hair, sir, in my opinion, is dangerous."- Very Good Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
6. "She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me, and I am in no humor at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men."- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
7. "Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you may feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?"- The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
8. "Arise, arise, riders of Théoden! Fell deeds awake, fire and slaughter! Spear shall be shaken, shield shall be splintered, a sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises! Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor!"- The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
9. "Love has a lot of press-agenting from the oldest times; but there are higher, nobler things than love. A woman is only a woman, but a hefty drive is a slosh."- A Woman is only a Woman by P.G. Wodehouse
10. "If I loved you less I might be able to talk about it more."- Emma by Jane Austen

Somehow that came out as a bunch of Jane Austen and J.R.R. Tolkien quotes with a couple P.G. Wodehouse quotes. I guess it's easy to tell who my favorite authors are from that. :) There were conversations from their books that I wanted to use but they would be more difficult to include so I'll leave you with those. :)
Linking up with The Broke and the Bookish. 

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Classics Club

I know it took me a long time but I'm finally taking the plunge and joining the Classics Club! I was very hesitant at first as I've already read a good number of the classics but looking through my TBR list and other lists I realized there were still plenty of fish in the sea.
I am including NO re-reads... though actually Beowulf, The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Pickwick Papers, I honestly can't remember if I've read them or not. We're letting them slip in. :) I also included a couple books I'm currently reading (War of the Worlds and The Warden). I figured I might as well include them. :) My real worry is that I accidentally included a book on that list twice. :( If for any reason I can't get ahold of a copy of one of these books, or for some reason I decided not to read one of these novels (I haven't researched a lot of these books) then I'll change it out with another book but I hope I don't have to do that. If there are books on my list that you would highly dissuade me from please comment and let me know... I'm sure Shakespeare has more plays that I could trade those undesirables ones out for. ;)
You'll notice some Bronte books on the list. I've only read Jane Eyre before and swore never to read her sisters' books but I've gotten soft hearted in my old age and decided to slip a few in... even my most dreaded Wuthering Heights. I guess it's only fair though that I read it before spouting off my opinion on it. :)
My goals is to complete these 100 books by my 25th birthday (January 2019). I have a five year limit and that puts me about a month shy of it. :) I'll need those five years for all of these books!
Links lead to my reviews.
Edit in August 2015... Traded out Tess of the d'Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy for Germinal by Emile Zola.
Edit in October 2015.... Traded out The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexander Dumas for Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert and As I lay Dying by William Faulkner for Waverly by Sir Walter Scott.
Edit in November 2015.... Traded out The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck for The Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Edit in March 2016....  Traded out Pardise Lost by John Milton for Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson and traded out An American Tragedy by Theodor Dreiser for The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens

1. Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin
2. Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte Completed May 27, 2014
3. Shirley by Charlotte Bronte
4. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte Completed February 19, 2015
5. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte  Completed July 4, 2014
6. The 39 Steps by John Buchan
7. Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs Completed January 20, 2018
8. The Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs  Completed November 28, 2017
9. Armadale by Wilkie Collins Completed April 26, 2015
10. No Name by Wilkie Collins Completed October 18, 2015 
11. The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper Completed November 23, 2014
12. The Divine Comey by Dante
13. Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens Completed June 13, 2015
14. Hard Times by Charles Dickens  Completed May 14, 2014 
15. Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens Completed June 14, 2014
16. Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens Completed August 22, 2014
17. The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens
18. The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens Completed 4/4/18 
19. The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens Completed 2/7/16
20. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevesky Completed September 19, 2015
21. The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevesky
22. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevesky
23. The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Completed June 13, 2018
24. Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier Completed 12/17/15
25. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert  Completed 3/22/16 
26. Adam Bede by George Elliot Completed 12/8/17
27. The Mill on the Floss by George Elliot Completed 4/3/18
28. The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison Completed June 4, 2018
29. Room with a View by E.M. Forster Completed 11/2/15
30. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank Completed August 12, 2014
31. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell Completed July 27, 2014 
32. Lord of the Flies by William Golding Completed July 10, 2014
33. King Solomon's Mines by Henry Rider Haggard Completed November 7, 2014
34. Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy
35. The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo Completed December 11, 2014
36. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley Completed December 23, 2014
37. The Complete Stories of Flannery O'Conner by Flannery O'Conner Completed 1/16/16
38. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
39. All Quiet on the Western Front by Remarque Completed 11/21/15
40. Cyarno de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand
41. As You Like It by William Shakespeare Completed July 31, 2014
42. Henry V by William Shakespeare Completed July 31, 2014
43. Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
44. The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare Completed March 22, 2014
45. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare Completed April 15, 2015 
46. Macbeth by William Shakespeare Completed February 3, 2015
47. Hamlet by William Shakespeare Completed August 24, 2014
48. Dracula by Bram Stoker Completed September 4, 2016
49. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Completed June 2, 2018 
50. Doctor Thorne by Anthony Trollope Completed 11/16/15
51. The Way we Live Now by Anthony Trollope Completed April 23, 2018
52. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells Completed September 6, 2014
53. The Once and Future King by T.H. White Completed October 27, 2017
54. The Importance of Being Ernest by Oscar Wilde Completed March 22, 2015
55. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde Completed March 14, 2014
56. Beau Geste by P.C. Wren
57. The Four Feathers by A.E.W. Mason Completed November 22, 2017
58. The Princess Bride by William Goldman Completed June 2, 2014
59. Mr. Midshipman Hornblower by C.S. Forster Completed 4/19/16
60. The Mark of Zorro by Johnston McCulley Completed July 21, 2017 
61. Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare Completed April 24, 2018 
62. King Lear by William Shakespeare Completed April 7, 2015
63. The Tempest by William Shakespeare
64. Love's Labors Lost by William Shakespeare
65. How Green was my Valley by Richard Llewellyn Completed June 30, 2015
66. Old Yeller by Fred Gipson Completed September 7, 2015 
67. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell Completed May 26, 2015 
68. Richard III by William Shakespeare
69. Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev
70. Beowulf by Unknown Completed January 1, 2015
71. The Epic of Gilgamesh
72. Othello by William Shakespeare Completed 1/7/16
73. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway Completed October 18, 2015 
74. The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James Completed May 24, 2018
75. Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
76. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner Completed October 13, 2015 
77. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne Completed April 5, 2015
78. Mysterious Island by Jules Verne Completed 10/26/15 
79. Waverley by Sir Walter Scott  Completed July 20, 2016
80. Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson 
81. Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
82. Kim by Rudyard Kipling
83. Pygmilion by George Bernard Shaw Completed July 25, 2015
84. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman Completed 2/23/16
85. Germinal by Emile Zola Completed 8/22/15
86. Mary Poppins in Cherry Tree Lane by P.L. Travers
87. Mary Poppins and the House Next Door by P.L. Travers
88. The White Company by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Completed May 1, 2018
89. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Completed February 25, 2015
90. East of Eden by John Steinbeck 
91. Moby-Dick; or, The Whale by Herman Melville
92. Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring
93. The Bridge on the River Kwai by Pierre Boulle Completed August 27, 2014
94. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
95. A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry Completed November 8, 2017
96. The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells Completed March 4, 2014
97. The Warden by Anthony Trollope Completed March 16, 2014
98. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton Completed 3/15/16
99. All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren Completed 5/24/16 
100. The Children of Húrin by J.R.R. Tolkien Completed March 22, 2014
101. The Book of Lost Tales by J.R.R. Tolkien COMPLETED January, 16 2015
102. A Midsummer's Night Dream by William Shakespeare Completed 4/18/16
103. The Red and the Black by Stendhal

I know I have an ornery 103 but that's a back up giving me three expendable books. ;) 

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