It's Monday and I'm Back and Reading!

After a two month or so hiatus from doing the "It's Monday and I'm Reading" posts with Book Journey I'm back kicking and reading! As I mentioned last week in a blog post my last day of work at the pig farm was last Friday and next week I'll be starting school up again. I did get a good amount of reading done this summer and if you have been following me on Goodreads (which I encourage you to do! Follow this link!) then you'll have seen all I've been reading. However, here's what is going on with me and my reading right now.

Currently Reading

1. Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
2. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
3. Hamlet by William Shakespeare (audiobook) 

Coming Soon (Hopefully)

1. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (audiobook)
2. Macbeth by William Shakespeare (audiobook)
3. The Bridge on the River Kwai by Pierre Boulle

What I read this summer

1. The Princess Bride by William Goldman
2. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
3. Little Dorritt by Charles Dickens
4. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
5. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham (re-read)
6. The Book of Lost Tales Part 1 by J.R.R. Tolkien
7. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
8. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell (audiobook)
9. World War 1 by Richard J. Maybury
10. As You Like It by William Shakespeare (audiobook)
11. The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang
12. Henry V by William Shakespeare (audiobook)

I got sick one day at the pig farm so I lay around all that day sleeping, reading or listening to audiobooks so I got a good chunk done then. Overall it has been a pretty good summer for reading and I'm only a little behind on Goodreads for my year's goal. If you haven't been keeping up with me summer be sure to check out this post about my new pet
Hope y'all had a great summer and I look forward to hearing about what you've been reading!
P.S. The number spun for the Classics Club spin was a 17 so I'll be reading H.G. Wells' book The Time Machine, a book I am intrigued to read. :)

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Classics Club Spin #2

Time for another Classics Club Spin! I'm going to make a list of twenty books off of my Classics Club book list and then on Monday the number that is spun I'm going to read that book off my list. I'll then have to read that book by October 6th. We'll see how it goes!

Books I'm excited about! 
1) Pygmilion Bernard Shaw
2) Armadale by Wilkie Collins
3) The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope
4) The Importance of Being Ernest by Anthony Trollope
5) Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring
Book's I'm Neutral About
6) For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
7) As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
8) An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
9) Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
10) Bridge on the River Kwai Pierre Boulle
Books I'm Dreading Reading
11) Shirley by Charlotte Bronte
12) Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
13) Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevesky
14) Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
15) War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Books I'm Intrigued to Read
16) Dracula by Bram Stoker
17) The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
18) Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
19) Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
20) The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Piggy Peeps Post #5- The Last One!

Today was my last day of work at the pig farm! I have one week off and then I'll be starting back up at school for my last year of nursing school. Towards the end I was actually really coming to enjoy the work. I finally decided that pigs can be cute sometimes. I loved the little Dalmatian piglets. :)
My last day I mentioned to my cousin that I wanted to ask and see if I could get one of the baby piglets to take home. I loved cuddling the little newborn piglets so I wanted one of those. However, as my cousin reminded it was unlikely they would let me take home a piglet. We went and took our break a little earlier and while we were sitting in the break room in walked one of the employees just randomly holding a pig. Turns out that it had climbed out of the truck when we were weaning and had been running outside ever since. However, because it had been outside and could have been contaminated we had to kill it. A quick phone call to the boss and the piglet was mine! It was incredibly providential how it came about and I'm still shocked that I'm currently the owner of a piglet! My plan is to raise it until it is old enough to butcher and then send it to a meat locker. It's name is Wilbur Laszlo Psmith (the P is silent as in psychology). Wilbur because of Charlotte's Web, Laszlo from Doctor Who, and Psmith from Leave it to Psmith.
We'll see how it goes. :)

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Top Ten Books I'd Give to Readers Who Have Never Read...

Top Ten Tuesday's theme this week is the top ten books I'd give to readers who have never read X genre. I'm going to just give a couple for each of my favorite genres. :)

Science Fiction

1. Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card
2. Dune by Frank Herbert

Fantasy

1. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
2. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Historical Novels

1. The Cat of Bubastes by G.A. Henty
2. Coronation of Glory by Deborah Meroff

Classics

1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
2. Little Dorritt by Charles Dickens

Mystery

1. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
2. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

I know The Lord of the Rings isn't an easy read for many people but it is the defining fantasy work of literature and in my opinion an amazing book! :) I would recommend these books to any and all. They are some of my favorites and I hope they become some of your favorites too. :)

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Top Ten (eight) Authors I Own the Most Books From

I'm still working on my personal library and it's really coming along.  A few years ago I'm not sure I could have said much for it. Years of my family having thousands of books gave me excuses not to by buy books. I'm so glad though that I've started building up my library so when I have kids of my own I'll be able to share my love of reading with them. I've only included my top eight as there are only eight authors that I have more than one of their books.

1. C.S. Lewis- Eight books. I have all of his Chronicles of Narnia series but two copies of my favorite- The Horse and His Boy. :)
2. Agatha Christie- Seven books. Various titles. :)
3. Jane Austen- I have all of her books including her unfinished works at the end of my copy of Persuasion. 
4. J.R.R. Tolkien- Five books. I have a copy of The Hobbit, two copies of The Two Towers and one copy each of The Fellowship of the Ring and The Return of the King. 
5. William Shakespeare- Four books. I have a copy of a collection of Shakespeare stories and then one copy each of The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing and The Taming of the Shrew.
6. Charles Dickens- Three books. I have David Copperfield, Barnaby Rudge and Our Mutual Friend. 
7. Brian Jacques- Two books. I have Mariel of Redwall and The Sable Queen.
8. Mark Twain- Two books. I have Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. 

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Top Ten Characters I would want with me on a Deserted Island

Hi y'all! I hope you're enjoying your summer. Here in Kansas right now the weather has been amazingly cool and I'm really liking it as the house I am staying at on the farm doesn't have a working air conditioner yet. :( However, I know the heat is going to catch up with us soon.
Today for top the Tuesday the theme is top ten characters I would want with me on a deserted island. There are lots of options obviously as there are so many memorable characters from literature so picking a worthy group of ten was not easy but here is my list. :)

1. Samwise Gamgee- I will always remember Sam as the most loyal and caring of friends and I think that would be a something I would want on a deserted island. :) From J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings
2. Ronald Eustace Psmith (The P is silent as in psychic, ptarmigan, phthisis)- Because he would always make me laugh. :) From P.G. Wodehouse's Leave it to Psmith
3. Gandalf- It's always useful to have a wizard around... just in case. :) From J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings
4. Jeeves- Because he is very adept at just floating through life making everything better and coming up with solutions to impossible situations. :) From P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster series
5. Henry Tilney- Because it would be ideal to have a pastor there on a deserted island and he's my favorite pastor from literature and one of my favorite male characters from literature. He too will always make me laugh. :) From Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey
6. Sherlock Holmes- Very clever. The kind of person who could think up a solution to get off the island. As would Jeeves of course. The possibilities of Jeeves and Sherlock Holmes together makes the mind race! From Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes
7. Mr. Knightley- Along with Tilney he would always keep me accountable and not be afraid to tell me if I do something wrong. From Jane Austen's Emma
8. Dr. Watson- Good asset for Holmes plus a doctor will be handy for any injuries that my nursing skills can't handle. :) From Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes
9. Robinson Crusoe- He has experience with deserted island so he can help me out. :) From Daniel Defoe's Robin Crusoe
10. Aragorn- To protect me from all of the horrors of the island! :) From J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings 

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Top Ten Favorite TV Shows

Today for Top Ten Tuesday you can chose your top ten favorites of a non book story like movies or TV shows. Since my top the favorite movies would be way to hard of a list to write, I'm going with my top ten favorite TV shows because I watch less of those. :) These aren't in any particular order except of course Doctor Who is my favorite. :) Enjoy.

1. Numer one is definitely Doctor Who. Even though I only started watching it last fall it has quickly become my favorite. You can read about my love of all things Doctor Who here. 
2. Monk 
3. Psych 
4. The Adventures of Merlin
5. Human Target
6. The Andy Griffith Show
7. Castle
8. Foyle's War
9. Sherlock
10. Call the Midwife and Stargate Atlantis- I'm putting these at the end because to be fair I haven't finished these. I'm part way through the first season of Stargate Atlantis and I only ever watched the first episode of Call the Midwife, which I loved! Hopefully I'll finish these up soon. 

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Second Liebster Award

Sophia from Ravens and Writing Desks nominated me for my second Liebster Award! Thank you Sophia! Since I've already done the Liebster award once I'm not going to nominate more people but I'll go ahead and answer her questions and give the eleven facts about me. :)

11 Facts About Me

1. If I ever meet you and I am looking at your arms, don't be weirded out, I'm just imagining putting an IV in your veins... okay, be weirded out. ;)
2. When watching Saving Mr. Banks for the second time last evening, I remarked that I didn't think I could ever hand over the rights to a book I wrote and my cousins helpfully informed me that I would probably be like P.L. Travers. After getting over my initial reactions I realized she was probably right... in fact, the more I think about it the more I know she is. All of this to say that I am definitely a book purist. :)
3. I like raw cookie dough better than the baked cookie ever time. :)
4. I love Doctor Who and it is my strong opinion that there is a Doctor Who quote for every occasion and I like to demonstrate this at every available opportunity. 
5. I'm working at a pig farm this summer and it is every bit as gross as it sounds. 
6. Jane Austen is my favorite author with my favorite book being Pride and Prejudice.
7. J.R.R. Tolkien is my second favorite author with The Lord of the Rings being my second favorite book. 
8. I'm definitely an introvert but I'm an extroverted introvert. It really depends on the level at which you know me as to how much I'll talk to you. My family and friends know how much I can talk once I get going. :)
9. I like tea and coffee and really no preference to either; it just depends on my mood. 
10. Crochet is one of my favorite hobbies but please don't mix it up with knitting... please... just don't. 
11. I love it out in the country and I would really hate to live in town. Traffic is the main reason... it stresses me out. 

Answers to Sophia's Questions

1. What color describes you and why? I took a color personality quiz so I could answer this question and it said blue. Here's it's reasoning. 

   MOTIVE [ Intimacy ]

   Blues are motivated by Intimacy. They seek to genuinely connect with others, and need to be understood and appreciated. Everything they do is quality-based. They are loyal friends, employers, and employees. Whatever or whomever they commit to is their sole (and soul) focus. They love to serve and give of themselves freely in order to nurture others' lives.

   ABOUT BLUE

   Blues have distinct preferences and have the most controlling personality. Their personal code of ethics is remarkably strong and they expect others to live honest, committed lives as well. They enjoy sharing meaningful moments in conversation as well as paying close attention to special life events (e.g. birthdays and anniversaries). Blues are dependable, thoughtful, and analytical; but can also be self-righteous, worry-prone, and moody. They are "sainted pit-bulls" who never let go of something or someone once they are committed. When you deal with a BLUE, be sincere and make a genuine effort to understand and appreciate them.
2. What is your favorite writing utensil? Normally I write on my computer but sometimes if class is boring I'll scribble down story ideas in my notebook instead of notes. :(
3. Do you take notes when you read? No. I'd say never but actually I just started reading Dickens' Our Mutual Friend and I decided to write down the characters' names so I wouldn't be as lost as I normally am in Dickens. :)
4. What color are your socks right now? I'm not wearing any socks right now but if I was they would be white. I'm not a fun socks person. ;)
5. Would you rather go zip lining or scuba diving? Since I've already been zip lining I think I would rather go scuba diving at this point in my life. 
6. What's your opinion on owls? Haha... not sure how to answer this. I'm not all into owls if that's what it means but I do like them. 
7. Do you wrap presents in wrapping paper or in gift bags with tissue? I try to do gift bags because then I don't have to mess with wrapping paper but I guess it depends on the present. 
8. What is your favorite reading spot? My bed or a chair, or a couch, or anywhere comfortable.
9. What does your handwriting look like? 
   
10. Would you rather be able to read any books you liked- but no rereads- or only read the works of one author of your choice? If you pick the latter- which author? Any book but no rereads I suppose.
11. Staples or paperclips? Or folded-over-corners? Either staples or paperclips depending on what it is. 

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Life and Piggy Peeps Post #4

Hello all of my dedicated and faithful blog readers. :) I know that I am pretty much only posting once a week at best and if you've been keeping up with my blog you know that is because I have no Wifi during the week. The only posts I have been putting out are the Top Ten Tuesdays and I have just been scheduling those. How is it going with my life though? Well I made it back from Costa Rica on the 21st which was an inspiring and challenging trip. I hope to be able to devote a whole blog post to it sometime in the future but for now I'll just say that I was struck over and over again by God's providence throughout the trip and was amazed at the passion for God's word in the missionaries we were working with. I hope to be able to go back next summer.
The pig farm job is getting better. I am a lot more used to it now and I'm to the point where I guess I could say I enjoy it. Honestly the best part of the day is coming home and watching Doctor Who with my cousins. It is their first time watching it and my second so it's tons of fun to see their reactions. We are in the fifth season right now. :)
I've been keeping up with my reading too. :) I finished Little Dorrit in the airplane and then borrowed and read Heart of Darkness from someone else while in Costa Rica since I didn't have any other books. Since then I've also read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and re-read The Wind in the Willows. Next I'm planning to read The Book of Lost Tales. I'm also still listening to North and South. I listened to a chapter from it today for the first time in a long time. I also watched the miniseries of Little Dorrit which was great! So hopefully someday you'll get reviews on all of those but for the most part they were all good... especially Little Dorrit and The Wind in the Willows.  
So that's what's going on with me. :) I hope you all had a great Independence Day and I'll write again (hopefully) soon! :)

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Top Ten Favorite Classic Books

Between not having Wifi during the week while I'm at work on the pig farm and going on my mission trip to Costa Rica I haven't really been churning out blog posts. Don't worry, this trend shouldn't continue once the summer is over. :) So for today I'm giving you a top ten tuesday and the theme is my favorite classic books. :)

1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen- Duh!
2. Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien- Again... duh!
3. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
4. Persuasion by Jane Austen
5. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
6. Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell
7. Leave it Psmith by P.G. Wodehouse
8. Little Dorritt by Charles Dickens
9. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
10. The Golf Omnibus by P.G. Wodehouse

Except the first two these books aren't in any specific order. I was kind of in a hurry making the list so don't sue me over the books I chose. These were just the favorites that first came to mind. :) I love most every classic work of literature these are just my favorites. 

Follow my blog with Bloglovin