10 books to read...aka: my summer reading list

So, in the summertime, this is what I do:
Eat.
Read.
Sleep.
Read.
Work.
Read.
Work-out.
Read.
Read some more.
Repeat.

All while NOT getting tan. (My skin thinks it's a sin to be anything a shade darker than "pale".)

Seriously though.
I will read more than 10 books this summer.
Let's face it.
I've already read 10 books this summer....so what's 10 more? ;)


Problem: I've got like, 90 books that I want to read...and I feel like I should make myself read a variety of books because otherwise I'll get stuck in the Young Adult Fiction section of the library and NEVER LEAVE.


So, there's some fiction, non-fiction, serious, funny, dystopian, romance, classic, new, etc., etc., etc.....because that's life.
It's also what my bookshelf looks like.



1. Station Eleven: It looks like tragedy on paper. I love tragedy. How bad can it be?




2. All the Light We Cannot See: I'm going to need tissues for this one.

3. #8, #9, #10 of The Ranger's Apprentice: ONLY THREE LEFT...and I must finish this series...I think they should just make it into one ginormous book. (Because that would be AMAZING...)




4. Sense and Sensibility: one must have a classic on every book list...

5. I Was Here: this one looks sad too...what is it with me and sad books?

6. The Princess Bride: I know the movie, but not the book, and that's a problem that needs fixing.

7. Legend: This one is in the stack by my bed. As we speak. Like, I have to read this or I will be forever ashamed.

8. Earth Girl: Also in the stack, although I've never heard of it before the librarian recommended it...the description on the back reminds me of the Lunar Chronicles (which are excellent, by the way.)

9. Kisses from Katie: I have this prediction that this book will be very motivating for me to read because it's about missions. Also, personally I find her story extremely inspiring.

10. A C.S. Lewis book: either The Screwtape Letters or Mere Christianity...or both.... :D

11. BONUS: A Severe Mercy (mwahahahahaha...eleven books....I'm such a rebel...)

So, the other thing that I really want to do is a review for each of these. Something along the lines of "on a scale of BOOYEAH to heckno, where does this book fall?" sort of a thing...

*sigh* There's so much to look forward to.



keep it chill people,
sami




P.S. Just an FYI: This is part 1 of a 10 part series: The 10 Things. It's gonna be epic, so stay tuned.

noise with a capital "n"

written 2/1/2015

Absolute silence. Pin-drop silence. Sometimes even people moving around in the space around me or the next room over will break my concentration and then I’m done. That once-in-a-blue-moon writing session is over.

Silence helps me, but it’s also what gets in the way. Because absolute silence is hard to find. When I do find it, everything lines up in my head and marches down my arm and through my pen. Onto my page the ink flows in my semi-sloppy handwriting. It works, and the words fit together like the pieces of one of my favorite puzzles.

But then Noise – with a capital “N” – breaks the precious reverie.

Sometimes just leaving the page to sit will help. Sometimes I simply get fed up with the content. So I have to let it sit - like Mom's sourdough - and fume, and ferment, and fester. And when I get back to it, it come spilling out like children from their bedrooms on Christmas morning, shouting and gleefully chaotic. 

Of course, if I only ever wrote when I had complete silence, I would never write anything. Pin-drop silence is what I write BEST in. Sometimes semi-silence, or anti-silence work just as well.

For example, as I type this I am surrounded by the faint sound waves of my parents voices and the television. Super Bowl Sunday was never a “celebrated” holiday in our house, but we still watch it. Or, at least, my parents and my little sister do. I am a non-football-fan.  But the almost quiet is nice to write in right now. It keeps the extra thoughts in my brain down to a minimum, drowning out the unimportant voices.

Now, anti-silence, that, THAT must be used with the utmost caution. I mean, noisy coffee shops should only be the writing environment for the fiercest battle scenes and the driest tears. For drowning noise is that which forces me into my deepest concentration. The anti-silence strangles all my voices except the one that I focus on, the one that I am typing from, the speaker. The anti-silence is my bouncer, keeping everything in line until I can deal with it myself.

Each type of noise and anti-noise has its place. But my best, deepest writing comes when I can hear my own breath, my own heartbeat, and I know that I am alone. That’s the only time when I can truly be myself, and let the voice in my hand and heart and head and soul speak what it will.

seven million reasons

life.

is busy.

with seven

million

things to do.

busy busy busy

relentlessly

booked schedules

rushed meals

loud music on car rides

because there must be a release.

seven million things to do

none of them important

none of them world-altering

life-changing

important.

seven million reasons

to stop

run away

and never return

to this life of busy.

but stay -

do the

seven million things

that you hate

but are as comfortable as

playing scales on the piano

cleaning the coffee pot

taking out the garbage

or making sure your shoes are clean before coming indoors.

things that have to happen so that

the world makes sense

seven million things

that might keep us from living.

they all have an antidote.

the cranky person: skip on the sidewalk

the sleepy eyes: converse with the barista

the boredom during a vacation: go skydiving, because you can

the pining: do it alone. you won't always be able to

the tired days: roll windows down, turn music up

the frustration: remember peace, make it happen

the longing to do something right: you know how to do it.

 

the only thing stopping you

are the seven million little things

that we think keep us from living.

but are in fact,

the very seven million reasons

that we do live.