Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Books You've Read During The Lifespan Of Your Blog

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme started at The Broke And The Bookish.

This week's topic is the top ten favorite books you've read during the lifespan of your blog.

I've linked to my original post for each book.

 Ready Player One

     Across The Universe

    An Everlasting Meal

      Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

       Almost Perfect

    The Hunger Games

      The Riders of The Apocalypse series

       My Life In France

      Ballad

   The Fault In Our Stars 

What have been your favorites since you've been blogging?

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

I nearly squealed when I saw The Fault In Our Stars on the library shelf. I had heard so many good things about it. No lie, one of the best books I've ever read.
So Hazel has cancer. At one point everything thought she was going to die but the Miracle happened and she's better. Not going to live forever better but going to live longer than she thought. Hazel's not a typical teen. She carries an oxygen tank. She gets winded easily so she's limited on a lot of activities. Hazel also thinks this as good as life gets. She gets up, watches reality tv, hangs out with her parents and goes to a support group for other kids with cancer. Then she meets Augustus and her life changes.
Once you read that this a book about kids with cancer, you might have some preconceived notions. You might think that it's going to be depressing or Hazel and Augustus will inspire you with their story and you'll be changed by their inspiration. That last part might be true but not in the way you'd think. The Fault In Our Stars is real. Hazel and Augustus are teens. They act like teens. They are moody, grumpy, happy, and thoughtful. Oh and they have cancer. I didn't feel sorry for Hazel or Augustus because they had cancer. In fact cancer doesn't stop Augustus from doing the things he wants to do. Nor does he let it stop his friend, Isaac, even when cancer takes a toll on his body.
Augustus is awesome. I adored his attitude. I tend to be more like Hazel, cautious, a little distrustful. Augustus is always grand. I love that word, grand. How Augustus sees Hazel is a thing of beauty. The love story in this book is amazing. How two people find each and despite life succeed at making each other happy and loved.
Green's writing is fantastic. This is my first solo Green book. I read Will Grayson, Will Grayson which I loved. I can't wait to read more of Green's work. How he describes certain scenes was wonderful. I laughed out loud more than once. I was proud of myself for not crying. But the next day I got sad. Not only was I done with The Fault In Our Stars but the end finally hit me. I didn't shed any tears but I did feel the gravity of the characters lives hit me.
Go out and read this book immediately. You will not be disappointed. Others who shared their thoughts: Southern Girl Reads, Good Books & Good Wine, Book Journey, Love, Laughter, and A Touch of Insanity, Library Queue, BookBorne, You've GOTTA Read This, Books. Lists. Life, Pub Writes, Devourer of Books, The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader, Jenn Musing, GReads!, The Lost Entwife, and The Written World.

Weekend Cooking: The Homemade Pantry by Alana Chernila

I added The Homemade Pantry to my library queue because I'm always looking to make store bought items at home. Frequently I don't have the time but a girl can dream about the days where she can make her own pasta and crackers, right?
Sadly, this book is due back at the library today and I didn't get a chance to make any of the recipes from it. Such is life right? Well I decided I would try one of the car snacks (The Sweet Bar) because I had all the ingredients handy as well as it was a quick not time consuming recipe.

My bars didn't stay together. But they were delicious anyway. I used honey since I didn't have the golden syrup. Jeff took some of the bar and topped his ice cream with it. I'll probably break some up over yogurt for breakfast.
I did find Alana's Pinterest account. Follow her for plenty of food related pins!






Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page. For more information, see the welcome post.
This was my seventh read for the Foodies Read 2 Challenge.

Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

I've been wanting to read Amy & Roger's Epic Detour since it came out. I hear so many good things about it and I wasn't disappointed. I loved Amy & Roger's Epic Detour.
Let me just say I love road trips. I wish I took more of them. I would love to take a trip across the United States like Amy and Roger. I think that would be so much fun.
I loved Amy and Roger from the start. Two people leaving behind someone that meant a lot to them, heading toward someplace neither of them wanted to go. No wonder they took a detour! I was really rooting for Amy. She's lost and so vulnerable. I just wanted to hug her. And Roger. What a cutie! I really liked him. I loved how Roger and Amy's relationship developed. I liked how things built from virtual strangers to more.
One tiny thing I didn't like was that Amy's friend Julia kept reaching out to Amy and there was a lack of resolution there. I felt like that just ended. It didn't feel right to me. I also wish there would have been more interaction between Amy and her brother, Charlie. Man, they had some stuff to work out too. There's a tiny bit but I did want more. The book is fairly long so I can see why not everything made it in. Maybe it's just cause I liked Amy and Roger so much. I hated to see the book end. Perhaps a sequel? I'd love to read more about Amy and Roger at some point.
I loved the playlists they included but sadly I didn't know most of the bands! I'm about twice the age of Matson's target audience. I wish I didn't have to rush the book back to the library. I would have liked to listen to some of the songs Amy and Roger listen too. I definitely wanted to rush out and take a road trip. My ideal road trip music would include the Glee soundtrack and a lot of Black Eyed Peas and Pitbull.
I highly recommend Amy and Roger's Epic Detour. I loved the road trip aspect as well as the characters. Definitely one of my favorites this year. Others who shared their thoughts on Amy & Roger's Epic Detour: The Sweet Bookshelf, Melanie’s Musings, Good books and good wine, Books from Bleh to Basically Amazing, and The perpetual Page Turner.

Pin It And Did It: No Bake Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

I'm counting this for the challenge despite it not turning out all that great.
I pinned this no bake chocolate chip granola bar recipe because I'm always looking for snacks and treats for Tai. Now, that I'm trying to make more food for us to take to work, Tai likes having something like a muffin or a granola bar for breakfast. I pinned these granola bars because they seemed easy and had all the ingredients I usually have on hand.

Source: laurenslatest.com via Linda on Pinterest

Here's mine:

Now, I do think I made them too thin but they don't taste that yummy to me. I think I might have put too much vanilla. But they lack much nutritional oomph for me to make them again. I'm on the hunt for another granola bar to make.
Do you have a granola bar recipe to share with me?

Library Loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!

My name is Linda and I have an addiction to library books. Is there a 12 step program I can join?

The Peach Keeper

I've been wanting to read this one since I read about it on Staci's blog. 

Partials

I've heard good this about this so I thought I'd give a shot.

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in A Ship of Her Own Making

I've been wanting to read this one forever. I was very happy to spot this one on the shelf.

The Metaphysical Club

When people know you read a lot of books, you get a lot of book recommendations. One of my coworkers said this was her favorite book this year.

The Clutter Cure

When I spotted this one on Eva's loot, I immediately added to it my library queue.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

Again another one I wanted to read because all the cool kids are.

Two At The Table

While I like having leftovers sometimes I just want enough for the two of us. I made the Hazelnut-crusted salmon the other night. Delicious.

I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti

Another I spied on the shelf and remembered wanting to read.

Julie & Julia

I've wanted to read this one for a long time despite Julie annoying me in the movie version. We'll see how print Julie compares to movie Julie.

Let's Cook Japanese Food

I spotted this one on the shelf too and couldn't say no.

Good Eats: The Early Years

I love Good Eats and Alton Brown. I'm looking forward to finding some good recipes in this one.

Make the Bread, Buy the Butter

I've been wanting to read this one for ages. 

Whew! That was a lot.

What did you get this week?

Top Ten Tuesday: Book Romances That You Think Would Make It In The Real World

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme started at The Broke And The Bookish.

Today's Topic: Book Romances That I Think Would Make It In the Real World

Anna and Etienne from Anna And The French Kiss

These two are too adorable not to make it. I'm rooting for them!

Paige and Lucas from Women Of The Otherworld

I loved their courtship and I think they are a good match.
Alexis and Lord Maccon from The Parasol Protectorate

Their sense of humor and unusual peculiarities make them an excellent match.

Daniel and Lucy from My Name Is Memory

Another couple I'm rooting for. I'm hoping Brashares continues their story. 

Logan and Sage from Almost Perfect

I'd like to think they get their HEA.

Kit and Nat from The Witch on Blackbird Pond

One of my favorite romances from when I was young. Just so darn sweet.

Ron and Hermione from Harry Potter

I remember when I started reading the series, my friend and I would discuss who Hermione was going to wind up with. I said Harry and she said Ron. I was so wrong. 

Amy and Roger from Amy & Roger's Epic Detour

My current favorite couple. After a cross country road trip, what couldn't they handle?

Jessica and Marcus from The Jessica Darling series

I don't know how these two kids couldn't stay together. Probably one of the best literary couples ever!
Rhett and Scarlett from Gone With The Wind

These two deserve each other. Actually I think they might be the ones that get divorced and remarried a  few times!

Congrats Jamie and Will! 

Better by Mistake by Alina Tugend

I put Better by Mistake on my tbr list after spying it on my Goodreads feed. I struggle with making mistakes and letting them go. I was hoping to get more information on why it's ok to make mistakes but got a lot of info on why people make mistakes.
Tugend did a lot of research for this book. She talks about big mistakes (planes crashing, poisonings) and small mistakes (dropping a glass, sending the wrong email). There's also a lot of research on how people feel about making mistakes. Surprise, no one likes to make mistakes. No one likes their mistakes pointed out. A lot of people will blame others and refuse to take responsibility for their mistakes. I enjoyed knowing how some will go to great lengths to cover up mistakes but people for the most part want others to be honest about their mistakes. It makes them feel better. Also apologizing for your mistake helps people feel better. Not the mistake maker but the person who was on the receiving end of the mistake. Yet in the end I didn't understand why it was ok to make mistakes. Yes, some people learn from their mistakes if they take the opportunity to understand what happened. But the majority of mistakes can be situational or accidental where there isn't really a cause. Better by Mistake made me think about my mistakes and talk them through more than before I read the book so I guess that's something. Bottom line, this isn't a self help book. It's a nonfiction book discussing why mistakes happen and sometimes they lead to improvements that help people.
Overall Better By Mistake was a good read if you like reading about research studies (which I do). Others who shared their thoughts on Better by Mistake: Readaholic, Man of La Book, and Blogcritics.

Weekend Cooking: High Flavor Low Labor by JM Hirsch

One of the perks of my job is that I get to go out into the community and give presentations on the services the organization I work for offers. For the next 2 months, the majority of these presentations are at my county libraries. Since libraries are one of my favorite places, I'm very happy about this. My library loot pile will be insanely huge but I love getting to go to the library two or three times a week for work.
After one of my presentations this week, I took a moment to browse the stacks at the library before leaving. They had a large selection of cookbooks for such a small library. When I noticed High Flavor Low Labor on the shelf. I'm always looking for flavorful, tasty meals that don't take hours to cook. After work, I'm pressed for time and love quick fast meals. Lucky for me High Flavor Low Labor is filled with such recipes. While leafing through the book, I noticed a recipe for Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce. I had some chicken chilling in the fridge and decided that would be that night's meal.

But I don't own a grill and didn't feel like threading all the chicken through skewers. So I dumped the peanut marinated chicken in a pan and baked it for 35 minutes. It came out tender and delicious. I made some couscous and poured a little more of the peanut sauce over the chicken. Delicious.
I really recommend High Flavor Low Labor. I spotted a few other recipes I want to make (Four Cheese Baked Gnocci and Red Curry Beef for example). And if you were a fan of Hirsch's Venturesome Vegetarian Cooking, this book has few vegetarian friendly meals. Hirsch had been a vegetarian until recently when he started working at the AP and began editing meat filled meals. 

I also made these Hamburger Kababs yesterday. Another great grill recipe!

This was my sixth read for the Foodies Read 2 Challenge.

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page. For more information, see the welcome post.

Pin It And Did It: Hamburger Kebabs

I actually pinned these Hamburger Kebabs fairly recently. I pin a lot of Kalyn's recipes but this was the first one I tried. So glad I did. It was delicious.

Source: kalynskitchen.com via Linda on Pinterest

Here's a pic of mine:

I recently inherited a food processor but it wasn't clean when I went to make this dish so I chopped everything by hand. So you can see I didn't chop everything finely. It didn't make much of a difference to me. I thought it was yummy anyway!
This would be a great one for the grill but we don't have a grill so I cooked these in the oven, turning and basting every 5 minutes. These kebabs were done in about 15-20 minutes.
I would make tzatziki sauce for next time though!

Library Loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!



Remember last week how I said I wasn't going to request more books? Yeah that didn't really happen. I requested a couple and picked up one off the shelves.

The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance

I had to reloot this one from a few weeks ago.

Lola and the Boy Next Door

When I spotted this on the library shelf, I had to pick it up.

Spellbound

After finishing Waking The Witch, I had to continue Savannah's story. 

What did you get this week?

Top Ten Tuesday: Your Posts That Would Give The BEST Picture of YOU

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme started at The Broke And The Bookish.


Here are the top ten posts that I think best show who I am. 

My review of Ready Player One Probably one of my favorite books.

Exploring Ballard I love exploring Seattle and trying different restaurants.

Nervous Nelly Probably one of my most honest posts about my anxiety. 

Learn More About Us After I quit blogging about my wedding, I wanted to share more about me and my husband.

Friday Truths I love these random posts were I spill what's in my head.

35 Things I know to be true Another post full of random things I learned over the years.

Easy Roast Beef Probably my favorite crockpot meal ever. So easy and delicious. 

An Everlasting Meal A perfect combination of great writing and cooking inspiration.  

Awesome Kitchen Tips I shared my favorite kitchen tips. 

A Look Back at Our Wedding in Two Parts I love talking about our wedding so this was a fun post. 

What posts best show who you are?

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

I can't believe it's taken me so long to read Shiver. I adore Stiefvater's other books and I love me some werewolves so Shiver (and the rest of the trilogy) should have been at the top of my to be read pile. Anyway, I loved Shiver and can't wait to get my hands on the second book.
So Sam is a wolf and Grace is human but they have shared a bond since they were young. They've been mutually enamored of each other but kept their distances due to Sam's wolfiness. Sam is so sweet with his yellow eyes and floppy black hair. Grace is smart and super focused. She's so practical and sometimes a little obtuse. But they are teenagers and they fall in love. If ever there was a book that was an ode to the beginning of love, this would be it. Grace and Sam are totally fixated on each other. To me it was adorable. I was just as in love of Sam and Grace as they were of each other. I think Stiefvater captured that feeling that this other person has become your whole world. Plus the writing is so lyrical and poetic at times it made falling in love with Shiver so easy.
Overall, excellent start to the series. I'm forcing myself to wait on getting Linger (the second in the series) in order to conquer Mt Library Loot. But I hope to finish the series this year. Others who shared their thoughts on Shiver: Wicked Wonderful Words, Rex Robot Reviews, The Girly Bookworm, Girls on YA Books, and Mrs Jensen's Book Reviews.

The Thorn and The Blossom by Theodora Goss

I picked up The Thorn and The Blossom because it looked interesting. I mean it's an accordion book. One story told from two sides. I thought the premise was interesting but the story lacked oomph.
Both Evelyn and Brendan get a chance to tell the story. It doesn't matter which one you read first. The story is kind of the same either way but it was good to have both perspectives. The story was simple. Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy finds girl 10 years later. I liked how Goss also weaved the story of Sir Gawain and The Green Knight. It added an element of history, made the story seem timeless. But Evelyn and Brendan weren't terribly interesting to me. Despite the shortness of the story (82 pages), there was enough characterization and backstory but I didn't really feel anything for either of them.
Overall, an okay read, nothing amazing. Others who shared their thoughts on The Thorn and The Blossom: The Sweet Bookshelf, Fluttering Butterflies, and Things Mean a Lot.

July Book Review

Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink
As Shadows Fade by Colleen Gleason
The Maid by Kimberly Cutter
Blackout by Mira Grant
The Girl In The Clockwork Collar by Kady Cross
A Million Suns by Beth Revis
Locke & Key vol 3 by Joe Hill
Locke & Key vol 4 by Joe Hill
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
The Opposite of Love by Julie Buxbaum
Waking The Witch by Kelley Armstrong
The Thorne and The Blossom by Theodora Goss (review coming tomorrow)


Best month this year! Twelve read filled with great reads. I wish I could read this many every month. 

Stats:

Fill In The Gaps YTD: 0 (None this month)

War Through The Generations YTD: 2 (None this month)

The Western Genre Challenge YTD: 2 (None this month)

Foodies Read 2 Challenge YTD: 5 (None this month)
Total to date: 64

Library Loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!

Just one for me this week. I'm trying to stop requesting books from the library. It's so hard! I keep hearing about more I want to read. My tbr list is getting longer. I have plenty to read right now so hopefully I can conquer Mt Library Loot (20!) and maybe read a few of my own books before the end of summer.

Amulet vol 3

I've been loving this graphic novel series. 

What did you get this week?