Good morning everyone. Although to some, it might be afternoon al
ready. This is going to be a new feature that I hope to incorporate into my blog. As you all know, it’s very difficult for me to keep up with reading and reviewing during the school year so there might be days where I throw one of these out to discuss bookish things that have either come up in my life or that I have noticed on other people’s blogs. This feature is in large part provided by One Person’s Journey Through a World of Books. She pioneered the idea and I just fell in love with it.
This morning, my nonfat vanilla latte and I are tired. I stayed up way too late last night! After work (I get off of work at 2AM) I felt restless and decided to settle down with an episode of the new show NCIS: Los Angelese. I’m a big fan of the original NCIS and decided to give this show a shot. Loved it!
As far as books go, I’m falling way far behind. I’ve barely scratched the surface of Bitch: In Praise of Difficult Wome and I have two Library books eagerly awaiting my attention: Lost in Austen by Shannon Hale and Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin. Both are fulfilling pieces of challenges that I hope to finish sometime in the future! I also have a copy of Dan Brown’s latest book The Lost Symbol. It will be my first Dan Brown read and I’m excited because I’ve heard that it’s in part about the Masons and I love mason speculative history. I guess my American History teacher instilled a lasting love for all things American history, even made up stuff. Needless to say, I will hopefully be in bed reading for most of the weekend. And not just for fun. My Shakespeare class has a ton of reading. Not only do I have to have to read Much Ado About Nothing in its entirety by Tuesday but I also have 100 or so pages of background reading also due. Don’t get me wrong, it’s interesting stuff, but it’s just a lot! On top of that I have some political science cases to read for my comparative politics class, some theory stuff for my minority politics class, and some poetry for my romantic lit class. Wow, the year is starting off so quickly! I guess I forget how fast quarters go by.
Still, I am in love with all my classes. They are going to be tough, but I know I’m going to learn a lot. I hate to admit it but I’m extremely ignorant when it comes to other countries and their political systems so I’m hoping to learn a lot from comparative politics. And I’m super excited to take my first college Shakespeare class. After all, he was arguably the most influential English writer ever. He changed English language so much and his plays are fun to read. Romantic literature isn’t super exciting for me because this isn’t my first dabble into it, but I’m sure that I’ll learn a lot from the class. My teacher is this adorable old Jesuit priest and he has some amazing insights. And minority politics? Hello, discussion about this kind of stuff is why I declared a political science minor! So classes will be awesome and you will undoubtedly hear more about them in my morning meanderings as I take some time to sit down with my latte and discuss my morning thoughts, whatever they might be!
This weekend, in celebration of my birthday which was last week (August 16), my parents took me up to the city (San Francisco) to see Wicked. It was absolutely delightful. I haven’t been to a musical in a while and I forgot how much fun they can be. The show was funny, the music was delightful, the stage was beautiful and the special effects were phenomenal. The story was extremely enjoyable: an interesting take on the classical story of Dorothy and Oz. I have the book, but haven’t had a chance to read it yet – seeing the musical definitely makes me want to dig in sooner than later. I’m sure that many of you have already read it or other books by Gregory Maguire – any insights on the book you’d like to share? My sister read it, but didn’t have much to say afterward (extremely disappointing!) so I’m looking for some thoughts on the book before I get around to reading it myself.
Justice Jennifer Reads 
Sunday Salon
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged August 2009, Discussion, Kreativ Blogger Award, Musings, My Top Blog Commenters Award, Sunday Salon, Zombie Chicken Award on August 30, 2009| 16 Comments »
This marks my very first Sunday Salon. For a couple weeks, I have been reading all your wonderful Sunday discussions and decided that I would give it a shot. After all, we all have book-ish topics on our minds. Some come up in our reading, others come up just because life throws them our way.
This Sunday I’m coming to you from my campus library, where I work. We have an pretty cool automated retrieval system and right now I’m manning that. Luckily, since school is not in session, the back room is quiet and calm leaving me some free time to catch up with all the posts piling up in my google reader and hopefully (later on) some reading. This week has been insanely hectic leaving me little time to read. I’ve had work, rock climbing, moving, and social obligations all week that left me with very little spare time. Because of my hectic schedule, I’ve fallen horribly behind on my reading schedule. Currently, I’m about halfway through How to Buy a Love of Reading. I hope to make the time to finish it tonight after I finish unpacking all my stuff.
My hectic schedule along with the book have led me to think about people’s excuses for not reading. Sure, we all lead hectic lives with insanely busy schedules, but does that really mean that we don’t have time for reading? Or does it just imply that we don’t make time for reading? Some might say the two are the same, but I beg to differ, I believe they are very different. Last year, I claimed I was too busy to do any reading aside from what was assigned to me in class. After all, I was taking four classes, participating in a research project on the side, and working two jobs. Some days, I barely had time for sleeping. When I was complaining about this to a friend and co-worker, she insisted that I could make time for reading since it is something I enjoy. She suggested setting aside time every day for reading even if it was only half an hour. This summer, that is exactly what I have been doing. If I don’t have time during the day to delve into a book, I read for half an hour before bed (frequently longer because I just can’t put the book down, who needs sleep anyway, right?). After all, reading slowly is better than not reading at all.
Another wonderful thing I have to share with you (which I’m incredibly excited about!) are some awards! Yes, I have received some blogging awards. Can you believe that people are actually reading this and enjoying it? I can’t! Nevertheless, I am grateful and excited to both accept and pass on the awards I have gotten this week.
I received the Kreativ Blogger Award from Amy Reads Good Books. After getting this award, you have to name seven favorite things and pass the award on to seven awesome bloggers. This sounds both fun and easy!
Seven Favorite Things
Seven Awesome Bloggers ( although really, you’re all awesome bloggers!)
I received the My Top Blog Commenter Award from Take Me Away. I find this award to be very important because I so deeply appreciate any and all comments that I get from you. So I’m passing this on to:
The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the zombie chicken – excellence, grace and persistence in all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their inspiring words. As a recipient of this world-renowned award, you now have the task of passing it on to at least 5 other worthy bloggers. Do not risk the wrath of the zombie chickens by choosing unwisely or not choosing at all…
I received this rather amusing award from Take Me Away and am excited to pass it on to the following bloggers:
Happy Sunday, Happy Reading, and Happy Blogging friends. I’d love to hear about your favorite blogs, your excuses not to read, and your Sunday plans, reads, and thoughts.
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