What a Novel Idea!

Tonya, 22, USA. As a future librarian, I thought it would be a good idea to not only remind myself of all the books I have encountered but to be able to share those encounters with others. So, here are my thoughts (from a ginger librarian). Currently reading: The Museum of Intangible Things by Wendy Wunder

[wordsnquotes]

People who fall in love with books never really stop falling.

Rainbow Rowell (via wordsnquotes)

[natashasromanoff]

Getting inside Chris Evans’ head: What do you do or practice in order to continue your growth?

It’s a good question. I think the key word there is practice. I try to look at it as practice you know. My biggest struggle in my early twenties was believing I understood a concept or a certain philosophy that I subscribed to, but then consistently not living that way, not executing those beliefs and struggling and being depressed or you know disappointed in life. I knew better but I wasn’t living that way and that’s truly frustrating. And the problem is that’s all just ego. That’s ego sneaking in the back door. That’s you kind of… The part of your brain that thinks about the “story of Chris” wants to see that story in a certain light. But that’s just ego. That’s not real either.

[penguinteen]

We’re reading DREAMLAND for our summer of Sarah Dessen this week! Are you following along?

[thoughtsfromagingerlibraria-blog]

And maybe by imagining these futures we can make them real, and maybe not, but either way we must imagine them.

John Green, Paper Towns

[thoughtsfromagingerlibraria-blog]

The town was paper, but the memories were not.

John Green, Paper Towns

[thoughtsfromagingerlibraria-blog]

This fear bears no analogy to any fear I knew before. This is the basest of all possible emotions, the feeling that was with us before we existed, before this building existed, before the earth existed. This is the fear that made fish crawl out onto dry land and evolve lungs, the fear that teaches us to run, the fear that makes us bury our dead.

John Green, Paper Towns

[thoughtsfromagingerlibraria-blog]

Margo always loved mysteries. And in everything that came afterward, I could never stop thinking that maybe she loved mysteries so much that she became one.

John Green, Paper Towns

[disnerdherd]

[fy-perspectives]

I’ve learned that I still have a lot to learn.

Maya Angelou (via wordsnquotes)

[penguinteen]

We know you’re stoked about stocking your June TBR, but first make sure you didn’t miss out on these fantastic YA books that came out in May! 

1. Daughter of Deep Silence by Carrie Ryan: a revenge thriller that will give your summer beach reads an edge.

2. Immaculate by Katelyn Detweiler: what would you do if your best friend told you she was pregnant…even though she’s a virgin? 

3. The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh: every evening the Caliph of Khorasan weds a new bride, and every morning has her executed – until Shahrzad, who marries him to seek revenge, and makes it through the night.

4. Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour: a contemporary romance set in Hollywood that will warm your heart even more than the SoCal sunshine.

5. End Times by Anna Schumacher: an equally adrenaline-packed and steamy read set in Carbon City, Wyoming, where the townspeople believe the End Times have arrived. 

6. The Tenderness of Thieves by Donna Freitas: a psychological thriller with a dash of summer romance about a girl who falls for a bad boy with a secret that has the power to shatter her entirely. 

7. Fell of Dark by Patrick Downes: a gorgeous, literary dive into the minds of two boys whose minds are devolving into hallucinations.

8. Burn by Walter Jury and Sarah Fine: you’ll wonder what’s more fast-paced with this thrill ride: the action or the rate at which you’re turning the pages…

9. A Tale of Two Besties by Sophia Rossi: based off of real-life besties Sophia Rossi and Zooey Deschanel, you’ll need two copies of this book: one for you, one for your bff. 

10. A Time to Dance by Padma Venkatraman: an utterly breathtaking tale about a classical dance prodigy in India who has to start over after she gets a prosthetic leg.

11. Nearly Gone by Elle Cosimano: a finalist for the Edgar Allen Poe Award for Best Young Adult Novel AND the International Thriller Writers award, this super-suspenseful thriller follows DC trailer park resident Nearly Boswell, who accidentally confides in an undercover cop trailing her after a serial killer starts killing her classmates. 

12. Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen: Sarah Dessen’s 12th novel executes a kidnapping of your heart. It’s her darkest and most psychologically-probing yet, but filled with her signature themes of love, family, and self-discovery.

13. The Edge of the Shadows by Elizabeth George: The third book about Becca King’s life on Whidby Island, where she escaped to because a secret threatened her life…only to find that she wasn’t the only one with secrets.

Which books are you excited to read?

[thoughtsfromagingerlibraria-blog]

Harvesting the Heart

Jodi Picoult

I’m finally off my year-long hiatus that was block/student teaching, so let the summer reading begin! I’ve gone through a few books so far, but I’ll hopefully start putting up quotes and reviews with this one.

“Paige has only a few vivid memories of her mother, who abandoned her at five years old. Now, having left her father behind in Chicago for dreams of art school and marriage to an ambitious young doctor, she finds herself with a child of her own. But her mother's absence and shameful memories of her past force her to doubt whether she could ever be capable of bringing joy and meaning into the life of her child, gifts her own mother never gave. Harvesting the Heart is written with astonishing clarity and evocative detail, convincing in its depiction of emotional pain, love, and vulnerability, and recalls the writing of Alice Hoffman and Kristin Hannah. Out of Paige's struggle to find wholeness, Jodi Picoult crafts an absorbing novel peopled by richly drawn characters, and explores motherhood with a power and depth only she is capable of.” (via Goodreads)

Jodi Picoult is one of my favorite authors, even though there are a bunch of her books I haven’t read yet. I’ve just always enjoyed her style and her ability to tell a story that pulls at my moral heartstrings. Harvesting the Heart was a good marriage/family dilemma book, told from the viewpoints of Paige and Nicholas. When I started out, I really admired Paige’s approach to life and her determination to not check out on her family. I’ll admit I thought the start of her and Nicholas’s relationship was a tiny bit far-fetched for me, but as they grew in their marriage I grew to understand their love story. I ended up liking Nicholas more about halfway through the book, after Paige decides to leave her husband and baby Max behind to find the mother that abandoned her at age five. Nicholas’s frustrations and confusion were exactly what I was feeling when Paige left, so I began to have more empathy for his character. Mini-spoiler: Paige does return back to Nicholas, and both of them must decide whether forgiveness and honesty are enough to salvage their relationship. As always, Picoult delivers an ending that punches you in the gut, and this one left me wondering what happens next.

Now that I’ve read another one of Picoult’s fabulous stories, I really want to read more. I might pick up Picture Perfect next after I delve into some more YA lit (Paper Towns is next on my list!), but I’m excited to finally spend some time reading things other than textbooks. Happy summer reading!

[godzillaftw]

[jester-nene]

If vader got to raise Luke and Leia. Priceless

[luthor-pendragon]

YESSSS

[slightlyignorant]

I love The Rumpus.

[thorinobsessed]

el gato

[buzzfeedbooks]

[booksdirect]

34 Reading Goals For 2015 - Article by BuzzFeed.

[bookriot]

13 More Great Bookish Prints For Your Walls

[thoughtsfromagingerlibraria-blog]

me: hello dear brain, do you think we can get started on that thing we wanted to do today

brain: no :)

me: ah, you're right, as usual, thank you

[npr]

It’s getting to be that time of the year when students wipe tears from watery eyes, exchange final goodbyes and throw their graduation caps into the sky. In other words, it’s graduation season — and that also means the season of commencement speeches.

Above all, commencement is a moment for everyone, even those who didn’t graduate, to feel inspired.

That’s why the NPR Ed team sifted through hundreds of speeches (going all the way back to 1774), handpicked our favorites and built this online database.

So, if you’re stuck listening to a particularly bad speech this month — or just need some inspiration — you have plenty to choose from. You’re welcome.

The Best Commencement Speeches, Ever

Illustration Credit: NPR