Twenty-five Bookish Facts about Me

1. I currently own 572 books, not including textbooks, reference books, cookbooks, duplicate copies, etc. If I include those books, I own 595 books.

2. I don't like owning more than one copy of a book because I don't see the point in that. This has become a problem ever since I got married to a bookworm like myself because now we have many duplicate books.

3. I used to not own very many books, perhaps only fifty books from my childhood. But then I bought my first bookshelf (Billy from IKEA), and ever since then I've acquired books like crazy. That's the secret to buying more books: buy a bookshelf.

4. After much thought, I've decided that I prefer paperbacks to hardcovers.

5. I very much dislike ebooks. I will never purchase an ebook, and I won't read an ebook unless absolutely necessary. I also don't own any form of tablet or e-reader or ever intend to purchase one. I do, however, love audiobooks.

6. I used to hate Goodreads and never use it, but earlier this year I suddenly became obsessed with it and now it's my favorite website.

7. I usually don't reread books. I've only ever reread maybe five books. The book I've reread the most is Incantation by Alice Hoffman. I think I've read it four times.

8. The best book I've read is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. The worst book I've read is Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis.

9. I buy most of my books discounted through either Book Outlet, Amazon Prime, the Barnes & Noble membership program, or used bookstores. I've also received a lot of books free from friends who don't want them or from a program through my library that gave out books to high schoolers who review books. Yay for free books!

10. When I was younger, most of the books I read were from the library. I always managed to pick up books that were lesser known, so I didn't grow up reading the popular books or the same books as everyone else.

11. Reading library books led me to prefer books that are lesser well known. I own lots of books that many people haven't heard of, and these tend to be my favorites. The really popular books tend to be only okay for me, not great.

12. Reading lesser well-known books led me to read the Harry Potter series for the first time last year when I was twenty years old. I know, I know, that's a disgrace. But I love it, so that's okay.

13. I don't like novellas, short stories, novelettes, between-the-series books (0.4, 1.5), etc. I only like full-length novels.

14. I have a hard time getting rid of books I own. Whether I read it and didn't like it, I don't want to read it, or I own two copies, I still want to keep it. I'm currently trying to overcome this problem.

15. I like my books to look pristine. I don't like writing in books, folding the pages down, or bending the spine back. But if I buy a book from a used bookstore, I'm okay if it has some wear on it. There's a fine line.

16. I'd like to be a writer someday, but that's never going to happen. I haven't really written any stories, nor do I have any ideas for stories. I just think being a writer sounds nice.

17. I cannot listen to music while I read, even instrumental music. If I do, I'll start singing or humming along and completely lose focus on my book.

18. I also cannot eat and read at the same time. At all. I either focus entirely on reading or entirely on eating.

19. I'm a total cover shopper (who isn't?). What I mean by this is that I will only pick up a book and read its description if I like the cover or if it was recommended it to me. But I will only actually buy a book if I like its plot.

20. My bookshelf is super organized because I can't stand a messy bookshelf. I organize first by type of book (adult fiction, young adult fiction, nonfiction, classics, etc.), and second by series or standalone. Thirdly, all standalones are organized by title alphabetically, and all series are organized by author last name.

21. I don't have a favorite spot to read, but I tend to do most of my reading on the couch.

22. I prefer reading contemporary and historical fiction and dystopian. I have a hard time reading books that aren't believable, which is usually why I don't read fantasy. For me to enjoy a fantasy book, the story has to be believable within its own world, if that makes sense.

23. I believe that my favorite book ever hasn't been written yet, or at least not read by me yet. I've never had that moment with a book when I immediately want to restart it once I finish it, nor have I had the burning desire to reread any book every year. I think that when I feel that way about a book, I'll have found my favorite book.

24. One of my biggest worries is that I will die without having read all the books I want to read. Obviously, that's a tall order since new books come out so frequently, but I at least want to read all the books I own and all the books on my immediate TBR list.

25. I currently have over 1,000 books on my TBR list, but I'm hoping to narrow that down to around 100 and keep it there.

Review: SERIOUSLY . . . I'M KIDDING by Ellen DeGeneres

Rating: 2.5/5 stars

I've never been an overly big fan of Ellen, but I've always found her somewhat funny, so I decided to pick up this book. Or I suppose the more accurate action is to listen to this book.

True to the book's title, I often had a hard time knowing if she was serious or if she was kidding. There were many moments when it was obvious she wasn't being serious, but the moments I was unsure were when she was giving advice. There was a lot of advice given in this book, and I'm guessing most of it wasn't real. On that note, I'm not sure what was real and serious about this book, just like I'm not sure what its point was. This book wasn't a memoir or biography; it was more like a collection of ideas that had run through Ellen's head at some point in time. There are one-word chapters, and there are pages-long chapters. But none of it really felt like it had any meaning. It was all very random.

Ellen is usually pretty funny, but there were a lot of instances in this book where I knew she was trying to be funny but it wasn't coming across that way. She'd make jokes and I'd just kind of go "Really? Okay. . ."

My favorite part about listening to the audiobook was that Ellen read it, and she read the special audiobook version of her book. She'd address the "listeners" instead of the "readers." She included a special segment that was specifically for audiobook listeners. (Likewise, there was a special segment specifically for visual readers and just told us that we had to see it printed on the page to understand it so she was just going to skip it.) The book really felt like a unique listening experience as an audiobook compared to actually reading the book.

Overall, I didn't get much from this book except for an entertaining three-hour listening experience.

Review: THE SELECTION by Kiera Cass

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

I went into this book not expecting much. I'd heard it compared to the TV show The Bachelor, which I'm a fan of, but that comparison made the book sound superficial. I wasn't really interested in it, but after having heard rave reviews from many friends, I finally decided to give it a chance. And I was blown away by how much I loved it. 

The Selection is by no means a great work of literature or masterly written, but it is an extremely entertaining and fun read. I found myself rooting for the characters all throughout the book. There were unexpected scene changes and events that occurred, and I was so happy with every progression of the story. Honestly, I was giddy while reading this book. 

If you are unaware, The Selection takes place in a futuristic version of the United States, and it is about Prince Maxon's search for a wife. He holds an event called the Selection, where thirty-five girls from across the country come to the palace to "date" Prince Maxon. The story follows a girl by the name of America as she is chosen to be one of the Selected. 

This book was so fun to read, and that is the primary reason why I rated it so high. I can't wait to see where this series takes me.

How to Read for Fun during College

In high school, I used to be able to read only one or two books per semester. I really didn't get a lot of reading done except during Christmas and summer breaks. I was pretty disappointed with myself and always wished I could read more. Luckily, I have finally learned how to get a lot of reading done while also being in school. Here are the steps you need to know.

1. Commit to reading. The most important step to reading more is to have time committed only to reading. Tell yourself every morning that you will read at least thirty minutes that day. You tend to spend your time during the day doing activities that are important to you. If you keep waiting until you have time to pick up a book, you'll never get around to reading. If you don't have time to read, make time. 

2. Procrastinate wisely. When I get home from school, I like to take a break before I start my homework. I normally tell myself I'll take just a twenty-minute break and then start my work, but these twenty minutes usually turn into two hours. By that time I'm just procrastinating doing homework and end up doing pointless activities instead, such as online surfing or Netflix watching. It is important to commit to procrastinating if you're going to procrastinate. Tell yourself that you're going to take a two-hour break and just sit down and read that whole time. This step was especially hard for me at first because I don't like to let myself do anything fun until all my homework and other priorities are finished, but then I end up just wasting time and doing nothing productive. Once I started letting myself read before doing homework, I ended up both reading more and finishing my homework earlier. 

3. Use Friday as homework day. This one is hard, especially after a long week of school. But if you are able to finish all your homework on Friday, you then have the rest of the weekend to relax and read instead of stressing about homework. This is especially nice on Sunday night when you don't have to stay up late trying to finish all your assignments that are due on Monday. 

4. Always keep a book with you. Whenever you leave the house, whether it be for school or work or a day in the town, put a book in your bag to take with you. Pull it out and read for ten minutes in between classes, while you're eating lunch, or during your bus ride. You'll be surprised at the amount of free time you have during the day that you could be reading. 

5. Listen to audiobooks. We all have mandatory tasks that take our time every day, but this doesn't mean we can't be reading during that time also. Audiobooks are a great way to read while getting these other projects done as well. I always have an audiobook downloaded on my phone and ready to go whenever I'm doing dishes, cooking, cleaning the house, driving, or walking to school. I'm usually able to finish one to two audiobooks per week. You can find many audiobooks online for free from your library. 

6. Buddy-read a book with your friend. If you and your friend are reading a book together, you can hold each other accountable for reading that week. You will want to read because you won't want to disappoint your friend when you tell them that you didn't have time to read that week. You can set goals to read X amount of pages by a certain date, and then get together and discuss what you've read so far. This is a fun, low-key way to get some reading done during the week. 

Review: THE LIFE-CHANGING MAGIC OF TIDYING UP by Marie Kondo

Rating: 5/5 stars

This book changed my life, as the title told me it would.

I am moving across the country next month, and I have way more stuff than I want to move. So it's time to declutter. That was the main reason I picked up this book, and I am so glad that I did. I had no idea it would have such an impact on me.

Marie Kondo's approach to tidying up your home is based on two steps: deciding whether or not to keep something, and deciding where to put it. The steps must be done in that order for the process to work. Her entire book focuses on surrounding yourself only with items that bring you joy.

She starts off by asking you to visualize your desired lifestyle and your desired home, and then ask yourself why you want it to be like that? Keep asking yourself why until you reach the ultimate answer of that it makes you happy. The purpose of this book is to help you achieve happiness in your life. It is stressful to always be around items that don't bring you joy or things that you don't need, so just eliminate them from your life. Choose what you want to keep, not what you want to get rid of.

To declutter, you start with clothes, then move to books, papers, miscellaneous items, and finish with mementos and sentimental items. You must declutter by category, not by room, and you must go through everything in one category at the same time. To decide what to keep, you physically touch or pick up each item, look at it, and ask yourself, "Does this bring me joy?" If the answer is an immediate yes, keep it. If you hesitate to answer or say no, then the item doesn't bring you joy and you should discard it.

Her approach to cleaning isn't hard, but it's effective. I cleaned out my closet four times in the last month before I read this book and got rid of two boxes of clothes. After reading her book, I went through my closet again and got rid of another two boxes of clothes. Now I'm left with only the clothes that I actually wear and like, and I can honestly say that it's made me happier.

Although the author writes with a holier-than-thou attitude and sometimes sounds condescending, her process of helping you organize your life and get rid of unnecessary items works. I've read this book two times already, and I intend to read it again as I continue to declutter my life.