Top Ten Tuesday - Regarding Jana and her Favorite Cozy Reading Spots

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list complete with one of our bloggers’ answers. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND post a comment on our post with a link to your Top Ten Tuesday post to share with us and all those who are participating. If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. If you can't come up with ten, don't worry about it---post as many as you can!

Next week, join Jamie as she discusses the books she's anticipating for 2011! You know you're excited for a few yourself. As we ring in the new year, we also welcome many wonderful new reads for bookish people everywhere!

I am so excited to be writing this week's Top Ten Tuesday! Obviously, I love reading. However, I seem to love it even more during the long winter months. Perhaps it's because there's not as much to do outside, so activities are moved indoors. Or... perhaps I just love getting comfy and cozy with a really good book--which is easier to do in the winter. In any case, these are some cozy places to read, just in case you were looking for one! 

In your nice, comfy bed –

I think this goes without saying, but I absolutely love climbing in to my warm bed after a long, busy day and reading a good book until I fall asleep. And who doesn’t love staying in bed on a snow day for some much-needed R & R after finals are over?

By the crackling fire –

One of my favorite things about winter is lighting a fire in the fireplace! Going back to basics and reading by firelight is so cozy to me!

Nestled on the couch in your favorite blanket –

I don’t know about you, but my couch and cozy down throw are great friends of mine on cold winter days!

Wrapped in the arms of someone you 

love –

I don’t think anyone out there can argue with me on this one!

Cuddled up with your beloved 

furry friend –

My warm fuzzy cat has read many books with me! My house is pretty cold in the winter, so she’ll often climb on my lap to snuggle. So cozy!

While sipping hot chocolate in a quaint cafe – 

Need I say more? I love reading in cute cafes with a cup of hot chocolate and a pastry, while listening to jazzy music.  

Seated in a bay window, while the snow falls –

I’ve lived in nine different houses in my life, and have never been privileged enough to have a bay window I’ve always wanted one. I’ve seen so many movies with characters that sit on their window seats with blankets and pillows and gaze outside or read. Maybe someday I’ll have one too!

In a bubble bath –

I’m not a bath time reader, but I know many who are. Bubbles, candles, and warm water seem to really excite some of my bookish friends! Perhaps someday I’ll decide I enjoy it too, but for now I’m scared of getting TOO cozy and ruining a great book in the process!

In a fabulous little bookstore –

Remember that cute bookstore in You’ve Got Mail? That’s the kind of place I’m picturing. I love reading in bookstores! The one I usually go to is very quiet and has lots of comfy chairs and empty corners. I can sneak behind a bookshelf and get lost. It’s so convenient, because I can decide if I like a book enough to buy it, plus if I ever need a break from reading, I can browse the store! 

On a train, heading home for the holidays –

Perhaps I’m grasping at straws here, but I think this sounds cozy! Sitting next to a window… watching the world pass by… and reading a book to pass the time, all while anticipating seeing your family in a few hours! Sounds good to me! 

So now that I've told you some of the places I love to read, what are your coziest reading spots? Where do you enjoy retreating to with a good book? Enjoy the next few long, wintry months and ask for lots of books for Christmas so you can enjoy them even more! 

Happy holidays and, as always, happy reading!


 

Student of the Month: Kody Keplinger

Student of the Month is a monthly feature here at The Broke and the Bookish in which fellow college students will be in the spotlight with an interview or a guest post about being bookish college students. This month we are talking with Kody Keplinger--author of the YA novel, The DUFF, and full time college student! I know how stressful being a college student is and I just HAD to know how she does both. Welcome to the blog, Kody!

Student at Ithaca College
Major: Writing
Year: Sophomore

What inspired you to be a writer? Do you have any authors that have particularly inspired you? I have always loved to write, but I think it was JK Rowling and the Harry Potter books that really made me realize how powerful and amazing a good book could be.  That made me want to write, too.

What does a typical day look like for you as a college student?

Lets see . . . something like this:

1. Roll out of bed half an hour later than planned.
2. Go to class.
3. Do homework.
4. More class.
5. More homework
6. Eat at some point.
7. Write as much as I can before I fall asleep

It's not very glamorous, honestly. 

Knowing what the hectic schedule of a college student is like, what is your writing process like?  I write best late at night.  Which can be a pain when I start falling asleep over my computer - haha.

How has majoring in Writing been most helpful to you as an author? It's been a great way to learn how to write in other genres.  I'm learning how to write in more adult genres. It's good to have those options open.

As a full time student and writer, how do you balance schoolwork, writing and your free time? Truth? I don't.  I can't keep up with all of it all the time.  Sometimes my writing is put on the back burner. Sometimes it's my social life. Sometimes its my sleep.  I haven't mastered the juggling act yet.  Its tough.  But it's worth it.


Favorite class you've taken in college so far? Why? Girlhoods in Literature - we read children's and YA books from 1800s until today, all featuring female heroines.  It had the best reading list of any class I've ever taken.

That sounds like an incredible class! How do your professors and fellow classmates respond to the fact that you are a published author?  Not all of them know. The ones that do are happy for me and cool.  But I don't necessarily walk around telling everyone I meet. I am treated like any other dopey sophomore! Haha.

What genres/authors do you like to read? I like to read mostly young adult books. Too many authors come to mind to name them all, but if it's in the Teen Section of the bookstore, chances are I'll read it.

Do you have any advice for other college students who are aspiring writers? Take chances.  Seriously, don't miss out on opportunities now.  You'll regret it later.

One piece of advice for college freshman? Take classes in all the subjects you MIGHT be interested in.  Pick a major a little later.  Trust me, it's so helpful to do it that way. You'll be happier for it.

Favorite college experience so far? My friend Rachel's birthday last year.  We threw a party in a tiny dorm room and danced and sang and had a great time.

Dance parties are my favorite! I'm sure you've had your share of late nights and all-nighters! Give us your survival kit for a successful all-nighter.  Loud music, Mountain Dew, and Starburst.  Best thing EVER at 2:00 am.

Thanks for stopping by the blog, Kody. Good luck with your studies and your writing! I don't know how you do it but I'm thinking back at myself as a dopey sophomore and I know I couldn't have handled it.  Make sure you check out Kody's website, blog and book!

What about you all? Are you an aspiring writer? How do you juggle everything? What does your survival kit for a successful all-nighter look like?

Paula Reviews Superman: Earth One

Title: Superman: Earth One

By: J. Michael Straczynski and Shane Davis

Published: 2010 by DC Comics

How I got it: DC Comics sent us a review copy

Why I read it: I love superheroes!

DC decided to create a new universe “Earth One” that will remain separate from the mainstream universe. As far as I’ve been able to gather, this will allow them to re-imagine their iconic characters in a way that is accessible to this generation of comic book readers. Superman: Earth One is the first title that will be published under this moniker, with Batman soon following.

So, this story was supposed to be a revamp of Superman’s origin story. And while it did delve into what happened to Krypton, I’m not sure how much new was really added to Clark’s story. The title did show him wrestling with what he was supposed to do, he felt obligated to become Superman, but he did not know if that was really what was going to make him happy. He went to various job interviews to see if something else would fulfill him, and attempted to reject the iconic S. *Spoiler Alert* Then, after an alien force came to destroy Earth because he was hiding there, he realized that he had no other choice but to be Superman because no one else is able to protect Earth *End Spoiler*.

I feel like the Earth One Universe gave this graphic novel tons of potential to work with. Having a completely new universe untied down by a character’s cannon should have produced something that really created something fantastic. But they stuck with the basic, Krypton blows up -> Jonathon and Martha Kent find a baby -> Later he moves to Metropolis -> He’s Superman! So my feelings are eh, a bit lackluster.

With that being said, the art is really pretty. I read some reviews that they made him look too much like Edward Cullen. I don’t think I really see that… Sure the art is a bit dark, and he’s wearing a hoodie… but he didn’t sparkle, and therefore I think he’s far from Cullen. Thank goodness. The copy I received is wonderfully put together and the nice quality of the pages really shows off the artwork. Also, the artwork was able to create some nice looking iconic pictures of him, such as:

Oooers, pretty. And:

Ooers even prettier!

So all in all, the story is a bit lacking, but even then it’s the first installment, so maybe it will progress into something really clever. When the next one comes out, will I read it? Most likely. Because even if there isn’t much story, the art is awesome to look at.

Rating: 3 Stars.

Daisy's Review of The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey

Title/Author:The Fairy Godmother (Five Hundred Kingdoms #1) by Mercedes Lackey
Publisher/Date published: Harlequin, published May 1st 2010
How I got this book: it was sent to me by the publisher through NetGalley
Why I read this book: I LOVE fairytale retellings

This is a totally refreshing take on fairytales: everything is part of The Tradition (imagine scary music entering).
And I'm not kidding when I say the Tradition can be scary. There are people who are sort of chosen, around which the Tradition gathers potential, a power that drives them to follow a certain character type and storyline. And sure that can be nice, but not all fairytales end well. And not all ways of getting to the happy ending are without casualties. For example, you've probably all heard of the tale of Rapunzel (the one where the girl is locked in a tower and lets down her hair for the prince to climb up and save her), but do you remember the prince falling into a bush with thorns, blinding him and almost killing him, wandering the land without sight?

This is where the Godmothers come in (only the first in history were real fairies). They monitor the people the Tradition seems to be pushing towards a certain path and try to either bend the Tradition into accepting another role for the person in case or try to make it cause the least amount of harm. Sometimes the role of a Godmother is to test the prince on kindheartedness on his quest and sometimes it takes a bit of matchmaking to distract an Evil Sorceress from cursing a princess at birth.

Elena Klovis was supposed to be her Kingdom's Cinderella, sadly the prince wasn't suitable and she got stuck playing housemaid to her stepmother without a chance of rescue. That is, until her Godmother showed up and offered her a job: to train as her apprentice and become the next Godmother. And all goes smoothly for a while with Elena being a fast learner and handling matters after becoming Godmother herself. But the Tradition isn't done with Elena.

When Elena turns one questing prince into a donkey for his rude behaviour, she doesn't know what's she gotten herself into. Because she was meant to be a Cinderella, the Tradition tries to get her together with any prince within reasonable distance. But since she's a Godmother as well, the Tradition will force this prince into a nasty role in which he will most likely betray her and break her heart. What will they do when they find themselves drawn to each other?

I absolutely loved this book! I love fairytales and now I realise some were rather gruesome, which kids somehow don't pick up on most of the time. I'd never thought about the possibility of other princes attempting to rescue the princess and failing and sometimes also dying because they failed.

Elena is a really likable character and the prince she turned into a donkey is as well after learning his lesson. I also loved reconnecting with all the fairytales I loved as a kid, a lot of them appear in the book.

It was a very smooth read, I'd never read anything by Mercedes Lackey before and was pleasantly surprised. I thought it was really original and I'm always looking for a nice new twist to the fairytales I know and love. I'm looking forward to reading the other books in the series!

My rating: 5 stars

Julia Reviews "Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper" by Fuchsia Dunlop

Title/Author: Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China by Fuchsia Dunlop
Publisher/Year Published: 2009 by W. W. Norton & Company
How I got this book: Funny story: I was living in Chengdu, China when the author came to the city promoting it. I wanted to go, forgot about it and ended up missing it (woe). Fast-forward a year later. My friend decides to give me this book for my birthday (previous story unknown to him). Fast forward a year later, and I've finally finished reading it.
Why I read this book: The thing I miss most about China is the food and Chengdu. This book was a combination of both.
Rating: 4.5 stars

I miss China. I lived there for about a year back in 2008-2009. More specifically I miss Chengdu: the ease of life there, the laid back friendless of its people, and it's spicy hot delicious flavors. Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper takes me back to the time I spent there, so much so that I can almost taste it again.

Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper is a memoir chronicling Dunlop's time in Chengdu when it was changing into the city that it is today. During this time, Chengdu did not have a high foreigner count (Fun Fact: when I was there, it still didn't: ~11mil. total people in the city of those ~24,000 were foreigners). Her tale is a story of how she got there and what it was like being a foreigner in the city. Not only that Dunlop was the first foreigner (and a female! gasp!) to attend the famous Sichuan Cooking School. While talking about this exploits and more, Dunlop interweaves a tale of the culture of a changing China with the thing Sichuan people know best, their cooking.

Each chapter centers around a main theme, be it food or a cultural phenomena, and thus together they tie in a loose narrative. I found it best to read this book chapter by chapter, taking time in between each to savor the memories left on my tongue.

It's hard, well impossible really, for me to separate myself from my experiences and review this from an outsider perspective. But here is my probably fruitless effort to do so. Each chapter introduces the reader to an aspect of life in China, mostly through food or food metaphors. Dunlop tells a great story that is at the same time engaging as it is educational. Plus, each chapter either ends with a recipe related to what was talked about in the chapter or a fun little tidbit, like the different fire levels of cooking things or the names and shapes of different cuts of food done with a cleaver.

All in all, I think this would be an enjoyable read for anyone who is interested in the Chinese culture or loves food/travel related memoirs. For me the best part after being able to relive my memories was being able to put it down after a chapter and pick it up again months later, not needing to remember what was happening and still enjoying it all the same.

Overall a delicious read that evoked powerful emotions (be it memory or revulsion; the chapter on textures pretty much had me wearing a grimace through the entire thing) that I believe would be fun for the traveler to China or the traveler that travels in dreams and words.

4.5 spicy stars

Fun Fact: Besides spicy food, Chengdu is known for one other thing...

Anna reviews 'Before I Die' by Jenny Downham

Name: Before I Die
Author: Jenny Downham
Publisher: Random House, 2007
How I got it: I bought it.
Rating: 5 stars

Synopsis: Tessa is sixteen years old and terminally ill with leukemia. In the last few months before she dies, she makes a list of all the things she wants to do before her death.

Tessa is your average sixteen year old girl. She's smart, witty, and the list that she compiles before her death is exactly what you'd expect from a sixteen year old: get a boyfriend, lose her virginity,fall in love, become famous. She asks her best friend Zoey to ensure she carries out the list no matter what. Her divorced parents struggle to accept that their daughter will die soon, while her younger brother Cal is cheerful and matter-of-fact about the situation.

The characters in this book are amazing. Although Tessa is only sixteen, being terminally ill with leukemia has made her wise beyond her years. She has trouble accepting her death at times, and feels older than her parents as they struggle to do so. Her mother, who abandoned her until very recently, is clueless about how to look after Tessa while her father is desperate, searching for any cure that can save his daughter. She falls in love with her next door neighbour Adam, and their relationship is a complex one. Part of her desperately wants Adam and their love to save her, which she knows is ultimately impossible. Although he loves Tessa, Adam finds it hard to be there for her in the way she wants him to. He is brave- he knows that her death will cause him a tremendous amount of grief yet he is there for her every step of the way, never holding back. Honestly, I found this completely heartbreaking- they had just found each other, they were tremendously happy together, yet they knew that their happiness could only ever be momentary as Tessa has only a few short months to live.

Another fantastic thing about this book is Tessa coming to terms with her illness, and the way in which death is dealt with. Early on in the book, Tessa, Adam and Zoey go to the woods and take magic mushrooms. Tessa is desperate to be healthy and gets very excited in the woods and tells Adam she thinks it has cured her: "I'm not sick any more...I need to stay here in this wood. I need to stay away from the modern world and all its gadgets and then I won't be sick. You can stay with me if you want..We'll grow vegetables". I had tears in my eyes at this point- she had an early death sentence pronounced on her which she tried, but ultimately could not escape. Later on she is angry with everyone, that they'll go on living while she'll be buried underground. As the book progresses and Tessa gets weaker and weaker, her thoughts become more fleeting and she sees death everywhere. The book literally ends on the moment when she dies.

This is a truly extraordinary, unforgettable book. It took a while for me to get into the book, but once I did I was hooked! Downham's book is touching and well written; although it deals with a fairly unpleasant subject, it is ultimately an uplifting book. It is also a major tear-jerker! Overall an amazing book, and a well-deserved five stars.


Discussion: What would be on YOUR list of things to do before you die?

Everything Is Going to Be Great: An Underfunded and Overexposed European Grand Tour

Title/Author: Everything Is Going to Be Great: An Underfunded and Overexposed European Grand Tour by Rachel Shukert
Publisher: Harper Perennial 2010
How I got this book:  Sent to me by the awesome people at Harper Perennial
Why I read this: I'm obsessed with travelogues and was so excited because it about a girl who was a recent college grad and I figured I'd be able to live vicariously through her as a recent college grad myself!
Rating: Between 2.5 stars and 3.

This book and I had a love/hate relationship. I started this book and found myself loving it and then I hit a chunk where I wanted to fling at the wall and abandon it and then I got to a place where I didn't loathe it and then I found myself really enjoying it again.

I think that the subtitle is a little misleading. I had such high expectations for this being a travelogue lover. This was more a series of hilarious sexcapades in 2 countries rather than a "European Grand Tour." I was so excited about this book because I felt like Rachel and I were kindred spirits and that I'd connect with her plight--being a college grad, not knowing what you want in life, wanting to see the world and just generally being broke and wanting to find yourself. She was all that but I just didn't find myself connecting with her until maybe the end.

Let me tell you some GREAT things about this book: Rachel is hilarious and the girl can write! I was seriously laughing out loud and dying with some of her descriptions of people and things. I'm impressed by her ability to make something otherwise not that exciting or amusing become something that makes me snort iced tea out of my nose. I also appreciate how honest she is about herself. I connected with that. At first, I found myself rolling my eyes at her and not caring about her because I just thought she was selfish and never learning and growing, but I found myself gaining alot of respect for her and genuinely finding her to be likable. I also thought she was clever in adding all these hilarious "extras" like when you are reading a travel guide and it might have a little boxed off section for things like "how to order food or what to do at the airport." Instead, her "extras" were things like "Assembling Your Rachel Shukert costume" (with a full on diagram about the "tuck method if you are a male" or "Are You About To Be Sex Trafficked?". Really clever and hilarious sections.

Things I Didn't Like/Feel The Need to Warn You About: If you are the least bit offended by explicit sexual details or lots of vulgar language, skip this one! I wouldn't consider myself a prude but sometimes felt shocked or embarrassed by the details. This book can be raunchy, vulgar and she loves to describe and talk about male anatomy in great detail--chocolate ones, big ones, little ones, uncircumsized ones--penises all over the globe! Also, I didn't find myself DYING to pick this up. I was trying to finish it during Readathon because I needed the motivation to do it. I got tired of her sexcapades after a while but I will say that in the end she does redeem herself a little bit.

The final thought: In the end I was pretty disappointed with this book as whole. I'd recommend going into it without the expectation that it will be the travelogue of a college grad. Read it if you wished David Sedaris and Chelsea Handler had smart assed, hilariously hip child. Don't pick this book up if you will be offended by sex and foul language. It's not that this book was BAD by any means..I just didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

Here's a 4 star review from Leeswamme's blog to check out so you can have a more balanced opinion.