What I Read Wednesday: A New Dystopian Favorite

Sooooo...I haven't exactly read much since I last posted 2 weeks ago.  How terrible of a reader am I?!  I cannot wait until my fall break starts the week after next, because I can hopefully sit and enjoy a couple books in that one week.  Big dreams and big hopes...we will see how well that works out for me, especially since I plan to do some fall cleaning and laundry catch-up!  Head over to Amy's post at Juice Boxes and Crayolas to check out other people's reads.

That being said, I did quite enjoy a dystopian fiction novel that has been on my to-reads list since I joined Goodreads almost 3 years ago.  Yikes!  Thankfully, I threw this choice in to my book club voting poll and it was this month's pick.  Finally, I was able to read it and it did not disappoint.

Unwind by Neal Shusterman | Seeing as how Hunger Games is my all-time favorite dystopian fiction novel, and many others that I have read have not topped it...I am happy to say this one is a definite stand-out in this genre. It has so many philosophical and morality issues faced in the present.  But because it is dystopian, it gives you a view into what all these arguments and violent reactions could possibly cause...AKA The Heartland Wars (the 2nd Civil War) over pro-life and pro-choice.

Kids can basically be "sold" by their families if they are unruly or not learning to be good and unwound so that every single body part and organ can be passed on to someone in need.  In this way, humans live on, thereby bypassing the whole dying or wasting a life argument.  But as one can imagine, this is still pretty darn immoral!  Any child can be unwound, until they turn 18.  Not only that, there are kids called tithes, who are born and then raised knowing they are going to be unwound because it follows their religious beliefs...a sacrifice.

You can possibly imagine how many people go against this insanely immoral practice, so many children run away and try to escape either before they are unwound or when they are on their way to be unwound at what they call harvest camps.  It just keeps getting crazier doesn't it?!

So of course, the main characters cover the gamete of children facing unwinding.  This story is told from each of their points of view (back and forth between chapters) and even random people or groups are thrown in to share their point of view.  I loved this style of writing as it really helped me see, feel, and consider all sides of this unwinding process brought on by the Heartland Wars.

Just know, you will question yourself as you read this as you are slammed with situation after situation of life surrounding Unwinding.  Neal Shusterman has definitely joined my list of authors I want to read more from...including the rest of this series.

From Goodreads:  The Second Civil War was fought over reproductive rights. The chilling resolution: Life is inviolable from the moment of conception until age thirteen. Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, however, parents can have their child "unwound," whereby all of the child's organs are transplanted into different donors, so life doesn't technically end. Connor is too difficult for his parents to control. Risa, a ward of the state is not enough to be kept alive. And Lev is a tithe, a child conceived and raised to be unwound. Together, they may have a chance to escape and to survive.

My rating:  5 out of 5 stars ||  Goodreads Average:  4.22 stars

Please feel free to add me on Goodreads or follow my reviews there.  I absolutely love discovering new and interesting books that I may not have found otherwise.  

What have you read lately?  Anything you care to share?  

A Special Edition Sort of Post

I was so kindly nominated for the Sunshine Blog Award by Amy at Juice Boxes and Crayolas this past week and well...she made my day when I read my name amongst the other 9 bloggers she nominated!

About the award:The award is circulated to those bloggers to let them know that their posts brighten your day.

The Rules:

1.  Include award logo in a post or on your blog.
2.  Link to the person who nominated you -- See above (click on award)!
3.  Answer 10 questions about yourself.
4.  Nominate 10 bloggers to receive the award. Link your nominees to the post and comment on their blogs letting them know they’ve been nominated.

1. Favorite guilty pleasure TV show?

Where do I even begin? I like to watch a lot of mindless TV (AKA guilty pleasure TV), especially when I get home from a long day of teaching.  There's no thinking involved, which is just how I like it.  I'm a bit of a reality TV addict...see previous blog post here for proof.  

But if I have to choose just one, then it would easily be Real Housewives of Beverly Hills...since my original, The Hills (see blog post link), is no longer on the air.  Waaaah!  I love me some RHOBH and for some reason, other than the Atlanta franchise, it's the only one I really like to watch.  There's something about those women and the extravagance of BH that I just love.  Or maybe it goes back to my junior high and high school love of 90210.  Oh and one can't get enough of Jiggy.

2. 5 picks for Desert Island books (the 5 books you would take if you were stranded for the rest of your life on a desert island)

Man these are hard!...only because I have a hard time narrowing down favorites to such a small number.  I would definitely take my all-time favorite book ever, To Kill a Mockingbird.  Close after that would be books like The Help, The Hunger Games, James and the Giant Peach, and to round it out let's say Something Borrowed for some chic lit fanfare.  (but really, why don't you just click over to my Goodreads favorite shelf to see what I really love?)

3. Favorite way to spend a Saturday?

No matter what I have planned for a Saturday, my favorite thing to do is curl up with my current favorite book on my reading chair, under a blanket, and devour it while my husband is still asleep and the house is quiet.  My hubby and I do love to go see morning movies too on our little date days.  

I wish I could say this was my house...but rather, it is a resort in Tubac, Arizona I stayed at this past January.  Best Saturday reading spot ever!

4. Favorite way to stay in shape?

Is this a trick question?  When I am working out, my favorite...absolute favorite...is to dance.  I love things like Zumba.  I used to love my hip hop class at my local gym (taught by a former Raiderette) as well as a Latin Dance class.  These types of workouts never feel like workouts to me because time flies and I have so much fun!

5. Favorite holiday tradition?  (Any holiday!)

Anyone who knows me well will tell you it is Christmas.  I absolutely love decorating the daylights out of my house.  There's just something about it...but excuse me...I cannot stand the fact stores are starting it earlier and earlier with the music and the decorations.  Quit it!  You are ruining the spirit of it!!!  My husband and I have a HUGE Christmas party at our house every year and invite all our crazy friends.  It is never a dull moment and we have way too much fun.

But I also truly love Halloween...not for the costumes and candy, but for the amazing marathons of horror, thriller, and suspense flicks on all sorts of stations.  Yes!!

6. What's your typical lunch during the week?  Do you go out or bring your lunch?

I'm a bring-your-leftovers to work kind of person.  My hubby makes tasty meals and we always have enough so I can have it for lunch the next day.  Back in the day during my first several years of teaching, we had enough time to run to our favorite place and grab lunch to go and eat it back at school. But those days are looooooooong gone. 

7. When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Where do I begin?  I remember wanting to be a trapeze artist, but that is because I had just seen the Ringling Bros Barnum & Bailey Circus. Then, my mom claims I started talking about being a teacher...I don't remember.  There were times I wanted to be an orthodontist (because I loved mine I guess) and an architect, since I was loving my drafting class in junior high.  By 10th grade, I was set on being a teacher. 

8. What is the best concert you have ever attended?

Hmmmm...I haven't been to too many.  I DON'T count the country concerts my mom dragged me to when I was a kid.  My first big concert was to see Metallica in 1998, which was pretty darn good!  But I have to say all the small punk concerts my hubby and I went to in college were pretty top notch.  My favorite out of those would probably have to be seeing NOFX, Lagwagon, and more at House of Blues in Vegas or perhaps one of the several times I got to see Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies with Spike or Mad Caddies.   I bet I have some readers who didn't see that coming! 

9. Fill in the blank: I almost never leave Target without _______.

Easy.  Makeup or shoes.  See evidence below...

Case in point #1 (brown boots)

Case in point #2 (leopard flats)

May I have a moment of silence for this pair?  These broke a couple months ago after enjoying 2 years with them.

You get the idea...I love Target's shoes, boots, and sandals.  It's a given.  I always visit their makeup section as well, whether it's for makeup or nail polish.

10. What's one goal you have for this week?

I have a ton of blog posts I need to do...so that is a definite goal.  

I would like to nominate 10 bloggers for the Sunshine Award:

1.  She @ SprinkleTeachingMagic

2.  Ari @ The Pace of It All

3.  Erin @ Musings of a So-Called Shutterbug

4.  Luis @ Extra Bit of Chicken

5.  Jayme @ Is Daddy Home Yet?

6.  Marie @ The Hands-On Teacher in First

7.  Kristine @ YoungTeacherLove

8.  Kelsey @ Apple a Day

9.  Amber @ Shut the Door and Teach

10.  Raliat @ RallyDFashionFanatic

My 10 Questions:

1.  If you could go back in to the past to relive an event or change an event, what would it be?

2.  Where is your favorite place to be?

3.  (Stealing this one from Amy)  What are your top 5 favorite books that you would take to a deserted island?

4.  If you could have one last meal, what would it be?

5.  How do you like to spend your spare time most often?

6.  Name your favorite childhood TV show or movie.

7.  How do you like to pamper yourself (daily or occasionally)?

8.  Who is your style icon?  If you don't have one...who is a celebrity you have a crush on?

9.  If you won the lottery, what would you spend your winnings on?

10.  Name your worst pet peeve....go!

I cannot wait to read your responses!  And thanks again to Amy for nominating me!  Even if you didn't get nominated by me...feel free to answer the questions in a comment below.  

What I Read Wednesday: A Random Mix

This week's What I Read is a bit of a mix, but with good reason!  I have had the first book on my to-read list for over a year and finally pushed it to the top of my list once I was done plugging through my summer reads.  It was a welcomed addition to my carry-on bag when I traveled back home to California last weekend too.  Books like this one make sitting in an airport and a claustrophobic airplane a much easier event to handle.  Now the other two, well, I am reading them because I won the 3rd book on Goodreads as a First Reads book...and there was no way I was going to read it until I read the first two in the series.  They seem to be a bit Indie looking, but worth it to try out.  I got both of them for $1.99 and $2.99 on my iPad Kindle.

I am really glad to be able to link up with Amy now that she is back to doing the linky for Wednesday. Definitely click over and see what she has read...as she has great taste, just like me!  That and several other people link up as well...so you can get triple the amount of book recommendations!  Whoops!  It's not till next week.  Check back then!

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green | Like I said, this one was a must-read for awhile for me.  Tons of my Goodreads friends had already read it and rated it quite high.  Not to mention, it is being made into a movie and I wanted to jump on it before it was too late.

At the same time, I put off reading this for so long because I was afraid of how sad it would be.  But, that wasn't so.  Green did a fantastic job of writing this in a way that made you hurt for the characters, yet understand they were on a different wavelength when it came to their terminal illnesses.  Was I expecting the twist that was thrown at me?  Certainly not.  To me, the twist made this much more intense than it would have been, had it ended the way I thought it would.  Of course, I won't say much more than that, so as not to give anything away.

Green is quite the talented author as he weaved a beautifully sad and powerful story together of a teenager who was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, which became something more.  She is shut off in her house surrounded only by her parents.  Despite having friends still, she just can't relate and they can't relate to her.  That is what makes this story that much better.  She evolves, despite her large setback.  What occurs is a beautiful love story most adults still only dream of. I was surprised I didn't cry, as I thought I would...but I also found some of my Goodreads friends didn't either.  I didn't need the passengers on the plane wondering what was wrong with me anyway.

From Goodreads:  Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.

My rating:  5 out of 5 stars  ||  Goodreads Average:  4.41stars

Abducted by T.R. Ragan | Would I ever have picked this up on my own?  Nope!  After stumbling upon the third in the series, called A Dark Mind, on the First Reads giveaway page and reading the synopsis, I was intrigued and entered to win...and won a copy! But there's no way I was going to skip the first two, especially when I read the synopsis of this series starter.  

If you are a fan of movies such as Silence of the Lambs and/or Seven, you will love this one!  I don't normally read books like this, but yet, this is a new favorite.  It reads just like the above-mentioned movies...there may even be a bloody body part sent to someone in a box!  Maybe.  

Lizzy Gardner is a private investigator in Sacramento, California. (Shout out to my college years!...well, at least I was 1.5 hours north of it)  But flashback to 14 years prior to and you learn she was the lone survivor of a crazy serial killer who goes by the name of Spiderman.  You see, he thinks he is some kind of vigilante getting rid of teenage girls who don't respect their elders and the like.  Let me just put it to you this way...he's a crazy freak who loves his spiders way too much!  Gives me the willies just thinking about why they call him this though.  Anyway, back to the present...he suddenly begins contacting Lizzy again even though everyone thought he was in prison behind bars.  Think again.  

My rating:  4 out of 5 stars  ||  Goodreads Average:  3.89 stars

Dead Weight by T.R. Ragan |  I had high hopes for this one since the first was so darn good!  Sadly, it left a lot to be desired.  While Abducted read like some of my favorite thriller/suspense movies, this one reminded me a bit too much of a Scooby Doo cartoon. You know the moment when they are chasing some crazy person who is wearing a mask and they seem to go back and forth between whodunnit?  It wasn't nearly as cheesy or horrible, but it certainly lived up to its title a bit too much...dead weight.  But the great news is that the reviews for the 3rd are way better.  Phew!

This one picks up a couple months after the first one.  All the characters are trying to come to terms with what happened to them surrounding the Spiderman serial killer.  In other words, they are all a bit messed up in the head.  Yet, the plot never seemed to get moving enough and the side story about Hayley (one of the important characters in the first) felt like it didn't quite fit.  But her story is a large part of the 3rd it seems.  

If it wasn't for the 3rd book being sent to me, I may have glazed over the rest of the series.  Stay tuned for the next post and I'll let you know how the 3rd turns out.  

From Goodreads:  Hoping murder and mayhem are behind Lizzy, she delves into her first cold case: twenty-one years ago, a girl went missing and the girl’s dying mother is more desperate than ever to know what happened to her only child.

My rating:  3 out of 5 stars  ||  Goodreads Average:  3.70 stars

Please feel free to add me on Goodreads or follow my reviews there.  I absolutely love discovering new and interesting books that I may not have found otherwise.  

I'd love to know what you have been reading or have read lately!  Care to share?

If you feel up to it...link up with Amy.  She is hosting the linky party every other week.    That of course...being next week.  :-)

Currently September

It's a new month and with that comes a new Currently!  I'm now in my 4th week (technically 5th, but we started mid-week) and it seems my students are getting a much better hang of my routines and expectations.  Not sure what I mean?...here is my last post.

Listening:  When I get home from work each day, I tend to flop on to the couch because I'm so hot and sweaty from the ride home.  I put on a mindless show while I eat a snack and wind down.  Thank goodness for air conditioning in the desert!  Teen Mom 3 is a total guilty pleasure along with so many other reality TV shows I watch...but it's the perfect thing to watch while I adjust to being home.

Loving:  Who doesn't love a 4-day week?!  It's the 2nd best part of a 3-day weekend.  Although, for some reason 4-day work weeks always seem to go by slower.  It must be Murphy's Law or something.

Thinking:  I'm still playing quite a bit of catch-up since school started.  While I feel like I'm adjusting more to the new school year, there's always something I realize I forgot or didn't do yet...whether it's at home or at work.

Wanting:  I subscribed to a new beauty/women's box 2 months ago (after canceling Glossybox and I still get Ipsy)...it was full till September...so I finally get one this month!!  I can't wait to find it waiting for me in our mailbox and pop it open.  I'd love to put it up on the blog with pictures and a review each month.  So keep your out for that!

I would love...by the end of the month:
1)  Like I said, I am playing catch up constantly...but this applies to doing chores at home so much more.  Lots of laundry and organizing.  Where's a maid when you need one?!
2)  I've been slowly getting back into reading books for fun and I'm hoping to get through 3 books this month.
3) Speaking of catching up...it would be nice to hang out with friends more this month now that school isn't eating up my every waking hour.

Link up with Farley and post your own Currently!