February 2015 Book Haul

First thing, I forgot to mention a book that I got last month for a class. In English, we are reading Romeo and Juliet out of our textbooks and I wanted my own version, so I got one! I got the Folger Shakespeare Library version because it's got a lot of footnotes, so it helps when I'm trying to understand what is going on. I got this copy from Thrift Books and it said it was in Good condition and I did not realize until a few days ago that a few pages were torn out of Act 5.

I only got one book in February, so I'm incredibly proud of myself. This book is actually for a class. I got Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. I got his book from Thrift Books as well and it seems to be in better shape than Romeo and Juliet, but what I received does not have the same cover as the book I thought I was getting because the picture was different. And this picture looked like it would be a cool cover, so I'm a little upset about that. 

Those are the books I have purchased recently. Please let me know your thoughts on any of the classics up above. I thoroughly enjoyed Romeo and Juliet and I am interested in what you all have to say and I would love to know if any of you liked the Invisible Man. I have not started reading it yet, but I'm looking forward to it! 

February 2015 Wrap Up

Books Read
I didn't get much reading done this month, but did get some writing done, so that's good.

I only reread The Selection and The Elite by Kiera Cass. I don't know why, but I've been wanted to read these books again and I finally did!

Posts this Month

I only posted the Versatile Blogger Award, so go check it out!

Events

There were not any events this month :(

Next Month...

I'm not sure what I'll be doing next month. I'll just have to wait and see.

Versatile Blogger Award 2015

So sorry I haven't been posting lately, I just haven't really had anything I wanted to post and I have not read a lot lately. I have been writing, though, so that's good. Anyway, I come to you with another post!

Thank you so much Sarah @ YA Bookaholic for nominating me for the Versatile Blogger Award!

This is what I have to do:

1. Nominate 15 bloggers which are relatively new to blogging. (*Sorry, but there probably will not be 15*)
2. Let these bloggers know that you have nominated them
3. Tell 10 random facts about yourself
4. Thank the blogger who nominated you (THANKS SARAH)
5. Add the Versatile Blogger Award picture to your post

Facts that are Random

You all probably know a few of these if you read the Behind the Blogger post that I did sort of recently and failed to come up with 50 facts about myself! I'll try to come up with some new ones, though.

1. I have a heart condition. It kept me from playing around and doing a bunch of things a normal kid would do when I was little. It was hard, but I'm better now, so it's all good.
2. When I was two, I tripped and knocked out one of my front teeth, so I didn't have one of my front teeth until I was in kindergarten. I was adorable, just saying. At one point, I didn't have either front of my teeth and it was near Christmas. I didn't stop singing "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth."
3. I really like to cook and bake, but I hate to clean up from it. If I made dinner, I shouldn't have to clean it up, right?
4. I LOVE the Walking Dead. It's an amazing show. Yes, it has zombies in it, but it's not about the zombies, it's about the people trying to survive and zombies show up sometimes. If zombies bother you, I would still suggest trying to watch the show, because it is great. And Daryl is the best. My mom was even afraid of zombies I got her to become a hardcore fan of the show. 
5. I am an actress. I've done a few theater productions and they were fun, but I really want to get into film because I think I would like that better. 
6. My biggest dream is to study abroad in Britain. I've wanted to travel to Britain for a very long time and I think it would be a wonderful experience considering I've never been overseas once.
7. When I was little, I was touring a battleship with my family and there was this vent that went three stories down and I thought it was a good idea to point at it with my foot and my flip flop fell into it. My brother and my dad looked all over the ship for it and couldn't find it. So I walked around the rest of the battleship with only one shoe.
8. I have never watched anything on Netflix. I don't have Netflix, so I've never used it. 
9. I almost died via tornado when I was a child. My mom was driving my brother and I back home from the store. There was a really bad storm, so my mom was driving very fast, trying to  get home. So we were speeding down the road when, on the radio, comes a tornado warning. A tornado had touched down and they said it was traveling down my street, so my mom decided to take the quick way home because we were concerned about the house and the tornado would be gone by time we got there. So, my mom was driving faster and we turned onto our street and there was the tornado. My mom put the car in reverse and drove away. We waited a few minutes before we went back and the entire neighborhood was untouched. Just the cornfield across from my house was destroyed. 
10. I think the future will be better than the present. Right now, my life is kind of crazy and nonstop and sad some of the time. I often think that as time goes on, it will get better and life will be more fun. (Wow, way to be deep, Jayne)

Nominations 

(sorry, but there probably won't be fifteen)

Morrighan @ Elysian Fields Reviews

Wil @ My Bookish Empire

Athena @ IntoTheMindOfAReader

Alma @ Diary of a Booklover

There we go! I hope you found my facts interesting comment below with the weirdest fact about you so we can all be strange together! I will *hopefully* be posting soon!

January 2015 Wrap Up

This month was... okay. It could have been better, but I spent most of my time studying for midterms, sleeping, and exploring Pinterest because last week was exhausting!

Books Read
I read 3 full books this month and started one.

I read In the Afterlight by Alexandra Bracken which I have a review for, so you should go check that out.

I also reread The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michele Hodkin because I had an assignment that I was using the book for.

The last full book I read this month was The Iron Butterfly by Chanda Hahn. The cover is gorgeous and the book was okay. It could have been done better in areas such as world building and dialogue (which was robotic at times) and I wish there was more of a relationship between Kael and Thalia. The author said that they were getting closer, but didn't show it which is what I really wanted because Kael isn't that bad of a guy. I am interested in the next book because I want to know what happens next, but it is not a must read.

I also got a little bit into A Mango Shaped Space by Wendy Mass.

Posts This Month
This month I posted:
-Seven Deadly Sins Book Tag
-In the Afterlight by Alexandra Bracken Review
-Behind the Blog: Blogger (A.K.A ME!)
-January 2015/Christmas 2014 Book Haul

Events
There weren't any events this month :(

Next Month...
I don't have any plans for next month besides finishing A Mango Shaped Space by Wendy Mass.

January 2015/Christmas 2014 Book Haul

I'm so sorry I haven't been posting lately, but I had midterms all last week (I passed with flying colors in case you were wondering. I even got a 99% on my Latin exam. I legitimately cried when I saw) and I haven't really had any posting ideas, but it is the end of the months, so I've decided to do my wrap up! I haven't done a separate Christmas book haul because I was waiting to spend my Barnes and Noble gift card, but I haven't been able to go yet, so I will just include it in my January book haul!

Christmas
I got six books for Christmas and I love them all. I've already read two of them!

The first book I got was The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey which I read right away and finished a few days after Christmas. It was a good addition to the series, but I think it could have been done a whole lot better. I also didn't like reading from Ringer's perspective which is most of the book. Towards the end, I enjoyed it more, I just wish there were more perspectives from the rest of the gang.

The second book I got for Christmas was In the Afterlight by Alexandra Bracken! I was so excited about this one and I read it and I have a review, so you should go check it out. Right now, one of friends is borrowing it because she borrowed the first two books in the series and she hasn't given it back yet and I'm really nervous because I don't know what my book is doing!

And lastly I got the John Green Box set which has The Fault In Our Stars (which I've read because I borrowed it), Paper Towns, An Abundance of Katherines, and Looking For Alaska. I am looking forward to reading all of these because I love John Green and want to support him as an author.

January
Last week, I discovered this place where I live. My friends and I decided to hang out there to study for our exams. This place is a coffee/tea shop that is really comfortable and cozy and a place everyone dreams of owning. They have specialty coffees, an array of teas, delicious little deserts, glass bottled soda (which is way better than soda in a can or a plastic bottle because it's made with less sugar), paninis made with the best bread ever, Christmas lights up all year, you can buy the art on the walls, and most importantly, a book exchange where you can take a book off of the shelves and bring one back later. You can either bring back the book you took after you read it or a different one. So, of course, both times I've been there in the past week I picked up some books.

The book I got the first time I was there was A Mango Shaped Space by Wendy Mass. My friend was going through the shelves and found it. She told me it was one of her favorites as a kid, so I decided to read it. It's a middle grade novel about a girl who sees sounds, letters, and numbers in color, like the sound a hammer makes is gray and when her cat meows, it is a mango color. What Mia, the main character has is called synesthesia which is the mingling of senses and the book is about her dealing with that.

And when I was there yesterday, I picked up two Dan Brown books for two reasons. I've never read a Dan Brown book and I've heard that they're pretty good and my brother loves the movie The Da Vinci Code, so I thought I would pick up it along with Angels and Demons for him. Angels and Demons  isn't in very good condition, but I thought I would pick it up anyway.

If you have read any of these books, let me know your thoughts in the comments!

Behind the Blog: Blogger (A.K.A. ME!)

1st: I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while. I have been waiting to go book shopping with my Christmas money before I do a Christmas book haul, so that'll be posted after I go shopping, probably paired with my January book haul. And I have midterms. I know I should be freaking out considering the minimal amount of studying I've done, but I'm strangely clam.

2nd: This is the first installment of a series I am hoping to start entitled Behind the Blog where I show you guys all of the behind of the scenes stuff. It is also something that will promote me to become a more organized blogger so... that'll help. This first post for Behind the Blog is all about the blogger, which is me. I've been seeing a few 'About Me' posts around and I wanted to do one, too because it looks like fun.

Hello. My name is Jayne. I am your blogger. I don't have a lot of pictures of myself on here. I don't even have one on my 'About Me' page because of an overprotective mother. Plus I hate pictures of myself and I rarely think one is decent, so sorry. But here is a picture of me when I was younger, like in eighth grade or someting (if it looks familiar, that's because it was on my bookshelf pictures thing for #BookBlogWriMo. And those are my parents on the sides by the way. And yes, I know I'm small)

I used to live in a small town in Illinois (which is the 21st state of America) that consisted mostly of corn on one side of the road and soy beans on the other and then the next year they would switch (you know, the whole crop rotation thing keeps the dirt more nutrient rich for the plants). It was really boring, but my house was beautiful, we had money, and I was younger, so I didn't really care if there were tons of things to do or if I was alone because there weren't that many kids around. But, then I moved to Virginia almost eight years ago and I am so happy I did because there is so much to do and it doesn't get as cold (which I hate winter, so I don't really like cold), and there is not corn in sight of where I live. Seriously, when I was younger, my mom would send us into the corn field across the street and pick a few ears of corn for dinner because we knew the farmer would be totally cool with it and then we would shuck the corn. That was usually the highlight of my days. Then I moved and everything was great and I actually had people my age living within a twenty mile radius! Moving was the best thing that happened to me!

I live with my mom, my dad, and my older brother. I have an older sister, too, but she still lives in Illinois because, when we moved, she was already married and had two kids, so... unlike the majority of siblings, I get along with mine because we are actually really far apart and my sister is adopted, so that helps. My sister was adopted before I was even born, so I can't remember a day without her and it feels like she's my biological sibling. People tell us we look alike, too, but I don't think so. If we do, that's just weird. Most of the time I don't spend reading, doing homework, or aimlessly wandering the internet is spent with my brother watching anime or whatever other show he got me into. Since my brother and I watch so many shows together, it feels weird watching one of our shows alone because I don't have someone to laugh at my sarcastic commentary. And I have a pet turtle. He's pretty cool. One of my mom's friends gave him to us a million years ago after her turtle had babies. He may or may not be a teenage mutant ninja turtle. 

(That's not him, he wouldn't cooperate, but that's the kind of turtle he is) 

A few years ago, though, my mom suffered from a stroke, so we lost her income and my dad had to get a job because he was a stay at home dad for me and my brother. My mom still suffers from the after affects of the stroke, but she's a lot better than any one thought she would be. She has her bad days, but we don't let that weigh us down and we get through it with our faith, hope, and humor (really, my family can make a joke out of anything). I just wanted to include this because it's a big part of who I am and it changed me a lot as a person. My mom's stroke was what turned me to books because I felt like no one could relate to everything I was going through, so really, my mom is a huge reason why this blog exists. Thanks, Mom!

When I started high school, I entered into an elite program that specializes in 21st century skills, leadership, psychology, and child growth and development. The program is a lot of fun and very competitive which is good for me because I like competition. And because I didn't take a language in middle school (three years of a foreign language is mandatory where I live), I decided to take Latin when I entered high school. It's not as hard as people think and I believe more people should take it because once you do, you will notice how much Latin is around. I hope to go to college (which you can start during high school or when you turn 18 in America) for a degree either in teaching (either in English education or elementary education) or a degree in psychology (I would love to become a behavior analyst or a forensic child psychologist). 

I'm going to try to do 50 of these... we'll see how that goes.

1. My favorite season is Spring. All of the pretty colors and cute little animals make me happy
2. My favorite color is blue. All the shades of blue
   
3. My favorite show is the Walking Dead and the best character is Daryl Dixon. Don't even try to argue with me
   
4. Captain America is my favorite Marvel superhero followed Spider Man and Iron Man
   
5. I love mustaches. Not quite sure why
   
6. I want to go to Britain so bad. I can't really explain why, but I want to go
   
7. I really like chevron
   
8. I want to go to BEA (Book Expo America), but it's super expensive so I just have to hope to be invited some day
   
9. One of my dreams is to go to Comic Con with a big group of friends and dress up like the Attack on Titan crew. It would be super fun and I would be Hange because I name titans, too.
   
10. I hope to one day finish a novel and get it published because I love writing
    
11. I am addicted to Pinterest. No lie
    
12. I want to go to VidCon so I can fangirl over all of the Youtube people
    
13. My birthday wish for my next birthday is to go see The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon because I love him
    
14. I think I reread books more often than I read new ones
    
15. My favorite movies are Inception, The Help, and The Italian Job
    
16. My favorite animes are Fairytail (not caught up) and Attack on Titan (caught up)
    
17. I love every Disney thing ever and I could beat anyone in the Disney Challenge (*way to be humble, Jayne)
    
18. As mentioned before, I love Disney, but I've never been to Disney World or Land. It is one of my biggest dreams to go
    
19. My favorite food is mac and cheese
    
20. I am an INFJ, which only, like, 2% of the world's population are INFJs. So I'm pretty rare
    
21. I hate science and math, but they are always my highest grades
    
22. I usually eat desserts for breakfast (when I eat breakfast, which is rarely, and I KNOW THAT'S BAD), but if I don't eat desserts, I eat Cheerios, so it cancels out
    
23. I'm actually not a huge fan of sweets, regardless if I eat desserts for breakfast
    
24. I hate frosting the most! It's just sugar with a little bit of milk. Gross
    
25. I have really weird music tastes. I listen to pop music when I feel in the mood, but my favorite bands are Marianas Trench, Fall Out Boy, and Panic! At the Disco
    
26. Some of my favorite songs are Haven't Had Enough (Marianas Trench), Dance, Dance (Fall Out Boy), The Only Difference from Martyrdom and Suicide is Press Coverage (Panic! At the Disco) (All of Panic! At the Disco's song names are so long and hard to remember)
    
27. I am a sleepwalker. Not often, but I still sleep walk and it scares me
    
28. I don't like coffee, but I love this one drink from Starbucks, but they only have it during the summer and it's annoying because I want it
    
29. I love Panera. My favorite thing they have is mac and cheese (see #19) and cinnamon crunch bagel
    
30. I have never gotten a failing grade
    
31. I am prepared for the zombie apocalypse
    
32. I never know whether to get my books at the bookstore, because I like the atmosphere, or online, because they are cheaper
    
33. My favorite holiday is Christmas because it feels like it is a lot longer than a day because of the holiday season. My second favorite holiday is Thanksgiving because I like food
    
34. I love pictures! Obviously
    
35. I failed at coming at with 50 interesting facts about myself!
    

Sorry this post was so long, but it looked like there were a lot of words and I wanted to add pictures! I hope you learned more about me. Probably more than you wanted to, but I thought you guys might want to know there was a human being behind the blog. If you have any suggestions about future Behind the Blog posts, leave them in the comments!