that time I organized my bookshelves...

I've started a tradition of reorganizing my bookshelves after I move back home from college each spring. Books are scattered all over my room, in boxes from school, everywhere. So I pull all the books off my shelves, organize them in a manner only I understand (I don't organize by author, genre, or title: I use personal preference), and put them back.

 

Yes, I own quite a few books.

My summer reading pile(s). Expect reviews of them soon.

That's all for now, my lovely bookworms. What's on your reading list for summer?

A Year in Books: Unlimited

“You will fail. At least I hope so, because it will mean you are really living, really reaching. Failure teaches you how to succeed.”

Anyone who knows me knows that I worship the gym floor Jillian Michaels walks on. I work out with her fitness DVDs; I watch The Biggest Loser like it’s my religion; I even have the Jillian Michaels iPhone app. So naturally when she released UNLIMITED: How to Build an Exceptional Life, I snatched it up immediately.

UNLIMITED is not a weight loss book. There are no meal plans or personalized workouts. UNLIMITED is an instruction manual for recognizing your passion—and the obstacles in your way—and going for it. Jillian outlines the steps in three main steps: Imagine, Believe, and Achieve. In the Imagine section, you identify your passion (what you want to do with your life) and realize that you are worthy of happiness.  The Believe step helps you find your self-confidence and the power to change, revamping your thought process so you will quit sabotaging yourself. The third step, Achieve, teaches you how to master both sides of healthy communication (listening and speaking) and making conscious choices. Throughout each step, Jillian includes thought-provoking exercises (called “Working It Out”) to help you put your new knowledge down on paper and into action.

Written in true Jillian style, (“God that quote pisses me off.” “You are wildly off base and out of alignment with your higher calling—and that SUCKS.” “Okay, yes, I scream at [The Biggest Loser contestants] for a lot of things. But seriously, ‘I can’t” really pisses me off.”) UNLIMITED is a motivating tool to help you gain confidence, a positive mindset, and the courage to pursue the life you didn’t believe you deserved.

One warning: There are no shortcuts in this book. After reading it and completing all the Working It Out exercises (I kept a notebook with me at all times while reading the book), I’ve realized changing your mindset is hard. But it is possible, and Jillian’s book tells you exactly that. There are no revolutionary new ideas in UNLIMITED; on the contrary, everything she says is so obvious once you read it, and you wonder why you’d never thought of it before. That’s what I found so amazing about it. Reading this book made me realize that I have had the power to make my life whatever I want all along—I just needed someone else to show me that I did.

Give this book a chance, even if you’re not a JM superfan like me. This is not The Jillian Michaels Official Autobiography; while she includes relevant anecdotes from her own experiences, the books is whatever you make of it. Personally, I think everybody could use a little slap in the face to wake them up. As Jillian says in UNLIMITED, so many people forget to show up in their own lives. Don’t be like that. You’re not helping anyone by living small, so go for the life you want.

A Year in Books: What Happened to Goodbye

One thing, however, was clear: there was no escaping Mclean now. I was her, I was here, and it looked like we'd be sticking around. Nothing left to do but bail, and rise.

Sarah Dessen’s first book in two years, WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE, follows a girl who creates a new persona in each town she and her father move to. Mclean has been the popular cheerleader, drama diva, and all-around joiner, complete with different names. But when she comes to Lakeview, she doesn’t have a chance to establish her newest self; instead of the clear cut roles of her past, she attempts to discover the real her, messy emotions included. Once she meets Dave, the self-proclaimed “weird kid” next door, she finds herself rethinking her cut and run attitude.

In the past, whenever her dad is transferred to a new city—he resuscitates dying restaurants, changing menus and décor in hopes of making them successes—Mclean cuts herself off from the friends she’d made, not even bothering to say goodbye. But what happens when her time in Lakeview is up? She knows it’s inevitable; Luna Bleu, the poorly staffed train wreck of a restaurant her dad is trying to save, is going under. Will she be able to leave as easily as she did when she was Eliza or Lizbet or Beth in those other towns? Or will this role—herself—be too much to leave behind?

In true Dessen style, Sarah weaves thought-provoking tidbits into the story of an average girl dealing with normal problems: divorced parents, adjusting to a new town, a clingy mother. Mclean struggles to discover who she really is, something that any high school girl can relate to.

As a longtime fan of Sarah’s novels, WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE did not disappoint me. A relatable heroine, entertaining conversations and restaurant-speak, and a boy so loveable that girls will start searching the world for him. You don’t want to miss this one.  

Celebrating Sarah (or why Sarah Dessen's books are amazing)

Today is the release date of Sarah Dessen’s tenth novel, WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE. A review will come once I’ve finished the book, but I thought I’d take a minute to talk about why Sarah is a remarkable author. She’s a New York Times bestseller, and rightfully so. Her books tackle real-life issues, from divorce to abuse to striving for perfection. There is a character or plot point that everyone can relate to in some form. I started reading her novels during my sophomore year of high school, and since then she has become my favorite author.

My first—and favorite—Sarah Dessen book is THE TRUTH ABOUT FOREVER. Hands down. It’s a story about a girl’s desire to be perfect and how she comes to realize that perfection isn’t everything. The novel has Sarah’s trademark quirky characters—Bert, a teenage boy obsessed with Armageddon; Kristy, who wears outrageous outfits and always speaks her mind; and Wes. Oh, Wes. He is my favorite Sarah Dessen character of all time. He finds flaws endearing, which Macy—the main character—has a hard time grasping at first. But the more time she spends around Wes, she begins to embrace her imperfections and learns to live.  

ALONG FOR THE RIDE was the last novel Sarah released before WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE. I was intrigued immediately by the first line on the book’s inside flap: "It’s been so long since Auden slept at night.” Auden first stopped sleeping because she believed her parents wouldn’t fight if they knew she was awake and listening. After her parents’ divorce, she couldn’t shake the habit and became an insomniac. While she’s spending time with her dad and his new wife at the beach, she meets Eli, another insomniac. Together they explore the beach town at night, experiencing everything that most people sleep through.

That’s one of my favorite aspects of Sarah’s books. She gives her characters unique circumstances, yet makes them relatable to all readers. Even if your mom isn’t a famous exercise instructor or you aren’t a member of a quirky catering company, you know how the characters feel. Sarah’s characters are so real, I half-expect to run into them on the street.

The new promotional tagline for Sarah’s books is “Sarah Dessen: Read her once and fall in love.” If you are or have ever been a teenage girl, and you haven’t read one of her books yet, what are you waiting for? You’ll fall in love.

A Year in Books: Shine

"Fine, I'll do it." I would speak for Patrick. I'd look straight into the ugliness and find out who hurt him, and when I did, I'd yell it from the mountaintop.

I had an armful of books, headed to the Borders checkout line, when a cover caught my eye. A flower bud on the end of a tree branch, with a country road in the background. I picked up the book, read the inside flap, and put back the other books I’d planned to buy. I needed this book.

SHINE is the story of a girl trying to avenge her former best friend, Patrick. Patrick was found beaten to the brink of death, tied to a fuel dispenser with the gas pump taped into his mouth. The local authorities file it as an anti-gay hate crime committed by some college kids from out of town. Cat, the story’s protagonist, decides that the police aren't doing enough to solve the crime, and she takes it upon herself to discover who beat Patrick so badly that he's in a coma with possible brain damage.

I loved the gritty tone to this story. The characters, from the town’s crystal meth cooker to hyper eleven-year-old Robert, define the town of Black Creek, North Carolina. The townspeople are gossipy, very intolerant of homosexuality, and crystal meth use is known but rarely spoken about. Cat forces herself to quit retracting from the world—she has spent the past three years isolating herself—and talk to everyone in town who might have knowledge of what happened the night Patrick was attacked. Paired with the vivid details of the poverty-stricken backwoods town, I could see the entire story as if it was a movie in front of my eyes.

Lauren Myracle crafts an intriguing mystery that will keep you guessing until the very end, and the climax will have you clutching the book, your eyes flying desperately over the words. Myracle does not sugarcoat anything; the story is blunt and honest, which makes it all the more beautiful. SHINE is an important book about tolerance and the struggle of acceptance that everyone should read.