published: 2008 // 445 pages
isbn: 978-1-5011-4064-8
read from: 2/15-19/2016
i didn't even know this was a book.
i knew it was a movie because i saw the previews and i was like hell yes! so when i went to B&N on valentines day to kill time and i saw this was a book, i HAD to get it.
who doesn't love to compare?
uhm....this book 1000% proves my theory: that in order to love a movie based on a book, you have got to see the movie first.
case in point: i LOVED the movie and the book. well the book I'm all over the place.
i didn't even log it on my goodreads until today so i had not seen the reviews and a lot of them are 2-3 stars and i gotta say, i agree.
i have NO IDEA how they even made a movie off this book because, while yes i know they always switch things up, this is a COMPLETELY different thing. the book and the movie do not go along. two complete polar opposites.
like how did they make a movie of this book when NOTHING is the same.
so this is based on Julie, Alice, Serena, Georgia and Ruby.
they're are all 38 year old women living in New York and handling the struggles of being single.
G is the only married one but she is going through a divorce so its starts with her wanting to go out to meet men. then its just one hot mess after another until they realize that they have to love each other cause that's just how it is.
ill break it down by person cause how else?
THE BOOK
JULIE
this book is told from her point of view. shes 38. tired of her everyday same day life so she comes up with the idea to write a book about single women in different areas of the world. she goes to her publisher, they strike up a deal and off she goes. i wont get in to the details of it all but i will say that she meets Thomas in Paris.
he is a married man in an open marriage so after some "soul searching" she decides to sleep with him but of course feelings always get involved and its not til shes in China that she really sees how shitty her actions have been. in the end she realizes "well shit. maybe i do need to love myself."
ALICE
she's a kick ass 38 year old who knows what she wants and goes for it.
eventually she meets a man and she decides that even though shes not in love, shes going to marry him because she knows she wont get another chance.
eventually she realizes she's being stupid and calls it off.
RUBY
this chick is just always fucking depressed.
she cries over every single guy she dates and she hates the thought of even trying to get out there.
she tries to get inseminated only to back out at the very last second. so now she's without child and a crap load of money. and what sucks is that she keeps replaying it over and over based on her mom and her growing up.
she finally gets on anti-depressants and lives a sorta happy life.
SERENA
she is the hippie of the group i guess you can call it. she's completely given up on anything remotely close to a love life (or a life for that matter.) she decides to become a yogi, gives up all her shit, shaves her hair off, falls in love with some other yogi (or whatever) dude only to find out hes a man whore. she gives that life up goes back to her old job and only until her boss passes away does she learn what love is.
she is the hippie of the group i guess you can call it. she's completely given up on anything remotely close to a love life (or a life for that matter.) she decides to become a yogi, gives up all her shit, shaves her hair off, falls in love with some other yogi (or whatever) dude only to find out hes a man whore. she gives that life up goes back to her old job and only until her boss passes away does she learn what love is.
GEORGIA
i think this one is probably the craziest one of the bunch.
her husband left her for a younger Brazilian woman. she goes ape shit, decides she wants to start dating and finding the next love of her life RIGHT AWAY. she then learns that its not as easy as she thinks it is.
even Julie admits that she kind of treated her husband like crap so i thought when there was a window to maybe make it work that she would take it but nope. that's over.
and the shit she does! ugh! this woman is crazy.
so basically Julie gets to travel and eventually all the girls travel one part with her until the end when they all meet up.
uhm.....as far as relationships go, all these women are crazy and i pray to God that I'm not like this at the age of 38. because if i am, I'm screwed.
it was very interesting to read about the dating facts all over the world (if they are real) and given what they are, I'm glad to be in America where we have instilled marriage in our culture BUT the acceptance that i am not a failure for not birthing children if i don't want to because my career is more important.
i don't know. as far as the book goes, I'm not crazy about it but i didn't hate it.
i preferred the crap out of the movie. 100%
the book is all about being depressed at an older age.
the only thing i truly loved about the book was the fact that these 5 women who weren't that close to each other in the beginning (besides Julie knowing all of them) ended up building a solid friendship. a girl gang if you will. and i think i loved that because honestly, that's what i want.
THE MOVIE
in the movie its Alice (which i think is a rip off of Georgia and Julie...minus the marriage and kids. and the book deal crap. she actually never leaves NYC til the end) who leaves her bf to discover herself after they graduate college. she moves to NY and ends up living with her sister Meg (a rip off of Ruby but nowhere near depressed. just always working.) Robin does not exist in the book (but its clear shes a rip off of Alice minus the crazy need to be in a relationship crap.)
then there's also Lucy (who i think is also Alice but Serena in a way cause she's all about being on her own but needing to have a man.)
Alice goes through dates and figures herself out, keeps for some odd reason going back to her ex even though hes moved on. (she was way TOO calm there. i think i would have gone crazy.) and kinda just realizes what she needs to learn.
blah blah blah. drama drama drama.
at the end of it all, the movie was actually a great message on how to enjoy being single. and seeing as how i was single for 4 years it really hit close to home for me because i LOVED those single years. i did so much its ridiculous. and i appreciated it so much. you have no idea how much i LOVE to do things on my own. so i am forever grateful for those years. i think i came in to my own person during that time and while I'm still learning how to do certain things, i am forever grateful for that time and if it wasn't for that i don't think id be who i am today.
blah blah blah.
who would have thought the movie would have taught me more than the book.
anyways.....
WATCH THE MOVIE INSTEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
thanks for reading!
 |
| hurry up freaking a color story. its been a month already and still nothing, |
we went to the movies on Vday and saw How To Be Single and it freaking hit me that before my boyfriend i had been single for 4 (!!!!) years (its not a bad thing. I'm currently reading the book and i think i have A LOT to say on that.)...but anyways.
4 years since i last celebrated valentine's day with anyone and even before that (when i did have a bf) i don't even remember the last time i celebrated.
its been so long.
so when this vday came around i freaked out because:
1) we LITERALLY just started 2016. how the freak were we already celebrating vday.
2) the week before i got the flu and holy crap was it bad (i was dead on Superbowl Sunday.) i was out that entire week.
3) it literally creeped up on me.
i didn't want to celebrate.
i didn't want anything to do with the holiday. i was completely unprepared, i wasn't in the mood and i had a busy weekend (well being at his house anyways) so i couldn't sneak anything in.
and then!
bing! red light.
i remembered that my bf is a total instagram whore. he freaking loves that app.
so out of nowhere it hit me to make him the little like button thingamabober and just edit it a little bit!!!
win win win! i also got him some books he wanted so it was an amazing first vday for us! (:
ya need:
2) orange felt sheets (or whatever color ya want)
1) white felt sheet (again, or whatever color you want
2) same colored thread (1 of each. 1 white / 1 orange)
1) thread needle
-) stuffing
-) needles
-) scissors
basically is about the same size of the sheet its just the bottom you need to focus on because of the little, idk, peak thing.
(i'm 100% sure my lines are not straight but i wasn't picky about it so that's up to you.
then i pinned it to the other orange sheet and cut the second one by following the one on top
i had a heart outline because of some hearts that i bought at target and i free handed the U.
after those were done, i went over the whole thing til i was almost closed to done and then i stuffed it and finished it up.
advice: start sewing from the bottom left. way easier than from where i started. (the tip of the little peak)
i thought it was a super cute idea (and honestly it saved my ass cause this guy spoiled me on vday)
and my sister fell in love with it that she made me make one for her date and then she ended up keeping it. --__--
(i think i overstuffed his cause hers looks more....not stuffed)
on the 14th, we went to go have breakfast. he somehow ALWAYS manages to get better food than i do so i end up picking from his plate.
then we went to Barnes and Noble where he bought me 2 books and we spent a good minute in there.
then we went to bevmo and i got him the same amount of $ spent on my books worth of beer!
he was in heaven. we were in there for at least 45 minutes. (i stupidly left my books in the car!)
then we went to the movies.
we saw how to be single which i loved and it actually made me cry. its a total chick flick but not in the way i expected it to be. after that we saw Deadpool and guys!, i have no idea what the hell i saw but that movie was badass!!!!!
i LOVED it.
but that's how it goes for me with every comic book movie. i don't care for it but then i see it and i'm like holy smokes!!!!
after that we went to go get pastrami fries and i was asleep by 1130.
its funny because i fell asleep while he was watching a documentary and i remember falling asleep but i kept hearing myself snore so i woke up and asked him if i was snoring and he said yea but was unfazed by it.
i kept apologizing to him after i woke up. he wasn't even aware cause that's how used to it he is. lol
overall considering i was sorta protesting the holiday, it worked out for the best.
i had an amazing first vday with B.
that guys is the best.
hope you guys had a great one! (:
do you ever have a moment where you're like "oooh! this is the perfect diy moment" after not dying for like 75 hundred years?
i'd seen this diy a looooong time ago and i thought it was perfect to send to carlee for her birfday!
for some other odd reason i bought the abm messy box when it was on sale so i have all this paper laying around since im (currently) anti scrap-booking.
anyways, you can go to the link above and be super fancy about it (i wasn't cause i don't own a cricut! insert mad face emoji) and well this felt more personal! and i love those bando stickers!!!!
i cut a little clear box from some transparency paper i had and i used that as my template to cut them all about the same size.
i arranged em how i liked and then i taped the back with some regular tape and then some confetti washi tape for a little pop. (sorry for the crappy pics. i have a very horribly lit room.)
as jimmy pesto would say "ta-dance!"
you cant really see it all that well but once i was done with it i was tempted very very much to just keep it for myself. soclose!
then i packed it all up nicely in a card and sent it her way! (:
happy birthday Carlee!!! hope you had a great one! :*
published: 6/2015
308 book pages // 248 ebook pages
isbn: 978-1-4767-8650-6
read from: 2/6-8-16
ahh!
i picked this up from the library when i went to go pick up my other read.
they have a newly released section right as you walk in so i started looking around and came upon this one.
i read the jacket and i decided to give it a go because it's about hiking and if i can be super cheesy real quick, since it was based on hiking, it reminded me of my boyfriend. so thanks B. ill think of you more often when i head out to the library. and if your memory keeps churning books like these, then ill keep ya for a bit longer ;)
now, you're probably wondering "why is there a library book AND an ebook?"...i don't blame ya.
reason being is because i checked out the book knowing nothing of it or the author and then! i read literally the first page and i didn't even bother to continue with the library copy. i bought it for my nook right away.
i HAD to buy it.
this is one of those books that i KNOW i will pick up later on in life, re-read and be like woooah! <3
so i checked it out, read 1 page and bought it. let that sink in. :D
SYNOPSIS
Four lost hikers are about to discover they’re capable of something extraordinary.
Nola has gone up the mountain to commemorate her wedding anniversary, the first since her beloved husband passed. Blonde, stick-thin Bridget is training for a triathlon. Vonn is working out her teenage rebellion at eight thousand feet, driven by family obligation and the urge to escape her mistakes. Still reeling from the tragic accident that robbed him of his best friend, Wolf Truly is the only experienced hiker among them, but he has come to the cliffs on his eighteenth birthday without food or supplies because he plans to take his own life.
When a series of missteps strands this unusual group together in the wilderness, they soon realize that their only defense against the brutality of nature is one another. As one day without rescue spirals dramatically into the next, and misadventure turns to nightmare, these four broken souls begin to form an inextricable bond, pushing themselves and one another further than they ever could have dreamed possible. The three who make it home alive will be forever changed by their harrowing days on the mountain.
THOUGHTS
and nooooow, drum roll please, here is my report (like i said, review sounds to harsh. specially since I'm not a pro or whatever...anyways.....)
this story takes place in Palm Springs. erm well in the mountains of. before i even finished reading the description i knew the exact spot the author was describing because i want to go there so bad!
it starts off with Wolf writing a letter to his son explaining his time on the mountain.
even his own mother doesn't know the complete story (and she was there with him!)
so after his son knows the truth, so will his wife.
and all i can say is holy shiz.
so Wolf (Wilfred) moves to Tin Town after his father loses their home in Michigan.
on his 18th birthday, Wolf is on his way to Angels Peak to end his life.
he's led a shitty-ish life in his 18 years so you know, i kinda cant blame him.
on his way up to the top, he takes notice of the people joining him.
there's Nola in a bright red jacket.
Bridgette who's more bouncy (and kind of annoying) than who knows what and there's Vonn. who's going up in green flip flops.
Bridgette is going up to train for her triathlon and Nola is looking for Secret Lake to honor her late husband by spreading his ashes there. they have been going up there every year for 40 years on their anniversary and on the first anniversary since his death, she is returning without him to say goodbye.
however, she somehow cant find the way. (typical. I'm the exact same way.)
wolf runs in to them and after some questioning (more like "bugging" him), he advises them that they are going the wrong way. after some coaxing, they (Nola and Bridgette) manage to convince him to lead the way.
on the way over, Bridgette runs in to a swarm of bees. she freaks out and takes off running.
Wolf chases after her but then Nola falls and hes like aaah where do i go but Nola advises him to go after her.
couple of bee stings. what can be so bad?
well, shes kind of allergic.
and she forgot her epi pen. ._.
by this point, Vonn has joined the group.
this is where it goes to shit.
they spend 5 days lost in the mountain.
no food. no water. no shelter.
wolf has nothing because he left his bag seeing as how he wasn't planning on coming back.
Bridgette lost her bag when they fell.
Nola has water but very limited and no food.
Vonn was supposed to stay in the center but ended up going with them and also had nothing.
and no one knows they're missing.
(i have since re-read this book (6/27-30/2020) and came back to update this post to hide the spoilers at the bottom so excuse the mess that i just made out of this post!)
whattt what!!!?
honestly, i read this book while i was sick as shiz (if i thought the last time was bad, this blew that like 500 light years away) so i think there are a few things that flew right by me. but i definitely want to read this book again down the line. like really REALLY want to read it. and that's saying a lot because i hate re-reading books (okay. not hate but I'm not crazy about it.) i know i said I'd re-read yes please by Amy Poehler again but i honestly think ill read this one before that one. and Amy wrote a really good book.
I'm so glad to have stumbled in to this book!
i wont be forgetting it any time soon.
so far this is by far my favorite read of 2016 (yes i know there is a long way to go!)
i know i gave away a lot of the book but there is still stuff i left out (as always!)
so whenever you get a chance, please pick this up! <3 <3 <3
thanks for reading!
I'm so glad to have stumbled in to this book!
i wont be forgetting it any time soon.
so far this is by far my favorite read of 2016 (yes i know there is a long way to go!)
i know i gave away a lot of the book but there is still stuff i left out (as always!)
so whenever you get a chance, please pick this up! <3 <3 <3
thanks for reading!
this is as much as i can say without spoilers. sooooo....
published: 2013 // 345 pages
isbn: 978-1-4424-3155-3
read from 1/27/16 to didnt finish
isbn: 978-1-4424-3155-3
read from 1/27/16 to didnt finish
i was having such a good reading streak!!!!
then this book came along and ruined that for me. :(
i saw this book on good reads and the cover was calling to me so i got it from the library (THANK GOD!) and well, 9 days later and i'd rather go work out than read this book (i HATE working out!)
i'd read some at home and then sneak in a couple of pages at work but no matter what, i couldn't get in to it. i searched high and low all over the freaking Internet and NO spoilers....which leads me to think that i am doing the world a justice by including spoilers in my "reviews." (which really aren't reviews but more like book reports so i can remember what the hell i read.)
so let me catch you up on the 221 pages that i read.
Skint and Dinah are best friends and the one thing i loved about that was that they were best friends without being the kind of best friends that you know are going to end up in love and married later on (at least i don't think.)
Dinah is kind of like a "lets go do good and help everyone out" kind of person and Skint is a "fuck the world, we're all dicks who kill each other so we might as well die" kind of person and so well yea.
a lot of the good reads reviewers stated that the a) hated the shit out of Dinah and b) loved the crap out of Skint.
which i find complete bullshit because to me D was kind of always trying to see the positive out of every situation while Skint just took a crap on everything. (please remember, i did not finish the book so it all might have changed just as i gave up.)
Skint's dad has dementia and his mother instead of asking for help, takes on the role of being a total bitch with a shit load of pride and you can tell she doesn't want to deal with him but she'd rather suffer than let anyone see what is really going on. so Skint has to see his mother be a bitch to her father. now, i think that because of the weight of all that, Skint has to deal with it at a bigger scale and its a lot for a kid to take on. so i guess i can see him hating life but i believe it also falls on his father for kind of having the same attitude about humans and such (kids are impressionable as shit.)
Dinah knows but she doesn't know to what extent i guess so she never really says anything.
i stopped reading a little bit after she finds out that Skint was the one that actually stole the cans from the church and she's back putting them away.
from there on out i skipped to the last chapter and all i know is Skint take K.T to his mothers house and then takes off. (who's KT? well, i wont make you read a book i didn't like sooo...he's the little brother of the schools bully.)
i skipped to random chapters and i guess his mother hits his dad and the cops and Dinah's mom is involved.
i guess he then leaves to live with Bernadine (which was odd because he hates her) and that's all i really know.
i do not know how it ends, I've been looking high and low, inside and out, upside down left and right and since this is a library book, im definitely never going to find out. so if you know what happens please let me know.
i HATE giving up on books but like Elise says, "I try to only read books that I really enjoy. Life is too short to waste time on a book you're not connecting with." i had to let it go.
i have a huge to be read pile and several on netgalley that have a deadline that i just had to let it go.
here's to the first downer of 2016 :(
published 2015 // 288 pages (listened to as an audio book)
isbn: 978-1101983799
read/heard: Dec 2015 to 2/4/2016
this is another audio book that i got because i had a credit (how? i don't know) on audible.
i think i got it the day or week maybe that it was released.
i dunno, but ill leave you with the amazon description and then as per usual, my thoughts.
Wildflower is a portrait of Drew's life in stories as she looks back on the adventures, challenges, and incredible experiences of her earlier years. It includes tales of living on her own at 14 (and how laundry may have saved her life), getting stuck in a gas station overhang on a cross country road trip, saying goodbye to her father in a way only he could have understood, and many more adventures and lessons that have led her to the successful, happy, and healthy place she is today. It is the first book Drew has written about her life since the age of 14.
i LOVE Drew Barrymore.
i love her happy go lucky quirky attitude.
BUT with that being said, i had a hate/like/kinda only loved it because it benefited me to love it kind of love with this book.
i started listening to it at work and maybe because things were hectic, i couldn't concentrate on it so i wasn't a fan. i left it alone read like 45 books in between and then i picked it up again because i started doing night walks and i didn't want to listen to music.
its safe to say that when i was walking and listening to it was when i fell in love with it. its weird but since shes the one reading it to you, it feels more intimate.
so if you get this as an audio book, please listen to it when you have time to devote your time to it and not have it as background noise or listen to it when you're doing 12 other things. and also, if you're wearing headphones, beware. she yells when there's an oooh or an aaahhh!!!! and it pierces your ears!
overall, i liked the book WHEN i walked and listened to it and was able to focus solely on that but other than that i wasn't super crazy about it.
what i didn't like was that it jumped all over the place.
its more like tales of her life which i LOVE but i think it would have been better in a more chronological order.
she goes from childhood to something she did when she was 20 something to doing E.T press to doing charlies angels press to ahhh! and yea.
i wasn't super crazy about it if I'm being honest.
i wouldn't buy the book but maybe get it from the library.
there were a few things that i thought were sweet though.
the chapter about her dogs was soo sweet. mostly because I'm a dog lover myself!
its amazing how much love you can have for them and there's honestly nothing that i wouldn't do for them so i loved that chapter.
the chapter about Karma. she talks about how when on vacation or something she ran up and down a hotel taking all the clothes that she would find and then dumping them in the river. (years later, her clothes always go missing.)
which, i liked because I'm a HUGE believer in Karma.
lets be honest here, cause the universe has me all sorts of fucked up....back when i was younger i found out some drama and it killed me because the one person who didn't have my back was a girl that i thought i was best friends with. that shit tore me up.
so i looked at her and i said "i hope you never have close friends because the shit you just pulled was not cool." i think it was a little bit harsher than that.
point is, karma took notice and fucked me over.
she has her group of friends that shes been cool with since high school and the group i hung out with, well they grew up. marriage and kids and so no one really hangs out (and yes, i know, you gotta put in effort but things happen and well sometimes its better left alone.)
i don't know. my point is, i think by putting out that negative energy in to the world, it came back to me and well, see why i believe Karma is real?
so Universe / Karma, if you're paying attention, I'm hella effin sorry! please forgive me for what i said! I've changed! i promised. and I'm not saying i want a bajillion friends but i just want to love everyone.
so yea.
-the chapter about being single. and door #1
i loved this chapter mostly because i was single for 2 almost 3 years. she talks about how people talk about being single as if its a bad thing. are you kidding me? i LOVED IT. i truly believe i came in to myself in 2013 when i was all alone. and ever since then, every year has been better than the last.
but i feel like, yes, being single should be enjoyed. that's you time that you wont have once you get a partner.
she then proceeds to talk about when you finally pick a person and how you know they're the one. door #1.
if you go in to a relationship with the mentality that they're there for the moment but there could be something better, well then you're screwing yourself and that person over.
and this was an amazing chapter for me because well, i had a vision of my life with a person that is no longer present. and now, even though its too soon to say, i like where I'm at with my boyfriend. and while I'm not looking to get married anytime soon, he's a great door #.5. I'm watering that relationship with love and if it works out in the end, he could be my door #1. shortcut to what I'm saying: I'm almost 30. if I'm "netflix and chillin'" its with someone serious. not just cause i want random D. I'm over that. (not that i was into it. just clarifying that!!!) I'm getting ready to enter that possible next phase in my life and i LOVE how she words it.
i wish i would have thought to hear it the way i finished it. i think i might have liked it more but for now, those 3 chapters for me, are its saving grace.
but also, wtf with the cover? i don't understand the posed jumping.
anywayssss....
ahh!
thanks for reading! <3
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