Tag: Reading

My 5 Favorite Books

My 5 Favorite Books

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Almost all of the books I love to read are fiction-based. These types of books open up my imagination and take me away from reality. Especially with fictional books, characters are given unique personalities and the story plot can be fun, mystical, and suspenseful. I enjoy this very much because I get to visualize the story as I read along.

Harry Potter Series (J.K. Rowling) I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan! Despite the series actually containing 7 books in all, I decided to combine all the books together here. I love the way J.K Rowling develops each distinct character and creates a sense of endless, mystical fantasy that keeps readers reading. Her style of writing is phenomenal as it is easy to read and follow along; anyone who is capable of reading can understand the story. The morals of the stories are so pure and full of heart. All in all, the Harry Potter novels are good books I highly recommend to read or even reread!

The Invention of Hugo Cabret (Brain Selznick) This has been a favorite book of mine since grade school because of the novel’s art and the style in which the book was made. When people say that pictures mean more than 1,000 words, this novel says it all. More than half of the book is composed of full-page illustrations that help the reader visualize the story the way the author wants them to see it. The story is heartbreaking, heartwarming, and so engaging to read. Those who have seen the wonderful movie version of this novel know I what mean by this.

Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck) Steinbeck never fails to disappoint us through his stories. Grapes of Wrath is a longer read than most of his other books, but it takes us into the time of the American Depression and Recession through a particular man and his family. The readers will be able to experience what it was like to live at that time and realize all the difficulties and struggles people had to face. Steinbeck’s diction is well suited for the time period and his format (splitting the story up by section) is quite different and interesting.

The Canterbury Tales (Geoffery Chaucer) There are many short stories of different wacky, funny, sickening, and lovely characters; some stories will really make you laugh! The animations of the stories (claymation videos on YouTube) are fantastic to watch after you read the stories. Despite the text to be written in Middle English, I think readers can still read and understand the text just fine.

Never A City So Real (Alex Kotlowitz) This is a novel I read with my friends from DePaul University from a class pertaining to Chicago History. This novel is all about Chicago and is written to point out many hotspots of Chicago (20-30 years ago). There is much emphasis on the urban lifestyle, different neighborhoods with different cultures, famous restaurants (like Manny’s), notorious gangs, and more. After reading this book, you will definitely be more aware of Chicago’s past history and see the city in a more interesting way!

So Say We All

So Say We All

As y’all may have noticed, I disappeared last semester. When they say that your spring semester of junior year is the hardest in the nursing program here, they aren’t kidding. Luckily, I was able to have such a relaxing summer that I feel rejuvenated and ready for my senior year!

So, what did I do this summer? Well…

1. I moved!

That’s right! I moved into my dream apartment in Lincoln Park! There is a little schlep to my classes on the lake shore campus (hello, 4 am Thursday morning wake up calls)…
The view from my rooftop!

… but it’s totally worth it for the neighborhood. I’m right by the Lincoln Park Zoo, the lake shore path, North Avenue Beach, countless restaurants and parks, and I’m only a 10 minute bus ride from work/the downtown shuttle.

I spent all summer exploring my new neighborhood and hanging out on my rooftop, and those two things alone made it a summer well spent.

2. I read!

When I first moved, I didn’t have internet for a week. To entertain myself, I started making progress on the giant stack of books on my nightstand. Once I started, I didn’t stop. To the chagrin of all my friends and my new apartment walls (I mayyyy have thrown a book or two out of anger), I constantly had a novel with me at all times.

The books I read this summer!

The books I read included:

– The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
– Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
– A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin
– A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin
– This Much I Know is True by Wally Lamb
– The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
– The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
– Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert 

Hopefully, I’ll have read enough to hold me over until I have free time to read again!

3. I watched!

Once I did get internet, Netflix essentially became my new roommate. On the recommendation of my friends, I started watching Battlestar Galactica (BSG).

I watched it at the end of May, and it wouldn’t be an understatement to say that it took over my life to the degree that I couldn’t watch any more series until August (at which point I embarrassingly became obsessed with Teen Wolf).

Obsessed.

While it took me a while to get through season 1 of BSG, but I watched season 2 – 4 (60 episodes about 40 minutes in length) in the span of 5 days. I. Became. Consumed.

Right now I’m fresh off of Teen Wolf, and I’m watching Scrubs because “it’s a medical show, so it counts as studying.” Unfortunately, since it IS the school year now, I can’t marathon 10+ episodes in a row, but Netflix will definitely be a part of my life year round.

In addition to watching Netflix, my senior year will be pretty busy with nursing school. I’m done with all of my core classes, so I can focus all my time on clinicals, skills, and theory courses. I accidentally joined the Bioethics Bowl team today, so I’m going to try and keep up with that for an extracurricular experience this year.

Either way, I’m pretty excited to really start getting ready for the “real world”!

Photo 1 attributed to Group Fox

Photo 2 attributed to myself

Photo 3 attributed to SyFy

 

Moving On to a New Book

Moving On to a New Book

Just finished my book– “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. It was so great! I got through the last couple of pages on the shuttle from Lakeshore Campus to Water Tower Campus late  last night. The novel presented a really unique perspective on the events of September 11, 2001, given from a nine-year-old boy whose father died in the World Trade Center that day. I highly recommend it!

I used to read all the time and have missed it greatly; I’ve made a sort of late New Year’s resolution to start reading again. It makes the time pass so quickly when traveling between campuses on the shuttle or the CTA! Next on my list: “Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger (the author of the great novel “The Time Traveler’s Wife). Can’t wait to get started!

“Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” by Jonathan Safran Foer


Photo credit: Frames-of-Mind, Flickr.com

Busy Busy Busy

Busy Busy Busy

Time has been both dragging on and speeding by. I am grateful it is already Wednesday and am looking forward to heading home for spring break in a week and a half. There is so much to be done before then though! This is midterm season, which means it’s prime time for professors to schedule lots of quizzes, exams and assignments due within the next week or so. It’s getting pretty hectic!

One of the things that’s been getting me through the day is this new book I am reading, “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” by Jonathan Safran Foer. The movie equivalent is in theaters right now, but I heard how great the book was and vowed to read it before I watched. So far it’s been great.  The story is mostly told from the point of view of a very unique 10-ish-year-old boy whose father died in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. A year or two after his father’s death, the boy sets out to solve this sort of scavenger hunt his father left for him. It’s really interesting but I’m only 100 pages in!

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safran Foer