Wall Wednesday: Book Collection (Part 3)

Here's the final installment of my book collection tour!  It's official: I have WAY too many books!  I want to say that I should stop buying more, but I also have fallen way behind on young adult reads over the past couple of years, so that's a pretty good excuse to keep buying books, right?

Special announcement for those of you who do not subscribe to me on YouTube.  I am officially a Booktuber!  All this really means is that I will be making videos about books, reading, etc.  I will probably still do a few other kinds of videos to post  here on the blog, but I think my days of free-form blogging/vlogging are over.  I plan on finishing off the two years here at Little Girl, and then stepping away from the blogging world for a while.  Videos are just so much more inspiring for me right now, so I think I'll start going more in that direction instead.

Happy Wall Wednesdays, guys!  Are you reading anything good lately?

Wall Wednesday: My Book Collection (Part 2)

I'm really enjoying being able to use older footage from spring break, because I've been incredibly busy and haven't had time to film (or write) anything new.  Hope you enjoy this quick look at my collection. The final part will be up next week!

Wall Wednesday: My Book Collection (Part 1)

This past weekend, I found out that March is National Reading Month, and decided that I would post a book collection video to commemorate it.  This video caused my first major YouTube struggle: attempting to upload an unnecessarily long video.  So now it's in three parts (and the first barely made it on a Wednesday!)

Over the next two weeks, I'll upload the next two parts (one for each bookshelf).  If you have any suggestions for future reading, or a book collection of your own that you'd like to share, don't hesitate to leave a comment!  I absolutely love reading/watching videos about this sort of thing.

Happy Birthday, Miss Bennet!

Hello, all!  I greatly apologize for my lack of posting the past couple of weeks, but I am now back in the city for the Spring semester!  Classes started last week, so I've been doing a lot of unpacking, book-buying, and general running around trying to get ready for all of my classes.  I already have some new room decorations and projects going that I can't wait to share with you all, but I need time to sit down and write them up, which I will hopefully have soon as I settle into a more normal schedule.

Anyways, I thought that, as an avid fan of Jane Austen, I needed to do a little celebratory post for the her most beloved novel.  That's right, this week Pride and Prejudice is turning 200 years old!  It's simply amazing to me that, even after so much time, a novel based simply around the social constructs of Regency England continues to capture the hearts of readers everywhere.  Isn't that why we read literature like this?

So, happy birthday, Miss Bennet!  If you're a fan of the novel, I'd highly suggest checking out this comical (in more ways than one) summary!


*Movie Still taken from Pride and Prejudice 2005 Blog

2012 Reading Challenge

It's absolutely great to be home with my family, dogs, and back in my own bedroom overflowing with books.  I've recently joined the website GoodReads and, even though there are only a couple of weeks left in the year, have joined their 2012 Reading Challenge!

I picked a challenge of reading 50 books this year, thinking that between the two intensive literature courses I've taken the past few semesters, I would be fine.  Surprisingly, I'm not even close to 50 books, and so this really is a challenge!  How many books do you guys think I can read by December 31st?

2012 Reading Challenge

Marisa has read 18 books toward her goal of 50 books.

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18 of 50 (36%)

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Fun Finds: Literary Love

It's been a busy couple of weeks, and I can't tell you how glad I am to be able to just relax a little this afternoon.  Which of course means that I'm doing a little online "window shopping."  I wasn't looking for items of a certain theme, and yet all of these items are distinctly literary.  I guess that means I'm studying the right subject!

1. Make Your Own USB Typewriter (Etsy) - I saw a short feature on this USB Typewriter, and immediately fell in love.  I have wanted a typewriter for as long as I can remember, but have never had cause to get one as they become more and more obsolete.  But this is pure brilliance, as it can be used with any computer or iPad.  Talk about up-cycling!

2. The Remains of the Day (Amazon) - Kazuo Ishiguro is one of my favorite authors, mainly because of the amazing lyrical quality of his writing.  I've read Never Let Me Go about four different times, and have had this next novel recommended to me on multiple occasions. Maybe, as my school work starts to wind down, I'll find time to actually fit it in!

3. A Writer's Ink (Threadless) - I used to submit t-shirt designs to Threadless, but I only learned that they also sell prints of their artist's work recently.  I love this piece because, well, what writer doesn't feel like their ink and writing brings something alive?

The Right to be Unhappy

Just finished reading this book.  It was odd, freaky, and even a bit dull at times, but never failed to be thought-provoking.  Love this quote!

30DDC: Day 6 - Favorite Book Character

I really don't think these prompts are supposed to be as difficult as I'm making them.  Today's drawing was probably the easiest so far, but it was choosing a character that made it difficult.  I don't really have a favorite character, so I just drew Kathy H. from my favorite book at the moment, Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.

I'm normally only do black and white compositions, so I'm having a lot of fun playing around with all of this color!

Jane Eyre

Being the eager English majors that we are, last night Justine and I went to a late showing of the new film adaption Jane Eyre, starring Mia Wasikowska. Having just read the book for one of our English classes, we were eager to see what this new film adaption would bring to the table. Unfortunately, I was sorely disappointed in what we saw.

Don't get me wrong, the film is truly beautiful and moving. The acting is amazing, and the costuming, location, props... all of it was just right. However, because I consider myself fairly well aquatinted with Charlotte Bronte's book Jane Eyre, I cannot say that it was a good film adaption. The movie left out so many vital parts of the book, while portraying Jane in such a weak and dependent way that it actually changed the meaning of the story.

Now, having said that, I don't discourage you from going to see it, especially if you have read the book. I would be very interested to get other people's opinions on this adaption. Although you may wince at the somewhat butchered plot, the acting will pull at your heartstrings. If you haven't read the book, I also encourage you to see the movie, but I would hope that you would not judge the book based on what you see on screen.

On a final note, we are coming up on the end of the semester, which means lots and lots of work. I have two finals and four research papers in the next two weeks, which means my presence here will be very scarce. But never fear, as soon as I get a free moment I will write another post. I have loads of pictures I haven't yet shared with you all!

Not For Sale

Good news! I survived midterms and papers, and it's finally spring break! I flew home to sunny southern California on Saturday, and am enjoying the change of scenery and weather. I don't think I even realized how much I missed shorts and tank tops!

But I have something important and serious that I wanted to talk to you all about. I am taking a contemporary ethics class dealing particularly with immigration, and the book that we are currently reading is called Not For Sale by David Batstone. It discusses the "return of the global slave trade" and basically serves to make us aware that there are people facing economic slavery, sex trafficking, and child soldiery throughout the world. The cool thing about this book, though, is that it doesn't stop with that. Rather just being a book, it is the beginning of an entire movement, known as the Not For Sale Campaign. They have branches throughout the United States that focus on fundraising, educating, and training people to be "modern day abolitionists." What they do is very important, and it starts with simply educating people and making them aware of the atrocities that are being committed across the globe.

For those of you who are technically up to date, they make it very easy for you to be informed. Not For Sale also runs another website, Free2Work.org. This site is focused on making people into smart consumers. They take different companies and rate them based on the typical school grading scale here in the U.S., based on how ethically their products are produced. They have even converted some of their information into a handy-dandy app for the iPhone or iTouch. I know you all have at least one or the other of these devices, so check it out. It's completely free.

I really encourage you all to check out these websites and get some more information. Better yet, go buy and read the book. It will really change the way you think about things, and it will make you want to get involved, or at least live differently. I think it's important to say that I'm not getting any money or recognition for promoting the cause like this. I'm just doing it because it's something that really impacted me and opened my eyes to parts of the world around me that I didn't know existed, and I just want to share this knowledge and opportunity with all of you. What you do with it is your decision.

Happy March, everyone, and check back soon for more pictures from San Fran!