Books, Coffee, and More Books

So, over the past week my entire world has pretty much been tossed upside down (you know, I normally really hate cliches, but it’s accurate at this point).

For those of you who don’t know, when your parents or other people older (and okay, wiser) than you say “Hey, I know you’re happy now, but you really don’t want to run off and get married at eighteen,” they actually know what the hell they’re talking about. Now of course, like every other 18 almost 19 year old in the world, I thought I knew everything and I was the exception, well, you can see where this is going, right?

So, at 20 years old, in the middle of a divorce, and at the tail end of my winter break from school, I get a very cryptic email from the financial aid department at my school. After several hours on the phone, and almost 14 transfers later I was told that there had been a mix up (mainly because my so called adviser is a moron) and some of the information I had been given was incorrect so my financial aid for the fall semester had never been applied so my spring semester classes had been drop.

Um, wanna try that again?

Like most 20 year old college students, I don’t happen to just have $10,000 laying around, and the ever apologizing guy on the phone keeps telling me that it’s going to take at least 2 weeks to process the correct paper work (but could potentially take upwards of 6!) there was no way for their department to fix the error before the semester started, but of course, they’d love to see me in the fall.

*Insert several hour long freak out and obsessive coffee drinking here*

But now, of course I have regained my ever calm and lady like stature… haha okay, or maybe not.  But I do know how to breath again, though.

And with the breathing, and some coffee, I have decided that I’m only going to look at this in the most positive light. A semester off isn’t the worst thing in the world. In fact, this gives me the opportunity to work full time until the fall semester instead of just picking up shifts here and there.  And I’ve also decided to do the 50 Book Pledge this year (and at the rate I’m going, I’m going to get in more than just the 50 books.

And because you are my ever attentive audience who has no other choice but to listen to me babble (or so I choose to believe), you get to hear all about the books I’ve read and plan on reading. Muahaha.

You can check out my ‘to be read’ bookshelf here.

So far this year I’ve finished:

It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

I have seen the movie based on this book at least a dozen times but until recently I had never sat down with the actual book. In fact, this was one of the several books that I got with my Christmas money. This is definitely a book that I think everyone should read at least once in their life. It’s something that I wish would replace one of the drier novels on the required reading lists in high schools, in fact I have a feeling that it would do a lot of people a lot more good that The House on Mango Street or one of the other books that took months to get through that I only skimmed. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever read another book that I was able to relate to in terms of my depression and anxiety, both school related and not. This is definitely a book everyone needs to get their hands on.

 

Under the Covers and Between the Sheets by C. Alan Joyce and Sarah Janssen

This is a book that I wish had come into my life a lot sooner than it did. My mom got it for me for Christmas and I laughed until I cried… A couple of times. I’m pretty sure any writer or book lover would enjoy this one. When they say “the inside story behind classic characters, authors, unforgettable phrases and unexpected endings,” they mean that that is only the beginning. This whole volume is full of the most out of the way facts that your English teacher never told you. Did you know that Mark Twain once wrote that “Every time I read Pride and Prejudice I want to dig her [Jane Austin] up and beat her over the skull with her own shin bone.”? Or that Dorothy Parker left her entire estate to Martin Luther King Jr.? Or what about the fact that Maya Angelou once worked as a nightclub “shake dancer”? And all of that is just one the back cover! Seriously, why are you still reading this, go buy the book!

I’ve also already read:

Anthem by Ayn Rand

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chobosky

and you’ll hear all about them tomorrow because I’m tired and there are people in my living room. Night guys!