I'm not exactly sure why ordering Monday or Tuesday: Eight Stories, by Virginia Woolf would trigger amazon.com to recommend me buying the CreativeLabs Desktop Wls.6000-Keyboard and Mouse, but it did. Funny.
There was an article in The Tennessean (our newspaper) today about manicures and I just had to express my personal distaste for the new 3-D nail art technique. It looks disgusting. I was so appalled when I saw the picture I couldn't help but read the entire article.
I also wanted to tell the world about my official last day of school, which was today. It was short and boring, just like they are every year. The only cool part is now I can say I'm a senior. Some friends and I went to the park after our exam to celebrate. We played the Ha Ha Game. If you don't know what that is, here's a photo...
The way the game works is everyone puts their head on another person's stomach and you go in a circle saying 'Ha.' The first person starts with just one 'Ha' and the second says 'Ha Ha' and the third 'Ha Ha Ha' and so on. The goal is to go around the circle as many times as the group can without anybody laughing. When you laugh you lose. It's a sort of lame game, but lots of fun.I'm the one in the striped shirt. I'm laying on Robin's stomach, who's laying on Elaine, who's laying on Megan. Brandon took the first photo.
I also wanted to brag about having the coolest teacher ever. She bought all her students books as a end of the year gift with the extra class fees she took up last fall. I thought it was sweet. Thanks Mrs. Sniderman!
Wow. I don't think I've ever talked about so many different topics all in one post. Normally I just focus on one single thing. Wierd.
The highly anticipated new book by Khaled Hosseini comes out today. Hosseini is the author of the very popular Kite Runner, a book, I believe, that should be required reading for all people currently living in the United States. The Kite Runner's one of my favorites and I'm very excited about Hosseini's new release, entitled A Thousand Splendid Suns. I ordered it this morning (along with Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar) and the book should be arriving June 2-June 5. Yay!
That picture is of Khaled Hosseini's website. I added the red arrow. =)
Reading the backs of cerial boxes has always been my favorite pastime. Yesterday, while stuffing my face with Frosted Mini-Wheats, I discovered what is probably the best back to a cerial box ever! (What makes a good cerial box back? Trivia. Riddles. Eliptical Illusions. Anything that makes your brain work. One of my favorite cerial box backs when I was little was the one on the Apple Jacks with all these mind games-- the classic "do you see a wine glass or two faces?" sort of stuff.) Well, the Frosted Mini-Wheats didn't have any Eliptical Illusions, but it did have fun vocabulary tidbits. They reminded me of my 'Utterances.' Here're the questions...
The answers were
and, yes, I did get them all right. =)
Amazon.com is my favorite place to shop for books. Th
Grand Total: $26.09
Not bad for seven books.
Just for fun, my current wish list includes...
You may have noticed the books still waiting to be bought are the more pricy ones.
*I've already read these books, but I want my own copy of them.
**Hasn't been released yet, but I can't wait!
***I'm waiting for this one to come out on paperback.
****I had this book, but I lost it.
Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters tells the story of Buddy Glass's experiences at his older brother wedding. He finds himself inconveniently trapped in a car with friends and family of the bride, all who dislike Seymour, Buddy's brother. He, awkwardly, listens to the company criticize the groom. Buddy's struggles to remain sane in a car full of rude wedding guests and their strong opinions on his brother and their eccentric family. The plot's pretty simple, but that doesn't mean the book is boring. Buddy's reactions to such an intolerable social situation make for some very interesting prose. More than once I giggled and more than twice I winced. Such difficult circumstances are bound to cause some laughs and make readers pleasantly uncomfortable.
See more reviews or buy Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters at Amazon.com.
I had to put this photo on here. This is a picture of 'the castle' at Rock Island, a park our Girl Scout troop goes every spring. We just got back today and this photo was taken this morning. It was beautiful. I'm the one going up the stairs wearing a red hoody.
I w
as watching Who Wants to be a Millionaire on Wednesday night (a favorite past time of my boyfriend and I) and one of the questions was something like Which of the following is the word for a source of information that is able to be edited by it's viewers? The correct answer choice was wiki, which was also my guess. I thought wiki made sense because Wikipedia.com allows users to add, remove, or edit content. I'd always thought wiki was a made up word, but I looked it actually is Hawiian for "quick." Cool huh?
In case your eyes are as bad as mine, the circled text on the photo says, "anyone can edit."
I like these word posts. I think I'll do it again next time I hear a particularly interesting word. I'll call them utterances.
The Barnes and Noble Meet the Writers Podcast is my favorite of all my subscriptions. The show consists of a 10-15 minute interview with a popular author (who typically just had a book published and is on tour). They cover all sorts of books and genres: food lit, children's picture books, memoirs, science fiction, chick lit, horror, poetry and even comic books. All of the interviews are with the biggest names in books: Anne Rice, Gregory Maguire, Lisa See, Augusten Burroghs, Carl Hiassan, Erik Larson, Chuck Palahniuk, Sophie Kinsella, Ann Brashers, and Sue Monk Kidd. Even if you've never read Laurell K. Hamilton, the interviews are conducted in a way so you don't have to have be a fan to enjoy the show. Despite there being authors I haven't heard of, it was really interesting to listen anyway because the podcast sparks an interest in you to try reading a book you may have never come across. Sometimes I find myself being introduced to an entire new genre of books I never knew existed. Who knew 'Dog Lit' had it's own section in the library? My favorite part about this podcast is the length. The show always ends at just the right moment. It leaves you wanting more, but still satisfied. What do they talk about? Meet the Writers is great for people who wonder about what inspires a writer to compose his or her book. They often discuss the writing process, the author's life prior to being published, and what inspired his or her successful book(s). Barnes and Noble's podcast feels just like meeting a friend of a friend for the first time. You've heard a lot about them and when you meet for the first time you're just getting a feel for what type of person (or writer) he or she is. You chat, make small talk, but nothing too personal usually comes up. The show is updated about twice a week. I love Meet the Writers. Even if you've never heard of any of the interviewed authors, it's a great way to learn about new books. Everybody should subscribe.
The Barnes & Noble Meet the 
Writers Podcast can be downloaded for free directly from the iTunes store. Just enter "Meet the Writers" in the "Search iTunes Store" box.
I don't think I've ever defined podcast on Wrinkled Thought. Here's Dictionary.com's definition just in case there are any technological immigrants out there...
Chick Lit has a bad reputation for being frivolous, substancelss, and published for women too ignorant to pick up something as intellectual as The Da Vinci Code (sarcasm). I don't care what type of books you're into, In Her Shoes is fantastic. I coudn't put it down; I finished in only two days. In Her Shoes is 100% character driven, which were incredably developed. I felt like any minor character was just as well thought out as our protagonists. Because the heart of the book is in the character's emotions and interactions, it's a very funny read thanks to such vibrant personalities created by Weiner. I found myself giggling from page one to the end. Despite Chick Lit's bad connotation, In Her Shoes was full of excellent comentary on relationships between sisters, stepmothers and stepdaughters, coworkers, senior citizens in new relationships, and even people and their dogs. It's packed with emotion; I cried twice (no surprises there). I don't really have anything bad to say about In Her Shoes. It's everything I expected it to be, only better.
By the way, I'm not the only one who loves this book. A friend and I went to the drive through at Shakie's and I had the book on my lap and the guy taking our order noticed it and we had a lovely conversation about the amazingness of In Her Shoes. My friend and I ordered two small ice creams, but I'm pretty sure he gave us mediums or larges. Isn't that nice? I'll make sure to bring the book again next time we venture to Shakie's just in case our little friend is working again.
So, apparently In Her Shoes was made into a movie. I've heard it wasn't that good, but I'm going to rent it anyway. You'll probably see a post on it at some point. I need to watch it while the book is still fresh in my mind. (I usually forget books pretty quickly after I've finished them).
I did some research on the Jennifer Weiner and I discovered she's been a devoted blogger since January 2002. Impressive. She's a u
ser of the handy dandy Blogger too. Here's the link to SnarkSpot, Jennifer Weiner's blog.
See more reviews or buy In Her Shoes at Amazon.com.
I've misplaced my Interview with a Vampire book. I'm hoping this is a temporary state, but I'm not counting on it. Maybe it'll turn up. I was really enjoying it and wasn't even half way throught yet. =(
