October 2014: Recap + On My Shelves
October is one of my favorite months of the year - the leaves are changing, the weather is cooling down and it just feels like such a cozy month. I had a few amazing adventures this month and am sad it's already over!
1. New Arm Candy - My dad was cleaning out his closet recently and came across his old watch. One of my brothers took it, but I begged him to let me have it. He's my favorite now because he ended up letting me take it. And doesn't it look great with my stack of bracelets?! I love having a little part of my dad on my arm!
2. 12 Hours + 4 Parks + 1 BFF - I ended up taking a pretty spur-of-the-moment trip to Orlando to visit my BFF, and we spent one day visiting all four Disney parks. Exhausting? Definitely. But amazing memories? Heck yes! I wish I got to see her more often, but I'm so thankful that we got to spend a weekend together. I miss her every day!
3. Perfect Pack of Pens - One of my nerdiest addictions is my love for new pens. I'm constantly adding to my huge collection, and I always have a zippered pen pouch in my purse. When I spotted this colorful pack, I couldn't resist. And now I'm in love! I think these are my new favorite brand. Gorgeous & perfect for lefties.
4. Album of the Year - I can't tell you the last time I bought a physical CD, but I knew I had to for Taylor Swift's 1989 (Deluxe Edition). I've been dying for its release, and it was totally worth the wait! I love every single song on this album. I have my favorites, but this is absolutely my favorite album of 2014. I'M SO OBSESSED WITH IT.
Read 14 Books | Favorites:
Unmade by Sarah Rees Brennan
My True Love Gave to Me by Stephanie Perkins
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
“There is something about words. In expert hands, manipulated deftly, they take you prisoner. Wind themselves around your limbs like spider silk, and when you are so enthralled you cannot move, they pierce your skin, enter your blood, numb your thoughts. Inside you they work their magic.”
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
“When you are born,” the golem said softly, “your courage is new and clean. You are brave enough for anything: crawling off of staircases, saying your first words without fearing that someone will think you are foolish, putting strange things in your mouth. But as you get older, your courage attracts gunk, and crusty things, and dirt, and fear, and knowing how bad things can get and what pain feels like. By the time you’re half-grown, your courage barely moves at all, it’s so grunged up with living. So every once in awhile, you have to scrub it up and get the works going, or else you’ll never be brave again.”
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente
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1. Hey, you! by Gaby & Lisa @ Bookish Broads - Two of my favorite bloggers teaming up to blog together? SOLD. I enjoyed reading Gaby and Lisa's blogs, especially once they were paired for Epic Recs and kept loving the same books. They were like recommendation experts! So, it made perfect sense that they would solidify that collaboration into a brand-new (and totally epic) blog. I love it already! FOLLOW THEM, k?
2. Books Can Take You Places by Kelly @ Belle of the Literati - Kelly took a Top Ten Tuesday topic and made it one of my favorite posts she's ever done. Why? All the pictures of course! Kelly is a world traveler, which you can see as she talks about all the book-inspired places she's visited. I had so much fun looking through her list, and I'm so glad she put a personal twist on the topic! And now I've got some major wanderlust.
3. Second Chance Romance by Renae @ Respiring Thoughts - Renae talked about a noteworthy trope: second chance romances. I really liked her thoughts on why this trope can totally work, and I think she's right when she identifies the reasons it can crash and burn. When it's done right, second chance romances make for such great reading. I also enjoyed her post about Eclectic Reader Problems - I so identify with this struggle!
4. On A Personal Note: Un-Boxing Friendship by Magan @ Rather Be Reading - What a way to end October! Magan's reflection on friendship was probably my favorite thing I read all month. I love when either of these girls get a little more personal, and this post was such a great example of why. M wrote, "Maybe, just maybe, our friendships could continue to morph and grown and change if we were a little more forgiving and less static about how we approached them. It’s okay to mix things up and pull together a group of girlfriends who represent different aspects of our lives." Don't you want to read the whole post now? It's food for thought!
Favorite Song: "Run Away" by Leighton Meester on Heartstrings
Aside from 1989, this was my other favorite album from October.
I love Leighton Meester as an actress, and I'm so happy she can also sing!
Reign, Season One: I almost highlighted something else in this section because I already talked about Reign in a recent post, but this really is what I watched in October! The first time I tried to watch the show, I couldn't get past the anachronisms. I gave it another shot, and now I'm obsessed. It's not accurate, but it's so addicting!
Austen Addict | Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma and Persuasion by Jane Austen (Vintage Classics Editions)
Brand-New Beauties | Elements of Style by Erin Gates, The Young Elites by Marie Lu, My True Love Gave to Me edited by Stephanie Perkins, Unspoken and Untold by Sarah Rees Brennan
Bargain Buys | The Opposite of Love by Julie Buxbaum, The Burning Sky by Sherry Thomas, Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen, The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen, The Diary of Mattie Spenser by Sandra Dallas, Austenland by Shannon Hale, A Journey to the New World by Kathyrn Lasky, Voyage on the Great Titanic by Ellen Emerson White, Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon, The Six Wives on Henry VIII by Alison Weir, The Constant Princess, The Other Boleyn Girl, The Boleyn Inheritance and The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory
Mad About Montgomery | Anne of Green Gables Series Boxed Set, Emily of New Moon, Emily Climbs, Emily's Quest and Anne of Green Gables (Rifle Edition) by L.M. Montgomery
For Review | The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord and A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray
NetGalley, Edelweiss & Bought for Kindle | First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen, If You Find This Letter by Hannah Brencher, Six Impossible Things by Fiona Woodand Sisters of Treason by Elizabeth Fremantle
First of all, I didn't know you were a lefty too! I agree - it's always so hard to find good pens that don't smear all over the inside of my hand. I'll have to take a look at those pens. :)
ReplyDeleteThat's such a pretty quote from The Thirteenth Tale. I actually picked up a bargain copy of it myself, so I'm hoping to get to it soon.
Those Austen and Montgomery collections are beautiful! And so tempting.
It seems like you had a great October!
I love your "what I highlighted" section! That's so fun! I read mostly ebooks so I do a TON of quote highlights all the time, but I never thought about putting them anywhere. That's very cool!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE STAEDTLER PENS. THEY ARE THE BEST.
Great new watch and I really really want to go to Disneyland. I'm going to watch Reign very soon, it reminds me of the Tudors - a show I absolutely adore. You got lots of new books, yeay for the Philippa Gregory ones! I recently finished The burning sky and it was good :) Happy reading!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for including Magan's post... also I love that you did a quick trip to Disney! Sounds like a blast. I WANT MORE PICTURES. I listened to Leighton's album the other day and I really liked it too! Do you follow her on instagram? I like her pics!
ReplyDeleteYayyy I love these posts! October is one of my favorite months too <3
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine how you handled 4 parks in one day, we spent a day at each park last year and it wasn't enough!! (Well, two at Magic Kingdom). I can't wait to go back. Disneyland is still my favorite but Orlando was soooo much fun! And what's better than going with your best friend :)
Ooh those pens are pretty!! They remind me of the gel pens we were all obsessed with in high school hehe. Need to listen to the T Swift album! I heard Blank Spaces on the radio and loved it.
Your favorites section is flawless of course. Are you going to post a review of The Thirteenth Tale? My True Love... is waiting for me at the library, I can't wait to pick it up today!! What an impressive book pile (piles!!!) too! Lots of lovely goodies for October, yay :)
I'm so entranced by the First Frost cover! I don't even know what it's about but I love it.
That Anne of Green Gables box set is darling!!
ReplyDeleteI found out not long ago on Sarah's blog that Anne is in Reign! WHAT. I'm watching The Tudors right now but I had planned to watch Reign after. (I tried to tell my cousin about this and get really excited with her but she didn't know who Anne Shirley was and then I spent like twenty minutes telling her and showing her pictures with the braids and the book covers and all and I was SO FRUSTRATED. And none of this has to do anything with Reign.)
ReplyDeleteAsheley, I discovered this a while back and isn't it mind-blowing that the actress who played Anne Shirley is in Reign? I haven't tried Reign yet but I want to just for that reason alone.
DeleteI'm so glad The Thirteenth Tale was a highlight for you. I LOVE that book!!! Have you reviewed The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making yet? I'm really interested in that series.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I LOVE your Vintage Classics Austen editions, and I'm so jealous of your new Tundra box set of the Anne books as well as the Emily series. A while back my mother was informed that these have been added to my Christmas list. ;-)