10 Books: A Delayed Facebook Challenge

In an attempt to force my mind away from impending doom (disappointment, anxiety, fatigue, stress, a whirlwind of other emotions), I’ve been planning out my winter break activities. One of those activities includes reading for pleasure because it’s something I genuinely enjoy. Losing myself in the pages of a book is one of my favorite things to do; and since I recently purchased Lauren Graham’s (yes, Lorelai Gilmore; my obsession with Gilmore Girls runs deep) debut novel, it made me think about the Facebook challenge my brother sent me a few months ago. I was challenged to do:

Literary Value: My Favorite Children’s Books

I spent an hour and a half in the library today trying to find a book. Just one simple book. Thank you, UHM, for not shelving things correctly. I wanted so badly to reshelve the books for them (I feel this way anytime I see a book out of place at a library), but I was too frustrated. But enough about my borderline OCD. This post is more about nostalgia and imagination:

We Were Infinite: That One Time I Read a Book for Pleasure

Due to some technological woes experienced late Saturday night, and consequently not wanting to experience the same thing two nights in a row, I chose to spend my Sunday night marking another item off my activity list. For five straight hours (no potty breaks, no snack breaks, nothing), I read Stephen Chbosky’s novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower. You might have heard of it; you’ve possibly even seen the movie that he directed. Normally, I’m one of those book hipsters that reads the books before seeing the movie (like I did with The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants or Harry Potter) and love the book more, but only one of those statements is true this go round. I actually saw the movie first. I have this girl crush on Emma Watson. I think she’s absolutely fantastic and no matter how bad The Bling Ring was (and the constant struggles she had trying to maintain an American accent), nothing will change that for me. I watched the movie because she was in it and all of my friends were like, “gosh, this movie is so good!” And what with my secret obsession with quirky indie films (cue Moonrise Kingdom), I thought I’d check it out. I didn’t regret the decision, and I knew from the tears falling onto my laptop (yes, I feel emotions when I watch movies) that I needed to read the book. So let’s talk about it: