I think home should be the safe zone. Like when we were children and playing tag and the tree or porch was the safe spot. You couldn’t tag us there if we were touching the safe spot or zone. I feel this should be the same for the home when it comes to homework. There should not be something called homework. Home is the safe spot/zone and therefore when I am there…work, real work or school work cannot touch me here. Seriously. That would be awesome.

In reality though, it is now eleven at night and I writing an application letter for my writing in the professions class. *puts fingers into fake gun position and pulls the trigger*

I cannot wait for the day when I no longer have to do homework. Chances are I will be the one grading it. Who knows. I still do not know what I want to be when I grow up. I chat with a 54 year old man who still doesn’t know what he wants to be when he grows up. This is either comforting to me or scary as hell depending on how I am feeling on any given day.

Every night for the past week I have had a dream about being late for work or class. And not just 15 minutes late, but hours late. I am never late…or at least I am only late maybe a handful of times for the entire year. I am usually always 15 minutes early and sometimes 30 minutes early for class. I hate being late. So, I cannot figure out the dreams. Am I really worried I am going to be late? I do have lateness anxiety…but why all the dreams all of the sudden? I probably have an I’m-going-to-be-late dream at least once a month, sometimes a little more often. But every night for a whole week? That seems a little excessive. Perhaps stress? Who knows. I really wish I would stop having this dreams though. Because of them I usually wake up in a panic a few hours before my alarm clock is going to go off and then I have a hard time falling asleep. That’s the other thing. I have a backup plan as far as alarm clocks go. I use my cell phone as my main alarm clock and then I have an actual alarm clock that is set 15 minutes after the cell phone goes off just in case I fall back asleep or my cell phone doesn’t go off. See, I even have extra precautions to keep me from being late. So why the hell am I so worried when I am asleep?

So I have decided to do some book reviews from time to time, since my nose is always in a book. I have a goodreads account but I pretty much just use that to catalog the books I have read and want to read. I downloaded a pretty script font to make the reviews all spiffy. There are four reviews listed here of books I have read in the recent past. I plan to do another book review featuring four more books that I received as Christmas gifts. Here goes nothing.

by Alice Hoffman is probably one of my favorites by her. I enjoyed her other novels such as, Local Girls, Practical Magic, and The Ice Queen. However, some of her more recent works such as, Skylight Confessions and The Third Angel could not hold my interest. However, The Story Sisters seemed very reminiscent of Practical Magic and Local Girls since all these books focus mainly on woman, and then also on sisters. The three sisters in the book are very similar in appearance, but very different as far as personalities go. The book not only deals with sisterhood but also with jealously, loyalty and friendship. This book has a magical element to it as the girls seem like ethereal goddesses and enough charm to weave their own magic. For anyone who is a fan of Alice Hoffman, I highly recommend this latest novel.

by Francesca Lia Block is a novella about, you guessed, a vampire. Now, I know some young adult readers are getting a little tired of the young adult section being turned into the vampire section, but I plead with you to hold out for this book and not just because I am a huge fan of Block (I have read everything by her). The novella may seem like a vampire story that is like all the rest, but I assure you that it is not. This vampire story has a beautifully crafted twist which I thoroughly enjoyed. Like all Block’s writing, this story is highly descriptive and the language is almost lyrical. Another Francesca Lia Block book for my shelf.

by Carrie Ryan is probably the only truly good zombie book I have ever read. The main family in the book are practically living in a gated community in an attempt to keep the Unconsecrated out, but that plan fails. Many of the main character’s (Mary), family and friends become Unconsecrated themselves as she and a few others struggle to break from the undead groups and search for other remaining humans. This book was a page turner and I had a hard time putting it down to go to sleep. I highly recommend this book even if you are not a big zombie fan. You may change your mind after reading this Carrie Ryan novel.

by Nicholas Sparks is very bittersweet. I am concerned about the movie because I am afraid they will change parts of the book and possibly the ending to make it more “Hollywood” and less bittersweet. The book is very Sparks-esque as it features his major theme: love. I have read only two other books by him which included, Message in a Bottle and A Walk to Remember. I have to admit that I am not a huge Sparks fan but I gave this book a chance and I am glad that I did. The central characters are John and Savannah who fall in love (during the summer), and then have to say goodbye as John is enlisted in the military and he is sent off. They communicate through a series of letters while he is away. After some time her letters come less frequently. This story takes an unexpected turn and leaves the reader longing. I was happy that I gave this novel by Nicholas Sparks a chance, and I hope you will too.

So, I am starting to think that this whole, make a blog post a day thing, isn’t really such a good idea. I mean, I’ve noticed that I’ve pretty much had to force myself to spew out whatever I could just to make a blog post. I’m thinking I am going to quit this gig and start making more serious blog entries. Blog entries that take a little thought because this whole pressure thing to squeeze a blog entry out is not working any more.

Is it crazy that I have gotten all the way through high school and community college without ever having to read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein? What’s even weirder is that I own a copy, I’ve just never read it. I have to read the first 50 pages over the weekend and I keep getting mixed reviews about it. Then again, that seems true about almost all school required reads. Last semester I really enjoyed almost everything we read for my American Lit class. I actually did all my papers on “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin. I’ve read it before for another class, but for my American Lit class, I actually enjoyed reading and writing about it. Most people I talked to hate that novella, well, most of my peers anyways. Of course, my lit professors love it. I think the first time I read it I didn’t really understand it, and when I read it last semester it was like a light bulb turning on above my head.