Day 13: Book Whose Main Character Is Most Like You

Again, this list is throwing me a curve ball. I am not really the type of person people like to cast as their main characters. I have not fallen in love, I am no "rags-to-riches" story, not a super genius. So the book I choose isn't really a lighthearted book, but I want to read it someday:

"To Engineer is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design" by Henry Petroski

The moral of this book is that behind every great engineering success is a trail of often ignored (but frequently spectacular) engineering failures. Petroski covers many of the best known examples of well-intentioned but ultimately failed design in action -- the galloping Tacoma Narrows Bridge (which you've probably seen tossing cars willy-nilly in the famous black-and-white footage), the collapse of the Kansas City Hyatt Regency Hotel walkways -- and many lesser known but equally informative examples. The line of reasoning Petroski develops in this book were later formalized into his quasi-Darwinian model of technological evolution in The Evolution of Useful Things, but this book is arguably the more illuminating -- and definitely the more enjoyable -- of these two titles.

      I find failure fascinating, because if you know why something fails, you can figure out how to prevent it from happening in the future. Which, if I do say so myself, is pretty awesome.

=)

Day 12: Book That Is Most Like Your Life

I tried to think of a good book, but it is really hard. If there is a book like my life, I would have written it. Or my sister. If you're going to bet, bet on her writing one over me. But the book I choose is slightly unorthodox....:

"I'm Just Here For the Food, Version 2.0" by Alton Brown

Eight years ago, Alton Brown set out to create a cooking show for a new generation. The result was Good Eats, one of Food Network’s most popular programs. Four years ago, Brown set out to write a cookbook for people who would rather understand their food than follow a recipe. A mix of cutting-edge graphics and a fresh take on preparing food, I’m Just Here For the Food became one of the bestselling cookbooks of the year—and received the James Beard Foundation/KitchenAid Book Award as best reference book.

This year, to commemorate and celebrate this success story (more than 300,000 copies in print), STC is pleased to announce I’m Just Here For the Food: The Director’s Cut. This special edition features 10 brand-new recipes, 20 pages of additional material, a jacket that folds out into a poster, and a removable refrigerator magnet—along with everything that made the original a classic instruction manual for the kitchen. Each of the book’s 15 sections is a module on a given cooking method—from pan searing to pressure cooking, stewing to steaming—with a “master” recipe and a varied selection of recipes that epitomize the technique. The text is accented throughout with food facts, history and lore, and science.

     I think this book describes my life because A.) I love to cook, and B.) I am a major dork, so this book combines those sides of me. A dorky chef.

=)

Day 11: Book From Your Favorite Author

Today was an easy day. I literally have  dozens of books by my favorite author. In fact, I just finished one last night! So that is the book I chose by my favorite author:

"Who Brings Forth the Wind" by Lori Wick.

Raised by her aging grandfather in the quiet English countryside, Stacy Daniels radiates a sweet loveliness and unguarded innocence that quickly captures the attention of London society.

Stacy’s summer visit to her aunt catapults her into a swirl of balls and teas—and an unexpected meeting with Lord Tanner Richardson, the handsome yet cynical Duke of Cambridge. 

Stacy cannot know the joy-turned-anguish that awaits her as the duke battles his own tormented past. Nor can she foresee the betrayal that will challenge her faith. Yet through the heights and depths of their turbulent love, Stacy comes to know the One who can not only bring forth the wind, but also calm the angry storms of her husband’s heart.

     This is one of 4 books in a series, and honestly, all are fantastic. But for some reason, unbeknownst to me, this is my favorite. It has romance, tall, handsome men, and a love story to swoon over. In some way, I relate to Stacy, even though I am not tall, blond, and gorgeous. But I do sympathize with her. Now if only I could find my Tanner, at least the nice version of him...

=)

Day 10: Book That Changed Your Life

I feel this day is better suited for someone who has lived a longer life than I have. Don't get me wrong, I very well may have read a life-changing book before now, but I don't know what book it is. As they say, hindsight is 20/20. I may look back in 20 years and realize the book that changed my life is the book I read yesterday. Unlikely, but I don't know. However, there is a book that has changed my life, though not really all at once. And my life still changes because of it. So the book that has changed my life is:

The Bible.

So, I am not going to put a synopsis of the Bible here. All I am going to say is that it is God's word. =)

       This book is very powerful, and it really speaks to me. I would still be a lost sinner going to hell if it wasn't for this book right here. I mean, I am still a sinner and I ought to go to hell, but I am not because Jesus Christ died for my sins so I can live forever in heaven. And who doesn't want that?

=)

Day 9: Book That Makes You Sick

I had a difficult time thinking of this book. Books don't generally make me sick. In fact, I have never read a book that made me sick. So, that being said, the book that makes me sick is:

"A Shore Thing" by Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi.

It’s a summer to remember . . . at the Jersey Shore.

Giovanna “Gia” Spumanti and her cousin Isabella “Bella” Rizzoli are going to have the sexiest summer ever. While they couldn’t be more different—pint-size Gia is a carefree, outspoken party girl and Bella is a tall, slender athlete who always holds her tongue—for the next month they’re ready to pouf up their hair, put on their stilettos, and soak up all that Seaside Heights, New Jersey, has to offer: hot guidos, cool clubs, fried Oreos, and lots of tequila.

So far, Gia’s summer is on fire. Between nearly burning down their rented bungalow, inventing the popular “tan-tags” at the Tantastic Salon where she works, and rescuing a shark on the beach, she becomes a local celebrity overnight. Luckily, she meets the perfect guy to help her keep the flames under control. Firefighter Frank Rossi is exactly her type: big, tan, and Italian. But is he tough enough to handle Gia when things really heat up?

Bella is more than ready for some fun in the sun. Finally free of her bonehead ex-boyfriend, she left home in Brooklyn with one goal in mind: hooking up with a sexy gorilla for a no-strings-attached summer fling. In no time, she lands a job leading “Beat Up the Beat” dance classes at a local gym, and is scooped up by Beemer-driving, preppy Bender Newberry. Only problem: Bella can’t get her romantic and ripped boss Tony “Trouble” Troublino out of her head. He’s relationship material. Suddenly, Bella’s not sure what she wants.

The cousins soon realize that for every friend they make on the boardwalk, there are also rivals, slummers, and frenemies who will do anything to ruin their summer—and try their relationship. Before July ends, the bonds of family and friendship will be stretched to the breaking point. Will the haters prevail, or will Gia and Bella find love at the Shore?

   And the reason this makes me sick? The author. It really shames me to think that someone like that, who can't really read herself, and doesn't like to read, writing a book that is undoubtedly half-written by someone else, and the only reason it is popular is because she is a reality TV star on MTV.

=)

Day 8: Book That Scares You

As a general note, if a book scares me, I stop reading it. I am not a fan of scary stories at all, so if it looks potentially scary, I won't read it. But if a teacher assigns the book, then I am out of luck. And so that is how the book that scares me the most is:

"The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe.

The story takes place at the castellated abbey of the "happy and dauntless and sagacious" Prince Prospero. Prospero and one thousand other nobles have taken refuge in this walled abbey to escape the Red Death, a terrible plague with gruesome symptoms that has swept over the land. Victims feel overcome by convulsive agony and sweat blood instead of water. The plague is said to kill within half an hour. Prospero and his court are presented as indifferent to the sufferings of the population at large, intending to await the end of the plague in luxury and safety behind the walls of their secure refuge, having welded the doors shut.

One night, Prospero holds a masquerade ball to entertain his guests in seven colored rooms of the abbey. Six of the rooms are each decorated and illuminated in a specific color: Blue, purple, green, orange, white, and violet. The last room is decorated in black and is illuminated by a blood-red light; because of this chilling pair of colors, few guests are brave enough to venture into the seventh room. The room is also the location of a large ebony clock that ominously clangs at each hour, upon which everyone stops talking and the orchestra stops playing. At the chiming of midnight, Prospero notices one figure in a dark, blood-splattered robe resembling a funeral shroud, with an extremely lifelike mask resembling a stiffened corpse, and with the traits of the Red Death, which all at the ball have been desperate to escape. Gravely insulted, Prospero demands to know the identity of the mysterious guest so that they can hang him. When none dares to approach the figure, instead letting him pass through the seven chambers, the prince pursues him with a drawn dagger until he is cornered in the seventh room, the black room with the scarlet-tinted windows. When the figure turns to face him, the Prince falls dead. The enraged and terrified revelers surge into the black room and forcibly remove the mask and robe, only to find to their horror that there is no solid form underneath either. Only now do they realize--too late--that the figure is actually the Red Death itself, and all of the guests contract and succumb to the disease. The final line of the story sums up: "And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all."

        It just is super creepy, and I can't stand it. I have a phobia about getting sick and dying, especially due to some horrific disease, like a plague. Ick.

Though on a lighter note, I want to wish my mom, Karen, a wonderful Mother's day! I love her so much and I am so glad she is my mother!

=)

Day 7: Book That You Can Quote/Recite

I apologize for such a late posting. Moving out and a long car ride home really took it out of me. But now I am back and I am loving it!

As for a book that I can quote, I had a hard time with this one. I read soo many books that I didn't know which one I really quote. But then it came to me. Yes, I know I just had a guilty pleasure book series yesterday, but I am going to pick another one. Mainly because of all the books I do read, I may quote certain lines from this one more often than others. And I do quote the book, not the movie. And so, the book I can quote is:

The "Twilight Saga" by Stephenie Meyer.

Bella Swan moves from Phoenix, Arizona to live with her father in Forks, Washington to allow her mother to travel with her new husband, a minor league baseball player. After moving to Forks, Bella finds herself involuntarily drawn to a mysterious, handsome boy, Edward Cullen. She eventually learns that he is a member of a vampire family who drinks animal blood rather than human blood. Edward and Bella fall in love, but James, a sadistic vampire from another vampire coven, is drawn to hunt down Bella. Edward and the other Cullens defend Bella. She escapes to Phoenix, Arizona, where she is tricked into confronting James, who tries to kill her. She is seriously wounded, but Edward rescues her and they return to Forks, having killed James

     Some of my favorite lines to quote come from this book. My favorite is "I bet she's tougher than that. She runs with vampires." So I now promise that I won't have too many more guilty pleasures. And give me credit, Harry Potter made it on the list before Twilight. And will most likely be back.

=)