RTW: Best of January

Welcome to our 115th Road Trip Wednesday!

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.


We'd love for you to participate! Just answer the prompt on your own blog and leave a link - or, if you prefer, you can include your answer in the comments.

This Week's Topic: 

What was the best book you read in January?

I'm keeping it short and sweet today because I don't have much time; I know y'all understand. I think I've already posted once about all these things i've done by Gabrielle Zevin, but I don't believe I ever went into much detail about why I enjoyed reading this book. And I won't really do that in this post, haha! 

Just to give y'all a little background information, Goodreads' description is the following:

In 2083, chocolate and coffee are illegal, paper is hard to find, water is carefully rationed, and New York City is rife with crime and poverty. And yet, for Anya Balanchine, the sixteen-year-old daughter of the city's most notorious (and dead) crime boss, life is fairly routine. It consists of going to school, taking care of her siblings and her dying grandmother, trying to avoid falling in love with the new assistant D.A.'s son, and avoiding her loser ex-boyfriend. That is until her ex is accidently poisoned by the chocolate her family manufactures and the police think she's to blame. Suddenly, Anya finds herself thrust unwillingly into the spotlight--at school, in the news, and most importantly, within her mafia family. 

Engrossing and suspenseful, All These Things I've Done is an utterly unique, unputdownable read that blends both the familiar and the fantastic.

It's all of that and then some. The prose is engaging, the MC is tough but relatable, and the plot does not disappoint. Plus, it's interesting to read about a future world where chocolate and coffee are no-no's. That's just plain inconceivable to someone who has survived off of both of those things more than once during finals week.

I hope everyone has a wonderful rest of the week and a great RTW!

Until next time...

Spring Semester Notes

Since it's been a while since my last post, I'm going to have to make a list of all the things that have happened in the span of time I've been blog dormant.

1. I'm on level 30 of Skyrim. Yes, I'm proud of that fact.

I've been making quote posters in my minute spare time. 

2. Classes have resumed and I curse my folly at signing up for classes before noon. It's a sad state I'm in right now. Sleep deprivation is not pretty my friends.

3. One of my classes is probably going to drive me that last bit down the road of insanity. So. Much. Work.

4. My Dad finally finished that bookshelf I need to house my overflowing books. I'm going to stain it a nice golden oak color next weekend. And then organize my book collection according to type and author.

5. I'll be 21 in about two weeks, so there's that to look forward to. My sister says she and my other sister (the one not related to us but she may as well be) are planning something surprise-like for me. I told her I didn't like surprises, but she wasn't listening. Oh well. No news there.

6. Because of my class load, I'm reading an average of about a book every two days. I came to this conclusion by averaging the pages of all the novels and textbooks I have read thus far and will read in the future. The results support my thesis.

7. On a positive note, I'm actually getting some reading done! Right now it's Emma and My Ántonia. I'd forgotten how much Emma Woodhouse really annoys me. 


8. I finally finished watching all past seasons of 30 Rock! Yay! Now I just have to keep up with the newest season, and I have to say, I've done well so far. "Liz Lemon is a crack whore!"


9. I'm about a week in to my "coffee restriction" (which basically just means I drink a lot of decaf and only one cup of regular) and so far, so almost good. This isn't the first time I've tried to give coffee up, but at least this time I'm not doing it cold turkey. *thinks about last attempt* *shudders* I never want to do that again. 


10. That's pretty much it. I meant to write a blog book review for "all these things i've done" by Gabrielle Zevin, but I had to fill a little space in the paper for this week, so I wrote one for that. Here's the link if you really want to read it. No spoilers, I promise. :) 


I hope to be back for RTW this week! It's been two weeks since I last participated (although last week it was for a very good reason) and I'm excited to see what the prompt will be!


Until next time...